114 History of Mechanical Inventions and Useful Processes. 
we have always been to speak and bear of our own pre-eminence in 
the useful arts, and exaggerated as those opinions generally must 
be that are formed under the influence of national partialities, 
yet the estimate formed by untravelkd Englishmen of our ma- 
nufacturing industry is far beneath the truth ; and we are 
persuaded that they have only a faint conception of those 
substantial comforts which the ingenuity and industry of their 
countrymen have added to the hourly enjoyment of all classes 
of the community. Greatly, however, as we do excel all other 
nations in the productions of the useful arts, we think it will 
scarcely be denied that our superiority may still be increased ; 
that a g'reat portion of our manufacturing skill is neutralised by 
the financial condition of the country ; and that the measures of 
rival industry, which have been so vigorously pushed by foreign 
states, can only be opposed by the most liberal and efficacious 
excitement of mechanical talent. The condition of our patent 
laws, and their frequent administration under the most deplor- 
able ignorance of British interests, have left this country in the 
singular predicament of being the only nation in Europe which 
has withdrawn from the safeguard of the law the great products 
of mechanical skill ; or to speak more correctly, which holds out 
to inventors an illusory privilege, which sells to them that privi- 
lege at an enormous price, and which yet refuses to defend from 
direct invasion, or legal sophistries, what it has solemnly stamp- 
ed with the Great Seal of England. This unnatural warfare, 
which the law of patents has so fatally waged against the useful 
arts, is by no means the fault of the Government. It has arisen 
from a want of spirit, and combination, among patentees them- 
selves, from the commercial jealousies of rival manufacturers, 
and from a prevalent but erroneous notion, that patents are mo- 
nopolies which impede the free current of trade, and encroach on 
the commercial liberty of the subject. When viewed in this light, 
it is not to be wondered at that a few hundred inventors should 
find their interests opposed by the dull crowd of manufacturers 
whom they have outstripped in ingenuity, or by the great body 
of the public, who suppose that they have a direct interest in 
the abolition of an exclusive privilege. But we confess it does 
surprise us, that men of more liberal views should have so long 
countenanced this crusade against the arts, and that those who 
