第 11 节
作者:乐乐陶陶      更新:2023-05-17 13:23      字数:6302
  characters; and will stand confessed a war of honest industry
  against the idle profligacy which has so long ruled the affairs
  of the political world with undisputed authority  which has;
  for its own security; added honour and political power to wealth;
  and has conjoined exclusion and disgrace with the poverty it has
  inflicted on the labourer。 On the side of the labourers there is
  physical strength; for they are more numerous than their
  opponents。 They are also fast losing that reverence for their
  opponents which was and is the source of their power; and they
  are daily acquiring a moral strength which results from a common
  interest and a close and intimate union。
  The capitalist and labourers form the great majority of the
  nation; so that there is not third power to intervene betwixt
  them。 The must and will decide the dispute of themselves。 Final
  success; I would fain hope; must be on the side of justice。 I am
  certain; however; that till the triumph of labour be complete;
  till productive industry alone be opulent; and till idleness
  alone be poor; till the admirable maxim that 〃he who sows shall
  reap〃 be solidly established; till the right of property shall be
  founded on principles of justice; and not on those of slavery;
  till man shall be held more in honour than the clod be treads on;
  or the machine he guides  there cannot; and there ought not to
  be either peace on earth or goodwill amongst men。
  Those who of late have shown themselves so ready to resist
  the just claims of labour; who; under the influence of interest
  and passion; have hurried into the arena with their penal laws;
  and have come forward; brandishing their parchment statutes; as
  if they; poor beings; could whip mankind into patience and
  submission; when these weapons of theirs  these penal laws and
  parchment statutes  derive all their power; whether for evil or
  for good; from the sanctity with which we are pleased to invest
  them; and as if they also did not know that they are as powerless
  as the meanest individual whom they are so prompt to scourge;
  except as we are pleased to submit and to honour them  they may
  thank themselves should their haste and their violence beget a
  corresponding haste and violence in others; and; should the
  labourers; who have hitherto shown themselves confiding and
  submissive  losing that reverence by which laws are invested
  with power; and to which Government is indebted for its existence
  turn their attention from combining for higher wages; to
  amending the state; and to subverting a system which they must
  now believe is intended only to support all the oppressive
  exactions of capital。 Ministers are undoubtedly; for the moment;
  very popular; but it does not require any very enlarged view to
  predict that by openly committing the Government during the last
  session of Parliament; when the great mass of the community are
  able both to scan the motives of their conduct and its
  consequences; and zealous in doing it; to a contest between
  capital and labour; taking the side of idleness against industry;
  of weakness against strength; of oppression against justice; they
  are preparing more future mischief than any ministry this country
  has ever seen。 They profess liberal principles  and they make
  laws to keep the labourer in thraldom。 By their innovations they
  encourage inquiry; and convince us the system is neither sacred
  nor incapable of improvement。 They have practically told the
  labourer there is nothing deserving his reverence; and have
  excited his hostility both by insult and oppression。
  I do not mean; on the present occasion; to point out all the
  consequences which result from this view of capital; but there is
  one so important in a theoretical point of view; and so well
  calculated to relieve the wise system of the universe from the
  opprobrium which has been cast upon it in these latter times;
  that I cannot wholly pass it by。 An elaborate theory has been
  constructed to show that there is a natural tendency in
  population to increase faster than capital; or than the means of
  employing labour。 In Mr Mill's Elements of Political Economy; a
  work distinguished by its brevity; several sections and pages are
  devoted merely to announce this truth。 If my view of capital be
  correct; this; as a theory of nature; falls at once baseless to
  the ground。 That the capitalist can control the existence and
  number of labourers; that the whole number of the population
  depends altogether on him; I will not deny。 But put the
  capitalist; the oppressive middleman; who eats up the produce of
  labour and prevents the labourer from knowing on what natural
  laws his existence and happiness depend; out of view  put aside
  those social regulations by which they who produce all are
  allowed to own little or nothing  and it is plain that capital;
  or the power to employ labour; and co…exiting labour are one; and
  that productive capital and skilled labour are also one;
  consequently capital and a labouring population are precisely
  synonymous。
  In the system of nature; mouths are united with hands and
  with intelligence; they and not capital are the agents of
  production; and; according other rule; however it may have been
  thwarted by the pretended wisdom of law makers; wherever there is
  a man there also are the means of creating or producing him
  subsistence。 If also; as I say; circulating capital is only
  co…existing labour; and fixed capital only skill labour; it must
  be plain that all those numerous advantages; those benefits to
  civilisation; those vast improvements in the condition of the
  human race; which have been in general attributed to capital; are
  caused in fact by labour; and by knowledge and skill informing
  and directing labour。 Should it be said; then; as perhaps it may;
  that unless there be profit; and unless there be interest; there
  will be no motives for accumulation and improvement; I answer
  that this is a false view; and arises from attributing to capital
  and saving those effects which result from labour; and that the
  best means of securing the progressive improvement; both of
  individuals and of nations; is to do justice; and allow labour to
  possess and enjoy the whole of its produce。
  The End