the people into indigence and despair. The smallness of the expences of a slave, which serves only to increase the expences of his master, can no more be considered as advantageous to the progress of public and private wealth, than it can be supposed that the slave labours more than the free labourer. The sensation of fear cannot rise superior to the feeling of comfort and well being, and the yoke imposed by constraint cannot be lighter than that of personal interest.

Let us however beware of inferring from these general principles, that at all times, in all places, and under all circumstances, the labour of the free man ought to be substituted for that of the slave, and that these principles are equally proper and applicable to the colonial system.

Although the nature of man, whether black, copper-coloured, or white, be every where the same; although passions have the same sway over men of all colours; although all obey alike the influence of moral and physical causes; it yet cannot be denied, that the habit of slavery or liberty must necessarily modify them in such a manner, that the free man and the slave must seem to have nothing in common but the outward forms of humanity. Fear may possibly

Fear

* Quanto piu denaro è sparso generalmente per le mani del "popolo, tanto piu crescono le voglie e i bisogni del popolo, per"chè si desidera il comodo a misura che v'è probabilita di pro66 curer selo; quanto piu crescono i bisogni nel popolo, tanto "piu comprese consumazioni egli fa."-Ecou. Polit. del Conde Verri, § 17.

operate more forcibly on the slave, than either private interest or the love of pleasure on the free man; servitude may more powerfully oppose the impulse of the original and natural faculties of man, than liberty contributes to their improvement. The influence of education is such, that it may impair the elasticity of the spring of human actions and bend it contrary to its original destination; it may even pervert the ideas, inclinations, and dispositions of man to such a degree, that it may cause the slave to love what the free man detests, or the free man to hate what the slave adores. Both ancient and modern history afford many instances of this perversion. Where is the modern people that would not look upon the life of the Spartans as the last degree of human wretchedness? And what Arab, accustomed to the wandering and roaming life of his cattle, would not fancy himself condemned to the most excruciating pains, if he were obliged to submit to the laborious and sedentary life of our industrious artisans?

Whenever, therefore, education has moulded man to a certain mode of existence, it is the height of imprudence suddenly to impose upon the free man the ideas, sentiments, and inclinations of the slave, and upon the slave the notions, feelings, and propensities of the free man. Cast the free man into slavery, and, to stimulate him to labour, threaten him with the whip, or hold out the allurements of his private interest, and you will see which of the two means will have most power over him. But set the slave free, and it is more than probable that when he is no longer impelled by fear, he will be little excited to

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labour by the sentiment of his private interest; the repose which he wished for, will be to him the supreme good, and the need of labouring for his subsistence will perhaps not easily interrupt the enjoyment of this repose. It is therefore impossible to apply to one the maxims and principles which suit the other, or to derive from two particular instances a general rule applicable to all cases.

Enlightened governors, who know and respect the original views of nature in the formation of man, who know to what degree they have been altered or modified by education, and wish to insure to him the enjoyment of the goods of which he is deprived, ought to regard less what man was according to the intentions of nature, than what he is in the condition in which he has been placed by education; they ought to proportion the happiness designed for him to his actual faculties, and undo by degrees what had been effected gradually by education.

In this respect it is evident, that the question of the influence of liberty or slavery on labour, which in the system of modern Europe offers no difficulty, may be attended with very great difficulties in the colonial system; and although it appears demonstrated, that the labour of the free man is more advantageous than that of the slave, it is perhaps equally true, that, in the present colonial system, the labour of the slave is more advantageous than that of the free man.

The most general rule in political economy is never absolute, nor constantly good at all times, in all places, and under all circumstances; both its truth and its utility depend on the knowledge and pru

dence of the governors by whom it is applied; and they are so much the more entitled to praise and gratitude, as they come nearer truth without doing too great a violence to the opinions, propensities, and habits of the people over whom they rule.

But the philosophical inquirer, who seeks in the natural relations of men and things for the laws which they are to obey, pays no regard either to the modifications which they have undergone, to the circumstances by which these modifications have been commanded, or to the considerations which recommend their temporary retention; he looks to nothing but the object and intention of nature. His task is to indicate this object, and extends no further; and the service which he renders to mankind is merely to prevent their losing their way on the dark road of their private interests, and to keep them as close as possible to the tract of reason and justice.

CHAP. VI.

Of Apprenticeships and Corporations.

THE question of the liberty of labour naturally presents itself next to the question of the liberty of the labourer; a question which has been uniformly resolved by all writers, and differently treated by most governments. What are we to think of this clashing of opinions and practice? On which side is reason, and truth?

Were I to collect the arguments brought forward by the writers of all sects and countries against the injury done to the liberty of labour by apprenticeships and corporations, I should compose a huge volume which no doubt would not carry more conviction with it than the numerous chapters of the different works which I should have perused to compile it: but the triumph of the science is not so much my object, as the wish to fix its doctrine; my purpose will be accomplished by a rapid sketch of the inconveniencies and advantages attendant on those institutions, and by leaving to time the care of causing either the theory of speculative men or the practice of governments to prevail.

Apprenticeships and corporations are considered by all English, French, and Italian writers, as an infraction of the natural right of man to make use of his powers and dexterity for the purpose of providing for his sub