the enjoyment of perfect health, invariably commences his studies by ascertaining what is the natural action of the system having done which, he feels himself qualified to examine into the disturbing causes by which health and life are constantly destroyed. Physiology is the necessary preliminary to pathology; and this is as true of social as it is of physical science.

Having now completed the study of the Physiology of society, exhibiting its progress towards a natural and stable form, our next succeeding chapters will be devoted to its Pathology, with a view to ascertaining what have been the causes of the decline and fall of various communities that have perished; and why it is the rate of progress in those now existing is so widely different.

§ 13. The theory of Mr. Ricardo, in regard to the occupation of the earth, leads to results directly the reverse of those above described. Commencing the work of cultivation on the richer soils always those of the valleys-it follows, that as men become more numerous, they must disperse themselves-climbing the hills, or seeking elsewhere valleys whose rich soils remain as yet unappropriated. Dispersion, bringing with it an increased necessity for the services of the soldier, the sailor, and the trader, is accompanied by constant increase in the power of those who have appropriated land to demand payment for its use; and thus is there produced a constant increase in the proportions, and in the importance, of the classes that live by virtue of the exercise of the power of appropriation. Centralization, therefore, grows, and its growth is in the direct ratio of the diminution of the power of man to indulge his natural desire for combination with his fellowmen - and for that development of his faculties which fits him for association and enables him to acquire enlarged control over the wonderful forces of nature. The many, in that case, become from year to year more and more the slaves of nature and of their fellow-men-doing, this, too in virtue of what, if we are to believe Mr. Ricardo and his successors, is a great law, instituted by the Creator for the government of mankind.

Were this so, society would assume a form directly the reverse of the one here given that of an inverted pyramid every increase in numbers and wealth being marked by an increasing irregularity and instability, with corresponding decline in the condi

tion of man. "Order" being, however, "Heaven's first law," it is difficult to comprehend how such an one as that announced by Mr. Ricardo could follow in its train-and the mere fact that it would be productive of such disorder, would seem to be a sufficient reason for doubting its truth, if not, even, for causing it to be instantly rejected. So, too, with that of Mr. Malthus, which leads inevitably to the subjection of the many to the will of the few-to centralization and slavery. No such law can, or could, exist. The Creator established none in virtue of which matter was required to take upon itself its highest form, that of man, in a ratio more rapid than that in which it tended to take the lower ones, those of potatoes and turnips, herrings and oysters, required for the sustenance of man. The great Architect of the universe was no blunderer, such as modern political economy would make him. All wise, he was not required to institute different sets of laws for the government of the same matter. All just, he was incapable of instituting any that could be adduced in justification of tyranny and oppression. All merciful, he could make none that would afford a warrant for want of mercy among men towards their fellow-men, such as is now daily exhibited in politicoeconomical books of high authority.*

Speaking of the Ricardo theory, a recent and eminent writer assures his readers that that "general law of agricultural industry is the most important proposition in political economy;" and that, "were the law different, nearly all the phenomena of the production and consumption of wealth would be other than they are." Other, rather, than they have been described by political economists as being, but not "other than they are. The law is different, and produces totally different results. The supposititious one leads to the glorification of trade—that pursuit of man which tends least to the development of the human intellect, and most to the hardening of the heart towards the sufferings of his

if

* Labor is, as we are told by English economists, "a commoditity," and if men will, by marrying, indulge that natural desire which prompts them to seek association with their kind, and will bring up children "to an overstocked and expiring trade," it is for them to take the consequences, and "if we stand between the error and its consequences, we stand between the evil and its cure we intercept the penalty, (where it does not amount to positive death,) we perpetuate the sin." (Edinburgh Review, Oct. 1849. The italics are those of the reviewer.) It would be difficult to find elsewhere stronger evidence of the tendency of an unsound political economy to crush out all Christian feeling, than is contained in the above extract.

fellow-men; while the real one finds its highest point in the development of that commerce of man with his fellow-man which tends most to his advancement as a moral and intellectual being — and most to the establishment of the feeling of responsibility to his Creator for the use he makes of the faculties with which he has been endowed, and of the wealth he is permitted to obtain. The one is unchristian in all its parts, while the other in its every line is in strict accordance with the great law of Christianity, teaching that we should do to others as we would that they should do unto us — and with the feeling that prompts the prayer –

"That mercy I to others show,

That mercy show to me."

VOL. I.-16

CHAPTER IX.

OF APPROPRIATION.

§ 1. In the early period of society, men being poor and widely scattered, there exists a necessity for being always prepared for selfdefence. Such was the case with the early settlers of these United States; and so is it now with those engaged in occupying the Oregon, Washington, and other territories of the West. That necessity disappearing, however, with the growth of population, and consequent increase in the power of association, they are enabled more continuously to prosecute their labors — freed from fear of seeing their fields ravaged, their houses and implements destroyed, and their wives and children butchered before their eyes; and now it is that production rapidly increases, with growing tendency to the development of individuality, and to physical, moral, and social progress.

In that period, too, the services of the trader are among the necessities of life. Having but little to exchange, the scattered settlers hail the arrival of the travelling peddler, who receives from them their surplus products, in exchange for shoes or blankets, kettles, saws, or gloves. Here, however, we mark a course of operation similar to that observed in regard to preparation for self-defence the necessity for the services of the soldier and the trader diminishing as the makers of shoes and blankets, kettles and gloves, come to take their places in the settlement; and every step in the progress of that diminution is seen to be attended with increase in the continuity of effort-in the development of individual faculties and in the strength of the community of which the individuals are a part.

Diminishing wants being attended by diminution in the effort required for their satisfaction, each successive step in the direction that has above been indicated, is attended by diminution in the proportion of the labors of the community required to be given

to the work of self-defence, and to that of trade or transportation; and the smaller the proportion thus required to be given, the larger, necessarily, must be that which may be given to the work of cultivation — with constant increase in the power of combination, and in the growth of commerce. The two necessities above described constituting the essential obstacles to the gratification of the first and greatest desire of man, the more completely they can be removed, the more perfect will be his security of person and of property-the more productive will become his labor- the less must be the value of all the commodities required for his consumption—and the greater must be his power of accumulating wealth; and that such is felt to be the case is obvious from the pleasant feeling among the members of a community whenever, from any cause, they are diminished, or removed; and the power of association for peaceful purposes is increased.

That feeling does not, however, extend to those who profit by the exercise of power over their fellow-men, either as warriors, politicians, or traders. The soldier-seeking plunder, in quest of which he is always willing to risk his life-has, perhaps, appropriated large bodies of land, requiring slaves for their cultivation; or there are others ready to purchase the captives he may make. The trader, too, profiting by the irregularity of motion in time of war, buys men or merchandise when, and where, they are cheap; and sells them when, and where, they are dear. All seek to centralize in their own hands the control of those by whom they are surrounded—the soldier monopolizing the power to collect taxes; the great landholder monopolizing the commodities yielded by the labor of his slaves; and the trader desiring everywhere to monopolize the collection and distribution of those commodities—that he may be enabled to dictate the prices at which he will buy, and those at which he will sell. All are middlemen, standing in the way of association, and preventing any continuous motion between those who produce and those who need to consume, and desire to maintain commerce among themselves.

The progress of a community towards wealth and power being in the direct ratio of the combination of action among the people of whom it is composed, it follows that the advance towards both must be in the ratio in which they are enabled to dispense with the