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Show 4~8 ON THE I!viMEDIATE CAUSES [ CI-I. · VII. ne'v fatnilies arise to be provided for miO'ht ·th • . ' b , \VI c.otnparatlvely little commerce, furnish an effec-ttv: demand for population, and create a produce whtch would have no inconsiderable value 1·n ex.- change. Such a country would probably have a small n.eat produce compared \vith its gross produce; It would also be greatly deficient in the amount of it_s ~anufactures and mercantile prod~ cts; yet still Its actual produce and population n11ght be respectable; and for the increase of ex~ hangeable value which had produced these effects It ~ .. ould be mainly indebted to that distribution of t?e produce which had arisen from the easy clivi .. s1on of land. The rapid increase of the United States of Arnerica, taken as a whole, has undoubtedly been aided very greatly by foreign commerce, and particularly b~ th~ po\ver of selling~ raw produce, obtained WI.th little labour, for European comtnodities which have cost much labour. But the cultivation of a great ~art of the interior territory has depended in a considerable degree upon the cause above stated; and the faeility \Vith \Vhich even common \VOrkmen, if they were industrious and economical for son1e years, could become ne\v settlers and sn1all proprietors of land, has given prodio·ious effect to · that high money price of labour~ \Vl~ch could not have taken place \Vithout foreig~ cotnmerce; and ~ogether they occasioned yearly that extraordinary Increase of exchangeable value which so dis tin· guished the progress of the establishments in North sEC. VII.] OF THE PROGRl!:SS OF WEALTH. 429 America, compared with any others with \vhich we are acq ua in ted. Over almost all Europe a most unequal and vicious division of landed property 'vas established during the feudal times. In some states the laws, which protected and perpetuated this division, have been greatly weakened, and by the aids of commerce and n1anufactures have been rendered comparatively inefficient. But in others these laws still remain in great force, and throw yery great obstacles in the \vay of inc~·easing \Vealth and population. A very large proprietor, surrounded by very poor peasants, presents a distribution of property most unfavourable to effective den1ancl. Adam Sn1ith has well described the slack kind of cultivation which \vas likely to take place, and did in fact take place, atnong the great proprietors of the n1iddle ages. But not only were they bad cultivators and improvers; and for a time perhaps deficient in a proper taste for manufactured products; yet, even if they had possessed these tastes in the degree found to prevail at present, their inconsiderable numbers would have prevented their demand from producing any important mass of such wealth. We hear of great splendour among princes and nobles in every period of history. The difficulty was not so much to inspire the rich with a love of finery, as to break down their inlmense properties, and to create a greater number of demanders who were able and willing to purchase the re.sults of productive labour. ·This, it is obvious, could only be effected very gradually. |