CONCERNING OUR MARINE, &C. 



131 



views of a party — a party alike ungrateful * for the 

 past, and bhnd to, or heedless of, their own idti- 

 mate good. The position of Britain, — her stretch 

 of sea-coast, serrated with harboiu-s, — her minerals, 

 the principle of mechanical motion, so necessary in 

 the arts, — her navy, docks, canals, roads, imple- 

 ments, and machinery, so superior to those of the 

 whole world beside, — her fertile soil,- — her capital, — 

 her protection of property, — her insular situation, — 

 her steady government and consequent ingress of 

 capital from the continent on any commotion, — her 

 habits of industry,— her knowledge of trade, — her 

 sciences, — her arts, — ^her free press, — her religion f , 



* Let us compare the wealth of the British landholder with 

 that of the like grade on the Continent. It is the unrivalled skill 

 and industry of our manufacturers and traders which have laid 

 every shore under contribution for the immense riches which has 

 poured in upon our landholders, and which, from juxtaposition, 

 will continue to do so, in a certain degree^ under the fullest free^ 

 dom of trade. It is now absurd to talk of duties on foreign pro- 

 ducts, to counterbalance home taxation — taxation now bears 

 lightly on home agricultural production, more so than in many 

 parts of the Continent, and our manufacturei's, under the same or 

 greater taxation, compete with and outstrip all the world in 

 cheapness of production. 



f The dread of change in Catholic countries — the proscription 

 of almost every new work treating of science — the complete sub- 

 mission of the mind to the religious authorities, bearded men 

 " becoming little children " even to the letter — the consequent 



I 2 



