'Vincit Amor Patriæ.'
Virg.
The Ambition of Princes is many times as hurtful to themselves as to
their People. This cannot be doubted of such as prove unfortunate in
their Wars, but it is often true too of those who are celebrated for
their Successes. If a severe View were to be taken of their Conduct, if
the Profit and Loss by their Wars could be justly ballanced, it would be
rarely found that the Conquest is sufficient to repay the Cost.
As I was the other Day looking over the Letters of my Correspondents, I
took this Hint from that of _Philarithmus_ [2]; which has turned my
present Thoughts upon Political Arithmetick, an Art of greater Use than
Entertainment. My Friend has offered an Essay towards proving that
_Lewis_ XIV. with all his Acquisitions is not Master of more People than
at the Beginning of his Wars, nay that for every Subject he had
acquired, he had lost Three that were his Inheritance: If _Philarithmus_
is not mistaken in his Calculations, _Lewis_ must have been impoverished
by his Ambition.
The Prince for the Publick Good has a Sovereign Property in every
Private Person's Estate, and consequently his Riches must encrease or
decrease in proportion to the Number and Riches of his Subjects. For
Example: If Sword or Pestilence should destroy all the People of this
Metropolis, (God forbid there should be Room for such a Supposition! but
if this should be the Case) the Queen must needs lose a great Part of
her Revenue, or, at least, what is charged upon the City must encrease
the Burden upon the rest of her Subjects. Perhaps the Inhabitants here
are not above a Tenth Part of the Whole; yet as they are better fed, and
cloth'd, and lodg'd, than her other Subjects, the Customs and Excises
upon their Consumption, the Imposts upon their Houses, and other Taxes,
do very probably make a fifth Part of the whole Revenue of the Crown.
But this is not all; the Consumption of the City takes off a great Part
of the Fruits of the whole Island; and as it pays such a Proportion of
the Rent or yearly Value of the Lands in the Country, so it is the Cause
of paying such a Proportion of Taxes upon those Lands. The Loss then of
such a People must needs be sensible to the Prince, and visible to the
whole Kingdom.
On the other hand, if it should please God to drop from Heaven a new
People equal in Number and Riches to the City, I should be ready to
think their Excises, Customs, and House-Rent would raise as great a
Revenue to the Crown as would be lost in the former Case. And as the
Consumption of this New Body would be a new Market for the Fruits of the
Country, all the Lands, especially those most adjacent, would rise in
their yearly Value, and pay greater yearly Taxes to the Publick. The
Gain in this Case would be as sensible as the former Loss.
Whatsoever is assess'd upon the General, is levied upon Individuals. It
were worth the while then to consider what is paid by, or by means of,
the meanest Subjects, in order to compute the Value of every Subject to
the Prince.
For my own part, I should believe that Seven Eighths of the People are
without Property in themselves or the Heads of their Families, and
forced to work for their daily Bread; and that of this Sort there are
Seven Millions in the whole Island of _Great Britain_: And yet one would
imagine that Seven Eighths of the whole People should consume at least
three Fourths of the whole Fruits of the Country. If this is the Case,
the Subjects without Property pay Three Fourths of the Rents, and
consequently enable the Landed Men to pay Three Fourths of their Taxes.
Now if so great a Part of the Land-Tax were to be divided by Seven
Millions, it would amount to more than three Shillings to every Head.
And thus as the Poor are the Cause, without which the Rich could not pay
this Tax, even the poorest Subject is upon this Account worth three
Shillings yearly to the Prince.
Again: One would imagine the Consumption of seven Eighths of the whole
People, should pay two Thirds of all the Customs and Excises. And if
this Sum too should be divided by seven Millions, _viz._ the Number of
poor People, it would amount to more than seven Shillings to every Head:
And therefore with this and the former Sum every poor Subject, without
Property, except of his Limbs or Labour, is worth at least ten Shillings
yearly to the Sovereign. So much then the Queen loses with every one of
her old, and gains with every one of her new Subjects.
When I was got into this Way of thinking, I presently grew conceited of
the Argument, and was just preparing to write a Letter of Advice to a
Member of Parliament, for opening the Freedom of our Towns and Trades,
for taking away all manner of Distinctions between the Natives and
Foreigners, for repealing our Laws of Parish Settlements, and removing
every other Obstacle to the Increase of the People. But as soon as I had
recollected with what inimitable Eloquence my Fellow-Labourers had
exaggerated the Mischiefs of selling the Birth-right of _Britons_ for a
Shilling, of spoiling the pure _British_ Blood with Foreign Mixtures, of
introducing a Confusion of Languages and Religions, and of letting in
Strangers to eat the Bread out of the Mouths of our own People, I became
so humble as to let my Project fall to the Ground, and leave my Country
to encrease by the ordinary Way of Generation.
As I have always at Heart the Publick Good, so I am ever contriving
Schemes to promote it; and I think I may without Vanity pretend to have
contrived some as wise as any of the Castle-builders. I had no sooner
given up my former Project, but my Head was presently full of draining
Fens and Marshes, banking out the Sea, and joining new Lands to my
Country; for since it is thought impracticable to encrease the People to
the Land, I fell immediately to consider how much would be gained to the
Prince by encreasing the Lands to the People.
If the same omnipotent Power, which made the World, should at this time
raise out of the Ocean and join to _Great Britain_ an equal Extent of
Land, with equal Buildings, Corn, Cattle and other Conveniences and
Necessaries of Life, but no Men, Women, nor Children, I should hardly
believe this would add either to the Riches of the People, or Revenue of
the Prince; for since the present Buildings are sufficient for all the
Inhabitants, if any of them should forsake the old to inhabit the new
Part of the Island, the Increase of House-Rent in this would be attended
with at least an equal Decrease of it in the other: Besides, we have
such a Sufficiency of Corn and Cattle, that we give Bounties to our
Neighbours to take what exceeds of the former off our Hands, and we will
not suffer any of the latter to be imported upon us by our
Fellow-Subjects; and for the remaining Product of the Country 'tis
already equal to all our Markets. But if all these Things should be
doubled to the same Buyers, the Owners must be glad with half their
present Prices, the Landlords with half their present Rents; and thus by
so great an Enlargement of the Country, the Rents in the whole would not
increase, nor the Taxes to the Publick.
On the contrary, I should believe they would be very much diminished;
for as the Land is only valuable for its Fruits, and these are all
perishable, and for the most part must either be used within the Year,
or perish without Use, the Owners will get rid of them at any rate,
rather than they should waste in their Possession: So that 'tis probable
the annual Production of those perishable things, even of one Tenth Part
of them, beyond all Possibility of Use, will reduce one Half of their
Value. It seems to be for this Reason that our Neighbour Merchants who
ingross all the Spices, and know how great a Quantity is equal to the
Demand, destroy all that exceeds it. It were natural then to think that
the Annual Production of twice as much as can be used, must reduce all
to an Eighth Part of their present Prices; and thus this extended Island
would not exceed one Fourth Part of its present Value, or pay more than
one Fourth Part of the present Tax.
It is generally observed, That in Countries of the greatest Plenty there
is the poorest Living; like the Schoolmen's Ass, in one of my
Speculations, the People almost starve between two Meals. The Truth is,
the Poor, which are the Bulk of the Nation, work only that they may
live; and if with two Days Labour they can get a wretched Subsistence
for a Week, they will hardly be brought to work the other four: But then
with the Wages of two Days they can neither pay such Prices for their
Provisions, nor such Excises to the Government.
That paradox therefore in old _Hesiod_ [[Greek: pleon hemisu pantos],
[3]] or Half is more than the Whole, is very applicable to the present
Case; since nothing is more true in political Arithmetick, than that the
same People with half a Country is more valuable than with the Whole. I
begin to think there was nothing absurd in Sir _W. Petty_, when he
fancied if all the Highlands of _Scotland_ and the whole Kingdom of
_Ireland_ were sunk in the Ocean, so that the People were all saved and
brought into the Lowlands of _Great Britain_; nay, though they were to
be reimburst the Value of their Estates by the Body of the People, yet
both the Sovereign and the Subjects in general would be enriched by the
very Loss. [4]
If the People only make the Riches, the Father of ten Children is a
greater Benefactor to his Country, than he who has added to it 10000
Acres of Land and no People. It is certain _Lewis_ has join'd vast
Tracts of Land to his Dominions: But if _Philarithmus_ says true, that
he is not now Master of so many Subjects as before; we may then account
for his not being able to bring such mighty Armies into the Field, and
for their being neither so well fed, nor cloathed, nor paid as formerly.
The Reason is plain, _Lewis_ must needs have been impoverished not only
by his Loss of Subjects, but by his Acquisition of Lands.