The reader's attention is requested to the following:-"In an endeavour to raise the proportion of the quantity of provisions to the number of consumers, in any country, our attention would, naturally, be first directed to increasing the absolute quantity of provisions; but we find, that, as fast as we did this, the number of consumers would more than keep pace with it." Let the condition and the numbers of the natives of Van Dieman's Land be compared with those of Middle and Southern England, (for there is a correspondence in their climate and natural advantages,) and the true nature of the above assertion must be clearly perceived.

We close our examination of this chapter, by earnestly requesting the attention of all capitalists, and employers of labour, of every description, to the sovereign panacea recommended by the Reverend Professor of History and Political Economy, for effectually and permanently curing and removing all the distresses and difficulties of the poor, as it is advertised in the following terms,-" If we be earnest in what appears to be the object of such general research-the mode of essentially and permanently improving the condition of the poor,—we must explain to them the true nature of their situation, and shew them, that the withholding the supplies of labour is the only possible way

of really raising its price; and that they themselves, being the possessors of this commodity, have alone the power to do this!" What is all this, but directly teaching, that capitalists are making undue profits by the cheapness of labour, and inciting their operatives to enter into combinations, for effectually withholding the supplies of labour; in short, to act as the seamen of Shields and Newcastle and other bodies of labourers did, after the conclusion of the late war; and as the weavers of Scotland and Ireland (in the absence of poor laws to protect them from the impoverishing effects of enormous taxation) are uselessly doing at present. It is a pretty suitable employment for a State-clergyman to set about diverting the labourers from perceiving that taxation is the evil cause of all their sufferings, by affirming, that it is solely owing to the capitalists giving them too small a share of the produce of their joint labour!!!

CHAPTER IV.

"OBJECTIONS TO THIS MODE CONSIDERED."

AMONG the objections considered by Mr. Malthus, the great and insuperable one to this mode is passed over without notice; which is, that it includes in it the false assumption, that the capitalists, or all employers of productive labour, with a view to profit, are acquiring uncommon gains, in consequence of the low rate of labour; for, since Mr. Ricardo has demonstrated, that the income produced by capital productively employed is, in the first place, divided between the capitalist and the labourers, under the names of profit and wages, it follows, that if the shares of the labourers are too small, the share of the capitalist is too large.. But is Mr. Malthus's a true statement of the case? Are the English, or even the Britannic capitalists, really obtaining exorbitant profits,

in consequence of labour being too cheap ?-Let the present rate of interest of capital and prices of stocks* answer for them, and likewise, the fact, that many have withdrawn themselves and their capital to other countries, with the express view of obtaining cheaper labour and greater profits.

This blinding system will not do. We will not stand, with our eyes and mouths open, to leeward of the Reverend Professor while he scatters his sulphureous ashes in this manner.Notwithstanding the immense destruction of British capital, by war and corruption, there is still a considerable amount of capital in the country; and both it and immediate labour do, even now, afford a fair rate of profit; but a third party steps in, and snaps up a very large share of it from its owners, the capitalists and labourers, and applies it in the luxurious support of idle profligate hordes of fashionable paupers, and in payments to the stockholders. If the 800 millions of capital, which have been spent in carrying on the works of destruction, were really in existence, and productively em

that

*It must be evident to every person of common sense, a low price of stocks is indicative of a profitable employment of productive capital, and, consequently, of a prosperous state of the nation; and that a high price of stocks is a certain indication of an opposite state, or one of unprofitable employment, and, consequently, distress of capitalists and labourers.

ployed, in how different a situation would England be! For the interest of the imaginary capital possessed by the stockholders, the fixed property of the country is alone responsible: -although the burden has been thrown upon the labourers, directly, by taxation of necessaries and conveniences-and, indirectly, by the trickery of Saving banks, &c. &c.

Mr. Malthus, with his usual boldness of assertion, goes on to tell the rich, that, if they do not agree to this "only effectual mode," "their benevolence must be either childish play or hypocrisy;" but he does not say who are meant by the term-rich. If he exclude capitalists employing their capital productively, then the principal number of employers of labour are excluded; and a considerable proportion of those, whom he means to designate by that word-rich -live abroad, in France or Italy, &c.; and need care very little what the price of labour is in England, while they get rents and dividends, sinecure-salaries, and undeserved pensions, regularly transmitted to them from thence. If capitalists are included, and if Mr. M. admits that their present profits are in no more than a fair proportion to the wages of labour, will he undertake to persuade their foreign, American, Asiatic, European, and African customers to give them higher prices for their productions; and neither to buy cheaper from any