210 



Notes on the Duty of Government 



[April 



to the people, which, combined with a frugal consumption, efFec- 

 tually secure them against famine, if there is no interference with the 

 corn trade hy the Government. 



He first remarks, that though a real scarcity is ordinarily occasioned 

 by the fault of the season alone, a fomine is never so occasioned ; or to 

 give his own words. Whoever examines, v ith attention, the history 

 *' of the dearths and famines, which have afflicted any part of Europe 

 ** during either the course of the present or that of the two preceding cen- 

 ** turies, of several of which we have pretty exact accounts, will find, I 



believe, that a dearth never has arisen from any combination among 'he 

 *' inland dealers in corn, nor from any other cause, but a real scarcity, 

 ** occasioned sometimes, perhaps, and in some pariieular places, by the 



waste of war, but in by far the greatest number of cases by the fault of 



the seasons, and that a famine has 7iever arisen from any other cause, but 

 *' the violence of (Jovernment atten p/h/g, by lmpr< per means, to remedy the 

 ** inconveniences of a dearth.'^ And he adds, that " the scantiest crop, if 

 ** managed with frugality and economy will maintain ihrcugh the year, 

 ** the same number of people that are commonly fed in a more affluent 

 *' manner by one of moderate plenty."* It iis deserving of notice that 

 throughout. Dr. Smith speaks only of the " inconveniences" of dearth ; 

 and never once contemplates apparently, a };eople in the fearful state of 

 destitution, to which a season of general drought now reduces the po- 

 pulation of this country : when if allowed to run its course, famine cuts off 

 one third of the inhabitants, with the great mass of their cattle. For 

 drought in the tropics, does not as drought or excessive wet in Europe, 

 affect only the standard crops of the country ; but it is in the expressive 

 language of scripture, " a drought upon the land, and upon the moun- 

 *' tains, upon that which the ground bringeth forth, and upon men, and 

 *' upon cattle, and upon all the labour of the hands." This utter 

 destruction of all the resources of the people, 1 apprehend lo be the 



* " In an extensive corn country between all the different parts of which there is a 

 '* free commerce and communication, the scarcity occasioned by the must unfavourable 

 " seasons can never be so great as to produce a famine; and the scantiest crop, if 

 '« managed with frugality and economy, will maintain, thruugh the year, tlie same number 



of people, that are commonly fed in a mure aiilueut manner by one of moderate plenty, 

 *• The seasons most unfavourable to the crop are thuse of excessive drought or excessive 

 *• rain. But as coru grows equally upon high and low lands, upon grounds that are 

 " disposed to be too wet, and upon thuse that are disposed to be too dry, either the 



drought or the rain, which is hurtful to one part of the country, is favourable to ano- 

 *' ther, and though, both in the wet and in the dry season, the crop is guod deal less than 

 '* in one more properly tempered, yet, in both, what is lost in one part of the country i3 

 *• in some measure compensated by what is gained in the other." — fVvalth of Nations B 

 IF chap, V, Digression concerning the oorn trade and corn laws. 



