Sentinel of the valley. [volume] (Woodstock, Va) 1841-1848, 1844-03-21

combination Of well-established princi.
pies. are correctly Observation-Disclosures
yer dlsagreeable the name or the thing
may be to the Senator philosophical
theories. And, Notwithstanding the con-
tempt Ia which he seems to hold these
theories. let me tell him that we are In
Idebted to them for all the advances that
have been made in modern times in
those branches of useful knowledge
which have eontribntcsl. and are ret des-
tined to contribute SO largely to the hap
piness of the human race. And here,
sir. must take leave to state-What the
Senator had forgotten, or found it con
venient to omii-that one OF the most
successful Of the attempts TO apply the.
intluctive process Of reasoning to the
practical affairs of life, was made by a
distinguished philosopher of Scotland a.
bout enc hundred and fifty years after
the time Of Lord Bacon. who, in a york
which is destined to live as long as the
.,Nouum Orgnnsun' itself, established ups
on the immutable foundation of expert
mental induction, his theory Of the
Wealth Of Nations And now venture
to affirm. that aIthougb,in the sixty years
that have elapsed since the time Of Adj
am Smith, numerous philosophers. not
only III England, but ia the u. States
and in all the commercial nations in Eu-
rope, have given to the world the result
Of their labors and researches on a guess
#tion so vitality affecting the rights and
interests of mankind, not one is TO be
Hfound-except, perhaps, the authors Of a
few contemporary pamphlets that fell dead
from the press who has not confirmed,
with slight and immaterial notifications,
the great principles Of political economy
laid down in the Wealth Of Nations
Permit me, sir, to present to the Sem
ate few of those simple and almost self
evident principles drawn from the COM
mon experience Of mankind in their dali
~ pursuits, from this philosopher grad
ually assembled to the higher and less OBJ
.vious doctrines of his beautiful and com
prehensive system Of promoting the de-
velopment Of nasional wealth.
The fundamental principle of this the
DRY is, that labor is at once the Only
source ard the true measure Of all those
values hicllconstitute individual or ma
tional wealth. This, sir, is a great truth
obvious, in limited sphere, to the COM
mon sense of mankind; but which had
never before received so extended an ap
plication, or given rise to such important
results. And ! thank God that it is so;
for have always regarded the sentence
by which he doomed fallen man to eat
bread by the sweat of his brow, as in
fact a mercy, though pronounced in
wrath. Labor. then, is the source and
the measure of wealth. This trlth tho
roughly realised in all its bearings, shows
the impotence and folly Of all those acts
ofiegerdeirain and contrivances Of iegis-
lation. by which mankind have been de-
'lpded. and oppressed, and impoverished,
from tie days 81 The alchemists who pro-
posed TO convert all metals into gold. to
1 those of the restrictionists, who now, and
here, sir, gravely propose to fetter the
/ arm Of tabor, in order to render it more
productive!
And | could not but be struck with i
lat the time, as singular coincidence,
that, in juxtaposition to his commenda-
Ition Of Lord Bacon's system Of reason
ing. The Senator should have laid it down
las his own theory, that the true mode Of
I relieving the poor was not BY The home
II " and common sense uracfice of redu.