Page:Miscellaneous Papers on Mechanical Subjects.djvu/61

Rh mechanical improvements and the science of chemistry, together with the greater skill of our modern agriculturists, the culture of the land throughout Great Britain must more and more approximate to that of a garden.

We have seen the effect of the repeal of the duties on glass and bricks, in the improved appearance and reduced cost of residences, and a still further benefit may be expected to result from the removal of the remaining duty on timber. While, therefore, we congratulate ourselves on the great results which the mechanical arts have achieved, we have every reason to be thankful that our legislators have removed so many impediments to our progress. The glorious fruits of the legislative labours of that great and good man, Sir R. Peel, may give us hope that the time is not far distant when all remaining obstacles of this kind will be swept away. When that period has arrived, and when the industry of this country has been systematised upon sound principles of economical science, and in each department carried nearer to those standards which, in the case of mechanics, I have endeavoured to indicate, we shall have less reason than at present to doubt the stability of our manufacturing pre-eminence.