New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1853-03-22


be ground out Of them. when they have grown
aburden TO the revenue, drive them away. and
sun up your Net Revenue Such is the dae-
trine laid down by Ricardo in his celebrated
work. The Principles Of Political Eesss~y
The annual profits Of capitalist amounting 60
$4,000. what does it matter to him whether
he EMPLOYS 100 men or 1000 men Is nct,"
saws Ricardo. "the real income of 9 nation
sim,lsr'r The net real income Of q nation.
rents and profits, remaining the same. it is no
subject Of consideration whether IL Is derived
from 10 millions Of people OF from IL millions
Sismondi in his NosredxE PrsHeipes fHe's'-
,sie Politique, answers that. according 20 tins
view of the matter, the English nation would
not be interested at all in the disappearance OF
the whole population, the King (st that time IL
was no Queen, but King) remaining alone Ia
the midst of the island, supposing only that sa
tomato machinery enabled him TO procure the
amount Of Nsf Rerenae now produced by = pop
ulation of 20 millions. Iadeed. tina, grsmmat-
ical entity. the national wealth, woald in this
case not be diminished.
Ina former letter have given an instance
of the clearing Of estates in the Highlands Of
Scotland. That emigration continues to DO
forced upon Ireland by the same process, yoa
may see from the following quotation from Ias
Galaxy Mercury;
The people are fast passing away from the land in'he
West of Ireland The landlords vt Conn ught sressct
IN combined 10 weed all the smaller oeeup'efs.
sesinst whom regular .ystsmatic war Of externnanoa
elites are daily prac,iced in this province Of which the
public are not At az aware"
But il is not only the paupersed Inhabitants
of Green Erin aud of the Highlands of Scot
land that are swept away by agricultural i'm
proyements, and by the 4" breaking down OF the
antiquated system Of society IL is not only
the able.bodied agricultural lsborers from Eng
land, Wales, and Lower Scotland, whose passa-
ges are paid by the Emigration Commissioners
The wheel of Improvement is now seiztns
another class, the most stationary class IN Eng
land. A startling emigration movement has
sprung up among the smaller English farmers.
especially those holding heavy clay soils, who.
with bad prospects for the coming harvest, and
in want Of sufficient capital to make the great
improvements on their farms which would Gu
able them 20 pay their old rents, have no other
alternative but to cross the sea IN search OF
new country and Of new lands. l am not
speaking now of the emigration caused by tho
god mania but only Of the compulsory em'grs-
ton produced by andlordism, concentration Of
farms. application of machinery to the sod.
and introduction of the modern system OF agr'-
culture on great scale.
In the ancient States, In Greece and Rome.
compulsory emigration assuming the shape Oh
the periodical establishment OF colonies. formeA
a regular link in the structure Of society. Tho
whole system of those States WAS founded On
certain limits 70 the numbers OF the population.
which could not be surpassed without endsn-
gering the condition Of antique civilization L.
self But why was il so Because the appli-
cation of science to material production was
utterly unknown TO them. To remain civilized
they we're forced TO remain few. Otherwise
they would have had to submit to the bodily
drudgery which transformed the free citizen
into q slave The want Of productive power
made citizenship dependent on certain pro-
portion in numbers not TO be disturbed. Forced
emigration was the only remedy.
IL was the same pressure Of population on
the powers reproduction, that drove the bar
barians from the high plains Of Asia to invade
the Old World. The same cause acted there.
although under different form. To remain
barbarians they were forced to remain few.
They we're pastoral, hunting, warwaging tribes.
whose manner OF production required large
space for every individual, rs 10 now tho case
with the Indian tribes in North-Amerca. BY
augmenting IN numbers they curtailed each
others field Of production. Thus the surplus
population was forced TO undertake those great
adventurous migratory movements which laid
the foundation Of the peoples of ancient and
modern Europe.
But with modern compulsory emigration tho
case stands quite opposite. Here 1t is not tho
want of productive power which creates . sur
plus population; it is the increase ofprodactivs
power which demands dminution Of populs-
ton, and drives away the surplus by famine or
emigration. il Is not population that presses
on productive power ; IL il productive power
that presses on population.
Now / share neither In the opinions Of Rear
do, who regards Net-Revenue" o. the Moloch
TO whom entire populations must be sacrificed,
without even so much as complaint, nor In tho
opinion Of sismondi, who, in bis hypOchon-
driaesl philanthropy, would forcibly retain
the superannusted methods Of agriculture
and prescribe science from industry, a.
Plato expelled poets from his Republic So
ciety is undergoing silent revolution, which