The assumption, therefore, that they may be so determined, is to be considered as hypothetical, and to be tolerated from the difficulty of otherwise treating the subject; in the same manner as the hypothetic existence, of strictly n~mathematical lines, and the absence of friction and of the resistance of the air, is excused, in reasons concerning the mechanical properties of matter.As in these reasons, an attempt will be made to ascertain the extent, and mode of operation of those other causes; and, having traced what seem to be the great moving powers, and the laws governing them, we shall endeavor to discover the circumstances which retard or derange their motions.
It may be proper here to notice the acceptation, in which two other terms of frequent subsequent occurrence, are to be received.Some instruments are easily moved from place to place, and, on this account, there are peculiar facilities, in exchanging them with others.This seems to be the character distinguishing what are called goods, or commodities, from other instruments, and it is in this sense, that these terms will, in the subsequent pages, be employed.
CHAPTER III.OF CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES ARISING FROM THE INSTITUTION OF SOCIETY, 1.Man hardly exists but in the social state.If separated from infancy from his fellows, his peculiar faculties scarcely at all develop themselves.
His mental and bodily capacities and energies seem, also, to be moulded by the condition of the society of which he is a member.We may venture to predict, that three children born tomorrow, one in California, another in China, and a third in London, and remaining in their respective countries till the age of twenty, will be very different beings, and that each will possess the mental and bodily peculiarities, that characterize the particular community to which he belongs.The same things, though in a lesser degree, hold true concerning the men composing every nation.Whether these characteristics of different races, tribes, and peoples, proceed altogether from some peculiar hereditary conformation of the bodily organs, or from the effects of education, example, and habit, or from the combination of these, or from other causes, it is very certain that they exist, and that the moral and intellectual condition, as well as the bodily organization of men, vary, as they belong to this, or that society.Besides this, institutions, forms of government, and laws, influence somewhat the genius, and considerably affect the conduct, of every people, and these also are very various.It thus happens that every society has, what may be termed, a distinctive character of its own.
It is therefore assumed, in the succeeding investigations, that the moral and intellectual powers, the knowledge, the habits and dispositions of the men composing every separate community, society, nation, state, or people, terms which, as far as our subject is concerned, may be considered synonymous, are such as to give it a peculiar character distinguishing it from other communities.It is also assumed, that the average character of the members of different portions of the same community is similar, so that, were a considerable number of the inhabitants of any particular state, taken from one part of its territories, they would closely resemble an equal number, taken from any other part.This latter assumption is not exactly accurate.There are great differences, especially in extensive states, between the characters of the inhabitants of different portions of the same territory.These diversities render it sometimes necessary to modify the conclusions that follow from considering the average character of the members of the same community as perfectly similar.Thus, the different characters of the inhabitants of England, Ireland, and Scotland, affect somewhat deductions in this subject, drawn from treating the characters of the population of different parts of Britain as uniform.In truth, every large society might be divided into several smaller societies, differing somewhat from each other.If they differ in some particulars, however, they agree in many more, and certain results follow from this agreement, which make it convenient to treat of them as one.If necessary too, the amount of the inaccuracy, arising from the assumption of a more perfect uniformity than exists, may be ascertained.
2.Man, as an organic being, is governed by laws similar to those which other organic beings obey.Our subject obliges us to advert to a consequence arising from one of them.
In the midst of the numerous revolutions and accidents to which the surface of the globe is subject, it is always abundantly replenished with animal and vegetable life, and the numbers of every race upon it are kept up to the quantity of materials fit for their subsistance which it affords them.The increase and decrease of the human species, follows the general law.This seems to be the foundation of what has been termed the doctrine of population.In the subsequent pages it is received, simply as a statement of the fact, that the numbers of every society increase, as what its members are inclined to esteem a sufficient subsistence, is provided for them.
