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himself the pains of such information — no marvel then that a gentleman,—with merely the report of our factory committee, and the report of our poor law commissioners, and the tables indicative of the increase of crime in Great Britain, piled up upon his library table,—should have rubbed his hands a little pharasaically, and rejoiced at the happy contrast which existed between the people of his own contented land, and those of the well dressed'-'well employed' cow-keeping ' fine bread-eating'' wine-breakfasting' wretches on the other side of the channel.

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CHAPTER XI.

Mr. Macculloch on the effects of the division of property in France-His arguments: First, "A sense of their inferiority in younger children will excite them to make extraordinary exertions after wealth;" Secondly, "That the bias in the heads of great families to provide for younger children out of the public establishments is very faint."

THE fable of Achilles is but an allegory. The wisest and the strongest have a part that is vulnerable to every coward and every fool; and far be it from me to derive any pert satisfaction from the proof which I shall venture, somewhat presumptuously, to give, that a very able man may be betrayed by haste and prejudice into a very negligent composition. error of the author, I am about to criticise, has been the common error-the error which too usually follows us into all our judgments of men and things; the error which allows us to perceive nothing right where we see any thing wrong; the error which leads the liberal to

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despise the tory as a blockhead; the tory to loath the liberal as a traitor; the error which teaches the fanatic to believe there is no safety out of his creed; the political economist to believe there is no fact at variance with his theory.

If Mr. Macculloch had been satisfied with fairly comparing the advantages and disadvantages of the two systems under which property may be disposed of;-if he had stated certain principles, as likely to affect that system which is prevalent in France, acknowledging, at the same time, the subordination of such principles to various influencesmany of which are even beyond the scope of our dim intelligences; if he had recognized the faults inherent in the custom of primogeniture, as well as those attendant on the custom of equal succession; if he had seen the causes which sometimes counteract and sometimes counterbalance the dangers of a law, which in the country of which I am writing has produced evil as well as good; but certainly not the evil which mere speculation might have induced us to anticipate ;-I should have paid that respect to him as a philosopher which I now withhold from him as an enthusiast. Enthusiast,' I say, for a man may

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be an enthusiast, though a compiler of facts and an arguer with figures; and God only knows the mischief that is committed by gentlemen whose wisdom consists mostly in their appearance, and who conceal more than the madness of Sir Launcelot beneath the grave and solemn aspect of Dr. Syntax.

But, sensible of the delicacy of my task, I wish to strip it as much as possible of the usual vagueness of presumption; and while I do justice to the arguments of Mr. Macculloch, by laying them as plainly as possible before my readers, to do also justice to his understanding, by showing how little those arguments could have met with his serious consideration.

MR. MACCULLOCH'S ARGUMENT.- -I.

The prejudices of most political philosophers, against the custom of primogeniture, seem to rest on no solid foundation; for the institution or custom of primogeniture, by giving the estate to the eldest son, forces the others to quit the home of their father—and the sense they must feel of their inferiority in point of wealth, as compared with the head of their family, will be a motive to them to make extraordinary exertions, which could not have had any existence, if their patrimonies had been equal to his.

Now, so much of this is correct: it is advisable to give society a stimulus to enrich

itself Why is this? to render society happier? but if the stimulus you employ to make people happier, only makes them more miserable you then defeat the object you have in view by the method you take to attain it. Is it not so?

Mr. Macculloch says : "The law of primogeniture will best make a nation rich; and riches are a means of happiness; therefore, the more rich you make a nation, the more happy you make it."

The opponent to the law of primogeniture, if the argument were to rest upon this ground, might not find it difficult to refute his antagonist.

"Riches," he would say, "are, as you observe, a means of happiness; but they are not happiness. If the method you pursue to make a nation wealthy embitters the pursuit and the possession of wealth, if the method you take to give people the means of enjoying themselves deprives every one of enjoyment, you are the last of legislators and philosophers, though you may call yourself the first of political economists.

What, according to you, is the result of your law of primogeniture?

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