e place,
and do the work of man. And what may be the result? that thousands will
be thrown out of employment, and must be supported by the nation. When
the population is so dense that there is not room for the labour of its
present inhabitants, it is clear that the introduction of machinery can
have but one effect--that of increasing pauperism. Are not, then, the
Belgians right in thinking that it will deprive them of their bread?

That machinery has already had that effect to a certain degree in
England cannot be denied; and not only our manufacturing, but our
agricultural population, have been distressed from an adherence to the
same principle, of obtaining the greatest possible results from the
smallest possible means. The subdivision of land will do more to
relieve the agricultural distress than anything else. At present large
farms are preferred both by landlord and tenant, because a large farm
can be cultivated with a fewer number of men and horses; but how does
this act? It throws a certain quantity of labourers out of employ, who
are supported in idleness. Is the sum gained by farmers by employing
fewer men on large farms more than their proportion of the poor's rates
paid for unproductive industry? That it may be more to the farmers is
possible, as they shift a great part of the onus upon others; but to the
nation it certainly is not--for the man who does not work must still be
fed. May we not then consider the following propositions as correct?

That, producing the greatest possible results from the least possible
means, is an axiom which can only hold good when it does not interfere
with the industry of the people. That, as long as the whole population
are employed, such powers become a benefit, and a source of extra
wealth. But that, in proportion as it throws the population out of
employment, so much the more does it prove an injury, and must finally
lead to a state of things which must end in riot, anarchy, and
confusion. _Quod est demonstrandum_--I hope it will not be in our time.

CHAPTER SEVEN.

Antwerp.
Every one has heard of the cathedral at Antwerp and the fine pictures by
Rubens--every one has heard of the siege of Antwerp and General Chasse,
and how the French marched an army of non-intervention down to the
citadel, and took it from the Dutch--and every one has heard how Lord
Palmerston protocol-ed while Marshal Gera