hich man is able to master. I say, when an
opponent of a particular science asserts that it does not conduce to
happiness, and much more when its champion contends in reply that it
certainly does conduce to virtue, as this author proceeds to contend, the
obvious question which occurs to one to ask is, what does Religion, what
does Revelation, say on the point? Political Economy must not be allowed
to give judgment in its own favour, but must come before a higher
tribunal. The objection is an appeal to the Theologian; however, the
Professor does not so view the matter; he does not consider it a question
for Philosophy; nor indeed on the other hand a question for Political
Economy; not a question for Science at all; but for Private Judgment,--so
he answers it himself, and as follows:

12.

"My answer," he says, "is, first, that the pursuit of wealth, that is, the
endeavour to accumulate the means of future subsistence and enjoyment, is,
to the mass of mankind, the great source of _moral_ improvement." Now
observe, Gentlemen, how exactly this bears out what I have been saying. It
is just so far true, as to be able to instil what is false, far as the
author was from any such design. I grant, then, that, ordinarily, beggary
is not the means of moral improvement; and that the orderly habits which
attend upon the hot pursuit of gain, not only may effect an external
decency, but may at least shelter the soul from the temptations of vice.
Moreover, these habits of good order guarantee regularity in a family or
household, and thus are accidentally the means of good; moreover, they
lead to the education of its younger branches, and they thus accidentally
provide the rising generation with a virtue or a truth which the present
has not: but without going into these considerations, further than to
allow them generally, and under circumstances, let us rather contemplate
what the author's direct assertion is. He says, "the endeavour to
_accumulate_," the words should be weighed, and for what? "for
_enjoyment_;"--"to accumulate the means of future subsistence and
enjoyment, is, to the mass of mankind, _the great_ source," not merely _a_
source, but _the great_ source, and of what? of social and political
progress?--such an answer would have been more within the limits of his
art,--no, but of something individual and personal, "of _moral
improvement_." The soul, in the case of "the mass of mankind," improves in
moral excellence fr