Page:The Effects of Civilisation on the People in European States.djvu/58

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HALL ON CIVILISATION.

rials, tools, machinery, &c.; in a fourth, the goods now manufactured and stored for sale; and so on. In those, or some other class of the rich, all those things are collected, and by the laws firmly secured to them, which the poor man stands in need of, and are necessary to the support of his existence. The persons in the possession of these things hold them out to the poor labourer, saying, "If you will labour for me in such and such a way, I will give you out of those things such as you stand in need of: but unless you will do those things which I require of you, you shall have none of them." Hence there is an absolute necessity, under the penalty, the heaviest of all penalties, namely, the deprivation of such things as are necessary to his and his family's existence, for his submitting to do the things thus imposed on him to do.

And as the quantity of the necessaries of life, that are or can be consumed by the rich, are limited, and in the purchasing of which a small part only of their wealth can be expended, the surplus they are naturally inclined to lay out in procuring the conveniences, the elegancies, and luxuries of life. These are the produce of the more refined manufactures of different kinds; and for these they are inclined to give a greater price, considering their wealth would be of little use to