CHAPTER II.

Progressive Nature of Man—Means by which the Productive Powers of Labour are increased.—Section I. Right of Property.—Section II. Division of Employments.—Section III. Accumulation and Employment of Capital—Definition and Source of Profit—Circumstances most favourable for the Accumulation of Capital.

It is the proud distinction of the human race, that their conduct is determined by reason, which, though limited and fallible, is susceptible of indefinite improvement. Man is destined to be the artificer of his own fortune. In the infancy of society, indeed, being destitute of that knowledge which is the result of long experience and study, without that dexterity which is the effect of practice, and without the guidance of those instincts which direct other animals, he seems to occupy one of the lowest places in the scale of being. But the faculties of most animals come rapidly to maturity, and admit of no further increase or diminution; whereas, the human species is naturally progressive. It may be truly said of man that necessity (sæva necessitas) was the original source and mainspring of his exertions. He had no choice between being industrious and being starved. But no sooner is he supplied with subsistence, than his desires begin to expand. He is uniformly actuated by a desire to improve his condition; and he is endowed with sagacity adequate to devise the means of gratifying this desire. The description given by Homer of the state of the Cyclops or ancient inhabitants of Sicily, may be taken as a truthful representation of the state of the human race in temperate climates in early ages. “The Cyclops,” says he, “know no laws. Each governs his family, and rules over his wife and children. They trouble not themselves with the affairs of their neighbours, and think not themselves interested Edition: current; Page: [22] in them. Accordingly, they have no assemblies to deliberate on public affairs. They have no general laws to regulate their manners and actions. They neither plant nor sow. They are fed by the fruits which the earth produces spontaneously. Their abode is on the summits of mountains, and caverns serve them for a retreat.”1 Such is a vivid picture of the state of savage barbarism, without any tincture of art or science, and without even the most indispensable accommodations, from which the European has raised himself to the high pitch of knowledge, civilization, and refinement to which he has attained.2 By slow degrees, partly by the aid of observation, and partly by contrivances of his own, he gradually learns to augment his powers, and to acquire an increased command over necessaries, conveniencies, and enjoyments. Without the unerring instinct of the ant, the bee, or the beaver, he becomes, from a perception of their advantage, the greatest storemaster and builder in the world; and without the strength of the elephant, the swiftness of the hound, or the ferocity of the tiger, he has subjected every animal to his power. When once excited, the passion for improved accommodations extends itself on all sides, and becomes quite illimitable. The attainment of that which seemed, at the commencement of the Edition: current; Page: [23] undertaking, to be an object beyond which his wishes could not expand, acts as an incentive to new efforts. “Man never is, but always to be blessed.” The gratification of a want or desire is merely a step to some new pursuit. In every stage of his progress, he is destined to contrive and invent, to engage in new undertakings, and, when these are accomplished, to enter with fresh energy upon others. “Even after he has attained to what, at a distance, appeared to be the summit of his fortune, he is in reality only come to a point at which new objects are presented to entice his pursuits, and towards which he is urged with the spurs of ambition, while those of necessity are no longer applied. Or, if the desire of anything better than the present should at any time cease to operate on his mind, he becomes listless and negligent, loses the advantages he had gained, whether of possession or skill, and declines in his fortune, till a sense of his own defects and his sufferings restore his industry.”1

It has been said that nations, like individuals, have their periods of infancy, maturity, decline, and death. But though the comparison strikes at first, and history affords many apparent instances of its truth, it is, notwithstanding, inapplicable. The human body is of frail contexture and limited duration: but nations are perpetually renovated; the place of those who die is immediately filled up by others, who, having succeeded to the arts, sciences, and wealth of those by whom they were preceded, start with unprecedented advantages in their career. Hence if the principle of improvement were not countervailed by hostile aggression, vicious institutions, or other adventitious circumstance, it may be reasonably concluded that it would always operate, and secure the constant advancement of nations.

Powerful, however, as is the passion to rise—to ascend still higher in the scale of society—the advance of the arts has not been left wholly to depend on its agency. Had such been the Edition: current; Page: [24] case, it is reasonable to suppose that the earlier inventions and discoveries, by rendering others of comparatively less importance, would have slackened the progress of society. But in the actual state of things, no such relaxation ever takes place. The principle of increase implanted in the human race is so very powerful, that population never fails of speedily expanding to the limits of subsistence, how much soever they may be extended. Its tendency indeed is to exceed these limits, or to increase the number of people faster than the supplies of food and other necessary accommodations provided for their support. In civilized societies, this tendency, as will be afterwards shown, is checked and regulated by the prudential considerations to which the difficulty of bringing up a family necessarily gives rise. But, despite their influence, the principle of increase is at all times, and under every variety of circumstances, so very strong as to call forth unceasing efforts to increase the means of subsistence. It forms, in fact, a constantly operating incentive to the activity and industry of man. The most splendid inventions and discoveries do not enable him to intermit his efforts;—if he did, the increase of population would speedily change his condition for the worse, and he would be compelled either to sink to a lower station, or to atone for his indolence by renewed and more vigorous exertions. The continued progress of industry and the arts is thus secured by a double principle: man is not merely anxious to advance; he dares not, without manifest injury to himself, venture to stand still. But, because such is our lot, because we are constantly seeking a repose and felicity we are never destined to realize, are we, therefore, as some have done, to arraign the wisdom of Providence? Far from it. In the words of the able and eloquent philosopher to whom we have just referred, “We ought always to remember that these labours and exertions are themselves of principal value, and to be reckoned amongst the foremost blessings to which human nature is competent; that mere industry is a blessing apart from the wealth it procures; and that the exercises of Edition: current; Page: [25] a cultivated mind, though considered as means for the attainment of an external end, are themselves of more value than any such end whatever.”1

In tracing the progress of mankind from poverty and barbarism to wealth and civilization, there are three circumstances, the vast importance of which must strike even the most careless observer; and without whose conjoined existence and co-operation, labour could not have become considerably productive, nor society made any preceptible progress. The first is the establishment of a right of property, or the securing to every individual the quiet enjoyment of his natural powers, and of the products, lands, and talents he may have inherited, or honestly acquired. The second is the introduction of exchange or barter, and the consequent appropriation of particular individuals to particular employments. And the third is the accumulation and employment of the produce of labour, or, as it is more commonly termed, of capital, or stock in industrial undertakings. All the improvements that ever have been or ever can be made, in the progress of society, may be classed under one or other of these three heads. It is, therefore, indispensable that principles so important, and which lie at the very bottom of the science, should be well understood.