this way to add to the supply of labour, already in excess. The children grow up, and in their turn follow the same course; and thus, however widely the manufactures of Britain may have extended, a still farther and indeed an indefinite extension of them seems to be demanded; for the system produces a constantly increasing, yet ignorant, starving, and miserable population, more than adequate to supply all the labour that can be profitably expended. The consequence is, that markets are overstocked with produce; prices first fall ruinously low; the operatives are then thrown idle, and left in destitution, till the surplus produce of their formerly excessive labour, and perhaps something more, are consumed: after this, prices rise too high in consequence of the supply falling rather below the demand; the labourers then resume their toil, on their former system of excessive exertion; they again overstock the market, and are again thrown idle and suffer dreadful misery.

In 1825-6-7, this operation of the natural laws was strikingly exhibited; large bodies of starving and unemployed labourers were supported on charity. How many hours did they not stand idle, and how much of excessive toil would not these hours have relieved, if distributed over the periods when they were overworked! The results of that excessive exertion were seen in the form of untenanted houses and of shapeless piles of goods decaying in warehouses-in short, in every form in which misapplied industry could go to ruin. These observations are strikingly illustrated by the following official report.

"State of the Unemployed Operatives resident in Edinburgh, who are supplied with work by a Committee constituted for that purpose, according to a list made up on Wednesday the 14th March 1827. "The number of unemployed operatives who have been remitted by the Committee for work, up to the 14th of March, are

"And the number of cases they have rejected, after having been particularly investigated, for being bad characters, giving in false statements, or being only a short time out of work, &c. &c. are

1481

446

"Besides these, several hundreds have been rejected by the Committee, as, from the applicants' own statements, they were not considered as cases entitled to receive relief, and were not, therefore, remitted for investigation.

"The wages allowed is 5s. per week, with a peck of meal to those who have families. Some youths are only allowed 3s. of wages.

"The particular occupations of those sent to work are as follows:-242 masons, 643 labourers, 66 joiners, 19 plasterers, 76 sawyers, 19 slaters, 45 smiths, 40 painters, 36 tailors, 55 shoemakers, 20 gardeners, 229 various trades. Total 1481."

Edinburgh is not a manufacturing city; and if so much misery existed in it in proportion to its population, what must have been the condition of Glasgow, Manchester, and other manufacturing towns?

Here, then, the Creator's laws shew themselves paramount, even when men set themselves systematically to infringe them. He intended the human race, under the moral law, not to pursue Acquisitiveness excessively, but to labour only a certain and a moderate portion of their lives; and although they do their utmost to defeat this intention, they cannot succeed: they are constrained to remain idle, while their surplus produce is consuming as many days and hours as would have served for the due exercise of their moral and intellectual faculties, and the preservation of their health, if they had dedicated them regularly to these ends from day to day, as time passed over their heads. But their punishment proceeds: the extreme exhaustion of nervous and muscular energy, with the absence of all moral and intellectual excitement, create the irresistible craving for the stimulus of ardent spirits which distinguishes the labouring population of the present age; this calls into predominant activity the organs of the animal propensities; these descend to the children by the law already explained; increased crime, and a deteriorating population, are the results; and the moral and intellectual incapacity for arresting the evils becomes greater with the lapse of every generation.

According to the principles of the present treatise, what are called by commercial men "times of prosperity," are seasons of the greatest infringement of the natural laws, and

Times are not reck

and precursors of great calamities. oned prosperous, unless all the industrious population is employed during the whole day, (hours of eating and sleeping only excepted), in the production of wealth. This is a dedication of their whole lives to the service of the propensities, and must necessarily terminate in punishment, if the world is constituted on the principle of supremacy of the higher powers.

This truth has already been illustrated more than once in the history of commerce. The following is a recent

example.

By the combination laws, workmen were punishable for uniting to obtain a rise of wages, when an extraordinary demand occurred for their labour. These laws, being obviously unjust, were at length repealed. In the summer and autumn of 1825, however, commercial men conceived themselves to have reached the highest point of prosperity, and the demand for labour was unlimited. The operatives availed themselves of the opportunity to better their condition; formed extensive combinations; and, because their demands were not complied with, struck work, and continued idle for months in succession. The master-manufacturers clamoured against the new law, and complained that the country would be ruined, if combinations were not again declared illegal, and suppressed by force. According to the principles expounded in this work, the just law must from the first have been the most beneficial for all parties affected by it; and the result amply confirmed this idea. Subsequent events proved that the extraordinary demand for labourers in 1825 was entirely factitious, fostered by an overwhelming issue of bank paper, much of which ultimately turned out to be worthless; in short, that, during the combinations, the master-manufacturers were engaged in an extensive system of speculative over-production, and that the combinations of the workmen presented a natural check to this erroneous proceeding. The ruin that overtook the masters in 1826 arose from their having accumulated, under the influence of unbridled Acquisitiveness, vast stores of commodities which were not required by society; and to have compelled the labourers, by force, to manufacture more at their bidding, would obviously have been to aggravate the evil. It is a well

T

known fact, accordingly, that those masters whose operatives most resolutely refused to work, and who, on this account, clamoured most loudly against the law, were the greatest gainers in the end. Their stocks of goods were sold off at high prices during the speculative period: and when the revulsion came, instead of being ruined by the fall of property, they were prepared, with their capitals at command, to avail themselves of the depreciation, to make new and highly profitable investments. Here again, therefore, we perceive the law of justice vindicating itself, and benefiting by its operation even those individuals who blindly denounced it as injurious to their interests. A practical faith in the doctrine that the world is arranged by the Creator in harmony with the moral sentiments and intellect, would be of unspeakable advantage to both rulers and subjects; for they would then be able to pursue with greater confidence the course dictated by moral rectitude, convinced that the result would prove beneficial, even although, when they took the first step, they could not distinctly perceive by what means. Dugald Stewart remarks that Fenelon, in his Adventures of Telemachus, makes Mentor anticipate some of the profoundest and most valuable doctrines of modern political economy, respecting the principles and advantages of free trade, merely by causing him to utter the simple dictates of benevolence and justice in regard to commerce. In Fenelon's day, such ideas were regarded as fitted only for adorning sentimental novels or romances; but they have since been discovered to be not only philosophical truths, but most beneficial practical maxims. This is the case apparently, because the world is really arranged on the principle of the supremacy of the moral and intellectual faculties, so that, when men act agreeably to their dictates, the consequences, although they cannot all be anticipated, naturally tend towards good.

In the whole system of the education and treatment of the labouring population, the laws of the Creator, such as I have now endeavoured to expound them, are neglected or infringed. Life with them is spent to so great an extent in labour, that their moral and intellectual powers are stinted of exercise and gratification; and mental enjoyments are chiefly those afforded by the animal propensities in other words, their existence is too little ra

:

tional; they are rather organized machines than moral and intellectual beings. The chief duty performed by their higher faculties is not to afford predominant sources of enjoyment, but to communicate so much intelligence and honesty, as to enable them to execute their labours with fidelity and skill. I speak, of course, of the great body of the labouring population: there are many individual exceptions, who possess higher attainments; and I mean no disrespect to any portion of this most useful and deserving class of society: on the contrary, I represent their condition in what appears to me to be a true light, only with a view to excite them to amend it.

Does human nature, then, admit of such a modification of the employments and habits of this class, as to raise them to the condition of beings whose chief pleasures shall be derived from their rational natures ?—that is, creatures whose bodily powers and animal propensities shall be subservient to their moral and intellectual faculties, and who shall derive their leading enjoyment from the latter. To attain this end, it would not be necessary that they should cease to labour; on the contrary, the necessity of labour to the enjoyment of life is imprinted in strong characters on the structure of man. The osseous, muscular, and nervous systems of the body, all require exercise as a condition of health; while the digestive and sanguiferous apparatus rapidly fall into disorder, if due exertion is neglected. Exercise of the body is labour; and labour directed to a useful purpose is more beneficial to the corporeal organs, and also more pleasing to the mind, than when undertaken for no end but the preservation of health.* Commerce is rendered advantageous by the Creator, because different climates yield different productions. Agriculture, manufactures, and commerce, therefore, are adapted to man's nature, and I am not their enemy. But they are not the ends of human existence, even on earth. Labour is beneficial to the whole human economy, and it is a mere delusion to regard it as in itself an evil; but the great principle is, that it must be moderate in both severity and duration, in order that men may enjoy and not be oppressed by it. I say enjoy it; because moderate exertion is plea*See Dr Combe's Principles of Physiology, 3d edition, pp. 135141.