PREFACE. Xlll 



the welfare of Great Britain than in the welfare of 

 Italy, Egypt, France or Prussia. This is equally 

 true with respect to all people employed in the 

 manufacture of such commodities ; a manufactu- 

 ring population has only a divided interest in 

 the welfare of its country. A manufacturing po- 

 pulation has no exclusive interest in the prospe- 

 rity of England, and hence, with it, the prospe- 

 rity of England is never a paramount considera- 

 tion to the prosperity of other nations. The self- 

 interest of the landowner leads him exclusively to 

 the promotion of English interests ; the self-interest 

 of the manufacturer leads him to promote the well- 

 being of any country which best conduces to the 

 success of his manufacture. The first necessity of 

 a people is food, and the manufacturer cares not 

 whence his food comes ; if it can be found cheaper 

 from Germany than from England, although the 

 interest of the former country is advanced at the 

 expense of the latter, from Germany he will have it. 

 It is the law of existence of all organized bodies, 

 that they continue in being only as they consume 

 something that comes out of the earth ; and there- 

 fore people are ill or well off, according to the 

 proportion which they bear to the quantity of the 

 produce of the soil on which they are located. The 

 agricultural population increases only as the pro- 

 duce of the soil increases. The manufacturing 



