18. The Wealth of Knowledge
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nstitutions and culture first; money next; but from the beginning
and increasingly, the payoff was to knowledge.
The first move to acquire the "secrets" of the new British technolo
gies was to send out explorers—trained agents to observe, report, and
hire away skilled artisans. Thus in 1718-20, at the instigation of a
Scottish expatriate, John Law, France launched a systematic pursuit of
British technicians: clock- and watchmakers, woolen workers, metal
lurgists, glassmakers, shipbuilders—some two or three hundred people.
This campaign so troubled the British that they passed a law prohibit
ing the emigration of certain skilled craftsmen, the first of a series of
such measures covering more than a century and a widening array of
trades.^1
This legislation, however, did not constitute an hermetic barrier. In
a world of high protectionism, not everyone was alert as yet to the po
tential of international competition. Take metalmaking skills—a special
treasure because of their tie to armament and machinery. (People will
kill to be able to kill better.). In 1764-65, the French monarchy dis
patched Gabriel-Jean Jars to visit mining and metallurgical installa
tions in England. So insensible were the British to the value of such
intelligence that he was well received at foundries and forges in