AmbecUr'i9Pisarm'J      Haditt  on  the  Metric  System.  £63 
and  were  expressed  by  simple  numbers,  which  must  now  be  represented 
by  five  or  six  figures.  Another  disadvantage  was  that  the  savants 
introduced  Greek  roots,  which  farther  multiplied  difficulties ; .  for 
these  denominations,  though  they  might  be  useful  to  the  learned,  only 
perplexed  the  common  people.  But  the  Directory  made  the  weights 
and  measures  one  of  the  principal  affairs  of  government.  Instead 
of  leaving  it  to  time  to  work  the  change,  and  merely  encouraging  the 
new  system  by  the  power  of  example  and  fashion,  they  made  com- 
pulsory laws  and  had  them  rigorously  executed.  Merchants  and 
artisans  found  themselves  harassed  about  matters  in  themselves  in- 
different ;  and  this  increased  the  unpopularity  of  a  government  which 
placed  itself  above  the  wants  and  the  reach  of  the  people,  infringing 
on  their  habits  and  usages  with  all  the  violence  which  might  be  ex- 
pected from  a  Tartar  conqueror.  It  is  always  bad  policy  in  a  gov- 
ernment to  meddle  more  than  it  can  help  with  the  affairs  of  private 
life,  which  individuals  understand  so  much  better  than  mere  theorists, 
thus  subjecting  itself  at  once  to  the  charge  of  meanness  and 
incapacity." 
The  above  quotation  requires  little  comment.  The  history  of  the 
French  people  since  the  introduction  of  the  metric  system,  the 
progress  of  their  industries,  the  extensive  and  intelligent  use  of  the 
system  by  the  poorest  and  most  unlettered  in  the  land  are  abundant 
refutation  of  Hazlitt's  invective.  Yet,  when  from  the  earliest  days 
of  the  new  weights  and  measures,  Englishmen  have  been  accustomed 
to  reading  such  reports  of  the  metric  system,  when  they  have,  we 
imagine  with  incredible  labor,  mastered  the  intricacies  of  their  system 
of  coinage  and  learned  to  multiply  and  divide  pounds,  shillings,  and 
pence  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  they  refuse  to  be  dislodged 
•  from  a  position  acquired  by  so  many  pains,  in  favor  of  one  which 
appears  seductively  simple,  but  whose  very  simplicity  is  cause  for 
suspicion!  And  to  change  would  be  to  confess  the  inferiority  and 
undesirable  complication  of  their  own  system  which  anyone  who 
understands  the  English  character  will  readily  appreciate  the  hope- 
lessness of  persuading  an  Englishman  to  do. 
