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diff --git a/old/slvtr10.txt b/old/slvtr10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..bb4b0bb --- /dev/null +++ b/old/slvtr10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,17821 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The trade, domestic and foreign +by Henry Charles Carey + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: The trade, domestic and foreign + +Author: Henry Charles Carey + +Release Date: April, 2005 [EBook #8000] +[This file was first posted on June 10, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE TRADE, DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN *** + + + + +Andrea Ball, Carlo Traverso, Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + +This file was produced from images generously made available by the +Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF/Gallica) at http://gallica.bnf.fr. + + + + + +THE + +SLAVE TRADE, + +Domestic and Foreign: + +WHY IT EXISTS, AND HOW IT MAY BE EXTINGUISHED. + + +BY H. C. CAREY, + +AUTHOR OF "PRINCIPLES OF POLITICAL ECONOMY," "THE PAST, THE PRESENT, +AND THE FUTURE," ETC. ETC. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +The subject discussed in the following pages is one of great +importance, and especially so to the people of this country. The views +presented for consideration differ widely from those generally +entertained, both as regards the cause of evil and the mode of cure; +but it does not follow necessarily that they are not correct,--as the +reader may readily satisfy himself by reflecting upon the fact, that +there is scarcely an opinion he now holds, that has not, and at no +very distant period, been deemed quite as heretical as any here +advanced. In reflecting upon them, and upon the facts by which they +are supported, he is requested to bear in mind that the latter are, +with very few exceptions, drawn from writers holding views directly +opposed to those of the author of this volume; and not therefore to be +suspected of any exaggeration of the injurious effects of the system +here treated as leading to slavery, or the beneficial ones resulting +from that here described as tending to establish perfect and universal +freedom of thought, speech, action, and trade. + +Philadelphia, March, 1853. + + + +CONTENTS. + +CHAPTER I. THE WIDE EXTENT OF SLAVERY + +CHAPTER II. OF SLAVERY IN THE BRITISH COLONIES + +CHAPTER III. OF SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES + +CHAPTER IV. OF EMANCIPATION IN THE BRITISH COLONIES + +CHAPTER V. HOW MAN PASSES FROM POVERTY AND SLAVERY TOWARD WEALTH AND +FREEDOM + +CHAPTER VI. HOW WEALTH TENDS TO INCREASE + +CHAPTER VII. HOW LABOUR ACQUIRES VALUE AND MAN BECOMES FREE + +CHAPTER VIII. HOW MAN PASSES FROM WEALTH AND FREEDOM TOWARD POVERTY +AND SLAVERY + +CHAPTER IX. HOW SLAVERY GREW, AND HOW IT IS NOW MAINTAINED, IN THE +WEST INDIES + +CHAPTER X. HOW SLAVERY GREW AND IS MAINTAINED IN THE UNITED STATES + +CHAPTER XI. HOW SLAVERY GROWS IN PORTUGAL AND TURKEY + +CHAPTER XII. HOW SLAVERY GROWS IN INDIA + +CHAPTER XIII. HOW SLAVERY GROWS IN IRELAND AND SCOTLAND + +CHAPTER XIV. HOW SLAVERY GROWS IN ENGLAND + +CHAPTER XV. HOW CAN SLAVERY BE EXTINGUISHED? + +CHAPTER XVI. HOW FREEDOM GROWS IN NORTHERN GERMANY + +CHAPTER XVII. HOW FREEDOM GROWS IN RUSSIA + +CHAPTER XVIII. HOW FREEDOM GROWS IN DENMARK + +CHAPTER XIX. HOW FREEDOM GROWS IN SPAIN AND BELGIUM + +CHAPTER XX. OF THE DUTY OF THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES + +CHAPTER XXI. OF THE DUTY OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND + + + + +THE SLAVE TRADE, DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE WIDE EXTENT OF SLAVERY. + + +Slavery still exists throughout a large portion of what we are +accustomed to regard as the civilized world. In some countries, men +are forced to take the chance of a lottery for the determination of +the question whether they shall or shall not be transported to distant +and unhealthy countries, there most probably to perish, leaving behind +them impoverished mothers and sisters to lament their fate. In others, +they are seized on the highway and sent to sea for long terms of +years, while parents, wives, and sisters, who had been dependent on +their exertions, are left to perish of starvation, or driven to vice +or crime to procure the means of support. In a third class, men, their +wives, and children, are driven from their homes to perish in the +road, or to endure the slavery of dependence on public charity until +pestilence shall Send them to their graves, and thus clear the way for +a fresh supply of others like themselves. In a fourth, we see men +driven to selling themselves for long periods at hard labour in +distant countries, deprived of the society of parents, relatives, or +friends. In a fifth, men, women, and children are exposed to sale, and +wives are separated from husbands, while children are separated from +parents. In some, white men, and, in others, black men, are subjected +to the lash, and to other of the severest and most degrading +punishments. In some places men are deemed valuable, and they are well +fed and clothed. In others, man is regarded as "a drug" and population +as "a nuisance;" and Christian men are warned that their duty to God +and to society requires that they should permit their fellow-creatures +to suffer every privation and distress, short of "absolute death," +with a view to prevent the increase of numbers. + +Among these various classes of slaves, none have recently attracted so +much attention as those of the negro race; and it is in reference to +that race in this country that the following paper has recently been +circulated throughout England:-- + + _"The affectionate and Christian Address of many thousands of the + Women of England to their Sisters, the Women of the United States of + America:_ + + "A common origin, a common faith, and, we sincerely believe, a common + cause, urge us at the present moment to address you on the subject of + that system of negro slavery which still prevails so extensively, + and, even under kindly-disposed masters, with such frightful results, + in many of the vast regions of the Western World. + + "We will not dwell on the ordinary topics--on the progress of + civilization; on the advance of freedom everywhere; on the rights and + requirements of the nineteenth century;--but we appeal to you very + seriously to reflect, and to ask counsel of God, how far such a state + of things is in accordance with His holy word, the inalienable rights + of immortal souls, and the pure and merciful spirit of the Christian + religion. + + "We do not shut our eyes to the difficulties, nay, the dangers, that + might beset the immediate abolition of that long-established system: + we see and admit the necessity of preparation for so great an event. + But, in speaking of indispensable preliminaries, we cannot be silent + on those laws of your country which (in direct contravention of God's + own law, instituted in the time of man's innocency) deny, in effect, + to the slave, the sanctity of marriage, with all its joys, rights, + and obligations; which separates, at the will of the master, the wife + from the husband and the children from the parents. Nor can we be + silent on that awful system which, either by statute or by custom, + interdicts to any race of man, or any portion of the human family, + education in the truths of the gospel and the ordinances of + Christianity. + + "A remedy applied to these two evils alone would commence the + amelioration of their sad condition. We appeal, then, to you as + sisters, as wives, and as mothers, to raise your voices to your + fellow-citizens and your prayers to God, for the removal of this + affliction from the Christian world. We do not say these things in a + spirit of self-complacency, as though our nation were free from the + guilt it perceives in others. We acknowledge with grief and shame our + heavy share in this great sin. We acknowledge that our forefathers + introduced, nay, compelled the adoption of slavery in those mighty + colonies. We humbly confess it before Almighty God. And it is because + we so deeply feel, and so unfeignedly avow our own complicity, that + we now venture to implore your aid to wipe away our common crime and + our common dishonour." + +We have here a movement that cannot fail to be productive of much +good. It was time that the various nations of the world should have +their attention called to the existence of slavery within their +borders, and to the manifold evils of which it was the parent; and it +was in the highest degree proper that woman should take the lead in +doing it, as it is her sex that always suffers most in that condition +of things wherein might triumphs over right, and which we are +accustomed to define as a state of slavery. + +How shall slavery be abolished? This is the great question of our day. +But a few years since it was answered in England by an order for the +immediate emancipation of the black people held to slavery in her +colonies; and it is often urged that we should follow her example. +Before doing this, however, it would appear to be proper to examine +into the past history and present situation of the negro race in the +two countries, with a view to determine how far experience would +warrant the belief that the course thus urged upon us would be likely +to produce improvement in the condition of the objects of our +sympathy. Should the result of such an examination be to prove that +the cause of freedom has been advanced by the measures there pursued, +our duty to our fellow-men would require that we should follow in the +same direction, at whatever loss or inconvenience to ourselves. Should +it, however, prove that the condition of the poor negro has been +impaired and not improved, it will then become proper to enquire what +have been in past times the circumstances under which men have become +more free, with a view to ascertain wherein lies the deficiency, and +why it is that freedom now so obviously declines in various and +important portions of the earth. These things ascertained, it may be +that there will be little difficulty in determining what are the +measures now needed for enabling all men, black, white, and brown, to +obtain for themselves, and profitably to all, the exercise of the +rights of freemen. To adopt this course will be to follow in that of +the skilful physician, who always determines within himself the cause +of fever before he prescribes the remedy. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +OF SLAVERY IN THE BRITISH COLONIES. + + +At the date of the surrender of Jamaica to the British arms, in 1655, +the slaves, who were few in number, generally escaped to the +mountains, whence they kept up a war of depredation, until at length +an accommodation was effected in 1734, the terms of which were not, +however, complied with by the whites--the consequences of which will +be shown hereafter. Throughout the whole period their numbers were +kept up by the desertion of other slaves, and to this cause must, no +doubt, be attributed much of the bitterness with which the subsequent +war was waged. + +In 1658, the slave population of the island was 1400. By 1670 it had +reached 8000, and in 1673, 9504.[1] From that date we have no account +until 1734, when it was 86,546, giving an increase in sixty-one years +of 77,000. It was in 1673 that the sugar-culture was commenced; and as +profitable employment was thus found for labour, there can be little +doubt that the number had increased regularly and steadily, and that +the following estimate must approach tolerably near the truth:-- + + + Say 1702, 36,000; increase in 29 years, 26,500 + 1734, 77,000; " " 32 " 41,000 + + In 1775, the total number of slaves and other + coloured persons on the island, was................. 194,614 + And if we now deduct from this the number + in 1702, say........................................ 36,000 + ------- + We obtain, as the increase of 73 years............ 158,614 + ======= + + In that period the importations amounted to......... 497,736 + And the exportations to............................. 137,114 + ------- + Leaving, as retained in the island................ 360,622 [2] + + or about two and two-fifths persons for one that then + remained alive. + + From 1783 to 1787, the number imported was 47,485, and + the number exported 14,541;[3] showing an increase + in five years of nearly 33,000, or 6,600 per annum; + and by a report of the Inspector-General, it was + shown that the number retained from 1778 to 1787, + averaged 5345 per annum. Taking the thirteen years, + 1775-1787, at that rate, we obtain nearly ........... 70,000 + + From 1789 to 1791, the excess of import was 32,289, + or 10,763 per annum; and if we take the four years, + 1788-1791, at the same rate, we obtain, as the + total number retained in that period................. 43,000 + ------- + 113,000 + ======= + +In 1791, a committee of the House of Assembly made a report on the +number of the slaves, by which it was made to be 250,000; and if to +this be added the free negroes, amounting to 10,000, we obtain, as the +total number, 260,000,--showing an increase, in fifteen years, of +65,386--or nearly 48,000 less than the number that had been imported. + +We have now ascertained an import, in 89 years, of 473,000, with an +increase of numbers amounting to only 224,000; thus establishing the +fact that more than half of the whole import had perished under the +treatment to which they had been subjected. Why it had been so may be +gathered from the following extract, by which it is shown that the +system there and then pursued corresponds nearly with that of Cuba at +the present time. + + "The advocates of the slave trade insisted that it was impossible to + keep up the stock of negroes, without continual importations from + Africa. It is, indeed, very evident, that as long as importation is + continued, and two-thirds of the slaves imported are men, the + succeeding generation, in the most favourable circumstances, cannot + be more numerous than if there had been only half as many men; or, in + other words, at least half the men may be said, with respect to + population, to die without posterity."--_Macpherson_, vol. iv. 148. + +In 1792, a committee of the Jamaica House of Assembly reported that +"the abolition of the slave trade" must be followed by the "total ruin +and depopulation of the island." "Suppose," said they, + + "A planter settling with a gang of 100 African slaves, all bought in + the prime of life. Out of this gang he will be able at first to put + to work, on an average, from 80 to 90 labourers. The committee will + further suppose that they increase in number; yet, in the course of + twenty years, this gang will be so far reduced, in point of strength, + that he will not be able to work more than 30 to 40. It will + therefore require a supply of 50 new negroes to keep up his estate, + and that not owing to cruelty, or want of good management on his + part; on the contrary, the more humane he is, the greater the number + of old people and young he will have on his estate."--_Macpherson_, + iv. 256. + +In reference to this extraordinary reasoning, Macpherson says, very +correctly-- + + "With submission, it may be asked if people become superannuated in + twenty years after being in _the prime of life_; and if the children + of all these superannuated people are in a state of infancy? If + one-half of these slaves are women, (as they ought to be, if the + planter looks to futurity,) will not those fifty women, in twenty + years, have, besides younger children, at least one hundred grown up + to young men and women, capable of partaking the labour of their + parents, and replacing the loss by superannuation or death,-- as has + been the case with the working people in all other parts of the + world, from the creation to this day?" + +To this question there can be but one reply: Man has always increased +in numbers where he has been well fed, well clothed, and reasonably +worked; and wherever his numbers have decreased, it has been because +of a deficiency of food and clothing and an excess of work. + +It was at this period that the Maroon war was again in full activity, +and so continued until 1796, when it was terminated by the employment +of bloodhounds to track the fugitives, who finally surrendered, and +were transported to Lower Canada, whence they were soon after sent to +Sierra Leone. + +From 1792 to 1799, the _net_ import was 74,741; and if it continued at +the same rate to 1808, the date of the abolition of the trade, the +number imported in eighteen years would be nearly 150,000; and yet the +number of slaves increased, in that period, from 250,000 to only +323,827--being an annual average increase of about 4500, and +exhibiting a loss of fifty per cent. + +In the thirty-four years, 1775-1808, the number of negroes added to +the population of the island, by importation, would seem to have been +more than 260,000, and within about 50,000 of the number that, a +quarter of a century later, was emancipated. + +In 1817, nine years after importation had been declared illegal, the +number is stated [4] at 346,150; from which it would appear that the +trade must have been in some measure continued up to that date, as +there is no instance on record of any natural increase in any of the +islands, under any circumstances. It is, indeed, quite clear that no +such increase has taken place; for had it once commenced, it would +have continued, which was not the case, as will be seen by the +following figures:-- + +In 1817, the number was, as we see 346,150. In 1820, it was only +342,382; and if to this we add the manumissions for the same period, +(1016,) we have a net loss of 2752. + +In 1826, they had declined in numbers to 331,119, to which must be +added 1848 manumissions--showing a loss, in six years, of 9415, or +nearly three per cent. + +The number shown by the last registration, 1833, was only 311,692; and +if to this we add 2000 that had been manumitted, we shall have a loss, +in seven years, of 19,275, or more than five per cent. In sixteen +years, there had been a diminution of ten per cent., one-fifth of +which may be attributed to manumission; and thus is it clearly +established that in 1830, as in 1792, a large annual importation would +have been required, merely to maintain the number of the population. + +That the condition of the negroes was in a course of deterioration in +this period, is clearly shown by the fact that the proportion of +births to deaths was in a steady course of diminution, as is here +shown:-- + + Registered: + ----------- + 1817 to 1820............. 25,104 deaths, 24,348 births. + 1823 to 1826............. 25,171 " , 23,026 " + 1826 to 1829............. 25,137 " , 21,728 " + +The destruction of life was thus proceeding with constantly +accelerating rapidity; and a continuance of the system, as it then +existed, must have witnessed the total annihilation of the negro race +within half a century. + +Viewing these facts, not a doubt can, I think, be entertained that the +number of negroes imported into the island and retained for its +_consumption_ was more than double the number that existed there in +1817, and could scarcely have been less than 750,000, and certainly, +at the most moderate estimate, not less than 700,000. If to these we +were to add the children that must have been born on the island in the +long period of 178 years, and then to reflect that all who remained +for emancipation amounted to only 311,000, we should find ourselves +forced to the conclusion that slavery was here attended with a +destruction of life almost without a parallel in the history of any +civilized nation. + +With a view to show that Jamaica cannot be regarded as an unfavourable +specimen of the system, the movement of population in other colonies +will now be given. + +In 1764, the slave population of ST. VINCENT'S was 7414. In 1787, +twenty-three years after, it was 11,853, having increased 4439; +whereas, _in four only_ of those years, 1784-87, the _net_ import of +negroes had been no less than 6100.[5] In 1805, the number was 16,500, +the increase having been 4647; whereas the _net_ import in _three +only_, out of _eighteen_ years, had been 1937. What was the cause of +this, may be seen by the comparative view of deaths, and their +compensation by births, at a later period:-- + + Year 1822.................... 4205 deaths, 2656 births. + " 1825.................... 2106 " 1852 " + " 1828.................... 2020 " 1829 " + " 1831.................... 2266 " 1781 " + +The births, it will be observed, steadily diminished in number. + +At the peace of 1763, DOMINICA contained 6000 slaves. The net amount +of importation, _in four years_, 1784 to 1787, was 23,221;[6] and yet +the total population in 1788 was but 14,967! Here we have a waste of +life so far exceeding that of Jamaica that we might almost feel +ourselves called upon to allow five imported for every one remaining +on the island. Forty-four years afterwards, in 1832, the slave +emancipation returns gave 14,834 as remaining out of the vast number +that had been imported. The losses by death and the gains by births, +for a part of the period preceding emancipation, are thus given:-- + + 1817 to 1820................. 1748 deaths, 1433 births. + 1820 to 1823................. 1527 " 1491 " + 1823 to 1826................. 1493 " 1309 " + +If we look to BRITISH GUIANA, we find the same results.[7] + + In 1820, Demerara and Essequebo had a + slave population of............................... 77,376 + By 1826, it had fallen to......................... 71,382 + And by 1832, it had still further fallen to....... 65,517 + +The deaths and births of this colony exhibit a waste of life that +would be deemed almost incredible, had not the facts been carefully +registered at the moment:-- + + 1817 to 1820................. 7140 deaths, 4868 births. + 1820 to 1823................. 7188 " 4512 " + 1823 to 1826................. 7634 " 4494 " + 1826 to 1829................. 5731 " 4684 " + 1829 to 1832................. 7016 " 4086 " + +We have here a decrease, in fifteen years, of fifteen per cent., or +12,000 out of 77,000. Each successive period, with a single exception, +presents a diminished number of births, while the average of deaths in +the last three periods is almost the same as in the first one. + +BARBADOES had, in 1753, a slave population of 69,870. In 1817, +sixty-four years after, although importation appears to have been +regularly continued on a small scale, it amounted to only 77,493. In +this case, the slaves appear to have been better treated than +elsewhere, as here we find, in the later years, the births to have +exceeded the deaths--the former having been, from 1826 to 1829, 9250, +while the latter were 6814. There were here, also, in the same period, +670 manumissions. + +In TRINIDAD, out of a total slave population of 23,537, the deaths, in +twelve years, were no less than 8774, while the births were only 6001. + +GRENADA surrendered to the British forces in 1762. Seven years after, +in 1769, there were 35,000 negroes on the island. In 1778, +notwithstanding the importation, they appear to have been reduced to +25,021. + +In the four years from 1784 to 1787, and the three from 1789 to 1791, +(the only ones for which I can find an account,) the number imported +and retained for consumption on the island amounted to no less than +16,228;[8] and yet the total number finally emancipated was but +23,471. The destruction of life appears here to have been enormous; +and that it continued long after the abolition of the slave trade, is +shown by the following comparison of births and deaths:-- + + 1817.......................... 451 births, 902 deaths. + 1818.......................... 657 " 1070 " + +The total births from 1817 to 1831, were 10,144 in number, while the +deaths were 12,764--showing a loss of about ten per cent. + +The number of slaves emancipated in 1834, in all the British +possessions, was 780,993; and the net loss in the previous five years +had been 38,811, or _almost one per cent. per annum_. + +The number emancipated in the West Indies was 660,000; and viewing the +facts that have been placed before the reader, we can scarcely err +much in assuming that the number imported and retained for consumption +in those colonies had amounted to 1,700,000. This would give about two +and a half imported for one that was emancipated; and there is some +reason to think that it might be placed as high as three for one, +which would give a total import of almost two millions. + +While thus exhibiting the terrific waste of life in the British +colonies, it is not intended either, to assert or to deny any +voluntary severity on the part of the landholders. They were, +themselves, as will hereafter be shown, to a great extent, the slaves +of circumstances over which they had no control; and it cannot be +doubted that much, very much, of the responsibility, must rest on +other shoulders. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +OF SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. + + +In the North American provinces, now the United States, negro slavery +existed from a very early period, but on a very limited scale, as the +demand for slaves was mainly supplied from England. The exports of the +colonies were bulky, and the whites could be imported as return cargo; +whereas the blacks would have required a voyage to the coast of +Africa, with which little trade was maintained. The export from +England ceased after the revolution of 1688, and thenceforward negro +slaves were somewhat more freely imported; yet the trade appears to +have been so small as scarcely to have attracted notice. The only +information on the subject furnished by Macpherson in his Annals of +Commerce is that, in the eight months ending July 12, 1753, the +negroes imported into Charleston, S. C., were 511 in number; and that +in the year 1765-66, the value of negroes imported from Africa into +Georgia was £14,820--and this, if they be valued at only £10 each, +would give only 1482. From 1783 to 1787, the number exported from all +the West India Islands to this country was 1392 [9] --being an average +of less than 300 per annum; and there is little reason for believing +that this number was increased by any import direct from Africa. The +British West Indies were then the entrepôt of the trade,[10] and +thence they were supplied to the other islands and the settlements on +the Main; and had the demand for this country been considerable, it +cannot be doubted that a larger portion of the thousands then annually +exported would have been sent in this direction. + +Under these circumstances, the only mode of arriving at the history of +slavery prior to the first census, in 1790, appears to be to commence +at that date and go forward, and afterwards employ the information so +obtained in endeavouring to elucidate the operations of the previous +period. + + The number of negroes, free and enslaved, at + that date, was.................................... 757,263 + And at the second census, in 1801, it was......... 1,001,436 + + showing an increase of almost thirty-three per cent. + How much of this, however, was due to importation, + we have now to inquire. The only two States that + then tolerated the import of slaves were South + Carolina and Georgia, the joint black population + of which, in 1790, was............................. 136,358 + whereas, in 1800, it had risen to.................. 205,555 + ------- + Increase.......... 69,197 + ======= + + In the same period the white population increased + 104,762, requiring an immigration from the Northern + slave States to the extent of not less than 45,000, + even allowing more than thirty per cent. for the + natural increase by births. Admitting, now, that for + every family of five free persons there came one + slave, this, would account for....................... 9,000 + And if we take the natural increase of the slave + population at only twenty-five per cent., we have + further.............................................. 34,000 + ------ + Making a total from domestic sources of............ 43,000 + And leaving, for the import from abroad............ 26,197 + +Deducting these from the total number added, we obtain, for the +natural increase, about 29-1/2 per cent. + +Macpherson, treating of this period, says-- + + "That importation is not necessary for keeping up the stock is proved + by the example of North America--a country less congenial to the + constitution of the negro than the West Indies--where, + notwithstanding the destruction and desertion of the slaves + occasioned by the war, the number of negroes, though perhaps not of + slaves, has greatly increased--because, _since the war they have + imported very few_, and of late years none at all, except in the + Southern States."--_Annals_, vol. iv. 150. + +The number of vessels employed in the slave trade, in 1795, is stated +to have been twenty, all of them small; and the number of slaves to be +carried was limited to one for each ton of their capacity. + +From 1800 to 1810, the increase was 378,374, of which nearly 30,000 +were found in Louisiana at her incorporation into the Union, leaving +about 350,000 to come from other sources; being an increase of 35 per +cent. In this period the increase of Georgia and South Carolina, the +two importing States, was only 96,000, while that, of the white +population was 129,073, carrying with them perhaps 25,000. If to this +be added the natural increase at the rate of 25 per cent., we obtain +about 75,000, leaving only 21,000 for importation. It is probable, +however, that it was somewhat larger, and that it might be safe to +estimate it at the same amount as in the previous period, making a +total of about 52,000 in the twenty years. Deducting 26,000 from the +350,000, we obtain 324,000 as the addition from domestic sources, +which would be about 32 per cent. on the population of 1800. This may +be too high; and yet the growth of the following decennial period--one +of war and great commercial and agricultural distress--was almost +thirty per cent. In 1810, the number had been 1,379,800. + + In 1820 it was 1,779,885; increase 30 per cent. + " 1830 " 2,328,642; " 30.8 " " + " 1840 " 2,873,703; " 24 " " + " 1850 " 3,591,000; " 25 " " [11] + +Having thus ascertained, as far as possible, the ratio of increase +subsequent to the first census, we may now proceed to an examination +of the course of affairs in the period which had preceded it. + +In 1714, the number of blacks was 58,850, and they were dispersed +throughout the provinces from New Hampshire to Carolina, engaged, to a +large extent, in labours similar to those in which were engaged the +whites by whom they were owned. One-half of them may have been +imported. Starting from this point, and taking the natural increase of +each decennial period at 25 per cent., as shown to have since been the +case, we should obtain, for 1750, about 130,000. The actual quantity +was 220,000; and the difference, 90,000, may be set down to +importation. Adding, now, 25 percent, to 220,000, we obtain, for 1760, +275,000; whereas the actual number was 310,000, which Would give +35,000 for importation. Pursuing the same course with the following +periods, we obtain the following results:-- + + Actual Natural Actual + Years Number. Increase. Increase. Importation. + ----- ------- --------- --------- ------------ + 1760..... 310,000..... 77,500..... 152,000..... 74,500 + 1770..... 462,000..... 115,500..... 120,000..... } + 1780..... 582,000..... 140,500..... 170,000..... } 34,000 + 1790..... 752,000, number given by first census. + +For a large portion of the period from 1770 to 1790, there must have +been a very small importation; for during nearly half the time the +trade with foreign countries was almost altogether suspended by the +war of the revolution. + +If we add together the quantities thus obtained, we shall obtain a +tolerable approximation to the number of slaves imported into the +territory now constituting the Union, as follows:-- + + Prior to 1714..................................... 30,000 + 1715 to 1750...................................... 90,000 + 1751 to 1760...................................... 35,000 + 1761 to 1770...................................... 74,500 + 1771 to 1790...................................... 34,000 + And if we now estimate the import + subsequent to 1790 at even........................ 70,000 + ------- + We obtain as the total number................... 333,500 + ======= + +The number now in the Union exceeds 3,800,000; and even if we estimate +the import as high as 380,000, we then have more than ten for one; +whereas in the British Islands we can find not more than two for five, +and perhaps even not more than one for three. Had the slaves of the +latter been as well fed, clothed, lodged, and otherwise cared for, as +were those of these provinces and States, their numbers would have +reached seventeen or twenty millions. Had the blacks among the people +of these States experienced the same treatment as did their fellows of +the islands, we should now have among us less than one hundred and +fifty thousand slaves. + + The prices paid by the British Government averaged + £25 per head. Had the number in the colonies been + allowed to increase as they increased here, it + would have required, even at that price, the + enormous sum of................................ £500,000,000 + + Had the numbers in this country been reduced + by the same process there practised, emancipation + could now be carried out at cost of less than.. £4,000,000 + + To emancipate them now, paying for them at the + same rate, would require nearly................ £100,000,000 + +or almost five hundred millions of dollars. The same course, however, +that has increased their numbers, has largely increased their value to +the owners and to themselves. Men, when well fed, well clothed, well +lodged, and otherwise well cared for, always increase rapidly in +numbers, and in such cases labour always increases rapidly in value; +and hence it is that the average price of the negro slave of this +country is probably four times greater than that which the planters of +the West Indies were compelled to receive. Such being the case, it +would follow that to pay for their full value would require probably +four hundred millions of pounds sterling, or nearly two thousand +millions of dollars. + +It will now be seen that the course of things in the two countries has +been entirely different. In the islands the slave trade had been +cherished as a source of profit. Here, it had been made the subject of +repeated protests on the part of several of the provinces, and had +been by all but two prohibited at the earliest moment at which they +possessed the power so to do. In the islands it was held to be cheaper +to buy slaves than to raise them, and the sexes were out of all +proportion to each other. Here, importation was small, and almost the +whole increase, large as it has been, has resulted from the excess of +births over deaths. In the islands, the slave was generally a +barbarian, speaking an unknown tongue, and working with men like +himself, in gangs, with scarcely a chance for improvement. Here, he +was generally a being born on the soil, speaking the same language +with his owner; and often working in the field with him, with many +advantages for the development of his faculties. In the islands, the +land-owners clung to slavery as the sheet-anchor of their hopes. Here, +on the contrary, slavery had gradually been abolished in all the +States north of Mason & Dixon's line, and Delaware, Maryland, +Virginia, and Kentucky were all, at the date of emancipation in the +islands, preparing for the early adoption of measures looking to its +entire abolition. In the islands, the connection with Africa had been +cherished as a means of obtaining cheap labour, to be obtained by +fomenting discord among the natives. Here, on the contrary, had +originated a grand scheme for carrying civilization into the heart of +Africa by means of the gradual transplantation of some of the already +civilized blacks. In the islands, it has been deemed desirable to +carry out "the European policy," of preventing the Africans "from +arriving at perfection" in the art of preparing their cotton, sugar, +indigo, or other articles, "from a fear of interfering with +established branches of commerce elsewhere."[12] Here, on the +contrary, efforts had been made for disseminating among them the +knowledge required for perfecting themselves in the modes of +preparation and manufacture. In the islands, every thing looked toward +the permanency of slavery. Here, every thing looked toward the gradual +and gentle civilization and emancipation of the negro throughout the +world. In the islands, however, by a prompt measure forced on the +people by a distant government, slavery was abolished, and the +planters, or their representatives in England, received twenty +millions of pounds sterling as compensation in full for the services +of the few who remained in existence out of the large number that had +been imported. Here, the planters are now urged to adopt for +themselves measures of a similar kind. The whole course of proceeding +in the two countries in reference to the negro having been so widely +different, there are, however, difficulties in the way that seem to be +almost insuperable. The power to purchase the slaves of the British +colonies was a consequence of the fact that their numbers had not been +permitted to increase. The difficulty of purchasing them here is +great, because of their having been well fed, well clothed, and +otherwise well provided for, and having therefore increased so +rapidly. If, nevertheless, it can be shown that by abandoning the +system under which the negro race has steadily increased in numbers +and advanced towards civilization, and adopting that of a nation under +whose rule there has been a steady decline of numbers, and but little, +if any, tendency toward civilization, we shall benefit the race, it +will become our duty to make the effort, however great may be the +cost. With a view to ascertain how far duty may be regarded as calling +upon us now to follow in the footsteps of that nation, it is proposed +to examine into the working of the act by which the whole negro +population of the British colonies was, almost at once and without +preparation, invested with the right to determine for whom they would +work and what should be their wages--or were, in other words, declared +to be free. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +OF EMANCIPATION IN THE BRITISH COLONIES. + + +The harmony of the universe is the result of a contest between equal +and opposing powers. The earth is attracted to the sun and from the +sun; and were either of these forces to be diminished or destroyed, +chaos would be the inevitable result. So is it everywhere on the +earth. The apple falls toward the centre of the earth, but in its +passage it encounters resistance; and the harmony of every thing we +see around us is dependent on the equal balance of these opposing +forces. So is it among men. The man who has food to sell wishes to +have a high price for it, whereas, he who needs to buy desires to have +it cheaply; and the selling price depends on the relation between the +necessity to buy on one hand, or to sell on the other. Diminish +suddenly and largely the competition for the purchase of food, and the +farmer becomes the prey of the mechanic. Increase it suddenly and +largely, and the mechanic becomes the prey of the farmer; whereas a +gradual and gentle increase in the demand for food is accompanied by a +similar increase in the demand for the products of the loom and the +anvil, and both farmer and mechanic prosper together, because the +competition for purchase and the competition for sale grow together +and balance each other. So, too, with labour. Wages are dependent upon +the relation between the number of those who desire to buy and to sell +labour. Diminish suddenly the number of those who desire to sell it, +and the farmer may be ruined. Diminish suddenly the number of those +who desire to buy it, and the labourer may become the slave of the +farmer. + +For almost two centuries, men possessed of capital and desirous to +purchase labour had been induced to transfer it to the colonies, and +the government secured to them the right to obtain labourers on +certain specified terms--such terms as made the labourer a mere +instrument in the hands of the capitalist, and prevented him from +obtaining any of those habits or feelings calculated to inspire him +with a love for labour. At once, all control over him was withdrawn, +and the seller of labour was converted into the master of him who was +thus, by the action of the government, placed in such a situation that +he _must_ buy it or be ruined. Here was a disturbance of the order of +things that had existed, almost as great as that which occurs when the +powerful steam, bursting the boiler in which it is enclosed, ceases to +be the servant and becomes the master of man; and it would have +required but little foresight to enable those who had the government +of this machine to see that it must prove almost as ruinous. + +How it operated in Southern Africa, where the slave was most at home, +is shown by the following extracts from the work of a recent traveller +and settler in that colony:--[13] + + "The chain was broken, and the people of England hurraed to their + heart's content. And the slave! What, in the meanwhile, became of + him? If he was young and vicious, away he went--he was his own + master. He was at liberty to walk to and fro upon the earth, 'seeking + whom he might devour.' He was free: he had the world before him where + to choose, though, squatted beside the Kaffir's fire, probably + thinking his meal of parched corn but poor stuff after the palatable + dishes he had been permitted to cook for himself in the Boer's or + tradesman's kitchen. But he was fain to like it--he could get nothing + else--and this was earned at the expense of his own soul; for it was + given him as an inducement to teach the Kaffir the easiest mode of + plundering his ancient master. If inclined to work, he had no certain + prospect of employment; and the Dutch, losing so much by the sudden + Emancipation Act, resolved on working for themselves. So the + virtuous, redeemed slave, had too many temptations to remain + virtuous: he was hungry--so was his wife--so were his children; and + he must feed them. How? No matter." + +These people will work at times, but they must have wages that will +enable them to play much of their time. + + "When we read of the distress of our own country, and of the wretched + earnings of our mechanics, we are disgusted at the idea of these same + Fingoes striking work (as Coolies) at Waterloo Bay, being + dissatisfied with the pay of 2s. a day. As their services are + necessary in landing cargo, their demand of 3s. a day has been + acceded to, and they have consented to work when it suits them!--for + they take occasional holidays, for dancing and eating. At Algoa Bay, + the Fingoes are often paid 6s. a day for working as Coolies." + +These men have all the habits of the savage. They leave to the women +the tilling of the ground, the hoeing of the corn, the carrying of +water, and all the heavy work; and to the boys and old men the tending +of the cattle, while they themselves spend the year in hunting, +dancing, eating, and robbing their neighbours--except when +occasionally they deem it expedient to do a few days' work at such +wages as they may think proper to dictate. + +How it has operated in the West Indies we may next inquire, and with +that view will take Jamaica, one of the oldest, and, until lately, one +of the most prosperous of the colonies. That island embraces about +four millions of acres of land, "of which," says Mr. Bigelow,-- + + "There are not, probably, any ten lying adjacent to each other which + are not susceptible of the highest cultivation, while not more than + 500,000 acres have ever been reclaimed, or even appropriated."[14] + + "It is traversed by over two hundred streams, forty of which are from + twenty-five to one hundred feet in breadth; and, it deserves to be + mentioned, furnish water-power sufficient to manufacture every thing + produced by the soil, or consumed by the inhabitants. Far less + expense than is usually incurred on the same surface in the United + States for manure, would irrigate all the dry lands of the island, + and enable them to defy the most protracted droughts by which it is + ever visited."[15] + +The productiveness of the soil is immense. Fruits of every variety +abound; vegetables of every kind for the table, and Indian corn, grow +abundantly. The island is rich in dyestuffs, drugs, and spices of the +greatest value; and the forests furnish the most celebrated woods in +the greatest variety. In addition to this, it possesses copper-mines +inferior to none in the world, and coal will probably be mined +extensively before many years. "Such," says Mr. Bigelow,-- + + "Are some of the natural resources of this dilapidated and + poverty-stricken country. Capable as it is of producing almost every + thing, and actually producing nothing which might not become a staple + with a proper application of capital and skill, its inhabitants are + miserably poor, and daily sinking deeper and deeper into the utter + helplessness of abject want. + + "'Magnas inter opes inops.' + + "Shipping has deserted her ports; her magnificent plantations of + sugar and coffee are running to weeds; her private dwellings are + falling to decay; the comforts and luxuries which belong to + industrial prosperity have been cut off, one by one, from her + inhabitants; and the day, I think, is at hand when there will be none + left to represent the wealth, intelligence, and hospitality for which + the Jamaica planter was once so distinguished." + +The cause of all this, say the planters, is that wages are too high +for the price of sugar. This Mr. Bigelow denies--not conceding that a +shilling a day is high wages; but all the facts he adduces tend to +show that the labourer gives very little labour for the money he +receives; and that, as compared with the work done, wages are really +far higher than in any part of the Union. Like the Fingo of Southern +Africa, he can obtain from a little patch of land all that is +indispensably necessary for his subsistence, and he will do little +more work than is needed for accomplishing that object. The +consequence of this is that potatoes sell for six cents a pound, eggs +from three to five cents each, milk at eighteen cents a quart, and +corn-meal at twelve or fourteen dollars a barrel; and yet there are +now more than a hundred thousand of these small proprietors, being +almost one for every three people on the island. All cultivators, they +yet produce little to sell, and the consequence of this is seen in the +fact that the mass of the flour, rice, corn, peas, butter, lard, +herrings, &c. needed for consumption requires to be imported, as well +as all the lumber, although millions of acres of timber are to be +found among the unappropriated lands of the island. + +It is impossible to read Mr. Bigelow's volume, without arriving at the +conclusion that the freedom granted to the negro has had little effect +except that of enabling him to live at the expense of the planter so +long as any thing remained. Sixteen years of freedom did not appear to +its author to have "advanced the dignity of labour or of the labouring +classes one particle," while it had ruined the proprietors of the +land; and thus great damage had been done to the one class without +benefit of any kind to the other. From a statistical table published +in August last, it appears, says the _New York Herald_, that since +1846-- + + "The number of sugar-estates on the island that have been totally + abandoned amounts to one hundred and sixty-eight, and the number + partially abandoned to sixty-three; the value of which two hundred + and thirty-one estates was assessed, in 1841, at £1,655,140, or + nearly eight millions and a half of dollars. Within the same period, + two hundred and twenty-three coffee-plantations have been totally, + and twenty partially abandoned, the assessed value of which was, in + 1841, £500,000, or two millions and a half of dollars; and of + cattle-pens, (grazing-farms,) one hundred and twenty-two have been + totally, and ten partially abandoned, the value of which was a + million and a half of dollars. The aggregate value of these six + hundred and six estates, which have been thus ruined and abandoned in + the island of Jamaica, within the last seven or eight years, amounted + by the regular assessments, ten years since, to the sum of nearly two + and a half millions of pounds sterling, or twelve and a half million + of dollars." + +As a necessary consequence of this, "there is little heard of," says +Dr. King, "but ruin."[16] "In many districts," he adds-- + + "The marks of decay abound. Neglected fields, crumbling houses, + fragmentary fences, noiseless machinery--these are common sights, and + soon become familiar to observation. I sometimes rode for miles in + succession over fertile ground which used to be cultivated, and which + is now lying waste. So rapidly has cultivation retrograded, and the + wild luxuriance of nature replaced the conveniences of art, that + parties still inhabiting these desolated districts, have sometimes, + in the strong language of a speaker at Kingston, 'to seek about the + bush to find the entrance into their houses.' + + "The towns present a spectacle not less gloomy. A great part of + Kingston was destroyed, some years ago, by an extensive + conflagration: yet multitudes of the houses which escaped that + visitation are standing empty, though the population is little, if at + all diminished. The explanation is obvious. Persons who have nothing, + and can no longer keep up their domestic establishments, take refuge + in the abodes of others, where some means of subsistence are still + left: and in the absence of any discernible trade or occupation, the + lives of crowded thousands appear to be preserved from day to day by + a species of miracle. The most busy thoroughfares of former times + have now almost the quietude of a Sabbath." + +"The finest land in the world," says Mr. Bigelow, "may be had at any +price, and almost for the asking." Labour, he adds, "receives no +compensation, and the product of labour does not seem to know how to +find the way to market." Properties which were formerly valued at +£40,000 would not now command £4000, and others, after having been +sold at six, eight, or ten per cent. of their former value, have been +finally abandoned. + +The following is from a report made in 1849 and signed by various +missionaries:-- + + "Missionary efforts in Jamaica are beset at the present time with + many and great discouragements. Societies at home have withdrawn or + diminished the amount of assistance afforded by them to chapels and + schools throughout this island. The prostrate condition of its + agriculture and commerce disables its own population from doing as + much as formerly for maintaining the worship of God and the tuition + of the young, and induces numbers of negro labourers to retire from + estates which have been thrown up, to seek the means of subsistence + in the mountains, where they are removed in general from moral + training and superintendence. The consequences of this state of + matters are very disastrous. Not a few missionaries and teachers, + often struggling with difficulties which they could not overcome, + have returned to Europe, and others are preparing to follow them. + Chapels and schools are abandoned, or they have passed into the + charge of very incompetent instructors."--_Quoted in King's Jamaica_, + p. 111. + +Population gradually diminishes, furnishing another evidence that the +tendency of every thing is adverse to the progress of civilization. In +1841, the island contained a little short of 400,000 persons. In 1844, +the census returns gave about 380,000; and a recent journal states +that of those no less than forty thousand have in the last two years +been carried off by cholera, and that small-pox, which has succeeded +that disease, is now sweeping away thousands whom that disease had +spared. Increase of crime, it adds, keeps pace with the spread of +misery throughout the island. + +The following extracts from a Report of a Commission appointed in 1850 +to inquire into the state and prosperity of Guiana, are furnished by +Lord Stanley in his second letter to Mr. Gladstone, [London, 1851.] + +Of Guiana generally they say-- + + "'It would be but a melancholy task to dwell upon the misery and ruin + which so alarming a change must have occasioned to the proprietary + body; but your Commissioners feel themselves called upon to notice + the effects which this wholesale abandonment of property has produced + upon the colony at large. Where whole districts are fast relapsing + into bush, and occasional patches of provisions around the huts of + village settlers are all that remain to tell of once flourishing + estates, it is not to be wondered at that the most ordinary marks of + civilization are rapidly disappearing, and that in many districts of + the colony all travelling communication by land will soon become + utterly impracticable.' + + "Of the Abary district-- + + "'Your Commissioners find that the line of road is nearly impassable, + and that a long succession of formerly cultivated estates presents + now a series of pestilent swamps, overrun with bush, and productive + of malignant fevers.' + + "Nor are matters," says Lord Stanley, "much better farther south-- + + "'Proceeding still lower down, your Commissioners find that the + public roads and bridges are in such a condition, that the few + estates still remaining on the upper west bank of Mahaica Creek are + completely cut off, save in the very dry season; and that with regard + to the whole district, unless something be done very shortly, + travelling by land will entirely cease. In such a state of things it + cannot be wondered at that the herdsman has a formidable enemy to + encounter in the jaguar and other beasts of prey, and that the + keeping of cattle is attended with considerable loss, from the + depredations committed by these animals. + + "It may be worth noticing," continues Lord Stanley, "that this + district, now overrun with wild beasts of the forest; was formerly + the very garden of the colony. The estates touched one another along + the whole line of the road, leaving no interval of uncleared land. + + "The east coast, which is next mentioned by the Commissioners, is + better off. Properties once of immense value had there been bought at + nominal prices, and the one railroad of Guiana passing through that + tract, a comparatively industrious population, composed of former + labourers on the line, enabled the planters still to work these to + some profit. Even of this favoured spot, however, they report that it + 'feels most severely the want of continuous labour.' The + Commissioners next visit the east bank of the Demerara river, thus + described:-- + + "'Proceeding up the east bank of the river Demerary, the generally + prevailing features of ruin and distress are everywhere perceptible. + Roads and bridges almost impassable are fearfully significant + exponents of the condition of the plantations which they traverse; + and Canal No. 3, once covered with plantains and coffee, presents now + a scene of almost total desolation.' + + "Crossing to the west side, they find prospects somewhat brighter: 'a + few estates' are still 'keeping up a cultivation worthy of better + times.' But this prosperous neighbourhood is not extensive, and the + next picture presented to our notice is less agreeable:-- + + "'Ascending the river still higher, your Commissioners learn that the + district between Hobaboe Creek and 'Stricken Heuvel' contained, in + 1829, eight sugar and five coffee and plantain estates, and now there + remain but three in sugar and four partially cultivated with + plantains by petty settlers: while the roads, with one or two + exceptions, are in a state of utter abandonment. Here, as on the + opposite bank of the river, hordes of squatters have located + themselves, who avoid all communication with Europeans, and have + seemingly given themselves up altogether to the rude pleasures of a + completely savage life.' + + "The west coast of Demerara--the only part of that country which + still remains unvisited--is described as showing _only_ a diminution + of fifty per cent. upon its produce of sugar: and with this fact the + evidence concludes as to one of the three sections into which the + colony is divided. Does Demerara stand alone in its misfortune? Again + hear the report:-- + + "'If the present state of the county of Demerara affords cause for + deep apprehension, your Commissioners find that Essequebo has + retrograded to a still more alarming extent. In fact, unless a large + and speedy supply of labour be obtained to cultivate the deserted + fields of this once-flourishing district, there is great reason to + fear that it will relapse into total abandonment.'" + +Describing another portion of the colony-- + + "They say of one district, 'unless a fresh supply of labour be very + soon obtained, there is every reason to fear that it will become + completely abandoned.' Of a second, 'speedy immigration alone can + save this island from total ruin.' 'The prostrate condition of this + once beautiful part of the coast,' are the words which begin another + paragraph, describing another tract of country. Of a fourth, 'the + proprietors on this coast seem to be keeping up a hopeless struggle + against approaching ruin. Again, 'the once famous Arabian coast, so + long the boast of the colony, presents now but a mournful picture of + departed prosperity. Here were formerly situated some of the finest + estates in the country, and a large resident body of proprietors + lived in the district, and freely expended their incomes on the spot + whence they derived them.' Once more, the lower part of the coast, + after passing Devonshire Castle to the river Pomeroon, presents a + scene of almost total desolation.' Such is Essequebo!" + + "Berbice," says Lord Stanley, "has fared no better: its rural + population amounts to 18,000. Of these, 12,000 have withdrawn from + the estates, and mostly from the neighbourhood of the white man, to + enjoy a savage freedom of ignorance and idleness, beyond the reach of + example and sometimes of control. But, on the condition of the negro + I shall dwell more at length hereafter; at present it is the state of + property with which I have to do. What are the districts which + together form the county of Berbice? The Corentyne coast--the Canje + Creek--East and West banks of the Berbice River--and the West coast, + where, however, cotton was formerly the chief article produced. To + each of these respectively the following passages, quoted in order, + apply:-- + + "'The abandoned plantations on this coast,[17] which if capital and + labour could be procured, might easily be made very productive, are + either wholly deserted or else appropriated by hordes of squatters, + who of course are unable to keep up at their own expense the public + roads and bridges, and consequently all communication by land between + the Corentyne and New Amsterdam is nearly at an end. The roads are + impassable for horses or carriages, while for foot-passengers they + are extremely dangerous. The number of villagers in this deserted + region must be upward of 2500, and as the country abounds with fish + and game, they have no difficulty in making a subsistence; in fact, + the Corentyne coast is fast relapsing into a state of nature.' + + "'Canje Creek was formerly considered a flourishing district of the + county, and numbered on its east bank seven sugar and three coffee + estates, and on its west bank eight estates, of which two were in + sugar and six in coffee, making a total of eighteen plantations. The + coffee cultivation has long since been entirely abandoned, and of the + sugar estates but eight still now remain. They are suffering severely + for want of labour, and being supported principally by African and + Coolie immigrants, it is much to be feared that if the latter leave + and claim their return passages to India, a great part of the + district will become abandoned.' + + "'Under present circumstances, so gloomy is the condition of affairs + here,[18] that the two gentlemen whom your Commissioners have + examined with respect to this district, both concur in predicting + "its slow but sure approximation to the condition in which civilized + man first found it.'" + + "'A district [19] that in 1829, gave employment to 3635 registered + slaves, but at the present moment there are not more than 600 + labourers at work on the few estates still in cultivation, although + it is estimated there are upwards of 2000 people idling in villages + of their own. The roads are in many parts several feet under water, + and perfect swamps; while in some places the bridges are wanting + altogether. In fact, the whole district is fast becoming a total + wilderness, with the exception of the one or two estates which yet + continue to struggle on, and which are hardly accessible now but by + water.' + + "'Except in some of the best villages,[20] they care not for back or + front dams to keep off the water; their side-lines are disregarded, + and consequently the drainage is gone; while in many instances the + public road is so completely flooded that canoes have to be used as a + means of transit. The Africans are unhappily following the example of + the Creoles in this district, and buying land, on which they settle + in contented idleness; and your Commissioners cannot view instances + like these without the deepest alarm, for if this pernicious habit of + squatting is allowed to extend to the immigrants also, there is no + hope for the colony.'" + +Under these circumstances it is that the London _Times_ furnishes its +readers with the following paragraph,--and as that journal cannot be +regarded as the opponent of the classes which have lately controlled +the legislation of England, we may feel assured that its information +is to be relied upon:-- + + "Our legislation has been dictated by the presumed necessities of the + African slave. After the Emancipation Act, a large charge was + assessed upon the colony in aid of civil and religious institutions + for the benefit of the enfranchised negro, and it was hoped that + those coloured subjects of the British Crown would soon be + assimilated to their fellow-citizens. From all the information which + has reached us, no less than from the visible probabilities of the + case, _we are constrained to believe that these hopes have been + falsified. The negro has not obtained with his freedom any habits of + industry or morality. His independence is little better than that of + an uncaptured brute_. Having accepted none of the restraints of + civilization, he is amenable to few of its necessities, and the wants + of his nature are so easily satisfied, that at the present rate of + wages he is called upon for nothing but fitful or desultory exertion. + _The blacks_, therefore, _instead of becoming intelligent husbandmen, + have become vagrants and squatters, and it is now apprehended that + with the failure of cultivation in the island will come the failure + of its resources for instructing or controlling its population_. So + imminent does this consummation appear, that memorials have been + signed by classes of colonial society, hitherto standing aloof from + politics, _and not only the bench and the bar, but the bishop, + clergy, and the ministers of all denominations in the island, without + exception, have recorded their conviction that in the absence of + timely relief, the religious and educational institutions of the + island must be abandoned, and the masses of the population retrograde + to barbarism_." + +The _Prospective Review_, (Nov. 1852,) seeing what has happened in the +British colonies, and speaking of the possibility of a similar course +of action on this side of the Atlantic, says-- + + "We have had experience enough in our own colonies, not to wish to + see the experiment tried elsewhere on a larger scale. It is true that + from some of the smaller islands, where there is a superabundance of + negro population and no room for squatters, the export of sugar has + not been diminished: it is true that in Jamaica and Demerara, the + commercial distress is largely attributable to the folly of the + planters--who doggedly refuse to accommodate themselves to the new + state of things, and to entice the negroes from the back settlements + by a promise of fair wages. But we have no reason to suppose that the + whole tragi-comedy would not be re-enacted in the Slave States of + America, if slavery were summarily abolished by act of Congress + to-morrow. Property among the plantations consists only of land and + negroes: emancipate the negroes--and the planters have no longer any + capital for the cultivation of the land. Put the case of + compensation: though it be difficult to see whence it could come: + there is every probability that the planters of Alabama, accustomed + all their lives to get black labour for nothing, would be as + unwilling to pay for it as their compeers in Jamaica: and there is + plenty of unowned land on which the disbanded gangs might settle and + no one question their right. It is allowed on all hands that the + negroes as a race will not work longer than is necessary to supply + the simplest comforts of life. It would be wonderful were it + otherwise. A people have been degraded and ground down for a century + and a half: systematically kept in ignorance for five generations of + any needs and enjoyments beyond those of the savage: and then it is + made matter of complaint that they will not apply themselves to + labour for their higher comforts and more refined luxuries, of which + they cannot know the value!" + +The systematic degradation here referred to is probably quite true as +regards the British Islands, where 660,000 were all that remained of +almost two millions that had been imported; but it is quite a mistake +to suppose it so in regard to this country, in which there are now +found ten persons for every one ever imported, and all advancing by +gradual steps toward civilization and freedom; and yet were the +reviewer discoursing of the conduct of the Spanish settlers of +Hispaniola, he could scarcely speak more disparagingly of them than he +does in regard to a people that alone has so treated the negro race as +to enable it to increase in numbers, and improve in its physical, +moral, and intellectual condition. Had he been more fully informed in +relation to the proceedings in the British colonies, and in these +colonies and states, he could scarcely have ventured to assert that +"the responsibility of having degraded the African race rests upon the +American people,"--the only people among whom they have been improved. +Nevertheless, it is right and proper to give due weight to all +opinions in regard to the existence of an evil, and to all +recommendations in regard to the mode of removal, let them come from +what source they may; and the writer of the article from which this +passage is taken is certainly animated by a somewhat more liberal and +catholic spirit than is found animating many of his countrymen. + +That the English system in regard to the emancipation of the negro has +proved a failure is now admitted even by those who most warmly +advocated the measures that have been pursued. "There are many," says +the London _Times_, "who think that, with proper regulations, and +particularly with a system for the self-enfranchisement of slaves, we +might have brought about the entire emancipation of the British West +Indies, with much less injury to the property of the planter and to +the character of the negro than have resulted from the Abolition Act. +Perhaps," it continues, "the warning will not be lost on the +Americans, who may see the necessity of putting things in train for +the ultimate abolition of slavery, and thereby save the sudden shock +which the abolitionists may one day bring on all the institutions of +the Union and the whole fabric of American society." + +The Falmouth [Jamaica] _Post_, of December 12, 1852, informs us that, +even now, "in every parish of the island preparations are being made +for the abandonment of properties that were once valuable, but on +which cultivation can no longer be continued." "In Trelawny," it +continues, "many estates have been thrown up during the last two +years, and the exportation to the United States of America, within a +few months, of upward of 80,000 tons of copper, which was used for the +manufacture of sugar and rum, is one of the 'signs of the times,' to +which the attention of the legislature should be seriously directed, +in providing for the future maintenance of our various institutions, +both public and parochial. Unless the salaries of all official +characters are reduced, it will be utterly impossible to carry on the +government of the colony." + +Eighty thousand tons of machinery heretofore used in aid of labour, or +nearly one ton for every four persons on the island, exported within a +few months! The _Bande Noire_ of France pulled down dwelling-houses +and sold the materials, but as they left the machinery used by the +labourers, their operations were less injurious than have been those +of the negroes of Jamaica, the demand for whose labour must diminish +with every step in the progress of the abandonment of land and the +destruction of machinery. Under such circumstances we can feel little +surprise at learning that every thing tends towards barbarism; nor is +it extraordinary that a writer already quoted, and who is not to be +suspected of any pro-slavery tendencies, puts the question, "Is it +enough that they [the Americans] simply loose their chain and turn +them adrift lower," as he is pleased to say, "than they found +them?"[21] It is not enough. They need to be prepared for freedom. +"Immediate emancipation," as he says, "solves only the simplest forms +of the problem." + +The land-owner has been ruined and the labourer is fast relapsing into +barbarism, and yet in face of this fact the land-owners of the +Southern States are branded throughout the world as "tyrants" and +"slave-breeders," because they will not follow in the same direction. +It is in face of this great fact that the people of the North are +invited to join in a crusade against their brethren of the South +because they still continue to hold slaves, and that the men of the +South are themselves so frequently urged to assent to immediate and +unconditional emancipation. + +In all this there may be much philanthropy, but there is certainly +much error,--and with a view to determine where it lies, as well as to +show what is the true road to emancipation, it is proposed to inquire +what has been, in the various countries of the world, the course by +which men have passed from poverty to wealth, from ignorance and +barbarism to civilization, and from slavery to freedom. That done, we +may next inquire for the causes now operating to prevent the +emancipation of the negro of America and the occupant of "the +sweater's den" in London; and if they can once be ascertained, it will +be then easy to determine what are the measures needful to be adopted +with a view to the establishment of freedom throughout the world. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +HOW MAN PASSES FROM POVERTY AND SLAVERY TOWARD WEALTH AND FREEDOM. + + +The first poor cultivator is surrounded by land unoccupied. _The more +of it at his command the poorer he is._ Compelled to work alone, he is +a slave to his necessities, and he can neither roll nor raise a log +with which to build himself a house. He makes himself a hole in the +ground, which serves in place of one. He cultivates the poor soil of +the hills to obtain a little corn, with which to eke out the supply of +food derived from snaring the game in his neighbourhood. His winter's +supply is deposited in another hole, liable to injury from the water +which filters through the light soil into which alone he can +penetrate. He is in hourly danger of starvation. At length, however, +his sons grow up. They combine their exertions with his, and now +obtain something like an axe and a spade. They can sink deeper into +the soil; and can cut logs, and build something like a house. They +obtain more corn and more game, and they can preserve it better. The +danger of starvation is diminished. Being no longer forced to depend +for fuel upon the decayed wood which was all their father could +command, they are in less danger of perishing from cold in the +elevated ground which, from necessity, they occupy. With the growth of +the family new soils are cultivated, each in succession yielding a +larger return to labour, and they obtain a constantly increasing +supply of the necessaries of life from a surface diminishing in its +ratio to the number to be fed; and thus with every increase in the +return to labour the power of combining their exertions is increased. + +If we look now to the solitary settler of the West, even where +provided with both axe and spade, we shall see him obtaining, with +extreme difficulty, the commonest log hut. A neighbour arrives, and +their combined efforts produce a new house with less than half the +labour required for the first. That neighbour brings a horse, and he +makes something like a cart. The product of their labour is now ten +times greater than was that of the first man working by himself. More +neighbours come, and new houses are needed. A "bee" is made, and by +the combined effort of the neighbourhood the third house is completed +in a day; whereas the first cost months, and the second weeks, of far +more severe exertion. These new neighbours have brought ploughs and +horses, and now better soils are cultivated, and the product of labour +is again increased, as is the power to preserve the surplus for +winter's use. The path becomes a road. Exchanges increase. The store +makes its appearance. Labour is rewarded by larger returns, because +aided by better machinery applied to better soils. The town grows up. +Each successive addition to the population brings a consumer and a +producer. The shoemaker desires leather and corn in exchange for his +shoes. The blacksmith requires fuel and food, and the farmer wants +shoes for his horses; and with the increasing facility of exchange +more labour is applied to production, and the reward of labour rises, +producing new desires, and requiring more and larger exchanges. The +road becomes a turnpike, and the wagon and horses are seen upon it. +The town becomes a city, and better soils are cultivated for the +supply of its markets, while the railroad facilitates exchanges with +towns and cities yet more distant. The tendency to union and to +combination of exertion thus grows with the growth of wealth. In a +state of extreme poverty it cannot be developed. The insignificant +tribe of savages that starves on the product of the superficial soil +of hundreds of thousands of acres of land, looks with jealous eye on +every intruder, knowing that each new mouth requiring to be fed tends +to increase the difficulty of obtaining subsistence; whereas the +farmer rejoices in the arrival of the blacksmith and the shoemaker, +because they come to eat on the spot the corn which heretofore he has +carried ten, twenty, or thirty miles to market, to exchange for shoes +for himself and his horses. With each new consumer of his products +that arrives he is enabled more and more to concentrate his action and +his thoughts upon his home, while each new arrival tends to increase +his _power_ of consuming commodities brought from a distance, because +it tends to diminish his _necessity_ for seeking at a distance a +market for the produce of his farm. Give to the poor tribe spades, and +the knowledge how to use them, and the power of association will +begin. The supply of food becoming more abundant, they hail the +arrival of the stranger who brings them knives and clothing to be +exchanged for skins and corn; wealth grows, and the habit of +association--the first step toward civilization--arises. + +The little tribe is, however, compelled to occupy the higher lands. +The lower ones are a mass of dense forests and dreary swamps, while at +the foot of the hill runs a river, fordable but for a certain period +of the year. On the hillside, distant a few miles, is another tribe; +but communication between them is difficult, because, the river bottom +being yet uncleared, roads cannot be made, and bridges are as yet +unthought of. Population and wealth, however, continue to increase, +and the lower lands come gradually into cultivation, yielding larger +returns to labour, and enabling the tribe to obtain larger supplies of +food with less exertion, and to spare labour to be employed for other +purposes. Roads are made in the direction of the river bank. +Population increases more rapidly because of the increased supplies of +food and the increased power of preserving it, and wealth grows still +more rapidly. The river bank at length is reached, and some of the +best lands are now cleared. Population grows again, and a new element +of wealth is seen in the form of a bridge; and now the two little +communities are enabled to communicate more freely with each other. +One rejoices in the possession of a wheelwright, while the other has a +windmill. One wants carts, and the other has corn to grind. One has +cloth to spare, while the other has more leather than is needed for +its purpose. Exchanges increase, and the little town grows because of +the increased amount of trade. Wealth grows still more rapidly, +because of new modes of combining labour, by which that of all is +rendered more productive. Roads are now made in the direction of other +communities, and the work is performed rapidly, because the exertions +of the two are now combined, and because the machinery used is more +efficient. One after another disappear forests and swamps that have +occupied the fertile lands, separating ten, twenty, fifty, or five +hundred communities, which now are brought into connection with each +other; and with each step labour becomes more and more productive, and +is rewarded with better food, clothing, and shelter. Famine and +disease disappear, life is prolonged, population is increased, and +therewith the tendency to that combination of exertion among the +individuals composing these communities, which is the distinguishing +characteristic of civilization in all nations and in all periods of +the world. With further increase of population and wealth, the desires +of man, and his ability to gratify them, both increase. The nation, +thus formed, has more corn than it needs; but it has no cotton, and +its supply of wool is insufficient. The neighbouring nation has cotton +and wool, and needs corn. They are still divided, however, by broad +forests, deep swamps, and rapid rivers. Population increases, and the +great forests and swamps disappear, giving place to rich farms, +through which broad roads are made, with immense bridges, enabling the +merchant to transport his wool and his cotton to exchange with his +now-rich neighbours for their surplus corn or sugar. Nations now +combine their exertions, and wealth grows with still increased +rapidity, facilitating the drainage of marshes, and thus bringing into +activity the richest soils; while coal-mines cheaply furnish the fuel +for converting limestone into lime, and iron ore into axes and spades, +and into rails for the new roads needed for transporting to market the +vast products of the fertile soils now in use, and to bring back the +large supplies of sugar, tea, coffee, and the thousand other products +of distant lands with which intercourse now exists. At each step +population and wealth and happiness and prosperity take a new bound; +and men realize with difficulty the fact that the country, which now +affords to tens of millions all the necessaries, comforts, +conveniences, and luxuries of life, is the same that, when the +superabundant land was occupied by tens of thousands only, gave to +that limited number scanty supplies of the worst food; so scanty that +famines were frequent and sometimes so severe that starvation was +followed in its wake by pestilence, which, at brief intervals, swept +from the earth the population of the little and scattered settlements, +among which the people were forced to divide themselves when they +cultivated only the poor soils of the hills. + +The course of events here described is in strict accordance with the +facts observed in every country as it has grown in wealth and +population. The early settlers of all the countries of the world are +seen to have been slaves to their necessities--and often slaves to +their neighbours; whereas, with the increase of numbers and the +increased power of cultivation, they are seen passing from the poorer +soils of the hills to the fertile soils of the river bottoms and the +marshes, with constant increase in the return to labour, and +constantly increasing power to determine for themselves for whom they +will work, and what shall be their reward. This view is, however, in +direct opposition to the theory of the occupation of land taught in +the politico-economical school of which Malthus and Ricardo were the +founders. By them we are assured that the settler commences always on +the low and rich lands, and that, as population increases, men are +required to pass toward the higher and poorer lands--and of course up +the hill--with constantly diminishing return to labour, and thus that, +as population grows, man becomes more and more a slave to his +necessities, and to those who have power to administer to his wants, +involving a necessity for dispersion throughout the world in quest of +the rich lands upon which the early settler is supposed to commence +his operations. It is in reference to this theory that Mr. J. S. Mill +says-- + + "This general law of agricultural industry is the most important + proposition in political economy. If the law were different, almost + all the phenomena of the production and distribution of wealth would + be other than they are." + +In the view thus presented by Mr. Mill there is no exaggeration. The +law of the occupation of the land by man lies at the foundation of all +political economy; and if we desire to know what it is that tends to +the emancipation of the people of the earth from slavery, we must +first satisfy ourselves that the theory of Messrs. Malthus and Ricardo +has not only no foundation in fact, but that the law is directly the +reverse, and tends, therefore, toward the adoption of measures +directly opposed to those that would he needed were that theory true. +The great importance of the question will excuse the occupation of a +few minutes of the reader's attention in placing before him some facts +tending to enable him to satisfy himself in regard to the universality +of the law now offered for his consideration. Let him inquire where he +may, he will find that the early occupant _did not_ commence in the +flats, or on the heavily timbered-land, but that he _did_ commence on +the higher land, where the timber was lighter, and the place for his +house was dry. With increasing ability, he is found draining the +swamps, clearing the heavy timber, turning up the marl, or burning the +lime, and thus acquiring control over more fertile soils, yielding a +constant increase in the return to labour. Let him then trace the +course of early settlement, and he will find that while it has often +followed the course of the streams, it has always avoided the swamps +and river bottoms. The earliest settlements of this country were on +the poorest lands of the Union--those of New England. So was it in New +York, where we find the railroads running through the lower and +richer, and yet uncultivated, lands, while the higher lands right and +left have long been cultivated. So is it now in Pennsylvania, +Virginia, and Ohio. In South Carolina it has been made the subject of +remark, in a recent discourse, that their predecessors did not select +the rich lands, and that millions of acres of the finest meadow-land +in that State still remain untouched. The settler in the prairies +commences on the higher and drier land, leaving the wet prairie and +the _slough_--the richest soil--for his successors. The lands below +the mouth of the Ohio are among the richest in the world; yet they are +unoccupied, and will continue so to be until wealth and population +shall have greatly increased. So is it now with the low and rich lands +of Mexico. So was it in South America, the early cultivation of which +was upon the poor lands of the western slope, Peru and Chili, while +the rich lands of the Amazon and the La Plata remained, as most of +them still remain, a wilderness. In the West Indies, the small dry +islands were early occupied, while Porto Rico and Trinidad, abounding +in rich soils, remained untouched. The early occupants of England were +found on the poorer lands of the centre and south of the kingdom, as +were those of Scotland in the Highlands, or on the little rocky +islands of the Channel. Mona's Isle was celebrated while the rich soil +of the Lothians remained an almost unbroken mass of forest, and the +morasses of Lancashire were the terror of travellers long after +Hampshire had been cleared and cultivated. If the reader desire to +find the birthplace of King Arthur and the earliest seat of English +power, he must look to the vicinity of the royal castle of Tintagel, +in the high and dry Cornwall. Should he desire other evidence of the +character of the soil cultivated at the period when land abounded and +men were few in number, he may find it in the fact that in some parts +of England there is scarcely a hill top that does not bear evidence of +early occupation,[22] and in the further fact that the mounds, or +barrows, are almost uniformly composed of stone, because those +memorials "are found most frequently where stone was more readily +obtained than earth."[23] Caesar found the Gauls occupying the high +lands surrounding the Alps, while the rich Venetia remained a marsh. +The occupation of the Campagna followed long after that of the Samnite +hills, and the earliest settlers of the Peloponnesus cultivated the +high and dry Arcadia, while the cities of the Argive kings of the days +of Homer, Mycenae and Tiryns, are found in eastern Argolis, a country +so poor as to have been abandoned prior to the days of the earliest +authentic history. The occupation of the country around Meroë, and of +the Thebaid, long preceded that of the lower lands surrounding +Memphis, or the still lower and richer ones near Alexandria. The negro +is found in the higher portions of Africa, while the rich lands along +the river courses are uninhabited. The little islands of Australia, +poor and dry, are occupied by a race far surpassing in civilization +those of the neighbouring continent, who have rich soils at command. +The poor Persia is cultivated, while the rich soils of the ancient +Babylonia are only ridden over by straggling hordes of robbers.[24] +Layard had to seek the hills when he desired to find a people at home. +Affghanistan and Cashmere were early occupied, and thence were +supplied the people who moved toward the deltas of the Ganges and the +Indus, much of both of which still remains, after so many thousands of +years, in a state of wilderness. Look where we may, it is the same. +The land obeys the same great and universal law that governs light, +power, and heat. The man who works alone and has poor machinery must +cultivate poor land, and content himself with little light, little +power, and little heat, and those, like his food, obtained in exchange +for much labour; while he who works in combination with his fellow-men +may have good machinery, enabling him to clear and cultivate rich +land, giving him much food, and enabling him to obtain much light, +much heat, and much power, in exchange for little labour. The first is +_a creature of necessity_--a slave--and as such is man universally +regarded by Mr. Ricardo and his followers. The second is _a being of +power_--a freeman--and as such was man regarded by Adam Smith, who +taught that the more men worked in combination with each other, the +greater would be the facility of obtaining food and all other of the +necessaries and comforts of life--and the more widely they were +separated, the less would be the return to labour and capital, and the +smaller the power of production, as common sense teaches every man +must necessarily be the case. + +It will now readily be seen how perfectly accurate was Mr. Mill in his +assertion that, "if the law were different, almost all the phenomena +of the production and distribution of wealth would be other than they +are." The doctrine of Malthus and Ricardo tends to make the labourer a +slave to the owner of landed or other capital; but happily it has no +foundation in fact, and therefore the natural laws of the production +and distribution of wealth tend not to slavery, but to freedom. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +HOW WEALTH TENDS TO INCREASE. + + +The first poor cultivator commences, as we have seen, his operations +on the hillside. Below him are lands upon which have been carried by +force of water the richer portions of those above, as well as the +leaves of trees, and the fallen trees themselves, all of which have +from time immemorial rotted and become incorporated with the earth, +and thus have been produced soils fitted to yield the largest returns +to labour; yet for this reason are they inaccessible. Their character +exhibits itself in the enormous trees with which they are covered, and +in their power of retaining the water necessary to aid the process of +decomposition, but the poor settler wants the power either to clear +them of their timber, or to drain them of the superfluous moisture. He +begins on the hillside, but by degrees he obtains better machinery of +cultivation, and with each step in this direction we find him +descending the hill and obtaining larger return to labour. He has more +food for himself, and he has now the means of feeding a horse or an +ox. Aided by the manure that is thus yielded to him by the better +lands, we see him next retracing his steps, improving the hillside, +and compelling it to yield a return double that which he at first +obtained. With each step down the hill, he obtains still larger reward +for his labour, and at each he returns, with increased power, to the +cultivation of the original poor soil. He has now horses and oxen, and +while by their aid he extracts from the new soils the manure that had +accumulated for ages, he has also carts and wagons to carry it up the +hill; and at each step his reward is increased, while his labours are +lessened. He goes back to the sand and raises the marl, with which he +covers the surface; or he returns to the clay and sinks into the +limestone, by aid of which he doubles its product. He is all the time +making a machine which feeds him while he makes it, and which +increases in its powers the more he takes from it. At first it was +worthless. Having now fed and clothed him for years, it has acquired a +large value, and those who might desire to use it would pay him a +large rent for permission so to do. + +The earth is a great machine given to man to be fashioned to his +purpose. The more he works it, the better it feeds him, because each +step is but preparatory to a new one more productive than the +last--requiring less labour and yielding larger return. The labour of +clearing is great, yet the return is small. The earth is covered with +stumps, and filled with roots. With each year the roots decay, and the +ground becomes enriched, while the labour of ploughing is diminished. +At length, the stumps disappear, and the return is doubled, while the +labour is less by one-half than at first. To forward this process the +owner has done nothing but crop the ground, nature having done the +rest. The aid he thus obtains from her yields him as much food as in +the outset was obtained by the labour of felling the trees. This, +however, is not all. The surplus thus yielded has given him means of +improving the poorer lands, by furnishing manure with which to enrich +them, and thus has he trebled his original return without further +labour; for that which he saves in working the new soils suffices to +carry the manure to the older ones. He is obtaining a daily increased +power over the various treasures of the earth. + +With every operation connected with the fashioning of the earth, the +result is the same. The first step is, invariably, the most costly +one, and the least productive. The first drain commences near the +stream, where the labour is heaviest. It frees from water but a few +acres. A little higher, the same quantity of labour, profiting by what +has been already done, frees twice the number. Again the number is +doubled; and now the most perfect system of thorough drainage may be +established with less labour than was at first required for one of the +most imperfect kind. To bring the lime into connection with the clay, +upon fifty acres, is lighter labour than was the clearing of a single +one, yet the process doubles the return for each acre of fifty. The +man who needs a little fuel for his own use, expends much labour in +opening the neighbouring vein of coal; but to enlarge this, so as to +double the product, is a work of comparatively small labour. To sink a +shaft to the first vein below the surface, and erect a steam-engine, +are expensive operations; but these once accomplished, every future +step becomes more productive, while less costly. To sink to the next +vein below, and to tunnel to another, are trifles in comparison with +the first, yet each furnishes a return equally large. The first line +of railroad runs by houses and towns occupied by two or three hundred +thousand persons. Half a dozen little branches, costing together far +less labour than the first, bring into connection with it half a +million, or perhaps a million. The trade increases, and a second +track, a third, or a fourth, may be required. The original one +facilitates the passage of the materials and the removal of the +obstructions, and three new ones may now be made with less labour than +was at first required for a single one. + +All labour thus expended in fashioning the great machine is but the +prelude to the application of further labour, with still increased +returns. With each such application, wages rise, and hence it is that +portions of the machine, as it exists, invariably exchange, when +brought to market, for far less labour than they have cost. There is +thus a steady decline of the value of capital in labour, and a daily +increase in the power of labour over capital, and with each step in +this direction man becomes more free. The man who cultivated the thin +soils was happy to obtain a hundred bushels for his year's work. With +the progress of himself and his neighbour down the hill into the more +fertile soils, wages have risen, and two hundred bushels are now +required. His farm will yield a thousand bushels; but it requires the +labour of four men, who must have two hundred bushels each, and the +surplus is but two hundred bushels. At twenty years' purchase this +gives a capital of four thousand bushels, or the equivalent of twenty +years' wages; whereas it has cost, in the labour of himself, his sons, +and his assistants, the equivalent of a hundred years of labour, or +perhaps far more. During all this time, however, it has fed and +clothed them all, and the farm has been produced by the insensible +contributions made from year to year, unthought of and unfelt. + +It has become worth twenty years' wages, because its owner has for +years taken from it a thousand bushels annually; but when it had lain +for centuries accumulating wealth it was worth nothing. Such is the +case with the earth everywhere. The more that is taken from it the +more there is to be returned, and the greater our power to draw upon +it. When the coal-mines of England were untouched, they were +valueless. Now their value is almost countless; yet the land contains +abundant supplies for thousands of years. Iron ore, a century since, +was a drug, and leases were granted at almost nominal rents. Now, such +leases are deemed equivalent to the possession of large fortunes, +notwithstanding the great quantities that have been removed, although +the amount of ore now known to exist is probably fifty times greater +than it was then. + +_The earth is the sole producer._ From her man receives the corn and +the cotton-wool, and all that he can do is to change them in their +form, or in their place. The first he may convert into bread, and the +last into cloth, and both maybe transported to distant places, but +there his power ends. He can make no addition to their quantity. A +part of his labour is applied to the preparation and improvement of +the great machine of production, and this produces changes that are +permanent. The drain, once cut, remains a drain; and the limestone, +once reduced to lime, never again becomes limestone. It passes into +the food of man and animals, and ever after takes its part in the same +round with the clay with which it has been incorporated. The iron +rusts and gradually passes into soil, to take its part with the clay +and the lime. That portion of his labour gives him wages while +preparing the machine for greater future production. That other +portion which he expends on fashioning and exchanging _the products_ +of the machine, produces temporary results and gives him wages alone. +Whatever tends to diminish the quantity of labour required for the +production of food tends to enable him to give more to the preparation +of machinery required for the fashioning and exchanging of the +products; and that machinery in its turn tends to augment the quantity +that may be given to increasing the amount of products, and to +preparing the great machine; and thus, while increasing the present +return to labour, preparing for a future further increase. + +The first poor cultivator obtains a hundred bushels for his year's +wages. To pound this between two stones requires many days of labour, +and the work is not half done. Had he a mill in the neighbourhood he +would have better flour, and he would have almost the whole of those +days to bestow upon his land. He pulls up his grain. Had he a scythe, +he would have more time for the preparation of the machine of +production. He loses his axe, and it requires days of himself and his +horse on the road, to obtain another. His machine loses the time and +the manure, both of which would have been saved had the axe-maker been +at hand. The real advantage derived from the mill and the scythe, and +from the proximity of the axe-maker, consists simply in the power +which they afford him to devote his labour more and more to the +preparation of the great machine of production, and such is the case +with all the machinery of conversion and exchange. The plough enables +him to do as much in one day as with a spade he could do in five. He +saves four days for drainage. The steam-engine drains as much as, +without it, could be drained by thousands of days of labour. He has +more leisure to marl or lime his land. The more he can extract from +his property the greater is its value, because every thing he takes +is, by the very act of taking it, fashioned to aid further production. +The machine, therefore, improves by use, whereas spades, and ploughs, +and steam-engines, and all other of the instruments used by man, are +but the various forms into which he fashions parts of the great +original machine, to disappear in the act of being used; as much so as +food, though not so rapidly. The earth is the great labour-savings' +bank, and the value to man of all other machines is in the direct +ratio of their tendency to aid him in increasing his deposites in that +only bank whose dividends are perpetually increasing, while its +capital is perpetually doubling. That it may continue for ever so to +do, all that it asks is that it shall receive back the refuse of its +produce, the manure; and that it may do so, the consumer and the +producer must take their places by each other. That done, every change +that is effected becomes permanent, and tends to facilitate other and +greater changes. The whole business of the farmer consists in making +and improving soils, and the earth rewards him for his kindness by +giving him more and more food the more attention he bestows upon her. +All that he receives from her must be regarded as a loan, and when he +fails to pay his debts, she starves him out. + +The absolute necessity for returning to the land the manure yielded by +its products is so generally admitted that it would appear scarcely +necessary to do more than state the fact; for every land-owner knows +that when he grants the lease of a farm, one of the conditions he +desires to insert is, that all the hay that is made shall be fed upon +the land, and that manure shall be purchased to supply the waste +resulting from the sale of corn or flax from off the land. In order, +however, that it may be so supplied, it is indispensable that the +place of consumption shall not be far distant from the place of +production, as otherwise the cost of transportation will be greater +than the value of the manure. In a recent work on the agriculture of +Mecklenburgh, it is stated that a quantity of grain that would be +worth close to market fifteen hundred dollars would be worth nothing +at a distance of fifty German, or about two hundred English miles, +from it, as the whole value would be absorbed in the cost of +transporting the grain to market and the manure from market--and that +the manure which close to the town would be worth five dollars to the +farmer, would be worth nothing at a distance of 4-3/4 German, or 19 +English miles from it--and that thus the whole question of the value +of land and the wealth of its owner was dependent upon its distance +from the place at which its products could be exchanged. At a greater +distance than 28 German, or 112 English miles, in Mecklenburgh, the +land ceases to yield rent, because it cannot be cultivated without +loss. As we approach the place of exchange the value of land +increases, from the simultaneous action of two causes: First, a +greater variety of commodities can be cultivated, and the advantage +resulting from a rotation of crops is well known. At a distance, the +farmer can raise only those of which the earth yields but little, and +which are valuable in proportion to their little bulk--as, for +instance, wheat or cotton; but near the place of exchange he may raise +potatoes, turnips, cabbages, and hay, of which the bulk is great in +proportion to the value. Second, the cost of returning the manure to +the land increases as the value of the products of land diminishes +with the increase of distance; and from the combination of these two +causes, land in Mecklenburgh that would be worth, if close to the town +or city, an annual rent of 29,808 dollars, would be worth at a +distance of but 4 German, or 16 English, miles, only 7,467 dollars. + +We see thus, how great is the tendency to the growth of wealth as men +are enabled more and more to combine their exertions with those of +their fellow-men, consuming on or near the land the products of the +land, and enabling the farmer, not only to repair readily the +exhaustion caused by each successive crop, but also to call to his aid +the services of the chemist in the preparation of artificial manures, +as well as to call into activity the mineral ones by which he is +almost everywhere surrounded. We see, too, how much it must be opposed +to the interests of every community to have its products exported in +their rude state, and thus to have its land exhausted. The same author +from whom the above quotations have been made informs us that when the +manure is not returned to the land the yield must diminish from year +to year, until at length it will not be more than one-fourth of what +it had originally been: and this is in accordance with all +observation. + +The natural tendency of the loom and the anvil to seek to take their +place by the side of the plough and harrow, is thus exhibited by ADAM +SMITH:-- + + "An inland country, naturally fertile and easily cultivated, produces + a great surplus of provisions beyond what is necessary for + maintaining the cultivators; and on account of the expense of land + carriage, and inconveniency of river navigation, it may frequently be + difficult to send this surplus abroad. Abundance, therefore, renders + provisions cheap, and encourages a great number of workmen to settle + in the neighbourhood, who find that their industry can there procure + them more of the necessaries and conveniences of life than in other + places. They work up the materials of manufacture which the land + produces, and exchange their finished work, or, what is the same + thing, the price of it, for more materials and provisions. _They give + a new value to the surplus part of the rude produce, by saving the + expense of carrying it to the waterside, or to some distant market_; + and they furnish the cultivators with something in exchange for it, + that is either useful or agreeable to them, upon easier terms than + they could have obtained it before. _The cultivators get a better + price for their surplus produce, and can purchase cheaper other + conveniences which they have occasion for._ They are thus both + encouraged and enabled to increase this surplus produce by a further + improvement and better cultivation of the land; and _as the fertility + of the land has given birth to the manufacture, so the progress of + the manufacture reacts upon the land, and increases still further its + fertility_. The manufacturers first supply the neighbourhood, and + afterward, as their work improves and refines, more distant markets. + _For though neither the rude produce, nor even the coarse + manufacture, could, without the greatest difficulty, support the + expense of a considerable land carriage, the refined and improved + manufacture easily may._ In a small bulk it frequently contains the + price of a great quantity of the raw produce. A piece of fine cloth, + for example, which weighs, only eighty pounds, contains in it the + price, not only of eighty pounds of wool, but sometimes of several + thousand weight of corn, the maintenance of the different working + people, and of their immediate employers. _The corn which could with + difficulty have been carried abroad in its own shape, is in this + manner virtually exported in that of the complete manufacture, and + may easily be sent to the remotest corners of the world._" + +Again: + + "The greater the number and revenue of the inhabitants of the town, + the more extensive is the market which it affords to those of the + country; and the more extensive that market, it is always the more + advantageous to a great number. The corn which grows within a mile of + the town, sells there for the same price with that which comes from + twenty miles distance. But the price of the latter must, generally, + not only pay the expense of raising it and bringing it to market, but + afford, too, the ordinary profits, of agriculture to the farmer. The + proprietors and cultivators of the country, therefore, which lies in + the neighbourhood of the town, over and above the ordinary profits of + agriculture, gain, in the price of what they sell, the whole value of + the carriage of the like produce that is brought from more distant + parts; and they save, besides, the whole value of this carriage in + the price of what they buy. Compare the cultivation of the lands in + the neighbourhood of any considerable town, with that of those which + lie at some distance from it, and you will easily satisfy yourself + how much the country is benefited by the commerce of the town." + +These views are in perfect accordance with the facts. The labourer +rejoices when the market for his labour is brought to his door by the +erection of a mill or a furnace, or the construction of a road. The +farmer rejoices in the opening of a market for labour at his door +giving him a market for his food. His land rejoices in the home +consumption of the products it has yielded, for its owner is thereby +enabled to return to it the refuse of its product in the form of +manure. The planter rejoices in the erection of a mill in his +neighbourhood, giving him a market for his cotton and his food. The +parent rejoices when a market for their labour enables his sons and +his daughters to supply themselves with food and clothing. Every one +rejoices in the growth of a home market for labour and its products, +for trade is then increasing daily and rapidly; and every one mourns +the diminution of the home market, for it is one the deficiency of +which cannot be supplied. + +With each step in this direction man becomes more and more free as +land becomes more valuable and labour becomes more productive, and as +the land becomes more divided. The effect of this upon both the man +and the land is thus exhibited by Dr. Smith:-- + + "A small proprietor, who knows every part of his little territory, + views it with all the affection which property, especially small + property, naturally inspires, and who upon that account takes + pleasure not only in cultivating, but in adorning it, is generally of + all improvers the most industrious, the most intelligent, and the + most successful." + +The tendency of the land to become divided as wealth and population +increase will be obvious to the reader on an examination of the facts +of daily occurrence in and near a growing town or city; and the +contrary tendency to the consolidation of land in few hands may be +seen in the neighbourhood of all declining towns or cities, and +throughout all declining states.[25] + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +HOW LABOUR ACQUIRES VALUE AND MAN BECOMES FREE. + + +The proximity of the market enables the farmer not only to enrich his +land and to obtain from it far more than he could otherwise do, but it +also produces a demand for many things that would otherwise be wasted. +In the West, men set no value upon straw, and in almost every part of +this country the waste arising out of the absence of a market for any +commodities but those which can be carried to a distance, must strike +every traveller. Close to the town or city, almost every thing has +some value. So too with labour, the value of which, like that of land, +tends to increase with every increase in the facility of exchanging +its products. + +The solitary settler has to occupy the spots that, with his rude +machinery, he _can_ cultivate. Having neither horse nor cart, he +carries home his crop upon his shoulders, as is now done in many parts +of India. He carries a hide to the place of exchange, distant, +perhaps, fifty miles, to obtain for it leather, or shoes. Population +increases, and roads are made. The fertile soils are cultivated. The +store and the mill come nearer to him, and he obtains shoes and flour +with the use of less machinery of exchange. He has more leisure for +the improvement of his land, and the returns to labour increase. More +people now obtain food from the same surface, and new places of +exchange appear. The wool is, on the spot, converted into cloth, and +he exchanges directly with the clothier. The saw-mill is at hand, and +he exchanges with the sawyer. The tanner gives him leather for his +hides, and the papermaker gives him paper for his rags. With each of +these changes he has more and more of both time and manure to devote +to the preparation of the great food-making machine, and with each +year the returns are larger. His _power to command_ the use of the +machinery of exchange increases, but his _necessity_ therefor +diminishes, for with each there is an increasing tendency toward +having the consumer placed side by side with the producer, and with +each he can devote more and more of his time and mind to the business +of fashioning the great machine to which he is indebted for food and +clothing; and thus the increase of a consuming population is essential +to the progress of production. + +Diversification of employments, resulting from combination of action, +thus enables men to economize labour and to increase production. +Increased production, on the other hand, makes a demand for labour. +The more wheat raised and the more cloth made, the more there will be +to give in exchange for labour, the greater will be the number of +persons seeking for labourers, and the greater will be the power of +men to determine for themselves the mode in which they will employ +their time or their talents. If, therefore, we desire to see men +advance in freedom, we must endeavour to increase the productive +power; and that, as we see, grows with the growth of the power to +improve the land, while it diminishes with every diminution in the +power to return to the land the manure yielded by its products. In +purely agricultural countries there is little demand for labour, and +it always tends to diminish, as may be proved by any reader of this +volume who may chance to occupy a purely agricultural neighbourhood. +Let him look around him, and he will, without difficulty, find +hundreds of men, and hundreds of women and children, wasting more time +than would, if properly employed, purchase twice the clothing and +twice the machinery of production they are now enabled to obtain. Why, +however, he will probably ask, is it that they do so waste it? Because +there is no demand for it, except in agriculture; and when that is the +case, there must necessarily be great waste of time. At one season of +the year the farm requires much labour, while at another it needs but +little; and if its neighbours are all farmers, they are all in the +same situation. If the weather is fit for ploughing, they and their +horses and men are all employed. If it is not, they are all idle. In +winter they have all of them little to do; in harvest-time they are +all overrun with work; and crops frequently perish on the ground for +want of the aid required for making them. Now, it would seem to be +quite clear that if there existed some other mode of employment that +would find a demand for the surplus labour of the neighbourhood, all +would be benefited. The man who had a day's labour to sell could sell +it, and, with the proceeds of the labour of a very few days, now +wasted, could purchase clothing for his children, if, indeed, the +labour of those children, now also wasted, did not more than pay for +all the clothing, not only of themselves, but of his wife and himself. + +In order that the reader may see clearly how this state of things +affects all labourers, even those who are employed, we must now ask +him to examine with us the manner in which the prices of all +commodities are affected by excess of supply over demand, or of demand +over supply. It is well known to every farmer, that when the crop of +peaches, or of potatoes, is, _in even a very small degree_, in excess +of the regular demand, the existence of that small surplus so far +diminishes the price that the larger crop will not yield as much as a +much smaller one would have done. It is also known to them that when +the crop is a little less than is required to supply the demand, the +advance in price is large, and the farmer then grows rich. In this +latter case the purchasers are looking for the sellers, whereas in the +former one the sellers have to seek the buyers. Now, labour is a +commodity that some desire to sell, and that others desire to buy, +precisely as is the case with potatoes; but it has this disadvantage +when compared with any other commodity, that it is less easily +transferred from the place where it exists to that at which it is +needed, and that the loss resulting from _the absence of demand on the +spot_ is greater than in reference to _any other commodity +whatsoever_. The man who raises a hundred bushels of peaches, of which +only seventy are needed at home, can send the remainder to a distance +of a hundred or a thousand miles, and the loss he sustains is only +that which results from the fact that the price of the whole is +determined by what he can obtain for the surplus bushels, burdened as +they are with heavy cost of transportation, that he must lose; for the +man that _must_ go to a distant market must always pay the expense of +getting there. This is a heavy loss certainly, but it is trivial when +compared with that sustained by him who has labour to sell, because +_that_, like other very perishable commodities, cannot be carried to +another market, and _must be wasted_. If he has two spare hours a day +to sell, he finds that they waste themselves in the very act of +seeking a distant market, and his children may go in rags, or even +suffer from hunger, because of his inability to find a purchaser for +the only commodity he has to sell. So, too, with the man who has days, +weeks, or months of labour for which he desires to find a purchaser. +Unwilling to leave his wife and his children, to go to a distance, he +remains to be a constant weight upon the labour market, and must +continue so to remain until there shall arise increased competition +for the purchase of labour. It is within the knowledge of every one +who reads this, whether he be shoemaker, hatter, tailor, printer, +brickmaker, stonemason, or labourer, that a very few unemployed men in +his own pursuit keep down the wages of all shoemakers, all hatters, +all tailors, or printers; whereas, wages rise when there is a demand +for a few more than are at hand. The reason for this is to be found in +the difficulty of transferring labour from the place at which it +exists to that at which it is needed; and it is to that we have to +attribute the fact that the tendency to depression in the wages of all +labour is so very great when there is even a very small excess of +supply, and the tendency to elevation so great when there is even a +very small excess of demand. Men starve in Ireland for want of +employment, and yet the distance between them and the people who here +earn a dollar a day, is one that could be overcome at the expense of +fifteen or twenty dollars. Wages may be high in one part of the Union +and low in another, and yet thousands must remain to work at low ones, +because of the difficulty of transporting themselves, their wives, and +their families, to the places at which their services are needed. +Every such man tends to keep down the wages, of _all other men who +have labour to sell_, and therefore every man is interested in having +all other men fully employed, and to have the demand grow faster than +the supply. This is the best state of things for all, capitalists and +labourers; whereas, to have the supply in excess of the demand is +injurious to all, employers and employed. All profit by increase in +the competition for the purchase of labour, and all suffer from +increased competition for the sale of it. + +We had occasion, but a little while since, to visit a factory in which +were employed two hundred females of various ages, from fourteen to +twenty, who were earning, on an average, three dollars per week, +making a total of six hundred dollars per week, or thirty thousand +dollars a year; or as much as would, buy five hundred thousand yards +of cotton cloth. Now supposing these two hundred females to represent +one hundred families, it would follow that their labour produced five +thousand yards of cloth per family, being probably three times as much +in value as the total consumption of clothing by all its members, +from, the parent down to the infant child. + +Let us now suppose this factory closed; what then would be the value +of the labour of these girls, few of whom have strength for field-work +even if our habits of thought permitted that it should be so employed? +It would be almost nothing, for they could do little except +house-work, and the only effect of sending them home would be that, +whereas one person, fully employed, performs now the labour of the +house, it would henceforth be divided between two or three, all of +whom would gradually lose the habit of industry they have been +acquiring. The direct effect of this would be a diminution in the +demand for female labour, and a diminution of its reward. While the +factory continues in operation there is competition for the purchase +of such labour. The parent desires to retain at least one child. A +neighbour desires to hire another, and the factory also desires one. +To supply these demands requires all the females of the neighbourhood +capable of working and not provided with families of their own, and +thus those who are willing to work have the choice of employers and +employment; while the competition for the purchase of their services +tends to raise the rate of wages. If, now, in the existing state of +things, another factory were established in, the same neighbourhood, +requiring a hundred or a hundred and fifty more females, the effect +would be to establish increased competition for the purchase of +labour, attended by increased power of choice on the part of the +labourer, and increased reward of labour--and it is in this increased +power of choice that freedom consists. If, on the contrary, the +factories were closed, the reverse effect would be produced, the +competition for the purchase of labour being diminished, with +corresponding diminution of the power of choice on the part of the +labourer, diminution in his compensation, and diminution of freedom. + +What is true with regard to the females of this neighbourhood is +equally true with regard to the men, women, and children of the world. +Wherever there exists competition for the purchase of labour, there +the labourer has his choice among employers, and the latter are not +only required to pay higher wages, but they are also required to treat +their workmen and workwomen with the consideration that is due to +fellow-beings equal in rights with themselves: but wherever there is +not competition for the purchase of labour, the labourer is compelled +to work for any who are willing to employ him, and to receive at the +hands of his employer low wages and the treatment of a slave, for +slave he is. Here is a plain and simple proposition, the proof of +which every reader can test for himself. If he lives in a +neighbourhood in which there exists competition for the purchase of +labour, he knows that he can act as becomes a freeman in determining +for whom he will work, and the price he is willing to receive for his +services; but if he lives in one in which there is competition for the +sale of labour, he knows well that it does not rest with him to +determine either where he will work or what shall be his wages. + +Where all are farmers, there can be no competition for the purchase of +labour, except for a few days in harvest; but there must be +competition for the sale of labour during all the rest of the year. Of +course, where all are farmers or planters, the man who has labour to +sell is at the mercy of the few who desire to buy it, as is seen in +our Southern States, where the labourer is a slave; and in Ireland, +where his condition is far worse than that of the slaves of the South; +and in India, where men sell themselves for long terms of years to +labour in the West Indies; and in Portugal, where competition for the +purchase of labour has no existence. Where, on the contrary, there is +a diversification of employments, there is a steady improvement in the +condition of men, as they more and more acquire the power to determine +for themselves for whom they will work and what shall be their reward, +as is seen in the rapid improvement in the condition of the people of +France, Belgium, and Germany, and especially of those of Russia, where +competition for the purchase of labour is increasing with wonderful +rapidity. Diversification of employment is absolutely necessary to +produce competition for the purchase of labour. The shoemaker does not +need to purchase shoes, nor does the miner need to buy coal, any more +than the farmer needs to buy wheat or potatoes. Bring them together, +and combine with them the hatter, the tanner, the cotton-spinner, the +maker of woollen cloth, and the smelter and roller of iron, and each +of them becomes a competitor for the purchase of the labour, or the +products of the labour, of all the others, and the wages of all rise +with the increase of competition. + +In order that labour may be productive, it must be aided by machinery. +The farmer could do little with his hands, but when aided by the +plough and the harrow he may raise much wheat and corn. He could carry +little on his shoulders, but he may transport much when aided by a +horse and wagon, and still more when aided by a locomotive engine or a +ship. He could convert little grain into flour when provided only with +a pestle and mortar, but he may do much when provided with a mill. His +wife could convert little cotton into cloth when provided only with a +spinning-wheel and hand-loom, but her labour becomes highly productive +when aided by the spinning-jenny and the power-loom. The more her +labours and those of her husband are thus aided the larger will be the +quantity of grain produced, the more speedily will it be converted +into flour, the more readily will it be carried to market, the larger +will be the quantity of cloth for which it will exchange, the greater +will be the quantity of food and clothing to be divided among the +labourers, and the greater will be the facility on the part of the +labourer to acquire machinery of his own, and to become his own +employer, and thus to increase that diversification in the employment +of labour which tends to increase the competition for its purchase. + +It will next, we think, be quite clear to the reader that _the nearer_ +the grist-mill is to the farm, the less will be the labour required +for converting the wheat into flour, the more will be the labour that +may be given to the improvement of the farm, and the greater will be +the power of the farmer to purchase shoes, hats, coats, ploughs, or +harrows, and thus to create a demand for labour. Equally clear will it +be that _the nearer_ he can bring the hatter, the shoemaker, and the +tailor, the maker of ploughs and harrows, the less will be the loss of +labour in exchanging his wheat for their commodities, and the greater +will be his power to purchase books and newspapers, to educate his +children, and thus to introduce new varieties in the demand for +labour; and each such new variety in the demand for that commodity +tends to raise the wages of those engaged in all other pursuits. If +there be none but farmers, all are seeking employment on a farm. Open +a carpenter's or a blacksmith's shop, and the men employed therein +will cease to be competitors for farm labour, and wages will tend to +rise. Open a mine, or quarry stone and build a mill, and here will be +a new competition for labour that will tend to produce a rise in the +wages of all labourers. Build a dozen mills, and men will be required +to get out timber and stone, and to make spindles, looms, and steam- +engines; and when the mills are completed, the demand for labour will +withdraw hundreds of men that would be otherwise competitors for +employment in the ploughing of fields, the making of shoes or coats, +and hundreds of women that would otherwise be seeking to employ +themselves in binding shoes or making shirts. Competition for the +purchase of labour grows, therefore, with every increase in the +diversification of employment, with constant tendency to increase in +the reward of labour. It declines with every diminution in the modes +of employing labour, with steady tendency to decline in wages. + +If the reader will now trace the course of man toward freedom, in the +various nations of the world, he will see that his progress has been +in the ratio of the growth of towns at which he and his neighbours +could exchange the products of their labour, and that it has declined +as the near towns have given way to the distant cities. The people of +Attica did not need to go abroad to effect their exchanges, and +therefore they became rich and free; whereas the Spartans, who +tolerated nothing but agriculture, remained poor and surrounded by +hosts of slaves. The towns and cities of Italy gave value to the land +by which they were surrounded, and freedom to the people by whom that +land was cultivated. So was it in Holland, and in Belgium, and so +again in England. In each and all of these land increased in value +with every increase in the facility of exchanging its products for +clothing and machinery, and with each step in this direction men were +enabled more readily to maintain and to increase the power of the +land, and to permit larger numbers to obtain increased supplies from +the same surfaces. Association thus increased the power of +accumulating wealth, and wealth thus diminished in its power over +labour, while with augmented numbers the people everywhere found an +increase in their power to assert and to defend their rights. Having +reflected on the facts presented to him in the pages of history, and +having satisfied himself that they are in perfect accordance with the +views here presented, the reader will perhaps find himself disposed to +admit, the correctness of the following propositions:-- + +I. That the nearer the market the less must be the cost to the farmer +for transporting his products to market and for bringing back the +manure to maintain and improve his land. + +II. That the nearer the market the less must be the loss of labour in +going to market, and the greater the quantity that can be given to the +improvement of the land. + +III. That the more the labour and manure that can be given to land, +the larger will be the product and the greater its value. + +IV. That the larger the quantity of commodities produced the greater +will be the demand for labour to be employed in converting them into +forms that fit them for consumption, and the larger the quantity to be +divided among the labourers. + +V. That the greater the competition for the purchase of labour the +greater must be the tendency toward the freedom of the labourer. + +VI. That the freedom of man in thought, speech, action, and trade, +tends thus to keep pace with increase in the habit of association +among men, and increase in the value of land;--and + +VII. That the interests of the labourer and land-owner are thus in +perfect harmony with each other, the one becoming free as the other +becomes rich. + +Equally correct will be found the following propositions:-- + +I. That the more distant the market the greater must be the cost to +the farmer for transporting his products to market, the greater must +be the difficulty of obtaining manure, and the more must his land be +impoverished. + +II. That the more distant the market the greater must be the loss of +labour on the road, and the less the quantity that can be given to the +improvement of the land. + +III. That the less the labour and manure applied to the land the less +must be the product, and the less its value. + +IV. That the longer this process is continued the poorer must become +the land, until at length it ceases to have value, and must be +abandoned. + +V. That the smaller the quantity of commodities produced the less must +be the demand for labour to be employed in their conversion, and the +less the quantity to be divided among the labourers. + +VI. That the less the competition for the purchase of labour the less +must be the power of the labourer to determine for whom he will work, +or what must be his reward, and the greater the tendency toward his +becoming enslaved. + +VII. That the tendency toward slavery tends thus to keep pace with the +decline in the habit of association among men, and the loss of value +in land;--and + +VIII. That thus the labourer and land-owner suffer together, the one +becoming enslaved as the other becomes impoverished. + +If evidence be desired of the correctness of these propositions, it +may found in the history of Egypt, Greece, Rome, Mexico, and of every +other country that has declined in wealth and population. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +HOW MAN PASSES FROM WEALTH AND FREEDOM TOWARD POVERTY AND SLAVERY. + + +The views that have thus been presented are entirely in harmony those +of the illustrious author of "The Wealth of Nations." "In seeking for +employment to a capital," says Dr. Smith, + + "Manufactures are, upon equal or nearly equal profits, naturally + preferred to foreign commerce, for the same reason that agriculture + is naturally preferred to manufactures. As the capital of the + landlord or farmer is more secure than that of the manufacturer, so + the capital of the manufacturer, being at all times more within his + view and command, is more secure than that of the foreign merchant. + In every period, indeed, of every society, the surplus part both of + the rude and manufactured produce, or that for which there is no + demand at home, must be sent abroad, in order to be exchanged for + something for which there is some demand at home. But whether the + capital which carries this surplus produce abroad be a foreign or + domestic one, is of little importance." + +It is thus, in his estimation, of small importance whether the capital +engaged in the work of transportation be foreign or domestic--the +operations most essential to the comfort and improvement of man being, +first, the production, and next, the conversion of the products of the +land, by men occupying towns and cities placed among the producers. +The nearer the market the less must be, as he clearly saw, the loss of +transportation, and the greater the value of the land. If the number +or the capital of those markets were insufficient for the conversion +of all the rude produce of the earth, there would then be +"considerable advantage" to be derived from the export of the surplus +by the aid of foreign capital, thus leaving "the whole stock of the +society" to be employed at home "to more useful purpose." These views +are certainly widely different from those of modern economists, who +see in tables of imports and exports the only criterion of the +condition of society. Commerce, by which is meant exchanges with +distant people, is regarded as the sole measure of the prosperity of a +nation; and yet every man is rejoiced when the market for his products +is brought home to him, and he is thereby enabled to economize +transportation and enrich his land by returning to it the elements of +which-those products had been composed. + + "According to the natural course of things," says Dr. Smith, "the + greater part of the capital of every growing society is, first, + directed to agriculture, afterward to manufactures, and, last of all, + to foreign commerce." + +This, says he, is in accordance with natural laws. As subsistence +precedes luxuries, so must the production, of commodities precede +their conversion or their exchange. + + "Necessity imposes," he continues, "that order of things" which "is + in every country promoted by the natural inclinations of man. If + human institutions had never thwarted those natural inclinations, the + towns could nowhere have increased beyond what the improvement and + cultivation of the territory in which they were situated could + support; till such time, at least, as the whole of that territory was + completely cultivated and improved. Upon equal, or nearly equal + profits, most men will choose to employ their capitals rather in the + improvement and cultivation of land, than either in manufactures or + in foreign trade. The man who employs his capital in land, has it + more under his view and command; and his fortune is much less liable + to accidents than that of the trader, who is obliged frequently to + commit it, not only to the winds and the waves, but to the more + uncertain elements of human folly and injustice, by giving great + credits, in distant countries, to men with whose character and + situation he can seldom be thoroughly acquainted. The capital of the + landlord, on the contrary, which is fixed in the improvement of his + land, seems to be as well secured as the nature of human affairs can + admit of. The beauty of the country, besides the pleasures of a + country life, the tranquillity of mind which it promises, and, + wherever the injustice of human laws does not disturb it, the + independency which it really affords, have charms that, more or less, + attract everybody; and as to cultivate the ground was the original + destination of man, so, in every stage of his existence, he seems to + retain a predilection for this primitive employment. + + "Without the assistance of some artificers, indeed, the cultivation + of land cannot be carried on, but with great inconveniency and + continual interruption. Smiths, carpenters, wheelwrights and + ploughwrights, masons and bricklayers, tanners, shoemakers, and + tailors, are people whose service the farmer has frequent occasion + for. Such artificers, too, stand occasionally in need of the + assistance of one another; and as their residence is not, like that + of the farmer, necessarily tied down to a precise spot, they + naturally settle in the neighbourhood of one another, and thus form a + small town or village. The butcher, the brewer, and the baker soon + join them, together with many other artificers and retailers, + necessary or useful for supplying their occasional wants, and who + contribute still further to augment the town. The inhabitants of the + town and those of the country are mutually the servants of one + another. The town is a continual fair or market, to which the + inhabitants of the country resort, in order to exchange their rude + for manufactured produce. It is this commerce which supplies the + inhabitants of the town, both with the materials of their work and + the means of their subsistence. The quantity of the finished work + which they sell to the inhabitants of the country, necessarily + regulates the quantity of the materials and provisions which they + buy. Neither their employment nor subsistence, therefore, can + augment, but in proportion to the augmentation of the demand from the + country for finished work; and this demand can augment only in + proportion to the extension of improvement and cultivation. Had human + institutions, therefore, never disturbed the natural course of + things, the progressive wealth and increase of the towns would, in + every political society, be consequential, and in proportion to the + improvement and cultivation of the territory or country." + +The demand on the artisan "can augment only in proportion to the +extension of improvement and cultivation." Nothing can be more true. +The interests of the farmer and the mechanic are in perfect harmony +with each other. The one needs a market for his products, and the +nearer the market the greater must be the produce of his land, because +of his increased power to carry back to it the manure. The other needs +a market for his labour, and the richer the land around him the +greater will be the quantity of products to be offered in exchange for +labour, and the greater his freedom to determine for himself for whom +he will work and what shall be his wages. The combination of effort +between the labourer in the workshop and the labourer on the farm thus +gives value to land, and the more rapid the growth of the value of +land the greater has everywhere been the tendency to the freedom of +man. + +These views were opposed to those then universally prevalent. +"England's treasure in foreign trade" had become + + "A fundamental maxim in the political economy, not of England only, + but of all other commercial countries. The inland or home trade, the + most important of all, the trade in which an equal capital affords + the greatest revenue, and creates the greatest employment to the + people of the country, was considered as subsidiary only to foreign + trade. It neither brought money into the country, it was said, nor + carried any out of it. The country, therefore, could never become + richer or poorer by means of it, except as far as its prosperity or + decay might indirectly influence the state of foreign trade." + +It was against this error chiefly that Dr. Smith cautioned his +countrymen. He showed that it had led, and was leading, to measures +tending to disturb the natural course of things in all the countries +connected with England, and to produce among them a necessity, for +trade while diminishing the power to maintain trade. "Whatever tends," +says he, "to diminish in any country the number of artificers and +manufacturers, tends to diminish the home market, the most important +of all markets, for the rude produce of the land, and thereby still +further to discourage agriculture," and consequently to diminish the +power of producing things with which to trade. He nowhere refers to +the fact that any system which looks to compelling a nation to export +raw produce, tends necessarily to the impoverishment of the land and +its owner, and to the diminution, of the freedom of the labourer, and +yet that such was the case could scarcely have escaped his +observation. The tendency of the then existing English policy was, as +he showed, to produce in various countries a necessity for exporting +every thing in its rudest form, thus increasing the cost of +transportation, while impoverishing the land and exhausting the +people. The legislature had been, he said, "prevailed upon" to prevent +the establishment of manufactures in the colonies, "sometimes by high +duties, and sometimes by absolute prohibitions." In Grenada, while a +colony of France, every plantation had its own refinery of sugar, but +on its cession to England they were all abandoned, and thus was the +number of artisans diminished, to "the discouragement of agriculture." +The course of proceeding relative to these colonies is thus +described:-- + + "While Great Britain encourages in America the manufacturing of pig + and bar iron, by exempting them from duties to which the like + commodities are subject when imported from any other country, she + imposes an absolute prohibition upon the erection of steel furnaces + and slit-mills in any of her American plantations: She will not + suffer her colonies to work in those more refined manufactures, even + for their own consumption; but insists upon their purchasing of her + merchants and manufactures all goods of this kind which they have + occasion for. + + "She prohibits the exportation from one province to another by water, + and even the carriage by land upon horseback, or in a cart, of hats, + of wools, and woollen goods, of the produce of America; a regulation + which effectually prevents the establishment of any manufacture of + such commodities for distant sale, and confines the industry of her + colonists in this way to such coarse and household manufactures as a + private family commonly makes for its own use, or for that of some of + its neighbours in the same province." + +His views, in regard to such measures, are thus given:-- + + "To prohibit a great people from making all they can of every part of + their own produce, or from employing their stock and industry in a + way that they judge most advantageous to themselves, is a manifest + violation of the most sacred rights of mankind." + +Further to carry out this view of compelling the people of the +colonies to abstain from manufacturing for themselves, and to carry +their products to distant markets, to the exhaustion of the land and +to the diminution of the value of labour, bounties were paid on the +importation into England of various articles of raw produce, while the +export of various raw materials, of artisans, and of machinery, was +prohibited. The whole object of the system was, he said, to "raise up +colonies of customers, a project," he added, "fit only for a nation of +shopkeepers." Indeed, he thought it "unfit even for a nation of +shopkeepers," although "extremely fit for a nation whose government +was influenced by shopkeepers." He was therefore entirely opposed to +all such arrangements as the Methuen treaty, by which, in +consideration of obtaining the control of the market of Portugal for +the sale of her manufactures, Great Britain agreed to give to the +wines of that country great advantage over those of France. + +Against all the errors of the system, Dr. Smith, however, raised in +vain his warning voice. "England's treasure" was, it was thought, to +be found "in foreign trade," and every measure adopted by the +government had in view the extension of that trade. With each new +improvement of machinery there was a new law prohibiting its export. +The laws against the export of artisans were enforced, and a further +one prohibited the emigration of colliers. The reader will readily see +that a law prohibiting the export of cotton or woollen machinery was +precisely equivalent to a law to compel all the producers of wool or +cotton to seek the distant market of England if they desired to +convert their products into cloth. The inventors of machinery, and the +artisans who desired to work it, were thus deprived of freedom of +action, in order that foreigners might be made the slaves of those who +controlled the spinning-jenny, the loom, and the steam-engine, in +whose hands it was desired to centralize the control of the farmers +and planters of the world. England was to be made "the workshop of the +world," although her people had been warned that the system was not +only unnatural, but in the highest degree unjust, and even more +impolitic than unjust, because while tending to expel capital and +labour from the great and profitable home market, it tended greatly to +the "discouragement of agriculture" in the colonies and nations +subjected to the system, and to prevent the natural increase of the +smaller and less profitable distant market upon which she was becoming +more and more dependent. + +By degrees the tendency of the system became obvious. Bounties on the +import of wood, and wool, and flax, and other raw materials, tended to +"the discouragement of agriculture" at home, and bounties on the +export of manufactures tended to drive into the work of converting, +and exchanging the products of other lands the labour and capital that +would otherwise have been applied to the work of production at home. +The necessary consequence of this was, that the difficulty of +obtaining these raw materials, instead of diminishing with the +progress of population, tended to increase, and then it was, at the +distance of a quarter of a century from the date of the publication of +"_The Wealth of Nations_," that the foundation of the new school was +laid by Mr. Malthus, who taught that all the distress existing in the +world was the inevitable consequence of a great law of nature, which +provided that food should increase only in arithmetical progression, +while population might increase in geometrical progression. Next came +Mr. Ricardo, who furnished a law of the occupation of the earth, +showing, and conclusively, as he supposed, that the work of +cultivation was always commenced on the rich soils, yielding a large +return to labour, and that as population increased, men were compelled +to resort to others, each in succession less fertile than its +predecessor--the consequence of which was that labour became daily +less productive, the power to obtain food diminished, and the power to +demand rent increased, the poor becoming daily poorer, weaker, and +more enslaved, as the rich became richer and more powerful. Next came +the elder Mill, who showed that, in obedience to the law thus +propounded by Mr. Ricardo, the return to capital and labour applied to +the work of cultivation must be "continually decreasing," and the +annual fund from which sayings are made, continually diminishing. "The +difficulty of making savings is thus," he adds, "continually +augmented, and at last they must totally cease." He regarded it +therefore as certain that "wages would be reduced so low that a +portion of the population would regularly die from the consequences of +want." In such a state of things, men sell themselves, their wives, or +their children, for mere food. We see, thus, that the modern British +theory looks directly to the enslavement of man. + +In this manner, step by step, did the British political economists +pass from the school of Adam Smith, in which it was taught that +agriculture preceded manufactures and commerce, the latter of which +were useful to the extent that they aided the former,--to that new one +in which was, and is, taught, that manufactures and commerce were the +great and profitable pursuits of man, and that agriculture, because of +the "constantly increasing sterility of the soil," was the least +profitable of all. Hence it is that we see England to have been +steadily passing on in the same direction, and devoting all her +energies to the prevention of the establishment, in any country of the +world, of markets in which the raw produce of the land could be +exchanged directly with the artisan for the products of his labour. + +For a time this prospered, but at length the eyes of the world were +opened to the fact that they and their land were being impoverished as +she was being enriched; and that the effect of the system was that of +constituting herself _sole buyer_ of the raw products of their labour +and their land, and _sole seller_ of the manufactured commodities to +be given in exchange for them, with power to fix the prices of both; +and thus that she was really acting in the capacity of mistress of the +world, with power to impose taxes at discretion. By degrees, machinery +and artisans were smuggled abroad, and new machinery was made, and +other nations turned their attention more and more to manufacturing; +and now it became necessary to make new exertions for the purpose of +securing to England the monopoly she had so long enjoyed. To enable +her to do this we find her at length throwing open her ports for the +free admission of corn and numerous other of the raw products of the +earth, free from the payment of any duty whatever, and thus offering +to the various nations of the world a bounty on the further exhaustion +of their land. The adoption of this measure would, it was supposed, +induce Prussia, Austria, Russia, and Denmark, and all America, to +devote themselves exclusively to the cultivation of the earth, +abandoning all attempts at the creation of nearer places of exchange; +and thus that all the world outside of England would become producers +of raw materials to be carried to that single and distant market, +there to be consumed or converted, and the refuse thereof to be +deposited on the land of England. That such was the object of this +measure was admitted by all. It was announced as a boon to the +agriculturists of the world. How far it was calculated to be so, the +reader may judge, after satisfying himself of the truth of the +following propositions:-- + +I. That if there is to be but one place of exchange or manufacture for +the world, all the rest of the people of the world must limit +themselves to agriculture. + +II. That this necessarily implies the absence of towns, or local +places of exchange, and a necessity for resorting to a place of +exchange far distant. + +III. That the distance of the place of consumption from the place of +production forbids the possibility of returning to the land any of the +manure yielded by its products. + +IV. That this in turn implies the exhaustion of the land and the +impoverishment of its owner. + +V. That the impoverishment of the land renders necessary a removal to +new and more distant lands. + +VI. That this renders necessary a larger amount of transportation, +while the impoverishment of the farmer increases the difficulty of +making roads. + +VII. That the increased distance of the market produces a steadily +increased necessity for limiting the work of cultivation to the +production of those commodities which can be obtained from high and +dry lands, and that the quantity of products tends therefore to +diminish with the increased distance from market. + +VIII. That with each step in the progress of exhausting the land, men +are compelled to separate more widely from each other, and that there +is therefore a steady diminution in the power of association for the +making of roads, or the establishment of schools, and that the small +towns, or near places of exchange, tend gradually toward depopulation +and ruin. + +IX. That the more men separate from each other the less is the power +to procure machinery, and the greater the necessity for cultivating +the poorest soils, even though surrounded by lead, iron, and copper +ore, coal, lime, and all other of the elements of which machinery is +composed. + +X. That with the diminished power of association, children grow up +uneducated, and men and women become rude and barbarous. + +XI. That the power to apply labour productively tends steadily to +diminish, and that women, in default of other employment, are forced +to resort to the field, and to become slaves to their fathers, +husbands, and brothers. + +XII. That the power to accumulate capital tends likewise to +diminish--that land becomes from day to day more consolidated--and +that man sinks gradually into the condition of a slave to the landed +or other capitalist. + +XIII. That with this steady passage of man from the state of a freeman +to that of a slave, he has steadily less to sell, and can therefore +purchase less; and that thus the only effect of a policy which compels +the impoverishment of the land and its owner is to destroy the +customer, who, under a different system of policy, might have become a +larger purchaser from year to year. + +That the object of the present English policy is that of converting +all the nations of the world into purely agricultural communities will +not be denied; but as it may be doubted if the effects would be such +as are here described, it is proposed now to inquire into the movement +of some of the non-manufacturing communities of the world, with a view +to determine if the facts observed are in correspondence with those +that, reasoning _a priori_, we should be led to expect. Before +entering upon this examination, the reader is, however, requested to +peruse the following extracts from "Gee on Trade," in which is +described the former colonial system, and afterward the extract from a +recent despatch of Lord Grey, late Colonial Secretary, with a view to +satisfy himself how perfectly identical are the objects now sought to +be attained with those desired by the statesmen of the last century, +and denounced by Adam Smith. + + JOSHUA GEE--1750. + + First--"Manufactures in American colonies should be discouraged, + prohibited." + + "Great Britain with its dependencies is doubtless as well able to + subsist within itself as any nation in Europe. We have an + enterprising people, fit for all the arts of peace or war. We have + provisions in abundance, and those of the best sort, and we are able + to raise sufficient for double the number of inhabitants. We have the + very best materials for clothing, and want nothing either for use or + for luxury, but what we have at home, or might have from our + colonies; so that we might make such an intercourse of trade among + ourselves, or between us and them, as would maintain a vast + navigation. But, we ought always to keep a watchful eye over our + colonies, _to restrain them from setting up any of the manufactures + which are carried on in Great Britain_; and any such attempts should + be crushed in the beginning, for if they are suffered to grow up to + maturity it will be difficult to suppress them." + + "Our colonies are much in the same state as Ireland was in when they + began the woollen manufactory, _and as their numbers increase, will + fall upon manufactures for clothing themselves, if due care be not + taken to find employment_ for them in raising such productions as may + enable them to furnish themselves with all the necessaries from us." + + "I should, therefore, think it worthy the care of the government to + endeavour by all possible means to encourage them in the raising of + silk, hemp, flax, iron, (_only pig, to be hammered in England_,) + potash, &c., by giving them competent bounties in the beginning, and + sending over skilful and judicious persons, at the public charge, to + assist and instruct them in the most proper methods of management, + which in my apprehension would lay a foundation for establishing the + most profitable trade of any we have. And considering the commanding + situation of our colonies along the seacoast, the great convenience + of navigable rivers in all of them, the cheapness of land, and the + easiness of raising provisions, great numbers of people would + transport themselves thither to settle upon such improvements. Now, + as people have been filled with fears that the colonies, if + encouraged to raise rough materials, would set up for themselves, a + little regulation would be necessary; and as they will have the + providing rough materials for themselves, a _little regulation_ would + remove all those jealousies out of the way. They have never thrown or + wove any silk, as yet, that we have heard of,--therefore, if a law + was made prohibiting the use of any throwing mill, of doubling or + throstling silk, with any machine whatever, they would then send it + _to us raw_. And as they will have the providing rough materials to + themselves, so shall we have the manufacturing of them. If + encouragement be given for raising hemp, flax, &c., doubtless they + will soon begin to manufacture, if not prevented. Therefore, to stop + the progress of any such manufacture, it is proposed that no _weaver_ + have _liberty_ to set up any looms, without first registering at an + office kept for that purpose, and the name and place of abode of any + journeyman that shall work for him. But if any _particular + inhabitant_ shall be inclined to have any linen or woollen made of + their own spinning, they should not be abridged of the same liberty + that they now make use of, namely to have a weaver who shall be + _licensed_ by the Governor, and have it wrought up for the use of the + family, but not to be sold to any person in a private manner, nor + exposed to any market or fair, upon pain of forfeiture." "That all + slitting mills and engines for drawing wire, or weaving stockings, + _be put down_." "That all negroes shall be prohibited from weaving + either linen or woollen, or spinning or combing of wool, or working + at any manufacture of iron, further than making it into pig or bar- + iron. That they also be prohibited from manufacturing _hats, + stockings, or leather of any kind_. This limitation will not abridge + the planters of any liberty they now enjoy--on the contrary, it will + then turn their industry to promoting and raising those rough + materials." + + Second--"The advantages to Great Britain from keeping the colonies + dependent on her for their essential supplies." + + "If we examine into the circumstances of the inhabitants of our + plantations, and our own, it will appear that _not one-fourth part of + their product redounds to their own profit, for out of all that comes + here, they only carry back clothing and other accommodations for + their families_, all of which is of the merchandise and manufacture + of this kingdom." "All these advantages we receive by the + plantations, _besides the mortgages on the planters' estates and the + high interest they pay us, which is very considerable_, and, + therefore, very great care ought to be taken, in regulating all the + affairs of the colonists, that the planters are not put under too + many difficulties, but encouraged to go on cheerfully." "New England + and the northern colonies have not commodities and products enough to + send us in return for purchasing their necessary clothing, but are + under very great difficulties; and, therefore, any ordinary sort sell + with them,--and when they have _grown out of fashion with us, they + are new-fashioned enough for them_." + + LORD GREY--1850. + + "If, as has been alleged by the complainants, and as in some + instances would appear to be the case, any of the duties comprised in + the tariff have been imposed, not for the purpose of revenue, but + with a view of protecting the interest of the Canadian manufacturer, + her Majesty's government are clearly of opinion that such a course is + injurious alike to the interests of the mother country and to those + of the colony. Canada possesses natural advantages for the production + of articles which will always exchange in the markets of this country + for those manufactured goods of which she stands in need. By such + exchange she will obtain these goods much more cheaply than she could + manufacture, them for herself, and she will secure an advantageous + market for the _raw produce_ which she is best able to raise. On the + other hand, by closing her markets against British manufactures, or + _rendering their introduction more costly_, she enhances their price + to the consumer, and by the imposition of protective duties, for the + purpose of fostering an unnatural trade, she gives a wrong direction + to capital, by withdrawing it from more profitable employment, and + causing it to be invested in the manufacture of articles which might + be imported at a cost below that of production in the colony, while + at the same time she inflicts a blow on her export trade by rendering + her markets less eligible to the British customer." "If the merchant + finds that by exporting his goods to Canada, they produce him in + return a _large quantity of corn_, and thus yield a greater profit + than they would if exported to any other country, he will of course + give the preference to Canada. But if by reason of increased import + duties, those goods produce a diminished return the result will be + either that the Canadian farmer must submit to a proportionate + reduction in the price of his produce, or the British manufacturer + must resort to another market. It is, therefore, obvious, that it is + not less the interest of Canada herself than of Great Britain, that + this tariff of import duties should undergo a careful revision." + +The phraseology of the two is different, but the object is the +same--that of rendering it necessary to send all the raw products of +the land to a market far distant, and thus depriving the farmer or +planter of the power to return any portion of the loan made to him by +the earth, and which she is always willing to renew, on the simple +condition that when the borrower has used it, he shall return to the +lender the elements of which it had been composed. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +HOW SLAVERY GREW, AND HOW IT IS NOW MAINTAINED, IN THE WEST INDIES. + + +The system described in the last chapter was fully carried out in the +West India colonies. Manufactures were so entirely interdicted from +the date of their coming under the crown of Great Britain, that the +colonists were not permitted even to refine their own sugar, and still +less to convert their cotton into cloth. The necessary consequence was +that women and children could have no employment but that of the +field. This, of course, tended to sink both mother and child far lower +in the scale of civilization than would have been the case had the +lighter labour of conversion been associated with the more severe one +of production. The next effect was, that as all were bound to remain +producers of raw commodities, there could be no markets at hand, and +no exchanges could be made except at a distance of thousands of miles. +Difficulties, too, arose in regard to the diversification of labour, +even in agriculture itself. Indigo was tried, but of the price for +which it sold in England so large a portion was absorbed by +ship-owners, commission merchants, and the government, that its +culture was abandoned. Coffee, was extensively introduced, and as it +grows on higher and more salubrious lands its cultivation would have +been of great advantage to the community; but here, as in the case of +indigo, so small a portion of the price for which it sold was received +by the producer that its production was about being abandoned, and was +saved only by the government agreeing to reduce its claim to a +shilling, or twenty-four cents, a pound. This amounted to about a +hundred and eighty dollars per acre, the estimated produce being about +750 pounds of merchantable coffee;[26] and very much of it came out of +the producer--the poor negro. How enormously burdensome such a tax +must have been may be judged by the farmers who feel now so heavily +the pressure of the malt duties; and it must always be borne in mind +that the West India labourers were aided by the most indifferent +machinery of production. By degrees these various taxes rendered +necessary the abandonment of all cultivation but that of the +sugar-cane, being of all others the most destructive of health, and as +the whole population, men, women, and children, were limited to that +single pursuit, we shall scarcely err in attributing to this fact the +great waste of life recorded in a former chapter. + +Commerce, too, was interdicted, except with Great Britain and her +colonies; and this led to efforts at a smuggling trade with the +Spanish possessions on the continent; but this was brought to a close +by the watchfulness of the ships of war.[27] Slaves, however, might be +imported and exported, and this traffic was carried on a most +extensive scale, most of the demand for the Spanish colonies being +supplied from the British Islands. In 1775, however, the colonial +legislature, desirous to prevent the excessive importation of negroes, +imposed a duty of £2 per head, but this was petitioned against by the +merchants of England, and the home government directed the +discontinuance of the tax.[28] At this period the annual export of +sugar is stated,[29] to have been 980,346 cwt., the gross sales of +which, duty free, averaged £1 14s. 8d. per cwt., making a total of +£1,699,421,--so large a portion of which, however, was absorbed by +freight, commissions, insurance, &e., that the net proceeds, of 775 +sugar estates are stated to have been only £726,992, or less than +£1000 each. If to the £973,000 thus deducted be added the share of the +government, (12s. 3d. per cwt.,) and the further charges before the +sugar reached the consumer, it will be seen that its grower could not +have received more than one-fourth of the price at which it sold. The +planter thus appears to have been little more than a superintendent of +slaves, who were worked for the benefit of the merchants and the +government of Great Britain, by whom was absorbed the lion's share of +the produce of their labour. He was placed between the slave, whom he +was obliged to support, on the one hand, and the mortgagee, the +merchants, and the government, whom he was also obliged to support, on +the other, and he could take for himself only what was left--and if +the crop proved large, and prices fell, he was ruined. The +consequences of this are seen in the fact that in twenty years +following this period, there were sold for debt no less than 177 +estates, while 92 remained unsold in the hands of creditors, and 55 +were wholly abandoned. Seeing these things, it will not be difficult +to understand the cause of the extraordinary waste of life exhibited +in the British Islands. The planter could exist, himself, only by +overworking his people; and notwithstanding all his efforts, no less +than 324 out of 775 estates changed hands by reason of failure in the +short space of twenty years. Whatever might be his disposition to +improve the condition of the labourer, to do so was quite impossible +while receiving for himself and them so small a portion of the price +of his commodity. + +In the early years of the present century, land had become more +valuable. The price of sugar had risen about 80 per cent., and the +planters were gradually extricating themselves from their +difficulties; and a consequence of this was seen in a considerable +amelioration of the condition of the slave, who was now much better +fed, clothed, and otherwise provided for.[30] Slaves that had been as +low as £34, average price, had risen to £50, at which the 250,000 in +the island amounted to £12,500,000, and the real and personal +property, exclusive of the slaves, was estimated at £25,000,000.[31] +How great, however, were the difficulties under which the planters +still laboured, may be seen from the following extract, which, long as +it is, is given because it illustrates so forcibly the destructive +effects of the policy that looks to the prevention of that association +which results from bringing the loom and the anvil to the side of +plough and the harrow. + + "I have now to enter upon a painful part of my task, a part in which + I am under the necessity of stating such circumstances as cannot but + reflect disgrace on those who give rise to them, and from which the + weakness, I will not use a harsher term, of the legislature, is but + too apparent. These circumstances arise from the various modes of + agency, such as that of the attorney of estates, mortgagee in + possession, receiver in chancery, &c. The first of these characters + requires a definition. By the word attorney, in this sense, is meant + agent; and the duties annexed to his office are so similar to those + of a steward in England, that were it not for the dissimilarity of + executing them, and the dignity attendant upon the former, I should + pronounce them one and the same, But _as this colonial stewardship is + the surest road to imperial fortune_, men of property and + distinguished situation push eagerly for it. Attorneys are of two + sorts; six per cent. attorneys, and salaried attorneys; the profits + of the former arise from commissions of six per cent. on all the + produce of an estate, and various interior resources; the latter are + paid a certain stipend by some unincumbered proprietors, who have + lately discovered that a steward in Jamaica may be hired like a + steward in England, by which several thousand pounds a year are + saved, and instead of enriching their agents, are poured into their + own coffers. The office of both is to attend to the estates of their + employers, and to all their interests in the island, deputed to them + that the proprietors themselves may live at home, that is to say, in + Europe. + + "Of all the evils in the island of Jamaica, which call for a remedy, + and by means of which the most unjustifiable practices are continued, + the first and most crying is that of the business of a certain + description of attorneys of orphans, mortgagees in possession, + trustees, executors, guardians, and receivers under the court of + chancery; and these evils arise in a great measure from the unjust + and impolitic law which allows six per cent. commission on the gross + produce of the estates under their charge and direction. The + iniquitous practices, screened, if not authorized by that law have + long been too glaring to be unnoticed; and attempts have been made to + reduce the commission, and to fix it on some more equitable + principle; but unfortunately there have always been in the House of + Assembly too many of its members interested in benefits resulting + from the present law to admit the adoption of the measure. That the + interest of attorneys is not always the interest of those whose + estates they hold is an undeniable fact, of which I think you will be + convinced by the time you arrive at the conclusion of this letter. In + many instances, too, this superior collateral interest militates + against the happiness and amelioration of the state and condition of + the slaves, which is now professed by the colonists to be an object + of their most serious attention; and it proves not unfrequently the + total ruin of the unfortunate planter, whose involved situation + compels him to submit to the condition of consigning his estate to + the management of an attorney appointed by his creditor, who is + generally his merchant, and who throws the full legal advantages of + his debtor's estate into the hands of his own agent in the island, to + compensate for the economical bargain he makes for the management of + his own concerns; a practice common also to trustees, guardians, &c. + The law allowing such enormous commissions for services so + inadequate, is also very defective in an important point; for it + establishes no data for fixing the charge of this commission, which + is never made according to the sales of sugar, for that is not soon, + if ever known to the attorney. Hence, in the different accounts, the + charges are estimated on sugar at several prices, from 20s. per cwt. + to 45s., and even 50s.; and in the same books of one and the same + attorney, these charges are found to differ according to his + connection with his employer, generally increasing in proportion to + the distress of the property and of the proprietor. To form some + notion of the advantages attending these appointments, and of their + injurious tendency to involved proprietors, and even to their + creditors, let us see what a receiver under the court of chancery can + do. In the first place, it has not always been the practice to select + him from among the inhabitants in the vicinity of the unfortunate + estates, or from among the friends of the proprietor; he is + frequently a resident in one of the towns, _with perhaps as little + knowledge of the management of an estate as is possessed by the + sweeper of the chancery office_; and indeed it would not be + inapplicable to distinguish such receivers by the appellation of + chancery-sweepers. These gentlemen seldom if ever see the estates + which they are to direct, and have no other directions to give than, + in a lumping way, to make as much sugar as possible, and to ship it, + most likely to their own correspondents. _Whatever the estates clear + is so much in their hands, and of course the more money the better + for them_; money takes root in every soil, and propagates itself a + thousand ways; not a dollar of it therefore finds its way into the + chancery chest, for the receiver having given security, the treasure + is, by a common fiction in use, held to be fully as safe in his + hands. While the different creditors of the estate are fighting the + battle of priority, the receiver continues to direct the management + of it, to ship the crop, and to take care of the money. At length a + prior debt is established, and the creditor having gained the point, + remains for a time satisfied; but finding, though his principal + accumulates, that he receives nothing, he becomes clamorous for a + sale. This may take place in five or six years time, when all + pretexts for delay are worn out, and in the mean time the receiver + takes care to have money, adequate to the simple sums received, + turned over by his consignee or merchant to another hand, his + banker's, to be ready to answer bills to be drawn _on his own + account_, for which he must have a premium of from twelve to + seventeen and a half per cent. The estate at last is advertised for + sale by a master in chancery, in consequence of an order from the + chancellor. The sale, however, is spun out, a year or two longer, + till the creditor or his attorney begins to remonstrate with the + master: stipulations for an amicable settlement ensue, that is, for + an admission of the receiver's accounts such as they may be, and for + time allowed him for payment of the mesne profits or balance in his + hands; which agreed to, the sale is positively to take place _when + the next crop is over_. The sale then is actually concluded, the + accumulations of these annual funds go unperceived to the further + propagation of wealth for the receiver; and the purchaser, who is no + other than the prior creditor, is put in possession of _an estate in + ruin, with a gang of negroes dispirited and miserable, who had been + long sensible of their situation, conceiving themselves belonging to + nobody_, and almost despairing of ever falling into the hands of a + kind master, interested in their welfare and happiness. Let us now + turn to the attorney of a mortgagee in possession, and see what + better he offers. The debt of the involved estate is due to a man of + large property, or to a merchant; if to the former, he has a merchant + to whom the consignment is of considerable value. It is immaterial + what the debt is, an estate in possession of a mortgagee is generally + made to pay full commissions to the attorney employed for it. In + justice to all parties the most is to be made of the property, and it + is soon found that the negroes upon it are not equal to the returns + it is capable of making, consequently hired negroes are added to the + plantation-gangs, to plant, weed, and take off the crop; the works + are extended, to be adequate to the proposed increase; more stock, + more carts are bought, more white people employed. To keep pace with + these grand designs, _the poor plantation negroes are of course + overworked_. What is the result? A great deal of sugar and rum is + made, to the credit as well as profit of the attorney, and by which + the merchant is benefited, as the consignments are augmented; but six + per cent. interest on the principal, six per cent. on that interest + by compound arithmetic become principal, six per cent. commissions, + with the contingent charges for labour, improvements, stores, etc., + absorb the whole produce, and the planter daily sinks under an + accumulating debt, till he is completely ruined. _The greater the + distress, the more the attorney fattens_; in a war, for instance, a + considerable additional benefit occurs; he becomes lumber-merchant, + and having the rum of the estate at his command, and perhaps a little + sugar, though in the latter article he is usually restricted, as the + disposal of it in the island would interfere with the loading of + ships and consignments, he purchases wholesale cargoes, and retails + them out to the estate at a large profit. Staves bought by the + attorney at £18 per thousand, have been known to be sold to the + estate for £45 per thousand; and the cart belonging to the property + has carried the rum to pay for them. _It is well known that the rum + made upon an estate will seldom pay its contingent expenses, and that + frequently bills are drawn on Great Britain to the amount of one + thousand pounds, and sometimes two thousand pounds, for the excess of + the contingencies over and above the amount of the sale of the rum_: + here the attorney finds another avenue of amassing for himself. + Settling the excess from his own means, he appropriates the bills + which it enabled him to draw to the purchase of the remainder of a + cargo of negroes, after the best have been culled at the rate of from + ninety to ninety-five pounds per head: these inferior negroes he + disposes of to his dependent overseers, jobbers, doctors, tradesmen, + distillers, and book-keepers, at forty or fifty pounds a head profit; + nor is it without example, that the very estates on the credit of + which some of the bills are drawn, have been supplied with negroes in + the same manner, and at the same rate. This manoeuvre indeed is + ventured only on estates of minors, whose trustees are merchants in + Great Britain, ignorant of such practices; or may be, when they have + committed the estates to the attorney, liable to the full advantages + to be made of them, to compensate for the moderate allowance they + give for the management of their own concerns. An island merchant, or + according to the West India appellation, storekeeper, in great + business, told a friend of mine, that he had sold a cargo of mules at + eighteen pounds per head to an attorney, which were dispersed in + separate spells of eight each to several estates, but that at the + special instance of the purchaser, he had made out the bills of + parcels at thirty pounds per head. This does not speak much in favour + of the virtue of the storekeeper, but it must be observed that he + would have lost his customer had he demurred, and would probably have + been considered as righteous overmuch. There is a variety of smaller + advantages enjoyed by the attorney, such as forming connections with + butchers who may purchase the fatted cattle, with jobbers of negroes + for the purpose of intermingling negroes at a proportionable profit, + fattening horses, and a long _et cetera_. To the attorney the + commanders of the ships in the trade look up with due respect, and as + they are proper persons to speak of him to the merchant, their + good-will is not neglected. To the involved planter their language + often is, 'Sir, I must have your sugars down at the wharf directly;' + that is, your sugars are to make the lowest tier, to stand the chance + of being washed out should the ship leak or make much water in a bad + passage. When they address an attorney, they do not ask for sugars, + but his favours, as to quantity and time; and his hogsheads form the + upper tier."[32] + +An examination made about this period proved that these persons, 193 +in number, held in charge 606 sugar-works, producing about 80,000 +hhds. of sugar, and 36,000 puncheons of rum, which at the selling +prices of that day in England yielded about £4,000,000, upon which +they were entitled to six per cent., or £240,000. We have here a most +extensive system of absenteeism, and absentees _must_ be represented +by middlemen, having no interest in the slave or in the plantation, +except to take from both all that can be taken, giving as little as +possible back to either. + +Why, however, did this absenteeism exist? Why did not the owners of +property reside on their estates? Because the policy which looked to +limiting the whole population, male and female, old and young, to the +culture of sugar, and forbade even that the sugar itself should be +refined on the island, effectually prevented the growth of any middle +class that should form the population of towns at which the planter +might find society that could induce him to regard the island as his +home. Such was not the case in the French Islands, because the French +government had not desired to prevent the weaker class of the +population from engaging in the work of manufacture, as has been seen +in the case of Grenada, in which sugar was refined until the period of +its surrender to the British arms.[33] Towns therefore grew up, and +men of all descriptions came from France to make the islands _their +home_; whereas the English colonists looked only to realizing a +fortune and returning home to spend it. All this is fully shown in the +following extract, in which is given a comparative view of the British +and French Islands immediately before the emancipation act of 1832. + + "The houses have more of a European air than in our English colonies, + and I must notice with praise the existence of four booksellers' + shops, as large and well furnished as any second-rate ones in Paris. + The sight of books to sell in the West Indies is like water in the + desert, for books are not yet included in plantation stores for our + islands. The cause is this. The French colonists, whether Creoles or + Europeans, consider the West Indies as their country; they cast no + wistful looks toward France; they have not even a packet of their + own; they marry, educate, and build in and for the West Indies and + the West Indies alone. In our colonies it is quite different; except + a few regular Creoles to whom gratis rum and gratis coloured mothers + for their children have become quite indispensable, every one regards + the colony as a temporary lodging-place, where they must sojourn in + sugar and molasses till their mortgage's will let them live + elsewhere. They call England their home, though many of them have + never been there; they talk of writing home and going home, and pique + themselves more on knowing the probable result of a contested + election in England than on mending their roads, establishing a + police, or purifying a prison. The French colonist deliberately + expatriates himself; the Englishman never. If our colonies were to + throw themselves into the hands of the North Americans, as their + enemies say that some of them wish to do, the planters would make + their little triennial trips to New York as they now do to London. + The consequence of this feeling is that every one, who can do so, + maintains some correspondence with England, and when any article is + wanted, he sends to England for it. Hence, except in the case of + chemical drugs, there is an inconsiderable market for an imported + store of miscellaneous goods, much less for an assortment of articles + of the same kind. A different feeling in Martinique produces an + opposite effect; in that island very little individual correspondence + exists with France, and consequently there is that effectual demand + for books, wines, jewelry, haberdashery, &c., in the colony itself, + which enables labour to be divided almost as far as in the mother + country. In St. Pierre there are many shops which contain nothing but + bonnets, ribbons, and silks, others nothing but trinkets and toys, + others hats only, and so on, and there are rich tradesmen in St. + Pierre on this account. Bridge Town would rapidly become a wealthy + place, if another system were adopted; for not only would the public + convenience be much promoted by a steady, safe, and abundant + importation, and separate preservation of each article in common + request, but the demand for those articles would be one hundred-fold + greater in Bridge Town itself than it now is on the same account in + London, Liverpool, or Bristol, when impeded or divided and frittered + away by a system of parcel-sending across the Atlantic. Supply will, + under particular circumstances, create demand. If a post were + established at Barbadoes, or a steamboat started between the islands, + a thousand letters would be written where there are one hundred now, + and a hundred persons would interchange visits where ten hardly do at + present. I want a book and cannot borrow it; I would purchase it + instantly from my bookseller in my neighbourhood, but I may not think + it worth my while to send for it over the ocean, when, with every + risk, I must wait at the least three months for it. The moral + consequences of this system are even more to be lamented than the + economical, but I will say more about that at some other time."[34] + +In another part of the same work, the writer says-- + + "Schools for the children of the slaves are the first and chief step + toward amelioration of condition and morals in every class of people + in the West Indies." + +Here, however, the same difficulty had existed. For the same reason +that no towns could arise there could be no schools, and the planter +found himself forced to send his children to England to be educated; +the consequence of which was that at his death his property passed +into the hands of agents, and his successors having contracted a +fondness for European and a dislike for colonial life, remained +abroad, leaving their estates to go to ruin, while their people +perished under the lash of men who had no other interest than to ship +the largest quantity of sugar, molasses, and rum. All this was a +natural result of the system that denied to the women and children the +privilege of converting cotton into cloth, or of giving themselves to +other in-door pursuits. The mechanic was not needed where machinery +could not be used, and without him there could grow up neither towns +nor schools. + +The reader will have remarked, in the first extract above given, that +the export of rum generally brought the planter in debt, and yet the +price paid for it by the consumers appears to have been nearly a +million of pounds sterling--that is, the people of England gave of +labour and its products that large sum in exchange for a certain +product of the labouring people of Jamaica, not a shilling of which +ever reached the planter to be applied to the amelioration of the +condition of his estate, or of the people upon it. The crop sold on +its arrival at 3s. or 3s. 6d. a gallon, but the consumer paid for it +probably 17s., which were thus divided:-- + + Government, representing the British people at large... 11.3 + Ship-owners, wholesale and retail dealers, &c.......... 5.9 + Land-owner and labourer................................ 0.0 + ---- + 17.2 + +If we look to sugar, we find a result somewhat better, but of similar +character. The English consumer gave for it 80s. worth of labour, and +those shillings were nearly thus divided:-- + + Government............................................. 27 + Ship-owner, merchant, mortgagee, &c.................... 33 + Land-owner and labourer................................ 20 + ---- + 80 + +The reader will now see that Mr. _Joshua Gee_ was not exaggerating +when he gave it as one of the recommendations of the colonial system +that the colonists left in England three-fourths of all their +products,[35] the difference being swallowed up by those who made or +superintended the exchanges. Such was the result desired by those who +compelled the planter to depend on a distant market in which to sell +all he raised, and to buy all he and his people needed to consume. The +more he took out of his land the more he exhausted it and the less he +obtained for its products, for large crops made large freights, large +charges for storage, and enormous collections by the government, while +prices fell because of the size of the crop, and thus was he ruined +while all others were being enriched. Under such circumstances he +could not purchase machinery for the improvement of his cultivation, +and thus was he deprived of the power to render available the services +of the people whom he was bound to support. Master of slaves, he was +himself a slave to those by whom the labours of himself and his +workmen were directed, and it would be unfair to attribute to him the +extraordinary waste of life resulting necessarily from the fact that +the whole people were limited to the labours of the field. + +With inexhaustible supplies of timber, the island contained, even in +1850, not a single sawmill, although it afforded an extensive market +for lumber from abroad. Yielding in the greatest abundance the finest +fruits, there were yet no town's-people with their little vessels to +carry them to the larger markets of this country, and for want of +market they rotted under the trees. "The manufacturing resources of +this island," says Mr. Bigelow, "are inexhaustible;" and so have they +always been, but the people have been deprived of all power to profit +by them, and for want of that power there was lost annually a greater +amount of labour than would have paid, five times over, for the +commodities for which they were compelled to look to the distant +market. Of those who did not perish, because of the necessity for an +universal dependence on field employments, a large portion of the +labour was then, as it now must be, utterly wasted. "For six or eight +months of the year, nothing," says Mr. Bigelow, (Notes, p. 54,) "is +done on the sugar or coffee plantations." "Agriculture," he continues, +"as at present conducted, does not occupy more than half their time." +So was it fifty years ago, and it was because of the compulsory waste +of labour and consequent small amount of productive power that there +existed little opportunity for accumulating capital. Population +diminished because there could be no improvement of the condition of +the labourer who, while thus limited in the employment of his time, +was compelled to support not only himself and his master, but the +agent, the commission-merchant, the ship-owner, the mortgagee, the +retail trader, and the government, and this under a system that looked +to taking every thing from the land and returning nothing to it. Of +the amount paid in 1831 by the British people for the products of the +320,000 black labourers of this island, the home government took no +less than £3,736,113 10s. 6d.,[36] or about eighteen millions of +dollars, being almost sixty dollars per head, and this for merely +superintending the exchanges. Had no such claim been made on the +product of the labour of those poor people, the consumer would have +had his sugar cheaper, and this would have made a large consumption, +and these eighteen millions would have been divided between the black +labourer on the one hand and the white one on the other. It would be +quite safe to assert that in that year each negro, old and young, male +and female, contributed five pounds--$24--to the maintenance of the +British government, and this was a heavy amount of taxation to be +borne by a people limited entirely to agriculture and destitute of the +machinery necessary for making even that productive. If now to this +heavy burden be added the commissions, freights, insurance, interest, +and other charges, it will readily be seen that a system of taxation +so grinding could end no otherwise than in ruin; and that such was the +tendency of things, was seen in the steady diminution of production. + + Sugar, Rum, Coffee, + hhds. puncheons. lbs. + ------ ---------- ------- + In the three years + ending with 1802, + the average exports + were, of 113,000 44,000 14,000,000 + + Whereas those of the + three years ending + with 1829 were only 92,000 34,000 17,000,000 + +The system which looked to depriving the cultivator of the advantage +of a market near at hand, to which he could carry his products, and +from which he could carry home the manure and thus maintain the powers +of his land, was thus producing its natural results. It was causing +the slave to became from day to day more enslaved; and that such was +the case is shown by the excess of deaths over births, as given in a +former chapter. Evidence of exhaustion was seen in every thing +connected with the island. Labour and land were declining in value, +and the security for the payment of the large debt due to mortgagees +in England was becoming less from year to year, as more and more the +people of other countries were being driven to the work of cultivation +because of the impossibility of competing with England in +manufactures. Sugar had declined to little more than a guinea a +hundred-weight, and rum had fallen to little more than two shillings a +gallon;[37] and nearly the whole of this must have been swallowed up +in commissions and interest. Under such circumstances a great waste of +life was inevitable; and therefore it is that we have seen +importations of hundreds of thousands of black men, who have perished, +leaving behind them no trace of their having ever existed. But on whom +must rest the responsibility for a state of things so hideous as that +here exhibited? Not, surely, upon the planter, for he exercised no +volition whatsoever. He was not permitted to employ his surplus power +in refining his own sugar. He could not legally introduce a spindle or +a loom into the island. He could neither mine coal nor smelt iron ore. +He could not in any manner repay his borrowings from the land, and, as +a matter of course, the loans he could obtain diminished in quantity; +and then, small as they were, the chief part of what his commodities +exchanged for was swallowed up by the exchangers and those who +superintend the exchanges, exercising the duties of government. He was +a mere instrument in their hands for the destruction of negro morals, +intellect, and life; and upon them, and not upon him, must rest the +responsibility for the fact that, of all the slaves imported into the +island, not more than two-fifths were represented on the day of +emancipation. + +Nevertheless, he it was that was branded as the tyrant and the +destroyer of morals and of life; and public opinion--the public +opinion of the same people who had absorbed so large a portion of the +product of negro labour--drove the government to the measure of +releasing the slave from compulsory service, and appropriating a +certain amount to the payment, first, of the mortgage debts due in +England, and, second, of the owner, who, even if he found his land +delivered to him free of incumbrance, was in most cases left without a +shilling to enable him to carry on the work of his plantation. The +slaves were set free, but there existed no capital to find them +employment, and from the moment of emancipation it became almost +impossible to borrow money on mortgage security. The consequences are +seen in the extensive abandonment of land and the decline of its +value. Any quantity of it may be purchased, prepared for cultivation, +and as fine as any in the island, for five dollars an acre, while +other land, far more productive than any in New England, may be had at +from fifty cents to one dollar. With the decline in the value of land +the labourer tends toward barbarism, and the reason of this may be +found on a perusal of the following paragraph:-- + + "They have no new manufactories to resort to when they are in want of + work; no unaccustomed departments of mechanical or agricultural + labour are open to receive them, to stimulate their ingenuity and + reward their industry. When they know how to ply the hoe, pick the + coffee-berry, and tend the sugar-mills, they have learned almost all + the industry of the island can teach them. If, in the sixteen years + during which the negroes have enjoyed their freedom, they have made + less progress in civilization than their philanthropic champions have + promised or anticipated, let the want I have suggested receive some + consideration. It may be that even a white peasantry would degenerate + under such influences. Reverse this, and when the negro has cropped + his sugar or his coffee, create a demand for his labour in the mills + and manufactories of which nature has invited the establishment on + this island, and before another sixteen years would elapse the world + would probably have some new facts to assist them in estimating the + natural capabilities of the negro race, of more efficiency in the + hands of the philanthropist than all the appeals which he has ever + been able to address to the hearts or the consciences of men." + _Bigelow's Jamaica_, p. 156. + +The artisan has always been the ally of the agriculturist in his +contest with the trader and the government, as is shown in the whole +history of the world. The first desires to tax him by buying cheaply +and selling dearly. The second desires to tax him for permitting him +to make his exchanges, and the more distant the place of exchange, the +greater the power of taxation. The artisan comes near to him, and +enables him to have the raw materials combined on the spot, the +producer of them exchanging directly with the consumer, paying no tax +for the maintenance of ship-owners, commission merchants, or +shopkeepers. + +In a piece of cloth, says Adam Smith, weighing eighty pounds, there +are not only more than eighty pounds of wool, but also "several +thousand weight of corn, the maintenance of the working people," and +it is the wool and the corn that travel cheaply in the form of cloth. +What, however, finally becomes of the corn? Although eaten, it is not +destroyed. It goes back again on the land, which becomes enriched; and +the more that is taken from it; the more there is to be returned, the +more it is enriched, the larger are the crops, and the greater is the +ability of the farmer to make demands on the artisan. The reward of +the latter increases with the growth in the value of the land and with +the increase in the wealth of the land-owners by whom he is +surrounded; and thus it is that all grow rich and free together, and +that the community acquires from year to year power to resist attempts +at taxation beyond that really needed for the maintenance of the +rights of person and property. The greater the power to make exchanges +at home, the greater will always be found the freedom of man in +relation to thought, speech, action, and trade, and the greater the +value of land. + +The object of the policy pursued toward the colonies was directly the +reverse of all this, tending to prevent any diversification whatsoever +of employments, and thus not only to prevent increase in the value of +land, but to diminish its value, because it forbade the return to the +earth of any portion of its products. It forbade association, because +it limited the whole people to a single pursuit. It forbade the +immigration of artisans, the growth of towns, the establishment of +schools, and consequently forbade the growth of intellect among the +labourers or their owners. It forbade the growth of population, +because it drove the women and the children to the culture of sugar +among the richest and most unhealthy soils of the islands. It thus +impoverished the land and its owners, exterminated the slave, and +weakened the community, thus making it a mere instrument in the hands +of the people who effected and superintended the exchanges--the +merchants and the government--the class of persons that, in all ages, +has thriven at the cost of the cultivator of the earth. By separating +the consumer from the producer, they were enabled, as has been shown, +to take to themselves three-fourths of the whole sales of the +commodities consumed, leaving but one-fourth to be divided between the +land and labour that had produced it. They, of course, grew strong, +while the sugar-producing land and labour grew weak, and the weaker +they became, the less was the need for regarding the rights of either. +In this state of things it was that the landholder was required to +accept a fixed sum of money as compensation for relinquishing his +claim to demand of the labourer the performance of the work to which +he had been accustomed. Unfortunately, however, the system pursued has +effectually prevented that improvement of feeling and taste needed to +produce in the latter desires for any thing beyond a sufficiency of +food and a shirt. Towns and shops not having grown, he had not been +accustomed even to see the commodities that tempted his +fellow-labourers in the French Islands. Schools not having existed, +even for the whites, he had acquired no desire for books for himself, +or for instruction for his children. His wife had acquired no taste +for dress, because she had been limited to field labour. Suddenly +emancipated from control, they gratified the only desire that had been +permitted to grow up in them--the love of perfect idleness, to be +indulged to such extent as was consistent with obtaining the little +food and clothing needed for the maintenance of existence. + +Widely different would have been the state of affairs had they been +permitted to make their exchanges at home, giving the cotton and the +sugar for the cloth and the iron produced by the labour and from the +soil of the island. The producer of the sugar would then have had all +the cloth given for it by the consumer, instead of obtaining +one-fourth of it, and then the land would have increased in value, the +planter would have grown rich, and the labourer would have become +free, by virtue of a great natural law which provides that the more +rapid the augmentation of wealth, the greater must be the demand for +labour, the greater must be the _quantity_ of commodities produced by +the labourer, the larger must be his _proportion_ of the product, and +the greater must be the tendency toward his becoming a free man and +himself a capitalist.[38] + +As a consideration for abstaining from converting their own sugar and +cotton into cloth, it had been provided that their products should +enjoy certain advantages in the ports of the mother country; and the +understanding at the date of emancipation was that the free negro +should continue in the enjoyment of the same privileges that had been +allowed to the slave and his master. It was soon, however, discovered +that the negro, having scarcely any desire beyond the food that could +be obtained from a little patch of land, would not work, and that, +consequently, the supply of sugar was reduced, with a large increase +of price, and that thus the ship-owner suffered because of diminished +freights, the merchant because of reduced consumption, and the +government because of reduced revenue. Instead of obtaining, as +before, one-fourth of the product, the cultivator had now perhaps +one-half, because the taxes did not rise with the rise of price. +Nevertheless, the land-owners and labourers of the island were weaker +than before, for all power of association had disappeared; and now it +was that the trader and the government discovered that if they would +continue to draw from the sugar producers of the world their usual +supplies of public and private revenue, they must resort again to +slave labour, putting the poor free negro of Jamaica, with his +exhausted soil, on the same footing with the slave of Brazil and Cuba, +on a virgin soil; and this, too, at a moment when the science of +Europe had triumphed over the difficulty of making sugar cheaply from +the beet-root, and Germany, France, and Belgium were threatening to +furnish supplies so abundant as almost to exclude the produce of the +cane. They, too, had the sugar-refinery close at hand, whereas the +poor free negro was not permitted to refine his product, _nor is he so +even now_, although it is claimed that sugar might still be grown with +advantage, were he permitted to exercise even that small amount of +control over his labour and its products. + +What was the character of the machinery with which they were to enter +on this competition will be seen by the following extract:-- + + "I could not learn that there were any estates on the island decently + stocked with implements of husbandry. Even the modern axe is not in + general use; for felling the larger class of trees the negroes + commonly use what they call an axe, which is shaped much like a + wedge, except that it is a little wider at the edge than at the + opposite end, at the very extremity of which a perfectly straight + handle is inserted. A more awkward thing for chopping could not be + well conceived--at least, so I thought until I saw the instrument in + yet more general use about the houses in the country, for cutting + firewood. It was, in shape, size, and appearance, more like the outer + half of the blade of a scythe, stuck into a small wooden handle, than + any thing else I can compare it to: with this long knife, for it is + nothing else, I have seen negroes hacking at branches of palm for + several minutes, to accomplish what a good wood-chopper, with an + American axe, would finish at a single stroke. I am not now speaking + of the poorer class of negro proprietors, whose poverty or ignorance + might excuse this, but of the proprietors of large estates, which + have cost their thousands of pounds."[39] + +Cuba, too, had its cities and its shops, and these it had because the +Spanish government had not desired to compel the people of the island +to limit themselves to cultivation alone. Manufactures were small in +extent, but they existed; and the power to make exchanges on the spot +had tended to prevent the growth of absenteeism. The land-owners were +present to look after their estates, and every thing therefore tended +toward improvement and civilization, with constantly increasing +attraction of both capital and labour. Jamaica, on the contrary, had +but a seaport so poor as not to have a single foot of sidewalk paved, +and of which three-fourths of the inhabitants were of the black race; +and among them all, blacks and whites, there were no mechanics. In the +capital of the island, Spanishtown, with a population of 5000, there +was not to be found, in 1850, a single shop, nor a respectable hotel, +nor even a dray-cart;[40] and in the whole island there was not a +stage, nor any other mode of regular conveyance, by land or water, +except on the little railroad of fifteen miles from Kingston to the +capital.[41] + +Such was the machinery of production, transportation, and exchange, by +aid of which the free people of Jamaica were to maintain "unlimited +competition" with Cuba, and its cities, railroads, and virgin soil, +and with Europe and its science. What is to be the ultimate result may +be inferred from the following comparative view of the first four +years of the century, and the last four for which we have returns:-- + + Sugar, Rum, Coffee, + hhds. puncheons. lbs. + ------ ---------- ------- + 1800 to 1803, + average export, 124,000 44,000 14,600,000 + 1845 to 1848, + average export 44,000 17,000 6,000,000 + +The consequence of this is seen in the fact that it requires the wages +of two men, for a day, to pay for a pound of butter, and of two women +to pay for a pound of ham, while it would need the labour of eighty or +a hundred men, for a day, to pay for a barrel of flour.[42] The London +_Times_ has recently stated that the free labourer now obtains less +food than he did in the days of slavery, and there appears no reason +to doubt the accuracy of its information. This view would, indeed, +seem to be fully confirmed by the admission, in the House of Commons, +that the cost of sugar "in labour and food" is less now than it was +six years since.[43] + +How indeed can it be otherwise? The object sought for is cheap sugar, +and with a view to its attainment the production of sugar is +stimulated in every quarter; and we all know that the more that is +produced the larger will be the quantity poured into the market of +England, and the greater will be the power of the people of that +country to dictate the terms upon which they will consent to consume +it. Extensive cultivation and good crops produce low prices, high +freights, large commissions, and large revenue; and when such crops +are made the people of England enjoy "cheap sugar" and are +"prosperous," but the slave is rendered thereby more a slave, +obtaining less and less food in return for his labour. Nevertheless, +it is in that direction that the whole of the present policy of +England points. The "prosperity" of her people is to be secured by aid +of cheap sugar and high-priced cloth and iron; and the more +exclusively the people of India and of Brazil can be forced to devote +themselves to the labours of the field, the cheaper will be sugar and +the greater will be the tendency of cloth and iron to be dear. What, +however, becomes of the poor free negro? The more sugar he sends the +more the stocks accumulate, and the lower are the prices, and the +smaller is his power to purchase clothing or machinery, as will now be +shown. + +The London _Economist_, of November 13, furnishes the following +statement of stocks and prices of sugar in the principal markets of +Europe:-- + + 1849. 1850. 1851. 1852. + ----- ----- ----- ----- + Stocks.... cwt.. 3,563,000 2,895,000 3,810,000 3,216,000 + + Prices--duty free. + Havana Brown... 17 to 24s. 20 to 27s. 16 to 22s. 19 to 26s. + Brazil Brown... 16 to 20s. 18 to 22s. 12 to 17s. 16 to 20s. + +The stocks of 1849 and 1852 were, as we see, nearly alike, and the +prices did not greatly differ. Taking them, therefore, as the +standard, we see that a _diminution_ of supply so small as to cause a +diminution of stock to the extent of about 400,000 cwts., or only +_about three per cent. of the import_, added about _fifteen per cent._ +to the prices of the whole crop in 1850; whereas a similar _excess_ of +supply in 1851 caused a reduction of prices almost as great. The +actual quantity received in Europe in the first ten months of the last +year had been 509,000 cwts. less than in the corresponding months of +the previous one. The average monthly receipts are about a million of +cwts. per month, and if we take the prices of those two years as a +standard, the following will be the result:-- + + 1851...... 12,000,000 cwts. Average 16s. 9d.... £10,050,000 + 1852...... 11,500,000 " " 20s. 3d.... 11,643,750 + ---------- + Gain on short crop ............................. 1,593,750 + If now we compare 1850 with 1851, + the following is the result:-- + 1851 as above .................................. 10,050,000 + 1850...... 11,000,000 cwts. Average 21s. 9d.... 11,971,250 + ---------- + 1,921,250 + Now if this reduction of export had been + a consequence of increased domestic + consumption, we should have to add the + value of that million to the product, + and this would give............................. 1,187,500 + ---------- + £3,108,750 + ========== + +We have here a difference of thirty per cent., resulting from a +diminution of export to the amount of one-twelfth of the export to +Europe, and not more than a twenty-fourth of the whole crop. Admitting +the crop to have been 24,000,000 of cwts., and it must have been more, +the total difference produced by this abstraction of four per cent. +from the markets of Europe would be more than six millions of pounds, +or thirty millions of dollars. Such being the result of a difference +of four per cent., if the people of Cuba, Brazil, India, and other +countries were to turn some of their labour to the production of +cloth, iron, and other commodities for which they are now wholly +dependent on Europe, and thus diminish their necessity for export to +the further extent of two per cent., is it not quite certain that the +effect would be almost to double the value of the sugar crop of the +world, to the great advantage of the free cultivator of Jamaica, who +would realize more for his sugar, while obtaining his cloth and his +iron cheaper? If he could do this would he not become a freer man? Is +not this, however, directly the reverse of what is sought by those who +believe the prosperity of England to be connected with cheap sugar, +and who therefore desire that competition for the sale of sugar should +be _unlimited_, while competition, for the sale of cloth is to be +_limited_? + +"Unlimited competition" looks to competition for the sale of raw +produce in the markets of England, and to the destruction of any +competition with England for the sale of manufactured goods; and it is +under this system that the poor labourer of Jamaica is being +destroyed. He is now more a slave than ever, because his labour yields +him less of the necessaries and comforts of life than when a master +was bound to provide for him. + +Such is a brief history of West India slavery, from its commencement +to the present day, and from it the reader will be enabled to form an +estimate of the judgment which dictated immediate and unconditional +emancipation, and of the humanity that subsequently dictated unlimited +freedom of competition for the sale of sugar. That of those who +advocated emancipation vast numbers were actuated by the most praise +worthy motives, there can be no doubt; but unenlightened enthusiasm +has often before led almost to crime, and it remains to be seen if the +impartial historian, will not, at a future day, say that such has been +here the case. As regards the course which has been since pursued +toward these impoverished, ignorant, and, defenceless people, he will +perhaps have less difficulty; and it is possible that in recording it, +the motives which led to it, and the results, he may find himself +forced to place it among crimes of the deepest dye. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +HOW SLAVERY GREW AND IS MAINTAINED IN THE UNITED STATES. + + +The first attempt at manufacturing any species of cloth in the North +American provinces produced a resolution on the part of the House of +Commons, [1710,] that "the erecting of manufactories in the colonies +had a tendency to lessen their dependence on Great Britain." Soon +afterward complaints were made to Parliament that the colonists were +establishing manufactories for themselves, and the House of Commons +ordered the Board of Trade to report on the subject, which was done at +great length. In 1732, the exportation of hats from province to +province was prohibited, and the number of apprentices to be taken by +hatters was limited. In 1750 the erection of any mill or other engine +for splitting or rolling iron was prohibited; but pig iron was allowed +to be imported into England duty free, that it might there be +manufactured and sent back again. At a later period, Lord Chatham +declared that he would not permit the colonists to make even a hobnail +for themselves--and his views were then and subsequently carried into +effect by the absolute prohibition in 1765 of the export of artisans, +in 1781 of woollen machinery, in 1782 of cotton machinery and +artificers in cotton, in 1785 of iron and steel-making machinery and +workmen in those departments of trade, and in 1799 by the prohibition +of the export of colliers, lest other countries should acquire the art +of mining coal. + +The tendency of the system has thus uniformly been-- + +I. To prevent the application of labour elsewhere than in England to +any pursuit but that of agriculture, and thus to deprive the weaker +portion of society--the women and children--of any employment but in +the field. + +II. To compel whole populations to produce the same commodities, and +thus to deprive them of the power to make exchanges among themselves. + +III. To compel them, therefore, to export to England all their produce +in its rudest forms, at great cost of transportation. + +IV. To deprive them of all power of returning to the land the manure +yielded by its products, and thus to compel them to exhaust their +land. + +V. To deprive them of the power of associating together for the +building of towns, the establishment of schools, the making of roads, +or the defence of their rights. + +VI. To compel them, with every step in the process of exhausting the +land, to increase their distances from each other and from market. + +VII. To compel the waste of all labour that could not be employed in +the field. + +VIII. To compel the waste of all the vast variety of things almost +valueless in themselves, but which acquire value as men are enabled to +work in combination with each other.[44] + +IX. To prevent increase in the value of land and in the demand for the +labour of man; and, + +X. To prevent advance toward civilization and freedom. + +That such were the tendencies of the system was seen by the people of +the colonies. "It is well known and understood," said Franklin, in +1771, "that whenever a manufacture is established which employs a +number of hands, it raises the value of lands in the neighbouring +country all around it, partly by the greater demand near at hand for +the produce of the land, and partly from the plenty of money drawn by +the manufactures to that part of the country. It seems, therefore," he +continued, "the interest of all our farmers and owners of lands, to +encourage our young manufactures in preference to foreign ones +imported among us from distant countries." Such was the almost +universal feeling of the country, and to the restriction on the power +to apply labour was due, in a great degree, the Revolution. + +The power to compel the colonists to make all their exchanges abroad +gave to the merchants of England, and to the government, the same +power of taxation that we see to have been so freely exercised in +regard to sugar. In a paper published in 1750, in the London General +Advertiser, it was stated that Virginia then exported 50,000 hhds. of +tobacco, producing £550,000, of which the ship-owner, the underwriter, +the commission merchant, and the government took £450,000, leaving to +be divided between the land-owner and labourer only £100,000, or +about eighteen per cent., which is less even than the proportion +stated by _Gee_, in his work of that date. Under such circumstances +the planter could accumulate little capital to aid him in the +improvement of his cultivation. + +The Revolution came, and thenceforward there existed no legal +impediments to the establishment of home markets by aid of which the +farmer might be enabled to lessen the cost of transporting his produce +to market, and his manure from market, thus giving to his land some of +those advantages of situation which elsewhere add so largely to its +value. The prohibitory laws had, however, had the effect of preventing +the gradual growth of the mechanic arts, and Virginia had no towns of +any note, while to the same circumstances was due the fact that +England was prepared to put down all attempts at competition with her +in the manufacture of cloth, or of iron. The territory of the former +embraced forty millions of acres, and her widely scattered population +amounted to little more than 600,000. At the North, some descriptions +of manufacture had grown slowly up, and the mechanics were much more +numerous, and towns had gradually grown to be very small cities; the +consequence of which was that the farmer there, backed by the artisan, +always his ally, was more able to protect himself against the trader, +who represented the foreign manufacturer. Everywhere, however, the +growth of manufactures was slow, and everywhere, consequently, the +farmer was seen exhausting his land in growing wheat, tobacco, and +other commodities, to be sent to distant markets, from which no manure +could be returned. With the exhaustion of the land its owners became, +of course, impoverished, and there arose a necessity for the removal +of the people who cultivated it, to new lands, to be in turn +exhausted. In the North, the labourer thus circumstanced, _removed +himself_. In the South, he had _to be removed_. Sometimes the planter +abandoned his land and travelled forth with all his people, but more +frequently he found himself compelled to part with some of his slaves +to others; and thus has the domestic slave trade grown by aid of the +exhaustive process to which the land and its owner have been +subjected. + +The reader may obtain some idea of the extent of the exhaustion that +has taken place, by a perusal of the following extracts from an +address to the Agricultural Society of Albemarle County, Virginia, by +one of the best authorities of the State, the Hon. Andrew Stevenson, +late Speaker of the House of Representatives, and Minister to England. + +Looking to what is the "real situation" of things, the speaker asks-- + + "Is there an intelligent and impartial man who can cast his eyes over + the State and not be impressed with the truth, deplorable as it is + afflicting, that the produce of most of our lands is not only small + in proportion to the extent in cultivation, but that the lands + themselves have been gradually sinking and becoming worse, under a + most defective and ruinous system of cultivation?" "The truth is," he + continues, "we must all feel and know that the spirit of agricultural + improvement has been suffered to languish too long in Virginia, and + that it is now reaching a point, in the descending scale, from which, + if it is not revived, and that very speedily, our State must continue + not only third or fourth in population, as she now is, but consent to + take her station among her smaller sisters of the Union." + +The cause of this unhappy state of things he regards as being to be +found in "a disregard of scientific knowledge" and "a deep-rooted +attachment to old habits of cultivation," together with the "practice +of hard cropping and injudicious rotation of crops, leading them to +cultivate more land than they can manure, or than they have means of +improving;" and the consequences are found in the fact that in all the +country east of the Blue Ridge, the average product of wheat "does not +come up to seven bushels to the acre," four of which are required to +restore the seed and defray the cost of cultivation, leaving to the +land-owner for his own services and those of a hundred acres of land, +three hundred bushels, worth, at present prices, probably two hundred +and seventy dollars! Even this, however, is not as bad an exhibit as +is produced in reference to another populous district of more than a +hundred miles in length--that between Lynchburg and Richmond--in which +the product is estimated at _not exceeding six bushels to the acre_! +Under such circumstances, we can scarcely be surprised to learn from +the speaker that the people of his great State, where meadows abound +and marl exists in unlimited quantity, import potatoes from the poor +States of the North, and are compelled to be dependent upon them for +hay and butter, the importers of which realize fortunes, while the +farmers around them are everywhere exhausting their land and obtaining +smaller crops in each successive year. + +Why is this so? Why should Virginia import potatoes and hay, cheese +and butter? An acre of potatoes may be made to yield four hundred +bushels, and meadows yield hay by tons, and yet her people raise +wheat, of which they obtain six or seven bushels to the acre, and +corn, of which they obtain fifteen or twenty, and with the produce of +these they buy butter and cheese, pork and potatoes, which yield to +the producer five dollars where they get one--and import many of these +things too, from States in which manufacturing populations abound, and +in which all these commodities should, in the natural course of +things, be higher in price than in Virginia, where all, even when +employed, are engaged in the cultivation of the soil. The answer to +these questions is to be found in the fact that the farmers and +planters of the State can make no manure. They raise wheat and corn, +which they send elsewhere to be consumed; and the people among whom it +is consumed put the refuse on their own lands, and thus are enabled to +raise crops that count by tons, which they then exchange with the +producers of the wheat produced on land that yields six bushels to the +acre. + + "How many of our people," continues the speaker, "do we see disposing + of their lands at ruinous prices, and relinquishing their birthplaces + and friends, to settle themselves in the West; and many not so much + from choice as from actual inability to support their families and + rear and educate their children out of the produce of their exhausted + lands--once fertile, but rendered barren and unproductive by a + ruinous system of cultivation. + + "And how greatly is this distress heightened, in witnessing, as we + often do, the successions and reverses of this struggle between going + and staying, on the part of many emigrants. And how many are there, + who after removing, remain only a few years and then return to seize + again upon a portion of their native land, and die where they were + born. How strangely does it remind us of the poor shipwrecked + mariner, who, touching in the midst of the storm the shore, lays hold + of it, but is borne seaward by the receding wave; but struggling + back, torn and lacerate, he grasps again the rock, with bleeding + hands, and still clings to it, as a last and forlorn hope. Nor is + this to be wondered at. Perhaps it was the home of his childhood--the + habitation of his fathers for past generations--the soil upon which + had been expended the savings and nourishment, the energies and + virtues of a long life--'the sweat of the living, and the ashes of + the dead.' + + "Oh! how hard to break such ties as these. + + "This is no gloomy picture of the imagination; but a faithful + representation of what most of us know and feel to be true. Who is it + that has not had some acquaintance or neighbour--some friend, + perhaps some relative, forced into this current of emigration, and + obliged from necessity, in the evening, probably, of a long life, to + abandon his State and friends, and the home of his fathers and + childhood, to seek a precarious subsistence in the supposed El + Dorados of the West?" + +This is a terrible picture, and yet it is but the index to one still +worse that must follow in its train. Well does the hon. speaker say +that-- + + "There is another evil attending this continual drain of our + population to the West, next in importance to the actual loss of the + population itself, and that is, its tendency to continue and enlarge + our wretched system of cultivation. + + "The moment some persons feel assured that for present gain they can + exhaust the fertility of their lands in the old States, and then + abandon them for those in the West, which, being rich, require + neither the aid of science nor art, the natural tendency is at once + to give over all efforts at improvement themselves, and kill their + land as quickly as possible--then sell it for what it will bring or + abandon it as a waste. And such will be found to be the case with too + many of the emigrants from the lowlands of Virginia." + +Another distinguished Virginian, Mr. Ruffin, in urging an effort to +restore the lands that have been exhausted, and to bring into activity +the rich ones that have never been drained, estimates the advantages +to be derived by Lower Virginia alone at $500,000,000. "The strength, +physical, intellectual, and moral, as well as the revenue of the +commonwealth, will," he says, + + "Soon derive new and great increase from the growing improvements of + that one and the smallest of the great divisions of her territory, + which was the poorest by natural constitution--still more, the + poorest by long exhausting tillage--its best population gone or going + away, and the remaining portion sinking into apathy and degradation, + and having no hope left except that which was almost universally + entertained of fleeing from the ruined country and renewing the like + work of destruction on the fertile lands of the far West." + +If we look farther South, we find the same state of affairs. North +Carolina abounds in rich lands, undrained and uncultivated, and coal +and iron ore abound. Her area is greater than that of Ireland, and yet +her population is but 868,000; and it has increased only 130,000 in +twenty years, and, from 1830 to 1840; the increase was only 16,000. In +South Carolina, men have been everywhere doing precisely what has been +described in reference to Virginia; and yet the State has, says +Governor Seabrook, in his address to the State Agricultural Society, +"millions of uncleared acres of unsurpassed fertility, which seem to +solicit a trial of their powers from the people of the plantation +States." * * "In her borders," he continues, "there is scarcely a +vegetable product essential to the human race that cannot be +furnished." Marl and lime abound, millions of acres of rich +meadow-land remain in a state of nature, and "the seashore parishes," +he adds, "possess unfailing supplies of salt mud, salt grass, and +shell-lime." So great, nevertheless, was the tendency to the +abandonment of the land, that in the ten years from 1830 to 1840 the +white population increased but 1000 and the black but 12,000, whereas +the natural increase would have given 150,000! + +Allowing Virginia, at the close of the Revolution, 600,000 people, she +should now have, at the usual rate of increase, and excluding all +allowance for immigration, 4,000,000, or one to every ten acres; and +no one at all familiar with the vast advantages of the state can doubt +her capability of supporting more than thrice that number.[45] +Nevertheless, the total number in 1850 was but 1,424,000, and the +increase in twenty years had been but 200,000, when it should have +been 1,200,000. If the reader desire to know what has become of all +these people, he may find most of them among the millions now +inhabiting Alabama and Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, and Arkansas; +and if he would know why they are now there to be found, the answer to +the question may be given in the words--"They borrowed from the earth, +and they did not repay, and therefore she expelled them." It has been +said, and truly said, that "the nation which commences by exporting +food will end by exporting men." + +When men come together and combine their efforts, they are enabled to +bring into activity all the vast and various powers of the earth; and +the more they come together, the greater is the value of land, the +greater the demand, for labour, the higher its price, and the greater +the freedom of man. When, on the contrary, they separate from each +other, the greater is the tendency to a decline in the value of land, +the less is the value of labour, and the less the freedom of man. Such +being the case, if we desire to ascertain the ultimate cause of the +existence of the domestic slave trade, it would seem to be necessary +only to ascertain the cause of the exhaustion of the land. The reason +usually assigned for this will be found in the following passage, +extracted from one of the English journals of the day;-- + + "The mode of agriculture usually coincident with the employment of + slave labour is essentially exhaustive, and adapted therefore only to + the virgin-richness of a newly-colonized soil. The slave can plant, + and dig, and hoe: he works rudely and lazily with rude tools: and his + unwilling feet tread the same path of enforced labour day after day. + But slave labour is not adapted to the operations of scientific + agriculture, which restores its richness to a wornout soil; and it is + found to be a fact that the planters of the Northern slave States, + as, _e.g._, Virginia, gradually desert the old seats of civilization, + and advance further and further into the yet untilled country. + Tobacco was the great staple of Virginian produce for many years + after that beautiful province was colonized by Englishmen. It has + exhausted the soil; grain crops have succeeded, and been found hardly + less exhaustive; and emigration of both white and coloured population + to the West and South has taken place to a very large extent, The + result may be told in the words of an American witness:--'That part + of Virginia which lies upon tide waters presents an aspect of + universal decay. Its population diminishes, and it sinks day by day + into a lower depth of exhaustion and poverty. The country between + tide waters and the Blue Ridge is fast passing into the same + condition. Mount Vernon is a desert waste; Monticello is little + better, and the same circumstances which have desolated the lands of + Washington and Jefferson have impoverished every planter in the + State. Hardly any have escaped, save the owners of the rich bottom + lands along James River, the fertility of which it seems difficult + utterly to destroy.'[46] Now a Virginia planter stands in much the + same relation to his plantation as an absentee Irish landlord to his + estate; the care of the land is in each case handed over to a + middleman, who is anxious to screw out of it as large a return of + produce or rent as possible; and pecuniary embarrassment is in both + cases the result. But as long as every pound of cotton grown on the + Mississippi and the Red River finds eager customers in Liverpool, the + price of slaves in those districts cannot fail to keep up. In many + cases the planter of the Northern slave States emigrates to a region + where he can employ his capital of thews and sinews more profitably + than at home. In many others, he turns his plantation into an + establishment for slave breeding, and sells his rising stock for + labour in the cottonfield."--_Prospective Review_ Nov. 1852. + +Unhappily, however, for this reasoning precisely the same exhaustion +is visible in the Northern States, as the reader may see by a perusal +of the statements on this subject given by Professor Johnson, in his +"Notes on North America," of which the following is a specimen:-- + + "Exhaustion has diminished the produce of the land, formerly the + great staple of the country. When the wheat fell off, barley, which + at first yielded fifty or sixty bushels, was raised year after year, + till the land fell away from this, and became full of weeds."--Vol. + i. 259. + +Rotation of crops cannot take place at a distance from market The +exhaustive character of the system is well shown in the following +extract:-- + + "In the State of New York there are some twelve million acres of + improved land, which includes all meadows and enclosed pastures. This + area employs about five hundred thousand labourers, being an average + of twenty-four acres to the hand. At this ratio, the number of acres + of improved land in the United States is one hundred, and twenty + millions. But New York is an old and more densely populated State + than an average in the Union; and probably twenty-five acres per head + is a juster estimate for the whole country. At this rate, the + aggregate is one hundred and twenty-five millions. Of these improved + lands, it is confidently believed that at least four-fifths are now + suffering deterioration in a greater or less degree. + + "The fertility of some, particularly in the planting States, is + passing rapidly away; in others, the progress of exhaustion is so + slow as hardly to be observed by the cultivators themselves. To keep + within the truth, the annual income from the soil may be said to be + diminished ten cents an acre on one hundred million acres, or + four-fifths of the whole. + + "This loss of income is ten millions of dollars, and equal to sinking + a capital of one hundred and sixty-six million six hundred and + sixty-six thousand dollars a year, paying six per cent. annual + interest. That improved farming lands may justly be regarded as + capital, and a fair investment when paying six per cent. interest, + and perfectly safe, no one will deny. This deterioration is not + unavoidable, for thousands of skilful farmers have taken fields, poor + in point of natural productiveness, and, instead of diminishing their + fertility, have added ten cents an acre to their annual income, over + and above all expenses. If this wise and improving system of rotation + tillage and husbandry were universally adopted, or applied to the one + hundred million acres now being exhausted, it would be equivalent to + creating each year an additional capital of one hundred and sixty-six + millions six hundred and sixty-six thousand dollars, and placing it + in permanent real estate, where it would pay six per cent. annual + interest. For all practical purposes, the difference between the two + systems is three hundred, and thirty-three millions three hundred and + thirty-three thousand dollars a year to the country. + + "Eight million acres [in the State of New York] are in the hands of + three hundred thousand persons, who still adhere to the colonial + practice of extracting from the virgin soil all it will yield, so + long as it will pay expenses to crop it, and then leave it in a thin, + poor pasture for a term of years. Some of these impoverished farms, + which seventy-five years ago produced from twenty to thirty bushels + of wheat, on an average, per acre, now yield only from five to eight + bushels. In an exceedingly interesting work entitled 'American + Husbandry,' published in London in 1775, and written by an American, + the following remarks may be found on page 98, vol. i.:--'Wheat, in + many parts of the province, (New York,) yields a larger produce than + is common in England. Upon good lands about Albany, where the climate + is the coldest in the country, they sow two bushels and better upon + an acre, and reap from _twenty_ to _forty_; the latter quantity, + however, is not often had, but from twenty to _thirty_ are common; + and with such bad husbandry as would not yield the like in England, + and much less in Scotland. This is owing to the _richness_ and + _freshness_ of the land.' + + "According to the State census of 1845, Albany county now produces + only seven and a half bushels of wheat per acre, although its farmers + are on tide water and near the capital of the State, with a good home + market, and possess every facility for procuring the most valuable + fertilizers. Dutchess county, also on the Hudson River, produces an + average of only five bushels per acre; Columbia, six bushels; + Rensselaer, eight; Westchester, seven; which is higher than the + average of soils that once gave a return larger than the wheat lands + of England even with 'bad husbandry.' + + "Fully to renovate the eight million acres of partially exhausted + lands in the State of New York, will cost at least an average of + twelve dollars and a half per acre, or an aggregate of one hundred + millions of dollars. It is not an easy task to replace all the + bone-earth, potash, sulphur, magnesia, and organized nitrogen in + mould consumed in a field which has been unwisely cultivated fifty or + seventy-five years. Phosphorus is not an abundant mineral anywhere, + and his _sub-soil_ is about the only resource of the husbandman after + his surface-soil has lost most of its phosphates. The three hundred + thousand persons that cultivate these eight million acres of + impoverished soils annually produce less by twenty-five dollars each + than they would if the land had not been injured. + + "The aggregate of this loss to the State and the world is seven + million five hundred thousand dollars per annum, or more than seven + per cent. interest on what it would cost to renovate the deteriorated + soils. There is no possible escape from this oppressive tax on labour + of seven million five hundred thousand dollars, but to improve the + land, or run off and leave it."--_Patent Office Report_, 1849 + +It is not slavery that produces exhaustion of the soil, but exhaustion +of the soil that causes slavery to continue. The people of England +rose from slavery to freedom as the land was improved and rendered +productive, and as larger numbers of men were enabled to obtain +subsistence from the same surface; and it was precisely as the land +thus acquired value that they became free. Such, too, has been the +case with every people that has been enabled to return to the land the +manure yielded by its products, because of their having a market at +home. On the contrary, there is no country in the world, in which men +have been deprived, of the power to improve their land, in which +slavery has not been maintained, to be aggravated in intensity as the +land became more and more exhausted, as we see to have been the case +in the West Indies. It is to this perpetual separation from each other +that is due the poverty and weakness of the South. At the close of the +Revolution, the now slave States contained probably 1,600,000 people, +and those States contained about 120,000,000 of acres, giving an +average of about eighty acres to each. In 1850, the population had +grown to 8,500,000, scattered over more than 300,000,000 of acres, +giving about forty acres to each. The consequence of this dispersion +is that the productive power is very small, as is here seen in an +estimate for 1850, taken from a Southern journal of high +reputation:--[47] + + Cotton............................. 105,600,000 + Tobacco............................ 15,000,000 + Rice............................... 3,000,000 + Naval stores....................... 2,000,000 + Sugar.............................. 12,396,150 + Hemp............................... 695,840 138,691,990 + ----------- + + If we now add for food an equal amount, and this + is certainly much in excess of the truth...... 138,691,990 + And for all other products..................... 22,616,020 + ------------ + We obtain................................... $300,000,000 + +as the total production of eight millions and a half of people, or +about $35 per head. The total production of the Union in 1850 cannot +have been short of 2500 millions; and if we deduct from that sum the +above quantity, we shall have remaining 2150 millions as the product +of fourteen millions and a half of Northern people, or more than four +times as much per head. The difference is caused by the fact that at +the North artisans have placed themselves near to the farmer, and +towns and cities have grown up, and exchanges are made more readily, +and the farmer is not to the same extent obliged to exhaust his land, +and dispersion therefore goes on more slowly; and there is, in many of +the States, an extensive demand for those commodities of which the +earth yields largely, such as potatoes, cabbages, turnips, &c. &c. +With each step in the process of coming together at the North, men +tend to become more free; whereas the dispersion of the South produces +everywhere the trade in slaves of which the world complains, and which +would soon cease to exist if the artisan could be brought to take his +place by the side of the producer of food and cotton. Why he cannot do +so may he found in the words of a recent speech of Mr. Cardwell, +member of Parliament from Liverpool, congratulating the people of +England on the fact that free trade had so greatly damaged the cotton +manufacture of this country, that the domestic consumption was +declining from year to year. In this is to be found the secret of the +domestic slave trade of the South, and its weakness, now so manifest. +The artisan has been everywhere the ally of the farmer, and the South +has been unable to form that alliance, the consequences of which are +seen in the fact that it is always exporting men and raw materials, +and exhausting its soil and itself: and the greater the tendency to +exhaustion, the greater is the pro-slavery feeling. That such should +be the case is most natural. The man who exhausts his land attaches to +it but little value, and he abandons it, but he attaches much value to +the slave whom he can carry away with him. The pro-slavery feeling +made its appearance first in the period between 1830 and 1840. Up to +1832, there had existed a great tendency in Maryland, Virginia, and +Kentucky toward freedom, but that disappeared; and the reason why it +did so may be seen in the greatly increased tendency to the +abandonment of the older tobacco and cotton growing States, as here +shown:-- + + 1820. 1830. 1840. 1850. + ----- ----- ----- ----- + Total population: + Virginia......... 1,065,379 1,211,405 1,239,797 1,424,863 + South Carolina..... 502,741 581,185 594,398 668,247 + + Ratio of increase: + Virginia..................... 13.6 2.3 15.2 + South Carolina............... 15.6 2.3 12.4 + +With the increase in the export of slaves to the South, the negro +population declined in its ratio of increase, whereas it has grown +with the growth of the power of the slave to remain at home, as is +here shown:-- + + 1820. 1830. 1840. 1850. + ----- ----- ----- ----- + Total black + population: 1,779,885 2,328,642 2,873,703 3,591,000 + Ratio of + increase........... 30 30.8 24 25 + +We see thus that the more the black population can remain at home, the +more rapidly they increase; and the reason why such is the case is, +that at home they are among their own people, by whom they have been +known from infancy, and are of course better fed and clothed, more +tenderly treated, and more lightly worked, with far greater tendency +toward freedom. It would thence appear that if we desire to bring +about the freedom of the negro, we must endeavour to arrest the +domestic slave trade, and enable the slave and his master to remain at +home; and to do this we must look to the causes of the difference in +the extent of the trade in the periods above referred to. Doing this, +we shall find that from 1820 to 1830 there was a decided tendency +toward bringing the artisan to the side of the ploughman; whereas from +1833 to 1840 the tendency was very strong in the opposite direction, +and so continued until 1842, at which time a change took place, and +continued until near the close of the decennial period, when our +present revenue system came fully into operation. The artisan has now +ceased to come to the side of the planter. Throughout the country +cotton and woollen mills and furnaces and foundries have been closed, +and women and children who were engaged in performing the lighter +labour of converting cotton into cloth are now being sold for the +heavier labour of the cotton-field, as is shown by the following +advertisement, now but a few weeks old:-- + + SALE OF NEGROES.--The negroes belonging to the Saluda Manufacturing + Company were sold yesterday for one-fourth cash, the balance in one + and two years, with interest, and averaged $599. Boys from 16 to 25 + brought $900 to $1000.--_Columbia, (S. C.) Banner_, Dec. 31, 1852. + +As a necessary consequence of this, the domestic slave trade is now +largely increasing, as is shown by the following extract from a recent +journal:-- + + "The emigration to the southern portion of Arkansas, Louisiana, and + Texas, during the past fall, has been unusually large, and the tide + which flows daily through our streets indicates that the volume + abates but little, if any. On the opposite bank of the river are + encamped nearly fifty wagons, with probably not less than two hundred + and fifty souls. Each night, for a fortnight, there have been, on an + average, not less than twenty-five wagons encamped there; and + notwithstanding two hand ferry-boats have been constantly plying + between the shores, the hourly accession to the number makes the + diminution scarcely perceptible."--_Little Rock. (Ark.) Gazette_, + Dec. 3, 1852. + +Had the member for Liverpool been aware that a decline in the tendency +toward bringing the cotton-mill to the cotton-field was accompanied by +increased exhaustion of the land, increased impoverishment, and +increased inability to bring into action the rich soils of the older +States, and that with each such step there arose an increased +_necessity_ for the expulsion of the people of those States, +accompanied by an increased sacrifice of life resulting from the +domestic slave trade, he would certainly have hesitated before +congratulating Parliament on an occurrence so hostile to the progress +of freedom. + +That the export of negroes, with its accompanying violation of the +rights of parents and children, and with its natural tendency toward a +total forgetfulness of the sanctity of the marriage tie, has its +origin in the exhaustion of the land, there can be no doubt--and that +that, in its turn, has its origin in the necessity for a dependence on +distant markets, is quite as free from doubt. The man who must go to a +distance with his products cannot raise potatoes, turnips, or hay. He +must raise the less bulky articles, wheat or cotton and he must take +from his land all the elements of which wheat or cotton is composed, +and then abandon it. In addition to this, he must stake all his +chances of success in his year's cultivation on a single crop; and +what are the effects of this is seen in the following paragraph in +relation to the wheat cultivation of Virginia in the last season:-- + + "Never did I know in this State such a destruction of the wheat crop; + I have just returned from Albemarle, one of the best counties. The + joint-worm, a new enemy of three year's known existence there, has + injured every crop, and destroyed many in that and other counties + both sides and along the Blue Ridge. I saw many fields that would not + yield more than seed, and not a few from which not one peck per acre + could be calculated upon. I saw more than one field without a head. + The most fortunate calculate upon a half crop only. Corn is backward + on the lower James River, embracing my own farm. I have heard to-day + from my manager that the caterpillar has made its appearance, and + must in the late wheat do serious damage." + +That State is not permitted to do any thing but grow wheat and +tobacco, both of which she must export, and the larger the export the +smaller are the returns, under the system of "unlimited competition" +for the sale of raw products, and limited competition for the purchase +of manufactured ones, which it is the object of British policy to +establish. Not only is Virginia limited in the application of her +labour, but she is also greatly limited in the extent of her market, +because of the unequal distribution of the proceeds of the sales of +her products. The pound of tobacco for which the consumer pays 6s. +($1.44,) yields him less than six cents, the whole difference being +absorbed by the people who stand between him and the consumer, and who +contribute nothing toward the production of his commodity.[48] + +Now, it is quite clear that if the consumer and he stood face to face +with each other, he would receive all that was paid, and that while +the one bought at lower prices, the other would sell at higher ones, +and both would grow rich. The difficulty with him is that not only is +his land exhausted, but he receives but a very small portion of the +price paid for its products, and thus is he, like the labourer of +Jamaica, exhausted by reason of the heavy taxation to which he is +subjected for the support of foreign merchants and foreign +governments. As a consequence of all this his land has little value, +and he finds himself becoming poorer from year to year, and each year +he has to sell a negro for the payment of the tax on his tobacco and +his wheat to which he is thus subjected, until he has at length to go +himself. If the reader desire to study the working of this system of +taxation, he cannot do better than read the first chapter of "Uncle +Tom's Cabin," containing the negotiation between Haley and Mr. Shelby +for the transfer of Uncle Tom, resulting in the loss of his life in +the wilds of Arkansas. + +The more the necessity for exhausting land and for selling negroes, +the cheaper, however, will be wheat and cotton. Uncle Tom might have +remained at home had the powers of the land been maintained and had +Virginia been enabled to avail herself of her vast resources in coal, +iron ore, water-power, &c.; but as she could not do this, he had to go +to Arkansas to raise cotton: and the larger the domestic slave trade, +the greater must be the decline in the price of that great staple of +the South. At no period was that trade so large as in that from 1830 +to 1840, and the effects are seen in the following comparative prices +of cotton:-- + + Crops, 1831 and 1832, average 10-1/2. + 1841 and 1842, average 7. + +The export of negroes declined between 1842 and 1850, and the +consequence is that cotton has since maintained its price. With the +closing of Southern mills the slave trade, is now again growing +rapidly, and the consequences will be seen in a large decline in the +price of that important product of Southern labour and land. + +The reader will now observe that it was in the period from 1830 to +1840 that the tendency to emancipation disappeared--that it was in +that period were passed various laws adverse to the education of +negroes--that it was in that period there was the greatest enlargement +of the domestic slave trade--and the greatest decline in the price of +cotton. Having remarked these things, and having satisfied himself +that they, each and all, have their origin in the fact that the +planter is compelled to depend on foreign markets and therefore to +exhaust his land, he will be enabled to judge of the accuracy of the +view contained in the following sentence :-- + + "The price of a negro on Red River varies with the price of cotton in + Liverpool, and whatever tends to lower the value of the staple here, + not only confers an inestimable advantage on our own manufacturing + population, but renders slave labour less profitable, and therefore + less permanent in Alabama."--_Prospective Review_, No. xxxii. 512. + +It would be fortunate if philanthropy and pecuniary profit could thus +be made to work together, but such unhappily is not the case. When men +are enabled to come nearer to each other and combine their efforts, +and towns arise, land acquires great value and gradually becomes +divided, and with each step in this direction the negro loses his +importance in the eye of his owner. When, however, men are forced to +abandon the land they have exhausted, it becomes consolidated, and the +moveable chattel acquires importance in the eyes of his emigrant +owner. At death, the land cannot, under these circumstances, be +divided, and therefore the negroes must; and hence it is that such +advertisements as the following are a necessary consequence of the +system that looks to cheap wheat, cheap sugar, and cheap cotton. + + HIGH PRICE OF NEGROES.--We extract the following from the Lancaster + (S. C.) _Ledger_ of the 5th January last:-- + + We attended the sale of negroes belonging to the estate of the late + S. Beekman, on the 22d of last month, and were somewhat astonished at + the high price paid for negroes. + + Negro men brought from $800 to $1000, the greater number at or near + the latter price. One (a blacksmith) brought $1425. + + We learn from the Winsboro _Register_, that on Monday, the 3d inst., + a large sale of negroes was made by the Commissioner in Equity for + Fairfleld district, principally the property of James Gibson, + deceased. The negroes were only tolerably likely, and averaged about + $620 each. The sales were made on a credit of twelve + months.--_Charleston (S. C.) Courier_. + +The more the planter is forced to depend upon tobacco the lower will +be its price abroad, and the more he must exhaust his land. The more +rapid the exhaustion the more must be the tendency to emigrate. The +more the necessity for depending exclusively on wheat, the greater the +necessity for making a market for it by raising slaves for sale: and +in several of the older Southern States the planter now makes nothing +but what results from the increase of "stock." + +Of all the exporters of food England is the largest, said a +distinguished English merchant, in a speech delivered some years +since. In some parts of that country it is manufactured into iron, and +in others into cloth, in order that it may travel cheaply, and this is +quite in accordance with the advice of Adam Smith. With a view, +however, to prevent other nations from following in the course so +strongly urged upon them by that great man, labour has been cheapened, +and men and women, boys and girls, have been accustomed to work +together in the same mine, and often in a state of _entire nudity_; +while other, women and children have been compelled to work for +fourteen or sixteen hours a day for six days in the week, and for +small wages, in the mill or workshop--and this has been done in +accordance with the advice of Mr. Huskisson, who, from his place in +Parliament, told his countrymen that in order "to give capital a fair +remuneration, _labour must be kept down_"--that is, the labourer must +be deprived of the power to determine for himself for whom he would +work, or what should be his reward. It was needed, as was then +declared by another of the most eminent statesmen of Britain, "that +the manufactures of all other nations should be strangled in their +infancy," and such has from that day to the present been the object of +British policy. Hence it is that England is now so great an exporter +of food manufactured into cloth and iron. The people of Massachusetts +manufacture their grain into fish, cloth, and various other +commodities, with a view to enable it cheaply to travel to market. +Those of Illinois, unable to convert their corn into coal or iron, +find themselves obliged to manufacture it into pork. The Virginian +would manufacture his corn and his wheat into cloth, or into coal and +iron, if he could; but this he cannot do, although close to the +producer of cotton, and occupying a land abounding in all the raw +materials of which machinery is composed; and having, too, abundant +labour power that runs to waste. Why he cannot do it is that England +follows the advice of Mr. Huskisson, and cheapens labour with a view +to prevent other nations from following the advice of Adam Smith. The +whole energies of the State are therefore given to the raising of +tobacco and corn, both of which must go abroad, and as the latter +cannot travel profitably in its rude state, it requires to be +manufactured, and the only branch of manufacture permitted to the +Virginian is that of negroes, and hence it is that their export is so +large, and that cotton is so cheap. + +Widely different would be the course of things could he be permitted +to employ a reasonable portion of his people in the development of the +vast resources of the State--opening mines, erecting furnaces, +smelting iron, making machinery, and building mills. Fewer persons +would then raise corn and more would be employed in consuming it, and +the price at home would then rise to a level with that in the distant +market, and thus would the land acquire value, while the cost of +raising negroes would be increased. Towns would then grow up, and +exchanges would be made on the spot, and thus would the planter be +enabled to manure his land. Labour would become more productive, and +there would be more commodities to be given in exchange for labour; +and the more rapid the increase in the amount of production the +greater would be the tendency toward enabling the labourer to +determine for whom he would work and what should be his reward. +Population would then rapidly increase, and land would become divided, +and the little black cultivator of cabbages and potatoes would be seen +taking the place of the poor white owner of large bodies of exhausted +land, and thus would the negro tend toward freedom as his master +became enriched. Nothing of this kind is, however, likely to take +place so long as the Virginian shall continue of the opinion that the +way to wealth lies in the direction of taking every thing from the +land and returning nothing to it--nor, perhaps, so long as the people +of England shall continue in the determination that there shall be but +one workshop in the world, and carry that determination into effect by +"keeping labour down," in accordance with the advice of Mr. Huskisson. + +The tendency to the abandonment of the older States is now probably +greater than it has ever been, because their people have ceased to +build mills or furnaces, and every thing looks to a yet more perfect +exhaustion of the soil. The more they abandon the land the greater is +the anxiety to make loans in England for the purpose of building +roads; and the more numerous the loans the more rapid is the flight, +and the greater the number of negroes brought to market. + +A North Carolina paper informs its readers that-- + + "The trading spirit is fully up. A few days since Mr. D. W. Bullock + sold to Messrs. Wm. Norfleet, Robert Norfleet, and John S. Dancy, + plantation and 18 negroes for $30,000. Mr. R. R. Bridges to Wm. F. + Dancy, 6 acres near town for $600. At a sale in Wilson, we also + understand, negro men with no extra qualifications sold as high as + $1225."--_Tarborough Southerner_. + +A South Carolina editor informs his readers that + + "At public auction on Thursday, Thomas Ryan & Son sold fifteen likely + negroes for $10,365, or an average of $691. Three boys, aged about + seventeen, brought the following sums, viz. $1065, $1035, $1010, and + two at $1000--making an average of $1022. Capers Heyward sold a gang + of 109 negroes in families. Two or three families averaged from $1000 + to $1100 for each individual; and the entire sale averaged $550. C. + G. Whitney sold two likely female house servants--one at $1000, the + other at $1190."--_Charleston Courier_. + +Limited, as the people of the old States are more and more becoming, +to the raising of "stock" as the sole source of profit, need we be +surprised to see the pro-slavery feeling gaining ground from day to +day, as is here shown to be the case? + + REMOVAL OF FREE PERSONS OF COLOUR FROM VIRGINIA.--A bill has been + reported in the Virginia House of Delegates which provides for the + appointment of overseers, who are to be required to hire out, at + public auction, all free persons of colour, to the highest bidder, + and to pay into the State Treasury the sums accruing from such hire. + The sums are to be devoted in future to sending free persons of + colour beyond the limits of the State. At the expiration of five + years, all free persons of colour remaining in the State are to be + sold into slavery to the highest bidder, at public auction, the + proceeds of such sales to be paid into the public treasury, provided + that said free persons of colour shall be allowed the privilege of + becoming the slaves of any free white person whom they may select, on + the payment by such person of a fair price. + +Twenty years since, Virginia was preparing for the emancipation of the +slave. Now, she is preparing for the enslavement of the free. If the +reader would know the cause of this great change, he may find it in +the fact that man has everywhere become less free as land has become +less valuable. + +Upon whom, now, must rest the responsibility for such a state of +things as is here exhibited? Upon the planter? He exercises no +volition. He is surrounded by coal and iron ore, but the attempt to +convert them into iron has almost invariably been followed by ruin. He +has vast powers of nature ready to obey his will, yet dare he not +purchase a spindle or a loom to enable him to bring into use his now +waste labour power, for such attempts at bringing the consumer to the +side of the producer have almost invariably ended in the +impoverishment of the projector, and the sale and dispersion of his +labourers. He is compelled to conform his operations to the policy +which looks to having but one workshop for the world; and instead of +civilizing his negroes by bringing them to work in combination, he +must barbarize them by dispersion. A creature of necessity, he cannot +be held responsible; but the responsibility must, and will, rest on +those who produce that necessity. + +The less the power of association in the Northern slave States, the +more rapid must be the growth of the domestic slave trade, the greater +must be the decline in the price of wheat, cotton, and sugar, the +greater must be the tendency to the passage of men like Uncle Tom, and +of women and children too, from the light labour of the North to the +severe labour of the South and South-west--but, the greater, as we +are told, must be the prosperity of the people of England. It is +unfortunate for the world that a country exercising so much influence +should have adopted a policy so adverse to the civilization and the +freedom not only of the negro race, but of mankind at large. There +seems, however, little probability of a change. Seeking to make of +herself a great workshop, she necessarily desires that all the rest of +the world should be one great farm, to be cultivated by men, women, +and children, denied all other means of employment. This, of course, +forbids association, which diminishes as land becomes exhausted. The +absence of association forbids the existence of schools or workshops, +books or instruction, and men become barbarized, when, under a +different system, they might and would become civilized. The tendency +to freedom passes away, as we see to have been the case in the last +twenty years--but in place of freedom, and as a compensation for the +horrors of Jamaica and of the domestic slave trade, the great workshop +of the world is supplied with cheap grain, cheap tobacco, cheap sugar, +and cheap cotton. + +Were Adam Smith alive, he might, and probably would, take some trouble +to inform his countrymen that a system which looked to the exhaustion +of the land of other countries, and the enslavement of their +population, was "a manifest violation of the most sacred rights of +mankind;" but since his day the doctrines of the "Wealth of Nations" +have been discarded, and its author would find himself now addressing +hearers more unwilling than were even the men for whom he wrote eighty +years since. At that time the imaginary discovery had not been made +that men always commenced on the rich soils, and passed, as population +and wealth increased, to poorer ones; and the Malthusian law of +population was yet unthought of. Now, however, whatever tends to limit +the growth of population is, we are told, to be regarded as a great +good; and as the domestic slave trade accomplishes that object at the +same time that it furnishes cheap cotton, it can scarcely be expected +that there will be any change; and yet, unless a change be somewhere +made, abroad or at home, we must perforce submit to the continuance of +the existing system, which precludes education, almost eschews +matrimony, separates husbands and wives, parents and children, and +sends the women to the labours of the field. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +HOW SLAVERY GROWS IN PORTUGAL AND TURKEY. + + +In point of natural advantages, PORTUGAL is equal with any country in +Western Europe. Her soil is capable of yielding largely of every +description of grain, and her climate enables her to cultivate the +vine and the olive. Mineral riches abound, and her rivers give to a +large portion, of the country every facility for cheap intercourse; +and yet her people are among the most enslaved, while her government +is the weakest and most contemptible of Europe. + +It is now a century and a half since England granted her what were +deemed highly important advantages in regard to wine, on condition +that she should discard the artisans who had been brought to the side +of her farmers, and permit the people of England to supply her people +with certain descriptions of manufactures. What were the duties then +agreed on are not given in any of the books now at hand, but by the +provisions of a treaty made in 1810, cloths of all descriptions were +to be admitted at a merely revenue duty, varying from ten to fifteen +per cent. A natural consequence of this system has been that the +manufactures which up to the date of the Methuen treaty had risen in +that country, perished under foreign competition, and the people found +themselves by degrees limited exclusively to agricultural employments. +Mechanics found there no place for the exercise of their talents, +towns could not grow, schools could not arise, and the result is seen +in the following paragraph:-- + + "It is surprising how ignorant, or at least superficially acquainted, + the Portuguese are with every kind of handicraft; a carpenter is + awkward and clumsy, spoiling every work he attempts, and the way in + which the doors and woodwork even of good houses are finished would + have suited the rudest ages. Their carriages of all kinds, from the + fidalgo's family coach to the peasant's market cart, their + agricultural implements, locks and keys, &c. are ludicrously bad. + They seem to disdain improvement, and are so infinitely below par, so + strikingly inferior to the rest of Europe, as to form a sort of + disgraceful wonder in the middle of the nineteenth + century."--_Baillie_. + +The population, which, half a century since was 3,683,000, is now +reduced to little more than 3,000,000; and we need no better evidence +of the enslaving and exhausting tendency of a policy that limits a +whole people, men, women, and children, to the labours of the field. +At the close almost of a century and a half of this system, the +following is given in a work of high reputation, as a correct picture +of the state of the country and the strength of the government:-- + + "The finances of Portugal are in the most deplorable condition, the + treasury is dry, and all branches of the public service suffer. A + carelessness and a mutual apathy reign not only throughout the + government, but also throughout the nation. While improvement is + sought everywhere else throughout Europe, Portugal remains + stationary. The postal service of the country offers a curious + example of this, nineteen to twenty-one days being still required for + a letter to go and come between Lisbon and Braganza, a distance of + 423-1/2 kilometres, (or little over 300 miles.) All the resources of + the state are exhausted, and it is probable that the receipts will + not give one-third of the amount for which they figure in the + budget."--_Annuaire de l'Economie Politique_, 1849, 322. + +Some years since an effort was made to bring the artisan to the side +of the farmer and vine-grower, but a century and a half of exclusive +devotion to agriculture had placed the people so far in the rear of +those of other nations, that the attempt was hopeless, the country +having long since become a mere colony of Great Britain. + +If we turn to Madeira, we find there further evidence of the +exhausting consequences of the separation of the farmer and the +artisan. From 1886 to 1842, the only period for which returns are +before me, there was a steady decline in the amount of agricultural +production, until the diminution had reached about thirty per cent., +as follows:-- + + Wine. Wheat. Barley. + ----- ------ ------- + 1836............. 27,270 pipes 8472 qrs. 3510 + 1842............. 16,131 " 6863 " 2777 + +At this moment the public papers furnish an "Appeal to America," +commencing as follows:-- + + "A calamity has fallen on Madeira unparalleled in its history. The + vintage, the revenue of which furnished the chief means for providing + subsistence for its inhabitants, has been a total failure, and the + potato crop, formerly another important article of their food, is + still extensively diseased. All classes, therefore, are suffering, + and as there are few sources in the island to which they can look for + food, clothing, and other necessaries of life, their distress must + increase during the winter, and the future is contemplated with + painful anxiety and apprehension. Under such appalling prospects, the + zealous and excellent civil Governor, Snr. José Silvestre Ribeiro, + addressed a circular letter to the merchants of Madeira on the 24th + of August last, for the purpose of bringing the unfortunate and + critical position of the population under his government to the + notice of the benevolent and charitable classes in foreign countries, + and in the hope of exciting their sympathy with, and assistance to, + so many of their fellow creatures threatened with famine." + +Such are the necessary consequences of a system which looks to +compelling the whole population of a country to employ themselves in a +single pursuit--all cultivating the land and all producing the same +commodity; and which thus effectually prevents the growth of that +natural association so much admired by Adam Smith. It is one that can +end only in the exhaustion of the land and its owner. When population +increases and men come together, even the poor land is made rich, and +thus it is, says M. de Jonnes, that "the powers of manure causes the +poor lands of the department of the Seine to yield thrice as much as +those of the Loire."[49] When population diminishes, and men are thus +forced to live at greater distances from each other, even the rich +lands become impoverished; and of this no better evidence need be +sought than that furnished by Portugal. In the one case, each day +brings men nearer to perfect freedom of thought, speech, action, and +trade. In the other they become from day to day more barbarized and +enslaved, and the women are more and more driven to the field, there +to become the slaves of fathers, husbands, brothers, and even of sons. + +Of all the countries of Europe there is none possessed of natural +advantages to enable it to compare with those constituting the TURKISH +EMPIRE in Europe and Asia. Wool and silk, corn, oil, and tobacco, +might, with proper cultivation, be produced in almost unlimited +quantity, while Thessaly and Macedonia, long celebrated for the +production of cotton, abound in lands uncultivated, from which it +might be obtained in sufficient extent to clothe a large portion of +Europe. Iron ore abounds, and in quality equal to any in the world, +while in another part of the empire "the hills seem a mass of +carbonate of copper."[50] Nature has done every thing for the people +of that country, and yet of all those of Europe, the Turkish rayah +approaches in condition nearest to a slave; and of all the governments +of Europe, that of Portugal even not excepted, that of Turkey is the +most a slave to the dictation, not only of nations, but even of +bankers and traders. Why it is so, we may now inquire. + +By the terms of the treaty with England in 1675, the Turkish +government bound itself to charge no more than three per cent. duty on +imports,[51] and as this could contribute little to the revenue, that +required to be sought elsewhere. A poll-tax, house-tax, land-tax, and +many other direct taxes, furnished a part of it, and the balance was +obtained by an indirect tax in the form of export duties; and as the +corn, tobacco, and cotton of its people were obliged to compete in the +general markets of the world with the produce of other lands, it is +clear that these duties constituted a further contribution from the +cultivators of the empire in aid of the various direct taxes that have +been mentioned. So far as foreigners were interested, the system was +one of perfect free trade and direct taxation. + +For many years, Turkey manufactured much of her cotton, and she +exported cotton-yarn. Such was the case so recently as 1798, as will +be seen by the following very interesting account of one of the seats +of the manufacture:-- + + "'Ambelakia, by its activity, appears rather a borough of Holland + than a village of Turkey. This village spreads, by its industry, + movement, and life, over the surrounding country, and gives birth to + an immense commerce which unites Germany to Greece by a thousand + threads. Its population has trebled in fifteen years, and amounts at + present (1798) to four thousand, who live in their manufactories like + swarms of bees in their hives. In this village are unknown both the + vices and cares engendered by idleness; the hearts of the Ambelakiots + are pure and their faces serene; the slavery which blasts the plains + watered by the Peneus, and stretching at their feet, has never + ascended the sides of Pelion (Ossa;) and they govern themselves, like + their ancestors, by their protoyeros, (primates, elders,) and their + own magistrates. Twice the Mussulmen of Larissa attempted to scale + their rocks, and twice were they repulsed by hands which dropped the + shuttle to seize the musket. + + "'Every arm, even those of the children, is employed in the + factories; while the men dye the cotton, the women prepare and spin + it. There are twenty-four factories, in which yearly two thousand + five hundred bales of cotton yarn, of one hundred cotton okes each, + were dyed (6138 cwts.) This yarn found its way into Germany, and was + disposed of at Buda, Vienna, Leipsic, Dresden, Anspach, and Bareuth. + The Ambelakiot merchants had houses of their own in all these places. + These houses belonged to distinct associations at Ambelakia. The + competition thus established reduced very considerably the common + profits; they proposed therefore to unite themselves under one + central commercial administration. Twenty years ago this plan was + suggested, and in a year afterward it was carried into execution. The + lowest shares in this joint-stock company were five thousand + piastres, (between £600 and £700,) and the highest were restricted to + twenty thousand, that the capitalists might not swallow up all the + profits. The workmen subscribed their little profits, and uniting in + societies, purchased single shares; and besides their capital, their + labour was reckoned in the general amount; they received their share + of the profits accordingly, and abundance was soon spread through the + whole community. The dividends were at first restricted to ten per + cent., and the surplus profit was applied to the augmenting of the + capital; which in two years was raised from 600,000 to 1,000,000 + piastres, (£120,000.)' + + "It supplied industrious Germany, not by the perfection of its + jennies, but by the industry of its spindle and distaff. It taught + Montpellier the art of dyeing, not from experimental chairs, but + because dyeing was with it a domestic and culinary operation, subject + to daily observation in every kitchen; and by the simplicity and + honesty, not the science of its system, it reads a lesson to + commercial associations, and holds up an example unparalleled in the + commercial history of Europe, of a joint-stock and labour company; + ably and economically and successfully administered, in which the + interests of industry and capital were, long equally represented. Yet + the system of administration with which all this is connected, is + common to the thousand hamlets of Thessaly that have not emerged from + their insignificance; but Ambelakia for twenty years was left + alone."[52] + +At that time, however, England had invented new machinery for spinning +cotton, and, by prohibiting its export, had provided that all the +cotton of the world should be brought to Manchester before it could be +cheaply converted into cloth. + +The cotton manufacturers at Ambelakia had their difficulties to +encounter, but all those might have been overcome had they not, says +Mr. Urquhart, "been outstripped by Manchester." They _were_ +outstripped, and twenty years afterward, not only had that place been +deserted, but others in its neighbourhood were reduced to complete +desolation. Native manufactories for the production of cotton goods +had, indeed, almost ceased to work. Of 600 looms at Sentari in 1812, +but 40 remained in 1821; and of the 2000 weaving establishments at +Tournovo in 1812, but 200 remained in 1830.[53] For a time, cotton +went abroad to be returned in the form of twist, thus making a voyage +of thousands of miles in search of a spindle; but even this trade has +in a great degree passed away. As a consequence of these things there +had been a ruinous fall of wages, affecting all classes of labourers. +"The profits," says Mr. Urquhart-- + + "Have been reduced to one-half, and sometimes to one-third, by the + introduction of English cottons, which, though they have reduced the + home price, and arrested the export of cotton-yarn from Turkey, have + not yet supplanted the home manufacture in any visible degree; for, + until tranquillity has allowed agriculture to revive, the people must + go on working merely for bread, and reducing their price, in a + struggle of hopeless competition. The industry, however, of the women + and children is most remarkable; in every interval of labour, tending + the cattle, carrying water, the spindle and distaff, as in the days + of Xerxes, is never out of their hands. The children are as + assiduously at work, from the moment their little fingers, can turn + the spindle. About Ambelakia, the former focus of the cotton-yarn + trade, the peasantry has suffered dreadfully from this, though + formerly the women could earn as much in-doors, as their husbands in + the field; at present, their daily profit (1881) does not exceed + twenty paras, if realized, for often they cannot dispose of the yarn + when spun. + + Piastres. Paras. + --------- ------ + Five okes of uncleaned cotton, + at seventeen paras.......................... 2 5 + Labour of a woman for two days, + (seven farthings per day)................... 0 35 + Carding, by vibrations of a cat-gut........... 0 10 + Spinning, a woman's unremitting labour + for a week.................................. 5 30 + Loss of cotton, exceeding an oke + of uncleaned cotton......................... 0 20 + -------- ------ + Value of one oke of uncleaned cotton.... Prs. 9 00 + + "Here a woman's labour makes but 2d. per day, while field- + labour, according to the season of the year, ranges from 4d. + to 6d. and at this rate, the pound of coarse cotton-yarn cost + in spinning 5d."--P. 147. + +The labour of a woman is estimated at less than four cents per day, +and "the unremitting labour of a week" will command but twenty-five +cents. The wages of men employed in gathering leaves and attending +silkworms are stated at one piastre (five cents) per day. At Salonica, +the shipping port of Thessaly, they were ten cents. (Urquhart, 268.) + +As a necessary consequence of this, population diminishes, and +everywhere are seen the ruins of once prosperous villages. Agriculture +declines from day to day. The once productive cotton-fields of +Thessaly lie untilled, and even around Constantinople itself-- + + "There are no cultivated lands to speak of within twenty miles, in + some directions within fifty miles. The commonest necessaries of life + come from distant parts: the corn for daily bread from Odessa; the + cattle and sheep from beyond Adrianople, or from Asia Minor; the + rice, of which such a vast consumption is made, from the + neighbourhood of Phillippopolis; the poultry chiefly from Bulgaria; + the fruit and vegetables from Nicomedia and Mondania. Thus a constant + drain of money is occasioned, without any visible return except to + the treasury or from the property of the Ulema."--_Slade's Travels in + Turkey_, vol. ii. 143. + +The silk that is made is badly prepared, because the distance of the +artisan prevents the poor people from obtaining good machinery; and as +a consequence of this, the former direct trade with Persia has been +superseded by an indirect one through England, to which the raw silk +has now to be sent. In every department of industry we see the same +result. Birmingham has superseded Damascus, whose blades are now no +longer made. + +Not only is the foreigner free to introduce his wares, but he may, on +payment of a trifling duty of two per cent., carry them throughout the +empire until finally disposed of. He travels by caravans, and is +lodged without expense. He brings his goods to be exchanged for money, +or what else he needs, and the exchange effected, he disappears as +suddenly as he came. + + "It is impossible," says Mr. Urquhart, "to witness the arrival of the + many-tongued caravan at its resting-place for the night, and see, + unladen and piled up together, the bales from such distant places--to + glance over their very wrappers, and the strange marks and characters + which they bear--without being amazed at so eloquent a contradiction + of our preconceived notions of indiscriminate despotism and universal + insecurity of the East. But while we observe the avidity with which + our goods are sought, the preference now transferred from Indian to + Birmingham muslins, from Golconda to Glasgow chintzes, from Damascus + to Sheffield steel, from Cashmere shawls to English broadcloth; and + while, at the same time, the energies of their commercial spirit are + brought thus substantially before us; it is indeed impossible not to + regret that a gulf of separation should have so long divided the East + and the West, and equally impossible not to indulge in the hope and + anticipation of a vastly extended traffic with the East, and of all + the blessings which follow fast and welling in the wake of + commerce."--P. 133. + +Among the "blessings" of the system is the fact that local places of +exchange no longer exist. The storekeeper who pays rent and taxes has +found himself unable to compete with the pedler who pays neither; and +the consequence is that the poor cultivator finds it impossible to +exchange his products, small as they are, for the commodities he +needs, except, on the occasional arrival of a caravan, and that has +generally proved far more likely to absorb the little money in +circulation, than any of the more bulky and less valuable products of +the earth. + +As usual in purely agricultural countries, the whole body of +cultivators is hopelessly in debt, and the money-lender fleeces all. +If he aids the peasant before harvest, he must have an enormous +interest, and be paid in produce at a large discount from the market +price; The village communities are almost universally in debt, but to +them, as the security is good, the banker charges _only_ twenty per +cent. per annum. Turkey is the very paradise of middlemen--a +consequence of the absence of any mode of employment except in +cultivation or in trade; and the moral effect of this may be seen in +the following passage:-- + + "If you see," says Urquhart, "a Turk meditating in a corner, it is on + some speculation--the purchase of a revenue farm, or the propriety of + a loan at sixty per cent.; if you see pen or paper in his hand, it is + making or checking an account; if there is a disturbance in the + street, it is a disputed barter; whether in the streets or in-doors, + whether in a coffeehouse, a serai, or a bazaar, whatever the rank, + nation, language of the persons around you, traffic, barter, gain are + the prevailing impulses; grusch, para, florin, lira, asper, amid the + Babel of tongues, are the universally intelligible sounds."--P. 138. + +We have thus a whole people divided into two classes--the plunderers +and the plundered; and the cause of this may be found in the fact that +the owners and occupants of land have never been permitted to +strengthen themselves by the formation of that natural alliance +between the plough and the loom, the hammer and the harrow, so much +admired by Adam Smith. The government is as weak as the people, for it +is so entirely dependent on the bankers, that they may be regarded as +the real owners of the land and the people, taxing them at discretion; +and to them certainly enure all the profits of cultivation. As a +consequence of this, the land is almost valueless. A recent traveller +states that good land maybe purchased in the immediate vicinity of +Smyrna at six cents an acre, and at a little distance vast quantities +may be had for nothing. Throughout the world, the freedom of man has +grown in the ratio of the increase in the value of land, and that has +always grown in the ratio of the tendency to have the artisan take his +place by the side of the cultivator of the earth. Whatever tends to +prevent this natural association tends, therefore, to the debasement +and enslavement of man. + +The weakness of Turkey, as regards foreign nations, is great, and it +increases every day.[54] Not only ambassadors, but consuls, beard it +in its own cities; and it is now even denied that she has _any right_ +to adopt a system of trade different from that under which she has +become thus weakened. Perfect freedom of commerce is declared to be +"one of those immunities which we can resign on no account or pretext +whatever; it is a golden privilege, which we can never abandon."[55] + +Internal trade scarcely exists; and, as a natural consequence, the +foreign one is insignificant, the whole value of the exports being but +about thirty-three millions of dollars, or less than two dollars per +head. The total exports from Great Britain in the last year amounted +to but £2,221,000, ($11,500,000,) much of which was simply _en route_ +for Persia; and this constitutes the great trade that has been built +up at so much cost to the people of Turkey, and that is to be +maintained as "a golden privilege" not to be abandoned! Not +discouraged by the result of past efforts, the same author looks +forward anxiously for the time when there shall be in Turkey no +employment in manufactures of any kind, and when the people shall be +exclusively employed in agriculture; and that time cannot, he thinks, +be far distant, as "a few pence more or less in the price of a +commodity will make the difference of purchasing or manufacturing at +home."[56] + +Throughout his book he shows that the rudeness of the machinery of +cultivation is in the direct ratio of the distance of the cultivator +from market; and yet he would desire that all the produce of the +country should go to a distant market to be exchanged, although the +whole import of iron at the present moment for the supply of a +population of almost twenty millions of people, possessing iron ore, +fuel, and unemployed labour in unlimited quantity, is but £2500 per +annum, or about a penny's worth for every thirty persons! Need we +wonder at the character of the machinery, the poverty and slavery of +the people, the trivial amount of commerce, or at the weakness of a +government whose whole system looks to the exhaustion of the land, and +to the exclusion of that great middle class of working-men, to whom +the agriculturist has everywhere been indebted for his freedom? + +The facts thus far given have been taken, as the reader will have +observed, from Mr. Urquhart's work; and as that gentleman is a warm +admirer of the system denounced by Adam Smith, he cannot be suspected +of any exaggeration when presenting any of its unfavourable results. +Later travellers exhibit the nation as passing steadily onward toward +ruin, and the people toward a state of slavery the most, complete--the +necessary consequence of a policy that excludes the mechanic and +prevents the formation of a town population. Among the latest of those +travellers is Mr. Mac Farlane,[57] at the date of whose visit the silk +manufacture had entirely disappeared, and even the filatures for +preparing the raw silk were closed, weavers having become ploughmen, +and women and children having been totally deprived of employment. The +cultivators of silk had become entirely dependent on foreign markets +in which there existed no demand for the products of their land and +labour. England was then passing through one of her periodical crises, +and it had been deemed necessary to put down the prices of all +agricultural products, with a view to stop importation. On one +occasion, during Mr. Mac Farlane's travels, there came a report that +silk had risen in England, and it produced a momentary stir and +animation, that, as he says, "flattered his national vanity to think +that an electric touch parting from London, the mighty heart of +commerce, should thus be felt in a few days at a place like Biljek." +Such is commercial centralization! It renders the agriculturists of +the world mere slaves, dependent for food and clothing upon the will +of a few people, proprietors of a small amount of machinery, at "the +mighty heart of commerce." At one moment speculation is rife, and silk +goes up in price, and then every effort is made to induce large +shipments of the raw produce of the world. At the next, money is said +to be scarce, and the shippers are ruined, as was, to so great an +extent, experienced by those who exported corn from this country in +1847. + +At the date of the traveller's first visit to Broussa, the villages +were numerous, and the silk manufacture was prosperous. At the second, +the silk works were stopped and their owners bankrupt, the villages +were gradually disappearing, and in the town itself scarcely a chimney +was left, while the country around presented to view nothing but +poverty and wretchedness. Everywhere, throughout the empire, the roads +are bad, and becoming worse, and the condition of the cultivator +deteriorates; for if he has a surplus to sell, most of its value at +market is absorbed by the cost of transportation, and if his crop is +short, prices rise so high that he cannot purchase. Famines are +therefore frequent, and child-murder prevails throughout all classes +of society. Population therefore diminishes, and the best lands are +abandoned, "nine-tenths" of them remaining untilled;[58] the natural +consequence of which is, that malaria prevails in many of those parts +of the country that once were most productive, and pestilence comes in +aid of famine for the extermination of this unfortunate people. Native +mechanics are nowhere to be found, there being no demand for them, and +the plough, the wine-press, and the oil-mill are equally rude and +barbarous. The product of labour is, consequently, most diminutive, +and its wages twopence a day, with a little food. The interest of +money varies from 25 to 50 per cent. per annum, and this rate is +frequently paid for the loan of bad seed that yields but little to +either land or labour. + +With the decline of population and the disappearance of all the local +places of exchange, the pressure of the conscription becomes from year +to year more severe, and droves of men may be seen "chained like wild +beasts--free Osmanlees driven along the road like slaves to a +market"--free men, separated from wives and children, who are left to +perish of starvation amid the richest lands, that remain untilled +because of the separation of the artisan from the producer of food, +silk, and cotton. Internal commerce is trifling in amount, and the +power to pay for foreign merchandise has almost passed away. Land is +nearly valueless; and in this we find the most convincing proof of the +daily increasing tendency toward slavery, man having always become +enslaved as land has lost its value. In the great valley of +Buyuk-derè, once known as _the fair land_, a property of twenty miles +in circumference had shortly before his visit been purchased for less +than £1000, or $4800.[59] In another part of the country, one of +twelve miles in circumference had been purchased for a considerably +smaller sum.[60] The slave trade, black and white, had never been more +active;[61] and this was a necessary consequence of the decline in the +value of labour and land. + +In this country, negro men are well fed, clothed, and lodged, and are +gradually advancing toward freedom. Population therefore increases, +although more slowly than would be the case were they enabled more to +combine their efforts for the improvement of their condition. In the +West Indies, Portugal, and Turkey, being neither well fed, clothed, +nor lodged, their condition declines; and as they can neither be +bought nor sold, they are allowed to die off, and population +diminishes as the tendency toward the subjugation of the labourer +becomes more and more complete. Which of these conditions tends most +to favour advance in civilization the reader may decide. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +HOW SLAVERY GROWS IN INDIA. + + +In no part of the world has there existed the same tendency to +voluntary association, the distinguishing mark of freedom, as in +India. In none have the smaller communities been to the same extent +permitted the exercise of self-government. Each Hindoo village had its +distinct organization, and under its simple and "almost patriarchal +arrangements," says Mr. Greig,[62]-- + + "The natives of Hindoostan seem to have lived from the earliest, + down, comparatively speaking, to late times--if not free from the + troubles and annoyances to which men in all conditions of society are + more or less subject, still in the full enjoyment, each individual, + of his property, and of a very considerable share of personal + liberty. * * * Leave him in possession of the farm which his + forefathers owned, and preserve entire the institutions to which he + had from infancy been accustomed, and the simple Hindoo would give + himself no concern whatever as to the intrigues and cabals which took + place at the capital. Dynasties might displace one another; + revolutions might recur; and the persons of his sovereigns might + change every day; but so long as his own little society remained + undisturbed, all other contingencies were to him subjects scarcely of + speculation. To this, indeed, more than to any other cause, is to be + ascribed the facility with which one conqueror after another has + overrun different parts of India; which submitted, not so much + because its inhabitants were wanting in courage, as because to the + great majority among them it signified nothing by whom the reins of + the supreme government were held. A third consequence of the village + system has been one which men will naturally regard as advantageous + or the reverse, according to the opinions which they hold, touching + certain abstract points into which it is not necessary to enter here. + Perhaps there are not to be found on the face of the earth, a race of + human beings whose attachment to their native place will bear a + comparison with that of the Hindoos. There are no privations which + the Hindoo will hesitate to bear, rather than voluntarily abandon the + spot where he was born; and if continued oppression drive him forth, + he will return to it again after long years of exile with fresh + fondness." + +The Mohammedan conquest left these simple and beautiful institutions +untouched. "Each Hindoo village," says Col. Briggs, in his work on the +land tax-- + + "Had its distinct municipality, and over a certain number of + villages, or district, was an hereditary chief and accountant, both + possessing great local influence and authority, and certain + territorial domains or estates. The Mohammedans early saw the policy + of not disturbing an institution so complete, and they availed + themselves of the local influence of these officers to reconcile + their subjects to their rule. * * * From the existence of these local + Hindoo chiefs at the end of six centuries in all countries conquered + by the Mohammedans, it is fair to conclude that they were cherished + and maintained with great attention as the key-stone of their civil + government. While the administration of the police, and the + collection of the revenues, were left in the hands of these local + chiefs, every part of the new territory was retained under military + occupation by an officer of rank; and a considerable body of + Mohammedan soldiers.* * * In examining the details of Mohammedan + history, which has been minute in recording the rise and progress of + all these kingdoms, we nowhere discover any attempt to alter the + system originally adopted. The ministers, the nobles, and the + military chiefs, all bear Mohammedan names and titles, but no account + is given of the Hindoo institutions, being subverted, or Mohammedan + officers, being employed in the minor, details, of the civil + administration. + + "It would appear from this that the Moslems, so far from imposing + their own laws upon their subjects, treated the customs of the latter + with the utmost respect; and that they did so because experience + taught them that their own interests were advanced by a line of + policy so prudent." + +Local action and local combination are everywhere conspicuous in the +history of this country. With numerous rulers, some of whom to a +greater or less extent acknowledged the superiority of the Sovereign +of Delhi, the taxes required for their support were heavy, but they +were locally expended, and if the cultivator contributed too large a +portion of his grain, it was at least consumed in a neighbouring +market, and nothing went from off the land. Manufactures, too, were +widely spread, and thus was made a demand for the labour not required +in agriculture. "On the coast of Coromandel," says Orme,[63] "and in +the province of Bengal, when at some distance from a high road or +principal town, it is difficult to find a village in which every man, +woman, and child is not employed in making a piece of cloth. At +present," he continues, "much the greatest part of whole provinces are +employed in this single manufacture." Its progress, as he says, +"includes no less than a description of the lives of half the +inhabitants of Indostan." While employment was thus locally +subdivided, tending to enable neighbour to exchange with neighbour, +the exchanges between the producers of food, or of salt, in one part +of the country and the producers of cotton and manufacturers of cloth +in another, tended to the production of commerce with more distant +men, and this tendency was much increased by the subdivision of the +cotton manufacture itself. Bengal was celebrated for the finest +muslins, the consumption of which at Delhi, and in Northern India +generally, was large, while the Coromandel coast was equally +celebrated for the best chintzes and calicoes, leaving to Western +India the manufacture of strong and inferior goods of every kind. +Under these circumstances it is no matter of surprise that the country +was rich, and that its people, although often overtaxed, and sometimes +plundered by invading armies, were prosperous in a high degree. + +Nearly a century has now elapsed since, by the battle of Plassey, +British power was established in India, and from that day local action +has tended to disappear, and centralization to take its place. From +its date to the close of the century there was a rapidly increasing +tendency toward having all the affairs of the princes and the people +settled by the representatives of the Company established in Calcutta, +and as usual in such cases, the country was filled with adventurers, +very many of whom were wholly without principle, men whose sole object +was that of the accumulation of fortune by any means, however foul, as +is well known by all who are familiar with the indignant denunciations +of Burke.[64] + +England was thus enriched as India was impoverished, and as +centralization was more and more established. + +Step by step the power of the Company was extended, and everywhere was +adopted the Hindoo principle that the sovereign was proprietor of the +soil, and sole landlord, and as such the government claimed to be +entitled to one-half of the gross produce of the land. "Wherever," +says Mr. Rickards, long an eminent servant of the Company, + + "The British power supplanted that of the Mohammedans in Bengal, we + did not, it is true, adopt the sanguinary part of their creed; but + from the impure fountain of their financial system, did we, to our + shame, claim the inheritance to a right to seize upon half the gross + produce of the land as a tax; and wherever our arms have triumphed, + we have invariably proclaimed this savage right: coupling it at the + same time with the senseless doctrine of the proprietary right to + these lands being also vested in the sovereign, in virtue of the + right of conquest."--_Rickards's India_, vol. i, 275. + + Under the earlier Mohammedan sovereigns, this land-tax, now + designated as rent, had been limited to a thirteenth, and from that + to a sixth of the produce of the land; but in the reign of Akber + (16th century) it was fixed at one-third, numerous other taxes being + at the same time abolished. With the decline and gradual dissolution + of the empire, the local sovereigns not only increased it, but + revived the taxes that had been discontinued, and instituted others + of a most oppressive kind; all of which were continued by the + Company, while the land-tax was maintained at its largest amount. + While thus imposing taxes at discretion, the Company had also a + monopoly of trade, and it could dictate the prices of all it had to + sell, as well as of all that it needed to buy; and here was a further + and most oppressive tax, all of which was for the benefit of absentee + landlords. + + With the further extension of power, the demands on the Company's + treasury increased without an increase of the power to meet them; for + exhaustion is a natural consequence of absenteeism, or + centralization, as has so well been proved in Ireland. The people + became less able to pay the taxes, and as the government could not be + carried on without revenue, a permanent settlement was made by Lord + Cornwallis, by means of which all the rights of village proprietors, + over a large portion of Bengal, were sacrificed in favour of the + Zemindars, who were thus at once constituted great landed proprietors + and absolute masters of a host of poor tenants, with power to punish + at discretion those who were so unfortunate as not to be able to pay + a rent the amount of which had no limit but that of the power to + extort it. It was the middleman system of Ireland transplanted to + India; but the results were at first unfavourable to the Zemindars, + as the rents, for which they themselves were responsible to the + government, were so enormous that all the rack-renting and all the + flogging inflicted upon the poor cultivators could not enable them to + pay; and but few years elapsed before the Zemindars themselves were + sold out to make way for another set as keen and as hard-hearted as + themselves. That system having failed to answer the purpose, it was + next determined to arrest the extension of the permanent settlement, + and to settle with each little ryot, or cultivator, to the entire + exclusion of the village authorities, by whom, under the native + governments, the taxes had uniformly been so equitably and + satisfactorily distributed. The Ryotwar system was thus established, + and how it has operated may be judged from the following sketch, + presented by Mr. Fullerton, a member of the Council at Madras:-- + + "Imagine the revenue leviable through the agency of one hundred + thousand revenue officers, collected or remitted at their discretion, + according to the occupant's means of paying, whether from the produce + of his land or his separate property; and in order to encourage every + man to act as a spy on his neighbour, and report his means of paying, + that he may eventually save himself from extra demand, imagine all + the cultivators of a village liable at all times to a separate demand + in order to make up for the failure of one or more individuals of the + parish. Imagine collectors to every county, acting under the orders + of a board, on the avowed principle of destroying all competition for + labour by a general equalization of assessment, seizing and sending + back runaways to each other. And, lastly, imagine the collector the + sole magistrate or justice of the peace of the county, through the + medium and instrumentality of whom alone any criminal complaint of + personal grievance suffered by the subject can reach the superior + courts. Imagine, at the same time, every subordinate officer employed + in the collection of the land revenue to be a police officer, vested + with the power to fine, confine, put in the stocks, and flog any + inhabitant within his range, on any charge, without oath of the + accuser, or sworn recorded evidence of the case."[65] + +Any improvement in cultivation produced an immediate increase of +taxation, so that any exertion on the part of the cultivator would +benefit the Company, and not himself. One-half of the gross produce +[66] may be assumed to have been the average annual rent, although, in +many cases it greatly exceeded that proportion. The Madras Revenue +Board, May 17th, 1817, stated that the "conversion of the government +share of the produce (of lands) is in some districts, as high as 60 or +70 per cent. of the whole."[67] + +It might be supposed that, having taken so large a share of the gross +produce, the cultivator would be permitted to exist on the remainder, +but such is not the case. Mr. Rickards gives [68] a list of sixty +other taxes, invented by the sovereigns, or their agents, many of +which he states to exist at the present day. Those who have any other +mode of employing either capital or labour, in addition to the +cultivation of their patches of land, as is very frequently the case, +are subject to the following taxes, the principle of which is +described as _excellent_ by one of the collectors, December 1st, +1812:-- + + "The Veesabuddy, or tax on merchants, traders, and shopkeepers; + Mohturfa, or tax on weavers, cotton cleaners, shepherds, goldsmiths, + braziers, ironsmiths, carpenters, stone-cutters, &c.; and Bazeebab, + consisting of smaller taxes annually rented out to the + highest-bidder. The renter was thus constituted a petty chieftain, + with power to exact fees at marriages, religious ceremonies; to + inquire into and fine the misconduct of females in families, and + other misdemeanours; and in the exercise of their privileges would + often urge the plea of engagements to the Cirkar (government) to + justify extortion. The details of these taxes are too long to be + given in this place. The reader, however, may judge of the operation + and character of all by the following selection of one, as described + in the collector's report:--'The mode of settling the Mohturfa on + looms hitherto has been very minute; every circumstance of the + weaver's family is considered, the number of days which he devotes to + his loom, the number of his children, the assistance which he + receives from them, and the number and quality of the pieces which he + can turn out in a month or year; so that, let him exert himself as he + will, his industry will always be taxed to the highest degree.' This + mode always leads to such details that the government servants cannot + enter into it, and the assessment of the tax is, in consequence, left + a great deal too much to the Curnums of the villages. No weaver can + possibly know what he is to pay to the Cirkar, till the demand come + to be made for his having exerted himself through the year; and + having turned out one or two pieces of cloth more than he did the + year before, though his family and looms have been the same, is made + the ground for his being charged a higher Mohturfa, and at last, + instead of a professional, it becomes a real income tax."[69] + +The following will show that no mode of employing capital is allowed +to escape the notice of the tax-gatherer:-- + + "The reader will, perhaps, better judge of the inquisitorial nature + of one of these surveys, or pymashees, as they are termed in Malabar, + by knowing that upward of seventy different kinds of buildings--the + houses, shops, or warehouses of different castes and + professions--were ordered to be entered in the survey accounts; + besides the following 'implements of professions' which were usually + assessed to the public revenue, viz.: + + "Oil-mills, iron manufactory, toddy-drawer's stills, potter's kiln, + washerman's stone, goldsmith's tools, sawyer's saw, toddy-drawer's + knives, fishing-nets, barber's hones, blacksmith's anvils, pack + bullocks, cocoa-nut safe, small fishing-boats, cotton-beater's bow, + carpenter's tools, large fishing-boats, looms, salt storehouse."[70] + + "If the landlord objected to the assessment on trees as old and past + bearing, they were, one and all, ordered to be cut down, nothing + being allowed to stand that did not pay revenue to the state. To + judge of this order, it should be mentioned that the trees are + valuable, and commonly used for building, in Malabar. To fell all the + timber on a man's estate when no demand existed for it in the market, + and merely because its stream of revenue had been drained, is an odd + way of conferring benefits and protecting property."[71] + + "Having myself," says Mr. Rickards, "been principal collector of + Malabar, and made, during my residence in the province, minute + inquiries into the produce and assessments of lands, I was enabled to + ascertain beyond all doubt, and to satisfy the revenue board at + Madras, that in the former survey of the province, which led to the + rebellion, lands and produce were inserted in the pretended survey + account which absolutely did not exist, while other lands were + assessed to the revenue at more than their actual produce."[72] + + "Fifty per cent. on the assessment is allowed," says Mr. + Campbell,[73] "as a reward to any informer of concealed cultivation, + &c.; and it is stated that there are, 'in almost every village, + dismissed accountants desirous of being re-employed, and unemployed + servants who wish to bring themselves to notice,' whose services as + informers can be relied on." + +A system like this, involving the most prying supervision of the +affairs of each individual, and in which, in settling the tax to be +paid, "the collector takes into consideration the number of children +[74] to be supported, makes the poor ryot a mere slave to the +collector, and with the disadvantage that the latter has no pecuniary +interest in the preservation of his life, whereas the death of a +slave, who constitutes a part of the capital of his owner, is a severe +loss." + +The tendency thus far has been, as we see, to sweep away the rights +not only of kings and princes, but of all the native authorities, and +to centralize in the hands of foreigners in Calcutta the power to +determine for the cultivator, the artisan, or the labourer, what work +he should do, and how much of its products he might retain, thus +placing the latter in precisely the position of a mere slave to people +who could feel no interest in him but simply as a tax-payer, and, who +were represented by strangers in the country, whose authority was +everywhere used by the native officers in their employ, to enable them +to accumulate fortunes for themselves. + +The poor manufacturer, as heavily taxed as the cultivator of the +earth, found himself compelled to obtain advances from his employers, +who, in their turn, claimed, as interest, a large proportion of the +little profit that was made. The Company's agents, like the native +merchants, advanced the funds necessary to produce the goods required +for Europe, and the poor workmen are described as having been "in a +state of dependence almost amounting to servitude, enabling the +resident to obtain his labour at his own price."[75] + +In addition to the taxes already described, a further one was +collected at local custom-houses, on all exchanges between the several +parts of the country; and to these were again added others imposed by +means of monopolies of tobacco and opium, and of salt, one of the most +important necessaries of life. The manufacture of coarse salt from the +earth was strictly prohibited.[76] The salt lakes of the upper country +furnish a supply so great that it is of little value on the spot;[77] +but these lakes being even yet in the possession of native princes, +the monopoly could then, and can now, be maintained only by aid of +strong bands of revenue officers, whose presence renders that which is +almost worthless on one side of an imaginary line so valuable on the +other side of it that it requires the produce of the sixth part of the +labour of the year to enable the poor Hindoo to purchase salt for his +family. Along the seashore salt is abundantly furnished by nature, the +solar heat causing a constant deposition of it; but the mere fact of +collecting it was constituted an offence punishable by fine and +imprisonment, and the quantity collected by the Company's officers was +limited to that required for meeting the demand at a monopoly price, +all the remainder being regularly destroyed, lest the poor ryot should +succeed in obtaining for himself, at cost, such a supply as was needed +to render palatable the rice which constituted almost his only food. +The system has since been rendered less oppressive, but even now the +duty is ten times greater than it was under enlightened Mohammedan +sovereigns.[78] + +Such being the mode of collecting the revenue, we may now look to its +distribution. Under the native princes it was, to a great extent, +locally-expended, whereas, under the new system, all the collections +by government or by individuals tended to Calcutta, to be there +disposed of. Thence no inconsiderable portion of it passed to England, +and thus was established a perpetual drain that certainly could not be +estimated at less than four millions of pounds sterling per annum, and +cannot be placed, in the last century, at less than four hundred +millions of pounds, or two thousand millions of dollars. + +The difference between an absentee landlord expending at a distance +all his rents, and a resident one distributing it again among his +tenants in exchange for services, and the difference in the value of +the products of the land resulting from proximity to market, are so +well exhibited in the following passage from a recent work on India, +that the reader cannot fail to profit by its perusal:-- + + "The great part of the wheat, grain, and other exportable land + produce which the people consume, as far as we have yet come, is + drawn from our Nerbudda districts, and those of Malwa which border + upon them; and _par consequent_, the price has been rapidly + increasing as we recede from them in our advance northward. Were the + soil of those Nerbudda districts, situated as they are at such a + distance from any great market for their agricultural products, as + bad as it is in the parts of Bundelcund that I came over, no net + surplus revenue could possibly be drawn from them in the present + state of arts and industry. The high prices paid here for land + produce, arising from the necessity of drawing a great part of what + is consumed from such distant lands, enables the Rajahs of these + Bundelcund states to draw the large revenue they do. These chiefs + expend the whole of their revenue in the maintenance of public + establishments of one kind or other; and as the essential articles of + subsistence, _wheat_ and _grain, &c._, which are produced in their + own districts, or those immediately around them, are not sufficient + for the supply of these establishments, they must draw them from + distant territories. All this produce is brought on the backs of + bullocks, because there is no road from the districts whence they + obtain it, over which a wheeled carriage can be drawn with safety; + and as this mode of transit is very expensive, the price of the + produce, when it reaches the capitals, around which these local + establishments are concentrated, becomes very high. They must pay a + price equal to the collective cost of purchasing and bringing this + substance from the most distant districts, to which they are at any + time obliged to have recourse for a supply, or they will not be + supplied; and as there cannot be two prices for the same thing in the + same market, the wheat and grain produced in the neighbourhood of one + of these Bundelcund capitals, fetch as high a price there as that + brought from the most remote districts on the banks of the Nerbudda + river; while it costs comparatively nothing to bring it from the + former lands to the markets. Such lands, in consequence, yield a rate + of rent much greater compared with their natural powers of fertility + than those of the remotest districts whence produce is drawn for + these markets or capitals; and as all the lands are the property of + the Rajahs, they draw all these rents as revenue. + + "Were we to take this revenue, which the Rajahs now enjoy, in tribute + for the maintenance of public establishments concentrated at distant + seats, all these local establishments would of course be at once + disbanded; and all the effectual demand which they afford for the raw + agricultural produce of distant districts would cease. The price of + the produce would diminish in proportion; and with it the value of + the lands of the districts around such capitals. Hence the folly of + conquerors and paramount powers, from the days of the Greeks and + Romans down to those of Lord Hastings and Sir John Malcolm, who were + all bad political economists, supposing that conquered and ceded + territories could always be made to yield to a foreign state the same + amount of gross revenue they had paid to their domestic government, + whatever their situation with reference to the markets for their + produce--whatever the state of their arts and their industry--and + whatever the character and extent of the local establishments + maintained out of it. The settlements of the land revenue in all the + territories acquired in central India during the Mahratta war, which + ended, in 1817, were made upon the supposition, that the lands would + continue to pay the same rate of rent under the new, as they had paid + under the old government, uninfluenced by the diminution of all local + establishments, civil and military, to one-tenth of what they had + been; that, under the new order of things, all the waste lands must + be brought into tillage; and be able to pay as high a rate of rent as + before tillage; and, consequently, that the aggregate available net + revenue must greatly and rapidly increase! Those who had the making + of the settlements, and the governing of these new territories, did + not consider that the diminution of every _establishment_ was the + removal of a _market_--of an effectual demand for land produce; and + that when all the waste lands should be brought into tillage, the + whole would deteriorate in fertility, from the want of fallows, under + the prevailing system of agriculture, which afforded the lands no + other means of renovation from over cropping. The settlements of the + land revenue which were made throughout our new acquisitions upon + these fallacious assumptions, of course failed. During a series of + quinquennial settlements, the assessment has been everywhere + gradually reduced to about two-thirds of what it was when our rule + began; and to less than one-half of what Sir John Malcolm, and all + the other local authorities, and even the worthy Marquis of Hastings + himself, under the influence of their opinions, expected it would be. + The land revenues of the native princes of central India, who reduced + their public establishments, which the new order of things seemed to + render useless, and thereby diminished their only markets for the raw + produce of their lands, have been everywhere falling off in the same + proportion; and scarcely one of them now draws two-thirds of the + income he drew from the same lands in 1817. + + "There are in the valley of the Nerbudda, districts that yield a + great deal more produce every year than either Orcha, Jansee, or + Duteea; and yet, from the want of the same domestic markets, they do + not yield one-fourth of the amount of land revenue. The lands are, + however, rated equally high to the assessment, in proportion to their + value to the farmers and cultivators. To enable them to yield a + larger revenue to government, they require to have larger + establishments as markets for land produce. These establishments may + be either public, and paid by government, or they may be private, as + manufactories, by which the land produce of these districts would be + consumed by people employed in investing the value of their labour in + commodities suited to the demand of distant markets, and more + valuable than land produce in proportion to their weight and bulk. + These are the establishments which government should exert itself to + introduce and foster, since the valley of the Nerbudda, in addition + to a soil exceedingly fertile, has in its whole line, from its source + to its embouchure, rich beds of coal reposing for the use of future + generations, under the sandstone of the Sathpore and Vindhya ranges; + and beds no less rich of very fine iron. These advantages have not + yet been justly appreciated; but they will be so by and by."[79] + +From the concluding lines of this extract the reader will see that +India is abundantly supplied with fuel and iron ore, and that if she +has not good machinery, the deficiency is not chargeable to nature. At +the close of the last century cotton abounded, and to so great an +extent was the labour of men, women, and children applied to its +conversion into cloth, that, even with their imperfect machinery, they +not only supplied the home demand for the beautiful tissues of Dacca +and the coarse products of Western India, but they exported to other +parts of the world no less than 200,000,000 of pieces per annum.[80] +Exchanges with every part of the world were so greatly in their favour +that a rupee which would now sell for but 1s. 10d. or 44 cents, was +then worth 2s. 8d. or 64 cents. The Company had a monopoly of +collecting taxes in India, but in return it preserved to the people +the control of their domestic market, by aid of which they were +enabled to convert their rice, their salt, and their cotton, into +cloth that could be cheaply carried to the most remote parts of the +world. Such protection was needed, because while England prohibited +the export of even a single collier who might instruct the people of +India in the mode of mining coal--of a steam engine to pump water or +raise coal, or a mechanic who could make one--of a worker in iron who +might smelt the ore--of a spinning-jenny or power-loom, or of an +artisan who could give instruction in the use of such machines--and +thus systematically prevented them from keeping pace with improvement +in the rest of the world,--she at the same time imposed very heavy +duties on the produce of Indian looms received in England. The day was +at hand, however, when that protection was to disappear. The Company +did not, it was said, export sufficiently largely of the produce of +British industry, and in 1813 the trade to India was thrown open--_but +the restriction on the export of machinery and artisans was maintained +in full force_; and thus were the poor and ignorant people of that +country exposed to "unlimited competition," with a people possessed of +machinery ten times more effective than their own, while not only by +law deprived of the power to purchase machinery, but also of the power +of competing in the British market with the produce of British looms. +Further than this, every loom in India, and every machine calculated +to aid the labourer, was subject to a tax that increased with every +increase in the industry of its owner, and in many cases absorbed the +whole profit derived from its use.[81] Such were the circumstances +under which the poor Hindoo was called upon to encounter, unprotected, +the "unlimited competition" of foreigners in his own market. It was +freedom of trade all on one side. Four years after, the export of +cottons from Bengal still amounted to £1,659,994,[82] but ten years +later it had declined to £285,121; and at the end of twenty years we +find a whole year pass by without the export of a single piece of +cotton cloth from Calcutta, the whole of the immense trade that +existed but half a century since having disappeared. What were the +measures used for the accomplishment of the work of destroying a +manufacture that gave employment and food to so many millions of the +poor people of the country, will be seen on a perusal of the following +memorial, which shows that while India was denied machinery, and also +denied access to the British market, she was forced to receive British +cottons free of all duty:-- + + _"Petition of Natives of Bengal, relative to Duties on Cotton and + Silk._ + + "Calcutta, 1st Sept. 1831. + + "To the Right Honourable the Lords of His Majesty's Privy Council for + Trade, &c. + + "The humble Petition of the undersigned Manufacturers and Dealers in + Cotton and Silk Piece Goods, the fabrics of Bengal; + + "SHOWETH--That of late years your Petitioners have found their + business nearly superseded by the introduction of the fabrics of + Great Britain into Bengal, the importation of which augments every + year, to the great prejudice of the native manufacturers. + + "That the fabrics of Great Britain are consumed in Bengal, without + any duties being levied thereon to protect the native fabrics. + + "That the fabrics of Bengal are charged with the following duties + when they are used in Great Britain-- + + "On manufactured cottons, 10 per cent. On manufactured silks, + 24 per cent. + + "Your Petitioners most humbly implore your Lordships' consideration + of these circumstances, and they feel confident that no disposition + exists in England to shut the door against the industry of any part + of the inhabitants of this great empire. + + "They therefore pray to be admitted to the privilege of British + subjects, and humbly entreat your Lordships to allow the cotton and + silk fabrics of Bengal to be used in Great Britain 'free of duty,' or + at the same rate which may be charged on British fabrics consumed in + Bengal. + + "Your Lordships must be aware of the immense advantages the British + manufacturers derive from their skill in constructing and using + machinery, which enables them to undersell the unscientific + manufacturers of Bengal in their own country: and, although your + Petitioners are not sanguine in expecting to derive any great + advantage from having their prayer granted, their minds would feel + gratified by such a manifestation of your Lordships' good-will toward + them; and such an instance of justice to the natives of India would + not fail to endear the British government to them. + + "They therefore confidently trust that your Lordships' righteous + consideration will be extended to them as British subjects, without + exception of sect, country, or colour. + + "And your Petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray." + [Signed by 117 natives of high respectability.] + +The object sought to be accomplished would not have, however, been +attained by granting the prayer of this most reasonable and humble +petition. When the export of cotton, woollen, and steam machinery was +prohibited, it was done with a view of compelling all the wool of the +world to come to England to be spun and woven, thence to be returned +to be worn by those who raised it--thus depriving the people of the +world of all power to apply their labour otherwise than in taking from +the earth cotton, sugar, indigo, and other commodities for the supply +of the great "workshop of the world." How effectually that object has +been accomplished in India, will be seen from the following facts. +From the date of the opening of the trade in 1813, the domestic +manufacture and the export of cloth have gradually declined until the +latter has finally ceased, and the export of raw cotton to England has +gradually risen until it has attained a height of about sixty millions +of pounds,[83] while the import of twist from England has risen to +twenty-five millions of pounds, and of cloth, to two hundred and sixty +millions of yards; weighing probably fifty millions of pounds, which, +added to the twist, make seventy-five millions, requiring for their +production somewhat more than eighty millions of raw cotton. We see +thus that every pound of the raw material sent to England is returned. +The cultivator receives for it one penny, and when it returns to him +in the form of cloth, he pays for it from one to two shillings, the +whole difference being absorbed in the payment of the numerous +brokers, transporters, manufacturers, and operatives, men, women, and +children, that have thus been interposed between the producer and the +consumer. The necessary consequence of this has been that everywhere +manufactures have disappeared. Dacca, one of the principal seats of +the cotton manufacture, contained 90,000 houses, but its trade had +already greatly fallen off even at the date of the memorial above +given, and its splendid buildings, factories, and churches are now a +mass of ruins and overgrown with jungle. The cotton of the district +found itself compelled to go to England that it might there be twisted +and sent back again, thus performing a voyage of 20,000 miles in +search of the little spindle, because it was a part of the British +policy not to permit the spindle anywhere to take its place by the +side of the cultivator of cotton. + +The change thus effected has been stated in a recent official report +to have been attended with ruin and distress, to which "no parallel +can be found in the annals of commerce." What were the means by which +it was effected is shown in the fact that at this period Sir Robert +Peel stated that in Lancashire, _children_ were employed fifteen and +seventeen hours per day during the week, and on Sunday morning, from +six until twelve, cleaning the machinery. In Coventry, ninety-six +hours in the week was the time usually required; and of those +employed, many obtained but 2s. 9d.--66 cents--for a week's wages. The +object to be accomplished was that of underworking the poor Hindoo, +and driving him from the market of the world, after which he was to be +driven from his own. The mode of accomplishment was that of cheapening +labour and enslaving the labourer at home and abroad. + +With the decline of manufactures there has ceased to be a demand for +the services of women or children in the work of conversion, and they +are forced either to remain idle, or to seek employment in the field; +and here we have one of the distinguishing marks of a state of +slavery. The men, too, who were accustomed to fill up the intervals of +other employments in pursuits connected with the cotton manufacture, +were also driven to the field--and all demand for labour, physical or +intellectual, was at an end, except so far as was needed for raising +rice, indigo, sugar, or cotton. The rice itself they were not +permitted to clean, being debarred therefrom by a duty double that +which was paid on paddy, or rough rice, on its import into England. +The poor grower of cotton, after paying to the government +seventy-eight per cent.[84] of the product of his labour, found +himself deprived of the power to trade directly with the man of the +loom, and forced into "unlimited competition" with the better +machinery and almost untaxed labour of our Southern States; and +thereby subjected to "the mysterious variations of foreign markets" in +which the fever of speculation was followed by the chill of revulsion +with a rapidity and frequency that set at naught all calculation. If +our crops were small, his English customers would take his cotton; but +when he sent over more next year, there had, perhaps, been a good +season here, and the Indian article became an absolute drug in the +market. It was stated some time since, in the House of Commons, that +one gentleman, Mr. Turner, had thrown £7000 worth of Indian cotton +upon a dunghill, because he could find no market for it. + +It will now readily be seen that the direct effect of thus +_compelling_ the export of cotton from India was to increase the +quantity pressing on the market of England, and thus to lower the +price of all the cotton of the world, including that required for +domestic consumption. The price of the whole Indian crop being thus +rendered dependent on that which could be realized for a small surplus +that would have no existence but for the fact that the domestic +manufacture had been destroyed, it will readily be seen how enormous +has been the extent of injury inflicted upon the poor cultivator by +the forcible separation of the plough and the loom, and the +destruction of the power of association. Again, while the price of +cotton is fixed in England, there, too, is fixed the price of cloth, +and such is the case with the sugar and the indigo to the production +of which these poor people are forced to devote themselves; and thus +are they rendered the mere slaves of distant men, who determine what +they shall receive for all they have to sell, and what they shall pay +for all they require to purchase. Centralization and slavery go thus +always hand in hand with each other. + +The ryots are, as we see, obliged to pay sixteen or eighteen pence for +the pound of cotton that has yielded them but one penny; and all this +difference is paid for the labour of other people while idle +themselves. + + "A great part of the time of the labouring population in India is," + says Mr. Chapman,[85] "spent in idleness. I don't say this to blame + them in the smallest degree. Without the means of exporting heavy and + crude surplus agricultural produce, and with scanty means, whether of + capital, science, or manual skill, for elaborating on the spot + articles fitted to induce a higher state of enjoyment and of industry + in the mass of the people, they have really no inducement to exertion + beyond that which is necessary to gratify their present and very + limited wishes; those wishes are unnaturally low, inasmuch as they do + not afford the needful stimulus to the exercise requisite to + intellectual and moral improvement; and it is obvious that there is + no remedy for this but extended intercourse. Meanwhile, probably the + half of the human time and energy of India runs to mere waste. Surely + we need not wonder at the poverty of the country." + +Assuredly we need not. They are idle perforce. With indifferent means +of communication, their cotton and their food _could readily travel in +the form of cloth_, and they could consume liberally of food and +clothing; but they find themselves now forced to export every thing in +its rudest form, and this they are to do in a country that is almost +without roads. The manner in which these raw products now travel may +be seen on a perusal of the following passage from the London +_Economist_:-- + + "The cotton is brought on oxen, carrying 160 pounds each, at the + extreme rate, in fair weather, of seven miles a day for a + continuance, and at a price of about 5s. for each hundred miles. If + we take the average distance to Mirzapore at 500 miles, each pound of + cotton costs in transit alone above 2-1/2 d. It has thence to be + borne by water-carriage nearly 800 miles farther on to Calcutta. * * * + The great cotton-growing districts are in the northern portion of + the Peninsula, embracing Guzerat, and a vast tract called the Deccan, + lying between the Satpoora range of hills and the course of the + Kishna River. General Briggs says--'The cotton from the interior of + the country to the coast at Bombay occupies a continuous journey of + from one to two months, according to the season of the year; while in + the rains the route is wholly impassable, and the traffic of the + country is at a stand.' + + "In the absence of a defined road, even the carriers, with their + pack-cattle, are compelled to travel by daylight, to prevent the loss + of their bullocks in the jungles they have to pass through, and this + under a burning sun of from 100 to 140 degrees Fahrenheit. The droves + of oxen are never so few as one hundred, and sometimes exceed a + thousand. Every morning after daylight each animal has to be saddled, + and the load lifted on him by two men, one on each side; and before + they are all ready to move the sun has attained a height which + renders the heat to an European oppressive. The whole now proceeds at + the rate of about two miles an hour, and seldom performs a journey of + more than eight miles; but, as the horde rests every fourth day, the + average distance is but six miles a day. If the horde is overtaken by + rain, the cotton, saturated by moisture, becomes heavy, and the black + clayey soil, through which the whole line of road lies, sinks under + the feet of a man above the ankle, and under that of a laden ox to + the knees. + + "In this predicament the cargo of cotton lies sometimes for weeks on + the ground, and the merchant is ruined." + + "So miserably bad," says another writer, "are the existing means of + communication with the interior, that many of the most valuable + articles of produce are, _for want of carriage and a market, often + allowed to perish on the farm_, while the cost of that which found + its way to the port was enormously enhanced; but the quantity did not + amount to above 20 per cent. of the whole of the produce, the + remainder of the articles always being greatly deteriorated." + +It will scarcely be difficult now to understand why it is that cotton +yields the cultivator but a penny per pound. Neither will it be +difficult, seeing that the local manufacturers have every where been +ruined, to understand why the producer of the more bulky food is in a +condition that is even worse, now that the consumer has disappeared +from his side. If the crop is large, grain is a drug for which +scarcely any price can be obtained;[86] and if it is small, the people +perish, by thousands and ten of thousands, of famine, because, in the +existing state of the roads, there can be little or no exchange of raw +products. In the first case the cultivator is ruined, because it +requires almost the whole crop to pay the taxes. In the other he is +starved; and all this is a necessary consequence of a system that +excludes the great middle class of mechanics and other working-men, +and resolves a great nation into a mass of wretched cultivators, +slaves to a few grasping money lenders. Under such circumstances, the +accumulation of any thing like capital is impossible. "None," says +Colonel Sleeman,[87] "have stock equal to half their rent." They are +dependent everywhere, on the produce of the year, and however small +may be its amount, the taxes must be paid, and of all that thus goes +abroad nothing is returned. The soil gets nothing.[88] It is not +manured, nor can it be under a system of absenteeism like this, and +its fertility everywhere declines, as is shown by the following +extracts:-- + + "Formerly, the governments kept no faith with their land-holders and + cultivators, exacting ten rupees where they had bargained for five, + whenever they found the crops good; but, in spite of all this _zolm_, + (oppression,) there was then more _burkut_ (blessings from above) + than now. The lands yielded more returns to the cultivator, and he + could maintain his little family better upon five acres than he can + now upon ten.[89] + + "The land requires rest from labour, as well as men and bullocks; and + if you go on sowing wheat and other exhausting crops, it will go on + yielding less and less returns, and at last will not be worth the + tilling."[90] + + "There has been a manifest falling off in the returns."[91] + +The soil is being exhausted, and every thing necessarily goes +backward. Trees are cut down, but none are planted; and the former +sites of vast groves are becoming arid wastes, a consequence of which +is, that droughts become from year to year more frequent. + + "The clouds," says Colonel Sleeman,[92] "brought up from the southern + ocean by the south-east trade-wind are attracted, as they pass over + the island, by the forests in the interior, and made to drop their + stores in daily refreshing showers. In many other parts of the world, + governments have now become aware of this mysterious provision of + nature, and have adopted measures to take advantage of it for the + benefit of the people; and the dreadful sufferings to which the + people of those of our districts, which have been the most denuded of + their trees, have been of late years exposed from the want of rain in + due season, may, perhaps, induce our Indian government, to turn its + thoughts to the subject." + +In former times extensive works were constructed for irrigating the +land, but they are everywhere going to ruin--thus proving that +agriculture cannot flourish in the absence of the mechanic arts: + + "In Candeish, very many bunds [river-banks formed for purposes of + irrigation] which were kept in repair under former governments, have, + under ours, fallen to decay; nevertheless, not only has the + population increased considerably under our rule, but in 1846 or + 1847, the collector was obliged to grant remission of land tax, + 'because the abundance of former years lay stagnating in the + province, and the low prices of grain from that cause prevented the + ryots from being able to pay their fixed land assessment.'"[93] + +We have here land abandoned and the cultivator ruined for want of a +market for food, and wages falling for want of a market for labour; +and yet these poor people are paying for English food and English +labour employed in converting into cloth the cotton produced alongside +of the food--and they are ruined because they have so many middlemen +to pay that the producer of cotton can obtain little food, and the +producer of food can scarcely pay his taxes, and has nothing to give +for cloth. Every thing tends, therefore, toward barbarism, and, as in +the olden time of England and of Europe generally, famines become +steadily more numerous and more severe, as is here shown:-- + + "Some of the finest tracts of land have been forsaken, and given up + to the untamed beasts of the jungle. The motives to industry have + been destroyed. The soil seems to lie under a curse. Instead of + yielding abundance for the wants of its own population, and the + inhabitants of other regions, it does not keep in existence its own + children. It becomes the burying-place of millions, who die upon its + bosom crying for bread. In proof of this, turn your eyes backward + upon the scenes of the past year. Go with me into the north-western + provinces of the Bengal presidency, and I will show you the bleaching + skeletons of five hundred thousand human beings, who perished of + hunger in the space of a few short months. Yes, died of hunger in + what has been justly called the granary of the world. Bear with me, + if I speak of the scenes which were exhibited during the prevalence + of this famine. The air for miles was poisoned by the effluvia + emitted from the putrefying bodies of the dead. The rivers were + choked with the corpses thrown into their channels. Mothers cast + their little ones beneath the rolling waves, because they would not + see them draw their last gasp and feel them stiffen in their arms. + The English in the city were prevented from taking their customary + evening drives. Jackalls and vultures approached, and fastened upon + the bodies of men, women, and children, before life was extinct. + Madness, disease, despair stalked abroad, and no human power present + to arrest their progress. _It was the carnival of death!_ And this + occurred in British India--in the reign of Victoria the First! Nor + was the event extraordinary and unforeseen. Far from it: 1835-36 + witnessed a famine in the northern provinces: 1833 beheld one to the + eastward: 1822-23 saw one in the Deccan. They have continued to + increase in frequency and extent under our sway for more than half a + century."[94] + +The famine of 1838 is thus described by Mr. George Thompson, late M. +P., on the testimony of a gentleman of high respectability: + + "The poorer houses were entirely unroofed, the thatches having been + given to feed the cattle, which had nevertheless died; so that cattle + had disappeared altogether from the land. He says that a few + attenuated beings, more like skeletons than human creatures, were + seen hovering about among the graves of those who had been snatched + away by the famine; that desertion was everywhere visible, and that + the silence of death reigned. In one of the villages, he says, an old + man from whom they had bought a goat during their former visit, in + 1833, was the only survivor of the whole community except his + brother's son, whom he was cherishing and endeavouring to keep alive, + and these two had subsisted altogether upon the eleemosynary bounty + of travellers. The courier of Lord Auckland had informed this + gentleman that when the governor-general passed through that part of + the country the roads were lined on either side with heaps of dead + bodies, and that they had not unfrequently to remove those masses of + unburied human beings, ere the governor-general could proceed onward + with his suite; and that every day from 2000 to 3000 famishing + wretches surrounded and followed the carriages, to whom he dealt out + a scanty meal; and on one occasion the horse of the courier took + fright, and on the cause being ascertained--what was it? It was found + to be the lifeless body of a man who had died with his hand in his + mouth, from which he had already devoured the fingers."[95] + +The more severe the pressure on the poor ryot, the greater is the +power of the few who are always ready to profit by the losses of their +neighbours. These poor people are obliged to borrow money on their +growing crops, the prices of which are regulated by the will of the +lender rather than by the standard of the market, and the rate of +interest which the cultivators pay for these loans is often not less +than 40 or 50 per cent. + +A recent traveller says of the unfortunate cultivator-- + + "Always oppressed, ever in poverty, the ryot is compelled to seek the + aid of the mahajun, or native money-lender. This will frequently be + the talukdhar, or sub-renter, who exacts from the needy borrower + whatever interest he thinks the unfortunate may he able to pay him, + often at the rate of one per cent. per week. The accounts of these + loans are kept by the mahajuns, who, aware of the deep ignorance of + their clients, falsify their books, without fear of detection. In + this way, no matter how favourable the season, how large the crop, + the grasping mahajun is sure to make it appear that the _whole_ is + due to him; for he takes it at his own value. So far from Mr. Burke + having overstated the case of the oppression of the ryots, on the + trial of Warren Hastings, when he said that the tax-gatherer took + from them eighteen shillings in every pound, he was really within the + mark. At the conclusion of each crop-time, the grower of rice or + cotton is made to appear a debtor to his superior, who thereupon + provided the ryot appears able to toil on for another + season--advances more seed for sowing, and a little more rice to keep + the labourer and his family from absolute starvation. But should + there be any doubt as to the health and strength of the + tenant-labourer, he is mercilessly turned from his land and his mud + hut, and left to die on the highway." + +This is slavery, and under such a system how could the wretched people +be other than slaves? The men have no market for their labour, and the +women and children must remain idle or work in the field, as did, and +do, the women of Jamaica; and all because they are compelled +everywhere to exhaust the soil in raising crops to be sent to a +distance to be consumed, and finally to abandon the land, even where +they do not perish of famine. Mr. Chapman informs us that-- + + "Even in the valley of the Ganges, where the population is in some + districts from 600 to 800 to the square mile, one-third of the + cultivable lands are not cultivated; and in the Deecan, from which we + must chiefly look for increased supplies of cotton, the population, + amounting to about 100 to the square mile, is maintained by light + crops, grown on little more than half the cultivable land."[96] + +Elsewhere he tells us that of _the cultivable surface of all India +one-half is waste_.[97] Bishop Heber informs us of the "impenetrable +jungle" that now surrounds the once great manufacturing city of Dacca; +and the Bombay Times reminds its English readers of the hundreds of +thousands of acres of rich land that are lying waste, and that might +be made to produce cotton. + +When population and wealth diminish it is always the rich soils that +are first abandoned, as is shown in the Campagna of Rome, in the +valley of Mexico, and in the deltas of the Ganges and the Nile. +Without association they could never have been brought into +cultivation, and with the disappearance of the power to associate they +are of necessity allowed to relapse into their original condition. +Driven back to the poor soils and forced to send abroad the product, +their wretched cultivator becomes poorer from day to day, and the less +he obtains the more he becomes a slave to the caprices of his +landlord, and the more is he thrown upon the mercy of the +money-lender, who lends _on good security_ at three per cent. per +month, but _from him_ must have fifty or a hundred per cent. for a +loan until harvest. That under such circumstances the wages of labour +should be very low, even where the wretched people are employed, must +be a matter of course. In some places the labourer has two and in +others three rupees, or less than a dollar and a half, per month. The +officers employed on the great zemindary estates have from three to +four rupees, and that this is a high salary, is proved by the fact +that the police receive but 48 rupees ($23) per annum, out of which +they feed and clothe themselves! Such are the rewards of labour in a +country possessing every conceivable means of amassing wealth, and +they become less from year to year. "It could not be too universally +known," said Mr. Bright in the House of Commons, two years since, + + "That the cultivators of the soil were in a very unsatisfactory + condition; that they were, in truth, in a condition of extreme and + almost universal poverty. All testimony concurred upon that point. He + would call the attention of the house to the statement of a + celebrated native of India, the Rajah Rammohun Roy, who about twenty + years ago published a pamphlet in London, in which he pointed out the + ruinous effects of the zemindary system, and the oppression + experienced by the ryots in the presidencies both of Bombay and + Madras. After describing the state of matters generally, he added, + 'Such was the melancholy condition of the agricultural labourers, + that it always gave him the greatest pain to allude to it.' Three + years afterward, Mr. Shore, who was a judge in India, published a + work which was considered as a standard work till now, and he stated + that 'the British Government was not regarded in a favourable light + by the native population of India,'--that a system of taxation and + extortion was carried on 'unparalleled in the annals of any country. + Then they had the authority of an American planter, Mr. Finnie, who + was in India in 1840, and who spoke of the deplorable condition of + the cultivators of the soil, and stated that if the Americans were + similarly treated, they would become as little progressive as the + native Indians. He might next quote the accounts given by Mr. + Marriott in 1838, a gentleman who was for thirty years engaged in the + collection of the revenue in India, and who stated that 'the + condition of the cultivators was greatly depressed, and that he + believed it was still declining.' There was the evidence of a native + of India to which he might refer on this subject. It was that of a + gentleman, a native of Delhi, who was in England in the year 1849, + and he could appeal to the right hon. baronet the member for Tamworth + in favour of the credibility of that gentleman. He never met with a + man of a more dignified character, or one apparently of greater + intelligence, and there were few who spoke the English language with + greater purity and perfection. That gentleman had written a pamphlet, + in which he stated that throughout his whole line of march from + Bombay he found the Nizam's territories better cultivated, and the + ryots in a better state of circumstances, than were the Company's + territories, of the people residing within them, who were plunged in + a state of the greatest poverty; and he concluded his short, but + comparatively full, notice of the present deplorable state of India, + by observing that he feared this was but the prelude of many more + such descriptions of the different portions of the Company's + dominions which would be put forth before the subject would attract + the notice of those whose duty it was to remove the evils that + existed." + +We have here confirmation of the correctness of the views of Colonel +Sleeman, that the condition of the people under the local governments +is better than under the great central government. Heavily as they are +taxed, a small part only of the proceeds of taxes goes, in these +cases, to Calcutta on its way to England, whereas, of the enormous +salaries paid to English governors and judges, nearly the whole must +go abroad, as no one consents to serve for a few years in India, +except on such terms as will enable him to accumulate a fortune and +return home to spend it. In further confirmation of this we have the +facts so fully given in Mr. Campbell's recent work, (Modern India, +chap, xi.,) and proving that security of person and property increases +as we pass _from_ the old possessions of the Company, and toward the +newly acquired ones. Crime of every kind, gang robbery, perjury, and +forgery, abound in Bengal and Madras, and the poverty of the +cultivator is so great that the revenue is there the least, and is +collected with the greatest difficulty--and there, too, it is that the +power of association has been most effectually destroyed. Passing +thence to the Northwestern provinces more recently acquired, person +and property become more secure and the revenue increases; but when we +reach the Punjab, which until now has been subject to the rule of +Runjeet Singh and his successors, we find that, tyrants as he and they +have been represented, the people have there been left in the exercise +of self-government. The village communities and the beautiful system +of association, destroyed in Bengal, there remain untouched. Officers +of all kinds are there more responsible for the performance of their +duties than are their fellows in the older provinces, and property and +person are more secure than elsewhere in India. Gang robbery is rare, +perjury is unfrequent, and Mr. Campbell informs us that a solemn oath +is "astonishingly binding." "The longer we possess a province," he +continues, "the more common and general does perjury become;" and we +need no better evidence than is thus furnished of the slavish tendency +of the system. The hill tribes, on the contrary, are remarkable for +their "strict veracity," and Colonel Sleeman expresses the belief that +"there is as little falsehood spoken in the village communities," as +in any part of the world with an equal area and population.[98] In the +new provinces the people read and write with facility, and they are +men of physical and moral energy, good cultivators, and understand +well both their rights and their duties; whereas from the older ones +education has disappeared, and with it all power to associate together +for any good purpose. In the new provinces, commerce is large, as is +shown by the following facts representing the population and +post-office revenue of Bengal, the N. W. Provinces, and the Punjab, +placed in the order of their acquisition by the Company:-- + + Population. Post-office Revenue. + ----------- -------------------- + Bengal................ 41,000,000 480,500 rupees. + N. W. Provinces....... 24,000,000 978,000 " + Punjab................ 8,000,000 178,000 " + +We have here exhibited the remarkable fact that in the country of the +Sikhs, so long represented as a scene of grasping tyranny, eight +millions of people pay as much postage as is paid by fifteen millions +in Bengal, although in the latter is Calcutta, the seat of all the +operations of a great centralized government. That such should be the +case is not extraordinary, for the power advantageously to employ +labour diminishes with the approach to the centre of British power, +and increases as we recede from it. Idleness and drunkenness go hand +in hand with each other, and therefore it is that Mr. Campbell finds +himself obliged to state that "intemperance increases where our rule +and system have been long established."[99] We see thus that the +observations of both Mr. Campbell and Colonel Sleeman, authors of the +most recent works on India, confirm to the letter the earlier +statements of Captain Westmacott, an extract from which is here +given:-- + + "It is greatly to be deplored, that in places the longest under our + rule, there is the largest amount of depravity and crime. My travels + in India have fallen little short of 8000 miles, and extended to + nearly all the cities of importance in Northern, Western, and Central + India. I have no hesitation in affirming, that in the Hindoo and + Mussulman cities, removed from European intercourse, there is much + less depravity than either in Calcutta, Madras, or Bombay, where + Europeans chiefly congregate." + +Calcutta grows, the city of palaces, but poverty and wretchedness grow +as the people of India find themselves more and more compelled to +resort to that city to make their exchanges. Under the native rule, +the people of each little district could exchange with each other food +for cotton or cotton cloth, paying nobody for the privilege. Now, +every man must send his cotton to Calcutta, thence to go to England +with the rice and the indigo of his neighbours, before he and they can +exchange food for cloth or cotton--and the larger the quantity they +send the greater is the tendency to decline in price. With every +extension of the system there is increasing inability to pay the +taxes, and increasing necessity for seeking new markets in which to +sell cloth and collect what are called rents--and the more wide the +extension of the system the greater is the difficulty of collecting +revenue sufficient for keeping the machine of government in motion. +This difficulty it was that drove the representatives of British power +and civilization into becoming traders in that pernicious drug, opium. + + "The very best parts of India," as we are told,[100] were selected + for the cultivation of the poppy. The people were told that they must + either cultivate this plant, mate opium, or give up their land. If + they refused, they were peremptorily told they must yield or quit. + The same Company that forced them to grow opium said, You must sell + the opium to us; and to them it was sold, and they gave the price + they pleased to put upon the opium thus manufactured; and they then + sold it to trading speculators at Calcutta, who caused it to be + smuggled up the Canton River to an island called Lintin, and tea was + received in exchange. At last, however, the emperor of China, after + repeated threats, proceeded to execute summary justice; he seized + every particle of opium; put under bond every European engaged in the + merchandise of it; and the papers of to-day (1839) inform us that he + has cut off the China trade, "root and branch." + +Unhappily, however, the British nation deemed it expedient to make war +upon the poor Chinese, and compel them to pay for the opium that had +been destroyed; and now the profits of the Indian government from +poisoning a whole people have risen from £1,500,000, at the date of +the above extract, to the enormous sum of £3,500,000, or $16,800,000, +and the market is, as we are informed, still extending itself.[101] + +That the reader may see, and understand how directly the government is +concerned in this effort at demoralizing and enslaving the Chinese, +the following extract is given:-- + + "For the supply and manufacture of government opium there is a + separate establishment. There are two great opium agencies at + Ghazeepore and Patna, for the Benares and Bahar provinces. Each opium + agent has several deputies in different districts, and a native + establishment. They enter into contracts with the cultivators for the + supply of opium at a rate fixed to meet the market. The land revenue + authorities do not interfere, except to prevent cultivation without + permission. Government merely bargains with the cultivators as + cultivators, in the same way as a private merchant would, _and makes + advances to them for the cultivation_. The only difficulty found is + to prevent, their cultivating too much, as the rates are favourable, + government a sure purchaser, and the cultivation liked. The land + cultivated is measured, and precaution is taken that the produce is + all sold to government. The raw opium thus received is sent to the + head agency, where it is manufactured, packed in chests, and sealed + with the Company's seal."[102] + +It would seem to the author of this paragraph almost a matter of +rejoicing that the Chinese are bound to continue large consumers of +the drug. "The failure of one attempt to exclude it has shown," as he +thinks-- + + "That they are not likely to effect that object; and if we do not + supply them, some one else will; but the worst of it is, according to + some people, that if the Chinese only legalized the cultivation in + their own country, they could produce it much cheaper, and our market + would be ruined. Both for their sakes and ours we must hope that it + is not so, or that they will not find it out."[103] + +Need we wonder, when gentlemen find pleasure in the idea of an +increasing revenue from _forcing this trade in despite of all the +efforts of the more civilized Chinese government_, that "intemperance +increases" where the British "rule and system has been long +established?" Assuredly not. Poor governments are, as we everywhere +see, driven to encourage gambling, drunkenness, and other +immoralities, as a means of extracting revenue from their unfortunate +taxpayers; and the greater the revenue thus obtained, the poorer +become the people and the weaker the government. Need we be surprised +that that of India should be reduced to become manufacturer and +smuggler of opium, when the people are forced to exhaust the land by +sending away its raw products, and when the restraints upon the _mere +collection_ of domestic salt are so great that English salt now finds +a market in India? The following passage on this subject is worthy of +the perusal of those who desire fully to understand how it is that the +people of that country are restrained in the application of their +labour, and why it is that labour is so badly paid:-- + + "But those who cry out in England against the monopoly, and their + unjust exclusion from the salt trade, are egregiously mistaken. As + concerns them there is positively no monopoly, but the most absolute + free trade. And, more than this, the only effect of the present mode + of manufacture in Bengal is to give them a market which they would + never otherwise have. A government manufacture of salt is doubtless + more expensive than a private manufacture; but the result of this, + and of the equality of duty on bad and good salt, is, that fine + English salt now more or less finds a market in India; whereas, were + the salt duty and all government interference discontinued to- + morrow, the cheap Bengal salt would be sold at such a rate that not a + pound of English or any other foreign salt could be brought into the + market."[104] + +Nevertheless, the system is regarded as one of perfect free trade! + +Notwithstanding all these efforts at maintaining the revenue, the debt +has increased the last twelve years no less than £15,000,000, or +seventy-two millions of dollars; and yet the government is absolute +proprietor of all the land of India, and enjoys so large a portion of +the beneficial interest in it, that private property therein is +reduced to a sum absolutely insignificant, as will now be shown. + +The gross land revenue obtained from a country with an area of 491,448 +square miles, or above three hundred millions of acres, is 151,786,743 +rupees, equal to fifteen millions of pounds sterling, or seventy-two +millions of dollars.[105] What is the value of private rights of +property, subject to the payment of this tax, or rent, may be judged +from the following facts:--In 1848-9 there were sold for taxes, in +that portion of the country subject to the permanent settlement, 1169 +estates, at something less than four years' purchase of the tax. +Further south, in the Madras government, where the ryotwar settlement +is in full operation, the land "would be sold" for balances of rent, +but "generally it is not," as we are told, "and for a very good +reason, viz. that nobody will buy it." Private rights in land being +there of no value whatsoever, "the collector of Salem," as Mr. +Campbell informs us-- + + "Naïvely mentions 'various unauthorized modes of stimulating the + tardy,' rarely resorted to by heads of villages; such as 'placing him + in the sun, obliging him to stand on one leg, or to sit with his head + confined between his knees.'"[106] + +In the north-west provinces, "the settlement," as our author states, +"has certainly been successful in giving a good market value to landed +property;" that is, it sells at about "four years' purchase on the +revenue."[107] Still further north, in the newly acquired provinces, +we find great industry, "every thing turned to account," the +assessment, to which the Company succeeded on the deposition of the +successors of Runjeet Singh, more easy, and land more valuable.[108] +The value of land, like that of labour, therefore increases as we pass +_from_ the old to the new settlements, being precisely the reverse of +what would be the case if the system tended to the enfranchisement and +elevation of the people, and precisely what should be looked for in a +country whose inhabitants were passing from freedom toward slavery. + +With the data thus obtained we may now ascertain, with perhaps some +approach to accuracy, the value of all the private rights in the land +of India. In no case does that subject to tax appear to be worth more +than four years' purchase, while in a very large portion of the +country it would seem to be worth absolutely nothing. There are, +however, some tax-free lands that may he set off against those held +under the ryotwar settlement; and it is therefore possible that the +whole are worth four years' purchase, which would give 288 millions of +dollars, or 60 millions of pounds sterling, as the value of all the +rights in land acquired by the people of India by all the labour of +their predecessors and themselves in the many thousands of years it +has been cultivated. The few people that have occupied the little and +sandy State of New Jersey, with its area of 6900 square miles, have +acquired rights in and on the land that are valued, subject to the +claims of government, at 150 millions of dollars; and the few that +have occupied the little island on which stands the city of New York +have acquired rights that would sell in the market for at least +one-half more than could be obtained for all the proprietary rights to +land in India, with 300 millions of acres and 96 millions of +inhabitants! + +"Under the native princes," says Mr. Campbell, "India was a paying +country." Under British rule, it has ceased to be so, because under +that rule all power of combined action has been annihilated, or is in +train to be, and will be so, by aid of the system that looks to +compelling the whole people, men, women, and children, to work in the +field, producing commodities to be exported in their raw state. Every +act of association is an act of trade, and whatever tends to destroy +association must destroy trade. The internal commerce of India +declines steadily, and the external amounts to but about half a dollar +per head, and no effort can make it grow to any extent. The returns of +last year, of English trade, show a diminution as compared with those +of the previous one, whereas with almost all other countries there is +a large increase. Cuba exports to the large amount of twenty-five +dollars per head, or almost fifty times as much as India; and she +takes of cotton goods from England four times as much per head; and +this she does because it is a part of the policy of Spain to bring +about combination of action, and to enable the planter and the artisan +to work together, whereas the policy of England is to destroy +everywhere the power of association, and thus to destroy the domestic +trade, upon which the foreign one must be built. Centralization is +adverse to trade, and to the freedom of man. Spain does not seek to +establish centralization. Provided she receives a given amount of +revenue, she is content to permit her subjects to employ themselves at +raising sugar or making cloth, as they please, and thus to advance in +civilization; and by this very course it is that she is enabled to +obtain revenue. How centralization operates on the people and the +revenue, and how far it tends to promote the civilization or the +freedom of man, may be seen, on a perusal of the following extract +from a recent speech of Mr. Anstey, in the British House of Commons:-- + + "Such was the financial condition of India, which the right + honourable gentleman believed to be so excellent. The intelligent + natives of India, however, who visited this country, were not of that + opinion. They told us that the complaints sent from India to this + country were disregarded here, and that they always would be + disregarded as long as inquiry into them was imperial, not local. + They stated that their condition was one of hopeless misery, and that + it had been so ever since they came under our rule. The result was, + that cholera had become the normal order of things in that country, + and in India it never died out. It appeared from the reports of + medical officers in the army that it did not attack the rich and + well-fed so frequently as it attacked the poor, and that among them + it had made the most fearful ravages. The first authentic account + they had of the appearance of the cholera in India was coincident + with the imposition of the salt monopoly by Warren Hastings; and by a + just retribution it had visited their own shores, showing them with + what a scourge they had so long afflicted the natives of India. It + might be said of the other taxes that, in one form or another, they + affected every branch of industry and every necessary of life. They + affected even the tools of trade, and were sometimes equal in amount + to the sum for which the tool itself could be purchased in the + market. + + "When on a former occasion he had mentioned those facts before a + member of the court of directors, he was told that if he had seen the + papers in the archives, he would perceive that an alteration had + taken place; but he found, on an inspection of the papers, that the + result to the purchaser of salt is almost equal to what it had been. + It was a well known fact that the natives dare not complain. When + they asked for protection from the laws, they were treated as Juttee + Persaud had been treated last year--cases were fabricated against + them, and they were prosecuted for their lives. With the examples + before them of Nuncomar and Juttee Persaud, it was not surprising + that the natives were so backward in bringing to justice the persons + whose oppressions had been so great." + +It was in the face of facts like those here presented, and other +similar ones presented to us in the history of Jamaica, that in a +recent despatch Lord Palmerston thus instructed his minister at +Madrid:-- + + "I have to instruct your lordship to observe to M. de Miraflores that + the slaves of Cuba form a large portion, and by no means an + unimportant one, of the population of Cuba; and that any steps taken + to provide for their emancipation would, therefore, as far as the + black population is concerned, be quite in unison with the + recommendation made by her Majesty's government, that measures should + be adopted for contenting the people of Cuba, with a view to secure + the connection between that island and the Spanish crown; and it must + be evident that if the negro population of Cuba were rendered free, + that fact would create a most powerful element of resistance to any + scheme for annexing Cuba to the United States, where slavery still + exists. + + "With regard to the bearing which negro emancipation would have on + the interests of the white proprietors, it may safely be affirmed + that free labour costs less than slave labour, and it is indisputable + that a free and contented peasantry are safer neighbours for the + wealthy classes above them than ill-treated and resentful slaves; and + that slaves must, from the nature of things, be more or less + ill-treated, is a truth which belongs to the inherent principles of + human nature, and is quite as inevitable as the resentment, however + suppressed it may be, which is the consequence of ill-treatment." + +The negroes of Jamaica have never been permitted to apply their spare +labour even to the refining of their own sugar, _nor are they so at +this day_. They must export it raw, and the more they send the lower +is the price and the larger the proportion taken by the +government--but the poor negro is ruined. Spain, on the contrary, +permits the Cubans to engage in any pursuits they may deem most likely +to afford them a return to labour and capital; and, as a necessary +consequence of this, towns and cities grow up, capital is attracted to +the land, which becomes from day to day more valuable, labour is in +demand, and there is a gradual, though slow, improvement of condition. +The power to resort to other modes of employment diminishes the +necessity for exporting sugar, and when exported to Spain, the +producer is enabled to take for himself nearly the whole price paid by +the consumer, the government claiming only a duty of fifteen per cent. + +The Hindoo, like the negro, is shut out from the workshop. If he +attempts to convert his cotton into yarn, his spindle is taxed in +nearly all of the profit it can yield him. If he attempts to make +cloth, his loom is subjected to a heavy tax, from which that of his +wealthy English competitor is exempt. His iron ore and his coal must +remain in the ground, and if he dares to apply his labour even to the +collection of the salt which crystallizes before his door, he is +punished by fine and imprisonment. He must raise sugar to be +transported to England, there to be exchanged, perhaps, for English +salt. For the sugar, arrived in that country, the workman pays at the +rate perhaps of forty shillings a hundred, of which the government +claims one-third, the ship owner, the merchant, and others, another +third, and the remaining third is to be fought for by the agents of +the Company, anxious for revenue, and the poor ryot, anxious to obtain +a little salt to eat with his rice, and as much of his neighbour's +cotton, in the form of English cloth, as will suffice to cover his +loins. + +Under the Spanish system capital increases, and labour is so valuable +that slaves still continue to be imported. Under the English one, +labour is valueless, and men sell themselves for long years of slavery +at the sugar culture in the Mauritius, in Jamaica, and in Guiana. In +all countries _to which_ men are attracted, civilization tends upward; +but in all those _from which_ men fly, it tends downward. + +At the moment this despatch was being written by Lord Palmerston, Mr. +Campbell was writing his book, in which it is everywhere shown that +the tendency of India toward centralization and absenteeism, and +therefore toward exhaustion and slavery, is rapidly on the increase. +"The communication with India," as he says-- + + "Is every day so much increased and facilitated that we become more + and more entirely free from native influence, and the disposition to + Hindooize, which at first certainly showed itself, has altogether + disappeared. The English in India have now become as English as in + England. + + "While this state of things has great advantages, it has also some + disadvantage in the want of local knowledge, and of permanency in the + tenure of appointments which results. As there has been a constant + succession of total strangers in every appointment, it follows that + the government must be entirely carried on upon general principles, + with little aid from local knowledge and experience."--P. 202. + +The tendency toward the transfer of English capital to India, as he +informs us, retrogrades instead of advancing, and this is precisely +what we might expect to find to be the case. _Capital never seeks a +country from which men are flying as they now fly from India._ The +English houses bring none, but being in general mere speculators, they +borrow largely and enter into large operations, and when the bubble +bursts, the poor Hindoo suffers in the prostration of trade and +decline in the prices of cotton and sugar. "The consequence is," as +Mr. Campbell says-- + + "That European speculation has retrograded. Far up the country, where + the agents of the old houses were formerly numerous and well supplied + with money, the planters are now few and needy, and generally earn + but a precarious subsistence as in fact the servants of native + capitalists."--P. 204. + +Iron, by aid of which the people might improve their processes of +cultivation and manufacture, has little tendency toward India. The +average export of it to that country in 1845 and '46 was but 13,000 +tons, value £160,000, or about two-pence worth for every five of the +population. Efforts are now being made for the construction of +railroads, but their object is that of carrying out the system of +centralization, and thus still further destroying the power of +association, because they look to the annihilation of what still +remains of domestic manufacture, and thus _cheapening cotton_. With +all the improvements in the transportation of that commodity, its poor +cultivator obtains less for it than he did thirty years since, and the +effect of further improvement can be none other than that of producing +a still further reduction, and still further deterioration of the +condition of the men who raise food and cotton. As yet the power of +association continues in the Punjab, but it is proposed now to hold +there great fairs for the sale of English manufactures, and the day +cannot be far distant when the condition of the people of the new +provinces will be similar to that of those of the old ones, as no +effort will be spared to carry out the system which looks to driving +the whole people to agriculture, and thus compelling them to exhaust +their land. It is needed, says Mr. Chapman, the great advocate of +railways in India, that the connection between "the Indian grower and +English spinner" become more intimate, and "_the more the English is +made to outweigh the native home demand, the more strongly will the +native agriculturist feel that his personal success depends on +securing and improving his British connection_"[109]6750--that is, the +more the natives can be prevented from combining, their labours, the +greater, as Mr. Chapman thinks, will be the prosperity of India. +Centralization has impoverished, and to a considerable extent +depopulated, that country, but its work is not yet done. It remains +yet to reduce the people of the Punjab, of Affghanistan and Burmah, to +the condition of the Bengalese. + +The Burmese war is, as we are informed, "connected with at least +certain hopes of getting across to China through the Burmese +territories,"[110] and, of course of extending the trade in opium +throughout the whole of interior China; and the revenue from that +source will pay the cost of annexation. It is by aid of this powerful +narcotic, probably, that "civilization" is about, as we are told, to +"plant her standard on the ruins of kingdoms which for thousands of +years have been smouldering into dust."[111] + +We are often told of "the dim moral perceptions" of the people of +India, and as many of those who will read this volume may be disposed +to think that the cause of poverty lies in some deficiencies in the +character of the Hindoo, it may not be improper, with a view to the +correction of that opinion, to offer a few passages from the very +interesting work of Colonel Sleeman, who furnishes more information on +that head than any other recent traveller or resident; and his remarks +are the more valuable because of being the fruit of many years of +observation:-- + + "Sir Thomas Munro has justly observed, 'I do not exactly know what is + meant by civilizing the people of India. In the theory and practice + of good government they may be deficient; but if a good system of + agriculture--if unrivalled manufactures--if a capacity to produce + what convenience or luxury demands--if the establishment of schools + for reading and writing--if the general practice of kindness and + hospitality--and above all, if a scrupulous respect and delicacy + toward the female sex are amongst the points that denote a civilized + people; then the Hindoos are not inferior in civilization to the + people of Europe.--_Rambles_, vol. i. 4. + + "Our tents were pitched upon a green sward on one bank of a small + stream running into the Nerbudda close by, while the multitude + occupied the other bank. At night all the tents and booths are + illuminated, and the scene is hardly less animating by night than by + day; but what strikes an European most is the entire absence of all + tumult and disorder at such places. He not only sees no disturbance, + but feels assured that there will be none; and leaves his wife and + children in the midst of a crowd of a hundred thousand persons all + strangers to them, and all speaking a language and following a + religion different from theirs, while he goes off the whole day, + hunting and shooting in the distant jungles, without the slightest + feeling of apprehension for their safety or comfort."--_Ibid_. 2. + + "I am much attached to the agricultural classes of India generally, + and I have found among them some of the best men I have ever known. + The peasantry in India have generally very good manners, and are + exceedingly intelligent, from having so much more leisure, and + unreserved and easy intercourse with those above them."--_Ibid_. 76. + + "I must say, that I have never either seen or read of a nobler spirit + than seems to animate all classes of these communities in India on + such distressing occasions."--_Ibid_. 197. + + "There is no part of the world, I believe, where parents are so much + reverenced by their sons as they are in India in all classes of + society."--_Ibid_. 330. + + "An instance of deliberate fraud or falsehood among native merchants + of respectable stations in society, is extremely rare. Among the many + hundreds of bills I have had to take from them for private + remittances, I have never had one dishonoured, or the payment upon + one delayed beyond the day specified; nor do I recollect ever hearing + of one who had. They are so careful not to speculate beyond their + means, that an instance of failure is extremely rare among them. No + one ever in India hears of families reduced to ruin or distress by + the failure of merchants and bankers; though here, as in all other + countries advanced in the arts, a vast number of families subsist + upon the interest of money employed by them. + + "There is no class of men more interested in the stability of our + rule in India than this of the respectable merchants; nor is there + any upon whom the welfare of our government, and that of the people, + more depend. Frugal, first, upon principle, that they may not in + their expenditure encroach upon their capitals, they become so by + habit; and when they advance in life they lay out their accumulated + wealth in the formation of those works which shall secure for them, + from generation to generation, the blessings of the people of the + towns in which they have resided, and those of the country around. It + would not be too much to say, that one-half the great works which + embellish and enrich the face of India, in tanks, groves, wells, + temples, &c., have been formed by this class of the people solely + with the view of securing the blessings of mankind by contributing to + their happiness in solid and permanent works."--_Ibid_. vol. ii. 142. + + "In the year 1829, while I held the civil charge of the district of + Jubbulpore, in this valley of the Nerbudda, I caused an estimate to + be made of the public works of ornament and utility it contained. The + population of the district at that time amounted to five hundred + thousand souls, distributed among four thousand and fifty-three + occupied towns, villages, and hamlets. There were one thousand + villages more which had formerly been occupied, but were then + deserted. There were two thousand two hundred and eighty-eight tanks, + two hundred and nine bowlies, or large wells, with flights of steps + extending from the top down to the water when in its lowest stage; + fifteen hundred and sixty wells lined with brick and stone, cemented + with lime, but without stairs; three hundred and sixty Hindoo + temples, and twenty-two Mohammedan mosques. The estimated cost of + these works in grain at the present price, that is the quantity that + would have been consumed, had the labour been paid in kind at the + present ordinary rate, was eighty-six lacks, sixty-six thousand and + forty-three rupees (86,66,043,) £866,604 sterling. + + "The labourer was estimated to be paid at the rate of about two- + thirds the quantity of corn he would get in England if paid in kind, + and corn sells here at about one-third the price it fetches in + average seasons in England. In Europe, therefore, these works, + supposing the labour equally efficient, would have cost at least four + times the sum here estimated; and such works formed by private + individuals for the public good, without any view whatever to return + in profits, indicates a very high degree of _public spirit_. + + "The whole annual rent of the lands of this district amounts to about + six hundred and fifty thousand rupees a year, (£65,000 sterling,) + that is, five hundred thousand demandable by the government, and one + hundred and fifty thousand by those who hold the lands at lease + immediately under government, over and above what may be considered + as the profits of their stock as farmers. These works must, + therefore, have cost about thirteen times the amount of the annual + rent of the whole of the lands of the districts--or the whole annual + rent for above thirteen years!"--_Ibid_, vol. ii. 194. + +We have here private rights in land amounting to 150,000 rupees, in a +country abounding in coal and iron ore,[112] and with a population of +half a million of people. Estimating the private interest at ten +years' purchase, it is exactly three years' purchase of the land-tax; +and it follows of course, that _the government takes every year +one-fourth of the whole value of the property_,--at which rate the +little State of New Jersey, with its half-million of inhabitants, +would pay annually above thirty millions of dollars for the support of +those who were charged with the administration of its affairs! Need we +wonder at the poverty of India when thus taxed, while deprived of all +power even to manure its land? + + "Three-fourths of the recruits for our Bengal native infantry are + drawn from the Rajpoot peasantry of the kingdom of Oude, on the left + bank of the Ganges, where their affections have been linked to the + soil for a long series of generations. The good feelings of the + families from which they are drawn, continue, through the whole + period of their service, to exercise a salutary influence over their + conduct as men and as soldiers. Though they never take their families + with them, they visit them on furlough every two or three years, and + always return to them when the surgeon considers a change of air + necessary to their recovery from sickness. Their family circles are + always present to their imaginations; and the recollections of their + last visit, the hopes of the next, and the assurance that their + conduct as men and as soldiers in the interval will be reported to + those circles by their many comrades, who are annually returning on + furlough to the same parts of the country, tend to produce a general + and uniform propriety of conduct, that is hardly to be found among + the soldiers of any other army in the world, and which seems + incomprehensible to those who are unacquainted with its + source,--veneration for parents cherished through life and a never + impaired love of home, and of all the dear objects by which it is + constituted."--Ibid. vol. ii. 415. + +Such are the people that we see now forced to abandon a land of which +not more than half the cultivable part is in cultivation--a land that +abounds in every description of mineral wealth--and to sell themselves +for long years of service, apart from wives, children, and friends, to +be employed in the most unhealthful of all pursuits, the cultivation +of sugar in the Mauritius, and the Sandwich Islands, and among the +swamps of British Guiana, and Jamaica, and for a reward of four or +five rupees ($2 to $2.50) per month. What was their condition in the +Mauritius is thus shown by an intelligent and honest visitor of the +island in 1838:-- + + "After the passage of the act abolishing slavery, an arrangement was + sanctioned by the Colonial Government, for the introduction of a + great number of Indian labourers into the colony. They were engaged + at five rupees, equal to ten shillings, a month, for five years, with + also one pound of rice, a quarter of a pound of dhall, or grain, a + kind of pulse, and one ounce of butter, of ghee, daily. But for every + day they were absent from their work they were to return two days to + their masters, who retained one rupee per month, to pay an advance + made of six months' wages, and to defray the expense of their + passage. If these men came into Port Louis to complain of their + masters, they were lodged in the Bagne prison, till their masters + were summoned. The masters had a great advantage before the + magistrates over their servants: the latter being foreigners, but few + of them could speak French, and they had no one to assist them in + pleading their cause. They universally represented themselves as + having been deceived with respect to the kind of labour to be exacted + from them. But perhaps the greatest evil attendant on their + introduction into the Mauritius was the small proportion of females + imported with them, only about two hundred being brought with upward + of ten thousand men. It was evident that unless the system of + employing them were closely watched, there was a danger that it might + ultimately grow into another species of slavery."[113] + +We see thus that while the females of India are deprived of all power +to employ themselves in the lighter labour of manufacture, the men are +forced to emigrate, leaving behind their wives and daughters, to +support themselves as best they may. The same author furnishes an +account of the Indian convicts that had been transported to the +island, as follows:-- + + "Among the Indian convicts working on the road, we noticed one + wearing chains; several had a slight single ring round the ankle. + They are lodged in huts with flat roofs, or in other inferior + dwellings, near the road. There are about seven hundred of them in + the island. What renders them peculiarly objects of sympathy is, that + they were sent here for life, and no hope of any remission of + sentence is held out to them for good conduct. Their's is a hopeless + bondage; and though it is said by some that they are not hard worked, + yet they are generally, perhaps constantly, breaking stones and + mending the road, and in a tropical sun. There are among them persons + who were so young when transported that, in their offences, they + could only be looked on as the dupes of those that were older; and + many of them bear good characters."[114] + +At the date to which these passages refer there was a dreadful famine +in India; but, "during the prevalence of this famine," as we are +told,-- + + "Rice was going every hour out of the country. 230,371 bags of 164 + pounds each--making 37,780,844 lbs.--were exported from Calcutta. + Where? To the Mauritius, to feed the kidnapped Coolies. Yes: to feed + the men who had been stolen from the banks of the Ganges and the + hills adjacent, and dragged from their native shore, under pretence + of going to one of the Company's villages, to grow in the island of + Mauritius what they might have grown in abundance upon their own + fertile, but over-taxed land. The total amount of rice exported from + Calcutta, during the famine in 1838, was 151,923,696 lbs., besides + 13,722,408 lbs. of other edible grains, which would have fed and kept + alive all those who perished that year. Wives might have been saved + to their husbands, babes to their mothers, friends to their friends; + villages might still have been peopled; a sterile land might have + been restored to verdure. Freshness and joy and the voices of + gladness, might have been there. Now, all is stillness, and + desolation, and death. Yet we are told we have nothing to do with + India."[115] + +The nation that exports raw produce _must_ exhaust its land, and then +it _must_ export its men, who fly from famine, leaving the women and +children to perish behind them. + +By aid of continued Coolie immigration the export of sugar from the +Mauritius has been doubled in the last sixteen years, having risen +from 70 to 140 millions of pounds. Sugar is therefore very cheap, and +the foreign competition is thereby driven from the British market. +"Such conquests," however, says, very truly, the London _Spectator_-- + + "Don't always bring profit to the conqueror; nor does production + itself prove prosperity. Competition for the possession of a field + may be carried so far as to reduce prices below prime cost; and it is + clear from the notorious facts of the West Indies--from the change of + property, from the total unproductiveness of much property + still--that the West India production of sugar has been carried on, + not only without replacing capital, but with a constant sinking of + capital." + +The "free" Coolie and the "free negro" of Jamaica, have been urged to +competition for the sale of sugar, and they seem likely to perish +together; but compensation for this is found in the fact that-- + + "Free-trade has, in reducing the prices of commodities for home + consumption, enabled the labourer to devote a greater share of his + income toward purchasing clothing and luxuries, and has increased the + home trade to an enormous extent."[116] + +What effect this reduction of "the prices of commodities for home +consumption" has had upon the poor Coolie, may be judged from the +following passage:-- + + "I here beheld, for the first time, a class of beings of whom we have + heard much, and for whom I have felt considerable interest. I refer + to the Coolies imported by the British government to take the place + of the _faineant_ negroes, when the apprenticeship system was + abolished. Those that I saw were wandering about the streets, dressed + rather tastefully, but always meanly, and usually carrying over their + shoulder a sort of _chiffonier's_ sack, in which they threw whatever + refuse stuff they found in the streets or received as charity. Their + figures are generally superb; and their Eastern costume, to which + they adhere as far as their poverty will permit of any clothing, sets + off their lithe and graceful forms to great advantage. Their faces + are almost uniformly of the finest classic mould, and illuminated by + pairs of those dark swimming and propitiatory eyes, which exhaust the + language of tenderness and passion at a glance. + + "But they are the most inveterate mendicants on the island. It is + said that those brought from the interior of India are faithful and + efficient workmen, while those from Calcutta and its vicinity are + good for nothing. Those that were prowling about the streets of + Spanish-town and Kingston, I presume, were of the latter class, for + there is not a planter on the island, it is said, from whom it would + be more difficult to get any work than from one of these. They + subsist by begging altogether: they are not vicious, nor intemperate, + nor troublesome particularly, except as beggars. In that calling they + have a pertinacity before which a Northern mendicant would grow pale. + They will not be denied. They will stand perfectly still and look + through a window from the street for a quarter of an hour, if not + driven away, with their imploring eyes fixed upon you, like a + stricken deer, without saying a word or moving a muscle. They act as + if it were no disgrace for them to beg, as if the least + indemnification which they are entitled to expect, for the outrage + perpetrated upon them in bringing them from their distant homes to + this strange island, is a daily supply of their few and cheap + necessities, as they call for them. + + "I confess that their begging did not leave upon my mind the + impression produced by ordinary mendicancy. They do not look as if + they ought to work. I never saw one smile, and though they showed no + positive suffering, I never saw one look happy. Each face seemed to + be constantly telling the unhappy story of their woes, and like + fragments of a broken mirror, each reflecting in all its hateful + proportions the national outrage of which they are the victims."[117] + +The slave trade has taken a new form, the mild and gentle Hindoo +having taken the place of the barbarous and fierce African; and this +trade is likely to continue so long as it shall be held to be the +chief object of the government of a Christian people to secure to its +people cheap cotton and sugar, without regard to the destruction of +life of which that cheapness is the cause. The people of England send +to India missionary priests and bishops, but they obtain few converts; +nor can it ever be otherwise under a system which tends to destroy the +power of association, and thus prevents that diversification of +employments that is indispensable to the improvement of physical, +moral, intellectual, or political condition. May we not hope that at +no very distant day they will arrive at the conclusion that such +association is as necessary to the Hindoo as they know it to be to +themselves, and that if they desire success in their attempts to bring +the followers of Mohammed, or of Brahma, to an appreciation of the +doctrines of Christ, they must show that their practice and their +teachings are in some degree in harmony with each other? When that day +shall come they will be seen endeavouring to remedy the evil they have +caused, and permitting the poor Hindoo to obtain establishments in +which labour may be combined for the production of iron and of +machinery, by aid of which the native cotton may be twisted in the +neighbourhood in which it is produced, thus enabling the now unhappy +cultivator to exchange directly with his food-producing neighbour, +relieved from the necessity for sending his products to a distance, to +be brought back again in the form of yarn or cloth, at fifteen or +twenty times the price at which he sold it in the form of cotton. That +time arrived, they will appreciate the sound good sense contained in +the following remarks of Colonel Sleeman:-- + + "If we had any great establishment of this sort in which Christians + could find employment, and the means of religious and secular + instruction, thousands of converts would soon flock to them; and they + would become vast sources of future improvement in industry, social + comfort, municipal institutions, and religion. What chiefly prevents + the spread of Christianity in India is the dread of exclusion from + caste and all its privileges; and the utter hopelessness of their + ever finding any respectable circle of society of the adopted + religion, which converts, or would be converts to Christianity, now + everywhere feel. Form such circles for them--make the members of + these circles happy in the exertion of honest and independent + industry--let those who rise to eminence in them feel that they are + considered as respectable and as important in the social system as + the servants of government, and converts will flock around you from + all parts, and from all classes of the Hindoo community. * * * I am + persuaded that a dozen such establishments as that of Mr. Thomas + Ashton, of Hyde, as described by a physician of Manchester, and + noticed in Mr. Baines's admirable work on the Cotton Manufactures of + Great Britain, (page 447,) would do more in the way of conversion + among the people of India than has ever yet been done by all the + religious establishments, or ever will be done by them without some + such aid."--Vol. ii. 164. + +That there is a steady increase in the tendency toward personal +servitude, or slavery, in India, no one can doubt who will study +carefully the books on that country; and it may not be amiss to +inquire on whom rests the responsibility for this state of things. By +several of the persons that have been quoted, Messrs. Thompson, +Bright, and others, it is charged upon the Company; but none that read +the works of Messrs. Campbell and Sleeman can hesitate to believe that +the direction is now animated by a serious desire to improve the +condition of its poor subjects. Unfortunately, however, the Company is +nearly in the condition of the land-holders of Jamaica, and is itself +tending toward ruin, because its subjects are limited to agriculture, +and because they receive so small a portion of the value of their very +small quantity of products. Now, as in the days of _Joshua Gee_, the +largest portion of that value remains in England, whose people eat +cheap sugar while its producer starves in India. Cheap sugar and cheap +cotton are obtained by the sacrifice of the interests of a great +nation; and while the policy of England shall continue to look to +driving the women and children of India to the labours of the field, +and the men to the raising of sugar in the Mauritius, the soil must +continue to grow poorer, the people must become more and more +enslaved, and the government must find itself more and more dependent +for revenue on the power to poison the people of China; and therefore +will it be seen that however good may be the intentions of the +gentlemen charged with the duties of government, they must find +themselves more and more compelled to grind the poor ryot in the hope +of obtaining revenue. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +HOW SLAVERY GROWS IN IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. + + +The government which followed the completion of the Revolution of +1688, pledged itself to discountenance the woollen manufacture of +Ireland, with a view to compel the export of raw wool to England, +whence its exportation to foreign countries was prohibited; the effect +of which was, of course, to enable the English manufacturer to +purchase it at his own price. From that period forward we find +numerous regulations as to the ports from which alone woollen yarn or +cloth might go to England, and the ports of the latter through which +it might come; while no effort was spared to induce the people of +Ireland to abandon woollens and take to flax. Laws were passed +prohibiting the export of Irish cloth and glass to the colonies. By +other laws Irish ships were deprived of the benefit of the navigation +laws. The fisheries were closed against them. No sugar could be +imported from any place but Great Britain, and no drawback was allowed +on its exportation to Ireland; and thus was the latter compelled to +pay a tax for the support of the British government, while maintaining +its own. All other colonial produce was required to be carried first +to England, after which it might be shipped to Ireland; and as Irish +shipping was excluded from the advantages of the navigation laws, it +followed that the voyage of importation was to be made in British +ships, manned by British seamen, and owned by British merchants, who +were thus authorized to tax the people of Ireland for doing their +work, while a large portion of the Irish people were themselves +unemployed. + +While thus prohibiting them from applying themselves to manufactures +or trade, every inducement was held out to them to confine themselves +to the production of commodities required by the English +manufacturers, and wool, hemp, and flax were admitted into England +free of duty. We see thus that the system of that day in reference to +Ireland looked to limiting the people of that country, as it limited +the slaves of Jamaica, and now limits the people of Hindostan, to +agriculture alone, and thus depriving the men, the women, and the +children of all employment except the labour of the field, and of all +opportunity for intellectual improvement, such as elsewhere results +from that association which necessarily accompanies improvement in the +mechanic arts. + +During our war of the Revolution, freedom of trade was claimed for +Ireland; and as the demand was made at a time when a large portion of +her people were under arms as volunteers, the merchants and +manufacturers of England, who had so long acted as middlemen for the +people of the sister kingdom, found themselves obliged to submit to +the removal of some of the restrictions under which the latter had so +long remained. Step by step changes were made, until at length, in +1783, Ireland was declared independent, shortly after which duties +were imposed on various articles of foreign manufacture, avowedly with +the intention of enabling her people to employ some of their surplus +labour in converting her own food and wool, and the cotton wool of +other countries, into cloth. Thenceforward manufactures and trade made +considerable progress, and there was certainly a very considerable +tendency toward improvement. Some idea of the condition of the country +at that time, and of the vast and lamentable change that has since +taken place, may be obtained from the consideration of a few facts +connected with the manufacture of books in the closing years of the +last century. The copyright laws not extending to Ireland, all books +published in England might there be reprinted, and accordingly we find +that all the principal English law reports of the day, very many of +the earlier ones, and many of the best treatises, as well as the +principal novels, travels, and miscellaneous works, were republished +in Dublin, as may be seen by an examination of any of our old +libraries. The publication of such books implies, of course, a +considerable demand for them, and for Ireland herself, as the sale of +books in this country was very small indeed, and there was then no +other part of the world to which they could go. More books were +probably published in Ireland in that day by a single house than are +now required for the supply of the whole kingdom. With 1801, however, +there came a change. By the Act of Union the copyright laws of England +were extended to Ireland, and at once the large and growing +manufacture of books was prostrated. The patent laws were also +extended to Ireland; and as England had so long monopolized the +manufacturing machinery then in use, it was clear that it was there +improvements would be made, and that thenceforth the manufactures of +Ireland must retrograde. Manchester had the home market, the foreign +market, and, to no small extent, that of Ireland open to her; while +the manufacturers of the latter were forced to contend for existence, +and under the most disadvantageous circumstances, on their own soil. +The one could afford to purchase expensive machinery, and to adopt +whatever improvements might be made, while the other could not. The +natural consequence was, that Irish manufactures gradually disappeared +as the Act of Union came into effect. By virtue of its provisions, the +duties established by the Irish Parliament for the purpose of +protecting the farmers of Ireland in their efforts to bring the loom +and the anvil into close proximity with the plough and the harrow, +were gradually to diminish, and free trade was to be fully +established; or, in other words, Manchester and Birmingham were to +have a monopoly of supplying Ireland with cloth and iron. The duty on +English woollens was to continue twenty years. The almost prohibitory +duties on English calicoes and muslins were to continue until 1808; +after which they were to be gradually diminished, until in 1821 they +were to cease. Those on cotton yarn were to cease in 1810. The effect +of this in diminishing the demand for Irish labour, is seen in the +following comparative view of manufactures at the date of the Union, +and at different periods in the ensuing forty years, here given:-- + + Dublin, 1800, Master woollen manufacturers. 91... 1840, 12 + " Hands employee............. 4918... " , 602 + " Master wool-combers........ 30... 1834, 5 + " Hands employed............. 230... " , 63 + " Carpet manufacturers....... 13... 1841, 1 + " Hands employed............. 720... " none + + Kilkenny, 1800, Blanket manufacturers...... 56... 1822, 42 + " Hands employed............. 3000... 1822, 925 + + Dublin, 1800, Silk-loom wearers at work.. 2500... 1840, 250 + Balbriggan, 1799, Calico looms at work..... 2500... 1841, 226 + Wicklow, 1800, Hand-looms at work......... 1000... 1841, none + + Cork, 1800, Braid weavers.............. 1000... 1834, 40 + " Worsted weavers............ 2000... " 90 + " Hoosiers................... 300... " 28 + " Wool-combers............... 700... " 110 + " Cotton weavers............. 2000... " 220 + " Linen cheek weavers........ 600... " none + " Cotton spinners, bleachers, + calico printers....... thousands... " none + +"For nearly half a century Ireland has had perfectly free trade with +the richest country in the world; and what," says the author of a +recent work of great ability,-- + + "Has that free trade done for her? She has even now," he continues, + "no employment for her teeming population except upon the land. She + ought to have had, and might easily have had, other and various + employments, and plenty of it. Are we to believe," says he, "the + calumny that the Irish are lazy and won't work? Is Irish human nature + different from other human nature? Are not the most laborious of all + labourers in London and New York, Irishmen? Are Irishmen inferior in + understanding? We Englishmen who have personally known Irishmen, in + the army, at the bar, and in the church, know that there is no better + head than a disciplined Irish one. But in all these cases that master + of industry, the stomach, has been well satisfied. Let an Englishman + exchange his bread and beer, and beef, and mutton, for no breakfast, + for a lukewarm lumper at dinner, and no supper. With such a diet, how + much better is he than an Irishman--a Celt, as he calls him? No, the + truth is, that the misery of Ireland is not from the human nature + that grows there--it is from England's perverse legislation, past and + present."[118] + +Deprived of all employment, except in the labour of agriculture, land +became, of course, the great object of pursuit. "Land is life," had +said, most truly and emphatically, Chief Justice Blackburn; and the +people had now before them the choice between the occupation of land, +_at any rent_, or _starvation_. The lord of the land was thus enabled +to dictate his own terms, and therefore it has been that we have heard +of the payment of five, six, eight, and even as much as ten pounds per +acre. "Enormous rents, low wages, farms of an enormous extent, let by +rapacious and indolent proprietors to monopolizing land-jobbers, to be +relet by intermediate oppressors, for five times their value, among +the wretched starvers on potatoes and water," led to a constant +succession of outrages, followed by Insurrection Acts, Arms Acts, and +Coercion Acts, when the real remedy was to be found in the adoption of +a system that would emancipate the country from the tyranny of the +spindle and the loom, and permit the labour of Ireland to find +employment at home. + +That employment could not be had. With the suppression of Irish +manufactures the demand for labour had disappeared. An English +traveller, describing the state of Ireland in 1834, thirteen years +after the free-trade provisions of the Act of Union had come fully +into operation, furnishes numerous facts, some of which will now be +given, showing that the people were compelled to remain idle, although +willing to work at the lowest wages--such wages as could not by any +possibility enable them to do more than merely sustain life, and +perhaps not even that. + + CASHEL.--"Wages here only _eightpence a day_, and numbers altogether + without employment." + + CAHIR.--"I noticed, on Sunday, on coming from church, the streets + crowded with labourers, with spades and other implements in their + hands, standing to be hired; and I ascertained that any number of + these men might have been engaged, on constant employment, at + _sixpence per day_ without diet." + + WICKLOW.--"The husband of this woman was a labourer, at _sixpence_ a + day, _eighty_ of which sixpences--that is, eighty days' labour--were + absorbed in the rent of the cabin." "In another cabin was a decently + dressed woman with five children, and her husband was also a labourer + at _sixpence a day_. The pig had been taken for rent a few days + before." "I found some labourers receiving only _fourpence per day_." + + KILKENNY.--"Upward of 2000 persons totally without employment." "I + visited the factories that used to support 200 men with their + families, and how many men did I find at work? ONE MAN! In place of + finding men occupied, I saw them in scores, like spectres, walking + about, and lying about the mill. I saw immense piles of goods + completed, but for which there was no sale. I saw heaps of blankets, + and I saw every loom idle. As for the carpets which had excited the + jealousy and the fears of Kidderminster, not one had been made for + seven months. To convey an idea of the destitution of these people, I + mention, that when an order recently arrived for the manufacture of + as many blankets for the police as would have kept the men at work + for a few days, bonfires were lighted about the country--not bonfires + to communicate insurrection, but to evince joy that a few starving + men were about to earn bread to support their families. Nevertheless, + we are told that Irishmen will not work at home." + + CALLEN.--"In this town, containing between four and five thousand + inhabitants, at least one thousand are without regular employment, + six or seven hundred entirely destitute, and there are upward of two + hundred mendicants in the town--persons incapable of + work."--_Inglis's Ireland_ in 1834. + +Such was the picture everywhere presented to the eye of this +intelligent traveller. Go where he might, he found hundreds anxious +for employment, yet no employment could be had, unless they could +travel to England, there to spend _weeks_ in travelling round the +country in quest of _days_ of employment, the wages for which might +enable them to pay their rent at home. "The Celt," says the _Times_, +"is the hewer of wood and the drawer of water to the Saxon; The great +works of this country," it continues "depend on _cheap labour_." The +labour of the slave is always low in price. The people of Ireland were +interdicted all employment but in the cultivation of the land, and +men, women, and children were forced to waste more labour than would +have paid twenty times over for all the British manufactures they +could purchase. They were passing rapidly toward barbarism, and for +the sole reason that they were denied all power of association for any +useful purpose. What was the impression produced by their appearance +on the mind of foreigners may be seen by the following extract from +the work of a well-known and highly intelligent German traveller:-- + + "A Russian peasant, no doubt, is the slave of a harder master, but + still he is fed and housed to his content, and no trace of mendicancy + is to be seen in him. The Hungarians are certainly not among the + best-used people in the world; still, what fine wheaten bread and + what wine has even the humblest among them for his daily fare! The + Hungarian would scarcely believe it, if he were to be told there was + a country in which the inhabitants must content themselves with + potatoes every alternate day in the year. + + "Servia and Bosnia are reckoned among the most wretched countries of + Europe, and certainly the appearance of one of their villages has + little that is attractive about it; but at least the people, if badly + housed, are well clad. We look not for much luxury or comfort among + the Tartars of the Crimea; we call them poor and barbarous, but, good + heavens! they look at least like human creatures. They have a + national costume, their houses are habitable, their orchards are + carefully tended, and their gayly harnessed ponies are mostly in good + condition. An Irishman has nothing national about him but his + rags,--his habitation is without a plan, his domestic economy without + rule or law. We have beggars and paupers among us, but they form at + least an exception; whereas, in Ireland, beggary or abject poverty is + the prevailing rule. The nation is one of beggars, and they who are + above beggary seem to form the exception. + + "The African negroes go naked, but then they have a tropical sun to + warm them. The Irish are little removed from a state of nakedness; + and their climate, though not cold, is cool, and extremely humid. * * + * + + "There are nations of slaves, but they have, by long custom, been + made unconscious of the yoke of slavery. This is not the case with + the Irish, who have a strong feeling of liberty within them, and are + fully sensible of the weight of the yoke they have to bear. They are + intelligent enough to know the injustice done them by the distorted + laws of their country; and while they are themselves enduring the + extreme of poverty, they have frequently before them, in the manner + of life of their English landlords, a spectacle of the most refined + luxury that human ingenuity ever invented."--_Kohl's Travels in + Ireland_. + +It might be thought, however, that Ireland was deficient in the +capital required for obtaining the machinery of manufacture to enable +her people to maintain competition with her powerful neighbour. We +know, however, that previous to the Union she had that machinery; and +from the date of that arrangement, so fraudulently brought about, by +which was settled conclusively the destruction of Irish manufactures, +the _annual_ waste of labour was greater than the whole amount of +capital then employed in the cotton and woollen manufactures of +England. From that date the people of Ireland were thrown, from year +to year, more into the hands of middlemen, who accumulated fortunes +that they _would_ not invest in the improvement of land, and _could_ +not, under the system which prostrated manufactures, invest in +machinery of any kind calculated to render labour productive; and all +their accumulations were sent therefore to England for investment. An +official document published by the British government shows that the +transfers of British securities from England to Ireland, that is to +say, the investment of Irish capital in England, in the thirteen years +following the final adoption of free trade in 1821, amounted to as +many millions of pounds sterling; and thus was Ireland forced to +contribute cheap labour and cheap capital to building up "the great +works of Britain." Further, it was provided by law that whenever the +poor people of a neighbourhood contributed to a saving fund, the +amount should not be applied in any manner calculated to furnish local +employment, but should be transferred for investment in the British +funds. The landlords fled to England, and their rent followed them. +The middlemen sent their capital to England. The trader or the +labourer that could accumulate a little capital saw it sent to +England; and he was then compelled to follow it. Such is the history +of the origin of the present abandonment of Ireland by its +inhabitants. + +The form in which rents, profits, and savings, as well as taxes, went +to England, was that of raw products of the soil, to be consumed +abroad, yielding nothing to be returned to the land, which was of +course impoverished. The average export of grain in the first three +years following the passage of the Act of Union was about 300,000 +quarters, but as the domestic market gradually disappeared, the export +of raw produce increased, until, at the close of twenty years it +exceeded a million of quarters; and at the date of Mr. Inglis's visit +it had reached an average of two and a half millions, or 22,500,000 of +our bushels. The poor people were, in fact, selling their soil to pay +for cotton and woollen goods that they should have manufactured +themselves, for coal which abounded among themselves, for iron, all +the materials of which existed at home in great profusion, and for a +small quantity of tea, sugar, and other foreign commodities, while the +amount required to pay rent to absentees, and interest to mortgagees, +was estimated at more than thirty millions of dollars. Here was a +drain that no nation could bear, however great its productive power; +and the whole of it was due to the system which forbade the +application of labour, talent, or capital to any thing but +agriculture, and thus forbade advance in civilization. The inducements +to remain at home steadily diminished. Those who could live without +labour found that society had changed; and they fled to England, +France, or Italy. Those who desired to work, and felt that they were +qualified for something beyond mere manual labour, fled to England or +America; and thus by degrees was the unfortunate country depleted of +every thing that could render it a home in which to remain, while +those who could not fly remained to be, as the _Times_ so well +describes it, mere "hewers of wood and drawers of water to the Saxon," +happy when a full-grown man could find employment at _sixpence a day_, +and that, too, without food. + +"Throughout the west and south of Ireland," said an English traveller +in 1842, four years before the exhaustion of the soil had produced +disease among the potatoes-- + + "The traveller is haunted by the face of the _popular starvation_. It + is not the exception--it is _the condition_ of the people. In this + fairest and richest of countries, men are suffering and _starving by + millions_. There are thousands of them, at this minute, stretched in + the sunshine at their cabin doors with _no work_, scarcely any food, + no hope seemingly. Strong countrymen are lying in bed, '_for the + hunger_'--because a man lying on his back does not need so much food + as a person afoot. Many of them have torn up the unripe potatoes from + their little gardens, and to exist now must look to winter, when they + shall have to suffer starvation and cold too."--_Thackeray_. + + "Everywhere," said the _Quarterly Review_, "throughout all parts, + even in the best towns, and in Dublin itself, you will meet men and + boys--not dressed, not covered--but hung round with a collection of + rags of unrivalled variety, squalidity, and filth--walking dunghills. + * * * No one ever saw an English scarecrow with such rags." + +The difference in the condition of these poor people and that of the +slave--even the slave of Jamaica at that day--consisted in this, that +the negro slave was worth buying, whereas the others were not; and we +know well that the man who pays a good price for a commodity, attaches +to it a value that induces him to give some care to its preservation; +whereas he cares nothing for another that he finds himself forced to +accept. "Starving by millions," as they are here described, death was +perpetually separating husbands and wives, parents and children, while +to the survivors remained no hope but that of being enabled at some +time or other to fly to another land in which they might be permitted +to sell their labour for food sufficient to support life. + +The existence of such a state of things was, said the advocates of the +system which looks to converting all the world outside of England into +one great farm, to be accounted for by the fact that the population +was too numerous for the land, and yet a third of the surface, +including the richest lands in the kingdom, was lying unoccupied and +waste. + + "Of single counties," said an English writer, "Mayo, with a + population of 389,000, and a rental of only £300,000, has an area of + 1,364,000 acres, of which 800,000 are waste! No less than 470,000 + acres, being very nearly equal to the whole extent of surface now + under cultivation, are declared to be reclaimable. Galway, with a + population of 423,000, and a valued rental of £433,000, has upward of + 700,000 acres of waste, 410,000 of which are reclaimable! Kerry, with + a population of 293,000, has an area of 1,186,000 acres--727,000 + being waste, and 400,000 of them reclaimable! Even the Union of + Glenties, Lord Monteagle's _ne plus ultra_ of redundant population, + has an area of 245,000 acres, of which 200,000 are waste, and for the + most part reclaimable, to its population of 43,000. While the Barony + of Ennis, that abomination of desolation, has 230,000 acres of land + to its 5000 paupers--a proportion which, as Mr. Carter, one of the + principal proprietors, remarks in his circular advertisement for + tenants, 'is at the rate of only one family to 230 acres; so that if + but one head of a family were employed to every 230 acres, there need + not be a single pauper in the entire district; a proof,' he adds, + 'THAT NOTHING BUT EMPLOYMENT IS WANTING TO SET THIS COUNTRY TO + RIGHTS!' In which opinion we fully coincide." + +Nothing but employment _was_ needed, but that could not be found under +the system which has caused the annihilation of the cotton manufacture +of India, notwithstanding the advantage of having the cotton on the +spot, free from all cost for carriage. As in Jamaica, and as in India, +the land had been gradually exhausted by the exportation of its +products in their rudest state, and the country had thus been drained +of capital, a necessary consequence of which was that the labour even +of men found no demand, while women and children starved, that the +women and children of England might spin cotton and weave cloth that +Ireland was too poor to purchase. Bad, however, as was all this, a +worse state of things was at hand. Poverty and wretchedness compelled +the wretched people to fly in thousands and tens of thousands across +the Channel, thus following the capital and the soil that had been +transferred to Birmingham and Manchester; and the streets and cellars +of those towns, and those of London, Liverpool, and Glasgow, were +filled with men, women, and children in a state almost of starvation; +while throughout the country, men were offering to perform the farm +labour for food alone, and a cry had arisen among the people of +England that the labourers were likely to be swamped by these starving +Irishmen: to provide against which it was needed that the landlords of +Ireland should be compelled to support their own poor, and forthwith +an act of Parliament was passed for that purpose. Thence arose, of +course, an increased desire to rid the country of the men, women, and +children whose labour could not be sold, and who could therefore pay +no rent. The "Crowbar Brigade" was therefore called into more active +service, as will be seen by the following account of their labours in +a single one of the "Unions" established under the new poor-law +system, which in many cases took the whole rent of the land for the +maintenance of those who had been reduced to pauperism by the +determination of the people of Manchester and Birmingham to continue +the colonial system under which Ireland had been ruined. + + "In Galway Union, recent accounts declared the number of poor + evicted, and their homes levelled within the last two years, to equal + the numbers in Kilrush--4000 families and 20,000 human beings are + said to have been here also thrown upon the road, houseless and + homeless. I can readily believe the statement, for to me some parts + of the country appeared like an enormous graveyard--the numerous + gables of the unroofed dwellings seemed to be gigantic tombstones. + They were, indeed, records of decay and death far more melancholy + than the grave can show. Looking on them, the doubt rose in my mind, + am I in a civilized country? Have we really a free constitution? Can + such scenes be paralleled in Siberia or Caffraria?" + +A single case described in a paper recently published by Mr. Dickens +in his "_Household Words_," will convey to the reader some idea of an +eviction, that may be taken as a specimen, and perhaps a fair one, of +the _fifty thousand_ evictions that took place in the single year +1849, and of the hundreds of thousands that have taken place in the +last six years. + + "Black piles of peat stood on the solitary ground, ready after a + summer's cutting and drying. Presently, patches of cultivation + presented themselves; plots of ground raised on beds, each a few feet + wide, with intervening trenches to carry off the boggy water, where + potatoes had grown, and small fields where grew more ragwort than + grass, enclosed by banks cast up and tipped here and there with a + brier or a stone. It was the husbandry of misery and indigence. The + ground had already been freshly manured by sea-weeds, but the + village, where was it? Blotches of burnt-ground, scorched heaps of + rubbish, and fragments of blackened walls, alone were visible. Garden + plots were trodden down and their few bushes rent up, or hung with + tatters of rags. The two horsemen, as they hurried by, with gloomy + visages, uttered no more than the single word--EVICTION!" + +The scenes that had taken place at the destruction of that village, +are thus described to the author of the sad work, by a poor servant:-- + + "Oh, bless your honour! If you had seen that poor frantic woman when + the back of the cabin fell and buried her infant, where she thought + she had laid it safe for a moment while she flew to part her husband + and a soldier who had struck the other children with the flat of his + sword and bade them troop off. Oh, but your honour it was a killing + sight! * * * I could not help thinking of the poor people at Rathbeg + when the soldiers and police cried, 'Down with them! down with them + even to the ground!'--and then the poor little cabins came down all + in fire and smoke, amid the howls and cries of the poor creatures. + Oh, it was a fearful sight, your honour--it was indeed--to see the + poor women hugging their babies, and the houses where they were born + burning in the wind. It was dreadful to see the old bed-ridden man + lie on the ground among the few bits of furniture, and groan to his + gracious God above! Oh, your honour, you never saw such a sight, + or--you--sure a--it would never have been done." + +This is certainly an awful picture of the slavery resulting from +compelling a whole nation to devote itself to agriculture, and thus +annihilating the power of association--from compelling a whole people +to forego all the advantages resulting from proximity to market for +the sale of their products or the purchase of manure--and from +compelling men, women, and children to be idle, when they would desire +to be employed. In reading it, we are forcibly reminded of the +_razzias_ of the little African kings, who, anxious for a fresh supply +of slaves, collect their troops together and invade the neighbouring +territories, where they enact scenes corresponding exactly with the +one here described. In Africa, however, the slave is fed by those who +have burned and destroyed his house and his farm; but in Ireland, as +labour is valueless, he is turned into the roads or the grave-yards +to die of famine, or of pestilence. And yet, even now, the _Times_ +asks the question-- + + "How are the people to be fed and employed? That is the question + which still baffles an age that can transmit a message round the + world in a moment of time, and point out the locality of a planet + never yet seen. There is the question which founders both the bold + and the wise." + +Up to this time there had been repeated cases of partial famine, but +now the nation was startled by the news of the almost total failure of +the crop of potatoes, the single description of food upon which the +people of Ireland had been reduced to depend. Constant cropping of the +soil, returning to it none of the manure, because of the necessity for +exporting almost the whole of its products, had produced disease in +the vegetable world--precisely as the want of proper nourishment +produces it in the animal world--and now a cry of famine rang +throughout the land. The poor-houses were everywhere filled, while the +roads, and the streets, and the grave-yards were occupied by the +starving and the naked, the dying and the dead; and the presses of +England were filled with denunciations of English and Irish +landholders, who desired to make food dear, while men, women, and +children were perishing by hundreds of thousands for want of food. +Thus far, Ireland had been protected in the market of England, as some +small compensation for the sacrifice she had made of her manufacturing +interests; but now, small as has been the boon, it was to be +withdrawn, precisely as we see to have been the case with the poor +people of Jamaica. Like them, the Irish had become poor, and their +trade had ceased to be of value, although but seventy years before +they had been England's _best_ customers. The system had exhausted all +the foreign countries with which England had been permitted to +maintain what is denominated free trade--India, Portugal, Turkey, the +West Indies, and Ireland herself--and it had become necessary to make +an effort to obtain markets in the only prosperous countries of the +world, those which had to a greater or less extent placed the consumer +by the side of the producer, to wit--this country, France, Belgium, +Germany, and Russia--and the mode of accomplishing this was that of +offering them the same freedom of trade in food by which Ireland had +been ruined. The farmers were everywhere invited to exhaust their soil +by sending its products to England to be consumed; and the corn-laws +were repealed for the purpose of enabling them to impoverish +themselves by entering into competition with the starving Irishman, +who was thus at once deprived of the market of England, as by the Act +of Union he had been deprived of his own. The cup of wretchedness was +before well nigh full, but it was now filled. The price of food fell, +and the labourer was ruined, for the whole product of his land would +scarcely pay his rent. The landlord was ruined, for he could collect +no rents, and he was at the same time liable for the payment of +enormous taxes for the maintenance of his poor neighbours. His land +was encumbered with mortgages and settlements, created when food was +high, and he could pay no interest; and now a law was passed, by aid +of which property could be summarily disposed of at public sale, and +the proceeds distributed among those who had legal claims upon it. The +landholder of Jamaica, exhausted by the system, had had his property +taken from him at a price fixed by Parliament, and the proceeds +applied to the discharge of debts incurred to his English agents, and +now the same Parliament provided for the transfer of Irish property +with a view to the payment of the same class of debts. The +impoverished landholder now experienced the same fate that had +befallen his poor tenant, and from that date to this, famine and +pestilence, levellings and evictions, have been the order of the day. +Their effect has everywhere been to drive the poor people from the +land, and its consequences are seen in the fact that the population +numbered, in 1850, _one million six hundred and fifty-nine thousand +less than it did in_ 1840; while the starving population of the towns +had largely increased. The county of Cork had diminished 222,000, +while Dublin had grown in numbers 22,000. Galway had lost 125,000, +while the city had gained 7422. Connaught had lost 414,000, while +Limerick and Belfast had gained 30,000. The number of inhabited houses +had fallen from 1,328,000 to 1,047,000, or more than twenty per cent. +Announcing these startling facts, the London _Times_ stated that "_for +a whole generation man had been a drug in Ireland, and population a +nuisance_." The "inexhaustible Irish supply had," as it continued, +"kept down the price of English labour," but this cheapness of labour +had "contributed vastly to the improvement and power" of England, and +largely to "the enjoyment of those who had money to spend." Now, +however, a change appeared to be at hand, and it was to be feared that +the prosperity of England, based as it had been on cheap Irish labour, +might be interfered with, as famine and pestilence, evictions and +emigration, were thinning out the Celts who had so long, as it is +said, been "hewers of wood and drawers of water for the Saxon." +Another of the advocates of the system which has exhausted and ruined +Ireland, and is now transferring its land to the men who have enriched +themselves by acting as middlemen between the producers and consumers +of the world, rejoicing in the great number of those who had fled from +their native soil to escape the horrors of starvation and pestilence, +declares that this is to be regarded as the joyful side of the case. +"What," it asks, + + "Will follow? This great good, among others--that _the stagnant + weight of unemployed population_ in these insulated realms is never + likely again to accumulate to the dangerous amount which there was + sometimes cause to apprehend that, from unforeseen revulsions in + industry or foreign trade, it might have done. A natural vent is now + so thoroughly opened, and so certain to grow wider and clearer + everyday, that the overflow will pass off whenever a moderate degree + of pressure recurs. Population, skill, and capital, also, will no + longer wait in consternation till they are half spent with watching + and fear. The way is ready. They will silently shift their quarters + when the competition or depression here becomes uncomfortable. Every + family has already friends or acquaintances who have gone before them + over sea. Socially, our insulation as a people is proved, by the + census of 1851, to be at an end."--_Daily News_. + +The _Times_, too, rejoices in the prospect that the resources of +Ireland will now probably be developed, as the Saxon takes the place +of the Celt, who has so long hewn the wood and drawn the water for his +Saxon masters. "Prosperity and happiness may," as it thinks, + + "Some day reign over that beautiful island. Its fertile soil, its + rivers and lakes, its water-power, its minerals, and other materials + for the wants and luxuries of man, may one day be developed; but all + appearances are against the belief that this will ever happen in the + days of the Celt. That tribe will soon fulfil the great law of + Providence which seems to enjoin and reward the union of races. It + will mix with the Anglo-American, and be known no more as a jealous + and separate people. Its present place will be occupied by the more + mixed, more docile, and more serviceable race, which has long borne + the yoke of sturdy industry in this island, which can submit to a + master and obey the law. This is no longer a dream, for it is a fact + now in progress, and every day more apparent." + +Commenting upon the view thus presented, an American journalist most +truly says-- + + "There is a cold-blooded atrocity in the spirit of these remarks for + which examples will be sought in vain, except among the doctors of + the free-trade school. Naturalists have learned to look with + philosophical indifference upon the agonies of a rabbit or a mouse + expiring in an exhausted receiver, but it requires long teaching from + the economists before men's hearts can be so steeled, that after + pumping out all the sustenance of vitality from one of the fairest + islands under the sun, they can discourse calmly upon its + depopulation as proof of the success of the experiment, can talk with + bitter irony of 'that _strange_ region of the earth where such a + people, affectionate and hopeful, genial and witty, industrious and + independent, was produced and _could not stay_,' and can gloat in the + anticipation that prosperity and happiness may some day reign over + that beautiful island, and its boundless resources for the wants and + luxuries of man be developed, not for the Celt, but 'for a more + mixed, more docile, and more serviceable race, which can submit to a + master and obey the law.'"--_Albany Journal_. + +The _Times_ rejoices that the place of the Celt is in future to be +occupied by cattle, as sheep already occupy the place of the +Highlander expelled from the land in which, before Britain undertook +to underwork all other nations and thus secure a monopoly for "the +workshop of the world," his fathers were as secure in their rights as +was the landowner himself. Irish journals take a different view of the +prospect. They deprecate the idea of the total expulsion of the native +race, and yet they fear that + + "There is no doubt that in a few years more, if some stop is not put + to the present outpouring of the people to America, and latterly to + Australia, there will not be a million of the present race of + inhabitants to be found within the compass of the four provinces." + + "No thoughts of the land of their birth," it continues, "seems to + enter their minds, although the Irish people have been proverbial for + their attachment to their country."--_Connaught Western Star_. + +A recent journal informs us that + + "The Galway papers are full of the most deplorable accounts of + wholesale evictions, or rather exterminations, in that miserable + country. The tenantry are turned out of the cottages by scores at a + time. As many as 203 men, women, and children have been driven upon + the roads and ditches by way of one day's work, and have now no + resource but to beg their bread in desolate places, or to bury their + griefs, in many instances for ever, within the walls of the Union + workhouse. Land agents direct the operation. The work is done by a + large force of police and soldiery. Under the protection of the + latter, 'the Crowbar Brigade' advances to the devoted township, takes + possession of the houses, such as they are, and, with a few turns of + the crowbar and a few pulls at a rope, bring down the roof, and leave + nothing but a tottering chimney, if even that. The sun that rose on a + village sets on a desert; the police return to their barracks, and + the people are nowhere to be found, or are vainly watching from some + friendly covert for the chance of crouching once more under their + ruined homes. + + "What to the Irish heart is more painful than even the large amount + and stern method of the destruction, is that the authors this time + are Saxon strangers. It is a wealthy London company that is invading + the quiet retreats of Connemara, and robbing a primitive peasantry of + its last hold on the earth; The Law Life Assurance Company having + advanced, we believe, £240,000 on the Martin estates, has now become + the purchaser under the Encumbered Estates Acts, and is adopting + these summary but usual measures to secure the forfeited pledge. That + gentlemen, many of whom have never set foot in Ireland, and who are + wealthy enough to lend a quarter of a million of money, should exact + the last penny from a wretched peasantry who had no hand, or voice in + the transaction which gave them new masters, seems utterly + intolerable to the native Irish reason." + +With the growth of the value of land, man has always become free. With +the decline in its value, man has always become enslaved. If we desire +to find the cause of the enormous destruction of life in Ireland, even +in this day of boasted civilization--if we desire to find the cause of +the eviction of tenant and landlord, and the decline in the value of +land, we need scarcely look beyond the following paragraph:-- + + "The cotton manufacture of Dublin, which employed 14,000 operatives, + has been destroyed; the 3400 silk-looms of the Liberty have been + destroyed; the stuff and serge manufacture, which employed 1491 + operatives, have been destroyed; the calico-looms of Balbriggan have + been destroyed; the flannel manufacture of Rathdrum has been + destroyed; the blanket manufacture of Kilkenny has been destroyed; + the camlet trade of Bandon, which produced £100,000 a year, has been + destroyed; the worsted and stuff manufactures of Waterford have been + destroyed; the rateen and frieze manufactures of Carrick-on-Suir have + been destroyed. One business alone survives! One business alone + thrives and flourishes, and dreads no bankruptcy! That fortunate + business--which the Union Act has not struck down, but which the + Union Act has stood by--which the absentee drain has not slackened, + but has stimulated--which the drainage Acts and navigation laws of + the Imperial Senate have not deadened but invigorated--that favoured, + and privileged, and patronized business is the Irish + coffin-maker's."[119] + +To the separation of the consumer from the producer resulting from the +adoption of the system which has for its object the establishment of a +monopoly of the machinery of manufacture for the world, are due the +exhaustion of Ireland, the ruin of its landholders, the starvation of +its people, and the degradation in the eyes of the world of the +country which has furnished to the continent its best soldiers, and to +the empire not only its most industrious and intelligent labourers, +but also its Burke, its Grattan, its Sheridan, and its Wellington. And +yet we find the _Times_ rejoicing at the gradual disappearance of the +native population, and finding in + + "The abstraction of the Celtic race at the rate of a quarter of a + million a year, a surer remedy for _the inveterate Irish disease_, + than any human wit could have imagined." + +The "inveterate Irish disease" here spoken of is a total absence of +demand for labour, resulting from the unhappy determination of the +people of England to maintain the monopoly of the power to manufacture +for the world. The sure remedy for this is found in famines, +pestilences, and expatriation, the necessary results of the exhaustion +of the land which follows the exportation of its raw products. A +stronger confirmation of the destructive character of such a course of +policy than is contained in the following paragraph could scarcely be +imagined:-- + + "When the Celt has crossed the Atlantic, he begins for the first time + in his life to consume the manufactures of this country, and + indirectly to contribute to its customs. We may possibly live to see + the day when the chief product of Ireland will be cattle, and English + and Scotch the majority of her population. The nine or ten millions + of Irish, who by that time will have settled in the United States, + cannot be less friendly to England, and will certainly be much better + customers to her than they now are."--London _Times_. + +When the Celt leaves Ireland he leaves an almost purely agricultural +country, and in such countries man generally approaches nearly to the +condition of a slave. When he comes here he comes to a country in +which to some little extent the plough and the loom have been enabled +to come together; and here he becomes a freeman and a customer of +England. + +The nation that commences by exporting raw products must end by +exporting men; and if we desire evidence of this, we need only look to +the following figures, furnished by the last four censuses of +Ireland:-- + + 1821........ 6,801,827 + 1831........ 7,767,401----Increase, 965,574 + 1841........ 8,175,124----Increase, 407,723 + 1851........ 6,515,794----Decrease, 1,659,330 + +To what causes may this extraordinary course of events be attributed? +Certainly not to any deficiency of land, for nearly one-third of the +whole surface, including millions of acres of the richest soils of the +kingdom, remains in a state of nature. Not to original inferiority of +the soil in cultivation, for it has been confessedly among the richest +in the empire. Not to a deficiency of mineral ores or fuel, for coal +abounds, and iron ores of the richest kind, as well as those of other +metals, exist in vast profusion. Not to any deficiency in the physical +qualities of the Irishman, for it is an established fact that he is +capable of performing far more labour than the Englishman, the +Frenchman, or the Belgian. Not to a deficiency of intellectual +ability, for Ireland has given to England her most distinguished +soldiers and statesmen; and we have in this country everywhere +evidence that the Irishman is capable of the highest degree of +intellectual improvement. Nevertheless, while possessed of every +advantage that nature could give him, we find the Irishman at home a +slave to the severest taskmasters, and reduced to a condition of +poverty and distress, such as is exhibited in no other portion of the +civilized world. No choice is now left him but between expatriation +and starvation, and therefore it is that we see him everywhere +abandoning the home of his fathers, to seek elsewhere that subsistence +which Ireland, rich as she is in soil and in her minerals, in her +navigable rivers, and in her facilities of communication with the +world, can no longer afford him. + +That the process of eviction is still continued on an extensive scale +is shown by the following extracts from Sir Francis Head's work on +Ireland, just issued from the press:-- + + "Here almost immediately I first met with that afflicting spectacle, + or rather spectre, that almost without intermission haunted me + through the whole remainder of my tour, namely, stout stone-built + cabins; unroofed for the purpose of evicting therefrom their + insolvent tenants."--P. 110 + + "On conversing with the master, I ascertained from him that Lord + Lucan's evictions have ceased, but that Lord Erne evicted on Saturday + last."[120]--P. 115 + + "'Is this system of eviction,' said I to the driver, pointing to a + small cluster of unroofed cabins we were passing at the moment, 'good + or bad?' 'Well! yere Arn'r!' he replied, 'ut's good and ut's bad. + Ut's good for them that hould large lands, bad for the small. Ut + laves nothing for tham but the workhouse.'"--P. 121. + +The tendency of the system which looks to the exportation of raw +produce and the exhaustion of the soil is always toward the +consolidation of the land, because the exportation of population, +whether from Ireland, India, or Virginia, always follows in the wake +of the exportation of food and other raw commodities. + + "Among the men were only four that could fairly be called 'able- + bodied;' each of them told me he had been evicted by Lord Lucan. I + asked the master what had become of the rest. His answer was very + instructive. 'Most of them,' said he, 'if they can scrape up + half-a-crown, go to England, from whence, after some little time, + they send from 2s. 6d. to 10s. and, as soon as their families get + _that_, they are off to them.' + + "'Does the father go first?' I thoughtlessly asked. + + "'Oh, no! we keep _him_ to the last. One daughter went off to England + from here a short time ago, and sent 7s. 6d. _That_ took out the + mother and another sister. In a few weeks the mother and sister sent + enough to get over the remaining two sons and the father. Total of + the family, 6.'"--P. 127. + +In the above passage we have the equivalent of the exportation of the +negro from the Northern Slave States. Husbands and wives, parents and +children, are forced to fly from each other, never to meet again +unless those who emigrate can save means to send for those who are +left behind. + + "We were now joined by the head-steward--a sedate, highly + intelligent, respectable-looking Scotchman, who has been in Ireland + thirteen years. He told me that the number of persons that had been + ejected was about 10,000, of whom one-tenth were employed by Lord + Lucan, who had given most of them cottages." + + "We passed a cabin, and, closing my umbrella and leaving it on the + car, I walked in. + + "'Will yere Arn'r take a sate?' said a woman about thirty-eight, with + a fine, open countenance, her eyes being listlessly fixed on the + daylight. + + "I sat down. On her lap was an infant. Three bare-footed children, as + if hatching eggs, sat motionless on the edge of a peat fire, which + appeared to be almost touching their naked toes; above the embers was + demurely hanging a black pot. Opposite sat, like a bit of gnarled + oak, the withered grandmother. The furniture was composed of a + dingy-coloured wooden wardrobe, with a few plates on the top, and one + bed close to the fire. There was no chimney but the door, on the + threshold of which stood, looking exceedingly unhappy, four dripping + wet fowls; at the far end of the chamber was a regular dungheap, on + which stood an ass. + + "'Where is your husband, my good woman?' I said to the youngest of + the women. + + "'In England, yere Arn'r,' she replied, 'saking work.'"--P. 132. + +"Seeking work!" and yet Ireland abounds, in the richest land +uncultivated, and mineral wealth untouched, because the system forbids +that men should combine their efforts together for the improvement of +their common condition. + + "After trotting on for about a mile, and after I had left Lord + Lucan's property, I came as usual to a small village of unroofed + cabins, from the stark walls of which, to my astonishment, I saw here + and there proceeding a little smoke; and, on approaching it, I beheld + a picture I shall not readily forget. The tenants had been all + evicted, and yet, dreadful to say, they were there still! the + children nestling, and the poor women huddling together, under a + temporary lean-to of straw, which they had managed to stick into the + interstices of the walls of their ancient homes. + + "'This is a quare place, yere Arn'r!' said a fine, honest-looking + woman, kindly smiling to me, adding, 'Sit down, yere Arn'r!' + + "One of her four children got up and offered me his stool. + + "Under another temporary shed I found a tall woman heavy with child, + a daughter ahout sixteen, and four younger children--_her_ husband + was also in England, 'sakin work.' I entered two or three more of + these wretched habitations, around which were the innumerable tiny + fields; surrounded by those low tottering stone walls I have already + described.* * *--P. 136. + + "They were really good people, and from what I read in their + countenances, I feel confident, that if, instead of distributing + among them a few shillings, I had asked them to feed _me_, with the + kindest hospitality they would readily have done so, and that with my + gold in my pocket I might have slept among them in the most perfect + security. + + "The devotional expressions of the lower class of Irish, and the + meekness and resignation with which they bear misfortune or + affliction, struck, me very forcibly. 'I haven't aten a bit this + blessed day, glory be to God!' said one woman, 'Troth, I've been + suffering lhong time from poverty and sickness, glory be to God!' + said another. On entering a strange cabin, the common salutation is, + 'God save all here!' On passing a gang of comrades at labour, a man + often says, 'God bless the work, boys!'"--P. 137. + +The extirpation of the people results necessarily in the decay of the +towns, as is here shown:-- + + "When my bill came,--for one's bill at an inn, like death, is sure to + come,--I asked the waiter what effect the evictions in the + neighbourhood had had on the town. + + "'They have ruined it,' he replied; 'the poor used to support the + rich; now that the poor are gone the rich shopkeepers are all + failing. Our town is full of empty shops, and, after all, the + landlord himself is now being ruined!'"--P. 147. + +Cheap labour and cheap land are always companions. In Jamaica and +India, land, as we have seen, is almost valueless. How it is in +Ireland may be seen by the following passage:-- + + "Adjoining is a similar property of about 10,000 acres, purchased, I + was informed, by Captain Houston, a short time ago, at the rate of + 2-1/2d. an acre."--P. 153. + +In a paper recently read before the statistical section of the British +Association, it is shown that the estates recently purchased in +Ireland by English capital embraced 403,065 acres, and that the +purchase money had been £1,095,000, or about £2 15s. ($13.20) per +acre, being little more than is paid for farms with very moderate +improvements in the new States of the Mississippi Valley. + +Why land is cheap and labour badly rewarded may easily be seen on a +perusal of the following passages:-- + + "'Chickuns are about 5d. a couple, dooks 10d. A couple of young gaise + 10d; when auld, not less than 1s. or 14d.' + + "'And turkeys?' I asked. + + "'I can't say; we haven't many of thim in the counthry, and I don't + want to tell yere Arn'r a lie. Fish, little or nothing. A large + turbot, of 30 lbs. weight, for 3s. Lobsters, a dozen for 4d. Soles, + 2d. or 3d. a piece. T'other day I bought a turbot, of 15 lbs. weight, + for a gentleman, and I paid 18d. for ut.'"--P. 178. + + "'What do you pay for your tea and sugar here?' I inquired. + + "'Very dare, sir,' he replied. 'We pay 5s. for tea, 5d. for brown + sugar, and 8d. for white; that is, if we buy a single + pound.'"--P.187. + +The sugar of the labourer of Jamaica exchanges in Manchester for three +shillings, of which he receives perhaps one, and he perishes because +of the difficulty of obtaining machinery, or clothing. The Hindoo +sells his cotton for a penny a pound, and buys it back in the form of +cloth at eighteen or twenty pence. The Virginia negro raises tobacco +which exchanges for six shillings' worth of commodities, of which he +and his owner obtain three pence. The poor Irishman raises chickens +which sell in London for shillings, of which he receives pence, and +thus a pound of sugar which had yielded the free negro of Jamaica two +pence, exchanges in the West of Ireland for a pair of chickens or a +dozen lobsters. The reader who may study these facts will readily +understand the destructive effects on the value of land and labour +resulting from the absence of markets, such as arise naturally where +the plough and the loom are permitted, in accordance with the +doctrines of Adam Smith, to take their places by the side of each +other. More than seventy years since he denounced the system which +looked to compelling the exports of raw produce as one productive of +infinite injustice, and certainly the histories of Jamaica and +Virginia, Ireland and India, since his time, would afford him, were he +now present, little reason for a change of opinion. + +It is common to ascribe the state of things now existing in Ireland to +the rapid growth of population; and that in its turn is charged to the +account of the potato, the excessive use of which, as Mr. McCulloch +informs his readers, has lowered the standard of living and tended to +the multiplication of men, women, and children. "The peasantry of +Ireland live," as he says, "in miserable mud cabins, without either a +window or a chimney, or any thing that can be called furniture," and +are distinguished from their fellow labourers across the Channel by +their "filth and misery," and hence it is, in his opinion, that they +work for low wages. We have here effect substituted for cause. The +absence of demand for labour causes wages to be low, and those wages +will procure nothing but mud cabins and potatoes. It is admitted +everywhere throughout the continent of Europe that the introduction of +the potato has tended greatly to the improvement of the condition of +the people; but then, there is no portion of the continent in which it +is used, where it constitutes an essential part of the governmental +policy to deprive millions of people of all mode of employment except +agriculture, and thus placing those millions at such a distance from +market that the chief part of their labour and its products is lost in +the effort to reach that market, and their land is exhausted because +of the impossibility of returning to the soil any portion of the crop +yielded by it. Commercial centralization produces all these effects. +It looks to the destruction of the value of labour and land, and to +the enslavement of man. It tends to the division of the whole +population into two classes, separated by an impassable gulf--the mere +labourer and the land-owner. It tends to the destruction of the power +of association for any purpose of improvement, whether by the making +of roads or by the founding of schools, and of course to the +prevention of the growth of towns, as we see to have been the case +with Jamaica, so barbarous in this respect when compared with +Martinique or Cuba, islands whose governments have not looked to the +perpetual divorce of the hammer and the harrow. The decay of towns in +Ireland, subsequent to the Union, led to absenteeism, and thus added +to the exhaustion of the land, because Irish wheat was now needed to +pay not only for English cloth but for English services; and the more +the centralization resulting from absenteeism, the greater necessarily +was the difficulty of maintaining the productive powers of the soil. +Mr. McCulloch, however, assures his readers that "it is not easy to +imagine any grounds for pronouncing the expenditure of the rent at +home "more beneficial" to the country than if it had been expended +abroad. (_Principles_, 157.) Another distinguished political economist +says-- + + "Many persons, also, perplexed by the consideration that all the + commodities which are exported as remittances of the absentee's + income are exports for which no return is obtained; that they are as + much lost to this country as if they were a tribute paid to a foreign + state, or even as if they were periodically thrown into the sea. This + is unquestionably true; but it must be recollected that whatever is + unproductively consumed, is, by the very terms of the proposition, + destroyed, without producing any return"--_Senior's Political + Economy_, 160. + +This view is, as the reader will see, based upon the idea of the total +destruction of the commodities consumed. Were it even correct, it +would still follow that there had been transferred from Ireland to +England a demand for services of a thousand kinds, tending to cause a +rise in the price of labour in the one and a fall in the other;--but +if it were altogether incorrect, it would then follow, necessarily, +that the loss to the country _would_ be as great as if the remittances +were "a tribute paid to a foreign state, or even as if they were +periodically thrown into the sea." That it is altogether incorrect the +reader may readily satisfy himself. Man consumes much, but he destroys +nothing. In eating food he is merely acting as a machine for preparing +the elements of which it is composed for future production; and the +more he can take out of the land the more he can return to it, and the +more rapid will be the improvement in the productive power of the +soil. If the market be at hand, he can take hundreds of bushels of +turnips, carrots, or potatoes, or tons of hay, from an acre of land, +and he can vary the character of his culture from year to year, and +the more he borrows from the great bank the more he can repay to it, +the more he can improve his mind and his cultivation, and the more +readily he can exchange for improved machinery by aid of which to +obtain still increased returns. If, however, the market be distant, he +must raise only those things that will bear carriage, and which from +their small yield command a high price, and thus is he limited in his +cultivation, and the more he is limited the more rapidly he exhausts +his land, the less is his power to obtain roads, to have association +with his fellow-men, to obtain books, to improve his mode of thought, +to make roads, or to purchase machinery. Such is the case even when he +is compelled to sell and buy in distant markets, but still worse is it +when, as in the case of the rent of the absentee, nothing is returned +to the land, for then production diminishes without a corresponding +diminution of the rent, and the poor cultivator is more and more +thrown upon the mercy of the land-owner or his agent, and becomes, as +we see to have been the case in Jamaica and India, practically a +slave. This state of things has in all countries been followed by a +diminution of population resulting from starvation or from +exportation; and hence it is that we see the destruction of life in +Ireland, India, and the West Indies, while from the two former vast +numbers are annually exported, many of them to perish in the new +countries to which they are driven. Out of 99,000 that left Ireland +for Canada in a single year, no less than 13,000 perished on +shipboard, and thousands died afterward of disease, starvation, and +neglect; and thus it is that we have the horrors of "the middle +passage" repeated in our day. It is the slave trade of the last +century reproduced on a grander scale and on a new theatre of action. + +We are told of the principle of population that men increase faster +than food, and, for evidence that such must always be the case, are +pointed to the fact that when men are few in number they always +cultivate the rich soils, and then food is abundant, but as population +increases they are forced to resort to the poor soils, and then food +becomes scarce. That the contrary of all this is the fact is shown by +the history of England, France, Italy, Greece, India, and every other +nation of the world, and is proved in our own day by all that is at +this moment being done in this country. It is proved by the fact that +Ireland possesses millions of acres of the most fertile soil remaining +in a state of nature, and so likely to remain until she shall have +markets for their produce that will enable their owners readily to +exchange turnips, potatoes, cabbages, and hay, for cloth, machinery, +and MANURE. + +It is singular that all the political economists of England should so +entirely have overlooked the fact that man is a mere borrower from the +earth, and that when he does not pay his debts, she does as do all +other creditors, that is, she expels him from his holding. England +makes of her soil a grand reservoir for the waste yielded by all the +sugar, coffee, wool, indigo, cotton and other raw commodities of +almost half the world, and thus does she raise a crop that has been +valued at five hundred millions of dollars, or five times more than +the average value of the cotton crop produced by so many millions of +people in this country; and yet so important is manure that she +imports in a single year more than two hundred thousand tons of guano, +at a cost of almost two millions of pounds, and thus does she make +labour productive and land valuable. Nevertheless, her writers teach +other nations that the true mode of becoming rich is to exhaust the +land by sending from it all its products in their rudest state, and +then, when the people of Ireland attempt to follow the soil which they +have sent to England, the people of the latter are told by Mr. +McCulloch that + + "The unexampled misery of the Irish people is directly owing to the + excessive augmentation of their numbers; and, nothing can be more + perfectly futile than to expect any real or lasting amendment of + their situation until an effectual check has been given to the + progress of population. It is obvious too," he continues, "that the + low and degraded condition into which the people of Ireland are now + sunk is the condition to which every people must be reduced whose + numbers continue, for any considerable period, to increase faster + than the means of providing for their comfortable and decent + subsistence."--_Principles_, 383. + +The population of Ireland did increase with some rapidity, and the +reason for this was to be found in the fact that poverty had not yet +produced that demoralization which restricts the growth of numbers. +The extraordinary morality of the women of Ireland is admitted +everywhere. In England it is remarked upon by poor-law commissioners, +and here it is a fact that cannot fail to command the attention of the +most superficial observer. How it is at home we are told by Sir +Francis Head, whose statements on this subject cannot be read without +interest:-- + + "As regards the women of Ireland, their native modesty cannot fail to + attract the observation of any stranger. Their dress was invariably + decent, generally pleasing, and often strikingly picturesque. Almost + all wore woollen petticoats, dyed by themselves, of a rich madder + colour, between crimson and scarlet. Upon their shoulders, and + occasionally from their heads, hung, in a variety of beautiful folds, + sometimes a plaid of red and green, sometimes a cloak, usually dark + blue or dingy white. Their garments, however, like those of the men, + were occasionally to be seen in tatters."--P. 119. + +Anxious to be fully informed on the subject, the traveller took +occasion to interrogate various police-officers and gentlemen, and the +result of his inquiries will be seen on a perusal of the following +questions and answers:-- + + Q. "How long have you been on duty in Galway?" + + A. "Above nine years." + + Q. "Have you much crime here?" + + A. "Very little; it principally consists of petty larcenies." + + Q. "Have there been here many illegitimate children?" + + A. "Scarcely any. During the whole of the eight years I have been on + duty here I have not known of an illegitimate child being reared up + in any family in the town." + + Q. "What do you mean by being reared up?" + + A. "I mean that, being acquainted with every family in Galway, I have + never known of a child of that description being born."--P. 208. + + Q. "How long have you been on duty here?" + + A. "Only six months." + + Q. "During that time have you known of any instance of an + illegitimate child being born in the village of the Claddagh?" + + A. "Not only have I never known of such a case, but I have never + heard any person attribute such a case to the fisherwomen of + Claddagh. I was on duty in the three islands of Arran, inhabited + almost exclusively by fishermen, who also farm potatoes, and I never + heard of one of their women--who are remarkable for their + beauty--having had an illegitimate child, nor did I ever hear it + attributed to them; indeed, I have been informed by Mr. -----, a + magistrate who has lived in Galway for eight years, and has been on + temporary duty in the island of Arran, that he also had never heard + there of a case of that nature."--P. 209. + + A. "I have been here better than two years, and during that time I + have never known of any woman of Claddagh having had an illegitimate + child--indeed, I have never even heard of it." + + Q. "Have you ever known of any such case in Galway?" + + A. "Oh, I think there have been some cases in _town_. Of my own + knowledge I cannot say so, but I have _heard_ of it."--_Ibid_. + + Q. "How long have you been in charge of the Claddagh village?" + + A. "I have been nine years here, for five years of which last March I + have been in charge of Claddagh." + + Q. "During that time has there been an illegitimate child born + there?" + + A. "No, I have never heard of it, and if it had happened I should + have been sure to have heard of it, as they wouldn't have allowed her + to stop in the village."--P. 210. + +The reader will now be pleased to recollect that the production of +food, flax, cotton, and other raw commodities requires hard labour and +exposure, and it is for such labour men are fitted--that the +conversion of food, flax, and cotton into cloth requires little +exertion and is unattended with exposure, and is therefore especially +fitted for the weaker sex--and that when the work of conversion is +monopolized by people who live at a distance from the place of +production, the woman and the child must be driven to the labour of +the field; and therefore it is that we see the women and the children +of Jamaica and Carolina, of Portugal and Turkey, of India and of +Ireland, compelled to remain idle or to cultivate the land, because of +the existence of a system which denies to all places in the world but +one the power to bring the consumer to the side of the producer. It +was time for woman to take up the cause of her sex, and it may be +hoped that she will prosecute the inquiry into the causes of the +demoralization and degradation of the women of so large a portion of +the world, until she shall succeed in extirpating the system so long +since denounced by the greatest of all economists, as "a manifest +violation of the most sacred rights of man [and woman] kind." + + * * * * * + +SCOTLAND. + +Centralization tends everywhere to the exhaustion of the land, and to +its consolidation in fewer hands, and with every step in this +direction man becomes less and less free to determine for whom he will +work and what shall be his reward. That such has been the tendency in +Jamaica, India, and Ireland, has been shown, and it is now proposed to +show that the same tendency exists in Scotland, the Northern part of +which has become exclusively agricultural as even its home +manufactures have passed away, and must look to a distance for a +market for all its products, involving, of course, a necessity for +exhausting the land. + +The Highland tacksman, originally co-proprietor of the land of the +clan, became at first vassal, then hereditary tenant, then tenant at +will, and thus the property in land passed from the many into the +hands of the few, who have not hesitated to avail themselves of the +power so obtained. The payment of money rents was claimed by them +eighty years since, but the amount was very small, as is shown by the +following passage from a work of that date:-- + + "The rent of these lands is very trifling compared to their extent, + but compared to the number of mouths which a farm maintains, it will + perhaps be found that a plot of land in the highlands of Scotland + feeds ten times more people than a farm of the same extent in the + richest provinces."--_Stewart's Political Economy_, vol. i. chap. + xvi. + +Of some of the proceedings of the present century the following sketch +is furnished by a recent English writer:-- + + "Even in the beginning of the 19th century the rental imposts were + very small, as is shown by the work of Mr. Lock, (1820,) the steward + of the Countess of Sutherland, who directed the improvements on her + estates. He gives for instance the rental of the Kintradawell estate + for 1811, from which it appears that up to then, every family was + obliged to pay a yearly impost of a few shillings in money, a few + fowls, and some days' work, at the highest. + + "It was only after 1811 that the ultimate and real usurpation was + enacted, the forcible, transformation of _clan-property_ into the + _private property_, in the modern sense, _of the chief_. The person + who stood at the head of this economical revolution, was the Countess + of Sutherland and Marchioness of Stafford. + + "Let us first state that the ancestors of the marchioness were the + 'great men' of the most northern part of Scotland, of very near + three-quarters of Sutherlandshire. This county is more extensive than + many French departments or small German principalities. When the + Countess of Sutherland inherited these estates, which she afterward + brought to her husband, the Marquis of Stafford, afterward Duke of + Sutherland, the population of them was already reduced to 15,000. The + countess resolved upon a radical economical reform, and determined + upon transforming the whole tract of country into sheep-walks. From + 1814 to 1820, these 15,000 inhabitants, about 3000 families, were + systematically expelled and exterminated. All their villages were + demolished and burned down, and all their fields converted into + pasturage. British soldiers were commanded for this execution, and + came to blows with the natives. An old woman refusing to quit her + hut, was burned in the flames of it. Thus the countess appropriated + to herself _seven hundred and ninety-four thousand acres of land_, + which from time immemorial had belonged to the clan. She allotted to + the expelled natives about six thousand acres--two acres per family. + These six thousand acres had been lying waste until then, and brought + no revenue to the proprietors. The countess was generous enough to + sell the acre at 2s. 6d. on an average, to the clan-men who for + centuries past had shed their blood for her family. The whole of the + unrightfully appropriated clan-land she divided into twenty-nine + large sheep-farms, each of them inhabited by one single family, + mostly English farm-labourers; and in 1821 the 15,000 Gaels had + already been superseded by 131,000 sheep. + + "A portion of the aborigines had been thrown upon the sea-shore, and + attempted to live by fishing. They became amphibious, and, as an + English author says, lived half on land and half on water, and after + all did not half live upon both." + +Throughout the North of Scotland the tenants of the small grazing +farms into which the Highland counties had been divided, have been +ousted for the purpose of creating sheep-walks, and to such an extent +has this been carried, that where once, and at no distant period, were +numerous black-cattle farms, not an inhabitant is now to be seen for +many miles.[121] The work, too, is still going on. "The example of +Sutherland," says Mr. Thornton,[122] "is imitated in the neighbouring +counties." + +The misery of these poor people is thus described:-- + + "Hinds engaged by the year are seldom paid more than two-thirds of + what they would receive in the South, and few of them are fortunate + enough to obtain regular employment. Farm-servants, however, form + only a small proportion of the peasantry, a much greater number being + crofters, or tenants of small pieces of ground, from which they + derive almost their whole subsistence. Most of them live very + miserably. The soil is so poor, and rents in some instances so + exorbitant, that occupiers of four or five acres can do little more + than maintain themselves, yet it is their aid alone that saves their + still poorer brethren from starvation. This is true even of + Sutherland, which is commonly represented as a highly improved + county, and in which a signal change for the better is said to have + taken place in the character and habits of the people.[123] Recent + inquiry has discovered that even there, in districts once famous for + fine men and gallant soldiers, the inhabitants have degenerated into + a meagre and stunted race. In the healthiest situations, on hillsides + fronting the sea, the faces of their famished children are as thin + and pale as they could be in the foul atmosphere of a London + alley.[124] Still more deplorable are the scenes exhibited in the + Western Highlands, especially on the coasts and in the adjoining + islands. A large population has there been assembled, so ill provided + with any means of support, that during part of almost every year from + 45,000 to 80,000 [125] of them are in a state of destitution, and + entirely dependent upon charity. Many of the heads of families hold + crofts from four to seven acres in extent, but these, notwithstanding + their small size, and the extreme barrenness of the soil, have often + two, three, and sometimes even four families upon them. One estate in + the Hebrides, the nominal rent of which is only £5200 a year, is + divided into 1108 crofts, and is supposed to have more than 8300 + persons living upon it. In another instance a rental of £1814 is + payable (for little is really paid) by 365 crofters, and the whole + population of the estate is estimated at more than 2300. In Cromarty, + 1500 persons are settled upon an estate let nominally for £750, but + "paying not more than half that sum."--_Thornton_, 74. + + "Of course, they live most wretchedly. Potatoes are the usual food, + for oatmeal is considered a luxury, to be reserved for high days and + holidays, but even potatoes are not raised in sufficient abundance. + The year's stock is generally exhausted before the succeeding crop is + ripe, and the poor are then often in a most desperate condition, for + the poor-law is a dead letter in the North of Scotland, and the want + of a legal provision for the necessitous is but ill supplied by the + spontaneous contributions of the land-owners."--_Ibid_. 76. + +At the moment of writing this, the journals of the day furnish +information that famine prevails in the Hebrides, and that "in the +Isle of Skye alone there are 10,000 able-bodied persons at this time +without work, without food, and without credit." + +The condition of these poor people would certainly be much improved +could they find some indulgent master who would purchase them at such +prices as would make it to his interest to feed, clothe, and lodge +them well in return for their labour. + +In the days of Adam Smith about one-fifth of the surface of Scotland +was supposed to be entailed, and he saw the disadvantages of the +system to be so great that he denounced the system as being "founded +upon the most absurd of all suppositions--the supposition that every +successive generation of men have not an equal right to the earth and +all that it possesses; but that the property of the present generation +should be retained and regulated according to the fancy of those who +died perhaps five hundred years ago." Instead of changing the system, +and doing that which might tend to the establishment of greater +freedom of trade in land, the movement has been in a contrary +direction, and to such an extent that one-half of Scotland is now +supposed to be entailed; and yet, singularly enough, this is the +system advocated by Mr. McCulloch, a follower in the foot-steps of +Adam Smith, as being the one calculated "to render all classes more +industrious, and to augment at the same time the mass of wealth and +the scale of enjoyment." + +The effects of the system are seen in the enormous rents contracted to +be paid for the use of small pieces of land at a distance from market, +the failure in the payment of which makes the poor cultivator a mere +slave to the proprietor. How the latter use their power, may be seen +by the following extract from a Canadian journal of 1851:-- + + "A Colonel -----, the owner of estates in South Uist and Barra, in + the highlands of Scotland, has sent off over 1100 destitute tenants + and cotters under the most cruel and delusive temptations; assuring + them that they would be taken care of immediately on their arrival at + Quebec by the emigrant agent, receive a free passage to Upper Canada, + where they would be provided with work by the government agents, and + receive grants of land on certain imaginary conditions. Seventy-one + of the last cargo of four hundred and fifty have signed a statement + that some of them fled to the mountains when an attempt was made to + force them to emigrate. 'Whereupon,' they add, 'Mr. Fleming gave + orders to a policeman, who was accompanied by the ground officer of + the estate in Barra, and some constables, to pursue the people who + had run away among the mountains, which they did, and succeeded in + capturing about twenty from the mountains and from other islands in + the neighbourhood; but only came with the officers on an attempt + being made to handcuff them, and that some who ran away were not + brought back; in consequence of which four families, at least, have + been divided, some having come in the ships to Quebec, while other + members of the same families are left in the highlands.'" + + "On board the Conrad and the Birman were 518 persons from Mull and + Tyree, sent out by his grace the Duke of -----, who provided them + with a free passage to Montreal, where on arrival they presented the + same appearance of destitution as those from South Uist, sent out by + Colonel -----, that is, 'entirely destitute of money and + provisions.'" + +Numbers of these people perished, as we are told, of disease and want +of food in the winter which followed their arrival in Canada; and that +such would have been the case might naturally have been anticipated by +those who exported them. + +The wretched cotters who are being everywhere expelled from the land +are forced to take refuge in cities and towns, precisely as we see now +to be the case in Ireland. "In Glasgow," says Mr. Thornton-- + + "There are nearly 30,000 poor Highlanders, most of them living in a + state of misery, which shows how dreadful must have been the + privations to which such misery is preferred. Such of them as are + able-bodied obtain employment without much difficulty, and may not + perhaps have much reason to complain of deficiency of the first + requisites of life; but the quarter they inhabit is described as + enclosing a larger amount of filth, crime, misery, and disease, than + could have been supposed to exist in one spot in any civilized + country. It consists of long lanes called 'wynds,' so narrow that a + cart could scarcely pass through them, opening upon 'closes,' or + courts, about 15 or 20 feet square, round which the houses, mostly + three stories high, are built, and in the centre of which is a + dunghill. The houses are occupied indiscriminately by labourers of + the lowest class, thieves, and prostitutes, and every apartment is + filled with a promiscuous crowd of men and women, all in the most + revolting state of filth. Amid such scenes and such companions as + these, thousands of the most intelligent of the Highlanders are + content to take refuge, for it is precisely those who are best + educated and best informed that are most impatient of the penury they + have to endure at home. + + "The inhabitants of the Glasgow wynds and closes may be likened to + those of the Liverpool cellars, or to those of the worst parts of + Leeds, St. Giles's, and Bethnal Green, in London; and every other + class of the Scottish urban labouring population may likewise be + delineated with the same touches (more darkened, however,) which have + been used in describing the corresponding class in English towns. + Manufacturing operatives are in pretty much the same position in both + countries. Those of Scotland shared even more largely than their + Southern brethren in the distress of 1840-2, when Paisley in + particular exhibited scenes of wo far surpassing any thing that has + been related of Bolton or Stockport."--P. 77. + +The extent to which these poor people have been driven from the land +may be judged by the following statement of population and +house-accommodation:-- + + Persons to + Population. Inhabited houses. a house. + ----------- ----------------- ---------- + 1841...... 2,628,957...... 503,357...... 5.22 + 1851...... 2,870,784...... 366,650...... 7.83 + +Intemperance and immorality keep pace with the decline in the power of +men over their own actions, as is shown in the following statement of +the consumption of British spirits, under circumstances almost +precisely similar as regards the amount of duty:-- + + Duty. Gallons. + ----- -------- + 1802.............. 3.10-1/2..... 1,158,558 + 1831.............. 3.4 ........ 5,700,689 + 1841.............. 3.8 ........ 5,989,905 + 1851.............. 3.8 ........ 6,830,710 + +In 1801 the population was 1,599,068, and since that time it has +increased eighty per cent., whereas the consumption of spirits has +grown almost six hundred per cent.! + +The poor people who are expelled from the land cannot be sold. The +hammer of the auctioneer cannot be allowed to separate parents from +children, or husbands from wives, but poverty, drunkenness, and +prostitution produce a similar effect, and in a form even more +deplorable. In the five years preceding 1840, every fifth person in +Glasgow had been attacked by fever, and the deaths therefrom amounted +to almost five thousand. + +It is impossible to study the condition of this portion of the United +Kingdom without arriving at the conclusion that society is rapidly +being divided into the very rich and the very poor, and that the +latter are steadily declining in their power of self-government, and +becoming more and more slaves to the former. Centralization tends +here, as everywhere, to absenteeism, and "absenteeism," says Dr. +Forbes of Glasgow [126] -- + + "Is in its results everywhere the same. All the transactions and + communications between the richer and the poorer classes, have thus + substituted for them the sternness of official agency, in the room of + that kind and generous treatment which, let them meet unrestrained, + the more prosperous children of the same parent would in almost every + case pay to their less fortunate brothers. * * * Where the power of + sympathy has been altogether or nearly abolished among the different + ranks of society, one of the first effects appears in a yawning and + ever-widening gulf of poverty which gathers round its foundations. As + the lofty shore indicates the depth of the surrounding ocean, the + proud pinnacles of wealth in society are the indices of a + corresponding depression among the humbler ranks. The greatest misery + of man is ever the adjunct of his proudest splendour." + +Such are the results everywhere of that system which looks to +converting England into a great workshop and confining the people of +all other nations to the labours of the field. In Jamaica, it +annihilated three-fifths of all the negroes imported, and it is now +rapidly driving the remainder into barbarism and ultimately to +annihilation. In the Southern States, it causes the export of men, +women, and children, and the breaking up of families. In India, it has +caused famines and pestilences, and is now establishing the slave +trade in a new form. In Ireland, it has in half a century carried the +people back to a condition worthy only of the darkest part of the +Middle Ages, and is now extirpating them from the land of their +fathers. In Scotland, it is rapidly dividing the population into two +parts--the master on one hand, and the slave on the other. How it has +operated, and is now operating, in England itself, we may how examine. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +HOW SLAVERY GROWS IN ENGLAND. + + +The Roman people sought to centralize within their walls the power of +governing and taxing all the nations of the earth, and to a great +extent they succeeded; but in the effort to acquire power over others +they lost all power over themselves. As the city grew in size and as +its great men became greater, the proportions of the people everywhere +became less. The freemen of the Campagna had almost disappeared even +in the days of the elder Scipio, and their humble habitations had +given way to palaces, the centre of great estates, cultivated by +slaves. Step by step with the increase of power abroad came increased +consolidation of the land at home, and, as the people were more and +more driven from the soil the city grew in numbers and magnificence, +and in the poverty and rapacity of its inhabitants. The populace +needed to be fed, and that they might be so there was established a +great system of poor-laws, carried into effect by aid of the taxation +of distant provinces, at whose expense they were both fed and +entertained. They demanded cheap food, and they obtained their desires +at the cost of the cultivators, abroad and at home, who became more +and more enslaved as Rome itself was more cheaply supplied. Desires +grew with their indulgence, and the greater the facility for living +without labour, the greater became the necessity for seeking "new +markets" in which to exercise their powers of appropriation, and the +more extensive became the domain of slavery. Bankers and middlemen +grew more and more in power, and while the wealth of Crassus enabled +him to obtain the control of the East, enormous loans gave to Cæsar +the command of the West, leaving to Pompey and his moneyed friends the +power to tax the centre and the South. Next, Augustus finds the city +of brick and leaves it of marble; and Herodes Atticus appears upon the +stage sole improver, and almost sole owner, in Attica, once so free, +while bankers and nobles accumulate enormous possessions in Africa, +Gaul, and Britain, and the greater the extent of absentee ownership +the greater becomes the wretchedness and the crime of the pauper mob +of Rome. Still onward the city grows, absorbing the wealth of the +world, and with it grow the poverty, slavery, and rapacity of the +people, the exhaustion of provinces, and the avarice and tyranny of +rulers and magistrates, until at length the empire, rotten at the +heart, becomes the prey of barbarians, and all become slaves +alike,--thus furnishing proof conclusive that the community which +desires to command respect for its own rights _must_ practise respect +for those of others; or in other words, must adopt as its motto the +great lesson which lies at the base of all Christianity--"Do unto +others as ye would that they should do unto you." + +A survey of the British Empire at the present moment presents to view +some features so strongly resembling those observed in ancient Rome as +to warrant calling the attention of the reader to their careful +observation. Like Rome, England has desired to establish political +centralization by aid of fleets and armies, but to this she has added +commercial centralization, far more destructive in its effects, and +far more rapid in its operation. Rome was content that her subjects +should occupy themselves as they pleased, either in the fields or in +the factories, provided only that they paid their taxes. England, on +the contrary, has sought to restrict her subjects and the people of +the world in their modes of employment; and this she has done with a +view to compel them to make all their exchanges in her single market, +leaving to her to fix the prices of all she bought and all she sold, +thus taxing them at her discretion in both time and money. She has +sought to compel all other nations to follow the plough, leaving to +her the loom and the anvil, and thus to render it necessary that they +should bring to her all their products in the rudest form, at great +cost of transportation, and total loss of the manure yielded by them, +thus exhausting their soil and themselves; and the consequences of +this are seen in the ruin, depopulation, and slavery of the West +Indies, Ireland, India, Portugal, Turkey, and other countries that +have been partially or wholly subjected to her dominion. Hence it is +that she is seen to be everywhere seeking "new markets." Bengal having +been in a great degree exhausted, it became necessary to annex the +North-west provinces, and thence we find her stretching out her hand +at one moment to seize on Affghanistan, at another to force the +Chinese into permitting her to smuggle opium, and at a third to expel +the Sikhs and occupy the Punjab, as preliminary to this invasion and +subjection of the Burman Empire. She needs, and must have new markets, +as Rome needed new provinces, and for the same reason, the exhaustion +of the old ones. She rejoices with great joy at the creation of a new +market in Australia, and looks with a longing eye on the Empire of +Japan, whose prosperous people, under a peaceful government, prefer to +avoid entering on the same course of action that has resulted in the +reduction of the wealthy and powerful Hindostan to its present +distressed condition. + +It was against this system that Adam Smith cautioned his countrymen, +as not only a violation of "the most sacred rights" of man, but as +leading inevitably to consequences in the highest degree injurious to +themselves, in depreciating the value of both labour and capital. Up +to his time, however, it had been carried out in a very small degree. +The colonies were then few in number, but, those were heavily taxed, +as has been shown in the candid admission of _Joshua Gee_, that the +colonists carried home but one-fourth of the value of the commodities +they brought to the great market.[127] The system was then only in its +infancy. In India, the Company had but then first obtained the +concession of a right to act in the capacity of tax-gatherer for +Bengal. On this continent, the right thus to tax the colonists was +seriously contested, and _The Wealth of Nations_ had not been long +before the world before it came to be explicitly and successfully +denied. The tendency of the system was, however, so obvious to its +author, that he desired to warn his countrymen against the effort to +build up "colonies of customers," as unworthy of a great people, and +worthy only of "a nation of shopkeepers,"--and happy for them would it +have been had his advice been taken. It was not. From that day to the +present, every step has been in the direction against which he +cautioned them, as was shown in a former chapter, and from year to +year the people of England have become more and more the mere traders +in the products of the labours of other men, and more and more +compelled to seek "new markets," as did the Roman people,--the only +difference being that in every case the exhaustion has been +accomplished with a rapidity unparalleled in the annals of Rome, or of +the world. A century since, India was rich, and now her government, +collecting annually one-fifth of the whole value of the land, is +sustained only by means of a monopoly of the power to poison and +enslave the Chinese by means of a vile drug, and the poor Hindoo is +forced to seek for food in the swamps of Jamaica and Guiana. Half a +century since, Ireland had a highly cultivated society, with a press +that sent forth large editions of the most valuable and expensive +books produced in England, and now her people are decimated by famine +and pestilence. Twenty years since, there existed some little prospect +that the poor negroes of Jamaica and Guiana might at some future time +become civilized, but that hope has passed away, as has the value of +the land upon which they have been employed. What has been the effect +of this course of policy upon the condition of the people of England +we may now inquire. + +In the days of Adam Smith it was estimated that there were in that +country 220,000 owners of land, and as a necessary consequence of this +extensive ownership of property, there was a very decided tendency +toward an increase in the freedom of man, as shown in the efforts made +but a few years later for obtaining a reform in various matters of +government. The French Revolution came, however, and now the doctrine +of "ships, colonies, and commerce" had much to do in bringing about a +state of war, during the whole of which England enjoyed almost a +monopoly of the trade of the world. Having all the woollen and cotton +machinery, and almost all the machinery for the production of iron, +she was enabled to buy produce and sell manufactures at her own +prices; and thus were the already wealthy greatly enriched. The poor- +houses were, however, everywhere filled with starving labourers, and +so rapidly did their number increase that it became at length +necessary to give to the statute of Elizabeth a new and enlarged +construction; and here do we find another coincidence in the working +of Roman and British centralization. A still further one will be found +in the fact that precisely as the labourer was losing all power of +self-government, the little proprietors of land disappeared, to be +replaced by day-labourers. + +The peace, however came, and with it a desire on the part of other +nations to supply themselves with cloth, iron, and other manufactured +commodities; and to enable them to carry into effect their wishes, +many of them imposed duties having for their object the bringing +together of the plough and the loom, the hammer and the harrow. This +produced, of course, a necessity for new exertions to underwork those +nations, leading to constant improvements of machinery, each tending +to enable the capitalist more and more to accumulate fortune and +purchase land, the consolidation of which has been continued until at +length it has resulted in the fact, that in place of the 220,000 +English land-owners of the days of Adam Smith, there now exist but +30,000, while all the land of Scotland has, as is stated, accumulated +in the hands of 6000 persons. + +As the 190,000 proprietors came by degrees to be represented by +day-labourers, pauperism increased, and the labourer became from year +to year more enslaved, and more dependent for existence upon the +favours of farmers, parish beadles, and constables, until at length a +reform of the system having become absolutely necessary, it was +undertaken. Instead, however, of inquiring into the causes of this +increased dependence with a view to their abolition, it was determined +to abolish the relief that they had rendered necessary, and hence the +existence of the new poor-law. By virtue of its provisions, inability +to obtain food became a crime punishable by the separation of husbands +from wives and parents from children; and thus we see that in the last +twenty years English legislation has tended greatly in the same +direction with the domestic slave trade of this country. + +Consolidation of the land drove the labourers from the cultivation of +the soil, while improved machinery tended constantly to drive them out +from the factory, and thus were the poor made poorer and weaker, as +the rich grew richer and stronger. Ireland, too, contributed largely +to the same result. As the Act of Union gradually closed her factories +and drove her people to cultivation as the sole means of supporting +life, they found themselves, like the Italians of olden time, forced +to emigrate to the place where taxes were distributed, in the hope of +obtaining wages, and their competition threw the English labourer +still more in the hands of the capitalist. From year to year the small +proprietor was seen to pass into the condition of a day-labourer, and +the small employing mechanic or tradesman to pass into a receiver of +wages, and thus did the whole people tend more and more to become +divided into two great classes, separated from each other by an +impassable gulf, the very rich and the very poor, the master and the +slave. + +As England became more and more flooded with the wretched people of +the sister island, driven from home in search of employment, the +wealthy found it more and more easy to accomplish "the great works" +for which, as the London _Times_ inform us, the country is indebted to +the "cheap labour of Ireland," and the greater the influx of this +labour the more rapid was the decline in the power of both Ireland and +Britain to furnish a market for the products of the manufacturing, +labour of England. Hence arose, of course, a necessity for looking +abroad for new markets to take the place of those before obtained at +home, and thus cheap labour, a _consequence_ of the system, became in +its turn a _cause_ of new efforts at dispensing with and further +cheapening labour. As the Irishman could no longer buy, it became +necessary that the Hindoo should be driven from his own market. As the +Highlander was expelled, it became more and more necessary to +underwork the spinners and weavers of China. As the Bengalese now +become impoverished, there arises a necessity for filling the Punjab, +and Affghanistan, Burmah and Borneo, with British goods. Pauperism +lies necessarily at the root of such a system. "It is," said a speaker +at the late Bradford election for representative in Parliament-- + + "Its root. That system is based on foreign competition. Now I assert, + that _under the buy cheap and sell dear principle, brought to bear on + foreign competition, the ruin of the working and small trading + classes must go on. Why?_ Labour is the creator of all wealth. A man + must work before a grain is grown, or a yard is woven. But there is + no self-employment for the working-man in this country. Labour is a + hired commodity--labour is a thing in the market that is bought and + sold; consequently, as labour creates all wealth, labour is the first + thing bought. 'Buy cheap! buy cheap!' Labour is bought in the + cheapest market. But now comes the next. 'Sell dear! sell dear!' Sell + what? _Labors produce_. To whom? To the foreigner--ay! and to _the + labourer himself_--for labour not being self-employed, the labourer + is _not_ the partaker of the first-fruits of his toil. 'Buy cheap, + sell dear.' How do you like it? 'Buy cheap, sell dear.' Buy the + working-man's labour cheaply, and sell back to that very working-man + the produce of his own labour dear! The principle of inherent loss is + in the bargain. The employer buys the labour cheap--he sells, and on + the sale he must, make a profit: he sells to the working-man + himself--and thus every bargain between employer and employed is a + deliberate cheat on the part of the employer. Thus labour has to sink + through eternal loss, that capital may rise through lasting fraud. + But the system stops not here. THIS IS BROUGHT TO BEAR ON FOREIGN + COMPETITION--WHICH MEANS, WE MUST RUIN THE TRADE OF OTHER COUNTRIES, + AS WE HAVE RUINED THE LABOUR OF OUR OWN. How does it work? The + high-taxed country has to undersell the low-taxed. _Competition + abroad is constantly increasing, consequently cheapness must increase + also._ Therefore, wages in England must keep constantly falling. And + how do they effect the fall? By _surplus labour_. By monopoly of the + land, which drives more hands than are wanted into the factory. By + monopoly of machinery, which drives those hands into the street; by + woman labour, which drives the man from the shuttle; by child labour, + which drives the woman from the loom. Then planting their foot upon + that living base of surplus, they press its aching heart beneath + their heel, and cry 'Starvation! Who'll work? A half loaf is better + than no bread at all;' and the writhing mass grasps greedily at their + terms. Such is the system for the working-man. But, electors, how + does it operate on you? how does it affect home trade, the + shopkeeper, poor's rate, and taxation? _For every increase of + competition abroad there must be an increase of cheapness at home._ + Every increase of cheapness in labour is based on increase of labour + surplus, and this surplus is obtained by an increase of machinery. I + repeat, how does this operate on you? The Manchester liberal on my + left establishes a new patent, and throws three hundred men as a + surplus in the streets. Shopkeepers! Three hundred customers less. + Rate-payers! Three hundred paupers more. But, mark me! The evil stops + not there. _These three hundred men operate first to bring down the + wages of those who remain at work in their own trade._ The employer + says, 'Now I reduce your wages.' The men demur. Then he adds, 'Do you + see those three hundred men who have just walked out? _you may change + places if you like_, they're sighing to come in on any terms, for + they're starving.' The men feel it, and are crushed. Ah! you + Manchester liberal! Pharisee of politics! those men are + listening--have I got you now? But the evil stops not yet. _Those + men, driven from their own trade, seek employment in others, when + they swell the surplus and bring wages down._" + +Strong as is all this, it is nevertheless true, England is engaged in +a war of extermination waged against the labour of all other countries +employed in any pursuit except that of raising raw produce to be sent +to her own market, there to be exchanged for the cloth and the iron +produced at the mills and furnaces of her _millionaires_, who have +accumulated their vast fortunes at the expense of Ireland, India, +Portugal, Turkey, and the other countries that have been ruined by the +system which looks to the exhaustion of the soil of all other lands, +to the impoverishment and enslavement of their people, and which was +so indignantly denounced by Adam Smith. In the effort to crush them +she has been crushing her own people, and the more rapid the spread of +pauperism at home the greater have been her efforts to produce the +surplus labour which causes a fall of wages at home and abroad. + +With the consolidation of land in the hands of a few proprietors there +is a steady decline in the number of people employed upon it, and an +equally steady one in that hope of rising in the world which is +elsewhere seen to be the best incentive to exertion. "The peasant +knows," says a recent English writer,[128] "that he must die in the +same position in which he was born." Again, he says, "the want of +small farms deprives the peasant of all hope of improving his +condition in life." The London _Times_ assures its readers that "once +a peasant in England, the man must remain a peasant for ever;" and Mr. +Kay, after careful examination of the condition of the people of +continental Europe, assures his readers that, as one of the +consequences of this state of things, the peasantry of England "are +more ignorant, more demoralized, less capable of helping themselves, +and more pauperized, than those of any other country in Europe, if we +except Russia, Turkey, South Italy, and some parts of the Austrian +Empire."[129] + +Under such circumstances, the middle class tends gradually to pass +away, and its condition is well expressed by the term now so +frequently, used, "the uneasy class." The small capitalist, who would +elsewhere purchase a piece of land, a horse and cart, or a machine of +some kind calculated to enable him to double the productiveness of his +labour and increase its reward, is in England forced to make his +investments in savings banks or life-insurance offices, and thus to +place his little capital in the hands of others, at three per cent., +whereas he could have fifty or a hundred per cent., could he be +permitted to use it himself. There is, therefore, a perpetual strife +for life, and each man is, as has been said, "endeavouring to snatch +the piece of bread from his neighbour's mouth." The atmosphere of +England is one of intense gloom. Every one is anxious for the future, +for himself or his children. There is a universal feeling of doubt as +to how to dispose of the labour or the talents of themselves or their +sons, and the largest fees are paid to men already wealthy, in the +hope of obtaining aid toward securing steady employment. "This _gloom_ +of England," says a late English writer-- + + "Is in truth one of the most formidable evils of modern times. With + all the advance, in morality and decency of the present century, we + have receded rather than gone forward in the attainment of that true + Christian cheerfulness, which--notwithstanding the popular + proverb--I believe to be the blessing next in value to godliness. + + "I truly believe," he continues, "that one of the chief obstacles to + the progress of pure living Christianity in this country is to be + found in that worldly carefulness which causes our intense gravity, + and makes us the most silent nation in Europe. The respectability of + England is its bane; we worship respectability, and thus contrive to + lose both the enjoyments of earth and the enjoyments of heaven. If + Great Britain could once learn to laugh like a child, she would be in + the way once more to pray like a saint. + + "But this is not all: the sensuality and gross vice, and the hateful + moroseness and harshness of temper, which result from our + indisposition for gayety and enjoyment, are literally awful to think + of. Pride and licentiousness triumph in our land, because we are too + careworn or too stupid to enter heartily into innocent recreations. + Those two demons, one of which first cast man out of Paradise, while + the other has degraded him to the level of the brutes, are served by + myriads of helpless slaves, who are handed over to a bondage of + passion, through the gloominess that broods over our national + character. The young and the old alike, the poor and the wealthy, are + literally driven to excess, because there is nothing in our state of + society to refresh them after their toils, or to make life as much a + season of enjoyment as the inevitable lot of mortality will allow. + + "Men fly to vice for the want of pure and innocent pleasures. The + gin-shops receive those who might be entertaining themselves with the + works of art in a public gallery. The whole animal portion of our + being is fostered at the expense of the spiritual. We become + brutalized, because we are morbidly afraid of being frivolous and of + wasting our time. The devil keeps possession of an Englishman's + heart, through the instrumentality of his carnal passions, because he + is too proud and too stupid to laugh and enjoy himself. + + "Secret sin destroys its myriads, immolated on the altar of outward + respectability and of a regard for the opinion of a money-getting + world." + +The existence of such a state of things is indeed a "formidable evil," +but how could it fail to exist in a country in which all individuality +is being lost as the little land-owner gradually disappears to be +replaced by the day-labourer, and as the little shop-keeper gradually +sinks into a clerk? How could it be otherwise in a country in which +weak women, and children of the most tender age, spend their nights in +cellars, and the long day of twelve or fifteen hours in factories, +whose owners know of them nothing but, as in a penitentiary, their +number--a country in which males and females work naked in +coal-mines--and find themselves compelled to do all these things +because of the necessity for preventing the poor Hindoo from calling +to his aid the powerful steam, and for compelling him, his wife, and +his children, to limit themselves to the labour of the field? How +could it be otherwise in a country in which "labourers, whether well +off or not, never attempt to be better?"[130] How otherwise in a +country distinguished among all others for the enormous wealth of a +few, for the intensity of toil and labour of all below them, and for +the anxiety with which the future is regarded by all but those who, +bereft of hope, know that all they can expect on this side of the +grave is an indifferent supply of food and raiment? "In no country of +the world," says Mr. Kay-- + + "Is so much time spent in the mere acquisition of wealth, and so + little time in the enjoyment of life and of all the means of + happiness which God has given to man, as in England. + + "In no country in the world do the middle classes labour so intensely + as here. One would think, to view the present state of English + society, that man was created for no other purpose than to collect + wealth, and that he was forbidden to gratify the beautiful tastes + with which he has been gifted for the sake of his own happiness. To + be rich, with us, is the great virtue, the pass into all society, the + excuse for many frailties, and the mask for numerous deformities." + +An Eastern proverb says that "curses, like young chickens, always come +home to roost." Few cases could be presented of a more perfect +realization of this than is found in the present condition of England. +Half a century since it was decreed that the poor people of Ireland +should confine themselves to the cultivation and exhaustion of their +soil, abstaining from the mining of coal, the smelting of ore, or the +making of cloth; and during nearly all that time they have so flooded +England with "cheap labour" as to have produced from the _Times_ the +declaration, before referred to, that "for a whole generation man has +been a drug and population a nuisance"--precisely the state of things +in which men tend most to become enslaved. Cheap corn, cheap cotton, +cheap tobacco, and cheap sugar, mean low-priced agricultural labour; +and the low-priced labourer is always a slave, and aiding to produce +elsewhere the slavery of his fellow-labourers, whether in the field +or in the workshop. This, however, is in perfect accordance with the +doctrines of some of England's most distinguished statesmen, as the +reader has already seen in the declaration of Mr. Huskisson, that "to +give capital a fair remuneration, the price of labour must be kept +down,"--by which he proved the perfect accuracy of the predictions of +the author of _The Wealth of Nations_. + +The harmony of true interests among nations is perfect, and an +enlightened self-interest would lead every nation to carry into full +effect the golden rule of Christianity; and yet even now, the most +distinguished men in England regard smuggling almost as a virtuous +act, and the smuggler as a great reformer, because his labours tend to +enable their countrymen to do everywhere what has been done in the +West Indies, in Ireland, Portugal, Turkey, and India--separate the +consumer from the producer. They regard it as the appointed work of +England to convert the whole earth into one vast farm dependent upon +one vast workshop, and that shop in the island of Great Britain. Such +being the views of peers of the realm, lord chancellors, ministers of +state, political economists, and statisticians, can we wonder at a +decline of morality among the middle class, under the combined +influence of the struggle for life, and the assurance that "the end +sanctifies the means," and that false invoices are but a means of +working out a great reformation in the commercial system of the world? +Good ends rarely require such means for their accomplishment, and the +very fact that it was needed to have Gibraltar as a means of smuggling +into Spain, Canada as a means of smuggling into this country,[131] and +Hong Kong for the purpose of poisoning the Chinese with smuggled +opium, should have led to a careful consideration of the question +whether or not the system which looked to exhausting the soil of +Virginia and driving the poor negro to the sugar culture in Texas, was +one of the modes of "doing God service." + +Unsound moral feeling is a necessary consequence of an exclusive +devotion to trade such as is now seen to exist in England. It is the +business of the trader to buy cheaply and sell dearly, be the +consequences what they may to those from whom he buys, or to whom he +sells; and unhappily the prosperity of England now depends so entirely +on buying cheaply and selling dearly that she is forced to overlook +the effects upon those to whom she sells, or from whom she buys, and +she therefore rejoices when others are being ruined, and grieves when +they are being enriched. Her interests are always, and necessarily so, +opposed to those of the rest of the world. She _must_ look at every +thing with the eyes of the mere trader who wishes to buy cheaply and +sell dearly, living at the cost of the producer and the consumer. The +former desires good prices for his sugar, and yet so anxious was she +to obtain cheap sugar that she forgot her engagements with the poor +emancipated negroes of Jamaica. The former desire's good prices for +his corn, but so anxious was she to have cheap corn, that she forgot +having deprived the people of Ireland of all employment but in +agriculture, and at once adopted measures whose action is now +expelling the whole nation from the scenes of their youth, and +separating husbands and wives, mothers and children. She has placed +herself in a false position, and cannot now _afford_ to reflect upon +the operation of cheap sugar and cheap corn, cheap cotton and cheap +tobacco, upon the people who produce them; and therefore it is that +the situation of Ireland and India, and of the poor people Of Jamaica, +is so much shut out from discussion. Such being the case with those +who should give tone to public opinion, how can we look for sound or +correct feeling among the poor occupants of "the sweater's den,"[132] +or among the 20,000 tailors of London, seeking for work and unable to +find it? Or, how look for it among the poor shopkeepers, compelled in +self-defence to adulterate almost every thing they sell, when they see +the great cotton manufacturer using annually hundreds of barrels of +flour to enable him to impose worthless cloth upon the poor Hindoo, +and thus annihilate his foreign competitor? Or, how expect to find it +among the poor operatives of Lancashire, at one moment working full +time, at another but three days in a week, and at a third totally +deprived of employment, because goods can no longer be smuggled into +foreign countries to leave a profit? With them, the question of food +or no food is dependent altogether upon the size of the cotton crop. +If the slave trade is brisk, much cotton is made, and they have wages +with which to support their wives and children. If the crop is large, +the planter may be ruined, but they themselves are fed. "The weekly +mail from America," we are told-- + + "Is not of more moment to the great cotton lord of Manchester, than + it is to John Shuttle the weaver. * * * If he ever thinks how + entirely his own existence and that of his own little household + depend upon the American crop * * * he would tremble at the least + rumour of war with the Yankees. War with America--a hurricane in + Georgia--a flood in Alabama--are one and all death-cries to the + mill-spinner and power-loom weaver. * * * When the cotton fields of + the Southern States yield less than the usual quantity of cotton, the + Manchester operative eats less than his average quantity of food. + When his blood boils at the indignities and cruelties heaped upon the + coloured, race in the 'Land of the Free,' he does not always remember + that _to the slave States_ of America _he owes his all_--that _it is + for his advantage_ that the _negro should wear his chains in + peace_."--_Household Words_. + +"If his "blood boils" at the sufferings of the negro in Brazil, or of +the Hindoo in the Mauritius, he must recollect that it is at the cost +of those sufferings that he is supplied with cheap sugar. If he be +shocked at the continuance of the African slave trade, he must +recollect that if negroes ceased to be imported into Cuba, he might +have to pay a higher price for his coffee. If he is excited at the +idea of the domestic slave trade of this country, he must calm himself +by reflecting that it is "for his advantage" it is continued, and that +without it he could not have cheap cotton. The labourers of the +various parts of the world are thus taught that there is among +themselves an universal antagonism of interests, and this tends, of +course, to the production of a bad state of moral feeling, and an +universal tendency to decline in the feeling of self-dependence. Men, +women, and children are becoming from day to day more dependent on the +will of others, and as it is that dependence which constitutes +slavery, we might with reason expect to find some of the vices of the +slave--and were we to find them we should not greatly err in +attributing their existence to the system thus described by Adam +Smith:-- + + "The industry of Great Britain, instead of being accommodated to a + great number of small markets, has been principally suited to one + great market. Her commerce, instead of running in a great number of + small channels, has been taught to run principally in one great + channel. But the whole system of her industry and commerce has + thereby been rendered less secure, the whole state of her body + politic less healthful than it otherwise would have been. In her + present condition, Great Britain resembles one of those unwholesome + bodies in which some of the vital parts are overgrown, and which, + upon that account, are liable to many dangerous disorders, scarce + incident to those in which all the parts are more properly + proportioned. A small stop in that great blood-vessel which has been + artificially swelled beyond its natural dimensions, and through which + an unnatural proportion of the industry and commerce of the country + has been forced to circulate, is very likely to bring on the most + dangerous disorders upon the whole body politic." + +This is an accurate picture of that country under a system that seeks +to direct the whole energies of its people into one direction, that of +"buying in the cheapest market and selling in the dearest one,"--the +pursuit that is, of all others, the least favourable to the +development of the moral and intellectual faculties of man. How it is +operating may be judged by the following description from an English +writer already quoted:-- + + "Of the children of the poor, who are yearly born in England, vast + numbers never receive any education at all, while many others never + enter any thing better than a dame or a Sunday-school. In the towns + they are left in crowds until about eight or nine years of age, to + amuse themselves in the dirt of the streets, while their parents + pursue their daily toil. In these public thoroughfares, during the + part of their lives which is most susceptible of impressions and most + retentive of them, they acquire dirty, immoral, and disorderly + habits; they become accustomed to wear filthy and ragged clothes; + they learn to pilfer and to steal; they associate with boys who have + been in prison, and who have there been hardened in crime by evil + associates; they learn how to curse one another, how to fight, how to + gamble, and how to fill up idle hours by vicious pastimes; they + acquire no knowledge except the knowledge of vice; they never come in + contact with their betters; and they are not taught either the truths + of religion or the way by which to improve their condition in life. + Their amusements are as low as their habits. The excitements of low + debauchery too horrible to be named, of spirituous liquors, which + they begin to drink as early as they can collect pence wherewith to + buy them, of the commission and concealments of thefts, and of rude + and disgusting sports, are the pleasures of their life. The idea of + going to musical meetings such as those of the German poor, would be + scoffed at, even if there were any such meetings for them to attend. + Innocent dancing is unknown to them. Country sports they cannot have. + Read they cannot. So they hurry for amusement and excitement to the + gratification of sensual desires and appetites. In this manner, + filthy, lewd, sensual, boisterous, and skilful in the commission of + crime, a great part of the populations of our towns grow up to + manhood. Of the truth or falsehood of this description any one can + convince himself, who will examine our criminal records, or who will + visit the back streets of any English town, when the schools are + full, and count the children upon the door-steps and pavements, and + note their condition, manners, and appearance, and their degraded and + disgusting practices."--Kay, vol. i. 33.[133] + +This is, however, little different from what might be looked, for in a +country whose provision for the education of its people is thus +described:-- + + "About one-half of our poor can neither read nor write. The test of + signing the name at marriage is a very imperfect absolute test of + education, but it is a very good relative one: taking that test, how + stands Leeds itself in the Registrar-General's returns? In Leeds, + which is the centre of the movement for letting education remain as + it is, left entirely to chance and charity to supply its + deficiencies, how do we find the fact? This, that in 1846, the last + year to which these returns are brought down, of 1850 marriages + celebrated in Leeds and Hunslet, 508 of the men and 1020 of the + women, or considerably more than one-half of the latter, signed their + names with marks. 'I have also a personal knowledge of this + fact--that of 47 men employed upon a railway in this immediate + neighbourhood, only 14 men can sign their names in the receipt of + their wages; and this not because of any diffidence on their part, + but positively because they cannot write.' And only lately, the + _Leeds Mercury_ itself gave a most striking instance of ignorance + among persons from Boeotian Pudsey: of 12 witnesses, 'all of + respectable appearance, examined before the Mayor of Bradford at the + court-house there, only one man could sign his name, and that + indifferently.' Mr. Nelson has clearly shown in statistics of crime + in England and Wales from 1834 to 1844, that crime is invariably the + most prevalent in those districts where the fewest numbers in + proportion to the population can read and write. Is it not indeed + beginning at the wrong end to try and reform men, after they have + become criminals? Yet you cannot begin, with children, from want of + schools. Poverty is the result of ignorance, and then ignorance is + again the unhappy result of poverty. 'Ignorance makes men improvident + and thoughtless--women as well as men; it makes them blind to the + future--to the future of this life as well as the life beyond. It + makes them dead to higher pleasures than those of the mere senses, + and keeps them down to the level of the mere animal. Hence the + enormous extent of drunkenness throughout this country, and the + frightful waste of means which it involves.' At Bilston, amidst + 20,000 people, there are but two struggling schools--one has lately + ceased; at Millenhall, Darlaston, and Pelsall, amid a teeming + population, no school whatever. In Oldham, among 100,000, but one + public day-school for the labouring classes; the others are an infant + school, and some dame and factory schools. At Birmingham, there are + 21,824 children at school, and 23,176, at no school; at Liverpool, + 50,000 out of 90,000 at no school; at Leicester, 8200 out of 12,500; + and at Leeds itself, in 1841, (the date of the latest returns,) some + 9600 out of 16,400, were at no school whatever. It is the same in the + counties. 'I have seen it stated, that a woman for some time had to + officiate as clerk in a church in Norfolk, there being no adult male + in the parish able to read and write. For a population of 17,000,000 + we have but twelve normal schools; while in Massachusetts they have + three such schools for only 800,000 of population." + +Such being the education of the young, we may now look to see how Mr. +Kay describes that provided for people of a more advanced period of +life:-- + + "The crowd of low pot-houses in our manufacturing districts is a sad + and singular spectacle. They are to be found in every street and + alley of the towns, and in almost every lane and turning of the more + rural villages of those districts, if any of those villages can be + called rural. + + "The habit of drunkenness pervades the masses of the operatives to an + extent never before known in our country. + + "In a great number of these taverns and pot-houses of the + manufacturing districts, prostitutes are kept for the express purpose + of enticing the operatives to frequent them, thus rendering them + doubly immoral and pernicious. I have been assured in Lancashire, on + the best authority, that in one of the manufacturing towns, and that, + too, about third rate in point of size and population, there are + _sixty_ taverns, where prostitutes are kept by the tavern landlords, + in order to entice customers into them. Their demoralizing influence + upon the population _cannot be exaggerated_; and yet these are almost + the only resorts which the operatives have, when seeking amusement or + relaxation. + + "In those taverns where prostitutes are not actually kept for the + purpose of enticing customers, they are always to be found in the + evenings, at the time the workmen go there to drink. In London and in + Lancashire the gin-palaces are the regular rendezvous for the + abandoned of both sexes, and the places where the lowest grade of + women-of-the-town resort to find customers. It is quite clear that + young men, who once begin to meet their, friends at these places, + cannot long escape the moral degradation of these hot-houses of vice. + + "The singular and remarkable difference between the respective + condition of the peasants and operatives of Germany and Switzerland, + and those of England and Ireland, in this respect, is alone + sufficient to prove the singular difference between their respective + social condition. + + "The village inn in Germany is quite a different kind of place to the + village inn in England. It is intended and used less for mere + drinking, than, as a place for meeting and conversation; it is, so to + speak, the villagers' club."--Vol. i. 232. + +Under such circumstances, we cannot be surprised when told by Mr. +Alison that over the whole kingdom crime increases four times as fast +as the population, and that "in Lancashire population doubles in +thirty years, crime in five years and a half." How, indeed, could it +be otherwise under a system based upon the idea of "keeping labour +down"--one that tends to the consolidation of the land and the +exclusion of men from the work of cultivation, and then excludes them +from the factory, while forcing hundreds of thousands of indigent and +almost starving Irish into England in search of employment? The +process of "eviction" in Ireland has been already described. How the +same work has been, and is being, performed in England is thus stated +by the _Times_:-- + + "Our village peasantry are jostled about from cottage to cottage, or + from cottage to no cottage at all, as freely and with as little + regard to their personal tastes, and conveniences as if we were + removing our pigs, cows, and horses from one sty or shed to another. + If they cannot get a house over their heads they go to the Union, and + are distributed--the man in one part, the wife in another, and the + children again somewhere else. That is a settled thing. Our peasantry + bear it, or, if they can't bear it, they die, and there is an end of + it on this side of the grave; though how it will stand at the great + audit, we leave an 'English Catholic' to imagine. We only mean to say + that in England the work has been done; cotters have been + exterminated; small holdings abolished; the process of eviction + rendered superfluous; the landlord's word made law; the refuge of the + discontented reduced to a workhouse, and all without a shot, or a + bludgeon, or a missile being heard of." + +Thus driven from the land, they are forced to take refuge in London +and Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, and Leeds, and accordingly +there it is that we find nearly the whole increase of population in +the last ten years. Out of less than two millions, more than 400,000 +were added to the number of London alone, and those who are familiar +with Mr. Mayhew's work, _London Labour and London Poor_, do not need +to be told of the extraordinary wretchedness, nor of the immorality +that there abound. Inquiries get on foot by Lord Ashley have shown +that "in the midst of that city there are," says Mr. Kay-- + + "Persons, forming a separate class, having pursuits, interests, + manners; and customs of their own, and that the filthy, deserted, + roaming, and lawless children, who may be called the source of + 19-20ths of the crime which desolates the metropolis, are not fewer + in number than THIRTY THOUSAND! + + "These 30,000 are quite independent of the number of mere pauper + children, who crowd the streets of Londen, and who never enter a + school: but of these latter nothing will be said here. + + "Now, what are the pursuits, the dwelling-houses, and the habits of + these poor wretches? Of 1600, who were examined, 162 confessed that + they had been in prison, not merely once, or even twice, but some of + them several times; 116 had run away from their homes; 170 slept in + the "lodging-houses;" 253 had lived altogether by beggary; 216 had + neither shoes nor stockings; 280 had no hat or cap, or covering for + the head; 101 had no linen; 249 had never slept in a bed; many had no + recollection of ever having been in a bed; 68 were the children of + convicts,"--Vol. i. 394. + +In the towns of the manufacturing districts there are, says the same +author-- + + "A great number of cellars beneath the houses of the small + shopkeepers and operatives, which are inhabited by crowds of poor + inhabitants. Each of these cellar-houses contains at the most two, + and often, and in some towns generally, only one room. These rooms + measure in Liverpool, from 10 to 12 feet square. In some other towns, + they are rather larger. They are generally flagged. The flags lie + "directly" upon the earth, and are generally wretchedly damp. In wet + weather they are very often not dry for weeks together. Within a few + feet of the windows of these cellars, rises the wall which keeps the + street from falling in upon them, darkening the gloomy rooms, and + preventing the sun's rays penetrating into them. + + "Dr. Duncan, in describing the cellar-houses of the manufacturing + districts, says[134]--'The cellars are ten or twelve feet square; + generally flagged, but frequently having only the bare earth for a + floor, and sometimes less than six feet in height. There is + frequently no window, so that light and air can gain access to the + cellar only by the door, the top of which is often not higher than + the level of the street. In such cellars ventilation is out of the + question. They, are of course dark; and from the defective drainage, + they are also very generally damp. There is sometimes a back cellar, + used as a sleeping apartment, having no direct communication with the + external atmosphere, and deriving its scanty supply of light and air + solely from the front apartment.'"--Vol. i. 447. + + "One of the city missionaries, describing the state of the Mint + district in the city of London, says, 'it is utterly impossible to + describe the scenes, which are to be witnessed here, or to set forth + in its naked deformity the awful characters sin here assumes. * * * + _In Mint street, alone, there are nineteen lodging-houses._ The + majority of these latter are awful sinks of iniquity, and are used as + houses of accommodation. In some of them, both sexes sleep together + indiscriminately, and such acts are practised and witnessed, that + married persons, who are in other respects awfully depraved, have + been so shocked, as to be compelled to get up in the night and leave + the house. Many of the half-naked impostors, who perambulate the + streets of London in the daytime, and obtain a livelihood by their + deceptions, after having thrown off their bandages, crutches, &c., + may be found here in their true character; some regaling themselves + in the most extravagant manner; others gambling or playing cards, + while the worst of language proceeds from their lips. Quarrels and + fights are very common, and the cry of murder is frequently heard. + The public-houses in this street are crowded to excess, especially, + on the Sabbath evening.[135] + + "In the police reports published in the _Sun_ newspaper of the 11th + of October, 1849, the following account is given of '_a penny + lodging-house_' in Blue Anchor Yard, Rosemary Lane. One of the + policemen examined, thus describes a room in this lodging- + house:--'It was a very small one, extremely filthy, and there was no + furniture of any description in it. _There were sixteen men, women, + and children lying on the floor, without covering. Some of them were + half naked._ For this miserable shelter, each lodger paid a penny. + The stench was intolerable, and the place had not been cleaned out + for some time.' + + "If the nightly inmates of these dens are added to the tramps who + seek lodging in the vagrant-wards of the workhouses, we shall find + that there are at least between 40,000 and 50,000 tramps who are + daily infesting our roads and streets!"--Vol. i. 431. + +In the agricultural districts, whole families, husbands and wives, +sons and daughters, sisters-in-law and brothers-in-law, sleep +together, and here we find a source of extraordinary immorality. "The +accounts we receive," says Mr. Kay-- + + "From all parts of the country show that these miserable cottages are + crowded to an extreme, and that the crowding is progressively + increasing. People of both sexes, and of all ages, both married and + unmarried--parents, brothers, sisters, and strangers--sleep in the + same rooms and often in the same beds. One gentleman tells us of six + people of different sexes and ages, two of whom were man and wife, + sleeping in the same bed, three with their heads at the top and three + with their heads at the foot of the bed. Another tells us of adult + uncles and nieces sleeping in the same room close to each other; + another of the uncles and nieces sleeping in the same bed together; + another of adult brothers, and sisters sleeping in the same room with + a brother and his wife just married; many tell us of adult brothers + and sisters sleeping in the same beds; another tells us of rooms so + filled with beds that there is no space between them, but that + brothers, sisters, and parents crawl over each other half naked in + order to get to their respective resting-places; another of its being + common for men and women, not being relations, to undress together in + the same room, without any feeling of its being indelicate; another + of cases where women have been delivered in bed-rooms crowded with + men, young women, and children; and others mention facts of these + crowded bed-rooms much too horrible to be alluded to. Nor are these + solitary instances, but similar reports are given by gentlemen + writing in ALL parts of the country. + + "The miserable character of the houses of our peasantry, is, of + itself, and independently of the causes which have made the houses so + wretched, degrading and demoralising the poor of our rural districts + in a fearful manner. It stimulates the unhealthy and unnatural + increase of population. The young peasants from their earliest years + are accustomed to sleep in the same bed-rooms with people of both + sexes, and with both married and unmarried persons. They therefore + lose all sense of the indelicacy of such a life. They know, too, that + they can gain nothing by deferring their marriages and by saving; + that it is impossible for them to obtain better houses by so doing; + and that in many cases they must wait many years before they could + obtain a separate house of any sort. They feel that if they defer + their marriage for ten or fifteen years, they will be at the end of + that period in just the same position as before, and no better off + for their waiting. Having then lost all hope of any improvement of + their social situation, and all sense of the indelicacy of taking a + wife home to the bedroom already occupied by parents, brothers, and + sisters, they marry early in life,--often, if not generally, before + the age of twenty,--and very often occupy, for the first part of + their married life, another bed in the already crowded sleeping-room + of their parents! In this way the morality of the peasants is + destroyed; the numbers of this degraded population are unnaturally + increased, and their means of subsistence are diminished by the + increasing competition of their increasing numbers."--Vol. i. 472. + +A necessary consequence of this demoralization is that infanticide +prevails to a degree unknown in any other part of the civilized world. +The London _Leader_ informs its readers that upon a recent occasion-- + + "It was declared by the coroner of Leeds, and assented to as probable + by the surgeon, that there were, as near as could be calculated, + about three hundred children put to death yearly in Leeds alone that + were not registered by the law. In other words, three hundred infants + were murdered to avoid the consequences of their living, and these + murders, as the coroner said, are never detected." + +The reader may now advantageously turn to the account of the state of +education in Leeds, already given,[136] with a view to ascertain the +intellectual condition of the women guilty of the foul and unnatural +crime of child-murder. Doing so, he will find that out of eighteen +hundred and fifty that were married there were _one thousand and +twenty who could not sign their names_--and this in the centre of +civilization in the middle of the nineteenth century! + +But a short time since, the _Morning Chronicle_ gave its readers a +list of twenty-two trials, for child-murder alone, that had been +_reported_ in its columns, and these were stated to be but one-half of +those that had taken place in the short period of twenty-seven days! +On the same occasion it stated that although English ruffianism had +"not taken to the knife," it had + + "Advanced in the devilish accomplishment of biting off noses and + scooping out eyes. Kicking a man to death while he is down," it + continued, "or treating, a wife in the same way--stamping on an enemy + or a paramour with hobnailed boots--smashing a woman's head with a + hand-iron--these atrocities, which are of almost daily occurrence in + our cities, are not so much imputed crimes as they are the + extravagant exaggerations of the coarse, brutal, sullen temper of an + Englishman, brutified by ignorance and stupefied by drink." + +On the same occasion the _Chronicle_ stated that in villages few young +people of the present day marry until, as the phrase is, it has +"become necessary." It is, it continued, the rural practice to "keep +company in a very loose sense, till a cradle is as necessary as a +ring." On another, and quite recent occasion, the same journal +furnished its readers with the following striking illustration of the +state of morals:-- + + "In one of the recent Dorsetshire cases, [of child murder,] common + cause was made by the girls of the county. They attended the trial in + large numbers; and we are informed that on the acquittal of the + prisoner a general expression of delight was perceptible in the + court; and they left the assizes town boasting 'that they might now + do as they liked.' We are then, it seems, with all our boasted + civilization, relapsing into a barbarous and savage state of + society." + +Lest it might be supposed that this condition of things had been +inherited, the editor stated that-- + + "This deplorable state of morals was of comparatively recent growth. + Old people," he continued, "can often tell the year when the first of + such cases occurred in their families; and what a sensation of shame + it then excited; while they will also tell us that the difficulty now + is to find a lowly couple in village life with whom the rule of + decency and Christianity is not the exception. It is a disgraceful + fact--and one which education, and especially religious education, + has to account for--that a state of morals has grown up in which it + can no longer be said that our maidens are given in marriage." + +Infanticide is not, however, confined to the unmarried. Burial clubs +abound. "In our large provincial towns," says Mr. Kay-- + + "The poor are in the habit of entering their children in what are + called 'burial clubs.' A small sum is paid every year by the parent, + and this entitles him to receive from 3£. to 5£. from the club, on + the death of the child. Many parents enter their children in several + clubs. One man in Manchester has been known to enter his child in + _nineteen_ different clubs. On the death of such a child, the parent + becomes entitled to receive a large sum of money; and as the burial + of the child does not necessarily cost more than 1£., or, at the + most, 1£.10s., the parent realizes a considerable sum after all the + expenses are paid! + + "It has been clearly ascertained, that it is a common practice among + the more degraded classes of poor in many of our towns, to enter + their infants in these clubs, and then to cause their death either by + starvation, ill-usage, or poison! What more horrible symptom of moral + degradation can be conceived? One's mind revolts against it, and + would fain reject it as a monstrous fiction. But, alas! it seems to + be but too true. + + "Mr. Chadwick says, 'officers of these burial societies, relieving + officers, and others, whose administrative duties put them in + communication with the lowest classes in these districts,' (the + manufacturing districts,) 'express their moral conviction of the + operation of such bounties to produce instances of the visible + neglect of children of which they are witnesses. They often say, 'You + are not treating that child properly; it will not live: _is it in the + club_?' And the answer corresponds with the impression produced by + the sight."--Vol. i. 433. + +Commenting on these and numerous other facts of similar kind, the same +author says-- + + "These accounts are really almost too horrible to be believed at all; + and were they not given us on the authority of such great experience + and benevolence, we should totally discredit them. + + "But, alas, they are only too true! There can be no doubt, that a + great part of the poorer classes of this country are sunk into such a + frightful depth of hoplessness, misery, and utter moral degradation, + that even mothers forget their affection for their helpless little + offspring, and kill them, as a butcher does his lambs, in order to + make money by the murder, and therewith to lessen their pauperism and + misery?"--P. 446. + +How rapid is the progress of demoralization may be seen from the fact +that in the thirty years from 1821 to 1851, the consumption of British +spirits increased from 4,125,616 to 9,595,368 gallons, or in a ratio +more than double that of the population. The use of opium is also +increasing with rapidity.[137] Intemperance and improvidence go hand +in hand with each other, and hence arises a necessity for burial clubs +for the disposal of the children and the maintenance of the parents. + +A recent English journal states that-- + + "It is estimated that in Manchester there are 1500 'unfortunate + females;' that they lead to an annual expenditure of £470,000; and + that some 250 of them die, in horror and despair, yearly. In England + it is calculated that there are 40,000 houses of ill-fame, and + 280,000 prostitutes; and, further, that not less than £8,000,000 are + spent annually in these places." + +This may, or may not, be exaggerated, but the condition to which are +reduced so many of the weaker sex would warrant us in expecting a +great decay of morality. When severe labour cannot command a +sufficiency of food, can we be surprised that women find themselves +forced to resort to prostitution as a means of support? + +A committee of gentlemen who had investigated the condition of the +sewing-women of London made a report stating that no less than 33,000 +of them were "permanently at the starvation point," and were compelled +to resort to prostitution as a means of eking out a subsistence. But a +few weeks since, the _Times_ informed its readers that shirts were +made for a _penny a piece_ by women who found the needles and thread, +and the _Daily News_ furnished evidence that hundreds of young women +had no choice but between prostitution and making artificial flowers +at _twopence a day_! Young ladies seeking to be governesses, and +capable of giving varied instruction, are expected to be satisfied +with the wages and treatment of scullions, and find it difficult to +obtain situations even on such terms. It is in such facts as these +that we must find the causes of those given in the above paragraph. + +If we desire to find the character of the young we must look to that +of the aged, and especially to that of the mothers. We see here +something of the hundreds of thousands of young women who are to +supply the future population of England; and if the character of the +latter be in accordance with that of the former, with what hope can we +look to the future? + +Nothing indicates more fully the deterioration resulting from this +unceasing struggle for life, than the harsh treatment to which are +subjected persons who need aid in their distress. A case of this kind, +furnished by the _Times_, as occurring at the Lambeth workhouse, so +strongly indicates the decay of kind and generous feeling, that, long +as it is, it is here given:-- + + "A poor creature, a young English girl--to be sure, she is not a + black--a parcel of drenched rags clinging to her trembling form, + every mark of agony and despair in her countenance, lifts her hand to + the bell. She rings once and again, and at length the door porter + appears, accompanied by a person holding a situation under the + guardians--his name is Brooke--and he is a policeman. She is + starving, she is pregnant, and almost in the pains of labour, but the + stern officials will not take her in. Why? Because she had been in + the workhouse until Tuesday morning last, and had then been + discharged by 'order of the guardians.' Nor is this all. The tale of + parochial bounty is not yet half told out. During that long wet + Tuesday she wandered about. She had not a friend in this great town + to whom she could apply for the smallest assistance, and on Tuesday + night she came back to implore once more the kindly shelter of the + parish workhouse. For yet that night she was taken in, but the next + morning cast forth into the world again with a piece of dry bread in + her hand. On Wednesday the same scene was renewed--the same fruitless + casting about for food and shelter, the same disappointment, and the + same despair. But parochial bounty can only go thus far, and no + farther. Charity herself was worn out with the importunity of this + persevering pauper, and on Thursday night the doors of the parish + workhouse were finally and sternly shut in her face. + + "But she was not alone in her sufferings. You might have supposed + that the misery of London--enormous as the amount of London misery + undoubtedly is--could have shown no counterpart to the frightful + position of this unfortunate creature--without a home, without a + friend, without a character, without a shelter, without a bite of + food--betrayed by her seducer, and the mark for the last twelve hours + of the floodgates of heaven. * * * Can it be there are two of them? + Yes! Another young woman, precisely in the same situation, knocks at + the same workhouse door, and is refused admittance by the same stern + guardians of the ratepayers' pockets. The two unfortunates club their + anguish and their despair together, and set forth in quest of some + archway or place of shelter, beneath which they may crouch until the + gas-lamps are put out, and the day breaks once more upon their + sufferings. Well, on they roamed, until one of the two, Sarah + Sherford, was actually seized with the pangs of labour, when they + resolved to stagger back to the workhouse; but again the door was + shut in their faces. What was to be done? They were driven away from + the house, and moved slowly along, with many a pause of agony, no + doubt, until they met with a policeman, one Daniel Donovan, who + directed them to a coffee-house where they might hope to get shelter. + The coffee-house did not open till 2 o'clock, when they had two + hours' shelter. But at that hour they were again cast out, as the + keeper was obliged to come into the street with his stall and attend + to it. 'At this time (we will here copy the language of our report) + Sherford's labour pains had considerably increased, and they again + spoke to the same policeman, Donovan, and told him that, unless she + was taken into the workhouse or some other place, she must give birth + to her infant in the street.' Daniel Donovan accordingly conveyed the + two unfortunate creatures to the workhouse once more, at 4 o'clock in + the morning. 'The policeman on duty there,' said this witness, 'told + him that they had been there before, and seemed to have some + _hesitation_ about admitting them, but on being told that one was in + the pains of labour, he let them in.'" + +What slavery can be worse than this? Here are young women, women in +distress, starving and almost in the pains of labour, driven about +from post to pillar, and from pillar to post, by day and by night, +totally unable to obtain the smallest aid. Assuredly it would be +difficult to find any thing to equal this in any other country +claiming to rank among the civilized nations of the world. + +At the moment of writing this page, an English journal furnishes a +case of death from starvation, and closes its account with the +following paragraph, strikingly illustrative of the state of things +which naturally arises where every man is "trying to live by snatching +the bread from his neighbour's mouth." + + "It is hardly possible to conceive a more horrible case. A stalwart, + strong-framed man, in the prime of life--his long pilgrimage of + martyrdom from London to Stoney-Stratford--his wretched appeals for + help to the "_civilization_" around him--his seven days fast--his + brutal abandonment by his fellow-men--his seeking shelter and being + driven from resting-place to resting-place--the crowning inhumanity + of the person named Slade and the patient, miserable death of the + worn-out man--are a picture perfectly astonishing to contemplate. + + "No doubt he invaded the rights of property, when he sought shelter + in the shed and in the lone barn!!!" + +The recent developments in regard to Bethlem Hospital are thus +described:-- + + "Some of the cases of cruelty brought to light by the examiners are + almost too revolting to describe. It appears that the incurables are + lodged in cells partially under ground, where their only conches are + troughs filled with straw and covered with a blanket. On these + miserable beds, worse than many a man gives to his horse or dog, the + victims lie in the coldest weather, without night-clothes, frequently + creeping into the straw in order to keep warm. These poor + unfortunates also are often fed in a way as disgusting as it is + cruel, being laid on their backs, and held down by one of the nurses, + while another forces into the mouth the bread and milk which is their + allotted food. This revolting practice is adopted to save time, for + it was proved on oath that patients, thus treated, ate their meals by + themselves, if allowed sufficient leisure. The imbecile patients, + instead of being bathed with decency, as humanity and health demands, + are thrown on the stone-floor, in a state of nudity, and there mopped + by the nurses. Such things would seem incredible, if they had not + been proved on oath. Some who were not incurable, having been treated + in this manner, exposed these atrocities, after their recovery; and + the result was an investigation, which led to the discovery of the + abominable manner in which this vast charity has been administered." + +These things are a necessary consequence of an universal trading +spirit. For the first time in the annals of the world it has been +proclaimed in England that the paramount object of desire with the +people of a great and Christian nation is to buy cheaply and sell +dearly; and when men find themselves, in self-defence, compelled to +beat down the poor sewing-woman to a penny for making a shirt, or the +poor flower-girl to a scale of wages so low that she must resort to +prostitution for the purpose of supporting life, they can neither be +expected to be charitable themselves, nor to tolerate much charity in +the public officers charged with the expenditure of their +contributions. There is consequently everywhere to be seen a degree of +harshness in the treatment of those who have the misfortune to be +poor, and a degree of contempt in the mode of speech adopted in +relation to them, totally incompatible with the idea of advance in +_real_ civilization. + + * * * * * + +The facts thus far given rest, as the reader will have seen, on the +highest English authority. It is scarcely possible to study them +without arriving at the conclusion that the labouring people of +England are gradually losing all control over the disposition of their +own labour--or in other words, that they are becoming enslaved--and +that with the decay of freedom there has been a decay of morality, +such as has been observed in every other country similarly +circumstanced. To ascertain the cause of this we must refer again to +Adam Smith, who tells us that-- + + "No equal quantity of productive labour or capital employed in + manufacture can ever occasion so great a reproduction as if it were + employed in agriculture. In these, nature does nothing, man does all, + and the reproduction must always be proportioned to the strength of + the agents that occasion it. The capital employed in agriculture, + therefore, not only puts into motion a greater quantity of productive + labour than any equal capital employed in manufacture; but, in + proportion, too, to the quantity of productive labour which it + employs, it adds a much greater value to the annual value of the land + and labour of the country, to the real wealth and revenue of its + inhabitants. Of all the ways which a capital can be employed, it is + by far the most advantageous to society." + +This is the starting point of his whole system, and is directly the +opposite of that from which starts the modern English +politico-economical school that professes to follow in his footsteps, +as will now be shown. The passage here given, which really constitutes +the base upon which rests the whole structure of Dr. Smith's work, is +regarded by Mr. McCulloch as "the most objectionable" one in it, and +he expresses great surprise that "so acute and sagacious a reasoner +should have maintained a doctrine so manifestly erroneous." "So far +indeed," says that gentleman-- + + "Is it from being true that nature does much for man in agriculture, + and nothing for manufactures, that the fact is more nearly the + reverse. There are no limits to the bounty of nature in manufactures; + but there are limits, and those not very remote, to her bounty in + agriculture. The greatest possible amount of capital might be + expended in the construction of steam-engines, or of any other sort + of machinery, and, after they had been multiplied indefinitely, the + last would be as prompt and efficient in producing commodities and + saving labour as the first. Such, however, is not the case with the + soil. Lands of the first quality are speedily exhausted; and it is + impossible to apply capital indefinitely even to the best soils, + without obtaining from it a constantly diminishing rate of + profit."--_Principles of Political Economy_. + +The error here results from the general error of Mr. Ricardo's system, +which places the poor cultivator among the rich soils of the swamps +and river-bottoms, and sends his rich successors to the poor soils of +the hills,--being directly the reverse of what has happened in every +country of the world, in every county in England, and on every farm in +each and all of those counties.[138] Had he not been misled by the +idea of "the constantly increasing sterility of the soil," Mr. +McCulloch could not have failed to see that the only advantage +resulting from the use of the steam-engine, or the loom, or any other +machine in use for the conversion of the products of the earth, was, +that it diminished the quantity of labour required to be so applied, +and increased the quantity that might be given to the work of +production. + +It is quite true that wheelbarrows and carts, wagons and ships, may be +increased indefinitely; but of what use can they possibly be, unless +the things to be carried be first produced, and whence can those +things be obtained except from the earth? The grist-mill is useful, +provided there is grain to be ground, but not otherwise. The +cotton-mill would be useless unless the cotton was first produced. +Agriculture _must_ precede manufactures, and last of all, says Dr. +Smith, comes foreign commerce.[139] + +The reader has had before him a passage from Mr. J.S. Mill, in which +that gentleman says that "if the law [of the occupation of the land] +were different, almost all the phenomena of the production and +distribution of wealth would be different from what they now are." In +the days of Adam Smith it had not yet been suggested that men began by +the cultivation of rich soils, and then passed to poor ones, with +constantly diminishing power to obtain food. Population, therefore, +had not come to be regarded as "a nuisance" to be abated by any +measures, however revolting, and imposing upon Christian men the +necessity of hardening their hearts, and permitting their fellow-men +to suffer every extremity of poverty and distress "short of absolute +death," with a view to bring about a necessity for refraining to +gratify that natural inclination which leads men and women to +associate in the manner tending to promote the growth of numbers and +the development of the best feelings of the human heart. It was then +considered right that men and women should marry, and increase of +population was regarded as evidence of increased wealth and strength. +Dr. Smith, therefore, looked at the affairs of the world as they were, +and be saw that the production of commodities not only preceded their +conversion and exchange, but that in the work of production the earth +aided man by increasing the _quantity_ of things to, be consumed; +whereas labour applied in other ways could change them only in their +_form_ or in their _place_, making no addition to their quantity. He, +therefore, saw clearly that the nearer the spinner and the weaver came +to the producer of food and wool, the more would be the quantity of +food and cloth to be divided between them; and thus was he led to see +how great an act of injustice it was on the part of his countrymen to +endeavour to compel the people of the world to send their raw +materials to them to be converted, at such vast loss of +transportation. He had no faith in the productive power of ships or +wagons. He knew that the barrel of flour or the bale of cotton, put +into the ship, came out a barrel of flour or a bale of cotton, the +weight of neither having been increased by the labour employed in +transporting it from this place of production to that of consumption. +He saw clearly that to place the consumer by the side of the producer +was to economize labour and aid production, and therefore to increase +the power to trade. He was, therefore, in favour of the local +application of labour and capital, by aid of which towns should grow +up in the midst of producers of food; and he believed that if "human +institutions" had not been at war with the best interests of man, +those towns would "nowhere have increased beyond what, the improvement +and cultivation of the territory in which they were situated could +support." Widely different is all this from the system which builds up +London, Liverpool, Manchester, and Birmingham, to be the manufacturing +centres of the world, and urges upon all nations the adoption of a +system looking directly to their maintenance and increase! + +Directly opposed in this respect to Dr. Smith, Mr. McCulloch has +unbounded faith in the productive power of ships and wagons. To him-- + + "It is plain that the capital and labour employed in carrying + commodities from where they are to be produced to where they are to + be consumed, and in dividing them into minute portions so as to fit + the wants of consumers, are really as productive as if they were + employed in agriculture or in manufactures."--_Principles_, 166. + +The man who carries the food adds, as he seems to think, as much to +the quantity to be consumed as did the one who ploughed the ground and +sowed the seed; and he who stands at the counter measuring cloth adds +as much to the quantity of cloth as did he who produced it. No +benefit, in his view, results from any saving of the labour of +transportation or exchange. He has, therefore, no faith in the +advantage to be derived from the local application of labour or +capital. He believes that it matters nothing to the farmer of Ireland +whether his food be consumed on the farm or at a distance from +it--whether his grass be fed on the land or carried to market--whether +the manure be returned to the land or wasted on the road--whether, of +course, the land be impoverished or enriched. He is even disposed to +believe that it is frequently more to the advantage of the people of +that country that the food there produced should be divided among the +labourers of France or Italy than among themselves.[140] + +He believes in the advantage of large manufacturing towns at a +distance from those who produce the food and raw materials of +manufacture; and that perfect freedom of trade consists in the quiet +submission of the farmers and planters of the world to the working of +a system which Dr. Smith, regarded as tending so greatly to "the +discouragement of agriculture," that it was the main object of his +work to teach the people of Britain that it was not more unjust to +others than injurious to themselves. + +In a work just issued from the press, Mr. McCulloch tells his readers +that-- + + "For the reasons now stated, a village built in the immediate + vicinity of a gentleman's seat generally declines on his becoming an + absentee. That, however, is in most cases any thing but an injury. + The inhabitants of such villages are generally poor, needy + dependants, destitute of any invention, and without any wish to + distinguish themselves. But when the proprietors are elsewhere, they + are forced to trust to their own resources, and either establish some + sort of manufacture, or resort to those manufacturing and commercial + cities where there is _always_ a ready demand for labourers, and + where every latent spark of genius is sure to be elicited. Although, + therefore, it be certainly true that absenteeism has a tendency to + reduce the villages which are found in the neighbourhood of the + residences of extensive proprietors, it is not on that account + prejudicial to the country at large, but the reverse."[141] + +It is here seen that the people who own large estates are supposed to +be surrounded by "poor and needy dependants," who are to be stimulated +to exertion by the pressure of want, and that this pressure is to be +produced by the absenteeism of the proprietor. We have here the master +administering the lash to his poor slave, and the only difference +between the English master and the Jamaica one appears to be, that +absenteeism in the one case forces the poor labourer to seek the lanes +and alleys of a great city, and in the other causes him to be worked +to death. The slavery of Ireland, Jamaica, and India is a natural +consequence of the absenteeism of the great land-owners; and the +larger the properties, the greater must be the tendency to +absenteeism, centralization, and slavery; and yet Mr. McCulloch +assures his readers that + + "The advantage of preserving large estates from being frittered down + by a scheme of equal division is not limited to its effects on the + younger children of their owners. It raises universally the standard + of competence, and gives new force to the springs which set industry + in motion. The manner of living in great landlords is that in which + every one is ambitious of being able to indulge; and their habits of + expense, though somewhat injurious to themselves, act as powerful + incentives to the ingenuity and enterprise of other classes, who + never think their fortunes sufficiently ample unless they will enable + them to emulate the splendour of the richest landlords; so that the + custom of primogeniture seems to render all classes more industrious, + and to augment at the same time the mass of wealth and the scale of + enjoyment."--_ Principles_. + +The modern system tends necessarily to the consolidation of land, and +the more completely that object can be attained, the greater must, be +"the splendour of the richest landlords," the greater the habits of +expense among the few, the greater their power to absent themselves, +the greater the power of the rapacious middleman or agent, the greater +the poverty and squalor of "the poor and needy dependants," and the +greater the necessity for seeking shelter in the cellars of +Manchester, the wynds of Glasgow, or the brothels of London and +Liverpool; but the larger must be the supply of the commodity called +"cheap labour." In other words, slaves will be more numerous, and +masters will he more able to decide on what shall be the employment of +the labourer, and what shall be its reward. + +Adam Smith knew nothing of all this. He saw that capital was always +best managed by its owner, and therefore had no faith in a universal +system of agencies. He saw that the little proprietor was by far the +greatest improver, and he had no belief in the advantage of great +farmers surrounded by day-labourers. He believed in the advantage of +making twelve exchanges in a year in place of one, and he saw clearly +that the nearer the consumer could come to the producer the larger and +more profitable would be commerce. He therefore taught that the +workman should go to the place where, food being abundant, moderate +labour would command much food. His successors teach that the food +should come to the place where, men being abundant and food scarce, +much labour will command little food, and that when population has +thus been rendered superabundant, the surplus should go abroad to +raise more food for the supply of those they left behind. The one +teaches the concentration of man, and the _local_ division of labour. +The other, the dispersion of man, and the _territorial_ division of +labour. They differ thus in every thing, except that they both use the +_word_ free trade--but with reference to totally distinct ideas. With +the one, COMMERCE has that enlarged signification which embraces every +description of intercourse resulting from the exercise of "man's +natural inclination" for association, while with the other TRADE has +reference to no idea, beyond that of the mere pedler who buys in the +cheapest market and sells in the dearest one. The system of the one is +perfectly harmonious, and tends toward peace among men. The other is a +mass of discords, tending toward war among the men and the nations of +the earth. + +As ordinarily used, the word Commerce has scarcely any signification +except that of trade with distant men, and yet that is the least +profitable commerce that can be maintained,--as the reader may satisfy +himself if he will reflect that when the miller and the farmer are +near neighbours they divide between them all the flour that is made, +whereas, when they are widely separated, a third man, the carrier, +intervenes between them and takes a large portion of it, leaving less +to be divided between those who raise the wheat and those who convert +it into flour. The more perfect the power of association the greater +must be the power to maintain commerce, for _every act of association +is an act of commerce_, as it is proposed now to show, beginning at +the beginning, in the family, which long precedes the nation. Doing +so, we find the husband exchanging his services in the raising of food +and the materials of clothing, for those of his wife, employed in the +preparation of food for the table, and the conversion of raw materials +into clothing,--and here it is we find the greatest of all trades. Of +all the labour employed on the farms and in the farm-houses of the +Union, we should, could we have an accurate statement, find that the +proportion of its products exchanged beyond their own limits, scarcely +exceeded one-third, and was certainly far less than one-half, the +remainder being given to the raising of food and raw materials for +their own consumption, and the conversion of that food and those +materials into the forms fitting them for their own uses. + +At the next step we find ourselves in the little community, of which +the owner of this farm constitutes a portion; and here we find the +farmer exchanging his wheat with one neighbour for a day's labour--the +use of his wagon and his horse for other days of labour--his potatoes +with a third for the shoeing of his horse, and with a fourth for the +shoeing of himself and his children, or the making of his coat. On one +day he or his family have labour to spare, and they pass it off to a +neighbour to be repaid by him in labour on another day. One requires +aid in the spring, the other in the autumn; one gives a day's labour +in hauling lumber, in exchange for that of another, employed in mining +coal or iron ore. Another trades the labour that has been employed in +the purchase of a plough for that of his neighbour which had been +applied to the purchase of a cradle. Exchanges being thus made on the +spot, from hour to hour and from day to day, with little or no +intervention of persons whose business is trade, their amount is +large, and, combined with those of the family, equals probably +four-fifths of the total product of the labour of the community, +leaving not more than one-fifth to be traded off with distant men; and +this proportion is often greatly diminished as with increasing +population and wealth a market is made on the land for the products of +the land. + +This little community forms part of a larger one, styled a nation, the +members of which are distant hundreds or thousands of miles from each +other, and here we find difficulties tending greatly to limit the +power to trade. The man in latitude 40° may have labour to sell for +which he can find no purchaser, while he who lives in latitude 50° is +at the moment grieving to see his crop perish on the ground for want +of aid in harvest. The first may have potatoes rotting, and his wagon +and horses idle, while the second may need potatoes, and have his +lumber on his hands for want of means of transportation--yet distance +forbids exchange between them. + +Again, this nation forms part of a world, the inhabitants of which are +distant tens of thousands of miles from each other, and totally unable +to effect exchanges of labour, or even of commodities, except of +certain kinds that will bear transportation to distant markets. +Commerce tends, therefore, to diminish in its amount with every +circumstance tending to increase the necessity for going to a +distance, and to increase in amount with every one tending to diminish +the distance within which it must be maintained. As it now stands with +the great farming interest of the Union, the proportions are probably +as follows:-- + + Exchanges in the family................... 55 per cent. + " in the neighbourhood............ 25 " + " in the nation................... 15 " + " with other nations.............. 5 " + --- + Total.................................... 100 + +It will now be obvious that any law, domestic or foreign, tending to +interfere with the exchanges of the family or the neighbourhood, would +be of more serious importance than one that should, to the same +extent, affect those with the rest of the nation, and that one which +should affect the trade of one part of the nation with another, would +be more injurious than one which should tend to limit the trade with +distant nations. Japan refuses to have intercourse with either Europe +or America, yet this total interdiction of trade with a great empire +is less important to the farmers of the Union than would be the +imposition of a duty of one farthing a bushel upon the vegetable food +raised on their farms to be consumed in their families. + +The great trade is the home trade, and the greater the tendency to the +performance of trade at home the more rapid will be the increase of +prosperity, and the greater the power to effect exchanges abroad. The +reason of this is to be found in the fact that the power of production +increases with the power of combined exertion, and all combination is +an exchange of labour for labour, the exchange being made at home. The +more exchanges are thus effected the smaller is the number of the men, +wagons, ships, or sailors employed in making them, and the greater the +number of persons employed in the work of production, with increase in +the quantity of commodities produced, and the _power_ to exchange +grows with the power to produce, while the power to produce diminishes +with every increase in the _necessity_ for exchange. Again, when the +work of exchange is performed at home, the power of combination +facilitates the disposal of a vast amount of labour that would +otherwise be wasted, and an infinite number of things that would +otherwise have no value whatever, but which, combined with the labour +that is saved, are quite sufficient to make one community rich by +comparison with another in which such savings cannot be effected. +Virginia wastes more labour and more commodities that would have value +in New England, than would pay five times over for all the cloth and +iron she consumes. + +Again, the quantity of capital required for effecting exchanges tends +to diminish as commerce comes nearer home. The ship that goes to China +performs no more exchanges in a year than the canal-boat that trades +from city to city performs in a month; and the little and inexpensive +railroad car passing from village to village may perform almost twice +as many as the fine packet-ship that has cost ninety or a hundred +thousand dollars. With the extension of the home trade, labour and +capital become, therefore, more productive of commodities required for +the support and comfort of man, and the wages of the labourer and the +profits of the capitalist tend to increase, and commerce tends still +further to increase. On the other hand, with the diminution of the +power to effect exchanges at home, labour and capital become less +productive of commodities; the wages of the labourer and the profits +of the capitalist tend to decrease, and trade tends still further to +diminish. All this will be found fully exemplified among ourselves on +a comparison of the years 1835-36 with 1841-42, while the contrary and +upward tendency is exemplified by the years 1845-6 and 7, as compared +with 1841-2. + +The fashionable doctrine of our day is, however, that the prosperity +of a nation is to be measured by the amount of its trade with people, +who are distant, as manifested by custom-house returns, and not by the +quantity of exchanges among persons who live near each other, and who +trade without the intervention of ships, and with little need of +steamboats or wagons. If the trade of a neighbourhood be closed by the +failure of a furnace or a mill, and the workman be thus deprived of +the power to trade off the labour of himself or his children, or the +farmer deprived of the power to trade off his food, consolation is +found in the increased quantity of exports--_itself, perhaps, the +direct consequence of a diminished ability to consume at home_. If +canal-boats cease to be built, the nation is deemed to be enriched by +the substitution of ocean steamers requiring fifty times the capital +for the performance of the same quantity of exchanges. If the failure +of mills and furnaces causes men to be thrown out of employment, the +remedy is to be found, not in the revisal of the measures that have +produced these effects, but in the exportation of the men themselves +to distant climes, thus producing a necessity for the permanent use of +ships instead of canal-boats, with diminished power to maintain trade, +and every increase of this _necessity_ is regarded as an evidence of +growing wealth and power. + +The whole tendency of modern commercial policy is to the substitution +of the distant market for the near one. England exports her people to +Australia that they may there grow the wool that might he grown at +home more cheaply; and we export to California, by hundreds of +thousands, men who enjoy themselves in hunting gold, leaving behind +them untouched the real gold-mines--those of coal and iron--in which +their labour would be thrice more productive. The reports of a late +Secretary of the Treasury abound in suggestions as to the value of the +distant trade. Steam-ships were, he thought, needed to enable us to +obtain the control of the commerce of China and Japan. "With our front +on both oceans and the gulf," it was thought, "we might secure this +commerce, and with it, in time, command the trade of the world." +England, not to be outdone in this race for "the commerce of the +world," adds steadily to her fleet of ocean steamers, and the +government contributes its aid for their maintenance, by the payment +of enormous sums withdrawn from the people at home, and diminishing +the home market to thrice the extent that it increases the foreign +one. The latest accounts inform us of new arrangements about to be +made with a view to competition with this country for the passenger +traffic to and within the tropics, while the greatest of all trades +now left to British ships is represented to be the transport of +British men, women, and children, so heavily taxed at home for the +maintenance of this very system that they are compelled to seek an +asylum abroad. In all this there is nothing like freedom of trade, or +freedom of man; as the only real difference between the freeman and +the slave is, that the former exchanges himself, his labour and his +products, while the latter must permit another to do it for him. + +Mr. McCulloch regards himself as a disciple of Adam Smith, and so does +Lord John Russell. We, too, are his disciple, but in _The Wealth of +Nations_, can find no warrant for the system advocated by either. The +system of Dr. Smith tended to the production of that natural freedom +of trade, each step toward which would have been attended with +improvement in the condition of the people, and increase in the _power +to trade_, thus affording proof conclusive of the soundness of the +doctrine; whereas every step in the direction now known as free trade +is attended with deterioration of condition, and _increased necessity_ +for trade, with _diminished power_ to trade. Those who profess to be +his followers and suppose that they are carrying out his principles, +find results directly the reverse of their anticipations; and the +reason for this may readily be found in the fact that the English +school of political economists long since repudiated the whole of the +system of Dr. Smith, retaining of it little more than _the mere words_ +"free trade." + +The basis of all commerce is to be found in production, and therefore +it was that Dr. Smith looked upon agriculture, the science of +production, as the first pursuit of man, and manufactures and commerce +as beneficial only to the extent that they tended to aid agriculture +and increase the quantity of commodities to be converted or exchanged, +preparatory to their being consumed. He held, therefore, that the +return to labour would be greater in a trade in which exchanges could +be made once a month than in another in which they could only be made +once in a year, and he was opposed to the system then in vogue, +because it had, "in all cases," turned trade, + + "From a foreign trade of consumption with a neighbouring, into one + with a more distant country; in many cases, from a direct foreign + trade of consumption, into a round-about one; and in some cases, from + all foreign trade of consumption, into a carrying trade. It has in + all cases, therefore," he continues, "turned it from a direction in + which it would have maintained a greater quantity of productive + labour, into one in which it can maintain a much smaller quantity." + +All this is directly the reverse of what is taught by the modern +British economists; and we have thus two distinct schools, that of +Adam Smith and that of his successors. The one taught that labour +directly applied to production was most advantageous, and that by +bringing the consumer to take his place by the side of the producer, +production and the consequent power to trade would be increased. The +other teaches, that every increase of capital or labour applied to +production must be attended with diminished return, whereas ships and +steam-engines may be increased _ad infinitum_ without such diminution: +the necessary inference from which is, that the more widely the +consumer and the producer are separated, with increased necessity for +the use of ships and engines, the more advantageously labour will be +applied, and the greater will be the power to trade. The two systems +start from a different base, and tend in an opposite direction, and +yet the modern school claims Dr. Smith as founder. While teaching a +theory of production totally different, Mr. McCulloch informs us that +"the fundamental principles on which the _production_ of wealth +depends" were established by Dr. Smith, "beyond the reach of cavil or +dispute." + +The difference between the two schools may be thus illustrated: Dr. +Smith regarded commerce as forming a true pyramid, thus-- + + Exchanges abroad. + Exchanges at home. + Conversion into cloth and iron. + Production of food and other raw materials. + +This is in exact accordance with what we know to be true; but +according to the modern school, commerce forms an inverted pyramid, +thus-- + + Exchanges with distant men. + Exchanges at home. + Conversion. + Production. + +The difference between these figures is great, but not greater than +that between two systems, the one of which regards the earth as the +great and perpetually improving machine to which the labour of man may +be profitably applied, while the other gives precedence to those very +minute and perpetually deteriorating portions of it which go to the +construction of ships, wagons, and steam-engines. An examination of +these figures will perhaps enable the reader to understand the cause +of the unsteadiness observed wherever the modern system is adopted. + + * * * * * + +It will be easy now to see why it is that the commercial policy of +England has always been so diametrically opposed to that advocated by +the author of _The Wealth of Nations_. He saw clearly that the man and +the easily transported spindle should go to the food and the cotton, +and that, when once there, 'they were there for ever; whereas the +bulky food and cotton might be transported to the man and the spindle +for a thousand years, and that the necessity for transportation in the +thousand and first would be as great as it had been in the first; and +that the more transportation was needed, the less food and cloth would +fall to the share of both producer and consumer. His countrymen denied +the truth of this, and from that day to the present they have +endeavoured to prevent the other nations of the world from obtaining +machinery of any kind that would enable them to obtain the aid of +those natural agents which they themselves regard as more useful than +the earth itself. "The power of water," says Mr. McCulloch-- + + "And of wind, which move our machinery, support our ships, and impel + them over the deep--the pressure of the atmosphere, and the + elasticity of steam, which enables us to work the most powerful + engines, are they not the spontaneous gifts of nature? Machinery is + advantageous only because it gives us the means of pressing some of + the powers of nature into our service, and of making them perform the + principal part of what, we must otherwise have wholly performed + ourselves. In navigation is it possible to doubt that the powers of + nature--the buoyancy of the water, the impulse of the wind, and the + polarity of the magnet--contribute fully as much as the labours of + the sailor to waft our ships from one hemisphere to another? In + bleaching and fermentation the whole processes are carried on by + natural agents. And it is to the effects of heat in softening and + melting metals, in preparing our food, and in warming our houses, + that we owe many of our most powerful and convenient instruments, and + that those northern climates have been made to afford a comfortable + habitation."--_Principles_, 165. + +This is all most true, but what does it prove in regard to British +policy? Has not its object been that of preventing the people of the +world from availing themselves of the vast deposites, of iron ore and +of fuel throughout the earth, and thus to deprive them of the power to +call to their aid the pressure of the atmosphere and the elasticity of +steam? Has it not looked to depriving them of all power to avail +themselves of the natural agents required in the processes of +bleaching and fermentation, in softening woods, and melting metals, +and was not that the object had in view by a distinguished statesman, +since Chancellor of England, when he said, that "the country could +well afford the losses then resulting from the exportation of +manufactured goods, as its effect would be to smother in the cradle +the manufactures of other nations?" Has not this been the object of +every movement of Great Britain since the days of Adam Smith, and does +not the following diagram represent exactly what would be the state of +affairs if she could carry into full effect her desire to become "the +workshop of the world?" + + + \British ships/ + Producers of raw materials\ / Consumers of cloth and iron + Europe, Asia, Africa > < in Europe, Asia, Africa + America / \ North and South America + / And rails \ + + +Mr. McCulloch insists that agriculture is less profitable than +manufactures and trade, and his countrymen insist that all the world +outside of England shall be one great farm, leaving to England herself +the use of all the various natural agents required in manufactures and +commerce, that they may remain poor while she becomes rich. There is +in all this a degree of selfishness not to be paralleled, and +particularly when we reflect that it involves a necessity on the part +of all other nations for abstaining from those scientific pursuits +required for the development of the intellect, and which so naturally +accompany the habit of association in towns, for the purpose of +converting the food, the wool, the hides, and the timber of the farmer +into clothing and furniture for his use. It is the policy of +barbarism, and directly opposed to any advance in civilization, as +will be fully seen when we examine into its working in reference to +any particular trade or country. + +The annual average production of cotton is probably seventeen hundred +millions of pounds, or less than two pounds per head for the +population of the world; and certainly not one-tenth of what would be +consumed could they find means to pay for it; and not one-tenth of +what would be good for them; and yet it is a drug, selling in India at +two and three cents per pound, and commanding here at this moment, +notwithstanding the abundance of gold, but eight or nine cents, with a +certainty that, should we again be favoured, as we were a few years +since, with a succession of large crops, it will fall to a lower point +than it ever yet has seen: a state of things that could not exist were +the people of the world to consume even one-third as much as would be +good for them. Why do they not? Why is it that India, with her hundred +millions of population, and with her domestic manufacture in a state +of ruin, consumes of British cottons to the extent of only sixteen +cents per head--or little more, probably, than a couple of yards of +cloth? To these questions an answer may perhaps be found upon an +examination of the circumstances which govern the consumption of other +commodities; for we may be quite certain that cotton obeys precisely +the same laws as sugar and coffee, wine and wheat. Such an examination +would result in showing that when a commodity is at once produced at +or near the place of growth in the form fitting it for use, the +consumption is invariably large; and that when it has to go through +many and distant hands before being consumed, it is as invariably +small. The consumption of sugar on a plantation is large; but if it +were needed that before being consumed it should be sent to Holland to +be refined, and then brought back again, we may feel well assured that +there would not be one pound consumed on any given plantation where +now there are twenty, or possibly fifty. The consumption of cotton on +the plantation is very small indeed, because, before being consumed, +'it has to be dragged through long and muddy roads to the landing, +thence carried to New Orleans, thence to Liverpool, and thence to +Manchester, after which the cloth has to be returned, the planter +receiving one bale for every five he sent away, and giving the labour +of cultivating an acre in exchange for fifty, sixty, or eighty pounds +of its product. If, now, the people who raised the cotton were free to +call to their aid the various natural agents of whose service it is +the object of the British system to deprive them, and if, therefore, +the work of converting it into cloth were performed on the ground +where it was raised, or in its neighbourhood, is it not clear that the +consumption would be largely increased? The people who made the cloth +would be the consumers of numerous things raised on the plantation +that are now wasted, while the facility of converting such things into +cloth would be a bounty on raising them; and thus, while five times +the quantity of cotton would be consumed, the real cost--that is, the +labour cost--would be less than it is for the smaller quantity now +used. So, too, in India. It may be regarded as doubtful if the +quantity of cotton to day consumed in that country is one-half what it +was half a century since--and for the reason that the number of people +now interposed between the consumer and the producer is so great. The +consumption of wine in France is enormous, whereas here there is +scarcely any consumed; and yet the apparent excess of price is not so +great as would warrant us in expecting to find so great a difference. +The real cause is not so much to be found in the excess of price, +though that is considerable, as in the mode of payment. A peasant in +France obtains wine in exchange for much that would be wasted but for +the proximity of the wine-vat, and the demand it makes for the labour +of himself and others. He raises milk, eggs, and chickens, and he has +fruit, cabbages, potatoes, or turnips, commodities that from their +bulky or perishable nature cannot be sent to a distance, but can be +exchanged at home. The farmer of Ohio cannot exchange his spare +labour, or that of his horses, for wine, nor can he pay for it in +peaches or strawberries, of which the yield of an acre might produce +him hundreds of dollars--nor in potatoes or turnips, of which he can +obtain hundreds of bushels; but he must pay in wheat, of which an acre +yields him a dozen bushels, one-half of which are eaten up in the +process of exchange between him and the wine-grower. Whenever the +culture of the grape shall come to be established in that State, and +wine shall be made at home, it will be found that the _gallons_ +consumed will be almost as numerous as are now the _drops_. Look where +we may, we shall find the same result. Wherever the consumer and the +producer are brought into close connection with each other, the +increase of consumption is wonderful, even where there is no reduction +in the nominal price; and wherever they are separated, the diminution +of consumption is equally wonderful, even where there is a reduction +of the nominal price--and it is so because the facility of exchange +diminishes as the distance increases. A man who has even a single +hour's labour to spare may exchange it with his neighbour for as much +cotton cloth as would make a shirt; but if the labour market is +distant, he may, and will, waste daily as much time as would buy him a +whole piece of cotton cloth, and may have to go shirtless while cotton +is a drug. When the labour market is near, land acquires value and men +become rich and free. When it is distant, land is of little value and +men continue poor and enslaved. + +Before proceeding further, it would be well for the reader to look +around his own neighbourhood, and see how many exchanges are even now +made that could not be made by people that were separated even ten or +twenty miles from each other, and how many conveniences and comforts +are enjoyed in exchange for both labour and commodities that would be +wasted but for the existence of direct intercourse between the +parties--and, then to satisfy himself if the same law which may be +deduced from the small facts of a village neighbourhood, will not be +found equally applicable to the great ones of larger communities. + +Having reflected upon these things, let him next look at the present +condition of the cotton trade, and remark the fact that scarcely any +of the wool produced is consumed without first travelling thousands of +miles, and passing through almost hundreds of hands. The places of +production are India, Egypt, Brazil, the West Indies, and our Southern +States. In the first, the manufacture is in a state of ruin. In the +second, third, and fourth, it has never been permitted to have an +existence; and in the last it has but recently made an effort to +struggle into life, but from month to month we hear of the stoppage or +destruction of Southern mills, and the day is apparently now not far +distant when we shall have again to say that no portion of the cotton +crop can be consumed in the cotton-growing region until after it shall +have travelled thousands of miles in quest of hands to convert it into +cloth. + +Why is this? Why is it that the light and easily transported spindle +and loom are not placed in and about the cotton fields? The planters +have labour, _that is now wasted_, that would be abundant for the +conversion of half their crops, if they could but bring the machinery +to the land, instead of taking the produce of the land to the +machinery. Once brought there, it would be there for ever; whereas, +let them carry the cotton to the spindle as long as they may, the work +must still be repeated. Again, why is it that the people of India, to +whom the world was so long indebted for all its cotton goods, have not +only ceased to supply distant countries, but have actually ceased to +spin yarn or make cloth for themselves? Why should they carry raw +cotton on the backs of bullocks for hundreds of miles, and then send +it by sea for thousands of miles, paying freights, commissions, and +charges of all kinds to an amount so greatly exceeding the original +price, to part with sixty millions of pounds of raw material, to +receive in exchange eight or ten millions of pounds of cloth and yarn? +Is it not clear that the labour of converting the cotton into yarn is +not one-quarter as great as was the labour of raising, the cotton +itself? Nevertheless, we here see them giving six or eight pounds of +cotton for probably a single one of yarn, while labour unemployed +abounds throughout India. Further, Brazil raises cotton, and she has +spare labour, and yet she sends her cotton to look for the spindle, +instead of bringing the spindle to look for the cotton, as she might +so readily do. Why does she so? The answer to these questions is to be +found in British legislation, founded on the idea that the mode of +securing to the people of England the highest prosperity is to deprive +all mankind, outside of her own limits, of the power to mine coal, +make iron, construct machinery, or use steam, in aid of their efforts +to obtain food, clothing, or any other of the necessaries of life. +This system is directly opposed to that advocated by Adam Smith. Not +only, said he, is it injurious to other nations, but it must be +injurious to yourselves, for it will diminish the productiveness of +both labour and capital, and will, at the same time, render you daily +more and more dependent upon the operations of other countries, when +you should be becoming more independent of them. His warnings were +then, as they are now, unheeded; and from his day to the present, +England has been engaged in an incessant effort utterly to destroy the +manufactures of India, and to _crush every attempt elsewhere to +establish any competition with her for the purchase of cotton_. The +reader will determine for himself if this is not a true picture of the +operations of the last seventy years. If it is, let him next determine +if the tendency of the system is not that of enslaving the producers +of cotton, white, brown, and black, and compelling them to carry all +their wool to a single market, in which one set of masters dictates +the price at which they _must_ sell the raw material and _must_ buy +the manufactured one. Could there be a greater tyranny than this? + +To fully understand the working of the system in diminishing the power +to consume, let us apply elsewhere the same principle, placing in +Rochester, on the Falls of the Genesee, a set of corn-millers who had +contrived so effectually to crush all attempts to establish mills in +other parts of the Middle States, that no man could eat bread that had +not travelled up to that place in its most bulky form, coming back in +its most compact one, leaving at the mill all the refuse that might +have been applied to the fattening of hogs and cattle--and let us +suppose that the diagram on the following page represented the corn +trade of that portion of the Union. + + + \ Wagons and / + Producers of food \ / Consumers of food + in those states > < in those states + / \ + /Rochester mills\ + + +Now, suppose all the grain of half a dozen States had to make its way +through such a narrow passage as is above indicated, is it not clear +that the owners of roads, wagons, and mills would be masters of the +owners of land? Is it not clear that the larger the crops the higher +would be freights, and the larger the charge for the use of mills, the +smaller would be the price of a bushel of wheat as compared with that +of a bag of meal? Would not the farmers find themselves to be mere +slaves to the owners of a small quantity of mill machinery? That such +would be the case, no one can even for a moment doubt--nor is it at +all susceptible of doubt that the establishment of such a system would +diminish by one-half the consumption of food, throughout those States, +and also the power to produce it, for all the refuse would be fed at +and near Rochester, and the manure yielded by it would be totally lost +to the farmer who raised the food. The value of both labour and land +would thus be greatly diminished. Admitting, for a moment, that such a +system existed, what would be the remedy? Would it not be found in an +effort to break down the monopoly, and thus to establish among the +people the power to trade among themselves without paying, toll to the +millers of Rochester? Assuredly it would; and to that end they would +be seen uniting among themselves to induce millers to come and settle +among them, precisely as we see men every where uniting to bring +schools and colleges to their neighbourhood, well assured that a small +present outlay is soon made up, even in a pecuniary point of view, in +being enabled to keep their children at home while being educated, +instead of sending them abroad, there to be boarded and lodged, while +food is wasted at home that they might eat, and chambers are empty +that they might occupy. Education thus obtained costs a parent almost +literally nothing, while that for which a child must go to a distance +is so costly that few can obtain it. Precisely so is it with food and +with cloth. The mere labour of converting grain into flour is as +nothing when compared with that required for its transportation +hundreds of miles; and the mere labour required for the conversion of +cotton into cloth is as nothing compared with the charges attendant +upon its transportation from the plantation to Manchester and back +again. Commercial centralization looks, however, to compelling the +planter to pay treble the cost of conversion, in the wages and profits +of the people employed in transporting and exchanging the cotton. + +Admitting that the grain and flour trade were thus centralized, what +would be the effect of a succession of large crops, or even of a +single one? Would not the roads be covered with wagons whenever they +were passable, and even at times when, they were almost impassable? +Would not every one be anxious to anticipate the apprehended fall of +prices by being early in the market? Would not freights be high? Would +not the farmer, on his arrival in Rochester, find that every +store-house was filled to overflowing? Would not storage be high? +Would he not approach the miller, cap in hand, and would not the +latter receive him with his hat on his head? Assuredly such would be +the case, and he would hear everywhere of the astonishing extent of +"the surplus"--of how rapidly production was exceeding consumption--of +the length of time his grain must remain on hand before it could be +ground--of the low price of flour, &c. &c.;--and the result would be +that the more grain carried to market the less would be carried back, +and _the less he would be able to consume_; and at last he would +arrive at the conclusion that the only effect of large crops granted +him by the bounty of Heaven was that of enriching the miller at his +expense, by compelling him to allow more toll for the privilege of +creeping through the hole provided for him by the miller. He would +pray for droughts and freshets--for storms and frosts--as the only +means of escape from ruin. + +The reader may determine for himself if this is not a fair picture of +the cotton trade? Do the planters profit by good crops? Assuredly not. +The more they send to market the less they receive for it. Do they +profit by improvements in the transportation of their commodity? +Certainly not. With the growth of railroads, cotton has fallen in +price, and will not this day command on the plantation near as much, +per pound, as it did before the railroad was invented. In India, the +cost of transportation from the place of production to England has +fallen in the last forty years sevenpence,[142] and yet the grower of +cotton obtains for it one-third less than he did before--receiving now +little more than two cents, when before he had from three to four. Who +profits by the reduction of cost of transportation and conversion? +_The man who keeps the toll-gate through which it passes to the +world_, and who opens it only gradually, so as to permit the increased +quantity to pass through slowly, paying largely for the privilege. +That all this is perfectly in accordance with the facts of the ease +must be obvious to every reader. The planter becomes rich when crops +are short, but then the mill-owner makes but little profit. He is +almost ruined when crops are large, but then it is that the mill-owner +is enriched--and thus it is that the system produces universal +discord, whereas under a natural system there would be as perfect +harmony of national, as there is of individual interests. + +We may now inquire how this would affect the farmers around Rochester. +The consumption of the Middle States would be largely diminished +because of the heavy expense of transporting the wheat to mill and the +flour back again, and this would cause a great increase of the surplus +for which a market must be elsewhere found. This, of course, would +reduce prices, and prevent increase, if it did not produce large +diminution in the value of land. The millers would become +_millionaires_--great men among their poorer neighbours--and they +would purchase large farms to be managed by great farmers, and fine +houses surrounded by large pleasure-grounds. Land would become +everywhere more and more consolidated, because people who could do so +would fly from a country in which such a tyranny existed. The demand +for labour would diminish as the smaller properties became absorbed. +Rochester itself would grow, because it would be filled with cheap +labour from the country, seeking employment, and because there would +be great numbers of wagoners and their horses to be cared for, while +porters innumerable would be engaged in carrying wheat in one +direction and flour in another. Hotels would grow large, thieves and +prostitutes would abound, and morals would decline. From year to year +the millers would become greater men, and the farmers and labourers +smaller men, and step by step all would find themselves becoming +slaves to the caprices of the owners of a little machinery, the whole +cost of which would scarcely exceed _the daily loss_ resulting from +the existence of the system. By degrees, the vices of the slave would +become more and more apparent. Intemperance would grow, and education +would diminish, as the people of the surrounding country became more +dependent on the millers for food and clothing in exchange for cheap +grain and cheaper labour. The smaller towns would everywhere decline, +and from day to day the millers would find it more easy so to direct +the affairs of the community as to secure a continuance of their +monopoly. Local newspapers would pass away, and in their stead the +people throughout the country would be supplied with the Rochester +_Times_, which would assure the farmers that cheap food tended to +produce cheaper labour, and the land-owners that if they did not +obtain high rents it was their own fault, the defect being in their +own bad cultivation--and the more rapid the augmentation of the +millers' fortunes, and of the extent of their pleasure-grounds, the +greater, they would be assured, must be the prosperity of the whole +people; even although the same paper might find itself obliged to +inform its readers that the overgrown capital presented it as + + "A strange result of the terrible statistics of society, that there + was upon an average one person out of twenty of the inhabitants of + the luxurious metropolis every day destitute of food and employment, + and every night without a place for shelter or repose?"--London + _Times_. + +We have here slavery at home as a consequence of the determination, to +subject to slavery people abroad. With each step in the growth of the +millers' fortunes, and of the splendour of their residences, land +would have become consolidated and production would have diminished, +and the whole population would have tended more and more to become a +mass of mere traders, producing nothing themselves, but buying cheaply +and selling dearly, and thus deriving their support from the exercise +of the power to tax the unfortunate people forced to trade with them; +a state of things in the highest degree adverse to moral, +intellectual, or political improvement. + +The reader may now turn to the extracts from Mr. McCulloch's works +already given, (page 240 _ante_,) and compare with them this view of +the effects of supposed commercial centralization on this side of the +Atlantic. Doing so, he will find it there stated that it is to the +consolidation of the land, and to the luxury of the style of living of +the great landlords, surrounded, as they, "in most cases" are, by +"poor and needy dependants," whose necessities finally compel them to +seek in large cities a market for their own labour, and that of their +wives and children, that we are to look for an augmentation of "the +mass of wealth and the scale of enjoyment!" Modern British political +economy holds no single idea that is in harmony with the real +doctrines of Adam Smith, and yet it claims him as its head! + + * * * * * + +The reader is requested now to remark-- + +I. That the system of commercial centralization sought to be +established by Great Britain is precisely similar to the one here +ascribed to the millers of Rochester, with the difference only, that +it has for its object to compel all descriptions of raw produce to +pass through England on its way from the consumer and the producer, +even when the latter are near neighbours to each other, and England +distant many thousand of miles from both. + +II. That to carry out that system it was required that all other +nations should be prevented from obtaining either the knowledge or the +machinery required for enabling them cheaply to mine coal, smelt iron +ore, or manufacture machines by aid of which they could command the +services of the great natural agents whose value to man is so well +described by Mr. McCulloch. (See page 249 _ante_.) + +III. That this was at first accomplished by means of prohibitions, and +that it is now maintained by the most strenuous efforts for cheapening +labour, and thus depriving the labourer at home of the power to +determine for whom he will work or what shall be his wages. + +IV. That the more perfectly this system can be carried out, the more +entirely must all other nations limit themselves, men, women and +children, to the labour of the field, and the lower must be the +standard of intellect. + +V. That while the number of agriculturists in other countries must +thus be increased, the power to consume their own products must be +diminished, because of the great increase of the charges between the +producer and the consumer. + +VI. That this, in turn, must be attended with an increase in the +quantity of food and other raw materials thrown on the market of +Britain, with great increase in the competition between the foreign +and domestic producers for the possession of that market, and great +diminution of prices. + +VII. That this tends necessarily to "discourage agriculture" in +Britain, and to prevent the application of labour to the improvement +of the land. + +VIII. That it likewise tends to the deterioration of the condition of +the foreign agriculturist, who is thus deprived of the power to +improve his land, or to increase the quantity of his products. + +IX. That the smaller the quantity of commodities produced, the less +must be the power to pay for labour, and the less the competition for +the purchase of the labourer's services. + +X. That with the decline in the demand for labour, the less must be +the power of consumption on the part of the labourer, the greater must +be the tendency to a glut of foreign and domestic produce, in the +general market of the world, and the greater the tendency to a further +diminution of the labourer's reward. + +XI. That, the greater the quantity of raw produce seeking to pass +through the market of England, the greater must be the tendency to a +decline in the value of English land, and the larger the charges of +the owners of the mills, ships, and shops, through which the produce +must pass, and the greater their power of accumulation, at the cost of +both labour and land. + +XII. That the less the labour applied to the improvement of the soil, +the more must the population of the country be driven from off the +land, the greater must be the tendency of the latter toward +consolidation, and the greater the tendency toward absenteeism and the +substitution of great farmers and day-labourers for small proprietors, +with further decline in production and in the demand for labour. + +XIII. That with the reduction of the country population, local places +of exchange must pass away; and that labour and land must decline in +power as ships, mills, and their owners become more united and more +powerful. + +XIV. That the tendency of the whole system is, therefore, toward +diminishing the value and the power of land, and toward rendering the +labourer a mere slave to the trading community, which obtains from day +to day more and more the power to impose taxes at its pleasure, and to +centralize in its own hands the direction of the affairs of the +nation; to the destruction of local self-government, and to the +deterioration of the physical, moral, intellectual, and political +condition of the people. + +In accordance with these views, an examination of the productive power +of the United Kingdom should result in showing that production has not +kept pace with population; and that such had been the ease we should +be disposed to infer from the increasing demand for cheap labour, and +from the decline that has unquestionably taken place in the control of +the labourer over his own operations. That the facts are in accordance +with this inference the reader may perhaps be disposed to admit after +having examined carefully the following figures. + +In 1815, now thirty-eight years since, the declared value of the +exports of the United Kingdom, of British produce and manufacture, was +as follows:-- + + Of woollen manufactures............... £9,381,426 + " cotton " ............... 20,620,000 + " silk " ............... 622,118 + " linen " ............... 1,777,563 + And of other commodities.............. 19,231,684 + ---------- + Total................................. 51,632,791 + +In the same year there were imported of + + Wool.................................. 13,634,000 lbs. + Cotton................................ 99,306,000 " + Silk.................................. 1,807,000 " + Flax.................................. 41,000,000 " + Grain................................. 267,000 qrs. + Flour................................. 202,000 cwts. + Butter................................ 125,000 " + Cheese................................ 106,000 " + +If to the raw cotton, wool, silk, and flax that were re-exported in a +manufactured state, and to the dyeing materials and other articles +required for their manufacture, we now add the whole foreign food, as +above shown, we can scarcely make, of foreign commodities re-exported, +an amount exceeding twelve, or at most thirteen millions, leaving +thirty-eight millions as the value of the British produce exported in +that year; and this divided among the people of the United Kingdom +would give nearly £2 per head. + +In 1851 the exports, were as follows:-- + + Manufactures of wool.................... £10,314,000 + " cotton.................. 30,078,000 + " silk.................... 1,329,000 + " flax.................... 5,048,000 + All other commodities................... 21,723,569 + ----------- + Total................................... £68,492,569 + +We see thus that nearly the whole increase that had taken place in the +long period of thirty-six years was to be found in four branches of +manufacture, the materials of which were wholly drawn from abroad, as +is shown in the following statement of imports for that year:-- + + Wool.................................... 83,000,000 lbs. + Cotton.................................. 700,000,000 " + Silk.................................... 5,020,000 " + Flax.................................... 135,000,000 " + Eggs.................................... 115,000,000 " + Oxen, cows, calves, sheep, hogs, &c..... 300,000 " + Corn.................................... 8,147,675 qrs. + Flour................................... 5,384,552 cwts. + Potatoes................................ 635,000 " + Provisions.............................. 450,000 " + Butter.................................. 354,000 " + Cheese.................................. 338,000 " + Hams and lard........................... 130,000 " + +The wool imported was more than was required to produce the cloth +exported, and from this it follows that the whole export represented +foreign wool. The cotton, silk, flax, dyeing-materials, &c. exported +were all foreign, and the food imported was adequate, or nearly so, to +feed the people who produced the goods exported. Such being the case, +it would follow that the total exports of British and Irish produce +could scarcely have amounted to even £15,000,000, and it certainly +could not have exceeded that sum--and that would give about 10s. per +head, or one-fourth as much as in 1815. + +The difference between the two periods is precisely the same as that +between the farmer and the shoemaker. The man who, by the labour of +himself and sons, is enabled to send to market the equivalent of a +thousand bushels of wheat, has first _fed himself and them_, and +therefore he has _the whole proceeds_ of his sales to apply to the +purchase of clothing, furniture, or books, or to add to his capital. +His neighbour buys food and leather, and sells shoes. He _has been +fed_, and the first appropriation to be made of the proceeds of his +sales is to buy more food and leather; and all he has to apply to +other purposes is _the difference_ between the price at which he buys +and that at which he sells. Admitting that difference to be one-sixth, +it would follow that his sales must be six times as large to enable +him to have the same value to be applied to the purchase of other +commodities than food, or to the increase of his capital. Another +neighbour buys and sells wheat, or shoes, at a commission of five per +cent., out of which he has _to be fed_. To enable him to have an +amount of gross commissions equal to the farmer's sales, he must do +twenty times as much business; and if, we allow one-half of it for the +purchase of food, he must do forty times as much to enable him to have +the same amount with which to purchase other commodities, or to +increase his capital. Precisely so is it with a nation. When it sells +its own food and leather, _it has fed itself_, and may dispose as it +will of the whole amount of sales. When it buys food and leather, and +sells shoes, _it has been fed_, and must first pay the producers of +those commodities; and all that it can appropriate to the purchase of +clothing or furniture, or to the increase, of its capital, is the +_difference_; and, to enable it to have the same amount to be so +applied, it must sell six times as much in value. When it acts as a +mere buyer and seller of sugar, cotton, cloth, or shoes, it has _to be +fed_ out of the differences, and then it may require forty times the +amount of sales to yield the same result. + + These things being understood, we may now compare the two + years above referred to. In the first, 1815, the sales of + domestic produce amounted to.................... £38,600,000 + + And if to this we add the difference on + £13,000,000..................................... 2,166,667 + ----------- + We obtain the amount, applicable to the purchase + of other commodities than food................. £40,766,667 + + In the second, 1851, the sales of domestic produce + were ........................................... £15,000,000 + To which add differences on £53,492,000, say.... 9,000,000 + ---------- + We have, as applicable to other purposes than the + purchase of food............................... £24,000,000 + +Divided among the population, of those years, it gives £2 per head in +the first, and 16s. in the other; but even this, great as it is, does +not represent in its full extent the decline that has taken place. The +smaller the change of form made in the commodity imported before +exporting it, the more nearly does the business resemble that of the +mere trader, and the larger must be the quantity of merchandise +passing, to leave behind the same result. In 1815, the export of yarn +of any kind was trivial, because other countries were then unprovided +with looms. In 1851 the export of mere yarn, upon which the +expenditure of British labour had been only that of twisting it, was +as follows:-- + + Cotton.................................. 144,000,000 lbs. + Linen................................... 19,000,000 " + Silk.................................... 390,000 " + Woollen................................. 14,800,000 " + +The reader will readily perceive that in all these cases the foreign +raw material bears a much larger proportion to the value than would +have been the case had the exports taken place in the form of cloth. +An examination of these facts can scarcely fail to satisfy him how +deceptive are any calculations based upon statements of the amount of +exports and imports; and yet it is to them we are always referred for +evidence of the growing prosperity of England. With every year there +must be an increasing tendency in the same direction, as the +manufacturers of India are more and more compelled to depend on +England for yarn, and as the nations of Europe become more and more +enabled to shut out cloth and limit their imports to yarn. From +producer, England has become, or is rapidly becoming, a mere trader, +and trade has not grown to such an extent as was required to make +amends for the change. She is therefore in the position of the man who +has substituted _a trade_ of a thousand dollars a year for _a +production_ of five hundred. In 1815, the people of the United Kingdom +had to divide among themselves, then twenty millions in number, almost +forty millions, the value of their surplus products exported to all +parts of the earth. In 1851, being nearly thirty millions in number, +they had to divide only fifteen millions, whereas had production been +maintained, it should have reached sixty millions, or almost the total +amount of exports. In place of this vast amount of _products_ for +sale, they had only the _differences_ upon an excess trade of +£40,000,000, and this can scarcely be estimated at more than eight or +ten, toward making up a deficit of forty-five millions. Such being the +facts, it will not now be difficult for the reader to understand why +it is that there is a decline in the material and moral condition of +the people. + +How this state of things has been brought about is shown by the steady +diminution in the proportion of the population engaged in the work of +production. Adam Smith cautioned his countrymen that "if the whole +surplus produce of America in grain of all sorts, salt provisions, and +fish," were "forced into the market of Great Britain," it would +"interfere too much with the prosperity of our own people." He thought +it would be a "great discouragement to agriculture." And yet, from +that hour to the present, no effort has been spared to increase in all +the nations of the world the surplus of raw produce, to be poured into +the British market, and thus to produce competition between the +producers abroad and the producers at home, to the manifest injury of +both. The more the linen manufacture, or those of wool, hemp, or iron, +could be discouraged abroad, the greater was the quantity of raw +products to be sent to London and Liverpool, and the less the +inducement for applying labour to the improvement of English land. For +a time, this operation, so far as regarded food, was restrained by the +corn-laws; but now the whole system is precisely that which was +reprobated by the most profound political economist that Britain has +ever produced. Its consequences are seen in the following figures:--In +1811, the proportion of the population of England engaged in +agriculture was 35 per cent. In 1841 it had fallen to 25 per cent., +and now it can scarcely exceed 22 per cent., and even in 1841 the +actual number was less than it had been thirty years before.[143] + +Thus driven out from the land, Englishmen had to seek other +employment, while the same system was annually driving to England tens +of thousands of the poor people of Scotland and Ireland; and thus +forced competition for the sale in England of the raw products of the +earth produced competition there for the sale of labour; the result of +which is seen in the fact that agricultural wages have been from 6s. +to 9s. a week, and the labourer has become from year to year more a +slave to the caprices of his employer, whether the great farmer or the +wealthy owner of mills or furnaces. The total population of the +_United Kingdom_ dependent upon agriculture cannot be taken at more +than ten millions; and as agricultural wages cannot be estimated at a +higher average than 5s. per week, there cannot be, including the +earnings of women, more than 6s. per family; and if that be divided +among four, it gives 1s. 6d. per head, or £3 18s. per annum, and a +total amount, to be divided among ten millions of people, of 40 +millions of pounds, or 192 millions of dollars. In reflecting upon +this, the reader is requested to bear in mind that it provides wages +for every week in the year, whereas throughout a considerable portion +of the United Kingdom very much of the time is unoccupied. + +Cheap labour has, in every country, gone hand in hand with cheap land. +Such having been the case, it may not now be difficult to account for +the small value of land when compared with the vast advantages it +possesses in being everywhere close to a market in which to exchange +its raw products for manufactured ones, and also for manure. The +reader has seen the estimate of _M. Thunen_, one of the best +agriculturists of Germany, of the vast difference in the value of land +in Mecklenburgh close to market, as compared with that distant from +it; but he can everywhere see for himself that that which is close to +a city will command thrice as much rent as that distant twenty miles, +and ten times as much as that which is five hundred miles distant. +Now, almost the whole land of the United Kingdom is in the condition +of the best of that here described. The distances are everywhere +small, and the roads are, or ought to be, good; and yet the total +rental of land, mines, and minerals, is but £55,000,000, and this for +an area of 70 millions of acres, giving an average of only about $3.60 +per acre, or $9--less than £2,--per head of the population. This is +very small indeed, and it tends to show to how great an extent the +system must have discouraged agriculture. In 1815, with a population +of only twenty millions, the rental amounted, exclusive of houses, +mines, minerals, fisheries, &c., to fifty-two and a half millions, +and the exports of the produce of British and Irish land were then +almost three times as great as they are now, with a population almost +one-half greater than it was then. + +The very small value of the land of the United Kingdom, when compared +with its advantages, can be properly appreciated by the reader only +after an examination of the course of things elsewhere. The price of +food raised in this country is dependent, almost entirely, on what can +be obtained for the very small quantity sent to England. "Mark Lane," +as it is said, "governs the world's prices." It does govern them in +New York and Philadelphia, where prices must be as much below those of +London or Liverpool as the cost of transportation, insurance, and +commissions, or there could be no export. Their prices, in turn, +govern those of Ohio and Pennsylvania, Indiana and Illinois, which +must always be as much below those of New York as the cost of getting +the produce there. If, now, we examine into the mere cost of +transporting the average produce of an acre of land from the farm to +the market of England, we shall find that it would be far more than +the average rental of English land; and yet that rental includes coal, +copper, iron, and tin mines that supply a large portion of the world. + +Under such circumstances, land in this country should be of very small +value, if even of any; and yet the following facts tend to show that +the people of Massachusetts, with a population of only 994,000, +scattered over a surface of five millions of acres, with a soil so +poor that but 2,133,000 are improved, and possessed of no mines of +coal, iron, tin, lead, or copper, have, in the short period they have +occupied it, acquired rights in land equal, per acre, to those +acquired by the people of England in their fertile soils, with their +rich mines, in two thousand years. The cash value of the farms of that +State in 1850 was $109,000,000, which, _divided over the whole +surface_, would give $22 per acre, and this, at six per cent., would +yield $1.32. Add to this the difference between wages of four, six, +and eight shillings per week in the United Kingdom, and twenty or +twenty-five dollars per month in Massachusetts, and it will be found +that the return in the latter is quite equal to that in the former; +and yet the price of agricultural produce generally, is as much below +that of England as the cost of freight and commission, which alone are +greater than the whole rent of English land. + +New York has thirty millions of acres, of which only twelve millions +have been in any manner improved; and those she has been steadily +exhausting, because of the absence of a market on or near the land, +such as is possessed by England. She has neither coal nor other mines +of any importance, and her factories are few in number; and yet the +cash value of farms, as returned by the Marshal, was 554 millions of +dollars, and that was certainly less than the real value. If we take +the latter at 620 millions, it will gives $50 per acre for the +improved land, or an average of $20 for all. Taking the rent at six +per cent. on $50, we obtain $3 per acre, or nearly the average of the +United Kingdom; and it would be quite reasonable to make the mines and +minerals of the latter a set-off against the land that is unimproved. + +If the reader desire to understand the cause of the small value, of +English land when compared with its vast advantages, he may find it in +the following passage:-- + + "Land-owners possess extensive territories which owe little or + nothing to the hand of the improver; where undeveloped sources of + production lie wasting and useless in the midst of the most certain + and tempting markets of the vast consuming population of this + country."--_Economist_, London. + + Unfortunately, however, those markets are small, while the tendency + of the whole British system is toward converting the entire earth + into one vast farm for their supply, and thus preventing the + application of labour to the improvement of land at home. The + tendency of prices, whether of land, labour, or their products, is + toward a level, and whatever tends to lessen the price of any of + those commodities in Ireland, India, Virginia, or Carolina, tends to + produce the same effect in England; and we have seen that such is the + direct tendency of English policy with regard to the land of all + those countries. With decline in value, there must ever be a tendency + to consolidation, and thus the policy advocated by the _Economist_ + produces the evil of which it so much and so frequently complains. + +The profits of farmers are generally estimated at half the rental, +which would give for a total of rents and profits about 85 millions; +and if to this be added the wages of agricultural labour, we obtain +but about 125 millions, of which less than one-third goes to the +labourer.[144] + +We have here the necessary result of consolidation of land--itself +the result of an attempt to compel the whole people of the world to +compete with each other in a single and limited market for the sale of +raw produce. With every increase of this competition, the small +proprietor has found himself less and less able to pay the taxes to +which he was subjected, and has finally been obliged to pass into the +condition of a day-labourer, to compete with the almost starving +Irishman, or the poor native of Scotland, driven into England in +search of employment; and hence have resulted the extraordinary facts +that in many parts of that country, enjoying, as it does, every +advantage except a sound system of trade, men gladly labour for six +shillings ($1.44) a week; that women labour in the fields; and that +thousands of the latter, destitute of a change of under-clothing, are +compelled to go to bed while their chemises are being washed.[145] + +Driven from the land by the cheap food and cheap labour of Ireland, +the English labourer has to seek the town, and there he finds himself +at the mercy of the great manufacturer; and thus, between the +tenant-farmer on the one hand, and the large capitalist on the other, +he is ground as between the upper and the nether millstone. The result +is seen in the facts heretofore given. He loses gradually all +self-respect, and he, his wife, and his children become vagrants, and +fall on the public for support. Of the wandering life of great numbers +of these poor people some idea may be formed from the following +statement of Mr. Mayhew[146] :-- + + "I happened to be in the country a little time back, and it + astonished me to find, in a town with a population of 20,800, that no + less than 11,000 vagabonds passed through the town in thirteen weeks. + We have large classes known in the metropolis as the people of the + streets." + +It will, however, be said that if cheap corn tend to drive him from +employment, he has a compensation in cheaper sugar, cotton, coffee, +rum, and other foreign commodities--and such is undoubtedly the case; +but he enjoys these things at the cost of his fellow labourers, black, +white, and brown, in this country, the West Indies, India, and +elsewhere. The destruction of manufactures in this country in 1815 and +1816 drove the whole population to the raising of food, tobacco, and +cotton; and a similar operation in India drove the people of that +country to the raising of rice, indigo, sugar, and cotton, that _must_ +go to the market of England, because of the diminution in the domestic +markets for labour or its products. The diminished domestic +consumption of India forces her cotton into the one great market, +there to compete with that of other countries, and to reduce their +prices. It forces the Hindoo to the Mauritius, to aid in destroying +the poor negroes of Jamaica, Cuba, and Brazil; but the more the sugar +and cotton that _must_ go to the distant market, the higher will be +the freights, the lower will be the prices, the larger will be the +British revenue, the greater will be the consumption, and the greater +will be the "prosperity" of England, but the more enslaved will be the +producers of those commodities. Competition for their sale tends to +produce low prices, and the more the people of the world, men, women, +and children, can be limited to agriculture, the greater must be the +necessity for dependence on England for cloth and iron, the higher +will be their prices, and the more wretched will be the poor labourer +everywhere. + +The reader may perhaps understand the working of the system after an +examination of the following comparative prices of commodities:-- + + 1815. 1852. + ----- ----- + England sells-- + Bar iron, per ton.... £13 5s. 0d. ..... £9 0s. 0d. + Tin, per cwt......... 7 0 0 ..... 5 2 0 + Copper " ......... 6 5 0 ..... 5 10 0 + Lead " ......... 1 6 6 ..... 1 4 0 + + England buys-- + Cotton, per lb....... 0 1 6 ..... 0 0 6 + Sugar, per cwt....... 3 0 0 ..... 1 0 0 + +While these principal articles of raw produce have fallen to one- +third of the prices of 1815, iron, copper, tin, and lead, the +commodities that she supplies to the world, have not fallen more than +twenty-five per cent. It is more difficult to exhibit the changes of +woven goods, but that the planters are constantly giving more cotton +for less cloth will be seen on an examination of the following facts +in relation to a recent large-crop year, as compared with the course +of things but a dozen years before. From 1830 to 1835, the price of +cotton here was about eleven cents, which we may suppose to be about +what it would yield in England, free of freight and charges. In those +years our average export was about 320,000,000, yielding about +$35,000,000, and the average price of cotton cloth, per piece of 24 +yards, weighing 5 lbs. 12 oz., was 7s. 10d., ($1.88,) and that of iron +£6 10s. ($31.20.) Our exports would therefore have produced, delivered +in Liverpool, 18,500,000 pieces of cloth, or about 1,100,000 tons of +iron. In 1845 and 1846, the _home consumption_ of cotton by the people +of England was almost the same quantity, say 311,000,000 pounds, and +the average price here was 6-1/2 cents, making the product +$20,000,000. The price of cloth then was 6s. 6-3/4 d., ($1.57 1/2,) +and that of iron about £10, ($48;) and the result was, that the +planters could have, for nearly the same quantity of cotton, about +12,500,000 pieces of cloth, or about 420,000 tons of iron, also +delivered in Liverpool. Dividing the return between the two +commodities, it stands thus:-- + + Average from: 1830 to 1835. 1845-6. Loss. + ------------- ------------- ------- ----- + Cloth, pieces.... 9,250,000 ... 6,250,000 ... 3,000,000 + And iron, tons... 550,000 ... 210,000 ... 340,000 + +The labour required for converting cotton into cloth had been greatly +diminished, and yet the proportion, retained by the manufacturers had +greatly increased, as will now be shown:-- + + Weight of Cotton Retained + Weight of given to the by the + Cotton used. planters. manufacturers. + ------------ ---------------- -------------- + 1830 to 1835... 320,000,000... 110,000,000... 210,000,000 + 1845 and 1846.. 311,000,000... 74,000,000.... 237,000,000 + +In the first period, the planter would have had 34 per cent. of his +cotton returned to him in the form of cloth, but in the second only 24 +per cent. The grist miller gives the farmer from year to year a larger +proportion of the product of his grain, and thus the latter has all +the profit of every improvement. The cotton miller gives the planter +from year to year a smaller proportion of the cloth produced. The one +miller comes daily nearer to the producer. The other goes daily +farther from him, for with the increased product the surface over +which it is raised is increased. + +How this operates on a large scale will now be seen on an examination +of the following facts:-- + + The declared or actual _value_ of exports + of British produce in manufactures in 1815 was.. £51,632,971 + And the _quantity_ of foreign merchandise + retained for consumption in that year was....... £17,238,841 [147] + +This shows, of course, that the prices of the raw products of the +earth were then high by comparison with those of the articles that +Great Britain had to sell. + + In 1849, the _value_ of British exports was..... £63,596,025 + And the _quantity_ of foreign merchandise + retained for consumption was no less than....... £80,312,717 + +We see thus that while the value of exports had increased only +_one-fourth_, the produce received in exchange was _almost five times +greater_; and here it is that we find the effect of that _unlimited_ +competition for the sale in England of the raw products of the world, +and _limited_ competition for the purchase of the manufactured ones, +which it is the object of the system to establish. The nation is +rapidly passing from the strong and independent position of one that +produces commodities for sale, into the weak and dependent one of the +mere trader who depends for his living upon the differences between +the prices at which he sells and those at which he buys--that is, upon +his power to tax the producers and consumers of the earth. It is the +most extraordinary and most universal system of taxation ever devised, +and it is carried out at the cost of weakening and enfeebling the +people of all the purely agricultural countries. The more completely +all the world, outside of England, can be rendered one great farm, in +which men, women, and children, the strong and the weak, the young and +the aged, can be reduced to field labour as the only means of support, +the larger will be the sum of those _differences_ upon which the +English people are now to so great an extent maintained, but the more +rapid will be the tendency everywhere toward barbarism and slavery. +The more, on the other hand, that the artisan can be brought to the +side of the farmer, the smaller must be the sum of these +_differences_, or taxes, and the greater will everywhere be the +tendency toward civilization and freedom; but the greater will be that +English distress which is seen always to exist when the producers of +the world obtain much cloth and iron in exchange for their sugar and +their cotton. The English system is therefore a war for the +perpetuation and extension of slavery. + +On a recent occasion the Chancellor of the Exchequer congratulated the +House of Commons on the flourishing state of the revenue, +notwithstanding, that, they had + + "In ten years repealed or reduced the duties on coffee, timber, + currants, wool, sugar, molasses, cotton wool, butter, cheese, silk + manufactures, tallow, spirits, copper ore, oil and sperm, and an + amazing number of other articles, which produced a small amount of + revenue, with respect to which it is not material, and would be + almost preposterous, that I should trouble the House in detail. It is + sufficient for me to observe this remarkable fact, that the reduction + of your customs duties from 1842 has been systematically continuous; + that in 1842 you struck off nearly £1,500,000 of revenue calculated + from the customs duties; that in 1843 you struck off £126,000; in + 1844, £279,000; in 1845, upwards of £3,500,000; in 1846, upwards of + £1,150,000; in 1847, upwards of £343,000; in 1848, upwards of + £578,000; in 1849, upwards of £384,000; in 1850, upwards of £331,000; + and in 1851, upwards of £801,000--making an aggregate, in those ten + years, of nearly £9,000,000 sterling." + +The reason of all this is, that the cultivator abroad is steadily +giving more raw produce for less cloth and iron. The more exclusively +the people of India can be forced to devote themselves to the raising +of cotton and sugar, the cheaper they will be, and the larger will be +the British revenue. The more the price of corn can be diminished, the +greater will be the flight to Texas, and the cheaper will be cotton, +but the larger will be the slave trade of America, India, and Ireland; +and thus it is that the prosperity of the owners of mills and furnaces +in England is always greatest when the people of the world are +becoming most enslaved. + +It may be asked, however, if this diminution of the prices of foreign +produce is not beneficial to the people of England. It is not, because +it tends to reduce the general price of labour, the commodity they +have to sell. Cheap Irish labour greatly diminishes the value of that +of England, and cheap Irish grain greatly diminishes the demand for +labour in England, while increasing the supply by forcing the Irish +people to cross the Channel. The land and labour of the world have one +common interest, and that is to give as little as possible to those +who perform the exchanges, and to those who superintend them--the +traders and the government. The latter have everywhere one common +interest, and that is to take as much as possible from the producers +and give as little as possible to the consumers, buying cheaply and +selling dearly. Like fire and water, they are excellent servants, but +very bad masters. The nearer the artisan comes to the producer of the +food and the wool, the less is the power of the middleman to impose +taxes, and the greater the power of the farmer to protect himself. The +tendency of the British system, wherever found, is to impoverish the +land-owner and the labourer, and to render both from year to year more +tributary to the owners of an amount of machinery so small that its +whole value would be paid by the weekly--if not even by the +daily--loss inflicted upon the working population of the world by the +system.[148] The more the owners of that machinery become enriched, +the more must the labourer everywhere become enslaved. + +That such must necessarily be the case will be obvious to any reader +who will reflect how adverse is the system to the development of +intellect. Where all are farmers, there can be little association for +the purpose of maintaining schools, or for the exchange of ideas of +any kind. Employment being limited to the labours of the field, the +women cannot attend to the care of their children, who grow up, +necessarily, rude and barbarous; and such we see now to be the case in +the West Indies, whence schools are rapidly disappearing. In Portugal +and Turkey there is scarcely any provision for instruction, and in +India there has been a decline in that respect, the extent of which is +almost exactly measured by the age of the foreign occupation.[149] In +the Punjab, the country last acquired, men read and write, but in +Bengal and Madras they are entirely uneducated. Ireland had, seventy +years since, a public press of great efficiency, but it has almost +entirely disappeared, as has the demand for books, which before the +Union was so great as to warrant the republication of a large portion +of those that appeared in England. Scotland, too, seventy years since, +gave to the Empire many of its best writers, but she, like Ireland, +has greatly declined. How bad is the provision for education +throughout England, and how low is the standard of intellect among a +large portion of her manufacturing population, the reader has seen, +and he can estimate for himself how much there can be of the reading +of books, or newspapers among an agricultural population hired _by the +day_ at the rate of six, eight, or even nine shillings a week--and it +will, therefore not surprise him to learn that there is no daily +newspaper published out of London. It _is_, however, somewhat +extraordinary that in that city, there should be, as has recently been +stated, but a single one that is not "published at a loss." That one +circulates 40,000 copies, or more than twice the number of all the +other daily papers united. This is a most unfavourable sign, for +centralization and progress have never gone hand in hand with each +other. + +The system, too, is repulsive in its character. It tends to the +production of discord among individuals and nations, and hence it is +that we see the numerous strikes and combinations of workmen, +elsewhere so little known. Abroad it is productive of war, as is now +seen in India, and as was so recently the case in China. In Ireland it +is expelling the whole population, and in Scotland it has depopulated +provinces. The vast emigration now going on, and which has reached the +enormous extent of 360,000 in a single year, bears testimony to the +fact that the repulsive power has entirely overcome the attractive +one, and that the love of home, kindred, and friends is rapidly +diminishing. How, indeed, could it be otherwise, in a country in which +labour has been so far cheapened that the leading journal assures its +readers that during a whole generation "man has been a drug, and +population a nuisance?" + +The fact that such a declaration should be made, and that that and +other influential journals should rejoice in the expulsion of a whole +nation, is evidence how far an unsound system can go toward steeling +the heart against the miseries of our fellow-creatures. These poor +people do not emigrate voluntarily. They are forced to leave their +homes, precisely as is the case with the negro slave of Virginia; but +they have not, as has the slave, any certainty of being fed and +clothed at the end of the journey. Nevertheless, throughout England +there is an almost universal expression of satisfaction at the idea +that the land is being rid of what is held to be its superabundant +population; and one highly respectable journal,[150] after showing +that at the same rate Ireland would be entirely emptied in twenty-four +years, actually assures its readers that it views the process "without +either alarm or regret," and that it has no fear of the process being +"carried too far or continued too long." + +We see thus, on one hand, the people of England engaged in _shutting_ +in the poor people of Africa, lest they should be forced to Cuba; and, +on the other, rejoicing at evictions, as the best means of _driving +out_ the poor people of Ireland. In all this there is a total absence +of consistency; but so far as the Irish people are concerned, it is +but a natural consequence of that "unsound social philosophy," based +upon the Ricardo-Malthusian doctrine, which after having annihilated +the small land-owner and the small trader, denies that the Creator +meant that every man should find a place at his table, and sees no +more reason why a poor labourer should have any more right to be fed, +if willing to work, than the Manchester cotton-spinner should have to +find a purchaser for his cloth. "Labour," we are told, is "a +commodity," and if men _will_ marry and bring up children "to an +overstocked and expiring trade," it is for them to take the +consequences--and "_if we stand between the error and its +consequences, we stand between the evil and its cure_--if we intercept +the penalty (where it does not amount to positive death) we perpetuate +the sin."[151] + +Such being the state of opinion in regard to the claims of labour, we +need scarcely be surprised to find a similar state of things in regard +to the rights of property. The act of emancipation was a great +interference with those rights. However proper it might have been +deemed to free the negroes, it was not right to cause the heaviest +portion of the loss to be borne by the few and weak planters. If +justice required the act, all should have borne their equal share of +the burden. So again in regard to Ireland, where special laws have +been passed to enable the mortgagees to sell a large portion of the +land, rendered valueless by a system that had for long years prevented +the Irishman from employing himself except in the work of cultivation. +India appears likely now to come in for its share of similar +legislation. Centralization has not there, we are told, been carried +far enough. Private rights in land, trivial even as they now are,[152] +must be annihilated. None, we are told, can be permitted "to stand +between the cultivator and the government," even if the collection of +the taxes "should render necessary so large an army of _employé_ as to +threaten the absorption of the lion's share" of them.[153] In regard +to the rights to land in England itself, one of her most distinguished +writers says that + + "When the 'sacredness of property' is talked of, it should always be + remembered that this sacredness does not belong in the same degree to + landed property. No man made the land. * * * The claim of the + land-owners to the land is altogether subordinate to the general + policy of the state. * * * Subject to this proviso (that of + compensation) the state is at liberty to deal with landed property as + the general interests of the community may require, even to the + extent, if it so happen, of doing with the whole what is done with a + part whenever a bill is passed for a railroad or a street."--_J. S. + Mill, Principles_, book ii. chap. ii. + +In regard to the disposal of property at the death of its owner, the +same author is of opinion that "a certain moderate provision, such as +is admitted to be reasonable in the case of illegitimate children, and +of younger children" is all "that parents owe to their children, and +all, therefore, which the state owes to the children of those who die +intestate." The surplus, if any, he holds "it may rightfully +appropriate to the general purposes of the community."--_Ibid_. + +Extremes generally meet. From the days of Adam Smith to the present +time the policy of England has looked in the direction that led +necessarily to the impoverishment of the small land-owner, and to +the consolidation of land, and during the whole of that period we +have been told of the superior advantages of large farms and great +tenant-farmers; but now, when the injurious effects of the system +are becoming from day to day more obvious, the question of the +existence of _any right_ to land is being discussed, and we are told +that "public reasons" existed "for its being appropriated," and if +those reasons have "lost their force, the thing would be unjust." +From this to confiscation the step would not be a very great one. No +such idea certainly could exist in the mind of so enlightened a man +as Mr. Mill, who insists upon compensation; but when a whole people, +among whom the productive power is steadily diminishing as +individual fortunes become more and more colossal, are told that the +proprietors of land, great and small, receive compensation for its +use, for no other reason than that they have been enabled to possess +themselves of a monopoly of its powers, and that rent is to be +regarded as "the recompense of no sacrifice whatever," but as being +"received by those who neither labour nor put by, but merely hold +out their hands to receive the offerings of the rest of the +community,"[154] can we doubt that the day is approaching when the +right to property in land will be tested in England, as it has +elsewhere been? Assuredly not. Ricardo-Malthusianism tends directly +to what is commonly called Communism, and at that point will England +arrive, under the system which looks to the consolidation of the +land, the aggrandizement of the few, and the destruction of the +physical, moral, intellectual, and political powers of the whole +body of labourers, abroad and at home, + +Where population and wealth increase together, there is always found a +growing respect for the rights of persons and property. Where they +decline, that respect diminishes; and the tendency of the whole +British politico-economical system being toward the destruction of +population and wealth at home and abroad, it tends necessarily toward +agrarianism in its worst form. That such is the tendency of things in +England we have the assurance of the London _Times_, by which, it has +recently been shown, says Mr. Kay, + + "That during the last half century, every thing has been done to + deprive the peasant of any interest in the preservation of public + order; of any wish to maintain the existing constitution of society; + of all hope of raising himself in the world, or of improving his + condition in life; of all attachment to his country; of all feelings + of there really existing any community of interest between himself + and the higher ranks of society; and of all consciousness that he has + any thing to lose by political changes; and that every thing has been + done to render him dissatisfied with his condition, envious of the + richer classes, and discontented with the existing order of things. + + "The labourer," he continues "has no longer any connection with the + land which he cultivates; he has no stake in the country; he has + nothing to lose, nothing to defend, and nothing to hope for. The word + "cottage" has ceased to mean what it once meant--a small house + surrounded by its little plot of land, which the inmate might + cultivate as he pleased, for the support and gratification of his + family and himself. The small freeholds have long since been bought + up and merged in the great estates. Copyholds have become almost + extinct, or have been purchased by the great land-owners. The + commons, upon which the villagers once had the right of pasturing + cattle for their own use, and on which, too, the games and pastimes + of the villages were held, have followed the same course: they are + enclosed, and now form part of the possessions of the great + landowners. Small holdings of every kind have, in like manner, almost + entirely disappeared. Farms have gradually become larger and larger, + and are now, in most parts of the country, far out of the peasant's + reach, on account of their size, and of the amount of capital + requisite to cultivate them. The gulf between the peasant and the + next step in the social scale--the farmer--is widening and increasing + day by day. The labourer is thus left without any chance of improving + his condition. His position is one of hopeless and irremediable + dependence. The workhouse stands near him, pointing out his dismal + fate if he falls one step lower, and, like a grim scarecrow, warning + him to betake himself to some more hospitable region, where he will + find no middle-age institutions opposing his industrious + efforts."--Vol. i. 361. + +This is slavery, and it is an indication of poverty, and yet we hear +much of the wealth of England. Where, however, is it? The whole rental +of the land, houses, mills, furnaces, and mines of the United Kingdom +but little exceeds one hundred millions of pounds sterling, of which +about one-half is derived from buildings--and if we take the whole, +perishable and imperishable, at twenty years' purchase, it is but +two-thousand millions.[155] If next we add for machinery of all kinds, +ships, farming stock and implements, 600 millions,[156] we obtain a +total of only 2600 millions, or 12,500 millions of dollars, as the +whole accumulation of more than two thousand years' given to the +improvement of the land, the building of houses, towns, and +cities--and this gives but little over 400 dollars per head. Sixty +years since, New York had a population of only 340,000, and it was a +poor State, and to this hour it has no mines of any importance that +are worked. Throughout the whole period, her people have been +exhausting her soil, and the product of wheat, on lands that formerly +gave twenty-five and thirty bushels to the acre, has fallen to six or +eight,[157] and yet her houses and lands are valued at almost twelve +hundred millions of dollars, and the total value of the real and +personal estate is not less than fifteen hundred millions, or about +$500 per head--and these are the accumulations almost of the present +century. + +The _apparent_ wealth of England is, however, great, and it is so for +the same reason that Rome appeared so rich in the days of Crassus and +Lucullus, surrounded by people owning nothing, when compared with the +days when Cincinnatus was surrounded by a vast body of small +proprietors. Consolidation of the land and enormous manufacturing +establishments have almost annihilated the power profitably to use +small capitals, and the consequence is that their owners are forced to +place them in saving funds, life-insurance companies, and in banks at +small interest, and by all of these they are lent out to the large +holders of land and large operators in mills, furnaces, railroads, &c. +As the land has become consolidated, it has been covered with +mortgages, and the effect of this is to double the apparent quantity +of property. While the small proprietors held it, it was assessed to +the revenue as land only. Now, it is assessed, first, as land, upon +which its owner pays a tax, and next as mortgage, upon which the +mortgagee pays the income-tax. The land-owner is thus holding his +property with other people's means, and the extent to which this is +the case throughout England is wonderfully great. Banks trade little +on their own capital, but almost entirely on that of others.[158] The +capital of the Bank of England haying been expended by the government, +it has always traded exclusively on its deposites and circulation. The +East India Company has no capital, but a very large debt, and nothing +to represent it; and the example of these great institutions is copied +by the smaller ones. Life-insurance companies abound, and the capitals +are said to be large, but "nine-tenths" of them are declared to be "in +a state of ruinous insolvency;"[159] and it is now discovered the true +mode of conducting that business is to have no capital whatsoever. The +trade of England is to a great extent based on the property of +foreigners, in the form of wool, silk, cotton, tobacco, sugar, and +other commodities, sent there for sale, and these furnish much of the +capital of her merchants. While holding this vast amount of foreign +capital, they supply iron and cloth, for which they take the bonds of +the people of other nations; and whenever the amount of these bonds +becomes too large, there comes a pressure in the money market, and the +prices of all foreign commodities are forced down, to the ruin of +their distant owners. To the absence of real capital [160] it is due +that revulsions are so frequent, and so destructive to all countries +intimately connected with her; and it is a necessary consequence of +the vast extent of trading on borrowed capital that the losses by +bankruptcy are so astonishingly great. From 1839 to 1843, a period of +profound peace, eighty-two private bankers became bankrupt; of whom +forty-six paid _no dividends_, twelve paid under twenty-five per +cent., twelve under fifty per cent., three under seventy-five per +cent., and two under one hundred per cent.; leaving seven +unascertained at the date of the report from which this statement is +derived. The last revulsion brought to light the fact that many of the +oldest and most respectable houses in London had been for years +trading entirely on credit, and without even a shilling of capital; +and in Liverpool the destruction was so universal that it was +difficult to discover more than half a dozen houses to whom a cargo +could be confided. Revulsions are a necessary consequence of such a +state of things, and at each and every one of them the small +manufacturer and the small trader or land-owner are more and more +swept away, while centralization steadily increases--and +centralization is adverse to the growth of wealth and civilization. +The whole fabric tends steadily more and more to take the form of an +inverted pyramid, that may be thus represented:-- + + Ships and mills, + L a n d, + Labour. + +In confirmation of this view we have the following facts given in a +speech of Mr. George Wilson, at a _réunion_ in Manchester, a few weeks +since:-- + +"In the five counties of Buckingham, Dorset, Wilts, Northampton, and +Salop, 63 members were returned by 52,921 voters, while only the same +number were returned by Lancashire and Yorkshire, with 89,669 county +and 84,612 borough voters, making a total of 174,281. So that, if they +returned members in proportion to voters alone, those five counties +could only claim 19; while, if Lancashire took their proportion, it +would be entitled to 207. There were twelve large cities or boroughs +(taking London as a double borough) returning 24 members, with 192,000 +voters, and a population of 3,268,218, and 388,000 inhabited houses. +On the other side, 24 members were returned by Andover, Buckingham, +Chippenham, Cockermouth, Totnes, Harwich, Bedford, Lymington, +Marlborough, Great Marlborough, and Richmond; but they had only 3,569 +voters, 67,434 inhabitants, and 1,373 inhabited houses. * * The most +timid reformer and most moderate man would hardly object to the +disfranchisement of those boroughs which had a population less than +5000, and to handing over the 20 members to those large +constituencies." + +As the people of Ireland are driven from the land to London, +Liverpool, or America, the claims of that country to representation +necessarily diminish; and so with Scotland, as the Highlands and the +Isles undergo the process of wholesale clearance. The same system that +depopulates them tends to depopulate the agricultural counties of +England, and to drive their people to seek employment in the great +cities and manufacturing towns; and this, according to Mr. +McCullogh,[161] is one of the principal advantages resulting from +absenteeism. The wealthy few congregate in London, and the vast mass +of poor labourers in the lanes and alleys, the streets and the +cellars, of London and Liverpool, Birmingham and Sheffield, Manchester +and Leeds; and thus is there a daily increasing tendency toward having +the whole power over England and the world placed in the hands of the +owners of a small quantity of machinery--the same men that but a few +years since were described by Sir Robert Peel as compelling children +to work sixteen hours a day during the week, and to appropriate a part +of Sunday to cleaning the machinery--and the same that recently +resisted every attempt at regulating the hours of labour, on the +ground that all the profit resulted from the power to require "the +last hour." Many of these gentlemen are liberal, and are actuated by +the best intentions; but they have allowed themselves to be led away +by a false and pernicious theory that looks directly to the +enslavement of the human race, and are thus blinded to the +consequences of the system they advocate; but even were they right, it +could not but be dangerous to centralize nearly the whole legislative +power in a small portion of the United Kingdom, occupied by people +whose existence is almost entirely dependent on the question whether +cotton is cheap or dear, and who are liable to be thrown so entirely +under the control of their employers. + +With each step in this direction, consolidation of the land tends to +increase, and there is increased necessity for "cheap labour." "The +whole question" of England's manufacturing superiority, we are told, +"has become one of a cheap and abundant supply of labour."[162] That +is, if labour can be kept down, and the labourer can be prevented from +having a choice of employers, then the system may be maintained, but +not otherwise. Where, however, the labourer has not the power of +determining for whom he will work, he is a slave; and to that +condition it is that the system tends to reduce the English people, as +it has already done with the once free men of India. Alarmed at the +idea that the present flight from England may tend to give the +labourer power to select his employer, and to have some control over +the amount of his reward, the London _Times_ suggests the expediency +of importing cheap labourers from Germany and other parts of the +continent, to aid in underworking their fellow-labourers in America +and in India. + +It has been well said that, according to some political economists, +"man was made for the land, and not the land for man." In England, it +would almost seem as if he had been made for cotton mills. Such would +appear now to be the views of the _Times_, as, a quarter of a century +since, they certainly were of Mr. Huskisson. The object of all sound +political economy is that of raising the labourer, and increasing the +dignity of labour. That of the English system is to "keep labour +down," and to degrade the labourer to the condition of a mere slave; +and such is its effect everywhere--and nowhere is its tendency in that +direction more obvious than in England itself.[163] + +Consolidation of land on one side and a determination to underwork the +world on the other, are producing a rapid deterioration of material +and moral condition, and, as a natural consequence, there is a steady +diminution in the power of local self-government. The diminution of +the agricultural population and the centralization of exchanges have +been attended by decay of the agricultural towns, and their remaining +people become less and less capable of performing for themselves those +duties to which their predecessors were accustomed--and hence it is +that political centralization grows so rapidly. Scarcely a session of +Parliament now passes without witnessing the creation of a new +commission for the management of the poor, the drainage of towns, the +regulation of lodging-houses, or other matters that could be better +attended to by the local authorities, were it not that the population, +is being so rapidly divided into two classes widely remote from each +other--the poor labourer and the rich absentee landlord or other +capitalist. + +With the decay of the power of the people over their own actions, the +nation is gradually losing its independent position among the nations +of the earth. It is seen that the whole "prosperity" of the country +depends on the power to purchase cheap cotton, cheap sugar, and other +cheap products of the soil, and it is feared that something may +interfere to prevent the continuance of the system which maintains the +domestic slave trade of this country. We are, therefore, told by all +the English journals, that "England is far too dependent on America +for her supply of cotton. There is," says the _Daily News_, "too much +risk in relying on any one country, if we consider the climate and +seasons alone; but the risk is seriously aggravated when the country +is not our own, but is inhabited by a nation which, however friendly +on the whole, and however closely allied with us by blood and +language, has been at war with us more than once, and might possibly +some day be so again." + +From month to month, and from year to year, we have the same note, +always deepening in its intensity,--and yet the dependence increases +instead of diminishing. On one day, the great prosperity of the +country is proved by the publication of a long list of new cotton +mills, and, on the next, we are told of-- + + "The frightful predicament of multitudes of people whom a natural + disaster [a short crop of cotton] denies leave to toil--who must + work or starve, but who cannot work because the prime material of + their work is not to be obtained in the world."--_Lawson's Merchants' + Magazine_, Dec. 1852. + +What worse slavery can we have than this? It is feared that this +country will not continue to supply cheap cotton, and it is known that +India cannot enlarge its export, and, therefore, the whole mind of +England is on the stretch to discover some new source from which it +may be derived, that may tend to increase the competition for its +sale, and reduce it lower than it even now is. At one time, it is +hoped that it may be grown in Australia--but cheap labour cannot +there be had. At another, it is recommended as expedient to encourage +its culture in Natal, (South Africa,) as there it can be grown, as we +are assured, by aid of cheap--or slave--labour, from India.[164] + +It is to this feeling of growing dependence, and growing weakness, +that must be attributed the publication of passages like the +following, from the London _Times_:-- + + "It used to be said that if Athens, and Lacedæmon could but make up + their minds to be good friends and make a common cause, they would be + masters of the world. The wealth, the science, the maritime + enterprise, and daring ambition of the one, assisted by the + population, the territory, the warlike spirit, and stern institutions + of the other, could not fail to carry the whole world before them. + That was a project hostile to the peace and prosperity of mankind, + and ministering only to national vanity. A far grander object, of + more easy and more honourable acquisition, lies before England and + the United States, and all other countries owning our origin and + speaking our language. Let them agree not in an alliance offensive + and defensive, but simply to never go to war with one another. Let + them permit one another to develop as Providence seems to suggest, + and the British race will gradually and quietly attain to a + pre-eminence beyond the reach of mere policy and arms. The vast and + ever-increasing interchange of commodities between the several + members of this great family, the almost daily communications now + opened across, not one, but several oceans, the perpetual discovery + of new means of locomotion, in which steam itself now bids fair to be + supplanted by an equally powerful but cheaper and more convenient + agency--all promise to unite the whole British race throughout the + world in one social and commercial unity, more mutually beneficial + than any contrivance of politics. Already, what does Austria gain + from Hungary, France from Algiers, Russia from Siberia, or any + absolute monarchy from its abject population, or what town from its + rural suburbs, that England does not derive in a much greater degree + from the United States, and the United States from England? What + commercial partnership, what industrious household exhibits so direct + an exchange of services? All that is wanted is that we should + recognise this fact, and give it all the assistance in our power. We + cannot be independent of one another. The attempt is more than + unsocial; it is suicidal. Could either dispense with the labour of + the other, it would immediately lose the reward of its own industry. + Whether national jealousy, or the thirst for warlike enterprise, or + the grosser appetite of commercial monopoly, attempt the separation, + the result and the crime are the same. We are made helps meet for one + another. Heaven has joined all who speak the British language, and + what Heaven has joined let no man think to put asunder." + +The allies of England have been Portugal and Ireland, India and the +West Indies, and what is their condition has been shown. With Turkey +she has had a most intimate connection, and that great empire is now +prostrate. What inducement can she, then, offer in consideration of an +alliance with her? The more intimate our connection, the smaller must +be the domestic market for food and cotton, the lower must be their +prices, and the larger must be the domestic slave trade, now so +rapidly increasing. Her system tends toward the enslavement of the +labourer throughout the earth, and toward the destruction everywhere +of the value of the land; and therefore it is that she needs allies. +Therefore; it is that the _Times_, a journal that but ten years since +could find no term of vituperation sufficiently strong to be applied +to the people of this country, now tells its readers that-- + + "It is the prospect of these expanding and strengthening affinities + that imparts so much interest to the mutual hospitalities shown by + British and American citizens to the diplomatic representatives of + the sister States." + +"To give capital a fair remuneration," it was needed that "_the price +of English labour should be kept down_;" and it has been kept down to +so low a point as to have enabled the cotton mills of Manchester to +supersede the poor Hindoo in his own market, and to drive him to the +raising of cheap sugar to supply the cheap labour of England--and to +supersede the manufacturers of this country, and drive our countrymen +to the raising of cheap corn to feed the cheap labour of England, +driven out of Ireland. Cheap food next forces the exportation of +negroes from Maryland and Virginia to Alabama and Mississippi, there +to raise cheap cotton to supersede the wretched cultivator of India; +and thus, in succession, each and every part of the agricultural world +is forced into competition with every other part, and the labourers of +the world become from day to day more enslaved; and all because the +people of England are determined that the whole earth shall become one +great farm, with but a single workshop, in which shall be fixed the +prices of all its occupants have to sell or need to buy. For the first +time in the history of the world, there exists a nation whose whole +system of policy is found in the shopkeeper's maxim, Buy cheap and +sell dear; and the results are seen in the fact that that nation is +becoming from day to day less powerful and less capable of the +exercise of self-government among the community of nations. From day +to day England is more and more seen to be losing the independent +position of the farmer who sells the produce of his own labour, and +occupying more and more that of the shopkeeper, anxious to conciliate +the favour of those who have goods to sell or goods to buy; and with +each day there is increased anxiety lest there should be a change in +the feelings of the customers who bring cotton and take in exchange +cloth and iron. The records of history might be searched in vain for a +case like hers--for a nation voluntarily subjecting itself to a +process of the most exhaustive kind. They present no previous case of +a great community, abounding in men of high intelligence, rejoicing in +the diminution of the proportion of its people _capable of feeding +themselves and others_, and in the increasing proportion _requiring to +be fed_. England now exports in a year nearly 400,000 men and women +that have been raised at enormous cost,[165] and she rejoices at +receiving in exchange 300,000 infants yet to be raised. She exports +the young, and retains the aged. She sends abroad the sound, and keeps +at home the unsound. She expels the industrious, and retains the idle. +She parts with the small capitalist, but she keeps the pauper. She +sends men from her own land, and with them the commodities they must +consume while preparing for cultivation distant lands;--and all these +things are regarded as evidences of growing wealth and power. She +sends men from where they could make twelve or twenty exchanges in a +year to a distance from, which they can make but one; and this is +taken as evidence of the growth of commerce. She sends her people from +the land to become trampers in her roads, or to seek refuge in filthy +lanes and cellars; and this is hailed as tending to promote the +freedom of man. In all this, however, she is but realizing the +prophecies of Adam Smith, in relation to the determination of his +countrymen to see in foreign trade alone "England's treasure." + +In all nations, ancient and modern, freedom has come with the growth +of association, and every act of association is an act of commerce. +Commerce, and freedom grow, therefore, together, and whatever tends to +lessen the one must tend equally to lessen the other. The object of +the whole British system is to destroy the power of association, for +it seeks to prevent everywhere the growth of the mechanic arts, and +without them there can be no local places of exchange, and none of +that combination so needful to material, moral, intellectual, and +political improvement. That such has been its effect in Portugal and +Turkey, the West Indies, and India, and in our Southern States, we +know--and in all of these freedom declines as the power of association +diminishes. That such has been its effect in Ireland and Scotland, the +reader has seen. In England we may see everywhere the same tendency to +prevent the existence of association, or of freedom of trade. Land, +the great instrument of production, is becoming from day to day more +consolidated. Capital, the next great instrument, is subjected to the +control of the Bank of England--an institution that has probably +caused more ruin than any other that has ever existed.[166] + +Associations for banking or manufacturing purposes are restrained by a +system of responsibility that tends to prevent prudent men from taking +part in their formation. The whole tendency of the system is to fetter +and restrain the productive power; and hence it is that it has proved +necessary to establish the fact that the great Creator had made a +serious mistake in the laws regulating the increase of food and of +men, and that the _cheapened_ labourer was bound to correct the error +by repressing that natural desire for association which leads to an +increase of population. The consequences of all this are seen in the +fact that there is in that country no real freedom of commerce. There +is no competition for the purchase of labour, and the labourer is +therefore a slave to the capitalist. There is no competition for the +use of capital, and its owner is a slave to his banker, who requires +him to content himself with the smallest profits. There is scarcely +any power to sell land, for it is everywhere hedged round with +entails, jointures, and marriage settlements, that fetter and enslave +its owner. There is no competition for obtaining "maidens in +marriage," for the _Chronicle_ assures us that marriage now rarely +takes place until the cradle has become as necessary as the ring;[167] +and when that is the case, the man will always be found a tyrant and +the woman a slave. In the effort to destroy the power of association, +and the freedom of trade and of man abroad, England has in a great +degree annihilated freedom at home; and all this she has done because, +from the day of the publication of _The Wealth of Nations_, her every +movement has looked to the perpetuation of the system denounced by its +author as a "manifest violation of the most sacred rights of mankind." + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +HOW CAN SLAVERY BE EXTINGUISHED? + + +How can slavery be extinguished, and man be made free? This question, +as regarded England, was answered some years since by a distinguished +anti-corn-law orator, when he said that for a long time past, in that +country, two men had been seeking one master, whereas the time was +then at hand when two masters would be seeking one man. Now, we all +know that when two men desire to purchase a commodity, it rises in +value, and its owner finds himself more free to determine for himself +what to do with it than he could do if there were only one person +desiring to have it, and infinitely more free than he could be if +there were two sellers to one buyer. To make men free there must be +competition for the purchase of their services, and the more the +competition the greater must be their value, and that of the men who +have them to sell. + +It has already been shown [168] that in purely agricultural +communities there can be very little competition for the purchase of +labour; and that such is the fact the reader can readily satisfy +himself by reflecting on the history of the past, or examining the +condition of man as he at present exists among the various nations of +the earth. History shows that labour has become valuable, and that man +has become free, precisely as the artisan has been enabled to take his +place by the side of the ploughman--precisely as labour has become +diversified--precisely as small towns have arisen in which the +producer of food and wool could readily exchange for cloth and +iron--precisely as manure could more readily be obtained to aid in +maintaining the productiveness of the soil--and precisely, therefore, +as men have acquired the power of associating with their fellow-men. +With the growth of that power they have everywhere been seen to obtain +increased returns from land, increased reward of labour, and increased +power to accumulate the means of making roads, establishing schools, +and doing all other things tending to the improvement of their modes +of action and their habits of thought; and thus it is that freedom of +thought, speech, action, and trade have always grown with the growth +of the value of labour and land. + +It is desired to abolish the _trade_ in slaves. No such trade could +exist were men everywhere free; but as they are not so, it has in many +countries been deemed necessary to prohibit the sale of men from off +the land, as preliminary to the establishment of freedom. Nothing of +this kind, however, can now be looked for, because there exists no +power to coerce the owners of slaves to adopt any such measures; nor, +if it did exist, would it be desirable that it should he exercised, as +it would make the condition of both the slave and his master worse +than it is even now. Neither is it necessary, because there exists "a +higher law"--a great law of the Creator--that will effectually +extinguish the trade whenever it shall be permitted to come into +activity. + +Why is it that men in Africa sell their fellow-men to be transported +to Cuba or Brazil? For the same reason, obviously, that other men +sell flour in Boston or Baltimore to go to Liverpool or Rio +Janeiro--because it is cheaper in the former than in the latter +cities. If, then, we desired to put a stop to the export, would not +our object be effectually accomplished by the adoption of measures +that would cause prices to be higher in Boston than in Liverpool, +and higher in Baltimore than in Rio? That such would be the case +must be admitted by all. If, then, we desired to stop the export of +negroes from Africa, would not our object be effectually and +permanently attained could we so raise the value of man in Africa +that he would be worth as much, or more, there than in Cuba? Would +not the export of Coolies cease if man could be rendered more, +valuable in India than in Jamaica or Guiana? Would not the +destruction of cottages, the eviction of their inhabitants, and the +waste of life throughout Ireland, at once be terminated, could man +be made as valuable there as he is here? Would not the export of the +men, women, and children of Great Britain cease, if labour there +could be brought to a level with that of Massachusetts, New York, +and Pennsylvania? Assuredly it would; for men do not voluntarily +leave home, kindred, and friends. On the contrary, so great is the +attachment to home, that it requires, in most cases, greatly +superior attractions to induce them to emigrate. Adam Smith said +that, of all commodities, man was the hardest to be removed--and +daily observation shows that he was right. + +To terminate the African slave trade, we need, then, only to raise the +value of man _in Africa_. To terminate the forced export of men, +women, and children from Ireland, we need only to raise the value of +men _in Ireland_; and to put an end to our own domestic slave trade, +nothing is needed except that we raise the value of man _in Virginia_. +To bring the trade in slaves, of all colours and in all countries, at +once and permanently to a close, we need to raise the value of man _at +home_, let that home be where it may. How can this be done? By +precisely the same course of action that terminated the export of +slaves from England to Ireland. In the days of the Plantagenets, men +were so much more valuable in the latter country than in the former +one, that the market of Ireland was "glutted with English slaves;" but +as, by degrees, the artisan took his place by the side of the English +ploughman, the trade passed away, because towns arose and men became +strong to defend their rights as they were more and more enabled to +associate with each other. Since then, the artisan has disappeared +from Ireland, and the towns have decayed, and men have become weak +because they have lost the power to associate, and, therefore, it is +that the market of England has been so glutted with Irish slaves that +man has been declared to be "a drug, and population a nuisance." + +Such precisely has been the course of things in Africa. For two +centuries it had been deemed desirable to have from that country the +same "inexhaustible supply of cheap labour" that Ireland has supplied +to England; and, therefore, no effort was spared to prevent the +negroes from making any improvement in their modes of cultivation. "It +was," says Macpherson, "the European policy" to prevent the Africans +from arriving at perfection in any of their pursuits, "from a fear of +interfering with established branches of trade elsewhere." More +properly, it was the English policy. "The truth is," said Mr. Pitt, in +1791-- + + "There is no nation in Europe which has plunged so deeply into this + guilt as Britain. _We_ stopped the natural progress of civilization + in Africa. _We_ cut her off from the opportunity of improvement. _We_ + kept her down in a state of darkness, bondage, ignorance, and + bloodshed. We have there subverted the whole order of nature; we have + aggravated every natural barbarity, and furnished to every man + motives for committing, under the name of trade, acts of perpetual + hostility and perfidy against his neighbour. Thus had the perversion + of British commerce carried misery instead of happiness to one whole + quarter of the globe. False to the very principles of trade, + unmindful of our duty, what almost irreparable mischief had we done + to that continent! We had obtained as yet only so much knowledge of + its productions as to show that there was a capacity for trade which + we checked." + +How was all this done? By preventing the poor Africans from obtaining +machinery to enable them to prepare their sugar for market, or for +producing cotton and indigo and combining them into cloth--precisely +the same course of operation that was pursued in Jamaica with such +extraordinary loss of life. Guns and gunpowder aided in providing +cheap labour, and how they were supplied, even so recently as in 1807, +will be seen on a perusal of the following passage, from an eminent +English authority, almost of our own day:-- + + "A regular branch of trade here, at Birmingham, is the manufacture of + guns for the African market. They are made for about a dollar and a + half: the barrel is filled with water, and if the water does not come + through, it is thought proof sufficient. Of course, they burst when + fired, and mangle the wretched negro, who has purchased them upon the + credit of English faith, and received them, most probably, as the + price of human flesh! No secret is made of this abominable trade, yet + the government never interferes, and the persons concerned in it are + not marked and shunned as infamous."--_Southey's "Espriella's Letters"_. + +It is deemed now desirable to have cheap labour applied to the +collection of gold-dust and hides, palm-leaves and ivory, and the +description of commodities at present exported to that country will be +seen by the following cargo-list of the brig Lily, which sailed from +Liverpool a few weeks since for the African coast, but blew up and was +destroyed in the neighbourhood of the Isle of Man, to wit:-- + + 50 tons gunpowder, + 20 puncheons rum, + A quantity of firearms, and + Some bale-goods. + +Such are not the commodities required for raising the value of man in +Africa, and until it can be raised to a level with his value in Cuba, +the export of men will be continued from the African coast as +certainly as the export from Ireland will be continued so long as men +are cheaper there than elsewhere; and as certainly as the trade +described in the following letter will be continued, so long as the +people India shall be allowed to do nothing but raise sugar and cotton +for a distant market, and shall thus be compelled to forego all the +advantages so long enjoyed by them under the native governments, when +the history of the cotton manufacture was the history of almost every +family in India:-- + + "_Havana_, Feb. 11, 1853. + + "On the morning of the 7th, arrived from Amoa, Singapore, and + Jamaica, the British ship Panama, Fisher, 522 tons, 131 days' + passage, with 261 Asiatics (Coolies) on board, to be introduced to + the labour of the island, _purchased_ for a service of four years. + The loss on the passage was a considerable percentage, being 90 + thrown overboard. The speculators in this material are Messrs. + Viloldo, Wardrop & Co., who have permission of the government to + cover five thousand subjects. The cargo is yet held in quarantine. + + "On the 8th inst., arrived from Amoa and St. Helena, the ship + Blenheim, Molison, 808 tons, 104 days' passage, bringing to the same + consignees 412 Coolies. Died on the voyage, 38. Money will be + realized by those who have the privilege of making the introduction, + and English capital will find some play; but I doubt very much + whether the purposes of English _philanthropy_ will be realized, for, + reasoning from the past, at the expiration of the four years, nearly + all have been sacrificed, while the condition of African labour will + be unmitigated. A short term an cupidity strain the lash over the + poor Coolie, and he dies; is secreted if he lives, and advantage + taken of his ignorance for extended time when once merged in + plantation-service, where investigation can be + avoided."--_Correspondence of the New York Journal of _Commerce_. + +This trade is sanctioned by the British government because it provides +an outlet for Hindoo labour, _rendered surplus_ by the destruction of +the power of association throughout India, and yet the same government +expends large sums annually in closing an outlet for African labour, +rendered surplus by the rum and the gunpowder that are supplied to +Africa! + +To stop the export of men from that important portion of the earth, it +is required that we should raise the value of man in Africa, and to do +this, the African must be enabled to have machinery, to bring the +artisan to his door, to build towns, to have schools, and to make +roads. To give to the African these things, and to excite in his +breast a desire for something better than rum, gunpowder, and murder, +and thus to raise the standard of morals and the value of labour, has +been the object of the founders of the Republic of Liberia, one of the +most important and excellent undertakings of our day. Thus far, +however, it has been looked upon very coldly by all the nations of +Europe, and it is but recently that it has received from any of them +the slightest recognition and even now it is regarded solely as being +likely to aid in providing cheap labour, to be employed in increasing +the supplies of sugar and cotton, and thus cheapening those +commodities in the market of the world, at the cost of the slaves of +America and of India. + +Nevertheless it has made considerable progress. Its numbers now amount +to 150,000,[169] a large proportion of whom are natives, upon whom the +example of the colonists from this country has operated to produce a +love of industry and a desire for many of the comforts of civilized +life. By aid, generally, of persuasion, but occasionally by that of +force, it has put an end to the export of men throughout a country +having several hundred miles of coast. The difficulty, however, is +that wages are very low, and thus there is but little inducement for +the immigration of men from the interior, or from this country.[170] +Much progress has thus been made, yet it is small compared with what, +might be made could the republic offer greater inducements to settlers +from the interior, or from this country; that is, could it raise the +value of man, ridding itself of _cheap labour_. Where there is nothing +but agriculture, the men must be idle for very much of their time, and +the women and children _must_ be idle or work in the field; and where +people are forced to remain idle they remain poor and weak, and they +can have neither towns, nor roads, nor schools. Were it in the power +of the republic to say to the people for hundreds of miles around, +that there was a demand for labour every day in the year, and at good +wages--that at one time cotton was to be picked, and at another it was +to be converted into cloth--that in the summer the cane was to be +cultivated, in the autumn the sugar was to be gathered, and in the +winter it was to be refined--that at one time houses and mills were to +be built, and at another roads to be made--that in one quarter stone +was to be quarried, and in another timber to be felled--there would be +hundreds of thousands of Africans who would come to seek employment, +and each man that came would give strength to the republic while +diminishing the strength of the little tyrants of the interior, who +would soon find men becoming less abundant and more valuable, and it +would then become necessary to try to retain their subjects. Every man +that came would desire to have his wife and children follow him, and +it would soon come to be seen that population and wealth were +synonymous, as was once supposed to be the case in Europe. By degrees, +roads would be made into the interior, and civilized black men would +return to their old homes, carrying with them habits of industry and +intelligence, a knowledge of agriculture and of the processes of the +coarser manufactures, and with every step in this direction labour +would acquire new value, and men would everywhere become more free. + +To accomplish these things alone and unassisted might, however, +require almost centuries, and to render assistance would be to +repudiate altogether the doctrine of cheap labour, cheap sugar, and +cheap cotton. Let us suppose that on his last visit to England, +President Roberts should have invoked the aid of the English Premier +in an address to the following effect, and then see what must have +been the reply:-- + +"My Lord: + +"We have in our young republic a population of 150,000, scattered over +a surface capable of supporting the whole population of England, and +all engaged in producing the same commodities,--as a consequence of +which we have, and can have, but little trade among ourselves. During +a large portion of the year our men have little to do, and they waste +much time, and our women and children are limited altogether to the +labours of the field, to the great neglect of education. Widely +scattered, we have much need of roads, but are too poor to make them, +and therefore much produce perishes on the ground. We cannot cultivate +bulky articles, because the cost of transportation would be greater +than their product at market; and of those that we do cultivate nearly +the whole must be sent to a distance, with steady diminution in the +fertility of the soil. We need machinery and mechanics. With them we +could convert our cotton and our indigo into cloth, and thus find +employment for women and children. Mechanics would need houses, and +carpenters and blacksmiths would find employment, and gradually towns +would arise and our people would be from day to day more enabled to +make their exchanges at home, while acquiring increased power to make +roads, and land would become valuable, while men would become from day +to day more free. Immigration from the interior would be large, and +from year to year we should be enabled to extend our relations with +the distant tribes, giving value to their labour and disseminating +knowledge, and thus should we, at no distant period, be enabled not +only to put an end to the slave trade, but also to place millions of +barbarians on the road to wealth and civilization. To accomplish these +things, however, we need the aid and countenance of Great Britain." + +The reply to this would necessarily have been-- + +"Mr. President: + +"We are aware of the advantage of diversification of employments, for +to that were our own people indebted for their freedom. With the +immigration of artisans came the growth of our towns, the value of our +land, and the strength of the nation. We are aware, too, of the +advantages of those natural agents which so much assist the powers of +man; but it is contrary to British policy to aid in the establishment +of manufactures of any description in any part of the world. On the +contrary, we have spared no pains to annihilate those existing in +India, and we are now maintaining numerous colonies, at vast expense, +for the single purpose of 'stifling in their infancy the manufactures +of other nations.' We need large supplies of cotton, and the more you +send us, the cheaper it will be; whereas, if you make cloth, you will +have no cotton to sell, no cloth to buy. We need cheap sugar, and if +you have artisans to eat your sugar, you will have none to send us to +pay for axes or hammers. We need cheap hides, palm-leaves and ivory, +and if your people settle themselves in towns, they will have less +time to employ themselves in the collection of those commodities. We +need cheap labour, and the cheaper your cotton and your sugar the +lower will be the price of labour. Be content. Cultivate the earth, +and send its products to our markets, and we will send you cloth and +iron. You will, it is true, find it difficult to make roads, or to +build schools, and your women will have to work in the +sugar-plantations; but this will prevent the growth of population, and +there will be less danger of your being compelled to resort to 'the +inferior soils' that yield so much less in return to labour. The great +danger now existing is that population may outrun food, and all our +measures in Ireland, India, Turkey, and other countries are directed +toward preventing the occurrence of so unhappy a state of things." + +Let us next suppose that the people of Virginia should address the +British nation, and in the following terms:-- + +"We are surrounded by men who raise cotton wool, and we have in our +own State land unoccupied that could furnish more sheep's wool than +would be required for clothing half our nation. Within our limits +there are water-powers now running to waste that could, if properly +used, convert into cloth half the cotton raised in the Union. We have +coal and iron ore in unlimited quantity, and are _daily_ wasting +almost as much labour as would be required for making all the cloth +and iron we consume in a month. Nevertheless, we can make neither +cloth nor iron. Many of our people have attempted it, but they have, +almost without exception, been ruined. When you charge high prices for +cloth, we build mills; but no sooner are they built than there comes a +crisis at 'the mighty heart of commerce,' and cloths are poured into +our markets so abundantly and sold so cheaply, that our people become +bankrupt. When you charge high prices for iron, as you _now_ do, we +build furnaces; but no sooner are they ready than your periodical +crisis comes, and then you sell iron so cheaply that the +furnace-master is ruined. As a consequence of this, we are compelled +to devote ourselves to raising tobacco and corn to go abroad, and our +women and children are barbarized, while our lands are exhausted. You +receive our tobacco, and you pay us but three pence for that which +sells for six shillings, and we are thus kept poor. Our corn is too +bulky to go abroad in its rude state, and to enable it to go to market +we are obliged to manufacture it into negroes for Texas. We detest the +domestic slave trade, and it is abhorrent to our feelings to sell a +negro, but we have no remedy, nor can we have while, because of +inability to have machinery, labour is so cheap. If we could make +iron, or cloth, we should need houses, and towns, and carpenters, and +blacksmiths, and then people from other States would flock to us, and +our towns and cities would grow rapidly, and there would be a great +demand for potatoes and turnips, cabbages and carrots, peas and beans, +and then we could take from the land tons of green crops, where now we +obtain only bushels of wheat. Land would then become valuable, and +great plantations would become divided into small farms, and with each +step in this direction labour would become more productive, and the +labourer would from day to day acquire the power to determine for whom +he would work and how he should be paid--and thus, as has been the +case in all other countries, our slaves would become free as we became +rich." + +To this what would be the reply? Must it not be to the following +effect:-- + +"We need cheap food, and the more you can be limited to agriculture, +the greater will be the quantity of wheat pressing upon our market, +and the more cheaply will our cheap labourers be fed. We need large +revenue, and the more you can be forced to raise tobacco, the larger +our consumption, and the larger our revenue. We need cheap cotton and +cheap sugar, and the less the value of men, women, and children in +Virginia, the larger will be the export of slaves to Texas, the +greater will be the competition of the producers of cotton and sugar +to sell their commodities in our markets, and the lower will be +prices, while the greater will be the competition for the purchase of +our cloth, iron, lead, and copper, and the higher will be prices. Our +rule is to buy cheaply and sell dearly, and it is only the slave that +submits dearly to buy and cheaply to sell. Our interest requires that +we should be the great work-shop of the world, and that we may be so +it is needful that we should use all the means in our power to prevent +other nations from availing themselves of their vast deposites of ore +and fuel; for if they made iron they would obtain machinery, and be +enabled to call to their aid the vast powers that nature has +everywhere provided for the service of man. We desire that there shall +be no steam-engines, no bleaching apparatus, no furnaces, no +rolling-mills, except our own; and our reason for this is, that we are +quite satisfied that agriculture is the worst and least profitable +pursuit of man, while manufactures are the best and most profitable. +It is our wish, therefore, that you should continue to raise tobacco +and corn, and manufacture the corn into negroes for Texas and +Arkansas; and the more extensive the slave trade the better we shall +be pleased, because we know that the more negroes you export the lower +will be the price of cotton. Our people are becoming from day to day +more satisfied that it is 'for their advantage' that the negro shall +'wear his chains in peace,' even although it may cause the separation +of husbands and wives, parents and children, and although they know +that, in default of other employment, women and children are obliged +to employ their labour in the culture of rice among the swamps of +Carolina, or in that of sugar among the richest and most unhealthy +lands of Texas. This will have one advantage. It will lessen the +danger of over-population." + +Again, let us suppose the people of Ireland to come to their brethren +across the Channel and say--"Half a century since we were rapidly +improving. We had large manufactures of various kinds, and our towns +were thriving, and schools were increasing in number, making a large, +demand for books, with constantly increasing improvement in the demand +for labour, and in its quality. Since then, however, a lamentable +change has taken place. Our mills and furnaces have everywhere been +closed, and our people have been compelled to depend entirely upon the +land; the consequence of which is seen in the fact that they have been +required to pay such enormous rents that they themselves have been +unable to consume any thing but potatoes, and have starved by hundreds +of thousands, because they could find no market for labour that would +enable them to purchase even of them enough to support life. Labour +has been so valueless that our houses have been pulled down by +hundreds of thousands, and we find ourselves now compelled to separate +from each other, husbands abandoning wives, sons abandoning parents, +and brothers abandoning sisters. We fear that our whole nation will +disappear from the earth; and the only mode of preventing so sad an +event is to be found in raising the value of labour. We need to make a +market at home for it and for the products of our land; but that we +cannot have unless we have machinery. Aid us in this. Let us supply +ourselves. Let us make cloth and iron, and let us exchange those +commodities among ourselves for the labour that is now everywhere +being wasted. We shall then see old towns flourish and new ones arise, +and we shall have schools, and our land will become valuable, while we +shall become free." + +The answer to this would necessarily be as follows:-- + +"It is to the cheap labour that Ireland has supplied that we are +indebted for 'our great works,' and cheap labour is now more than ever +needed, because we have not only to underwork the Hindoo but also to +underwork several of the principal nations of Europe and America. That +we may have cheap labour we must have cheap food. Were we to permit +you to become manufacturers you would make a market at home for your +labour and wages would rise, and you would then be able to eat meat +and wheaten bread, instead of potatoes, and the effect of this would +be to raise the price of food; and thus should we be disabled from +competing with the people of Germany, of Belgium, and of America, in +the various markets of the world. Further than this, were you to +become manufacturers you would consume a dozen pounds of cotton where +now you consume but one, and this would raise the price of cotton, as +the demand for Germany and Russia has now raised it, while your +competition with us might lower the price of cloth. We need to have +cheap cotton while selling dear cloth. We need to have cheap food +while selling dear iron. Our paramount rule of action is, 'buy in the +cheapest market and sell in the dearest one'--and the less civilized +those with whom we have to deal the cheaper we can always buy and the +dearer we can sell. It is, therefore, to our interest that your women +should labour in the field, and that your children should grow up +uneducated and barbarous. Even, however, were we so disposed, you +could not compete with us. Your labour is cheap, it is true, but after +having, for half a century, been deprived of manufactures, you have +little skill, and it would require many years for you to acquire it. +Your foreign trade has disappeared with your manufactures, and the +products of your looms would have no market but your own. When we +invent a pattern we have the whole world for a market, and after +having supplied the domestic demand, we can furnish of it for foreign +markets so cheaply as to set at defiance all competition. Further than +all this, we have, at very short intervals, periods of monetary crisis +that are so severe as to sweep away many of our own manufacturers, and +at those times goods are forced into all the markets of the world, to +be sold at any price that can be obtained for them. Look only at the +facts of the last few years. Six years since, railroad iron was worth +£12 per ton. Three years since, it could be had for £4.10, or even +less. Now it is at £10, and a year hence it may be either £12 or £4; +and whether it shall be the one or the other is dependent altogether +upon the movements of the great Bank which regulates all our affairs. +Under such circumstances, how could your infant establishments hope to +exist? Be content. The Celt has long been 'the hewer of wood and +drawer of water for the Saxon,' and so he must continue. We should +regret to see you all driven from your native soil, because it would +deprive us of our supply of cheap labour; but we shall have in +exchange the great fact that Ireland will become one vast +grazing-farm, and will supply us with cheap provisions, and thus aid +in keeping down the prices of all descriptions of food sent to our +markets." + +The Hindoo, in like manner, would be told that his aid was needed for +keeping down the price of American and Egyptian cotton, and Brazilian +and Cuban sugar, and that the price of both would rise were he +permitted to obtain machinery that would enable him to mine coal and +iron ore, by aid of which to obtain spindles and looms for the +conversion of his cotton into cloth, and thus raise the value of his +labour. The Brazilian would be told that it was the policy of England +to have cheap sugar, and that the more he confined himself and his +people--men, women, and children--to the culture of the cane, the +lower would be the prices of the product of the slaves of Cuba and the +Mauritius. + +Seeing that the policy of England was thus directly opposed to every +thing like association, or the growth of towns and other local places +of exchange, and that it looked only to cheapening labour and +enslaving the labourer, the questions would naturally arise: Can we +not help ourselves? Is there no mode of escaping from this thraldom? +Must our women always labour in the field? Must our children always be +deprived of schools? Must we continue for ever to raise negroes for +sale? Must the slave trade last for ever? Must the agricultural +communities of the world be compelled for all time to compete against +each other in one very limited market for the sale of all they have to +sell, and the purchase of all they have to buy? Are there not some +nations in which men are becoming more free, and might we not aid the +cause of freedom by studying the course they have pursued and are +pursuing? Let us; then, inquire into the policy of some of the various +peoples of Continental Europe, and see if we cannot obtain an answer +to these questions. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +HOW FREEDOM GROWS IN NORTHERN GERMANY. + + +Local action has always, to a considerable extent, existed in Germany. +For a time, there was a tendency to the centralization of power in the +hands of Austria, but the growth of Prussia at the north has produced +counter attraction, and there is from day to day an increasing +tendency toward decentralization, local activity, and freedom. + +It is now but little more than seventy years since the Elector of +Hesse sold large numbers of his poor subjects to the government of +England to aid it in establishing unlimited control over the people of +this country. About the same period, Frederick of Prussia had his +emissaries everywhere employed in seizing men of proper size for his +grenadier regiments--and so hot was the pursuit, that it was dangerous +for a man of any nation, or however free, if of six feet high, to +place himself within their reach. The people were slaves, badly fed, +badly clothed, and badly lodged, and their rulers were tyrants. The +language of the higher classes was French, German being then regarded +as coarse and vulgar, fit only for the serf. German literature was +then only struggling into existence. Of the mechanic arts, little was +known, and the people were almost exclusively agricultural, while the +machinery used in agriculture was of the rudest kind. Commerce at home +was very small, and abroad it was limited to the export of the rude +products of the field, to be exchanged for the luxuries of London or +Paris required for the use of the higher orders of society. + +Thirty years later, the slave trade furnished cargoes to many, if not +most, of the vessels that traded between this country and Germany. +Men, women, and children were brought out and sold for terms of years, +at the close of which they became free, and many of the, most +respectable people in the Middle States are descended from "indented" +German servants. + +The last half century has, however, been marked by the adoption of +measures tending to the complete establishment of the mechanic arts +throughout Germany, and to the growth of places for the performance of +local exchanges. The change commenced during the period of the +continental system; but, at the close of the war, the manufacturing +establishments of the country were, to a great extent, swept away, and +the raw material of cloth was again compelled to travel to a distance +in search of the spindle and the loom, the export of which from +England, as well as of colliers and artisans, was, as the reader has +seen, prohibited. But very few years, however, elapsed before it +became evident that the people were becoming poorer, and the land +becoming exhausted, and then it was that were commenced the smaller +Unions for the purpose of bringing the loom to take its natural place +by the side of the plough and the harrow. Step by step they grew in +size and strength, until, in 1835, only twenty years after the battle +of Waterloo, was formed the _Zoll-Verein_, or great German Union, +under which the internal commerce was rendered almost entirely free, +while the external one was subjected to certain restraints, having for +their object to cause the artisan to come and place himself where food +and wool were cheap, in accordance with the doctrines of Adam Smith. + +In 1825, Germany exported almost thirty millions of pounds of raw wool +to England, where it was subjected to a duty of twelve cents per pound +for the privilege of passing through the machinery there provided for +its manufacture into cloth. Since that time, the product has doubled, +and yet not only has the export almost ceased, but much foreign wool +is now imported for the purpose of mixing with that produced at home. +The effect of this has, of course, been to make a large market for +both food and wool that would otherwise have been pressed on the +market of England, with great reduction in the price of both; and +woollen cloths are now so cheaply produced in Germany, that they are +exported to almost all parts of the world. Wool is higher and cloth is +lower, and, therefore, it is, as we shall see, that the people are now +so much better clothed. + +At the date of the formation of the Union, the total import of raw +cotton and cotton yarn was about 300,000 cwts., but so rapid was the +extension of the manufacture, that in less than six years it had +doubled, and so cheaply were cotton goods supplied, that a large +export trade had already arisen. In 1845, when the Union, was but ten +years old, the import of cotton and yarn had reached a million of +hundredweights, and since that time there has been a large increase. +The iron manufacture, also, grew so rapidly that whereas, in 1834, the +consumption had been only _eleven_ pounds per head, in 1847 it had +risen to _twenty-five pounds_, having thus more than doubled; and with +each step in this direction, the people were obtaining better +machinery for cultivating the land and for converting its raw products +into manufactured ones. + +In no country has there been a more rapid increase in this +diversification of employments, and increase in the demand for labour, +than in Germany since the formation of the Union. Everywhere +throughout the country men are now becoming enabled to combine the +labours of the workshop with those of the field and the garden, and +"the social and economical results" of this cannot, says Mr. Kay [171] +-- + + "Be rated too highly. The interchange of garden-labour with + manufacturing employments, which is advantageous to the operative, + who works in his own house, is a real luxury and necessity for the + factory operative, whose occupations are almost always necessarily + prejudicial to health. After his day's labour in the factories, he + experiences a physical reinvigoration from moderate labour in the + open air, and, moreover, he derives from it some economical + advantages. He is enabled by this means to cultivate at least part of + the vegetables which his family require for their consumption, + instead of having to purchase them in the market at a considerable + outlay. He can sometimes, also, keep a cow, which supplies his family + with milk, and provides a healthy occupation for his wife and + children when they leave the factory." + +As a necessary consequence of this creation of a domestic market, the +farmer has ceased to be compelled to devote himself exclusively to the +production of wheat, or other articles of small bulk and large price, +and can now "have a succession of crops," says Mr. Howitt-- + + "Like a market-gardener. They have their carrots, poppies, hemp, + flax, saintfoin, lucerne, rape, colewort, cabbage, rutabaga, black + turnips, Swedish and white turnips, teazles, Jerusalem artichokes, + mangelwurzel, parsnips, kidney-beans, field beans, and peas, vetches, + Indian corn, buckwheat, madder for the manufacturer, potatoes, their + great crop of tobacco, millet--all or the greater part under the + family management, in their own family allotments. They have had + these things first to sow, many of them to transplant, to hoe, to + weed, to clear off insects, to top; many of them to mow and gather in + successive crops. They have their water-meadows--of which kind almost + all their meadows are to flood, to mow, and reflood; watercourses to + reopen and to make anew; their early fruits to gather, to bring to + market, with their green crops of vegetables; their cattle, sheep, + calves, fowls; (most of them prisoners,) and poultry to look after; + their vines, as they shoot rampantly in the summer heat, to prune, + and thin out the leaves when they are too thick; and any one may + imagine what a scene of incessant labour it is."--_Rural and Domestic + Life in Germany_, p. 50. + +The existence of a domestic market enables them, of course, to manure +their land. "No means," says Mr. Kay-- + + "Are spared to make the ground produce as much as possible. Not a + square yard of land is uncultivated or unused. No stories are left + mingled with the soil. The ground is cleared of weeds and rubbish, + and the lumps of earth are broken up with as much care as in an + English garden. If it is meadow land, it is cleaned of obnoxious + herbs and weeds. Only the sweet grasses which are good for the cattle + are allowed to grow. All the manure from the house, farm, and yard is + carefully collected and scientifically prepared. The liquid manure is + then carried, in hand-carts like our road-watering carts into the + fields, and is watered over the meadows in equal proportions. The + solid manures are broken up, cleared of stones and rubbish, and are + then properly mixed and spread over the lands which require them. No + room is lost in hedges or ditches, and no breeding-places are left + for the vermin which in many parts of England do so much injury to + the farmers' crops. The character of the soil of each district is + carefully examined, and a suitable rotation of crops is chosen, so as + to obtain the greatest possible return without injuring the land; and + the cattle are well housed, are kept beautifully clean, and are + groomed and tended like the horses of our huntsmen."--Vol. i. 118. + +The labours of the field have become productive, and there has been +excited, says Dr. Shubert-- + + "A singular and increasing interest in agriculture and in the + breeding of cattle; and if in some localities, on account of peculiar + circumstances or of a less degree of intelligence, certain branches + of the science of agriculture are less developed than in other + localities, it is, nevertheless, undeniable that an almost universal + progress has been made in the cultivation of the soil and in the + breeding of cattle. No one can any longer, as was the custom thirty + years ago, describe the Prussian system of agriculture by the single + appellation of the three-year-course system; no man can, as formerly, + confine his enumeration of richly-cultivated districts to a few + localities. In the present day, there is no district of Prussia in + which intelligence, persevering energy, and an ungrudged expenditure + of capital, has not immensely improved a considerable part of the + country for the purposes of agriculture and of the breeding of + cattle."[172] + +Speaking of that portion of Germany which lies on the Rhine and the +Neckar, Professor Rau, of Heidelberg, says that-- + + "Whoever travels hastily through this part of the country must have + been agreeably surprised with the luxuriant vegetation of the fields, + with the orchards and vineyards which cover the hillside's, with the + size of the villages, with the breadth of their streets, with the + beauty of their official buildings, with the cleanliness and + stateliness of their houses, with the good clothing in which the + people appear at their festivities, and with the universal proofs of + a prosperity which has been caused by industry and skill, and which + has survived all the political changes of the times. * * * The + unwearied assiduity of the peasants--who are to be seen actively + employed the whole of every year and of every day, and who are never + idle, because they understand how to arrange their work, and how to + set apart for every time and season its appropriate duties--is as + remarkable as their eagerness to avail themselves of every + circumstance and of every new invention which can aid them, and their + ingenuity in improving their resources, are praiseworthy. It is easy + to perceive that the peasant of this district really understands his + business. He can give reasons for the occasional failures of his + operations; he knows and remembers clearly his pecuniary resources; + he arranges his choice of fruits according to their prices; and he + makes his calculations by the general signs and tidings of the + weather."--_Landwirthshaft der Rheinpfalz_. + +The people of this country "stand untutored," says Mr. Kay, "except by +experience; but," he continues-- + + "Could the tourist hear these men in their blouses and thick gaiters + converse on the subject, he would be surprised at the mass of + practical knowledge they possess, and at the caution and yet the + keenness with which they study these advantages. Of this all may rest + assured, that from the commencement of the offsets of the Eifel, + where the village cultivation assumes an individual and strictly + local character, good reason can be given for the manner in which + every inch of ground is laid out, as for every balm, root, or tree + that covers it."--Vol. i. 130. + +The system of agriculture is making rapid progress, as is always the +case when the artisan is brought to the side of the husbandman. +Constant intercourse with each other sharpens the intellect, and men +learn to know the extent of their powers. Each step upward is but the +preparation for a new and greater one, and therefore it is that +everywhere among those small farmers, says Mr. Kay, "science is +welcomed." "Each," he continues-- + + "Is so anxious to emulate and surpass his neighbours, that any new + invention, which benefits one, is eagerly sought out and adopted by + the others."--Vol. i. 149. + +The quantity of stock that is fed is constantly and rapidly +increasing, and, as a necessary consequence, the increase in the +quantity of grain is more rapid than in the population, although that +of Prussia and Saxony now increases faster than that of any other +nation of Europe.[173] + +The land of Germany is much divided. A part of this division was the +work of governments which interfered between the owners and the +peasants, and gave to the latter absolute rights over a part of the +land they cultivated, instead of previous claims to rights of so +uncertain a kind as rendered the peasant a mere slave to the +land-owner. Those rights, however, could not have been maintained had +not the policy of the government tended to promote the growth of +population and wealth. Centralization would have tended to the +reconsolidation of the land, as it has done in India, Ireland, +Scotland, and England; but decentralization here gives value to land, +and aids in carrying out the system commenced by government. Professor +Reichensperger [174] says-- + + "That the price of land which is divided into small properties, in + the Prussian Rhine provinces, is much higher, and has been rising + much more rapidly, than the price of land on the great estates. He + and Professor Rau both say that this rise in the price of the small + estates would have ruined the more recent, purchasers, unless the + productiveness of the small estates had increased in at least an + equal proportion; and as the small proprietors have been gradually + becoming more and more prosperous, notwithstanding the increasing + prices they have paid for their land, he argues, with apparent + justness, that this would seem to show that not only the _gross_ + profits of the small estates, but the _net_ profits also, have been + gradually increasing, and that the _net_ profits per acre of land, + when farmed by small proprietors, are greater than the net profits + per acre of land farmed by great proprietors."--_Kay_, vol. i. 116. + +The admirable effect of the division of land, which follows +necessarily in the wake of the growth of population and wealth, is +thus described by Sismondi:--[175] + + "Wherever are found peasant proprietors, are also found that ease, + that security, that independence, and that confidence in the future, + which insure at the same time happiness and virtue. The peasant who, + with his family, does all the work on his little inheritance, who + neither pays rent to any one above him, nor wages to any one below + him, who regulates his production by his consumption, who eats his + own corn, drinks his own wine, and is clothed with his own flax and + wool, cares little about knowing the price of the market; for he has + little to sell and little to buy, and is never ruined by the + revolutions of commerce. Far from fearing for the future, it is + embellished by his hopes; for he puts out to profit, for his children + or for ages to come, every instant which is not required by the + labour of the year. Only a few moments, stolen from otherwise lost + time, are required to put into the ground the nut which in a hundred + years will become a large tree; to hollow out the aqueduct which will + drain his field for ever; to form the conduit which will bring him a + spring of water; to improve, by many little labours and attentions + bestowed in spare moments, all the kinds of animals and vegetables by + which he is surrounded. This little patrimony is a true savings-bank, + always ready to receive his little profits, and usefully to employ + his leisure moments. The ever-acting powers of nature make his + labours fruitful, and return to him a hundredfold. The peasant has a + strong sense of the happiness attached to the condition of + proprietor. Thus he is always eager to purchase land at any price. He + pays for it more than it is worth; but what reason he has to esteem + at a high price the advantage of thenceforward always employing his + labour advantageously, without being obliged to offer it cheap, and + of always finding his bread when he wants it, without being obliged + to buy it dear!"--_Kay_; vol. i. 153. + +The German people borrow from the earth, and they pay their debts; and +this they are enabled to do because the market is everywhere near, and +becoming nearer every day, as, with the increase of population and +wealth, men are enabled to obtain better machinery of conversion and +transportation. They are, therefore, says Mr. Kay-- + + "Gradually acquiring capital, and their great ambition is to have + land of their own. They eagerly seize every opportunity of purchasing + a small farm; and the price is so raised by the competition, that + land pays little more than two per cent. interest for the + purchase-money. Large properties gradually disappear, and are divided + into small portions, which sell at a high rate. But the wealth and + industry of the population is continually increasing, being rather + through the masses, than accumulated in individuals."--Vol. i. 183. + +The disappearance of large properties in Germany proceeds, _pari +passu_, with the disappearance of small ones in England. If the reader +desire to know the views of Adam Smith as to the relative advantages +of the two systems, he may turn to the description, from his pen, of +the feelings of the small proprietor, given in a former chapter;[176] +after which he may profit by reading the following remarks of Mr. Kay, +prompted by his observation of the course of things in Germany:-- + + "But there can be no doubt that five acres, the property of an + intelligent peasant, who farms it himself, in a country where the + peasants have learned to farm, will always produce much more per acre + than an equal number of acres will do when farmed by a mere + _leasehold_ tenant. In the case of the peasant proprietor, the + increased activity and energy of the farmer, and the deep interest he + feels in the improvement of his land, which are always caused by the + fact of _ownership_, more than compensate the advantage arising from + the fact that the capital required to work the large farms is less in + proportion to the quantity of land cultivated than the capital + required to work the small farm. In the cases of a large farm and of + a small farm, the occupiers of which are both tenants of another + person, and not owners themselves, it may be true that the produce of + the large farm will be greater in proportion to the capital employed + in cultivation than that of the small farm; and that, therefore, the + farming of the larger farm will be the most economical, and will + render the largest rent to the landlord."--Vol. i. 113. + +Land is constantly changing hands, and "people of all classes," says +Mr. Kay-- + + "Are able to become proprietors. Shopkeepers and labourers of the + towns purchase gardens outside the towns, where they and their + families work in the fine evenings, in raising vegetables and fruit + for the use of their households; shopkeepers, who have laid by a + little competence, purchase farms, to which they and their families + retire from the toil and disquiet of a town life; farmers purchase + the farms they used formerly to rent of great land-owners; while most + of the peasants of these countries have purchased and live upon farms + of their own, or are now economizing and laying by all that they can + possibly spare from their earnings, in order therewith as soon as + possible to purchase a farm or a garden."--Vol. i. 58. + +We have here the strongest inducements to exertion and economy. Every +man seeks to have a little farm, or a garden, of his own, and all +have, says Mr. Kay-- + + "The consciousness that they have their fate in their own hands; that + their station in life depends upon their own exertions; that they can + rise in the world, if they will, only be patient and laborious + enough; that they can gain an independent position by industry and + economy; that they are not cut off by an insurmountable barrier from + the next step in the social scale; that it is possible to purchase a + house and farm of their own; and that the more industrious and + prudent they are, the better will be the position of their families: + [and this consciousness] gives the labourers of those countries, + where the land is not tied up in the hands of a few, an elasticity of + feeling, a hopefulness, an energy, a pleasure in economy and labour, + a distaste for expenditure upon gross sensual enjoyments,--which + would only diminish the gradually increasing store,--and an + independence of character, which the dependent and helpless labourers + of the other country can never experience. In short, the life of a + peasant in those countries where the land is not kept from + subdividing by the laws is one of the highest moral education. His + unfettered position stimulates him to better his condition, to + economize, to be industrious, to husband his powers, to acquire moral + habits, to use foresight, to gain knowledge about agriculture, and to + give his children a good education, so that they may improve the + patrimony and social position he will bequeath to them."--Vol. i. + 200. + +We have here the stimulus of hope of improvement--a state of things +widely different from that described in a former chapter in relation +to England, where, says the _Times_, "once a peasant, a man must +remain a peasant for ever." Such is the difference between the one +system, that looks to centralizing in the hands of a few proprietors +of machinery power over the lives and fortunes of all the cultivators +of the world, and the other, that looks to giving to all those +cultivators power over themselves. The first is the system of slavery, +and the last that of freedom. + +Hope is the mother of industry, and industry in her turn begets +temperance. "In the German and Swiss towns," says Mr. Kay-- + + "There are no places to be compared to those sources of the + demoralization of our town poor--the gin-palaces. There is very + little drunkenness in either towns or villages, while the absence of + the gin-palaces removes from the young the strong causes of + degradation and corruption which exist at the doors of the English + homes, affording scenes and temptations which cannot but Inflict upon + our labouring classes moral injury which they would not otherwise + suffer." * * * "The total absence of intemperance and drunkenness at + these, and indeed at all other fêtes in Germany, is very singular. I + never saw a drunken man either in Prussia or Saxony, and I was + assured by every one that such a sight was rare. I believe the + temperance of the poor to be owing to the civilizing effects of their + education in the schools and in the army, to the saving and careful + habits which the possibility of purchasing land; and the longing to + purchase it, nourish in their minds, and to their having higher and + more pleasurable amusements than the alehouse and hard drinking."-- + Vol. i. 247, 261. + +As a natural consequence of this, pauperism is rare, as will be seen +by the following extract from a report of the Prussian Minister of +Statistics, given by Mr. Kay:-- + + "As our Prussian agriculture raises so much more meat and bread on + the same extent of territory than it used to do, it follows that + agriculture must have been greatly increased both in science and + industry. There are other facts which confirm the truth of this + conclusion. The division of estates has, since 1831, proceeded more + and more throughout the country. There are now many more small + independent proprietors than formerly. Yet, however many complaints + of pauperism are heard among the dependent labourers, WE NEVER HEARD + IT COMPLAINED THAT PAUPERISM IS INCREASING AMONG THE PEASANT + PROPRIETORS. Nor do we hear that the estates of the peasants in the + eastern provinces are becoming too small, _or that the system of + freedom of disposition leads to too great a division of the father's + land among the children_." * * * "_It is an almost universally + acknowledged fact that the gross produce of the land, in grain, + potatoes, and cattle, is increased when the land is cultivated by + those who own small portions of it_; and if this had not been the + case, it would have been impossible to raise as much of the necessary + articles of food as has been wanted for the increasing population. + Even on the larger estates, the improvement in the system of + agriculture is too manifest to admit of any doubt.... Industry, and + capital, and labour are expended upon the soil. It is rendered + productive by means of manuring and careful tillage. The amount of + the produce is increased.... The prices of the estates, on account of + their increased productiveness, have increased. The great commons, + many acres of which used to lie wholly uncultivated, are + disappearing, and are being turned into meadows and fields. The + cultivation of potatoes has increased very considerably. Greater + plots of lands are now devoted to the cultivation of potatoes than + ever used to be.... The old system of the three-field system of + agriculture, according to which one-third of the field used to be + left always fallow, in order to recruit the land, is now scarcely + ever to be met with.... With respect to the cattle, the farmers now + labour to improve the breed. Sheep-breeding is rationally and + scientifically pursued on the great estates.... A remarkable activity + in agricultural pursuits has been raised; and, as all attempts to + improve agriculture are encouraged and assisted by the present + government, agricultural colleges are founded, agricultural + associations of scientific farmers meet in all provinces to suggest + improvements to aid in carrying out experiments, and even the peasant + proprietors form such associations among themselves, and establish + model farms and institutions for themselves."--Vol. i. 266. + +The English system, which looks to the consolidation of land and the +aggrandizement of the large capitalist, tends, on the contrary, to +deprive the labourer + + "Of every worldly inducement to practise self-denial, prudence, and + economy; it deprives him of every hope of rising in the world; it + makes him totally careless about self-improvement, about the + institutions of his country, and about the security of property; it + undermines all his independence of character; it makes him dependent + on the workhouse, or on the charity he can obtain by begging at the + hall; and it renders him the fawning follower of the all-powerful + land-owner."--Vol. i. 290. + +The change that has taken place in the consumption of clothing is thus +shown:-- + + Per head in 1805. In 1842. + ----------------- -------- + Ells of cloth............. 3/4 ............ 1-1/5 + " linen............. 4 ............ 5 + " woollen stuffs.... 3/4 ............ 13 + " silks............. 1/4 ............ 3/8 + +"The Sunday suit of the peasants," says Mr. Kay-- + + "In Germany, Switzerland, and Holland rivals that of the middle + classes. A stranger taken into the rooms where the village dances are + held, and where the young men and young women are dressed in their + best clothes, would often be unable to tell what class of people were + around him." * * * "It is very curious and interesting, at the + provincial fairs, to see not only what a total absence there is of + any thing like the rags and filth of pauperism, but also what + evidence of comfort and prosperity there is in the clean and + comfortable attire of the women."--Vol. i. 225, 227. + +In further evidence of the improvement of the condition of the female +sex, he tells us that + + "An Englishman, taken to the markets, fairs, and village festivals of + these countries, would scarcely credit his eyes were he to see the + peasant-girls who meet there to join in the festivities; they are so + much more lady-like in their appearance, in their manners, and in + their dress than those of our country parishes."--Vol. i. 31. + +The contrast between the education of the children of the poor in +Germany and England is thus shown:-- + + "I advise my readers to spend a few hours in any of our back streets + and alleys, those nurseries of vice and feeders of the jails, and to + assure himself that children of the same class as those he will see + in [these] haunts--dirty, rude, boisterous, playing in the mud with + uncombed hair, filthy and torn garments, and skin that looks as if it + had not been washed for months--are always, throughout Germany, + Switzerland, Denmark, Holland, and a great part of France, either in + school or in the school play-ground, clean, well-dressed, polite and + civil in their manners, and healthy, intelligent, and happy in their + appearance. It is this difference in the early life of the poor of + the towns of these countries which explains the astonishing + improvement which has taken place in the state of the back streets + and alleys of many of their towns. The majority of their town poor + are growing up with tastes which render them unfit to endure such + degradation as the filth and misery of our town pauperism."--Vol. i. + 198. + +As a natural consequence, there is that tendency toward equality which +everywhere else is attendant on _real_ freedom. "The difference," says +Mr. Kay-- + + "Between the condition of the juvenile population of these countries + and of our own may be imagined, when I inform my readers that many of + the boys and girls of the higher classes of society in these + countries are educated at the same desks with the boys and girls of + the poorest of the people, and that children comparable with the + class which attends our 'ragged schools' are scarcely ever to be + found. How impossible it would be to induce our gentry to let their + children be educated with such children as frequent the 'ragged + schools,' I need not remind my readers."--P. 101. + +This tendency to equality is further shown in the following passage:-- + + "The manners of the peasants in Germany and Switzerland form, as I + have already said, a very singular contrast to the manners of our + peasants. They are polite, but independent. The manner of salutation + encourages this feeling. If a German gentleman addresses a peasant, + he raises his hat before the poor man, as we do before ladies. The + peasant replies by a polite 'Pray be covered, sir,' and then, in good + German, answers the questions put to him."--P. 159. + +With growing tendency to equality of fortune, as the people pass from +slavery toward freedom, there is less of ostentatious display, and +less necessity for that slavish devotion to labour remarked in +England. "All classes," says Mr. Kay-- + + "In Germany, Switzerland, France, and Holland are therefore satisfied + with less income than the corresponding classes in England. They, + therefore, devote less time to labour, and more time to healthy and + improving recreation. The style of living among the mercantile + classes of these countries is much simpler than in England, but their + enjoyment of life is much greater."--Vol. i. 303. + +As a consequence of this, the amusements of their leisure hours are of +a more improving character, as is here seen:-- + + "The amusements of the peasants and operatives in the greater part of + Germany, Switzerland, and Holland, where they are well educated, and + where they are generally proprietors of farms or gardens, are of a + much higher and of a much more healthy character than those of the + most prosperous of similar classes in England. Indeed, it may be + safely affirmed that the amusements of the poor in Germany are of a + higher character than the amusements of the lower part of the middle + classes in England. This may at first seem a rather bold assertion; + but it will not be thought so, when I have shown what their + amusements are. + + "The gardens, which belong to the town labourers and small + shopkeepers, afford their proprietors the healthiest possible kind of + recreation after the labours of the day. But, independently of this, + the mere amusements of the poor of these countries prove the + civilization, the comfort, and the prosperity of their social state." + * * * "There are, perhaps, no peasantry in the world who have so much + healthy recreation and amusement as the peasants of Germany, and + especially as those of Prussia and Saxony. In the suburbs of all the + towns of Prussia and Saxony regular garden, concerts and promenades + are given. An admittance fee of from one penny to sixpence admits any + one to these amusements." * * * "I went constantly to these garden- + concerts. I rejoiced to see that it was possible for the richest and + the poorest of the people to find a common meeting ground; that the + poor did not live for labour only; and that the schools had taught + the poor to find pleasure in such improving and civilizing pleasures. + I saw daily proofs at these meetings of the excellent effects of the + social system of Germany. I learned there how high a civilization the + poorer classes of a nation are capable of attaining under a + well-arranged system of those laws which affect the social condition + of a people. I found proofs at these meetings of the truth of that + which I am anxious to teach my countrymen, that the poorer classes of + Germany are much less pauperized, much more civilized, and much + happier than our own peasantry." * * * "The dancing itself, even in + those tents frequented by the poorest peasants, is quite as good, and + is conducted with quite as much decorum, as that of the first + ballrooms of London. The polka, the waltz, and several dances not + known in England, are danced by the German peasants with great + elegance. They dance quicker than we do; and, from the training in + music which they receive from their childhood, and for many years of + their lives, the poorest peasants dance in much better time than + English people generally do."--Vol. i. 235, 237, 240, 244. + +How strikingly does the following view of the state of education +contrast with that given in a former chapter in relation to the +education of the poor of England!-- + + "Four years ago the Prussian government made a general inquiry + throughout the kingdom, to discover how far the school education of + the people had been extended; and it was then ascertained that, out + of all the young men in the kingdom who had attained the age of + twenty-one years, _only two in every hundred were unable to read_. + This fact was communicated to me by the Inspector-General of the + kingdom. + + "The poor of these countries read a great deal more than even those + of our own country who are able to read. It is a general custom in + Germany and Switzerland for four or five families of labourers to + club together, and to subscribe among themselves for one or two of + the newspapers which come out once or twice a week. These papers are + passed from family to family, or are interchanged." * * * "I remember + one day, when walking near Berlin in the company of Herr Hintz, a + professor in Dr. Diesterweg's Normal College, and of another teacher, + we saw a poor woman cutting up in the road logs of wood for winter + use. My companions pointed her out to me, and said, 'Perhaps you will + scarcely believe it, but in the neighbourhood of Berlin poor women, + like that one, read translations of Sir Walter Scott's novels, and of + many of the interesting works of your language, besides those of the + principal writers of Germany.' This account was afterward confirmed + by the testimony of several other persons. + + "Often and often have I seen the poor cab-drivers of Berlin, while + waiting for a fare, amusing themselves by reading German books, which + they had brought with them in the morning expressly for the purpose + of supplying amusement and occupation for their leisure hours. + + "In many parts of these countries, the peasants and the workmen of + the towns attend regular weekly lectures or weekly classes, where + they practise singing or chanting, or learn mechanical drawing, + history, or science. + + "As will be seen afterward, women as well, as men, girls as well as + boys, enjoy in these countries the same advantages, and go through + the same, school education. The women of the poorer classes of these + countries, in point of intelligence and knowledge, are almost equal + to the men."--P. 63, 65. + +These facts would seem fully to warrant the author in his expression +of the belief that + + "The moral, intellectual, and social condition of the peasants and + operatives of those parts of Germany, Holland, Switzerland, and + France where the poor have been educated, where the land has been + released from the feudal laws, and where the peasants have been + enabled to acquire, is very much higher, happier, and more + satisfactory than that of the peasants and operatives of England; and + that while these latter are struggling in the deepest ignorance, + pauperism, and moral degradation, the former are steadily and + progressively attaining a condition, both socially and politically + considered, of a higher, happier, and more hopeful character."--Vol. + i. 7. + +The extensive possession of property produces here, as everywhere, +respect for the rights of property. "In the neighbourhood of towns," +says Mr. Kay-- + + "The land is scarcely any more enclosed, except in the case of the + small gardens which surround the houses, than in the more rural + districts. Yet this right is seldom abused. The condition of the + lands near a German, or Swiss, or Dutch town is as orderly, as neat, + and as undisturbed by trespassers as in the most secluded and most + strictly preserved of our rural districts. All the poor have friends + or relations who are themselves proprietors. Every man, however poor, + feels that he himself may, some day or other, become a proprietor. + All are, consequently, immediately interested in the preservation of + property, and in watching over the rights and interests of their + neighbours."--P. 249. + +How strongly the same cause tends to the maintenance of public order, +may be seen on a perusal of the following passages:-- + + "Every peasant who possesses one of these estates becomes interested + in the maintenance of public order, in the tranquillity of the + country, in the suppression of crimes, in the fostering of industry + among his own children, and in the promotion of their intelligence. A + class of peasant proprietors forms the strongest of all conservative + classes." * * * "Throughout all the excitement of the revolutions of + 1848, the peasant proprietors of France, Germany, Holland, and + Switzerland were almost universally found upon the side of order, and + opposed to revolutionary excesses. It was only in the provinces where + the land was divided among the nobles, and where the peasants were + only serfs, as in the Polish provinces, Bohemia, Austria, and some + parts of South Germany, that they showed themselves rebellious. In + Prussia they sent deputation after deputation to Frederic William, to + assure him of their support; in one province the peasant proprietors + elected his brother as their representative; and in others they + declared, by petition after petition forwarded to the chamber, and by + the results of the elections, how strongly they were opposed to the + anarchical party in Berlin."--Vol. i. 33, 273. + +It is where land acquires value that men become free, and the more +rapid the growth of value in land, the more rapid has ever been the +growth of freedom. To enable it to acquire value, the artisan and the +ploughman _must_ take their places by the side of each other; and the +greater the tendency to this, the more rapid will be the progress of +man toward moral, intellectual, and political elevation. It is in this +direction that all the policy of Germany now tends, whereas that of +England tends toward destroying everywhere the value of labour and +land, and everywhere impairing the condition of man. The one system +tends to the establishment everywhere of mills, furnaces, and towns, +places of exchange, in accordance with the view of Dr. Smith, who +tells us that "had human institutions never disturbed the natural +course of things, the progressive wealth and increase of the towns +would, in every political society, be consequential and in proportion +to the improvement and cultivation of the territory and country." The +other tends toward building up London and Liverpool, Manchester and +Birmingham, at the cost of enormous taxation imposed upon all the +farmers and planters of the world; and its effects in remote parts of +the United Kingdom itself, compared with those observed in Germany, +are thus described: + + "If any one has travelled in the mountainous parts of Scotland and + Wales, where the farmers are only under-lessees of great landlords, + without security of tenure, and liable to be turned out of possession + with half a year's notice, and where the peasants are only labourers, + without any land of their own, and generally without even the use of + a garden; if he has travelled in the mountainous parts of + Switzerland, Saxony, and the hilly parts of the Prussian Rhine + provinces, where most of the farmers and peasants possess, or can by + economy and industry obtain, land of their own; and if he has paid + any serious attention to the condition of the farms, peasants, and + children of these several countries, he cannot fail to have observed + the astonishing superiority of the condition of the peasants, + children, and farms in the last-mentioned countries. + + "The miserable cultivation, the undrained and rush-covered valleys, + the great number of sides of hills, terraces on the rocks, sides of + streams, and other places capable of the richest cultivation, but + wholly disused, even for game preserves; the vast tracts of the + richest lands lying in moors, and bogs, and swamps, and used only for + the breeding-places of game, and deer, and vermin, while the poor + peasants are starving beside them; the miserable huts of cottages, + with their one story, their two low rooms, their wretched and + undrained floors, and their dilapidated roofs; and the crowds of + miserable, half-clad, ragged, dirty, uncombed, and unwashed children, + never blessed with any education, never trained in cleanliness or + morality, and never taught any pure religion, are as astounding on + the one hand as the happy condition of the peasants in the Protestant + cantons of Switzerland, in the Tyrol, in Saxony, and in the + mountainous parts of the Prussian Rhine provinces, is pleasing upon + the other--where every plot of land that can bear any thing is + brought into the most beautiful state of cultivation; where the + valleys are richly and scientifically farmed; where the manures are + collected with the greatest care; where the houses are generally + large, roomy, well-built, and in excellent repair, and are improving + every day; where the children are beautifully clean, comfortably + dressed, and attending excellent schools; and where the condition of + the people is one of hope, industry, and progress."--Vol. i. 140. + +The artisan has ever been the ally of the farmer in his contests with +those who sought to tax him, let the form of taxation be what it +might. The tendency of the British system is everywhere toward +separating the two, and _using each to crush the other_. Hence it is +that in all the countries subject to the system there is an abjectness +of spirit not to be found in other parts of the world. The vices +charged by the English journals on the people of Ireland are those of +slavery--falsehood and dissimulation. The Hindoo of Bengal is a mean +and crouching animal, compared with the free people of the upper +country who have remained under their native princes. Throughout +England there is a deference to rank, a servility, a toadyism, +entirely inconsistent with progress in civilization.[177] + +The English labourer is, says Mr. Howitt [178]-- + + "So cut off from the idea of property, that he comes habitually to + look upon it as a thing from which he is warned by the laws of the + great proprietors, and becomes in consequence spiritless, + purposeless." + +Compare with this the following description of a German bauer, from +the same authority:-- + + "The German bauer, on the contrary, looks on the country as made for + him and his fellow-men. He feels himself a man; he has a stake in the + country as good as that of the bulk of his neighbours; no man can + threaten him with ejection or the workhouse so long as he is active + and economical. He walks, therefore, with a bold step; he looks you + in the face with the air of a free man, but of a respectful + one."--_Ibid_. + +The reader may now advantageously compare the progress of the last +half century in Ireland and in Germany. Doing so, he will see that in +the former there has been a steady tendency to the expulsion of the +mechanic, the exhaustion of the soil, the consolidation of the land, +and the resolution of the whole nation into a mass of wretched tenants +at will, holding under the middleman agent of the great absentee +landlord, with constant decline in the material, moral, and +intellectual condition of all classes of society, and constantly +increasing inability on the part of the nation to assert its rights. +Seventy years since the Irish people extorted the admission of their +right to legislate for themselves, whereas now the total disappearance +of the nation from among the communities of the world is regarded as a +thing to be prayed for, and a calculation is made that but twenty-four +more years will be required, at the present rate, for its total +extinction. In Germany, on the contrary, the mechanic is everywhere +invited, and towns are everywhere growing. The soil is being +everywhere enriched, and agricultural knowledge is being diffused +throughout the nation; and land so rapidly acquires value that it is +becoming more divided from day to day. The proprietor is everywhere +taking the place of the serf, and the demand for labour becomes steady +and man becomes valuable. The people are everywhere improving in their +material and moral condition; and so rapid is the improvement of +intellectual condition, that German literature now commands the +attention of the whole civilized world. With each step in this +direction, there is an increasing tendency toward union and peace, +whereas as Ireland declines there is an increasing tendency toward +discord, violence, and crime. Having studied these things, the reader +may then call to mind that Ireland has thus declined, although, in the +whole half century, her soil has never been pressed by the foot of an +enemy in arms, whereas Germany has thus improved, although repeatedly +overrun and plundered by hostile armies. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +HOW FREEDOM GROWS IN RUSSIA. + + +Among the nations of the world whose policy looks to carrying out the +views of Adam Smith, in bringing the artisan as near as possible to +the food and the wool, Russia stands distinguished. The information we +have in reference to the movements of that country is limited; but all +of it tends to prove that with the growth of population and wealth, +and with the increased diversification of labour, land is acquiring +value, and man is advancing rapidly toward freedom. "The industry of +Russia," says a recent American journal-- + + "Has been built up, as alone the industry of a nation can be, under a + system of protection, from time to time modified as experience has + dictated; but never destroyed by specious abstractions or the dogmas + of mere doctrinaires. Fifty years ago manufactures were unknown + there, and the caravans trading to the interior and supplying the + wants of distant tribes in Asia went laden with the products of + British and other foreign workshops. When the present emperor mounted + the throne, in 1825, the country could not produce the cloth required + to uniform its own soldiers; further back, in 1800, the exportation + of coloured cloth was prohibited under severe penalties; but through + the influence of adequate protection, as early as 1834, Russian cloth + was taken by the caravans to Kiachta; and at this day the markets of + all Central Asia are supplied by the fabrics of Russian looms, which + in Affghanistan and China are crowding British cloths entirely out of + sale--notwithstanding the latter have the advantage in + transportation--while in Tartary and Russia itself British woollens + are now scarcely heard of. In 1812 there were in Russia 136 cloth + factories; in 1824, 324; in 1812 there were 129 cotton factories; in + 1824, 484. From 1812 to 1839 the whole number of manufacturing + establishments in the empire more than trebled, and since then they + have increased in a much greater ratio, though from the absence of + official statistics we are not able to give the figures. Of the total + amount of manufactured articles consumed in 1843, but one-sixth were + imported. And along with this vast aggrandizement of manufacturing + industry and commerce, there has been a steady increase of both + imports and exports, as well as of revenue from customs. The increase + in imports has consisted of articles of luxury and raw materials for + manufacture. And, as if to leave nothing wanting in the + demonstration, the increase of exports has constantly included more + and more of the products of agriculture. Thus in this empire we see + what we must always see under an adequate and judicious system of + protection, that a proper tariff not only improves, refines, and + diversifies the labour of a country, but enlarges its commerce, + increases the prosperity of its agricultural population, renders the + people better and better able to contribute to the support of the + Government, and raises the nation to a position of independence and + real equality among the powers of the globe. All this is indubitably + proved by the example of Russia, for there protection has been steady + and adequate, and the consequences are what we have described."--_N. + York Tribune_. + +The reader may advantageously compare the following sketch, from the +same source, of the present position of Russia, so recently a scene of +barbarism, with that already laid before him, of her neighbour Turkey, +whose policy commands to so great an extent the admiration of those +economists who advocate the system which looks to converting the whole +world outside of England into one vast farm, and all its people, men, +women, and children, into field labourers, dependent on one great +workshop in which to make all their exchanges:-- + + "Russia, we are told, is triumphant in the Great Exhibition. Her + natural products excite interest and admiration for their variety and + excellence; her works of art provoke astonishment for their richness + and beauty. Her jewellers and gold-workers carry off the palm from + even those of Paris. Her satins and brocades compete with the richest + contributions of Lyons. She exhibits tables of malachite and caskets + of ebony, whose curious richness indicates at once the lavish + expenditure of a barbaric court, and the refinement and taste of + civilization. Nor do we deem it of much account that her part of the + exhibition is not exclusively the work of native artisans. Her satins + are none the less genuine product of the country because the + loveliest were woven by emigrants from the _Croix Rousse_ or the + _Guillotiére_, seduced by high wages from their sunnier home in order + to build up the industry of the Great Empire and train the grandsons + of Mongol savages in the exquisite mysteries of French taste and + dexterity. It matters not that the exhibition offers infinitely more + than a fair illustration of the average capacity of Russian labour. + It is none the less true that a people who half a century ago were + without manufactures of any but the rudest kind, are now able by some + means to furnish forth an unsurpassed display, though all the world + is there to compete with them. + + "We are no lover of Russian power, and have no wish to exaggerate the + degree of perfection to which Russian industry has attained. We do + not doubt that any cotton factory in the environs of Moscow might be + found imperfect when contrasted with one of Manchester or Lowell. We + are confident that the artisans of a New-England village very far + surpass those of a Russian one in most qualities of intelligence and + manhood. Indeed, it is absurd to make the comparison; it is absurd to + do what travellers insist on doing--that is, to judge every nation by + the highest standard, and pronounce each a failure which does not + exhibit the intellect of France, the solidity and power of England, + or the enterprise, liberty, and order of the United States. All that + should be asked is, whether a people has surpassed its own previous + condition and is in the way of improvement and progress. And that, in + respect of industry, at least, Russia is in that way, her show at the + Exhibition may safely be taken as a brilliant and conclusive proof." + +Russia is powerful, and is becoming more so daily. Why is it so? It is +because her people are daily more and more learning the advantages of +diversification of labour and combination of exertion, and more and +more improving in their physical and intellectual condition--the +necessary preliminaries to an improvement of their political +condition. Turkey is weak; and why is it so? Because among her people +the habit of association is daily passing away as the few remaining +manufactures disappear, and as the travelling pedler supersedes the +resident shopkeeper. + +It is said, however, that Russian policy is unfavorable to commerce; +but is not its real tendency that of producing a great internal +commerce upon which alone a great foreign one can be built? That it +does produce the effect of enabling her people to combine their +exertions for their common benefit is most certain; and equally so +that it tends to give her that direct intercourse with the world which +is essential to the existence of freedom. The slave trades with the +world through his master, who fixes the price of the labour he has to +sell and the food and clothing he has to buy, and this is exactly the +system that Great Britain desires to establish for the farmers of the +world--she being the only buyer of raw products, and the only seller +of manufactured ones. + +So long as Russia exports only food and hemp, she can trade with +Brazil for sugar, and with Carolina for cotton, only through the +medium of British ships, British ports, British merchants, and British +looms, for she can need no raw cotton; but with the extension of +manufactures she needs cotton, which she can draw directly from the +planter, paying him in iron, by aid of which he may have machinery. In +illustration of this, we have the fact that so recently as in 1846, +out of a total consumption of cotton amounting to 310,656 cwts., no +less than 122,082 cwts. had passed through British spindles; whereas +in 1850, out of a total consumption more than one-half greater, and +amounting to 487,612 cwts., only 64,505 cwts. had passed through the +hands of the spinners of Manchester. + +The export of raw cotton to Russia has since largely increased, but +the precise extent of increase cannot be ascertained, although some +estimate may be formed from the growth of the consumption of one of +the principal dyeing materials, indigo; the export of which from +England to Russia is thus given in the London _Economist_:-- + + 1849. 1850. 1851. 1852. + ----- ----- ----- ----- + Chests, 3225....... 4105....... 4953....... 5175 + +We have here an increase in three years of almost sixty per cent., +proving a steady increase in the power to obtain clothing and to +maintain commerce internal and external, directly the reverse of what +has been observed in Turkey, Ireland, India, and other countries in +which the British system prevails; and the reason of this is that that +system looks to destroying the power of association. It would have all +the people of India engage themselves in raising cotton, and all those +of Brazil and Cuba in raising sugar, while those of Germany and Russia +should raise food and wool; and we know well that when all are +farmers, or all planters, the power of association scarcely exists; +the consequence of which is seen in the exceeding weakness of all the +communities of the world in which the plough and the loom, the hammer +and the harrow, are prevented from coming together. It is an unnatural +one. Men everywhere seek to combine their exertions with those of +their fellow-men; an object sought to be attained by the introduction +of that diversification of employment advocated throughout his work by +the author of _The Wealth of Nations_. How naturally the habit of +association arises, and how beneficial are its effects, may be seen +from a few extracts now offered to the reader, from an interesting +article in a recent English journal. In Russia, says its author-- + + "There does not prevail that marked distinction between the modes of + life of the dwellers in town and country which is found in other + countries; and the general freedom of trade, which in other nations + is still an object of exertion, has existed in Russia since a long + by-gone period. A strong manufacturing and industrial tendency + prevails in a large portion of Russia, which, based upon the communal + system, has led to the formation of what we may term 'national + association factories.'" + +In corroboration of this view of the general freedom of internal +trade, we are told that, widely different from the system of western +Europe, + + "There exists no such thing as a trade guild, or company, nor any + restraint of a similar nature. Any member of a commune can at + pleasure abandon the occupation he may be engaged in, and take up + another; all that he has to do in effecting the change is to quit the + commune in which his old trade is carried on, and repair to another, + where his new one is followed." + +The tendency of manufacturing industry is + + "For the most part entirely communal; the inhabitants of one village, + for example, are all shoemakers, in another smiths, in a third + tanners only, and so on. A natural division of labor thus prevails + exactly as in a factory. The members of the commune mutually assist + one another with capital or labor; purchases are usually made in + common, and sales also invariably, but they always send their + manufactures in a general mass to the towns and market-places, where + they have a common warehouse for their disposal." + +In common with all countries that are as yet unable fully to carry out +the idea of Adam Smith, of compressing a large quantity of food and +wool into a piece of cloth, and thus fitting it for cheap +transportation to distant markets, and which are, therefore, largely +dependent on those distant markets for the sale of raw produce, the +cultivation of the soil in Russia is not-- + + "In general, very remunerative, and also can only be engaged in for a + few months in the year, which is, perhaps, the reason why the peasant + in Russia evinces so great an inclination for manufactures and other + branches of industry, the character of which generally depends on the + nature of raw products found in the districts where they are + followed." + +Without diversification of employment much labour would be wasted, and +the people would find themselves unable to purchase clothing or +machinery of cultivation. Throughout the empire the labourer appears +to follow in the direction indicated by nature, working up the +materials on the land on which they are produced, and thus economizing +transportation. Thus-- + + "In the government of Yaroslaf the whole inhabitants of one place are + potters. Upward of two thousand inhabitants in another place are + rope-makers and harness-makers. The population of the district of + Uglitich in 1835 sent three millions of yards of linen cloth to the + markets of Rybeeck and Moscow. The peasants on one estate are all + candle-makers, on a second they are all manufacturers of felt hats, + and on a third they are solely occupied in smiths' work, chiefly the + making of axes. In the district of Pashechoe there are about seventy + tanneries, which give occupation to a large number of families; they + have no paid workmen, but perform all the operations among + themselves, preparing leather to the value of about twenty-five + thousand roubles a year, and which is disposed of on their account in + Rybeeck. In the districts where the forest-trees mostly consist of + lindens, the inhabitants are principally engaged in the manufacture + of matting, which, according to its greater or less degree of + fineness, is employed either for sacking or sail cloth, or merely as + packing mats. The linden-tree grows only on moist soils, rich in + black _humus_, or vegetable mould; but will not grow at all in sandy + soils, which renders it comparatively scarce in some parts of Russia, + while in others it grows abundantly. The mats are prepared from the + inner bark, and as the linden is ready for stripping at only fifteen + years of age, and indeed is best at that age, these trees form a rich + source of profit for those who dwell in the districts where they + grow." + +We have here a system of combined exertion that tends greatly to +account for the rapid progress of Russia in population, wealth, and +power. + +The men who thus associate for local purposes acquire information, and +with it the desire for more; and thus we find them passing freely, as +interest may direct them, from one part of the empire to another--a +state of things very different from that produced in England by the +law of settlement, under which men have everywhere been forbidden to +change their locality, and everywhere been liable to be seized and +sent back to their original parishes, lest they might at some time or +other become chargeable upon the new one in which they had desired to +find employment, for which they had sought in vain at home. "The +Russian" says our author-- + + "Has a great disposition for wandering about beyond his native place, + but not for travelling abroad. The love of home seems to be merged, + to a great extent, in love of country. A Russian feels himself at + home everywhere within Russia; and, in a political sense, this + rambling disposition of the people, and the close intercourse between + the inhabitants of the various provinces to which it leads, + contributes to knit a closer bond of union between the people, and to + arouse and maintain a national policy and a patriotic love of + country. Although he may quit his native place, the Russian never + wholly severs the connection with it; and, as we have before + mentioned, being fitted by natural talent to turn his hand to any + species of work, he in general never limits himself in his wanderings + to any particular occupation, but tries at several; but chooses + whatever may seem to him the most advantageous. When they pursue any + definite extensive trade, such as that of a carpenter, mason, or the + like, in large towns, they associate together, and form a sort of + trades' association, and the cleverest assume the position of a sort + of contractor for the labour required. Thus, if a nobleman should + want to build a house, or even a palace, in St. Petersburgh, he + applies to such a contractor, (_prodratshnik_,) lays before him the + elevation and plans, and makes a contract with him to do the work + required for a specified sum. The contractor then makes an agreement + with his comrades respecting the assistance they are to give, and the + share they are to receive of the profit; after which he usually sets + off to his native place, either alone or with some of his comrades, + to obtain the requisite capital to carry on the work with. The + inhabitants, who also have their share of the gains, readily make up + the necessary sum, _and every thing is done in trust and confidence_; + it is, indeed, very rare to hear of frauds in these matters. The + carpenters (_plotniki_) form a peculiar class of the workmen we have + described. As most of the houses in Russia, and especially in the + country parts, are built of wood, the number and importance of the + carpenters, as a class, are very great in comparison with other + countries. Almost every peasant, whatever other trade he may follow, + is also something of a carpenter, and knows how to shape and put + together the timbers for a dwelling. The _plotniki_ in the villages + are never any thing more than these general carpenters, and never + acquire any regular knowledge of their business. The real Russian + _plotniki_ seldom carries any other tools with him than an axe and a + chisel, and with these he wanders through all parts of the empire, + seeking, and everywhere finding, work." + +The picture here presented is certainly widely different from that +presented by Great Britain and Ireland. A Russian appears to be at +home everywhere in Russia. He wanders where he will, everywhere +seeking and finding work; whereas an Irishman appears hardly to be at +home anywhere within the limits of the United Kingdom. In England, and +still more in Scotland, he is not acknowledged as a fellow-citizen. He +is _only an Irishman_--one of those half-savage Celts intended by +nature to supply the demand of England for cheap labour; that is, for +that labour which is to be rewarded by the scantiest supplies of food +and clothing. The difference in the moral effect of the two systems is +thus very great. The one tends to bring about that combination of +exertion which everywhere produces a kindly habit of feeling, whereas +the other tends everywhere to the production of dissatisfaction and +gloom; and it is so because that under it there is necessarily a +constant increase of the feeling that every man is to live by the +taxation of his neighbour, buying cheaply what that neighbour has to +sell, and selling dearly what that neighbour has to buy. The existence +of this state of things is obvious to all familiar with the current +literature of England, which abounds in exhibitions of the tendency of +the system to render man a tyrant to his wife, his daughter, his +horse, and even his dog. A recent English traveller in Russia presents +a different state of feeling as there existing. "The Russian +coachman," he says-- + + "Seldom uses his whip, and generally only knocks with it upon the + footboard of the sledge, by way of a gentle admonition to his steed, + with whom, meanwhile, he keeps up a running colloquy, seldom giving + him harder words than _'My brother--my friend--my little pigeon--my + sweetheart_.' 'Come, my pretty pigeon, make use of your legs,' he + will say. 'What, now! art blind? Come, be brisk! Take care of that + stone, there. Don't see it?--There, that's right! Bravo! hop, hop, + hop! Steady boy, steady! What art turning thy head for? Look out + boldly before thee!--Hurra! Yukh! Yukh!' + + "I could not," he continues, "help contrasting this with the + offensive language we constantly hear in England from carters and + boys employed in driving horses. You are continually shocked by the + oaths used. They seem to think the horses will not go unless they + swear at them; and boys consider it manly to imitate this example, + and learn to swear too, and break God's commandments by taking his + holy name in vain. And this while making use of a fine, noble animal + he has given for our service and not for abuse. There is much + unnecessary cruelty in the treatment of these dumb creatures, for + they are often beaten when doing their best, or from not + understanding what their masters want them to do." + +Of the truth of this, as regards England, the journals of that country +often furnish most revolting evidence; but the mere fact that there +exists there a society for preventing cruelty to animals, would seem +to show that its services had been much needed. + +The manner in which the system of diversified labour is gradually +extending personal freedom among the people of Russia, and preparing +them eventually for the enjoyment of the highest degree of political +freedom, is shown in the following passage. "The landholders," says +the author before referred to-- + + "Having serfs, gave them permission to engage in manufactures, and to + seek for work for themselves where they liked, on the mere condition + of paying their lord a personal tax, (_obrok_). Each person is rated + according to his personal capabilities, talents, and capacities, at a + certain capital; and according to what he estimates himself capable + of gaining, he is taxed at a fixed sum as interest of that capital. + Actors and singers are generally serfs, and they are obliged to pay + _obrok_, for the exercise of their art, as much as the lowest + handicraftsman. In recent times, the manufacturing system of Western + Europe has been introduced into Russia, and the natives have been + encouraged to establish all sorts of manufactures on these models; + and it remains to be seen whether the new system will have the + anticipated effect of contributing to the formation of a middle + class, which hitherto has been the chief want in Russia as a + political state." + +That such must be the effect cannot be doubted. The middle class has +everywhere grown with the growth of towns and other places of local +exchange, and men have become free precisely as they have been able to +unite together for the increase of the productiveness of their labour. +In every part of the movement which thus tends to the emancipation of +the serf, the government is seen to be actively co-operating, and it +is scarcely possible to read an account of what is there being done +without a feeling of great respect for the emperor, "so often," says a +recent writer, "denounced as a deadly foe to freedom--the true father +of his country, earnestly striving to develop and mature the rights of +his subjects."[179] + +For male serfs, says the same author, at all times until recently, +military service was the only avenue to freedom. It required, however, +twenty years' service, and by the close of that time the soldier +became so accustomed to that mode of life that he rarely left it. A +few years since, however, the term was shortened to eight years, and +thousands of men are now annually restored to civil life, free men, +who but a few years previously had been slaves, liable to be bought +and sold with the land. + +Formerly the lord had the same unlimited power of disposing of his +serfs that is now possessed by the people of our Southern States. The +serf was a mere chattel, an article of traffic and merchandise; and +husbands and wives, parents and children, were constantly liable to be +separated from each other. By an ukase of 1827, however, they were +declared an integral and inseparable portion of the soil. "The +immediate consequence of this decree," says Mr. Jerrmann,[180] + + "Was the cessation, at least in its most repulsive form, of the + degrading traffic in human flesh, by sale, barter, or gift. + Thenceforward no serf could be transferred to another owner, except + by the sale of the land to which he belonged. To secure to itself the + refusal of the land and the human beings appertaining to it, and at + the same time to avert from the landholder the ruin consequent on + dealings with usurers, the government established an imperial + loan-bank, which made advances on mortgage of lands to the extent of + two-thirds of their value. The borrowers had to pay back each year + three per cent of the loan, besides three per cent. interest. If they + failed to do this, the Crown returned them the instalments already + paid, gave them the remaining third of the value of the property, and + took possession of the land and its population. This was the first + stage of freedom for the serfs. They became Crown peasants, held + their dwellings and bit of land as an hereditary fief from the Crown, + and paid annually for the same a sum total of five rubles, (about + four shillings for each male person;) a rent for which, assuredly, in + the whole of Germany, the very poorest farm is not to be had; to say + nothing of the consideration that in case of bad harvests, + destruction by hail, disease, &c., the Crown is bound to supply the + strict necessities of its peasant, and to find them in daily bread, + in the indispensable stock of cattle and seed-corn, to repair their + habitations, and so forth. + + "By this arrangement, and in a short time, a considerable portion of + the lands of the Russian nobility became the property of the state, + and with it a large number of serfs became Crown peasants. This was + the first and most important step toward opening the road to freedom + to that majority of the Russian population which consists of slaves." + +We have here the stage of preparation for that division of the land +which has, in all countries of the world, attended the growth of +wealth and population, and which is essential to further growth not +only in wealth but in freedom. Consolidation of the land has +everywhere been the accompaniment of slavery, and so must it always +be. + +At the next step, we find the emperor bestowing upon the serf, as +preparatory to entire freedom, certain civil rights. An ukase + + "Permitted them to enter into contracts. Thereby was accorded to them + not only the right of possessing property, but the infinitely higher + blessing of a legal recognition of their moral worth as men. Hitherto + the serf was recognised by the state only as a sort of beast in human + form. He could hold no property, give no legal evidence, take no + oath. No matter how eloquent his speech, he was dumb before the law. + He might have treasures in his dwelling, the law knew him only as a + pauper. His word and honor were valueless compared to those of the + vilest freeman. In short, morally he could not be said to exist. The + Emperor Nicholas gave to the serfs, that vast majority of his + subjects, the first sensation of moral worth, the first throb of + self-respect, the first perception of the rights and dignity and + duty of man! What professed friend of the people can boast to have + done more, or yet so much, for so many millions of men?"--_Ibid_, p. + 24. + +"Having given the serfs power to hold property, the emperor now," says +our author, "taught them to prize the said property above all in the +interest of their freedom." The serf + + "Could, not buy his own freedom, but he became free by the purchase + of the patch of soil to which he was linked. To such purchase the + right of contract cleared his road. The lazy Russian, who worked with + an ill-will toward his master, doing as little as he could for the + latter's profit, toiled day and night for his own advantage. Idleness + was replaced by the diligent improvement of his farm, brutal + drunkenness by frugality and sobriety; the earth, previously + neglected, requited the unwonted care with its richest treasures. By + the magic of industry, wretched hovels were transformed into + comfortable dwellings, wildernesses into blooming fields, desolate + steppes and deep morasses into productive land; whole communities, + lately sunk in poverty, exhibited unmistakable signs of competency + and well-doing. The serfs, now allowed to enter into contracts, lent + the lord of the soil the money of which he often stood in need, on + the same conditions as the Crown, receiving in security the land they + occupied, their own bodies, and the bodies of their wives and + children. The nobleman preferred the serfs' loan to the government's + loan, because, when pay-day came for the annual interest and + instalment, the Crown, if he was not prepared to pay, took possession + of his estate, having funds wherewith to pay him the residue of its + value. The parish of serfs, which had lent money to its owner, lacked + these funds. Pay-day came, the debtor did not pay, but neither could + the serfs produce the one-third of the value of the land which they + must disburse to him in order to be free. Thus they lost their + capital and did not gain their liberty. But Nicholas lived! the + father of his subjects. + + "Between the anxious debtor and the still more anxious creditor now + interposed an imperial ukase, which in such cases opened to the + parishes of serfs the imperial treasury. Mark this; for it is worthy, + to be noted; the Russian imperial treasury was opened to the serfs, + that they might purchase their freedom! + + "The Government might simply have released the creditors from their + embarrassment by paying the debtor the one-third still due to him, + and then land and tenants belonged to the state;--one parish the more + of _Crown peasants_. Nicholas did not adopt that course. He lent the + serfs the money they needed to buy themselves from their master, and + for this loan (a third only of the value) they mortgaged themselves + and their lands to the Crown, paid annually three per cent. interest + and three per cent. of the capital, and would thus in about thirty + years be free, and proprietors of their land! That they would be able + to pay off this third was evident, since, to obtain its amount they + had still the same resources which enabled them to save up the + two-thirds already paid. Supposing, however, the very worst,--that + through inevitable misfortunes, such as pestilence, disease of + cattle, &c., they were prevented satisfying the rightful claims of + the Crown, in that case the Crown paid them back the two-thirds value + which they had previously disbursed to their former owner, and they + became a parish of Crown peasants, whose lot, compared to their + earlier one, was still enviable. But not once in a hundred times do + such cases occur, while, by the above plan, whole parishes gradually + acquire their freedom, not by a sudden and violent change, which + could not fail to have some evil consequences, but in course of time, + after a probation of labour and frugality, and after thus attaining + to the knowledge that without these two great factors of true + freedom, no real liberty can possibly be durable."--_Ibid_. + +The free peasants as yet constitute small class, but they live + + "As free and happy men, upon their own land; are active, frugal, and, + without exception, well off. This they must be, for considerable + means are necessary for the purchase of their freedom; and, once + free, and in possession of a farm of their own, their energy and + industry, manifested even in a state of slavery, are redoubled by the + enjoyment of personal liberty, and their earnings naturally increase + in a like measure. + + "The second class, the crown peasants, are far better off (setting + aside, of course, the consciousness of freedom) than the peasants of + Germany. They must furnish their quota of recruits, but that is their + only material burden. Besides that, they annually pay to the Crown a + sum of five rubles (about four shillings) for each male person of the + household. Supposing the family to include eight working men, which + is no small number for a farm, the yearly tribute paid amounts to + thirty-two shillings. And what a farm that must be which employs + eight men all the year round! In what country of civilized Europe has + the peasant so light a burden to bear? How much heavier those which + press upon the English farmer, the French, the German, and above all + the Austrian, who often gives up three-fourths of his harvest in + taxes. If the Crown peasant be so fortunate as to be settled in the + neighbourhood of a large town, his prosperity soon exceeds that even + of the Altenburg husbandmen, said to be the richest in all Germany. + On the other hand, he can never purchase his freedom; hitherto, at + least, no law of the Crown has granted him this privilege."--_Ibid_, + 156. + +That this, however, is the tendency of every movement, must be +admitted by all who have studied the facts already given, and who read +the following account of the commencement of local self-government:-- + + "But what would our ardent anti-Russians say, if I took them into the + interior of the empire, gave them an insight into the organization of + parishes, and showed them, to their infinite astonishment, what they + never yet dreamed of, that the whole of that organization is based + upon republican principles, that there every thing has its origin in + election by the people, and that that was already the case at a + period when the great mass of German democrats did not so much as + know the meaning of popular franchise. Certainly the Russian serfs do + not know at the present day what it means; but without knowing the + name of the thing, without having ever heard a word of Lafayette's + ill-omened '_trône monarchique, environné d'institutions + républicaines_,' they choose their own elders, their administrators, + their dispensers of justice and finance, and never dream that they, + _slaves_, enjoy and benefit by privileges by which some of the most + civilized nations have proved themselves incapable of profiting. + + "Space does not here permit a more extensive sketch of what the + Emperor Nicholas has done, and still is daily doing, for the true + freedom of his subjects; but what I have here brought forward must + surely suffice to place him, in the eyes of every unprejudiced + person, in the light of a real lover of his people. That his care has + created a paradise that no highly criminal abuse of power, no + shameful neglect prevails in the departments of justice and + police--it is hoped no reflecting reader will infer from this + exposition of facts. But the still-existing abuses alter nothing in + my view of the emperor's character, of his assiduous efforts to raise + his nation out of the deep slough in which it still is partly sunk, + of his efficacious endeavours to elevate his people to a knowledge + and use of their rights as men--alter nothing in my profound + persuasion that Czar Nicholas I. is the true father of his + country."--_Ibid_, 27. + +We are told that the policy, of Russia is adverse to the progress of +civilization, while that of England is favourable to it, and that we +should aid the latter in opposing the former. How is this to be +proved? Shall we look to Ireland for the proof? If we do, we shall +meet there nothing but famine, pestilence, and depopulation. Or to +Scotland, where men, whose ancestors had occupied the same spot for +centuries are being hunted down that they may be transported to the +shores of the St. Lawrence, there to perish, as they so recently have +done, of cold and of hunger? Or to India, whose whole class of small +proprietors and manufacturers has disappeared under the blighting +influence of her system, and whose commerce diminishes, now from year +to year? Or to Portugal, the weakest and most wretched of the +communities of Europe? Or to China, poisoned with _smuggled_ opium, +that costs the nation annually little less than forty millions of +dollars, without which the Indian government could not be maintained? +Look where we may, we see a growing tendency toward slavery wherever +the British system is permitted to obtain; whereas freedom grows in +the ratio in which that system is repudiated. + +That such must necessarily be the case will be seen by every reader +who will for a moment reflect on the difference between the effect of +the Russian system on the condition of Russian women, and that of the +British system on the condition of those of India. In the former there +is everywhere arising a demand for women to be employed in the lighter +labour of conversion, and thus do they tend from day to day to become +more self-supporting, and less dependent on the will of husbands, +brothers, or sons. In the other the demand for their labour has passed +away, and their condition declines, and so it must continue to do +while Manchester shall be determined upon closing the domestic demand +for cotton and driving the whole population to the production of +sugar, rice, and cotton, for export to England. + +The system of Russia is attractive of population, and French, German, +and American mechanics of every description find demand for their +services. That of England is repulsive, as is seen by the _forced_ +export of men from England, Scotland, Ireland, and India, now followed +by whole cargoes of women [181] sent out by aid of public +contributions, presenting a spectacle almost as humiliating to the +pride of the sex as can be found in the slave bazaar of +Constantinople. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +HOW FREEDOM GROWS IN DENMARK. + + +Compared with Ireland, India, or Turkey, DENMARK is a very poor +country. She has, says one of the most enlightened of modern British +travellers-- + + "No metals or minerals, no fire power, no water power, no products or + capabilities for becoming a manufacturing country supplying foreign + consumers. She has no harbours on the North Sea. Her navigation is + naturally confined to the Baltic. Her commerce is naturally confined + to the home consumption of the necessaries and luxuries of civilized + life, which the export of her corn and other agricultural products + enables her to import and consume. She stands alone in her corner of + the world, exchanging her loaf of bread, which she can spare, for + articles she cannot provide for herself, but still providing for + herself every thing she can by her own industry."[182] + +That industry is protected by heavy import duties, and those duties +are avowedly imposed with the view of enabling the farmer everywhere +to have the artisan at his side; thus bringing together the producers +and the consumers of the earth. "The greater part of their clothing +materials," says Mr. Laing-- + + "Linen, mixed linen and cotton, and woollen cloth, is home-made; and + the materials to be worked up, the cotton yarns, dye stuffs, and + utensils, are what they require from the shops. The flax and wool are + grown and manufactured on the peasant's farm; the spinning and + weaving done in the house; the bleaching, dyeing, fulling done at + home or in the village." * * * "Bunches of ribbons, silver clasps, + gold ear-rings, and other ornaments of some value, are profusely used + in many of the female dresses, although the main material is + home-made woollen and linen. Some of these female peasant costumes + are very becoming when exhibited in silk, fine cloth, and lace, as + they are worn by handsome country girls, daughters of rich peasant + proprietors in the islands, who sometimes visit Copenhagen. They have + often the air and appearance of ladies, and in fact are so in + education, in their easy or even wealthy circumstances, and an + inherited superiority over others of the same class." * * * "In a + large country-church at Gettorf, my own coat and the minister's were, + as far as I could observe, the only two in the congregation not of + home-made cloth; and in Copenhagen the working and every-day clothes + of respectable tradesmen and people of the middle class, and of all + the artisans and the lower labouring classes, are, if not home-made + and sent to them by their friends, at least country made; that is, + not factory made, but spun, woven, and sold in the web, by peasants, + who have more than they want for their family use, to small + shopkeepers. This is particularly the case with linen. Flax is a crop + on every farm; and the skutching, hackling, spinning, weaving, and + bleaching are carried on in every country family."--Pp. 381, 382, + 383. + +The manufacture of this clothing finds employment for almost the whole +female population of the country and for a large proportion of the +male population during the winter months. Under a different system, +the money price of this clothing would be less than it now is--as low, +perhaps, as it has been in Ireland--but what would be its labour +price? Cloth is cheap in that country, but man is so much cheaper that +he not only goes in rags, but perishes of starvation, because +compelled to exhaust his land and waste his labour. "Where," asks very +justly Mr. Laing-- + + "Would be the gain to the Danish nation, if the small proportion of + its numbers who do not live by husbandry got their shirts and jackets + and all other clothing one-half cheaper, and the great majority, who + now find winter employment in manufacturing their own clothing + materials, for the time and labour which are of no value to them at + that season, and can be turned to no account, were thrown idle by the + competition of the superior and cheaper products of machinery and the + factory?"--P. 385. + +None! The only benefit derived by man from improvement in the +machinery of conversion is, that he is thereby enabled to give more +time, labour, and thought to the improvement of the earth, the great +machine of production; and in that there _can_ be no improvement under +a system that looks to the exportation of raw products, the sending +away of the soil, and the return of no manure to the land. + +The whole Danish system tends to the local employment of both labour +and capital, and therefore to the growth of wealth and the division of +the land, and the improvement of the modes of cultivation. "With a +large and increasing proportion-- + + "Of the small farms belonging to peasant proprietors, working + themselves with hired labourers, and of a size to keep from five to + thirty or forty cows summer and winter, there are many large farms of + a size to keep from two hundred to three hundred, and even four + hundred cows, summer and winter, and let to verpachters, or large + tenant farmers, paying money rents. This class of verpachters are + farmers of great capital and skill, very intelligent and + enterprising, well acquainted with all modern improvements in + husbandry, using guano, tile-draining, pipe-draining, and likely to + be very formidable rivals in the English markets to the + old-fashioned, use-and-want English farmers, and even to most of our + improving large farmers in Scotland."--_Laing_, 52. + +The system of this country has attracted instead of repelling +population, and with its growth there has been a constant and rapid +advance toward freedom. The class of verpachters above described + + "Were originally strangers from Mecklenburg, Brunswick, and Hanover, + bred to the complicated arrangements and business of a great dairy + farm, and they are the best educated, most skilful, and most + successful farmers in the North of Europe. Many of them have + purchased large estates. The extensive farms they occupy, generally + on leases of nine years, are the domains and estates of the nobles, + which, before 1784, were cultivated by the serfs, who were, before + that period, _adscripti glebæ_, and who were bound to work every day, + without wages, on the main farm of the feudal lord, and had cottages + and land, on the outskirts of the estate, to work upon for their own + living when they were not wanted on the farm of the baron. Their + feudal lord could imprison them, flog them, reclaim them if they had + deserted from his land, and had complete feudal jurisdiction over + them in his baronial court."--P. 53. + +It is, however, not only in land, but in various other modes, that the +little owner of capital is enabled to employ it with advantage. "The +first thing a Dane does with his savings," says Mr. Brown,[183] +British consul at Copenhagen-- + + "Is to purchase a clock; then a horse and cow, which he hires out, + and which pay good interest. Then his ambition is to become a petty + proprietor; and _this class of persons is better off than any in + Denmark_. Indeed, I know no people in any country who have more + easily within their reach all that is really necessary for life than + this class, which is very large in comparison with that of + labourers." + +To the power advantageously to employ the small accumulations of the +labourer, it is due that the proportion of small proprietors has +become so wonderfully large. "The largest proportion of the country, +and of the best land of it," says Mr. Laing,[184] is in their hands-- + + "With farms of a size to keep ten or fifteen cows, and which they + cultivate by hired labour, along with the labour of the family. These + small proprietors, called huffner, probably from _hoff_, a + farm-steading and court-yard, correspond to the yeomen, small + freeholders, and statesmen, of the North of England, and many of them + are wealthy. Of this class of estates, it is reckoned there are about + 125,150 in the two duchies: some of the huffners appear to be + copyholders, not freeholders; that is, they hold their land by + hereditary right, and may sell or dispose of it; but their land is + subject to certain fixed payments of money, labour, cartages, + ploughing yearly to the lord of the manor of which they hold it, or + to fixed fines for non-payment. A class of smaller land-holders are + called Innsters, and are properly cottars with a house, a yard, and + land for a cow or two, and pay a rent in money and in labour, and + receive wages, at a reduced rate, for their work all the year round. + They are equivalent to our class of married farm-servants, but with + the difference that they cannot be turned off at the will or + convenience of the verpachter, or large farmer, but hold of the + proprietor; and all the conditions under which they hold--sometimes + for life, sometimes for a term of years--are as fixed and supported + by law, as those between the proprietor and the verpachter. Of this + class there are about 67,710, and of house-cottars without land; + 17,480, and 36,283 day-labourers in husbandry. The land is well + divided among a total population of only 662,500 souls."--P. 43. + +Even the poorest of these labouring householders has a garden, some +land, and a cow;[185] and everywhere the eye and hand of the little +proprietor may be seen busily employed, while the larger farmers, says +our author-- + + "Attend our English cattle-shows and agricultural meetings, are + educated men, acquainted with every agricultural improvement, have + agricultural meetings and cattle-shows of their own, and publish the + transactions and essays of the members. They use guano, and all the + animal or chemical manures, have introduced tile-draining, machinery + for making pipes and tiles, and are no strangers to irrigation on + their old grass meadows."--P. 127. + +As a natural consequence, the people are well clothed. "The +proportion," says Mr. Laing-- + + "Of well-dressed people in the streets is quite as great as in our + large towns; few are so shabby in clothes as the unemployed or + half-employed workmen and labourers in Edinburgh; and a proletarian + class, half-naked and in rags, is not to be seen. The supply of + clothing material for the middle and lower classes seems as great, + whether we look at the people themselves or at the second or third + rate class of shops with goods for their use."--P. 379. + +In regard to house accommodation, he says:-- + + "The country people of Denmark and the duchies are well lodged. The + material is brick. The roofing is of thatch in the country, and of + tiles in the towns. Slate is unknown. The dwelling apartments are + always floored with wood. I have described in a former note the great + hall in which all the cattle and crops and wagons are housed, and + into which the dwelling apartments open. The accommodations outside + of the meanest cottage, the yard, garden, and offices, approach more + to the dwellings of the English than of the Scotch people of the same + class."--P. 420. + +Every parish has its established schoolmaster, as well as + + "Its established minister; but it appears to me that the class of + parochial schoolmasters here stands in a much higher position than, + in Scotland. They are better paid, their houses, glebes, and stipends + are better, relatively to the ordinary houses and incomes of the + middle class in country places, and they are men of much higher + education than their Scotch brethren." * * * "It is quite free to any + one who pleases to open a school; and to parents to send their + children to school or not, as they please. If the young people are + sufficiently instructed to receive confirmation from the clergyman, + or to stand an examination for admission as students at the + university, where or how they acquired their instruction is not + asked. Government has provided schools, and highly qualified and + well-paid teachers, but invests them with no monopoly of teaching, no + powers as a corporate body, and keeps them distinct from and + unconnected with the professional body in the university."--Pp. 170, + 336. + +"The most striking feature in the character of these small town +populations," says our author-- + + "And that which the traveller least expects to find in countries so + secluded, so removed from intercourse with other countries, by + situation and want of exchangeable products, as Sleswick, Jutland, + and the Danish islands, is the great diffusion of education, + literature, and literary tastes. In towns, for instance, of 6000 + inhabitants, in England, we seldom find such establishments as the + 6000 inhabitants of Aalborg, the most northerly town in Jutland, + possess. They enjoy, on the banks of the Lymfiord, a classical school + for the branches of learning required from students entering the + university; an educational institution, and six burger schools for + the ordinary branches of education, and in which the Lancastrian + method of mutual instruction is in use; a library of 12,000 volumes, + belonging to the province of Aalborg, is open to the public; a + circulating library of 2000 volumes; several private collections and + museums, to which access is readily given; a dramatic association, + acting every other Sunday; and two club-houses for balls and + concerts. A printing office and a newspaper, published weekly or + oftener, are, in such towns, establishments of course. Wyborg, the + most ancient town in Jutland, the capital in the time of the pagan + kings, and once a great city, with twelve parish churches and six + monasteries, but now containing no remains of its former grandeur, + and only about 3000 inhabitants, has its newspaper three times a + week, its classical school, its burger school, its public library, + circulating library, and its dramatic association acting six or eight + plays in the course of the winter. These, being county towns, the + seats of district courts and business, have, no doubt, more of such + establishments than the populations of the towns themselves could + support; but this indicates a wide diffusion of education and + intellectual tastes in the surrounding country. Randers, on the Guden + River, the only river of any length of course which runs into the + Baltic or Cattegat from the peninsular land, and the only one in + which salmon are caught, is not a provincial capital, and is only + about twenty-five English miles from the capital Wyborg; but it has, + for its 6000 inhabitants, a classical school, several burger schools; + one of which has above 300 children taught by the mutual-instruction + method, a book society, a musical society, a circulating library, a + printing press, a newspaper published three times a week, a + club-house, and a dramatic society. Aarhuus, with, about the same + population as Randers, and about the same distance from it as Randers + from Wyborg, has a high school, two burger schools, and a ragged or + poor school, a provincial library of 3000 or 4000 volumes, a school + library of about the same extent, a library belonging to a club, a + collection of minerals and shells belonging to the high schools, a + printing press, (from which a newspaper and a literary periodical are + issued,) book and music shops, a club-house, concert and ball-room, + and a dramatic society. Holstebro, a little inland town of about 800 + inhabitants, about thirty-five English miles west from Wyborg, has + its burger school on the mutual-instruction system, its reading + society, and its agricultural society. In every little town in this + country, the traveller finds educational institutions and indications + of intellectual taste for reading, music, theatrical representations, + which, he cannot but admit, surpass what he finds at home in England, + in similar towns and among the same classes."--P.316. + +We have here abundant evidence of the beneficial effect of local +action, as compared with centralisation. Instead of having great +establishments in Copenhagen, and no local schools, or newspapers, +there is everywhere provision for education, and evidence that the +people avail themselves of it. Their tastes are cultivated, and +becoming more so from day to day; and thus do they present a striking +contrast with the picture furnished by the opposite shore of the +German Ocean, and for the reason that there the system is based on the +idea of cheapening labour at home and underworking the labourer +abroad. The windows of the poorest houses, says Mr. Laing-- + + "Rarely want a bit of ornamental drapery, and are always decked with + flowers and plants in flower-pots. The people have a passion for + flowers. The peasant girl and village beau are adorned with bouquets + of the finest of ordinary flowers; and in the town you see people + buying, flowers who with us, in the same station, would think it + extravagance. The soil and climate favour this taste. In no part of + Europe are the ordinary garden-flowers produced in such abundance and + luxuriance as in Holstein and Sleswick."--P. 50. + +The people have everywhere "leisure to be happy, amused, and +educated,"[186] and, as a consequence, the sale of books is large. The +number of circulating libraries is no less than six hundred,[187] and +their demands give + + "More impulse to literary activity than appears in Edinburgh, where + literature is rather passive than active, and what is produced worth + publishing is generally sent to the London market. This is the reason + why a greater number of publications appear in the course of the year + in Copenhagen than in Edinburgh." * * * "The transmission of books + and other small parcels by post, which we think a great improvement, + as it unquestionably is, and peculiar to our English post-office + arrangement, is of old standing in Denmark, and is of great advantage + for the diffusion of knowledge, and of great convenience to the + people."--Pp. 373, 374. + +The material and intellectual condition of this people is declared by +Mr. Laing--and he is an experienced and most observant traveller--to +be higher than that of any other in Europe;[188] while Mr. Kay, also +very high authority, places the people of England among the most +ignorant and helpless of those of Europe. The Danes consume more food +for the mind + + "Than the Scotch; have more daily and weekly newspapers, and other + periodical works, in their metropolis and in their country towns, and + publish more translated and original works; have more public + libraries, larger libraries, and libraries more easily accessible to + persons of all classes, not only in Copenhagen, but in all provincial + and country towns; have more small circulating libraries, book-clubs, + musical associations, theatres and theatrical associations, and + original dramatic compositions; more museums, galleries, collections + of statues, paintings, antiquities, and objects gratifying to the + tastes of a refined and intellectual people, and open equally to all + classes, than the people of Scotland can produce in the length and + breadth of the land."--P. 390. + +High moral condition is a necessary consequence of an elevated +material and intellectual one; and therefore it is that we find the +Dane distinguished for kindness, urbanity, and regard for others,[189] +and this is found in all portions of society. In visiting the Museum +of Northern Antiquities, which is open to the public, free of charge, +on certain days-- + + "The visitors are not left to gape in ignorance at what they see. + Professors of the highest attainments in antiquarian + science--Professor Thomsen, M. Worsaae, and others--men who, in fact, + have created a science out of an undigested mass of relics, + curiosities, and specimens, of the arts in the early ages--go round + with groups of the visitors, and explain equally to all, high and + low, with the greatest zeal, intelligence, and affability, the uses + of the articles exhibited, the state of the arts in the ages in which + they were used, the gradual progress of mankind from shells, stones, + and bones to bronze and iron, as the materials for tools, ornaments, + and weapons, and the conclusions made, and the grounds and reasons + for making them, in their antiquarian researches. They deliver, in + fact, an extempore lecture, intelligible to the peasant and + instructive to the philosopher."--P. 399. + +In place of the wide gulf that divides the two great portions of +English society, we find here great equality of social intercourse, +and + + "It seems not to be condescension merely on one side, and grateful + respect for being noticed at all on the other, but a feeling of + independence and mutual respect between individuals of the most + different stations and classes. This may be accounted for from wealth + not being so all-important as in our social state; its influence in + society is less where the majority are merely occupied in living + agreeably on what they have, without motive or desire to have + more."--P. 423. + +How strikingly does the following contrast with the description of +London, and its hundred thousand people without a place to lay their +heads!-- + + "The streets are but poorly lighted, gas is not yet introduced, and + the police is an invisible force; yet one may walk at all hours + through this town without seeing a disorderly person, a man in liquor + unable to take care of himself, or a female street-walker. Every one + appears to have a home and bed of some kind, and the houseless are + unknown as a class."--P. 394. + +Why this is so is, that, because of the growing improvement in the +condition of the people, the land is daily increasing in value, and is +becoming divided, and men are attracted from the city to the land and +the smaller towns--directly the reverse of what is observed in +England. "There is," says Mr. Laing-- + + "No such influx, as in our large towns, of operatives in every trade, + who, coming from the country to better their condition, are by far + too numerous for the demand, must take work at lower and lower wages + to keep themselves from starving, and who reduce their + fellow-craftsmen and themselves to equal misery. Employment is more + fixed and stationary for the employed and the employers. There is no + foreign trade or home consumption to occasion great and sudden + activity and expansion in manufactures, and equally great and sudden + stagnation and collapse."--P. 394. + +"Drunkenness has almost," we are told, "disappeared from the Danish +character," and it is + + "The education of the tastes for more refined amusements than the + counter of the gin-palace or the back parlour of the whisky-shop + afford, that has superseded the craving for the excitement of + spirituous liquor. The tea-gardens, concert-rooms, ball-rooms, + theatres, skittle-grounds, all frequented indiscriminately by the + highest and the lowest classes, have been the schools of useful + knowledge that have imparted to the lowest class something of the + manners and habits of the highest, and have eradicated drunkenness + and brutality, in ordinary intercourse, from the character of the + labouring people."--P. 396. + +Denmark is, says this high authority, "a living evidence of the +falsity of the theory that population increases more rapidly than +subsistence where the land of the country is held by small working +proprietors;"[190] and she is a living evidence, too, of the falsity +of the theory that men commence with the cultivation of the most +productive soils, and find themselves, as wealth and population +increase, forced to resort to poorer ones, with diminished return to +labour. Why she is enabled to afford such conclusive evidence of this +is, that she pursues a policy tending to permit her people to have +that real free trade which consists in having the power to choose +between the foreign and domestic markets--a power, the exercise of +which is denied to India and Ireland, Portugal and Turkey. She desires +to exercise control over her own movements, and not over those of +others; and therefore it is that her people become from day to day +more free and her land from day to day more valuable. + +Turkey is the paradise of the system commonly known by the name of +free trade--that system under which the artisan _is not permitted_ to +take his place by the side of the producer of silk and cotton--and the +consequence is, seen in the growing depopulation of the country, the +increasing poverty and slavery of its people, the worthlessness of its +land, and in the weakness of its government. Denmark, on the contrary, +is the paradise of the system supposed to be opposed to free +trade--that system under which the artisan and the farmer _are_ +permitted to combine their efforts--and the consequence is seen in the +increase of population, in the growth of wealth and freedom, in the +growing value of land, in the increasing tendency to equality, and in +the strength of its government, as exhibited in its resistance of the +whole power of Northern Germany during the late Schleswig-Holstein +war, and as afterward exhibited toward those of its own subjects who +had aided in bringing on the war. "It is to the honour," says Mr. +Laing [191] -- + + "Of the Danish king and government, and it is a striking example of + the different progress of civilization in the North and in the South + of Europe, that during the three years this insurrection lasted, and + now that it is quelled, not one individual has been tried and put to + death, or in any way punished for a civil or political offence by + sentence of a court-martial, or of any other than the ordinary courts + of justice; not one life has been taken but in the field of battle, + and by the chance of war. Banishment for life has been the highest + punishment inflicted upon traitors who, as military officers + deserting their colours, breaking their oaths of fidelity, and giving + up important trusts to the enemy, would have been tried by + court-martial and shot in any other country. Civil functionaries who + had abused their official power, and turned it against the + government, were simply dismissed." + +These facts contrast strikingly with those recently presented to view +by Irish history. Ireland had no friends in her recent attempt at +change of government. Her leaders had not even attempted to call in +the aid of other nations. They stood alone, and yet the English +government deemed it necessary to place them in an island at a +distance of many thousand miles, and to keep them there confined. +Denmark, on the contrary, was surrounded by enemies close at +hand--enemies that needed no ships for the invasion of her +territory--and yet she contented herself with simple banishment. The +policy of the former looks abroad, and therefore is it weak at home. +That of the latter looks homeward, and therefore is it that at home +she is strong; small as she is, compared with other powers, in her +territory and in the number of her population. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + + +HOW FREEDOM GROWS IN SPAIN AND IN BELGIUM. + + +Spain expelled the industrious portion of her population, and almost +at the same time acquired colonies of vast extent, to which she looked +for revenue. Centralization here was almost perfect--and here, as +everywhere, it has been accompanied by poverty and weakness. With +difficulty she has been enabled to defend her rights on her own soil, +and she has found it quite impossible to maintain her power abroad, +and for the reason that her system tended to the impoverishment of her +people and the destruction of the value of labour and land. Her +history tends throughout to show that nations which desire respect for +their own rights, _must_ learn to respect those of others. + +The policy of Spain has been unfavourable to commerce, internal and +external. Exchanges at home were burdened with heavy taxes, and the +raw materials of manufacture, even those produced at home, were so +heavily taxed on their passage from the place of production to that of +consumption, that manufactures could not prosper. The great middle +class of artisans could therefore scarcely be found, and the scattered +agriculturists were thus deprived of their aid in the effort to +establish or maintain their freedom. Towns and cities decayed, and +land, became more and more consolidated in the hands of great noblemen +on one side and the church on the other, and talent found no field for +its exercise, except in the service of the church or the state. + +While thus destroying internal trade by taxation, efforts were made to +build it up by aid of restrictions on external trade; but the very +fact that the former was destroyed made it necessary for thousands and +tens of thousands of persons to endeavour to earn wages in the +smuggling of foreign merchandise, and the country was filled with men +ever ready to violate the law, because of the cheapness of labour. The +laws restraining the import of foreign merchandise were easily +violated, because its bulk was small and its value great; whereas +those interfering with the transit of raw materials were easily +enforced, because the bulk was great and their value small; and +therefore the whole system tended effectually to prevent the artisan +from taking his place by the side of the grower of food and wool; and +hence the depopulation, poverty, and weakness of this once rich and +powerful country. + +Fortunately for her, however, the day arrived when she was to lose her +colonies, and find herself compelled to follow the advice of Adam +Smith, and look to home for revenue; and almost from that date to the +present, notwithstanding foreign invasions, civil wars, and +revolutions, her course has been onward, and with each succeeding year +there has been a greater tendency toward diversification of +employment, the growth of towns and other places of local exchange, +the improvement of agriculture, the strengthening of the people in +their relations with the government, and the strengthening of the +nation as regards the other nations of the earth. + +Among the earliest measures tending toward the emancipation of the +people of Germany, Russia, and Denmark, was, as has been seen, the +removal of restrictions upon the trade in land, the great machine of +production. So, too, was it in Spain. According to a return made to +the Cortes of Cadiz, out of sixty millions of acres then in +cultivation, only twenty millions were held by the men who cultivated +them, while thirty were in the hands of great nobles, and ten were +held by the church. Under a decree of secularization, a large portion +of the latter has been sold, and the result is seen in the fact that +the number of owners cultivating their own properties has risen from +273,760 to 546,100; and the number of farms from 403,408 to +1,095,200.[192] + +A further step toward freedom and the establishment of equal rights, +is found in the abolition of a great variety of small and vexatious +taxes, substituting therefor a land-tax, payable alike by the small +and the great proprietor; and in the abolition of internal duties on +the exchange of the raw materials of manufacture. With each of these +we find increasing tendency toward the establishment of that division +of employment which gives value to labour and land. From 1841 to 1846, +the number of spindles in Catalonia has grown from 62,000 to 121,000, +and that of looms from 30,000 to 45,000, while cotton factories had +been put in operation in various other parts of the kingdom.[193] +Still later, numerous others have been started, and a traveller of the +past year informs us that the province of Granada now bids fair to +rival Catalonia in her manufactures.[194] In 1841, the total value of +the products of the cotton manufacture was estimated at about four +millions of dollars, but in 1846 it had risen to more than six and a +half millions. The woollen manufacture had also rapidly increased, and +this furnishes employment at numerous places throughout the kingdom, +one of which, Alcoy, is specially referred to by M. Block,[195] as +situated among the mountains which separate the ancient kingdom of +Valencia and Murcia, and as having no less than 24,000 spindles, and +12,000 men, in addition to a great number of women and children, +engaged in this branch of manufacture. + +In regard to the progress of manufactures generally, the following +statement, furnished by a recent American traveller to whom we are +indebted for an excellent work on Spain, furnishes much information, +and cannot be read without interest by all those who derive pleasure +from witnessing advance in civilization.[196] + + "Of late years there has been a considerable effort to extend and + improve the production and manufacture of silk, and the result has + been very favourable. The silkworm, formerly confined, in a great + degree, to Valencia and Murcia, is now an article of material + importance in the wealth of the two Castiles, Rioja, and Aragon. The + silk fabrics of Talavera, Valencia, and Barcelona are many of them + admirably wrought, and are sold at rates which appear very moderate. + I had particular occasion to note the cheapness of the damasks which + are sold in Madrid from the native looms. It is not easy to imagine + any thing more magnificent, of their kind. The woollen cloths, too, + of home manufacture, are, some of them, very admirable, and the + coarser kinds supply, I believe, a considerable part of the national + demand. In cheapness I have never seen them surpassed. The finer + qualities do not bear so favourable a comparison with the foreign + article; but those who were familiar with the subject informed me + that their recent improvement had been very decided. Many laudable + efforts have been made to render the supply of wool more abundant, + and to improve its quality, and there has been a considerable + importation of foreign sheep, with a view to crossing on the native + breeds. The sheep-rearing interest is so very large in Spain, that + any material improvement in the quality of the wool must add greatly + to the national wealth, as well as to the importance of the woollen + manufacture and its ability to encounter foreign competition. + + "In the general movement toward an increased and more valuable + production of the raw material for manufacture, the flax of Leon and + Galicia and the hemp of Granada have not been forgotten. But the + article in which the most decided and important progress has been + made, is the great staple, iron. In 1832; the iron-manufacture of + Spain was at so low an ebb, that it was necessary to import from + England the large lamp-posts of cast metal, which adorn the Plaza de + Armas of the Palace. They bear the London mark, and tell their own + story. A luxury for the indoors enjoyment or personal ostentation of + the monarch, would of course have been imported from any quarter, + without regard to appearances. But a monument of national dependence + upon foreign industry would hardly have been erected upon such a + spot, had there been a possibility of avoiding it by any domestic + recourse. In 1850 the state of things had so far changed, that there + were in the kingdom twenty-five founderies, eight furnaces of the + first class, with founderies attached, and twenty-five + iron-factories, all prosperously and constantly occupied. The + specimens of work from these establishments, which are to be seen in + the capital and the chief cities of the provinces, are such as to + render the independence and prospective success of the nation in this + particular no longer matters of question. In the beginning of 1850, + the Marquis of Molins, then Minister of Marine Affairs, upon the + petition of the iron-manufacturers, directed inquiries to be made, by + a competent board, into the quality of the native iron, and the + extent to which the home manufacture might be relied on for the + purposes of naval construction. The result was so satisfactory, that + in March of the same year a royal order was issued from the + department, directing all future contracts to be made with the + domestic establishments. This, indeed, has been the case since 1845, + at the arsenal of Ferrol, which has been supplied altogether from the + iron-works of Biscay. The government, however, had determined for the + future to be chiefly its own purveyor, and national founderies at + Ferrol and Trubia, constructed without regard to expense, were about + to go into operation when the royal order was published." + +A necessary consequence of all these steps toward freedom and +association has been great agricultural improvement. "The impoverished +industry and neglected agriculture of the land," says Mr. Wallis-- + + "Have received an accession of vigorous labour, no longer tempted + into sloth by the seductions of a privileged and sensual life. In the + cities and larger towns the convent buildings have been displaced, to + make room for private dwellings of more or less convenience and + elegance, or have been appropriated as public offices or repositories + of works of art. The extensive grounds which were monopolized by some + of the orders, in the crowded midst of populous quarters, have been + converted into walks or squares, dedicated to the public health and + recreation. In a word, what was intended in the beginning as the + object of monastic endowments, has been to some extent realized. What + was meant for the good of all, though intrusted to a few, has been + taken from the few who used it as their own, and distributed, rudely + it may be, but yet effectually, among the many who were entitled to + and needed it."--P. 276. + +At the close of the last century, the value of agricultural products +was officially returned at 5143 millions of reals, or about 260 +millions of dollars. In 1829, a similar return made it somewhat less, +or about 232 millions, but since that time the increase has been so +rapid, that it is now returned at nearly 450 millions of dollars.[197] + +Twenty years since, the means of transporting produce throughout the +country were so bad that famine might prevail in Andalusia, and men +might perish there in thousands, while grain wasted on the fields of +Castile, because the _silos_ of the latter no longer afforded room to +store it. Even now, "in some districts, it is a familiar fact, + + "That the wine of one vintage has to be emptied, in waste, in order + to furnish skins for the wine of the next--the difficulty and cost of + transportation to market being such as utterly to preclude the + producer from attempting a more profitable disposition of it. Staples + of the most absolute and uniform necessity--wheat, for instance--are + at prices absurdly different in different parts of the kingdom; the + proximity to market being such as to give them their current value in + one quarter, while in another they are perhaps rotting in their + places of deposite, without the hope of a demand. Until such a state + of things shall have been cured, it will be useless to improve the + soil, or stimulate production in the secluded districts; and of + course every circumstance which wears the promise of such cure must + enter into the calculations of the future, and avail in them + according to its probabilities."--_Wallis_, P. 328. + +We see thus that here, as everywhere, the power to make roads is least +where the necessity for them is greatest. Had the farmers of Castile a +near market in which their wheat could be combined with the wool that +is shorn in their immediate neighbourhood, they could export cloth, +and _that_ could travel even on bad roads. As it is, they have to +export both wheat and wool, and on such roads, whereas if the artisan +could, in accordance, with the doctrines of Adam Smith, everywhere +take his place by the side of the ploughman and the shepherd; and if +women and children could thus everywhere be enabled to find other +employment than in field labour, towns would grow up, and men would +become rich and strong, and roads could be made without difficulty. +Even now, however, there is a rapidly increasing tendency toward the +construction of railroads, and the completion and enlargement of +canals, and not a doubt can be entertained that in a few years the +modes of intercourse will be so improved as to put an end to the +enormous differences in prices here observed.[198] + +Those differences are, however, precisely similar to those now +regarded as desirable by English writers who find compensation for the +loss of men, "in the great stimulus that our extensive emigration will +give to every branch of the shipping interest."[199] The nearer the +place of exchange the fewer ships and seamen are needed, and the +richer _must_ grow the producer and the consumer, because the number +of persons among whom the total product is to be divided is then the +least. + +With increased power of association there is a steady improvement in +the provision for education. Half a century since, the whole number of +students at all the educational establishments in the kingdom was but +30,000,[200] and it had not materially varied in 1835; whereas the +number now in the public schools alone, for the support of which there +is an annual appropriation of $750,000, is above 700,000, or one to 17 +of the population. The primary and other schools reach the number of +16,000; and besides these and the universities, there are numerous +other institutions devoted to particular branches of education, some +of which are provided for by government, and others by public bodies +or private subscription. "No impediment," says Mr. Wallis-- + + "Is thrown by law in the way of private teachers--except that they + are required to produce certain certificates of good character and + conduct, and of having gone through a prescribed course, which is + more or less extensive, in proportion to the rank of the institution + they may desire to open." + +As a necessary consequence of these changes there has been a great +increase in the value of land, and of real estate generally. Mr. +Wallis states that the church property has "commanded an average of +nearly double the price at which it was officially assessed according +to the standard of value at the time of its seizure," and we need +desire no better evidence that man is tending gradually toward freedom +than is to be found in this single fact. + +It might be supposed, that with the increased tendency to convert at +home the raw products of the earth, there would be a diminution of +foreign commerce; but directly the reverse is the case. In the three +years, from 1846 to 1849, the import of raw cotton rose from +16,000,000 to 27,000,000 of pounds; that of yarn from 5,200,000 to +6,800,000 pounds; and that of bar-iron from 5,400,000 to more than +8,000,000; and the general movements of exports and imports for the +last twenty-four years, as given by M. Block, (p. 18,) has been, as +follows:-- + + Imports, in francs. Exports, in francs. + ------------------- ------------------- + 1827......... 95,235,000......... 71,912,000 + + 1843......... 114,325,000......... 82,279,000 + + 1846......... 157,513,000......... 129,106,000 + + And to this may be added, as since published by the + government, the account for + + 1851......... 171,912,000......... 124,377,000 + +With each step in the direction of bringing the consumer and the +producer to take their places by the side of each other, the people +acquire power to protect themselves, as is seen in the freedom of +debate in the Chamber of Deputies, and in the extent to which those +debates, with their comments thereon, are made known throughout the +kingdom by the writers of a newspaper press that, although restricted, +has been well characterized as, "fearless and plain speaking." In +1826, Madrid had but two daily newspapers, both of them most +contemptible in character. In February, 1850, there were thirteen, +with an aggregate circulation of 35,000 copies; and yet Madrid has no +commerce, and can furnish little advertising for their support. [201] + +With the increase of production and of wealth, and with the growth of +the power of association, and of intelligence among the people, the +government gradually acquires strength in the community of nations, +and power to enforce its laws, as is here shown in the large decline +that has taken place in the English exports to Portugal and Gibraltar, +heretofore the great smuggling depots for English manufactures,[202] + +as compared with those to Spain direct: + + Portugal. Gibraltar. Spain. + --------- ---------- ------ + In 1839..... £1,217,082..... £1,433,932...... £262,231 + 1852..... 1,048,356..... 481,286...... 1,015,493 + +The system that looks to consolidation of the land tends toward +inequality, and that such has been, and is, the tendency of that of +England, wherever fully carried out, has been shown. Those of Germany, +Russia, and Denmark tend in the opposite direction, and under them men +are becoming daily more independent in their action, and consequently +more and more kindly and respectful in their treatment of each other. +Such, likewise, is the case in Spain. "The Spaniard," says Mr. +Wallis-- + + "Has a sense of equality, which blesses him who gives as well as him + who takes. If he requires the concession from others, he demands it + chiefly and emphatically through the concessions which he makes to + them. There is so much self-respect involved in his respect to + others, and in his manifestation of it, that reciprocity is + unavoidable. To this, and this mainly, is attributable the high, + courteous bearing, which is conspicuous in all the people, and which + renders the personal intercourse of the respective classes and + conditions less marked by strong and invidious distinctions, than in + any other nation with whose manners and customs I am familiar. It is + this, perhaps, more than any other circumstance, which has tempered + and made sufferable the oppression of unequal and despotic + institutions, illustrating 'the advantage to which,' in the words of + a philosophic writer, 'the manners of a people may turn the most + unfavourable position and the worst laws.'"--P. 383. + +Again, he says-- + + "If in the midst of the very kindness which made him at home upon the + briefest acquaintance, he should perceive an attentive politeness, + approaching so near to formality as now and then to embarrass him, he + would soon be brought to understand and admire it as the expression + of habitual consideration for the feelings of others. He would value + it the more when he learned from its universality, that what was + elsewhere chiefly a thing of manners and education, was there a + genial instinct developed into a social charity."--P. 207. + +The "popular element is fully at work," and it requires, says the same +author, but a comparison of the present with the past, "to remove all +doubts of the present, and to justify the happiest augury." "The lotos +of freedom has," he continues-- + + "Been tasted, and it cannot readily be stricken from their lips. So + long as the more important guaranties are not altogether violated--so + long as the government substantially, dedicates itself to the public + good, by originating and fostering schemes of public usefulness, it + may take almost any liberties with forms and non-essentials. Much + further it will not be permitted to go, and every day diminishes the + facility with which it may go even thus far. Every work of internal + improvement, which brings men closer together, enabling them to + compare opinions with readiness and concentrate strength for their + maintenance; every new interest that is built up; every heavy and + permanent investment of capital or industry; every movement that + develops and diffuses the public intelligence and energy, is a + bulwark more or less formidable against reaction. Nay, every + circumstance that makes the public wiser, richer, or better, must + shorten the career of arbitrary rule. The compulsion, which was and + still is a necessary evil for the preservation of peace, must be + withdrawn when peace becomes an instinct as well as a necessity. The + existence of a stringent system will no longer be acquiesced in when + the people shall have grown less in need of government, and better + able to direct it for themselves. Thus, in their season, the very + interests which shall be consolidated and made vigorous by forced + tranquillity will rise, themselves, into the mastery. The stream of + power as it rolls peacefully along, is daily strengthening the banks, + which every day, though imperceptibly, encroach on it." --P. 381. + + * * * * * + +BELGIUM. + +Belgium is a country with four and a half millions of inhabitants, or +about one-half more than the State of New York. It is burdened with a +heavy debt assumed at the period of its separation from Holland, and +it finds itself compelled to maintain an army that is large in +proportion to its population, because in the vicinity of neighbours +who have at all times shown themselves ready to make it the +battle-ground of Europe. In no country of Europe has there been so +great a destruction, of property and life, and yet in none has there +been so great a tendency toward freedom; and for the reason that in +none has there been manifested so little disposition to interfere with +the affairs of other nations. It is burdened now with a taxation +amounting to about twenty-three millions of dollars, or five dollars +and a half per head; and yet, amid all the revolutions and attempts at +revolution by which the peace of Europe is disturbed, we hear nothing +of the Belgians, whose course is as tranquil as it was before the days +of 1848--and this is a consequence of following in the path indicated +by Adam Smith. + +The policy of Belgium looks more homeward than that of any nation of +Europe. She has no colonies, and she seeks none. To a greater extent +than almost any other nation, she has sought to enable her farmers to +have local places of exchange, giving value to her labour and her +land. Where these exist, men are certain to become free; and equally +certain is it that where they do not exist, freedom must be a plant of +exceedingly slow growth, even where it does not absolutely perish for +want of nourishment. If evidence be desired of the freedom of the +Belgians, it is to be found in the fact that there is nowhere to be +seen, as we are on all hands assured, a more contented, virtuous, and +generally comfortable population than that engaged in the cultivation +of her fields. The following sketch is from a report published by +order of Parliament, and cannot fail to be read with interest by those +who desire to understand how it is that the dense population of this +little country is enabled to draw from a soil naturally indifferent +such large returns, while the Hindoo, with all his advantages of early +civilization, wealth, and population, perishes of famine or flies from +pestilence, leaving behind him, uncultivated, the richest soils, and +sells himself to slavery in Cuba:-- + + "The farms in Belgium rarely exceed one hundred acres. The number + containing fifty acres is not great; those of thirty or twenty are + more numerous, but the number of holdings of from five to ten and + twenty acres is very considerable. + + "The small farms of from five to ten acres, which abound in many + parts of Belgium, closely resemble the small holdings in Ireland; but + the small Irish cultivator exists in a state of miserable privation + of the common comforts and conveniences of civilized life, while the + Belgian peasant farmer enjoys a large share of those comforts. The + houses of the small cultivators of Belgium are generally + substantially built, and in good repair; they have commonly a + sleeping room in the attic, and closets for beds connected with the + lower apartment, which is convenient in size; a small cellarage for + the dairy, and store for the grain, as well as an oven, and an + outhouse for the potatoes, with a roomy cattle-stall, piggery, and + poultry loft. The house generally contains decent furniture, the + bedding sufficient in quantity, and an air of comfort, pervades the + establishment. In the cow-house the cattle are supplied with straw + for bedding; the dung and moisture are carefully collected in the + tank; the ditches had been secured to collect materials for manure; + the dry leaves, potato-tops, &c. had been collected in a moist ditch + to undergo the process of fermentation, and heaps of compost were in + course of preparation. The premises were kept in neat and compact + order, and a scrupulous attention to a most rigid economy was + everywhere apparent. The family were decently clad; none of them were + ragged or slovenly, even when their dress consisted of the coarsest + material. + + "In the greater part of the flat country of Belgium the soil is light + and sandy, and easily worked; but its productive powers are certainly + inferior to the general soil of Ireland, and the climate does not + appear to be superior. To the soil and climate therefore, the Belgian + does not owe his superiority. The difference is to be found in the + system, of cultivation, and the forethought of the people. The + cultivation of small farms in Belgium differs from the Irish: 1. In + the quantity of stall-fed stock which is kept, and by which a supply + of manure is regularly secured; 2. In the strict attention paid to + the collection of manure, which is skilfully husbanded; 3. By the + adoption of rotations of crop. We found no plough, horse, or + cart--only a spade, fork, wheelbarrow, and handbarrow. The farmer had + no assistance besides that of his family. The whole land is trenched + very deep with the spade. The stock consisted of a couple of cows, a + calf or two, one or two pigs; sometimes a goat or two, and some + poultry. The cows are altogether stall-fed, on straw, turnips, + clover, rye, vetches, carrots, potatoes, and a kind of soup made by + boiling up the potatoes, peas, beans, bran, cut-hay, &e., which, + given warm, is said to be very wholesome, and promotive of the + secretion of milk. Near distilleries and breweries grains are given. + + "Some small farmers agree to find stall-room and straw for sheep, and + furnish fodder at the market price, for the dung. The dung and + moisture are collected in a fosse in the stable. Lime is mingled with + the scouring of the ditches, vegetable garbage, leaves, &c. On + six-acre farms, plots are appropriated to potatoes, wheat, barley, + clover, flax, rye, carrots, turnips, or parsnips, vetches, and rye, + as green food for cattle. The flax is heckled and spun by the wife in + winter; and three weeks at the loom in spring weaves up all the + thread. In some districts every size, from a quarter acre to six + acres, is found. The former holders devoted their time to weaving. As + far as I could learn, there was no tendency to subdivision of the + small holdings. I heard of none under five acres held by the class of + peasant farmers; and six, seven, or eight acres is the more common + size. The average rent is 20s. an acre. Wages, 10d. a day. + + "A small occupier, whose farm we examined near Ghent, paid £9 7s. 6d. + for six acres, with a comfortable house, stabling, and other offices + attached, all very good of their kind--being 20s. an acre for the + land, and £3 7s. 6d. for house and offices. This farmer had a wife + and five children, and appeared to live in much comfort. He owed + little or nothing."--_Nicholls's Report_. + +These people have employment for every hour in the year, and they find +a market close at hand for every thing they can raise. They are not +forced to confine themselves to cotton or sugar, tobacco or wheat; nor +are they forced to waste their labour in carrying their products to a +distance so great that no manure can be returned. From this country +there is no export of men, women, and children, such as we see from +Ireland. The "crowbar brigade" is here unknown, and it may be doubted +if any term conveying the meaning of the word "eviction" is to be +found in their vocabulary. With a surface only one-third as great as +that of Ireland, and with a soil naturally far inferior, Belgium +supports a population almost half as great as Ireland has ever +possessed; and yet we never hear of the cheap Belgian labour +inundating the neighbouring countries, to the great advantage of those +who desire to build up "great works" like those of Britain. The policy +of Belgium looks to increasing the value of both labour and land, +whereas that of England looks to diminishing the value of both. + +With every advantage of soil and climate, the population of Portugal +declines, and her people become more enslaved from day to day, while +her government, is driven to repudiation of her debts. Belgium, on the +contrary, grows in wealth and population, and her people become more +free; and the cause of difference is, that the policy of the former +has always looked to repelling the artisan, and thus preventing the +growth of towns and of the habit of association; while that of the +latter has always looked to bringing the artisan to the raw material, +and thus enabling her people to combine their efforts for their +improvement in material, moral, and intellectual condition, without +which there can be no increase of freedom. + +Russia and Spain seek to raise the value of labour and land, and they +are now attracting population. The English system, based on cheap +labour, destroys the value of both labour and land, and therefore it +is that there is so large an export of men from the countries subject +to it--Africa, India, Ireland, Scotland, England, Virginia, and +Carolina. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +OF THE DUTY OF THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES. + +The slave _must_ apply himself to such labour as his master may see +fit to direct him to perform, and he must give to that master the +produce of his exertions, receiving in return whatever the master may +see fit to give him. He is limited to a single place of exchange. + +Precisely similar to this is the system which looks to limiting all +the people of the earth, outside of England, to agriculture as the +sole means of employment; and carried out by smothering in their +infancy the manufactures of other nations, while crushing the older +ones of India by compelling her to receive British manufactures free +of duty, and refusing to permit her to have good machinery, while +taxing her spindles and looms at home, and their products when sent to +Britain. It is one which looks to allowing the nations of the world to +have but one market, in which all are to compete for the sale of their +raw products, and one market, in which all are to compete for the +purchase of manufactured ones; leaving to the few persons who control +that market the power to fix the prices of all they require to buy and +all they desire to sell. Cotton and corn, indigo and wool, sugar and +coffee, are merely the various forms in which labour is sold; and the +cheaper they are sold, the cheaper must be the labour employed in +producing them, the poorer and more enslaved must be the labourer, the +less must be the value of land, the more rapid must be its exhaustion +and abandonment, and the greater must be the tendency toward the +transport of the enslaved labourer to some new field of action, there +to repeat the work of exhaustion and abandonment. Hence it is that we +see the slave trade prevail to so great an extent in all the countries +subject to the British system, except those in which famine and +pestilence are permitted silently to keep down the population to the +level of a constantly diminishing supply of food, as in Portugal, +Turkey, and Jamaica. The system to which the world is indebted for +these results is called "free-trade;" but there can be no freedom of +trade where there is no freedom of man, for the first of all +commodities to be exchanged is labour, and the freedom of man consists +only in the exercise of the right to determine for himself in what +manner his labour shall be employed, and how he will dispose of its +products. If the British system tends toward freedom, proof of the +fact will be found in the free employment of labour where it exists, +and in the exercise by the labourer of a large control over the +application of its produce. Are these things to be found in India? +Certainly not. The labourer there is driven from the loom and forced +to raise sugar or cotton, and his whole control over what is paid by +the consumer for the products of his labour cannot exceed fifteen per +cent. Can they be found in Ireland, in Turkey, or in Portugal? +Certainly not. The labourers of those countries now stand before the +world distinguished for their poverty, and for their inability to +determine for themselves for whom they will labour or what shall be +their reward. Were it otherwise, the "free trade" system would fail to +produce the effect intended. Its object is, and has always been, that +of preventing other communities from mining the coal or smelting the +ore provided for their use by the great Creator of all things, and in +such vast abundance; from making or obtaining machinery to enable them +to avail themselves of the expansive power of steam; from calling to +their aid any of the natural agents required in the various processes +of manufacture; from obtaining knowledge that might lead to +improvement in manufactures of any kind; and, in short, from doing any +thing but raise sugar, coffee, cotton, wool, indigo, silk, and other +raw commodities, to be carried, as does the slave of Virginia or Texas +with the product of his labour, to one great purchaser, who determines +upon their value and upon the value of all the things they are to +receive in exchange for them. It is the most gigantic system of +slavery the world has yet seen, and therefore it is that freedom +gradually disappears from every country over which England is enabled +to obtain control, as witness the countries to which reference has +just been made. + +There are, however, as has been shown, several nations of Europe in +which men are daily becoming more free; and the reason for this is to +be found in the fact that they have resisted this oppressive system. +Germany and Russia, Spain, Denmark, Belgium, and other states, have +been determined to protect their farmers in their efforts to bring the +loom and the anvil to their side, and to have towns and other places +of exchange in their neighbourhood, at which they could exchange raw +products for manufactured ones and for manure; and in every one in +which that protection has been efficient, labour and land have become, +and are becoming, more valuable and man more free. + +In this country protection has always, to some extent, existed; but at +some times it has been efficient, and at others not; and our tendency +toward freedom or slavery has always been in the direct ratio of its +efficiency or inefficiency. In the period from 1824 to 1833, the +tendency was steadily in the former direction, but it was only in the +latter part of it that it was made really efficient. Then mills and +furnaces increased in number, and there was a steady increase in the +tendency toward the establishment of local places of exchange; and +then it was that Virginia held her convention at which was last +discussed in that State the question of emancipation. In 1833, +however, protection was abandoned, and a tariff was established by +which it was provided that we should, in a few years, have a system of +merely revenue duties; and from that date the abandonment of the older +States proceeded with a rapidity never before known, and with it grew +the domestic slave trade and the pro-slavery feeling. Then it was that +were passed the laws restricting emancipation and prohibiting +education; and then it was that the export of slaves from Virginia and +the Carolinas was so great that the population of those States +remained almost, if not quite stationary, and that the growth of black +population fell from thirty per cent., in the ten previous years, to +twenty-four percent.[203] That large export of slaves resulted in a +reduction of the price of Southern products to a point never before +known; and thus it was that the system called free trade provided +cheap cotton. Slavery grew at the South, and at the North; for with +cheap cotton and cheap food came so great a decline in the demand for +labour, that thousands of men found themselves unable to purchase this +cheap food to a sufficient extent to feed their wives and their +children. A paper by "a farm labourer" thus describes that calamitous +portion of our history, when the rapid approach of the system called +free trade, under the strictly revenue provisions of the Compromise +Tariff, had annihilated competition for the purchase of labour:-- + + "The years 1839, 1840, and 1841 were striking elucidations of such + cases; when the cry of sober, industrious, orderly men--'Give me + _work_! only give me work; MAKE YOUR OWN TERMS--MYSELF AND FAMILY + HAVE NOTHING TO EAT'--was heard in our land. In those years thousands + of cases of the kind occurred in our populous + districts."--_Pittsburgh Dispatch_. + +That such was the fact must be admitted by all who recollect the great +distress that existed in 1841-2. Throughout the whole length and +breadth of the land, there was an universal cry of "Give me work; make +your own terms--myself and family have nothing to eat;" and the +consequence of this approach toward slavery was so great a diminution +in the consumption of food, that the prices at which it was then +exported to foreign countries were lower than they had been for many +years; and thus it was that the farmer paid for the system which had +diminished the freedom of the labourer and the artisan. + +It was this state of things that re-established protection for the +American labourer, whether in the field or in the workshop. The tariff +of 1842 was passed, and at once there arose competition for the +purchase of labour. Mills were to be built, and men were needed to +quarry the stone and get out the lumber, and other men were required +to lay the stone and fashion the lumber into floors and roofs, doors +and windows; and the employment thus afforded enabled vast numbers of +men again to occupy houses of their own, and thus was produced a new +demand for masons and carpenters, quarrymen and lumbermen. Furnaces +were built, and mines were opened, and steam-engines were required; +and the men employed at these works were enabled to consume more +largely of food, while ceasing to contend with the agricultural +labourer for employment on the farm. Mills were filled with females, +and the demand for cloths increased, with corresponding diminution in +the competition for employment in the making of shirts and coats. +Wages rose, and they rose in every department of labour; the evidence +of which is to be found in the fact that the consumption of food and +fuel greatly increased, while that of cloth almost doubled, and that +of iron trebled in the short period of five years. + +How, indeed, could it be otherwise than that the reward of labour +should rise? The cotton manufacturer needed labourers, male and +female, and so did his neighbour of the woollens mill; and the +labourers they now employed could buy shoes and hats. The iron- +masters and the coal-miners needed workmen, and the men they employed +needed cotton and woollen cloths; and they could consume more largely +of food. The farmer's markets tended to improve, and he could buy more +largely of hats and shoes, ploughs and harrows, and the hatmakers and +shoemakers, and the makers of ploughs and harrows, needed more hands; +and therefore capital was everywhere looking for labour, where before +labour had been looking for capital. The value of cottons, and +woollens, and iron produced in 1846, as compared with that of 1842, +was greater by a hundred millions of dollars; and all this went to the +payment of labour, for all the profits of the iron-master and of the +cotton and woollen manufacturer went to the building of new mills and +furnaces, or to the enlargement of the old ones. Unhappily, however, +for us, our legislators were smitten with a love of the system called +free trade. They were of opinion that we were, by right, an +agricultural nation, and that so we must continue; and that the true +way to produce competition for the purchase of labour was to resolve +the whole nation into a body of farmers--and the tariff of 1842 was +repealed. + +If the reader will now turn to page 107, he will see how large must +have been the domestic slave trade from 1835 to 1840, compared with +that of the period from 1840 to 1845. The effect of this in increasing +the crop and reducing the price of cotton was felt with great severity +in the latter period,[204] and it required time to bring about a +change. We are now moving in the same direction in which we moved from +1835 to 1840. For four years past, we have not only abandoned the +building of mills and furnaces, but have closed hundreds of old ones, +and centralization, therefore, grows from day to day. The farmer of +Ohio can no longer exchange his food directly with the maker of iron. +He must carry it to New York, as must the producer of cotton in +Carolina; who sees the neighbouring factory closed. [205] Local places +of exchange decline, and great cities take their place; and with the +growth of centralization grows the slave trade, North and South. +Palaces rise in New York and Philadelphia, while droves of black +slaves are sent to Texas to raise cotton, and white ones at the North +perish of disease, and sometimes almost of famine. "We could tell," +says a recent writer in one of the New York journals-- + + "Of one room, twelve feet by twelve, in which were five resident + families, comprising twenty persons of both sexes and all ages, with + only two beds, without partition or screen, or chair or table, and + all dependent for their miserable support upon the sale of chips, + gleaned from the streets, at four cents a basket--of another, still + smaller and still more destitute, inhabited by a man, a woman, two + little girls, and a boy, who were supported by permitting the room to + be used as a rendezvous by the abandoned women of the street--of + another, an attic room seven feet by five, containing scarcely an + article of furniture but a bed, on which lay a fine-looking man in a + raging fever, without medicine or drink or suitable food, his + toil-worn wife engaged in cleaning dirt from the floor, and his + little child asleep on a bundle of rags in the corner--of another of + the same dimensions, in which we found, seated on low boxes around a + candle placed on a keg, a woman and her oldest daughter, (the latter + a girl of fifteen, and, as we were told, a prostitute,) sewing on + shirts, _for the making of which they were paid four cents apiece, + and even at that price, out of which they had to support two small + children, they could not get a supply of work_--of another of about + the same size occupied by a street rag-picker and his family, the + income of whose industry was eight dollars a month--of another, + scarcely larger, into which we were drawn by the terrific screams of + a drunken man beating his wife, containing no article of furniture + whatever--another warmed only by a tin pail of lighted charcoal + placed in the centre of the room, over which bent a blind man + endeavouring to warm himself; around him three or four men and women + swearing and quarrelling; in one corner on the floor a woman, who had + died the day previous of disease, and in another two or three + children sleeping on a pile of rags; (in regard to this room, we may + say that its occupants were coloured people, and from them but a few + days previous had been taken and adopted by one of our benevolent + citizens a beautiful little white girl, four or five years of age, + whose father was dead and whose mother was at Blackwell's Island;) + another from which not long; since twenty persons, sick with fever + were taken to the hospital, and every individual of them died. But + why extend the catalogue? Or why attempt to convey to the imagination + by words the hideous squalor and the deadly effluvia; the dim, + undrained courts, oozing with pollution; the dark narrow stairways + decayed with age, reeking with filth, and overrun with vermin; the + rotten floors, ceilings begrimed, crumbling, ofttimes too low to + permit you to stand upright, and windows stuffed with rags; or why + try to portray the gaunt shivering forms and wild ghastly faces in + these black and beetling abodes, wherein from cellar to garret + + ----'All life dies, death lives, and nature breeds + Perverse, all monstrous, all prodigious things, + Abominable, unutterable!'" _N. York Courier and Inquirer_. + +Our shops are now everywhere filled with the products of the cheap +labour of England--of the labour of those foreign women who make +shirts at a penny apiece, finding the needles and the thread, and of +those poor girl's who spend a long day at making artificial flowers +for which they receive two pence, and then eke out the earnings of +labour by the wages of prostitution; and our women are everywhere +driven from employment--the further consequences of which may be seen +in the following extract from another journal of the day:-- + + "A gentleman who had been deputed to inquire into the condition of + this class of operatives, found one of the most expert of them + working from five o'clock in the morning until eleven at night, yet + earning only about three dollars a week. Out of this, she had to pay + a dollar and a half for board, leaving a similar amount for fuel, + clothing, and all other expenses. Her condition, however, as compared + with that of her class generally, was one of opulence. The usual + earnings were but two dollars a week, which, as respectable board, + could be had nowhere for less; than a dollar and a half, _left only + fifty cents for everything else_. The boarding-houses, even at this + price, are of the poorest character, always noisome and unhealthy, + and not unfrequently in vile neighbourhoods. With such positive and + immediate evils to contend with, what wonder that so many needlewomen + take 'the wages of sin?'" + + "Among the cases brought to light in New York, was that of an + intelligent and skilful dressmaker, who was found in the garret of a + cheap boarding-house, out of work, and nor are such instances + unfrequent. The small remuneration which these workwomen receive + keeps them living from hand to mouth, so that, in case of sickness, + or scarcity of work, _they are sometimes left literally without a + crust_."--_Philada. Evening-Bulletin_. + +If females cannot tend looms, make flowers, or do any other of those +things in which mind takes in a great degree the place of physical +power, they must make shirts at four cents apiece, or resort to +prostitution--or, they may work in the fields; and this is nearly the +latitude of choice allowed to them under the system called free trade. +Every furnace that is closed in Pennsylvania by the operation of this +system, lessens the value of labour in the neighbourhood, and drives +out some portion of the people to endeavour to sell elsewhere their +only commodity, labour. Some seek the cities and some go West to try +their fortunes. So, too, with the closing of woollens mills in New +York, and cotton mills in New England. Every such ease _compels_ +people to leave their old homes and try to find new ones--and in this +form the slave trade now exists at the North to a great extent. The +more people thus _driven_ to the cities, the cheaper is labour, and +the more rapid is the growth of drunkenness and crime; and these +effects are clearly visible in the police reports of all our +cities.[206] Centralization, poverty, and crime go always hand in hand +with each other. + +The closing of mills and furnaces in Maryland lessens the demand for +labour there, and the smaller that demand the greater _must_ be the +necessity on the part of those who own slaves to sell them to go +South; and here we find the counterpart of the state of things already +described as existing in. New York. The Virginian, limited to negroes +as the only commodity into which he can manufacture his corn and thus +enable it to travel cheaply to market, sends his crop to Richmond, and +the following extract of a letter from that place shows how the system +works:-- + + "_Richmond, March_ 3, 1853. + + "I saw several children sold; the girls brought the highest price. + Girls from 12 to 18 years old brought from $500 to $800. + + "I must say that the slaves did not display as much feeling as I had + expected, as a general thing--but there was _one_ noble + exception--God bless her! and save her, too!! as I hope he will in + some way, for if he does not interpose, there were no men there that + would. + + "She was a fine-looking woman about 25 years old, with three + _beautiful_ children. Her children as well as herself were neatly + dressed. She attracted my attention at once on entering the room, and + I took my stand near her to learn her answers to the various + questions put to her by the traders. _One_ of these traders asked her + what was the matter with her eyes? Wiping away the tears, she + replied, 'I s'pose I have been crying.' 'Why do you cry?' 'Because I + have left my man behind, and his master won't let him come along.' + 'Oh, if I buy you, I will furnish you with a better husband, or man, + as you call him, than your old one.' 'I don't want any _better_ and + won't have any _other_ as long as he lives.' 'Oh, but you will + though, if I buy you,' '_No, massa, God helping me, I never + will_.'"--_New York Tribune_. + +At the North, the poor girl driven out from the cotton or the woollens +mill is forced to make shirts at four cents each, or sell herself to +the horrible slavery of prostitution. At the South, this poor woman, +driven put from Virginia, may perhaps at some time be found making one +of the _dramatis personæ_ in scenes similar to those here described by +Dr. Howe:-- + + "If Howard or Mrs. Fry ever discovered so ill-administered a den of + thieves as the New Orleans prison, they never described it. In the + negro's apartment I saw much which made me blush that I was a white + man; and which for a moment stirred up an evil spirit in my animal + nature. Entering a large paved court-yard, around which ran galleries + filled with slaves of all ages, sexes, and colours, I heard the snap + of a whip, every stroke of which sounded like the sharp crack of a + pistol. I turned my head, and beheld a sight which absolutely chilled + me to the marrow of my bones, and gave me, for the first time in my + life, the sensation of my hair stiffening at the roots. There lay a + black girl flat upon her face on a board, her two thumbs tied, and + fastened to one end, her feet tied and drawn tightly to the other + end, while a strap passed over the small of her back, and fastened + around the board, compressed her closely to it. Below the strap she + was entirely naked. By her side, and six feet off, stood a huge + negro, with a long whip, which he applied with dreadful power and + wonderful precision. Every stroke brought away a strip of skin, which + clung to the lash, or fell quivering on the pavement, while the blood + followed after it. The poor creature writhed and shrieked, and in a + voice which showed alike her fear of death and her dreadful agony, + screamed to her master who stood at her head, 'Oh, spare my life; + don't cut my soul out!' But still fell the horrid lash; still strip + after strip peeled off from the skin; gash after gash was cut in her + living flesh, until it became a livid and bloody mass of raw and + quivering muscle. + + "It was with the greatest difficulty I refrained from springing upon + the torturer, and arresting his lash; but alas, what could I do, but + turn aside to hide my tears for the sufferer, and my blushes for + humanity! + + "This was in a public and regularly organized prison; the punishment + was one recognised and authorized by the law. But think you the poor + wretch had committed a heinous offence, and had been convicted + thereof, and sentenced to the lash? Not at all! She was brought by + her master to be whipped by the common executioner, without trial, + judge, or jury, just at his beck or nod, for some real or supposed + offence, or to gratify his own whim or malice. And he may bring her + day after day, without cause assigned, and inflict any number of + lashes he pleases, short of twenty-five, provided only he pays the + fee. Or if he choose, he may have a private whipping-board on his own + premises, and brutalize himself there. + + "A shocking part of |his horrid punishment was its publicity, as I + have said; it was in a court-yard, surrounded by galleries, which + were filled with coloured persons of all sexes--runaway slaves + committed for some crime, or slaves up for sale. You would naturally + suppose they crowded forward and gazed horror-stricken at the brutal + spectacle below; but they did not; many of them hardly noticed it, + and many were entirely indifferent to it. They went on in their + childish pursuits, and some were laughing outright in the distant + parts of the galleries;--so low can man created in God's image be + sunk in brutality." + +Where, however, lies the fault of all this? Cheap cotton cannot be +supplied to the world unless the domestic slave trade be maintained, +and all the measures of England are directed toward obtaining a cheap +and abundant supply of that commodity, to give employment to that +"cheap and abundant supply of labour" so much desired by the writers +in the very journal that furnished to its readers this letter of Dr. +Howe.[207] To produce this cheap cotton the American labourer must be +expelled from his home in Virginia to the wilds of Arkansas, there to +be placed, perhaps, under the control of a _Simon Legree_.[208] That +he may be expelled, the price of corn must be cheapened in Virginia; +and that it may be cheapened, the cheap labourer of Ireland must be +brought to England there, to compete with the Englishman for the +reduction of labour to such a price as will enable England to "smother +in their infancy" all attempts at manufacturing corn into any thing +but negroes for Arkansas. That done, should the Englishman's "blood +boil" on reading Uncle Tom's Cabin, he is told to recollect that it is +"to his advantage that the slave should be permitted to wear his +chains in peace." And yet this system, which looks everywhere to the +enslavement of man, is dignified by the name of "free trade." + +The cheap-labour system of England produces the slave trade of +America, India, and Ireland; and the manner in which it is enabled to +produce that effect, and the extent of its "advantage" to the people +of England itself, is seen in the following extract from a speech +delivered at a public meeting in that country but a few weeks since:-- + + "The factory-law was so unblushingly violated that the chief + inspector of that part of the factory district, Mr. Leonard Horner, + had found himself necessitated to write to the Home Secretary, to say + that he dared not, and would not send any of his sub-inspectors into + certain districts until he had police protection. * * * And + protection against whom? Against the factory-masters! Against the + richest men in the district, against the most influential men in the + district, against the magistrates of the district, against the men + who hold her Majesty's commission, against the men who sat in the + Petty Sessions as the representatives of royalty. * * * _And did the + masters suffer for their violation of the law?_ In his own district + it was a settled custom of the male, and to a great extent of the + female workers in factories, to be in bed from 9, 10 or 11 o'clock on + Sunday, because they were tired out by the labour of the week. Sunday + was the only day on which they could rest their wearied frames. * * + It would generally be found that, the longer the time of work, the + smaller the wages. * * _He would rather be a slave in South Carolina, + than a factory operative in England."_--_Speech of Rev, Dr. Bramwell, + at Crampton_. + +The whole profit, we are told, results from "the last hour," and were +that hour taken from the master, then the people of Virginia might be +enabled to make their own cloth and iron, and labour might there +become so valuable that slaves would cease to be exported to Texas, +and cotton _must_ then rise in price; and in order to prevent the +occurrence of such unhappy events, the great cotton manufacturers set +at defiance the law of the land! The longer the working hours the more +"cheap and abundant" will be the "supply of labour,"--and it is only +by aid of this cheap, or slave, labour that, as we are told, "the +supremacy of England in manufactures can be maintained." The cheaper +the labour, the more rapid must be the growth of individual fortunes, +and the more perfect the consolidation of the land. Extremes thus +always meet. The more splendid the palace of the trader, whether in +cloth, cotton, negroes, or Hindoos, the more squalid will be the +poverty of the labourer, his wife and children,--and the more numerous +the diamonds on the coat of Prince Esterhazy, the more ragged will be +his serfs. The more that local places of exchange are closed, the +greater will be the tendency to the exhaustion and abandonment of the +land, and the more flourishing will be the slave trade, North and +South,--and the greater will be the growth of pro-slavery at the +South, and anti-slavery at the North. The larger the export of negroes +to the South, the greater will be their tendency to run from their +masters to the North, and the greater will be the desire at the North +to shut them out, as is proved by the following law of Illinois, now +but a few weeks old, by which negro slavery is, as is here seen, +re-established in the territory for the government of which was passed +the celebrated ordinance of 1787:-- + + "_Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented + in the General Assembly._ + + 3. If any negro, or mulatto, bond or free, shall come into this + State, and remain ten days, with the evident intention of residing in + the same, every such negro or mulatto shall be deemed guilty of a + high misdemeanour, and for the first offence shall Be fined the sum + of fifty dollars, to be recovered before any justice of the peace, in + the county where said negro or mulatto may be found; said proceeding + shall he in the name of the people Of the State of Illinois, and + shall be tried by a jury of twelve men. + + 4. If said negro or mulatto shall be found guilty, and the fine + assessed be not paid forthwith to the justice of the peace before + whom said proceedings were had, said justice shall forthwith + advertise said negro or mulatto, by posting up notices thereof in at + least three of the most public places in his district; which said + notices shall be posted up for ten days; and on the day, and at the + time and place mentioned in said advertisement, the said justice + shall at PUBLIC AUCTION proceed TO SELL said negro or mulatto to any + person who will pay said fine and costs." + +Slavery now travels North, whereas only twenty years ago freedom was +travelling South. That such is the case is the natural consequence of +our submission, even in part, to the system that looks to _compelling_ +the export of raw products, the exhaustion of the land, the cheapening +of labour, and the export of the labourer. Wherever it is submitted +to, slavery grows. Wherever it is resisted, slavery dies away, and +freedom grows, as is shown in the following list of-- + + Countries whose policy looks Countries whose policy looks + to cheapening labour. to raising the value of labour. + ---------------------------- ------------------------------- + The West Indies, Northern-Germany, + Portugal, Russia, + Turkey, Denmark, + India, Spain, + Ireland, Belgium, + United States under the United States under the + Compromise, and the tariffs of 1828 and 1842. + tariff of 1846. + +Population declines in all the foreign countries in the first column, +and it became almost stationary in the Northern Slave States, as it is +now likely again to do, because of the large extent of the domestic +slave trade. Population grows in the foreign countries of the second +column, and it grew rapidly in the Northern Slave States, because of +the limited export of negroes at the periods referred to. The first +column gives the--so-called--free-trade countries, and the other +those which have protected themselves against the system; and yet +slavery grows in all those of the first column, and freedom in all +those of the second. The first column gives us the countries in which +education diminishes and intellect declines, and the period in our own +history in which were passed the laws prohibiting the education of +negroes. The second, those countries in which education advances, with +great increase of intellectual activity; and in our own history it +gives the period at which the Northern Slave States held conventions +having in view the adoption of measures looking to the abolition of +slavery. The first gives those foreign countries in which women and +children must labour in the field or remain unemployed. The second +those in which there is a daily increasing demand for the labour of +women, to be employed in the lighter labour of manufactures. The first +gives those in which civilization advances; and the second those in +which there is a daily increasing tendency toward utter barbarism. We +are now frequently invited to an alliance with Great Britain, and for +what? For maintaining and extending the system whose effects are found +in all the nations enumerated in the first column. For increasing the +supply of cheap cotton, cheap corn, and cheap sugar, all of which +require cheap, or slave, labour, and in return for these things we are +to have cheap cloth, the produce of the cheap, or slave, labour of +England, Scotland, and Ireland. + +It is as the advocate of freedom that Britain calls upon us to enter +into more intimate relations with her. Her opponents are, as we are +told, the despots of Europe, the men who are trampling on the rights +of their subjects, and who are jealous of her because her every +movement looks, as we are assured, to the establishment of freedom +throughout the world. Were this so, it might furnish some reason for +forgetting the advice of Washington in regard to "entangling +alliances;" but, before adopting such a course, it would be proper to +have evidence that the policy of Britain, at any time since the days +of Adam Smith, has tended to the enfranchisement of man in any part of +the world, abroad or at home. Of all the despots now complained of, +the King of Naples stands most conspicuous, and it is in relation to +him that a pamphlet has recently been published by the present +Chancellor of the Exchequer, in which are found the following +passages:-- + + "The general belief is, that the prisoners for political offences in + the kingdom of the Two Sicilies are between fifteen or twenty and + thirty thousand. The government withholds all means of accurate + information, and accordingly there can be no certainty on the point. + I have, however, found that this belief is shared by persons the most + intelligent, considerate, and well informed. It is also, supported by + what is known of the astonishing crowds confined in particular + prisons, and especially by what is accurately known in particular + provincial localities, as to the numbers of individuals missing from + among the community. I have heard these numbers, for example, at + Reggio and at Salerno; and from an effort to estimate them in + reference to population, I do believe that twenty thousand is no + unreasonable estimate. In Naples alone some hundreds are at this + moment under indictment _capitally_; and when I quitted it a trial + was expected to come on immediately, (called that of the fifteenth of + May,) in which the number charged was between four and five hundred; + including (though this is a digression) at least one or more persons + of high station whoso opinions would in this country be considered + more conservative than your own." * * * "In utter defiance of this + law, the government, of which the Prefect of Police is an important + member, through the agents of that department, watches and dogs the + people, pays domiciliary visits, very commonly at night, ransacks + houses, seizing papers and effects, and tearing up floors at pleasure + under pretence of searching for arms, and imprisons men by the score, + by the hundred, by the thousand, without any warrant whatever, + sometimes without even any written authority at all, or any thing + beyond the word of a policeman; constantly without any statement + whatever of the nature of the offence. + + "Nor is this last fact wonderful. Men are arrested, not because they + have committed, or are believed to have committed, any offence; but + because they are persons whom it is thought convenient to confine and + to get rid of, and against whom, therefore, some charge must be found + or fabricated."[209] + +Why is it that the king is enabled to do these things? Obviously, +because his people are poor and weak. If they were strong, he could +not do them. Men, however, never have anywhere become strong to resist +power, except where the artisan has come to the side of the farmer; +and it is because he has not done so in Naples and Sicily that the +people are so poor, ignorant, and weak as we see them to be. Has +England ever endeavoured to strengthen the Neapolitan people by +teaching them how to combine their efforts for the working of their +rich ores, or for the conversion of their wool into cloth? Assuredly +not. She desires that wool and sulphur, and all other raw materials, +may be cheap, and that iron may be dear; and, that they may be so, she +does all that is in her power to prevent the existence in that country +of any of that diversification of interests that would find employment +for men, women, and children, and would thus give value to labour and +land. That she may do this, she retains Malta and the Ionian Islands, +as convenient places of resort for the great reformer of the age--the +smuggler--whose business it is to see that no effort at manufactures +shall succeed, and to carry into practical effect the decree that all +such attempts must be "smothered in their infancy." If, under these +circumstances, King Ferdinand is enabled to play the tyrant, upon whom +rests the blame? Assuredly, on the people who refuse to permit the +farmers of the Two Sicilies to strengthen themselves by forming that +natural alliance between the loom and the plough to which the people +of England were themselves indebted for their liberties. Were the +towns of that country growing in size, and were the artisan everywhere +taking his place by the side of the farmer, the people would be daily +becoming stronger and more free, whereas they are now becoming weaker +and more enslaved. + +So, too, we are told of the tyranny and bad faith prevailing in Spain. +If, however, the people of that country are poor and weak, and +compelled to submit to measures that are tyrannical and injurious, may +it not be traced to the fact that the mechanic has never been +permitted to place himself among them? And may not the cause of this +be found in the fact that Portugal and Gibraltar have for a century +past been the seats of a vast contraband trade, having for _its +express object_ to deprive the Spanish people of all power to do any +thing but cultivate the soil? Who, then, are responsible for the +subjection of the Spanish people? Those, assuredly, whose policy looks +to depriving the women and children of Spain of all employment except +in the field, in order that wool may be cheap and that cloth may be +dear. + +Turkey is poor and weak, and we hear much of the designs of Russia, to +be counteracted by England; but does England desire that Turkey shall +grow strong and her people become free? Does she desire that +manufactures shall rise, that towns shall grow, and that the land +shall acquire value? Assuredly not. The right to inundate that country +with merchandise is "a golden privilege" never to be abandoned, +because it would raise the price of silk and lower the price of silk +goods. + +The people of Austria and Hungary are weak, but has England ever tried +to render them strong to obtain their freedom? Would she not now +oppose any measures calculated to enable the Hungarians to obtain the +means of converting their food and their wool into cloth--to obtain +mechanics and machinery, by aid of which towns could grow, and their +occupants become strong and free? To render any aid of that kind would +be in opposition to the doctrine of cheap food and cheap labour. + +Northern Germany is becoming strong and united, and the day is now at +hand when all Germany will have the same system under which the North +has so much improved; but these things are done in opposition to +England, who disapproves of them because they tend to raise the price +of the raw products of the earth and lower that of manufactured ones, +and to enable the agricultural population to grow rich and strong; and +the more exclusively she depends on trade, the greater is her +indisposition to permit the adoption of any measures tending to limit +her power over the people of the world. + +The people of China are weak, but does the consumption of opium to the +extent of forty millions of dollars a year tend to strengthen them? +The government, too, is weak, and therefore is Hong Kong kept for the +purpose of enabling "the great reformer" to evade the laws against the +importation of a commodity that yields the East India Company a profit +of sixteen millions of dollars a year, and the consumption of which is +so rapidly increasing. + +Burmah, too, is weak, and therefore is her territory to be used for +the purpose of extending the trade in opium throughout the interior +provinces of China. Will this tend to strengthen, or to free, the +Chinese people? + +Can the people of this country become parties to a system like +this--one that looks to cheapening labour every where? Can they be +parties to any system that can be maintained only on the condition of +"an abundant and cheap supply of labour?" Or, can they be parties to +an alliance that, wherever it is found, so far cheapens man as to +render him a profitable article for the export trade? + +Who, then, are our natural allies? Russia, Prussia, and Denmark are +despotisms, we are told. They are so; but yet so beautiful and so +perfect is the harmony of interests under a natural system, that that +which despots do in their own defence strengthens the people, and +carries them on toward freedom. Denmark is a despotism, and yet her +people are the freeest and most happy of any in Europe. It is time +that we emancipated ourselves from "the tyranny of words"[210] under +which we live, and looked to things. England has what is called a free +government, and yet Ireland, the West Indies, and India have been +prostrated under the despotism of the spindle and loom, while despotic +Denmark protects her people against that tyranny, and thus enables her +women and her children to find other employments than those of the +field. The King of Prussia desires to strengthen himself against +France, Austria, and Russia; and, to do this, he strengthens his +people by enabling them to find employment for all their time, to find +manure for their farms, and to find employment for their minds; and he +strengthens Germany by the formation of a great Union, that gives to +thirty millions of people the same advantage of freedom of internal +trade that subsists among ourselves. The Emperor of Russia desires to +strengthen himself, and he, in like manner, adopts measures leading to +the building of towns, the diversification of labour, and the habit of +association among men; and thus does he give value to land and labour. +He is a despot, it is true, but he is doing what is required to give +freedom to sixty millions of people; while all the measures of England +in India tend to the enslavement of a hundred millions. We are told of +his designs upon Turkey--but what have the _people_ of that country to +lose by incorporation within the Russian Empire? Now, they are poor +and enslaved, but were they once Russian the spindle would be brought +to the wool, towns would cease to decline, labour and land would +acquire value, and the people would begin to become free. It may be +doubted if any thing would so much tend to advance the cause of +freedom in Europe as the absorption of Turkey by Russia, for it would +probably be followed by the adoption of measures that would secure +perfect freedom of trade throughout all Middle and Eastern Europe, +with large increase in the value of man. The real despotism is that +which looks to cheapening labour, and the real road to freedom is that +which looks toward raising the value of labour and land. + +The natural allies of this country are the agricultural nations of the +world, for their interests and ours look in the same direction, while +those of England look in one directly opposite. They and we need that +the prices of all agricultural products should be high, and those of +manufactured articles low, while England desires that the latter may +be high and the former low. That they and we may be gratified, it is +required that machinery shall take its place by the food and the wool; +that towns shall arise, and that man shall everywhere become strong +and free. That she may be gratified, it is required that the food and +the wool shall go to the spindle and the loom; that men, women, and +children shall be confined to the labours of the field, and that men +shall remain poor, ignorant, and enslaved. The more Russia makes a +market for her wheat, the higher will be its price, to the great +advantage of the farmers of the world; and the more cotton and sugar +she will require, and the higher will be their prices, to the great +advantage of the planters of the world. The more Germany makes a +market for her wool, the higher will be its price, and the cheaper +will be cloth, and the more cotton and sugar she will need. The more +we make a market for cotton, the better will it be for the people of +India; and the more we consume our own grain, the better will it be +for the farmers of Germany. Our interests and theirs are one and the +same; but it is to the interest of the British manufacturer to have +all the world competing with each other to sell in his one limited +market, and the more competition he can create, the cheaper will be +products of the plough, and the larger will be the profits of the +loom. He wishes to buy cheaply the things we have to sell, and to sell +dearly those we have to buy. We wish to sell dearly and buy cheaply, +and as our objects are directly the reverse of his, it would be as +imprudent for us to be advised by him, as it would be for the farmer +to enter into a combination with the railroad for the purpose of +keeping up the price of transportation. + +Russia and Germany, Denmark, Spain, and Belgium are engaged in +resisting a great system of taxation, and they grow rich and strong, +and therefore their people become from year to year more free. +Portugal and India, Turkey and Ireland yield to the system, and they +become from year to year poorer and weaker, and their people more +enslaved. It is on the part of the former a war for peace, and +fortunately it is a war that involves no expense for fleets and +armies, and one under which both wealth and population grow with great +rapidity--and one, therefore, in which we may, and must, unite, if we +desire to see the termination of the slave trade at home or abroad. + +Russia and Germany, Denmark, Spain, and Belgium are engaged in an +effort to raise the value of man _at home_, wherever that home may be, +and thus to stop the forced export of men, whether black, brown, or +white: England is engaged in an effort to destroy everywhere the value +of man _at home_, and therefore it is that the slave trade flourishes +in the countries that submit to her system. We desire to increase the +value of man in Virginia, and thus to terminate the domestic slave +trade. We desire that corn and cotton, rice, sugar, and tobacco may be +high, and cloth and iron low; that labour may be largely paid, and +that man may become free; and the less our dependence on the market of +England, the sooner will our desires be gratified. + + * * * * * + +Are we then to adopt a system of measures tending to the injury of the +people of England? By no means. Her _real_ interests and ours are the +same, and by protecting ourselves against her system, we are +benefiting her. The harmony of interests is so perfect, that nations +_cannot_ be benefited by measures tending to the injury of other +nations; and when they allow themselves to be led away by the belief +that they can be so, they are always themselves the heaviest +sufferers. The sooner that all the agricultural communities of the +earth shall come to an understanding, that it is to their interest to +withdraw from the present insane contest for the privilege of +supplying a single and limited market, and determine to create markets +for themselves, the sooner will the English labourer, land-owner, and +capitalist find themselves restored to freedom. That the reader may +understand this, we must look once more to Ireland. The closing of the +demand for labour in that country drove the poor people to England in +search of employment. "For half a century back"--that is, since the +Union--"the western shores of our island," says a British journalist-- + + "Especially Lancashire and Glasgow have been flooded with crowds of + half clad, half fed, half civilized Celts, many thousands of whom + have settled permanently in our manufacturing towns, reducing wages + by their competition, and what is worse, reducing the standard of + living and comfort among our people by their example--spreading + squalor and disease by their filthy habits--inciting to turbulence + and discontent by their incorrigible hostility to law, incalculably + increasing the burden of our poor rates--and swelling the registry of + crime, both in police courts and assizes; to the great damage of the + national character and reputation. The abundant supply of cheap + labour which they furnished had no doubt the effect of enabling our + manufacturing industry to increase at a rate and, to a height which, + without them, would have been unattainable; and so far they have been + of service."--_North British Review_, No. 35. + +The essential error of this passage is found in the supposition that +any set of people or any species of industry, is to profit by the +cheapening of labour and the enslavement of man. Nothing of this kind +can take place. The true interests of all men are promoted by the +elevation, and they all suffer by whatever tends to the depression, of +their fellow-men. The master of slaves, whether wearing a crown or +carrying a whip, is himself a slave; and that such is the case with +nations as well as individuals, the reader may perhaps be satisfied if +he will follow out the working of the British system as here described +by the reviewer. For half a century Irish labour has been, as we are +here told, poured into England, producing a glut in the market, and +lowering not only the wages, but also the standard of comfort among +English labourers. This is quite true; but why did these men come? +Because labour was cheaper in Ireland than in England. Why was it so? +Because, just half a century since, it was provided by the Act of +Union that the women and children of Ireland should either remain idle +or work in the field. Prior to the centralization by that act of all +power in the British Parliament, the people of that country had been +vigorously engaged in the effort to produce competition for the +purchase of labour _at home_; and had they been permitted to continue +on in that direction, it would have risen to a level with English +labour, and then it could not have been profitably exported. This, +however, they were not permitted to do. Their furnaces and factories +were closed, and the people who worked in them were driven to England +to seek their bread, and wages fell, because the price of all +commodities, labour included, tends to a level, and whatever reduces +them anywhere tends to reduce them everywhere. The price of English +labour fell because the Act of Union had diminished the value of that +of Ireland. + +If we desire to know to what extent it had this effect, we must look +to the consequences of an over-supply of _perishable_ articles. Of all +commodities, labour is _the most perishable_, because it must be sold +on the instant or it is wasted, and if wasted, the man who has it to +sell may perish himself. Now we know that an over-supply of even iron, +equal to ten per cent., will reduce prices thirty, forty, or fifty per +cent., and that an excess of a single hundred thousand bales in the +crop of cotton makes a difference of ten per cent. upon three millions +of bales, whereas a diminution to the same extent will make a +difference of ten per cent. in the opposite direction. Still more is +this the case with oranges and peaches, which must be sold at once or +wasted. With an excess in the supply of either, they are often +abandoned as not worth the cost of gathering and carrying to market. A +small excess in the supply of men, women, and children so far reduces +their value in the eyes of the purchaser of labour, that he finds +himself, as now in England, induced to regard it as a mercy of Heaven +when famine, pestilence, and emigration clear them out of his way; and +he is then disposed to think that the process "cannot be carried too +far nor continued too long." + +Irish labour, having been cheapened by the provisions of the Act of +Union, was carried to the market of England for sale, and thus was +produced _a glut of the most perishable of all commodities_; and the +effect of that glut must have been a diminution in the general price +of labour in England that far more than compensated for the increased +number of labourers. Admitting, however, that the diminution was no +more than would be so compensated, it would follow, of course, that +the quantity of wages paid after a year's immigration was the same +that it had previously been. That it was not, and could not have been +so great, is quite certain; but it is not needed to claim more than +that there was no increase. It follows, necessarily, that while the +quantity of wages to be expended in England against food and clothing +remained the same, the number of persons among whom it was to be +divided had increased, and each had less to expend. This of course +diminished the power to purchase food, and to a much greater degree +diminished the demand for clothing, for the claims of the stomach are, +of all others, the most imperious. The reader will now see that the +chief effect thus produced by cheap labour is a reduction in the +domestic demand for manufactured goods. As yet, however, we are only +at the commencement of the operation. The men who had been driven from +Ireland by the closing of Irish factories, had been consumers of +food,[211] but as they could no longer consume at home, it became now +necessary that that food should follow them to England, and the +necessity for this transportation tended largely to diminish the +prices of all food in Ireland, and of course the value of labour and +land. Each new depression in the price of labour tended to swell the +export of men, and the larger that export the greater became, of +course, the necessity for seeking abroad a market for food. Irish food +came to swell the supply, but the English market for it did not grow, +because the greater the glut of men, the smaller became the sum of +wages to be laid out against food; and thus Irish and English food +were now contending against each other, to the injury, of English and +Irish labour and land. The lower the price of food in England, the +less was the inducement to improve the land, and the less the demand +for labour the less the power to buy even food, while the power to pay +for clothing diminished with tenfold rapidity. With each step in this +direction the labourer lost more and more the control over his own +actions, and became more and more enslaved. The decline in the home +demand for manufactures then produced a necessity for seeking new +markets, for underworking the Hindoo, and for further cheapening +labour; and the more labour was cheapened the less became the demand +for, and the return to capital. Land, labour, and capital thus +suffered alike from the adoption of a policy having for its object to +prevent the people of Ireland from mining coal, making iron, or +availing themselves of the gratuitous services of those powerful +agents so abundantly provided by nature for their use. + +The reader may, perhaps, appreciate more fully the evil effects of +this course upon an examination of the reverse side of the picture. +Let us suppose that the Irishman could at once be raised from being +the slave of the landholder to becoming a freeman, exercising control +over the application of his labour, and freely discussing with his +employer what should be his reward,--and see what would be the effect. +It would at once establish counter-attraction, and instead of a +constant influx of people _from_ Ireland into England, there would be +a constant afflux _to_ that country, and in a little time the whole +mass of Irish labour that now weighs on the English market would be +withdrawn, and wages would rise rapidly. At the cost of the +landholder, it will be said. On the contrary, to his profit. The +Irishman at home, fully employed, would consume thrice the food he can +now obtain, and Irish food would at once cease to press on the English +market, and the price of English food would rise. This, of course, +would offer new inducements to improve the land, and, this would make +a demand for labour and capital, the price of both of which would +rise. These things, however, it will be said, would be done at the +cost of the manufacturer. On the contrary, to his advantage Ireland +now consumes but little of English manufactures. "No one," says the +Quarterly Review, "ever saw an English scarecrow with such rags" as +are worn by hundreds of thousands of the people of Ireland. Raise the +value of Irishmen at home, make them free, and the Irish market will +soon require more manufactured goods than now go to all India. Raise +the value of man in Great Britain, and the domestic market will absorb +an amount of commodities that would now be deemed perfectly +incredible. + +How can this be done for Ireland? By the same process under which the +man of Germany, Russia, Denmark, and Spain is now passing gradually +toward freedom. By providing that she shall be _protected_ in her +efforts to bring the consumer to the side of the producer, and thus be +enabled to provide at home demand for all her labour and all her food, +and for all the capital now deemed surplus that weighs on the market +of England. It will, however, be said that this would deprive the +English manufacturer of the market he now has in that country. It +would not. He would sell more in value, although it would certainly be +less in bulk. If Ireland spun her own yarn and made her own coarse +cloths, she would need to buy fine ones. If she made her woollen cloth +she could afford to buy silks. If she made her own pig-iron she would +have occasion to purchase steam-engines. If she mined her own coal she +would require books; and the more her own labourer was elevated in the +scale of material comfort, and moral and intellectual improvement, the +larger would be her demands on her neighbours for those commodities +requiring for their production the exercise of mind, to their +advantage as well as her own. + +The error in the whole British system is, that it looks to preventing +everywhere local association and local commerce; and this it does +because it seeks to locate in England the workshop of the world. The +natural effect of this is a desire to compel all nations to transport +their products to market in their rudest form, at greatest cost to +themselves, and greatest exhaustion of their land; and the poorer they +become, the greater are her efforts at competing with them in the +rudest manufactures, to the great injury of her own people. The man +who is constantly competing with men below himself, will be sure +eventually to fall to their level; whereas, he who looks upward and +determines upon competition with those who are above him, will be very +likely to rise to their level. If all the world were engaged in +perfecting their products, the standard of man would be everywhere +rising, and the power to purchase would grow everywhere, with rapid +increase in the amount of both internal and external commerce, but the +commodities, exchanged would be of a higher character--such as would +require for their preparation a higher degree of intellect. At +present, all the nations outside of England are to be stimulated to +the adoption of a system that affords to their men, women, and +children no employment but that of the rude operations of the field, +while those in England are to be kept at work mining coal, making pig +metal; and converting cotton into yarn; and thus the tendency of the +system is toward driving the whole people of the world into pursuits +requiring little more than mere brute labour, and the lowest grade of +intellect, to the destruction of commerce, both internal and external. +The more this is carried into effect the more must the people of +England and the world become brutalized and enslaved, and the greater +must be the spread of intemperance and immorality. To this, Ireland, +India, and all other countries that find themselves forced to press +their products on the English market, are largely contributing, and +the only people that are doing any thing for its correction are those +who are labouring to make a market at home for their products, and +thus diminish the competition for their sale in the English market. +Were Germany and Russia now to abolish protection, the direct effect +would be to throw upon England an immense amount of food they now +consume at home, and thus diminish the price to such an extent as to +render it impracticable to apply labour to the improvement of English +land. This would of course diminish the wages of English labour, and +diminish the power of the labourers to purchase manufactured goods, +and the diminution thus produced in the domestic demand would be twice +as great as the increase obtained abroad. It is time that the people +of England should learn that the laws which govern the community of +nations are precisely the same as those which govern communities of +individuals, and that neither nations nor individuals can benefit +permanently by any measures tending to the injury of their neighbours. +The case of Ireland is one of oppression more grievous than is to be +found elsewhere in the records of history; and oppression has brought +its punishment in the enslavement of the English labourer, land-owner, +and capitalist. The first has small wages, the second small rents, and +the third small profits, while the intermediate people, bankers, +lawyers, and agents, grow rich. The remedy for much of this would be +found in the adoption of measures that would raise the value of +labour, capital, and land, in Ireland, and thus permit the two former +to remain at home, to give value to the last. + +The evil under which the people of England labour is that they are +borne down under the weight of raw produce forced into their market, +and the competition for its sale. This, in turn, reacts upon the +world--as prices in that market fix the prices of all other markets. +What is now needed is to raise _there_ the price of labour and its +products, as would at once be done were it possible for all the +agricultural nations to become so much masters of their own actions as +to be able to say that from this time forward they would have such a +demand at home as would free them from the slavery incident to a +_necessity_ for going to that market. Could that now be said, the +instant effect would be so to raise the price of food as to make a +demand for labour and capital in England that would double the price +of both, as will be seen on an examination of the following facts. The +United Kingdom contains seventy millions of acres, and an average +expenditure of only three days labour per acre, at 12s. per week, +would amount to twenty-one millions of pounds, or half as much as the +whole capital engaged in the cotton trade. No one who studies the +reports on the agriculture of the British islands can doubt that even +a larger quantity might annually, and most profitably, be employed on +the land; and when we reflect that this would be repeated year after +year, it will be seen how large a market would thus be made for both +labour and capital. The rise of wages would put an end to the export +of men from either England or Ireland, and the increase in the home +demand for manufactures would be great. + +It may be said that the rise in the price of food would give large +rents, without improvement in the land, and that the profit of this +change would go to the land-owner. In all other trades, however, high +wages _compel_ improvements of machinery, and it is only when they are +low that men can profitably work old machines. Were the wages of +England this day doubled, it would be found that they would eat up the +whole proceeds of all badly farmed land, leaving no rent, and then the +owners of such land would find themselves as much obliged to improve +their machinery of production as are the mill-owners of Manchester. If +they could not improve the whole, they would find themselves compelled +to sell a part; and thus dear labour would produce division of the +land and emancipation of the labourer, as cheap labour has produced +the consolidation of the one and the slavery of the other. + +To enable Russia and Germany to refrain from pressing their products +on the market that now regulates and depresses prices, it would be +required that they should have great numbers of mills and furnaces, at +which their now surplus food could be consumed, and their effect would +be to create among them a new demand for labour with rise of wages, a +better market for food to the benefit of the farmer, a better market +for capital, and a greatly increased power to improve the land and to +make roads and build schools. This would, of course, make demand for +cotton, to the benefit of the cotton-grower, while improved prices for +food would benefit the farmer everywhere. Maryland, Virginia, and the +Carolinas, too, would then have their factories, at which food and +cotton would be converted into cloth, and the value of man in those +States would rise to a level with that of Mississippi and Alabama--and +our domestic slave trade would be brought to an end by precisely the +same measures that would relieve England, Ireland, and Scotland from +any _necessity_ for exporting men to distant regions of the earth. + +Nothing of this kind could at once be done; but Russia, Germany, and +other countries of Europe are now, under protection, doing much toward +it; and it is in the power of the people of this country to contribute +largely toward bringing about such a state of things. Much was being +done under the tariff of 1842, but it is being undone under the act of +1846. The former tended to _raise_ the value of man at home, and hence +it was that under it the domestic slave trade so much diminished. The +latter tends to _diminish_ the value of man at home, and hence it is +that under it that trade so rapidly increases. The former tended to +diminish the quantity of food to be forced on the market of England, +to the deterioration of the value of English labour and land. The +latter tends to increase the quantity for which a market must be +sought abroad; and whatever tends to force food into that country +tends to lessen the value of its people, and to produce their _forced +export_ to other countries. As yet, however, we have arrived only at +the commencement of the working of the "free trade" system. We are now +where we were in 1836, when the making of railroads by aid of large +purchases, _on credit_, of cloth and iron, stimulated the consumption +of food and diminished the labour applied to its production. After the +next revulsion, now perhaps not far distant, the supply of food will +be large, and then it will be that the low prices of 1841-2, for both +food and labour, will be repeated. + +In considering what is the duty of this country, every man should +reflect that whatever tends to increase the quantity of raw produce +forced on the market of England, tends to the cheapening of labour and +land everywhere, to the perpetuation of slavery, and to the extension +of its domain--and that whatever tends to the withdrawal of such +produce from that market tends to raising the value of land and labour +everywhere, to the extinction of slavery, and to the elevation of man. + +The system commonly called free trade tends to produce the former +results; and where man is enslaved there can be no real freedom of +trade. That one which looks to protection against this extraordinary +system of taxation, tends to enable men to determine for themselves +whether they will make their exchanges abroad or at home; and it is in +this power of choice that consists the freedom of trade and of man. By +adopting the "free trade," or British, system we place ourselves side +by side with the men who have ruined Ireland and India, and are now +poisoning and enslaving the Chinese people. By adopting the other, we +place ourselves by the side of those whose measures tend not only to +the improvement of their own subjects, but to the emancipation of the +slave everywhere, whether in the British Islands, India, Italy, or +America. + +It will be said, however, that protection tends to destroy commerce, +the civilizer of mankind. Directly the reverse, however, is the fact. +It is the system now called free trade that tends to the destruction +of commerce, as is shown wherever it obtains. Protection looks only to +resisting a great scheme of foreign taxation that everywhere limits +the power of man to combine his efforts with those of his neighbour +man for the increase of his production, the improvement of his mind, +and the enlargement of his desires for, and his power to procure, the +commodities produced among the different nations of the world. The +commerce of India does not grow, nor does that of Portugal, or of +Turkey; but that of the protected, countries does increase, as has +been shown in the case of Spain, and can now be shown in that of +Germany. In 1834, before the formation of the _Zoll-Verein_, Germany +took from Great Britain, + + of her own produce and manufactures, only........ £4,429,727 + Whereas in 1852 she took......................... £7,694,059 + +And as regards this country, in which protection has always to some +extent existed, it is the best customer that England ever had, and our +demands upon her grow most steadily and regularly under protection, +because the greater our power to make coarse goods, the greater are +those desires which lead to the purchase of fine ones, and the greater +our ability to gratify them. + +Whatever tends to increase the power of man to associate with his +neighbour man, tends to promote the growth of commerce, and to produce +that material, moral, and intellectual improvement which leads to +freedom. To enable men to exercise that power is the object of +protection. The men of this country, therefore, who desire that all +men, black, white, and brown, shall at the earliest period enjoy +perfect freedom of thought, speech, action, and trade, will find, on +full consideration, that duty to themselves and to their fellow-men +requires that they should advocate efficient protection, as the true +and only mode of abolishing the domestic trade in slaves, whether +black or white. + + * * * * * + +It will, perhaps, be said that even although the slave trade were +abolished, slavery would still continue to exist, and that the great +object of the anti-slavery movement would remain unaccomplished. One +step, at all events, and a great one, would have been made. To render +men _adscripti glebæ_, thus attaching them to the soil, has been in +many countries, as has so recently been the case in Russia, one of the +movements toward emancipation; and if this could be here effected by +simple force of attraction, and without the aid of law, it would be +profitable to all, both masters and slaves; because whatever tends to +attract population tends inevitably to increase the value of land, and +thus to enrich its owner. There, however, it could not stop, as the +reader will readily see. Cheap food enables the farmer of Virginia to +raise cheap labour for the slave market. Raise the price of food, and +the profit of that species of manufacture would diminish. Raise it +still higher, and the profit would disappear; and then would the +master of slaves find it necessary to devolve upon the parent the +making of the _sacrifice_ required for the raising of children, and +thus to enable him to bring into activity all the best feelings of the +heart. + +Cheap food and slavery go together; and if we desire to free ourselves +from the last, we must commence by ridding ourselves of the first. +Food is cheap in Virginia, because the market for it is distant, and +most of its value there is swallowed up in the cost of transportation. +Bring the consumer close to the door of the farmer, and it will be +worth as much there as it now commands in the distant market. Make a +demand everywhere around him for all the food that is raised, and its +value will everywhere rise, for then we shall cease to press upon the +limited market of England, which fixes the price of our crop, and is +now borne down by the surplus products of Germany and Russia, Canada +and ourselves; and the price will then be higher in the remote parts +of Virginia than can now be obtained for it in the distant market of +England. It will then become quite impossible for the farmer +profitably to feed his corn to slaves. + +With the rise in the price of food the land would quadruple in value, +and that value would continue to increase as the artisan more and more +took his place by the side of the producer of food and wool, and as +towns increased in number and in size; and with each step in this +direction the master would attach less importance to the ownership of +slaves; while the slave would attach more importance to freedom. With +both, the state of feeling would, improve; and the more the negro was +improved the more his master would be disposed to think of slavery, as +was thought of old by Jefferson and Madison, that it was an evil that +required to be abated; and the more rapid the growth of wealth, the +greater the improvement in the value of land, the more rapid would be +the approach of freedom to all, the master and the slave. + +It will be said, however, that if food should so much increase in +value as to render it desirable for Virginia to retain the whole +growth of her population, black and white, the necessary effect would, +be a great rise in the price of cotton, and a great increase in the +wealth of the planters further South, who would be desirous to have +negroes, even at greatly increased prices. That the price of cotton +would rise is quite certain. Nothing keeps it down but the low price +of food, which forces out the negroes of the Northern States, and +thus, maintains the domestic slave trade; and there is no reason to +doubt that not only would there be a large increase in its price, but +that the power to pay for it would increase with equal rapidity. More +negro labour would then certainly be needed, and then would exist +precisely the state of things that leads inevitably to freedom. When +two masters seek one labourer, the latter becomes free; but when two +labourers seek one master, the former become enslaved. The increased +value of negro labour would render it necessary for the owners of +negroes to endeavour to stimulate the labourer to exertion, and this +could be done only by the payment of wages for over-work, as is even +now done to a great extent. At present, the labour of the slave is in +a high degree unproductive, as will be seen by the following passage +from a letter to the New York _Daily Times_, giving the result of +information derived from a gentleman of Petersburgh, Virginia, said to +be "remarkable for accuracy and preciseness of his information:"-- + + "He tells me," says the writer, "he once very carefully observed how + mush labour was expended in securing a crop of very thin wheat, and + found that it took four negroes one day to cradle, rake, and bind one + acre. (That is, this was the rate at which the field was harvested.) + In the wheat-growing districts of Western New York, four men would be + expected to do five acres of a similar crop. + + "Mr. Griscom further states, as his opinion, that four negroes do + not, in the ordinary agricultural operations of this State, + accomplish as much as one labourer in New Jersey. Upon my expressing + my astonishment, he repeated it as his deliberately formed opinion. + + "I have since again called on Mr. Griscom, and obtained permission to + give his name with the above statement. He also wishes me to add, + that the ordinary waste in harvesting, by the carelessness of the + negroes, above that which occurs in the hands of Northern labourers, + is large enough to equal what a Northern farmer would consider a + satisfactory profit on the crop." + +To bring into activity all this vast amount of labour now wasted, it +is needed to raise the _cost of man_, by raising the price of food; +and that is to be done by bringing the farmer's market to his door, +and thus giving value to labour and land. Let the people of Maryland +and Virginia, Carolina, Kentucky, and Tennessee be enabled to bring +into activity their vast treasures of coal and iron ore, and to render +useful their immense water-powers--free the masters from their present +dependence on distant markets, in which they _must_ sell all they +produce, and _must_ buy all they consume--and the negro slave becomes +free, by virtue of the same great law that in past times has freed the +serf of England, and is now freeing the serf of Russia. In all +countries of the world man has become free as land has acquired value, +and as its owners have been enriched; and in all man has become +enslaved as land has lost its value, and its owners have been +impoverished.[212] + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +OF THE DUTY OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. + + +The English politico-economical system denounced by Adam Smith had not +failed before the close of the last century to be productive of +results in the highest degree unfavourable to man; and to account for +them it became necessary to discover that they were the inevitable +result of certain great natural laws; and to this necessity it was +that the world was indebted for the Ricardo-Malthusian system, which +may be briefly stated in the following propositions:-- + +First: That in the commencement of cultivation, when population is +small and land consequently abundant, the best soils--those capable of +yielding the largest return, say one hundred quarters to a given +quantity of labour--alone are cultivated. + +Second: That with the progress of population, the fertile lands are +all occupied, and there arises a necessity for cultivating those +yielding a smaller return; and that resort is then had to a second, +and afterward to a third and a fourth class of soils, yielding +respectively ninety, eighty, and seventy quarters to the same quantity +of labour. + +Third: That with the necessity for applying labour less productively, +which thus accompanies the growth of population, rent arises: the +owner of land No. 1 being enabled to demand and to obtain, in return +for its use, ten quarters when resort is had to that of second +quality; twenty when No. 3 is brought into use, and thirty when it +becomes necessary to cultivate No. 4. + +Fourth: That the _proportion_ of the landlord tends thus steadily to +increase as the productiveness of labour decreases, the division being +as follows, to wit:-- + + Total + At the: Product Labour Rent + ------- ------- ------ ---- + first period, when No. 1 alone is cultivated.. 100 100 00 + second period " No. 1 and 2 are cultivated. 190 180 10 + third period " No. 1, 2, and 3 ".. 270 240 30 + fourth period " No. 1, 2, 3 and 4 ".. 340 280 60 + fifth period " No. 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 ".. 400 300 100 + sixth period " No. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6".. 450 300 150 + seventh period " No. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 ".. 490 280 210 + +and that there is thus a tendency to the ultimate absorption of the +whole produce by the owner of the land, and to a steadily increasing +inequality of condition; the power of the labourer to consume the +commodities which he produces steadily diminishing, while that of the +land-owner to claim them, as rent, is steadily increasing. + +Fifth: That this tendency toward a diminution in the return of labour, +and toward an increase of the landlord's proportion, always exists +where population increases, and most exists where population increases +most rapidly; but is in a certain degree counteracted by increase of +wealth, producing improvement of cultivation. + +Sixth: That every such improvement tends to retard the growth of +rents, while every obstacle to improvement tends to increase that +growth: and that, therefore, the interests of the land-owner and +labourer are always opposed to each other, rents rising as labour +falls, and _vice-versa_. + +A brief examination of these propositions will satisfy the reader that +they tend inevitably to the centralization of all power in the hands +of the few at the cost of the many, who are thus reduced to the +condition of slaves, mere hewers of wood and drawers of water for +their masters, as will now be shown. + +I. In the commencement of cultivation labour is largely productive, +and the labourer takes for himself the whole of his product, paying no +rent. + +II. With the increase of population, and the increased power to +associate, labour becomes less productive, and the labourer is +required to give a part of the diminished product to the land-owner, +who thus grows rich at his expense. + +III. With further growth of population land acquires further value, +and that value increases with every increase of the _necessity_ for +applying labour less productively; and the less the product, the +larger becomes the proportion of the proprietor, whose wealth and +power increase precisely as the labourer becomes poorer and less able +to defend his rights, or, in other words, as he becomes enslaved. + +This state of things leads of course to the expulsion of poor men, to +seek at a distance those rich soils which, according to the theory, +are the first cultivated. The more they are expelled, the greater must +of course be the consolidation of the land, the larger the income of +the few great farmers and land-owners, and the poorer the labourers. +Hence universal discord, such as is seen in England, and has recently +been so well described by the _Times_.[213] + +The poorer the people, the greater must be the necessity for +emigration; and the greater the anxiety of the landed or other +capitalist for their expulsion, because they are thus relieved from +the necessity for supporting them; and the greater the rejoicing of +the trader, because he supposes they go from the cultivation of poor +to that of rich soils. Here we have dispersion, the opposite of that +association to which man has everywhere been indebted for his wealth; +for the development of his moral and intellectual faculties, and for +his freedom. + +The soils left behind being supposed to be the poor ones, and those +first appropriated abroad being supposed to be the rich ones, it is +next held that all the people who go abroad, should do nothing but +cultivate the land, sending their corn and their wool to a distance of +thousands of miles in search of the little spindle and the loom; and +thus does the Ricardo system lead to the adoption of a policy directly +the reverse of that taught by Adam Smith. + +The necessary effect of this is the discouragement of English +agriculture, and the closing of the market for English capital; and +the smaller the market for it at home the less must be the demand for +labour, and the greater must be the tendency of the labourer to become +the mere slave of those who do employ capital. This of course produces +further expulsion of both labour and capital; and the more they go +abroad, the less, as a matter of course, is the power of the community +that is left behind: and thus the Ricardo-Malthusian system tends +necessarily to the diminution of the importance of the nation in the +eyes of the world. + +That system teaches that God in his infinite wisdom has given to +matter in the form of man a reproductive power greater than he has +given to the source from which that matter is derived, the earth +itself; and that, with a view to the correction of that error, man +must close his ear and his heart to the tale of suffering--must forget +that great law of Christ, "Do unto others as ye would that others +should do unto you,"--must persuade himself that it is "to his +advantage" that the negro slave "shall wear his chains in peace,"--and +must always recollect that if men _will_ marry; and have children, and +he "stands between the error and its consequence," granting relief to +the poor or the sick in their distress, except so far as to prevent +"positive death," he "perpetuates the sin." This is the science of +repulsion, despair, and death; and it has been well denominated "the +dismal science." It is taught in many of the schools of Europe, but +England alone has made it the basis of a system of policy; and the +result is seen in the fact that throughout all that portion of the +world subject to her influence, we see nothing but repulsion, slavery, +despair, and death, with steadily increasing weakness of the +communities in the general system of the world, as witness Ireland and +India, from, which men are flying as from pestilence--the West Indies, +Portugal, and Turkey, in all of which population declines, and the +communities themselves seem likely soon to perish of inanition.[214] + +From every country that is strong enough to protect itself, she is +being gradually shut out; and in every one that is strong enough to +carry into effect the exclusion, we see a steady increase of the power +and the habit of association, and of the strength of the nation. The +little German Union of 1827 led to the great one of 1835; and at this +moment we have advices of the completion of the still greater one that +is to give freedom of internal trade to sixty millions of people, and +that is to do for all Germany what the _Zoll-Verein_ has done for its +northern portion. The habit of peace and of combined action thus grows +in all the countries of the world which protect themselves, while +repulsion and discord increase in every one that is unprotected. In +one we see a daily tendency toward freedom, while in the other slavery +grows from day to day. + +It is the complaint of England that, much as she has done for other +countries, she receives no kindness in return. She stands at this day +without a friend; and this is not so much the fault of any error of +intention as of error of doctrine. Many of those who have directed her +affairs have been men of generous impulses--men who would scorn to do +what they thought to be wrong--but they have, been led away by a +system that teaches the rankest selfishness. The Creator of man +provided for his use great natural agents, the command of which was to +be obtained as the reward of the cultivation of his intellectual +powers; and that he might obtain leisure for their improvement, great +stores of fuel were accumulated, and iron ore was furnished in +unlimited quantity, to enable him, by combining the two, to obtain +machinery to aid him in the cultivation of the soil and the conversion +of its products. England, however, desires to restrict the use of +those great natural agents; and whenever or wherever other nations +undertake to call them to their aid, she is seen using every effort in +her power to annihilate competition, and thus maintain her monopoly. +Of this, the recent proceedings in relation to steam intercourse +between this country and Europe present a striking instance; but the +maintenance of numerous colonies, avowedly for the purpose of +"stifling in its infancy" every effort on the part of other nations to +obtain power to convert their coal and their ore into iron, or to +convert their iron into machinery that would enable them to command +the aid of steam, and thus lighten the labours of their people, while +increasing the efficiency of their exertions, is a thing not only not +disavowed, but gloried in by her most eminent and enlightened men. The +exceeding selfishness of this effort to retain a monopoly of those +great natural agents should, of itself, afford proof conclusive to +every Englishman that the system that is to be so maintained could not +be right; and it would do so, were it not that their system of +political economy teaches that every man must live by "snatching the +bread from his neighbour's mouth" that the land-owner grows rich at +the expense of the labourer; that profits rise only at the cost of +wages, and wages only at the cost of profits; and, therefore, that the +only way to ensure a fair rate for the use of capital is to keep the +price of labour down. + +This system is to be carried out by producing "unlimited competition" +and in what is it to exist? In the sale of labour; and the greater +that competition, the greater will be the profits of the capitalist, +and the lower will be the wages of the labourer. The more the +competition for the sale of cotton, the cheaper will be the labourer +who produces it; and the more perfect the monopoly of machinery, the +cheaper must be the labourer who performs the work of spinning the +wool and weaving the cloth, but the larger will be the share of the +man who owns the spindles and the looms. The fewer the spindles and +looms of the world, the cheaper will be cotton and the dearer will be +cloth, and the greater the profits of what is called capital; but the +less will be the value of the stock in that great bank from which all +capital is derived--the earth; and the poorer and more enslaved must +be all those who have shares in it, and all who desire to obtain loans +from it--the land-owners and the labourers. Such being the tendencies +of the system, need we wonder, that it produces repulsion abroad, or +that England is now so entirely without friends that in this age of +the world--one that should be so enlightened--she talks of increased +armaments with a view to defending herself from invasion, and calls on +other nations for help? Certainly not. Were it otherwise, it would be +wonderful. She is expelling her whole people from the land, and the +more they go, the more she is rejoiced. "Extensive as has been the +emigration from Ireland which has already taken place, there is," we +are told-- + + "A remarkable proof that it has not been carried too far. There is + still no regular demand for labour in the West of Ireland, and wages + are still at the low starvation rate which prevailed before the + famine."--_Economist_, (London,) Feb. 12, 1853. + +Again, we are told that + + "The departure of the redundant population of the Highlands of + Scotland is an indispensable preliminary to every kind of + improvement."--_Ibid_. + +Further, we are informed that the emigration from England, Wales, and +the Lowlands of Scotland has "almost entirely consisted of able-bodied +agricultural labourers," and that few or none of the manufacturing +population have emigrated, except "a few Spitalfields and Paisley +hand-loom weavers."[215] The loss of all these agriculturists, and the +rapid conversion of the whole people of the kingdom into mere buyers +and sellers of the products of other nations, is regarded as not only +not to be regretted, but as a thing to be rejoiced at; and another +influential journal assures its readers that the "mere anticipation" +of any deficiency in the export of man from the kingdom "would lead to +the most disastrous suspension of industry and enterprise," and that +"the emigration must not only continue, but it must be maintained with +all possible steadiness and activity."[216] + +Little effort would seem to be required to bring about the abandonment +of England, as well as of Ireland. Of the latter the latest journals +furnish accounts of which the following is a fair specimen:-- + + "The people are fast passing away from the land in the West of + Ireland. The landlords of Connaught are tacitly combined to weed out + all the smaller occupiers, against whom a regular systematic war of + extermination is being waged. * * * The most heart-rending cruelties + are daily practised in this province, of which the public are not at + all aware."--_Galway Mercury_. + +In the former, we are told that + + "The wheel of 'improvement' is now seizing another class, the most + stationary class in England. A startling emigration movement has + sprung up among the smaller English farmers, especially those holding + heavy clay soils, who, with bad prospects for the coming harvest, and + in want of sufficient capital to make the great improvements on their + farms which would enable them to pay their old rents, have no other + alternative but to cross the sea in search of a new country and of + new lands. I am not speaking now of the emigration caused by the gold + mania, but only of the compulsory emigration produced by landlordism, + concentration of farms, application of machinery to the soil, and + introduction of the modern system of agriculture on a great + scale."--_Correspondence of the New York Tribune_. + +Nevertheless, wages do not rise. Hundreds of thousands, and even +millions, of the poor people of the kingdom have now been expelled, +and yet there is "no regular demand for labour," and wages continue as +low as ever. That such should be the case is not extraordinary, but it +will be so if this diminution of the power of association do not +result in lowering the reward of labour, and accelerating the +dispersion of the labourers. Every man that goes was a producer of +something, to be given in exchange for another thing that he required, +that was produced by others; and from the moment of his departure he +ceases to be a producer, with correspondent diminution in the demand +for the cloth, the iron, or the salt produced by his neighbours. The +less the competition for purchase the more becomes the competition for +sale, and the lower must be the compensation of the labourer. A recent +journal informs us that the condition of one class of operatives, the +salt-boilers, has "gradually become most deplorable." + + "Their wages at present do not average 15s. a week, because they are + not employed full time; 2s. 6d. a day is the highest price given, and + one of these days consists of fourteen or sixteen hours. In addition + to this, some of the employers have latterly introduced a new mode of + diminishing the actual payment in wages. As has already been stated, + the salt-pans in the course of a few days require cleansing from the + impurities and dross thrown down with the process of boiling. The + accumulation may vary from one-eighth of an inch to one foot, + according to the quality of the brine. Therefore, every fortnight the + fires are let out and the pans picked and cleaned, a process which + occupies a full day; and this unavoidable and necessary work it is + becoming the fashion to require the men to perform without any + remuneration whatever; or, in other words, to demand one month's work + out of the twelve from them without giving any wages in + return!"--_Dawson's Merchants' Magazine_, February, 1853, 98. + +The more steady and active the emigration of the agricultural +labourers, and the larger the remainder of factory operatives, the +greater must be the necessity for depending on other countries for +supplies, and the less must be the power of the nation in the +community of nations, the richer must grow the great manufacturer, and +the poorer must become the labourer; and, as this system is now being +so vigorously carried out, the cause of weakness may readily be +understood. It is a natural consequence of the purely selfish policy +to which the Ricardo-Malthusian doctrines inevitably lead. + +Can such a system be a natural one? Is it possible that an all-wise, +all-powerful, and all-merciful Being, having constructed this world +for the occupation of man, should have inflicted upon it such a curse +as is found in a system of laws the study of which leads to the +conclusion that men can live only "by snatching the bread out of the +mouths" of their fellow-men? Assuredly not. What, then, _are_ the laws +under which man "lives and moves and has his being?" To obtain an +answer to this question, we must go back to the proposition which lies +at the base of the British system--that which teaches that men begin +the work of cultivation with the rich soils of the earth, and are +afterward compelled to resort to inferior ones the most important one +in political economy; so important, says Mr. J. S. Mill, that were it +otherwise, "almost all the phenomena of the production and +distribution of wealth would be other than they are." + +Admitting, now, that the law _were_ different, and that instead of +commencing on the rich soils and then passing toward the poor ones, +they commenced on the poor soils of the hills and gradually made their +way down to the rich ones of the swamps and river-bottoms, would not +one of the differences referred to by Mr. Mill consist in this, that +whereas the old theory tended to establish a constant increase in the +_necessities_ of man, with constant deterioration, of his condition +and growing inequality among men, the new one would tend to establish +a constant increase of his _powers_, with constant improvement of +condition and growing equality among men, wherever the laws of God +were permitted to control their operations? + +Again, might not another of those differences consist in the +establishment of the facts that instead of there having been a mistake +on the part of the Creator, there had been a serious one on that of +the economists, in attributing to those little scraps of the earth +that man forms into wagons, ships, and steam-engines, and which he +calls capital, an importance greater than is assigned to the earth of +which they are so trivial a portion; and that the latter was the real +bank, the source of all capital, from which he can have loans to an +extent almost unlimited, provided he recollects that they _are_ loans, +and not gifts, and that his credit with this banker, as well as with +all others, cannot be maintained without a punctual repayment of the +matter borrowed when he has ceased to need it? + +Further, as the old theory furnishes propositions to, which the +exceptions are seen to be so numerous that every new writer finds +himself compelled to modify it in some manner with a view to cover +those exceptions, might not another, of the differences consist in its +furnishing laws as universally true as are those of Copernicus, +Kepler, or Newton--laws that gave proof of their truth by being +everywhere in harmony with each other, and productive everywhere of +harmony; and would not the following form a part of them?-- + +I. That the poor and solitary man commences everywhere with poor +machinery, and that everywhere, as population and wealth increase, he +obtains better machinery, and production is increased. The first poor +settler has no cup, and he takes up water in his hand. He has no hogs +or cattle to yield him oil, and he is compelled to depend on +pine-knots for artificial light. He has no axe, and he cannot fell a +tree, either to supply himself with fuel or to clear his land. He has +no saw, and he is compelled to seek shelter under a rock, because he +is unable to build himself a house. He has no spade, and he is +compelled to cultivate land that is too poor to need clearing, and too +dry to require drainage. He has no horse, and is obliged to carry his +little crop of grain on his shoulders. He has no mill, and is +compelled to pound his grain between stones, or to eat it unground, as +did the Romans for so many centuries. With the growth of wealth and +population he obtains machinery that enables him to _command_ the +services of the various natural agents by which he is surrounded; and +he now obtains more water, more light, more heat, and more power at +less cost of labour; and he cultivates rich lands that yield food more +largely, while he transports its products, by means of a wagon or a +railroad car, converts it into flour by aid of steam, and exchanges it +readily with, the man who converts his food and his wool into cloth, +or food and ore into iron,--and thus passes from poor to better +machinery of production, transportation, and exchange, with increasing +reward of labour, and diminishing value of all the products of labour. + +II. That the poor settler gives a large _proportion_ of the produce of +his labour for the use of poor machinery of production, +transportation, and exchange; but the produce being small, the +_quantity_ of rent then paid is very small. He is a slave to the owner +of landed or other capital. + +III. That with the increased productiveness of labour there is +increased facility for the reproduction of machinery required for the +production of water, light, fuel, and food; and that this diminution +in the cost _of reproduction_ is attended with a constant diminution +in the value of all such machinery previously accumulated, and +diminution in the proportion of the product of labour that can be +demanded as rent for their use; and thus, while labour steadily +increases in its power to yield commodities of every kind required by +man, capital as steadily diminishes in its power over the labourer. +Present labour obtains a constantly increasing proportion of a +constantly increasing quantity, while the claims of the accumulations +of past labour (capital) are rewarded with an increasing quantity, but +rapidly diminishing proportion; and that there is thus, with the +growth of population and wealth, a daily tendency toward improvement +and equality of condition. + +IV. That increase in the _quantity_ of the landlord or other +capitalist is evidence of increase in the labourer's _proportion_, and +of large increase of his quantity, with constantly increasing tendency +toward freedom of thought, speech, action, and trade, and that it is +precisely as land acquires value that man becomes free. + +Here is a system, all the parts of which are in perfect harmony with +each other, and all tending to the production of harmony among the +various portions of society, and the different nations of the earth. +Under them, we see men beginning on the higher and poorer lands and +gradually coming together in the valleys, with steady tendency to +increase in the power of association, and in the power to assert the +right Of perfect self-government. It is thus the system of freedom. +Population enables men to cultivate the richer soils, and food tends +to increase more rapidly than population, giving men leisure for the +cultivation of their minds and those of their children. Increased +intelligence enables man from year to year to obtain larger loans from +the great bank--the earth--while with the increased diversification of +labour he is enabled more and more to repay them by the restoration of +the manure to the place from which the food had been derived. + +Here are laws tending to the promotion of kindly feelings, and to the +enabling of man to carry fully into effect the great law which lies at +the base of Christianity--doing to his neighbours as he would that +they should do unto him. They are laws whose constant and uniform +truth may be seen in reference to every description of capital and of +labour, and in all the communities of the world, large and small, in +present and in past times. Being _laws_, they admit of no exceptions +any more than do the great astronomical ones. They recognise the whole +product of labour as being the property of the labourer of the past +and the present; the former represented by the proprietor of the +machine, and the latter by the man who uses it, and who finds himself +every day more and more able to accumulate the means of becoming +himself a proprietor. + +The English system does not recognise the existence of universal laws. +According to it, land, labour, and capital, are the three instruments +of production, and they are governed by different laws. Labour, when +it seeks aid from land, is supposed to begin with good machinery and +to pass toward the worst, with constantly increasing power in the +owner of the land; whereas, when it seeks aid from the steam-engine, +it passes from poor to good, with diminishing power in the owner of +capital. There is thus one set of laws for the government of the great +machine itself--the earth--and another for that of all its parts. +Under the first, value is supposed to increase because of the +diminished productiveness of labour, whereas under the last it is +supposed to diminish because of the increased productiveness of +labour. The two point to opposite poles of the compass, and the only +mode of reconciling them is found in the supposition that as the power +of production diminishes with the increasing necessity for resorting +to inferior soils, the power of accumulating capital tends to +increase, and thus counterbalances the disadvantages resulting from +the necessity for applying labour less and less advantageously. Who is +it, however, that is to furnish this capital? Is it the labourer? He +cannot do it, for he cultivates "the inferior soils," and retains for +himself a constantly diminishing proportion of a constantly +diminishing product. Is it the landlord? His proportion increases, it +is true, but his _quantity_ diminishes in its proportion to +population, as his tenants are forced to resort to less productive +soils. The power to accumulate is dependent on the quantity of time +and labour required for obtaining present subsistence; and as that +increases with the necessity for resorting to poorer machinery, the +power to obtain machines to be used in aid of labour dies away. Such +being the case, it is clear that if men are obliged, in obedience to a +great natural law, to pass steadily from rich soils to poor ones +yielding less returns to labour, no compensation can anywhere be +found, and that the elder Mill was right when he said that the power +of accumulation must cease, and wages must fall so low that men "would +perish of want;" in preference to doing which they would, of course, +sell themselves, their wives, and children, into, slavery. Of all the +English writers on this subject, he is the only one that has had the +courage to follow out the Ricardo-Malthusian system to its necessary +conclusions, and proclaim to the world the existence of a great law of +nature leading _inevitably_ to the division of society into two great +portions, the very rich and the very poor--the master and the slave. + +There are thus two systems--one of which proclaims that men can thrive +only at the expense of their neighbours, and the other that they +"prosper with the prosperity of those neighbours--one that teaches +utter selfishness, and another teaching that enlightened selfishness +which prompts men to rejoice in the advances of their fellow-men +toward wealth and civilization--one that leads to internal discord and +foreign war, and another teaching peace, union, and brotherly kindness +throughout--the world--one that teaches the doctrine of despair and +death, and another teaching joy and hope--one that is anti-christian +in all its tendencies, teaching that we must _not_ do to our neighbour +in distress as we would that he should do to us, but that, on the +contrary our duty requires that we should see him suffer, unrelieved, +every calamity short of "positive death," and another teaching in its +every page that if individuals or nations would thrive, they can do so +_only_ on the condition of carrying into full effect the great law of +Christ--"That which ye would that others should do unto you, do ye +unto them." + +Both of these systems cannot be true. Which of them is so is to be +settled by the determination of the great fact whether the Creator +made a mistake in providing that the poor settler should commence on +the low and rich lands, leaving the poor soils of the hills to his +successors, who obtain from them a constantly diminishing supply of +food--or whether, in his infinite wisdom, he provided that the poor +man, destitute, of axe and spade, should go to the poor and dry land +of the hills, requiring neither clearing nor drainage, leaving the +heavily timbered and swamp lands for his wealthy successors. If the +first, then the laws of God tend to the perpetuation of slavery, and +the English political economy is right in all its parts, and should be +maintained. If the last, then is it wrong in all its parts, and duty +to themselves, to their fellow-men throughout the world, and to the +great Giver of all good things, requires that it be at once and for +ever abandoned. + +It is time that enlightened Englishmen should examine into this +question. When they shall do so, it will require little time to +satisfy themselves that every portion of their own island furnishes +proof that cultivation commenced on the poor soils, and that from the +day when King Arthur held his court in a remote part of Cornwall to +that on which Chatfield Moss was drained, men have been steadily +obtaining _more productive_ soils at _less cost_ of labour, and that +not only are they now doing so, but that it is difficult to estimate +how far it may be carried. Every discovery in science tends to +facilitate the making of those combinations of matter requisite for +the production of food, giving better soils at diminished cost. Every +new one tends to give to man increased power to command the use of +those great natural agents provided for his service, and to enable him +to obtain more and better food, more and better clothing, more and +better house-room, in exchange for less labour, leaving him more time +for the improvement of his mind, for the education of his children, +and for the enjoyment of those recreations which tend to render life +pleasurable. The reverse of all this is seen under the English system. +The more numerous the discoveries in science, and the greater the +command of man over the powerful natural agents given for diminishing +labour, the more severe and unintermitting becomes his toil, the less +becomes his supply of food, the poorer becomes his clothing, the more +wretched becomes his lodging, the less time can be given to the +improvement of his mind, the more barbarous grow up his children, the +more is his wife compelled to work in the field, and the less is his +time for enjoyment;--as witness all those countries over which England +now exercises dominion, and as witness to so great an extent the +present condition of her own people, as exhibited by those of her own +writers quoted in a former chapter. + +Selfishness and Christianity cannot go together, nor can selfishness +and national prosperity. It is purely selfish in the people of England +to desire to prevent the people of the various nations of the world +from profiting by their natural advantages, whether of coal, iron ore, +copper, tin, or lead. It is injurious to themselves, because it keeps +their neighbours poor, while they are subjected to vast expense in the +effort to keep them from rebelling against taxation. They maintain +great fleets and armies, at enormous expense, for the purpose of +keeping up a system that destroys their customers and themselves; and +this they must continue to do so long as they shall hold to the +doctrine which teaches that the only way to secure a fair remuneration +to capital is to keep the price of labour down, because it is one that +produces discord and slavery, abroad and at home; whereas, under that +of peace, hope, and freedom, they would need neither fleets nor +armies. + +It is to the country of Hampden and Sidney that the world _should_ be +enabled to look for advice in all matters affecting the cause of +freedom; and it is to her that all _would_ look, could her statesmen +bring themselves to understand how destructive to herself and them is +the system of centralization she now seeks to establish. As it is, +slavery grows in all the countries under her control, and freedom +grows in no single country of the world but those which protect +themselves against her system. It is time that the enlightened and +liberal men of England should study the cause of this fact; and +whenever they shall do so they will find a ready explanation of the +growing pauperism, immorality, gloom, and slavery of their own +country; and they will then have little difficulty in understanding +that the protective tariffs of all the advancing nations of Europe are +but measures of resistance to a system of enormous oppression, and +that it is in that direction that the people of this country are to +look for _the true and only road to freedom of trade and the freedom +of man_. + +It is time that such men should ask themselves whether or not their +commercial policy can, by any possibility, aid the cause of freedom, +abroad or at home. The nations of the world are told of the "free and +happy people" of England; but when they look to that country to +ascertain the benefits of freedom, they meet with frightful pauperism, +gross immorality, infanticide to an extent unknown in any other part +of the civilized world, and a steadily increasing division of the +people into two great classes--the very rich and the very poor--with +an universal tendency to "fly from ills they know," in the hope of +obtaining abroad the comfort and happiness denied them at home. Can +this benefit the cause of freedom?--The nations are told of the +enlightened character of the British government, and yet, when they +look to Ireland, they can see nothing but poverty, famine, and +pestilence, to end in the utter annihilation of a nation that has +given to England herself many of her most distinguished men. If they +look to India, they see nothing but poverty, pestilence, famine, and +slavery; and if they cast their eyes toward China, they see the whole +power of the nation put forth to compel a great people to submit to +the fraudulent introduction of a commodity, the domestic production of +which is forbidden because of its destructive effects upon the morals, +the happiness, and the lives of the community.[217] + +--The nations are told that England + + "Is the asylum of nations, and that it _will defend the asylum to the + last ounce of its treasure and the last drop of its blood_. There + is," continues _The Times_, "no point whatever on which we are + prouder or more resolute." + +Nevertheless, when they look to the countries of Europe that furnish +the refugees who claim a place in this asylum, they see that England +is everywhere at work to prevent the people from obtaining the means +of raising themselves in the social scale. So long as they shall +continue purely agricultural, they must remain poor, weak, and +enslaved, and their only hope for improvement is from that association +of the loom and the plough which gave to England her freedom; and yet +England is everywhere their opponent, seeking to annihilate the power +of association.--The nations are told of the vast improvement of +machinery, by aid of which man is enabled to call to his service the +great powers of nature, and thus improve not only his material but his +intellectual condition; but, when they look to the colonies and to the +allies of England, they see everywhere a decay of intellect; and when +they look to the independent countries, they see her whole power put +forth to prevent them from doing any thing but cultivate the earth and +exhaust the soil. It is time that enlightened Englishmen should look +carefully at these things, and answer to themselves whether or not +they are thus promoting the cause of freedom. That they are not, must +be the answer of each and every such man. That question answered, it +will be for them to look to see in which direction lies the path of +duty; and fortunate will it be if they can see that interest and duty +can be made to travel in company with each other. + +To the women of England much credit is due for having brought this +question before the world. It is one that should have for them the +deepest interest. Wherever man is unable to obtain machinery, he is +forced to depend on mere brute labour; and he is then so poor that his +wife must aid him in the labours of the field, to her own degradation, +and to the neglect of her home, her husband, her children, and +herself. She is then the most oppressed of slaves. As men obtain +machinery, they obtain command of great natural agents, and mind +gradually takes the place of physical force; and then labour in the +field becomes more productive, and the woman passes from out-of-door +to in-door employments, and with each step in this direction she is +enabled to give more care to her children, her husband, and herself. +From being a slave, and the mother of slaves, she passes to becoming a +free woman, the mother of daughters that are free, and the instructor +of those to whom the next generation is to look for instruction. + +The English system looks to confining the women of the world to the +labours of the field, and such is its effect everywhere. It looks, +therefore, to debasing and enslaving them and their children. The +other looks to their emancipation from slavery, and their elevation in +the social scale; and it can scarcely fail to be regarded by the women +as well as by the men of England as a matter of duty to inquire into +the grounds upon which their policy is based, and to satisfy +themselves if it can be possible that there is any truth in a system +which tends everywhere to the production of slavery, and therefore to +the maintenance of the slave trade throughout the world. + + + + +FOOTNOTES: + + +[1] Edwards' West Indies, vol. i. p. 255. + +[2] Macpherson's Annals of Commerce, vol. iii. 575. + +[3] Macpherson's Annals of Commerce, vol. iv. 155. + +[4] Martin's Colonial Library, West Indies, vol. i. 90. + +[5] Macpherson, vol. iv. 155. + +[6] Ibid. + +[7] Montgomery's West Indies, vol. ii. 114 + +[8] Macpherson, vol. iv. 155, 228. + +[9] Macpherson, vol. iv. 155. + +[10] The export to the foreign West Indies, from 1783 to 1787, is + given by Macpherson at nearly 20,000. + +[11] The causes of these diminutions will be exhibited in a future + chapter. + +[12] Macpherson, vol. iv. 144. + +[13] The Cape and the Kaffirs, by Harriet Ward, London, 1852. + +[14] Notes on Jamaica in 1850, p. 64. + +[15] Ibid. 68. + +[16] State and Prospects of Jamaica. + +[17] The Corentyne. + +[18] East bank of Berbice river. + +[19] West ditto. + +[20] West coast of Berbice. + +[21] Prospective Review, Nov. 1852, 504. + +[22] The Celt, the Roman, and the Saxon, by Thomas Wright, p. 87. + +[23] Ibid. p. 56. + +[24] Where population and wealth diminish, the rich soils are + abandoned and men retire to the poorer ones, as is seen in the + abandonment of the delta of Egypt, of the Campagna, of the valley + of Mexico, and of the valleys of the Tigris and the Euphrates. + +[25] The land of England itself has become and is becoming more + consolidated, the cause of which will be shown in a future + chapter. + +[26] Dallas's History of the Maroons, vol. i. page c. + +[27] Macpherson, vol. iii. 394. + +[28] Ibid. 574. + +[29] Ibid. vol. iv. 255. + +[30] Dallas's History of the Maroons, vol. i. cvii. + +[31] Ibid. cv. + +[32] Dallas's History of the Maroons, vol. ii. 358. + +[33] See page 14, _ante_. + +[34] Coleridge's "Six Months in the West Indies," 131. + +[35] See pages 71-2, _ante_. + +[36] Martin's West Indies. + +[37] Tooke's History of Prices, vol. ii. 412. + +[38] The reader who may desire to see this law fully demonstrated, may + do so on referring to the author's Principles of Political + Economy, vol. i. chap. v. + +[39] Bigelow, Notes, 129. + +[40] Ibid, 31. + +[41] Ibid, 69. + +[42] Bigelow, 125. + +[43] Speech of Mr. James Wilson, December 10, 1852. On the same + occasion it was stated that "the lower orders" are daily "putting + aside all decency," while "the better class appear to have lost + all hope," and that the Governor, Sir Charles Grey, "described + things as going on from bad to worse." The cholera had carried + off, as was stated, 40,000 persons. + +[44] The following case illustrates in a very striking manner the + value that is given to things that must be wasted among an + exclusively agricultural population,--and it is but one of + thousands that might be adduced: + + WHAT OLD BONES AND BITS OF SKIN MAY BE GOOD FOR.--How to get a + penny-worth of beauty out of old bones and bits of skin, is a + problem which the French gelatine makers have solved very + prettily. Does the reader remember some gorgeous sheets of + colored gelatine in the French department of the Great + Exhibition? We owed them to the slaughter-houses of Paris. These + establishments are so well organized and conducted, that all the + refuse is carefully preserved, to be applied to any purposes for + which it may be deemed fitting. Very pure gelatine is made from + the waste fragments of skin, bone, tendon, ligature, and + gelatinous tissue of the animals slaughtered in the Parisian + _abbatoirs_, and thin sheets of this gelatine are made to receive + very rich and beautiful colors. As a gelatinous liquid, when + melted, it is used in the dressing of woven stuffs, and in the + clarification of wine; and as a solid, it is cut into threads for + the ornamental uses of the confectioner, or made into very thin + white sheets of _papier glace_, for copying, drawing, or applied + to the making of artificial flowers, or used as a substitute for + paper, on which gold printing may be executed. In good sooth, + when an ox has given us our beef, and our leather, and our + tallow, his career of usefulness is by no means ended; we can get + a penny out of him as long as there is a scrap of his substance + above ground--_Household Words_. + +[45] The superficial area of the State is 64,000 square miles, being + greater than that of England, and double that of Ireland. + +[46] Despotism in America, 127. + +[47] De Bow's Commercial Review, new series, vol. ii. 137. + +[48] The tobacco grower "has the mortification of seeing his tobacco, + bought from him at sixpence in bond, charged three shillings + duty, and therefore costing the broker but 3s. 6d. and selling in + the shops of London at ten, twelve, and sixteen shillings." + (Urquhart's Turkey, 194.) The same writer informs his readers + that the tobacco dealers were greatly alarmed when it was + proposed that the duty should be reduced, because then everybody + with £10 capital could set up a shop. The slave who works in the + tobacco-field is among the largest taxpayers for the maintenance + of foreign traders and foreign governments. + +[49] Statistique de l'Agriculture de la France, 129. + +[50] Urquhart's Resources of Turkey, 179. + +[51] Equivalent to light port-charges, the anchorage being only + sixteen cents per ship. + +[52] Beaujour's Tableau du Commerce de la Greece, quoted by Urquhart, + 47. + +[53] Urquhart, 150. + +[54] The recent proceedings in regard to the Turkish loan are + strikingly illustrative of the exhausting effects of a system that + looks wholly to the export of the raw produce of the earth, and + thus tends to the ruin of the soil and of its owner. + +[55] Urquhart, 257. + +[56] Ibid. 202. + +[57] Turkey, and its Destiny, by C. Mac Farlane, Esq., 1850. + +[58] Mac Farlane, vol. i, 46. + +[59] Mac Farlane, vol. ii, 242. + +[60] Ibid. 296. + +[61] Ibid. vol. i. 37. + +[62] History of British India, vol. i. 46. + +[63] Historical Fragments, 402. + +[64] "The country was laid waste with fire and sword, and that land + distinguished above most others by the cheerful face of fraternal + government and protected labour, the chosen seat of cultivation + and plenty, is now almost throughout a dreary desert covered with + rushes and briers, and jungles full of wild beasts. * * * That + universal, systematic breach of treaties, which had made the + British faith proverbial in the East! These intended rebellions + are one of the Company's standing resources. When money has been + thought to be hoarded up anywhere, its owners are universally + accused of rebellion, until they are acquitted of their money and + their treasons at once! The money once taken, all accusation, + trial, and punishment ends."--_Speech on Fox's East India Bill_. + +[65] Quoted in Thompson's Lectures on India, 61. + +[66] Colonel Sykes states the proportion collected in the Deccan as + much less than is above given + +[67] Rickards, vol. i. 288. + +[68] Vol. ii. 218. + +[69] Rickards, vol i. 500. + +[70] Ibid. 559. + +[71] Ibid. 558. + +[72] Ibid. 558. + +[73] Campbell's Modern India, London, 1852, 356. + +[74] Campbell's Modern India, 357. + +[75] Baines's History of the Cotton Manufacture. + +[76] Campbell's Modern India, 332. + +[77] Ibid. 381. + +[78] Campbell's Modern India, 105. + +[79] Rambles in India, by Col. Sleeman, vol. i. p. 296. + +[80] Speech of Mr. G. Thompson in the House of Commons. + +[81] See page 133 _ante_. + +[82] Chapman's Commerce and Cotton of India, 74. + +[83] Chapman, Cotton and Commerce of India, 28. + +[84] Taking the last six of the thirteen years, the price of cotton + was 2d. a pound, and if the produce of a beegah was 6s. 6d., of + this the government took sixty-eight per cent. of the gross + produce; and taking the two years 1841 and 1842, cotton was 1-3/4 + d. a pound, and the produce of a beegah was 5s. 8d. On this the + assessment was actually equal to seventy-eight per cent. on the + gross produce of the land.--_Speech of Mr. Bright in the House of + Commons_. + +[85] Chapman's Commerce and Cotton of India, 110. + +[86] Chapman, 167. + +[87] Rambles, vol. i. 205. + +[88] Ibid. 268. + +[89] Ibid. vol. ii. 147. + +[90] Ibid. 153. + +[91] Ibid. 185. + +[92] Ibid. 199. + +[93] Chapman, 97. + +[94] Thompson's Lectures on India, 57. + +[95] Ibid. 185. + +[96] Chapman, 22. + +[97] Ibid, 25. + +[98] Rambles in India, vol. ii. 109. + +[99] Modern India, 394 + +[100] Thompson, Lectures on India, 25. + +[101] The destruction of life in China from this extension of the + market for the produce of India is stated at no less than 400,000 + per annum. How this trade is regarded in India itself, by + Christian men, may be seen from the following extract from a + review, recently published in the Bombay _Telegraph_, of papers + in regard to it published in Hunt's Merchants' Magazine, in which + the review is now republished:-- + + "That a professedly Christian government should, by its sole + authority and on its sole responsibility, produce a drug which is + not only contraband, but essentially detrimental to the best + interests of humanity; that it should annually receive into its + treasury crores of rupees, which, if they cannot, save by a too + licentious figure, be termed 'the price of blood,' yet are + demonstrably the price of the physical waste, the social + wretchedness, and moral destruction of the Chinese; and yet that + no sustained remonstrances from the press, secular or spiritual, + nor from society, should issue forth against the unrighteous + system, is surely an astonishing fact in the history of our + Christian ethics. + + "_An American, accustomed to receive from us impassioned + arguments against his own nation on account of slavery, might + well be pardoned were he to say to us, with somewhat of + intemperate feeling, 'Physician, heal thyself_,' and to expose + with bitterness the awful inconsistency of Britain's vehement + denunciation of American slavery, while, by most deadly measures, + furthering Chinese demoralization." + + The review, in referring to the waste of human life, closes as + follows:-. + + "What unparalleled destruction! The immolations of an Indian + Juggernauth dwindle into insignificance before it! We again + repeat, nothing but slavery is worthy to be compared for its + horrors with this monstrous system of iniquity. As we write, we + are amazed at the enormity of its unprincipledness, and the large + extent of its destructiveness. Its very enormity seems in some + measure to protect it. Were it a minor evil, it seems as though + one might grapple with it. As it is, it is beyond the compass of + our grasp. No words are adequate to expose its evil, no fires of + indignant feeling are fierce enough to blast it. + + "The enormous wealth it brings into our coffers is its only + justification, the cheers of vice-enslaved wretches its only + welcome; the curses of all that is moral and virtuous in an + empire of three hundred and sixty millions attend its + introduction; the prayers of enlightened Christians deprecate its + course; the indignation of all righteous minds is its only + 'God-speed.' + + "It takes with it fire and sword, slaughter and death; it leaves + behind it bankrupt fortunes, idiotized minds, broken hearts, and + ruined souls. Foe to all the interests of humanity, hostile to + the scanty virtues of earth; and warring against the overflowing + benevolence of heaven, may we soon have to rejoice over its + abolition!" + +[102] Campbell, 390. + +[103] Ibid. 393. + +[104] Campbell, 384. + +[105] Ibid. 377. + +[106] Campbell, 359. + +[107] Ibid. 332. + +[108] Ibid. 345 + +[109] Chapman on the Commerce of India, 88. + +[110] Lawson's Merchants' Magazine, January, 1853, 58. + +[111] Ibid. 51. + +[112] See page 140, _ante_. + +[113] Backhouse's Visit to the Mauritius, 35. + +[114] The danger of interference, even with the best intentions, when + unaccompanied by knowledge, is thus shown by the same author, in + speaking of Madagascar:-- + + "Dreadful wars are waged by the queen against other parts of the + island, in which all the male prisoners above a certain stature + are put to death, and the rest made slaves. This she is enabled + to effect, by means of the standing army which her predecessor + Radama was recommended to keep by the British. * * How lamentable + is the reflection that the British nation, with the good + intention of abolishing the slave trade, should have strengthened + despotic authority and made way for all its oppressive and + depopulating results, by encouraging the arts of war instead of + those of peace!"--P. 24. + +[115] Thompson's Lectures on British India, 187. + +[116] Lawson's Merchants' Magazine, January, 1853, 14. + +[117] Bigelow's "Jamaica in 1850," 17. + +[118] Sophisms of Free Trade, by J. Barnard Byles, Esq. + +[119] Speech of Mr. T. F. Meagher, 1847. + +[120] The following paragraph from an Irish journal exhibits + strikingly the amount of political freedom exercised at the scene + of these evictions:-- + + "Lord Erne held his annual show in Ballindreat, on Monday, the + 25th ult, and after having delivered himself much as usual in + regard to agricultural matters, he proceeded to lecture the + assembled tenants on the necessity of implicit obedience to those + who were placed over them, in reference not only to practical + agriculture, but the elective franchise. To such of the tenants + as his lordship considered to be of the right stamp, and who + proved themselves so by voting for Sir Edmund Hayes and Thomas + Connolly, Esq., the 15 per cent. in full would be allowed--to + those who split their votes between one or other of these + gentlemen and Campbell Johnston, Esq., 7-1/2 per cent.; but to + the men who had the manliness to 'plump' for Johnston, no + reduction of rents would be allowed this year, or any other until + such parties might redeem their character at another + election."--_Cork Examiner_, Nov. 8, 1852. + +[121] Thornton on Over-population, 248. + +[122] Ibid. 250. + +[123] McCulloch, Stat. Acct. of British Empire, vol. I. 315. + +[124] Times Newspaper, June 7th, 1844. + +[125] Report of Highland Emigration Committee, 1841. + +[126] Lectures on the Social and Moral Condition of the People, by + various Ministers of the Gospel. Glasgow. + +[127] See page 71, _ante_. + +[128] Kay's Social Condition of England and of Europe, vol. i. 70 + +[129] Ibid. 359. + +[130] Kay's Social Condition of England and of Europe, vol. 1, 183. + +[131] On a recent occasion in the House of Lords, it was declared to + be important to retain Canada, on the express ground that it + greatly facilitated smuggling. + +[132] Alton Locke. + +[133] Lord Ashley informs us that there are 30,000 poor children such + as these in London alone. + +[134] Reports of the Health of Towns Commission, vol. i. 127. + +[135] City Mission Magazine, Oct. 1847. + +[136] See page 224, _ante_. + +[137] The import of 1850 was 103,713 lbs., and that of 1852, 251,792 + lbs. + +[138] The reader who may desire to see this more fully exhibited is + referred to the author's work, "The Past, the Present, and the + Future." + +[139] See page 59, _ante_. + +[140] "It may be doubted, considering the circumstances under which + most Irish landlords acquired their estates, the difference + between their religious tenets and those of their tenants, the + peculiar tenures under which the latter hold their lands, and the + political condition of the country, whether their residence would + have been of any considerable advantage. * * * The question + really at issue refers merely to the _spending_ of revenue, and + has nothing to do with the improvement of estates; and + notwithstanding all that has been said to the contrary, I am not + yet convinced that absenteeism is, in this respect, at all + injurious."--_Principles_, 157. + +[141] Treatises and Essays on Subjects connected with Economical + Policy. + +[142] Chapman, Commerce of India. + +[143] During all this time there was a large increase in the import of + food from Ireland; and this, of course, constituted a portion of + domestic produce exported in the shape of manufactures, the whole + proceeds of which were to be retained at home. Since 1846, the + change in that country has been so great that she is now a large + importer of foreign grain. The official return for 1849 shows a + diminution in the quantity raised, as compared with 1844, of no + less than 9,304,607 quarters; and instead of sending to England, + as she had been accustomed to do, more than three millions of + quarters, she was an importer in that year and the following one + of more than a million. This deficiency had to be made up from + abroad, and thus was the United Kingdom transformed from the + position of seller of four or five millions of quarters--say about + 40 millions of our bushels--of which it retained the _whole + proceeds_, to that of the mere shopkeeper, who retains only the + _profit_ on the same quantity. A similar state of things might be + shown in regard to many of the other articles of produce above + enumerated. + +[144] in 1834, Mr. McCulloch estimated the produce of the land of + great Britain at 146 millions, but at that time wheat was + calculated at 50s. A quarter, or almost one-half more than the + average of the last two or three years. Other and larger + calculations may readily be found; but it would be difficult to + determine what becomes of the product if it be not found in rent, + farmers' profits, or labourers' wages. + +[145] By reference to the report of the Assistant Commissioner, + charged with the inquiry into the condition of women and children + employed in agriculture, it will be seen that a change of clothes + seems to be out of the question. The upper parts of the + under-clothes of women at work, even their stays, quickly become + wet with perspiration, while the lower parts cannot escape getting + equally wet in nearly every kind of work in which they are + employed, except in the driest weather. It not unfrequently + happens that a woman, on returning from work, is obliged to go to + bed for an hour or two to allow her clothes to be dried. It is + also by no means uncommon for her, if she does not do this, to put + them on again the next morning nearly as wet as when she took them + off. + +[146] _London Labour and London Poor_. + +[147] The returns of imports into Great Britain are given according to + an official value, established more than a century since, and + thus the sum of the values is an exact measure of the quantities + imported. + +[148] The reader will remark that of all the machinery of England but + a small portion is required for the _forced_ foreign trade that is + thus produced. + +[149] The whole appropriation for the education of ten millions of + people in Western India is stated, in recent memorial from Bombay, + to be only £12,500, or $60,000, being six cents for every ten + persons. + +[150] North British Review, Nov. 1852. + +[151] Edinburgh Review, Oct. 1849. The italics are those of the +reviewer. + +[152] See page 160, _ante_. + +[153] Lawson's Merchants' Mag., Dec. 1852. + +[154] Senior, Outlines of Political Economy, 152. + +[155] At a recent discussion in the London Statistical Society, land + in England was valued at thirty years' purchase, houses at + fifteen, and land in Ireland at eighteen. + +[156] This will appear a very small estimate when compared with those + usually made, but it is equal to the total production of the land + and labour of the country for a year and a half, if not for a + longer period; and it would be difficult to prove that if the + whole labour and capital of the country were applied to that + purpose--food and clothing being supplied from abroad--it could + not produce a quantity of commodities equal in value to those now + accumulated in England. Even, however, were the amount placed at a + thousand millions, the amount of wealth would still be small, + under the circumstances of the case. + +[157] See page 105 _ante_. + +[158] The latest number of the Bankers' Magazine contains statements + of two banks whose joint capitals and reserved funds are about + £200,000, while their investments are about a million!--and this, + would seem to be about the usual state of affairs with most of the + English banks. + +[159] Bankers' Magazine, Sept. 1852 + +[160] The amount of expenditure for English railroads is put down at + from two to three hundreds of millions of pounds; and yet the + real investment was only that of the labour employed in grading + the roads, building the bridges, driving the tunnels, and making + the iron; and if we take that at £8000 per mile, we obtain only + 54 millions. All the balance was merely a transfer of property + already existing from one owner to another, as in the case of the + land, which in some cases cost ten or twelve thousands of pounds + per mile. + +[161] See page 240, _ante_. + +[162] North British Review, Nov. 1852. + +[163] This tendency is exhibited in most of the books that treat of + the system. Thus, Mr. McCulloch insists on the beneficial effect + of _the fear_ of taxation, as will be seen in the following + passage:-- + + "To the desire of rising in the world, implanted in the breast of + every individual, an increase of taxation superadds the fear of + being cast down to a lower station, of being deprived of + conveniences and gratifications which habit has rendered all but + indispensable--and the combined influence of the two principles + produces results that could not be produced by the unassisted + agency of either." + + This is only the lash of the slave-driver in another form. + +[164] Barter, The Dorp and the Veld. + +[165] Estimating the average cost of raising men and women at only + $1000 each, the present forced export is equal to sending abroad a + capital of four hundred millions of dollars, no return from which + is to be looked for. + +[166] The recent movement of this institution in raising the rate of + interest affords a striking example of its power, and of the + absence of the judgment required for its exercise. For two years + past the bank has aided in raising prices, but now it desires to + reduce them, and at the cost, necessarily, of the weaker portions + of the community, for the rich can always take care of + themselves. The whole tendency of its operations is toward making + the rich richer and the poor poorer. Sir Robert Peel undertook to + regulate the great machine, but his scheme for that purpose + failed, because he totally misconceived the cause of the evil, + and of course applied the wrong remedy. It was one that could + only aggravate the mischief, as he could scarcely have failed to + see, had he studied the subject with the care its importance + merited. + +[167] Page 230, _ante_. + +[168] Chap. VII. _ante_. + +[169] Message of President Roberts, Dec. 1849 + +[170] Lecture on the Relations of Free and Slave Labour, by David + Christy, p. 46. + +[171] The Social Condition and Education of the People of England and + Europe, i. 256. + +[172] Handbuch der Allgemeinen Staatskunde, vol. ii. 5, quoted by Kay, + vol. i., 120. + +[173] Until recently, the increase of Great Britain has been slightly + greater than that of Prussia, the former having grown at the rate + of 1.95 per cent. per annum, and the latter at that of 1.84; but + the rate of growth of the former has recently much diminished, and + all growth has now probably ceased. + +[174] Die Agrarfrage. + +[175] Etudes sur l'Economie Politique. + +[176] Page 51, _ante_. + +[177] In no other country than England would the editor of a daily + journal inflict upon his readers throughout the kingdom whole + columns occupied with the names of persons present at a private + entertainment, and with the dresses of the ladies. Where + centralization has reached a height like this, we need scarcely + be surprised to learn that there is but one _paying_ daily + newspaper for a population of more than seventeen millions. + +[178] Rural and Domestic Life in Germany, 27. + +[179] Pictures from St. Petersburg, by E. Jerrmann, 22. + +[180] Pictures from St. Petersburg, 23. + +[181] The cargo of a ship that has recently sailed is stated to have + consisted of more than a thousand females. + +[182] Laing's Denmark and the Duchies, London, 1852, 299. + +[183] Quoted by Kay, Social and Political Condition of England and the + Continent, vol. i. 91. + +[184] Denmark and the Duchies, 42. + +[185] Ibid. 136. + +[186] Denmark and the Duchies, 368. + +[187] Ibid. 394. + +[188] Ibid. 388. + +[189] Denmark and the Duchies, 362. + +[190] Denmark and the Duchies, 294. + +[191] Denmark and the Duchies, 269. + +[192] _L'Espàgne en_ 1850, par M. Maurice Block, 145. + +[193] Ibid. pp. 157-159. + +[194] Bayard Taylor, in the _N. Y. Tribune_. + +[195] _L'Espàgne en_ 1850, 160. + +[196] Spain, her Institutions, her Politics, and her Public Men, by + S. T. Wallis, 341. + +[197] The exact amount given by M. Block is 2,194,269,000 francs, but + he does not state in what year the return was made. + +[198] By an official document published in 1849, it appears that while + wheat sold in Barcelona and Tarragona (places of consumption) at + an average of more than 25 francs, the price at Segovia, in Old + Castile, (a place of production,) not 300 miles distant, was less + than 10 francs for the same quantity.--_L'Espàgne en_ 1850, 131. + +[199] North British Review, Nov. 1852, art. _The Modern Exodus_. + +[200] M. de Jonnes, quoted by Mr. Wallis, p. 295. + +[201] Wallis's Spain, chap: ix. + +[202] It is a striking evidence of the injurious moral effect produced + by the system which looks to the conversion of all the other + nations of the world into mere farmers and planters, that + Mr. Macgregor, in his work of Commercial Statistics, says, in + speaking of the Methuen treaty, "we do not deny that there were + advantages in having a market for our woollens in Portugal, + especially one, of which, if not the principal, was the means + afforded of sending them afterward by contraband into + Spain."--Vol. ii. 1122. + +[203] In the first half of this period the export was small, whereas + in the last one, 1836 to 1840, it must have been in excess of the + growth of population. + +[204] From 1842 to 1845 the average crop was 2,250,000 bales, or half + a million more than the average of the four previous years. From + 1847 to 1850 the average was only 2,260,000 bales, and the price + rose, which could not have been the case had the slave trade been + as brisk between 1840 and 1845 as it had been between 1835 and + 1840. + +[205] See page 108, _ante_, for the sale of the negroes of the Saluda + Manufacturing Company. + +[206] The following passage from one of the journals of the day is + worthy of careful perusal by those who desire to understand the + working of the present system of revenue duties, under which the + mills and furnaces of the country have to so great an extent been + closed, and the farmers and planters of the country to so great + an extent been driven to New York to make all their exchanges:-- + + "Mr. Matsell [chief of police, New York] tells us that during the + six months ending 31st December, 1852, there have been 19,901 + persons arrested for various offences, giving a yearly figure of + nearly 40,000 arrests. * * * The number of arrests being 40,000, + or thereabouts, in a population of say 600,000, gives a + percentage of 6.6 on the whole number of inhabitants. We have no + data to estimate the state of crime in Paris under the imperial + _régime_; but in London the returns of the metropolitan police + for 1850, show 70,827 arrests, out of a population of some two + millions and a half, giving a percentage of less than three on + the whole number of inhabitants. Thus crimes are in New York + rather more than twice as frequent as in London. Indeed, if we + make proper allowance for the superior vigilance, and + organization of the metropolitan police of London, and for the + notorious inefficiency of our own police force, we shall + probably find that, in proportion to the population, there is in + New York twice as much crime as in London. This is an appalling + fact--a disgraceful disclosure."--_New York Herald_, March 21, + 1853. + +[207] North British Review, Nov. 1852. + +[208] See Uncle Tom's Cabin, chap. xxxi. + +[209] Letters to Lord Aberdeen, by the Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone, 9, + 10, 12. + +[210] Rev. Sidney Smith. + +[211] See page 109, _ante_. + +[212] It is commonly supposed that the road toward freedom lies + through cheapening the products of slave labour; but the reader + may readily satisfy himself that it is in that direction lies + slavery. Freedom grows with growing wealth, not growing + poverty. To increase the cost of raising slaves, and thus to + _increase the value of man at home_, produces exactly the effect + anticipated from the other course of operation, because the value + of the land and its produce grows more rapidly than the value of + that portion of the negro's powers that can be obtained from him + as a slave--that is, without the payment of wages. + +[213] See page 280, _ante_. + +[214] The following statement of the operations of the past year + completes the picture presented in Chapter IV.:-- + + "A tabular return, prepared by order of the House of Assembly of + Jamaica, exhibiting the properties in that island 'upon which + cultivation has been wholly or partially abandoned since the 1st + day of January, 1852,' presents in a striking light one of the + many injurious consequences that have followed the measure of + negro emancipation in the British West Indies. The return, which + is dated January 27, 1853, shows that 128 sugar estates have been + totally abandoned during the year, and 71 partially abandoned; of + coffee plantations, 96 have been totally, and 56 partially, + abandoned; of country seats--residences of planters or their + agents--30 have been totally, and 22 partially, abandoned. The + properties thus nearly or wholly ruined by the ill-considered + legislation of the British Parliament cover an area of 391,187 + acres." + +[215] _Economist_, (London,) Feb. 12, 1863. + +[216] Spectator, Feb. 12, 1853. + +[217] The net revenue from the opium trade, for the current year, is + stated to be no less than four millions of pounds sterling, or + nearly twenty millions of dollars; and it is to that revenue, + says _The Friend of India_, Nov. 25, 1852, that the Indian + government has been indebted for its power to carry on the wars + since 1838, those of Affghanistan, Seinde, Gwalior, the Punjab, + and that now existing with Burmah. Well is it asked by Dr. Allen, + in his pamphlet on "The Opium Trade," (Lowell, 1853,) "Can such + an unrighteous course in a nation always prosper?" "How," says + the same author, "can the Chinese + + "Regard the English in any other light than wholesale smugglers + and wholesale dealers in poison? The latter can expend annually + over two millions of dollars on the coast of Great Britain to + protect its own revenue laws, but at the same time set at bold + defiance similar laws of protection enacted by the former. The + English are constantly supplying the Chinese a deadly poison, + with which thousands yearly put an end to their existence. In + England, even the druggists are expressly forbidden to sell + arsenic, laudanum, or other poison, if they have the least + suspicion that their customer intends to commit suicide. But in + China every facility is afforded and material supplied under the + British flag, and sanctioned by Parliament itself, for wholesale + slaughter. How long will an enlightened and Christian nation + continue to farm and grow a means of vice, with the proceeds of + which, even when in her possession, a benighted and pagan nation + disdains to replenish her treasury, being drawn from the ruin and + misery of her people? Where is the consistency or humanity of a + nation supporting armed vessels on the coast of Africa to + intercept and rescue a few hundreds of her sons from a foreign + bondage, when, at the same time, she is forging chains to hold + millions on the coast of China in a far more hopeless bondage? + And what must the world think of the religion of a nation that + consecrates churches, ordains ministers of the gospel, and sends + abroad missionaries of the cross, while, in the mean time, it + encourages and upholds a vice which is daily inflicting misery + and death upon more than four millions of heathen? And what must + be the verdict of future generations, as they peruse the history + of these wrongs and outrages? Will not the page of history, which + now records £20,000,000 as consecrated on the altar of humanity + to emancipate 800,000 slaves, lose all its splendour and become + positively odious, when it shall be known that this very money + was obtained from the proceeds of a contraband traffic on the + shores of a weak and defenceless heathen empire, at the + sacrifice, too, of millions upon millions of lives?" + + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE TRADE, DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN *** + +This file should be named slvtr10.txt or slvtr10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, slvtr11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, slvtr10a.txt + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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