30 MEMOIR OF 



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 

 disseminating 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 

 which occasionally expresses itself in a startling sen- 

 timent; but however we may differ from him on 

 various questions, it must be conceded that his views 

 of financial operations were remarkably correct, in- 

 asmuch as he predicted the existing pecuniary em- 

 barrassments of this country, at the very time when 

 the great mass of observers looked forward to accu- 

 mulating wealth and unexampled prosperity. 



Let it not be supposed that Mr. Maclure's benevo- 



