extremes, thus failed to protect them against one another, it was active in regulating their private lives and labors. Religion was dictated to the extent that Protestants were imprisoned, sent to the galleys, or whipped, and their ministers hanged. The quantity of salt (on which there was a heavy tax) to be consumed by each person was prescribed; as were also the modes of its use. Industry of every kind was supervised. Certain crops were prohibited; and vines grown on soils considered unfit were destroyed. The wheat that might be bought at market was limited to two bushels; and sales took place in presence of dragoons. Manufacturers were regulated in their processes and products to the extent that there was destruction of improved appliances and of goods not made according to law, as well as penalties upon inventors. Regulations succeeded one another so rapidly that amid their multiplicity government agents found it difficult to carry them out; and with the increasing official orders came increasing swarms of public functionaries. Turning now to England at the same period, we see that along with progress toward the industrial type of political structure, carried to the extent that the House of Commons had become the predominant power, there had gone on a progress toward the accompanying social system. Though the subjection of the individual to the state was considerably greater than now, it was far less than in France. His private rights were not sacrificed in the same unscrupulous way; and he was not in danger of a lettre de cachet. Though justice was very imperfectly administered, still it was not administered so wretchedly; there was a fair amount of personal security, and aggressions on property were kept within bounds. The disabilities of Protestant dissenters were diminished early in the century; and, later on, those of Catholics. Considerable freedom of the press was acquired, showing itself in the discussion of political questions as well as in the publication of parliamentary debates; and, about the same time, there came free speech in public meetings. While thus the state aggressed upon the individual less and protected him more, it interfered to a smaller extent with his daily transactions. Though there was much regulation of commerce and industry, yet it was pushed to no such extreme as that which in France subjected agriculturists, manufacturers, and merchants, to an army of officials who directed their acts at every turn. In brief, the contrast between our state and that of France was such as to excite the surprise and admiration of various French writers of the time, from whom Mr. Buckle quotes numerous passages showing this.
Most significant of all, however, are the changes in England itself, first retrogressive and then progressive, that occurred during the war period which extended from 1775 to 1815, and during the' subsequent period of peace. At the end of the last century and the beginning of (his, reversion toward ownership of the individual by the society had gone a long way. "To statesmen, the state, as a unit, was all in all,
