mith[33] argues that, although the capitalist is acuter that the
country-gentleman, his acuteness is chiefly displayed by knowing his own
interests better. Those interests, he thinks, do not coincide so much as
the interests of the country-gentleman with the general interests of the
country. Consequently the country-gentleman, though less intelligent,
is more likely to favour a national and liberal policy. The merchant, in
fact, was not a free-trader because he had read Adam Smith or
consciously adopted Smith's principles, but because or in so far as
particular restrictions interfered with him. Arthur Young complains
bitterly of the manufacturers who supported the prohibition to export
English wool, and so protected their own class at the expense of
agriculturists. Wedgwood, though a good liberal and a supporter of
Pitt's French treaty in 1786, joined in protesting against the proposal
for free-trade with Ireland. The Irish, he thought, might rival his
potteries. Thus, though as a matter of fact the growing class of
manufacturers and merchants were inclined in the main to liberal
principles, it was less from adhesion to any general doctrine than from
the fact that the existing restrictions and prejudices generally
conflicted with their plain interests.

Another characteristic is remarkable. Though the growth of manufactures
and commerce meant the growth of great towns, it did not mean the growth
of municipal institutions. On the contrary, as I shall presently have to
notice, the municipalities were sinking to their lowest ebb.
Manufactures, in the first instance, spread along the streams into
country districts: and to the great manufacturer, working for his own
hand, his neighbours were competitors as much as allies. The great
towns, however, which were growing up, showed the general tendencies of
the class. They were centres not only of manufacturing but of
intellectual progress. The population of Birmingham, containing the
famous Soho works of Boulton and Watt, had increased between 1740 and
1780 from 24,000 to 74,000 inhabitants. Watt's partner Boulton started
the 'Lunar Society' at Birmingham.[34] Its most prominent member was
Erasmus Darwin, famous then for poetry which is chiefly remembered by
the parody in the _Anti-Jacobin_; and now more famous as the advocate of
a theory of evolution eclipsed by the teaching of his more famous
grandson, and, in any case, a man of remarkable intellectual power.
Among those who j