Star.
London, England, 1825-01-06 00:00:00

DUPLV UN POPULAR INSTRUCTION.

The various mechanical institutions which within
these few years have been established in the different
great towns of this empire; have justly attracted the at-
tention and merited the applause of every enlightened
patriot. These institutions promise in a short time to
better, materially, the condition, • and to increase the
power of the labouring classes. Nor is their political
vigilance likely to be lessened by augmenting their in-
tellectual and moral strength. Their knowledge of
their civil rights must keep pace with the general im-
provement of their minds; and as they rise in the sc 41e
of society they must acquire that commanding influence
which their new relative position is calculated to cen-
ter. Knowledge, by being generally diffused, will
cease to be a distinction, abd thus will seldom be dis•
played as the title of vanity, or employed as the means
of deceit and dupery. As the people become more in-
telligent, they are less liable to be misled—superstitious
errors lose their hold—quackery is hooted out of exist-
ence—the power of demagrgues is annihilated—mobs
and tumults, occasioned by knavery working upon
ignorance, are at an end; and as the great mass of so-
ciety cannot be moved but when their rights and privi-
leges are in real danger, their union and zeal on such
occasions must render their strength irresistible.
The Govetnatent of France does not entertain the
same opinion on these subjects as we have above ex
pressed, and therefore, M. de Corbiere, the Minister of
the Interior, has, in his wisdom, suppressed ill the
schools of mutual instruction, which had beeii esta-

blished by benevolent societies or individuals—(going
even to the prisons and extinguishing the little tapers
of knowledge which burnt in them like " lamps in se-
pulchres"); but there is one institution. similar in its
object though not in its origin or regulations, to our
Mechanical Institutes, which has been allowed still to
exist—namely, the public lectures at the Conservatoire
des Arts et Metiers. In the amphitheatre or lecture
room of that establishment, a course of popular hoar uc-
Iron is given in Political Economy, in Geometry and
Mechanical Philosaphy applied to the Arts, and in Che-
mistry applied to the Manufactures.
It is enough in praise of the manner in rshich these
courses of lectures are conducted, to state, that the first
is given by M. Say, one of the first political economists
of Enrope; the second by M. C. Dupin, the author of
the Voyues en Grande Bretagne; arid the third -by M.
Clement, a well known practical chemist. M. Dubin,
whose publications we are always ready to welcome
with pleasure, and Whose activity of mind is such that
he seldom allows the public long to forget him, has
just published his introductory discourse to this year's
prelect ions. Like all the other productions of the same
author, this little work is distinguished by extent of
information, elegance of diction, and liberality of views.
M. Dupin is calculated to be a great benefactor to his
countrymen, by introducing among them a knowledge
of those mechanical arts in which we are their supei irms
—by explaining to them the causes of our superior ity—
by boldly informing tl.sm of the instances in which they
must yield the palm to their neighbours—by converting
their feelings of narrow jealousy into a sentiment of gene-
rous tivalship—in short,. lily liberalizing as well as in-
structing their minds, with regard to the-scientific pro-
gress and mechanical improvements of otter nations.
M. Dupin reasons strongly in favour of instructing the
industrious portion of society, and enforces his argu-
ments by a reference to the state of knowledge among
English and Scotch mechanics, and the advantages de-
rived from it in the improvement of the arts. " I will
tell tliosemen," says he, " who seenothing but mere ma-
chines in the laborious classes, that I know a machine
more powerful than that of Watt—more ingenious than
that of Atkwright, and greatly More susceptible of im-
provement. The %%hole universe does not contain
twenty thousand of Watt's machines, nor ten thousand
of those of Alkwiight ; but the kind of machine to
which I allude is multiplied on the face of the globe a
thousaud. millions of times. The steam-engines of the
whole world do not represent a force greater than that
of four hundred thousand horses; and I know one
which represents the force of one hundred millions of
horses! What, then, is this machine? Must I mention
it in the degrading language of some persons?—lt is
man." We shall not enter farther into this ingenious
and liberal paper than by citing the follon ing passage,
which must have been heard with some dissatisfaction
in the amphitheatre of the Conservatoire, and must be
read with proportional pleasure by the English public:
" In abtfsing England, we have sometimes heard it
affirmed that she gained her victories by her treasures,
which subsidized nations against us, rather than by the
valour of her own defenders. But, in the first place,
this is to avow-that gold is even military force ; and
how did England acquire this gold'? Did she draw it
from her mines? No; she has no mines which produce
I gold. Did she extort it from conquered nations in her
transmarine possessions? Never did India or America,
by their tributes or spoils, enrich the public treasury of
Great. Britain. What, then, in all times has been the
source of her riches? The industry of her people, and
the labour which b its element. We must admit that
14,000,000 of English and Scotch possess greater in-
dustry,and produce more commodities, than 50,000,000
or 40,000,000 of the nations of the continent. This is
the reason why 14,000,000 of Scotch and English have
been able to struggle with advantage during peace and
war against moranumerous adversaries. Far from us
be those vain declamations of writers and orators, who
sacrifice truth to popularity in our assemblies, our
saloons, and our wOrkshops—whci: tell us perpetually
of our superiority—who perpetually ring in our ears,
that we are the first people on earth. Doubtless, we
have everything requisite to become so; but at the.
augment,
far from being in the first rank, Ifear
•trt
afar, far distanced by England. England has