and of intellect, in those countries whence supplies might have been drawn. Wheat, it seems, could be imported, after paying all charges, at about 44s., but it has been taken at 48s. that there might be no dispute on that point; while the last returns to Parliament prove that, since the passing of the last Corn Law in 1815, the average price of wheat has been 78s. 5d. the quarter: nearly double the price at which it might be imported; and real wages and nett profits must have decreased in proportion to the rise of price; and as these have decreased, so has the general prosperity of the country been retarded. When nett profits are high, real wages will be high, and accumulation will proceed rapidly. The desire of all to increase their comforts, to possess and to enjoy more and a greater variety of products and conveniences, will both increase and be gratified. It is by means of accumulation, or increase of capital, and by that alone, that employment can be found for an increasing population. But Corn Laws, and taxes affecting agricultural produce, would not only prevent an increase of capital; they would destroy profit; reduce nearly the whole population to a state of the most deplorable poverty and misery, and make absolute slaves of all but the owners of land and tithes. "The rise in the price of necessaries and in the wages of labour,” says Mr. Ricardo," is however limited; for as soon as wages shall equal the whole receipts (gross profit) of the farmer, there must be an end of accumulation, for no capital could then yield any profit whatever, no additional labour could be demanded, and population would have reached its highest point. Long, indeed, before this period, the very low rate of profit would have arrested all accumulation, and almost the whole produce of the country, after paying the labourers, would be the property of the owners of the land, and the receivers of tithes and taxes." The laws prohibiting the importation of corn increase prodigiously the interest which a small proportion of the community have to oppress the mass of the people; and to increase the ill-will which a low rate of real wages necessarily engenders between the workman and his employer; and thus they produce a complicated mass of evil. In proportion as the price of corn rises, so does the quantity the landowner receives as rent increase; and as the price, as well as the quantity, increases at the same time, the advantage to the landowner is doubled, and the greater the injury to the community * Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, p. 135. In the first stage no rent would be paid, and there would be no landlords. In the second stage, the landlord would receive, as rent, from land of the first quality, five bushels, at 3s. 9d.12s. 9d. per acre. Land of the second quality would pay no rent. In the third stage, the landlord would receive, from land of the first quality, ten VOL. I. NO. VI. 3 A the greater is his advantage. And thus it is proved that the landowner has an interest in doing injury to the community; and between him whose interest it is to injure the community, and the community which is injured, there will, in the long run, be mutual strife and hatred. By the rapid increase of the price of corn, caused by the Corn Laws, the struggle between the employer and the workman, the one to preserve his profits, the other to preserve his real wages, is increased and perpetually renewed; the employer, treating his workman as an unconscionable encroacher, the workman considering his employer as a merciless oppressor: and thus the Corn Laws not only do infinite injury to the community, but they also set it together by the ears. There remains but one (the sixth) proposition to be proved, namely, that although a rise in the price of corn and other farm produce will diminish profits, and deprive the labourer of a portion of his subsistence, it will not raise the price of those commodities of which agricultural produce forms no part. Every commodity or manufacture, of which agricultural produce forms a part, will have its price increased, as the price of agricultural produce increases, in proportion to the quantity of agricultural produce it contains: hence the price of leather, and of all commodities manufactured from wool of home growth, will rise."* The price of these articles must rise, or the rate of profit on the employment of capital would be unequal, and this inequality would be continually increasing, which is impossible. But those articles, of which agricultural produce formed no part, would not rise while they continued in abundance, and could be procured with the same expense of capital, or the same quantity of labour; as, for instance, lime, iron, copper, tin, coals, &c. It has been proved that corn rises in price in consequence of the increase of population producing scarcity, and by laws forbidding importation, forcing land of worse and worse quality into cultiva tion. But neither the increase of population, nor the Corn Laws, would make any of the articles mentioned scarce. The probability of any of those articles becoming scarce is too remote to make it matter for consideration here. If the iron-master, for instance, supposed that he was entitled to an increase of price on the iron he smelted from the ore, because, in consequence of an increase in the price of food and clothes, he was compelled to increase his workmen's wages, he might say to bushels, at 5s =21. 10s. per acre; and from land of the second quality, five bushels, at 5s. 1. 5s. per acre. Land of the third quality would pay no rent. * That is, if those manufactures were still got up as they were before the improve ment of machinery. The price being kept down by means of improved machines in no way alters the principle. the coal-owner, I used to give you a ton of iron for four tons of coals, but food has risen in price, and my men have compelled me to increase their wages; and unless I charge the additional wages I have been obliged to give the men, on the price of the iron I manufacture, it will take away a large sum from my profits; I must therefore raise the price, and instead of the four tons of coals you used to give me for a ton of iron, you must now give me five tons of coals. To this the coal-owner might reply in the very words the iron-master had used to him, changing coals for iron and iron for coals. Any rise of price on these articles, of which farm produce formed no part, must be seen to be impossible. The same principle governs the case when the iron, copper, and tin, have been manufactured into utensils. The same quantities of tin-ware would still buy, or be exchanged for, the same quantity of iron or copper utensils, or for the same quantity of coals. And as a rise in the price of corn would neither increase nor diminish the value of money, the same sum would still be paid for the same quantities of each of those products, as was paid for it before the rise in the price of corn. A rise in the price of corn and other farm produce will not then raise the price of those commodities of which they form no part, which was the point to be proved. An erroneous opinion is entertained by almost every_working man, that his employer can indemnify himself for any advance of wages, by raising the price of the articles he manufactures or deals in, and consequently that a refusal to raise his men's wages, as the price of provisions rises, is an act of unnecessary and cruel oppression. It has been clearly proved that he has no such power, but that, on the contrary, whatever he pays in advanced wages he necessarily pays from his profits. Another opinion, equally erroneous, is entertained by almost every man who employs workmen; namely, that the demand of his workman for an increase of wages is an attempt at extortion, for which he deserves to be punished, and for which exceedingly cruel punishments are but too frequently inflicted. It has been clearly proved that it is impossible for the workman to prevent his circumstances being deteriorated; and the only possible means of removing the animosities which exist between the workman and his employer, are a repeal of the laws against combinations of workmen, and a clear understanding of the principles which govern PROFIT and WAGES. Feb. 20, 1821. E. P. THE UNIVERSE; A POEM. BY THE REV. C. R. MATURIN. We do not believe that this poem will add much to the reputation of the celebrated author of Bertram, but as its tone of reflection is philanthropic and elevated, and as it possesses some passages of merit, we give some quotations from it, a place among our leading articles. We own that the subject strikes us as too vast and vague to be a happy one. The Universe! What a trackless theme for the imagination; absorbing the mind at once in ideas of infinity and abstraction; prescribing no visible boundaries, either of beginning or end, to the poet's course; and leaving his planless and fortuitous progress. without the power of exciting curiosity or anticipation. To two out of the three books of this poem, Mr. Maturin prefixes an analysis of his topics. In the third, he leaves the clue of his contemplations to be discovered by the reader's own sagacity. The first part opens with an address to nature :— "Nature-Ethereal essence, fire divine, High spreading glories of the wilderness, Brief pensioners of Spring, that deck Earth's wilds From flower-zon'd mountains, wav'd their odorous wings Serene above all creatures--breathing soul- Of those sweet thoughts, that with life's earliest breath, To Heav'n's gate, thrilling love!-Then, Nature,-then, Of his unerring, all-pervading mind— Wherever is thy dwelling-place--All hail!—” After descanting on the inscrutable nature of the divine Author of the Universe, the poet contrasts the magnitude and durability of his works with the narrowness and uncertainty of human designs :- "All that is human fleeteth-nought endures This truth has been so often endited, both in prose and poetry, Amidst a good deal of common-place matter, however, we were struck by the beauty and spirit of the following description of Pompeii : "Thus deep, beneath Earth's bosom, and the mansions of the graves In Gay's Pastorals. |