46 



POLITICAL ECONOMY. 



Political to his workmen nothing but their wages. Thus the 

 Economy, revenues of land, all comprised in the annual crop, 

 ""Y"""'' were divided among three classes of men, under the 

 name of rent, profit, and wages ; whilst a surplus in- 

 cluded the seed and the farmer's advance. 



The manufacturer again possessed machinery and ma- 

 terials ; he offered to his labourers an immediate sub- 

 sistence for the fruit of a labour, which required time 

 and long advances. He enabled them to live, he fur- 

 nished them with lodging, tools, machinery, and paid 

 himself with interest by their work. If in his own 

 hand, he had not enough of accumulated wealth, or 

 enough of the money which represents it, to provide 

 his workmen with all the advances which their enter- 

 prise required, and to wait for the sale of their labour ; 

 he borrowed money and paid the lender an interest 

 analogous to the rent which the farmer pays his land- 

 lord. The labour of the workmen employed by him 

 annually produced a certain quantity of goods, in the 

 value of which were to be included the interest of ca- 

 pital for the money-lender, the rent of implements, 

 machines, immoveables, and all kinds of fixed capital ; 

 the profits of the head manufacturer, the wages of his 

 workmen, and, lastly, the capital expended in raw ma- 

 terials, together with the whole of that capital which, 

 as it circulates annually in the manufactory, must be 

 deducted from its annual produce, in order to leave the 

 net revenue. 



The produce of the soil and of manufactories belonged 

 often to climates very distant from those inhabited by 

 their consumers. A class of men undertook to facili- 

 tate all kinds of exchange, on condition of sharing in 

 the profits which it yields. These men gave money 

 to the producer, at the time when his work was finished 

 and ready for sale ; after which having transported the 

 merchandise to the place where it was wanted, they 

 waited the consumer's convenience, and retailed to 

 him in parcels what he could not purchase all at once. 

 They did service to every one, and repaid themselves 

 for it by the share which is named profits of trade. 

 The advantage arising from a judicious management of 

 exchanges was the origin of those profits. In the 

 north, a producer reckoned two measures of his mer- 

 chandise equivalent to one of southern merchandise. 

 In the south, on the other hand, a producer reckoned 

 two measures of his merchandise equivalent to one of 

 northern merchandise. Between two equations so dif- 

 ferent there was room to cover all the expences of trans- 

 port, all the profits of trade, and interest for all the 

 money advanced to carry it on. In fact, at the sale of 

 such commodities transported by commerce, there must 

 be realized, first the capital repaid to the manufacturer; 

 then the wages of the sailors, carriers, clerks, and all 

 persons employed by the trader ; next the interest of 

 all those funds to which he gives movement ; and, lastly, 

 the mercantile profit. 



Society requires something more than wealth ; it 

 would not be complete, if it contained nothing but pro- 

 ductive labourers. It requires administrators, judges, 

 lawgivers ; men employed about its general interests ; 

 soldiers and sailors to defend it. No one of those class- 

 es produces any thing ; their labour never assumes a 

 material shape ; it is not susceptible of accumulation. 

 Yet without their assistance, all the wealth arising from 

 productive labour would be destroyed by violence ; and 

 work would cease, if the labourer could not calculate 

 on peaceably enjoying its fruits. To support this 

 guardian population, a part must be deducted from the 

 funds created annually by labour. But as the service 

 2 



done to the community, by such persons, how import- Political 

 ant soever it be, is felt by no one in particular, it can- Economy, 

 not, like other services, be an object of exchange. The 

 community itself was under the necessity of paying it, 

 by a forced contribution from the revenues of all. It 

 was not long, indeed, till this contribution came to be 

 regulated by the persons destined to profit from it ; 

 and hence the contributors were loaded without mea- 

 sure ; civil and military offices were multiplied far 

 beyond what the public weal required ; there was too 

 much government, too much defence of men, who were 

 forced to accept those services, and to pay them, su- 

 perfluous or even burdensome as they might be ; and 

 the rulers of nations established to protect wealth, were 

 often the main authors of its dilapidation. 



Society needs that kind of labour which produces 

 mental enjoyments ; and as mental enjoyment are near- 

 ly all immaterial, the objects destined to satisfy them 

 cannot be accumulated. Religion, science, the arts, 

 yield happiness to man ; their origin is labour, their 

 end enjoyment ; but what belongs only to the soul is 

 not capable of being treasured up. If a nation, how- 

 ever, does not reckon literature and the arts among its 

 wealth, it may reckon literary men and artists ; the 

 education they receive, the distinction they acquire ac- 

 cumulate a high value on their heads: and the labour 

 which they execute being often better paid than that 

 of the most skilful workmen, may thus contribute to 

 the spread of opulence. 



Society, in the last place, needs those kinds of labour 

 the object of which is to take care of the persons, not the 

 fortunes of men. Such labour may be of the most 

 elevated, or of the most servile kind ; according as it 

 requires either the knowledge of nature and the com- 

 mand of her secrets, like the physician's labour, or 

 merely complaisance and obedience to the will of a 

 master, like the footman's labour. All of them are 

 species of labour intended for enjoyment, and differing 

 from productive labour, only in so far as their effects 

 are incapable of accumulation. Hence, though they 

 add to the well-being of a stale, they do not add to its 

 wealth ; and such as are employed in them must live 

 on voluntary contributions drawn from the revenue 

 formed by other kinds of labour. 



CHAP. III. 



OF TERRITORIAL WEALTH. 



THE riches proceeding from land should be the first Of territo- 

 to engage the attention of an economist or a legislator, rial wealth. 

 They are the most necessary of all, because it is from 

 the ground that our subsistence is derived ; because 

 they furnish the materials for every other kind of la- 

 bour ; and lastly, because, in preparation, they con- 

 stantly employ the half, often much more than the 

 half, of all the nation. The class of people who culti- 

 vate the ground are particularly valuable for bodily 

 qualities fitted to make excellent soldiers, and for men- 

 tal qualities fitted to make good citizens. The happi- 

 ness of a rural population is also more easily provided 

 for than that of a city population ; the progress of this 

 kind of wealth is more easily followed ; and govern- 

 ment is more culpable when it allows agriculture to 

 decay, because it almost always lies in the power of 

 government to make it flourish. 



The annual revenue of land, or the annual crop, is 

 decomposed, as we observed above, in the follow- 



