THE INDUSTRIAL TYPE OF SOCIETY. 625 



there was destruction of improved appliances and of goods 

 not made according to law, as well as penalties upon in 

 ventors. Eegulations succeeded one another so rapidly that 

 amid their multiplicity, government agents found it difficult 

 to carry them out ; and with increasing official orders there 

 en me increasing swarms of public functionaries. Turning 

 now to England at the same period, we see that along with 

 progress towards the industrial type of political structure, 

 carried to the, extent that the House of Commons had become 

 the predominant power, there had gone a progress towards 

 the accompanying social system. Though the subjection of 

 the individual to the State was considerably greater than now, 

 it was far less than in France. His private rights were not 

 sacrificed in the same unscrupulous way; and he was not in 

 danger of a lettre de cachet. Though justice was very imper 

 fectly administered, still it was not administered so wretchedly: 

 there was a fair amount of personal security, and aggressions 

 on property were kept within bounds. The disabilities of 

 Protestant dissenters were diminished early in the century ; 

 and, later on, those of Catholics. Considerable freedom of 

 the press was acquired, showing itself in the discussion of 

 political questions, as well as in the publication of par 

 liamentary debates ; and, about the same time, there came 

 free speech in public meetings. While thus the State 

 aggressed on the individual less and protected him more, it 

 interfered to a smaller extent with his daily transactions. 

 Though there was much regulation of commerce and industry, 

 yet it was pushed to no such extreme as that which in France 

 subjected agriculturists, manufacturers, and merchants, to an 

 army of officials who directed their acts at every turn. In 

 brief, the contrast between our state and that of France was 

 such as to excite the surprise and admiration of various French 

 writers of the time ; from whom Mr. Buckle quotes numerous 

 passages showing this. 



Most significant of all, however, are the changes in England 

 itself, first retrogressive and then progressive, that occurred 



