a/v STATICS OF STATU-QUO PEUMANENCY. 9 3 a o 13 STATICS OF STATU-QUO PERMANENCY, OR THE MAXIMUM OF TAXABILITY MADE A MEASURE OF THE DURABILITY OF ANY PRESENT ORDER OF THINGS. By JOHN B. KER, Esq., H.P. CAP. VII. DRAG. CDS. PARIS PRINTED BY PIHAN DELAFOREST (MORINVAL), hVE DF.S l;ONS-ENFANS, N". S/J. 1831. H^f 5> K^l 1 C PRIiLUDR. The law ,iiitl order of any coiuumiiitv niav ho. tj said to vest upon a double basis: first, upon l!ie >- })rinciples of its particular form of {jovernmcnt ; gaud ncxtj upon the iisco-political position ol that :::: j>overninent. Any sl(ili'(~(jUo is therefore permanent in proportion as those principles are sound, and as they are, at the same time, accompanied by a hsco-political position more or less solvent. CO It is hi(rhly important to ascertain the true j)rin- ^ ( iples constitutiiui: these two bases, and particularly t^* those of the latter, because no form of (jovcrnmeni, ^ however perfect, can possess, in ilsclf alone, the (juality of inlinile durability — that (piality bcin/r the result of tiie conjoint virtues ol the bases iii jjuestion. As lon{j as these two bases ot law and order continue, as it were, \^anderin[J about in seanh of a fixed and immoveable point whereon to rest S for ever, so Ion/; will the or[;anisations of society exhibit a waverinj^j and uncertain character. Until that point be attained, these bases arc necessarily 301213 ex 6 unfixed — hut no'' more permanentlj so ^ than the needle is per/nan enllj y'lhvatorY inddjustinQ i^elf lo the direct line of attractive influence. Let us briefly review the present state of movement of the first basis, and then pass on to the investigation of the fundamental principles constituting the du- rable perfection of the other. After the great Locke had banished the absurd notion of innate ideas, it followed that commu- nities were necessarily acknowledged to be of hu- man origin to the extent of the inference involved in the conclusion, that man, at the beginning, was endowed by his Maker, solely with the ca- pabilities of which civilisation was the result. This must soon have strengthened the general convic- tion, that civil organisation, not existing by virtue of any specific ordinance, could only present a permanent order of things when based upon prin- ciples in harmony with the necessities and inclina- tions that gave rise to society. The constitution of governments has, therefore, for some time been remodelling after improved conceptions of social dependences. Of course, the less rapidly these changes take place, the better,- for as they all re- solve into vibrations seeking repose, the shorter the oscillations, the sooner rest ensues. The pos- sibility, however, of a cool and deliberate procedure in these affairs diminishes in proportion to the obstruction interposed — a stream contracted at any point of its course necessarily acquires a r.'ipidity o([uivalcnt to the accumulation induced. 7 The inipelLiosily oi tlie torrent at the present moment is to be rejjrettcd, and the more so as its headway is the less easily jnoderated in proportion to the remoteness of the accelerating cause. What- ever may be the resulting mischiei, it was doubt- less occasioned by the inconsiderate pohcy adopted, for preserving the untenable slaLd-nuo of the last and preceding centuries. If tlie public mind and public liberty had been allowed to expand gra- dually, they would have accommodated them- selves to the nature of order, and the real welfare of comnmnitics; but their increasing elasticities acquiring a force beyond all resistance, the use- ful and ornamental parts Q'i\\\d.\. statu- quo, instead of being both preserved, incur a danger of being both carried away together. It is the misfortune of the present age, that the countries of Europe were, during the period alluded to, governed by men of no very extensive foresight j for common generosity forbids their being accused of designedly purchasing their quiet enjoyment of power, at the expense of a thousand-fold detriment to their almost immediate posterity *. The sad conse- quences, however, are none the less a direful heritage: but there is no unmixed evil, and some good may result, if men be induced to examine * There is no such tiling as inertia under imperfect {government — an under -current is always -working, it springs from the love of justice inherent in human nature, 8 more minutely into the principles constituting the firm, immutable, and imperishable bases of law and order. Our present work, as we stated before, will confine itself to the fisco-political relations and dependences of the component parts of commu- nities: our next will be an analysis of the original frame of society, and of its natural division into distinct orders and classes of men— for it is de- monstrable, that those orders, together with the monarchical principle attaching thereto, have their being in the nature of things; and that they have always existed, and do now every where exist, notwithstanding oligarchies and republics may present, at first sight, a seemingly different conclusion. In setting out from the ever-governing neces- sities, inclinations, and predispositions of human nature, we may, of course, be expected to decide less upon historical, than first-principle evidence, llistorv is doubtless an instructive record; but and the more it is constrained to force its obstructed way, the greater the violence with which it eventually breaks forth. It is idle to imagine this current a mailer of mo- mentarv impulse or caprice — it is the obedience of the eflcct to the cause; and its rapidity proceeds from the very impetus given, not at the time when men exclaim, "Lo! a nii[^htv torrent;" but at the time when those Avho blindly communicated that impetus, were busily deceiving them- selves wilk calculations founded upon a wrong estimate of liuman nature. iL would be more so, i(^ instead of an imperfect, it formed a j)erfecl model of all tlic '' wheels within wheels " wliose intcr-inlluences charac- icrise the grand movements of society. It is blind reasoning to conclude, that such a measure, be- cause it produced such an effect at one time, must necessarilj- he followed by the same consequences at another. If, in both instances, the state ot civilisation be the same; the bearings of the case, on first principles, the same ; the balance of op- posing parties the same; the secret influence ot intrigue the same ; and the effects of food and climate u])on the dispositions of men the same; undoubtedly the result will always be the same. But where the combination of operating causes is not identical in both instances — where, in short, the whole of the circumstances under which any particular act or measure becomes repeated, do not fully and perfectly coincide — the result at one period, compared witii the result at another, must necessarily be dissimilar. To refer to history, therefore, without a due regard to the perfect ana- logy of the cases and circumstances, can never avail much. INot that a wide acquaintance with j)ast events is a useless guide — on the contrary; l)ut tlie question, as well as quantum of ulililr, depends upon the manner in which useful ih'in^A are used. The great volume of past occurrences is a series of sketches of human nature and hu- man affairs — the features are striking in many instances, but, as if the page liad been worn, the lO \vholc picture is seldom visible. Here and there, however, nature, more prominent, shows herself so truly, that the non-extant parts of the portrait may readily be filled in. INevertheless, it requires to recognise and be familiar with her, in order to catch these likenesses, and profit by tlie identities of "^ times present and past." The human dispo- sition is capable of many curhatures and curvatures — history is the heterogeneous assemblage of those almost infinite pUances of the heart under the action of different occult influences — and in order not to mistake the exception for the rule, -we must ground ourselves, above all things, in the grand volume of nature. Why are certain traits in this varied sketch- book more striking than others? Because they represent human actions in their direct course from first principles^ instead of in their less re- cognisable emanation from mere modijicalions of those first principles. It is in this particular that we get misled in reading and applying history — a want of due discrimination in this respect makes us mere talking-birds. We look very learned, and repeat with astonishing fluency — the multi- tude listens with delighted attention — superficial conviction pins its ready faith upon the sleeve of the admired reasoner — and whilst Fame, sup- pressing her risibility, lends him the use of her trumpet, occurring events overturn all his sapient deductions, and nothing is heard to resound, save, alas! the instal)ility of human affairs! As if the 1 1 instability of any thing depended otherwise than upon the instability of its basis — and as if a mis- prision of basis depended otherwise than upon obliquity of jud(jment ! Modifications of first prin- ciples necessarily varyinjj, and nothing but those first principles themselves remaining permanent, it is courting disappointment to build upon mere sand, and anticipate all the stability of rock. What, then ! do first principles admit of no modification? — They doj but the stem to engraft upon is the direct stem of the first principle itself, and not the mere offshoot half-a-dozen degrees removed. In politics, it is by grafting upon a graft, and then again upon the graft of a graft, and so on, that the original principle is lost — that the event laughs at the prediction — and that bhnd reasoning, in the despair of disappointment, ex- claims with resigning pathos, " Oh I the futility of all human forecast ! " — Futility indeed ! if it be expected to improve the speed uf the elephant by a cross with the greyhound, through the inter- medium of the rhinoceros and the juarmadillo ! Cause and effect are linked together by certain immutable laws or first principles, and these re- quire to be ascertained before calculations can be depended upon. STATICS OF STA'llJ-OlJO r]':PuMAN ENC Y, We have had a (Threat many social economists, NvillioLil havinjj been advanced to any very clear and commanding view in this department of po- litics. The present is an essay towards that desi- dcraliim, as far as rofjards the sid)ject in question. We shall endeavour to be as brief as possible, and in order to conduce thereto, shall occasionally make use of the lollowin^n^ substitutions : — c^ for the existinji; amount of taxation of any pe- riod involved in the premises,- nij for the maximum of taxability of any period involved in the premises ; />, for the productiveness of proj>erty of any period involved in the premises ; and ir, for the wa(^;es or price of labour of any period involved in the premises. Other abbreviations will be adopted, but they \\\\\ be better explained as we proceed. The p(>j)nlalion of civilised communities maybe i4 divitlctl into two great classes — the possidentes, and tlie non. The possidentes arc the owners of the soil, or, Nvhich amounts to the same thing in a slatisco- political point of view, the owners of any source of productiveness av hat ever, no matter whether it assume the shape of land, precious or other me- tals, canals, shipping, or manufacturing establish- ments. Compared with the non, the possidentes are olionati; and the non, compared with the possi- dentes, are, on the other hand,yrelCMsloii, or he would iiol have l)eeii the loilcr. Tlio division of the benefits of appropria- tion were consequently in favour of the former j Lut there was a limit beyond wliich that inequality could not €xtend, and before we proceed any fur- ihei' this limit shoidd be ascertained. Whatever might have been the superior good fortune of the possidens with respect to the ac- quirement of his possession, it is quite clear that the nature of the claim of the noti could have had no connnunity of character therewith, and conse- quently no right to be placed upon an analogous footing. Upon what principle then, were the be^ nefits resulting from appropriation to be partition- ed? Upon the only principle applicable — the principle of compensation to the sufferer to the extent of the privation induced. What was the previous position of the toiler? That of a man obliged to provide, by the sweat of his brow, for the wants of the present and the future ; i. e. as well for the summer of his life, as for the sterile portion of his days, whether that sterility might arise from age, infirmity, or rigour of season. To any thing then, beyond a similar position, the noil could have no possible claim ; and if, in the exchange, his late condition became ameliorated from a precarious dependence to a certain provi- sion, this, the difference l>etween his new and old position, v*as ihc amount of his share of the benefits of appropriation, and his assent to the establish- ment of the principle of vested ri(;lit was there- fore not constrained,, but vokuitary, and for a va- luable consideration received. It is not to be supposed that the quanliini of obhfjation thus incurred by the jwssidentes de- pends either upon the extravajjance or liumibty of the demands of the iion. Those demands have their standard, and that standard is a sum-total tantamount to the value of those necessaries and comforts which have been rendered essential to the preservation of health and slrenj^jth, by the natural effect of the attained degree of civilisation upon- the habits and constitution of the population at the pe-- riod embraced in the question. The ori(jinal ratio, therefore, between the portions oC the possidentcs and l\\Qnon, in the distribution of the advanta(]cs of appropriation, never changes. Thcjoint amount of those advantages will necessarily vary as circum- stances vary, but the relation of the parties thereto remains constant ; and supposing roasted pulse for the owner, and raw acorns for the toder, to have accorded with x degree of civilisation, a corres- ponding augmentation of the comforts of the latter will nccessardy accompany the increased luxuries of the former when x becomes raised to the n"'. power. Thus generalising, we get a modus of the legiti- mate value of labour in any given country, or at any given sera; for a day's toil in B land, or at B epoch, will always be to a day's toil in C land, or at C epoch, as the extent of civilisation in 13 land_^ 22 in- at B epoch, may be to the extent of civilisation in C land, or at C epoch. It is not pretended to consider the labour of the toilers of any fyiven community all of the same value. Superior degrees of intelligence, fidelity, and other virtues and excellences, become of course entitled to superior degrees of remunera- tion ; but this is matter of exception constituting muiiLlLai necessarily excluded from the generali- sation essential to elementary investigation. An adequate support for himself and dependent offspring, /y//^5 a little diurnal accumulation, as a provision* for the sterile portion of his life, was, and is consequently, the limit of the inequality marking the partition of the general advantages resulting from appropriation, or the establishment of vested rights. We have here, therefore, in this limit, the extent of the obligation binding upon the possidentes with respect to the non ; and all owners and toilers, whatever the description of the property owned or laboured at may be, stand, generally speaking, in this relative position with reference to each other. It naturally follows, that if the possidenles are obliged to jirovide the Jioii with surface natural or artificial, whereon to sow the labour that n}ust * This may often, of course, bo \vasted, and the im- provident may thus become aCterAvards a burthen on tlie pubhcj but these casualties form the exception, and not the f[cneral rule. 23 niaiiitaiii lljem, the iion liavin(j ihat surface })ro- vided, areo(|ually bound to avail themselves ol it. The exertion >vhich the toiler had to undergo pre- vious to appropriation^ is consequently imperative still; and he can have no more claim to be sup- ported in idleness, ihan an owner can claim a ri/;lit to make him work for nothinfj. Toilers, however, can only be anxious for employment; and if they are ready with their best endeavours, their j)art ol the covenant is kept. Such bein(j the basis of society, and such having, nearly from the beginning of the world, been liic ratios of reciprocity between the possideiitcs and the non, it is the object of the present work to as- certain how long any given order of things is likely to continue, — or, in other words, how long any slaiu^cjuo , not otherwise vicious in principle, is likely to escape one of those periodical convulsions which occasionally subvert the order and econojuy of nation after nation, and dispossess one part of society to make possideiitcs of the other? This is a grave inquiry, and particularly so to those who liavc advantages to lose by the change. On a superficial glance at the question, one might almost be tempted to lliink that Divine Providence had purposely ordained this instability of things, in order to e([ualise the conditions of human life, and give the grand divisions of society each its day in rotation. But when we consider that the possi- denles can only bring these sweeping calamities upon themselves by tiieir own gratuitous culpabi- •A lity — that h, by a long course of blind and infa- tuated miscalculations, both as regards their own position, and that of the inferior class dependent upon them ; — when, we repeat, it is considered that every ejectment of this description is the ine- vitable consequence of the errors of the dispossessed, and that, but for those errors^, owners and proper- ties might have gone on slaLu-cjao for ever, the dispensations of Providence stand clearly discon- nected with the happening, or not happening, of these deplorable catastrophes. Every wherefore has its therefore ; and if men are stupidly or wil- fully blind, they cannot construe the non-inter-^ vention of the Omnipotent between cause and effect, into an approbation of either that particular cause or that particular effect. Were such deduc- tions admissible, every iniquity committed — rape, murder^ robbery, etc. — would all necessarily be attributable to the Divine Wisdom, which was pleased to leave the causes of these horribihties un- restrained by any other check than the reason- ing power, which His comprehensive forecast deemed a sufficient counterpoise to free agency. The neglect or abuse of that reason is therefore the sin, and its own consequences, as far as this world is concerned, become the ijumediato pu- nishment. It is true, the penalty is not in every instance inflicted upon the directly culpable party ; because general laws govern the universe, and not particular edicts for each separate occurrence. Wlictlier or not the escaping olTendcr atones in. a a5 retributive hereafter, is a qjieslion almost foreijjrt to our proseut inquiry. Jud(jiii(; however, iVoui the miilorm economy and juslicc reigning; tlirourjhout — from the invariability of '"'a purpose answered in the existence of every things" — from the unin- terrupted connexion of tliosc purposes, and from their evidently constituting]; a grand and perfect circle of infinite dependences — we may reasonably conclude, that there must be something with which reason and free-agency dovetail. What tiien is it? Future responsiljility ! — there can be no other means of continuing the links of the vast orbit of consequences. And, indeed, when we consider the endowment of reason as the channel of communication, whereby the Deity reveals to his creatures as much of His will* as suffices with re- * Tlie greatest impiety tliatman can be guilty of, would thererore appear to be tbe destroying, or designedly weakening, under any pretence or for any purpose what- ever, the dependence of his fellow-lieing upon the reve- lations of his reason. The, we liad almost said, anxiety evinced by the Omnipotent to induce man to depend upon the accompanying guide of his fi-ee^agency, is striking beyond all expression. That guide, his AvonderfuUy-con- stiuctcd mind, has been enabled to leave its abode, to traverse the distant regions of space, to measure the heavenly bodies, and to calculate their movements, ap- pearances and disappearances with such invariable preci- sion, that the Infinite Supicmc in dcsii^ncd encouragement seems thereby to address man with reference to this reason-gift, and to say to him, " Fear noti behold, it is ill \;ot mislead thee I' It cannot be imagined for an instant iG spect to llic performance of the parts assigned to ihem in his (jrand system of creation^ we cannot for a moment entertain a doubt as to the gift ol that those our great and wonderful powers of intellect Avorc given us for playthings, and nierely to serve the gratifi- cation of an idle and prying curiosity of disposition. This excess of means beyond the end would not accord v.ith the wisdom and economy observable throughout the rest of creation : it is therefore not an excess — it is conse- quentlv designed to answer sor?ie 'wise purpose. If we consider the impression produced upon us by the very striki[ig nature of the verification of these calculations, and at the same time reOect upon the I'emarkable fact of their conducing in no way to the attainment of our bodily wants and necessities, we can be at no loss to discover the purpose intended to be answered, for nothing can be more legibly written than that parental exhortation, " i''e;n: not! let thy reason precede; behold I it will not mislead ihcel" To destroy or Aveaken the trust of man in the guidance of his uuabused intellect, is, therefore, almost equivalent to contradicting the Diety — almost the same thing as adjoining, " Do not believe in it — it will deceive you I " But we leave every one to his own readiiig in tliese matters — it is in that reading that he must com mune with his ^'aker; and it is the character of his com- munions, as well as the nature of his conduct, thai will most probably be the measure of his fitness for a hijjhcr or lower state of future existence. It is impossible tt> suppose that the Diety made man imperfect, and ihen annexed a punishment to that imperfection; but we may reasonably su])])ose that theie aie different degrees of j)erfi;ctibility, and that accordin{j as we gain or lose ground in this ic-pect, we fit ourselves for higher or lower orders, of futuri! existence. tA7 that reason bcinf]; accoiDpaiiicil wUli an adofjuale rc.s})Oii.sil)ilily for those acts wlucli it ou[jlit to have restrained. To resume, however, the main tiiread of our s n bj ec t , \v e rep ea t — How lon(j is any statu^cjiio of society (not other- wise vicious in its basis) hkely to continue unshaken by a convulsion shiftin(j the positions of owners and toilers? In reply to this, we may at once say, that as lon[j as \\\(i possidentes enable themselves to iulfd their covenant witli \\\qiiou, so lon(jwill any present state of society (not in other respects prefjnant with its own destruction) continue to descend quietly to posterity j and for this reason — l)ecause the wo/?, although collectively a paled-out body, are not so individually, and have therefore no perpetually operating exclusion to render ! heir position either intolerable to thenjselves, or menacing to the better iorlune of the superior class constituting the other grand division of the community. The cause ol apprehension resides, then, altogether amongst the /70.v.SfV/ parts property-labour, or ownerago. So that every thing whatever is the produce of either one of these two descriptions of labour, or of both com- bined. A self-sown forest-tree upon which no labour was ever bestowed affords an example of pure owner-labour, and the same tree cut down and squared into a beam presents an instance of OAviierage and toilerage conjoined. 39 Every transaction of life is in fact, a bargain of la- bour in one shape against labour in another. When B en{^ag-cs C to lay him a threshings-floor, he vir- tually undertakes to go out into the fields, in the mean time, and bring home C's harvest. He does not, it is true, perform that identical act ; but he does nearly the same thing — he gives G as much already completed labour, or labour-in- coin*, as amounts to the quantity of labour-in- kind expended in laying his barn-floor. We come now to a description of possession of a peculiar kind — public-debt property, or d" , which we douhle-dot in order to keep it associated with a", its immediate generator. When a contractor^ or, which amounts to the same thing, any other individual, exchanges so much of his wealth or labour-in-coin for so much d", what is the nature of the transaction? He parts with real labour-in-store, ov\a\io\\v-ui-esse, for mere labour-in-fiction f . He gives that which * The metal of the coin transferred from B to G just took as much lal)Our to procure it as C is supposed to ex- pend upon B's threshing-floor. •{• This labour-in-fiction is promised it is true, to he performed by posterity. — Poor posterity! thou wilt have enough to do Avhen one or two generations have entailed upon thee all their idleness and prodigality I But the burthen is lightened by a partition into instalments for ever! — For ever, indeed ! What species of jnggling shall we call this? It will be redeemed, no doubt; but the principle of vested right may licjuidate the account. 4o is ccjuivalent to a cci tain quantity of bodily exer- tion, and which required a certain quantity of bo- dily exertion to give it being, for lliat which is created by the scratch of a pen, and wljich is equi- valent to nothing, because it required no labour to give it existence. What is the consequence of this facility of creating what we may call hollow- property? Why, that this unperformed labour, usurping the prerogatives of performed labour, occupies the place of real wealth, and increasing with rapidity, drags along with it all those other changeabilities of society that, but for this impulse, would have gone on moderately and wisely. In hne, the conversion of this labour-in-store * into hollow-proj)erty generates a description of hollow- owners more burthensome to the community than many times the same number of superabundant toilers ; for they must all be jnaintaiued out of yy^, and consequently increase both e and w, and depress m. * The true definition of national debt is — as mucli la- bour lo be pcrfonned, at some period or other, gratis,, as may equal the amount of the labour-in-store consumed by anticipation. There is, consequently, a quantity of la- bour to be stored yearly by every possidens of the com- munity, and cancelled, which amounts to the same thing as an inci-ease of x kept in perfect idleness. All the la- bour-in-store, therefore, which a community consumes by anticipation, is worse than equivalent to the generation of so many aged and infirm pau[)ersj because the paupers die off, but tiic debt is a permanent burthen. 4i Let us prolon(j this di[*Tcssion for a few minutes, in order to inijuiro into tlic difference between national wealtli and national resources. This may ijc the more useful, as these terms appear to Jje frequently used indiscriminately. National wealth is the g;encral currency of any community, plus its particular or medium- of-exchan(je currency. Particular currency is stamped-metal money — general currency, pre- cious and other metals, corn, wine, oil, surjar, horses, sheep, manufactured articles, ships, jewels, etc., etc., etc. All these thin(i;s have, here, there, everywhere, to-day, to-morrow, and years hence, a certain intrinsic value, because they are each the result of a certain quantity of labour ; they are therefore general currency or articles of ubique-validily. These items of wealth arc, in fact, so much la- bour already performed, and held in store * for application to any purpose whatever. — Sup- j)osing II to possess an extraordinary diamond, and take s to represent the size of that stone, and j to represent that of all the jewels that have ever been found ; then j of all the labour ex- * It may be asked, As every thiiifj is an exchange of la- boLii- tor labour, how tonics ualional ivcalth to be coii- sumed? If a coiuUry buy an island, tlic labour-in-store consliUiting llio purchase-money is not consumed, because the ishiiid always remains; IjuI if a country l)uv a milhou <|aarlcrs ol' corn to feed an army, that being oaten, no- 42 peiided in jewel-seeking will be the proportion thereof which R's diamond has virtually cost, and that proportion will be the ubique-value of the diamond in question. We do not mean to say that labour-in-store, of any shape, is always at the same price ; there are, of course, certain fluctuations arising from the disproportions of de- mand and supply : but, saving these, the value of K's diamond is always worth a certain quantity of labour-in-kind • and nO matter how diminutive in stature or deficient in muscular force R may be, he is really powerful to the amount of that dia- mond, and may therewith, if he pleases, imme- diately set about removing one of the pyramids of Egypt, or performing any other extraordinary feat. Wealth is therefore strength; and the sum- total of national power is consequently the sum- total of its labour-in-store, or wealth. The more of this power a country has expended, the less of course it has left ; and the more it has annihilated by anticipation, the longer the period before it can be in good force again. The original wealth of a community is its early economised produce : this in due season constitutes a' ; and as no labour is thinfj remains. It is true that the growers of the corn liave its value in their purses; but there is a difference between consuming this corn by men whose labour pro- duces nothing, and by men whose industry converts tlie sustenance derived from tliat corn into so much more hi- l)Our-in-store. It is the annihihition of this labour-in-store that impoverishes communities. 43 losl (save llial which is expended upon non pio- diiclives), a' and /• to(jether generate a', which is still merely the result of individual economy or savinj^. There is, consequently, no getting rich faster than people can labour and economise ; and all the wealth of a nation is necessarily the sum-total of all the economies of its po])ulation, minus the sum total of all the a'' that has been consumed in war, emigration, and public works. National resources differ from national wealth in this: — the one is labour already performed, and existing in the shapes of labour-in-ubiquc-validity and labour-in-coin ; the other is the means and facilities of accumulating this labour-in- store, and these are — 10. The fertility of the soil — 2". The genius, science, and industry ot the community, together with the means of validi- fying the same, viz. ship-yards, potteries, forges, manufactories, distilleries, etc., etc., etc. — 3o. Roads, railways, canals, docks, colleges, schools, and all other useful institutions and es- tablishment.s — 4". Colonies, fisheries, and commercial rela- tions. These are the resources of a country : the first, second and fourth classes embrace resources pro- /fci'y and the third comprises resources accessory. We have spoken of the economies or savings ol ^4 the cliffcrenL members of communities, — it reaiaias lo say a word upon this subject. Economy, in the sense here used, admits of three distinctions, — wise economy, unwise eco- nojjiy, and unjust or exceptionable economy. Wise economy is the savin^^ of a country after fully discharging the condition annexed to the principle of vested right, and paying its way as it proceeds, without entailing debts upon posterity. Unwise economy is the momentary ease at- tained by borrowing, and the momentary saving produced by not adequately employing and re- munerating the toilers of a community. It is the result of this mistaken thrifliness that betrays il — the augmentation of pauperism and the in- crease of demoralisation are its sure symptoms. Unjust or exceptionable economy is the advan- tage which onQpossidens takes of another, or rather of all the rest : it is in short, the saving resulting from not having fairly and justly contributed his quota towards employing orother\^ise maintain- ing the non — that quota being, not in propor- tion to his /• or a' , but in proportion to the degree of productiveness thereof. Exceptionahle eco- nomy, it is true, might come under the category of unwise economy; but the one has reference to the community at large, and the other to individuals only. The difference is this — the community is a loser by unwise economy, but the individual is a gainer by exceptionable economy — for not con- iributJMg fairly towards the fulfilment of the con- 45 dition of vested rights, he throws the deficit of his quota upon ihc productiveness of the property ol others, and accumulates at their expense. This is the case where larjjc fortunes are amassed in particular ways; and the injustice is the {greater, and the more deservinfi; attention, where tins species of fortune-making; is char(;eable with di- rectly diminishing; the amount of employment which the community would otherwise have had for the maintenance of its surplus toilers. We allude, not to the use, hut to the ahitse of the aid of machinery. This aid must necessarily be called in to enable a manufacturing country to continue its foreign trade; but the immense for- tunes left by the proprietors of spinning-jennies prove, that they have availed themselves of ma- chinery to a considcral)ly greater extent than was requisite to the preservation of that trade. The inconsistency of hyper-machinery and poor-rates will be more evident as we proceed. As to the injustice thereby practised upon the rest of the community, it is as glaringly evident as need be. Of what, in fact, are these machine-wrought fortunes composed? They are, for the greatest part, the saved wages of the machine-tollers ; and so much thereof as proceeded from the unnecessary substitution of these uncliargeable hands for the chargeable hands that ought to have been employed in their stead, must necessarily be made good in some shape or other by the rest of the possi- Jenles. Every source of productiveness is bound 4(> lo contribute, in the proportion of its fecundity, towards finding employment * or maintenance for the surplus toilers of the community. If in- dividuals had so contributed, it would be impos- sible to have amassed millions whdst the substance of their neighbours was being diminished by poor- rates and taxes. The thing speaks for itself. We shall conclude this definition of exceptionable economy by noticing another description of tliis covert injustice. The instance alluded to, is that of devises in-fu- turo, minority accumulations, etc. This subject has already, to a certain extent, engaged the atten- tion of the Parliament of England; and the legis- lature that interfered to prevent any repetition of the enormity -j- alluded to, acted upon wise, just, and thoroughly sound statistico- political principles. Reference is made to the will of Peter Thelusson, Esq. By this will, it is calculated that a sum of thirty-two millions sterling will probably accumulate for the enjoyment of the heir that is to be. The whole of this amassed pro- * There is a •wide difference between contributinfj to lliis employment, and avariciously preying upon the re- sources from whence it must come. •\- No personal reflection whatever is intended to be cast upon any one. It is not to be supposed that the injustice of exceptionable economy ever presented itself to the many hijjiily honourable individuals who have directly or indirectlv abetted this evil. 47 tluctiveness will have then saved (and at the ex- pense of the possidentcs at lar^je) its proportion of the expense of maintaininrj the principle of vested riglit, during; the period of accumulation. A very significant part, therefore, of the thirty-two millions which may ultimately be handed over to the future heir, will necessarily be the produce of a virtual taxation upon the rest of the possidcnles of the country; and as no individual whatever had a ri(3;ht so to tax the community, this particular devise was void upon first principles; and the Bri- tish Legislature would have perhaps acted still wiser, if they had annulled the devise in question, and divided that part of the testator's property amongst his existing successors, according to the law of the land respecting intestacies. The can- celling of this devise being just in principle, it is just at all times, and is perhaps even better done late than never. Besides, amounting to a virtual tax upon the rest of the possidentes, it gene- rates a great social inconvenience — it will place in the hands of one person labour-in-store enough to overthrow the Constitution, for every thing has its quantum of power by which it may be accomplished, and it is not enough to rest con- fident that such an application of those means may never be dreamt of, — the possibility were better not allowed to exist. Again, thirty-two millions will give this future heir a greater in- come than the monarch of the realm. This in- consistency cannot remain^ — the civil list of the 48 -^ monarch must tlicrefore be trchlod ;; and the rest (»f the community, in adillLlon to the first in- justice, will then have to bear all its secondary consequences. With respect to such devises as that of Mr. Thelusson, there appears to be no reason what- ever why minor deforces of the same species of evil should not be made to compensate for the un- fairness of productiveness accumulating, without discharging its proportion of the obligation which the possidenies must fulfil towards the Jion. The only means of correcting these piracies on so- ciety (if we may so term them) is to charge all accumulations proceeding from devises or mino- rities, with a pcr-centage equal to the quota they ought to bear of the burthen of the condition annexed to the principle of vested right*. No- thing whatever can exempt productiveness from its proportion of this burthen j and in all cases of devises and minorities, the discharge of that pro- portion ought to be enforced by law. It would be impracticable of course, to carry the principle here invoked to its fullest extent ^ but though such an inquisition as calling for men's cash- accounts could not be tolerated, that is an objec- * This tax in En[jland would not, pevliaps, be too liigli at 2.5 per cent, for the first fifteen years, and an additional ^y percent, for every year afterwards. That is, of course, upon the annual productiv^eness of the property, and not upon the property itself. 49 tion which does iiol exist where the accumulation is a matter of pubhc record. This appears to af- ford a practicable line of distinction, and one with respect to which the justice of the procedure cannot for a moment be questioned*. llavin{^ gone tlirough an examination of artifi- cial property in all its forms, and whilst so doing observed the sources of wealth and power, together with tl)e manner in which it is accumulated and consumed, we now proceed on with the second stage of complicated position. When the population of a country has so in- creased, that the cultivation of the soil, and the manufacture supplying its hom.e consumption, are no longer able to afford sufficient employment for its toiler-class, emigration (which is always a pri- vation of labour, the great generator of wealth) must then besubmitled to; unless, indeed, the sa- crifice can be avoided by rendering the demand of some foreign market or markets subservient to the double purpose of employing the surpkis hands of the community, and increasing its accumula- tions of a". If, under this pressure of population, '*"'' ii-.p .1111 .1 ■■■■ ^ * Since tlic previous sheet was printed ofT, it appears, from a stateruent of the Lord Chancellor, that the accu- mulation of the Tlielusson property has fallen greatly short of the calculation. So much the better: the less the accumulation, the less the injustice upon the rest of the country. His Lordship, with the most enlijjhtened and extensively-infornird mind in the world, A\ill perhaps privately be of the same opinion. 5o recourse be had to f (which will henceforth ex- press the foreign market ), the country assumes from that period a decidedly manufacturing cha- racter, and is thenceforth dependent upon the external consumption of the produce of its surplus industry. Let us now conceive that, during its preceding less complicated position, the government of the country had, through necessity or improvidence, introduced the loan system, contracted a permanent debt, and consequently depressed m to the extent of the taxation necessary for the payment of the interest. This taxation, accompanied by an excess of toilers (which we shall hereafter represent by x) — this taxation, we repeat, attended by a certain degree of x, would of course encroach upon ^, and to the extent, we wdl suppose, of those individual economies which would otherwise have gradually replaced the a' that had been either unavoidably or improvidently consumed. That being the case, the avenir of the country would present the dreary prospect of never becoming richer, and ultimately falling a sacrifice to its increasing x. But this x once employed, and f procured to the extent of the surplus industry of the community, what a change ensues ! The general productiveness of property begins to recover itself j /«, to regain its elevation above e; and «", or wealth, once more to accumulate from the economies of individuals. When this degree of/has been obtained, the in- terest of the public debt is then in fact paid by :> I the foreifjn consumer; and more, he cannot avoid payinf; it, because the tv and e of a country, with a wisely-cmph)yed x, exact less from him than tlie ^v alone of a country without an oc. IJut how are the benefits of y conveyed to the ao^riculiural interest of a country ? — Through tlie medium of iv. The manufacturer has, no doubt, all the j)rofit to himself, for a short period; but the owner of/*, feeling the injustice of his ex- clusion from the relieved pressure of e, increases the price of his commodity bread, and tv increas- ing along with it, the a of the community is thus obliged to share a part of its profits with the own- ers of the soil. Arrived at this point, and supposed able to maintain itself there for ever, the only difference between the state of the country with a public debt and without a public debt is this — that the intrinsic or pure value of things is su- perseded by what may be termed a taxed, an in- flated^ or a nominal value — for the alteration or enlargement of the figures representing relative values being general, and affecting every article of life and luxury in the same ratio, all the interests of the community, with the exception of the rent- ers * of money, find themselves as nearly as pos- sible in the same position in which they stood previous to the existence of 58 and d't of its own particular soil. The services ot the precious metals, in supplying the common parlance of value with its relaliveness of signi- fication, are not therefore to be confounded with the common labour-in- store nature of those me- tals then)selves. Every transaction of barter is necessarily labour in one shape exchanged against labour in another; and the scarce metals, from being subject to a less variable ownerage and toilerage than other things, are made to furnish the common parlance of value with its expres- .sions; so the balance of any commercial dealing being made out in these metals, they are neces- sarily handed over to square the account. It is thus that, appearing identified with value, the fact is lost sight of, that they are in reality no more so than the language of an interpreter is essentially connected with the nature of the dis- course interpreted. With respect^ therefore, to depreciation either one way or the other, it is altogether void of definite meaning; for it merely conveys the vague idea that some of the variabi- lities of value have altered, and that the quantum of labour-in-store of one shape, to be given for that of another, has augmented or diminished. Separating all s, o g t, c gl, and d't from both sides of the question, it is probable that with respect to labour, the basis of all value, corn and gold may in the abstract hold nearly the same relative position in England which tliey held any 59 nuiiiljer of centuries ago. The difference in value of the shoes above cited arises, therefore, not from any depreciation of gold, but from An increased sumptus affecting \ ownerafje / ,, . . " , IT • I permanently An increased A7//;//;//^5 allectinfj J . ' " \ augmenting toileraffe ( • . ■ i " I intrinsic value. An increased sumptus allecting I law and order maintenance . J And an increased 6* i,'/^ and an 1 increased d"t, affecting, pro j converting tempore, both owncra,i;e and ( -^^^^r^,,^-^^ i,,^o toilerage, and through them / ^^^^^^^^^^j ^.^j^^_. every thing to which value I attaches, * Having concluded our proposed analysis of va- lue, we shall here take the opportunity of referring back to the suitable mainlcuance due to the toiler as his portion of the benefits of appropriation, and introduce an ex-/V//ie/e observation or two there- upon. — Supposing the toiler to be in the en- joyment of a suitable maintenance, — that is, of a sufficient remuneration for his labour, — it is evident that, theoretically speaking, he then bears no part of the taxation * of the community of which he ♦ It is the necessity of franking the toiler of these taxes, etc., h\ tlio proportionate increase of his u-, that renders toiler-hibonr a special conductor of indirect taxa- tion to every thing that it touches. 6o is a iiieinbcr. The reason why the contrary ap- pears to be the case, is because the precise quan- tum of s, or sumntiKy to which the existing degree of civihsation entitles him, is neither easily delermined, nor are we in the habit of putting the question. — Theoretically speaking, however, he may be said to contribute less than any as- signable quantity. The fact is otherwise when his s is evidently encroached upon : in that case he pays taxes, etc. to the amount of the en- croachment j and this the unwise economy of the possideriLes is attended with the double evil of making him a party to the question of taxation, and superinducing a degree of demoralisation at the same time. For it naturally follows, that in proportion as the s of the toiler diminishes, his law and order indifference increases; and when it is considered that the acme of that indifference amounts to an abandonment reckless of all conse- quences, we may readily conceive the anxiety of wise government to trespass no further upon this Sy than the border of its just limits. Demoralisation is the result of inherent tendencies, not confined to the toiler alone, but existing in the disposition of human nature. In proportion as man is removed from indigence^ his moral excellence elevates it- self *, and vice iwrsd. Indigence too is relative ; * Where demoralisation exists, it is either tlie cflect of ail infusion of dcmajjojjue poison into uneducated minds, or the result of the ratio adjusting itself bet-vvcen con>- 6i fbr the luxuries of tlic infancy of society become miseries after civilisation has been advanced to a certain deg^ree : — that certain de{}ree p^ives the la- bourer a proportionate measure of v, and inherited habits render that measure almost as essential to his moral respiration, as the breath of heaven to his physical *. The poor-laws, intended to ope- rate in favour of the toiler, operate on the contrary against him, and induce a proportionate degree of demoralisation, whenever he may be said to bear any portion of the public burthens of the commu- nity. The assessment under these laws ( speaking of England) amounts to nearly one fifth of the cgt and (it of the country : — one fifth, therefore, of all the demoralisation resulting from a dis-par of the toiler's s, is directly chargeable to this mischievous but well-intentioned piece of legislation. Where the industry of a country is duly promoted, and emigration timely effected, there can be no occa- sion for poor-laws : and added to this, where the parativc indigence, or deficient s, and moral perfectibility. Tliere is doubtless such a thing as attempting to enforce undue degrees of ^; but vhilst Justice puts down these hyper-pretensions witli her sword-arm, she at the same time holds up her equilibrium, and the iutlmatiou is re- membered by a wise government. * These observations serve to show the necessity of keeping doAvn taxation in order to keep doAvn iv; and not only taxation, but poor-rates, for they of course tend equally with any other species of impost to augment w, and abridge the means of manufacturing rompetition. 6-2 possidentes of a community have lhe(];ood sense to spend tlieir means upon the broad surface of the country, instead of upon particular points of con- centration, the rehefeven of emifj^ration would he a necessity of very rare occurrence. Passing on to the Third stage of complicated position. Let it now be supposed that a country has not only become dependent upon y for the mainte- nance of jc, but that in addition thereto, it has so far mistaken things as to have engaged in expen- sive wars, created d" to as unlimited an extent as if it were not the very opposite of real wealth, and thus consumed the economies of ages, as if the doing so amounted to no more than drawing up water from the ocean. Let it also be supposed that, in consequence thereof, f has been dimi- nished, employment abridged, and the general pro- ductiveness of /• and a reduced in the double ratio of a suffering commerce and an increasing poor- rate assessment. And lastly, be it imagined that, so situated, neither the government nor the people have the courage to face any thing but palliatives^ either with respect to the owner or toiler classes of society. — What then is the resource immediately available? — what are the owners of a tempted to fly to, the owners of /■ to elevate their hopes upon, and government to encourage as a specific of inexhaustible efficacy? — The employment of ma- chinery, — the substitution of unpaid, for paid 03 toilers! — Infjenuity conscrjuenlly sots to work, succeeds (lx)r necessity is the mother ol invention), and produces the same quantity and quality of article at a cheaper rate. 01 coursey is regained, and /• and a resuming somewliat their former productiveness, once more rc-elevate m. The ideal community which we are putting through these stages of complicated position, presents at this mo- ment a curious spectacle : a few fortunes are here and there made with rapidity, but every new park is paled in with poor-houses ; for in proportion as machinery increases profit, it diminishes employ- ment. Let us look a little further into the subject. Machinery is — what? A virtual augmentation of the toilers of a community. This augmenta- tion argues upon the face of it no lack of employ- ment : but if the contrary be the case — if any portion of the iion be without the means of con- verting their industry into a source of maintenance, and the possideiiles unable to remedy the evil otherwise than by parish assessments? In such a case, the substitution of unpaid, for paid toilers, involves a cross-purpose, and demonstrates that, as a system, it cannot last. As an alternative, how- ever — as one of two evils, the creation of additional toilers where there are already too many, is cer- tainly preferable to losing /'altogether, and thereby throwing the whole oi x upon the parish, instead of a part only. But as a system, that will bear continuing, poor-rates and machinery cannot possibly increase together for any length of time. 64 Considering therefore an augmentation of toilers where there are already too many, admissible as an expedient, the extent of the necessity is neces- sarily the limit of the augmentation. But private cupidity soon oversteps that limit, and what is the consequence ? — an increase of wealth on the one hand, and an increase of pauperism and demorali- sation on the other. This increase of wealth, however, benefits the country but little — the ma- nufacturer certainly profits thereby, but the for- tunes of the rest of the community are proportion- ately diminished by the additional quantity of a unproductively consumed as the alms-aliment of toilers not sufficiently employed. The ingenuity of a country, in machine-con- trivances, is exerted in favour of its rivals when the limit of necessity is exceeded. After its inventions find their way to countries without an x, without cgt and without ^'7, or at least with little or none, what is to redeem the error of not having economised in this respect? It is very well for those who have too few hands, to push machinery as far as it will go j but those who have already too many, should avoid gratuitously * aiding the * We mean to say, that a densely-populated country is not interested in abbreviating manual labour beyond that point which enables it to employ the greatest portion of its j: in the service of /—and that any extension of ma- chinery beyond that point is an abuse of one of the most critical resources of the community ; for as machine-la- G5 increase of their own n', and the reduclion of the 'i\^ of their rivals. As soon as the tv of England and that of America are e(|ual, which cannot of course be soon, the country without debt and poor- rates must lay her broad hand upony. And if this \vant of thriftiness is bad with respect to a community where iv is comparatively hi(;h, it is worse with respect to countries whose difference of TV is less in favour of the monopolist. It is true that the coal-mines, canals, railways, and other manufacturing facilities of England, must give her connnercc for years to come the ascendency in the hour aniiiliilales manual labour to llie extent of the sub- stitution, an excess of that substitution annihilates more employment than necessary, and consequently throws more of x upon the parish than need be so provided for. In tl»is case, the manufacturer, employing fewei' toilers than ought to be borne upon the productiveness of his establishment, throws the remainder of his quota upon other properties, and thus ac(juires a portion of his vested ri{jhts without paying the civilised-society-duty thereon. It is perhaps not easy to ascertain the exact quantity of juanual labour that J can afford to employ in the manu- lacturcof a bale ofcotton-goodsj but a comparison between manufactured fortunes and the amount of the poor-rates Avill show to Mhiii extent the substitution of wooden for Avage-toilers has l)e(Tn abused. No argument can possibly be raised against uiachinery as a means of keeping upy^ and contributing towards the accumulation of tv/'.ve eco- nomics; but to machinery as a means of contributinj>- towards exceptionable economies^ the interests of the rest of the possidcntes, and of the comitry, do certainly oppose themselves — and as a system, it cannf 5'.. 68 Lringiii{j into {>lay tlie inert resources of the dis- tant provinces ot an empire ! Instead of remain- ing indigent, this portion of jc becomes wealthy, and in a short time sends its raw material to pur- chase * the produce of the industry of the mother country ! We shall now skim the question of compulsa- tory emigration, and then inquire into the object of colonies. If any part of the x of a country be left to expa- triate as best it can, the emigrating toilers have unquestionably a right to convey their industry and information wherever they may think proper ; but if the community, as in its duty bound, supplies those whom it cannot adequately employ with the means of transport, and of existence until their labour can be sown and reaped elsewhere, it has then certainly a right to fix upon the site of colo- nisation, provided that in so doing the emigrants are not conducted to poor soils, or unhealthy cli- mates. If the labour and genius of any part of jc be left to find its way to other communities, the parent country is a double loser' — first, by the weight taken out of its own scale ^ and secondly, by the counterpoise resulting from its being thrown into the opposite scale of a rival power. \A hereas, on the contrary, if the emigrating la- * Tliore can be no donht that a system might be adopted by nliicli the burtliens of pai i.slics might be converted into a M)urcc of Avealth to the country^ C.) I)(jur and genius be tlirccled to what may be Icrnied the detached counties * of the empire, the parent country is a double {gainer — first, by easing the burthen of parishes; and secondly, by convert- ing that burthen into the means of an increase of wealth and strength. For these distant counties are thereby improved ; and in improving, they ne- cessarily administer both to the f^ and the naval * It is true that bad government may one day sever the ties of connexion between the metropolan and its distant counties ; but bad government is not to be calculated upon, any more than any other species of insanity. This is not the place for politics, exclusively so called; yet still we mav be allowed to observe, that the less corruption and abuse of power there is at home, the less there must ne- ccssarilv be abroad. Whatever be the character of a goveriuuent — whether absolute monarchy, limited mo- narchy, or boroughmongeralc supremacy-.— its inherent vices or virtues will manifest themselves throughout all its colonies and dependencies : that is, either a mild pa- rental care will sustain their filial attachment, and draw the knot of union closer and closer, or the contrary will hold them by a galling chain of allegiance, and strain it to private interests till it break. All that a wise government will require of its colonies, is to pay the expenses of an economical admuiistration — to bring all their exported raw produce to the market of the empire, and take home its manufactured articles in return, the same being su])- plied upon as reasonable terms as any other industry could oiler them. With respect to local laws and the distribution of justice, the latter merely lequires to be done impartially, and the former to have their foundation on sound principles. If however, in the beginning, sound 70 slrength of the mclropolan. But, how far is any portion of jc, according to the principles already laid down, bound to emigrate at the requisition of the rest of the community? This we proceed to ascertain. When increasing population at length presents an excess of toilers, with reference to the means of employment and support at the disposition of the owners, it is evident that the evil presses imme- diately upon m ; and that, if allowed to proceed, a period must arrive when the possidentes can no longer keep their covenant with the non. Now, although it is very true that the possidenlcs are bound to submit to all the consequences of their own original act of appropriation, still they are also bound by considerations of humanity, as well as of self-preservation, to fore-calculate the distance of that period, and by all just means to keep it as remote as circumstances may admit of. The fair way therefore of considering the ques- tion involved in the premises is this : — llieory li;is been alloAved to give way to vicious practice — that is, if negvo slavery has been built upon as a species of basis — it must be acknowledged that tlic original error cannot be rectified all at once. It is not too much in such cases to remember, that exceptionable as it may bo, it is still a basis, and can only be removed by degrees, and as a l)etter can be substituted in its stead. Bene- volence, wisely exerted, takes care tliat its interference shall ))ermanently benefit the cause of humanity : undue precipitancy might do that cause more harm thaii good. 71 II ajipioprialioii liail iiul taken place, and- the country witliin certain buuiularies had still retiiaineil o])en onuiibus venicntibus, what would liave been the consctjuencc, .supposiu(j that country to have heconic tliron[;cd with a {jieatcr number ot indvpi'udcnls than tlie resources of huntin^]^, fi.shinfj_, etc. could ])os.siljly have supported? la such a case, the more powerful must necessarily have driven off the weaker j and the weaker must necessarily have adjnitted, that of the two alterna- tives, separatin(y or both starvinjy to(>^cther, they had no ri(jht to insist upon the latter. When therefore society comes to ihis^ or sufficiently ap- proximates thereto, the /io« must unavoidably be considered to stand in their ori/jiaal position, and the poss.denles and their adherents to represent independents preserving their sources of mainte- nance vi niajovis. But, revertin(]f to the su])position of non-appro- ])riation, we sec the weaker party moving off from the exhausting country with their bows, spears, canoes, and other means of obtaining an existence elsewhere. As therefore the introduction of the principle of vested riglit has broken the bow and tlie spear upon which primitive independence used to lean, and consequeiitly so changed the face of things as to o])lige it to lean in future uj)on the basis of society, there is a material chasm in the si- milarity of the cases ! — True, and it mustlje filled up by mending that spear, refilling that canoe, and creating for the emigrating toiler a state e(jui- 72 valent to his original independence. This act of justice pcrtornicd, and the bin thensome pari of x beinfj thus enabled to render their labour produc- tive upon sites unobjectionable in point of soil and climate, no doubt can be entertained as to the right of enforcing this the evident interest of all. Be it now inquired — what are colonies, and- what is the object in acquiring them ? lo. They are distant lands or provinces obtained either by conquest^ exchange, or priority of appropriation ; 20. As dependencies capable of being identified ■with the mother country, they are more or less equivalent to an extension of her territory, her po- pulation, her wealth, her resources. The immense importance of these acquisitions, to a country small within its home boundaries, and moreover depend- ent upon the preservation of its maritime supre- macy, is only sufficiently expressed by terming them the sine (iiid nou of national existence. Dis- j^ersed over the surface of the world, partaking of evei^y variety of soil and climate, and adequate to the production of every species of commodity, these quasi detached counties afford an almost inexhaustible source of whatever can contribute towards rendering a country independent and powerfulj and it is the drawing tSicsc resources out, to the mutual advantage of these (jwisi de- tached counties and the melropolan^ that consti- tutes the science of colonial economy. With respect to slatistico-political position, the most va- luable of these distant dependencies are necessarily in iheir first or afjricullural (jrade ; and in thus affording; a certain extent ofyj they virtually con- tribute towards bcarinfj a portion of the public debt, and other burthens of the country to which they belong;. For whoever consunies the produce of the industry of a community, supports a pro- portion of the X of that community ; and whoever supports a proportion of that x, franks it at the same time of all taxes and impositions — the toiler having his necessaries of life, his .9, and his indi- rect taxation, out of every thing; that goes through his hands. The natural period for the separation of a detached county, or colony, from the mother country, is when the increase of population has given it an x, and consequently advanced it to the puberty of the manufacturing toga *. It is then a burliien to the mother country, and the mother country a burthen to it — for x can never dovetail with Xy and disconnexion is the inevitable result. It follows, from this view of the object and uti- lity of colonies, that they can be of no immediate "value to a country without an x. They must * This separation may of course be brou{jht about much sooner by injudicious treatment. Tlie colonial-po- licy error of Great Britain, with respect to America, lost it all the resources of that vast country at least five cen- turies before the natural period of separation! What would have been the power of Enj^jand at the present moment, hut for : they are hard words, we will omit them ! 74 tljonisclves liavc acquired an abelorc lliey can es- sentially serve such a country. B land, for instance, with an excess of toilerage, requires colonies with an excess of ownerage : C land, on the contrary, having; an excess of ownerage, requires colonies with an excess of toilerage. The matured or manufacturing provinces, that might in time drop off from B land, would just suit C landj but, previous to that period of puberty, C land could not turn them to the same account, that B land is capable of turning them to. Colonies, to a coun- try that has not arrived at an jc, are therefore merely negatively valuable. But, without a certain degree of naval power, these quasi detached counties are neither to be attained nor preserved *. If therefore they are es- sential to a country, that degree of naval power is essential also. Its navy, to a country depending * As colonics, to a country Avillioiit an x and a navy, arc Jiko bracelets to a body witbout arms, it is only lo certain empires tbat these extra-limcnary provinces can appertain. And it is evident, tbat Avliitlicver country is (jtialified to liold the most of them. Is at the same time f|uabfied to take the lead amongst the nations. England, from lier confined home-limits, her x, her insularity, maritime liabits, and from her soil and climate favourable to the j)roduction of masculine cbaracter, po8se.s.s<^s so extraordinary a combination of all the fitnessrs for a yreat ]M)wer, tlial nolbinj', slioil ol an epidemic devastation, or tbe most egrejjious mismanagement of ber allairs, can |)ossibly |ire\( nt ber continuiiig for ever polcntissi/na po- tcnlissiinOi Kiu. 7^ upon its innnulaclmiiig iiidiisUy, is coiisc([uci)lly the very l^rcalli ol" its iioslrils. VVlicu sncli a country can no lonp;er ranj^e far and wiile the Queen oF the Waters, its distant provinces arc a precarious tenure— and losin[; these^ so material a proportion ol" its /'is lost with them, that m may then l>e con- sidered as ready to evanesce, and extin(juish the principle of vested right. Tiiis brin^^s us upon the importance of the shippinfj interest of an essentially manufacturinjj; community. But as a once well-estahlished ma- ritime supremacy can only be lost throup;h the decay of that interest, and as that interest can only decay in consequence of the carrying trade passing into other hands, we sliall defer the con- sideration of what we may term the marine in- dustry^ of a community, until we have taken a cursory survey of the question of free-trade. Monopolies of every description are unquestion- ably detrimental, to a greater or less extent, in some one or more of their various tendencies. This, as a general conclusion, admits of no possible controversy. But it is at the same time to be re- collected, that from the moment the position of a country becomes complicated in its bearings, there arises then, a limit to the applicability of unmo- dified truisms; and a greater freedom of trade than the links of an intricate chain of interests can bear, becomes thenceforward so glaringly incon- sistenl, thai it is really (pieslional)lc v>h(M!i('r any 76 icflecliii(j person ever advocated so absurd a pro- position. If the trade of a country be more shackled than the peculiar circumstances of that country require it to be, disadvantage doubtless ensues : but as every community is more or less under the constraint of peculiarity of position, free-trade is necessarily every where a question of degree, and any desire to establish it on the broad basis of its wide signification is conse- quently inconsiderate and chimerical. The object of all trade is to effect a gain — the interchange constituting commerce has mutual benefit for its purpose. This interchange is some- times the barter of commodities in which there is an excess of owner-labour, for others in which there is an excess of toiler-labour ; and sometimes the exchange of an excess of owperage against an excess of ownerage; but rarely the traffic of an excess of toilerage against an excess of toilerage : for every community has either an x, or no x; and in proportion as two countries differ in this respect, the greater the extent of interchange prac- ticable between them. All barter must there- fore answer the interests^ and conveniences, of different peculiarities of position ; otherwise this species of intercourse between states cannot be continued. We may class all the various commodities con- stituting the vast scope of commercial interchange under four principal heads : — 11 1st class : Raw material. y.nd (h. Natural staple. 3rd Jo. Acquired staple. /jth do. Miscellaneous manufactures. The (list comprehends, of course, a description of produce whose greatest proportion of value is composed of owner-labour, or ownerage^ as, for instance, timber, hides, etc., etc. The second comprehends produce having a less degree of the excess of ownerage : and under this head are included such things as must be manu- factured on the spot where they are grown ; such, for instance, as wine, oil, sugar, cheese, indigo, opium, etc., etc. The third comprehends an excess of toilerage, ' — that is, such things as may be manufactured any where, but whose fabrication constitutes tiie main occupation of the x of particular localities, excelling more or less therein ; such, for instance, as the W'oollcns of Yorkshire, the cottons of Lan- cashire, the cutlery of Birmingham and Shcftield, the china of Sevres and Dresden, the silks of Lyon, the geneva of Holland, etc., etc., etc. The ma- rine transport or carrying trade of a country may, inasnjuch as it comprises industries of great lati- tude and first-rate importance, likewise be included under the head of accpilred staple ; for wiiatevcr answers the condition of employing a material pro- portion of J', and of constituting an object of barter, is a staple, whether it present itself in the shape 78 (»i l;il)<)ni-in-l\iiitl, lilvo the ' carrying) trade, ' or ill lIic form ol lahour-in-slore, like the woollcii- trade. riio lotirLh and last class of commodities fill- ings- vip the catalog^ue of barterable things, con- sists also ol objects whose value comprises an excess of toilerafje. There is this difference, how- ever, between the third and fourth classes — that the industries constituting^ the latter are not of a degree of importance entitling tliem to rank as stajdes. They, however, afford altogether a vast (piaiitity of employment, and are consequently wortliy of attention in proportion to their com- munity-values in that respect. Amongst the mis- cellaneous manufactures of England, we may no- tice the glove-trade and the toy-trade — the one almost forming a minor staple to France^ and the other a minor staple to Holland. Now the main point to be ascertained with re-- ference to free-trade, is how far a ' give ' and ' take' commercial intercourse with other coun- tries can be beneficially maintainerl, regard had to the peculiar position of the community asking itself that cpiestion. The raw material, under the first class, may consist of corn, iron, hemp, flax, cotton, silk, tar, wood^ etc., etc., etc. ; and if any of these articles can be imported so much ciieaperthan il can be afforded at home, that an inundation of the home- market would be the consequence of its unre- slraincd admission, the home-grower must neces- 79 sailly bo prolccted a(|ainsL the ovcrwliclminfj (.oin- petition of tlie foicif;n fjrower^ provided The raw material in question niusL be grown at homo, and That the w hole, or a vast majority of the owners ol the soil, Dtust, in default of protective, leave the plouf^h in the furrow, throw the agricultural toiler upon the rest of the possidciiles of the community, and discontinue to discliarnre their fpiota of the taxation and other burthens of the state. It is evident therefore, tliat with respect to the first class, a country with a large public debt and an enormous poor-law assessment cannot subscribe generally to the give-and-take, or free-trade, reci- procity. If, in the list of its articles of agricul- tural or landed produce, there be any one of great importance, and at the same time requiring the palladium of protective restrictions, that protec- tion must be granted ; for it is a mooted point in every community, that the productiveness * of /• cannot be sacrificed. The quantum of protective recjuisite is, however, another question : but there must be some, and it must enable the possidenles to keep their convenant with the nou ; other- wise there is at once an end to the existing rela- tions of society. In England, corn is the protected * It may be as a\ ell to observe, that the word produc- tiveness is throufjhout used, not in the sense oijlrti/it^, but in the sense of prq/ilablc rclurii. 8o raw aitrde; and the landeil interest* of otlier couulries must also Iiave their protectives, when tlicy become taxed and assessed to the same deo^ree. VN'ith re(jal'd to the second class, as it embraces commodities which can only be produced under peculiar fitnesses of soil and climate, it conse- quently, like raw material, commands a certain decree of commercial intercourse. Every state is ready to part with what it has, and to receive what it has not ; and if it can produce every article of its natural staple at a cheaper rate than it can import the same, then it is also ready to subscribe to a general give and take of this branch of trade j^ — but if the oil, the witie, the sugar, th« opium, the cheese, the indigo, etc. of any other country, or of the colony of any other country, can be brought to its market and offered at a lower {)rice than its own, in tijat case it of course pre- fers consuming its own natural staple, or that of its colonies, to benefiting its neighbours at the expense of its own interests. The free-trade prin- ciple therefore, however excellent in theory, has its limits, with respect to the articles included un- der the first and second heads of commercial in- tercourse. * "We do nol mean lo infer tliat rents may not be ke|)t up lo an extent virtually relieving the land-owner from all taxation Avhatcverj but this is nol the degree of pro- tective contended for. 8r Upon these two (irst classes of the commodities ol barter, viz. raw material, and natural staple, we may here remark, that the excess thereof above consumption must be got rid of, because the in- terests of r, are paramount to the interests of «'. It therefore follow^s, that a country with either much raw material, or much natural staple, can- not promote its manufacturin(j industry to any (jreat de^^^rcc, for if the land must have an outlet for its surplus produce, the degree of export en- joyed by a, must always be in the inverse ratio of that enjoyed by /•. No country can say that its ^ give ' shall include every thing, and its ^ take ' nothing. However excellent its natural staple may be^ a similar soil and climate may be found amongst the colonies of other coun- tries, and any reliance upon the ability of its particular produce to maintain itself arbitrarily in consumption must eventually turn out a dis- appointment. Generally speaking, therefore, a government must leave its manufacturing indus- tries to themselves, in proportion as it is obliged to find an outlet for the produce of the soil. A country with no raw material, or natural staple, to get rid of, is consequently the only one that can be said to have a natural right to manu- facturing pre-emincncej and if such a country have colonies in every' quarter of the globe, it may and ought to say to the communities sup- plying it with raw ma((Minl niid natural staple : '' If you docliue making il our interest to consume G 82 the produce of your /■, we must of course set about encourai^ing elsewhere the cultivation of the articles in which you excel.' Every country may therefore, in {general terms, be considered to offer either, the articles included under the first and second heads, in exchange for the articles included under the third and fourth, or vice versa. There may of course be exceptions and anomalies; but as no country can be agricultural par excellence, and manufactural par excellence, at the same time, barter may be said to resolve itself gene- rally, into giving that which contains an excess of ownerage, for that which contains an excess of toilerage. With regard to the third class of articles of commercial interchange, viz. those compre- hended under the head of * acquired staple ' — be- fore a country can subscribe to a give-and-take equality therein, it must calculate whether or not its \\>, its e, its fuel, maciiinery, roads, canals, rail- ways, and other manufacturing facilities, enable it to compete successfully with its neighbours. If on the balance of its national advantages and disadvantages in these respects, it finds itself able so to compete, then free-trade, as fiir as regards the head of ' acquired staples,' is a desideratum ; — i)ut, if on such an investigation it finds itself unable so to compete, then such free-trade is im- practicable ; unless indeed, that country happen to have a surplus of raw material, or natural staple, to get rid of, and that its /• gains more one way, 83 than its a loses llie otlier. But, a country may possess a branch ot" acquired staple ( such, lor instance, as its shipping interest, or ^ carrying* trade,' as it is definitely called) upon the mainte- nance of which its very existence, as a powerful and independent people, may depend; — in this case, as it cannot even run the risk of compromising^ so vital an industry, it will not rashly involve it in the reciprocities of fiee-tradc — and the more particularly so, as this interest, once suffered to fall into a decline, is not easily recovered, and as, passin(j into other hands, it must also carry along with it, the whole power and resources of the improvident country. Give-and-take equality has therefore its limits with respect to the articles included under the first, second, and third heads of conmiercial intercourse. With regard to the fourth class, a country has first to calculate, what may be termed the com- munity-value of the different species of industry constituting its miscellaneous manufactures. Its natural, aud acquired staples, are all either A i, or A'->. ; but its minor branches of employment ne- cessarily differ materially in point of graduated importance. These minor branches of industry require therefore, to be investigated and classed, with respect to their participation in those general advantages and facilities which one manufacturing community possesses over another. V\ ithout being thus reviewed and estimated, tlicy must be taken in themass, and consequently subject, some of them, G.. 84 to be uiiintonlionally sacrificed : for it does not follow_, because the industry of one country has a general balance of advantage, over tbe industry of another, that every branch of such industry must be aUke fehcitously circumstanced with re- spect to its participation in that general balance. This is particularly obvious in the glove-trade * of England, compared with that of France, Unless therefore the miscellaneous, or minor branches, of the manufactures of a country are examined with reference, i^. to their importance to the commu- nity_, as sources of employment, and 20. to their ca- pability of sustaining foreign competition ; it will be difficult for any government to ascertain whether they are losing, or gaining, by throwing open this fourth division of commercial inter- course, to the reciprocities of free- trade. We speak for the most part theoretically; but it is evident that every country must have some minor industries requiring protection^ and that to adopt one sweep- ing system of policy with respect to them all, is at best but an indiscriminate hap-hazardism, that, even if successful, can lay no claim to any * Of tlic dressed and dyed skins from which kid-gloves arc made, a great part i!5 imported from Fiance. A suf- ficient supply of raw kid-skins might be had from India at a low price, and the dressing and dyeing, besides afford- ing some additional employment for x, would enable {;;lovo-makers to supply themselves cheaper with their leather, and consequently to compete with greater success. 85 olher merit beyond iniexfjcctable good foiiiuie. Upon the wliolc theretore, \vc may witliouL precipitation conclude, that free-trade, as a (jcneral system, is an impracticability — and that it is at best but a matter of calculation, and consequently a mere (juestion of dejjrce. No country accedes a L'improviste to a {^^eneral and indiscriminate exten- sion of free-tradism, without running the risk of compromising some vital interest or interests, and finding itself ultimately a loser. There is no mak- ing a simple out of a comj)licated position. As far as calculation and rational inference bold out the light, so far one community wisely meets another; but even here, it stops short l)efore it passes over a line that admits of no stepping back again, after the experiment of years may hiive given its too- late evidence of the fatal error. It is very true that an industrious and enter- prising cojumunity, with the advantages ofcapital, old establishments, dense population, machinery, cheap fuel, canals, roads, railways, and other manufactural and commercial facilities, may, not- withstanding a great public debt and heavy poor- assessment, extend the hand of free-trade to many of the industries of other countries; but to do so indiscriminately, and upon no surer grounds than custom-house returns, is a hazardous line of policy that nothing can recommend except a most for- lorn anil hopeless statistico-political position. This entry-and-regisler-evidence may be the most flat- tering in tlie world, at the sanic time that some 86 vital indaslry estimated thereby, may be ffaiiiin(j nothing, or even suffering a gradual declension. Experiments upon toes and fingers may do no harm, if they are even unsuccessful; but experi- ments upon the heart and lungs of a community may be fatal. The shipping interest of England is the ring-bolt supporting the heavy chain of na- vy, colonics, commerce, manufactures, and prin- ciple of vested riglit : the clench gone, that bolt is drawn, and every link of its chain comes down with it. Let us now look more particularly at the corn- laws, or protective, of the agricultural interest of England^ and then view again the unprotected exposure of its shipping, to that very competition, against which, the similarly-situated produce of the land is perhaps just as able to support itself. Regard had to the direct, and indirect, taxation pressing upon both these interests, and to their comparative participation in those advantages which enable the maiiufactural industries of Bri- tain to compete with those of other states, it is to be feared, that a greater incongruity than a pro- tected landed interest, and an unprotected shipping interest, never entered into the line of policy of any country, even when its notions of statistico-poli- tical economy were yet in their crudest and most chaotic stale. With reference to the cry against the corn-laws, it is readily admitted, that cheap bread is highly essential to a community dependent upon its com- 87 mcrcc and niamifactures. lUil cheap hiead is noiisoiise, if it mean bread clicaper than it can be (P'own. Hirow the land, or any njateiial part thereof, out of cuhivation, by consuniinjj the low- j)riced corn of other coutitries^ and what must be the consequence ? The ph)U(;h will be left in the furrow, and the husbandman obli[;ed to go to the manufacturer^ and request to perform the work of his machine-toih'rs. W hat would tliis lead to? The loss ofy, — and with it the loss of the only re- maining means of keeping the condition of vested right ! Bread therefore, cheaper than it can be grown upon the soil where it is eaten, amounts to an impracticability. In natural-staple countries, /• ot course, takes precedence of a; and though that precedence rather gives way to the industries, still both the /•, and the a'j of manufacturing countries must be rendered as fiiirly and evenly productive as may be, otherwise there can be no community — none, at least, upon the old basis of vested rights and generality of interest. If one class of owners are to have their just pretensions out of the property owned, the other class must have the samej — if the owners of a are entitled to live on the produce thereof, the owners of /• have an equal right to a profitable return from the produce of the land. The policy of a corn-law sentinel to shut, at a certain minimum, the flood-gales of importation against the cupidity of speculators, is therefore the policy of position, and consequently 88 a policy not to be alleretl, wilhout allerin^j that ])Osition. A IVec-tradc in corn is impossible with respect to Iviglniid, unless its d" be at the same time reduced, and the poor-laws assessment made lifjhter. As long as these two burthens press upon the country, some protective must be extended to the landed interest, otherwise the home-growth of corn would be, if not wholly, at least in a great measure abandoned. And what would the de- manders of cheap bread eventually profit by this? How would the cammunity meet the general dis- tress in the event of the foreign harvests, upon which it depended for its supply, falling short? In fine, if /• is to be forced to produce low-priced bread, the possidentes in general must assent to every man taking a certain relative proportion of d' . and thus redeeming as much thereof as mav bring down the price of corn to the talus required. And whilst upon this point, it should be borne in mind, that the arrangement alluded to, is one which the 7ion arc interested in pressing, when- ever their s is materially entrenched upon — for the toilers of a community become then evidently a party to the question of taxation, and a wise possi- deritiary, if not disposed to face the difficulty of such a divisional erasure of d" , will consequently not be behind-hand in affording bread as cheap as can be alfoided. Dear bread must cither make dear labour, or fjive the ' toiler ' occasio ejcclamandi, divide vos inter ipsos, et quoniodu vultisj sed ves- 89 trum, Jiohis non Iniponilc onus *. How far a coun- iry with an .r, can bear lii(j^li-priced labour, we shall see in the sequel. Let us now turn to the shipping interest. If a navy, the Queen of the Waters, be vitally essential to a commercial and manufacturini,' country dependent upon thede(jree of success with which X may be made to contribute to the accu- mulation of the wealth, or labour-in-store, of the community, then the ship[)in{3^ interest of that country is, of all its other industries, the first and most important. To thinly-populated countries, where labour is hi{jh from the excess of the demand above the sup- ply, the increase of its toilers is its first object. To a maritime state, depending upon its commerce andmanufactures, the increase of its naval industry is its first object — your carpenter, your rope- maker, your sail-maker, your Tom Bowline, these are the men, without whom the interests of the rest of the community have no basis. As a mere source of employment, the shipping interest is entitled to a high degree of consideration; add thereto the wealth and numbers of its owners and toilers! add its political importance! and then where does it rank? It is the sine qua non of such an empire as England. W ho can then think that this is a branch of industry to try experiments * We mako no ajiology for our Latin — the object in having recourse to it, is obvious. 90 upon * ? It is well known that men will {][0 on in their particular line of business, and conceal their losses until bankruptcy ensues. Unless there- fore it can be satisfactorily demonstrated by cal- culation, that the ship-owner of Great Britain can sail considerably cheaper -f than the ship-owner of any other state whatever, a free-trade in freights is the most inconceivable egarement of policy ever exhibited. The question is not whether ton- nage 7 be, or be not, increasing ; but whether the productiveness of ship -property, be or be not, decreasing — whether the ship-owner, under a certain pressure of taxation and assessment, can compete with foreigners, any more than the land- owner — whether machinery, cheap fuel, canals, roadsj railways, and all the auxiliaries of other iiidustries, are of any more avail to ship-sailing than * Soamansliip lias received a sufficient wound from tlie deplorable iuventiou of steam- navigation, without its bein[r necessary to accompany that grief of the Queen of the Ocean by the levelling blow of free-trade. •f* We say considerably cheaper, because the foreign ship-owner procures freights in England by undertakuig to pass the goods up into the interior of his country ^\ithout any charge for brokerage : this costs him little or nothing, and obtains him a preference. ^ Ship-biiilding, like house-building, is a speculation; and one speculation is as likely to be overdone as another. What will be the position of England, if her free-trade mania ever places her shipping interest in the prcdica- jiicnl of being obliged to hawl in, whilst foreign sailors arc drinking success to free-trade? 9» to corn-growing. These arc tliepointsinvolvcJ in this vital question ; and without they can he as- certained in the affirmative, and that too beyond the sli(jhtest sliadow of doubt, the extension oftlie free-trade principle to theshippinf^j of England, is neither more nor less than trying experiments upon the very vitals of the country, with the chances against their succeeding. It is not im- probaljle that foreign governments, acceding to this free-trade proposition, may have been in some Pleasure influenced by tlie ultimate prospect of the decline of the British navy. On looking over the four heads of commercial intercourse, it is not easy to perceive why they sliouM otherwise en- counter the manufacturing superiority resulting from dense population, vast command of capital, great perfection of machinery, cheap coal, roads, canals, railways, genius, industry, etc., etc. The bare enumeration of this catalogue of advantages renders it inconceivable that foreign countries could have subjected their industries to so une- (jual a contest, for the mere sake of supplying l^ritain with a proportion of their raw material, and natural staple. It is possible that more prac- tical information might better explain this mys- tery; but, upon theoretical grounds, tlie conclusion is, that England has ultimately every thing to lose, by the extension of the IVee-trade system to her shipping industry, and no equivalent to gain. Doubtless her manufactures are advantaged by cheap freights, doubtless agriculture is advantaged 92 l)y extentled manufaclures ; bill to benefit these two interests at the expense of the maritime in- terest, which is in reaHty the very sheet-anchor ot" ihem both, does verily appear to be founded upon the most extraordinary mode of calculation ever known. If it hold good for any number of years, there must be an error in the common rules of arithmetic j and the superstructure must in future be able to stand by itself, after its basis has been taken away ! With respect to all the branches of industry coming under the head of miscellaneous manu- factures, and even to some secondary ^acquired staples,' it is very true, that one interest may languor for a while and another flourish, and that even the total extinction of either, is not an irre- parable loss; — but with regard to acquired staples of first-rate importance, and to that of all others whose decay must more than place the rest in jeopardy, any risk, any line of policy leaving a doubt as to its result, is a wantonness, a temerity of a most hail-ruin character. Generally speaking, whoever can build, equip, man, and victual the cheapest, must acquire the greatest portion of the carrying trade j — but if it were even proved that l^2ngland could do all this as cheap as any other country, that would not be a sufficient reason for throwing open her carrying trade; for it is ^^elI known that foreign ship-owners obtain freights to the prejudice of British shipping, by engaging to forward their cargoes up into the interior of their 93 countries^ without any char{i;e for biokera{}e_, etc. And indeed, when it is considered how much de- pends upon maritime power — how very wealthy, how very influential it renders a people — it is not so very surprising; that even some governments * should attempt, by covert chicanery and ma- nanivre, to gain a point or two over the Colossus of the Waters. That Colossus may rest assured, that any free-trade treaty, on the subject of mari- time affairs, will only be sacredly observed when it is in favour of the party with whom it is made. There are a thousand covert ways of working to windward; and Colossus must be unsuspecting indeed, if he calculates upon making advantageous arrangements, and being able to rely upon their not being secretly counteracted. Every free-bottom treaty is therefore, either actually in favour of the rivals of England, or clandestinely rendered so ; and no doubt can be entertained but that, be the hole thus left open, or picked open, never so small, they will stir heaven and earth to creep through, and advance themselves to importance by the means that have succeeded so w^ell with England. For what has borne her through all her difficulties? — what, kept her up in spite of all her many errors? — Her commerce! and her co- lonies ! — And her shipping interest is no less than the very key of these her coveteil treasures ! Free- trade away this key, or allow another to be made * Allusion is here more particularly made to France. 94 like it, and those treasures are no longer as safe as they were before. Free-trade, to the extent of free-trade-practicability ; but not to the tearing out of the ring-bolt upon which all the linked in- terests of the country depend. What is the extent of that practicabihty? — what is it that enables England to offer the reciprocities of any degree of free-trade at all ? It is her density of population, her coals, canals,, railways, and other commercial and manufactural advantages and facilities — these are the great per contras that more than counter- poise her immense load of debt and assessment. The line of policy with respect to free-trade is then evident — she can extend it to whatever parti- cipates in these advantages, and at the same time admits of no covert malajides; but must be a loser by overstepping that line. Whether every thing be subject to this mala fides, we pretend not to say^ but if it be, free-trade is then a farce altogether. And as England, having little or no raw material, or natural staple, to get rid of, is too indepen- dently situated to submit to a losing game, why play one? Any apprehensions with respect to the falling off of her J", are gratuitous, as long as she preserves her colonies, with her naval superiority, and keeps down licr taxation and assessments. The British Isles may, with a few exceptions, be said to produce nothing but the aliment of man and beast — England is therefore in want of nearly the whole catalogue of raw materials^ and natural staples. Has she then not sufficient ^ tahe ' for 95 licr 'fjivc,' witliout beinf^ oblif^ed to compromise, or risk, her maritime interests? With nearly every commodity of tlic two first heads of commercial intercourse in her * take,' and little more than her acquired staples in her * give, ' why is she obliged to strij) the Queen of the Ocean of her pearls, and coax the coy Jewess of commerce with her tiara and her sceptre? The ^ take' of England ought to place her in the most inde- pendent position possible. Her landed proprietors, the influential mass of every country, have no na- tural staple which the government is pressed to find them a foreign market for — it is this that ought to give her somewhat of a commanding attitude in her commercial treaties. Other countries are as much obliged to get rid of their natural staples, as she is to barter away her manufactures. And come to the worst, sliehas always the consumption of her colonies, or detached counties, as well as the key of the market of all young slates unable, for centuries hence, to do without her cutlers, spin- ners, weavers, potters, forges, and felt-houses. This point of our perambulation brings us to a vista looking down two avenues, the first lead- ing to this conclusion^ that the encouragement of incipient civilisation is wise policy — and the se- cond presenting as a corollary, that missionaries, no matter of what religion*, sent amongst barba- * We mean of course, provided il lend to civilise hu- mankind. The description of creed can at first he of Utile 96 rous tribes, render valuable services to the poste- rity of commiuiities more or less dependent upon their commerce and manufactures. We shall add to this digression on free-trade^ a short consideration of the fundamental principle of protectives. Economy or thrift is the parent of wealth. Na- tional strength is so much economised labour-in- store. And communities can ^remove pyramids,' or accomplish any other ^ extraordinary feats,' in proportion to the amount of preserved labour which they can give in exchange for labour-in- kind. Again, commerce is the barter of one species of stored labour against another; and an moment, as the young intellect must be acted upon by something infantine and impressive. The first object is to induce nestling reason to put out its wings : after a flight or two, the strengthened mind becomes capable of cori'cct- ing its first impressions, and eventually finds its way to the truth. This is the education of all children, and the full- grown savage, in ])oint of right reason, is but an infant. It may be asked, if religion is to be the medium of civi- lisation, why not improve, instead of uproot, that which is already in the soil? For this reason— because it is gene- rally of so barbarous a description, that more time would be lost by that mode of proceeding than by commencing de novo from a better foundation. Besides, to render him an agriculturalist, and make him fond of civilised order, and social occupations, re({uires the introduction of a no- velty calculated to take possession of his mind, his respect, his aflections. — There is another mode of promoting the civilisation of the dark parts of the world, viz. by direct- 97 industrious people niij;lit iiol only live, but even heconie powerful,, u])()U a l^arren rock, provided lliey could always carry on a suflicient trade, or ex- change of stored labour in the shape of manufac- tured articles, against stored labour in the shape of raw material. It is the receiving a greater quan- tity, and retm-ning a less back in another shape, that constitutes the benefit of expended industry , and having that industry as a species of staple, the inhabitants of this barren rock necessarily adopt a protective system harmonising with the features of their peculiar position • in short, they monopolise every thing essential to their artificial stale of pros- perity. Vary that artificial state, by removing this community from its barren rock, and in proportion iiig vessels passinj^ that Avav to Jiiinf; home one oi- two of lliese barbarians; and uhilst in Euro})e, to let them see something of cottayc-comiort, cotta{je-{jardeniiig, corn- j^rowing, carpentering, etc.; and then to take some op- portunity of sending them back again, with a few pre- sents of nails, toolsj seeds, baubles, etc., together with a little wooden house for the prince or chief. This w^ould be ["ollowiiig up the Moravian system, than which per- haps there can be no better. The people thus civilised would of course become consumers of manulactured pro- duce in time, and be able to give some species or other of raAV material, or natural staple, in return. No doubt the first object of attention is the improvement oF the colonies belonging to a country, for they are in fact, a part of itself — its quasi detached counties ; but there is no reason why a little encouragement might not be extended to the cause of civilisation generally. 98 as it finds itself upon an extensive and fertile con- tinent, in that ratio will its protectives diminish, and its free-trade expand. It is therefore neces- sity that originally forces protectives upon in- dustry *, and that necessity must cease to operate before these protectives can be removed. Hence temporary, and hence permanent monopolies ; hence a difference, between a free-trade in manu- factures, and none, in marine transport ,• hence^ in short, the varied chain of connectives holding com- munities together in rases of considerable compli- cation of position. It is not pretended that mere sounding words are sufficient to pin a country to a fettered commerce : on the contrary, implicit assent is contended to be the bane of general welfare, and a minute investigation into every thing, alone conducive to sound prosperity. But in civil liberty, in religion, in commerce — in every thing, there are always existing circumstances that constitute a state of unfitness for what might be otherwise desirable ; and if that unfitness be not seen, it will be felt as soon as the new mania begins to wear off^ and disappointment to find out, that there is such a thing as calculating in- correctly. Looking back through the branches of inquiry shooting out from the third stage of complicated * When particular branches of miscellaneous industry become indolent and rapacious, the suspension of these protectives is excellent discipline. 1)9 position, llie suljject ol" public debt claims a few woids more. Public debt J or d'' , as we express it, is the expenditure of more labi)ur-in-store than there is any prospect of being able to raise by contribution from the existing generation. The avowed object is always the pursuit of the public welfare. — Public welfare, forsooth ! where the right arm of a community is sacrificed to preserve tlie little finger of the left! — Ali the wealth that is sent out of a country, and all that is imp rod actively consumed in it, is not only a deduction from the sum-total of national power, but also from the means of bring- ing out national resources. Yet, how is it that this deduction is carried on to an amount nearly approximating to that sum-total itself, and with the concurrence apparently, of the possidentes at large? Recourse is had to the delusion of re- placing positive property, or labour-m-e^^e, bearing a legal interest, by negative property, or fictitious labour-//?-/^o5.9P, bearing a plusquani legal interest. Cupidity is tlius entrapped, — not that it is quite blind upon these occasions, but because, it hugs to its soul the cherished persuasion that the day of retribution is indefinitely remote, and I hat ere then, it may be able to exempt itself from the ge- neral suffering. Thus induced to transfer his oyster, and receive back the shells enclosing a draft upon himself and his posterity, the purchaser of d" y delighted with his momentary advantages, goes on from loan to loan, unli) loanism stops short 1" lOO ill consequence of the precious metals of the coun- try being nearly all gone, — or, in other words, in consequence of the economies of previous cen- turies being then for the most part converted from labour-in -store into labour-in-fiction. The mi- nister or adviser of this deplorable state of things at length, perhaps, begins to think it possible that he may not have had any very clear or well -digested comprehension either of national wealth, or sta- tistico-political economy; and whilst the many- headed vulgar laud the wisdom of his prodigality, he probably abandons his choral Merses prqfimdo, pulchrior evenit, — and sickens at the recollection of Exegi monumentuni cere perennius. The legacy of such a minister to posterity, is the probability of a convulsion, and to his successors in office, the difficult and embarrassing position of having no option beyond that of placing their silent trust in time, and looking forward to the ac- cumulation of more labour-in-slore. An excess of loan-prodigality must, however, render this a slow process; for wealth cannot accumulate faster than owner and toiler labour can be performed — or, than ^ wise economies ' can add the annual surplusage of those labours to the sum-total of the savings constituting national wealth or power. And even then — even after thelabour-in-storc heap of the community shall have in a great measure recruited itself, another expensive war must ruin lol tlie country — iiol iiitloeil as a speiRUlnifl is ruined, from an exhaustion ol' all icsources, hut from tlf€ nominal value of thinj^s becominfj raised so lii^jh lliat any manufacturing; competition with the rest of tiie world, would then be rendered impracti- cable. — The loadin{J[ posterity with an immense accumulation of debt, merely amounts to this — merely means loadin(]; value with an inunense por- tion of non-intrinsicality. But li(jht as these ex- pressions may make the be(jueathed burthen appear, it is none the less a weight of a most mo- mentous nature, seeing that nothing can possibly reduce the inflation of value, save, lo. either that most difficult of all arrangements, the apportion- ing to each possidcns of a community' the quan- tum of d" constituting the nominal part of the value of his possessions ; or, ^o. breaking faith with the holders of d" , and thus driving them to re- j)risals upon the owners of /•. When any genera- tion, or succession of generations, have contracted xy millions of public debt, that xj has been in fact, the greatest part * of it irrevocably consumed ; and the amount bequeathable to posterity conse- quently so much diminished. The right of so consuming it is unquestionable; but not so the right of inflating value thereby, and thus ren- dering it destructive of the interests of futurity. In spending these .rj millions — or rather, in order * Tlicrc 18 a rediiitoi^ral or revciliiij; part which \vc shall notice Ijv and In-. I02 lo {|cL hold of tlieiii to spend — a call upon the com- munity for the mere interest-charge thereon, is substituted for a contribution of capital, and no- minal value augmenting in nearly the same ratio, ihe possidentes do not immediately perceive that they are not leaving the whole of the property standing in their names, to their successors j nor their successors, that they are not the sole inheritors thereof. The descendants of loan-prodigal-gene- rations have therefore, not only so much less left to them than they appear to have, and than they otherwise would have had^ but that so much less is accompanied by an inflation of value, which, though it neither makes them positively richer or poorer, still immensely deteiiorates their position, regard had to the paralysis with which it inevi- tably afflicts their Commercial intercourse with other countries. If B have a thousand a year in land, and C a thousand a year in d', or as a public creditor, and the inflation of value be 5o per cent., then B's land is in reality only half of it his own *, for the other half belongs to C ; so that in fact they * It is evident that C, in this case, not only holds his OAvn d", hut also virtually advances B's proportion — the which B acknowledges, hy paying C (through the medium of taxation ) the interest thereon. This interest amounts to half the jiroceeds of B's land ; so that he is in fact mere- ly the steward of C, Avith respect to that half, and the difference it would make to him, to take his own share of d", and let C he steward to himself, would he merely no- minal. io3 have iiierely five liLuidied a year eacli, auil iioLliiiii; more, — l>ut tlieir five liuiiclted a year each, is of as much relative vahic, as tlieir thousand a year, and after simplifying^ their position by the apportion- ment of^/', they are merely nominally poorer. — With respect to the inliui-Diuros relaliuns of all the B's and C's, to(jether with those of all the other owners and toilers of a community, they would, after this apportionment of their d', re- niain precisely staLii (juo ; — but, with respect to their ejctra-muios, or foreign relations, they would be 5o per cent, improved j for the difficulty of competing with the industry of that B C country would then be 5o per cent, greater than whatever it might have been before. But instead of simply spending the wealth, or labour- in -store, of a country, and leaving posterity no just ground of complaint, the prodigality is consummated in so disadvantageous a way, that the next generation do in reality sustain a most incalculable injury there- from ; for ( regard had (o the difficulty, the almost impossibility, of apportioning r/", and reducing the inflation of value) the manner in which these jcy njillions are raised, amounts, in its effects, to the same thing as loading posterity therewith. It was in this sense that we some pages back exclainuHl, " Poor posterity ! thou wilt have enough to bear when two or three generations have hea{)ed their prodigalities upon thy shoulders ! " The manufac- tures and commerce of that posterity, must uki- mately be shut out iromy'j and then the produc- io4 tivcness of c and o^5e; and conlinning the same inquiry, let us now ask, how it is, that a country can, in a certain given time, increase its pubhc debt beyond the amount of all the labour-in-store that it could otlierwise have accumulaled, up to the same period? It would seem, at first si[jht (real labour-in-slore havin^j been {jiven for nearly the whole of the d" , or labour-in-fiction, en(i;endered), that war-expen- diture niust have enabled the country to have become richer, seeing^ it did really accumulate that labour-in-store quicker than it had done be- fore ! It is in order to correct this first-sight in- ference, that the question is put, and that we purpose going into the minutise of the detail con- nected therewith. The fact is, as will ultimately appear, that, during such a period, a country is in truth enabled to accumulate quicker, and to a greater degree; but it, at the same time, anni- hilates still more quickly, and to a still greater de- gree, — so that, instead of getting richer, by war- expenditure, it absolutely gets much poorer. And if a country become poorer, individuals must be- come poorer, — for the state and condition of a country, is but the aggregate slates and conditions of the individuals composing its population *. * It has been imagined, that l)ccausc large fortunes aio here and there made during a -war, additional weaUh must consequently have been created. On the contrary, I lO Before wc proceed to show how, and to what extent, communities and individuals are impo- verished by war- expenditure, wc must prel^ace with one or two explanations and positions. To the point, then : Public expenditure is eitlier intra-Jiiuros, or cxlra-juiiros. The latter is a total loss, to the community, and the former only a partial loss ; for all national expenditure resolves into a va- nishing part, and a redintegral part, of which anon. Total loss ensues, where a country is unwise enough to remit its accumulated economies, or acquired wealth, to a foreign power, either for the purpose of subsidising its forces, or for any other purpose making no real return. The entire ex- penditure in this case, totally disappears, in con- sequence of the redintegral part falling into the hands of the owners and toilers of the country whose forces are subsidised. Partial loss ensues, where a country carries on a naval, or other war, enabling it to confine its tlic accumulations, though quicker than orduiary, are novcrtlieless outstepped far away, by the atinihilations going on at the same time; and if one or two individuals have gained largely, it merely proves that others have lost more than their common proportion of the general im- poverishment of the country. War is a speedy means of making property change hands, and in this respect seems to possess a degree of congeniality with the ultimate ex- tinguisher of vested rights, and may almost he imagined to point, like a finger, to that very finale, as its direct object. 1 1 1 expenditure iiilra-muros — or, in other words, to consume notliin^; hut the produce of its own pro- per ownerafi^eand toilcraji^e. Its war-expenditure is, in this case, only partly lost, in consequence ol" the redinle{jral part reverting to the community itself — instead of heing siphoned off, into other countries *. In like jnanner, if a country keep an armed force upon her own soil, or upon that of her colonies, the expenditure is only partly lost, inasmuch as the redinte{]fral part comes back to herself in the one instance, and back to her de- tached counties in the other. We shall now go into the question, and exa- mine how far communities, and individuals, are actually losers by war-expenditure, — or, in other words, how ihey annihilate quicker, and to a greater extent, than the increased consumption of that expenditure enables them to accumulate. * But that it will be an historical fact, posterity would never believe that any government, ancient or modern, civilised or barbarian, ever thus racked off its wealth or power into the treasuries of other countries.'.'! The Avealth o( Avhich communities are thus drained is in fact worse than totally lost, for the rodintejjral part thereof is placed within the possibility of biiiijj one day employed even against themselves. A country would, in point of comparative disadvantage, sulfer less by throAving its wealth into the sea, than by remitting it in subsidies to any other power. — Balance of poAver maintained by sub- sidies! ! It would be iho interest of certain Powers clan- destinely to destroy that equipoise, if thev could be certain of another such subsidy harvest ! 112 This inquiry will of course hinge upon the il- lustration oi' the redinlegral, and the totally va- nishing' parts of public disbursements — and the re-expenditure of that redintegral part, will show how the public debt of a country may exceed the amount of wealth that it could otherwise have accumulated, up to the same period. We purpose elucidating by a statistical review of the affairs of a small independent state. The following data are assumed in round num- bers for conveuieucej and the country is at the same time conceived to be free from public debt and poor-laws, for they would only complicate the illustration without advancing its objects. lo. The amount of the p, or tiie annual value of the ownerage and loilerage of this state, is fixed at five millions. We are not to suppose that this five millions is money — for money, or measuring currency, is merely the talus of its quantity • but we are to consider it what it really is, viz. pro- duce, or labour in its ubique-valid form. if>. The taxation and other charges upon this annual productiveness is fixed at a 3o per cent, pressure * — and we suppose this 3o per cent, to analyse in to — * The taxing any particular article amounts virtually to the mere designation of the purse out of which it is to come in the fust instance j for, as we have more than once ohserved, taxation [)re8.scs on all sides, like fluids, and consequently enlarges the figures representing compara- tive values, nearly all in the same proportion. No j/ossi- I13 25 per ccnl. for the niaiiUcuancc of law and order j 5 per cent, for tl^. rclij^^ion. 3o. We therefore suppose the inconig of this little stale to particularise into — 4o per cent, net owneraf|e; 3o per cent, net toiiera^je ; 3o per cent, taxes and other char(»^es. /\o. Of the five millions of annual productiveness partitioned as above, We suppose there is ccono- juised, or saved — lo p. cent, by the owners, on their £ 2,000,000 2OOj0OO Vi p. cent, by the toilers^ on tlieir £i,5oo,ooo 3,750 5 p. cent, by theclerfjy, on their it 2 5o, 000 I2,5oo 5 p. cent, by the administration of government, army, navy, cic. on their i,25o,ooo G'2,5oo Afjgreji^atc annual economies . . . 278,750 Annual consumption in wear and tear, aliment, etc. by the w hole population 4772i,25o Annual productiveness .... X5,ooo,ooo (hns consumes the avIioIc of his revenue solely by himself; and if the wants of the government take half, or anv other portion, of A's income, they necessarily take, at the same time, half, or any other poilion, of all the par- ticipations into which that income ili\ii.led itself. ii4 Ami, 5 '. let it be iiiiiher supposed^ that this jCi'jHj'j^o, of annual cconomicSj has been accu- mulaliiirj for four hun<.lred years, and lliat it has enriched this community to the amount, in round numbers, of lOO millions. This hundred mil- lions will then constitute the means, wealth, or Inbour-in store of the country ; and the maximum of taxation practicable upon its 5 milUons of in- come will constitute the whole of its resources — for, in order to simplify, wc suppose this little slate without colonies, bogs, forests, or any other im provabilities. IXow, with these means, and resources^ let us suppose this state to involve itself in a war ; and to borrow twenty millions annually, for three years, for the purpose of carrying it on. And lastly, let us imagine that, being a naval war, the whole of this sixty millions is expended iiitra^mwos. We have therefore a community with one hun- dred millions of present wealth, or \d\)onY-iii-esse, parting with three fifths, or Go millions thereof, for, say 70 millions of J", or fictitious labour- in-posse. And, to pay itself the interest upon this 70 millions, it is of course obliged, out of its 5 millions of income, to part with SVa mil- lions, in addition to the i Va millions constituting its previous taxation. This 3% naillions, taken from the community, under the denomination of taxes, and returned to it again, under the deno- mination of interest, amounts, as far as the nation is concerned, to paying no interest, and levying n5 tu) additional taxes*; — we shall tlHMcfore simply inquire how nnich ot ihe acciuiiulalctl economies of four hundred years tolally vanishes in this thirty-six months' war. In expending^ these Go millions iiiLra-miiros, a proportionate increase of general consumption ne- * It is otherwise, of course, as far as individuals arc concerned; and tliis the conccrMmeiit therein of individuals necessarily raises owncrage and toilcrage, or, in otlicr words, inflates value, by enlarging the figures by which it is represented. This coinnuniily therefore, during its three years' war, consumes the economies of two hundred years, and inflates its value three fifths. It is this inflation that makes unthinking people anxious for war-prices. It is evident enough that these war-prices are deceitful ; for lhei"eisnodoubtof the country being a double loser by this war, and it is consequently, equally clear that individuals, generally, must be double losers also. It is tiue that some men may gain fortunes during such a period; but they can only gain what others lose over and above their par- ticipation in the general loss occasioned by the war. The wealth consumed in wars may no doubt be replaced by future economics; but. how reduce the inflation of va- lue? — how counteract its eifect upon the exports of the produce of industry? Even those who have, dining a wai-, gained by the losses of others, must, after ils termi- nation, participate in the dislicss of connnerce and ma nufactures. The inflation of value caiuiot but diminish the foreign consumption of the propose) increase their apparent savings of profit, in the ratio* of their previous accumulations; viz. Ownerage 10 per cent, on Go mil- lions G,ooo,ooo Toileragc \i d". d". A^. . i5o,oo() Clergy f 5 do. d°. d". . 3,ouo,ooo Regorged in the first instance ^9,i5o,ooo INow, it is to be recollected, that a certain por- tion of the expenditure of this Go millions ^^oul^l revert to the treasury through the channels of taxation, and that this reverling-portion would again be expended, and again and again afford a nominal benefit to the owners and toilers of the community, until, diminishing and diminishing, it at length dwindled into nothing. Considering * As this is a mere outline for the purpose of exhi- biling the diniinulion of national AVCJtlth, precise exacti- tude is not necessary. -j- Supposed to t.ikc their income in kind, and conse- qurnlly to participate in tlie l>encfils of the increased cx- j.cnditurc. 117 t!iL'n;l(>ii'_, tlic oiljjiiial laxalioii-prcssuic of 'ij per cent. uj)()ii iho (jiiailruplccl expciuliUire, and llie aildilional itupositions accoinpanyin{j; tlic three loans of yo millions caeli, we may anf;mcnt iho. (), iJOjOOO ie(;or(;ccl in the first instance, hy liall as nincli more— so tliat we shall ulliniately have for the rcdintegral part of the ex])enditure of Go mil- lions, say 1 4,000,000 And for the totally vanishing part z'jOjOoOjOoo 60,000,000 In times of peace, we calculated the annihilated produce of 'the labours,' or ovvnerage and toiler- a(je, at j)cr ann 477^^?^'^^ And dividiiifj the vanishing 4^ millions by three i5, 333, 333 There will be annihilated annual- Jy durin(j the war 20,o54,583 And deductin(i; one third of the redinte(^ral i4 mdlions . 4/^^^^^^^ There will vanish annually during; the war £^^,'^^^7,9^7 As, therefore, the community, darinji; this intra- Diuros war-expenditure, annihilates, upon the balance, more than three times as much as it did l>elore, it consef|U(!ntly sustains an anniial loss of more than double its entire income! Individuals have a]>j)areiLily become richer^ but that part of each man's properly which is only nominally his own, and of which he is in realilv the mere lo- cum Icnciis of another, has encroached in tiie ratio ii8 of 1 5 to 4) wliilst 'increased consumption' has merely benefited liim in the ratio of 4 to i5 j and blind with respect to the maxima pars that war- expenditure is daily alienating front him, and only seeing- the minor portion that it is daily amusing him with in return, he fancies he is getting richer,, when in reality he is geUing poorer. IVow, if this annual loss of lo millions (round numbers) had been continued by a war of fifty-five months* longer duration, the whole of the economies of four hundred years would have been consumed, and any further loan conseq^uently rendered im- practicable. Supposing, therefore, this war la have been so continued — what would then have been the financial position of this little state? Its previous lOO millions of a", or labour-in- store, would be converted into, say 120 mil- lions of d'j or labour-in-fiction ; and the tax- ation necessary to pay itself the interest thereon,, would amount to one million more than the whole of its income previous to the war. But, how is six millions a year additional taxation to be paid out of five millions a year original in- come? Has this war, then, iwade property more productive? No. — The question is solved thus : — The five millions original income were intrinsicy but the six unllions additional taxation are only partly intrinsic — an inflation of upwards of loo per cent, has, in this instance, converted intrinsic into inflated value, and those six millions of base intrinsicality, instead of being paid out of an in- conic of live millioii.s (»1 uiidehascd iiitiiusicalily, will be paid oul ul an income oi" about elcvcji mil- lions ol base iiiUinsicalily : so lliat, if, instead of paying; this six millions as taxation, and receiving it back a(jain as interest, this little slate had the wisdom to apportion its ". It is only those manufatliuinj; coun- tries whose J^ might be enlarged by reducing their infla- tion, that are materially to be advantaged by such a mea- sure j for as long as the value of ' tiie labours ' of a com- munity is not an inconvenience to it abroad, it is noiro at home. 3". TluMe are two 8[)ccies of possidcnlcs-^ those who hin'c su/i/\ ibeir [)roj)ertv in ac(|uireuienls that cannot be separated from their persons, and those who have not 3 and if a property-tax, Im rcducnig inllation, 15tO 111 fine, it appears, on investigation^ sufficicnlly obvious, lo. how wealth durin(j a war is gnniln- lated taster than it is created; — 20. how the rc- {|orged part of expenditure makes tlie d" exceed the a" that would otherwise have accumulated up to the same period; — and, 3o. how a possi- wcrc necessary to ihe extent of more tlian one and a lialf or two per cent. (^ which might be equal to an income-lax of 10 or 1 5 per cent.), it must necessarily fall heavier upon the one species of po^sidentes than the other. This, al- though it might present no very serious obstacle, could hardly fail to induce procrastination; and procrastination is a reason in point. 4"- The sudden removal of a consi- derable weight of taxation-pressure would not be followed bv the instantaneous setlliiig down of prices to their still- water level — it would take a little time before every thing could adjust itself to the diminished rale of inflation, and no one is very anxious to try the experiment of how far he niight be inconvenienced in ihe interim. — These and other considerations are the reasons why the formula of * left hand D' . to right ' is kept up. Supposing, how- ever, that it was requisite to reduce the inflation of a country 5 or 10 per cent, in order to afl'ord its industries a little elbow-room in foreign competition, a census might he taken of the value of all property, and of all profes- sional and artist-income; and everyone might be required lo possess himself, in the course of a given lime of such a relative proportion of '■funded property' as would nmount lo a tenth or lAventielh part of the taxation he was then censed at. The transfers completed, and every one standing a creditor in a separate book 0[)encd for that pnrj)ose, the whole of these accounts might be liquidated at once by cancelnienl, and taxation lo that amount immediately discontinued. This done, and [)riccs 121 datum * ilcccivcs men into ll;c persuasion of getlinfi ricluM' al tlio vciy inonicnL llial a dcpossi- dutiiin is ieiKlerin(]i l!ieni considerahly poorer. Now, suppose any whimsical statist ol lliis small slate, should, by way ol shov^ino^ how little its three years' war had impoverished the connnunity, produce a li t of 3oo indivi- duals rich cnoup,h, in conjunction, to pay oil the whole ot the public debt — what would be the inlerence deducible from such a document, con- sidered as a mode of cstimatinj; the wealth aiul power of the country ? Would it prove that country to have recovered from its exhaustion? — No^ the consumed economies of ages are not ill a short time scttlod down to the level of the rcniaiiiiiif; iiidalion, the "vvliole ol' the possidi-nfes Avonid be relative- ly, and really, just as rich, and have just as much, or more intrinsic income, than they had before; lor the ellcct of elbow-room to the industries would necessarily cnlarp,e J\ and consequently augment the productiveness of pro- perty. * It would be convenient to have a technicality for that part of a man's property which war-expenditiirc iscoverlly alienating from him, and another for that j)nrt which it cajoles him by returning at the sauie time. To iind two well-adapted expressions is not an easy task, — we shall use pos idatuin and dcpossiilaluin until a more haj)pv at- ten)pl fdls up this vacuum in the nomenclature of atali^^tico- jtolitical economy. From possic/a/urn, the thing itself, we inay get possiiLdioii, the art of war-expenditure in rc- liuningthe redint(>|'|ral pari of consumplion ; ami thence posiiilutCj the verb. 122 SO (jiiickly rcj)Incctl — iho niarcli of '• llie labours' lamiol exceed a cerlain celerity — and wealth can- not be created by any other process than owner- ao;e and loiIera{je. To illustrate the nothinjjness ol the statistical data of such lists^, let us con- ceive 3oo oF the most opulent niendjers of this little comuiunity, to be examined relative to their wealth ; and lei us suppose ihem to give answers in due keepin/; and character, with the state of the country, and the nature of thin^js. To coujuience, then : — The first hinidred say, they arc land-owners, and possess estates to the amount of a million and a half per annum j and have coin, plate, jewels, pictures, horses, sheep, etc., etc., to the amount of a juillion. Good ! — they are set down as having present wealth, or means, to the amount of one million, and resources, or the j^eneratives o^ future means, to the extent of the economies that one hundred individuals may be able to practise upon a sum-total income of a million and a half. The next hundred say, they are manufacturers; that they possess costly establishments capable of yielding an annual return of a million and a jjalf; and that they have besides, in merchandise, coin, plate, jewels, pictures, horses, etc., etc., lo the amount of two millions. (jood! — liicy are set down as having present wealth, or means, to the amount of two millions, and resources, or tiie generativcs of fudnc means,, ii3 to the amount of the economics tbal one luiii- tlred indivicluals may he al)le to practise u[)oii a sum-lolal income ot" a million and a hall. The third hundred say, they are monicd men, or public and private creditors j that they pos- sess funded property, bills, bonds, indentures, mortgages, etc., etc., to the amount of five- and-twcnty millions^ and have besides, in precious metals, coin, plate, jewels, pictures, etc., etc., to the amount of three millions. Bad — they are set down as having present wealth, or means, to the amount of three mil- lions, and nothing more, (as far as an estimate of the accumulated economies, or wealth, of the country is concerned;) for the whole of the rest of their property is merely debt *, partly due to them by themselves, and partly by the land- owners and manufacturers previously examined, and consequently included amongst their re- sources, or generatives of future means. It is therefore evident, that although the os- tensible fortunes of these 3oo individuals may apparently amount to, and be able to pay off, the 70 millions of d' engendered by the three years' war, their present wealth is merely six millions, eveji stripping them of every item of * Debt is not property as debt, Avhicli is an iinnuacria- lity — l)ut properly as a virtual joint-tenancy in some Din- teriality coustilLitinjj property in tlic valid and substantial 8CUSC of that term. I 9.4 l.'j|)Our-iii-coi», ns \vcil as !aboin-iti-ubi(nio-vaU- tlily, wliich llioy can possibly l)c said to possess! But, their estates and nianufacturiiifi; establish- ments? — These are not wealth, but the gene- ratives of weallh, and that too, merely to the amount of the saving practicable by 3oo expul- sive individuals upon an aggregate income oF, at the utmost, four or five millions. — Yes, but the land and manufactories, may they not be sold, and converted into present wealth? They may — but how would that alter the question? — If 70 millions of wealth, or means, are to be raised, where is it to come frcmi^ seeing this little state, having annihilated 4(3 out of its 100 mil- lions of accumulated economies, has only 54 remaining? — Come from ! — it jnay be replied — there 's no occasion for its being forthcoming, — the whole debt belongs to the country, and it is merely the community paying the com- munity. — Admiiledl — t! at is just the point to which we wished to narrow the argument j and it amounts in fact to this — that if tlie whole of the public creditors of this small stale were assembled, and requested to erase the debt and reimburse themselves by dividing a largo j)ortion of the other property of the country, that ;• and a' jnight be found to tlie amount required, by reducing three hundred of t!ie aiistocracy and richest merchants and manufac- turers to beggary I — Joubtlcss it might: w!:o e\cr imagined liiat the cntiie propcriv of a large ])(>r(i()n oilUii possulcnles, was nut equal to its jiublic (lcl)t? Belorc that tloljt can cxcccil the vahie of a moiety of the property of a country, //I will have desccndccl below c, and cxlin[;uislicd the principle of vested rij»ht. — To what then does this whimsical list of 3oo rich men amount — as statistical data, what is it worth? — [Not a rush*. — The point in question is alton^elhcr mistaken. The wealth, or means, of a country is confounded with its resources. No two thin(;s JMC more distinct. The one is labour-in-store, immediate wealth — immediate means of power ; and the other is merely the malrice.^, or fje- neratives, of that wealth or power — and only that, in the event of the economies of indi- viduals beings left long enough undisturbed. — V\ hat, but time and thrift, can replace the /•() millions which we have supposed this little slate to have annihilated? And if nothing else can replace that which has been consumed, what signifies it how n)any, or how few, hundreds of the richest possidentes it would require to sacri- fice, in order to erase the d" of a country? The erasure of that d' would certainly reduce the figure of value, and be a great manufactural and cojnmcrcial relief; but it could not restore the varjislicd wealth of the countrv! That wealth is * It iiiciolv sliou'S the extent ol the iiioqii;t!ity oF tin; (listrihuiion oF proi)ei-tv : as to its hcinj; eil'iKM- direct or indirect evidciicc of n;iv other fact, llic idea i-s ahsiird. /jonc for ever, and tlie confiscnlion of the wliole of iho estates of this iiiiaf>^inary comniuiiity would not brings it back again! With respect to any immediate war-exertions, our little state would be none the better for this confiscation and re- demption. If, for instance, further loans were requisite for the maintenance of its integrity and independence, it would just be as able, or unable, to supply these loans alter the erasure of d'y as belore. Out of its lOO millions of means, sinews, or pabulum of war, it has only 54 remaining J and confiscating the whole of the country would not increase that remnant, by one farthing ; for this simple reason, that such, means, sinews, wealth, or pabulum, being the surplus product of ' the labours,' no creation there- of can take place independently of ownerage and toilerage j and consequently, do whata community may, it is impossible to iTpdhidnle at a rate ex- ceeding the ordinary pace of labour and economy. Hence exhaustion — hence the probability of a long peace after a long war — hence the imperious necessity of the quantum of repose being in the direct ratio of the quantum of previous exertion *. * Wlicii two communities f;o to war, the m|>ose its national di'bt redeemed hy a fjeneral appor- tionment, and the wliole of its morl^i^ao^es, bonds^ hills, etc., etc., not paid off (for that would bo im- possil)le}, but adjusted by such assij^nmcnls of /-and «7', asmi{;ht accomplish the same object; and then to ask, how much property the community is ul- Jimalcly possessed of. Without thus sim])lifyin{]; the position of a country, no estimate whatever can be formed of its means antl resources* ; for the same /■, «', and a", arc otherwise counted twice, thrice, and in some instances four times over. Enterinjj into particulars, the annual productive- ness, of ownerage and toilerage would give the nji^gre^^ate income; and deductin(]^ the expense of law and order, and the wear and tear, aliment, and sumplus of life, the remainder would consti- tute the available produce of the resources of the country, or the maximum of taxation it would be capable of bearing, supposing it to forego for a time all accumulation of a' , and carry on a war without having recourse to the loan-system -[-. * Resources are cither dormant, or active. The latter are oFcourse exclusively alhidcd to here — andinjjcneral the distinction Avill be evident from the context. -J- Enjjland mi{^ht thus carry on a naval war (the only warfare, in iact,she has anv business with) for a very lon{j time. Iler colonies, or detached counties, secure, it is a matter of little moment to her how other countries act, and re-act, upon each other in point of encroachment. To 1^8 The labour-in- store, or already-accunuilaled eco- nomies of a coinninnity, would he ascertained by deductin(> the current years productiveness or in- come, from the total amount, of its labour-in- ubique-valiiHly — and this remainder would consti- tute its means, wealth, power, or the extent to which it could carry cither the contribution, or loan-system, supposing it chose to exert its entire force, and sacrifice the whole of its already-amassed economies. The above ure the limits of the means and re- sources of communities, and it is impossible, by any suppose tlial the balance of power amongst the kingdoms composing the Continent of Europe, can always remain in cqiiilibrio, is just about as unreasonable, as an interfering anxiety on every dishorizontalisalion of the beam is puerile and unwise. That beam must necessarily have its ' ups and downs;' and the perpetually adjusting a thing that is continually in the transitu of alternate preponderance, and that must therefore, of necessity, continually correct its own aberrations, is a piece of gratuitous extravagance on the part of those who are in fact very little interested A\hethcr that adjustment takes place ten years sooner, or ten years later. A total indifference on the subject of Continental intcr-encroachmcjits is not, however, advise- able for England, merely because the opposite extreme is unwise. But it is quite clear, that having nothing more lo Avish for, than she already possesses, she might with advantage confine all her interferences to occasions Avhcre (l/'giiiis x'indice nodus Incederil, aiiti limit even her part tlicrcin, to throwing the weight of her navy into the lightest scale. species of manoeuvre/ to hocus-pocus llicui eitlier into njore, or into less. Paper-money may, it is true, be had recourse to j but when ijovernmenis coin paper^ wiiat does it amount to ? — To borrow- ing without a loan — to accumulating debt without J//V67 interest. This species of coinage, therefore, although but ink and paper, cannot be carried on beyond the extent of xhc present purse, and annual produce, of ownerage and toileragc, inasmuch as it is impossible to convert any thing but labour-in- store, and iabour-in-kind, into labour-in-fiction. In estimating the resources of a country, it is an evident mistake to imagine that the interesf, use, or uscrj of money, adds any thing to the wealth of a community. To make an item of this use or userj, is to include it twice, under dif- ferent names, in the same account. For what, in fact, is that which is paid as the interest, or //5r?r;^- of money? — It is a greater or less porlion of the proceeds which the borrower derives, or is snpposed to derive, from some properly, a certain jtart of wliich is merely nominally his own. Tlius, when A, with fifty thousand pounds in land, mortgages it to B, for five-and-twenty ; and when C, with sixty thousand pounds in shippiiig and manufactures, has given bill or bontl lu I), for thirty; A and B are in fad, whatever they may he in law, joint proprietors of the land ; and (^ and 1), joint owners of the shipping and manu- lacluros. 'ihe mortgage, the bill, and the bond, are all, in a certain [)oinl of view, a more ficiiou i3o — a mere coutiivance whereby A and C are left v\itli the direction of the property in question, npon condition that B and D receive a stated and invariable portion of the rents andproceeds thereof. In like manner, when all the A and C, of a com- munity, morigarrc their property to all the B's and D's, of that community, in the shape of a public debt, all those B's and D's, are in fact, joint proprietors of the estates and properties of all those A'sand C's; and the public debt is a mere fiction, a mere device whereby the A's and C's are left with the direction of that property, the B's and D's be- ing satisfied to receive a certain fixed portion of the rents and profits thereof. It is clear, there- fore, that the interest, use^ or uscjy of money, does not, as such* , enter into any estimate of the wealth of the country; it is merely a portion of the rents and proceeds of other property already taken into the account. V\ e may here terminate the di(jressions con- nected with the third, and descend to — * Money at interest cannot make wealth as money, be cause money is not a pjenerative, but a thing generated. '^ Money at interest' is therefore a fiction of speech — there is in fact no such thing; the lender of such money be- comes, from tlic moment of parting a\ illx it, a conjoint OAvner of some designated, or undesignated property, av I lich, under certain conditions, he waves calling his own : for a thousand pounds borrowed to carry on any business, cannot exist in the shape of stock in tradc^ and in that of money, at one and the same lime. The fourth, ami last, sta{je of conipllratctl po- sition. After bcconiin(j tlopcndent upon manufactures, forci(jn market^ and macliinery *, a community may still further multiply its difficulties, and ac- celerate the declension of its in j-, by a prodi^ja- lity of public expenditure, involving it, at lenjjth^ in the necessity of having recourse to that last, and most ruinous of all measures — the sub- stitution of a paper, for a precious-metal currency. * This dependence upon machinery, it may be rephed, amounts to no very great evil after all, since it may be re- duced, by reducMig inflation. Truej but having carried machinery to great perfection, and taught rival powers how to relieve their cramping deficiencies of a-, the reduc- tion of inflation that would have answered if it had been resorted to in time, becomes doubled and trebled, in ordei to obtain afterwards the same degree of elbow-room in competition. If, therefore, 5 or lo per cent, leduction of inflation is a difficult task, i5 or 'xo per cent, must be materially more so. f The ni of a manufacturing country declines in the ratio of the increase of its ' compaialive w — and the w of communities increases in the ratio of the increase of their inflations of value. 'The labours ' form the resources of a country; but the only imperishable part of those le- sonrces is ownerage. When, therefore, toilcrage becomes dependent thereon, in consecpience of inflation excluding the produce of its industry fromy' the existing taxation, and the maintenance of .r, exceed, together, the means of OAVneragej and m iIkmi disapi)earing below e, the possi- ilrntcs are no longer Jibh- to susluis; the Meij;ht ol the piinciple of vested right. 9" 1 3?. We will noWj tliereforc, suppose that, instead of liavin{j appoilioncd and canceled r/", or sucli a portion thereof as might have sufficiently re- duced the inflation of value, and given elbow- room in the foreign market to the industries of the country — instead, we repeat, of having fol- lowed this line of policy, we will now in con- clusion suppose that the communily in question had not only involved itself in another war,, but attempted so monstrous a thing as carrying it on by an extra-niuros expenditure of the most ill- judged description — that of sending its wealth out of the country, for the incredible purpose of subsidising foreign armies! With an excess of population so unhappily managed as to be ma(]e to prey upon the productiveness of property, instead of being rendered the means of an in- creased accumulation of wealth, the line of policy was, to have consumed its own population in war, and not to have purchased an exemption froui morlahty, in order to enable its burthensome x to multiply itself the more, and still further augment the pressure of the assessment under the poor- laws. To economise .r is first principle policy; — h\\\. position affects the applicability of first prin- ciples, and that which is wisdom m one instance, is the reverse, under different circumstances. First j)rinciplcs become modified dc re el tempore^ — and sometimes even totally inverted. But our hypothetical community has acted upon a first principle when il ouglit to have acted upon an 1 33 inveisioi) llicrct)!^ — iiiui upon iiKJcliliciiiion, when il oiijjIiL (o liav(; nc.tcd upon llic lirsl principle. Willi an excess ot toileis^ and a deficiency oi eni- j)!()yni(inLj it had recourse lo liypei-inachineiv, thon(jh a sh{|ht eniigialion, lo>rether with a small rcduclion oF iidlalion, would have answered the same ])urp()se : — and with an au^menlinrj poor- rale assessment, it becomes j)arsimonious oi ihe .jc which il previously turned lo so lillle account, and absolutely purchases foreij^n life, in oidci- lo in- crease the (juantum of thai which it finds a dilfi- culty in supporting; at home. In the first instance, it [jratuitousJy departs from the line ot first prin- ciples j and in ihe second, lelurns to that line when it is nu lonjjcr tenable. Bui, however — c/i route. II the march of an exlra-muros wai-expendi- ture impoverishes a community at no slow pace, il may readily be conceived, that thro\vin[| the redinle^ral portion thereol into the hands of io- rei^jii ovNners and loilcis, is a much more expedi- tious mode of consuming; the already-amassed ec(j- nomies of a country. We have before perceived, that the wealth of communities is very limited — that it is the slow-paced accumulation of tlu; excess of ownerap,e and toilerafje above consumption. — it is therefore ! loans, and i3i a bc,'yinnin(j to taking, through the contrivance of pa])L'r-nK>ney. But loanisni ceases to l)c available some time before the \vhole of the a" of a country becomes converted into d' ; for as soon as a dearth appears in the prospective, the wisely-provident part of the community endeavours to secure itself a liitle reserve, and this it hides; so that it is impos- sible (save under the excitation of the enthusiasm of a strujn^j'jle for freedom) to drain a country of the whole of its previously-accumulated wealth. When, therefore, loan-raising begins to be worn out, — that is, when wealth, in its precious- metal shape, begins to be scarce, — a government pushing things any further, has then recourse to paper ; or, in other words, to a system of burrovy- ing, where the interest is paid in advance, in the shape of a difference between paper, and precious- metal, prices: — a measure tliat in fact exceeds Z>o/-- rowingy and amounts to taking, where the issue of paper is carried to an excess, rendering its ultimate liquidation impracticable. When therefore^ the decreasing sources of loan-raising ])egin to dry up, the intra-inuros war-expenditure of a country is carried on in paper, and tlie yet remaining rem- nant of its precious metals is reserved for trans- mission out of the country— its own subjects being the only i)eoplc in the world that a government can force into an acceptance of ' labour promised* for 'labour performed.' Wc shall therefore, in conclusion , suppose that the hypothetical community, whose slaUi-cjiio we i35 arc hiuryiij{; [o'llajinuli', has now consumed llie (jrealer part ol" its al read y-a massed economics, and obli(jed accumulalion to proceed ihcncciorward in mere promise— or, in other words, not to jiroceed at all. Ill a little time, of course, even the last remnanlor precious metal disappears, and nothin/j is any where seen hut paper and base coin. Unable to protract the war any lon[|er without exposinj; a hopeless position, andelevatin(; the price ol peace, a disadvanta(jeous and humilialin(; teiniination winds up one part of the account of past errors; but the other part, the future consef(uences of those errors, remains unadjusted, anil exhibits a balance of retribution full as fatal to the slalu-f/iio of the country, as any prolon(jation of the contest could possibly have proved. In short, our little state, unable to lake up its paper, or reduce its inflation, is, almost immediately alter the conclusion of the war, thrown into a convulsion, and expires. Its last moments may readily be ima(;ined ; but our object beinj; a theoretical examination of the necessary conscrpienccs of statistical improvidence, we shall briefly continue the exposition. Thetransition from war to peace, where there is an .r whose industry must be enabled to maiiitain itself, is replete with diKicuhies and end>arrass- menls, in tlie conjoint ratio o{ the extent of that .r, ajul the extent of the inflation of value. In the present instance, even supposin{^ the credit of the state to have been able to keep its lu-ad above water, still, althou(;h its paper mi|;lil not sink into iSf) tolal wortlilessncss, tlie extraordinary inflation of ■valne (re.su!tin[T from tlie r/"/, or ' ieft-liand I)''. to rifjht' system) may hd imaj^ined to have afforded the resumed industries of the country no possibi- lity of competing with tlie rival manufactures af other communities. As soon, therefore, as the extra-consumption of war-expenditure ceases, f is necessarily called upon to fill up its place — but f contracts, as inflation expands, and (with refer- ence to the defunct slatu-qiio that we have sup- posed to have fallen its victim) the natural conse- quences of f not answerin(3^ the call made upon it is, that (I J the ^z^^i.9/-e]ongate(l surface of the country, diminishes, and diminishes, in produc- tiveness, until the whole weight of jc consequently falls upon /•; that /•, unable to keep w above c, (or, in other words, to support both x and oi^t,) ceases to provide the possidentes with the means of keeping their covenant with the non ; and that law and order ceding to anarchy and violence, the principle of vested right vanishes, to appear ap-ain under the tutelage of new names, and the auspices of more adequate councils. Here naturally ends the statu-(juo of the supposed community, which we have hurried through all the principal error? of statistico-political economy, in order to devclope the principles of this science. The in- stabilitv of human afi'airs ! is it an idle lamenta- lion?— or, is there a material difference between the result of a dear-sighted policy, and ihc conse- (iiKMKTs of a headlong fatuity? 1 37 Wc will now look hack n iilll(3 a I llic cxUaor- (liiLirypoj^nlarity of war-pricos, and the lavoiiraijlt; ioc('])li()ii ilial, amon(;.st a lra(fickin[y [)0|)ulalion, seldom fails to attend the introdnction ol" paper- money. The exchan(je-mediuin* or currency- connters, of a community, is the circulatin{} heart's blood of traflic — traffic, a modest sort of [jamhlin/j; — and this f>amhlin(i^ an excitation, or species ot mental inebriety, which the human disjjosition is naturally prone to, in consequence of that inclina- tion 10 the bewilchinji; sweetness of hope, which induces the mind to clin(; to a(yreeable delusions Avith a pertinacity surprising even to ilsell under the dominion of a less degree of enthusiasm . Tl'.e more room, therefore, men have left for the indul- gence of pleasing anticipations, the more they are satisfied j and as traffic extends in pro[)ortion to the (juantily of exchange-medium circulating through the veins of commerce, the greater the existing supply of that medium, the greater tlie gcneial exhilaration. Added to this^ paper-money being more readily parted with, than a currency ot really intrinsic value, its substitution for the pre- cious metals is the more generally welcomed, and of course the less rifi-idly scrutinised. Misled I)Y the inflation of value, the greatest of all possi!)le evils to a manufacturing country, and still further j)iisled l)y the deceitful prosperity of that double- (juick rate of possiilaliun* which necessarily ac- * Of course^ a feu iii proj)orti()u- tJ tt> the cUstaiM e of the piohahle period of liquidation. lU rcady-iiioncy. CictUl-})iic('s arc always liif^lici' than cash-prices; aiul, In the instance of Icf^jaliscd papci-paynicnts, it is not that the Icj^islature turns lliis paper into cash, hut, that itcompcls every one to buy and sell at credit-prices; so tliat all cash- prices vanishing pro tempore, credit-prices be- come universal — or, in other words, value acfjuires an inflation proportionate to the probable duralion of the legislated credit. Excessive issues of paper, of course, inflate vabie more than minor issues, i)ecause the probable period of liquidation is esti- mated as remote in the ratio of the quantity put into circulation ; and that quantity may be so great as to inflate vahie to a degree, only to be conve- niently expressed * by supposing paper, or credit- jnoney, to depreciate, and at length descend to zero : the which only means, that vakie is then infinite, * The difficulty which common conception exporicncos in picturing tliose metaphysical ideas Avhicli seem to elude the eye of the mind, arises from an absence of aptitude, or efficiency, the result of certain powers of intellect not bc- in{j daily exercised in the duties of their office. "When these powers are called upon, unaccustomed to exertion, they are soon fatij^ued ; and the pain of prcssinf; them any further, either induces us to desist, or to adopt fami- liar substitutions, which, as far as the' object of the mo- miiit is concerned, amount to the same thing. Hence, in common parlance, the sun is said to rise and set, ami hciicc paper-money is said to depreciate down to nothinjjj wliich is merely substilutin^r a more familiar idea, for that of the |iurniity of credit-prices, A\hen confidence vanishes. 1/(2 ami that any iVirther transactions at ^ public- crctl it-prices' lias become impracticable. The inflation-effect of paper-money upon value, entails two great evils upon a country. We have already observed its operation upon^, by imme- diately increasing^ tv; and, from this the exterior mischief which a credit-currency is sure to pro- duce, we shall now turn our attention to the iiiLe- nor abuses which it is also calculated to engender. The circulating medium of a country, be it what it may, is tlie general medium of transfer through which all exchanges of property are effected; and the number or frequency of these changes, is in a measure dependent upon the quantum of that medium, or the faciUty with which they are car- ried into effect. The community, or body-social of the country, in order to remain cool andhealthy, with its rest undisturbed, and all its evacuations moderate and regular, requires to be kept upon an even diet, — that is, to have this circulating medium constantly in the same proportion, or with the least possible deviation. JNow, all issuing- l)anks, whether provincial and unprivileged, or metropoUtal and privileged, have a certain degree of command over this circulating medium, and consequently over the health and temperament of the body-social. Country banks, however, in contracting and dilating their paper-issues, check each other's operations in so material a degree, that there is hardly a possibility of their being able to play al ilu; game of ^ dearth and inundation.' i43 Notso, liowevcr, the nalional bank, willi an exclu- sive and extensive circulation throu^jliout the heart and limbs of the country. The directors of such an establishment, enabled to inflate and reduce the value of every description of property when and as they please, have merely to avail ihenisclves of the secret of their intentions with respect to the contraction and dilations of their issues, in order lo buy and sell to a certain advan- la^e, and thus lay the commerce of the commu- nity under covert and periodically-repealed con- tributions. A more abusable power, whilst in the hands of one sole establishment, can hardly be conceived. And if the fluctuations of price, or market-value, may be taken advantajje of to a (jreat extent even when paper is not a Ic^jaliscd tender of payment, what may b' tlie clandestine contributions thus covertly levied upon the com- munity, when the lej^^islature compels an entire population to make all their contracts and amerce- ments in the credit-prices under the control of one solely-privileged bank? The directors of such establishments arc necessarily commercial men ; all their interests, habits, and connexions, are commercial: — to what private purposes then, may they not turn their control over the quantum of the exchange-medium of a country ! There is cer- tainly some confidence lo be placed in individual character, and the affairs of sucli establishments are, in general, managed by men of high reputa- tion; but that is not the species of security due lo i44 liie svliolc body of a cominuiiilyj in affairs of this important nature. There are degrees of discre- tionary power, which ought not to be left in any liands whatever • and the dilating and contracting at pleasure the exchange-medium of a country is one. The power of playing at * dearth and inun- dation, ' is not therefore prudently left in the hands of one sole national-bank-company; the abuses effected with such facility under one esta- blishment of this kind, become almost impracti- cable under two or three — for, mutually checking each other's issues, something like a constantly even supply of transfer-medium would keep price, or market-value, comparatively steady. The bills, or paper documents, of the credit transactions of commerce, are so nearly allied to the currency of a country, that with respect to their discountability at the national bank, they may be considered as part of tlie sinews of toiler-em- ployment; and a 'dearth or inundation' control over that discountability^ is a lever of niighty force, and more or less dangerous in proportion to the fewer, or greater number of assents, requisite to its exertion. It was with the Mearth and inunda- tion' lever of toiler-employment, that the inha- bitants of Paris overturned, in three days, the throne and dynasty of their perfidious prince. The owners of a simultaneously withheld em- j)loyment from their workmen, and the levy en mwise thus brought out in an instant, set its foot upon a well-organised government, as an elephant I ;5 iiiifjlu upon a child's l)al]ooii. Coniniuiiilics, how- ever, have this security afjainst an improper use ol this lever — that the owners of a can never ije roused into excrlin{j it, except by some wick^ly- conmiunicated, or yz/rt^Z-eleclric shock of tlie social frame, passing in one moment alon{j the whole leu{jth of the wire connecting the general interests of the country. But this security is want- ing, ^^here a similar lever is left in the hands of one exclusively-privileged bank; for the exertion of that lever-power then depends upon the con- currence of so few, that a private-closet-party, alone, may apply the negative or affirmative end thereof, to any purpose they please, commercial or political. The llome-Sccretery of the British Government of the time being, in allowing the Directors of the National Bank to steal a march upon his vigilance, and extend a ramified '■ deaiili or iniuulaliou ' power over nearly the ^^h()le of the most material part of the empire, displayed an inchffcrence, which, except that even able men niay occasionally err, would almost inchice us to doubt the fad of Branch Banks augnuMitlng the power of dilating or contracting, at p'ieasure, the exchange-medium essential to all the tran.siclions of life, and upon llie //o/7-variation of \n hicfi, price materially depends for its stability, and toiler-em- ployment, for a portion of its evenness of snj>ply. Having passed cursorily througii the dirierent stages of complicated jHisilion, into which a com- jnunity may be led by the injudicious management lo 1 46 oi an excess of popuialioii, and by the iniscliievous tendencies oC the loan and paper jnelliods of purveying]; for public expenditure; it remains to revert to the statical object of this work, — that is to say, to the measurin^y the durability of any statii- (juo, not otherwise vicious in principle, by the maximum of the taxability of communities. First then, upon what does this maximum de- pend? — Not altogether upon an impatience of taxation — because^ for the sake of law and order, the influential part of communities will endure a (]^reat deal : nor upon the mere extent of the /■, and the a , of a country — because both /■ and a are mere surfaces yielding a periodical produce; and unless that produce be so yielded, lands, looms, forges, mines, shipping, etc., etc., etc., are, with respect to permanent contribution, quasi lion. The maximum of taxability depends there- fore upon the productiveness of property, and there is then a direct ratio between p and m. It is to be remembered that a country, in its purely agricultural position, has, properly speak- ing, no^; and that, when its population outgrows its agricultural employment, excessive procreation becojnes then a source, either o'i increasing, or de- creasing, wealth and power, — the one alternative, or the other, depending upon the maritime capabi- lities of the country, and its s avoir fair e valoir^ with respect to the great importance of an jr, in conjunction with those capabilities. \A hen therefore a cojnniunily, physically en- ■47 tlowetl witli llie qualities requisite lo niaritiiue excellence^ and (jeograpliically situaletl in liar- niony therewith, acquires an x, nothinf^huta dila- toriness in justly appreciating^ its circumstances and position, or the bein^j kept down by a senior, powerful from having; got the start, and jealous from beinfi;' wisely determined to keep it, can pre- vent such a people fiom becoming a mighty nation. The productiveness of the property of a stale, not doomed to have 'lis possidentcs eaten up, some lime or other, by its «oaz, will therefore depend upon the greater or less degree to which it can sub- stantiate its pretensions to render its jc a source of wealth and power. If it have none of these pretensions, — if it can neither obtain colonies, or protect a foreign trade, — it is evident that it has but one line of policy to pursue; viz. to discourage procreation, and to effect in good time such expatriations as may still, in spite of this discouragement, occasionally be- come necessary. There is a moans of effecting a constantly self-acting emigration ; viz. by in- culcating in the people a taste and disposition for serving as mercenaries to foreign powers : but it requires, jterhaps, to have to do with a hardy, thrifty, and sterling sort of population, in order to succeed well in this respect. Be this, however, as it may, there is no other means ol indefinitely preserving the stntii-tjiio of unfavourably-circum- stanced connnunitics, than by keej>ing up m^ by lo.. 1 48 keeping clown .f. We shall lliercfore confine what more we ha\c to say upon the subject, to such communities as do not come within this particular calc(jory. It was observed, with respect to p, thaty, or the exterior consumption oftheproduceof industry, was requisite in the ratio of ^,' and, when the inflation of value has rendered the counter-purpose of ma- diinery necessary as tlie least of two evils, we may add, thaty is then requisite in the ratio of x, jjIus the additional toilers, or machine hands, so vir- tually be(jotten. Cut, in addition to maritime power, what is it that is necessary to obtain /"for a community, or secure it if already obtained? — The being able, in the first instance, to receive raw material, and na- tural staple 5 and in the next, to give as much, or more manufactured substance for it^ and of as good a quality, as any other people can afford to offer. Now, raw material has a cost — that cost or value is composed of owneiage and toileragc — and that ownerage and toileragc comprehends a relative proportion of the .9, the o o^ t, the c ^ t, and the d't of the country producing that law ma- terial. Moreover, in addition to such the price of the raw substance, manufactured articles have also a cost — that cost or value is also composed of ownerage and toileragc— and that ownerage and toileragc likewise comprehends a relative propor- lion of the 6, the o g I, the eg t, and the d' t of the rnaimfnc luring count ly. If therefore the .9, the i4<) o i^ t, the c^l, and llic d' I (Uiloiiiij; iiilo llie owiicragc and loilcrage oi lliat iiiauiifactiiriii(j country, raises sucli owncraj^e and toilc'ia{i;e to a hifjlier fifjurc than the ownerafje and loilcrajje of any rival industry, that rival industry will ne- cessarily supply the foreign consumer, — that is, will render it injpossihh; lor the coniniunily in <|uestion, to {;ive lor raw material, as much or more manufactured substance, and of as fljood a (juality, as any other people; or, in other words, will make the conditions of ol)lainin{j and secur- injj /"impracticable. As therefore the m of a country arrived at the puberty of the manufacturinjj toga, ilepends upon j)j and J) uj)on f, and f upon the inlrinsicalily, and inflation, of the ownerage and toilera(je ol that country, compared with the intrinsicalities, and inflations, of the ownera[jc and toilerage ol rival countries; m consequently depends, uUir juately, upon whether the resultof that comparison be in favour of, or against, a community, and the degree of the difference in question. It is to be observed tliat there are advantages and facilities which one manufacturings country may possess over another — such as great command of capital, large establishments, machinery, coal, roads, canals, railways, docks, etc., etc.; and that these manufacturing advantages and faci- lities necessarily operate in a manner tantamount to a reduction of the inflation of the ovvnerage, and toilerai^e, composing the value of manulac- i5o lured articles. When therefore the s, ihc o g t, the 6' ^ i, and d t of comninnities arc compared too^ether in order to ascertain the relative j)0wcrs of competition of tlieir respective indnstries, another comparison ought at the same lime to be made, with reference to their particular com- mercial and manufaclural advantages and faci- lities. Supposing these comparisons made, the m of communities, with pretensions for becoming great and mighty nations, will ultimately be in tlie ratio of the inflations of the ownerage and toiler- age comprehended in the value of the produc- tions of industry *. * Takinp, the price of toiler-labour, in America, at four ?hilliiigs and sixpence /^tv r/^"ew, and supposing the cgt and f/'7 involved therein, to be almost next to nothing — does the latter fact argue that American toilerage has al- most next to no inflation? — By no means. It is inflated by the excess of demand above supply. This item of in- flation being of an irregular nature, could not very well be included amongst the general ingredients of value : it is therefore particularly noticed here. And referring back to the suitable maintenance that was the portion of tlie nnn ( on the partition of the benefits arising from the es- tablishment of the principle of vested right ), it is evident, that such the sliare of the ncn being the same every where, and that the 5 and the ogt of the United States being nearly the same as the s and the ogt every where else, tJiere must consequeiitlv be an inflation in the value of American toiler labour. As a theoretical con- clusion, this is borne out by the fact of wages being high TliL' diiii'iMlily lliciciloic ol (Ik; stdlu-ijiif) ol any coriiiminity depends, i". upon the dcfjrce of abne- ^alioi) wliicli it may have the wisdom to practise relative to aljstaiiiinn: from any further enlar^iement of the fifiurcs rcprescntinfj its relative values; and, 2". upon the de[J^iee of facility which its parli- iii lliat country, in consequence of IJie fjrcat dispaiitv there existinjj between the demand fof eni[)lovment, and the supjtly. A certain portion oi' the value of toilora{j(; iji America, is, theielbre, as inuch an inllation, as a ccitain portion of that value any Avhcie else. But lliere is this didbrence between the toilera^^ie-iiiflations of America, and l^iijjland: — tliat, in America, it Avill l)e reduced bv the pro- {^resslvp inci'ease of procreation, a\ liilst in England the same cause Avill, in a dcp,rec, liave the contrary ell'ect, — that is to say, under i/ta jji-cscnt system of' poor-asscss- ineiUs ; foi', as Ave have before observed, every increment of assessment must produce a cori'esponding increment of the inflation of value generally' — and if generallv, couse- tpiently of ^v, as Avell as of every thing else. Against this disadvantage (and A\hi{.h indeed is only a disadvantage as long as the x of Eufjland continues a source of poverty, instead of being rendered a source ol wealth) — against this disadvantage, however. Great Britain has this counter- poise — that her toilerage-inflation is reducible at any time; for she has only to ap[;ortion a part of her d' , and the thing is accomplished. VV^e admit there are many difli- cnlties in the wav of such a measure, but still the mallei does 7/0/ amount to an impossibility ; whereas the reiliic- liou of the iidlalion occasioned by an excess of demand above suppiv does amount to an impossibility, inasmuch as an immediate increase of populalion is beuuid all liu man accomplishmcnl. l5*J! ciilnr form of (yovcrnnicul may afford it, of appor- tioning; d'\ and reducinf;; the inflation of tliosc values, when, and as, such a measuie may ap- proximate towards becoming; necessary. Wait- ing]; until it has become necessary, may perhaps be waitings too lon^j: — in politics, the doing a thing leisurely and voluntarily^ a little while before it must be done hastily, and by compulsion, makes all the ddforence between doing it so as to be of service, and doing it so as to be of little^ or, perhaps, none at all. T!ic inconvenience and danger of having a large inflation of value, — or, in other words, of having given in to an indiscrete and immoderate application of the loan-system of purveying for public expenditure, — is, that although a country should keep her determination not to commit the like imprudence a second time, still, the same degree of inflation that may be easily borne atone period, may be too much for^, and consequently loo much for ///, at anotlier. Neighbouring coun- tries that have contracted the whole, or a portion of theirs?', ejctra-mtuos^ may reduce their infla- tions by lircaking faith, if not avowedly, at least by the indefinite suspension of pleaded inability; and others that have raised their loans athomc, may revolutionise, spungc, and start upon a new career, relieved from the whole of their d". — So that, a country, unliable to such contingencies herself, ])ul ncvertiielcss deeply interested in the compa- l5^ ralivc Inflations of her rivals, can never know liow soon /irr oivn value n)ay J)e oljli{;ed lo unilerj^o reduction, in order to place her industries upon tiiat equality of advantage in this respect, without which competition becomes impracticable. To be prepared for such an ur^jency of necessity, is well; to be a little beforehand with it, nii(;ht be lictler. In fine — The preservation of the principle of vested ri(;ht depending;; upon the power of the possUteiUes lo maintain the same; and that power dependln^j; upon the continuance of their ability to find em- ployment, or otherwise provide, for x ; the sta- bility of any statu -(/uo, not otherwise pregnant with its own destruction, will be in the ratio of the maximum of the taxability of a community — for that maximum must diminish as the produc- tiveness of property diminishes, or, in other words, as the means of enabling the 7ion to live upon their labour diminishes: — m is therefore the mea- sme of ihat statii-quo, regard had to communities i/i general; but regard had to communities hi par- ticular (that is, to manufacturing comniunilies ), as m may itself be measured * by the itiflation of a country, compared with the contemporary in- flations of its rivals, that inflation, together with the facility, or otlier\Nise, which the existing form * Througli J, the rcitiliscr ol the inJusUies. i5/i of government, and disposition of the times, af- ford for its apportionment-reduction, may be sub- stituted for m, with the advantage of estimating statii-quo durabihty more immediately and pre- cisely. The quantum of prospective durability is, in fact, a question of position, with reference to the accordance or non-accordance thereof with the true principles of statistico-])olitical economy ; and upon this science, perfectly or imperfectly un- derstood, every thing connected with permanent welfare depending, we shall conclude by subjoin- ing a few recapitulations. It only remains to revert to page 4o? ^ntl to ob- serve^ that public debt was there contemplaled as a preconsiunption of anticipated economies, in order to start from the generally-received notions, and be enabled to proceed gradually to the deve- lopment of the real nature and consequences of the loan-system, as it exists at present. If there should yet be political economists who still prefer the old version of this subject, they must, of ne- cessity, admit that the accumulation of public debt is an accumulation of hollow-owners — a far greater evil than the creation of perpetual paupers, inasmuch as they must be maintained as otio- nati out of the productiveness of the property of the country. Whether, however, we still child- ishly cling to these dark notions, or admit the doctrine of ' nominal ownership ' and ^ inflation,' merely makes this difh-rence : — tliat, in the former case, the maladv of debt and taxation is frightful ij5 nnd hopeless, because we suffer ourselves to Ix; alanned by the suitace-appearaiice; whilst, in the latter case, serious as the wound may be, it is nevertheless neither deep nor danfjcrous, uidess ihe i>nssidentes themselves choose to make it so. RECAriTlJL\TOR\ DEFINITIONS AND OBSERVATIONS. -=»«)« Supposing a man to cultivate liis field liimselfy what arc his crops the produce of? Partly, of that ownerage, or owner-labour, which, as a pos- sidejis, he performs rerum suanini jnanibiis ; and partly, of that toilerage, or toiler labour, which, as a iion, he performs propriis manihus. Supposing the proprietor not to cuUivate his jleld himself , — what is rent? That part of the produce of owneragc, or owner-labour, which the possessor of the land reserves to himself, at the time of ceding the remainder to another person, as a compensation for being relieved from the trouble of directing that land, witli regard to what it is to do*. — What then is land? Tlic * It Will he perceived lliat we do not {jive into llic ma- nia {ov sue cine I lUjiniiwn , the lucking; uj) of wliicli, upon 1 58 more or less laliorioiis servant of those who are olionnli with respect thereto. — Whence the exclusive pretensions of the original otio-nati to the labour of this servant or substitute? When the fjrcf^arinus impulse of the human disposition, in conjunction with the iirst expansions of in- tellect, induced men to lay the foundations of society, they found it necessary^ for the welfare of all, .to establish a principle of vested right : under that principle, appropriation took place, and the benefits thereof being partitioned between the founders of society in the ratio of their different degrees of personal pretensions, a por- tion of land fell to the share of the wisest and bravest, and immediately rendered them otio- jKiti, in virtue of their supereminence with re- ference to the rest. It is not, however, to be concluded that this substitute-toiler of the /jo.s^/- dens \\ as obtained at the expense of the non : on the contrary, the Jion were likewise materially benefited by appropriation, inasmuch as their all occasions, wlietlior elucidation bo advantaged thereby, or not, is one of the academic prigisms of a passion for indiscriminately investing every thing Avith an air of eru- dition. There are many subjects that admit of a concise- ness, netness, and clearness of definition, which cannot he too much admired; but there .ire others Avhose compli- cation is only rendered more intricate, and obscure, by being squeezed into sliort and fettered generalities. Jle- (inilion, in such cases, is best treated ad lihiliini', and sim- plicity more a propos, (lian scholastic elegance. iSf) portion thereof, aUliou{;li ol course it could not chang^c tlicir primitive state of lahorave conipulsi, nevertheless {jreally ameliorated their condition, l)y converting,' a precarious, into a more certain ;aniatccl labours would have to be calcu- lated on both sides; whereas, from the invaria- bility of a standard anjalf^^am of ownerage and toileraj^e, the prefatory calculation of bargaining is confined to the seller's* article alone, and the process of exchange thereby rendered simple and expeditious. When is the value of a thing at its minimum? When * the labours' by which it is created, and those with which it is connected, are in the least possible degree affected by the sumptus o{\\h, by the expense of maintaining ' law and order,' and by the inadequacy of the supply for the demand. — Then the nucleus of value is small, that is, ex- pressed by a low figure ; and, regard had to the different causes that enlarge that figure, value must, of course, differ materially in different com- munities, and even (in a minor degree) indiffe- rent localities of the same community? Cer- tainly : and hence the shops of one community may become so dear, that other communities can no longer afford to deal there — for in all exchanges with a country where value is highly inflated, more of the nucleus^ or real laboura^e, is neces- sarily given for less; and if one country is impro- * Seller and buyer are mere technicalities appei-taining to the currency system of conducting the exchange-aflairs of hfej for, in fact, he who parts with liis money, or pre- cious jnetal, is (currency-relation.ship apart) as mucli a seller as he who parts willi liis corn or cattle. 103 vitlent cnougli to superinduce excessive iiiflntion, tlierc is no reason why another should continue to deal with it, to a disadvantage. — But a coun- try may reduce its inflation ? It niust, even- tually — unless indeed its rivals spare it the trouble, by increasing theirs. — What part of the inflation of value, is it possible to reduce? The extraor- dinary expenses of the country, and that still greater portion, occasioned by the " taxation and interest/ or ''right hand D"^. to left,' system. With respect to the other parts of value, viz. the ordinary expense of law and order, the suinptus of any acquired degree of civilisation, and the effect of the inadequacy of the supply for the demand — these are all irreducible items, being beyond the control of governments. — Is it the interest of one country to have its inflation materially below that of its rivals ? It is a sine qiid non for a manufactur- ing country, to have its inflation as many shades lower, as may obtain its industries a preference in the foreign market ; but to have it materially lower than its neighbours, would oblige it to give a greater quantity of the 'nucleus, for a less — unless indeed it could, by imposing export-duties, reduce that disparity of nucleus to an equality, or near equality, of barter. If export-duties could be iiupostid upon the ground of a disparity of nucleus^ then the more of its inflation a country reduced, the better ; for the foreign consumers of the produce of its industry, would, in that case, defray a large portion of the expenses of government. 1 1.. iG4 V'A hnt aro tlie precious mclals? That parti- cular produce ol ovvneraj^e and toilerage, oF wbich money is {];enerally made. — Why prefer these metals for money? lo. Because they are some- what scarce,- 9,0. because their bulk is small, com- pared with their value j 3o. because they are im- perisliablcj 4". because they are not adulterable without bein{5; readily detected; and finally, be- cause all these pecidiarities render them in every way well adapted for a current or common lan- fjua^^e, into which different sorts of commodities must be translated, previous to that comparison of value beiufj practicable, which enables ex- chanj^^es of the most dissimilar things to be effected with the least possible difficulty. — Could the value of gold, and corn, both increase at the same time? Why not? — the Sy the ogl, the cgt, and the d"t entering into the ownerage and toilerage consti- tuting both the one and the other, may unques- tionably increase at any time, and, consequently, at tlie same time. — What would be the effect of bread and precious metal, or money, both in- creasing their inflations of value at the same time? If the increase were equal on both sides, the re- lative values would remain statu- quo — for the augmentation on the one hand, would be coun- teracted by the augmentation on the other ; and in this respect it would be like adding equal plus and minus quantities together, inasmuch as the result would be notltitii^. If, however, the increase on one side exceeded the increase on the other, a cliaii[yc would take place in \ allies — iur, adcliii;; ime([iial plus and uiimis quantities together, the result is ,somel/ii//q. — But, supposing they both increased ccjually together, and that, on the one side, or the other, there was moreover an excess of supply above tlemand? That excess wonhl merely operate as a deduction on whichever side it took place. — If it were desired to know, whether the supply and the demand, of any item of the produce of any country, were the same now, as at any former period, how might the fact be as- certained? The only possible way ofcomiufj at the information required, would be, by comparin^j the value of thai ilem, at the two epochs in ques- tion, with the value of some other item of the produce of the same country; — for^ beings boih subject to the very same difference of ,s\, oqt, c i^ I, and d't, any variation between their valu(\s, could only arise from a variation of the quantities of supply and demand ; unless indeed, the dif- ference of value in question, might be traced (o some particular legislative cause, — as, for instance, the corn-laws of England. What is money? Current counters necessary to the regularity of relative appreciation. — But are not the precious metals, in their ingot, or bar shape, money also? (jold and silver are money (regard had to the ofhcial duties of curicn<"y), whether minted or not. — What is meant by the employment of monev — does money make money? iSot in the sense of being itself nii agent of pro- i66 tlLicliveiicss j for it is absolutely sterile, and can never change its state of sterility. The employ- ment of money means no more than not detain- \u^ it from its official duties, as a medium of the transfers that are daily and hourly requisite in order to enable ownerag^e and toilerage to continue their uninterrupted operations, as {^^enerators of wealth. — As every description of property is a substitute-labourer toiling for its owner, how does jnoney toil? It is not the money that toils ; for being merely charged with certain official duties, as a currency, it never does any thing else than perform those duties. It is consequently always upon its legs, running about from one person to another, and hence called currency. The pos- sessor of money has certainly a substitute-toiler, or rather, maj^ have, whenever he pleases j but he must part with this money — he must send it about its business — he must convert it from wealth into resource, or, in other words, from fjroduce into matrix ; and this he may effect, either in his own name, as when he buys an estate, or in the name of another person, as when he, what is termed, lends on mortgage, bill, or bond. If he convert his money into a produc- tive, through the medium of mortgage,, he trans- forms it into a dejinile, and known, matrix — and if through the medium of bill, or bond, then, into an Lndejinite, and unknown, matrixj and his confidence in the individual with whom he has to do, is the guarantee with respect to the adoquncy oi llio {jciierutivo posNcrs ol lliis uu/ni/- ticidarised maUix, But wljotlicr tills leiit-money, as it is termed, {];oes in part payment lor an estate, or any thin^i; else, the nature of tlie transaction remains the same, and that wliich is received as interest, is in both cases, and in all cases, a por- tion of the ownerage-produce of whatever matrix the money is transformed into. But — say you — the money may not {jo into a matrix ; it may, perchance, be lent to a ship-owner; or to a dealer- and-chapman, who has nothing in the world save his stock-in-trade. True; it is, however, to be remembered, that a ship, and such like property, althoufjh it does not perform a cveativcy never- theless performs a species of productive, labour- in-kind — so that the objection is here pointed against the non-precise-fitness of the term matrix, and not against the argument itself. With re- spect to the instance of the dealer-and-chapman, the term matrix is, we admit, inapplicable al- together in a direct sense; but this total inap- plicability affects nothing but the mere surface of the question — for the retinn received as interest, in this anomalous case, is a portion of the par- ticipation-produce resulting from the labour-in- kind which capital enables the dealer-and-chap- man to perform. The occupation of this indi- vidual is, in fact, that of a storekeeper partici- pating in the produce of other men's /• anil a , on the claim of certain indispensable seiviccs (tf convenience xc\\i\Q\\ii\ to society; and his bill, ur iG8 bond, creditor, has his {guarantee in llie confi- dence reposed in the adequacy of the participa- //o«-prodnce of the industry of this dealer-and- chapman. We say nothing of inic(jrity and sol- vency, because if any doubt existed on these heads, his bill, or bond, would not be taken ; but being taken, the lender of the money is virtually a pat- liceps of the stock-in-trade, and the inleresl he receives is, in fact, a portion of the paiticipation- produce of the industry of the solely osleiisihle dealer-and-chapman. ** Money put out at in- terest," is therefore mere technical phraseology. Two fields are to be sold for two thousand pounds^ — they produce, say, fifty pounds a year each ; B wants to buy tiiem, but having only one thou- sand pounds, he borrows the other of C, at 5 per cent. The purchase completed, B calls these fields his own, and the law may likewise call them his 5 but, in a statistical point of view, and also in fact, one of them belongs to C — for his thousand pounds cannot, with respect to B and himself^ exist both in the shape of money, and field, at the same time. It is true, that B, by this contrivance, reserves to himself the power of taking both the fields to himself whenever he is able to return C his thousand pounds,- but this is the extent of the anomaly, and C is in fact, statistically, half-owner of the fields, until he re- ceives back his money. \A hat is interest — or the fifty pounds which C receives annually under that denomination:' It iG9 is so niucli of the ovvnera[jo, or owncr-lahoiir, ol those two fields, as C has n(i;reed to he salislied VNitli, upon condition — lo. <>{• havinjj no tioiihle in direcliiifj these fields, or snhslitiile-loilers, what lo doj and, :>/>. of rcceivinj^^ invariably the same amount of ownerage-produce, let these fields per- form, or not perform, the particular labour re- quired of them. Suppose C's thousand pounds lent to a manu- facturer, what would the interest be, in point of fact? C would then be, statistically, part-owner of the concern- and liis interest-money, as he mi(jht still call it, would be, as much of the owner- ajjc-produce of that concern, as he had agreed, under certain conditions, to be satisfied with. What is a banker? A possessor of wealth in its money-shape, and a latent joint-owner, h)r short ])eriods of time, in lands, looms, forf^cs, manufactures, and all sorts of matrices, williout knowing; either where they are, or what their de- signation may be. When he discounts a bill, he virtually purchases a latent coparceny in some genrratii'e, or prodiiciii'c ; but not directing, or assisting to direct, that generative or produc- tive in what it is to do, and receiving his por- tion of the ownerage-produce thereof, under an opaque denomination obscuring the thread of connexion between himself, and his properly; and, added to this, being able to exchange the dis- counted bill back again into m(>ney, at his plea- sure, — he necessarily acquires the habit of regard- ing the paper-evidence of the transaction, as 170 his money, and finds it more convciiienL to sup- pose that money makes money, than lo trace the production of wealth to ^the labours' gene- rating the same. — But, suppose a banker should dispose of his money to the government, in taking a part of a loan ? Loans are merely con- tributions for the public service;, raised in a par- ticular way; and a banker, or any other person who may take a part thereof, merely advances the quotas of such other members of the com- munity as retain their quotas, for an indefinite period, in their own hands, paying the proceeds thereof through the medium of taxation in the mean time. — Then the community, severally and individually, become indebted to the loan-con- tractors, and not the government ? Certainly : the government merely guarantees the payment of the interest by the community, until every one feels disposed to let go the nominal owner- ship of that portion of his possessions, which would otherwise have been his quota of the con- tribution, and whereof he transmits the proceeds^ through the treasury, to the unknown person to whom the portion of property, so nominally owned, really belongs. The government, in the case of /ort^-contributions ( as they ought to be called), merely undertakes to see that justice is done; and that the proceeds of that property, whereof the nominal owners are merely the stew- ards of others, shall regularly be handed over to the real proprietors thereof. Whal, tlien, is iunded-proporly in general? 17' It is partly the contrihiition-qiKJta of the holder hijiisclf, and partly a loan to sonio other person, or persons, unparticularised, and who still retain possession of their quotas in the shape of some matrix or other, but, nevertheless, transmit the produce of the ownerag;e, or owner-labour per- formed by that matrix, to the individual or individuals entitled thereto. — What would be the moral turpitude of spunfjing out national debt, as it is termed? Such an act would be a felony within the spirit of equity — for it would be precisely the same thing as snatching one's bond out of the hands of one's creditor, tearing it up, and throwing it into the fire. Any man who, upoji consideration, could con- template such a thing as wiping out national debt, otherwise than by apportionment, could also contemplate any other act of fraudulent rascality whatever. Such a man, in point of honesty, would be a felon — and in point of wis- dom, a fool ; for the laws of equity and honour so trampled under foot, not being able to protect the robbed, would not, of course, be able to protect the robber. — Funded-property is a cu- rious instance of ownership : — all that the pos- sessor knows about his property is, that a por- tion of it ( the intrinsic part ) does really exist in .some matrix-shape or other ; and that il stands exclusively in the name, or names, ol some unparticularised member, or members, of the community ; but who they are, what they l']1 are, or Avlicre they are, he knows no more (hail they know, with respect to the indivi- thial possessin()f a latent coparceny in the pro- perty which they are in the habit of consider- ing wholly their own. Nevertheless, as before remarked, they regularly transmit to the govern- ment, in the shape of taxation, the ownerage-pro- duce of that portion of their property which is merely nominally theirs, in order that the same may be handed over to the real owner, under the denomination of interest. — C thus receives the prrKluce of his sojnewhere-pi'ope/tjj — that is, of the intrinsic-portion of his d" ; for as to the produce of the inilation-portion thereof, he re- gularly and gravely sends that up himself^ to the treasury, through the tax-collector, in order to have it regularly and gravely returned back again, with certain deductions, which he pays in the shape of so much more taxation — but, with as ill a grace, and as much grumbling, as if he really thought it reasonable, that he should occasion all this trouble, and be indulged in such caprices, for nothing! — Doubtless we, the very good people of England, and of other contribution-debt countries, have a right to our oddities ; and if we choose to play, like children, at 'Ml hand D''. to right,' and engage clerks with large salaries to keep (he account, it is our own affair, and no one has any business with it — no, not even in so much as to laugh ;,l us — jrinndcd we don't act th.e ridiculous by •7^ |>iillin[j long faces, and objecting^ to the expense ol our ainiisenicnt. — Verily, iheie must lje a vast charm in inflation! — And why not? it makes a small heap look like a laro^c one, Suave est ex magno tollere acervo. No doubt posterity will be just as deli[;hted with tliis costly bubble as ourselves! — What well- Ibunded expectations will they not, otherwise, nnp^ralefully disappoint ! A{;ain — What is pul)lic debt, supposing the money to have been borrowed abroad? It is the preconsun)ption of future economies; for loans are only raised ont of a country, when that country has not, as yet, accumulated wealth or economies enough to render recourse to strangers unneces- sary. In this case, it is really debt entailed upon future generations, because nothing but future economies can possibly redeem itj there being no such thing practicable as an apportionment be- tween the sul)jects of different governments, or, in other words, mixing conmmnities. What then is public debt, supposing the money to have been raised at home ? It is, in that case, the mere con- sumption of so much of the already-accumulated economies of the country; and posterity have no- thing in the world to say to it, beyond the com- plaint of its having been conducted in a sort of way entailing an inflation highly disadvantageous to them in all their foreign relations. — How, nothing to say to it — seeing it is called debt, and 174 pays an inlorost? There Is, virtually, no such thinjT as public debt, under the same government (where apportionment is practicable) : debt is merely a part of some property whereof the osten- sible owner isnot the sole owner, and consequently there cannot be that debt, and that property too, — the existence of both, as property, is impossible, for nothing; can render two and two more than four; and as both the twos must of necessity exist in the cop arcenate property in question, it is evi- dent that a third two cannot exist as debt, for that would make six o{ J<)iir, which is an absurdity. The debt-character that appears to attach to loan- contributions raised at home, is a mere fiction of convenience. A certain sum is required for the public service, and the members of the community arc necessarily put under contribution — it is a question of consuming so much already-accumu- lated economies — and in order to awaken no objec- tion to the expenditure thereof, certain dealers in wealth, in its money-shape, and who have conse- quently a considerable stock-in-trade, are prevailed on to come forward, and advance the quotas of the rest of the community, who are by this means merely called upon for the interest thereof. Thus allowed to remain nominal owners of their respec- tive portions of the contribution raised and ex- pended in their name, and for their presumed benefit, the possidenles of communities are far more satisfied with this silent and covert aliena- tion, than they would be w ith a total and imme- 17^ iliate separation from the coiUril)utioii-fjuola- portlon ol" their respoclive proper! ios. Uiit that separation must come! — llie curtain will drop uj)on the * ri(i;ht hand D»'. to left' farce, as soon as inflation has shut out the industries of a manufac- turing country from the foreig^n market ! — But, who are to he hlamed ? If a certain contrihution be required for the common fjood, it must he had ; and if the possidentes are noi. disposed to part with it as men, they must be induced to do so as ckildren. They have evidently less objection to cede the oyster, provided they be allowed to play with the shells, than they would have to relinquish oyster and shells together. It is an expensive piece of childishness — but the nurse must humour the waywardness of a community of infants. This is the rationale of the ' right hand D^. to left' sys- tem, — that is, of public debt, where the country borrows the money of itself. Or, it may, perhaps*, be as well accounted for in this way : — that, as tlie whole of the possidentes of the community ought to bear a portion of the public-service-contribu- tions, and as certain amongst them have sunk their wherewith in the attainment of artist and profes- sional acquirements, which cannot be separated from their persons, the contrivance, of giving a * We say perhaps, because the Httlc diifercnce it would make between drawing the community with a shrimp- net, and a flounder-net, would most likely be nothing, compared with the magnitude of the evil of inflation. 176 species of tlebt-cha racier lo any extraoiclinary pul)lic expentlilurc, is resorted to, lor the purpose oF-iucluding tins class o^ possidetites in the general assessment. But, even admitting that it is worth Avhile to draw a country with a small-mesh net — that does not necessitate perpetual debt, ov tnami- tndjinisf/i, as the * right hand D^. to left' system may be called j for it is very possible to include the class alluded to, in the general requisition, without either saddling posterity with an inflation of value, or giving a permanent debt-character to the consumption, about to take place, of the al- ready-accumulated economies of a country. Every government knows, or may know, to a near ap- proximation, the annual produce of the rand a of the community.* Having this data, the sum re- quired to be raised might be compared therewith, and an approximative estimate formed of the por- tion whicli the ^ slcill-and-knowledge possidentes'' might annually be able to pay of their quotas of the contribution required. Taking, therefore, this portion, at j per cent, on the amount of their quotas, the loan to be raised might be negotiated * This is the sum-total of the income of a community; for the annual gains of professional men, dealers-and- chapmen, as well as of all otlicr non-procreators, of wealth, arc merely a participation of the produce of r and a! , the only real matrices of that wealth. The whole income of the country is, consequently, the annual pro- duce of the land, and of that quasi elongation thereof, which, as an artificial productive, we have denominated a. 177 upon those conditions — that the interest should be jper cent, for the first year, J — z per cent, for the second year, j'— y. z for the third, and so on dimi- nishing; every year, nnlil at the expiration of any fixed period, J— /i z became = o. This would con- stitute the arrangement witii the contractors j — the arrang;enicnt for paying the interest of tlie loan con- tracted for, would be an income-tax of j- percent, for the first year, j — z for the second, j-- 2 z for the third, and so on until ;- — nz = o, A tax of this description, forming a self-operating sinking-fund, would then accompany, as a regular appendage, every legislative loan-act ; and these income-taxes diminishing, as their dates increased, would wear out in succession, and leave the country free from debt and inilation. As to the public accounts, no confusion whatever would be created : on the contrary, simplicity and precision would be attained to a very considerable degree. The taxes raised from the possidenles, would be distinguished by ' income-tax of loan i,' ^ income-tax of loan 9.,' etc., etc., and the requisitions and acquittances would run thus : — Mr. Tax of I St loan »1". -id loan .1". 3J loan d". 4 th loan d". 5lli loan D^ for the year 18 — y — 4:: p. cent. y— 3 3 d". y — 9.3 d". y — z ti". r— d». Total 5y — 10 z p. cent, on ^ — income, X — 1 J. 17B By tliis simple system, — 10, the loans necessary for the public service mi(i;ht be made to pay them- selves off without any expense, in any desired number of years; 20. the {gainers by war-expen- diture would be constrained to contribute in the ratio of their profits; 3". no permanent debt cotdd accumulate ; 4 "• ^^ic least possible mischief would ensue from the inflation of value, for it would to- tally subside with the j - n z of the last loan ; 50. the expense of collecting the revenue would be reduced, and the public accounts simplified; and, '6". the approximation of m towards its va- nishinjj point would be calculable to a fraction — excessive prodigality of expenditure be rendered impracticable, — and the statil-cjuo of the possi- denles and the non, consequently secured from the coup-dc-maiti to which an equivocal state of solvency is always exposed. What is the pith of the question, of peace or war, considered solelj with reference to the wel- Jaie of the country ? It resolves itself into — First view, — whether or not, a portion of the already-accumulated economies of the community* * If any one should whisper in his own ear, " I have no accumulated economies ; my family has lived up to, or exceeded, its income, for tlie last 200 years; and therefore I shall bear no part of the expenses of the Avar, " — he would very much deceive himself by such reasoning; — for as no one iidierils his estate by direct descent from the 179 shall be consumed, and every possidens be made to suffer a covert alienation of a proportional part of his property : and if yes, Second view, — whether or not, it be possil)le (o purvey for the expenditure of war, by the ^ ter- minable-interest system' above proposed: and if no, Third view, — whether or not, the commercial and manufactural interests of the community arc of an importance likely to render inflation of va- lue a heavy blow upon the vitals of the prosperity of the country. What difference would it now most prol)al)ly have made to En(jland, if ^he had, from the date of her first loan-prodig;ality, abstained from war*, and attended to her jc, her colonies, her navy, her manufactures, and her comjnerce? First, with respect to her possidenles indu'i- origiiial appropriator thereof, all landed property neces- sarily stands in llie position of having been purchased by money or services; and as both ihe one, and the other, constitntc accumulated economies^ or ihe excess of the proceeds of labour ah o\'e consumption^ the estate, or othoi- property, of every possidens of a conimuiiitv, is ilsell" a mass of accumulated economies, and war-expenditure -will in a given time alienate the whole of it from him, and liis descendants, l)y daily and liourly increments of depos- sidalion. * Supposing, of course, her marine attitude to Iiave been a sulhcient palladium against insult and intcrfrronce. i8o (ludUy, everyone \\ould liave been the sole pro- prietor of his property, instead of, as at present, holding a part thereof merely as the steward of some other person or persons, standing in the po- sition of having advanced the quota of the expen- diture pro bono publico J which that property ought to have contributed itself, and who are necessarily the real owners of the dcpossidatum. — But, B pur- chased his property only yesterday, and no extra- ordinary expenditure has taken place since? No matter when B purchased his property, nor even when he acquired the means of purchasing it — the obligations attaching to that property are in no way altered by t]:e fact of the property passing into B's hands. That which is called public debt, does not affect individuals personally : restitution is not due from the possidentis themselves, but from the property they possess. — If that be the case, C may reconvert his /• or a ^ into a" , and take it out of the country? Certainly, it is practicable j B rnaj thus elude his creditors j but, take his pro- perty where he may, it must still be subject to a minor degree of the same species of obligation : and even the practicability we have admitted, di- minishes in the ratio of the number so attempting to benefit their position j for it would be impossi- ble for all the B's of a community to carry the same project into execution. A very material portion of them, of course, might do so; and as there is no possibiUty of preventing such a thing, the disad- vantage of debt and inflation is merely more i8i slnkinfi;ly obvious. — Bui to llic previous ([iies- tion; and, Secondly, with respect to the possidenteSj as a conimunUjy the difference to Great Britain be- tween havin^ spent, say Goo millions, within tiie period alluded to, and not havinjj spent them, may be estimated thus: — Taking the war-consumption of accumulated economies, for the sake of round numbers *, at 600,000,000 And averaging the below-par-boims of the contract terms at, say 11 per cent. 7a , 000 , 000 We have an actual expenditure of . . . 5^8 , 000 , 000 And if we deduct, for the extra-accumu- Jation of wealth, or thercdintegral be- nefits of increased consumption, say 20 per cent, upon that expenditure . io5 , 600 , 000 The difference of /|9,9.,4oo,ooo will be the amount of the economies that might have been amassed during the period in question, if the country had abstained from war. England would^ therefore, have had somewhere about 4oo millions more wealth than she has at present; and her inflation of value, or manu- factural impediment, would of course have been upwards of three parts out of four, less than it is at the present, if she had considered it practicable to * As the Avhole of thisTJstimate is merely an approxi- lualivc calculation, and llii' ohjcct purely ar[;umentativc, precise accuracy is not aimed at. lS'2 Lave followed the line of policy* involved in tlie question. Bnt, as 4oo millions more wealth than she has at present would, in precious metals, have ex- ceeded-]-, many times over, the amount that could * Wlictlicr that Vine was, or -vu-a^ not altoj^elher prac- ticable, or to Avliat extent it was practicable^ is not here the question. -f- Every degree of the scale of national prosperity, — that is, of the extension and productiveness of ' the labours* of a community, — has a corresponding degree of precious metal essential to its medium-of-exchange wants. Any thing beyond that corresponding degree, constitutes a useless and unprofitable excess ; and the latent coparcenies that are virtually offered by the borrowers of money, becoming ex- ceeded by the means of lending, the terms of those latent coparcenies become necessarily reduced in point of parti- cipation of proceeds, — or, in other words, that which is termed the interest of money, necessarily falls. When this is the case, money is rc-convcrted from a" into a, or r, for, as it cannot purchase latent coparcenage to advantage, it then seeks to establish an ecpjivalent by converting itself into labour-in-kind, and expending that labour in the crea- tion of more a , or the reclamation of more r. There is, however, such a statistical disease, as the hyper-inertia of money; and when confirmed habits of loan-contracting, and stock-jobbing, absorb the faculties of the money- holders, and induce them to let capital lie idle in the hope of new loan-necessities arising, and offering them less trouble, and risk, than might attend any other mode of laving out their money, — this expectancy-disease, or loan-fever, closes the pores of the money-market, and pre- vents the exudation of capital fi'om lubricating much of the surface of the empire j so that largo tracts of dormant i8.} have been cii{j;.'if;ecl in llie peilormancc ol the official diUies oi" a ' inecliuin ol" cxclianfre,' the ulliniate query is, what would have been clone with the very large jiart that, unless otherwise disposed of, must have remained idle and un- productive? It would, without a doubt, have been re- converted from a", into a', and into /•; — that is, it would have been employed in the im- provement of, both the melropolan, and its de- tached counties, or colonies. — i". Ireland would have had her inert resources brought into acti- vity ; she would have been intersected with roads, canals, drains, etc., etc., and studded with coun- try-seats, all inhabited by a resident gentry ; for the lower orders of the population would have been so ameliorated in their circumstances, as to have induced the higher, to live amongst them. 20. The yet virgin resources of some of the vast resources remain arid and sterile. The vices of the loan- systciu arc, therefore, tripartite : — i". the dcpahulation oC the country J 2". the inflation of vahie ; and, 3". the hrper-inertia with wiiich it tends to affect capital. The first, is fjenerallv remedied hy patience and abstinence; the second, is to be reduced, but the task is a (hlficnlt one; and the third, is only to be cured -when the accu- nudations of the economies of a community have at length reduced the terms of lafcnt coparcenagc so low, that the enerjjies of indolence are roused into enterprise, and ca- pital thereby directed to the improvement uf the coun- try. i84 and valuable extralinienaiy counlics , or colonies of the country, ^vould have commenced being Diatcrialiy productive, — that is, ;• would have been added to the empire,- — for land is quasi Jion, in a statistical point of view, as long as it remains waste and desert. And, 3o. the consequence of all this would have been, the full employment of all the industries of the community — an ex- tended or enlarged f- — and a corresponding ac- cession of maritime greatness. In short, Great Britain would now have been the most inde- pendent and powerful empire in the world • and this elevation above the rest would have enabled her to preserve the balance of power of the Continent of Europe (//* interested in the ques- tio/i), without contracting a single loan, and probably without firing a single shot from the arbitrating guns of her ^^wooden walls." — It is true, that, as colonies, or detached counties, ultimately drop off from the mother-country, their progress of maturity would have been in a small degree more advanced ; but, with the right to calculate upon wise government, we con- tend that such ultimate maturity would still have been the work of many centuries : besides which, other colonies will ever be attainable ; for the portion of the globe yet lying quasi ' desert and waste,' is, with respect to the progress of civilisation, and the procreation of x, almost indnitcj — nay more, taking into calculation the Naiiety and numijcr of contingencies enclosed i85 within the wide circumference ol possiljiUly, we may say, not only almost injbute, but, willi re- ference to all human prevision, and precaution, altogelJier injlnilel Of what advantage to a country is the encou- ragement of the expenditure of the incomes of its more opulent possuleiitcs'i It is the social- compact-duty of every possidens member of a community to contribute towards the emj)loyment of the noil, in the ratio of the sum-total of the j)roductiveness of his property, be that property what it may. The encouragement of expendi- ture has therefore this limit, — it is advantageous to a community, to the extent of preventing unwise and exceptionable economies ; but, car- ried further than this^ it is of course detrimen- tal *, inasmuch as it must then entrench upon tiie accumulation of wise economies, or those leal savings which constitute the wealth and power of a country. The more labour-in-store a community can amass wisely, the more ex- traorilinary feats of strength it can perform^, when and as exertion may become necessary to her interests and her independence; but the grand * All wealth or labour-in-store consumed unnecessarily and unproducth'cly, is a loss to the country : — and it is un- necessarily and un productively consumed, when that con- sumplion exceeds the measure essential to the due eni- l»loyment ofllie non, and the maintenance of national in- dependence. i86 purpose of accumulating weallli, or d\ is lo re- coil vert tlie excess thereof (above what may be necessary for the money-market*) back ag^aiu into additional /■ and a\ — that is, into new ge- neratives of income. It is this excess of a , above the amount necessary as an exchange-medium, that is destined to bring out the dormant re- sources of the metropolan, and her detached counties or colonies. Every reclamation of ;• is an elevation of m ; and that elevation may even- tually enable such a country as England to sup- port an energetic maritime-war, without being obbged to raise any part of the expenses thereof, by the purveyance of Moanism and inflation.' TuRMNG back to Sand and following pages, it will there be perceived, that an excess of popula- tion was considered a besetting evil. When those pages were written, reference was had to a coun- try, that either had not the means of turning x to account, or, that had not availed itself of those means. Recognising x, afterwards, as ca- * The official duties of the wealth floating in tlie nioiiev-markct have been noticed l)e!orc. .87 ])al)Ie ol bein{> rendered a main source ol wcallli and power, it would appear extraordinary lliat the poor laws should liave heen arjjued against, on the (ground of aufjnientinfj .r, scein(j super- abundant population was in the sequel considered any thing but an evil to countries possessing, like England, extensive dormant resources. It is to explain away this our seeming inconsistency that vse now revert to the passage in question. The fact is, that the term '*" besettin^-^^ should have been (jualijied, inasmuch as it was not in- tended that its acceptation should be general. This will readily be ])erceived from the tenor of the work, taken as a whole. It may nevertheless be as well to state netly, our meaning throughout to have been, — that, if a community, to Avhich x is a burthen, resorts to the relief of poor-laws, the remedy applied increases the disease, iuasn>iich as it has a tendency to increase an evil, de facto, though it ought to be none, de jure. It is ti'ue, that, to a gigantic country like England, with its limbs extending nearly round the whole globe, and with an almost infinity of dormant resources every where except in the immedinte region of the heart, — it is true, that, to such a country, x ought to be any thing but a burthen. If, how- ever, it happen, no matter how, to be otherwise, then the effect of poor-laws is — lo. to remove any check that individual prudence might impose upon procreation,- and, 9.0. to add to the inflation i88 of value — an evil wliicli, by contiibuting to eiilar[je the Hg;iue oi w, contributes likewise to render jiiachinery necessary to the conservation of f\ — and which, in thus diminishing employment, augments, by the multiplying force of reaction, the very inconvenience intended to be reduced. POSTSCRIPT. I HAVE heard of a work of Mr, Cobbctt on Fi- nance, but asyel have not been able to see it. If I have rifjhtly understood the account given nie of it, Mr. C.'s argument seems to amount to this : — lliat as public debt diniinislies the incomes of in- dividuals , an excessive accumulation of that debt ^vill excessively diminish those incomes; and that these diminutionSy becoming eventuallj into- lerablcy a revolution must then be the unavoidable consequence. In answer to these common-place, and imperfect, views of the subject, it is only necessary to observe, that, whether or not public debt (as it is termed ) will ever overturn the statu- (juo of a country, can only depend — lo. upon comparative inflation^ /. e. the degree thereof compared with that of other communities j — and, 2". upon the facility, or impracticability, of re- ducing a portion of that inflation, when such a measure may become necessary, in order to afford the industries of the country elbow-room in foreign competition. — Mr. Cobbett(if itis fair to make any observation upon his work, before having seen it) does not appear to have turned up more than 190 llie mere surface of the subject, and, indeed, not even that. He seems not to have investigated either the nature o^ public debt, or o^ value, and not to have reflected — i^. that there is at all limes, as well in peace, as during war, a possida- tioiL and depossiddtion, ov manu-mams?n of pro- perty ^ taking place throughout a country ; — 9,". that, during peace, depossidatlon is the slow process of individual extravagance j and during war, the rapid process of collective extravagance ; — 3". that public expenditure only consumes a' , or wealth, and not r^ or a , the generative.s of wealth ; — 4'*' that with reference to wealth, or means, war-prodigality, at the worst, ou\^ depa- bulates a country; and, with respect to public debt, only transfers r and a property, from one posses- sor to another, — but, in a way that inflates value, and diminishes productiveness in the ratio of the disadvantageous effect which that inflation pro- duces upon the foreign commerce of the country ; — 50. that public debt is a matter of very little moment to a community, except as regards its foreign relations ; — 6". that loans are neither more nor less than contributions, where possessors of property in its money-sbape, advance the quotas of possessors of property in its various other shapes ; — and, 7^. that public debt is a mere term, covering latent coparceny ; and not, as many people unthinkingly consider it, a public burthen j unless indeed, the inflation, occasioned thereby, renders it detrimental to the industries of a country, by sluittiii{; tlioni out, more or leon\c possidetis., and made to labour for him. a" Wealth, or labour-in-store, in its various shapes and forms; the same being — 1°. movable to market — 1°. the produce of either r or a — and, 3". not a generative in itself. d" Public debt; or a" converted from labour-in-store, into labour-in-fiction j or, the latent coparcenies created by the '^ left hand D^. to right" mode of so purveying for public expenditure, as to include the tAvo descriptions of possideiites distinguished in page i^J. d"t The taxation passing in some instances from the left hand, to the right; and in others, from noinitial, to latent owners, and acquiring iti transitu the name of ' the interest of the public debt.' ogt The ordinary expense of the government of society; or, the minimum, and constant, taxation rocpiired for tlie maintenance of laAV and order. iJ 194 c gt The contingent, or extraordinary, expenses of go- vernment, including poor-rates, etc., etc. f The sumptus of life ; or, tlie expense of the relative habits of comfort, and luxury, superinduced by minute and proportionate increments, at every step of the progress of civihsation, throughout every rank and station of society. jc Tlie excess of the population of a country, above the means of employment arising from the supply of its own wants. f The foreign market, or the exterior consumption of the produce of the industries. rn, c, p, -vv, have been explained. See page i3. ERRATA. Page 20 line 12 ' analogous," for, 'equal.' i4 ' limit of inequalUx,' i^i^', 'line of dP.' ' suuin,' for, ' suarutn.'' ' by anticipulion,' for, "■ by public expenditure.' ' which is still merely the result,' for, ' which, iit ac cumulating, is merely the result.' ' wiser ^ for, ' more wisely.' ' renters of money,' for, ' lenders of money .' ' potenlissimorum,' for, ' potentissimnrum.' » 27 ' unmodified truisms,' for, ' Jirst-priiicipls truisms,'' z,' for, ' X.' » 22 » 14 » 38 » 18 )' 42 » 21 )> 43 » 3 » 47 )> 13 » 5t j> 24 w 74 J) 32 » 75 » 27 « 104 » 1 »3 3 3 1 3 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT LOS ANGELES THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY This book is DUE on the last date stamped "below Form L-!i 20in-12,'30(33b