UC-NRLF $B fib fibb o 'ViBRARr OF THE UNIVERSITY OF .^4LlFORl^^^ Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2007 with funding from IVIicrosoft Corporation http://www.archive.org/details/discourseonrisepOOmccurich 1^ {y / >J.'^ i/L^ >■ \ ^.^ fj n - principles ; and it is also certain that no oral in- structions can entirely supersede private study and reading. Still, however, it seems to me that very great advantage may be derived from a judicious course of public prelections. " The hour of lec- ture enforces attendance ; attention is fixed by the presence, the voice, and the occasional questions of the teacher ; the most idle will carry something away ; and the more diligent will compare the in- structions which they have heard in the school POLITICAL ECONOMY. 97 with the volumes they peruse in their chambers."* A course of lectures has the farther advantage of being easily made to keep pace with the progress of the science ; while the discussion of principles and conclusions, bearing directly on the various questions that are daily emerging into importance, excites an unusual interest in the auditors, and gives the lecture a degree of freshness, and a prac- tical and immediate incidence, which no published treatise can possibly possess. After defining the objects and limits of the science, I proceed at the outset of my course to show that labour is the only source of wealth — to prove, in the words of Dr Smith, that " it was not by gold or by silver, but by labour, that all the wealth of the world was originally purchased."! * Gibbon's Memoir of his own Life, Miscellaneous Works, Vol. I. p. 51, 8vo ed. f Wealth of Nations, I. p. 44. — The writer of a late ar- ticle in the Quarterly Review (>so. 60, Art. L) contends, that the earth is a source of wealth, because it supplies us with the matter of commodities. But this, it is obvious, is just the old error of the Economists reproduced in a some- what modified shape. Wealth is in no degree dependent on quantities of matter, but exclusively on value. Nature gra- tuitously supplies us with the matter of which all commo- dities are made ; but until labour has been expended in ap- propriating matter, or in adapting it to our use, it is wholly destitute of value, and is not, nor ever has been, con- G 98 DISCOURSE ON This fundamental principle once established, it ne-r cessarily follows, that the great practical problem in- volved in that part of the science which treats of the production of wealth, must necessarily resolve itself into a discussion of the means whereby the great- est amount of necessary y useful, and desirable 'pro- ducts may he obtained with the least possible quan- tity of labour. Every measure which has any ten- dency to add to the power of labour, or to reduce the cost of the commodities produced by its agency, must add proportionally to our power of obtaining wealth and riches, while every measure or regula- tion that has any tendency to waste labour, or to raise the cost of producing commodities, must equally lessen this power. This is the simple and decisive test by which we are to judge of the ex- pediency of every measure affecting the wealth of the country, and of the value of every invention. If they render labour more productive — if they have a tendency to reduce the exchangeable value sidered as forming wealth. We do not call a man wealthy because he has an indefinite command of atmospheric air, or of any other gratuitous product ; but we call him wealthy when, and only when, he possesses the produce of a large quantity of labour. It would, in truth, be just as correct to say, that the earth is a source of pictures and statues, be- cause it supplies the materials made use of by painters and statuaries, as to say, that it is a source of wealth, because it supplies the matter of commodities ! POLITICAL ECONOMY. 99 of commodities, to render them more easily ob- tainable, and to bring them within the command of a greater portion of society, they must be ad- vantageous ; but if their tendency be different, they must as certainly be disadvantageous. Con- sidered in this point of view, that great branch of the science of Political Economy which treats of the production of wealth, will be found to be a- bundantly simple, and easily understood. I may here observe, that labour, according as it is applied to the raising of raw produce — ^to the fa- shioning of that raw produce, when raised, into ar- ticles of utility, convenience, or ornament — and to the conveying of raw and wrought produce from one country and place to another — is said to be ag- ricultural, manufacturing, and commercial. An ac- quaintance with the particular processes, and most advantageous methods, of applying labour in each of these grand departments of industry, forms the peculiar and appropriate study of the agriculturist, manufacturer, and merchant. It is not consistent with the objects of the Political Economist to enter into the details of particular businesses and profes- sions. He confines himself to an investigation of the means by which labour in general may be ren- dered most productive, and how its powers may be increased in all the departments of industry. The most careless and inattentive observer of the progress of mankind from poverty to affluence. 100 DISCOURSE ON must have early perceived that there are three cir- cumstances, without whose conjoint existence and co-operation they never could have emerged from barbarism. The first, and most indispensable, is the security of property ; the second, is the intro- duction of exchange or barter, and the consequent appropriation of particular individuals to particular occupations ; and the third, is the accumulation and employment of the produce of previous labour, or, as it is more commonly termed, of capital or stock. Without the Jirst, or security of property, we can have neither riches nor civilization ; for no one would ever engage in any laborious or diflBcult undertaking, without a thorough conviction that he was labouring for his own advantage, and not for that of others, and that he was to be permitted to enjoy the fruits of his labour without molestation : * Without the second, or the introduction of barter and the division of employments, no one would be able constantly to employ himself in a particular branch of industry ; his time would be wasted in shifting from one thing to another ; and it would be impossible for him to attain that peculiar sleight of hand, and that degree of skill and dexterity in any particular calling, so truly astonishing to those * La surete de la propriete est le fondement essev- iiel de I'ordre economique de la societc. Quesnay, Fhysiocratie, p. 108. POLITICAL ECONOMY. 101 who have lived in places where the division of la- bour was but imperfectly established : And without the ihirdi or the possession and employment of ca- pital, the labourer would be destitute of provisions far his subsistence, and of tools and machines to as- sist him in his work, and would consequently be unable to engage in any species of industry that did not promise an almost immediate return, or that might not be carried on by the hand alone, without the aid of any instrument. All the means that ei- ther have been, or that ever can be, devised for fa- cilitating the production of wealth, by adding to the power and efficacy of labour, must be classed under one or other of these three heads. It is in- dispensable, therefore, that principles so import- ant, and which lie at the very bottom of the science, should be well understood. I endeavour to set them in the clearest point of view ; to ex- hibit their mutual action and reaction ; and to treat fully the various important questions to which their discussion necessarily gives rise. Besides that sort of division of labour which en- ables each individual in a limited society to confine himself to a particular employment, there is another and most important branch of the division of labour, which not only enables particular individuals, but the inhabitants of entire districts, and even nations, to addict themselves, in preference, to certain branches of industry. It is on this territorial di^ 102 DISCOURSE ON •vision of labour, if I may so term it, that the com- merce which is carried on between different dis- tricts of the same country, and between different countries, is founded. The various soils, climates, and capacities of production, possessed by the dif- ferent districts of an extensive country, fit them for being appropriated in preference to certain species of industry. A district where coal is abund- ant, which has an easy access to the ocean, and a considerable command of internal navigation, is the natural seat of manufactures. Wheat and other species of grain are the proper products of rich ar- able soils ; and cattle, after being reared in moun- tainous districts, are most advantageously fattened in meadow and low grounds. Nothing is more obvious than that an infinitely greater aggregate quantity of useful and desirable commodities will be produced, by the inhabitants of these dijBPerent districts, separately confining themselves to the particular branches of industry for the successful prosecution of which they have some peculiar na- tural capahility, than if they attempted, indiscri- minately, to carry on every difiPerent employment. "Who can doubt that vastly more manufactured goods, corn, and cattle, are produced by the in- habitants of Glasgow, the Carse of Gowrie, and Argyleshire, respectively confining themselves to manufactures, agriculture, and the rearing of cattle, than if those of each district had endeavoured di- POLITICAL ECONOMIC, 103 rectly to supply themselves with these various pro- ducts, without the intervention of an exchange ? But it is easy to see that foreign trade, or the territorial division of labour between different and independent countries, contributes to increase the wealth of each in precisely the same manner that the trade between different provinces of the same kingdom contributes to increase their wealth. There is a still greater difference between the pro- ductive powers wherewith nature has endowed dif- ferent and distant countries, than there is between the productive powers of the provinces of the same country. Heic segetest illic veniuntfelicius woes : Arborei fetus alibi, atque injussa mrescunt Gramina. Nonne vides, croceos ut Tmolus odores, India mittit ebur, molles sua ihura Sabcei ? At Chalybes nudiferrum, virosaque Pontus Castorea, Eliadum palmas Epeiros equarum f Continuo has leges, cBternaque foedera certis Imposuit natura locis. — Georg. lib. i. lin. 54. The establishment of a free intercourse between countries possessed of such an infinite variety of pro- ducts must, therefore, be proportionally advanta- geous. It would evidently cost an infinitely greater expence to raise the wines of France or Spain in England than to make Yorkshire yield the same 104 DISCOURSE ON products as Devonshire. Indeed, there are a mul titude of products, and some of them of the very greatest utility, which cannot possibly be raised ex- cept in particular situations. Were it not for com- mercial intercourse, we should not be able to ob- tain the smallest supplies of tea, coffee, raw cotton* raw silk, gold bullion, and a thousand other equally useful and valuable commodities. Providence, by giving different soils, climates, and natural produc- tions, to different countries, has evidently provided for their mutual intercourse and civilization. By permitting the people of each to employ their capi- tal and labour in those departments in which their geographical situation, the physical capacities of their soil, their national character and habits fit them to excel, foreign commerce has a wonderful effect in multiplying the productions of art and in- dustry. When it is not subjected to restrictions, each people naturally devote themselves to such employments as are most beneficial to each. This pursuit of individual advantage is admirably con- nected with the good of the whole. By stimulat- ing industry, by rewarding ingenuity, and by using most efficaciously the particular powers bestowed by nature, commerce distributes labour most effec- tively and economically 5 while, by increasing the general mass of necessary and useful products, it diffuses general opulence, and binds together the universal society of nations by the common and POLITICAL ECONOMY. 105 powerful ties of mutual interest and reciprocal obli- gation. " On peut dire," it has been eloquently ob- served, " sans crainte d'etre soup^onne d'exag- geration, que le commerce est le plus solide fon- dement de la societe civile, et le lien le plus neces- saire pour unir entr'eux tous les hommes de quel- que pays et de quelque condition qu'ils soient. Par son moyen le monde en tier semble ne former qu'une seule ville et qu'une seule famille. II y fait regner de toutes parts une abondance universelle. Les ri- chesses d'une nation deviennent celles de tous les autres peuples. Nulle contree n'est sterile, ou du moins ne se sent de sa sterilite. Tous ses besoins lui sont apportes a point nomme du bout de I'uni- vers, et chaque region est ettonee de fruits etran- gers, que son propre fonds ne pouvoit lui fournir, et enrichie de mille commodites qui lui etoient inconnues, et qui cependant font toute la douceur de la vie." * Commerce has given us new tastes and new appetites, and it has also given us the means and the desire of gratifying them. It has enabled each particular people to profit by the in- ventions and discoveries of all the rest. It has forced routine to give way to emulation ; and has stimulated the industry and ingenuity of the hom^ * Rollin, Hisioire Ancieiwef Tome V. p. 509, 4fto ed. 106 DISCOURSE ON producers by bringing them into competition with foreigners. It is the grand engine by which the blessings of civilization are diffused, and the trea- sures of knowledge and of science conveyed to the remotest corners of the habitable globe. Its hu- manizing influence is in this respect most import- ant. Nothing, indeed, has ever done so much to soften and polish the manners of men. By mak- ing each particular people depend for the means of supplying a considerable portion of their wants on the assistance of others, it has gone far to remove a host of the most destructive prejudices, and forms a powerful principle of harmony, of union, and of concord. It cannot indeed be denied, that mistaken views of commerce, like the mistaken views that have been so frequently entertained of reli- gion, have been the cause of many wars and of much bloodshed. But the folly of the monopo- ly system, and the ruinous nature of the contests to which it has given rise, have been fully demon- strated. It is now ascertained that nothing can be more irrational and absurd, than that dread of the progress of others in wealth and civiliza- tion that was once so prevalent ; and that the true glory and real interest of every people will be more certainly advanced by endeavouring to emu- late and outstrip their neighbours in the ca- reer of science and civilization, than by labouring POLITICAL ECONOMY. 107 to attain a barren pre-eminence in the bloody and destructive art of war. In treating this most important branch of the science, I first endeavonr to present a general view of the effects of commercial intercourse ; to exhibit the principles on which it is founded ; and to give a sketch of the principal epochs in its history. I then proceed to examine, in detail, the various reasons which have been urged in defence of those regulations by which the freedom of commerce be- tween certain countries and in particular commo- dities has been fettered and restricted. Of these, the restrictions on the importation and exportation of the precious metals, on the trade in corn and provisions, on the colony trade, and on the free- dom of navigation, are among the most important. I treat them in succession, with that degree of minuteness, and fulness of illustration, which their great practical interest and importance imperious- ly require. When the division of labour was first introduc- ed, barter was the only method by which commo- dities were exchanged. But as society advanced, as the division of employments was extended, and as exchanges became more numerous, the advan- tage of using some one commodity as a common medium of exchange — as an equivalent for all other commodities, and as a standard whereby to esti- mate their relative values — gradually became ob- 108 DISCOURSE ON vious. The benefits resulting from the use of this common medium, or of money, were so great, that, as previously stated, gold and silver, of which it has been chiefly formed, were, for many ages, alone supposed to form wealth. The error of this opi- nion has been long since demonstrated ; but money is still very generally considered in a different light from other commodities ; and the importance of its functions, and the necessity of being intimately ac- quainted with the principles which determine its exchangeable value, have induced me to treat it at considerable length.* The first grand division of the science, or that which treats of the production of wealth, being thus *The Roman jurists have given a very distinct statement of the circumstances which led to the use of money : Origo emendi vendendique a permutationibus coepit Olira enim non ita erat nummus ; neque aliud merx, aHud pretium vocaba- tus ; sed unusquisque secundum necessitatem temporum, ac rerum, utihbus inutilia permutabat, quando plerumque evenit, ut quod alteri superest, alteri desit. Sed quia non semper, nee facile concurrebat, ut, cum tu haberes, quod ego deside- rarera, invicem haberem, quod tu accipere velles, electa nia- teria est, cujus publica ac perpetua estimatio difficultatibus permutationum, aequalitate quantitatis subveniret : eaque ma- teria forma publica percussa, usum dominiumque non tam ex- substantia praebet, quara ex quantitate ; nee ultra merx utrum- que, sed alterum pretium vocatur. — Digest, lib. xvjii. tit. i. De contrahenda emptione, ^c. POLITICAL ECONOMY. 10[) disposed of, I proceed to the second^ or that which has for its object to discover and unfold the laws regulating the distrihulion of the various products of art and industry among the different classes of the community. It is abundantly obvious, that in the early pe- riods of society, before capital was accumulated and land appropriated, the whole produce of in* dustry must have belonged to the labourer, and that the quantity of labour necessary to produce commodities, and bring them to market, must have formed the only standard by which their ex- changeable worth, or relative value, could be esti- mated.* As soon, however, as capital has been accumulated, those who possess it find it to be for their advantage to supply industrious individuals with food and other articles necessary to enable them to produce commodities, on condition of their getting back a greater quantity of such articles, or a greater value in their stead : And after land has been appropriated, and cultivation extended, the proprietors of the superior lands will not allow them to be cultivated, unless they receive a por- tion of the produce as rent. Instead, therefore, of belonging, as in the earlier stages of society, ex- * There is no difference whatever of opinion respecting this position : It is equally assented to by Dr Smith, Mr Mal- thus, and Mr Ricardo. 110 DISCOURSE ON clusively to the labourers, the produce of industry is, in every advanced and civilized community, di- vided into three portions, whereof one goes to the labourers as wages, another to the capitalists as profit, and a third to the landlords as rent. It be- comes, therefore, essential to ascertain the laws which regulate wages, profit, and rent ; that is, the laws which determine the proportions in which the produce of industry, or the sum of the various necessaries, conveniences, and enjoyments of human life, is divided among the great classes, of which every civilized society is made up. But this does not exhaust the whole of this de- partment of the science. We have farther to inquire, whether the employment of capital in production, and the payment of rent, have any effect on the ex- changeable value of commodities ; or whether their value is determined in cultivated and refined so- cieties by the quantities of labour necessarily requir- ed to produce and bring them to market, as in the earliest and rudest periods. I have endeavoured to simplify this rather difficult, but fundamentally important inquiry ; and have entered into a pretty full discussion of the correlative questions with re- spect to the influence of supply and demand, mo- nopolies, &c. on price. It is not, however, enough to know the constituent elements of value, and the proportions in which the produce of industry is distributed. We ought POLITICAL ECONOMY. Ill farther to render ourselves acquainted with the principles which determine the increase and di- minution of those sentient, social, and accounta- ble beings, for whom, and by whom, all wealth is produced. For this purpose, I endeavour to give a pretty full, and I hope satisfactory, exposition of the theory of population. I also inquire in- to the effects that would most probably result from the establishment of a national system of education, or of parochial schools, where the children of the poor should be furnished, at a cheap rate, with instruction in the arts of reading, writing, and arithmetic ; in the duties enjoined by religion and morality ; and in the elementary prin- ciples of this science, more especially in those which show on what the rate of wages, and conse- quently the condition of the poor, must always de- pend : I also examine, in this part of my course, the effect of the establishment of a compulsory pro- vision for the support of the poor. The thh^d and last division of the science of Political Economy is that which treats of the cow- sumption of wealth. Consumption, in the sense in which the word is used by Political Economists, is synonymous with use. We produce commodities only that we may be able to use or consume them. Consumption is the great end and object of all human industry. Production is merely a means to attain an end. 112 DISCOURSE ON No one would produce were it not that he might afterwards consume. All the products of art and industry are destined to be consumed, or made use of; and when a commodity is brought into a state fit to be used, if its consumption be deferred, a loss is incurred. All products are intended either ta satisfy the immediate wants, or to add to the en- joyments of their producers ; or they are intended to be employed as capital, and made to reproduce a greater value than themselves. In the Jirst case, by delaying to use them, it is plain we either refuse to satisfy a want, or deny ourselves a gratification it is in our power to obtain ; — and in the second, by delaying to use them, it is equally plain we al- low the instruments of production to lie idle, and lose the profit that might be derived from their employment. But^ although all commodities are produced only to be consumed, we must not fall into the error of supposing, that all consumption is equally advan- tageous to the individual, or the society. If an in- dividual employs a set of labourers to build him a house the one summer, and to pull it down the next, their labour, or rather the capital he gave them in exchange for their labour, and which they have consumed during the time they were engaged in this futile employment, is evidently destroyed for ever, and absolutely lost both to himself and the public ; whereas, had he employed them in the POLITICAL ECONOMY. 113 raising of corn, or in the production of any species of valuable produce, he would have obtained com- modities of equal, or more than equal, value to the capital he gave them. The value of the return^ or the advantage obtained from the consumption^ is, therefore, the true and only test of advantageous and disadvantageous, or, as it is more commonly termed, of productive and unproductive consump- tion. Commodities are consumed productively when the advantage or benefit accruing in conse- quence to their possessors, or when the value of the products obtained in their stead exceeds their value ; and they are consumed unproduciively when the value of the advantage or benefit, or the value of the new commodities, is less than their value. It is on this balance of consumption and reproduction, and not, as was long supposed, on the balance of trade, that the prosperity or decay of every nation depends. If, in given periods, the commodities produced in a country exceed those consumed in it, the means of increasing its capital will be provided, and its population will either in- crease, or the actual numbers will be better ac- commodated, or both. If the consumption in such periods fully equals the reproduction, no means will be afforded of increasing the stock or capital of the nation, and society will be at a stand. And if the consumption exceeds the reproduction, every succeeding period will see the society worse sup- H 114 DISCOURSE ON plied 'y its prosperity and population will evidently decline, and pauperism will gradually and progres- sively . spread itself over the whole country. It must plainly, therefore, be an object of great im- portance to acertain how the balance between con- sumption and reproduction may be made to incline in favour of the last. To be able to solve this problem satisfactorily, we must endeavour to render ourselves acquainted, not only with the circumstances which influence individual consumption, and the means by which it may be rendered most advantageous, but also with the nature and effects of the consumption carried on by government. And hence, it is in this department of the science that I investigate the principles of Taxation, and of the Funding Si/stem^ for the purpose of determining the manner in which the revenue necessary to defray the expences of the state, both in periods of peace and war, may be raised and collected with the least injury to indivi* duals. Many of my readers will probably be inclin- ed to think that this is the most important of all the inquiries involved in this science. But, how- ever important, those who have not previously made themselves masters of the laws which regu- late the production and distribution of wealth, need not expect to be able to acquire any accurate knowledge of the ultimate incidence and real ef- fect of any tax or loan. What Lord Bacon has POLITICAL ECONOMY. 115 SO beautifully said of physical will be found to be equally true of economical science — Qui autem Ju- dicium cohibere, et gradatim ascendere, et rerum^ veluti montiumjuga, unum primo, deinde alterum^ ac rursus alterum superare cum sapientia vera et indefessa sustinuerit, ille ad summitates et ver^ tices scientics mature perveniet, ubi et statio se^ rena, et pulcherrimus rerum prospectus^ et de- scensus MOLLI CLIVO DUCENS AD OMNES PRAC- TICAS. I have also endeavoured to facilitate the study of the science, by forming conversational classes, limited to a small number of pupils, which may be attended by those who do not, as well as by those who do, attend my public class. The vari- ous branches of the science are taken up in these classes in the order followed in the lectures. The pupils having previously read such portions of some popular work as treat of the subject of a conversa- tion, I examine them, to ascertain whether they have a clear iqjprehension of the doctrine laid down by the author : If this doctrine be either erro- neous in principle or defective in statement, I tell them so, and the pupils apply themselves to find out wherein the error or defect consists, or I explain it to them. Having in this way made them thoroughly masters of what I con- 116 DISCOURSE ON ceive to be the true theory of the subject under discussion, I desire them to state such difficulties as may occur to them in respect to it ; which I ex- plain, should they not be explained, as is generally the case, by some of the pupils. This done, I next state such objections, not already stated, by themselves, as either are or might be made to the doctrines I have taught them, setting them in the strongest light possible, and requiring them to shov^r how they can be solved, or, in the event of their not doing this, solving them myself. The atten- tion of the student is thus perpetually excited ; he is stimulated to exert all his powers ; to think and reason for himself; to probe every question to the bottom ; and to investigate the grounds on which every conclusion rests. The principles of the science being gone over in this way, and short abstracts of the whole committed to paper, they are indelibly impressed on the memory ; and that readiness is acquired in the resolution of a complex question into its elements, in the detection of so- phistry and error, and in the application of general principles to particular cases, which characterise an able and expert economist, but which it is difficult to acquire by the most extensive reading. Such is a brief, and, I am afraid, very imper- fect sketch of the objects of the science of Politi- cal Economy ; the species of evidence on which it is founded ; the principal theories that have been POLITICAL ECONOMY. 117 formed to explain its various phenomena ; the im- portance of its study to all classes of society ; and the mode I follow in teaching it in my public and private classes. I endeavour to set the fun- damental principles of the science in the clearest point of view, to show the intimate dependence of its different parts on each other, to point out its more important practical applications, and to illustrate the doctrines advanced by examples drawn from the history of this and other countries. At the same time, I am most ready to admit, that no skill on the part of a teacher, though it were in- finitely greater than any I can pretend to, will ever enable the student to obtain a perfect command of such a science as this, without considerable indus- try and attention on his part. But no ingenuous or liberal mind will ever grudge that labour and application, which has for its object to unfold the real sources of private and public opulence, and of poverty and degradation — to discover what makes the nations smile, Improves their soil, and gives them double suns, And why they pine beneath the brightest skies, In Nature's richest lap. APPENDIX. Note A, p. 52. That M. Qiiesnay is entitled to the merit of originality cannot be disputed. It is certain, however, that he had been anticipated in several of his peculiar doctrines by some English writers of the previous century. The fundamental principles of the economical system are distinctly and clear- ly stated in a tract entitled Reasons Jbr a limited Exportation of Wooly published in 1677- .*' That it is of the greatest concern and interest of the nation^*' says the author of the tract, " to preserve the nobility, gentry, and those to whom the land of the country belongs, at least, much greater than a few artificers employed in working the superfluity of our wool, or the merchants who gain by the exportation of our manufactures, is manifest — 1. Because they are the masters and proprietaries of the foundation of all the wealth in this nation, all profit arising out of the ground which is theirs. 2. Because they hear all taxes and public burdens ; which, in truth, are only borne by those who buy, and sell not ; all sellers, raising the price of their commodities, or abating of their goodness, according to their taxes." — p. 5. In I696, Mr Asgill published a treatise entitled Several Assertions Proved, in order to Create Another Species of Mo^ 120 APPENDIX. ney than Gold, in support of Dr Chamberlayne's proposition for a Land Bank, The following extract from this treatise breathes, as Mr Stewart has justly observed, in his Life of Dr Smith, the very spirit of Quesnay's philosophy : — " What we call commodities is nothing but land severed from the soil — Man deals in nothing but earth. The mer- chants are the factors of the world, to exchange one part of the earth for another. The king himself is fed by the la- bour of the ox : and the clothing of the army and victualling of the navy must all be paid for to the owner of the soil as the ultimate receiver. All things in the world are originally the produce of the ground, and there must all things be rais- ed/' — (This passage has been quoted in Lord Lauderdale's Inquiry into the Nature and Origin of Public Wealth, 2d ed. p. 109.) These passages are interesting, as exhibiting the first germs of the theory of the Economists. But there is no reason whatever to suppose that Quesnay was aware of the existence of either of the tracts referred to. The subjects treated in them were of too local a description to excite the attention of foreigners ; and Quesnay was too candid to conceal his obligations, had he really owed them any. It is probable he may have seen Mr Locke's treatise on Raising the Value of Money y where the idea is thrown out that all taxes fall ultimately on the land. But there is an immeasurable dif- ference between the suggestion of Locke and the well di- gested system of Quesnay. I subjoin from the work of Dupont, Sur VOrigine et Pro- gres d'une Nouvelle Science, a short statement of the various institutions the Economists held to be necessary for the good government of a tountry. " Voici le resume de toutes les institutions sociales fon- dees sur Tordre naturel, sur la constitution physique des hommes et des autres etres dont ils sent environnes. APPENDIX. 121 " Propriete personelle, etablie par la nature^ par la neces- site physique dont il est a chaque individu de disposer de toutes les faculies de sa personne, pour se procurer les choses propres a satisfaire ses besoins, sous peine de soufFrance et de mort. " Liberie de travail^ inseparable de la propriete personnelle dont elle forme une partie constitutive. " Propriete mobiliairey qui n'est que la propriety person- nelle merae, consideree dans son usage, dans son objet, dans son extension necessaire sur les choses acquises par le tra- vail de sa personne. *' Liberie d'echange, de commerce, d'emploi de ses riches- ses, inseparable de la propriete personelle et de la propriete roobiliaire. ** Culture y qui est un usage de la propriete personnelle, de la propriete mobiliaire et de la liberte qui en est inseparable : usage profitable, necessaire, indispensable pour que la popu- lation puisse s'accroitre, par une suite de la multiplication des productions necessaires a la subsistance des hommes. " Propriete fancier e^ suite necessaire de la culture, et qui n'est que la conservation de la propriete personnelle et de la propriete mobiliaire, employees aux travaux et aux depenses preparatoires indispensables pour mettre la terre en etat d'etre cultivee. '* Liberte de Vemploi de sa terre, de I'espece de sa culture, de toutes les conventions relatives a I'exploitation, a la con- cession, a la retrocession, a I'echange, a la vente de sa terre, inseparable de la propriete fonciere. " Partage naturel des recoltes, en reprises des cullivateurs, ou richesses dont I'emploi doit indispensablement etre de per^ petuer la culture, sous peine de diminution des recoltes et de la population et produit net, ou richesses disponibles dont la grandeur decide de la prosperity de la societe, dont Vevor ploi est abandonne a la volonte et a i'interet des proprietaires fonciers, et qui constitue pour eux le prix naturel et legiti- 1^2 APPENDIX. me des depenses qu'Ils on faites, et des travaux auxquels ils se sont livres pour mettre la terre en etat d'etre cultivee. " Surete, sans laquelle la propriety et la liberte ne serai- ent que de droit et non de fait, sans laquelle le produit net serait bientot aneanti, sans laquelle la culture meme ne pour- rait subsister. *^ Autorite tuielaire et sowoerainej pour procurer la surete essentiellement necessaire a la proprike et a la liberte ; et qui s'acquitte de set important ministere, en promulguant et faisant executer les loix de I'ordre naturel, par lesquelles la propriety et la liberte sont etablies. '* MagistratSj pour decider dans les cas particuliers quelle doit etre I'application des loix de I'ordre naturel, reduites en loix positives par I'autorite souveraine ; et qui ont le devoir imperieux de comparer les Ordonnances des Souverains avec les loix de la Justice par essencCj avant de s'engager a pren- dre ces Ordonnances positives, pour regie de leurs jugemens. " Instruction publique et favoriseey pour que les citoyens, I'autorite et les Magistrats, ne puissent jamais perdre de vue les loix in variables de I'ordre naturel, et se laisser egarer par les prestiges de I'opinion, ou par I'attrait des interets particuliers exclusifs qui, des qu'ils sont exclusifs sont toujours malentendus. '* Revenu puhlic, pour constituer la force et le pouvoir necessaire a I'autorite Souveraine ; pour faire les frais de son ministere protecteur, des fonctions importantes des Magi- strats, et de I'instruction indispensable des loix de I'ordre •naturel. " Impot direct, ou partage du produit net du territoire, entre les proprietaires fonciers et I'autorite Souveraine ; pour former le revenu public d'une maniere qui ne restraigne ni la propriete ni la liberte, et qui par consequent ne soit pas destructive. " Proportion essentielle et necessaire de Vimpot direct, avec le produit net, telle quelle donne a la societe le plus grand APPENDIX. l^S revenu public qui soit possible, et par consequent le plus grand degre possible de surety, sans que le sort des propri^- taires fonciers cesse d'etre le meilleur sort dont on puisse' jouir dans la soci6te. " Monarchie hereditairey pour que tous les interets present et futurs du depositaire de I'autorite Souveraine, soient inti- mement lies avec ceux de la societe par le partage propor- tionnel du produit net,'* Note B, p. 60. The true doctrine of population has been most clearly and ably laid down by M. Herbert, in his Essai sur la Po- lice des Grains, published in 1755. As this work is not so well known as its very great merit entitles it to be, I shall make a short extract from it. " II est evident," says M. Herbert, " que le nombre des hommes augmenteroit a rinfini, sans des obstacles physiques, politiques, et moraux. II nous suffit de savoir, que les hommes sont toujours en abondance, par-tout ou ils se trouvent bien : que des pays ont ete successivement bien ou mal peuples, suivant la nature du gouvernement ; et Ton remarque aisement, que les etats ne se peuplent point suivant la progression naturelle de la propagation ; mais en raison de leur Industrie, de leurs pro- ductions, et des differentes institutions. «* La guerre, la famine, les maladies epidemiques, ont sou- vent ravage la terre : ces maux se reparent ; et une nation renait de generations en generations, paries soinsdu Legisla- teur. Ces fleaux si terribles sont moins redoutables que des vices interieurs, qui ruinent un ^tat par degres impercep- tibles. Un peuple s'aneantit, si Ton ne remedie aux maladies de langueur, qui affoiblissent I'agriculture ; et les sujets se dissipent ou deperissent, sans que Ton s'en apper9oive. " Les hommes en effet se muliiplient comme les productions du soly et a proportion des avantages et des ressources quih 124 APPENDIX. trouvent dans leurs travaux. Leur premier soin est celui des besoins ; quand ils trouvent a les satisfaire, nulle inquietude ne s'oppose a leur augmentation. Le colon n'apprehende point de voir croitre sa famille, quand il prevoit pouvoir la soutenir : mais des gens decourages, ou dans la misdre, prisent trop peu la vie, pour avoir soin de celle des autres. On ne songe point a arroser des plantes, quand on a besoin d'eau pour soi-meme. Le peuple saugmente a. proportion de la Jacilite qu'il trouve a vivre ; et les hommes se multiplient naturellement comme les denrees, quand leur vie nest point traverse par les besoins ou par la crainte." p. 319, &c. Mr Townsend states the principle at much greater length ; and successfully applies it to account for the inability of the poor laws of England to banish poverty from that country. 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