1831.1 
On Political Economy. 
251 
Now as every one, I think, will allow that these assertions (4, . r > and 6,) may be 
fairly deduced as corollaries, from the conclusion immediately preceding them (3), 
it is with that we have to deal. If that can be proved to be true, I ha\ e no 
objection to offer to the consequents. 
That I may not be accused of misrepresenting him, I will state it in his own 
words : “ The labourer’s numbers pressing upon that amount of subsistence, 
which these classes, (the agriculturists and capitalists,) can be tempted to bestow, 
in exchange for the results of the utmost exertions of these poor people ; the esti- 
mation in which that is held, which suffices for the support of a human being, 
must be then as great as it was in the days of pristine rudeness and poverty, and 
must equally command the utmost exertion, which a human being is capable of 
bestowing.” There are few parts of the world I know of, where man yet exists, 
as he did in the days of “ pristine rudeness and poverty.” The only part 1 can 
call to mind, is the southern end of the Malay Peninsula, and some of the neigh- 
bouring islands, where a race of aborigines are said to exist, who have mat e o 
progress whatever in improvement. They are unacquainted with the use ol c o i- 
ing. They have no sort of habitation to shelter them from the weather, They ave 
no kind of implements, either for the cliace, cultivation, or domestic purposes. They 
do not even use firing for cooking their food, but subsist upon such raw fruits as 
the forests afford them, with the addition of whatever else edible their unaided 
handscan seize. These naked innocents, no doubt, esteem that quantity o oo 
suffices for the support of a human being, as an equivalent for the utmost exertion 
of which they are capable ; but in no other part of the world that I remember, 
does the assertion hold good. It is utterly false of men in England, and throug - 
out the rest of Europe ; it is equally so in most parts of Asia, perhaps t ie w o e 
of America, and that part of Africa which is best known to us ; therefore, speak- 
ing of the world in general, we may assert, that it is false altogether. ne . 
think the writer had never seen an English cottage and appurtenances. Did lie 
never see a meal eaten therein, and mark how much of that was superfluous . I 
mean greater in value than the mere measure of raw corn necessary to support 
life. Let him next look at the mode of life of the Hindoo labourer Has not he 
also something superfluous ? If the writer be still inclined to maintain his asser- 
tion, let him fill a measure, say of barley, sufficient for a man s daily food and 
let him ask a Hindoo to give him his utmost exertion for a day m exchang • 
Let him ask an English labourer a similar question. Let him a so consi ei 
'vhat quantity of corn a Hindoo could be induced to give his utmost exertion or 
& day ; and also, for how much of the same, an Englishman coul >e in uce 
w °rk for a day ; and then let him ask himself, whether lie was not dreaming when 
l>e called food ‘invariable’ in its value when compared with labour. aving 
thus shown, as I conceive, that his conclusion is false, we have next to o serve y 
*hat means he has managed to arrive at it. The effect not existing, the alledged 
Cause has been insufficient to produce it : he brings forward the tendency in uma 
Population to outrun the means of subsistence, but carefully keeps out of sig , 
causes that counteract its influence. Thus lie states the term requisite for dou - 
lln ? population at 25 years, and infers, that whenever that rate of increase c 
not take Place, great part of the population are in the destitute state e ore a ~ 
to , ready to exchange their utmost exertions for the mere quantity o o 
llent to support life; forgetting that of the three checks, mora _ res rdl " ’ * 
! ' n(1 raisei 7, the two first will come largely into action before the t m 18 . * 
8ets befor e us the case of a country acquiring its own know e ge o g ^ ^ 
0u utries (he apprehends) , become progressively more capable o yie D 
