Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

those who have the It must, indeed, be

determination on the part of government to withhold all relief, except in extreme cases, from misfortune to be involved in them. acknowledged that this seems, at first sight, a harsh doctrine; but, on examination, it will be found to be the only safe and really practicable line of conduct that government can follow. Some most objectionable restrictions and prohibitions originated in government stepping out of its proper province and interfering to relieve those who had got themselves entangled in difficulties. Much of the industry of this and other countries was consequently placed on au insecure foundation; and, notwithstanding the reforms that have been effected, a good deal is still in that situation. The natural responsibility under which every man should act, was weakened in the case of large classes of producers, who became less considerate because of their trusting to the support usually afforded by government in the event of their speculations giving way. Were it possible, indeed, to grant such assistance without injury to the rest of the community, none would object to it; but as this cannot be done, it would appear, not only that sound policy, but also that real humanity, would dictate the propriety of its being systematically withheld.

The establishment of a free commercial system would be the next best thing that could be done to prevent improvident speculations. Under such a system, nations would engage only in those branches of industry for the prosecution of which they had some natural or acquired advantage, and which would, in consequence, be comparatively secure against those unfavourable contingencies that are always affecting businesses fenced round with restrictions. In illustration of this statement, we may observe, that foreign silk goods, that were formerly either prohibited, or charged with an oppressive duty, are at present admitted under a moderate duty of 15 per cent ad valorem; and we now export supplies of all those mixed fabrics of wool and silk, and of gloves and hosiery, in the production of which

Q

we have an advantage; at the same time that the greater part of our demand for fancy and other descriptions of light silk goods is supplied by the foreigner. If, on the one hand, therefore, the demand for silks should, through a change of fashion, or any other cause, suddenly increase, the competition of the foreign manufacturers will prevent prices attaining any very extravagant height, and will thereby prevent the inordinate extension of the manufacture, in the first place, and its subsequent recoil; and if, on the other hand, the demand for silks in this country happen to decline, the various foreign markets resorted to by our manufacturers will give them the means of disposing of their surplus goods at a small reduction of price compared to what would take place were they confined to the home market.

This reasoning is consistent with the most comprehensive experience. Restrictions and prohibitions are uniformly productive of uncertainty and fluctuation. Every artificial stimulus, whatever may be its momentary effect on the department of industry to which it is applied, is immediately disadvantageous to others, and ultimately injurious even to that which it was intended to promote. No arbitrary regulation, no act of the legislature, can add any thing to the capital of the country; it can only force it into artificial channels. And, after a sufficient supply has flowed into them, a reaction must commence. There can be no foreign vent for their surplus produce; so that, whenever changes of fashion occasion a falling off in the demand, the warehouses are filled with commodities which, in a state of freedom, would not be produced. The ignorant and the interested always ascribe such gluts to the employment of machinery, or to the want of sufficient protection against foreign competition. The truth is, however, that they are most frequently the results of an artificial and exclusive system, by which the natural and healthy state of the public economy is vitiated and deranged.

CHAPTER VIII.

Population proportioned to the Means of Subsistence-Moral Restraint -Capacity of the Principle of Population to repair the Ravages of Plagues and Famines-Comparative Increase of Population in New and Old-settled Countries-Law of Increase a powerful Incentive to Industry-Promotes the Civilisation and Happiness of Mankind— Practice of Infanticide-Foundling Hospitals.

THE circumstances most favourable for the production of wealth being thus traced and exhibited, we shall now shortly investigate those that appear to determine the increase and diminution of man himself.

From the remotest period down to our own times, it was the policy of legislators to give an artificial stimulus to population, by encouraging early marriages, and bestowing rewards on those who brought up the greatest number of children. But the mischievous nature of such interferences has been shown by Mr Malthus; who, though without any claim to the discovery of the tendency of population to keep up with or to outrun the means of subsistence, was certainly the first to establish it by an extensive induction of facts, and to point out some of its more important effects. His researches have made it manifest, that every increase in the numbers of a people, occasioned by artificial expe

1 By a singular contradiction, at the very moment that the Roman laws authorised the exposure of infants, and vested fathers with the power to decide whether they should bring up their children, the censors were instructed to impose a tax (as uxorium) on bachelors; and different laws were passed, bestowing various privileges upon those who reared the greatest number of children. The famous Lex Papia Poppaa, (so called from the consuls M. Papius Mutilus and Q. Poppæus Secundus, by whom it was introduced,) enacted during the reign of Augustus, exempted such Roman citizens as had three children from all public charges and contributions.— TERASSON," Histoire de la Jurisprudence Romaine,” p. 58.

dients, and which is not either preceded or accompanied by a corresponding increase of the means of subsistence, can be productive only of misery, or of increased mortality; that the difficulty never is to bring human beings into the world, but to feed, clothe, and educate them when there; that mankind do every where increase their numbers, till their multiplication is restrained by the difficulty of providing subsistence, and the poverty of some part of the society; and that, consequently, instead of attempting to strengthen the principle of increase, we should rather endeavour to strengthen the principles by which it is controlled and regulated.

If the efforts most governments have made to increase population were not positively pernicious, it is pretty evident that they were, at least, uncalled-for and unnecessary. Man does not require any adventitious inducement to enter into matrimonial connexions. He is impelled to engage in them by one of the most powerful instincts implanted in his nature. Still, however, this instinct or passion is, in civilised communities, controlled in a greater or less degree by prudential considerations. To occasion a marriage, it is not always enough that the parties should be attached to each other. The obligation to provide for the children that may be expected to spring from it, is one that cannot fail to awaken the forethought, and to influence the conduct, of all but the most improvident and thoughtless. If the situation of those who might be disposed to enter into a matrimonial alliance be such as to preclude all reasonable expectation of their being able to bring up and educate their children, without exposing themselves to privations, or to the risk of being cast down to a lower place in society, they may, not improbably, either relinquish all thoughts of forming a union, or postpone it till a more convenient opportunity. No doubt, there are very many individuals in every country unaffected by such considerations, and who, seeing the future through the deceitful medium of the passions, are not deterred from gratifying their inclinations by any fear

of the consequences. Others, however, are more prudent; and it is abundantly certain, that the greater number of persons in the more elevated stations of life, as well as of those who are peculiarly ambitious of rising in the world, and those of all ranks who have learned to look to the consequences of their actions, are invariably influenced, to some extent or other, by the circumstances alluded to. Hence, in civilised countries, the proportion of marriages to the population may fairly be expected, on general grounds, to depend, in a considerable degree, on the facility of acquiring subsistence, or of bringing up a family: and experience shows that such is the case; for it is found, that where food and other accommodations are abundant, marriages are at once early and numerous, and conversely. "Partout," says Montesquieu, "où il se trouve une place où deux personnes peuvent vivre commodément, il se fait un mariage. La nature y porte assez lorsqu'elle n'est point arrêtée par la difficulté de la subsistance."1 The same

principle has been laid down by Smith:-" The demand for men," says he, "like that for any other commodity, necessarily regulates the production of men, quickens it when it goes on too slowly, and stops it when it advances too fast. It is this demand which regulates and determines the state of population in all the different countries of the world-in North America, in Europe, and in China; which renders it rapidly progressive in the first, slow and gradual in the second, and altogether stationary in the last." 2 The most comprehensive observation confirms the truth of this statement. Those who inquire into the past and present state of the world, will find that the population of all countries has been principally determined by their means of subsistence. Whenever these have been increased, population has also been increased, or been better provided for; and when they have been diminished, the population has been

"Esprit de Loix," liv. xxiii. cap. 10.
"Wealth of Nations," p. 36.

« AnteriorContinuar »