394 
bour, and to emancipate his children, it 
muft be the natural tendency of fociety to 
diminifh the numbers of the laborious. 
‘The increafe of commerce, drawing mens’ 
minds from labour toa gambling principle 
of conduct, will much faveur this natural 
tendency of Eurcpean fociety. The mul- 
tiplieation of profefions fill increafes this 
.tendency, and the eitablithments of goverh- 
ment do it moft of all. The cuurcy, the 
“ARMY, the NAVY, draw multitudes from 
the field ; and a heavy national debt creat- 
ing eftablifhments for the colle€tion of its 
intereft, and becoming in its turn the 
wealth of individuals, threatens to reduce 
the laborious clafs to its minimum. 
Secondly. Under this head may very 
properly be placed laws againft the com- 
bination and affociation ef Jabourers ; the 
education which the priefthood give the 
common people, by which they are taught 
‘the principles of a blind and fervile adula- 
tion of wealth and power, and the pro- 
priety of a ready uninquifitive fabmiffion 
to all poffible authority ; and, above all, 
the fyftem in this ftage of fociety of every 
bufinets being conducted by a LARGE Ca- 
‘PITAL, by which the capitalifts become 
the abfolute mafters cf mankind, and “ fay 
to one, Come,.and he cometh ; to another, 
Go, and he goeth ; and to their flaves, Do 
this, and THEY DO iT.” 
Although there be many inftruments of 
civil fubjugation, this is the lever which 
oreferves the privileged orders in their 
ti As long as this necef- 
fity of a large capital fhall exif in fociety, 
tyranny of the rich tri- 
= 
jab} 
m 
Le, 
“ort-*7) 
ia 
fo long fall the t 
umph, and the poor be trodden in the 
duft. : 
Thirdly. Under this head may be 
mentioned whatever increafes the number 
or the weight of the capitalilts. Every 
thing in civilifed fociety tends to inequa- 
lity, and to the unequal diftribution of 
good; there are fome circumftances, how- 
ever, and fome times, which favour this 
pre-eminently. A great acceflion of com- 
merce, the increafe of large and the de- 
creafe ‘of finall farms, and above all the 
creation of nominal wealth, by a few men, 
and for a few men, tend to bring this 
evil to its higheit pitch of elevation. 
Gold and filver are produced by nature in 
fmall quantities—Their acquifition is the 
flow operaticn of painful labour: their 
value as the reprefentative of commodities 
in general is Not, therefore, purely con- 
veutional; niggard nature has ftamped upon 
them a real value, by that which makes 
every thing valuable, they are the produce 
aud the price of labour, A vapid increale of 
Caufes of the Depreffion of the lower Orders of Society. [Dec. 15 
thefe is impoffible in general, and impro- 
bable in any place. Paper currency is of 
a character widely different ; it may be 
created in a moment, to an amount truly 
awful. 
If a few men, the diretors of a national 
bank for inftance, agree to create toa name- 
“lefs amount this fpecies of circulation, 
and to fay the privilege of benefiting 
by it /hall be confined to a few, it is obvious 
that this muft increafe indefinitely the 
power of the capitalifts, and reduce to 
wretchednefs, flavery, and beggary, all 
thofe who do not participate of this ad- 
vantage.* The fertunes of individuals 
will {well like the fea, and the multitude 
will perith ina defert where there is no 
water. Every thing will be extended but 
the comforts of the poor, Commercial 
{peculations, farming monopolies, and all 
the nameleis evils which opprefs the poor 
will increafe. A few men will give the 
law to millions ; and *¢ Be flaves or ftarve”” 
(perhaps, ‘‘Be faves and fiarve’’) will be 
the language of that law! . 
It is a thing wholly immaterial what be 
the zominal price of any article. Ifthe 
nominal price ef labour bear a due propor. 
tion to the xominal price of prowifions, it 
matters not whether beef be a fhilling or a 
guinea a pound, But the evil confifts in 
the deftruétion of ‘this proportion. And 
the increale of capitals and capitalifts 
tends not only to deftroy this proportion, 
but to make it to perifh eternally. This 
is precifely the evil of an exceffive paper- 
circulation ; zt benefits the few, gives them 
power and rule over the many, and tends to 
put their very lives into their hands. If 
_ there be foreftallers, monopolizers, and re- 
graters ; behold the origin .of their power, 
the very bed of their germination ! 
Fourthly. The increafe of the public 
contributions will always increafe the do- 
mination of the few over the many,and ope- 
rate in the depreffion of the induflrious 
clafles. A tax is impofed, and‘ muft be 
paid. We will fuppofe that it is laid upon 
the proprietor of land, or the capitalift 
employed in trade. In the firft cafe, the 
proprietor of land pays the dired? contri- 
bution; but he, as the owner of the foil, 
* It isa remarkable fa@, that at the time 
when Mr. Law’s celebrated banking-fcheme in 
France was atits zenith, and thoufands had 
ina moment become through it opulent, and 
able to live in {plendour, the laborious claffes 
were perijhing for want of bread; and that 
an arrét to lower the value of this paper cur-* 
rency, to remove the miferies of the poor, was the 



ftroke by which his bubble was burit.—See_ 
Sir James Stewart’s Political Economy. 
commands 
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