ESSAYS

ON

POLITICAL ECONOMY,

&c. &c.

PRELIMINARY.

NATIONAL Wealth may be defined as consisting of those material objects which are necessary, useful, or agreeable to mankind, and at the same time possess value in exchange. These objects are the produce of labour. The labour of every nation is the fund which supplies it with all the necessaries, conveniences, and luxuries which it consumes, and these consist always either in the immediate produce of that labour, or in what is purchased with that produce from other nations.

According, therefore, as the national labour is more or less productive, and according also as its produce is more or less suitable in kind, and in its proper proportions to supply, or to purchase what will supply the wants and desires of those for whose use

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and benefit it is intended, will be the greater or smaller means of enjoyment provided for the community.

The labour of mankind is naturally pursued in a certain order: the necessaries of life are first to be obtained. These form the primary object of every man's pursuit, and all other enjoyments are foregone and set aside for the sake of securing the portion of necessaries required, or the assured means of purchasing them. So long as the requisite supply of necessaries is altogether uncertain, and frequently unattainable, the condition of the people must be miserable, and barbarism will prevail.

In the account of travels to the Source of the Missouri River, and across the American continent, by Captains Lewis and Clarke, there is a statement which conveys a striking illustration of the preceding remark. "After the hunters (from the "United States) had been gone about an hour, Captain Lewis mounted his horse with one of "the Indians behind him, and the whole party set "out; but just as they passed through the narrows,

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they saw one of the (Indian) spies coming at "full speed across the plain. The young Indian "had scarcely breath to say a few words as he "came up, when the whole troop dashed forward "as fast as their horses could carry them, and

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Captain Lewis, astonished at this sudden move

"ment, was borne along for nearly a mile, before "he learned, with great satisfaction, that it was all "caused by the spy's having announced that one "of the white men had killed a deer. Relieved from his anxiety, he now found the jolting very "uncomfortable, for the Indian behind him, being "afraid of not getting his share of the feast, "had lashed the horse at the horse at every step since

they set off; he therefore reined him in, and "ordered the Indian to stop beating him. The "fellow had no idea of losing time in disputing

the point, and jumping off the horse, ran for "a mile at full speed. When the Indians reached "the place where Drewyer (the huntsman) had "thrown out the intestines, they all dismounted "in confusion, and ran tumbling over each other "like famished dogs: each tore away whatever part he could, and instantly began to eat it; "some had the liver, some the kidneys, in short no part, on which we are accustomed to look with disgust, escaped them. It was indeed impos"sible to see those wretches ravenously feeding on "the filth of animals, and the blood streaming from "their mouths, without deploring how nearly the "condition of savages approaches to that of the "brute creation."

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It can only be after an adequate supply of necessaries is secured to individuals, that they are able to afford conveniences and luxuries, or that the taxation of such persons can be productive of im

portant revenue to the state.

When the means of

subsistence, which the labourer earns, are almost inadequate to his support, he cannot well spare any part of the produce of his labour for other purposes than what will provide the necessaries of life.

Supposing that an agriculturist could obtain, from the soil which he cultivates, no greater produce than what afforded him the necessaries absolutely requisite for his own use and consumption, it is evident that he would not apply any part of this produce to the acquisition of other enjoyments were all agriculturists in the like situation, it is certain that conveniences and luxuries could not exist, because there would be no means of subsistence provided for those persons who engaged in any other pursuits than what tend directly to supply the necessaries of life. The number of agriculturists, who are actually in a situation nearly approaching to what is here supposed, proves unfortunately to be far greater than what may, upon first thought, appear to be the fact. A considerable number of the occupiers of small farms in Ireland are unable to raise a greater quantity of produce than what suffices to provide the necessaries of life usually considered in civilized society to be requisite for an individual and his family in such a station; but in consequence of these farmers being obliged to allot a part of their produce for rent and for tithe, their condition is, in common years, that of poverty; in unfavourable