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completely established; but, on the other hand, why should the whole truth not have been arrived at with equal certainty? If, again, the burden of his story be true, it is not much less marvellous that he should have been guilty of so many prevarications and falsehoods as are proved against him in the present work.

One thing is clear-whoever has read, and perhaps been persuaded by Feuerbach's romantic version of the history of Caspar Hauser's fortunes, should carefully examine the arguments before us, which may conduct to a change of opinion, and serve to impress a most important lesson upon the minds of the credulous and the lovers of the marvellous.

ART. XI.-Civilization, or a Brief Analysis of the Natural Laws that Regulate the Numbers and Condition of Mankind. By the HON. A. H. MORETON, M.P. London: Saunders. 1836.

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THE principal purpose of this work is to present, within a very moderate space, the general nature of the alterations which are gradually and constantly taking place in mankind as a race. the species, not any distinct nation or tribe, that the author chiefly regards; and one of his general conclusions amounts to this, that the whole race is destined to wax greater in power, knowledge, and enjoyment, and to improve from age to age, while, as regards England in particular, the people are to advance in civilization, and ought to feel confident that they can never return to the condition of the painted savages of ancient Britain. In the course of this inquiry a great range of subjects, which may be said to form the landmarks that limit, as well as the data that support the science of political economy, fall to be discussed; such as the statistical facts regarding the numbers, the increase, and the longevity of mankind-the doctrine of wages, of industry, and of wealth, in a variety of given cases the influences that tend to obstruct the growth of the manufacturing and higher classes, and a number of other branches of the science, laid down according to what may be called its proper terminology.

Our opinion of the book is, that it embraces within a comparatively narrow compass, a masterly sketch of all that immediately bears upon the subject expressed in its title; and that, though there be little that is new in it, in point of doctrine or argument, yet that the essay throughout presents an unusually succinct, lucid, and attractive digest of all the matters discussed. As respects this last named characteristic, viz. the attractive features of the work, it is quite unnecessary to mention, that it is rather a novel feature in treatises of the kind, in which equal closeness and accuracy of reasoning is employed. The author's elear conceptions on his subVOL. II. (1836) no. iv.

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ject, his luminous style and mode of treatment, the bold as well as highly engaging grounds which he occupies, and the interesting nature of the points upon which he seizes for illustration, have stamped upon the essay the character we have given it; so that while every attentive reader will follow the discourse with ease, he will not only find the matters discussed of a nature calculated to arrest strongly his reflections, but also perceive such lights in his path as may enable him to reap the enviable enjoyment of reasoning for himself, and pursuing general principles in various directions not particularly indicated by the text.

In the introduction there are some important suggestions, whichit is very necessary to bear in mind when considering the subsequent chapters. For instance, in an investigation into the conditions and alterations which are always occurring among our species when in a civilized state, an infinite variety of distinct causes co-existing in such a complicated form of society are continually crossing and counteracting each other: "So that, however clearly it may be shewn in theory that a certain effect is produced by a particular cause, a hundred instances may perhaps be adduced in which that cause has been followed by no such effect." The reader must therefore bear in mind, that in all such discussions as the one before us, a certain cause, when said to produce a particular effect, must meanother causes capable of counteracting it not being in operation.

There are some curious statistical returns on record regarding population, which at first sight appear to lead to important conclusions, but which, according to the caution now given, become of comparatively little value. For example, though the number of male births always exceed that of girls, the relation that the former bear to the latter is different in different countries. According to the "Statistiques de Paris," there are in France about 23 boys born to 21 girls; in London the proportion is calculated at 19 boys to 18 girls; and at Naples at 21 boys to 20 girls. These proportions, it is well observed by the author, may depend upon the respective ages of the parents; and the effect of the proportion of the sexes of the children following this law, is to render equal the number of the sexes at the average period of marriage; which, if taken at thirty years for man, and twenty-five for woman, must require a greater proportion of male births to preserve this equality at marriage. But then there is wanting a comparison between the average periods of marriage in the three places now named; thus it becomes evident that no general or strong conclusion can be arrived at with regard to the average of male and female births; and therefore, uncertainty prevails upon this one great branch of the doctrines belonging to the subject of population.

We are happy, however, for the sake of our wedded readers, to have it in our power to communicate to them, that a number of

French writers are of opinion, that the average duration of life is considerably greater to married than to single persons of both sexes; but there is such a deficiency of statistical records on this subject also, as to render any positive doctrine drawn therefrom, unsafe.

We are not going to do more, in our farther notice of the present volume-neither is it necessary on such a subject-than to present a few examples of the manner in which the author conducts his arguments and speculations. It might not be difficult to pounce upon certain opinions and statements scattered throughout the work, which admit of being reconsidered and questioned. But this proceeding would lead to discussions of a nature that are nice, rather than of leading importance; and being solicitous to recommend the author's views, on account of their general excellence, rather than to be hypercritical, a simpler and easier task falls to our hands. On "Combinations to raise or lower Wages," there are some of the soundest arguments employed of which the subject is susceptible, but of which its great practical importance is exceedingly worthy. It must be borne in mind, however, that without a complete knowledge of the previous chapters, where the way has been cleared and paved, so as to carry the reader gradually and satisfactorily to the point from which we are, at a leap, to bring him, necessarily exposes our extracts to considerable disadvantage.

Labourers may for a time artificially raise, and masters may, in like manner, for a time reduce wages; but there is a natural level, above or below which they cannot be forcibly and permanently kept. To those who are unacquainted with the manner in which this truth can be demonstrated, we must recommend the statements and reasonings to be found at length in the present work. We come, however, to some of the practical results of combinations for the purpose of raising wages above the level which cost to the master, or the demands of the public, can sustain.

"The ordinary effect of combinations to raise wages above their nafural rate, is, to reduce them below their previous level Where such combinations exist, the trade will be contracted; and, where it is practi cable, the manufacturer will be supplanted in the market by goods brought from places where labour is free. Consequently, where a trade is open to the competition of all the world, workmen necessarily perceive it to be their interest to allow their wages to be reduced when the demand for the article they manufacture materially falls. If, for example, the hand-loom weavers, whose wages have been reduced by the competition of the power-loom, were to combine for a rise of wages, their services would be altogether dispensed with.

"But in those trades which are not open to any exterior competition, a combination of all that trade living in a particular town is often permanently successful. Suppose, for instance, the masons of a particular place to combine, and by intimidation to prevent any who do not belong to their union from working, there can be no doubt but that they can force their masters to raise their wages.

"Let us now examine at whose expense these additional wages are paid. It is not taken out of the pocket of the master builder, because, if he does not get a fair profit upon his capital, he will leave the place or the business, and he has but little fixed capital invested in his trade to keep him long in either. The master builder, therefore, to reimburse himself, charges a higher price for all his buildings. Everybody, therefore, who builds a house pays more for it in consequence of this combination, and charges in return a higher price to his lodger or tenant. What, however, is important to observe, is, that not only the price of lodging in the new houses, but in all the old houses in the town, is raised in consequence of this combination.

"Thus, to raise the wages of the masons employed in the building of five houses, the rent of lodgings in all the 505 houses is kept at a higher price. This is a curious instance of a combination of a small body of labourers augmenting the rents of the rich who have houses to let, at the expense of the labourers and others who are obliged to hire lodgings.

"Take another instance. In the ship-building trade in Dublin the workmen have long had a successful combination to keep up their wages; the consequence has been, that it became so much more expensive to build ships there than elsewhere, that no ships have been built there for many years, the trade being entirely confined to the repair of vessels trading to that port.

"So well aware are the Dublin shipwrights of the effect of competition, that they force their masters to limit the number of their apprentices. Thus, for the sake of raising the wages of a few hundred artificers, thousands are deprived of a well-remunerated employment, which would have been open to them if the ship-builders of Dublin were enabled to compete in building ships with those of other ports.

In many other trades in Dublin the workmen have entered into combinations. The consequence has been, that while the labourers in these trades are receiving high wages, the wages of common labourers, whose numbers prevent them from combining, are very low. It was stated by a witness before the Committee of the House of Commons on Trade and Manufactures, in 1825, that the wages of skilled labour in Dublin are within a trifle as high as in London; common manual labour at least sixty per cent. under what it is in London: provisions, and all the necessaries of life, twenty-five per cent. less than in London.' Now these common manual labourers are prevented from raising themselves into a class receiving a higher rate of remuneration, or from obtaining more extensive employment, by these combinations that restrict the number of labourers in the different trades. Could the mass of the labourers be made to see their own interest, they would rise in a body to put down these combinations."-pp. 61-66.

The first person who erected a cotton mill in America left England in consequence of combinations among his workmen. Here, the employment offered by the capital of this manufacturer was not only lost for ever to England, but a new trade was taught to the Americans, who have since become our rivals, and even undersell us in some descriptions of cotton goods. Even the fear of com

binations among workmen has a tendency to raise the price of an article. Besides, combinations among labourers have sometimes the effect of cheapening the article manufactured, and lowering their own wages, by urging their masters to the introduction of contrivances for economizing or superseding the labour of such workmen. On this subject Mr. Babbage, in his "Economy of Manufactures," as quoted by our author, makes this statement.

"About 20 years ago the workmen employed in forging the iron to be converted into gun barrels struck' for an advance in wages; and, as their demands were very exorbitant, they were not immediately complied with. A process occurred to the superintendent, by the introduction of which a great diminution of human labour was effected. The workmen, in consequence, who had acquired peculiar skill in this description of labour, ceased to derive any advantage from their dexterity.

"But another and still more remarkable instance of the effect of combination occurred a few years after in the same trade. The workmen employed in welding the barrels combined for a rise in wages; the consequence was the introduction of a mode of welding the barrels by iron rollers, in so perfect a manner, that in all probability very few will in future be welded by hand labour. The workmen who had combined were of course no longer wanted; and instead of benefitting themselves by their combination, they were reduced permanently to a considerably lower rate of wages. But although it is very apparent that in these two cases the effects of combination were permanently injurious to the workmen, yet they do not prove that all combinations have this effect; but it is evident they all have this tendency. It is also certain, that considerable stimulus must be applied to induce a man to contrive a new and expensive process; and that in these two cases, unless the fear of pecuniary loss had acted powerfully, the improvement would not have been made.'" pp. 70-72.

Masters do not often combine to any great extent, to reduce wages below their natural rate. Neither would the attempt be permanently successful; for if the workmen are not adequately remunerated, fewer new ones will enter into that trade, and more will leave it; so that the masters will either be obliged to diminish the amount of the work to be done, or to pay higher wages, to tempt others into their trade.

There is an interesting chapter "On the Effect of Civilization upon the Health, Longevity, and Increase of Mankind," which, however, we pass over, that we may see what is said of the "Case in which Population has no tendency to increase." The various means employed by Providence to rectify the temporary deficiencies of population, and also how mankind is permanently restrained from multiplying to excess, having been treated of, the condition of society where the numbers of the people have consequently a tendency to decrease, naturally falls to be considered. This condition occurs where the unprolific ordersar e too extended and abundant, and when

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