py Pa
Ls. oF
AN ESSAY
ON THE
PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION;
oR, A VIEW OF ITS PAST AND PRESENT EFFECTS
ON
HUMAN HAPPINESS;
WITH
AN INQUIRY INYO "OUR PROSPECTS RESPECTING THE FUTURE REMOVAL OR MITIGATION OF THE EVILS WHICH IT OCCASIONS.
BY Tue Rey. T. R. MALTHUS, A.M. F.R.S.
LATE FELLOW OF JESUS COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE, AND PROFESSOR OF HISTORY AND POLITICAL ECONOMY IN THE EAST-INDIA COLLEGE, HERTFORDSHIRE.
oa SIXTH EDITION. IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. II.
LONDON : JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET.
MDCCCXXVI.
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CONTENTS
THE SECOND VOLUME.
BOOK IIL.
OF THE DIFFERENT SYSTEMS OR EXPEDIENTS WHICH HAVE BEEN PROPOSED OR HAVE PREVAILED IN SOCIETY, AS THEY AFFECT THE EVILS ARISING FROM THE PRIN- CIPLE OF POPULATION.
CuHap. Page I. Of Systems of Equality. Wallace, Condorcet. 1 II. Of Systems of Equality. Godwin... . . . .18 III. Of Systems of Equality Sia i Sees.
TV.-Of Emigration.” dutaret at wg artto dS d ig: (2 | V. Of Poor-Laws. . . wt ae aot Oe aan’ aha Coe VI. Of Poor-Laws (eabidteaeete eee ar an area oe VII. Of Poor-Laws (continued), . . . . . . 96 VIII. Of the Agricultural System. © 2. °. 1 118 IX. Of the Commercial System. aes Ane
X. Of Systems of Agriculture ‘aid Gamers: com- Baned:. * sais. tae SOR ars ahr, ot 2S
XI. Of Corn-Laws. Binlutsee upon Exportation. 162 XII. Of Corn-Laws. Restrictions upon Importation. 185 XIII. Of i increasing Wealth, as it affects the Condition
ofithe:Poor, . haere SPL RT Oo ah ary XIV. General Observations, ... . . . . . . 229
lv CONTENTS.
BOOK IV.
OF OUR FUTURE PROSPECTS RESPECTING THE REMOVAL OR MITIGATION OF THE EVILS ARISING FROM THE PRIN-
CIPLE OF POPULATION.
Cuap. I. Of moral Restraint, and our iy eee Be to practise this Virtue. : II. Of the Effects which would mefult' to Sockely from the Prevalence of Moral Restraint.
III. Of the only effectual Mode of improving the
Condition of the Poor. . IV. Objections to this Mode att uA ae:
V. Of the Consequences of pursuing the opposite
Mode.
VI. Effects of the orowicdie MG; the aed eat
of Poverty on Civil Liberty. VII. Continuation of the same Subject. °.
VIII. Plan of the gradual Abolition of the Poor-Laws
proposed.
IX. Of the Modes of correcting os BAS
Opinions on Population. X. Of the Direction of our Charity.
XI. Different Plans of improving the Condition of
the Poor considered. : XII. Continuation of the same Subject. .
XIII. Of the Necessity of general i on this
Subject.
XIV. Of our rational Eaicieeens -daiedaens the
future Improvement of Society. .« Apperndixi. «> +> 5 Aloe
Page
311 3528
335 .
351 361
374 394
412
431 443
ESSAY, nC. Cae
BOOK III.
OF THE DIFFERENT SYSTEMS OR EXPEDIENTS WHICH HAVE BEEN PROPOSED OR HAVE PRE- VAILED IN SOCIETY, AS THEY AFFECT THE EVILS ARISING FROM THE PRINCIPLE OF POPU- LATION.
CHAP. I. Of Systems of Equality. Wallace. Condorcet.
To a person who views the past and present states of mankind in the light in which they have appeared in the two preceding books, it cannot but be a matter of astonishment, that all the writers on the perfectibility of man and of so- ciety, who have noticed the argument of. the principle of population, treat it always very lightly, and invariably represent the difficulties arising from it as at a great and almost immeasurable distance. Even Mr. Wallace, who thought the argument itself of so much weight as to de- VOL. Il. B
2 Systems of Equality. Bk. in.
stroy his whole system of equality, did not seem to be aware that any difficulty would arise from this cause, till the whole earth had been culti- vated like a garden, and was incapable of any further increase of produce. If this were really the case, and a beautiful system of equality were in other respects practicable, 1 cannot think that our ardour in the pursuit of such a scheme ought to be damped by the contemplation of so remote a difficulty. Anevent at such a distance might fairly be left to Providence. But the truth is, that, if the view of the argument given in this essay be just, the difficulty, so far from being re- mote, is imminent and immediate. At every pe- riod during the progress of cultivation, from the present moment to the time when the whole earth was become like a garden, the distress for want of food would be constantly pressing on all mankind, if they were equal. Though the produce of the earth would be increasing every year, population would have the power of increasing much faster, and this superior power must necessarily be checked by the periodical or constant action of moral restraint, vice, or misery.
M. Condorcet’s Esquisse d'un Tableau Historique des Progres de l Esprit Humain was written, it is said, under the pressure of that cruel proscription which terminated in his death. If he had no hopes of its being seen during his life, and of its interest- ing France in his favour, it is a singular instance of the attachment of a man to principles, which every day’s experience was, so fatally for himself,
Ch. i. Wallace. Condorcet. 3
contradicting. To see the human mind in one of the most enlightened nations of the world, de- based by such a fermentation of disgusting pas- sions, of fear, cruelty, malice, revenge, ambition, madness and folly, as would have disgraced the most savage nations in the most barbarous age, must have been such a tremendous shock to his ideas of the necessary and inevitable progress of the human mind, as nothing but the firmest con- viction of the truth of his principles, in spite of all appearances, could have withstood.
This posthumous publication is only a sketch of a much larger work, which he proposed should be executed. It necessarily wants therefore that de- tail and application, which can alone prove the truth of any theory. A few observations will be sufficient to shew how completely this theory is contradicted, when it is applied to the real, and not to an imaginary, state of things.
In the last division of the work, which treats of the future progress of man towards perfection, M. Condorcet says that, comparing in the different civilized nations of Europe the actual population with the extent of territory, and observing their cultivation, their industry, their divisions of la- bour, and their means of subsistence, we shall see that it would be impossible to preserve the same means of subsistence, and consequently the same population, without a number of individuals who have no other means of supplying their wants than their industry.
Having allowed the necessity of such a class of
B2
4 Systems of Equality. Bk. ii.
men, and adverting afterwards to the precarious revenue of those families that would depend so entirely on the life and health of their chief,* he says very justly, ‘‘ There exists then a necessary “* cause of inequality, of dependence, and even of ‘“‘ misery, which menaces without ceasing the most ‘“< numerous and active class of our societies.” The difficulty is just and well stated; but his mode of removing it will, I fear, be found totally ineffica- cious.
By the application of calculations to the proba- bilities of life, and the interest of money, he pro- poses that a fund should be established, which should assure to the old an assistance produced in part by their own former savings, and in part by the savings of individuals, who in making the same sacrifice die before they reap the benefit of it. The same or a similar fund should give as- sistance to women and children who lose their husbands and fathers ; and afford a capital to those who were of an age to found a new family, suffi- cient for the developement of their industry. These establishments, he observes, might be made in the name and under the protection of the society. Going still further, he says, that by the just ap- plication of calculations, means might be found of more completely preserving a state of equality, by preventing credit from being the exclusive privi-
* To save time and long quotations, I shall here give the sub- stance of some of M. Condorcet’s sentiments, and I hope that I shall not misrepresent them; but I refer the reader to the work itself, which will amuse, if it do not convince him.
Ch. i. Wallace. Condorcet. 5
lege of great fortunes, and yet giving it a basis equally solid, and by rendering the progress of in- dustry and the activity of commerce less depend- ent on great capitalists.
Such establishments and calculations may appear very promising upon paper; but when applied to real life, they will be found to be abso- lutely nugatory. M. Condorcet allows that a class of people which maintains itself entirely by in- dustry, is necessary to every state. Why does he allow this? No other reason can well be assigned, than because he conceives, that the labour ne- cessary to procure subsistence for an extended po- pulation will not be performed without the goad of necessity. If by establishments upon the plans that have been mentioned, this spur to industry be removed ; if the idle and negligent be placed upon the same footing with regard to their credit and the future support of their wives and families, as the active and industrious ; can we expect to see men exert that animated activity in bettering their condition, which now forms the master-spring of public prosperity? If an inquisition were to be established to examine the claims of each indivi- dual, and to determine whether he had or had not exerted himself to the utmost, and to grant or re- fuse assistance accordingly, this would be little else than a repetition upon a larger scale of the English poor-laws, and would be completely de- structive of the true principles of liberty and equality.
But independently of this great objection to
6 Systems of Equality. Bk. iii.
these establishments, and supposing for a moment that they would give no check to production, the greatest difficulty remains yet behind.
If every man were sure of a comfortable provi- sion for a family, almost every man would have one; and if the rising generation were free from the fear of poverty, population must increase with unusual rapidity. Of this M. Condorcet seems to be fully aware himself; and after having described further improvements, he says,
‘* But in this progress of industry and happi- “« ness, each generation will be called to more ex- ** tended enjoyments, and in consequence, by the ‘* physical constitution of the human frame, to an ‘** increase in the number of individuals. Must ‘* not a period then arrive when these laws, equally ** necessary, shall counteract each other; when, ** the increase of the number of men surpassing * their means of subsistence, the necessary result “must be, either a continual diminution of hap- *‘ piness and population—a movement truly re- “ trograde; or at least a kind of oscillation be- *“tween good and evil? In societies arrived at “this term, will not this oscillation be a con- ** stantly subsisting cause of periodical misery ? “« Will it not mark the limit, when all further me- ** lioration will beccme impossible, and point out “that term to the perfectibility of the human “‘ race, which it may reach in the course of ages, *‘ but can never pass?” He then adds,
«« There is no person who does not see how ‘very distant such a period is from us. But
Ch. i. Wallace. Condorcet. 7
«shall we ever arrive at it? It is equally im- possible to pronounce for or against the future “< realization of an event, which cannot take place ‘* but at an era when the human race will have “attained improvements, of which we can at *« present scarcely form a conception.”
M. Condorcet’s picture of what may be ex- pected to happen, when the number of men shall surpass their means of subsistence, is justly drawn. The oscillation which he describes will certainly take place, and will without doubt be a constantly subsisting cause of periodical misery. The only point in which I differ from M. Con- dorcet in this description is with regard to the period when it may be applied to the human race. M.Condorcet thinks that it cannot possibly be applicable but at an era extremely distant. If the proportion between the natural increase of population and of food in a limited territory, which was stated in the beginning of this essay, and which has received considerable confirmation from the poverty that has been found to prevail in every stage of human society, be in any degree near the truth; it will appear, on the contrary, that the period when the number of men surpasses their means of easy subsistence has long since arrived ; and that this necessary oscillation, this constantly subsisting cause of periodical misery, has existed in most countries ever since we have had any histories of mankind, and continues to exist at the present moment.
M. Condorcet, however, goes on to say, that
8 Systems of Equality. Bk. iil.
should the period which he conceives to be so distant, ever arrive, the human race, and the ad- vocates of the perfectibility of man, need not be alarmed at it. He then proceeds to remove the difficulty in a manner which I profess not to un- derstand. Having observed that the ridiculous prejudices of superstition would by that time have ceased to throw over morals a corrupt and de- grading austerity, he alludes either to a promis- cuous concubinage, which would prevent breeding, or to something else as unnatural. To remove the difficulty in this way will surely, in the opinion of most men, be to destroy that virtue and purity of manners, which the advocates of equality and of the perfectibility of man profess to be the end and object of their views.
The last question which M. Condorcet proposes for examination is the organic perfectibility of man. He observes, if the proofs which have been already given, and which, in their develope- ment, will receive greater force in the work itself, are sufficient to establish the indefinite perfecti- bility of man, upon the supposition of the same natural faculties and the same organization which he has at present; what will be the certainty, what the extent of our hopes, if this organization, these natural faculties themselves, be susceptible of melioration ?
From the improvement of medicine; from the use of more wholesome food and habitations ; from a manner of living, which will improve the strength of the body by exercise, without impairing it by
Ch. i. Wallace. Condorcet. 9
excess; from the destruction of the two great causes of the degradation of man, misery and too great riches; from the gradual removal of trans- missible and contagious disorders by the im- provement of physical knowledge, rendered more efficacious by the progress of reason and of social order; he infers, that though man will not abso- lutely become immortal, yet the duration between his birth and natural death will increase without ceasing, will have no assignable term, and may properly be expressed by the word indefinite. He then defines this word to mean either a con- stant approach to an unlimited extent without ever reaching it; or an increase in the immensity of ages to an extent greater than any assignable quantity.
But surely the application of this term in either of these senses to the duration of human life is in the highest degree unphilosophical, and _ totally unwarranted by any appearances in the laws of nature. Variations from different causes are es- sentially distinct from a regular and unretrograde increase. The average duration of human life will, toa certain degree, vary from healthy or unhealthy climates, from wholesome or unwholesome food, from virtuous or vicious: manners, and other causes; but it may be fairly doubted whether there has been really the smallest perceptible ad- vance in the natural duration of human life, since first we had any authentic history of man. The prejudices of all ages have indeed been directly contrary to this supposition; and though I would
10 Systems of Equality. Bk. iii.
_not lay much stress upon these prejudices, they must have some tendency to prove that there has been no marked advance in an opposite direction.
It may perhaps be said, that the world is yet so young, so completely in its infancy, that it ought not to be expected that any difference should appear so soon.
If this be the case, there is at once an end of all human science. The whole train of reasonings from effects to causes will be destroyed. We may shut our eyes to the book of nature, as it will no longer be of any use to read it. The wildest and most improbable conjectures may be advanced with as much certainty, as the most just and sublime theories, founded on careful and re- iterated experiments. We may return again to the old mode of philosophizing, and make facts bend to systems, instead of establishing systems upon facts. The grand and consistent theory of Newton will be placed upon the same footing as the wild and eccentric hypotheses of Descartes. In short, if the laws of nature be thus fickle and inconstant; if it can be affirmed, and be believed, that they will change, when for ages and ages they have appeared immutable; the human mind will no longer have any incitements to inquiry, but must remain sunk in inactive torpor, or amuse itself only in bewildering dreams and extravagant fancies.
The constancy of the laws of nature, and of effects and causes, is the foundation of all human knowledge; and if, without any previous observ-
Ch. i. Wallace. Condorcet. 11
able symptoms or indications ofa change, we can infer that a change will take place, we may as well make any assertion whatever; and think it as unreasonable to be contradicted, in affirming that the moon will come in contact with the earth to-morrow, as in saying that the sun will rise at its expected time.
With regard to the duration of human life, there does not appear to have existed, from the earliest ages of the world to the present moment, the smallest permanent symptom or indication of increasing prolongation. The observable effects of climate, habit, diet, and other causes, on length of life, have furnished the pretext for as- serting its indefinite extension; and the sandy foundation on which the argument rests is, that because the limit of human life is undefined, be- cause you cannot mark its precise term, and say so far exactly shall it go, and no farther, therefore its extent may increase for ever, and be properly termed indefinite or unlimited. But the fallacy and absurdity of this argument will sufficiently appear from a slight examination of what M. Condorcet calls the organic perfectibility or de- generation of the race of plants and animals, which, he says, may be regarded as one of the general laws of nature.
I have been told that it is amaxim among some of the improvers of cattle, that you may breed to any degree of nicety you please; and they found this maxim upon another, which is, that some of the offspring will possess the desirable qualities of
12 Systems of Equality. Bk. iii.
.the parents in a greater degree. In the famous Leicestershire breed of sheep, the object is to procure them with small heads and small legs. Proceeding upon these breeding maxims, it 1s evident that we might go on, till the heads and legs were evanescent quantities; but this is so palpable an absurdity, that we may be quite sure the premises are not just, and that there really is a limit, though we cannot see it, or say exactly where it is. Inthis case, the point of the greatest degree of improvement, or the smallest size of the head and legs, may be said to be undefined ;_ but this is very different from unlimited, or from in- definite, in M. Condorcet’s acceptation of the term. Though I may not be able in the present instance to mark the limit, at which further im- provement will stop, I can very easily mention a point, at which it will not arrive. I should not scruple to assert, that were the breeding to con- tinue for ever, the heads and legs of these sheep would never be so small as the head and legs of a rat.
It cannot be true therefore, that, among ani- mals, some of the offspring will possess the desi- rable qualities of the parents in a greater degree; or that animals are indefinitely perfectible.
The progress of a wild plant to a beautiful gar- den-flower is perhaps more marked and striking than any thing that takes place among animals; yet, even here, it would be the height of absur- dity to assert that the progress was unlimited or indefinite. One of the most obvious features of
Ch. i. Wallace. Condorcet. 13
the improvement is the increase of size. The flower has grown gradually larger by cultiva- tion. If the progress were really unlimited, it might be increased ad infinitum; but this is so eross an absurdity, that we may be quite sure that, among plants as well as among animals, there is a limit to improvement, though we do not exactly know where itis. Itis probable that the gardeners who contend for flower-prizes have often applied stronger dressing without success. At the same time it would be highly presump- tuous in any man to say, that he had seen the finest carnation or anemone that could ever be made to grow. He might, however, assert, without the smallest chance of being contradicted by a future fact, that no carnation or anemoné could ever, by cultivation, be increased to the size of a large cabbage ; and yet there are assignable quantities greater than a cabbage. No man can say that he has seen the largest ear of wheat, or the largest oak, that could ever grow; but he might easily, and with perfect certainty, name a point of mag- nitude at which they would not arrive. In all ‘these cases, therefore, a careful distinction should be made between an unlimited progress, and a progress where the limit is merely undefined.
It will be said, perhaps, that the reason why plants and animals cannot increase indefinitely in size is, that they would fall by their own weight. I answer, how do we know this but from experi- ence? from experience of the degree of strength, with which these bodies are formed. I know,
14 Systems of Equality. Bk. im.
that a carnation long before it reached the size of ‘a cabbage would not be supported by its stalk; but I only know this from my experience of the weakness and want of tenacity in the materials of a carnation-stalk. There might be substances of the same size that would support as large a head as a cabbage.
The reasons of the mortality of plants are at present perfectly unknown to us. No man can say why such a plant is annual, another biennial, and another endures for ages. The whole affair in all these cases, in plants, animals, and in the human race, is an affair of experience; and I only conclude, that man is mortal, because the invariable experience of all ages has proved the mortality of that organized substance, of which his visible body is made.
*«« What can we reason but from what we know ?”
Sound philosophy will not authorize me to alter this opinion of the mortality of man on earth, till it can be clearly proved that the human race has made, and is making, a decided progress to- wards an illimitable extent of life. And the chief reason why I adduce the two particular instances from animals and plants was to expose and illus- trate, if I could, the fallacy of that argument, which infers an unlimited progress merely because some partial improvement has taken place, and that the limit of this improvement cannot be pre- cisely ascertained.
The capacity of improvement in plants and
Ch. i. Wallace. Condorcet. 15
animals, to a certain degree, no person can possi- bly doubt. A clear and decided progress has al- ready been made; and yet I think it appears that it would be highly absurd to say, that this pro- gress has no limits. In human hfe, though there are great variations from different causes, it may be doubted whether, since the world began, any organic improvement whatever of the human frame can be clearly ascertained. The founda- tions, therefore, on which the arguments for the organic perfectibility of man rest are unusually weak, and can only be considered as mere con- jectures. It does not, however, by any means, seem impossible that, by an attention to breed, a certain degree of improvement similar to that among animals might take place among men. Whether intellect could be communicated may be a matter of doubt; but size, strength, beauty, complexion, and, perhaps, even longevity, are in a degree transmissible. The error does not lie in supposing a small degree of improvement possi- ble, but in not discriminating between a small improvement, the limit of which is undefined, and an improvement really unlimited. As the human race, however, could not be improved in this way, without condemning all the bad speci- mens to celibacy, it is not probable that an atten- tion to breed should ever become general; in- deed I know of no well-directed attempts of this kind, except in the ancient family of the Bicker- staffs, who are said to have been very successful in whitening the skins and increasing the height
16 Systems of Equality. Bk. 11.
of their race by prudent marriages, particularly by that very judicious cross with Maud the milk- maid, by which some capital defects in the con- stitutions of the family were corrected.
It will not be necessary, I think, in order more completely to shew the improbability of any ap- proach in man towards immortality on earth, to urge the very great additional weight, that an increase in the duration of life would give to the argument of population.
M. Condorcet’s book may be considered not only asa sketch of the opinions of a celebrated individual, but of many of the literary. men in France at the beginning of the revolution. As such, though merely a sketch, it seems worthy of attention.
Many, I doubt not, will think that the attempt- ing gravely to controvert so absurd a paradox, as the immortality of man on earth, or, indeed, even the perfectibility of man and society, is a waste of time and words; and that such un- founded conjectures are best answered by neglect. I profess, however, to be of a different opinion. When paradoxes of this kind are advanced by in- genious and able men, neglect has no tendency to convince them of their mistakes. | Priding themselves on what they conceive to be a mark of the reach and size of their own understandings, of the extent and comprehensiveness of their views, they will look upon this neglect merely as an indication of poverty and narrowness in the mental exertions of their contemporaries, and only
Ch. 1. Wallace. Condorcet. 17
think that the world is not yet prepared to receive their sublime truths.
On the contrary, a candid investigation of these subjects, accompanied with a perfect readiness to adopt any theory warranted by sound philoso- phy, may have a tendency to convince them that, in forming improbable and unfounded hypotheses, so far from enlarging the bounds of human sci- ence, they are contracting it; so far from pro- moting the improvement of the human mind, they are obstructing it: they are throwing us back again almost into the infancy of knowledge; and weakening the foundations of that mode of philosophizing, under the auspices of which sci- ence has of late made such rapid advances. The late rage for wide and unrestrained speculation seems to have been a kind of mental intoxication, arising perhaps from the great and unexpected dis- coveries, which had been made in various branches of science. To men elate and giddy with such successes, every thing appeared to be within the grasp of human powers; and under this illusion they confounded subjects where no real progress could be proved, with those where the progress had been marked, certain and acknowledged. Could they be persuaded to sober themselves with a little severe and chastised thinking, they would see that the cause of truth and of sound philoso- phy cannot but suffer, by substituting wild flights and unsupported assertions for patient investiga- tion and well-supported proofs.
VOL. Il. Cc
me 3)
CHAP. II. Of Systems of Equality. Godwin.
Iw reading Mr. Godwin’s ingenious work on po- litical justice, itis impossible not to be struck with the spirit and energy of his style, the force and precision of some of his reasonings, the ar- dent tone of his thoughts, and particularly with that impressive earnestness of manner which gives an air of truth to the whole. At the same time it must be confessed that he has not proceeded in his inquiries with the caution that sound philoso- phy requires; his conclusions are often unwar- ranted by his premises; he fails sometimes in re- moving objections which he himself brings for- ward; he relies too much on general and abstract propositions, which will not admit of application ; and his conjectures certainly far outstrip the mo- desty of nature. The system of equality, which Mr. Godwin proposes, is, on a first view of it, the most beautiful and engaging of any that has yet appeared. A melioration of society to be pro- duced merely by reason and conviction gives more promise of permanence than any change effected and maintained by force. The unlimited exercise of private judgment is a doctrine grand and ‘cap- tivating, and has a vast superiority over those
Ch. ii. Of Systems of Equality. Godwin. 19
systems, where every individual is in a manner the slave of the public. The substitution of be- nevolence, as the master-spring and moving prin- ciple of society, instead of self-love, appears at first sight to be a consummation devoutly to be wished. In short, it is impossible to contemplate the whole of this fair picture, without emotions of delight and admiration, accompanied with an ar- dent longing for the period of its accomplishment. But alas! that moment can never arrive. The whole is little better than a dream—a phantom of the imagination. These “ gorgeous palaces” of happiness and immortality, these ‘solemn temples” of truth and virtue, will dissolve, ‘ like the base- “‘ less fabric of a vision,” when we awaken to real life, and contemplate the genuine situation of man on earth.
Mr. Godwin, at the conclusion of the third chapter of his eighth book, speaking of popula- tion, says, “‘ there is a principle in human society, “ by which population is perpetually kept down ** to the level of the means of subsistence. Thus ‘*among the wandering tribes of America and ** Asia we never find, through the lapse of ages, “ that population has so increased, as to render ‘necessary the cultivation of the earth.”* This principle, which Mr. Godwin thus mentions as some mysterious and occult cause, and which he does not attempt to investigate, has appeared to be the law of necessity—misery, and the fear of misery. |
* P. 460, 8vo. 2d edit. c2
20 Of Systems of Equality. Godwin. Bk. iii.
. The great error under which Mr. Godwin la- bours throughout his whole work is, the attri- buting of almost all the vices and misery that pre- vail in civil society to human institutions. Political regulations and the established administration of ‘property are, with him, the fruitful sources of all evil, the hotbeds of all the crimes that degrade mankind. Were this really a true state of the -ease, it would not seem an absolutely hopeless task, to remove evil completely from the world; and reason seems to be the proper and adequate instrument for effecting so great a purpose. But the truth is, that though human institutions ap- pear to be, and indeed often are, the obvious and ‘obtrusive causes of much mischief to society, they are, in reality, light and superficial, in comparison with those deeper-seated causes of evil, which re- sult from the laws of nature and the passions of mankind.
In a chapter on the benefits attendant upon a system of equality, Mr. Godwin says, ‘‘ The spirit ‘of oppression, the spirit of servility, and the ‘« spirit of fraud, these are the immediate growth ‘‘ of the established administration of property. «« They are alike hostile to intellectual improve- “ment... The other vices of envy, malice and re- “‘ venge, are their inseparable companions. Ina ‘< state of society where men lived in the midst of ‘* plenty, and where all shared alike the bounties * of nature, these sentiments would inevitably ex- ‘‘ pire. The narrow principle of selfishness would ‘‘vanish. No man being obliged to guard his
Ch. ii. Of Systems of Equality. Godwin. 21
‘little store, or provide with anxiety and pain << for his restless wants, each would lose his indi- «‘ vidual existence in the thought of the general *«cood. No man would be an enemy to his “‘ neighbours, for they would have no subject of *‘ contention; and of consequence philanthropy ** would resume the empire which reason assigns “her. Mind would be delivered from her perpe- ‘* tual anxiety about corporal support; and be free ‘« to expatiate in the field of thought which is con- ‘“‘ genial to her. Each would assist the inquiries “< of all.”*
This would indeed be ahappy state. But that it is merely an imaginary picture with scarcely a feature near the truth, the reader, I am afraid, is already too well convinced.
. Man cannot live in the midst of plenty. All cannot share alike the bounties of nature. Were there no established administration of property, every man would be obliged to guard with force his little store. Selfishness would be triumphant. The subjects of contention would be perpetual. Every individual’ would be under a constant anxiety about corporal support, and not a single intellect would be left free to Bapaiate in the field of thought.
How little Mr. Godwin has turned his attention to the real state of human society, will sufficiently appear from the manner in which he endeavours to remove the difficulty of a superabundant popu-
* Political Justice, b. viii. c. iii. p. 458.
22 Of Systems of Equality. Godwin. — Bk. iii.
lation. He says, ‘“‘ The obvious answer to this ob- ** jection is, that to reason thus is to foresee dif- “ficulties at a great distance. Three-fourths of “‘ the habitable globe are now uncultivated. The ** parts already cultivated are capable of immea- “ surable improvement. Myriads of centuries of “« still increasing population may pass away, and ‘‘ the earth be still found sufficient for the subsist- ‘* ence of its inhabitants.”*
I have already pointed out the error of sup- posing that no distress or difficulty would arise from a redundant population, before the earth ab- solutely refused to produce any more. Butletus imagine for a moment Mr. Godwin’s system of equality realized, and see how soon this difficulty might be expected to press, under so perfect a form of society. A theory that will not admit of application cannot possibly be just.
Let us suppose all the causes of vice and misery in this island removed. War and contention cease. Unwholesome trades and manufactories do not exist. Crowds no longer collect together in great and pestilent cities for purposes of court intrigue, of commerce, and of vicious gratification. Simple, healthy and rational amusements take place of drinking, gaming and debauchery. There are no towns sufficiently large to have any prejudicial effects on the human constitution. The greater part of the happy inhabitants of this terrestrial Paradise live in hamlets and farm-houses scattered
* Polit. Justice, b. viii, c. x. p. 510.
Ch. u. Of Systems of Equality. Godwin. 23
over the face of the country. All men are equal. The labours of luxury are at an end; and the ne- cessary labours of agriculture are shared amicably among all. The number of persons and the pro- duce of the island we suppose to be the same as at present. The spirit of benevolence, guided by impartial justice, will divide this produce among all the members of society according to their wants. Though it would be impossible that they should all have animal food every day, yet ve- getable food, with meat occasionally, would sa- tisfy the desires of a frugal people, and would be sufficient to preserve them in health, strength and spirits.
Mr. Godwin considers marriage as a fraud and a monopoly.* Let us suppose the commerce of the sexes established upon principles of the most perfect freedom. Mr. Godwin does not think him- self, that this freedom would lead to a promiscuous intercourse; and in this I perfectly agree with him. The love of variety is a vicious, corrupt and unna- tural taste, and could not prevail in any great degree in a simple and virtuous state of society. Each man would probably select for himself a partner, to whom he would adhere, as long as that adherence continued to be the choice of both par- ties. It would be of little consequence, according to Mr. Godwin, how many children a woman had, or to whom they belonged. Provisions and assist- ance would spontaneously flow from the quarter
* Polit. Justice, b. viii. c. viii. p. 498, et seq.
24 Of Systems of Equality. Godwin. Bk. iii.
in which they abounded to the quarter in which they were deficient.* And every man, according to his capacity, would be ready to furnish instruc- tion to the rising generation.
¥ cannot conceive a form of society so favourable upon the whole to population. The irremediable- ness to marriage, as it is at present constituted, undoubtedly deters many from entering into this state. Anunshackled intercourse on the contrary would be a most powerful incitement to early at- tachments; and as we are supposing no anxiety about the future support of children to exist, I do not conceive that there would be one woman in a hundred, of twenty-three years of age, without a family. .
With these extraordinary encouragements to population, and every cause of depopulation, as we have supposed, removed, the numbers would necessarily increase faster than in any society that has ever yet been known. I have before mentioned that the inhabitants of the back settle- ments of America appear to double their numbers in fifteen years. England is certainly a more healthy country than the back settlements of Ame- rica; and as we have supposed every house in the island to be airy and wholesome, and the encou- ragements to have a family greater even than in America, no probable reason can be assigned, why the population should not double itself in less, if possible, than fifteen years. But to be quite sure,
* Political Justice, b. viii. c. viii. p. 504.
Ch. ii. Of Systems of Equality. Godwin. 25
that we do not go beyond the truth, we will only suppose the period of doubling to be twenty-five years; a ratio of increase, which is slower than is known to have taken place throughout all the United States of America.
There can be little doubt that the equalization of property which we have supposed, added to the circumstance of the labour of the whole com- munity being directed chiefly to agriculture, would tend greatly to augment the produce of the country. But to answer the demands of a population in- creasing so rapidly, Mr. Godwin’s calculation of half an hour a day would certainly not be sufficient. It is probable that the half of every man’s time must be employed for this purpose. Yet with such or much greater exertions, a person who is" acquainted with the nature of the soil in this coun- try, and who reflects on the fertility of the lands already in cultivation, and the barrenness of those that are not cultivated, will be very much disposed to doubt, whether the whole average produce could possibly be doubled in twenty-five years from the present period. The only chance of success would be from the ploughing up of most of the grazing countries, and putting an end almost entirely to animal food.’ Yet this scheme would probably defeat itself. The soil of England will not produce much without dressing; and cattle seem to be necessary to make that species of ma- nure, which best suits the land.
Difficult however as it might be to double the average produce of the island in twenty-five years, let us suppose it effected. At the expiration of
26 Of Systems of Equality. Godwin. Bk. iii.
‘the first period therefore, the food, though almost entirely vegetable, would be sufficient to support in health the population increased from 11 to 22 millions.*
During the next period, where will the food be found, to satisfy the importunate demands of the increasing numbers? Where is the fresh land to turn up? Where is the dressing necessary to im- prove that whichis already in cultivation? There is no person with the smallest knowledge of land but would say that it was impossible that the average produce of the country could be increased during the second twenty-five years by a quantity equal to what it at present yields. Yet we will suppose this increase, however improbable, to take place. The exuberant strength of the argu- ment allows of almost any concession. Even with this concession, however, there would be 11 millions at the expiration of the second term un- provided for. A quantity equal to the frugal sup- port of 33 millions would be to be divided among 44 millions.
Alas! what becomes of the picture, where men lived in the midst of plenty, where no man was obliged to provide with anxiety and pain for his restless wants; where the narrow principle of selfishness did not exist; where the mind was de- livered from her perpetual anxiety about corporal support, and free to expatiate in the field of thought which is congenial to her? This beauti-
* The numbers here mentioned refer to the enumeration of 1800.
Ch. ii. Of Systems of Equality. Godwin. 27
ful fabric of the imagination vanishes at the severe touch of truth. The spirit of benevolence, che- rished and invigorated by plenty, is repressed by the chilling breath of want. The hateful passions that had vanished re-appear. The mighty law. of self-preservation expels all the softer and more exalted emotions of the soul. The temptations to evil are too strong for human nature to resist. The corn is plucked up before it is ripe, or se- creted in unfair proportions ; and the whole black train of vices that belong to falsehood are imme- diately generated. Provisions no longer flow in for the support of a mother with a large family. The children are sickly from insufficient food. The rosy flush of health gives place to the pallid cheek and hollow eye of misery. Benevolence, yet lingering in a few bosoms, makes some faint expiring struggles, till at length self-love resumes his wonted empire, and lords it triumphant over the world.
No human institutions here existed, to the per- verseness of which Mr. Godwin ascribes the ori- ginal sin of the worst men.* No opposition had been produced by them between public and pri- vate good. No monopoly had been created of those advantages which reason directs to be left in common. No man had been goaded to the breach of order by unjust laws. Benevolence had established her reign in all hearts. And yet in so short a period as fifty years, violence, op-
* Polit. Justice, b. viii. c. iii, p. 340.
28 Of Systems of Equality. Godwin. Bk. iii.
‘pression, falsehood, misery, every hateful vice and every form of distress, which degrade and sadden the present state of society, seem to have been generated by the most imperious circumstances, by laws inherent in the nature of man, and abso- lutely independent of all human regulations.
If we be not yet too well convinced of the reality of this melancholy picture, let us but look for a moment into the next period of twenty-five years, and we shall see that, according to the natural in- crease of population, 44 millions of human beings would be without the means of support; and at the conclusion of the first century, the population would have had the power of increasing to 176 millions, while the food was only sufficient for 55 millions, leaving 121 millions unprovided for: and yet all this time we are supposing the produce of the earth absolutely unlimited, and the yearly in- crease greater than the boldest speculator can imagine.
This is undoubtedly avery different view of the difficulty arising from the principle of population from that which Mr. Godwin gives, when he says, ‘“‘ Myriads of centuries of still increasing popula- “‘ tion may pass away, and the earth be still found ‘« sufficient for the subsistence of its inhabitants.”
I am sufficiently aware that the redundant mil- lions which I have mentioned could never have existed. It is a perfectly just observation of Mr. Godwin, that “there is a principle in human “ society by which population is perpetually kept ‘‘ down to the level of the means of subsistence.”
Ch. 1i. Of Systems of Equality. Godwin. 29
The sole question is, what is this principle? Is it some obscure and occult cause? Isit some mys- terious interference of Heaven, which at a certain period strikes the men with impotence, and the women with barrenness? Or is it a cause open to our researches, within our view; a cause which has constantly been observed to operate, though with varied force, in every state in which man has been placed? Is it not misery and the fear of misery, the necessary and inevitable results of the laws of nature in the present stage of man’s ex- istence, which human institutions, so far from ag- gravating, have tended considerably to mitigate, though they can never remove ?
It may be curious to observe, in the case that we have been supposing, how some of the princi- pal laws, which at present govern civilized society, would be successively dictated by the most im- perious necessity. As man, according to Mr. Godwin, is the creature of the impressions to which he is subject, the goadings of want could not continue long, before some violations of public or private stock would necessarily take place. As these violations increased in number and extent, the more active and comprehensive intellects of the society would soon perceive that, while the population was fast increasing, the yearly pro- duce of the country would shortly begin to di- minish. The urgency of the case would suggest the necessity of some immediate measures being taken for the general safety. Some kind of con- vention would be then called, and the dangerous
30 Of Systems of Equality. Godwin. Bk. 11.
. situation of the country stated in the strongest terms. It would be observed that while they lived in the midst of plenty, it was of little con- sequence who laboured the least, or who possessed the least, as every man was perfectly willing and ready to supply the wants of his neighbour. But that the question was no longer, whether one man should give to another that which he did not use himself; but whether he should give to his neigh- bour the food which was absolutely necessary to his own existence. It would be represented that the number of those who were in want very greatly © exceeded the number and means of those who should supply them; that these pressing wants, which from the state of the produce of the country could not all be gratified, had occasioned some flagrant violations of justice ; that these violations had already checked the increase of food, and would, if they were not by some means or other prevented, throw the whole community into con- fusion; that imperious necessity seemed to dic- tate that a yearly increase of produce should, if possible, be obtained at all events; that in order to effect this first great and indispensable purpose, it would be advisable to make a more complete division of land, and to secure every man’s property against violation by the most powerful sanctions. It might be urged perhaps by some objectors, that as the fertility of the land increased, and va- rious accidents occurred, the shares of some men might be much more than sufficient for their sup- port; and that when the reign of self-love was
Ch. i. Of Systems of Equality. Godwin. 31
once established, they would not distribute their surplus produce without some compensation in return. It would be observed in answer, that this was an inconvenience greatly to be lamented ; but that it was an evil which would bear no com- parison to the black train of distresses inevitably occasioned by the insecurity of property; that the quantity of food, which one man could consume, was necessarily limited by the narrow capacity of the human stomach; that it was certainly not probable that he should throw away the rest; and if he exchanged his surplus produce for the labour of others, this would be better than that these others should absolutely starve.
It seems highly probable therefore that an ad- ministration of property, not very different from that which prevails in civilized states at present, would be established as the best (though inade- quate) remedy for the evils which were pressing on the society.
The next subject which would come under dis- cussion, intimately connected with the preceding, is the commerce of the sexes. It would be urged by those who had turned their attention to the true cause of the difficulties under which the com- munity laboured, that while every man felt secure that all his children would be well provided for by general benevolence, the powers of the earth would be absolutely inadequate to produce food for the population which would ensue; that even if the whole attention and labour of the society were directed to this sole point, and if by the
*
32 Of Systems of Equality. Godwin. Bk. iii.
most perfect security of property, and every other
‘encouragement that could be thought of, the greatest possible increase of produce were yearly obtained, yet still the increase of food would by no means keep pace with the much more rapid increase of population; that some check to popu- lation therefore was imperiously called for; that the most natural and obvious check seemed to be, to make every man provide for his own children ; that this would operate in some respect as a measure and a guide in the increase of population, as it might be expected that no man would bring beings into the world for whom he could not find the means of support; that, where this notwith- standing was the case, it seemed necessary for the example of others, that the disgrace and inconve- nience attending such a conduct should fall upon that individual, who had thus _inconsiderately plunged himself and his innocent children into want and misery.
The institution of marriage, or at least of some express or implied obligation on every man to support his own children, seems to be the natural result of these reasonings in a community under the difficulties that we have supposed.
The view of these difficulties presents us with a very natural reason, why the disgrace which attends a breach of chastity should be greater in a woman than in a man. It could not be ex- pected that women should have resources suffi- cient to support their own children. When there- fore a woman had lived with a man who had
Ch.ii. Of Systems.of Equality. Godwin. 33
entered into no compact to maintain her children, and aware of the inconveniences that he might bring upon himself, had deserted her, these chil- dren must necessarily fall upon the society for support, or starve. And to prevent the frequent recurrence of such an inconvenience, as it would be highly unjust to punish so natural a fault by personal restraint or infliction, the men might agree to punish it with disgrace. The offence is besides more obvious and conspicuous in the wo- man, and less liable to any mistake. The father of a child may not always be known; but the same uncertainty cannot easily exist with regard to the mother. Where the evidence of the offence was most complete, and the inconvenience to the society, at the same time, the greatest, there it was agreed that the largest share of blame should fall. The obligation on every man to support his children, the society would enforce by positive laws ; and the greater degree of inconvenience or labour, to which a family would necessarily sub- ject him, added to some portion of disgrace which every human being must incur who leads another into unhappiness, might be considered as a suffi- cient punishment for the man.
That a woman should at present be almost driven from society for an offence, which men commit nearly with impunity, seems undoubtedly to be a breach of natural justice. But the origin of the custom, as the most obvious and effectual method of preventing the frequent recurrence of a serious inconvenience to the community, ap-
VOL. TF. D
oil
x
34 Of Systems of Equality. Godwin. Bk. iii.
pears to be natural, though not perhaps perfectly justifiable. This origin is now lost in the new train of ideas that the custom has since generated. What at first might be dictated by state neces- sity is now supported by female delicacy; and operates with the greatest force on that part of the society, where, if the original intention of the cus- tom were preserved, there is the least real occa- sion for it.
When these two fundamental laws of society, the security of property, and the institution of marriage, were once established, inequality of conditions must necessarily follow. Those who were born after the division of property would come into a world already possessed. If their parents, from having too large a family, were unable to give them sufficient for their support, what could they do in a world where every thing was appropriated? We have seen the fatal effects that would result to society, if every man hada valid claim to an equal share of the produce of the earth. The members of a family, which was grown too large for the original division of land appropriated to it, could not then demand a part of the surplus produce of others as a debt of justice. It has appeared that from the inevitable laws of human nature some human beings will be exposed to want. These are the unhappy persons, who in the great lottery of life have drawn a blank. The number of these persons would soon exceed the ability of the surplus produce to supply. Mo- ral merit is a very difficult criterion, except in
Ch.ii. Of Systems of Equality. Godwin. 35
extreme cases. The owners of surplus produce would in general seek some more obvious mark of distinction; and it seems to be both natural and just, that, except upon particular occasions, their choice should fall upon those who were able, and professed themselves willing, to exert their strength in procuring a further surplus produce, which would at once benefit the community and enable the proprietors to afford assistance to greater numbers. All who were in want of food would be urged by necessity to offer their labour in exchange for this article so absolutely neces- sary to existence. The fund appropriated to the maintenance of labour would be the aggregate quantity of food possessed by the owners of land beyond their own consumption. When the de- mands upon this fund were great and numerous it would naturally be divided into very small shares. Labour would be ill paid. Men would offer to work for a bare subsistence; and the rearing of families would be checked by sickness and misery. On the contrary, when this fund was increasing fast; when it was great in propor- tion to the number of claimants, it would be divided in much larger shares. No man would exchange his labour without receiving an ample quantity of food in return. Labourers would live in ease and comfort, and would consequently be able to rear a numerous and vigorous offspring. On the state of this fund, the happiness, or the degree of misery, prevailing among the lower D2
36 Of Systems of Equality. Godwin. Bk. iii.
classes of people in every known state at present, chiefly depends; and on this happiness or degree of misery, depends principally the increase, sta- tionariness, or decrease of population.
And thus it appears that a society constituted according to the most beautiful form that imagi- nation can conceive, with benovolence for its moving principle instead of self-love, and with every evil disposition in all its members corrected by reason, not force, would, from the inevitable laws of nature, and not from any fault in human institutions, degenerate in a very short period into a society constructed upon a plan not essen- tially different from that which prevails in every known state at present; a society, divided into a class of proprietors and a class of labourers, and with self-love for the main-spring of the great ma- chine.
In the supposition which I have made, I have undoubtedly taken the increase of population smaller, and the increase of produce greater, than they really would be. No reason can be assigned why, under the circumstances supposed, popula- tion should not increase faster than in any known instance. If then we were to take the period of doubling at fifteen years instead of twenty-five years, and reflect upon the labour necessary to double the produce in so short a time, even if we allow it possible ; we may venture to pronounce with certainty, that, if Mr. Godwin’s system of society were established, instead of myriads of
Ch.ii. Of Systems of Equality. Godwin. 37
centuries, not thirty years could elapse before its utter destruction from the simple principle of population.
I have taken no notice of emigration in this place, for obvious reasons. If such societies were instituted in other parts of Europe, these countries would be under the same difficulties with regard -to population, and could admit no fresh members into their bosoms. If this beautiful society were confined to our island, it must have degenerated strangely from its original purity, and administer but a very small portion of the happiness it pro- posed, before any of its members would voluntarily consent to leave it, and live under such govern- ments as at present exist in Europe, or submit to the extreme hardships of first settlers in new regions.
CHAP. III. Of Systems of Equality (continued ).
Ir was suggested to me some years since by persons for whose judgment I have a high respect, that it might be advisable, ina new edition, to throw out the matter relative to systems of equa- lity, to Wallace, Condorcet and Godwin, as having in a considerable degree lost its interest, and as not being strictly connected with the main subject of the Essay, which is an explanation and illus- ‘tration of the theory of population. But inde- “pendently of its being natural for me to have some little partiality for that part of the work which led to those inquiries on which the main subject rests ; I really think that there should be somewhere on record an answer to systems of equality founded on the principle of population; and perhaps such an answer is as appropriately placed, and is likely to have as much effect, among the illustrations and applications of the principle of population, as in any other situation to which it could be assigned. The appearances in all human societies, parti- cularly in all those which are the furthest advanced in civilization and improvement, will ever be such, as to inspire superficial observers with a belief that a prodigious change for the better might be effected by the introduction of a system of equality and of common property. They see abundance
Ch. iii. Of Systems of Equality, continued. 39
in some quarters, and want in others; and the natural and obvious remedy seems to be an equal division of the produce. They see a prodigious quantity of human exertion wasted upon tri- vial, useless, and sometimes pernicious objects, which might either be wholly saved or more effectively employed. They see invention after invention in machinery brought forward, which is seemingly calculated, in the most marked man- ner, to abate the sum of human toil. Yet with these apparent means of giving plenty, leisure and happiness to all, they still see the labours of the great mass of society undiminished, and their condition, if not deteriorated, in no very striking and palpable manner improved.
Under these circumstances, it cannot be a matter of wonder that proposals for systems of equality should be continually reviving. After periods when the subject has undergone a thorough discussion, or when some great experiment in improvement has failed, it is likely that the ques- tion should lie dormant for a time, and that the opinions of the advocates of equality should be ranked among those errors which had passed away to be heard of no-more. But it is probable that if the world were to last for any number of thou- sand years, systems of equality would be among those errors, which like the tunes of a barrel organ, to use the illustration of Dugald Stewart,* will never cease to return at certain intervals.
Iam induced to make these remarks, and to
* Preliminary Dissertation to Supplement to the Encyclopedia Britannica, p. 121.
40 Of Systems of Equality, continued. Bk. i.
add a little to what I have already said on sys- tems of equality, instead of leaving out the whole discussion, by a tendency to a revival of this kind at the present moment.*
A gentleman, for whom I have a very sincere respect, Mr. Owen, of Lanark, has lately pub- lished a work entitled A New View of Society, which is intended to prepare the public mind for the introduction of a system involving a commu- nity of labour and of goods. It is also generally known that an idea has lately prevailed among some of the lower classes of society, that the land is the people’s farm, the rent of which ought to be equally divided among them; and that they have been deprived of the benefits which belong to them from this their natural inheritance, by the injustice and oppression of their stewards, the landlords.
Mr. Owen is, I believe, a man of real benevo- lence, who has done much good; and every friend of humanity must heartily wish him success in his endeavours to procure an Act of Parliament for limiting the hours of working among the chil- dren in the cotton manufactories, and preventing them from being employed at too early an age. He is further entitled to great attention on all subjects relating to education, from the experience and knowledge which he must have gained in an intercourse of many years with two thousand ma- nufacturers, and from the success which is said to have resulted from his modes of management.
* Written in 1817.
Ch. ii. Of Systems of Equality, continued. A]
A theory professed to be founded on such experi- ence is, no doubt, worthy of much more consi- deration than one formed in a closet.
The claims to attention possessed by the author of the new doctrines relating to land are certainly very slender; and the doctrines themselves indi- cate a very great degree of ignorance; but the errors of the labouring classes of society are al- ways entitled to great indulgence and considera- tion. They are the natural and pardonable re- sult of their liability to be deceived by first ap- pearances, and by the arts of designing men, owing to the nature of their situation, and the scanty knowledge which in general falls to their share. And, except in extreme cases, it must always be the wish of those who are better informed, that they should be brought toa sense of the truth, rather by patience and the gradual diffusion of education and knowledge, than by any harsher methods.
After what I have already said on systems of equality in the preceding chapters, I shall not think it necessary to enter into a long and elabo- rate refutation of these doctrines. I merely mean to give an additional reason for leaving on record an answer to systems of equality, founded on the principle of population, together with a concise restatement of this answer for practical applica- tion.
Of the two decisive arguments against such systems, one is, the unsuitableness of a state of equality, both according to experience and theory,
42 Of Systems of Equality, continued. Bk. iu.
_to the production of those stimulants to exertion which can alone overcome the natural indolence of man, and prompt him to the proper cultivation of the earth and the fabrication of those conve- niences and comforts which are necessary to his happiness.
And the other, the inevitable and necessary poverty and misery in which every system of equality must shortly terminate from the acknow- ledged tendency of the human race to increase faster than the means of subsistence, unless such increase be prevented by means infinitely more cruel than those which result from the laws of private property, and the moral obligation imposed on every man by the commands of God and na- ture to support his own children.
The first of these arguments has, I confess, ‘always appeared to my own mind sufficiently ‘conclusive. A state, in which an inequality of conditions offers the natural rewards of good con- duct, and inspires widely and generally the hopes of rising and the fears of falling in society, is un- questionably the best calculated to develope the energies and faculties of man, and the best suited to the exercise and improvement of human vir- tue ;* and history, in every case of equality that has yet occurred, has uniformly borne witness to
* See this subject very ably treated in a work on the Records of the Creation, and the Moral Attributes of the Creator, by the Rev. John Bird Sumner, not Jong since published ; a work of very great merit, which I hope soon to see in as extensive circulation as it deserves,
Ch. iii. Of Systems of Equality, continued. 43
the depressing and deadening effects which arise from the want of this stimulus. But still, per- haps, it may be true that neither experience nor theory on this subject is quite so decisive as to preclude all plausible arguments on the other side, It may be said that the instances which history records of systems of equality really car- ried into execution are so few, and those in socie- ties so little advanced from a state of barbarism, as to afford no fair conclusions relative to periods of great civilization and improvement; that, in other instances, in ancient times, where ap- proaches were made toward a tolerable equality of conditions, examples of considerable energy of character in some lines of exertion are not un- frequent; and that in modern times some so- cieties, particularly of Moravians, are known to have had much of their property in common without occasioning the destruction of their in- dustry. It may be said that, allowing the stimu- lus of inequality of conditions to have been ne- cessary, in order to raise man from the indolence and apathy of the savage to the activity and in- telligence of civilized life, it does not follow that the continuance of the same stimulus should be necessary when this activity and energy of mind has been once gained. It may then be al- lowable quietly to enjoy the benefit of a regimen which, like many other stimulants, having pro- duced its proper effect at a certain point, must be left off, or exhaustion, disease, and death will follow.
44 Of Systems of Equality, continued. Bk. iii.
These observations are certainly not of a nature ‘to produce conviction in those who have studied the human character; but they are, to a certain ‘degree, plausible, and do not admit of so definite and decisive an answer as to make the proposal for an experiment in modern times utterly absurd ‘and unreasonable.
The peculiar advantage of the other argument against systems of equality, that which is founded on the principle of population, is, that itis not only still more generally and uniformly con- firmed by experience, in every age and in every ‘part of the world, but it is so pre-eminently clear in theory, that no tolerably plausible answer can be given to it; and, consequently, no decent pre- tence can be brought forward for an experiment. ‘The affair is a matter of the most simple caleula- tion applied to the known properties of land, and ‘the proportion of births to deaths which takes place in almost every country village. There are many parishes in England, where, notwithstand- ing the actual difficulties attending the support of a family which must necessarily occur in every well- peopled country, and making no allowances for omissions in the registers, the births are to the deaths in the proportion of 2 to 1. This propor- ‘tion, with the usual rate of mortality in country places, of about 1 in 50, would continue doubling the population in 41 years, if there were no emi- grations from the parish. But in any system of equality, either such as that proposed by Mr. Owen, or in parochial partnerships in land, not
Ch. iii. Of Systems of Equality, continued. 45
only would there be no means of emigration to other parishes with any prospect of relief, but the rate of increase at first would, of course, be much greater than in the present state of society. What then, I wouldask, is to prevent the division of the produce of the soil te each individual from becoming every year less and less, till the whole society and every individual member of it are pressed down by want and misery ?*
This is a very simple and intelligible question. And surely no man ought to propose or support a system of equality, who is not able to give a ra- tional answer to it, at least in theory. But, even in theory, I have never yet heard any thing ap- proaching to a rational answer to it.
It is a very superficial observation which has sometimes been made, that it isa contradiction to lay great stress upon the efficacy of moral restraint in an improved and improving state of
* In the Spencean system, as published by the secretary of the
Society of Spencean Philanthropists, it unfortunately happens, that after the proposed allowances have been made for the expenses of the government, and of the other bodies in the state which are intended to be supported, there would be absolutely no remainder; and the people would not derive a single sixpence from their es- tate, even at first, and on the supposition of the national debt being entirely abolished, without the slightest compensation to the national creditors. . The annual rent of the land, houses, mines, and fisheries, is estimated at 150 millions, about three times its real amount ; yet, even upon this extravagant estimate, it is calculated that the divi- sion would only come to about four pounds a head, not more than is sometimes given to individuals from the poor’s rates; a misera- ble provision! and yet constantly diminishing.
46 Of Systems of Equality, continued. Bk. iu.
society, according to the present structure of it, “and yet to suppose that it would not act with sufficient force in a system of equality, which almost always presupposes a great diffusion of information, and a great improvement of the hu- man mind. ‘Those who have made this observa- tion do not see that the encouragement and motive to moral restraint are at once destroyed in a system of equality, and community of goods.
Let us suppose that in a system of equality, in spite of the best exertions to procure more food, the population is pressing hard against the limits of subsistence, and all are becoming very poor. It is evidently necessary under these circumstances, in order to prevent the society from starving, that the rate at which the population increases should be retarded. But who are the persons that are to exercise the restraint thus called for, and either to marry late or not at all? It does not seem to be a necessary consequence of a system of equality that all the human passions should be at once ex- tinguished by it ; but if not, those who might wish to marry would feel it hard that they should be among the number forced to restrain their inclina- tions. As all would be equal, and in similar cir- cumstances, there would be no reason whatever why one individual should think himself obliged to practise the duty of restraint more than another. The thing however must be done, with any hope of avoiding universal misery; and in a state of equality, the necessary restraint could only be effected by some general law. But how is this
Ch. iii. Of Systems of Equality, continued. 47
law to be supported, and how are the violations: of it to be punished? Is the man who marries early to be pointed at with the finger of scorn? is he to be whipped at the cart’s tail? is he to be con- fined for years in a prison? is he to have his children exposed? Are not all direct punish- ments for an offence of this kind shocking and un- natural to the last degree? And yet, if it be ab- solutely necessary, in order to prevent the most overwhelming wretchedness, that there should be some restraint on the tendency to early marriages, when the resources of the country are only suffi- cient to support a slow rate of increase, can the most fertile imagination conceive: one at once so natural, so just, so consonant to the laws of God and to the best laws framed by the most enlight- ened men, as that each individual should be re- sponsible for the maintenance of his own children ; that is, that he should be subjected to the natural inconveniences and difficulties arising from the indulgence of his inclinations, and to no other whatever ?
That this natural check to early marriages arising from a view of the difficulty attending the support of a large family operates very widely throughout all classes of society in every civilized state, and may be expected to be still more effec- tive, as the lower classes of people continue to improve in knowledge and prudence, cannot ad- mit of the slightest doubt. But the operation of this natural check depends exclusively upon the existence of the laws of property, and succession ;
48 Of Systems of Equality, continued. Bk. iu.
and ina state of equality and community of pro- perty could only be replaced by some artificial regulation of a very different stamp, and a much more unnatural character. Of this Mr. Owen is fully sensible, and has in consequence taxed his ingenuity to the utmost to invent some mode, by which the difficulties arising from the progress of population could be got rid of, in the state of so- ciety to which he looks forward. His absolute inability to suggest any mode of accomplishing this object that is not unnatural, immoral, or cruel in a high degree, together with the same want of success in every other person, ancient* or mo- dern, who has made a similar attempt, seem to shew that the argument against systems of equality founded on the principle of population does not admit of a plausible answer, even in theory. The fact of the tendency of population to increase he- yond the means of subsistence may be seen in almost every register of a country parish in the kingdom. The unavoidable effect of this tendency to depress the whole body of the people in want and misery, unless the progress of the population be somehow or other retarded, is equally obvious; and the impossibility of checking the rate of in- crease in a state of equality, without resorting to regulations that are unnatural, immoral or cruel, forms an argument at once conclusive against every such system.
* The reader has already scen in ch. xiii. bk. i. the detestable means of checking population proposed by some ancient lawgivers in order to support their systems of equality.
( 49)
CHAP. IV.
Of Emigration.
Atrnovucu the resource of emigration seems to be excluded from such perfect societies as the advocates of equality generally contemplate, yet in that imperfect state of improvement, which alone can rafionally be expected, it may fairly enter into our consideration. And as it is not probable that human industry should begin to receive its best direction throughout all the nations of the earth at the same time, it may be said that, in the case of a redundant population in the more cultivated parts of the world, the natural and obvious remedy which presents itself is emigration to those parts that are uncultivated. As these parts are of great extent, and very thinly peopled, this resource might appear, on a first view of the subject, an adequate remedy, or at least of a nature calcu- - lated to remove the evil to a distant period: but when we advert to experience and the actual state of the uncivilized parts of the globe, instead of any thing like an adequate remedy, it will appear but a slight palliative.
In the accounts which we have received of the peopling of new countries, the dangers, difficulties and hardships, with which the first settlers have had to struggle, appear to be even greater than we
VOL. IT. E
50 Of Emigration. Bk. iii.
can well imagine they could be exposed to in their ‘parent state. The endeavour to avoid that degree of unhappiness which arises from the difficulty of supporting a family might long have left the new world of America unpeopled by Europeans, if those more powerful passions, the thirst of gain, the spirit of adventure, and religious enthusiasm, had not directed and animated the enterprise. These passions enabled the first adventurers to triumph over every obstacle; but in many in- stances, in a way to make humanity shudder, and to defeat the true end of emigration. Whatever may be the character of the Spanish mhabitants of Mexico and Peru at the present moment, we cannot read the accounts of the first conquests of these countries, without feeling strongly, that the race destroyed was, in moral worth as well as numbers, superior to the race of their destroyers.
The parts of America settled by the English, from being thinly peopled, were better adapted to the establishment of new colonies; yet even here, the most formidable difficulties presented themselves. In the settlement of Virginia, begun by Sir Walter Raleigh and established by Lord Delaware, three attempts completely failed. Nearly half of the first colony was destroyed by the savages, and the rest, consumed and worn down by fatigue and famine, deserted the country, and returned home in despair. The second colony was cut off to a man in a manner unknown; but they were supposed to be destroyed by the In-
Ch. iv. Of Emigration. 51
dians. The third experienced the same dismal fate; and the remains of the fourth, after it had been reduced by famine and disease in the course of six months from 500 to 60 persons, were re- turning in a famishing and desperate condition to England, when they were met in the mouth of the Chesapeak bay by Lord Delaware, with asquadron loaded with provisions, and every thing for their relief and defence.*
The first puritan settlers in New England were few in number. They landed in a bad season, and were only supported by their private funds. The winter was premature and terribly cold; the country was covered with wood, and afforded very little for the refreshment of persons sickly with such a voyage, or for the sustenance of an infant people. Nearly half of them perished by the scurvy, by want, and the severity of the climate ; yet those who survived were not dispirited by their hardships, but, supported by their energy of character, and the satisfaction of finding them- selves out of the reach of the spiritual arm, re- duced this savage country by degrees to yield a comfortable subsistence.}
Even the plantation of Barbadoes, which in- creased afterwards with such extraordinary rapi- dity, had at first to contend with a country utterly desolate, an extreme want of provisions, a difficulty in clearing the ground unusually great from the
* Burke’s America, vol. ii. p. 219. Robertson, b. ix. p. 83, 86. + Burke’s America, vol. ii. p. 144.
BE
52 Of Emigration. Bk. iii.
uncommon size and hardness of the trees, a most “disheartening scantiness and poverty in their first crops, and a slow and precarious supply of pro- visions from England.*
The attempt of the French in 1663, to form at once a powerful colony in Guiana, was attended with the most disastrous consequences. Twelve thousand men were landed in the rainy season, and placed under tents and miserable sheds, In this situation, inactive, weary of existence, and in want of all necessaries; exposed to contagious distempers, which are always occasioned by bad provisions, and to all the irregularities which idle- ness produces among the lower classes of society, almost the whole of them ended their lives in all the horrors of despair. The attempt was com- pletely abortive. Two thousand men, whose robust constitutions had enabled them to resist the incle- mency of the climate, and the miseries to which they had been exposed, were brought back to France; and the 26,000,000 of livres, which had been expended in the expedition, were totally lost.
In the late settlements at Port Jackson in New Holland, a melancholy and affecting picture is drawn by Collins of the extreme hardships, with which, for some years, the infant colony had to struggle, before the produce was equal to its sup-
* Burke's America, vol. ii. p. 85. + Raynal, Hist. des Indes, tom. vii. liv. xiii. p. 43. 10 vols 8vo. 1795. ;
Ch. iv. Of Emigration, 53
port. These distresses were undoubtedly aggra- vated by the character of the settlers; but those which were caused by the unhealthiness of a newly cleared country, the failure of first crops, and the uncertainty of supplies from so distant a mother-country, were of themselves sufficiently disheartening, to place in a strong point of view the necessity of great resources, as well as uncon- querable perseverance, in the colonization of savage countries.
The establishment of colonies in the more thinly peopled regions of Europe and Asia would evi- dently require still greater resources. From the power and warlike character of the inhabitants of these countries, aconsiderable military force would be necessary, to prevent their utter and immediate destruction. Even the frontier provinces of the most powerful states are defended with consider- able difficulty from such restless neighbours; and the peaceful labours of the cultivator are continu- ally interrupted by their predatory incursions. The late Empress Catherine of Russia found it necessary to protect by regular fortresses the co- lonies which she had established in the districts near the Wolga; and the calamities which her subjects suffered by the incursions of the Crim Tartars furnished a pretext, and perhaps a just one, for taking possession of the whole of the Crimea, and expelling the greatest part of these turbulent neighbours, and reducing the rest to a more tran- quil mode of life.
The difficulties attending a first establishment
54 Of Emigration. Bk. iu.
from soil, climate and the want of proper conve- ‘niences, are of course nearly the same in these regions as in America. Mr. Eton, in his Account of the Turkish Empire, says that 75,000 Christians were obliged by Russia to emigrate from the Crimea, and sent to inhabit the country abandoned by the Nogai Tartars; but the winter coming on before the houses built for them were ready, a great part of them had no other shelter from the cold than what was afforded them by holes dug in the ground, covered with what they could procure, and the greatest part of them perished. Only seven thousand remained a few years afterwards. Another colony from Italy to the banks of the Borysthenes had, he says, no better fate, owing to the bad management of those, who were com- missioned to provide for them.
It is needless to add to these instances, as the accounts given of the difficulties experienced in new settlements are all nearly similar. It has been justly observed by a correspondent of Dr. Franklin, that one of the reasons why we have seen so many fruitless attempts to settle colonies at an immense public and private expense by several of the powers of Europe is, that the moral and me- chanical habits adapted to the mother-country are frequently not so to the new-settled one, and to external events, many of which are unforeseen; and that it is to be remarked that none of the English colonies became any way considerable, till the necessary manners were born and grew up in the country. Pallas particularly notices
Ch. iv. Of Emigration. 55
the want of proper habits in the colonies esta- blished by Russia, as one of the causes why they did not increase so fast as might have been ex- pected.
In addition to this it may be observed, that the first establishment of a new colony generally pre- sents an instance of a country peopled considerably beyond its actual produce; and the natural con- sequence seems to be, that this population, if not amply supplied by the mother-country, should at the commencement be diminished to the level of the first scanty productions, and not begin per- manently to increase, till the remaining numbers had so far cultivated the soil, as to make it yield a quantity of food more than sufficient for their own support; and which consequently they could divide with afamily. The frequent failures in the establishment of new colonies tend strongly to shew the order of precedence between food and population.
It must be acknowledged then, that the class of people, on whom the distress arising from a too rapidly increasing population would principally fall, could not possibly begin a new colony in a distant country. From the nature of their situa- tion, they must necessarily be deficient in those resources, which alone could ensure success; and unless they could find leaders among the higher classes urged by the spirit of avarice or enterprise, or of religious or political discontent; or were furnished with means and support by government; whatever degree of misery they might suffer in
56 Of Emigration. Bk. iii.
their own country from the scarcity of subsistence, they would be absolutely unable to take posses- sion of any of those uncultivated regions, of which there is such an extent on the earth.
When new colonies have been once securely established, the difficulty of emigration is indeed very considerably diminished; yet, even then, some resources are necessary to provide vessels for the voyage, and support and assistance till the emigrants can settle themselves, and find employ- ment in their adopted country. How far it is incumbent upon a government to furnish these resources may be a question; but whatever be its duty in this particular, perhaps it is too much to expect that, except where any particular colonial advantages are proposed, emigration should be actively assisted. |
The necessary resources for transport and maintenance are however frequently furnished by individuals or private companies. For many years before the American war, and for some few since, the facilities of emigration to this new world, and the probable advantages in view, were unusually great; and it must be considered un- doubtedly as a very happy circumstance for any country, to have so comfortable an asylum for its redundant population. But I would ask, whether, even during these periods, the distress among the common people in this country was little or no- thing ; and whether every man felt secure before he ventured on marriage, that, however large his family might be, he should find no difficulty in
Ch. iv. Of Emigration. 57
supporting it without parish assistance. The answer, I fear, could not be in the affirmative.
It will be said that, when an opportunity of advantageous emigration is offered, it is the fault of the people themselves, if, instead of accepting it, they prefer a life of celibacy or extreme poverty in their own country. Is it then a fault for a man to feel an attachment to his native soil, to love the parents that nurtured him, his kindred, his friends, and the companions of his early years? Or is it no evil that he suffers, because he con- sents to bear it rather than snap these cords which nature has wound in close and intricate folds round the human heart? The great plan of Providence seems to require, indeed, that these ties should sometimes be broken; but the sepa- ration does not, on that account, give less pain; and though the general good may be promoted by it, it does not cease to be an individual evil. Besides, doubts and uncertainty must ever at- tend all distant emigrations, particularly in the apprehensions of the lower classes of people. They cannot feel quite secure, that the represen- tations made to them of the high price of labour or the cheapness of land, areaccurately true. They are placing themselves in the power of the persons who are to furnish them with the means of trans- port and maintenance, who may perhaps have an interest in deceiving them; and the sea which they are to pass, appears to them like the separa- tion of death from all their former connections, and in a manner to preclude the possibility of
58 Of Emigration. Bk. iii.
return in case of failure, as they cannot expect ‘the offer of the same means to bring them back. We cannot be surprised then, that, except where a spirit of enterprise is added to the uneasiness of poverty, the consideration of these circumstances should frequently
‘© Make them rather bear the ills they suffer,
“Than fly to others which they know not of.”
If a tract of rich land as large as this island were suddenly annexed to it, and sold in small lots, or let out in small farms, the case would be very different, and the melioration of the state of the common people would be sudden and striking; though the rich would be continually complaining of the high price of labour, the pride of the lower classes, and the difficulty of getting work done. These, I understand, are not unfre- quent complaints among the men of property in America.
Every resource however from emigration, if used effectually, as this would be, must be of short duration. There is scarcely a state in Eu- rope, except perhaps Russia, the inhabitants of which do not often endeavour to better their con- dition by removing to other countries. As these states therefore have nearly all rather a redun- dant than deficient population in proportion to their produce, they cannot be supposed to afford any effectual resources of emigration to each other. Let us suppose for a moment, that in this more enlightened part of the globe, the internal economy of each state were so admirably regu-
Ch. iv. Of Emigration. 59
lated, that no checks existed to population, and that the different governments provided every facility for emigration. Taking the population of Europe, excluding Russia, at a hundred millions, and allowing a greater increase of produce than is probable, or even possible, in the mother-coun- tries, the redundancy of parent stock in a single century would be eleven hundred millions, which, added to the natural increase of the colonies during the same time, would more than double what has been supposed to be the present popu- lation of the whole earth.
Can we imagine, that in the uncultivated parts of Asia, Africa, or America, the greatest exertions and the best-directed endeavours could, in so short a period, prepare a quantity of land suffi- cient for the support of such a population? If any sanguine person should feel a doubt upon the subject, let him only add 25 or 50 years more, and every doubt must be crushed in overwhelming conviction.
It is evident, therefore, that the reason why the resource of emigration has so long continued to be held out as a remedy to redundant population is, because, from the natural unwillingness of people to desert their native country, and the difficulty of clearing and cultivating fresh soil, it never is or can be adequately adopted. If this remedy were indeed really effectual, and had power so far to relieve the disorders of vice and misery in old states, as to place them in the condition of the most prosperous new colonies, we should soon see
60 Of Emigration. BK. iii.
the phial exhausted ; and when the disorders re- ‘turned with increased virulence, every hope from this quarter would be for ever closed.
It is clear, therefore, that with any view of making room for an unrestricted increase of po- pulation, emigration is perfectly inadequate; but as a partial and temporary expedient, and with a view to the more general cultivation of the earth, and the wider extension of civilization, it seems to be both useful and proper; and if it cannot be proved that governments are bound actively to encourage it, it is not only strikingly unjust, but in the highest degree impolitic in them to prevent it. There are no fears so totally ill-grounded as the fears of depopulation from emigration. The vis imertié of the great body of the people, and their attachment to their homes, are qualities so strong and general, that we may rest assured they will not emigrate unless, from political discon- tents or extreme poverty, they are in such a state as will make it as much for the advantage of their country as cf themselves that they should go out of it. The complaints of high wages in conse- quence of emigrations are of all others the most unreasonable, and ought the least to be attended to. If the wages of labour in any country be such as to enable the lower classes of people to live with tolerable comfort, we may be quite cer- tain that they will not emigrate; and if they be not such, it is cruelty and injustice to detain them.
In all countries the progress of wealth must
Ch. iv. Of Emigration. 61
depend mainly upon the industry, skill, and suc- cess of individuals, and upon the state and de- mands of other countries. Consequently, in all countries great variations may take place at dif- ferent times in the rate at which wealth increases, and in the demand for labour. But though the progress of population is mainly regulated by the effective demand for labour, it is obvious that the number of people cannot conform itself immedi- ately to the state of this demand. Some time is required to bring more labour into the market when it is wanted; and some time to check the supply when it is flowing in with too great rapi- dity. If these variations amount to no more than that natural sort of oscillation noticed in an early part of this work, which seems almost always to accompany the progress of population and food, they should be submitted to as a part of the usual course of things. But circumstances may occa- sionally give them great force, and then, during the period that the supply of labour is increasing faster than the demand, the labouring classes are subject to the most severe distress. If, for in- stance, from a combination of external and inter- nal causes, a very great stimulus should be given to the population of a country for ten or twelve years together, and it should then comparatively cease, it is clear that labour will continue flowing into the market with almost undiminished rapi- dity, while the means of employing and paying it have been essentially contracted. It is precisely under these circumstances that emigration is most
62 Of Emigration. Bk. i.
useful as a temporary relief; and itis in these cir- ‘cumstances that Great Britain finds herself placed at present.* Though no emigration should take place, the population will by degrees conform itself to the state of the demand for labour; but the inter- val must be marked by the most severe distress, the amount of which can scarcely be reduced by any hu- man efforts; because, though it may be mitigated at particular periods, and as it affects particular classes, it will be proportionably extended over a larger space of time, and a greater number of people. The only real relief in such a case is emigration; and the subject at the present mo- ment is well worthy the attention of the govern- ment, both as a matter of humanity and policy.
* 1816 and 1817.
( 63)
CHAP. V. Of Poor-Laws.
To remedy the frequent distresses of the poor, laws to enforce their relief have been instituted ; and in the establishment of a general system of this kind England has particularly distinguished herself. But it is to be feared, that, though it may have alleviated a little the intensity of individual misfortune, it has spread the evil over a much larger surface.
It is a subject often started in conversation, and mentioned always as a matter of great surprise, that, notwithstanding the immense sum which is annually collected for the poor in this country, there is still so much distress among them. Some think that the money must be embezzled for private use ; others, that the churchwardens and overseers consume the greatest part of it in feast- ing. All agree that somehow or other it must be very ill managed. In short, the fact, that even before the late scarcities three millions were col- lected annually for the poor, and yet that their distresses were not removed, is the subject of continual astonishment. Buta man who looksa little below the surface of things would be much more astonished, if the fact were otherwise than it is observed to be; or even if a collection uni-
64 Of Poor- Laws. Bk. iii.
versally of eighteen shillings in the pound, instead of four, were materially to alter it.
Suppose, that by a subscription of the rich the eighteen pence or two shillings, which men earn now, were made up five shillings: it might be imagined, perhaps, that they would then be able to live comfortably, and have a piece of meat every day for their dinner. But this would be a very false conclusion. The transfer of three ad- ditional shillings a day to each labourer would not increase the quantity of meat in the country. There is not at present enough for all to have a moderate share. What would then be the con- sequence? the competition among the buyers in the market of meat would rapidly raise the price from eight pence or nine pence to two or three shillings in the pound, and the commodity would not be divided among many more than it is at present. When an article is scarce, and cannot be distributed to all, he that can shew the most valid patent, that is, he that offers the most money, becomes the possessor. If we can suppose the competition among the buyers of meat to continue long enough for a greater number of cattle to be reared annually, this could only be done at the expense of the corn, which would be a very dis- advantageous exchange ; for it is well known, that the country could not then support the same population; and when subsistence is scarce in proportion to the number of people, it is of little consequence, whether the lowest members of the society possess two shillings or five. They must,
Ch. v. | Of Poor-Laws. 65
at all events, be reduced to live upon the hardest fare, and in the smallest quantity.
It might be said, perhaps, that the increased number of purchasers in every article would give a spur to productive industry, and that the whole produce of the island would be increased. But the spur that these fancied riches would give to population would more than counterbalance it ; and the increased produce would be to be divided among a more than proportionably increased num- ber of people.
A collection from the rich of eighteen shillings in the pound, even if distributed in the most judi- cious manner, would have an effect similar to that resulting from the supposition which I have just made; and no possible sacrifices of the rich, par- ticularly in money, could for any time prevent the recurrence of distress among the lower members of society, whoever they were. Great changes might indeed be made. The rich might become poor, and some of the poor rich: but while the present proportion between population and food continues, a part of the society must necessarily find it difficult to support a family, and this diffi- culty will naturally fall on the least fortunate members.
It may at first appear strange, but I believe it is true, that I cannot by means of money raise the condition of a poor man, and enable him to live much better than he did before, without propor- tionably depressing others in the same class. If Tretrench the quantity of food consumed in my
VOL. TI. F
66 Of Poor-Laws. Bk. iit.
house, and give him what I have cut off, I then benefit him without depressing any but myself and family, who perhaps may be well able to bear it. If I turn up a piece of uncultivated land, and give him the produce, I then benefit both him and all the members of society, because what he before consumed is thrown into the common stock, and probably some of the new produce with it. But if I only give him money, supposing the pro- duce of the country to remain the same, I give him a title to a larger share of that produce than for- merly, which share he cannot receive without diminishing the shares of others. It is evident that this effect in individual instances must be so small as to be totally imperceptible; but still it must exist, as many other effects do, which, like some of the insects that people the air, elude our srosser perceptions.
Supposing the quantity of food in any country to remain the same for many years together, it is evident that this food must be divided according to the value of each man’s patent, or the sum of money which he can afford'to spend in this com- modity so universally in request. It is a demon- strative truth, therefore, that the patents of one set of men could not be increased in value without diminishing the value of the patents of some other set of men. If the rich were to subscribe and give five shillings a day to five hundred thousand men, without retrenching their own tables, no doubt can exist, that as these men would live more at their ease, and consume a greater quantity of
Ch. v. Of Poor- Laws. 67
provisions, there would be less food remaining to divide among the rest; and consequently each man’s patent would be diminished in value, or the same number of pieces of silver would purchase a smaller quantity of subsistence, and the price of provisions would universally rise.
These general reasonings have been strikingly confirmed during the late scarcities.* The sup- position which I have made of a collection from the rich of eighteen shillings in the pound has been nearly realized; and the effect has been such as might have been expected. — If the same distribu- tion had been made when no scarcity existed, a considerable advance in the price of provisions would have been a necessary consequence; but following as it did a scarcity, its effect must have been doubly powerful. | No person, I believe, will venture to doubt, that if we were’ to give three additional shillings a day to every labouring man in the kingdom, as I before supposed, in order that he might have meat for his dinner, the price of meat would rise in the most rapid and unex- ampled manner. But surely, in a deficiency of corn, which renders it impossible for every man to have his usual share, if we still’continue to fur- nish each person with the means of purchasing the same quantity as before, the effect must be in every respect similar.
It seems in great measure to have escaped ob-
* The scarcities referred to in this chapter were those of 1800 and 1801. F 2
68 Of Poor-Laws. Bk. iil.
servation, that the price of corn in a scarcity will depend much more upon the obstinacy with which the same degree of consumption is persevered in, than on the degree of the actual deficiency. A deficiency of one half of a crop, if the people could immediately consent to consume only one half of what they did before, would produce little or no effect on the price of corn. A deficiency of one- twelfth, if exactly the same consumption were to continue for ten or eleven months, might raise the price of corn to almost any height. The more is given in parish assistance, the more power is fur- nished of persevering in the same consumption ; and, of course, the higher will the price rise be- fore the necessary diminution of consumption is effected.
It has been asserted by some people, that high prices do not diminish consumption. If this were really true, we should see the price of a bushel of corn at a hundred pounds or more, in every deficiency, which could not be fully and com- pletely remedied by importation. But the fact is, that high prices do ultimately diminish con- sumption; but, on account of the riches of the country, the unwillingness of the people to resort to substitutes, and the immense sums which are distributed by parishes, this object cannot be at- tained till the prices become excessive, and force even the middle classes of society, or, at least, those immediately above the poor, to save in the article of bread from the actual inability of pur- chasing it in the usual quantity. The poor who
Ch. v. Of Poor-Laws. 69
were assisted by their parishes, had no reason whatever to complain of the high price of grain; because it was the excessiveness of this price, and this alone, which by enforcing such a saving left a greater quantity of corn for the consumption of the lowest classes, which corn the parish al- lowances enabled them to command. The greatest sufferers in the scarcity were, undoubtedly, the classes immediately above the poor; and these were in the most marked manner depressed by the excessive bounties given to those below them. Almost all poverty is relative ; and I much doubt whether these people would have been rendered so poor, if a sum equal to half of these bounties had been taken directly out of their pockets, as they were, by the new distribution of the money of the society which actually took place.* This distribution, by giving to the poorer classes a command of food so much greater than that to
* Supposing the lower classes to earn on an ayerage ten shil- lings a week, and the classes just above them twenty, it is not to be doubted, that in a scarcity these latter would be more straightened in their power of commanding the necessaries of life, by a donation of ten shillings a week to those below them, than by the subtraction of five shillings a week from their own earnings. In the one case, they would be all reduced to a level; the price of provisions would rise in an extraordinary manner from the greatness of the competition; and all would be straightened for subsistence. In the other case, the classes above the poor would still maintain a considerable part of their relative superiority; the price of provisions would by no means rise in the same degree ; and their remaining fifteen shillings would purchase much more than their twenty shillings in the former case.
70 Of Poor-Laws. Bk. iii.
which their degree of skill and industry entitle them, in the actual circumstances of the country, diminished exactly in the same proportion that command over the necessaries of life, which the classes above them, by their superior skill and industry, would naturally possess; and it may be a question, whether the degree of assistance which the poor received, and which prevented them from resorting to the use of those substitutes which, in every other country on such occasions the great law of necessity teaches, was not more than overbalanced by the severity of the pressure on so large a body of the people from the extreme high prices, and the permanent evil which must result from forcing so many persons on the parish, who before thought themselves almost out of the reach of. want.
If we were to double the fortunes of all those who possess above a hundred a year, the effect on the price of grain would be slow and inconsi- derable; but if we were to double the price of labour throughout the kingdom, the effect in raising the price of grain would be rapid and great. The general principles on this subject will not admit of dispute ; and that, in the parti- cular case which we have been considering, the bounties to the poor were of a magnitude to ope- rate very powerfully in this manner will sufficient- ly appear, if we recollect that before the late scarcities the sum collected for the poor was es- timated at three millions, and that during the year
Ch. v. Of Poor-Laws. 71
1801 it was said to be ten millions. An additional seven millions acting at the bottom of the scale,* and employed exclusively in the purchase of pro- visions, joined toa considerable advance in the price of wages in many parts of the kingdom, and increased by a prodigious sum expended in voluntary charity, must have had a most powerful effect in raising the price of the necessaries of life, if any reliance can be placed on the clearest general principles confirmed as much as possible by appearances. A man with a family has re- ceived, to my knoWedge, fourteen shillings a week from the parish. His common earnings were ten shillings a week, and his weekly revenue, therefore, twenty-four. Before the scarcity he had been in the habit of purchasing a bushel of flour a week with eight shillings perhaps, and, — consequently, had two shillings out of his ten, to spare for other necessaries. During the scarcity he was enabled to purchase the same quantity at nearly three times the price. He paid twenty- two shillings for his bushel of flour, and had, as before, two shillings remaining for other wants.
* See a small pamphlet published in November, 1800, entitled, An Investigation of the Cause of the present high Price of Provi- sions, This pamphlet was mistaken by some for an inquiry into the cause of the scarcity, and as such it would naturally appear to be incomplete, adverting, as it does, principally to a single cause. But the sole object of the pamphlet was to give the princi- pal reason for the extreme high price of provisions, in proportion to the degree of the scarcity, admitting the deficiency of one- fourth, as stated in the Duke of Portland’s letter; which, 1 am much inclined to think, was very near the truth.
72 Of Poor- Laws. Bk. iii-
Such instances could not possibly have been uni- versal, without raising the price of wheat very much higher than it really was during any part of the dearth. But similar instances were by no means unfrequent; and the system itself of mea- suring the relief given by the price of grain was general.
If the circulation of the country had consisted entirely of specie, which could not have been im- mediately increased, it would have been impossi- ble to have given such an additional sum as seven millions to the poor witho@ embarrassing, to a great degree, the operations of commerce. On the commencement, therefore, of this extensive relief, which would necessarily occasion a pro- portionate expenditure in provisions throughout all the ranks of society, a great demand would be felt for an increased circulating medium. The nature of the medium then principally in use was such, that it could be created immediately on de- mand. From the accounts of the Bank of Eng- land, as laid before Parliament, it appeared, that no very great additional issues of paper took place from this quarter. The three millions and a half added to its former average issues were not probably much above what was sufficient to supply the quantity of specie that had been withdrawn from the circulation. If this supposi- tion be true, (and the small quantity of gold which made its appearance at that time furnishes the strongest reason for believing that nearly as much as this must have been withdrawn,) it would fol- low that the part of the circulation originating in
Ch. v. Of Poor-Laws. 73
=
the Bank of England, though changed im its na- ture, had not been much increased in its quantity; and with regard to the effect of the circulating medium on the prices of all commodities, it cannot be doubted that it would be precisely the same, whether this medium were made up principally of guineas, or of pound-notes and shillings which would pass current for guineas.
The demand, therefore, for an increased circu- lating medium was left to be supplied principally by the country banks, and it could not be ex- pected that they should hesitate in taking advan- tage of so profitable an opportunity. The paper issues of a country bank are, as I conceive, mea- sured by the quantity of its notes which will remain in circulation; and this quantity is again measured, supposing a confidence to be establish- ed, by the sum of what is wanted to carry on all the money transactions of the neighbourhood. From the high price of provisions, all these trans- actions became more expensive. In the single article of the weekly payment of labourers’ wages, including the parish allowances, it is evident that a very great addition to the circulating medium of the neighbourhood would be wanted. Had the country banks attempted to issue the same quanti- ty of paper without such a particular demand for it, they would quickly have been admonished of their error by its rapid and pressing return upon them; but at this time it was wanted for immediate and daily use, and was, therefore, eagerly absorhed into the circulation.
74 Of Poor-Laws. Bk. i.
_- It may even admit of a question, whether, under
similar circumstances, the country banks would not have issued nearly the same quantity of paper, if the Bank of England had not been restricted from payment in specie. Before this event the issues of the country banks in paper were regu- lated by the quantity which the circulation would take up; and after, as well as before, they were obliged to pay the notes which returned upon them in Bank of England circulation. The differ- ence in the two cases would arise principally from the pernicious custom, adopted since the restric- tion of the bank, of issuing one and two pound notes, and from the little preference that many people might feel, if they could not get gold, be- tween country bank paper and Bank of England paper.
This, very great. issue. of country bank paper during the years 1800 and 1801 was evidently, therefore, in its origin, rather a consequence than a cause of the high price of provisions; but being once absorbed into the circulation, it must necessa- rily affect the price of all commodities, and throw very great obstacles in the way of returning cheap- ness. ‘This is the great mischief of the system. During the scarcity, it is not to be doubted that the increased circulation, by preventing the embar- rassments which commerce and speculation must otherwise have felt, enabled the country to conti- nue all the branches of its trade with less inter- ruption, and to import a much greater quantity of grain, than it could have done otherwise; but
Ch. v. Of Poor-Laws. 75
to overbalance these temporary advantages, a lasting evil might be entailed upon the community, and the prices of a time of scarcity might become permanent, from the difficulty of TeeDSeSBINE this increased circulation.
In this respect, however, it is much better that the great issue of paper should have come from the country banks than from the Bank of England. During the restriction of payment in specie, there is no possibility of forcing the bank to retake its notes when too abundant; but with regard to the country banks, as soon as their notes are not wanted in the circulation, they will be returned ; and if the Bank of England notes be not increased, the whole circulating medium will thus be dimi- nished.
We may consider ourselves as peculiarly for- tunate, that the two years of scarcity were suc- ceeded by two events the best calculated to restore plenty and cheapness—an abundant harvest, and a peace; which together produced a general con- viction of plenty, in the minds both of buyers and sellers; and by rendering the first slow to pur- chase, and the others eager to sell, occasioned a glut in the market, and a consequent rapid fall of price, which has enabled parishes to take off their allowances to the poor, and thus to prevent a return of high prices, when the alarm among the sellers was over.
If the two years of scarcity had been succeeded merely by years of average crops, I am strongly disposed to believe, that, as no glut would have
76 Of Poor-Laws. Bk. ii.
taken place in the market, the price of grain would have fallen only in a comparatively incon- siderable degree, the parish allowances could not have been resumed, the increased quantity of paper would still have been wanted, and the price of all commodities might by degrees have been regulated permanently according to the increased circulating medium.
If instead of giving the temporary assistance of parish allowances, which might be withdrawn on the first fall of price, we had raised universally the wages of labour, it is evident, that the obstacles toa diminution of the circulation and to returning cheapness would have been still farther increased ; and the high price of labour would have become permanent, without any advantage whatever to the labourer.
There is no one that more ardently desires to see a real advance in the price of labour than my- self; but the attempt to effect this object by forcibly raising the nominal price, which was prac- tised to a certain degree, and recommended almost universally during the late scarcities, every think- ing man must reprobate as puerile and ineffec- tual.
The price of labour, when left to find its natural level, is a most important political barometer, ex- pressing the relation between the supply of pro- visions, and the demand for them; between the quantity to be consumed and the number of con- sumers; and taken on the average, independently of accidental circumstances, it further expresses
Ch. v. Of Poor-Laws. 77
clearly the wants of the society respecting popu- lation ; that is, whatever may be the number of children to a marriage necessary to maintain ex- actly the present population, the price of labour will be just sufficient to support this number, or be above it, or below it, according to the state of the real funds for the maintenance of labour, whe- ther stationary, progressive or retrograde. In- stead, however, of considering it in this light, we consider it as something which we may raise or depress at pleasure, something which depends principally upon his Majesty’s justices of the peace. When an advance in the price of pro- visions already expresses that the demand is too great for the supply, in order to put the labourer in the same condition as before, we raise the price of labour, that is, we increase the demand, and are then much surprised that the price of pro- visions continues rising. In this we act much in the same manner as if, when the quicksilver in the common weather-glass stood at stormy, we were to raise it by some mechanical pressure to settled fair, and then be greatly astonished that it con- tinued raining.
Dr. Smith has clearly shewn, that the natural tendency of a year of scarcity is either to throw a number of labourers out of employment, or to oblige them to work for less than they did before, from the inability of masters to employ the same number at the same price. The raising of the price of wages tends necessarily to throw more out of employment, and completely to prevent the
78 Of Poor-Laws. Bk. iu.
good effects, which, he says, sometimes arise from a year of moderate scarcity, that of making the lower classes of people do more work, and become more careful. and industrious. The num- ber of servants out of place, and of manufacturers wanting employment during the late scarcities, were melancholy proofs of the truth of these rea- sonings. Ifa general rise’in the wages of labour had taken place proportioned to the price of pro- visions, none but farmers and a few gentlemen could have afforded to employ the same number of workmen as before. Additional crowds of servants and manufacturers would have. been turned off; and those who were thus thrown out of employment would of course have no other refuge than the parish: In the natural order of things a'scarcity must tend to lower, instead of to raise, the price of labour.
After the publication and general circulation of such a work as Adam Smith’s, I confess it appears to me strange, that so many men, who would yet aspire to be thought political economists, should still think that it is in the power of the justices of the peace or even of the omnipotence of parliament to alter by a fiat the whole circumstances of the country; and when the demand for provisions is greater than the supply, by publishing a particular edict, to make the supply at once equal to or greater than the demand. Many men who would shrink at the proposal of a maximum, would pro- pose themselves, that the price of labour should be proportioned to the price of provisions, and do
Ch. v. Of Poor-Laws. 79
not seem to be aware that the two proposals are very nearly of the same nature, and that both tend directly to famine. It matters not whether we enable the labourer to purchase the same quantity of provisions which he did before, by fixing their price, or by raising in proportion the price of la- bour. The only advantage on the side of raising the price of labour is, that the rise in the price of provisions, which necessarily followsit, encourages importation: but putting importation out of the question, which might possibly be prevented by war, or other circumstances, a universal rise of wages in proportion to the price of provisions, aided by adequate parish allowances to those who were thrown out of work, would, by preventing any kind of saving, in the same manner as a max- imum, cause the whole crop to be consumed in nine months, which ought to have lasted twelve, and thus produce a famine. At the same time we must not forget, that both humanity and true policy imperiously require, that we should give every assistance to the poor on these occasions, that the nature of the case will admit. If provisions were to continue at the price of scarcity, the wages of labour must necessarily rise, or sickness and famine would quickly di- minish the number of labourers; and the supply of labour being unequal to the demand, its price would soon rise in a still greater proportion than the price of provisions. But even one or two years of scarcity, if the poor were left entirely to shift for themselves, might produce some effect of
80 Of Poor-Laws. Bk. in.
this kind, and consequently it is our interest, as ‘well as our duty, to give them temporary aid in such seasons of distress. It is on such occasions that every cheap substitute for bread, and every mode of economizing food should be resorted to. Nor should we be too ready to complain of that high price of corn, which by encouraging im- portation increases the supply.
As the inefficacy of poor-laws, and of attempts forcibly to raise the price of labour, is most con- spicuous in a scarcity, I have thought myself jus- tified in considering them under this view; and as these causes of increased price received great additional force during the late scarcity from the increase of the circulating medium, I trust, that the few observations which I have made on this subject will be considered as an allowable digres- sion.
¢ 8b)
CHAP. VI. Of Poor-Laws, continued.
IypEvenpDeEnTLy of any considerations respect- ing a year of deficient crops, it is evident, that an increase of population, without a propor- tional increase of food, must lower the value of each man’s earnings. The food must necessarily be distributed in smaller quantities, and conse- quently a day’s labour will purchase a smaller quantity of provisions. . An increase in the price of provisions will arise either from an increase of population faster than the means of subsistence, or from a different distribution of the money of the society. The food of a country which has been long peopled, if it be increasing, increases’ slowly and regularly, and cannot be made to: answer any sudden demands; but variations in the distribution of the money of the society are not unfrequently occurring, and are undoubtedly among the causes which occasion the continual variations in the prices of provisions.
The poor-laws of England tend to depress the general condition of the poor in these two ways. Their first obvious tendency is to increase popu- lation without increasing the food for its support. A poor man may marry with little or no prospect of being able to support a family without parish assistance. They may be said, therefore, to
VOL. Il. G
82 Of Poor-Laws, continued. Bk. ili.
create the poor which they maintain; and as the provisions of the country must, in consequence of the increased population, be distributed to every man in smaller proportions, it is evident that the labour of those who are not supported by parish assistance, will purchase a smaller quantity of provisions than before, and consequently more of them must be driven to apply for assistance.
Secondly, the quantity of provisions consumed in workhouses, upon a part of the society that cannot in general be considered as the most valu- able part, diminishes the shares that would other- wise belong to more industrious and more worthy members, and thus, in the same manner, forces more to become dependent. If the poor in the workhouses were to live better than they do now, this new. distribution of the money of the society would tend more conspicuously to depress the condition of those out of the workhouses by ocea- sioning an advance in the price of provisions.
Fortunately for England, a spirit of indepen- dence: still. remains among the peasantry. .'The poor-laws are strongly calculated to eradicate this spirit. .. They have succeeded in part; but had they succeeded as completely as might have been expected, their pernicious tendency would not have been so long concealed,
Hard. as..it may appear in individual instances, dependent poverty ought to be held disgraceful. Such a stimulus seems to be absolutely necessary to promote'the happiness of the great mass’ of mankind; and every general attempt to weaken
Ch. vi. Of Poor-Laws, continued. 83
this stimulus, however benevolent its intention, will always defeat its own purpose. If men be induced to. marry from the mere prospect of parish provision, they are not only unjustly tempted to bring unhappiness and dependence upon themselves and ‘children, but they are tempted, without knowing it, to injure all in the same class with themselves.
The poor-laws of England appear to have con- tributed to raise the price of provisions, and to lower the real price of labour. .They have there- fore contributed to impoverish that class of people whose only possession is their labour. It is also difficult to suppose that they have not powerfully contributed to generate that carelessness and want of frugality observable among the poor, so contrary to the disposition generally to be re- marked among petty tradesmen and small farmers. The labouring poor,.-to-use a vulgar expression, seem always to live from hand to mouth. Their present wants employ their whole attention; and they seldom think of the future. Even when they have an opportunity of saving, they seldom exer- cise it; but all that they earn beyond their pre- sent necessities goes, generally speaking, to the ale-house. The poor-laws may therefore be said to diminish both the power and the will to save, among the common people; and thus to weaken one eh the strongest incentives to sobriety and industry, and consequently to happiness.
It is a general complaint among master manu- facturers, that high wages ruin all their workmen ;
G2
84 Of Poor-Laws, continued. Bk. .iii
but it is difficult to conceive that these men would: net save a part of their high wages for the future support of their families, instead of spending it in drunkenness and dissipation, ifthey did not rely on parish assistance for support in case of accidents. And that the poor employed in manufactures con- sider this assistance asa reason why they may spend all the wages which they earn, and enjoy them- selves while they can, appears to be evident, from the number of families that, upon the failure of any great manufactory, immediately fall upon the parish; when perhaps the wages earned in this manufactory while it flourished, were sufficiently above the price of common country labour, to have allowed them to save enough for their sup- port till they could find some other channel for their industry.
_A man who might not be deterred from going to the ale-house from the consideration that on his death or sickness he should leave his wife and family upon the parish, might yet hesitate in thus dissipating his earnings, if he were assured, that in either of these cases his family must starve, or be left to the support of casual bounty.
The mass of happiness among the common. people cannot but be diminished, when one of the strongest checks to idleness and dissipation is thus removed; and positive institutions, which render dependent poverty so general, weaken that disgrace which, for the best and most hu- mane reasons, ought to be attached to it.
The poor-laws of England were undoubtedly.
Ch. vi. Of Poor-Laws, continued. 85.
instituted for the most benevolent purpose ; but it is evident they have failed in attaiming it. They. certainly mitigate some cases of severe distress; which might otherwise occur; though the state of the poor who are supported by parishes, con- sidered in all its circumstances, is very miserable. But one of the principal objections to the system is, that for the assistance which some of the poor receive, in itself almost a doubtful blessing, the whole class of the common people of England is subjected to aset of grating, inconvenient, and tyrannical laws, totally inconsistent with the genu- ine spirit of the constitution. The whole business of settlements, even in its present amended state, 4s contradictory to all ideas of freedom. The parish persecution of men whose families are likely to become chargeable, and of poor women who are near lying-in, is a most disgraceful and disgusting tyranny. And the obstructions con- tinually occasioned in the market of labour by these laws, have a constant tendency to add to the difficulties of those who are struggling to sup- port themselves without assistance.
These evils attendant on the poor-laws seem to be irremediable. If assistance be to be distri- buted to a certain class of people, a power must be lodged somewhere of discriminating the proper -objects, and of managing the concerns of the insti- ‘tutions that are necessary; but any great inter- ‘ference with the affairs of other people isa species of tyranny, and in the common course of things, the exercise of this power may be expected to
8&6 Of Poor-Laws, continued. Bk. iil.
become grating to those who are driven to ask for support. The tyranny of churchwardens and overseers is a common complaint among the poor; but the fault does not Jie so much in these per- sons, who probably befare they were in power were not worse than other people, but in the na- ture of all such institutions.
I feel persuaded that if the poor-laws had never existed in this country, though there might have been a few more instances of very severe distress, the aggregate mass of happiness among the com- mon people would have been much greater than it is at present.
The radical defect of all systems of the kind is that of tending to depress the condition of those that are not relieved by parishes, and to create more poor. If, indeed, we examine some of our statutes strictly with reference to the principle of population, we shall find that they attempt an ab- solute impossibility; and we cannot be surprised, therefore, that they should constantly fail in the attainment of their object.
The famous 43d of Elizabeth, which has been so often referred to and admired, enacts, that the overseers of the poor “ shall take order from time ‘‘ to time, by and with the consent of two or more ‘« justices, for setting to work the children of all «« such, whose parents shall not by the said per- «< sons be thought able to keep and maintain their ‘‘ children; and also such persons married or “ unmarried, as, having no means to maintain “them, use no ordinary and daily trade of life ‘‘ to get their living by; and also to raise, weekly
Ch. vi. Of Poor- Laws, continued. 87
‘‘ or otherwise, by taxation of every inhabitant, ‘and every occupier of lands in the said parish, «(in such competent sums as they shall think fit, ) ‘<a convenient stock of flax, hemp, wool, thread, ‘‘ iron, and other necessary ware and stuff, to set *« the poor to work.”
What is this but saying, that the funds for the maintenance of labour in this country may be increased at will, and without limit, by a fiat of government, or an assessment of the overseers? Strictly speaking, this clause is as arrogant and as absurd, as if it had enacted that two ears of wheat should in future grow where one only had erown before. Canute, when he commanded the waves not to wet his princely foot, did not in reality assume a greater power over the laws of nature. No directions are given to the overseers how to increase the funds for the maintenance of labour; the necessity of industry, economy and enlightened exertion, in the management of agri- cultural and commercial capital, is not insisted on for this purpose; but it is expected that a mira- culous increase of these funds should immediately follow an edict of the government used at the discretion of some ignorant parish officers.
If this clause were really and bond fide put in execution, and the shame attending the receiving of parish assistance worn off, every labouring man might marry as early as he pleased, under the certain prospect of having all his children pro- perly provided for; and as, according to the sup- position, there would be no check to population
88 Of Poor-Laws, continued. Bk. iii.
from the consequences of poverty after marriage, the increase of people would be rapid beyond example in old states. After what has been said in the former parts of this work, it is submitted to the reader, whether the utmost exertions of the most enlightened government could, in this case, make the food keep pace with the population ; much less a mere arbitrary edict, the tendency of which is certainly rather to diminish than to in- crease the funds for the maintenance of productive labour.
In the actual circumstances of every country; the prolific power of nature seems to be always ready to exert nearly its full force; but within the limit of possibility, there is nothing perhaps more improbable, or more out of the reach of any government to effect, than the direction of the industry of its subjects in such a manner, as to produce the greatest quantity of human suste- nance that the earth could bear. It evidently could not be done without the most complete violation of the law of property, from which every thing that is valuable to man has hitherto arisen: Such is the disposition to marry, particularly in very young people, that, if the difficulties of pro- viding for a family were entirely removed, very few would remain single at twenty-two. But what statesman or rational government could propose that all animal food should be prohibited, that no horses should be used for business or pleasure, that all the people should live upon potatoes, and that the whole industry of the
Ch. vi. Of Poor-Laws, continued. 89
nation should be exerted in the production of them, except what was required for the mere necessaries of clothing and houses? Could such a revolution be effected, would it be desirable? particularly as in a few years, notwithstanding all these exertions, want, with less resource than ever, would inevitably recur.
After a country has once ceased to be in the peculiar situation of a new colony, we shall always find that in the actual state of its cultivation, or in that state which may rationally be expected from the most enlightened government, the in- crease of its food can never allow for any length of time an unrestricted increase of population ; and therefore the due execution of the clause in the 43d of Elizabeth, as a permanent law, is a physical impossibility.
It will be said, perhaps, that the fact contra- dicts the theory ; and that the clause in question has remained in force, and has been executed, during the last two hundred years. In answer to this, I should say without hesitation, that it has not really been executed ; and that it is merely owing to its incomplete execution, that it remains on our statute-book at present.
The scanty relief granted to persons in distress; the capricious and insulting manner in which it is sometimes distributed by the overseers, and the natural and becoming pride, not yet quite extinct among the peasantry of England, have deterred the more thinking and virtuous part of them from venturing on marriage, without some
90 Of Poor- Laws, continued. Bk. iil.
‘better prospect of maintaining their families than mere parish assistance. The desire of ‘bettering our condition, and the fear of making it worse, like the vis medicatriv nature in physics, is the vis medicatriv reipublice in politics, and is continu- ally counteracting the disorders arising from nar- row human institutions. In spite of the prejudices
an favour of population, and the direct encourage-
ments to marriage from the poor-laws, it operates as a preventive check to increase ; and happy for this country is it, that it does so. But besides that spirit of independence and prudence, which checks the frequency of marriage, notwithstand- ing the encouragements of the poor-laws, these laws ‘themselves occasion a check of no inconsi- derable magnitude, and thus counteract with one hand what they encourage with the other. As each parish is obliged to maintain its own poor, it ismaturally fearful of increasing their number; and every landholder is in consequence more in- clined to pull down than to build cottages, except when the demand for labourers is really urgent. This deficiency of cottages operates necessarily as a strong check to marriage; and this check is probably the principal reason why we have been able to continue the system of the poor-laws so long.
Those who are not prevented for a time from marrying by these causes, are either relieved very scantily at their own homes, where they suffer all the consequences arising from squalid poverty; or they are crowded together in close and unwhole-
ee
Ch. vi. Of Poor-Laws, continued. 91
some workhouses, where a great mortality almost universally takes place, particularly among the young children. The dreadful account given by Jonas Hanway of the treatment of parish children in London is well known; and it appears from Mr. Howlett and other writers, that in some parts of the country their situation is not very much better. A great part of the redundant population occasioned by the poor-laws is thus taken off by the operation of the laws themselves, or at least by their ill execution. The remaining part which survives, by causing the funds for the maintenance of labour to be divided among a greater number than can be properly maintained by them, and by turning a considerable share from the support of the diligent and careful workman to the support of.the idle and negligent, depresses the condition of all ‘those-who are out of the workhouses, forces more into them every year, and has ultimately produced the enormous evil, which we all so justly deplore; that of the great and unnatural propor- tion of the people which is now become dependent upon charity.
If this be a just representation of the manner in which the clause in question has been executed, and of the effects which it has produced, it must be allowed that we have practised an unpardon- ‘able deceit upon the poor, and have promised what we have been very far from performing.
The attempts to employ the poor on any great scale in manufactures have almost invariably
e
92 Of Poor-Laws, continued. Bk. iii.
failed, and the stock and materials have been wasted. In those few parishes which, by better management or larger funds, have been enabled to persevere in this system, the effect of these new manufactures in the market must have been to throw out of employment many independent workmen, who were before engaged in fabrica- tions of a similar nature. This effect has been placed in a strong point of view by Daniel de Foe, in an address to parliament, entitled, Giving Alms no Charity. Speaking of the employment of pa- rish children in manufactures, he says, “ For every skein of worsted these poor children spin, there must be a skein the less spun by some poor family that spun it before; and for every piece of baize so made in London, there must be a piece the less made at Colchester, or somewhere else.”* Sir F. M. Eden, on the same subject, observes, that ‘<‘ whether mops and brooms are made by parish children or by private workmen, no more can be sold than the public is in want of."t
* See Extracts from Daniel de Foe, in Sir F. M. Eden’s valu- able Work on the poor, vol. i. p. 261. _ ++ Sir F. M. Eden, speaking of the supposed right of the poor to be supplied with employment while able to work, and with a Maintenance when incapacited from labour, very justly remarks, *© Tt may however be doubted, whether any right, the gratification “ of which seems to be impracticable, can be said to exist,” vol. i. p: 447. No man has collected so many materials for forming aj udg- ment on the effects of the poor-laws as Sir F. M. Eden, and the ‘result he thus expresses: ‘‘ Upon the whole therefore there seems ‘“‘ to be just grounds for concluding, that the sum of good to be
Ch. vi. Of Poor-Laws, continued. 93
It will be said, perhaps, that the same reason- ing might be applied to any new capital brought into competition in a particular trade or manufac- ture, which can rarely be done without injuring, in some degree, those that were engaged in it before. But there is a material difference in the two cases. In this the competition is perfectly fair, and what every man on entering into business must lay his account to. He may rest secure that he will not be supplanted, unless his competitor possess su- perior skill and industry. In the other case the: competition is supported by a great bounty; by which means, notwithstanding very inferior skill and industry on the part of his competitors, the independent workman may be undersold, and unjustly excluded from the market. He himself perhaps is made to contribute to this competition against his own earnings; and the funds for the maintenance of labour are thus turned from the support of a trade which yields a proper profit, to one which cannot maintain itself without a bounty. It should be observed in general, that when a fund for the maintenance of labour is raised by assess- ment, the greatest part of it is not a new capital brought into trade, but an old one, which before was much more profitably employed, turned into a new channel. The farmer pays to the poor’s rates, for the encouragement of a bad and unpro-
“* expected from a compulsory maintenance of the poor will be far ** outbalanced by the sum of evil which it will inevitably create,” vol. i. p. 467.—I am happy to have the sanction of so practical an inquirer to my opinion of the poor-laws.
94 Of Poor-Laws, continued. Bk. iu.
fitable manufacture, what he would have employed on his land with infinitely more advantage to his country. In the one case, the funds for the main- tenance of labour are daily diminished; in the other, daily increased. And this obvious tendency of assessments for the employment of the poor, to decrease the real funds for the maintenance of labour in any country, aggravates the absurdity of supposing that it is in the power of a govern- ment to find employment for all its subjects, how- ever fast they may increase.
It is not intended that these reasonings should be applied against every mode of employing the poor on a limited scale, and with such restrictions as may not encourage at the same time their in- crease. I would never wish to push general prin- ciples too far; though I think that they ought always to be kept in view. In particular cases the individual’ good to*be obtained may be so great, and the general evil so slight, that the former may clearly overbalance the latter.
My intention is merely to shew that the poor- laws as a general system.are founded on a gross error: and that the common declamation on the subject of the poor, which we see so often in print, and hear continually in conversation, namely, that the market price of labour ought always to be sufficient decently to support a family, and that employment ought to be found for all those who are willing to work, is in effect to say, that the funds for the maintenance of labour in this country. are not only infinite, but not subject to variation 5.
Ch. vi. Of Poor-Laws, continued. 95
and that, whether the resources of a country be rapidly progressive, slowly progressive, stationary or declining, the power of giving full employment and good wages to the labouring classes must always remain exactly the same,—a conclusion which contradicts the plainest and most obvious principles of supply and demand, and involves the absurd position that a definite quantity of territory can maintain an infinite population.
iG aGu0) Bk. iii.
CHAP. VII.
Of Poor-Laws, continued.
Tue remarks made in the last chapter on the na- ture and effects of the poor-laws have-been in the most striking manner confirmed by the experience’ of the years 1815, 1816 and 1817.* During these years, two points of the very highest importance have been established, so as no longer to admit of a doubt in the mind of any rational man.
The first is, that the country does not in point of fact fulfil the promise which it makes to the poor in the poor-laws, to maintain and find in employment, by means of parish assessments, those who are unable to support themselves or their families, either from want of work or any other cause.
And secondly, that with a very great increase of legal parish assessments, aided by the most liberal and praiseworthy contributions of voluntary charity, the country has been wholly unable to find adequate employment for the numerous la- bourers and artificers who were able as well as willing to work.
It can no longer surely be contended that the poor-laws really perform what they promise, when it is known that many almost starving families
* This chapter was written in 1817.
Ch. vii. Of Poor-Laws, continued. 97
have been found in London and other great towns, who are deterred from going on the parish by the ~ crowded, unhealthy and horrible state of the work- houses into which they would be received, if indeed they could be received at all; when it is known that many parishes have been absolutely unable to raise the necessary assessments, the increase of which, according to the existing laws, have tended only to bring more and more persons upon the parish, and to make what was collected less and less effectual; and when it is known that there has been an almost universal cry from one end of the kingdom to the other for voluntary charity to come in aid of the parochial assess- ments.
These strong indications of the inefficiency of the poor-laws may be considered not only as incontrovertible proofs of the fact that they do not perform what they promise, but as affording the strongest presumption that they cannot do it. The best of all reasons for the breach of a promise, is, the absolute impossibility of executing it ; indeed it is the only plea that can ever be considered as valid. But though it may be fairly pardonable not to execute an impossibility, itis unpardonable knowingly to promise one. And if it be still thought advisable to act upon these statutes as far as is practicable, it would surely be wise so to alter the terms in which they are expressed, and the general interpretation given to them, as not to convey to the poor a false notion of what really is within the range of practicability.
YOL.| Ij. H
98 Of Poor-Laws, continued. Bk. iii.
It has appeared further as a matter of fact, that very large voluntary contributions, combined with " greatly increased parochial assessments, and aided by the most able and incessant exertions of indi- viduals, have failed to give the necessary employ- ment to those who have been thrown out of work by the sudden falling off of demand which has occurred during the last two or three years.
It might perhaps have been foreseen that, as the great movements of society, the great causes which render a nation progressive, stationary or declin- ing, for longer or shorter periods, cannot be sup- posed to depend much upon parochial assessments or the contributions of charity, it could not be ex- pected that any efforts of this kind should have power to create, in a stationary or declining state of things, that effective demand for labour which only belongs to a progressive state. But to those who did not see this truth before, the melancholy experience of the last two years* must have brought it home with an overpowering conviction.
It does not however by any means follow that the exertions which have been made to relieve the present distresses have been ill directed.. On the contrary, they have not only been prompted by the most praiseworthy motives; they have not only fulfilled the great moral duty of assisting our fellow- creatures in distress; but they have in point of fact done great good, or at least prevented great evil. Their partial falure does not necessarily in- dicate either a want of energy or a want of skillin
* The years 1816 and 1817.
Ch. vii. Of Poor-Laws, continued. 99
those who have taken the lead in these efforts, but merely that a part only of what has been attempted is practicable.
It is practicable to mitigate the violence and relieve the severe pressure of the present distress, so as to carry the sufferers through to better times, though even this can only be done at the expense of some sacrifices, not merely of the rich, but of other classes of the poor. But it is impracticable by any exertions, either individual or national, to restore at once that brisk demand for commodities and labour which has been lost by events, that, however they may have originated, are now beyond the power of control.
The whole subject is surrounded on all sides by. the most formidable difficulties, and in no state of things is it so necessary to recollect the saying of Daniel de Foe quoted in the last chapter. The manufacturers all over the country, and the Spi- talfields weavers in particular, are in a state of the deepest distress, occasioned immediately and directly by the want of demand for the produce of their industry, and the consequent necessity felt by the masters of turning off many of their workmen, in order to proportion the supply to the contracted demand. It is proposed, however, by some well-meaning people, to raise by subscrip- tion a fund for the express purpose of setting to work again those who have been turned off by their masters, the effect of whichcan only be to continue glutting a market, already much too fully supplied. This is most naturally and justly objected: to by
H 2
100 Of Poor-Laws, continued. Bk. iii.
the masters, as it prevents them from withdrawing the supply, and taking the only course which can prevent the total destruction of their capitals, and the necessity of turning off all their men instead of a part.
On the other hand, some classes of merchants and manufacturers clamour very loudly for the prohibition of all foreign commodities which may enter into competition with domestic products, and interfere, as they intimate, with the employ- ment of British industry. But this is most natu- rally and most justly deprecated by other classes of British subjects, who are employed to a very great extent in preparing and manufacturing those commodities which are to purchase our imports from foreign countries. And it must be allowed to be perfectly true that a court-ball, at which only British stuffs are admitted, may be the means of throwing out of employment in one quarter of the country just as many persons as it furnishes with employment in another.
Still, it would be desirable if possible to employ those that were out of work, if it were merely to avoid the bad moral effects of idleness, and of the evil habits which might be generated by depending for a considerable time on mere alms. But the difficulties just stated will shew, that we ought to proceed in this part of the attempt with great caution, and that the kinds of employment which ought to be chosen are those, the results of which will not interfere with existing capitals. Such are public works of all descriptions, the making and repairing of roads, bridges, railways, canals, &c.;
Ch. vii. Of Poor- Laws, continued. 101.
and now perhaps, since the great loss of agricul- tural capital, almost every sort of labour upon the land, which could be carried on by public sub- scription.
Yet even in this way of employing labour, the benefit to some must bring with it disadvantages to-others. That portion of each person’s revenue which might go in subscriptions of this kind, must of course be lost to the various sorts of labour which its expenditure in the usual channels would have supported; and the want of demand thus occasioned in these channels must cause the pres- sure of distress to be felt in quarters which might otherwise have escaped it. But this is an effect which, in such cases, it is impossible to avoid; and, as a temporary measure, it is not only cha- ritable but just, to spread the evil over a larger surface, in order that its violence on particular parts may be so mitigated as to be made bearable by all.
The great object to be kept in view, is to sup- port the people through their present distresses, in the hope (and I trust a just one) of better times. The difficulty is without doubt considerably aggra- vated by the prodigious stimulus which has been given to the population of the country of late years, the effects of which cannot suddenly subside. But it will be seen probably, when the next re- turns of the population are made, that the mar- riages and births have diminished, and the deaths increased in a still greater degree than in 1800 and 1801; and the continuance of this effect to a certain degree for a few years will retard the pro-
102 Of Poor-Laws, continued. Bk. iii
gress of the population, and combined with the increasing wants of Europe and America from their increasing riches, ‘and the adaptation of the supply of commodities at home to the new dis- tribution of wealth occasioned by the alteration of the circulating medium, will again give life and energy to all our mercantile and agricultural transactions, and restore the labouring classes to full employment and good wages.” _
On the subject of the distresses of the poor, and particularly the increase of pauperism of late years, the most erroneous opinions have been cir- culated. During the progress of the war, the in- crease in the proportion of persons requiring parish assistance was attributed chiefly to the high price of the necessaries of life. We have seen these necessaries of life experience a great and sudden fall, and yet at the same time a still larger proportion of the population requiring parish assistance.
It is now said that taxation is the sole cause of their distresses, and of the extraordinary stagna- tion in the demand for labour; yet I feel the firmest
* 1825. This has, in a considerable degree, taken place; but it has been owing rather to the latter causes noticed than to the former. It appeared, by the returns of 1821, that the scarce years of 1817 and 1818 had but a slight effect in diminishing the num- ber of marriages and births, compared with the effect of the great proportion of plentiful years in increasing them ; so that the po- pulation proceeded with great rapidity during the ten years ending with 1820. But this great increase of the population has pre- vented the labouring classes from being so fully employed as might have been expected from the prosperity of commerce and agricul- ture during the last two or three years.
Ch. vii. Of Poor-Laws, continued. 103
conviction, that if the whole of the taxes were removed to-morrow, this stagnation, instead of being at an end, would be considerably aggra- vated. Such an event would cause another great and general rise in the value of the circulating medium, and bring with it that discouragement to industry with which such a convulsion in society must ever be attended. If, as has been repre- sented, the labouring classes now pay more than half of what they receive in taxes, he must know very little indeed of the principles on which the wages of labour are regulated, who can for a mo- ment suppose that, when the commodities on . which they are expended have fallen one half by the removal of taxes, these wages themselves would still continue of the same nominal value. Were they to remain but for a short time the same, while all commodities had fallen, and the circulating medium had been reduced in propor- tion, it would be quickly seen that multitudes of them would beat once thrown out of employment.
The effects of taxation are no doubt in many cases pernicious in a very high degree; but it may be laid down as a rule which has few exceptions, that the relief obtained by taking off a tax, is in no respect equal to the injury inflicted in laying it on; and generally it may be said that the specific evil of taxation consists in the check which it gives to production, rather than the diminution which it occasions indemand. With regard to all commodities indeed of home production and home demand, it is quite certain that the conversion of capital into revenue, which is the effect of loans,
104 Of Poor-Laws, continued. Bk. iii.
must necessarily increase the proportion of de- mand to the supply; and the conversion of the revenue of individuals into the revenue of the government, which is the effect of taxes properly imposed, however hard upon the individuals so taxed, can have no tendency to diminish the general amount of demand. It will of course diminish the demands of the persons taxed by diminishing their powers of purchasing; but tothe exact amount that the powers of these persons are diminished, will the powers of the government and of those employed by it be increased. If an estate of five thousand a year has a mortgage upon it of two thousand, two families, both in very good circumstances, may be living upon the rents of it, and both have considerable demands for houses, furniture, carriages, broad cloth, silks, cottons, &c. The man who owns the estate is certainly much worse off than if the mortgage- deed was burnt, but the manufacturers and la- bourers who supply the silks, broad-cloth, cottons; &e., are so far from being likely to be benefited by such burning, that it would be a considerable time before the new wants and tastes of the en- riched owner had restored the former demand ; and if he were to take a fancy to spend his addi- tional income in horses, hounds and menial ser- vants, which is probable, not only would. the manufacturers and labourers who had before sup- plied their silks, cloths and cottons, be thrown out of employment, but the substituted. demand would be very much less favourable to the increase of the capital and general resources of the country.
“Ch. vii. Of Poor-Laws, continued. 105
The foregoingillustration represents more nearly than may generally be imagined the effects of a national debt on the labouring classes of society, and the very great mistake of supposing that, be- cause the demands of a considerable portion of the community would be increased by the ex- tinction of the debt, these increased demands: would not be balanced, and often more than ba- lanced, by the loss of the demand from the fund- holders and government.
It is by no means intended by these observa-. tions to intimate that a national debt may not be: so heavy as to be extremely prejudicial to a state. The-division and distribution of property, which is so beneficial when carried only to a certain ex- tent, is fatal to production when pushed to extre- mity. The division of an estate of five thousand a year will generally tend to increase demand, stimulate production, and improve the structure of society ; but the division of an estate of eighty pounds a year will generally be attended with effects directly the reverse.
But, besides the probability that the division of property occasioned by a national debt may in many cases be pushed too far, the process of the division is effected by means which sometimes greatly embarrass production. This embarrass- ment must necessarily take place to a certain ex- tent in almost every species of taxation; but under favourable circumstances it is overcome by the stimulus given to demand compared with sup- ply. During the late war, from the prodigious in- crease of produce and population, it may fairly be
106 Of Poor-Laws, continued. Bk. iii. *
presumed that the power of production was not essentially impeded, notwithstanding the enor- mous amount of taxation; but in the state of things which has occurred since the peace, and under a most extraordinary fall of the exchangeable value of the raw produce of the land, and a great conse- quent diminution of the circulating medium, the very sudden increase of the weight and pressure of taxation must greatly aggravate the other causes which discourage production. This effect has been felt to a considerable extent on the land; but the distress in this quarter is already much mitigated ;* and among the mercantile and manufacturing classes, where the greatest: numbers are without employment, the evil obviously arises, not so much from the want of capital and the means of production, as the want of a market for the com- modity when produced—a want, for which the removal of taxes, however proper, and indeed ab- solutely necessary as a permanent measure, is certainly not the immediate and specific remedy. The principal causes of the increase of ‘pau- perism, independently of the present crisis, are, first, the general increase of the manufacturing system and the unavoidable variations of manu- facturing labour; and secondly, and more parti- cularly, the practice which has been adopted in some counties, and is now spreading pretty gene- rally all over the kingdom, of paying a consider- able portion of what ought to be the wages of
* Written in 1817. It increased again afterwards from another great fall in the price of corn, subsequent to 1818,
Ch. vii. Of Poor-Laws, continued. 107
labour out of the parish rates. During the war, when the demand for labour was great and in- creasing, it is quite certain that nothing but a practice of this kind could for any time have pre- vented the wages of labour from rising fully in proportion to the necessaries of life, in whatever degree these necessaries might have been raised by taxation. It was seen, consequently, that in those parts of Great Britain where this practice prevailed the least, the wages of labour rose the most. This was the case in Scotland, and some parts of the North of England, where. the im- provement in the condition of the labouring classes, and their increased command over the necessaries and conveniences of life, were particularly remark- able. And if, in some other parts of the country, - where the practice did not greatly prevail, and especially in the towns, wages did not rise in the same degree, it was owing to the influx and com- petition of the cheaply raised population of the surrounding counties.
It is a just remark of Adam Smith, that the at- tempts of the legislature to raise the pay of curates had always been ineffectual, on account of the cheap and abundant supply of them, occasioned by the bounties given to young persons educated for the church at the universities. And it is equally true that no human efforts can keep up the price of day-labour so as to enable a man to support on his earnings a family of a moderate size, so long as those who have more than two children are considered as haying a valid claim to parish assistance.
108 Of Poor-Laws, continued. - Bk. iii.
If this system were to become universal, and I own it appears to me that the poor-laws naturally lead to it, there is no reason whatever why parish assistance should not by degrees begin earlier and. earlier; and I do not hesitate to assert that, if the government and constitution of the country were inall other respects as perfect as the wildest visionary thinks he could make them; if parlia- ments were annual, suffrage universal, wars, taxes and pensions unknown, and the civil list fifteen hundred.a year, the great body of the hia might still be a collection of paupers.
I have been accused of proposing a law to pro- hibit the poor from marrying. This is not true. So far from proposing such a law, I have distinctly said that, if any person chooses to marry without having a prospect of being able to maintain a family, he ought to have the most perfect liberty so to do; and whenever any prohibitory propo- sitions have been suggested to me as advisable by persons who have drawn wrong inferences from what I have said, I have steadily and uni- formly reprobated them. I am indeed most de- cidedly of opinion that any positive law to limit — the age of marriage would be both unjust and im- moral; and my greatest objection to a system of equality and the system of the poor-laws (two systems which, however different in their outset, are of a nature calculated to produce the same results) is, that the society in which they are ef- fectively carried into execution, will ultimately be reduced to the miserable alternative of choosing
Ch. vii. Of Poor-Laws, continued. 109
between universal want and the enactment of direct laws against marriage.
What I have really proposed is a very different measure. Itis the gradual and very gradual abo- lition of the poor-laws.* And the reason why I have ventured to suggest a proposition of this kind for consideration is my firm conviction, that they have lowered very decidedly the wages of the labouring classes, and made their general condition essentially worse than it would have been if these laws had never existed. Their ope- ration is every where depressing; but it falls pe- culiarly hard upon the labouring classes in great towns. Incountry parishes the poor do really receive some compensation for their low wages ; their children, beyond a certain number, are really supported by the parish; and though it must be a most grating reflection to a labouring man, that it is scarcely possible for him to marry without becoming the father of paupers; yet if he can reconcile himself to this prospect, the compensa- tion, such as itis, is, no doubt, made to him. But in London and all the great towns of the kingdom, the evil is suffered without the compen- sation. The population raised by bounties in the country naturally and necessarily flows into the towns, and as naturally and necessarily tends to lower wages in them ; while, in point of fact, those who marry in towns, and have large fami- lies, receive no assistance from their parishes,
_ * So gradual as not to affect any individuals at present alive, or who will be born within the next two years.
110 _— Of Poor-Laws, continued. Bk. iii.
unless they are actually starving ; and altogether the assistance which the manufacturing classes | obtain for the support of their families, in aid of their lowered wages, is perfectly inconsiderable.
To remedy the effects of this competition from the country, the artificers and manufacturers in towns have been apt to combine, with a view to keep up the price of labour, and to prevent per- sons from working below a certain rate. But such combinations are not only illegal,* but irra- tional and ineffectual; and if the supply of work- men in any particular branch of trade be such as would naturally lower wages, the keeping them up forcibly must have the effect of throwing so many out of employment, as to make the expense of their support fully equal to the gain acquired by the higher wages, and thus render these higher wages in reference to the whole body perfectly futile.
It may be distinctly stated to be an absolute im- ‘possibility that all the different classes of society should be both well paid and fully employed, if the supply of labour on the whole exceed the de- mand; and as the poor-laws tend in the most marked manner to make the supply of labour ex- ceed the demand for it, their effect must be, either to lower universally all wages, or, if some are
* This has since been altered; but the subsequent part of the passage is particularly applicable to the present time—the end of the year 1825. The workmen are beginning to find that, if they could raise their wages above what the state of the demand and the prices of goods will warrant, it is absolutely impossible that all, or nearly all, should be employed. The masters could not employ the same number as before, without inevitable ruin.
Ch. vii. Of Poor-Laws, continued. 111
kept up artificially, to throw great numbers of workmen out of employment, and thus constantly to increase the poverty and distress of the labour- ing classes of society.
If these things be so (and I am firmly convinced that they are) it cannot but bea subject of the deepest regret to those who are anxious for the happiness of the great mass of the community, that the writers which are now most extensively read among the common people should have se- lected for the subject of reprobation exactly that line of conduct which can alone generally improve their condition, and for the subject of approbation that system which must inevitably eb them in poverty and wretchedness.
They are taught that there is no occasion what- ever for them to put any sort of restraint upon their inclinations, or exercise any degree of pru- dence in the affair of marriage; because the pa- rish is bound to provide for all that are born. They are taught that there is as little occasion to cultivate habits of economy, and make use of the means afforded them by saving banks, to lay by their earnings while they are single, in order to furnish a cottage when they marry, and enable them to set out in life with decency and comfort ; because, I suppose, the parish is bound to cover their nakedness, and to find them a bed anda chair in a workhouse.
They are taught that any endeavour on the part of the higher classes of society to inculcate the du- ties of prudence and economy can only arise from
112 Of Poor-Laws, continued. Bk. iii.
a desire to save the money which they pay in poor-rates ; although it is absolutely certain that the only mode, consistent with the laws of mora- lity, and religion, of giving to the poor the largest share of the property of the rich, without sinking the whole community in misery, is the exercise on the part of the poor of prudence in marriage, and of economy both before and after it.
They are taught that the command of the Crea- tor to increase and multiply is meant to contra- dict those laws which he has himself appointed for the increase and multiplication of the human race; and that it is equally the duty of a person to marry early, when, from the impossibility of adding to the food of the country in which he lives, the greater part of his offspring must die prematurely, and consequently no multiplication follow from it, as when the children of such mar- riages can all be well maintained, and there is room and food for a great and rapid increase of population.
They are taught that, in relation to the condi- tion of the labouring classes, there is no other difference between such a country as England, which has been long well peopled, and where the land, which is not yet taken into cultivation, is comparatively barren, and such a country as America, where millions and millions of acres of fine land are yet to be had for a trifle, except what arises from taxation.
And they are taught, O monstrous absurdity! that the only reason why the American labourer
Ch. vii. Of Poor-Laws, continued. 113
earns a dollar a day, and the English labourer earns two shillings, is that the English labourer pays a great part of these two shillings in taxes.
Some of these doctrines are so grossly absurd that I have no doubt they are rejected at once by the common sense of many of the labouring classes. It cannot but strike them that, if their main dependence for the support of their children is to be on the parish, they can only expect parish fare, parish clothing, parish furniture, a parish house, and parish government, and they must know that persons living in this way cannot possibly be in a happy and prosperous state. _
It can scarcely escape the notice of the com- mon mechanic, that the scarcer workmen are ‘upon any occasion the greater share do they re- tain of the value of what they produce for their masters ; and it is a most natural inference, that ‘prudence in marriage, which is the only moral means of preventing an excess of workmen above the demand, can: be the only mode of giving to the poor permanently a large share of all that is produced in the country.
A common man, who has read his Bible, must be convinced that a command given toa rational being by a merciful God cannot be intended so to be interpreted as to produce only disease and death instead of multiplication; and a plain ‘sound understanding would make him see that, if, ina country in which little or no increase of food is to be obtained, every man were to marry at eighteen or twenty, when he generally feels
WOE. LU. I
114 Of Poor-Laws, continued. Bk. iii.
most inclined to it, the consequence must be in- creased poverty, increased disease, and increased mortality, and not increased numbers, as long, at least, as it continues to be true (which he will hardly be disposed to doubt) that additional num- bers cannot live without additional food.
A moderately shrewd judgment would prompt any labourer acquainted with the nature of land to suspect that there must be some great diffe- rence, quite independent of taxation, between a country such as America, which might easily be made to support fifty times as many inhabitants as it contains at present, and a country such as England, which could not, without extraordinary exertions, be made to support two or three times as many. He would, at least, see that there would be a prodigious difference in the power of maintaining an additional number of cattle, be- tween asmall farm already well stocked, and a very large one which had not the fiftieth part of what it might be made to maintain; and as he would know that both rich and poor must live upon the produce of the earth as well as all other animals, he would be disposed to conclude that what was so obviously true in one case, could not be false in the other. These considerations might make him think it natural and probable that in those countries where there was a great want of people, the wages of labour would be such as to encou- rage early marriages and large families, for the best of all possible reasons, because all that are born may be very easily and comfortably sup-
Ch. vii. Of Poor-Laws, continued. 115
ported ; but that in those countries which were already nearly full, the wages of labour cannot be such as to give the same encouragement to early marriages, for a reason surely not much worse, because the persons so brought into the world cannot be properly supported.
There are few of our mechanics and labourers who have not heard of the high prices of bread, meat and labour in this country compared with the nations of the continent, and they have ge- nerally heard at the same time that these high prices were chiefly occasioned by taxation, which, though it had raised among other things the money wages of labour, had done harm rather than good to the labourer, because it had before raised the price of the bread and beer and other articles in which he spent his earnings. With this amount of information, the meanest understanding would revolt at the idea that the very same cause which had kept the money price of labour in all the na- tions of Europe much lower than in. England, namely, the absence of taxation, had been the means of raising it to more than double in Ame- rica. He would feel quite convinced that, what- ever might be the cause of the high money wages of labour in America, which he might not perhaps readily understand, it must be something very different indeed from the mere absence of taxation, which could only have an effect exactly opposite.
With regard to the improved condition of the lower classes of people in France since the revo- lution, which has also been much insisted upon ;
12
116 Of Poor-Laws, continued. Bk. iii.
if the circumstances accompanying it were told at the same time, it would afford the strongest pre- sumption against the doctrines which have been lately promulgated. The improved condition of the labouring classes in France since the revolu- tion has been accompanied by a greatly diminished proportion of births, which has had its natural and necessary effect in giving to these classes a greater share of the produce of the country, and has kept up the advantage arising from the sale of the church lands and other national domains, which would otherwise have been lost in a short time: The effect of the revolution in France has been, to make every person depend more upon himself and less upon others. The labouring classes are there- fore become more industrious, more saving and more prudent in marriage than formerly; and itis quite certain that without these effects the revolu- tion would have done nothing for them. An im- ‘proved government has, no doubt, a natural ten- dency to produce these effects, and thus to improve the condition of the poor. But if an extensive system of parochial relief, and such doctrines as have lately been inculcated, counteract them, and prevent the labouring classes from depending upon their own prudence and industry, then any change for the better in other respects becomes compa- Tatively a matter of very little importance; and, under the best form of government imaginable, there may be thousands on thousands out of em- ployment and half starved.
If it be taught that all who are born have a right
4
Ch. vu. Of Pcoor-Laws, continued. 117
to support on the land, whatever be their number, - and that there is no occasion to exercise any pru- dence in the affair of marriage so as to check this number, the temptations, according to all the known principles of human nature, will inevitably be yielded to, and more and more will gradually become dependent on parish assistance. There cannot therefore be a greater inconsistency and contradiction than that those who maintain these doctrines respecting the poor, should still com- plain of the number of paupers. Such doctrines and a crowd of paupers are unavoidably united ; and it is utterly beyond the power of any revolu- tion or change of government to separate them.
( 118 ) Bk. iii.
CHAP. VIII.
Of the Agricultural System.
As it is the nature of agriculture to produce sub- sistence for a greater number of families than can be employed in the business of cultivation, it might perhaps be supposed that a nation which strictly pursued an agricultural system would always have more food than was necessary for its inhabitants, and that its population could never be checked from the want of the means of subsistence.
It is indeed obviously true that the increase of such a country is not immediately checked, either by the want of power to produce, or even by the deficiency of the actual produce of the soil com- pared with the population. Yet if we examine the condition of its labouring classes, we shall find that the real wages of their labour are such as essentially to check and regulate their increase, by checking and regulating their command over the means of subsistence.
A country under certain circumstances of soil and situation, and with a deficient capital, may find it advantageous to purchase foreign commo- dities with its raw produce rather than manufac- ture them at home: and in this case it will neces- sarily grow more raw produce than it consumes. But this state of things is very little connected
Ch. viii. Of the Agricultural System. 119
either with the permanent condition of the labour- ing classes of the society or the rate of their in- crease; and in a country where the agricultural system entirely predominates, and the great mass of its industry is directed towards the land, the condition of the people is subject to almost every degree of variation.
_ Under the agricultural system perhaps are to be found the two extremes in the condition of the poor; instances where they are in the best state, and instances where they are in the worst state of any of which we have accounts.
In a country where there is an abundance of good land, where there are no difficulties in the way of its purchase and distribution, and where there is an easy foreign vent for raw produce, both the profits of stock and the wages of labour will be high. These high profits and high wages, if habits of economy pretty generally prevail, will furnish the means of a rapid accumulation of capital and a great and continued demand for labour, while the rapid increase of population which will ensue will maintain undiminished the demand for produce, and check the fall of profits. If the extent of territory be considerable, and the population comparatively inconsiderable, the land may remain understocked both with capital and people for some length of time, notwithstanding a rapid increase of both; and it is under these cir- cumstances of the agricultural system that labour is able to command the greatest portion of the
120 Of the Agricultural System. Bk. i.
necessaries of life, and that the condition of the labouring classes of society is the best.
The only drawback to the wealth of the labour- ing classes under these circumstances is the re- latively low value of the raw produce.
If a considerable part of the manufactured com- modities used in such a country be purchased by the export of its raw produce, it follows as a ne- cessary consequence that the relative value of its raw produce will be lower, and of its manufactured produce higher, than in the countries with which such a trade is carried on. But where a given portion of raw produce will not command so much of manufactured and foreign commodities as in other countries, the condition of the labourer can- not be exactly measured by the quantity of raw produce which falls to his share. If, for instance, in one country the yearly earnings of a labourer amount in money value to fifteen quarters of wheat and in another to nine, it would be incorrect to infer that their relative condition, and the com- forts which they enjoy, were in the same propor- tion, because the whole of a labourer’s earnings are not spent in food; and if that part which is not so spent will, in the country where the value of fifteen quarters is earned, not go near so far in the purchase of clothes and other conveniences as in the countries where the value of nine quarters is earned, it is clear that altogether the situation of the labourer in the latter country may approach nearer to that.of the labourer in the former than might at first be supposed.
Ch. viii. Of the Agricultural System. 12]
At the same time it should be recollected that quantity always tends powerfully to counterbalance any deficiency of value; and the labourer who earns the greatest number of quarters may still com- mand the greatest quantity of necessaries and conveniences combined, though not to the extent implied by the proportions of the raw produce.
America affords a practical instance of the agri- cultural system in a state the most favourable to the condition of the labouring classes. The nature of the country is such as to make it answer to employ a very large proportion of its capital in agriculture; and the consequence has been a very rapid increase of it. This rapid increase both of the quantity and value of capital has kept upa steady and continued demand for labour. The labouring classes have in consequence been pe- culiarly well paid. They have been able to com- mand an unusual quantity of the necessaries of life, and the progress of population has been un- usually rapid.
Yet even here, some little drawback has been felt from the relative cheapness of corn. As Ame- ‘rica till the late war imported the greatest. part of its manufactures from England, and as. England imported flour and wheat from America, the value of food in America compared with manufactures must have been decidedly less than in England. Nor would this effect take place merely with re- lation to the foreign commodities imported mto ‘America, but also to those of its home manufac- tures, in which it has no particular advantage.
122 Of the Agricultural System. _ Bk. iii.
_ In agriculture, the abundance of good land would counterbalance the high wages of labour and high profits of stock, and keep the price of corn mo- derate, notwithstanding the great expense of these two elements of price. But in the production of manufactured commodities they must necessarily tell, without any particular advantage to counter- balance them, and must in general occasion in home goods, as well as foreign, a high price com- pared with food.
Under these circumstances, the condition of the labouring classes of society cannot in point of con- veniences and comforts be so much better than that of the labourers of other countries as the re- lative quantity of food which they earn might seem to indicate; and this conclusion is suffi- ciently confirmed by experience. In some very intelligent Travels through a great part of Eng- land, written in 1810 and 1811 by Mr. Simond, a French gentleman, who had resided above twenty years in America, the author seems to have been evidently much struck with the air of convenience and comfort in the houses of our pea- santry, and the neatness and cleanliness of their dress. In some parts of his tour he saw so many neat cottages, so much good clothing, and so little appearance of poverty and distress, that he could not help wondering where the poor of England and their dwellings were concealed. These ob- servations, coming from an able, accurate and ap- parently most impartial observer, just landed from
Ch. viii. Of the Agricultural System. 123
America and visiting England for the first time, are curious and instructive; and the facts which they notice, though they may arise in part from the different habits and modes of life prevailing in the two countries, must be occasioned in a consi- derable degree by the causes above mentioned. A very striking instance of the disadvantage- ous effect of a low relative price of food on the condition of the poor may be observed in Ireland. The food of Ireland has increased so rapidly during the last century, and so large a portion of that which forms the principal support of the lower classes of society has been obtained by them, that the in- crease of population has been more rapid than in almost any known country, except America. The Irish labourer paid in potatoes has earned perhaps the means of subsistence for double the number of persons that could be supported by the earnings of an English labourer paid in wheat; and the increase of population in the two countries during the last century has been nearly in proportion to the relative quantity of the customary food awarded to the labourers in each. But their general con- dition with respect to conveniences and comforts is very far indeed from being in a similar propor- tion. The great quantity of food which land will bear when planted with potatoes, and the conse- quent cheapness of the labour supported by them ; tends rather to raise than to lower the rents of land, and as far as rent goes, to keep up the price of the materials of manufactures and all other sorts of raw produce, except potatoes. The indolence
124 Of the Agricultural System. Bk. iii.
-and want of skill which usually accompany such a state of things tend further to render all wrought commodities comparatively dear. In home manu- factures, therefore, a great relative disadvantage will be suffered, and a still greater both in the raw and manufactured produce of foreign countries. The value of the food which the Irish labourer earns above what he and his family consume will go buta very little way in the purchase of clothing, lodging and other conveniences; and the conse- quence is that his condition in these respects is extremely miserable, at the same time that his means of subsistence, such as they are, may be comparatively abundant.
In Ireland the money price of labour is not much more than the half of what itis in England. The quantity of food earned by no means makes up for its very low price. A certain portion therefore of the Irish labourer’s wages (a fourth or a fifth for instance) will go but a very little way in the purchase of manufactures and foreign produce. In the United States, on the other hand, even the money wages of labour are nearly double those of England. Though the American labourer therefore cannot purchase manufactures and fo- reign produce with the food that he earns so cheap as the English labourer, yet the greater quantity of this food more than makes up for its lower price. His condition, compared with the labouring classes of England, though it may not be so much superior as their relative means of subsistence might indicate, must still on the whole
Ch. viii. Of the Agricultural System. 125
have decidedly the advantage; and altogether, perhaps, the United States may be produced as an instance of the agricultural system in which the condition of the labouring classes is the best of any that we know.
The instances where, under the agricultural system, the condition of the lower classes of so- ciety is very wretched, are more frequent. When the accumulation of capital stops, whatever may be the cause, the population, before it comes to a stand, will always be pressed on as near to the limits of the actual means .of subsistence, as the habits of the lower classes of the society will allow; that is, the real wages of labour will sink, till they are only just sufficient to maintain a sta- tionary population. Should this happen, as it frequently does, while land is still in abundance and capital scarce, the profits of stock will natu- rally be high; but corn will be very cheap, owing to the goodness and plenty of the land, and the stationary demand for it, notwithstanding the high profits of stock ; while these high profits, together with the want of skill and proper division of labour, which usually attend a scanty capital, will render all domestic manufactured commodities compa- ratively very dear. This state of things will na- turally be unfavourable to the generation of those habits of prudential restraint which most fre- quently arise from the custom of enjoying conve-
“niences and comforts, and it is to be expected that the population will not stop till the wages of labour, estimated even in food, are very low. But
126 Of the Agricultural System. Bk. iii.
in a country where the wages of labour estimated in food are low, and that food is relatively of a very low value, both with regard to domestic and foreign manufactures, the condition of the labour- ing classes of society must be the worst possible.
Poland, and some parts of Russia, Siberia and European Turkey, afford instances of this kind. In Poland the population seems to be almost stationary or very slowly progressive; and as both the population and produce are scanty, compared with the extent of territory, we may: infer with certainty that its capital is scanty, and yet slowly progressive. It follows, therefore, that the demand for labour increases very slowly, and that the real wages of labour, or the command of the labouring classes over the necessaries and conveniences of life, are such as to keep the popu- lation down to the level of the slowly increasing quantity that is awarded to them. And as from the state of the country the peasantry cannot have been much accustomed to conveniences and com- forts, the checks to its population are more likely to be of the positive than of the preventive kind. '
Yet here corn is in abundance, and great quantities of it are yearly exported. Hence it appears that it is not either the power of the country to produce food, or even what it actually produces, that limits and regulates the progress of population, but the quantity and value of the food which in the actual state of things is awarded to the labourer, and the rate at which these funds appropriated increase.
Ch. viii. Of the Agricultural System. 127
In the present case the demand for labour is very small, and though the population is incon- siderable, it is greater than the scanty capital of the country can fully employ; the condition of the lalfourer therefore is depressed by his being able to command only such a quantity of food as will maintain a stationary or very slowly increas- ing population. It is further depressed by the low relative value of the food that he earns, which gives to.any surplus he may possess a very small power in the purchase of manufactured commodities or foreign produce.
Under these circumstances, we cannot be sur- prised that all accounts of Poland should repre- sent the condition of the lower classes of society as extremely miserable; and the other parts of Europe which resemble Poland in the state of their land and capital, resemble it in the condition of their people.
In justice, however, to the agricultural system, it should be observed that the premature check to the capital and the demand for labour, which occurs in some of the countries of Europe, while land continues in considerable plenty, is not occa- sioned by the particular direction of their in- dustry, but by the vices of the government and the structure of the society, which prevent its full and fair developement in that direction.
Poland is continually brought forward as an example of the miserable effects of the agricul- tural system. But nothing surely can be less fair. The misery of Poland does not arise from
128 Of the Agricultural System. Bk. iii.
its directing its industry chiefly to agriculture, “but from the little encouragement given to in- dustry of any kind, owing to the state of property and the servile condition of the people. While the land is cultivated by boors, the produce >of whose exertions belongs entirely to their masters, and the whole society consists mainly of these degraded beings and the lords and owners of great tracts of territory, there will evidently be no class of persons possessed of the means either of furnishing an adequate demand at home for the surplus produce of the soil, or of accumulating fresh capital and increasing the demand for la- bour. In this miserable state of things, the best remedy would unquestionably be the introduction ‘of manufactures and commerce; because the in- troduction of manufactures and commerce could alone liberate the mass of the people from slavery and give the necessary stimulus to industry and accumulation. But were the people already free and industrious, and landed property easily divi- sible and alienable, it might still answer to such a country as Poland to purchase its finer manufac- tures from foreign countries by means of its raw products, and thus to continue essentially agri- cultural for many years. Under these new cir- cumstances, however, it would present a totally different picture from that which it exhibits at present; and the condition of the people would more resemble that of the inhabitants of the United States of America, than of the inhabitants of the unimproved countries of Europe. Indeed
Ch. viii. Of the Agricultural System. 129
America is perhaps the only modern instance of the fair operation of the agricultural system. Inevery country of Europe, and in most of its colonies in other parts of the world, formidable obstacles still exist to the employment of capital upon the land, arising from the remains of the feudal system. But these obstacles which have essentially impeded cultivation have been very far indeed from pro- portionably encouraging other branches of in- dustry. Commerce and manufactures are neces- sary to agriculture; but agriculture is still more necessary to commerce and manufactures. It must ever be true that the surplus produce of the cultivators, taken in its most enlarged sense, measures and limits the growth of that part of the society which is not employed upon the land. Throughout the whole world the number of manu- facturers, of merchants, of proprietors, and of per- sons engaged in the various civil and military pro- fessions, must be exactly proportioned to this sur- plus produce, and cannot in the nature of things increase beyond it. If the earth had been so
niggardly of her produce as to oblige all her inha- bitants to labour for it, no manufactures or idle persons could ever have existed. But her first intercourse with man was a voluntary present, not very large indeed, but sufficient as a fund for his subsistence till he could procure a greater. And the power to procure a greater was given to him in that quality of the earth by which it may be made to yield a much larger quantity of food, and-of the materials of clothing and lodging, than
VOL. II. K
130 Of the Agricultural System. Bk. iii.
is necessary to feed, clothe and lodge the persons employed in the cultivation of the soil. This quality is the foundation of that surplus produce which peculiarly distinguishes the industry em- ployed upon the land In proportion as the - labour and ingenuity of man exercised upon the land have increased this surplus produce, leisure has been given to a greater number of persons to employ themselves in all the inventions which embellish civilized life; while the desire to profit by these inventions has continued to stimulate the cultivators to increase their surplus produce. This desire indeed may be considered as almost abso- lutely necessary to give it its proper value, and to encourage its further extension ; but still the order of precedence is, strictly speaking, the surplus produce; because the funds for the subsistence of the manufacturer must be advanced to him be- fore he can complete his work; and no step can be taken in any other sort of industry unless the cultivators obtain from the soil more than they themselves consume. ; If in asserting the peculiar productiveness of the labour employed upon the land, we look only to the clear monied rent yielded to a certain num- ber of proprietors, we undoubtedly consider the subject in a very contracted point of view. In the advanced stages of society, this rent forms indeed the most prominent portion of the surplus produce here meant; but it may exist equally in the shape of high wages and profits during the earlier periods of cultivation, when there is little
Ch. viii. Of the Agricultural System. 131
orno rent. The labourer who earns a value equal to fifteen or twenty quarters of corn in the year may have only a family of three or four children, and not consume in kind above five or six quarters; and the owner of the farming stock, which yields high profits, may consume but a very moderate pro- portion of them in feod and raw materials. All the rest, whether in the shape of wages and pro- fits, or of rents, may be considered as a surplus produce from the soil, which affords the means of subsistence and ihe materials of clothing and lodging to a certain number of people according to its extent, some of whom may live without manual exertions, and others employ themselves in modifying the raw materials obtained from the earth into the forms best suited to the gratification of man.
It will depend of course entirely upon its answering to a country to exchange a part of the surplus produce for foreign commodities, instead of consuming it at home, whether it is to be con- sidered as mainly agricultural or otherwise. And such an exchange of raw produce for manufac- tures, or peculiar foreign products, may for a period of some extent suit a state, which might resemble Poland in scarcely any other feature but that of exporting corn. ;
It appears then, that countries in which the industry of the inhabitants is principally directed towards the land, and in which corn continues to be exported, may enjoy great abundance or ex- perience great want, according to the particular
K 2
132 Of the Agricultural System. _. Bk...
circumstances in which they are placed. They: will in general not be much exposed to the tem- porary evils of scarcity arising from the variations of the seasons; but the quantity of food perma- nently awarded to the labourer may be such as not to allow of an increase of population; and their state, in respect to their being progressive, stationary or declining, will depend upon other causes than that of directing their attention prin- cipally to agriculture.
ied BBow)
CHAP. IX.
Of the Commercial System.
A ‘country which excels in commerce and ma- nufactures, may purchase corn from a great variety of others; and it may be supposed, perhaps, that, proceeding upon this system, it may continue to purchase an increasing quantity, and to maintain a rapidly increasing population, till the lands of all the nations with which it trades are fully culti- vated. As this is an event necessarily at a great distance, it may appear that the population of such a country will not be checked from the difficulty of procuring subsistence till after the lapse of a great number of ages.
There are, however, causes constantly in ope- ration, which will occasion the pressure of this difficulty, long before the event here contemplated has taken place, and while the means of raising food in the surrounding countries may still be ‘comparatively abundant.
In the first place, advantages which depend exclusively upon capital and skill, and the present possession of particular channels of commerce, cannot in their nature be permanent. We know how difficult it is to confine improvements in ma- chinery to a single spot; we know that it is the
134 Of the Commercial System. Bk. iil.
eonstant object, both of individuals and countries, to increase their capital ; and’ we know, from the past history of commercial states, that the chan- nels of trade are not unfrequently taking a diffe- rent direction. It is unreasonable therefore to expect that any one country, merely by the force of skill and capital, should remain in possession of markets uninterrupted by foreign competition. But, when a powerful foreign competition takes place, the exportable commodities of the country . In question must soon fall to prices which will es- sentially reduce profits; and the fall of profits will diminish both the power and the will to save: Under these circumstances the accumulation of capital will be slow, and the demand for labour proportionably slow, till it comes nearly to a stand; while, perhaps, the new competitors either by raising their own raw materials or by some other advantages, ‘may still be increasing their capitals and population with some degree of rapi- dity.
But, secondly, even if it were possible for a considerable time to exclude any formidable fo- - reign competition, it is found that domestic com- petition produces almost unavoidably the same effects. If a machine be invented in a particular country, by the aid of which one; man can do the work of ten, the possessors of it will of course at first make very unusual profits; but, as soon as the invention is generally known, so much capital and industry will be brought into this new and profitable employment, as to make its products
Ch. ix. Of the Commercial System. 135
greatly exceed both the foreign and domestic de- mand at the old prices. These prices, therefore, will continue to fall, till the stock and labour em- ployed in this direction cease. to yield unusual profits. In this case it is evident that, though in an early period of such a manufacture, the product of the industry of one man for a day might have been exchanged for such a portion of food as would support forty or fifty persons; yet, at a subsequent period, the product of the same industry might not purchase the support of ten. !
In the cotton trade of this country, which has extended itself so wonderfully durmg the last twenty-five years, very little effect has hitherto been produced by foreign competition.* Thevery great fall which has taken place in the prices of cotton goods has been almost exclusively owing to domestic competition; and this competition has so glutted both the home and foreign markets, that the present capitals employed in the trade, not- withstanding the very peculiar advantages which they possess from the saving of labour, have ceased to possess any advantage whatever in the general rate of their profits. Although, by means of the admirable machinery used in the spinning of cot- ton, one boy or girl can now do as much as many grown persons could do formerly; yet neither the wages of the labourer, nor the profits of his master, are higher than in those employments where no machinery is used, and no saving of labour accom- plished.
* 1816.
136 ‘Of the Commercial System. Bk ii.
The country has, however, in the mean time, been very greatly benefited. Not only have all its inhabitants been enabled to obtain a superior fabric for clothing, at a less expense of labour and property, which must be considered as a great and permanent advantage; but the high tempo- rary profits of the trade have occasioned a great accumulation of capital, and consequently a great demand for labour; while the extending markets abroad and the new values thrown into the mar- ket at home, have created such a demand for the products of every species of industry, agricultural and colonial, as well as commercial and manufac- turing, as to prevent a fall of profits.
This country, from the extent of its lands, and its rich colonial possessions, has a large arena for ‘the employment of an increasing capital; and the general rate of its profits are not, as it appears, very easily and rapidly reduced by accumulation. But a country, such as we are considering, engaged principally in manufactures, and unable to direct its industry to the same variety of pursuits, would sooner find its rate’of profits diminished by an in- crease of capital, and no ingenuity in machinery which was not continually progressive could’ save it, after a certain period, from low profits and low wages, and their natural consequences, a check to population. )
Thirdly. A country which is obliged to purchase both the raw materials of its manufactures and the means of subsistence for its population from foreign countries, is almost entirely dependent for
Ch. ix. Of the Commercial System. 137
the increase of its wealth and population on the increasing wealth and demands of the countries with