LAIRD. 698 LAISSEZ-FAIRE. siont-r he concluded a treatj- with the Indians of the nortluvest by which they gave up to the Government about 75,000 square miles of terri- tory. LAIRD, lard, Joh. (1805-74). An English ship-builder, l)orn in Greenock, Scotland. He is said to have been the lirst builder of iron steam- ships, and for a long time was the head of the firm of John Laiid iS: Sons, iron ship-builders and engineers at Birkenhead, near Liverpool. Among the vessels built by his firm were the* John h'andolph, said to have been the first iron vessel used in .merican waters, the Nemesis, the first iron vessel equipped with guns, and the famous tonfederate vessel Alubiima. He re- tired from the active management of the busi- ness in 18G1, after which time the firm became known as Laird Bros. From 1801 until his death he w'as a member of Parliament. LAIRESSE, la'res', G£bard de (1041-1711). A Flemish historical painter and etcher. He was born at Li&ge, and under the direttion of his father received a liberal education in literature and art. He was also a pupil of Bartholet Flemael at Li&ge. At the age of fifteen he painted good portraits and historical subjects. From the traditional account it seems that he lived in great poverty at Utrecht and in the neighborhood, painting signs for a living, until summoned by a picture dealer to Amsterdam, where he spieedily became celcl)rated. He is said to have gained inspiration for painting by play- ing the violin. He painted with great facility, leaving above two hundred and fifty works. His style was influenced by Poussin and the antique, his art being essentially Flemish, and not realistic, like the Dutch. It was sumptuous and mannered in character. In 1000 his sight became impaired, but he continued his useful- ness by dictating his ideas on painting to his pupils and associates. They were collected by his son and published at Amsterdam, under the title Het f/root schilderhork (1707-12), which, translated into English, German, and French, became a manual for the art academies of the eighteenth eenturv. Lairesse died at Amsterdam, June 28. 1711. His largest works were decorations for houses in Amsterdam, and for Dutch castles. He was especially fond of m^-thological subjects, his re- ligious pictures being less impressive. Among his paintings at Amsterdam (Rijksmuseum) are a "Bacchanal," "Legitimate Power," "Revo- lution," "Venus, Mars, and Cupid;" in the Louvre are the "Institution of the Eucharist," "Cleopatra at Tarsus." and a "Dance of Chil- dren." The gallery at Cassel is also rich in his ■works. For the Cathedral of I.i&ge he painted a "Penitence of Saint Augustine" and "Baptism of Saint Augustine;" for the Church of Saint T^rsula. at Aixla-Chapelle, the "Martyrdom" of Saint Ursula. LAIS (Lat.. from Gk. Ao(s). The name of two Greek courtesans, celebrated for their beauty. (I) The elder, probably bom at Co- rinth, lived in the time of the Peloponnesian War. Her beauty was said to surpass that of any other woman of her time ; but her greed and eapriciousness were also notorious, and, when old, she grew nverfnnd of the wine-bottle. Her lovers included many famous men, amonsr them the philosopher Aristippus of Cyrene. (2) The younger was probably born in Sicily, and is said to have been brought to Athens when still a child. She sat as a model to the painter Apelles. Falling in love with a certain Thessalian, she accompanied him to Thcssaly, where, it is said, she was stoned to death by some jealous women. LAISSEZ-FAIRE, lA'su' filr (Fr.. let do), LAISSEZ-PASSER, l.i'sn'pa'sA'f Fr.. let goon). As originally used, the first of these phrases rep- resents a demand for freedom from onerous re- strictions in production, the .second for frwdom of exchange. Under the Mercantile System in- du.stry and commerce were subject to a mass of regulations which hampered the individual even in matters of trifling importance. A reaction in thought set in against this excessive regulation, culminating in the laissez-faire teachings of the Physiocrats (q.v.). The expression laissez-faire is said to have been employed before 1680 by Legendre, a merchant, in a reply to a question of Colbert concerning the needs of industry. The idea appears more definitely worked out in the writings of Boisguillebert (1712), and as early as 1735 the ilarquis dArgenson had declared that Laissez-faire should be the watcliword of every public power. "To govern better, it is necessary to govern less," he writes. The view did not become common until the latter half of the eighteenth century. The maxim laissez- faire et laisscz-passer appears to have been popu- larized by Gournay, to whom it was attributed until within recent years. The doctrine secured a wide following both in France and in other European countries. In England Adam Smith and the whole English classical school of political economy manifest its influence. The French classical economists were likewise champions of laissez-faire: and numer- ous followers appeared in Germany. In the latter half of the nineteenth century the doctrine of laissez-faire lost ground, however. The Ger- man school of economics, which emphasized the importance of the economic functions of govern- ment, seemed for a time to have completely over- thrown the older doctrine. A reaction has. how- ever, set in which promises to restore to favor a modified form of the principle of laissez-faire. Adherents of the theory have never stood for the view that the individual should be left free to do as he pleases in other matters than trade and industry-. The doctrine is not one of an- archy, as it has been made out to be by its op- [lonents. Nor does it deny that government has certain economic functions to perform; although, indeed, an obscure follower of lientham. Sir .T. Bowning. attempted to show that political econ- omy looks for nothing from the State except security for industry. The adherents of the theory would, as a rule, agree that the State should perfomi those functions which cannot be adequately i)erformed by individuals; they would also leave to the State functions which primarily redouml to the public good. See Free Trade; Phy.siocr.ts; Politic.l Economy: In- DIVIDl ALISSr. Bini,ior,RAPiiT. For a brief summary of the history of the doctrine, see Palgrave. Dietionnry of Politic.nl Eronnmy (London, 1894-90). The most satisfactory history of the origin of the phrases is Onken, Die Marime Laissez-Faire et Laissez-Pnsser (Bern. 1 886). A brief account is given bv Higgs. The Phi/siocrats, ch. 3 (Lon- don. 1897)'.
