No. 199.] 361 



that its tendency is directlv the opposite to that which has been im- 

 agined. 



Numerous facts might be stated in corroboration of this trutli. But, 

 to give only one instance, and one to which we have already alluded, 

 how great a revolution has been made in the world by the discovery 

 of the art of printing, and how many thousands are employed, and 

 what an amount of wages is paid, the consequence of this invention, 

 and the improvements that have been made in the use and manage- 

 ment of types, and in the publication of books. How many type- 

 founders, paper- makers, printers, book-binders, pressmen and others 

 are set to work, who, but for this discovery, would have been obliged 

 to. seek other employment ? And, who is able to compute the worth 

 of the steam engine, or of machinery which has been invented for 

 spinning wool or cotton, furnishing entire neighborhoods with profita- 

 ble and constant occupation, and the means of gaining subsistence 

 and even wealth. Nor,^ indeed, can a single article of manufacture 

 be named in which the introduction of machinery has not been found, 

 or will not prove of great and extensive benefit to both the manu- 

 facturer and the working classes. As regards the community at large, 

 it has the effect, by greatly cheapening the article of consumption, 

 and increasing the quantity or amount with which the market is sup- 

 plied, to furnish vast numbers, who had been able to procure scarcely 

 the necessaries of life, with many of its comforts, and even luxuries 

 and enjoyments. The poor man now, or what we are accustomed to 

 call poverty, is better fed, lodged and clothed, can wear a finer gar- 

 ment, live on more sumptuous fare, and recline or sleep on a more 

 luxurious couch and bed, than, a few centuries ago, could the wealthy 

 of the land, and even prmces and kings. Such habitations and furni- 

 ture, and means of comfort, as are now at command, were, until re- 

 cently, unknown ; and they are chiefly the results of inventions and 

 discoveries substituting the use and employment of machinery for 

 human labor. 



But it needs not in this place to dwell upon a tnith, which we are 

 persuaded you already acknowledge, and are free to admit. Our du- 

 ty and pleasure are rather to exhort you to go on in the noble and 

 magnanimous course which you have so successfully begun. With 



