To The Times.
The Times, 1824-06-23T00:00:00

Mr. Fditor.-My father lias frequently stated his conviction, that the world had attained a point in civilization, where an inportant .hange in the institutions of society was equally desirable and in. evitable. A principal reason for this belief he has, in general terms, stated to be deducible from the progress of scientific inmprove- ments, and, ac it appears to me, with much reason. If the follow- ing considerations on this important subject, whieh my father's nu- merous engagements prevent him from explaining to the public as fiully as he wishes, should place the matter in a novel or striking point of view before nny of your readers, I shall bave attained the ob~jectwhiClI indaced me to committhern to paper, Let.us suppose a country, the inhabitants of which existed in tolerable comfort, by the produce of tbeir own unassisted labour, to have discovered a nation of slaves who existed in full health and vigoar wiLhout eating or drinking, or slceping e the end and aim of whose being was labour; who would work f1r ang lengds of timc, even at the most monoton4us and disagreeable occupations, without becoming either impatient or fatigued; who always performed the allotted task with unwearied punctuality andundeviating,steady uni. ftdmfify and exactness, day by day, and week by week, and year by year, yewitthottt promise of hire or expectation of reward, whose united efforts produ'ced a gigantic and overwlhelming power, yet one which wvas nevet exerted but in their master's service, and at his command, and which leverinjrred him in any way butbythe effect of accident only; amongst whomt no eombina'ions against their master could be formed, no opoosition to his wishes be ever shown, nor his rightof uncoitrolled and absolutegovernmentbe everdoubtedorquea- tioned *ith whom a touch was sufficient to exprcss his wisbes, and toensure their fulfilment; forwhom no treatment was cruel, nor any demands on their exertions unjust or exorbitant: whose incidental infirmities could be easily and certainly cured, and whose bodirs, when at last worn out by age and incessant labour their powers be. gan to fail, might be taken for any lpurpose to which the materials which composed them were applicable; yet, withal, a rmce suscep. tible of inflnite and increasing improvement, without prejudices, and capable of being moulded to any character which their master re- quired them to assime. Surppose, too, that millions of these slaves could be imported an- nually bv the nation which bad discovered them. Then, let me aAk, what would be thee?fect of suchan importation ? Would the discoveryl in itself, be a fortunate eranunfet'unateone? I replv, it would be a tuost fortunate and valuable liscovery in itself; yet capable, without a corrrSsponding change in the institu. tions of nations, of producing infinite miserv and mischi :f. In this way. The present institutions of all civilized nations render each member of the woTking classes dependent for subsistence on the demand in the market, for the articles in the ptoduce o1 which he may hap pen to be employed. WPbatever, therefore, dimi. nishes the marl;et demand creates misery in the same proportion. Now, the influencewhicb the importation of such slaves wouldpro. duce is two-fold. Those vho employ the working classes, and, by tbeit labour, supoy A s e wou7d find themselves called upon to choos( 4-htilitei must be ? Is not t swZer j 'rtnWp. we doubt what ness, must make to any of their former servants, who might remon. strate against a decision in favour of the slaves. evdent and condlu. sive?_" Cnn you exist without eating or drinking, or sleeping. lVill you work without wages, and never exhibit a sign of impatience or fatigue, however long we may wish to cmDloy you? WYili you never complain of cruelty or injustice, in whatever manner yot may be treated ?' Even then yoa age inferior, as work-people, tc this new race. How can we be assured that you will form no com. binations against us to our injury, that you wiLl never oppose oui wishes, never dispute our authoritv, or question our right of govern. ment ? How can we be assured, in fine, that you will give up your wishes, your feelings, your pre3udices ant your interests, and be. come our willing slaves as this invaluable natfon is? If these things are so, howv can you expect to be preferred, as workmen, to them? As superintend'ents, we are willing and desirous to employ some of you; but in any other capacity your labour is now utseles to us." Thus, then, *oLld the newly.imnorted slaves become the work- Ipeople of the nation who imported them; and the two-fold influence of their importation would consist-first, in a vast increase of market produce, and secondly, in a diminished necessity for the labour of the working classes. Now, certainly, in themselves these efaects are not calculated to produce much misery. To have too much of every thin that is de- sirable, and too little to do in obtaining it, it' it be a misfortune, is one at least of which the working classes seldom complain, and one which does not seem neces arlyallied to ptenury and starvation. Yet, assuredly, in coantries wheirethe market demandFregulates the employment, and cotscquently the' food which the labourer can ob- tain, superfluity of the ob}ecls of desire, and increased facility in protlucing them, do prove pesitive and lamentable evils. In a nation, therefore, whose conmercial arrangements were similar to ours, the importation of a multitude of slaves, porsessed of the qualities I have enumerated, would be ealculated, by afford- ing extreme facility of production and increasing its wealth propor- tionably, to glut its markets, and to deprive its labostrers of em- plomerX and food, because they were producing too much of every thing. Now, I believe &lat a state of things, in which an increase of wealth creates poverty, alsd in which the facility of producing the means of subsistence expose3tO starvation, cannot long continue in atny nation. And this I believe to be the present state of things in Great Bri- tain asid lreland. Great Britalin has discovered an innumerable natiom of mechasi. cal and chymical slavese; and they are beginning to produce almost every thing she requires. Her working classes have becomne super. intendants of mechanism, and her real wealth is increasing to an enormods 0xteitf- If power and Wealth coWstitu'te prosperity, her scientific discoveries have made her prosperous indeed: Btt if the effect of prosperity be to produce comfort and happiness; then has Great Britain's commer- cial system of arrangements (formed in a period of comparative ad- versity when an increase of production was the greatest blessing and a f?amine the greatest evil that could befalli, not only deprived her of all the benefits of prosperity, but turned a blessing to a curse, and pioved itsefl totally unadapted to the present state of knowledge and of scientiFic power. As long as the supply of our wants shall be Made to depend on the artificial and fluctuating demand of the. marketi so long is ptosperity a positive evil. If our store- houses were einpty, ahd our markets ill surplied, then trade would flourish, employment would be procured, the workmen would receive high vages, and the vedy expenditure of' these wages would serve to increase the geItal demand, and with it the means. of future employment for their labdut-uittil, alas I prosperity again approached us, until our storehouses becaie filled, and our mar- lkets overflowed; and then our farmiers would begin to starve, and glir mannfaclurers to become bankrupt. Some new *ernt is, doubt. lest; occasionally' found. either at home or abroad, prodtteing a tem-. porary relief from the evils of abundance; but part of the immense aniountof s1ta-.cixpital which atprosent inundates this country, is instantly employed td supply eacb increasing demand, and the sub. sequent revutsiou in the inaiietit only ithe more qaickly and pain- fnllv f..1t If some malevolent being were ( afbord s th.e means of increas- ing our production, instantaneously, tenfold, oif condition that the preseat commercial relation of demand and supplg sbould remain u=altered, weshould probably al die of want beore the end of the year; tbr the glut on the market would be insupportable, nothing would sell for kalf its prime cost, and the nation would become bankrupt. Surely we cannot long remain blind to the fact, that increasing prosperity is but increasing misery so long as our commercial sys- tem retains its present form!I Suic'v it ueed not continue to be a condition ofenjoyment, that the ieins of enjoyment shall not su- perabound ' Yet this condition, useless .s it is at aU times, and ruinous, as it has proved itself, in proportion as we approach to abundance and prosperity, is virtually imposed on the enjoyment of the weild, so long as mene continue to buy and selt in thc market ageinst each other; in other words, so long. as the existiag system or individual commercial competition exists. Could a ma'isnant spirit have im. posed a restriction more ingeniously fraught irith destructive influ- ence to society? The more rapidly vee accumulate aU the good things of this world around us, the more certainly do they elude our our grasp! 'vas Tantalus more severely punished than this ? And not to wantand poverty alone are the effectsof this individual competition confined. I, as a merchant, wish to buy cheap, and to sell dear: but all other merchants wish me to buy dear, and to sell cheap. Is not one man's hand against every man, and every man's hand against him ? Is it not a proof of the exceUence of human na- ture that honest men should be found in a society with institutions such as this ? If wealth, and honesty, and benevolence, and union, are desirable to be attained, do we act wiselyin surrounding ourselves g circun- stances so.pregnantwith povert.y,.and dishonesty. and,ma evoleuce, and disseusion ? Is it not passible to combine other cirumstances, under which abund;mwce shall be indeed a blessing, and where i shaU become our apparent, as well as our real interest, to practice honesty and begevolencetowards our fellow-creatures? hirffathiigr propors to cambiniethese circttstancsiao~mjr. ty oYtperons, who shall Waite tbeiriinterests,. like use large familty, anti produce in,tbe first place for tfeir own colisumption. - Thir ate thus-entirely independent of-any msnrket, until their own wafiti are sipplied, and scarcely an7 inconvenience can arise fromn-excegg - - ofproduction, except thatwhieh results from'want ofsfoiehouses` In such establishments, the ilet&aled management prf which shalg be sh'ortly submitted tothe public, theevident effect of each neir i.m portation of mechanicl power is to diminish thenecesuitr for libour' on the part of the members, and thutto affonl them a -red and car. . tain advantage. MIechanical inventions bavehithemo beribrought into competition with the w nrking - classes; may they notnow be brought to their assistance? lre have learnt how to create aimiog any amount of produce; can we no: fonn arangements to diutributte and toenjoyit? True it Is, that the leisure time which the employment of meci nical power would thus gradue.lly affird to- alU classes, might pro. duce in3iurious conseguencecs to those whosexnindwe srcuncultiya?ed. but this apparent disadvantage becomes the greatest ot bIesdsgs: where education is made., as it will be in s the new establishments, the first and most importast object of society. I am. Sir. vour obedienf servant. ROBERT DALE OW)N. Pall.rnzll, June 22, 1824. - TO THE lIru.Ms. FOR THE CONSIDERATION OF POMITICAL I..f IhJOn TRTR.