The Online Library of Liberty

A project of Liberty Fund, Inc.

• Preface.
• Conversation I.: Introduction.
• Conversation II.: Introduction — Continued.
• Conversation III.: On Property.
• Conversation IV.: On Property— Continued.
• Conversation V.: On the Division of Labour.
• Conversation VI.: On Capital.
• Conversation VII.: On Capital — Continued.
• Conversation VIII.: On Wages and Population.
• Conversation IX.: On Wages and Population. Continued.
• Conversation X.: On the Condition of the Poor.
• Conversation XI.: On Revenue.
• Conversation XII.: On Revenue Derived From Property In Land.
• Conversation XIII.: On Revenue Derived From the Cultivation of Land.
• Conversation XIV.: On the Revenue of Those Who Do Not Employ Their Capital Themselves.
• Conversation XV.: On Value and Price.
• Conversation XVI.: On Money.
• Conversation XVII.: Subject of Money Continued.
• Conversation XVIII.: On Commerce.
• Conversation XIX.: On Foreign Trade.
• Conversation XX.: Continuation of Foreign Trade.
• Conversation XXI.: Subject of Foreign Trade Continued.
• Conversation XXII.: On Expenditure.

CONVERSATION III.

ON PROPERTY.

caroline.

Well, my dear Mrs. B., since you have reconciled me to wealth, and convinced me how essential it is to the happiness and prosperity of nations, I begin to grow impatient to learn what are the best means of obtaining this desirable object.

mrs. b.

Do not leave every thing to me, Caroline; I have told you that you were not without some general notions of political economy, though they are but ill arranged in your mind. Endeavour, therefore, to unravel the entangled thread, and discover yourself what are the principal causes of the production of wealth in a nation.

caroline.

I assure you that I have been reflecting a great deal upon the subject. I do not know whether I am right, but I think it is labour which is the cause of wealth. Without labour the earth would yield but very little for our subsistence. How insignificant are its spontaneous productions compared with those derived from agriculture! The crab with the apple; the barren heath with the rich pasture of the meadow!

mrs. b.

It is very true that labour is a most essential requisite to the creation of wealth, and yet it does not necessarily insure its production. The labour of the savage who possesses no wealth is often more severe than that of our common ploughman, whose furrows teem with riches. The long and perilous excursions of savages in search of prey, the difficulty which, from want of skill, they must encounter in every process of industry, in constructing the simplest habitations, fabricating the rudest implements; — all concur to increase their toil. Labour is the lot of man; whether in a barbarous or a civilised state, he is destined to earn his bread by the sweat of his brow. But how is it that in the one case labour is productive of great wealth, whilst in the other it affords barely the necessaries of life?

caroline.

You have observed that the labour of the savage is less advantageous on account of his ignorance and want of skill; besides, he works neither with the activity and zeal, nor with the steady perseverance of men in civilised society. Savages, you know, are proverbially noted for their idleness.

mrs. b.

Inducements must then be found to rouse them from that idleness; motives to awaken their industry and habituate them to regular labour. Men are naturally disposed to indolence; all exertion requires effort, and efforts are not made without an adequate stimulus. The activity we behold in civilised life is the effect of education; it results from a strong and general desire to share not only in the necessaries of life, but in the various comforts and enjoyments with which we are surrounded. The man who has reaped the reward, as well as undergone the fatigues of daily exertion, willingly renews his efforts, as he thus renews his enjoyments. But the ignorance of a savage precludes all desires which do not lead to the immediate gratification of his wants; he sees no possessions which tempt his ambition — no enjoyments which inflame his desires; nothing less than the strong impulse of want rouses him to exertion; and, having satisfied the cravings of hunger, he lies down to rest without a thought of the future.

caroline.

But if the desires of savages are so few and so easily satisfied, may not their state be happier than that of the labouring classes in civilised countries, who wish for so much, and obtain so little?

mrs. b.

The brutish apathy which results from gross ignorance can scarcely deserve the name of content, and is utterly unworthy that of happiness. Goldsmith, in his Traveller, justly as well as beautifully observes, that

• “Every want that stimulates the breast
• Becomes a source of pleasure when redress’d.”

Besides, it is only occasionally that a savage can indulge in this state of torpid indifference. If you consult any account of travels in a savage country, you will be satisfied that our peasantry enjoy a comparative state of affluence and even of luxury.

But let us suppose a civilised being to come among a tribe of savages, and succeed in teaching some of them the arts of life — he instructs one how to render his hut more commodious, another to collect a little store of provisions for the winter, a third to improve the construction of his bows and arrows; what would be the consequences?

caroline.

One might expect that the enjoyment derived from these improvements would lead their countrymen to adopt them, and would introduce a general spirit of industry.

mrs. b.

Is it not more probable that the idle savages would, either by force or fraud, wrest from the industrious their hard-earned possessions; that the one would be driven from the hut he had constructed with so much labour, another robbed of the provisions he had stored, and a third would see his well-pointed arrows aimed at his own breast? Here then is a fatal termination to all improvement. Who will work to procure such precarious possessions, which expose him to danger, instead of ensuring his enjoyment?

caroline.

But all this would be prevented if laws were made for the protection of property.

mrs. b.

True; but the right of property must be established, before it can be protected. For nature has given mankind every thing in common, and property is of human institution. It takes place in such early stages of society that one is apt to imagine it of natural origin; but until it has been established by law, no man has a right to call any thing his own.

caroline.

What, not the game he has killed, the hut he has built, or the implements he has constructed? These may be wrested from him by force; but he who thus obtains them acquires no right to them.

mrs. b.

When a man has produced any thing by his labour, he has, no doubt, in equity the fairest claim to it; but his right to separate it from the common stock of nature, and appropriate it to his own use, depends entirely upon the law of the land.

In the case of property in land, for instance, it is the law which decrees that such a piece of ground shall belong to Thomas, such another to John, and a third to James; that these men shall have an exclusive right to the possession of the land and of its produce; that they may keep, sell, or exchange it; give it away during their lives, or bequeath it after their deaths. And, in order that this law should be respected, punishments are enacted for those who should transgress it. It is not until such laws have been made for the institution and protection of property, of whatever description it be, that the right of property is established.

caroline.

You astonish me! I thought that property in land had always existed; I had no idea that it was a legal institution, but imagined that it had originated from the earliest period of the world. We read that in the time of the ancient patriarchs, when families became too numerous, they separated; and that those who went to settle elsewhere, fed their flocks, and occupied the land without molestation. There was no one to dispute their right to it; and after their deaths the children inhabited and cultivated the land of their fathers.

If we were to found a colony in a desert island, every man would cultivate as much ground as he wanted for his own use, and each having an equal interest in the preservation of his possessions, property would thus be established by general agreement, without any legal institution.

mrs. b.

This general agreement is a kind of law; a very imperfect one it is true, and which was perhaps originally founded on the relative strength of individuals. If one man attempts to carry off the cattle or the fruits of another, the latter opposes force to force; if he is stronger or better armed, he either kills his antagonist or drives him away; if weaker, he is despoiled, or he calls in his neighbours to his succour, shows them the common danger, and may induce them to unite with him in taking vengeance on the aggressor.

Many incidents of this nature must occur before regular laws are instituted; that is to say, before a public authority is established, which shall protect individuals against those who attack them, and punish the offenders. It is then only that a man may say, “This is my field; this is my house: this seed which I cast into the ground will bring forth an abundant provision for me and my family: these trees which I plant will every year yield us fruit, which we alone shall have a right to gather.”

caroline.

I now comprehend perfectly the advantage of such laws — it is security — before they were established, the strong might wrest every thing from the weak; and old men, women, and children who had no means of defence, were exposed to their rapine and violence. The idle and improvident, when in want of subsistence, became the natural enemies of the laborious and industrious. So that without this law the men who had toiled hardest would be most likely to fall victims to those who had done nothing. In a word, the wasps would devour the honey of the bees.

mrs. b.

Yes, security is the grand point; it is security which stimulates industry, and renders labour productive; every step towards security is a step towards civilisation, towards wealth, and towards general happiness.

caroline.

All this is very true; yet an objection to the institution of property in land has just occurred to me, which appears of considerable importance. Before land became private property, the earth, you say, was possessed in common by all mankind: every one had an equal claim to it. But the law which institutes landed property takes it from mankind at large, to give it to a few individuals; in order, therefore, to make some men rich, it makes others poor. Now what right has the law to dispossess some in order to enrich others? It should be just, before it is generous.

This objection, however, does not extend to any other than landed property; nothing is more fair than that men should gather the fruits of their labour; that they should possess the houses they have built, the goods they have fabricated; but the land, it appears to me, cannot become private property without injury to others, who are thus deprived of their natural right to it.

mrs. b.

You would then secure to every one the possession of the wealth he may acquire, though you would refuse him the means of producing it? You would make him master of his house, but take away the ground on which it stands; protect his harvests, but not allow him the property of a field in which he may raise his crops?

caroline.

I must confess that you have placed my objection rather in a ludicrous point of view; but that is not enough, Mrs. B.; you must show me where the error lies, before I can consent to relinquish it. If it is necessary for the encouragement of industry that land should become private property, justice requires that it should be equally divided amongst all those who have a natural claim to it?

mrs. b.

In countries newly occupied, grants of land are usually made to those who are willing to reclaim it from a state of nature; it is in cases of conquest only, that land has been arbitrarily partitioned by the conqueror. Such was the fate of Europe when over-run by the northern barbarians, who, by their division of land, laid the foundation of the feudal system.

But whatever may have been the original causes of the division of land, and whether or not it were equally apportioned at first, it is impossible to prevent inequality from arising afterwards.

caroline.

Yet we read of laws having been instituted in several countries to preserve this equality, and in some instances with considerable success. In Rome, frequent attempts were made to this effect; and the Spartans, during a long series of years, rigorously persevered in the equal division of landed property.

mrs. b.

And what were the consequences of this attempt? At Rome the laws to prevent inequality of landed property proved ineffectual; in Sparta they produced a community of warriors, who tyrannised with cruelty over a population of slaves, and who were not possessed of a single virtue unallied to military glory.

Both the virtues and vices of mankind tend to destroy this equality; the laborious, the intelligent, and skilful, will raise plentiful harvests. Nature thus rewards their exertions. The possessions of the idle, the careless, and the ignorant, will, on the contrary, gradually degenerate. Nature has annexed this penalty to their neglect. Shall we then counteract so wise a dispensation of Providence, by giving to the idle the reward of industry, and making the industrious bear a punishment due to the idle?

caroline.

Yet poverty frequently arises from sickness and misfortune, which render men unable to work; and, under such circumstances, it is hard to suffer the penalty incurred by idleness.

mrs. b.

True; but you must consider also, that the inequality of condition, and the vicissitudes of human life, give rise to the exercise of almost every virtue; patience, resignation, fortitude, on the part of the afflicted; benevolence, compassion, generosity, charity, on that of the more prosperous of the community — feelings which purify and refine the enjoyment of wealth, and are amongst its highest gratifications.

Nature, for equally wise purposes, has dispensed her blessings with various degrees of munificence: in some instances she bestows them with unbounded and inexhaustible profusion. It is thus that she has given us light and air, which are alike possessed and enjoyed by all. No one ever thought of converting these elements into private property; and if food were as easily obtained, and the human frame as readily supplied with nourishment as it is with the air we breathe, no one would ever have conceived the idea of separating from the common stock, and converting into private property, either the food he required, or the land on which it was produced.

caroline.

How delightful that would be! Labour would no longer be required; and mankind would be transformed into a race of contemplative philosophers, whose only occupation would be to study and admire the works of nature!

mrs. b.

It is dangerous to trust to your judgment when it leads you to conclusions so different from the established course of nature. We must bear in mind that the dispensations of Providence are always wise and good, though it is not always in our power to trace their beneficial effects. In the present instance, however, the design of Providence appears sufficiently obvious. Were mankind not under the necessity of labouring for a subsistence, so far from becoming philosophers, I am inclined to think that they would ever have remained a race of indolent savages, scarcely raised above the brute creation. What motive would they have had for exertion, what incentive to awaken their faculties, and rouse them from the apathy of indolence so natural to man? The necessity of regular industry to secure subsistence appears to be the first step towards the developement of their faculties, both physical and mental. But we have observed that men will not be induced to cultivate the earth, so long as it is possessed in common, when the idle may reap the harvest sown by the hand of industry. Property in land is therefore of necessity a preliminary step to cultivation, and we have seen that cultivation could not take place were the earth unlimited in extent and powers of production. Let us then reflect, that when nature conferred this blessing upon us with a more sparing hand, than she has bestowed the other elements, it was doubtless with a view of rousing the latent faculties of man, and calling them into action; it was in order to raise him from a state of animal nature, in which he is assimilated to the beasts that perish, and urge him through a progressive course of improvement, during which new ideas are successively formed; the character is developed by reason, the mind strengthened by trials, chastened by adversity, elevated by piety, softened by social affections, enlarged by science, refined by literature, and brought at length to that state in which we discern the traces of a being destined for immortality.

caroline.

I am glad we arrive at the same satisfactory conclusion, the happiness of our fellow-creatures, by a safer road than that in which my imagination had first wandered. There remains no rational doubt in my mind of the advantages resulting from the division of land, and the accumulation of landed property; nor am I disposed to murmur at the larger share you have assigned to the more industrious and better part of mankind. I see that soon after the division of land these will infallibly become the most considerable possessors; that their property should be secured to them and to their heirs, and that in their hands it will be the most highly cultivated, and yield the greatest produce.

mrs. b.

The institution of property in land augments the wealth not only of the proprietors, but likewise of all other classes of men.

Lands may be considered as the instrument by which alone wealth is created; and we have just seen that the security of its possession gives life and vigour to industry: it is this security which raises the condition of our peasantry so much above that of a savage people who possess the land in common.

caroline.

An institution of such evident and general utility cannot then be considered as unjust.

mrs. b.

Certainly not. It is by the test of general utility that the justice of all laws should be tried; for there are none which do not impose some restraint on the natural liberty of man, and which, in that point of view, might not be deemed objectionable. But without the control of laws, we have seen that neither the lives, the property, the reputation, nor even the liberty of men, are secure: we sacrifice therefore some portion of that liberty to the law; and, in return, it secures to us the remainder, together with every blessing which security can give. Blackstone, in his Commentaries, says, “Every man, when he enters into society, gives up a part of his natural liberty, as the price of so valuable a purchase; and in consideration of receiving the advantages of mutual commerce, obliges himself to conform to those laws which the community has thought proper to establish. For no man who considers a moment would wish to retain the absolute and uncontrolled power of doing whatever he pleases; the consequence of which is, that every other man would also have the same power, and there would be no security to individuals in any of the enjoyments of life: political, therefore, or civil liberty, which is that of a member of society, is no other than natural liberty, so far restrained by human laws (and no farther) as is necessary and expedient for the general advantage of the public.

“That constitution or form of government, that system of laws, is alone calculated to maintain civil liberty, which leaves the subject entire master of his own conduct, except in those points wherein the public requires some direction or restraint.”

caroline.

You have completely removed all my scruples respecting the institution of landed property, Mrs. B.; let us now, therefore, return to the progress of wealth and civilisation.

mrs. b.

We must not proceed too rapidly; for the progressive steps in the history of civilisation are extremely slow, and we must learn to view the development of human intellect and the progress of human industry in successive and almost insensible degrees.

Civilised nations generally originate from the settlement of a colony; they seldom arise from a savage state. It was in this state we found the Indians on the discovery of America; they were mere hunters; and so long as men behold an unlimited space before them, in which they may wander without obstacle or control, it is difficult to conceive any circumstances which should lead them to adopt a settled mode of life, and apply themselves to tillage.

In countries abounding with large plains, the pastoral mode of life has prevailed; but for this purpose there must have been established property in cattle, though the land were possessed in common. Such was the case with the ancient Scythians, who inhabited the vast plains of Tartary, and with the modern Tartars and Arabs; who, to this day, are wandering tribes, and, like the patriarchs of old, live in tents, and travel about with their flocks and herds in search of pasture.

We have observed that men were by nature disposed to idleness, and this disposition is necessarily a great obstacle to the introduction of agriculture; for it requires a considerable degree of foresight and knowledge, and a firm reliance on the security of property, to labour at one season in order to reap the fruits at another. We may suppose agriculture to be a progressive step from pastoral life; that a tribe of shepherds may have met with enemies in their wandering excursions, and the apprehensions of losing their flocks may have induced them to settle; they would probably choose a spot defended by nature from attacks of wild beasts, or the incursions of savage neighbours. Thus Cecrops pitched upon the rock on which the citadel of Athens is founded, to build a town. Or they may have been tempted by the attractions of some fruitful spot, under the protection of a neighbouring government able to defend them. Volney, in his account of the wandering tribes in Syria, says, “As often as they find peace and security, and a possibility of procuring sufficient provisions in any district, they take up their residence in it, and insensibly adopt a settled life and the arts of cultivation.” These arts they must have attained by very slow degrees — they observed that fruit-trees may be multiplied; that nutritious plants may be propagated; that there are seeds which reproduce every year; and that a great variety of animals may be tamed and domesticated. Thus supplied with a new fund of subsistence, their children are better fed, their families increase, and age and infancy are protected and provided for.

But these people are yet acquainted with only the first elements of agriculture; how many fortunate chances must have occurred before they reached the important era of the cultivation of corn! Wild corn has no where been found; and the Greeks imagined that a divinity descended on earth, to introduce it, and to instruct them in the cultivation of this valuable plant. Athens, Crete, Sicily, and Egypt, all claim the merit of being the original cultivators of corn; but whoever are the people to whom we are indebted for this important discovery, or whatever are the means by which it was accomplished, there is none which has had so great an influence on the welfare of mankind. Feeble as it appears, this plant can resist the summer’s heat and the winter’s cold. It flourishes in almost every climate, and is adapted not only for the food of man, but for that of a great variety of domestic animals, and it yields by fermentation a pleasant and salubrious beverage. The grain will keep many years, and affords such a durable means of subsistence, that danger could no longer be apprehended in trusting to futurity, and plenty was secured during the longest and most unproductive winters.

But the cultivation of this inestimable plant cannot be undertaken without considerable funds, fixed habitations, implements of husbandry* , domestic animals; in a word, establishments which could neither be created nor maintained without the institution of property. Savages have no corn, no cultivation, no domestic animals; they consume and destroy every thing without ever considering re-production;—and how different are the results! We now see millions of men and animals inhabiting an extent of country which would scarcely have sufficed for the maintenance of two or three hundred savages.

caroline.

Let us rest a little, my dear Mrs. B. I am almost bewildered with the number and variety of ideas that you have presented to my mind. I wonder that these things have not occurred to me before; but I have been so accustomed to see the world in its present improved state, that my attention was never drawn to the many obstacles and difficulties it must have encountered, and the laborious progressive steps it must have made, before society could have attained its present state of perfection.

mrs. b.

Perfection! comparatively speaking I suppose you mean; for it is not long since you were making lamentable complaints of the actual state of society; in which indeed I could not entirely agree with you, though I think that we are still far removed from perfection. But let us continue to trace the progress of wealth and civilisation up to their present state, before we begin to find any fault with existing institutions.

caroline.

I think I have now a very clear idea of the important consequences which result from the establishment of property. It puts an end to the wandering life of barbarians, induces men to settle, and inures them to regular labour; it teaches them prudence and foresight; induces them to embellish the face of the earth by cultivation; to multiply the useful tribes of animals and nutritious plants; and, in short, it enables them so prodigiously to augment the stock of subsistence, as to transform a country which contained but a few poor huts and a scanty population into a great and wealthy nation.

[* ]These are at first of a very rude and imperfect construction. In some parts of India, the plough of a Hindoo, even to this day, is formed of a crooked stick very inartificially sharpened, and not unfrequently drawn by his wife. The use of domestic animals in agriculture is another step towards civilisation; but no farming establishment whatever could either be created or maintained without the institution of property.