best suited to the country, that its progress should be checked by artificial means? Practically, it is abundantly certain that all questions of this sort, supposing them to be put, will, for a lengthened period, be decided in the negative. But looking at it in a scientific point of view, every thing, it is plain, would depend on our being able to form a correct estimate of the character and contingent circumstances connected with the business referred to. Certainly, however, our experience is at present far too limited to enable any one to cast the horoscope of any great department of industry; and, notwithstanding its vast importance, the solution of this class of questions must be left to the economists of some future age.

That hostility to commercial pursuits so generally entertained by the philosophers of antiquity, and which has been inherited by many of their successors in more modern times, seems to have originated principally in the idea that commerce is unfavourable to the patriotic virtues, and that those who are familiar with foreign countries cease to entertain any very peculiar regard for their own. That there is some foundation for this statement is true; but it is not true that commerce tends to weaken that love of country which is founded upon just grounds. It merely moderates that excessive preference of ourselves to every other people, which is the surest proof of ignorance and barbarism: and in this respect it dif fers nothing from the acquaintance with foreigners obtained through the medium of books. The merchant who visits a foreign country, and the individual who reads an account of it, naturally compares its institutions with those of his own country. Certainly, however, there is no reason for supposing that this will make him unjustly depreciate the latter, though it may satisfy him that they are not quite so super-excellent as he previously imagined; and if it should appear, on a careful comparison, that any of our laws or practices are not so well suited as those of some foreign states to promote the public interests, what can be

more desirable than to have the means of rectifying and amending them, not upon speculative or doubtful grounds, but according to the experience of other nations? A Turk, or a Spaniard, may be as intensely patriotic as an Englishman; but the patriotism of the former is a blind indiscriminating passion, which prompts him to admire and support the very abuses that depress and degrade himself and his country; whereas the patriotism of the latter is of a comparatively sober and rational description. He prefers his country, not merely because it is the place of his birth, but because of the many ennobling recollections connected with its history, and because, upon contrasting it with others, he sees, that though not faultless, its institutions are comparatively excellent.

The idea that the patriotism of those engaged in commercial pursuits is less ardent than that of agriculturists, never could have been entertained by any one acquainted with history, unless he were, at the same time, blinded by prejudice. Were the Athenians or Corinthians less patriotic than the Spartans or Thebans? Alexander the Great had more difficulty in conquering Tyre than in subduing the whole Persian empire; and Carthage had nearly arrested the Romans in their progress to universal dominion. But it is needless to go back to antiquity for examples to prove the beneficial influence of commerce on the patriotic virtues. The Hollanders and the English have been less distinguished among the nations of Europe for their vast commerce and wealth, than for the extraordinary sacrifices and exertions they have made for the sake of private freedom and national independence.

CHAPTER VII.

Improvements in Machinery similar in their Effects to Improvements in the Skill and Dexterity of the Labourer-Do not occasion a Glut of Commodities-Sometimes force Workmen to change their Employments-Hare no Tendency to lessen, but most commonly increase the Demand for Labour Case supposed by Mr. Ricardo Causes of Gluts-Not occasioned by a deficiency of Money, but are frequently occasioned by sudden changes in its Quantity and Value-Circumstances which occasion Miscalculations on the Part of the Producers.

VARIOUS bad consequences have been supposed to result from the continued extension and improvement of machinery. But a presumption arises at the outset, that they must be in a great degree fallacious, inasmuch as they would equally follow from the continued improvement of the skill and industry of the labourer. If the construction of a machine that would manufacture two pairs of stockings for the same expense that was previously required to manufacture one pair, be in any respect injurious, the injury would, obviously, be equal were the same thing accomplished by increased dexterity and skill on the part of the knitters; were the females, for example, who knitted two or three pairs in the week, able in future to knit four or six pairs. There is really no difference in the cases. And supposing the demand for stockings were already supplied, M. Sismondi could not, consistently with the principles he has advanced,1 hesitate about condemning such an improvement as a very great evil-as a means of throwing half the people engaged in the stocking manufacture out of employment. The question respecting the improvement of machinery is, therefore, at bottom, the same with the question respecting the improvement of the skill and industry of

1 "Nouveaux Principes," tom. ii. p. 318.

the labourer. The principles which regulate our decision in the one case, must regulate it in the other. If it be advantageous that the manual dexterity of the labourer should be indefinitely extended-that he should be able to produce greater quantities of commodities with the same, or a less quantity of labour, it surely must be advantageous that he should avail himself of such aids as may be most effectual in enabling him to bring about that result.

In order the better to appreciate the effect of increased skill and dexterity on the part of the labourer, or of an improvement in tools and machines, let us suppose that the powers of production are universally augmented, and that the workmen engaged in different employments can, with the same exertion, produce twice the former quantity of commodities: is it not evident that this increased facility of production would double the wealth and enjoyments of all individuals? The shoemaker who had previously manufactured only one pair of shoes a-day, would now be able to manufacture two pairs; and as an equal improvement is supposed to have taken place in all employments, he would obtain twice the quantity of every other thing in exchange for shoes. In a country thus circumstanced, every workman would have a great quantity of the produce of his own work to dispose of, beyond what he had occasion for; and as every one else would be in the same situation, each would be able to exchange his own goods for a great quantity, or, what comes to the same thing, for the price of a great quantity of those of others. The condition of such a society would be vastly improved. All the necessaries, luxuries, and conveniencies of life, would be comparatively abundant.

It may, however, be asked, would the demand be sufficient to take off this increased quantity of commodities? Would their extraordinary multiplication not cause such a glut of the market, as to force their sale at a lower price than would suffice to repay even the diminished cost of their production? But it is not necessary, in order to render an increase in the powers of production advantageous, that they should

always be fully exerted. over necessaries and comforts suddenly doubled, his consumption as well as his savings would doubtless be very greatly increased: but it is not at all likely that he should continue to exert his full powers. He would then be able, without endangering his means of subsistence, to give a greater portion of his time to relaxation and amusement. It is only where the powers of industry are feeble or very much loaded, where supplies of food have to be drawn from soils of inferior fertility, or where population is in excess, that workmen are compelled to make every possible exertion. High wages are advantageous only because of the increased comforts they bring along with them; and of these, an addition to the time which may be devoted to amusement is certainly not one of the least. Wherever wages are high, and little subject to fluctuation, labourers are found to be active, intelligent, and industrious. But they rarely prosecute their employments with the same intensity as those who are obliged, by the pressure of necessity, to strain every nerve to the utmost. They are enabled to enjoy their intervals of ease and relaxation; and they would be censurable if they did not enjoy them.

Were the labourer's command

Suppose, however, that the productive powers of industry are doubled; nay, suppose they are increased in any greater proportion, and that they are exerted to the utmost, it would not occasion any lasting glut of the market. It is true, that those individuals who are most industrious may produce commodities which those who are less industrious who prefer indolence to exertion-may not have the means of purchasing, or for which they may not be able to furnish an equivalent. But the glut arising from such a contingency must speedily disappear. In exerting his productive powers, every man intends either to consume the entire produce of his labour himself, or to exchange it, or portions of it, for such commodities or services as he wishes to obtain from others. Suppose, now, that he directly consumes every thing he produces: it is obvious that, in