It is very natural and very well for Englishmen, who have never been

out of their own country, to ascribe to superiority of quality, (and

inferiority of price is the same thing,) the great success they have in

selling their goods in foreign countries; but such as have had an

opportunity to see how it really is, know the contrary; and those who

have not, may know it by observing who are the individuals in any

branch of business at home that do the most, and they will find it

always to be those who have the power of giving the longest credit. It

is true that, in the course of time, and by struggling hard, those who

have little means of extending their business at first, do it by degrees;

but, until they do, they never can, in point of quantity, rival those who

give long credit.

[end of page #230]

In the inability of other nations to give equal length of credit, consists

our principal advantage; but we have seen, by the vicissitudes of

ancient nations, that the wants of others, or their being behindhand,

are but a very insecure tenure for the prosperity of any nation.

The exportation of Britain was but inconsiderable at the beginning of

last =sic= century, or about one-ninth of what it was two years

ago.{187} Previous to the American war, it gradually increased to

about three times what it was in the year 1700; that is, in seventy-five

years. The progression was pretty regular till the year 1750, when it

had risen to nearly double; but, in twenty-five years after, it increased

as much as it had in fifty years before. The American war threw it

back forty years, but it soon got up again to where it probably would

have been, had the American war not intervened; it, however, rose

beyond any thing that had ever been seen. It doubled in less than ten

years; and, from this, we are led to conclude, that the taxes had not

then begun to hurt national industry. But we shall see the reason, for

the great increase was not owing so much to any cause inherent in this

nation, as to the absolute impossibility of other nations continuing

their commerce. We had got all the East and West India trade of the

French and Dutch, and America had again become our greatest

customer for British manufactures.

Capital that could be removed was, in a manner, banished from the

continent of Europe, and had taken refuge in England, and a great

extent of the continent had been desolated with war. We are not,

however, to expect this amazing export trade to continue; indeed, it

has already fallen, in one year, as much as it ever rose in any three

years; it fell fifteen millions in one year. The taxes may have operated

much against our prosperity, without our knowing it, in a crisis of this

sort, though they did not absolutely counteract the favourable effect

produced by other causes.

The commerce of the American states, which were, (like England,)

out of the vortex of danger, and secure, increased in fully as rapid

---

{187} In 1802, the exports amounted to 45,500,000 L. In 1702 to

5,500,000 L.

-=-

[end of page #231]

a manner as ours, and fell off in the same way. We must not then,

consider as durable, or owing to ourselves, circumstances that arose

out of the general and temporary situation of other nations.

It has been said in the general chapter on taxation, and again repeated

in that on national debt, that both the one and the other operate, for a

certain time, in augmenting the industry and wealth of a country, but

that there is some point at which they begin to have a contrary effect;

that point, however, being dependent on a variety of circumstances, is

not a fixed one, it cannot be discovered by investigation before the

time, but it may by symptoms and signs that become visible soon

after.

It is a sign that a nation has passed the point at which taxes cease to be

a spur to industry, when the duties on consumption, or optional duties,

which one may avoid paying, by not using the article taxed, become

less productive than formerly, and when it is found necessary to lay

taxes on land, houses, and such sort of property as can be made to pay,

independent of the will of the proprietor.

When taxes are laid upon property, not on consumption, it is to be

supposed the latter can bear no more. Taxes on property are forced

taxes; on consnmption =sic=, they are generally, to a certain degree,

voluntary, though not always so.

The augmentation of wealth has, in this country, been great, but it has

never been regular or uninterrupted; that of taxation has, on the

contrary, been uninterrupted, and this is better seen from the chart

than from any thing that can be said. There can be no doubt that,

though hitherto our increasing prosperity has been so great as to

counteract the effect of heavy taxation, yet that the same thing cannot

be expected to continue long. How long it may continue, or whether it

has not already ceased, or is on the point of ceasing, is uncertain; but

there is nothing more positive, than that, if taxes increase, they must,

in process of time, crush industry, and, therefore, at all events, they

should be kept as low as possible.

The whole income of the country is estimated only at 150,000,000 L.

The taxes to the state amount to 40,000,000 L. and those for the

maintenance of the poor to 5,500,000 L. But this is the mere money

ac-[end of page #232] count, without estimating loss of time, trouble,

and inconvenience; so that it may fairly and reasonably be put down at

one-third of the whole revenue or income of the individuals, yet the

complaints are not so loud, and the clamour is not so great, as when

they did not amount to one-twentieth of that revenue. This may,

however, be accounted for.

One-third part of revenue is derived from the state itself, so that there

are but two-thirds remain independent of it. The habit of bearing

burthens, and experience of the inutility of complaint, are likewise

reasons for acquiescence; besides these, we cannot but all be sensible,

that complaints were very violent when there was little occasion for

them. We cannot deny, that the nation has been prospering for a

hundred years, while the cry of ruin has been resounding perpetually

in every corner; it is therefore natural to mistrust our fears, and sit in

silence, waiting the event.

The portion of our expense that consists in interest of money, on

which no economy can operate, is so great, that it prevents any hope

of much diminution from economy; and, indeed, in the time of peace,

no economy that could be practised, more than what has commonly

been done, would diminish our burthens one-fiftieth part. Even that

would be very difficult, perhaps impracticable; for our free revenue, in

time of peace, has not augmented in proportion to the diminution of

the value of money; so that, in 1792, the expenses of the state were

comparatively less than in the reign of Queen Anne.

Economy, then, is not the mode in which we must seek relief in time

of peace. To carry on war in a less expensive manner in future, and

take a solid and effectual method of reducing our debts, are the means,

both of which are treated of in their proper place.

The modes of relief then, are three:

1. Economy in war.

2. A solid and fair method of reducing the present interest.

3. Attention, to render the system of taxation as little troublesome, and

as fair and equal as possible.

[end of page #233]

CHAP. IV.

_Of the National Debt and Sinking Fund.--Advantages and

Disadvantages of both.--Errors committed in calculating their

Effects.--Causes of Error.--Mode proposed for preventing future

Increase_.

In no circumstance does the British empire differ so widely from all

nations recorded in history, or from any now in existence, as with

regard to the national debt.

Not only the invention of contracting debt to carry on war is but of

recent origin, but no nation has ever carried it to near the extent that it

has arrived at in England. The Italian states, in which this mode was

first practised, never had the means of carrying it very far. In Spain,

France, and Holland, national debt met with obstacles that arrested its

progress long before it arrived at the pitch to which it has now come in

this country.

The interest of the debt is above thrice the free revenue of the country,

in time of peace, as that revenue was, previous to hostilities in 1793.

Whenever any operation is begun, the result of which is not known,

owing to its being new, but which is in itself of great importance; the

anxiety it occasions must be great, and, generally, the alarm is more

than proportioned to the danger. If ever this truth was exemplified in

any thing, it has been with regard to the national debt of England,

which has been a continual object of terror since its first creation; not

a public terror, merely amongst the ignorant, but the most profound

and enlightened statesmen. Calculators, and writers on political

economy, have served to augment the uneasiness by their predictions

of a fatal termination.

While the debt has been augmenting with great rapidity, the wealth

and resources of the nation have, at least, augmented equally fast, and

the matter of fact has given the lie to all the forebodings of those who

[end of page #234] occasioned the alarm. This very extraordinary

circumstance merits an investigation.

It unfortunately happens, that, where people are deeply interested in a

subject, they form their opinion before they begin to examine and

investigate, and consequently the mind commences with a bias, and

acts under its influence, the consequence of which is, that the

conclusion is not so accurate as it otherwise would be. Not that, in

calculating with figures, the disposition of the mind can make an unit

of difference, the question being once fairly stated; but the previous

impression on the mind tends to prevent the fair statement of the

question.

That an uninterrupted practice of borrowing must end in an inability to

pay is a self-evident axiom. It is not a matter that admits of dispute;

but to fix the point where the inability will commence is a problem to

resolve of a very difficult nature; it is indeed a problem, the re-

solution =sic= of which depends upon some circumstances that cannot

be ascertained. There are, it is true, certain fixed principles; but there

are some points also that depend on events entirely unconnected with

the debt, and, in themselves, uncertain. Two great considerations, that

operate powerfully, have been omitted by most writers on this subject.

The first, is the increased energy of human exertion, under an

increased operation of necessity; the second, is the effect that the

depreciation of money has, on lessening the apparent burthen

occasioned by the interest of the debt. That these two causes, which

have not been taken into account, have rendered the calculations

erroneous, there is not a doubt; and how far they may still continue to

operate is, at this time, as uncertain as ever; but they ought not to be

considered as of operation beyond a certain unknown point, else the

practice of contracting debt would be capable of infinite extension,

which is impossible.

But the augmentation of the debt itself is not the only circumstance

that excites attention, as intimately connected with the fate of this

nation.

The increasing wealth and prosperity of the nation, under the heavy

load of taxes, of which the debt is the principal occasion, is as much a

matter of surprize as the ultimate result is an object of anxiety.

So long, however, as the nation is not actually born =sic= down by the

[end of page #235] weight of taxes, its wealth must increase; and,

what is considered as a very strange phenomenon, is only the natural

and necessary consequence of increased taxation.

When men inhabit and cultivate land of their own, they are under no

necessity of creating any greater value than they consume; but, when

they pay RENT and TAXES, they are laid under a necessity of

producing enough to supply their own wants, and to pay the rent and

taxes to which they are subject. The same is the case with regard to

manufacturers in every line of business, for though they do not,

perhaps, consume any part of what they produce, (what comes to the

same thing is that,) they are obliged to produce as much as will

exchange, or sell, for all they want to consume, over and above paying

their rent and taxes.

Without rent and taxes there are only three things that excite the

exertion of man:--Necessity, arising from natural wants; a love of

pleasure; or, a love of accumulation.

When a man labours no more than for his mere natural necessities, he

is a poor man, in the usual acceptation =sic= of the word, that is, he

has no wealth; {188} and a nation, peopled with such men, would

justly be called a poor nation. When a man labours for nothing more

than what he expends on pleasure, or to gratify his taste and passions,

it is still the same, he consumes what he creates, and there is an end of

the matter; and, whether he creates much or little, as his consumption

is regulated by it, no difference is made to society; but, when rent and

taxes constitute a part of the price of every commodity, the

consumption of every man, whether he pays any taxes directly or not,

himself, is attended with an increase to the revenues of those who

receive the rent and taxes, and obliges him to create more than he

consumes.

---

{188} Some philosophers call a man rich, who wants little, and has

that little; they are quite right, in their way, but that does not apply

here. Perhaps, according to their definition, the Lazzaroni of Naples

are richer than the merchants of London; and, a man who is contented

in a parish work-house, is, beyond dispute, rich; to say that such a man

is wealthy would be absurd, because wealth, with writers on political

economy, implies being possessed of real tangible property.

-=-

[end of page #236]

It arises from this, that the aggregate wealth of a people increases with

rent and taxes; for, where there are neither, the desire of accumulation

is the only thing that increases wealth. {189}

It is for this reason, that, by obliging a man to create more than he

himself consumes, taxation increases the wealth of a nation; so that

the flourishing state of England is a very natural effect of heavy

taxation. The misery and poverty of those people who have little or

nothing to pay, is equally natural, though it does not astonish one quite

so much.

As there is nothing in the world without a bound, and a limit, it is

clear, that, in laying it down as a principle, that rent and taxes

occasion wealth instead of poverty, it is only to be understood, to a

certain extent; that is to say, to the length to which the nature of things

will admit of the exertion of man augmenting his industry, but not a

step farther.

To ascertain this point would be to solve a most curious problem;

observing, that the solution would, in every case, depend on a great

variety of particular circumstances.

Something like a general investigation, however, is possible. It will

not be accurate, nor is that wanted, but it may lay the foundation for

understanding the matter better at a future period.

In London, rent and taxes are heavier than in any other part of the

kingdom, and in Scotland they are less than in any other; yet, the

working people, from all parts of the kingdom, come to London, and

from the poorest places, in the greatest numbers. Ireland, Scotland,

and Wales, are the poor countries, _lightly taxed_, and from them

---

{189} Accumulation is sometimes not a passion, but arises from

necessity; by accumulation, is meant the increasing the value of the

stock you possess, whether it consists of land, cattle, money, or

merchandize.

Thus, for example, the Americans are increasing in wealth, from

necessity, because their country is becoming better, by being

cultivated, in order to produce what is necessary. They cannot have

what they want, in the way they wish, without increasing or bettering

the property of which they have taken possession.

If they had no more rent and taxes than they have, and if this were not

the case, they would remain a poor people. Thus, the inhabitants of

Syria, of Egypt, of Arabia Felix, formerly the finest countries in the

world, having a property that does not better in their possession, and

having scarcely either rent or taxes to pay, remain, from generation to

generation, creating little, and consuming what they create.

-=-

[end of page #237]

people come, perpetually, to pay _heavy taxes_ in London. Yes, but it

will be said, in answer, these are poor countries. They are, however,

richer than England was in the days of Queen Elizabeth; and, if the

nature of things could have admitted of people _changing centuries_,

as they _change countries_, the people of the seventeenth century,

with light taxes, would have emigrated to the nineteenth century, with

all its heavy taxes, just as those Irish and Scotch come to London.

This proves that, even in London, the excess of taxes is not yet such as

to create a retrograde effect, and it proves it in a very striking manner.

Though there may, at first sight, appear something ludicrous in the

idea of emigrating from the seventeenth to the nineteenth, from the

reign of Queen Elizabeth to that of his present majesty, it is a perfectly

fair comparison, and will hold good, examine it as much as one will.

The common expression, (and a very significant one it is,) that one

part of the country is a century behind another, or twenty years, or

fifty years, is exactly the same idea, expressed in other words, for it is

a comparison between the changes which a lapse of time makes in one

case, and a removal of place in the other. The present times are then

better to live in than those of Elizabeth, as London is better than any

distant part of the country.

That the ability of the nation to sustain a given burthen, for a certain

number of years, is no proof of a permanent ability to support it, must

be admitted, even if the same annual resources were to continue; but,

that permanent ability becomes much less certain, when we consider

that the annual resources are perpetually varying, that, therefore, they

have so many uncertain quantities, that it is impossible to resolve the

problem.

As to the effect, with respect to the increasing the burthens of the

people, that has been treated under the general head of taxation.

Whether the money goes to pay for a ship of war, a regiment of

soldiers, or the interest of loans, makes no difference to him who pays

the tax; and, indeed, makes little to the general system of national

economy, as, in every case, what is paid to the state is employed on

unproductive labourers or idle people. That is to say, it is consumed,

and never appears again.

[end of page #238]

National debt, then, so far as it increases the taxes of a country, is like

any other national expenditure; and, in maintaining unproductive and

idle people, it is also the same; but it has, in another point of view, a

different effect, and that effect is an advantageous one.

In every nation, the greatest part of the capital is employed, or, as it is

called, sunk. Land, houses, machines, merchandize, &c. are the

principal employments of capital. As those are transferred from one to

another, or as the use or produce of them is paid for, by one to

another, money is wanted occasionally; and, if there were no other

employments, money must either be lying idle in some persons =sic=

hands, till an employment could be found for it, or the possessor of it

must begin some enterprise, and sink it himself.

But, when money is thus employed, it is no longer in the power of the

proprietor; and, though money may be borrowed on such sort of

security, it is slowly, and with difficulty. The expense, the

inconveniency =sic=, and time necessary, prevent the lenders of

money from lending any for occasional purposes on such sort of

security; but when a nation borrows, and the stock is divisible and

transferable at will, money can always be realized when it is wanted

for any purpose that affords a greater advantage than the stock affords.

{190}

Without this had been one of the effects of national debt, how could

the facility of borrowing have increased, {191} as it has done? or how

could merchants and individuals raise the sums they now do? {192}

---

{190} In 1793, 5,000,000 L. was lent to merchants on exchequer-bills.

The property, on which the money was secured, was really

merchandize, but the lenders would have nothing to do with the

goods; government stepped in, and took the goods as a security,

creating a stock transferrable, that represented the same goods, and, as

if by magic, the money was found in a moment. I know of no

operation so fit for elucidating the advantage of national debt as this.

{191} Borrowing on life rents is bad, for this reason; where there is no

employment of this sort, all money is constantly employed in some

sort of trade or enterprise that will produce profit, but cannot be

realised. Example, Paris, &c.

{192} When money was wanted, in Queen Anne's time, the

Chancellor of the Exchequer, (Mr. Montague,) attended by the Lord

Mayor and Sheriffs, went about, from shop to shop, to borrow it,

much in the way that is occasionally practised by the beadles for a

public charity!! Yet England's credit was good, it owed little, the war

was popular, and the country rich.

-=-

[end of page #239]

It must be allowed that one hundred millions, or at least a much

smaller sum than our debts amount to now, would have produced this

effect, and might answer every purpose of this sort, but there is still a

consideration arising from the fluctuations in a stock, when it is small,

and also from the number of persons possessed of it. People buy in

and sell out with total indifference when the quantity is great, and the

fluctuations small; but, the moment the funds are agitated, whether in

rising or falling, money becomes scarce for those who want it for

other purposes.

That the number of persons ready to buy and sell must be

proportioned, in some degree, to the quantity of stock, is of itself so

evident, that it would be useless to enlarge upon it; but it must be

granted that the national debt has long ago passed the sum that was

necessary to produce this advantage.

We find, then, that the evils attending the increase of debt are greatly

counteracted by the debt itself, and that, to a certain amount, it is

productive of a very considerable advantage to a trading nation. As

those who calculated its ill effects, and foretold the ruin it would bring

upon the state, did not take into account those circumstances, the

result of their enquiries was necessarily wrong, in point of time,

though the effect of which they spoke is perfectly certain to take place,

if the debt continues to increase. Their reasoning may be compared to

that of an astronomer, who observed the position of a planet, but, in

his calculations, made no allowance for the refraction of the

atmosphere, who would therefore err as to the place of the star, but not

as to its existence.

Let us now consider the natural consequence, supposing that future

increase is prevented by means of the sinking fund established for that

purpose. As to the probability of this, it depends on so many

circumstances that are concealed in the womb of time, that it would be

madness to give any other than a hypothetical solution of the question.

If the war continues, and expenses increase nearly as they have

hitherto done, great as is the operation of a sinking fund, it will not

have time to counteract the evil. If the war stops soon, it will dim-

[end of page #240] inish the debt with a most prodigious rapidity,

{193} if it continues; the question, whether taxes can be found to pay

the interest or not? can only be answered as a matter of opinion, which

is, in a case of this sort, equivalent to no answer at all.

With respect to the supposed case of the debt augmenting, the

observations that apply to that have been made already; they now only

remain to be made with respect to the debt being paid off.

It has been observed already, in the chapter on Taxation, that the case

of taxes being taken off to a great amount would be a new one of

sudden and hurtful operation. Wages of labour would be diminished,

as well as the burthens on those who live on settled income; it would

therefore render people of fixed income more affluent, without giving

ease to those who want it; in short, as the augmentation of taxes falls

most on people with fixed incomes, so the advantages of this would

principally be felt by them; and, as the baneful operation carries a sort

of counteracting antidote with it, so, likewise, this beneficial operation

would be attended with some drawback and inconveniency =sic=.

The diminution of taxes, though the ultimate is not, however, the

immediate consequence of the operation of the sinking fund, the

efficacy of which depends on the taxes being kept up to their full

extent for a considerable time. =sic= The first effect of the fund is,

that a large sum, annually expended, as revenue drawn from the

subject, is reimbursed to the stockholders, and becomes capital.

This would immediately raise the funds, and thereby would counteract

the sinking fund itself in a very material degree. Money would

become abundant for all the purposes of trade, and it would be

difficult

---

{193} A sort of ridicule has been thrown on the operation of

compound interest, because its effects are so amazing as not to be

capable of being realized; but, on this subject, two things are to be

said,--first of all, it has never been to the operation during the first

hundred years that either incredulity or ridicule have applied, and the

sinking fund was never meant to continue to operate so long.

Secondly, though there are many drawbacks on the employment of

large sums laid out at interest, that diminish, and would at last destroy,

the result of the calculation in accumulating; it is not so in paying off

debt, where the effect calculated is produced with the greatest

certainty.

-=-

[end of page #241]

to find employment for it; and, if the progress continued, part of it

would most undoubtedly be sent to other countries, and so be the

means of impoverishing this.

If, then, we could suppose fifty years of peace, and that the national

debt could be paid off, (as it might be in that time,) the situation of

productive labourers would be worse; of unproductive, better; and,

finally, capital would leave the country, which would be deprived of

that transferable stock, the beneficial effects of which have been

mentioned.

The necessity that creates industry would be diminished, so that

nothing could tend more effectually to bring on the decline of the

nation than if all the debt were to be paid off; an operation which,

though possible in calculation, never certainly would take place; the

evils attending it would be so manifest, so clear, and so palpably felt

before that was accomplished.

To let the national debt continue to increase is, then, certain ruin, at

some period unknown, but perhaps not very distant; to pay it off

would be equally dangerous: what then are we to do?

We must try to raise the resources necessary for war within the year,

by which means we may avoid augmenting the debt. That is not,

however, to be done while the present heavy interest remains, and that

cannot be got rid of, according to any method yet publicly known,

without bankruptcy, breaking faith with creditors, or paying off the

debt; a resource in itself dangerous, and one that, after all, would bring

relief at a very distant day.

Since the debt has been contracted, let it be kept up; but let a mode be

taken of reducing the interest, without breaking faith with the creditors

of the state, so that we may never be obliged to borrow any more.

At present, the sum that goes annually for interest, and for the sinking

fund, (that is for paying off capital,) amounts to twenty-four millions,

and the expenses of a year of war do not exceed that sum. Twelve

millions of this may be found by war-taxes, and twelve millions

diminution of the interest would just leave a residue sufficient to pay

for a constant state of war; and, if peace came, the war-taxes would be

taken off. The enemies of England would then not be able to make

notches [end of page #242] in a stick, and say, "When we come to

such a notch England will be ruined."

If this could be done it would be a solid and permanent system of

revenue, arising out of an unsolid and transitory one.

Any thing like want of faith with the creditors would, however, not

only be disgraceful and dishonourable, but would reduce such

numbers to beggary, and ruin credit so completely, that the nation

would be lost for ever; and, certainly, if we are to be ruined, there is

no balancing between ruin with honour and ruin with disgrace.

There is a mode that would be fair and practicable, and the present is

the most favourable moment for executing it; indeed, it is perhaps the

only one when it has been practicable or would be just. By

practicability and justice, two words very well understood, we mean,

in this instance, that it is a moment when those who would have to pay

the difference would be willing to do it, would see their interest in

doing it, and would feel that they ought to do it.

We mean not to propose any of those imaginary means, by which

debts will be paid off without burthens laid on. We have no talent for

schemes, where all is produced from nothing, and no faith in their

practicability.

The late and present wars, which have occasioned one-half of the debt,

and for which our exertions are to be continued, were undertaken for

the preservation of property; for, though the French system is so

completely bad that even the beggars in England would be losers by

adopting it, yet, it will be allowed, that the evil to people of property

would be much greater than to those who have no property. Let us

look to Flanders, Holland, and other countries, and say no if we can.

It was on this idea that an income-tax, afterwards termed a property-

tax, was laid on, by which the rich are made to pay, and the poor are

exempted. The justice and expediency of this was universally

admitted: there might be some difference of opinion as to modes and

rates, but there was none as to the general principle.

We would, then, propose to RAISE LOANS, at a low rate of interest

to reimburse the present creditors, ON THE SAME PRINCIPLE ON

WHICH THE PROPERTY-TAX EXISTS, in the following manner:

There are, by Mr. Pitt's calculation, (and his may be taken [end of

page #243] in order to prevent caviling) 2,400,000,000 L. of capital in

the kingdom. Let us then create a two and a half per cent. stock, into

which every person possessed of property should be _compelled_ to

purchase at par, in proportion to their capital, so as to redeem fifty

millions every year, thereby creating fifty millions of new debt at two

and a half per cent. and reimbursing an equal sum bearing an interest

of five per cent.

A loan of two per cent. per annum, on each man's capital would do

this, and would never be an object for the safety of the whole,

particularly as it would only last for ten years. As he would have

interest at two and a half per cent. he would, in reality, only lose half,

that is, one per cent. a year during twelve years; so that a man, with

10,000 L. would only have given 100 L. a year for twelve years.

At the end of ten years, the interest of the national debt would be

reduced to one-half its present amount, which, together with the war-

taxes, would be sufficient to prevent the necessity of creating more

debt. This, however, is not all, a more prompt effect and advantage

may be expected. It is more than probable, that the moment our enemy

found that the nation, could, without any great exertion, put its

finances on a permanent footing, the present contest would finish. It is

now only continued, in hopes of ruining our finances, and it is on the

accumulation of the debt that the expectation of that is alone founded.

We observed, in the beginning of this Chapter, that most people are

biased by hope or fear, in examining a question of great importance;

and that, therefore, they do not state it quite fairly, without being

sensible of their error. In the case of the gloomy calculators of this

country, fear and anxiety operated in causing a misstatement; but, with

regard to our enemies, hope is the cause of their magnifying the effect

of our national debt, and, it must be allowed, that hope had seldom

ever a more easy business to perform. The general conclusion is

certain, and all the question that remains, is with respect to time.

The only mode of putting an end to this hope of our enemy, and to the

war, at once, will be by shewing that enemy _that it is quite out of his

power to augment our debt_, but untill =sic= a method shall be

adopted by [end of page #244] us, that is PRACTICABLE AND

EASILY UNDERSTOOD, that will not be believed by our enemy.

The rapidity of the operation of a sinking fund is easily calculated, but

not so easily credited, particularly by people not inclined to do so, and

who would not themselves have the constancy and self-denial to leave

it time to operate. Besides, by this operation, we shall not get free of

debt till the taxes are raised far above their present amount. Our

enemies may be pardoned for believing it impracticable, particularly

as many of our friends are of the same opinion.

France, which has always been the rival of this country, and hates it

now more than ever, (envy being now an ingredient of its hatred,)

knows well that it is fallen and degraded, that it has less wealth and

happiness than England; but then it considers, that, however bad its

finances may be, they are getting no worse; that to continue the war

for twenty years will bring no more ruin on the nation, while half the

term would probably ruin us. Till we show the fallacy of this

calculation, we cannot expect a durable peace. Our ruin is become an

object, not only of ambition, but of necessity, as it were, to France;

and nothing but despair of being able to accomplish their object will

make them abandon the attempt.

We must be permitted here to ask a few questions:

Is not the time favourable for the plan here proposed?

Would it not be fair in its operation?

Would it not bring relief effectually and speedily?

Would it not reduce our burthens, without breaking faith with the

creditors of the state?

Would it not reduce the interest, without setting too much capital

afloat, that might leave the country?

Could our enemies then calculate on the national debt destroying

England?

The affairs of nations, it has been observed, become so complicated,

and the details so multiplied, that those who have the management of

them are scarcely equal to the business of the day; and they have no

leisure to inquire into the best modes of keeping off evil when it is yet

distant; of this we have had ample experience.

[end of page #245]

Allowing all the credit possible to the sinking fund, (and a great deal

is due,) still during war its operation is a sort of paradox; it does not

obtain relief: it is liable to be questioned; but we are come to a point,

where the stability of our finances ought to be put out of doubt, and

beyond all question. The mode of settling our affairs ought not only to

be such as in the end may succeed, but its efficacy and practicability

ought to be such as our enemies can understand and give credit to.

Without this, we shall have no end to the contest.

With respect to what our enemies will give credit to, a good deal

depends on their own natural disposition. A fickle and arbitrary

people, who are continually breaking their faith, can have little belief

in the constancy of a sinking fund, but they will be perfectly well

inclined to believe, that men of property may be compelled, and will

even be glad to pay one per cent. a year, for ten years, to ensure the

safety of that property. Supposing then that the sinking fund were the

better plan of the two in reality, it would not be so in the present

circumstances, because it would not obtain credit, and the other will.

As to the rest, deprive the French of their hopes of ruining our

finances, and they will make peace on reasonable terms, whenever we

please; their object for continuing the war will then be at an end; and,

if they do continue it, we can go on as long as they can, without any

addition to our burthens.

Whatever the cause of a war may be, the hope of success is the only

possible motive for persisting in it. The French have been led into two

errors; first, by the comparison of this country to Carthage, and of

their own to Rome, (an absurd comparison that does not hold,) and, in

the second place, by looking on our ruin, from the increase of our

debt, as certain. We ought to undeceive them, and then they will have

less inclination to persist in war. No pains has hitherto been taken to

set them right; nor, indeed, with respect to the national debt, can it

ever be done by the present method, till they see the effect; for though

the progress of a sinking fund in peace is easily understood, in time of

war there is much appearance of deception; it looks like slight =sic=

of hand more than a real and solid transaction.

[end of page #246]

CHAP. V.

_Of Taxes for the Maintenance of the Poor.--Their enormous

Increase.--The Cause.--Comparison between those of England and

Scotland.--Simple, easy, and humane Mode of reducing them_.

Amongst the interior causes that threaten England with decline,

none is more alarming than the increasing expenses of the poor;

expenses evidently rising in a proportion beyond our prosperity, and

totally without example, either in the history of past times, or in that

of any modern nation.

The poor of England cost more to maintain than the free revenue of

the country amounted to thirty years ago, and to nearly three times the

amount of the whole revenues of the nation, at the time of the

revolution.

The proportion between the healthy and the sick cannot have changed

so much as to account for this augmentation; we must, therefore, seek

for the cause elsewhere.

It probably arises from several causes; the increasing luxury, which

leaves more persons in indigence when they come to an advanced age,

owing to their being unwilling or unable to undergo the hardships to

which nature subjects those who have been born to labour, and outlive

their vigour; being thereby deprived of those indulgences which, in

better days, they have experienced. In England, menial servants are

accustomed to consume more than people of moderate fortune do in

other countries, and they are the race of people most likely to be left to

penury in their old age. In countries where there are, indeed, greater

trains of menial attendants than in England, they, in general, belong to

the great, who make some provision for them, or who, keeping them

from ostentation, can retain them to a more advanced age; and, at all

events, as they live a less luxurious life, they can make a better stand

against that penury which it is their hard destiny to encounter. [end of

page #247]

In a commercial country there is less attachment between master and

servant, than in any other; and the instances of provision for them are

very rare.

In proportion as a nation gets wealthy, the human race shares the same

fate with other animals employed in labour; they are worked hard, and

well fed while they are able to work, but their services are not

regarded when they can do but little. {194}

Want of economy in the management of the funds destined for the

purpose of their maintenance is another cause of increase in the

expense of the poor. In a nation where every individual is fully

occupied with his affairs, and has little time to attend to any thing else,

those who manage the affairs of the poor find that few are inclined to

look close into matters, and fewer still have the means of doing it if

they would; so that abuses increase, as is always the case when there

is no counteracting check to keep them within bounds.

Another cause, no doubt, is that, as the number of unproductive

labourers increase, greater numbers of children are left in want.

To all those causes we must add the increase of towns, and the

decrease of hamlets and villages. Towns are the places where

indigence has the greatest consolation, and where the relief which is

held out is attended with the least degree of humiliation and reproach.

When we compare the cases of England and Scotland, the causes

cannot be doubted; for, there, servants live harder, the working class

do not labour so hard, and are not so soon worn out, neither have the

towns increased so much, at the expense of the hamlets and villages.

The greatest of all the causes of the increase of poor, however, arises

from taxation and rent. It has been observed, in the chapter on

Taxation, that, for a certain length, taxes and rent are productive of

industry, and that, at last, they finish by crushing it entirely.

---

{194} If it were the custom to keep horses that were worn out till they

died a natural death, the maintenance of them would cost more in

England than in any other country; for their vigour is exhausted before

the term of old age arrives. The calculation is in this country, to pay

well, and be well served.

-=-

[end of page #248]

The manner that this happens, is, that long before a country is as

highly taxed as the majority of its inhabitants will bear, those who are

the least able to pay are crushed, and reduced to absolute poverty.

There are two causes which may render a person unable to support the

burthen of taxation: the one is, having a great family; the other is,

being able to gain but little from weakness, or some other cause; and,

where there are two causes that tend to produce the same effect,

though they operate separately, they must, of course, sometimes act in

conjunction.

The weakest part of society gives way first, in every country; and, on

account of the arbitrary and ignorant, though lavish method of

relieving that portion of society, in England, the evil is increased to

more than double.

There is no relief at home in their own houses, no help, no aid, for the

indigent, which might produce so admirable an effect, by

counteracting the ruin brought on by heavy taxes and high prices; no,

the family must support itself, or go wholesale to the workhouse. This

is one of those clumsy rude modes of proceeding that a wealthy

people, not overburthened with knowledge, naturally takes to

overcome a difficulty, but without care or tenderness for the feelings

of those relieved, or that regard for public interest, which ought to go

hand in hand. For this it would be well to search a remedy.

A father and mother, and six children, will cost, at least, fifty pounds a

year in a workhouse; but, perhaps, the aid of twelve or fifteen pounds

would keep them from going there, and by that means save the

greatest part of the money, while the country, which loses their

industry, would be doubly a gainer.

There is a sort of rough, vulgar, and unfeeling character, prevalent

amongst the parish-officers, that is a disgrace to the country and to the

character of Englishmen. It is highly prejudicial to the nation; and, if

there were no moral evil attending it, if the feelings of the poor were

no object, =sic= the rich ought to attend to it for self-interest. If they

will not, the government of the country is interested, both in honour

and in interest, to do so.

Exemption from taxes will do little or nothing, the lower orders [end

of page #249] are nearly all exempt, but that general dearness, that is

the consequence of a general weight of taxes, is severely felt by them,

and from that they cannot be exempted. They must get relief by

assistance, and that assistance ought to be given in a manner that will

not throw them altogether a burthen on the public. {195}

It is impossible to tax the people of a nation so highly, as they can all

bear, because, before some will feel, others will be crushed; before the

bachelor feels the tax, the father of a large family is obliged to starve

his innocent offspring. Before he who has only two children feels the

hard pressure, the family of twelve will be reduced to want; and so in

proportion. The mode, then, to raise the most money possible, would

be to tax the whole nearly as high as the bachelor can bear, and then to

give a drawback in favour of the man with the children, they would

then be on a perfect equality as to taxation, and the highest sum

possible might be raised without hurting any one portion of the people

more than another.

If the links of a chain are not all equally strong, before any strain is

felt by the strong links the weak ones give way, and the chain is

broken. The case is the same with the members of a community. Now,

when you lay on taxes, the general tendency is to raise the price of

food and labour; most labourers receive the advantage of the price of

labour, but many pay unequally for the rise of food.

A tax on the wealthy, it will be said, is the thing proposed, but no, that

would do nothing, it must be a premium or drawback to men with

families who are poor, not merely to counteract the effect of any one

tax, but the total effect of taxation with respect to maintaining their

children. Wide, indeed, is the difference between a tax on those who

are well able to pay, and a premium or drawback in favour of those

who are not.

The manner of providing for the poor in England leads to a degree

---

{195} Probably, the reason that so small a sum serves the purpose in

Scotland is, that relief is administered to the families, at their own

houses, by the minister and elders of the parish. It is a rare instance of

an administration, without emoluments and without controul. The

funds are distributed with clean hands, in all cases, and impartially in

most.

-=-

[end of page #250]

of wastefulness and improvidence unknown in any other country.

Improvidence ought as much as possible to be discouraged; for, with

those who labour hard and are indigent, the desire to gratify some

pressing want, or present appetite, is continually uppermost. This may

be termed the war between the belly and the back, in which the former

is generally the conqueror. It would be a small evil if this victory were

decided seldom, as in other countries, but in the great towns of

England there is as it were a continual state of hostility. In London,

the battle is fought, on an average, at least, once a week; and idleness,

and the profits of those sort of petty usurers, called pawnbrokers, are

greatly promoted by it.

Some part of this evil cannot, perhaps, be remedied, but there are

certain articles that ought not to be taken in pledge, such as the clothes

of young children and working tools. {196}

There is no doubt but, that, in a populous inhospitable trading town,

where there is no means of obtaining aid, from friendship, where the

want is sometimes extreme, the resource of pledging is a necessary

one. This is to be admitted in the degree, but by no means without

limitation; for the facility creates the want, (even when it is a real

want) for it brings on improvidence and carelessness. The lower

classes come to consider their apparel as money, only that it requires

changing before it is quite current. {197}

If this matter were well looked into, together with the other causes

from which mendicity proceeds, which increases so rapidly, we

should

---

{196} In Scripture it is forbidden to pledge the upper or the nether

mill-stone. This is a proof, of very great antiquity, and indisputable

authority, of the care taken to prevent that sort of improvidence that

hurts the general interest of a people. It should be imitated in this

country with regard, to all portable implements of labour, such as

mill-stones were in those early times.

{197} In Scotland, twenty years ago, there were not so many

pawnbrokers as there are in Brentford, or any little village round

London. In Paris, as debauched a town as London, and where charity

was as little to be expected, there was only one lending company, the

profits of which, after dividing six per cent., went to the Foundling

Hospital. It was, as in London, a resource in cases of necessity, but

there was too much trouble to run it on every trifling occasion, as is

done in London, and, indeed, in most towns in England.

-=-

[end of page #251]

soon perceive a diminution of the poors' rates, and the wealthiest

country of Europe would not exhibit the greatest and most multiplied

scenes of misery and distress.

The numbers of children left in indigence, by their parents, would be

comparatively lower, and there would not be that waste in the

administration of the funds on which they are supported.

There is, probably, no means of greatly diminishing the number of

helpless poor, but by an encouragement to lay up in the hour of health

an abundance to supply the wants of feebleness and age, but this

might go a great way to diminishing the evil. All persons who have

places under government, of whatever nature, ought to be compelled

to subscribe to such institutions; this would be doing the individuals,

as well as the community, a real service, and would go a great way to

the counteracting of the evil. {198} Preventatives are first to be

applied, and after those have operated as far as may be, remedies.

The poor, &c. to whose maintenance 5,500,000 L. a year goes, (a sum

greater than the revenues of any second rate monarchy in Europe,)

may be divided into three classes:

First, Those who by proper means might be prevented from wanting

aid.

Second, Those who, for various reasons, cannot get a living in the

regular way, but might, with a little aid, either maintain themselves, or

nearly so; and,

Third, Those who, from inability, extreme age, tender youth, or bodily

disease, are unable to do any thing, and must be supported at the

public expense. Nobody will dispute that there are of all those

descriptions maintained at pressnt =sic=; and, therefore, all that can

create a difference of opinion is about the proportions between the

three.

It is probable that one-half, at least, could maintain, or nearly

---

{198} The widows scheme, as it is called in Scotland, for the aid of

the widows and children of clergymen, is a most excellent institution;

it has been attended with the best effects, both on individual happiness

and national prosperity so far as it goes. The plan is such as might,

with very little variation, be applied to all the officers of the revenue,

clerks in office, &c. &c.

-=-

[end of page #252]

maintain, themselves; one-quarter might be prevented from ever

requiring any aid at all; and the other quarter would be assisted as at

present.

This would reduce the expenses to less than one-third, and, probably,

to one-quarter of what they are now; that is, of 5,500,000 L. there

would be a saving of 3,500,000 L. but that is not all, for the national

industry would be augmented by 2,000,000 L. and more; that is to say,

by the industry of the half that maintained themselves, so that the

nation would gain partly in money saved, and partly in money got,

5,500,000 L.

According to the true spirit of the English nation, in which there is a

great fund of generosity and goodness at the bottom, it may perhaps

be said, that the poor are not able to labour at all, and, that the plan

would not answer. This is but a rough manner of answering a

proposal, which neither is in reality, nor is meant to be, void of

humanity. There were, by last years =sic= accounts, nearly 900,000

persons of one sort and another maintained or relieved, which does not

make above six pounds a year for each person, now, where is there a

person that can work at all, that cannot earn above four-pence a day in

England? {199}

The plan for remedying this abuse ought to be very simple, for it will

be administered by such ignorant and rough directors, that, if it is not

simple, it must fail entirely.

---

{199} It would be foreign to the plan of this Inquiry to enter into the

details of the poor persons, and shew the absurdity of the

management; but, it is very evident, from those that are printed, that

they get no work to do, the quantity of materials delivered to them to

work upon will not admit of earning money to maintain themselves.

The following is a specimen of the attention given to this subject, and

the means taken to enable the poor to pay for their maintenance, by

their labour. In Middlesex, where the expense amounted, in 1803, to

123,700 L. or about 340 L. a day, the sum expended to buy materials

amounted to no more than 4L.1s.11d. !!! It is impossible to

comprehend how this capital stock could be distributed amongst

above ten thousand labourers. It is not very easy to conceive the

impertinence of those who presented this item, as a statement to the

House of Commons, which would have done well to have committed

to the custody of the sergeant-at-mace, the persons who so grossly

insulted it. One thing, however, is very easily understood and

collected from all this. The business altogether is conducted with

ignorance, and executed carelessly and negligently, and that to an

extreme and shameful degree.

-=-

[end of page #253]

To have a good surgeon or physician is essential; and those who

would not work, and who were able, should have the same allowance

that a prisoner has in a jail; but those who would work should be paid

a fair price, and allowed to lay out the money, to hoard it, or do as

they please, except drinking to excess. [{200}]

Though many for want of vigour are refused employment in a

workshop, some for want of character, and others for various reasons,

become burthensome, yet there are not a few, who, from mere

laziness, throw themselves upon the parish, where they live a careless

life, free from hunger, cold, and labour. When the mind is once

reconciled to this situation, the temptation is considerable, and there

are many of those poor people, who will boast that the have

themselves been overseers, and paid their share to the expenses.

Whatever evil is found to have a tendency to increase with the wealth

of a nation ought, most carefully, to be kept under; and this is one not

of the least formidable, and, of all others, most evidently arising from

bad management and want of attention.

It would be necessary to have all sorts of employment, that the

persons in such places can, with advantage, be occupied in doing, and

a small allowance should be made to defray general expenses;

amongst which, ought to be that of surveyors of districts, who should,

like those employed by the excise-office, inspect into the state of the

different poor-houses, and the whole should be reported, in a proper

and regular manner, to the government of the country, from time to

time.

Those little paltry parish democracies that tax one part of the people,

and maltreat the other, ought to be under some proper con-

---

{200} [Transcriber's note: assumed location--footnote not assigned a

place in the text.]

The system, in England, of only employing people in the vigour of life

is a source of much mischief, and is an increasing evil, which

government, the East India company, and all the public bodies, are

encouraging. Men are treated in this instance exactly like horses. They

are worked hard and well rewarded in their vigour; but, in so wealthy

a county =sic= as this, those occupied in commerce, and men in

power, will not be troubled with any but such as can do their business

with little trouble to the master. They do not consider what mischief

they are preparing for their country. Shenstone, the poet, seems to

have thought of this when he says, in a case of woe:

"But power and wealth's unvarying cheek was dry."

-=-

[end of page #254]

troul; and the happiness and prosperity of England should not be left

at their mercy.

In a country where every thing is done with such admirable accuracy

in the revenue-department, as England, it would be useless to attempt

pointing out the manner of executing the plan; it is sufficient to shew

its practicability and the necessity of attending to it.

If, in the first instance, the advantage would be such as is here

mentioned, it would, in a few years, be much greater, particularly in so

far as fewer families would be left in a state of indigence; for, it is

clear, that such families are a continual encumbrance on the rising

generation, and tend to the diminution of the general mass of useful

citizens.

If it should so happen, that taxes augment, or that trade falls off, (both

of which may very likely happen,) then the interference of

government may become a matter of absolute necessity; but then,

perhaps, it may be too late. It would be much better if government

would interfere, before the evil is actually come to the highest pitch.

The parishes might, perhaps, look with jealousy on an interference of

this sort, as being an infringement on their rights; for Englishmen are

sometimes very tenacious of privileges that are highly pernicious to

themselves. This difficulty, (for it probably would be one,) might be

got over, by previously establishing inspectors in the different bishop's

sees, who should be obliged to render an account to the bishop, to be

communicated to government, by which means, the evil would either

be removed, or its existence ascertained, so as to answer the

complaints that might be made, and thereby prevent all discontent on

the subject.

Without being able to say what might absolutely be the best remedy, it

is, at least, fair to ask the question, whether it is fit that the

administration of 5,500,000 L. a year should be intrusted to the hands

of ignorant men? It may likewise be asked, if the feelings of the

necessitous ranks of society (as keen in many instances as those of

their betters,) should be wounded by men, who have not sufficient

knowledge of any sort to act with the humanity necessary. The

candidates for popular favour, amongst the lower housekeepers, are

generally flattering, fauning =sic=, cringing men, and such are almost

without exception, cunning, ignorant, and overbearing, wherever they

have the least [end of page #255] authority over others. Such, in

general, are the parish-officers, to whose care this important affair is

committed.

Though this is an institution almost on the purely democratic principle

of equal representation, it is a very bad specimen of that mode of

government. The shameful lawsuits between parishes, about paupers,

the disgraceful and barbarous treatment of women, who have been

betrayed and abandoned, admit of no excuse. They are not productive

even of gain or economy. Amongst some tribes of savage Indians, the

aged and helpless are put to death, that they may not remain a burthen

on those who are able and in health; and it is equally true, that, in

England, the young innocents, who have not parents to protect them,

are considered as a burthen; and, if they are not absolutely sent out of

the world, the means necessary to preserve them in it are very

inadequate to the purpose. If criminality could be engraved on a

graduated scale, their deaths ought in general to be written down at

some intermediate point between accidental homicide and wilful

murder. The persecution of this unfortunate race may be said to

commence before they are born; and, though the strength of a nation

depends much on its population, less care is taken to encourage it,

than to produce mushrooms, or to preserve hares and partridges.

[end of page #256]

CHAP. VI.

_Causes of Decline, peculiar to England_.

In addition to the causes of decline which Britain, as a wealthy

country, has, in common with most other nations, it has some peculiar

to itself, (or of which the degree at least is peculiar to it).

The national debt, the high rate of taxation, the prodigious expense of

the poor, and the nature of the government, are peculiar to this

country. There are other circumstances in its favour, of which we shall

speak in the next chapter; but, in this, we shall review those that are

against it, and of an unfavourable nature and operation.

The high rate of taxation, for the very reason that it is the highest ever

known, inspires our enemies with hopes of our downfall, and makes

them persevere in continuing to put us to expense.

The unprecedented commerce we enjoy, of which every other nation

would wish to have a share, (and of which each, most mistakenly,

thinks it would have a share, if Britain was undone,) is a cause of

attracting envy and enmity, and repelling friendship. Our colonies in

the West, and our possessions in the East, act like the conductors that

draw the electric fluid to a building, but they do not, like those

conductors, serve to protect it from violence. We have seen, that the

advantage arising from them is more than doubtful, that they enrich

individuals and impoverish the state; but all this would be nothing

new, were it not for the vast scale on which those evils exist.

The poor's rate, which is in itself completely unexampled, though a

common thing to all nations, is so exorbitant in England, that it may

very properly be ranked amongst the dangers peculiar to this country.

Who would believe, that Frederick the Great of Prussia carried on his

brilliant and successful wars against the most formidable enemies,

expended more than one-eighth of his revenues annually on the

encouragement of industry, and left his treasury well stored, yet all

this with an income, less by one-fourth than the sums that go to

support [end of page #257] the poor in England, notwithstanding all

the miserable manoeuvres that are practiced =sic= to avoid giving

them assistance?

The form of government in England, though best for the liberty of the

subject, and for the security of persons and property, is deficient in the

means of repressing those infringements which particular bodies of

people make upon the community at large. The representative system,

when well understood, divides itself into parties, having different

interests. There are the commercial, the landed, the East India, the

West India, and the law, all of which have great parliamentary

influence, and can be formidable to any minister; they therefore have a

means of defending their interests, and they are concerned so deeply

as to take a very active part whenever any questions are agitated

relative to them.

The landed interest and the law are, indeed, the only ones that have

any great party in the House of Peers; but then the House of Peers

seldom interferes in matters that concern the interests of the others.

The Lords seem not to think it their province; and, in general, more

through diffidence than negligence, they avoid meddling, though, to

do that honourable house justice, to it we owe much. Many bills, of a

dangerous tendency, have been thrown out by it, after they had passed

the other house; and it has been generally done with a wisdom,

magnanimity, and moderation, which is only to be accounted for by a

true love of the country and an upright intention. {201}

---

{201} It is wonderful to what a length good intention, (zeal apart,)

will go in leading men right, even when they have not paid very

particular attention to a subject. There is a feeling of what is wise, as

well as of what is right, that partakes a little of instinct, perhaps, but

is more unerring than far fetched theory on many occasions. This was

seen in a most exemplary manner, at the time that the principles of the

French revolution were most approved of here. Those principles were

plausible, though flimsy, and founded on sophisms, and a species of

reasoning, that plain unlettered men could not answer, and men who

did give themselves the pains to reason might have answered; yet,

three times in four, it was the man who could not answer it, who,

guided by upright intentions, rejected it as bad, without being able to

tell why. The most acute were, in this case, the most deceived; for it

must now be allowed, that all approbation of the theories, relative to

the rights of man, and the manner of asserting them were wrong.

Many of those who fell into the error had, no doubt, unblameable

intentions, but they did not consult common sense.

-=-

[end of page #258]

In every assembly, a small number, who completely understand their

own interest, can do a great deal, if they will act together; but, this is

not all, they can use arguments with a minister that pave the way for

obtaining the ends they have in view, while the general interests of the

country alarm no one but upon great occasions.

Under arbitrary monarchs, all bodies with separate interests, are kept

in due order, they have no means of defending themselves but by

remonstrance, which, against power, is but a very inadequate

protection.

There is nothing forced or chimerical in this statement of the case, and

the consequence is, that no country ever saw any bodies rise to such a

height, except the clergy in Roman Catholic countries, and the barons

during the feudal system, when they had arms in their hands; who, if

they could not absolutely resist their sovereign, were at least able to

refuse him aid, and could annoy him greatly. But those examples will

bear no comparison with the separate interests in England at this time.

The barons have long lost their power, and the Roman Catholic clergy

have lost the greatest part of their power and revenue also. If they had

not, wealthy and powerful kingdoms would not have existed.

Under a free government, where people think that an opposition to a

minister in parliament is a most excellent thing, the energies of the

nation, as to war, are greatly lessened. This must, in its connections

with other nations, produce very hurtful effects; but, where the evil is

without a remedy, there is no advantage in dwelling upon it; and it

does not appear that there is any possibility of separating from a free

government, some sort of an opposing power, that must hamper the

executive, and lessen the energies of the nation.

Under pure monarchies, kings can reward merit; they can encourage

talents, and act according to circumstances. In England, the king, or

his ministers, have no fund from which they can do this. An

application to parliament is expensive and troublesome; and, in many

cases, where the object would be fair, it would be unattainable. But

this is not all, for when, by act of parliament, any thing of the sort is

[end of page #259] once done, it is left without proper controul, and

the expense is generally double what it ought to be.

On the whole, there is too little of discretional =sic= power in a

representative government; good cannot be done but by rules, which,

in many cases, it is impossible to comply with. This is a disadvantage

which we labour under, and is a sort of drawback on our excellent

form of government; but this is not like the opposition in the senate, it

may be got over, and merits attention.

Such appear to be the disadvantages to which Britain is peculiarly

liable, either in toto, or in the degree; but, on the other hand, she has

many circumstances in her favour, if they are properly taken hold of;

and, indeed, some, of which the effect will be favourable, whether any

particular attention is paid to them or not. To those we shall advert

with peculiar pleasure, and hope that they will not be neglected, but

that they may afford a means of continuing our career of prosperity on

the increasing scale, or that, at least, they may prevent us from sharing

the fate of those nations that have gone before.

[end of page #260]

CHAP. VII.

_Circumstances peculiar to England, and favourable to it_.

It has been observed, that, in northern nations, where luxury is not

attended with such a degree of sloth and effeminacy as in warm

climates, the habits of industry can never so completely leave a

country. The feelings of cold and a keen appetite are enemies to sloth

and laziness; indeed they are totally incompatible with those habits

and that degradation of character, that are to be found in southern

climates. This advantage Britain shares with other nations of the

north; but she has some peculiar to herself.

Situated in an island, the people have a character peculiar to

themselves, that prevents foreigners and foreign influence from

producing those baneful effects that are so evident in many nations,

where they come and depart with more facility, and where a greater

similarity in manners and in character enable them to act a

conspicuous and a very dangerous part, in the cases of

misunderstanding and party dispute.

In all the wars, bloody and long-contested as they were, between the

houses of York and Lancaster, foreign influence never produced any

effect such as that of Spain did in France, previous to the accession of

Henry IV. or as the influence of France and Spain have produced in

Italy, or that of France on Spain itself, or those of Russia and Prussia

in Poland, with numerous other examples on the continent.

We know of no ideal boundaries in this country. In this country we are

all one people, and can distinguish ourselves from any other; indeed,

the national character is rather too averse to mixing with people from

the continent; but this, that seems now a fault, may some day be

considered as a very useful virtue.

Even in the times when an unfortunate jealousy and mistaken interest

kept England and Scotland at variance, and when the latter kingdom

was in the habit of adopting the politics of France, and [end of page

#261] embracing its interests, there seems to have been some repelling

principle that kept the little nation out of the gripe of the great one.

The French never had any preponderating power there, and, indeed, in

latter times so little, as not to be able to defend Queen Mary or the

Romish religion against the reformers; to do both of which there was

no want of inclination. It appears, then, very clearly, that though, on

the best terms of friendship, the Scotch had at the bottom that British

mistrust of foreigners, that, ever since it was civilized, has freed the

island from foreign influence.

The form of government, the security of property, and the free scope

that is given to exertion in every line of business, will continue to

enable this country to hold itself high, even if some of its present

sources of wealth should be dried up; and, whatever may be the

feelings of the representatives of the people upon ordinary occasions,

the moment that any real danger occurs, they will, we are certain, act

like men, determined to stand by their country.

How feeble was the former French government when assailed with

difficulty? It was at once as if struck motionless, or, the little

animation that was left was just sufficient to enable it to go from one

blunder to another. How different has England been on every

emergency? In place of the arm of government seeming to slacken in

the day of danger, it has risen superior to it. We have never seen the

same scenes happen here, that have taken place in Poland, Sweden,

and so many other places. In the three attempts to invasion, {202}

(Monmouth's and the two other rebellions,) where foreign influence

was used, the event was the most fatal possible to those who made

them; they were contemptible in the extreme; and, if it is considered in

whose favour they were, it is probable the support from a foreign

power rather did injury to the cause.

---

{202} Here we must not confound the case of the Stuarts with that of

the King of France. In England, it was the government that was

divided, the legislative being against the executive; _one_ part of the

government was feeble, but the other was not, and therefore we cannot

say that the government was feeble. In France, the king and ministers

governed alone, they were the whole government, and therefore as

they were feeble, the government may be taxed with weakness.

-=-

[end of page #262]

The form of government has this great advantage in it, that, as abilities

are the way to preferment, the higher classes (at least) have a better

education than the same rank of persons in any other nation, so far as

regards the interest of the public, and the nature of the connection

between the different orders of society; ignorance of which, is the

surest way to be destroyed.

In all new and rising states the higher orders, even under despotic

governments, and where all the distinctions of ranks are completely

established, have a proper regard for the importance and welfare of the

lower orders of people. As they increase in wealth and have lost sight

of its origin, which is industry, they change their mode of thinking;

and, by degrees, the lower classes are considered as only made for the

convenience of the rich. The degradation into which the lower orders

themselves fall, by vice and indolence, widens the difference and

increases the contempt in which they are held. This is one of the

invariable marks of the decline of nations; but the nature of the

English government prevents that, by keeping up a connection and

mutual dependence amongst the poor and the rich, which is not found

either under absolute monarchies or in republics. In republics, the

people become factious and idle, when they become any way wealthy.

In this country, besides the insular situation, circumstances in general

are such as to prevent the lower classes from falling into that sort of

idleness, apathy, and contempt, that they do in other countries, even

supposing these burthens were done away, that at present necessitate

exertion.

To those causes let another still be added, the religious worship of the

country, which, without any dispute or question, is greatly in its

favour.

To speak nothing of the religious opinions or modes of worship in

ancient times, there are three at present that merit attention and admit

of comparison.

The Christian religion is distinguished for raising men in character,

and the Mahomedan for sinking them low. Whenever the Mahomedan

faith has extended, the people are degraded in their manners, and the

governments despotic. The disposition of a Mahomedan king [end of

page #263] or emperor is more different in its nature, from that of a

Christian sovereign, than the form of a hat is from that of a turban.

Under the most despotic Christian sovereigns, matters are governed by

law, there are no regular murders committed by the hand of power,

without the intervention of justice; and if plenitude of power admits of

the greatest excesses in the sovereign, in some Christian countries, the

opinion of his fellow men, the fear of his God, or some sentiment or

principle in his own breast, restrains him in the exercise of it.

It is not so with Mahomedan princes: with them, nothing is sacred that

they hate, nothing shameful that they do. Whatever their conscience

may be, whatever may be the nature of their moral rules, rapine and

murder are certainly not forbidden by them, or the law is not obeyed.

In proportion to the despotism and ferocity of the sovereign, is the

slavishness of the people, their brutality, and vice, in all Mahomedan

countries; their character and its great inferiority is so well known,

that it is impossible for any person to be ignorant of it.

When the Mahomedan governments possess power, they are proud

and overbearing; the people luxurious, and given to every refinement

in vice. When they sink, that pride becomes ferocity, and the luxury

degenerates into brutality and sloth; but neither in the one nor in the

other case have they the proper value for science, for literature, for

liberty, or for any of the acquirements that either make a man

estimable or useful. They neither excel in arts, nor in science;

phisically =sic=, they are inferior in utility, and their minds are less

instructed. They are not equal to Christians either in war or in peace,

nor to be compared to them for any one good quality.

The greatest and the best portion of the old world is, however, in their

hands; but, in point of wealth or power, they are of little importance,

and every day they are sinking lower still.

Amongst those who profess Christianity it has been remarked, by all

who have travelled, and who have had an opportunity of observing it,

that agriculture, commerce, and manufactures, flourish most in

Protestant countries. Even where there are different sects of the

Christian religion in the same country, arts, manufactures, and

commerce, appear to have flourished most amongst the Protestants.

The [end of page #264] cruelties of the Duke of Alva, and the absurd

bigotry of Louis XIV. drove the most industrious inhabitants from the

Netherlands, and from France, merely because they happened to be

Protestants, which is a proof that there is a connection between that

branch of the Christian religion and industry. The Protestants were the

most industrious.

The Protestants appear also to be the most attentive to preserving a

good form of government, and to set a greater value upon liberty than

people of any other religion. In this, England has an advantage that is

inappretiable. {203}

The reformation in religion, and the establishment of manufactures in

England, date from nearly the same period; it was about the same time,

also, that the spirit of liberty began to break out first in Scotland,

and then in England, which terminated in the revolution. There are,

therefore, many reasons, from experience, for believing that the

Protestant religion is particularly favourable to industry and freedom.

There are other reasons, likewise, that arise from a consideration of

the subject, that would lead one to the same conclusion, even if there

were no experience of the fact.

Whatever frees the human mind from useless prejudice, and leads it to

pure morality, gives dignity to man, and increases his power of

becoming a good and useful member of society.

The Christian religion not only contains the most pure moral code, but

the best, most useful, and simple rules for conduct in life are

---

{203} The great influence, founded on attachment to her person, and

the feeling of the long happiness they had enjoyed, under Queen

Elizabeth: her great authority, supported by esteem, and confirmed by

long habit, restrained the spirit of freedom which so soon after

tormented her successors. James had had full experience of that spirit

before he left Scotland; and, when he mounted the English throne, was

known, frequently, to exclaim against presbytry, as the enemy of

monarchy. He, as was very natural, thought that the difference of

religion caused the superior love of freedom in Scotland, for he was

not sensible of the different effects produced by the calm, steady, and

dignified deportment of Elizabeth, and the unsteady conduct of his

unhappy mother, Mary. He also confounded hatred for arbitrary

prerogative in kings, with hatred for kings themselves; and considered

monarchy, and his own sort of monarchy, as essentially the same. Had

he lived in our days, he would have experienced the difference, and

not have considered the church of Scotland as being a greater enemy

to kingly power than that of England, or as being more favourable to

liberty.

-=-

[end of page #265]

there promulgated. The Roman Catholic faith was clogged, in the

early days of the church, with a great number, both of dogmatical and

practical errors, that tend not only to fetter the mind, but actually

embarrass the business of human life.

In a former chapter, we had occasion to speak of the encroachments

made by public bodies on the general mass of the people, but none

ever was so pernicious in its effects, so grasping, and so well

calculated to retain, as the Roman Catholic church.

Their celibacy took away from the clergy every disposition to alienate

even personal property, while the practice of auricular confession, and

the doctrine of the remission of sins, gave them an opportunity of

besieging the human mind in its weakest moment, and the weakest

place, in order to rob posterity, and enrich the church. In the moment

of weakness, when a man's mind is occupied in reflecting on the

errors, and perhaps the crimes, of a long and variegated life; when his

ties to this world are loosened, and his interest in eternity becomes

more lively, and near; a religion that enables a zealous or interested

priest (aided by the casuistry and argument of centuries) to barter a

promise of everlasting bliss, for lands and tenements bequeathed to

the church, provides amply for the acquisition of earthly treasure, for

its ministers, and those devoted to a life of religious pursuits. It is,

indeed, wonderful, that, with such means, the church, in Roman

Catholic countries, did not become more wealthy than it was. {204}

With a continual means of acquiring, and none of alienating, it

appears well qualified for absorbing the whole landed property of a

nation. Such an encroachment on the public wealth, and industry of a

people, is a sufficient reason for the Protestant countries (where the

clergy have not the same means) becoming more wealthy and

industrious.

It would not be difficult to prove that there is an effect produced on

the minds of individuals in Protestant countries, that is favourable to

industry; but a discussion of this nature might seem displaced in a

book of this sort. It is sufficient that we see, from experience and

---

{204} In France, before the revolution, the revenues of the clergy, in

lands, tythes, &c. were reckoned to amount to 25,000,000 L. sterling

per annum. The number of feasts and fasts was also a great drawback

on industry.

-=-

[end of page #266]

reason, that, of all religions, the Christian is the most favourable to the

prosperity of a people, and that of its different branches, the

Protestant, or what is termed the Reformed Religion, is again the best.

It is the religion established in Britain.

Another source of hope arises from a circumstance of very great

importance, and very peculiarly favourable to Great Britain.

It has been observed, that the colonies in the West, and conquests in

the East, cost a great deal and produce little; that, in short, their

possession is of very doubtful advantage.

The possession of the North American provinces, now the United

States, were a great burthen to England, from their first settlement till

about the year 1755, when their trade began to be of advantage to this

nation; but, in twenty years after, the revolt took place, and cost

England a prodigious sum.

To enter into a long detail on this subject it is not necessary; but no

sooner were the hostilities at an end, than the American states bought

more of our manufactures than ever. Their laws and manners are

similar to our own, the same language, and a government evidently

approaching as near to ours as a republican well can to a monarchical

form. There is not, at this time, any branch of trade, either so great in

its amount, or beneficial in its nature, as that with the United States;

with this farther advantage, that it is every day augmenting, {205} and

as no country ever increased so fast in population and wealth, so none

ever promised to afford so extensive a market for our mannfactures

=sic= as the United States. This market is the more secure, that it will

not be the interest of the people who have got possession of that

immense tract of country to neglect agriculture and become

manufacturers, for a long period of time.

The greatest project, by which any nation ever endeavoured to enrich

itself, was certainly that of peopling America with a civilized race of

inhabitants. It was a fair and legitimate mode of extending her means

of acquiring riches; but Britain failed in the manner of obtaining her

object, though not in the object itself, and

---

{205} By this is not literally meant, that the trade every year is greater

than the preceding, but that it continues to increase.

-=-

[end of page #267]

the United States promise to support the industry of England, now that

it has humbled its ambition, far more than both the Indies, which

gratify it so much.

It is highly probable, that America will increase more rapidly in

wealth and population than in manufactures, such as she at present

takes from great Britain; but if the ratio merely continues the same

that it is now, the purpose will be completely answered, and a market

for British manufactures insured for ages to come. In 1802, by the last

census, the inhabitants of the United States amounted to about eight

millions; and, for several years together, the exports of British goods

have amounted to seven millions, so that it is fair to reckon a

consumption equal to sixteen shillings a year to each person. It was

about the same in 1774, previous to the revolt; and, as the population

doubles in about fifteen years, in the course of thirty years more, the

exports to that country alone would amount to 24,000,000 L. provided

we continue to be able to sell at such rates as not to be undersold by

others =sic= nations in the American market.

There is nothing great, nothing brilliant, in this commerce, all is solid

and good; it is a connection founded on mutual wants and mutual

conveniencey, not on monopoly, restriction, or coercion; for that

reason it will be the more durable, and ought to be the more valued;

but it is not. Governments, like individuals, are most attached to what

is dear to purchase and difficult to keep. It is to be hoped, however,

that this matter will be seen in its true light.

One circumstance, that makes the matter still more favourable for

Britain is, that the western country of America, by far the most fertile,

as well as the most extensive, is now peopling very rapidly. The

labour and capital of the inhabitants are entirely turned to agriculture

and not to manufactures, and will be so for a great number of years;

for, when there are fifty millions of inhabitants in the United States,

their population will not amount to one-half of what may naturally be

expected, or sufficient to occupy the lands. The fertility of the soil will

enable the Americans, with great ease to themselves, to make returns

in produce wanted in Europe, so that we may expect a durable, a great,

and an advantageous trade with them. In British [end of page #268]

manufactures our trade was not near so great before the revolt, for we

then supplied America with every article.

This, however, will depend partly on our circumstances; for, if wages

and the prices of our manufactures rise, as they lately have done, our

merchants will buy upon the continent of Europe, what they otherwise

would purchase in England, to supply the American market.

America is the only country in the world where, with respect to the

wages of labour, and the produce of industry, money is of less value

than in England. The Americans will then be able to afford to

purchase English goods, when other nations will not; but then, they

will only purchase such articles as cannot be had elsewhere; for

though they may and will continue able to purchase, they will not do it

if they can get goods that suit them elsewhere. {206}

No country, that we read of in history, ever enjoyed equal advantages

with the American states; they have good laws, a free government,

and are possessed of all the inventions and knowledge of the old

world. Arts are now conveyed across the Atlantic with more ease than

they formerly were from one village to another. It is possible, that a

new market of so great an extent being opened may do away those

jealousies of commerce, which have, for these two or three last

centuries, occasioned many quarrels, and which are peculiarly

dangerous to a nation that has risen high above its level.

All those things, with care and attention, will prove advantageous to

Britain in a superior degree. They afford us much reason for hope and

comfort, and do away one of the causes for fearing a decline that has

been stated, namely, the being supplanted by poorer nations, or by not

having a market for our increasing manufactures.

There remains yet another consideration in favour of Britain, as a

manufacturing and a commercial country; for, as such, we must view

it, reckoning more on industry than on the ideal wealth of our colonies

in the West, and our conquests in the East. It is this, we are the

---

{206} England begins already to lose the market for linen-cloth,

window-glass, fire-arms, and a number of other articles. It would have

entirely lost that of books, if any nation on the continent of Europe

could print English correctly. As, it is, they are printing in America, in

place of our keeping the trade, which we might have done with great

profit and advantage.

-=-

[end of page #269]

latest of European nations that has risen to wealth by commerce and

manufactures. In looking over the map, there does not seem to be any

one to supplant us; all those, who have great advantages, have already

gone before, and, till we see the example of a country renewing itself,

we have a right to disbelieve that it is possible.

Russia is the only country in Europe that is newer than England, and

many circumstances will prevent it from becoming a rival in

commerce. It does not, nor it ever can increase in population, and

carry civilization and manufactures to the same point. Though, very

new, as a powerful European nation, the people are as ancient as most

others in Europe; the territory is so extensive, the climate so cold, and

the Baltic Sea so much to the north, and frozen so many months in the

year, that it never will either be a carrying or a manufacturing country.

To cultivate its soil, and export the produce of its mines, the skins,

tallow, hides, timber, &c. &c. will be more profitable, and suit better

the inhabitants than any competition in manufactures.

It is not in great extensive empires that manufactures thrive the most,

they are great objects for small countries, like England or Holland;

but, for such as Russia, Turkey, or France, they are a less object than

attention to soil and natural productions; and, thus we see, that China,

the greatest of all countries in extent, encourages interior trade and

manufactures, but despises foreign commerce. {207}

One peculiar advantage England enjoys favourable to manufactures,

deserves notice. The law of patents, if it does not make people invent

or seek after new inventions, it at least encourages and enables them

to improve their inventions. Invention is the least part of the business

in respect to public wealth and utility. There has long been a

collection of models, at Paris, made by one of the most in-

---

{207} The smaller a district, or an island is, the exports and imports

will be the greater, when compared with the number of inhabitants.

Take the exports and imports of all Europe, with the other quarters of

the world;--considering Europe as one country, and it will not be

found to amount to one shilling a person per annum. Take the amount

in Britain, it will be found about forty shillings a person. Consider

what is bought and sold by a single village, and it will be still greater

than that; and, last of all, a single labouring family buys all that it

uses, and sells all that it produces. And the meanest family, taken in

this way, does proportionably =sic= more buying and selling than the

richest state, taken in a body. Consider the whole earth as one state,

and it neither exports nor imports.

-=-

[end of page #270]

genious mechanics of the last century, (Mr. Vaucusson,) at the

expense of that government, in which were nearly all the curious

inventions brought forth in England, together with many not known in

it. Some Englishmen, in going through it, brought over new inventions

here, for which they obtained patents, and, by which, they, as well as

the public, were gainers, while the inventions lay useless and dormant

in France.

Invention is not a thing in a man's power, and great inventions are

generally more the effect of accident than of superior abilities; at any

rate, no encouragement is certain to produce invention, but it always

will produce improvement on invention. When a man has a patent for

fourteen years, he does every thing in his power to make the object of

that patent become as generally useful as possible, and this is only to

be done by carrying the improvements as far as he is able. {208}

Others, again, who have no patent, but are of the same trade,

endeavour to preserve their business by improvement, and to this

contest in excellence may be attributed the great progress, made in

England, in bringing manufactures to a higher degree of perfection

than in any other country.

The great inventions, from which others branch out and spring, are not

due, it has often been asserted, to natives of this country. Probably this

may be owing to the circumstance, that they were known before the

advancement of this country in any of the arts; but let that be as it

may, there are a vast number of inventions carried to greater