Idleness is Notwith events, it cannot be applied to its legitimate ends, of advancing the interests and the honour of its possessors, and the well-being of their tenants, dependants, and neighbours. Though the contrary be sometimes affirmed, the rich have little in common with the gods of Epicurus. hardly less injurious to them than to the poor. standing the influence which justly belongs to rank and wealth, every one is aware that "It is the hand of the diligent which bears rule." We may therefore say with Paley, that "Every man has his work. The kind of work varies, and that is all the difference there is. A great deal of labour exists beside that of the hands; many species of industry beside bodily operation, requiring equal assiduity, more attention, more anxiety. It is not true, therefore, that men of elevated stations are exempted from work; it is only true that there is assigned to them work of a different kind: whether more easy or more pleasant may be questioned; but certainly not less wanted, not less essential to the common good." 1 In the following treatise the term labourers is taken in its popular and more confined sense. Our investigations refer to the wages of those only who labour with the hand, as contradistinguished from those who labour with the head. Manual labourers form, however, by far the most numerous class in all nations, and though ranking lower in public estimation than the others, their functions are of paramount importance. Our fleets and armies depend on them for recruits; their expenditure furnishes the largest portion of the public revenue; and their industry and ingenuity supply most part of the conveniences and enjoyments which raise civilised man above the savage. An inquiry into the circumstances which determine the wages and condition of those to whom the other classes are so deeply indebted, and who at the same time form so large a portion of all societies, must possess a superior degree of interest. It has much 1 Works, v. 98. Ed. 1819. more of a practical than of a theoretical character. The vast majority of the labouring classes are very imperfectly informed with respect to the circumstances in question. And yet it will be seen that these are powerfully influenced by, and indeed in great measure depend on, themselves. A knowledge of their nature and operation is, therefore, of all things that which is most indispensable to their well-being, and to that of the communities of which they form so large a portion. Till it be acquired and acted upon, they cannot help forming unreasonable and unfounded conclusions in regard to many important points in the conduct of life; sometimes doing that from which they ought most carefully to abstain, and at other times leaving undone that which they ought resolutely to set about; neglecting the good that is dependent on themselves and within their command for what is dependent on others, contingent, and generally unattainable; suffering themselves to be deceived and misled by impostors pretending to be their friends; and ascribing those unfavourable results to defective laws and institutions, and the proceedings of hostile parties, for which they are themselves solely and certainly responsible. The labour or service of man may, like everything else which is bought and sold, vary in its price. Those who at one time exchange a certain quantity of labour, for a certain quantity, or the value of a certain quantity, of necessaries and conveniences, may, at another time, exchange it for a different quantity or value. Our first object will therefore be, to appreciate the circumstances on which these fluctuations depend, and the limits within which they are confined. CHAPTER I. Wages depend, at any particular period, on the Magnitude of the Fund or Capital appropriated to the payment of Wages, compared with the number of Labourers. THE different articles or products belonging to a country that either are, or may be employed to support its inhabitants, or to facilitate production, have been termed its capital. It consequently comprises, in advanced countries like England, an all but infinite variety of articles, including buildings, ships and machinery of all sorts, the lower animals in a state of domestication, with food, clothes, &c. But it is unnecessary, in an inquiry of this sort, to refer to capital in general; for we have only to deal with that portion of it, which embraces the various articles intended for " the use and accommodation of the "labouring class." This portion forms the fund, out of which their wages are wholly paid. We should err if we supposed that the capacity of a country to feed and employ labourers, is to be measured by the advantageousness of its situation, the richness of its soil, or the extent of its territory. These, undoubtedly, are circumstances of very great importance, and have a powerful influence in determining the rate at which a people advance, or may advance, in wealth and civilization. But it is obviously not on them, but on the amount of the capital devoted to the payment of wages, in the possession of a country at any given period, that its power of supporting and employing labourers entirely depends. Holland is less fertile than Poland or Hungary, and Lancashire is less fertile than Kent; but, owing to their greater command of capital, the population of the former is comparatively dense. A fertile soil may be made a means of rapidly increasing capital; but that is all. Before that soil can be cultivated, capital must be provided for the sup port of the labourers employed upon it, in like manner as it must be provided for the support of those engaged in manufactures, or in any other branch of industry. It is a necessary consequence of this principle, that the amount of subsistence falling to each labourer, or the rate of wages, depends on the proportion which the whole capital bears to the whole labouring population. If capital be increased, without a corresponding increase taking place in the population, a larger share of such capital will fall to each individual, or, which is the same thing, the rate of wages will be increased. And if, on the other hand, population be increased faster than capital, a less share will be apportioned to each individual, and the rate of wages will be reduced. To illustrate this principle, let us suppose that the capital of a country, annually appropriated to the payment of wages, amounts to L.30,000,000 sterling. If there were two millions of labourers in that country, it is evident that the wages of each, reducing them all to the same common standard, would be L.15; and it is further evident that this rate could not be increased otherwise than by increasing the amount of capital in a greater proportion than the number of labourers, or by diminishing the number of labourers in a greater proportion than the amount of capital. So long as capital and population continue to march abreast, or to increase or diminish in the same proportion, so long will the rate of wages continue unaffected. It is only when the proportion of capital to population varies-when it is increased or diminished, that wages sustain a corresponding advance or diminution. The well-being and comfort of the labouring classes are therefore immediately dependent on the relation which their increase bears to the increase of the capital which is to feed and employ them. If they increase faster than capital, their wages will be reduced; and if they increase slower, they will be augmented. There are no means whatever by which wages can be raised, other than by accelerating the increase of capital as compared with population, or by retarding the increase of population as compared with capital. And every scheme for raising wages, which is not bottomed on this principle, or which has not an increase of the ratio of capital to population for its ultimate object, must be nugatory and ineffectual. Wages being most commonly either paid or estimated in money, it may perhaps be thought that their amount will, in consequence, depend more on the supply of money in circulation in a country, than on the magnitude of its capital. It is, however, all but indifferent whether the amount of money received by labourers as wages be great or small. They will always receive such a sum as will suffice to put them in possession of the portion of the national capital falling to their share. And as men cannot subsist on coin or paper, where wages are paid in money, the labourers exchange it for necessaries and conveniences; and it is the quantity of these which the money paid them will buy, rather than the money itself, that is to be considered as really forming their wages. If the money of Great Britain were reduced a half, the rate of wages, estimated in money, would decline to the same extent. But unless some change took place at the same time in the magnitude of that portion of the national capital, which consists of the food, clothes, and other articles used by the labourers, they would continue in about the same situation. They would carry fewer pieces of gold and silver to market than formerly; but these would serve to buy the same quantity of commodities. Whatever, therefore, may be the state of money wages in a country—whether they are 1s., 2s., or 5s. a-day-if the capital applicable to the payment of wages and the population continue the same, or increase or diminish in the same proportion, no real variation will take place in the rate of wages. Wages do not really rise, except when the proportion of capital to population is enlarged; and they do not really fall, except when that proportion is diminished. But, though the principle now stated be sufficiently obvious, several unfounded inferences have been deduced from it. And, to prevent misconception, it may be right to state at the |