to the same level of wretchedness and misery as the savages of New Holland and Kamtchatska. All classes have been benefited by the change; and it is mere error and delusion to suppose that the rich have been benefited at the expense of the poor. The right of property gives no advantage to one over another. It deals impartially by all. It does not say, Labour and I shall reward you; but it says, "Labour, and I shall take care that none be permitted to rob you of the produce of your exertions." The protection afforded to property by all civilized societies, though it has not made all men rich, has done more to increase their wealth than all their other institutions put together. But, the truth is, that differences of fortune are as consonant to the nature of things, and are as really a part of the order of Providence, as differences of sex, complexion, or strength. No two individuals will ever be equally fortunate, frugal, and industrious; and supposing an equality of fortunes were at any time forcibly established, it could not be maintained for a week: some would be more inclined to spend than others; some would be more laborious and inventive; and some would have larger families. The establishment of the right of property enables industry and forethought to reap their due reward; but they do this without its inflicting the smallest imaginable injury upon any thing else. There may, no doubt, be institutions which tend to increase those inequalities of fortune that are natural to society, but the right of property is not one of them. Its effects are altogether beneficial. It is a rampart raised by society against its common enemies-against rapine and violence, plunder and oppression. Without its protection, the rich would becomie poor, and the poor would be totally unable to become rich --all would sink to the same bottomless abyss of barbarism and poverty. "The security of property," to use the just and forcible expressions of an able writer, "has overcome the natural aversion of man from labour, has given him the empire of the earth, has given him a fixed and permanent

residence, has implanted in his breast the love of his country and of posterity. To enjoy immediately-to enjoy without labour, is the natural inclination of every man. This inclination must be restrained: for its obvious tendency is to arm all those who have nothing against those who have something. The law which restrains this inclination, and which secures to the humblest individual the quiet enjoyment of the fruits of his industry, is the most splendid achievement of legislative wisdom-the noblest triumph of which humanity has to boast."1

SECT. 11. DIVISION OF EMPLOYMENTS AMONG INDIVIDUALS.

The division and combination of employments can only be imperfectly established in rude societies and thinlypeopled countries. But in every state of society, in the rudest as well as the most improved, we may trace its operation and effects. The various physical powers, talents, and propensities, with which men are endowed, fit them for different occupations; and a regard to mutual interest and convenience naturally leads them, at a very early period, to establish a system of barter and a division of employments. It was speedily seen, that by separating and combining their efforts, so as to bring about some desirable end, they might, with ease, accomplish tasks that could not otherwise be attempted. Even in the simplest businesses this co-operation is required; neither hunting nor fishing, any more than agriculture or manufactures, can be advantageously carried on by solitary individuals. Man is the creature of society; and is compelled, in every stage of his progress, to depend for help on his fellows. Quò alio fortes sumus, quàm quòd mutuis juramur officiis? Instead of trusting to his own efforts for a provision of the various articles required for his subsistence, comfort, and security, he instinctively associates himself with others, and finds in this association

1 Bentham," Traité de Législation," tom. ii. p. 37.

the principal source of his superior power. Perceiving that he can obtain an incomparably greater command of all that he deems useful or desirable by applying himself in preference to some one department of industry, he limits his attention to it only. As society advances, this division extends itself on all sides: one man becomes a tanner, or dresser of skins; another a shoemaker; a third a weaver ; a fourth a house-carpenter; a fifth a smith, and so on; one undertakes the defence of the society, and one the distribution of justice; and each endeavours to cultivate and bring to perfection whatever talent or genius he may possess for the particular calling in which he is engaged: the wealth and comforts of all classes are, in consequence, prodigiously augmented. In countries where the division of labour is carried to a considerable extent, agriculturists are not obliged to spend their time in clumsy attempts to manufacture their own produce; and manufacturers cease to interest themselves about the raising of corn and the fattening of cattle. The facility of exchanging is the vivifying principle of industry: it stimulates agriculturists to adopt the best system of cultivation and to raise the largest crops, because it enables them to exchange whatever portion of the produce of their lands exceeds their wants, for other commodities contributing to their comforts and enjoyments; and it stimulates manufacturers and merchants to increase the quantity and variety, and to improve the quality of their goods, that they may thereby obtain greater supplies of raw produce. A spirit of industry is thus universally diffused; and the apathy and languor which characterize a rude state of society, entirely disappear.

But the facility of exchanging, or the being able readily to barter our own surplus produce for such parts of the surplus produce of others as we may wish to obtain and they may choose to part with, is not the only advantage of the separation of employments. Besides enabling each individual to addict himself in preference to those departments which suit his taste and disposition, it adds very

largely to the efficacy of his powers, and enables him to produce a much greater quantity of useful and desirable articles than if he engaged indiscriminately in different businesses. Dr. Smith, who has treated this subject in the most masterly manner, has classed the circumstances which conspire to increase the productiveness of industry, when labour is divided, under the following heads :—First, the increased skill and dexterity of the workmen; second, the saving of time which is commonly lost in passing from one employment to another; and, third, the circumstance of the division of employments having a tendency to facilitate the invention of machines and processes for saving labour. A few observations on each of these heads are subjoined.

1st, With respect to the improvement of the skill and dexterity of the labourer:-it is sufficiently plain, that when a person's whole attention is devoted to one branch of business, when all the energies of his mind and powers of his body are made to converge, as it were, to a single point, he must attain to a degree of proficiency in that particular branch, to which no individual engaged in a variety of occupations can be expected to reach. A peculiar play of the muscles, or sleight of hand, is necessary to perform the simplest operation in the best and most expeditious manner; and this can only be acquired by habitual and constant practice. Dr. Smith has given a striking example, in the case of the nailmanufacturer, of the extreme difference between training a workman to the precise occupation in which he is to be employed, and training him to a similar and closely allied occupation. "A common smith," says he, "who, though accustomed to handle the hammer, has never been used to make nails, if, upon some particular occasion, he is obliged to attempt it, will scarce, I am assured, be able to make above two or three hundred nails in a day, and those, too, very bad ones. A smith who has been accustomed to make nails, but whose sole or principal business has not been that of a nailer, can seldom, with his utmost diligence, make

more than eight hundred or a thousand nails in a day. But I have seen several boys, under twenty years of age, who had never exercised any other trade but that of making nails, and who, when they exerted themselves, could make, each of them, upwards of two thousand three hundred nails in a day;" or nearly three times the number of the smith who had been accustomed to make them, but who was not entirely devoted to that particular business!

When he first begins the

2d, The influence of the division of labour in preventing that waste of time in moring from one employment to another, which must always take place when an individual engages in different occupations, is even more obvious than its influence in improving his skill and dexterity. When the same person carries on different employments, in different and perhaps distant places, and with different sets of tools, he must plainly lose a considerable portion of time in passing between them. If the different employments in which he has to engage be carried on in the same workshop, the loss of time will be less, but even in that case it will be considerable. "A man," "A man," as Dr. Smith has justly observed, "commonly saunters a little in turning his hand from one sort of employment to another. new work, he is seldom very keen and hearty; his mind, as they say, does not go along with it, and for some time he rather trifles than applies to good purpose. The habit of sauntering and of indolent careless application, which is naturally, or rather necessarily acquired by every country workman, who is obliged to change his work and his tools every half hour, and to apply his hand in twenty different ways almost every day of his life, renders him almost always slothful and lazy, and incapable of any vigorous application, even on the most pressing occasions. Independent, therefore, of his deficiency in point of dexterity, this cause alone must always reduce considerably the quantity of work which he is capable of performing."2

1 "Wealth of Nations," p. 4.

Ib. p. 5.