next in succession to the claims of the state are the church and
the poor.

The Continental wars at the close of the eighteenth and the
commencement of the nineteenth century had some effect upon the
system of tillage; they materially enhanced the price of
agricultural produce--rents were raised, and the national debt was
contracted, which remains a burden on the nation.

The most important change, however, arose from scientific and
mechanical discoveries--the application of heat to the production
of motive power. As long as water, which is a non-exhaustive source
of motion, was used, the people were scattered over the land; or if
segregation took place, it was in the neighborhood of running
streams. The application of steam to the propulsion of machinery,
and the discovery of engines capable of competing with the human
hand, led to the substitution of machine-made fabrics for clothing,
in place of homespun articles of domestic manufacture. This led to
the employment of farm-laborers in procuring coals, to the removal
of many from the rural into the urban districts, to the destruction
of the principal employment of the family during the winter
evenings, and consequently effected a great revolution in the
social system. Many small freeholds were sold, the owners thinking
they could more rapidly acquire wealth by using the money
representing their occupancy, in trade. Thus the large estates
became larger, and the smaller ones were absorbed, while the
appearance of greater wealth from exchanging subterranean
substances for money, or its representative, gave rise to
ostentatious display. The rural population gradually diminished,
while the civic population increased. The effect upon the system of