Memoir of William Maclure. 403 



realized in the social institutions by which he was surround- 

 ed. He aimed at reforming mankind by diverting their atten- 

 tion from the mere pursuit of wealth and ambition, to the 

 cultivation of the mind ; and espousing the hypothesis of the 

 possible " equality of education, property and power" among 

 men, he laboured to counteract that love of superiority which 

 appeared to him to cause half the miseries of our species. 

 However fascinating these views are in theory, mankind are 

 not yet prepared to reduce them to practice ; and without 

 entering into discussion in this place, we may venture to 

 assert, that what Religion itself has not been able to accom- 

 plish, Philosophy will attempt in vain. 



Mr. Maclure's character habitually expressed itself with- 

 out dissimulation or disguise. Educated in the old world 

 almost to the period of manhood, and inflexibly averse to 

 many of its established institutions, he was prone to indulge 

 the opposite extremes of opinion, and became impatient of 

 those usages which appeared to him to fetter the reason and 

 embarrass the genius of man ; and while he rejoiced in the 

 republican system of his adopted country, he aimed at an 

 intellectual exaltation which, to common observation at least, 

 seems incompatible with the wants and impulses of our 

 nature. 



Fully and justly imbued with the importance of dissemina- 

 ting practical truth, he strove through its influence to bring 

 the several classes of mankind more on a level with each 

 other; not by invading the privileges of the rich, but by 

 educating the poor ; thus enforcing the sentiment that 

 "knowledge is power," and that he who possesses it will 

 seldom be the dupe of designing and arbitrary minds. With 

 a similar motive he endeavoured to inculcate the elements of 

 Political Economy, by the publication of epistolary essays in 

 a familiar style, which have been embodied in two volumes 

 with the title of Opinions on Various Subjects. They discover 

 a bold and original mind, and a fondness for innovation 



