ncouragement, be
called forth; but the reunion of talents, such as are necessary for the
latter, is so certainly obtainable, that it, at all times, may be procured
at will, after it has once been possessed.

---
{209} In 1790 the French laid down the law of patents, on the English
plan, and rather, in some respects, improved; but the people never
understood it. The lawyers never understood it; and, even before the
anarchy came on, it was evident it would never produce any very great
effect, for want of proper administration.
-=-

[end of page #272]

Security, to reap the fruits of improvements, is all that is wanted, and
this the law of patents, as applied and enforced in England, affords in
a very superior degree. Although, by the communication everywhere,
the ground-work of every art whatever is now no longer confinable to
any one nation, though the contrary is the case, and that the
knowledge necessary circulates freely, and is extended by a regular
sort of system, in periodical publications of various descriptions, yet
the manner of turning that knowledge to advantage does not, by any
means, seem equally easy to communicate.

The legislature of the United States of America has, indeed, in this
case, done full justice to the encouragement of arts and to inventions;
but circumstances, as has been already said, make other objects more
advantageous for the employment of labour and skill in that country.
For these reasons, therefore, we may look forward with some
confidence, to the flourishing of arts and manufactures, for a long
term of years, if the same attention that has been paid to their
encouragement still continues; but neither this advantage alone, nor all
the advantages united, that have been enumerated, will be sufficient to
preserve our superiority, if those, who regulate the affairs of the
country, do not favour them.

It is in consequence of great pains and care, that manufactures have
flourished in this country, and they cannot be preserved without a
continuation of the same care, although it is individual effort that
appears to be the principal cause. Thus, the travellers, on a well-made
highway, proceed with rapidity and ease, at their individual expense,
and by their individual energy; but, if the road is not kept in repair,
their progress must be impeded, and their efforts will cease to produce
the same effect, for they cannot individually repair the road.

Such appear to be the peculiar circu