evidently suspected in the latter part of his life,
he had committed in the application of his principle, justice has
not yet been generally done to the truth and importance of that
fundamental principle itself. In the present state of this
country, and indeed of every civilised country, and with a view to
the happiness of the human race upon earth, it seems hardly
possible to exaggerate the importance of any inquiries which
promise to indicate the conditions by which the relation of the
population to the demand for labour, and the means of subsistence
there existing, is determined, and may be regulated.

"We cannot indeed expect, that so striking results can follow from
this or any other principle in political science, as have already
rewarded the labour of man in investigating the laws of the
material world. The beautiful expressions of Cicero, in describing
the power which man has acquired over Nature, are more applicable
to the present age, than to any one that has preceded it. 'Nos
campis, nos montibus fruimur; nostri sunt amnes, nostri lacus; nos
fruges serimus, nos arbores; nos aquarum inductionibus terris
fecunditatem damus; nos flumina arcemus, dirigimus, avertimus;
nostris denique manibus in rerum natura quasi alteram naturam
efficere conamur.' We can hardly anticipate, that science shall
acquire a similar power of regulating the condition of human
society or the progress of human affairs. In regard to the changes
which these affairs undergo in the progress of time, we are all of
us agents, rather than contrivers. 'L'homme avance dans
l'execution d'un plan qu'il n'a point concu, qu'il ne connoit meme
pas; il est l'ouvrier intelligent et libre d'une oeuvre qui n'est
pas la sienne; il ne la reconnoit, ne la comprend que plus tard,
lorsqu'elle se manifeste au dehors et dans les realites, et meme
alors il ne la comprend que tres incompletement."--(GUIZOT.) Still
we may observe, that in all applications of science, moral and
political, as well as physical, to the good of mankind, the same
principle holds true, 'Natura non vincitur nisi parendo;' and that
even in those cases where man is the agent, he may likewise be the
interpreter and the minister of Nature. It is only by acquiring a
knowledge of the natural laws of motion, of heat, of chemical
action, that we acquire that