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of accumulation and production, and indeed of improvement in general of every description in the affairs of mankind.

Mr Malthus also, in his "Essay on the Principle of Population," alludes to this primary cause of production invariably in the same manner, and calls it expressly "the master-spring of public prosperity." He observes, “Even poverty itself, which appears to be the great spur to industry, when it has once passed certain limits, almost ceases to operate. The indigence which is hopeless destroys all vigorous exertion, and confines the efforts to what is sufficient for bare existence. It is the hope of bettering our condition, and the fear of want, rather than want itself, that is the best stimulus to industry; and its most constant and best-directed efforts will almost invariably be found among a class of people above the class of the wretchedly poor."*

Again, he asks, (on the supposition of the idle and negligent being placed on the same footing as to wealth or support with the industrious and diligent,) "Can we expect to see men exert that animated activity in bettering their condition, which now forms the master-spring of public prosperity?" And in another place he says, "That great vis medicatrix reipublicæ, the desire of bettering our condition, and the fear of making it worse, has been constantly in action, and has been constantly" producing the best effects, where it has not been rendered nugatory by bad government.t

To the same purpose Mr Hume observes,-" Avarice, or the desire of gain, is an universal passion which operates at all times, in all places, and upon all persons."§

This then is what we call the first moral cause of pro

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duction,the desire natural to all mankind to possess and enjoy wealth, and to better their condition, and it may also be called the first principle in the science of political economy;-for, although in the more comprehensive sciences of morality and pure, metaphysics, this principle or desire may be traced still higher, and reduced to a principle still simpler and more general, namely, the desire of enjoying pleasure and of avoiding pain, yet still this is the highest point we find it necessary to ascend to in the science before mentioned, or first principle to which we have occasion to refer in tracing the laws which regulate the production, accumulation, and distribution of wealth.

SECTION III.

OF THE SECOND MORAL CAUSE OF PRODUCTION.

BUT it unfortunately happens that the principle just explained, the desire of bettering our condition, though exceedingly active wherever it has opportunity to exert its influence, and though ever ready to be excited in the human breast, is yet of itself comparatively powerless and unavailing, and can produce but little effect without the conjunct existence and co-operation of the other moral cause of production, that is to say, without the institution of government, law, and justice, or the association of men for the defence and protection of their persons and property.

Without the protection of government, and a certain measure of justice and security to persons and property, it is quite obvious that mankind could never effectually or considerably better their condition, or increase their wealth to any large amount; and, as was before observed, whatever desire they might feel to do so, must necessarily remain a dormant and inoperative principle.

Without some sort of government and some degree of justice, or some sort of protection to persons and property, wealth could never indeed have increased above the immediate, daily, and most pressing wants of mankind; and the species could never have emerged from the lowest state of barbarism. Where the "right of the strongest" was the only law which an appeal could be made to, no individual could ever think of accumulating wealth, because no one could be sure of possessing or enjoying what he might produce beyond the existing moment. All idea of any considerable provision for the future would be necessarily abandoned, and the motive to accumulate being taken away, present enjoyment would be the only object which could be desired or sought after. Every one would merely strive to live, and to consume or enjoy, as fast as he could, whatever chance or his good fortune might throw in his way, lest by any delay he should run the hazard of being deprived of the fruit of his labour altogether.

Such, however, is the promptitude and elasticity of the first exciting cause of production, that it requires but small encouragement to draw it into activity; and under very indifferent government and imperfect laws, the endeavour of the people to better their condition will show itself, and will often astonish the observer by the pertinacity of its efforts, and the unconquerable perseverance with which it will work, and maintain the conflict against untoward circumstances; but it is under good government alone that this principle can produce its full effects.

Accordingly we find also, that the necessity and importance of this second moral cause of production is repeatedly and pointedly taken notice of, and most amply acknowledged by the same able writers whom we have already quoted as acknowledging the first.

"The improvement and prosperity of Great Britain," says

Dr Smith, "which has so often been ascribed to those laws,* may very easily be accounted for by other causes. That security which the laws in Great Britain give to every man that he shall enjoy the fruits of his own labour is alone sufficient to make any country flourish, notwithstanding these and twenty other absurd regulations of commerce; and this security was perfected by the Revolution much about the same time that the bounty was established. The natural effort of every individual to better his own condition, when suffered to exert itself with freedom and security, is so powerful a principle, that it is alone, and without any assistance, not only capable of carrying on the society to wealth and prosperity, but of surmounting a hundred impertinent obstructions with which the folly of human laws too often encumbers its operations; though the effect of these obstructions is always more or less either to encroach upon its freedom or to diminish its security. In Great Britain industry is perfectly secure; and though it is far from being perfectly free, it is as free or freer than in any other part of Europe."+

"Order and good government," says the same author in another place," and along with them the liberty and security of individuals, were in this manner established in cities, at a time when the occupiers of land in the country were exposed to every sort of violence. But men in this defenceless state naturally content themselves with their necessary subsistence, because to acquire more might only tempt the injustice of their oppressors. On the contrary, when they are secure of enjoying the fruits of their industry, they naturally exert it to better their condition, and to acquire not only the necessaries, but the conveniences and elegancies of life. That industry, therefore, which aims at something more than necessary subsistence, was established in cities long before it was com

Meaning the system of laws which was connected with a bounty on the exportation of corn formerly in existence.

+ Wealth of Nations, book iv. chap 5.

149

monly practised by the occupiers of land in the country. If, in the hands of a poor cultivator, oppressed with the servitude of villanage, some little stock should accumulate, he would naturally conceal it with great care from his master, to whom it would otherwise have belonged, and take the first opportunity of running away to a town. The law was at that time so indulgent to the inhabitants of towns, and so desirous of diminishing the authority of the lords over those of the country, that if he could conceal himself there from the pursuit of Whatever stock, his lord for a year, he was free for ever.

therefore, accumulated in the hands of the industrious part of the inhabitants of the country naturally took refuge in cities, as the only sanctuaries in which it could be secure to the person that acquired it."*

And further:

"Commerce and manufactures gradually introduced order and good government, and with them the liberty and security of individuals, among the inhabitants of the country, who had before lived almost in a continual state of war with their neighbours, and of servile dependency upon their superiors. This, though it has been the least observed, is by far the most important of all their effects. Mr Hume is the only writer who, so far as I know, has hitherto taken notice of it."+

Still farther in another place the same author observes,— "In all countries where there is tolerable security, every man of common understanding will endeavour to employ whatever stock he can command in procuring either present enjoyment or future profit. If it is employed in procuring present enjoyment, it is a stock reserved for immediate consumption. If it is employed in procuring future profit, it must procure this profit, either by staying with him, or by going from him. In the one case it is a fixed, in the other it is a circulating capital. A man must be perfectly crazy who, where there is tolerable security, does not employ all the stock

• Wealth of Nations, book iii. chap. 3.

† Ibid. book iii. chap. iv.

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