Imagens das páginas
PDF
ePub

manufacture, the machinery employed was to restrain, by high duties, the importation of much more imperfect in those ancient, than foreign manufactures, but rather to encourit is in the present times. It has since re-age it, in order that merchants might be enceived three very capital improvements, be- abled to supply, at as easy a rate as possible, sides, probably, many smaller ones, of which the great men with the conveniencies and luxit may be difficult to ascertain either the num- uries which they wanted, and which the inber or the importance. The three capital im-dustry of their own country could not afford provements are, first, the exchange of the rock them.

Conclusion of the Chapter.

and spindle for the spinning-wheel, which, The consideration of these circumstances with the same quantity of labour, will perform may, perhaps, in some measure explain to us more than double the quantity of work. Se- why, in those ancient times, the real price of condly, the use of several very ingenious ma- the coarse manufacture was, in proportion to chines, which facilitate and abridge, in a still that of the fine, so much lower than in the greater proportion, the winding of the worsted present times. and woollen yarn, or the proper arrangement of the warp and woof before they are put into the loom; an operation which, previous to the invention of those machines, must have been extremely tedious and troublesome.- I shall conclude this very long chapter with Thirdly, the employment of the fulling-mill observing, that every improvement in the cirfor thickening the cloth, instead of treading cumstances of the society tends, either directit in water. Neither wind nor water mills of ly or indirectly, to raise the real rent of land any kind were known in England so early as to increase the real wealth of the landlord, his the beginning of the sixteenth century, nor, power of purchasing the labour, or the proso far as I know, in any other part of Europe duce of the labour of other people. north of the Alps. They had been introduced into Italy some time before.

The extension of improvement and cultiva tion tends to raise it directly. The landlord's share of the produce necessarily increases with the increase of the produce.

The consideration of these circumstances may, perhaps, in some measure, explain to us why the real price both of the coarse and of That rise in the real price of those parts of the fine manufacture was so much higher in the rude produce of land, which is first the those ancient than it is in the present times. effect of the extended improvement and cultiIt cost a greater quantity of labour to bring vation, and afterwards the cause of their bethe goods to market. When they were brought ing still further extended, the rise in the price thither, therefore, they must have purchased, of cattle, for example, tends, too, to raise the or exchanged for the price of, a greater quan-rent of land directly, and in a still greater tity.

proportion. The real value of the landlord's share, his real command of the labour of other people, not only rises with the real value of the produce, but the proportion of his share to the whole produce rises with it.

The coarse manufacture probably was, in those ancient times, carried on in England in the same manner as it always has been in countries where arts and manufactures are in their infancy. It was probably a household manufacture, in which every different part of the work was occasionally performed by all the different members of almost every private fainily, but so as to be their work only when they had nothing else to do, and not to be the principal business from which any of them derived the greater part of their subsistence. The All those improvements in the productive work which is performed in this manner, it powers of labour, which tend directly to rehas already been observed, comes always much duce the rent price of manufactures, tend incheaper to market than that which is the prin- directly to raise the real rent of land. The cipal or sole fund of the workman's subsist- landlord exchanges that part of his rude proence. The fine manufacture, on the other duce, which is over and above his own conhand, was not, in those times, carried on in sumption, or, what comes to the same thing, England, but in the rich and commercial the price of that part of it, for manufactured country of Flanders; and it was probably produce. Whatever reduces the real price of conducted then, in the same manner as now, by people who derived the whole, or the principal part of their subsistence from it. It was, besides, a foreign manufacture, and must have paid some duty, the ancient custom of tonnage and poundage at least, to the king. This duty, indeed, would not probably be very Every increase in the real wealth of the soIt was not then the policy of Europe ciety, every increase in the quantity of useful

That produce, after the rise in its real price, requires no more labour to collect it than before. A smaller proportion of it will, therefore, be sufficient to replace, with the ordinary profit, the stock which employs that labour. A greater proportion of it must consequently belong to the landlord.

great.

the latter, raises that of the former. An equal quantity of the former becomes thereby equivalent to a greater quantity of the latter; and the landlord is enabled to purchase a greater quantity of the conveniencies, oruamer ts, or luxuries which he has occasion for.

labour employed within it, tends indirectly to raise the real rent of land. A certain proportion of this labour naturally goes to the land. A greater number of men and cattle are employed in its cultivation, the produce increases with the increase of the stock which is thus employed in raising it, and the rent increases with the produce.

are soon reduced to what is barely enough to
enable him to bring up a family, or to con-
tinue the race of labourers. When the socie-
ty declines, they fall even below this. The
order of proprietors may perhaps gain more
by the prosperity of the society than that of
labourers; but there is no order that suffers
so cruelly from its decline. But though the
interest of the labourer is strictly connected
with that of the society, he is incapable either
of comprehending that interest, or of under-
standing its connexion with his own. His

The contrary circumstances, the neglect of cultivation and improvement, the fall in the real price of any part of the rude produce of land, the rise in the real price of manufactures from the decay of manufacturing art and in- condition leaves him no time to receive the dustry, the declension of the real wealth of necessary information, and his education and the society, all tend, on the other hand, to lower the real rent of land, to reduce the real wealth of the landlord, to diminish his power of purchasing either the labour, or the produce of the labour, of other people.

The whole annual produce of the land and labour of every country, or, what comes to the same thing, the whole price of that annual produce, naturally divides itself, it has already been observed, into three parts; the rent of land, the wages of labour, and the profits of stock; and constitutes a revenue to three different orders of people; to those who live by rent, to those who live by wages, and to those who live by profit. These are the three great, original, and constituent, orders of every civilized society, from whose revenue that of every other order is ultimately derived.

habits are commonly such as to render him
unfit to judge, even though he was fully in-
formed. In the public deliberations, there-
fore, his voice is little heard, and less regard-
ed; except upon particular occasions, when
his clamour is animated, set on, and support-
ed by his employers, not for his, but their
own particular purposes.

His employers constitute the third order, that of those who live by profit. It is the stock that is employed for the sake of profit, which puts into motion the greater part of the useful labour of every society. The plans and projects of the employers of stock regulate and direct all the most important operations of labour, and profit is the end proposed by all those plans and projects. But the rate of profit does not, like rent and wages, rise with The interest of the first of those three great the prosperity, and fall with the declension of orders, it appears from what has been just now the society. On the contrary, it is naturally said, is strictly and inseparably connected with low in rich, and high in poor countries, and the general interest of the society. Whatever it is always highest in the countries which are either promotes or obstructs the one, necessa-going fastest to ruin. The interest of this rily promotes or obstructs the other. When third order, therefore, has not the same conthe public deliberates concerning any regula- nexion with the general interest of the society, tion of commerce or police, the proprietors of as that of the other two. Merchants and land never can mislead it, with a view to pro-master manufacturers are, in this order, the mote the interest of their own particular or- two classes of people who commonly employ der; at least, if they have any tolerable know- the largest capitals, and who by their wealth ledge of that interest. They are, indeed, too draw to themselves the greatest share of the often defective in this tolerable knowledge. public consideration. As during their whole They are the only one of the three orders lives they are engaged in plans and projects, whose revenue costs them neither labour nor they have frequently more acuteness of uncare, but comes to them, as it were, of its own derstanding than the greater part of country accord, and independent of any plan or pro- gentlemen. As their thoughts, however, are ject of their own. That indolence which is commonly exercised rather about the interest the natural effect of the ease and security of of their own particular branch of business their situation, renders them too often, not only ignorant, but incapable of that application of mind, which is necessary in order to foresee and understand the consequence of any public regulation.

than about that of the society, their judgment, even when given with the greatest candour (which it has not been upon every occasion), is much more to be depended upon with regard to the former of those two objects, than The interest of the second order, that of with regard to the latter. Their superiority those who live by wages, is as strictly connected with the interest of the society as that of the first. The wages of the labourer, it has already been shewn, are never so high as when the demand for labour is continually rising, or when the quantity employed is every year increasing considerably. When this real wealth of the society becomes stationary, his wages

over the country gentleman is, not so much in
their knowledge of the public interest, as in
their having a better knowledge of their own
interest than he has of his. It is by this su.
perior knowledge of their own interest that
they have frequently imposed upon his gene
rosity, and persuaded him to give up both his
own interest and that of the public, from s

TE

very simple but honest conviction, that their | benefit, an absurd tax upon the rest of their interest, and not his, was the interest of the fellow-citizens. The proposal of any new law public. The interest of the dealers, however, or regulation of commerce which comes from in any particular branch of trade or manufac- this order, ought always to be listened to with tures, is always in some respects different from, great precaution, and ought never to be adopt and even opposite to, that of the public. To ed till after having been long and carefully widen the market, and to narrow the compe-examined, not only with the most scrupulous, tition, is always the interest of the dealers. but with the most suspicious attention. It To widen the market may frequently be agree- comes from an order of men, whose interest able enough to the interest of the public; but is never exactly the same with that of the pubto narrow the competition must always be lic, who have generally an interest to deceive against it, and can only serve to enable the and even to oppress the public, and who ac dealers, by raising their profits above what cordingly have, upon many occasions, both de theç naturally would be, to levv. for their own ceived and oppressed it.

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]
[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]
[blocks in formation]

PRICES OF THE QUARTER OF NINE BUSHELS OF THE BEST OR HIGHEST PRICED WHEAT AT WINDSOR MARKET, ON LADY-DAY AND MICHAELMAS, FROM 1595 TO 1764, BOTH INCLUSIVE; THE PRICE OF EACH YEAR BEING THE MEDIUM BETWEEN THE HIGHEST PRICES OF THOSE TWA MARKET-DAYS.

Wheat per Quarter.

......

Wheat per Quarter.
Years. L. s. d.
1610...... 1 15 10
1611
1 18 8
1612...... 2 2 4
1613...... 2 8 8
1614 ...... 2 1 84

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small]

1603

1 15 4

1618 2 6 8

[merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small]

1604

1 10 8

[blocks in formation]

1619 1620

[ocr errors][merged small][merged small]

1646

2 8

0

......

1680 ......

2

[merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors]

1681 ...... 2

[merged small][merged small][ocr errors]

1648...... 4 5

0

1682

2

[blocks in formation]

1649...... 4 0 0

[blocks in formation]

1608 ...... 2 16

8

1650...... 3 16 8

1684

2

1609...... 2 10 0

2

1 6

1651...... 3 13

4

[blocks in formation]

1652 ...... 2 9

[blocks in formation]

1653 ...... 1 15 6

[blocks in formation]

1654 ...... 1 6

1656

1655... .1 19 4

...

2 3 0

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

1692 ...... 2

[blocks in formation]
[ocr errors]
[merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small]

......

[blocks in formation]

4

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

1695

2 13

0

1662...... 3 14

[ocr errors]

1696 ...... 311

[ocr errors]

1663 ...... 2 17

[ocr errors]

1697

3 0 0

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors]
« AnteriorContinuar »