552 The Condition and Prospects of the Country, Nov. 



capital be diffused, unless the blessings which it brings fall equally 

 like the showers of Heaven, fertilizing the poor man's garden, and the 

 rich man's lawn we affirm that such capital is not a source of strength. 

 Such a country may wear the appearance of prosperity. Its mansions, 

 its public works, its expenditure may satisfy the casual observer, or 

 afford a demonstration for the shallow talker, and the interested sophist ; 

 but so long as the cry of poverty is heard from the low thatch of its 

 peasantry, or the gaunt form of hunger is seen at nightfall, stealing past 

 the doors of splendour to bury alike the sense of pain and shame in 

 the dark haunts of debauchery and crime, so long as industry is un- 

 attended with comfort and virtue unrewarded, such a country is weak, 

 and its wealth a curse and not a blessing. 



The avowed object of the legislature in its late measures has been to 

 increase the aggregate wealth of the country. We have already stated 

 our reasons for doubting that these measures are calculated to ensure 

 such a result. We affirm that they are not. Their tendency is not to 

 increase the aggregate amount of capital in the country, but only to 

 change its direction, and to concentrate its many channels into one 

 absorbing stream. It has been argued that an extensive export trade is 

 of great advantage to a country, and to this country in particular. We 

 allow this ; but we think the application of this truth, like that of all 

 others, which suited their object, has by the economists been carried too 

 far. We have already viewed the immense sacrifices which have been 

 made in its favour, and we think unjustly as well as unwisely. The 

 effect of these sacrifices has been, by destroying the comforts of our 

 agricultural population, to lessen and almost annihilate the home trade ; 

 and thus to rest the entire resources of our manufacturers upon the 

 consumption of foreign markets. So long as we can monopolize these, 

 by the cheapness of our goods, or the strength of our capital, the manu- 

 facturing interest will, to a certain extent, enjoy prosperity ; but, to 

 estimate the degree of that prosperity, and the individuals in whom it 

 will concentrate, we must examine its sources and the channels through 

 which it flows. 



We have hitherto been accustomed in our home markets to dispose of 

 our most profitable and most valuable manufactures. This market has 

 been alike the instrument of a safe and profitable experience, a school 

 for the first essays of our ingenuity, and the reward of their completion. 

 The production of any new and important branch of manufacture, has 

 invariably been tested in our home market. There it has progressed 

 through its different stages of comparative perfection ; by the successful 

 application of new processes, it has been cheapened in production or 

 lessened in value ; and it has only been where the greatest comparative 

 cheapness or perfection has been attained, that is has become a profitable 

 article in our export trade. Under these circumstances the possession of 

 a home trade was invaluable to our manufacturers. It consumed the 

 most profitable goods, it gave the quickest and most certain returns, and 

 was thus indispensable to men of small capital, who could not pursue 

 with advantage the more expensive speculations of the foreign merchant. 

 To the labourer it was also of advantage, as it employed comparatively 

 a greater proportion of skill, and afforded the most liberal wages. The 

 foreign market was thus left almost exclusively to men of large capital, 

 who could sustain its uncertainties and its frequent reverses. By such men 

 it was engrossed, and by them alone it could be made a source of profit. 



