116 On the Cause of the Distresses of the labouring People. [Sept. 1, 
would tend to prove, that the attention 
ot the reader would be called for unne- 
Cessarily. I shail therefore assume a 
principle which 1 think philosophy has 
setiled by a course of irrefutable rea- 
souing. Dr. Adam Smith has proved, 
and proved in a way which no sophistry 
can refute, that “labour is the fund 
which originally supplies a nation with 
all the necessaries and conveniences of 
lire that it cunsumes;” and there could 
be no difficulty in proving, that labour was 
in the origin of mankind the only acknow- 
ledged property, if it were not. more 
congenial with the interests and happi- 
ness to Suciety to suppose, that by some 
sort. of agreement, either expressed or 
implied, the basis of civilization was laid 
in the principle that the labourer, the 
landhoider, and the merchant, were all 
essentially and equally necessary to the 
general welfare. 
Such a convention would indicate a 
state of very considerable improvement ; 
for it would amount to a surrender of 
natural rights for the benefit of social 
advantages, and it would be the result 
of experience and reflection, choosing to 
speculate upon the remote “effects of 
combined and intricate operations; in 
preference to securing the immediate 
benefits of isolated ‘efforts. But when 
the hunters and fishers of early times 
consented to acknowledge a landed pro- 
prietary, and to admit a mere barterer of 
commodities: to the same rank with 
themselves, who endured the hardships 
necessary to procure those commodities, 
it would be irrational to. suppose that 
any part of the contract stipulated, that 
those hardsiips should be entailed un- 
ameliorated upon thet latest posterity. 
-The necessity of severe labour, and 
the difficulty of foreseetng means. by 
which that necessity would be dim:inisped, 
in the rude ages, most likely prevented 
any precautions beme taken by the ori- 
ginal jabourers to secure to themselves 
any benefits that might accrue from sub- 
sequeut improvements: but even if such 
provisions were made, the frequent usury, 
pations and conquests that bave altered 
all original rights and possessions, have 
left no trace of them remaining in any 
part of the civilized world; and as far as 
reeards our own country, we behold it 
slowly and irregular.y receding trom the 
confusion and disorder occasioned by 
t ¢ Norman conquest, but never per- 
forming a single act of justice, by which 
the mischiefs of that season of rapine 
- and tyranny might be repaired, _ 
# 
t 
Under the feudal system the people 
consoled themselves with the hope, that 
they should be able to recover their an- 
cient rights, and all classes endured so 
many yexations, that being dependent 
upon it was their interest to be kind to 
each other. Jn this state of society, the 
duties of all ranks were so pressing and: 
fatiguing, that no one found leisure to be 
luxurious; and the portion of labour ne- 
cessary to furnish the means of individual 
subSisteuce, left a very small number of 
idlers to study the means of oppression. 
Much exertion was necessary to procure 
very little comfort; and those who were 
capable of enjeying comforts, were 
obliged to reward the services of those 
who ministered to their wants, in propor- 
tion to the scarcity of labour. 
“ Common Sense” will, I trust, find no © 
difficulty in admitting that, as a country 
advances in innprovement the “definite 
extension of soil,” gradually requires a 
diminished number of labourers to culti- 
vate it, till the arts and sciences in such 
a country arrive at the utmost possible 
improvement. It is not necessary here. 
to trace the progress of improvément in 
this country; the principle being admitted 
without that progress being denied, a 
suthcient reason will be discovered for 
great numbers of persons being out of 
employment, without censuring the prac- 
tice of consolidating farms. 
The complaint made by “ Common 
Sense,” against those engrossments, in . 
favour of agricultural labourers, is of the 
same character as, the complaints made 
against machinery in favour of mantu- 
facturing labourers: it is not pretended 
in either case thatthe annual productions 
of the country are diminished, but the 
amount of the evil is, that an equal 
quantity of good is produced with less. . 
trouble. Irrational as such reasoning is, 
it is the best that even ‘‘Common Sense” 
could resort to, if no hope remained of | 
returning once more to the great and 
leading principles of the social ‘compact, - 
which, whether it be expressed in the 
language of Dr. Smith, or the Earl of 
Lauderdale, makes land, labour, and stock 
the three-fold sources of public wealth ; 
and consequently places the labourer as. 
high in the commonwealth as the land- 
lord and the merchant. That the labourer 
is doomed to suffer distress and misery, 
and in England so much distress and 
misery, ought not to be attributed to the 
ameliorations and improvements which 
are in their nature blessings to be ac- 
knowledged with gratitude; but to the’ 
injustice 
——_— en 
