Of the various researches, which engage this enlightened age, there is
not one perhaps more important, whether we consider the public weal, or
the general interest of humanity, than that which concerns _luxury_. It
is regarded by some as the source of the greatest calamities; by others
as a source of opulence and industry. It has been said and repeated
thousands of times, that we often dispute, because we do not understand
each other, and that we give a different meaning to words we use,
because we do not define them with sufficient precision. This is
frequently true; but cases will often arise where, though the words of
a proposition are taken in precisely the same acceptation, and those
who employ them reason alike, yet the result of their reasonings are
diametrically opposite. Luxury has at all times been considered as a
cause of the corruption of morals, and the destruction of empires; but
in the last ages, it has not wanted its advocates--nay, they have even
pretended, that it was necessary to render empires flourishing, to
favor commerce, industry, circulation, manufactures; and that _it_
alone would redress the inequality of various conditions, by making the
superfluities of some contribute to relieve the necessities and wants
of others. The contrary has always been held as an irrefragible axiom.
But still its advocates maintain, that it nourishes all the refinements
of good taste, and developes the talents of the artist, whose art and
genius are encouraged by the profusion and prodigality which it
produces. This is indeed the favorable side of the picture; but how
often is it, that what we see in an object, is not all we might see
there, and that one truth by intercepting the view of others, conducts
us often to error. It is possible by considering the subject more
attentively, though we may find all we have said, true to a certain
degree, yet on the other hand, the evil, which excessive luxury
produces, is infinitely more dangerous;--and speculation will confirm
what the experience of all ages has demonstrated. It is an historical
and invariable truth, that excessive luxury has always been the
harbinger of the destruction of a state. I may add, it has always been
the fatal cause. Labor and economy are the principles of true
prosperity--the eclat of pomp and magnificence without them, is only a
false splendor, which conceals inward misery. But it is here, we must
stop for a moment, before we further advance, in order to have a
precise idea, of what we understand by the word _luxury_. If by it, we
mean every thing which exceeds the physical necessities of life, I
should apologize to the learned. But I do not mean to fix the boundary
by the laws of Lycurgus. I agree farther, that what may be luxury at
one time, is not so at another; but it is in this gradation, which may
be extended to infinity, that we ought wisely to seize that degree of
the scale, where it degenerates into vice--I mean political vice, which
far from being useful becomes prejudicial to a state. This distinction
is still local, individual, and subject to different times and eras.
What is a ruinous luxury in one country, would perhaps be useful or
indifferent in another. A destructive and indecent luxury in one order
of society, is honorable, indispensable and useful in another; and in
short, in a country where a certain degree of luxury is necessary,
there may be times, when sumptuary laws would be useful. If we proceed
to analyze its principles, we shall see that though abstractedly,
luxury may appear to produce certain advantages, yet in general it is
the cause of the greatest disorders. If the expense or luxury of each
individual were the thermometer of his fortune, the degree of luxury
would certainly be the symptom of power, riches, industry and opulence
of a state, but it would not on this account, be the cause; for what
must be the consequence, when vanity and self-love excited by opinion,
by custom and by pride, make us aspire at an external show far beyond
our condition in life, and run into extravagancies, which we cannot
support? This is to sap a commodious edifice in order to build a
larger, which we can never erect. The state loses the house and does
not gain the palace. In a country where luxury reigns, this example may
be seen every day and in every order of the state. The "Luxury" then of
which I speak, is that which prompts many to run into expenses, beyond
what their circumstances will admit, by the respect attached to it, and
by that contempt, with which those are treated, who do not maintain a
similar profusion; by the universality of the custom; and by the
opinions of others, which render the superfluous, the useless, the
frivolous, almost necessary and indispensable. It is on this account,
that the felicity, or apparent power, which luxury appears sometimes to
communicate to a nation, is comparable to those violent fevers, which
lend for a moment, incredible nerve to the wretch, whom they devour,
and which seem to increase the natural strength of man, only to deprive
him at length of that very strength and life itself. It is likewise
physically true, that excessive luxury impairs the body and destroys
courage. Effeminacy enervates the one, and artificial wants blunt the
other; wants multiplied become habitual, nor by diminishing the
pleasures of possession, do they always diminish the despair of
privation. Let us not say that the misfortunes of individuals, do not
concern the public; when many suffer, the public must feel it. If it
were true, that the possessions of those who are ruined, are found
dispersed among other individuals, the ruin of the unfortunate would
still be prejudicial to the state; because it is the number of
individuals in easy circumstances, which create its wealth. But it is
absolutely false, that those possessions are found in the mass of the
public; if the possession of each individual consisted in silver, this
might be so; but property for the most part is fictitious or
artificial: industry, credit, opinion, form a great part of the riches
of each individual,--which vanish, and are annihilated with the ruin of
his former possessions, and are forever lost with respect to the state.
Besides, lands are best cultivated, when divided among many hands. An
hundred husbandmen in easy circumstances, are infinitely more useful to
a state, than an hundred poor ones, or ten powerfully rich. It is the
quantity of consumers, who regularly make an honest, well supported and
permanent expense,--which augments industry, circulation, commerce,
manufactures, and all the useful arts. But when excessive luxury
causes, that the arts are lucrative in the inverse ratio of their
utility, the most necessary become the most neglected, and the state is
depopulated by the multiplication of subjects, who are a charge to it.
It is then we fall precisely into the case of him, who cuts down the
tree to get the fruit: what weakens each member of a body, must
necessarily weaken the body itself; but excessive luxury weakens,
without contradiction, each member of a body politic, physically and
morally,--consequently it must undermine and destroy the constitution
of that body. Another inconvenience attending luxury is, that according
to the order of nature, the propagation of the species ought
continually to increase in a country, if some inherent vice, either
physical or moral, do not prevent it. We have seen in those times, when
luxury prevailed only among the superior class, swarms issue from the
state, without depopulating it, in order to establish themselves in
other places. But the luxury of parents, whose baleful example is often
the sole inheritance of their offspring, forces them necessarily into a
state of celibacy; whereas it is evident, that by a division of
property among their children, the latter might, with industry and
care, having a principal to begin with, increase their hereditary
wealth and enrich the state. Every thing conspires, where luxury
reigns, to corrupt the morals. It eclipses, stifles, or rather destroys
the virtues. It knows no object but the gratification of certain
imaginary pleasures, more illusory than the honor, which it attracts.
Mankind are born perhaps with no particular bias to fraud or injustice.
It is want, either real or artificial, which creates the robber or the
murderer; but for the most part, those crimes, which are most dangerous
to society, take their origin from artificial wants, which ensue from
"Luxury." The brother violates the strongest ties of nature--the
patriot plunges the dagger into the bosom of his country. It was
"Luxury," which called from Jugurtha his celebrated observation on
Rome. It would be endless to attempt to enumerate the examples of ruin,
and of those calamities, which have ever followed in its train. But how
is this most dangerous of evils to be guarded against? Sumptuary laws
would not always be efficacious. They do not always answer the end
proposed. They are eluded by refinements upon "Luxury" until it becomes
"Luxury" in excess. It must be the province of the legislature to
prevent this abuse. The most effectual laws would be those, which would
remove that ridiculous respect, which is paid to frivolous exteriors,
and would attach real respect to merit alone; which would destroy that
unjust contempt into which modest simplicity has fallen by a depravity
of taste and reason. He, who by a wise legislation would discover the
secret of banishing those prejudices, would render an essential service
to humanity. Virtue and emulation would flourish--vice and folly no
longer appear. After all, I would not have it forgot, that I have
agreed, that what would be "Luxury" at one time, and for one order of
people, is not so for another. The "Luxury" which destroys a republic,
would not perhaps destroy a large kingdom; but there is a degree of
"Luxury" prejudicial to the most opulent monarchy. The universal use of
wine would be ruinous to this country, but not so to France. The detail
and analysis of those distinctions, are perhaps the most important
object to humanity. I am persuaded, that the public good, the repose of
families, and the happiness of the present and future generations
depend upon it.