第33章

Again, if there be any flagrant Marks of a Decay of Trade upon us (and I will presently produce enough of them) then there is evidently more Work done, than either our domestick or foreign Trade doth require, let the Time wasted by our working People be what it will: For a decay of Trade, and a sufficient Demand for the Goods we make, are incompatible Things.

But I shall offer an Instance, to shew that the working People can and will do a great deal more Work than they do, if they were sufficiently encouraged. For I take it for a Maxim, that the People of no Class will ever want Industry, if they don't want Encouragement: The Truth of which is as certain and undeniable, as that the Consumer, if he had money to pay for ti, and was willing to buy, never yet went entirely without any staple Commodity whatsoever, or indeed without any other common thing he wanted. And if the labouring People do so much Work under the discouraging Wages, which I have shewn, are not equal to 2/3 of the necessary Charge of a middling Family; what might we not expect, if they were animated by a sufficient Supply, and those Temptation removed, which I have shewn, are the greatest Snares to them, and which I think would certainly in a great Measure be remov'd, if this Proposal were to be executed?

The Instance I shall produce, to prove that the working People can and will do a great deal more Work than they do,if they were somewhat better incouraged, shall be that of a general Mourning for the Death of a Prince.

The Charge brought against the working People, as above, shews that they don't want Time to do a great deal more Work than they do; and a Time of general Mourning for a Prince necessarily requires abundance of Goods to be made in a very short time, besides the considerable Stock we may suppose to be in Hand, towards supplying the extraordinary Demand of such Occasions; and we know the Weavers, Dyers, Taylors, etc. do at such Times work almost Night and Day, only for the Encouragement of somewhat better Pay and Wages, which an extraordinary Demand for any Goods is necessarily connected with; and if this can be carried so far, as to cloath so great a Part of the People of the Kingdom in so short a time, as we usually see them put themselves in Mourning on such Occasions, it must be plain that the working People not only can, but would do a great deal more Work than they do, if they were but somewhat better encouraged by their Wages to do so.

Lastly, The full and sufficient Execution of this Proposal is the only natural Way to extend Dominion, and introduce Liberty amongst Mankind. For wherever so much Land is continually put to use, as will call for all Land is continually put to use, as will call for all the Hands, Trade, and Manufactures will suffer to employ themselves this Way, as this will necessarily give full employment to all the People, and make such Plenty of every Thing, that the meanest of the People will certainly find a comfortable Subsistence for themselves and Families, so it will infallibly draw the People out of every Nation round us, that doth not attend to this Point in the same Degree; and consequently cause the People to forsake every arbitrary and oppressive Government, to find such a Settlement, as the Business so much Land continually added and improv'd will necessarily provide for them.

'Tis true, this will in time fill this Island with Inhabitants, and improve every Spot of Ground in it. And Isuppose it must be this Way that Benjamin Motte Computes that the People may be doubled, in so short a Time as 24 or 25 Years: If this be not the Way, I am not able to conjecture how so great an Increase of People should arise, in the small Space he assert they may be doubled and quadrupled; for I am sure the natural Increase of Mankind will require a vastly longer Term, only to double in.

But however, if my 9th and 10th Principles are true, and Ithink them self-evident, then the full and sufficient Execution of this Proposal must be a great Advantage to the Government, by increasing the Number and Riches of their Subjects, and their Revenues together with them, which Things are inseparably connected. Nay, this matter ought most certainly to be carried so far as to fill Ireland with Inhabitants, by granting for a considerable Term, on small Acknowledgments, a proper Quantity of any waste Land, that any Person shall choose, and be able to undertake the full Improvement of. And this, I think, these Kingdoms would soon become vastly more powerful; since 'tis probable, that in less than a Century there would be double the present Number of People found in them. Nor could this possibly fail, I think, unless the Nations round us, to prevent the Loss of their Subjects, should take the same Measures; and then the Increase of each Nation would be only such as the natural Increase of Mankind will produce. but this great Advantage wold arise to Mankind by this Means, that Happiness and Liberty wold be as general and extensive, as the Method I prescribe shall be practised.

And this may shew the Folly and Absurdity of making War, on the ambitious Principle of extending Dominion; since War, if it be continued a few Years, commonly ruins the Generality of the People of such Nations as are vanquish'd; as we know the late War did France; and what we who conquer'd got by it, the Taxes we at present groan under, and from which perhaps we shall never be reliev'd, will amply testify. But the Folly of making War, to extend Dominion, appears, in what War lays waste and depopulates Countries, and thereby puts such Nations to great and extraordinary Charges and Difficulties, to preserve and defend such unpeopled Territories from the easy Inroads and Invasions of their Neighbours, who have as many more Opportunities of Entrance, as the extended unpeopled Territory of any Potentate doth necessarily afford.