181<?.} Mr. Luckcock on the Commercial State of the Country. 395 



city — if an individual engaged in busi- 

 ness cannot by any contrivance make it 

 produce more profit than 1001. per an- 

 num, and lie will live alter the rate of 

 2001. is it jjossible that, laying by an an- 

 nual pound tioin his fund, even at coaj- 

 I)ound interest, should prevent a future 

 txplosion ofhisuflairs? He may shuf- 

 lic and cut, dra-.v and cover, enveigle 

 .strangers, and borrow from his friends, 

 but his eventual downfall will be inevi- 

 table. And so it must be with a part- 

 nership, be their capital what it may ; 

 with a chartered colonial company ; or 

 with any comnmnity or government that 

 - can be imagined. 



These coiisequences, as applicable to 

 our national finances, have been long 

 and accurately predicted by Paine and 

 other writers ; but, as it was impossible 

 that they could calculate upon the plans 

 and delusions which might operate to 

 uphold the hollow system, so their san- 

 guine forebodings liave been ridiculed 

 and vilified as being totally void of 

 foundation ; and, while the infatuated 

 nation has been celebrating the orgies 

 of" the pilot who weathered the storm," 

 they have shut their intellectual sight 

 upon that dreadful tornado, which is 

 now ready to burst upon their heads. 



To apply, now, these preliminary re- 

 marks to the subject intended: — The ig- 

 norant or cruel apathy of our rulers to 

 the universal distresses of the country 

 is too glaring to pass nnnoticed, even 

 by their (innest advocates. While even 

 the Bourbons are touched with compas- 

 sion for US, and we (oh ! shame to i^ng- 

 lishmen!) are holding out our charity- 

 box for tlicir pitiful and scanty dole, 

 the nation is insulted with the cold and 

 mortifying information, that " we niust 

 wait for things to find their own level." 

 Yes — my much-injured countrymen — 

 when water from its own impulse shall 

 run up-hill to seek its level, tlien, 

 and not till then, will the present sys- 

 tem admit of the promised relief. There 

 can be but two sources of relief in pro- 

 ducing the means of employment for 

 our manufacturers ; and these are inter- 

 nal and external commerce. Of the 

 first nuicli need not oe said ; it is self 

 evident that the homo-market cannot 

 consume the atticle.s wiiicii the popula- 

 tion could supply, i'Vom an estimate 

 prepared some time ago for the legisla- 

 ture, it appeared that, of the ten millions 

 ami a half of which our jiojiulation con- 

 sists, not more than one huiI a half, or 

 thereabouts, were employed in agrieul- 

 lUie, bciiijj iij^out ouc pcjs9n tp ^wolvc 



acres of land. The constant operation 

 of the present system is this — the great 

 improvements in our cultivation, with the 

 introduction of machinery, render less 

 human labour necessary ; and the vast 

 increase of the size of our firms contri- 

 butes much to jiroduco the same etiects; 

 so that the peasantry are driven from 

 their natural station, and coraiielled to 

 take refuge in the towns, to seek em- 

 ployment as manufacturers. Here 

 again their hopes are blasted, and their 

 eflorts paralised, by glutted markets and 

 mechanical improvenjeuts. 



That our matchless skill in the use 

 of machinery might have been of great 

 national advantage, by enabling us to 

 suj)]jly the foreign markets out of the 

 reach of competition, caimot be dis- 

 puted,— and so far the principle isgood ; 

 but, when we take into the account, that 

 our taxation has more than kept pace 

 with our ingenuity, that the system of 

 warfare has compelled our customers 

 to adopt the same improvements, and 

 that their low price lor labour is morft 

 lhp,n a counterbalance to our superior 

 skill, where is the .shadow of hope that 

 tlic same foreign demand should be in- 

 creased, or even continued at its formei? 

 rate? Look lo e\ery quarter of th« 

 globe, and where is there the most dis- 

 tant probability of a demand equal to 

 our exigencies.' — Emopc empoverished 

 and enslaved, its rulers jealous of our 

 power and proud of our !iumiliat;on, 

 waiting the result of our folly for a fa- 

 vourable oj>porlniiity to ciush our inso- 

 lent ambition, and to avf^nge their 

 wrongs by the amiiliilatiou of our "ma- 

 ritime jjghts;" Asia attached to her 

 castes, her manners, her habits, and her 

 prejudices; Africa too much uncivilized 

 to have any considerable weight in tho 

 scale J and America rivalling us in the 

 cultivation of the arts and sciences, un- 

 der a free and popular government, witU 

 every stimulus tliat genius, situation, 

 and i)alrio!isni, can bestow, in tiie north; 

 and, in the south, a dou!)tfu| struggle 

 existing, which, whatever may he its 

 termination, nuisl for tlio present bc- 

 iuin\b every effort of commerce and en- 

 terprise. Under these appaling consi- 

 deralioihs, is our staning population de- 

 liberately toM, that they must \»ait pa- 

 tiently for things ti> timl their own level; 

 but no QuiX(/tie enthusiast ha.s ventured 

 to sooth tiio public mind by pointin"" 

 out any sources of reasonable expec- 

 tation ! 



Let coramrrco bo roloa.scd from Jts 

 prcsyAt t'UoiiH*'"'* shiickicsi, and left to 



