ture owing to the unnatural existing relations of po-

pulation and subsistence

Page

233

CHAPTER XI.-POPULATION AND SUBSISTENCE.-History

of the supply of Food to an increasing People.-Early

limitation of the numbers and resources of Man.-

Hunting State. Pastoral State.-Agricultural State.

-Increased facilities for procuring Subsistence con-

sequent on every Improvement.-Culture of inferior

Soils indicative of increased, not of diminished Re-

sources. Sure Resource of Migration.-Coloniza-

tion. Vast extent of rich Soil yet uncultivated.-Un-

limited capacity of the Globe for the production of

Food.-Misery the result of Crime and Folly, not of

any natural Law.-Food can easily be made to in-

crease faster than Population-as also Capital of every

kind. Folly, mischief, and impiety of the Malthusian

Doctrine.-True direction of prudence to the Increase

of Food and Wealth, not the limitation of numbers

and happiness

CHAPTER XII.-CAUSES OF POVERTY.-Mismanagement

of resources. Faulty Institutions.-Economical struc-

ture and habits of nations.-Errors in all. Preca-

rious position of the bulk of the British people.-His-

tory of the Labouring Class of Britain.-Liberty and

Pauperism coeval.-Origin, principle, means and re-

sults of the Poor-Law.-Prejudice against it.-Use

confounded with abuse.-Its mal-administration.-

Allowance System.-Reform of the Poor-Law.-Pro-

posed Commutation of Poor-Tax for compulsory Mu-

tual Assurance Fund.-Necessity of Poor-Law for

Ireland.-General Scheme of Emigration.-Summary

of means for extinguishing Pauperism

257

293

CHAPTER XIII.-RESTRAINTS ON AGRICULTURE.-Tithe

System.-Local Taxation.-Restrictions on Inclosures 340

CONTENTS.

xxiii

Page

CHAPTER XIV.-RESTRAINTS ON MANUFACTURES.-

Taxes on raw materials.-Excise duties.-Factory-bill 353

CHAPTER XV.-RESTRAINTS ON COMMERCE.-Restric-

tions on Exchanges.-Fallacy of the Arguments against

Free Trade. History of the Protecting System.-

Ruinous policy for a Commercial State-Depresses

Industry and discourages Production.-Taxation no

ground for protection-Nor the absence of recipro-

city.-True principle and limits of protection.-Colo-

nial System.-Advantage of Colonial over Foreign

Trade.-Real use of Colonies.-Should be considered

as extensions of cultivable Territory, and the Trade

with them assimilated to the Home Trade.-Coloni-

zation. Corn Laws-In principle unjust and impo-

litic, except to a very limited extent.-Present Sys-

tem. Its removal should be preceded by a removal

of the restraints on Agriculture.-Absenteeism.—

Conclusion

CHAPTER XVI.-RESTRAINTS ON THE INSTRUMENT OF EX-

CHANGE.-Injury of restrictions on the Instrument of

Exchange. Credit always employed as a medium for

circulating values to a far greater extent than Coin.-

Credit should be free to take what form convenience

may dictate. Just limitations of Currency.-The ob-

ject, convenience, security, and stability of Value-

To be obtained either, 1. By complete freedom of

Note issue-2. By a National Bank.-Vices of the

English System.-Bank of England Monopoly.-Va-

riations in Value of the Standard.-Proposed mea-

sure of Variations.-Their injustice and enormous

extent of late years.-Suggestions for improvement

of Monetary System.-Weights and Measures.-

Usury Laws

360

397

1

CHAPTER XVII. RESTRAINTS ON THE CIRCULATION OF

LABOUR.Law of Settlement. To be counteracted

by giving facilities to Migration

Page

.

426

CHAPTER XVIII.-EXCESSIVE AND MISDIRECTED TAXA-

TION. History and Progress of Taxation in Britain.

-Limited only by the resistance of the people.-Fund-

ing System-Its errors.-Pressure of the National

Debt on Productive Industry.-Financial mismanage-

ment.-Extravagance.-Misdirection of Taxation.-

True principles of Taxation.-Expediency of commut-

ing the Taxes on Industry and the Comforts of the

Poor for an Income Tax

CHAPTER XIX.-Restraints on the Natural Distribu-

431

PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE.

ON THE COINCIDENCE OF THE RIGHTS, DUTIES, AND INTERESTS OF MAN IN SOCIETY.

CHAPTER I.

Definition of Right—some Rule of Right necessary-Moral and Legal Rules of Right—should coincide with Natural Right-Rights and Duties correlative.

THE axiom, that whatever is is right,' has been said, sung, and upheld in various argument. But though perfectly true in the sense that Providence has, on the whole, ordered all things for the best, it is evidently false if applied to individual actions; as, for example, cruelty, theft, and murder. Providence, in arranging things on the whole for the best,' has left to man the liberty of acting on any occasion in a variety of ways; of all which but one only can be right, or 'for the best.'

In the conduct of man, therefore, and in the circumstances by which he surrounds himself, it seldom happens that what is ought to be, or is right.' Caprice often urges him in one direction, prejudice in another, selfishness in a third, sympathy in a fourth, fear in a fifth, habit in a sixth, while force perhaps supervenes and compels him to move in one totally distinct from all of

B

these. Yet in whatever way he may be led to act under the influence of such conflicting motives, there has been all along one, and but one, right course which he ought' to have taken, which alone would have been for the best;' that is, as we interpret it, most for the welfare of mankind.'

Paley makes abstract or natural right to depend on the will of God, directly revealed, or deduced from His general intentions, as they are evidently displayed in His works. And for those who believe with Paley, as we most firmly do, that God wills the greatest attainable happiness of his sentient creatures, and especially of mankind, the will of God becomes an additional and most powerful sanction of the right' in the sense here assigned to it. But whether it can be proved or not to the satisfaction of every one, by the evidence of natural or revealed religion, that the Creator does will the greatest attainable happiness of mankind in this world, it must remain selfevident to every reasonable mind, and will probably be disputed by none, that whatever course of conduct makes most for the happiness of mankind is, abstractedly, for the best,' or right in man. Abstract right, therefore, or, in other words, natural justice, may be defined as that disposition of the circumstances within his power by man, which is most for the welfare of mankind.'

Throughout all ages and nations there has been more or less of direct reference to the good of mankind, the happiness of society, the public welfare, and similar phrases, as the standard of right and justice. And both the moral rules which have been suggested at various periods by the best and