PREFACE. THE present work was began many years ago, not with the intention of treating on the whole of political economy, but of considering only one or two detached branches of that science. Since that period it has been repeatedly laid aside and resumed. As I proceeded, it was from time to time necessary, in order to the full establishment of the principles advanced, to support them by other principles, not generally recognised, nor ever before fully discussed. Thus other topics were introduced, themselves involving fresh arguments, which it seemed convenient to exhibit at large, until at length it appeared desirable, as likely to be more useful and acceptable, and more completely to support the peculiar points which alone it was the original object to establish, to give a view of the whole subject,-combining with the leading principles of Adam Smith, so much of the more recent doctrines as are conformable to truth, and the more valuable facts and reflections that are to be found scattered about in the many excellent works which we have already on the same topic. Thus humble in its origin, the work has gradually expanded to its present bulk. Although many works on political economy of acknowledged merit are before the public, it cannot be denied, that in most of them are to be found inaccurate reasonings, and assumptions of principles which are incorrect, mixed up in a greater or less degree with such as are sound and valuable. The present improved state of our information on these points gives us the means of correcting the one, and enables us to appreciate the other. Within a few years, great progress has been made in several departments of the science, and just views on most of its important points begin to be generally disseminated and adopted. But there are other points which have hitherto remained obscure, and on which, though some of them bear on the vital interests of society, directly opposite opinions are held, even by persons who have given attention to them, and to whose judgments we ought in general to defer. It was with a view to elucidate such points, that the present work was undertaken, particularly, the causes of a want of employment amongst workmen, those which determine the wages of labour and the profits of capital, the power of providing for an increasing population, and the principles of taxation, none of which had then been satisfactorily settled. On the profits of capital, however, I have been anticipated by Professor Longfield; to whom, as it appears to me, the merit is due of having first given to the public a just exposition of that previously ill-understood question. What is here given on the same subject had, however, been written many years before the publication of his lectures. In their different places in this work, some views on each of these points are offered, which, as far as my reading enables me to judge, are not to be found among the labours of other authors. I have attempted to establish the positions, that the employment of the labourer does not depend, as is generally supposed, upon capital, nor his want of employment upon a want of capital, nor the increasing demand for labour upon an increasing amount of capital; but that such employment and demand proceed from the skill of the workman to perform those kinds of work which the demands of the consumers call for,-the proper distribution of the men into the various occupations in the ratio of those demands, and their contentedness to work for such moderate wages as allow the means of the employers or consumers purchasing the whole quantity to be disposed of.-That though wages in each separate class are determined almost wholly by the demand and supply, and the competition of labour in that class, the rewards of labour as a whole, and the condition of the working classes, are yet fixed chiefly by the productiveness of labour. Again, that the natural rate of the progress of the powers of industry to provide subsistence for increasing numbers is not only equal to, but exceeds, the natural and ordinary progress of population. If these positions should be admitted, coupling them with the new light which has been thrown upon the law of population by Mr. Weyland and the late Mr. Sadler, and the new theory of profits as propounded by Dr. Longfield, such opposite views upon fundamental points must render the previous works on economical questions inadequate to the present wants of the science, and must alone be sufficient to warrant a fresh exhibition of the whole subject, freed from those errors which are derived from the contrary suppositions, and which must extend their influence in a greater or less degree through nearly the whole range of the inquiry. How great an influence a single false position in the outset has on the whole bearing of a subject, is often exemplified in the works of those writers who have followed the doctrines of the late Professor Malthus on population. This author assumed, that the natural rate of the progress of population far outruns the possible means of supporting such increase. On this assumption almost the whole drift of his arguments turns, and on it all his conclusions rest, with regard to the necessity of restraining that increase, as the only effectual means by which the condition of the working classes may be ameliorated. A striking example of this is afforded in the, otherwise excellent, work of Dr. Chalmers on Political Economy. But when it is shown, as it has been by Mr. Sadler, that population moves with a constantly slackening pace as it becomes more dense, and as society becomes more opulent, so that it must eventually come to a stop of itself; and when again it is shown, as it will be, that the powers of industry are also progressive, advancing at a rate of constantly accelerated velocity, so that, in the natural progress of things, they proceed with a rapidity which not merely keeps pace with, but outruns, the ordinary march of population, and consequently that the tendency of population is not to exceed, but to lag behind the means of its subsistence; in such case, it must be obvious, that the whole subject, when viewed in this opposite light, must present a totally different aspect ;--an aspect at once as interesting and consolatory, as it is useful in its practical bearing on the conduct of life, and the welfare of society. In the questions discussed in this treatise, it has been endeavoured to separate them as much as possible from the abstract and perplexing ideas connected with the terms wealth, value, and price,-qualities which are as liable to mislead, as they are fluctuating in their nature; and to exhibit the subject rather as an inquiry into the means of facilitating national industry in the attainment of the ends for which labour is undertaken, without regard to the market value of the objects acquired, and without caring whether or not they come within any given and acknowledged definition of the term wealth. In the discussion of economical subjects, writers have usually viewed the business of industry as carried on by masters employing workmen; they have considered the masters as the great agents by whom the machine of national industry is kept in motion, and have regarded the workmen as mere instruments in their hands. It is true, in the ordinary mode of conducting business, the master directs and sets in motion the labour of the men; but this is not universally the case. Many of the different branches of industry may be and are carried on by independent workmen, exercising their callings on their own account; in which case they are at once masters and workmen. It has resulted from the view above stated, that sometimes too little attention has been paid to the interest and welfare of the workmen: indeed, in some instances, their interests have been entirely overlooked, and the subject treated as though they were mere instruments of labour or beasts of burthen. But this is an imperfect view of the matter. Without being chargeable with undervaluing the interests of the masters, we may assert that the operative is entitled to equal consideration; and should we overlook his interests, or show partiality to the master, we may be led into lamentable errors. As voluntary agents, the workmen bear an important part in the business of industry. Sometimes, by their demand of high wages, they check or even put a stop to business. At other times, by submitting to take such wages as the masters can afford to pay, they allow it to proceed with activity and steadiness. I have endeavoured to regard equally the interests of both parties; and where it was not necessary to draw the distinction, the subject is treated as though there were no distinct and separate interests; the joint interest only being regarded, as though the master performed labour for himself, or the labourer combined in his own person the double capacity of master and workman. It is more particularly on the several points which have been now mentioned that different sentiments from those hitherto received are presented; and it is therefore to these important, and, as I conceive, ill-understood matters, that I am chiefly desirous of drawing the attention of those persons who are conversant with economical questions;-trusting that the perusal of what is offered upon them will be found not only to repay for the trouble of reading, but to excite fresh ideas, which may lead either to the full establishment and general recognition of the principles there laid down, or to elicit other and sounder views in their place. The work is not offered in the expectation of its affording a complete and lasting view of political, or, as the Germans with perhaps greater propriety have it, national economy: in the present state of the science, no work can be expected to answer more than a temporary purpose. If it display an acquaintance with the just principles already known, free from those errors which are found in works of an earlier date, with some addition of new and correct views, and if thus it at once help to diffuse an acquaintance with the science, and to serve as a |