Water, air, earth, and fire, elements or not, were not the less useful to man....

Such errors as this are of no importance.

They do not lead to revolutions, nor do they cause mental uneasiness; above all, they clash with no interests, and might, therefore, without inconvenience, last for millions of years.
The physical world progresses as though they did not exist.

But can it be thus with errors which affect the moral world?
Can it be conceived that a system of government absolutely false, consequently injurious, could be followed for many centuries, and among many nations, with the general consent of well-informed men?
Can it be explained how such a system could be connected with the constantly increasing prosperity of these nations?
Mr.Say confesses that the argument which he combats is calculated to make a profound impression.

Most certainly it is; and this impression remains; for Mr.Say has rather increased than diminished it." Let us hear Mr.de Saint Chamans.
"It has been only towards the middle of the last, the eighteenth century, when every subject and every principle have without exception been given up to the discussion of book-makers, that these furnishers of _speculative_ ideas, applied to every thing and applicable to nothing, have begun to write upon the subject of political economy.