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第27节

political economy-第27节

小说: political economy 字数: 每页4000字

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 hands are in such a degree necessary for agriculture; and manufactures; or trade which serves them; that the guardian professions; equally useful to society; are badly filled up … it is desirable that population continue to increase; that so interior order; security of person and property; may be better protected; health better attended to; the soul better nourished; the mind more enlightened; and that society may be externally defended with sufficient force; comprehending even the rapid recruitment of a sea or land army; which consume population。     This population; indeed; whenever it is required; will quickly be replaced。 But it is not enough that it be replaced; if it cannot find the niche; to which it is destined。 Sometimes a fertile soil is in vain abundant; and remains uncultivated。 There is no chance of the most numerous population assembled in its neighbourhood coming to profit by its resources。 This soil has become the property of a few families; it is declared indivisible and unalienable; it will always pass to a single proprietor; according to the order of primogeniture; without the capacity either to be subjected to an emphyteutic lease; or burdened with a mortgage。 The proprietor has not the capital necessary for its cultivation; he can give no security to such as have this capital; that will engage them to employ it in his land。 Thus the idle population of Rome in vain calls for labour; the waste Campagna di Roma in vain calls for labourers; the social organization is bad; and so long as this shall remain unchanged; the day…labourer will perish from penury; on the surface of fields which; for want of culture; are returning to their wild state; and the population; far from increasing; will diminish。     On the same principle in manufactures; the rich proprietors of Poland will in vain require all the produce of luxury; the bad condition of the roads; prohibiting every distant transport; will in vain present superior advantages to national industry; oppression and servitude destroy all energy; all spirit of enterprise in the lower class。 Elsewhere ruinous monopolies; absurd privileges; affrighting advances; ignorance; barbarity; and want of security; will render the progress of manufactures impossible; no capital will be accumulated to animate them。 In those cases; to increase the population will not increase industry。 The births will in vain be doubled; be quadrupled; during a certain number of years; they will not afford an additional workman; they will only be followed by a proportionably quicker mortality。 The social organization is bad; so long as this shall remain unchanged; population cannot increase。     The guardian population is fed as well as recruited by the other classes。 It is not sufficient that many children are born; unless their parents enjoy a certain degree of opulence; they can never bring them up to the age of men; the prince can never make soldiers of them。 In this case; wars by land or sea will devour the population; whilst they employ only its superfluity; the social organization is good。     The population is always measured; in the long run; by the demand for labour。 Wherever labour is required; and a sufficient wage offered; the workmen will arise to earn it。 The population; with its expansive force; will occupy the place which is found vacant。 Subsistence will also arise for the workmen; or in case of need; be imported。 The same demand which calls a man into existence; will likeWise recompense the agricultural labour which provides him with food。 If the demand for labour cease; the workman will perish; yet not without a struggle; in which not he alone will suffer; but all his brethren and his rivals。 The subsistence which enabled him to live; and which henceforth he cannot pay for; and cannot demand; will; in its turn; cease to be produced。 Thus national happiness rests on the demand for labour; but on a regular and perpetual demand。 For; on the contrary; a demand which is intermittent; after having formed workmen; condemns them to suffering and death: it would be far better if they never had existed。     We have seen that the demand for labour; the cause of production; must be proportional to revenue which supports consumption; that this revenue; in its turn; originates in the national wealth; which wealth is formed and augmented by labour。 Thus; in political economy; all things are linked together; we move constantly in a circle; since each effect becomes a cause in its turn。 Yet all things are progressive; provided that each movement is adjusted to the rest; but all stops; all retrogrades; whenever one of the movements which ought to be combined is disordered。 According to the natural march of things; an augmentation of wealth will produce an augmentation of revenue; from this will arise an increase of consumption; next an increase of labour for reproduction; and therewith of population; and; finally; this new labour will; in its turn; increase the national wealth。 But if; by unreasonable measures; any one of those operations is hastened without regard to all the rest; the whole system is deranged; and the poor are weighed down with suffering; instead of the happiness which was anticipated for them。     The object of society is not fulfilled; so long as the country occupied by this society; presents means of supporting a new population; of enabling it to live in happiness and abundance; whilst yet those means are not resorted to。 The multiplication of happiness over the earth; is the object of Providence; it is stamped in all his works; and the duty of men in their human society is to co…operate in it。     The government which; by oppression of its subjects; by its contempt for justice and order; by the shackles it puts on agriculture and industry; condemns fertile counties to be deserts; sins not against its own subjects alone; its tyranny is a crime against human society; on the whole of which it inflicts suffering; it weakens its rights over the country occupied by it; and as it troubles the enjoyments of all other states; it gives to all others the right of controlling it。 All men are mutually necessary to each other。 Europe has a double need of the subsistence which it might procure from Barbary; if this magnificent shore of Africa were given back to civilization; and from the consumers we should soon find there。 The institution of property is the result of social conventions。 In a society subjected to laws and a regulating government; the interest of each may be implicitly relied on for producing the advantage of all; because the aberrations of this private interest are; in every case of need; limited by public authority。 But; in the great human society formed among independent nations; there is no law or general government to repress the passions of each sovereign: besides; the interest of those sovereigns is not necessarily conformable to that of their subjects; or; to speak more correctly; the one is contrary to the other; whenever the object of the rulers is to maintain their tyranny。 Thus respect for the pretended right of properly claimed by each government over its territory; is not referrible to the right of private property; and; besides; it cannot be reciprocal。 The same circumstances which cause a tyrannical government to impede its own civilization; render it equally incapable of respecting that of its neighbours; and submitting to the laws of nations。     But whilst more than three quarters of the habitable globe are; by the faults of their governments; deprived of the inhabitants they should support; we; at the present day; in almost the whole of Europe; experience the opposite calamity; that of not being able to maintain a superabundant population; which surpasses the proportion of labour required; and which; before dying of poverty; will diffuse its sufferings over the whole class of such as live by the labour of their hands。 For our part; we owe this calamity to the imprudent zeal of our governments。 With us; religious instruction; legislation; social organization; every thing has tended to produce a population; the existence of which was not provided for beforehand。 The labour was not adjusted to the number of men; and; frequently; the same zeal with which it was attempted to multiply the number of births; was afterwards employed; in all arts; to diminish the required number of hands。 The proportion which should subsist in the progress of the different departments of society has been broken; and the suffering has become universal。     Mr Malthus; the first writer who awakened public attention to this calamity under which nations have long suffered; without knowing it; whilst he gave an alarm to legislators; did not reach the true principles which he seemed on the road to find。 On reading his writings; one is stuck at once with an essential error in his reasoning; and with the importance of the facts to which he appeals。 Such confusion; in a matter to which the happiness of man is attached; may produce the most fatal consequences。 By rigorously applying principles deficient in accuracy; the most grievous errors may be committed; and if; on the other hand; the error is discovered; there is a risk of simultaneously rejecting both the observations and the precepts。     Mr 

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