this new nation will contain within itself as many laboring people as it can employ; and that thus, adding nothing to the quantity of work to be performed in Europe, it will be no advantage to the men who perform this work. But I reply, that it is impossible but that the United States of America, in their present condition, and much more when their population and wealth shall be doubled, nay, quadrupled, should employ the labor of Europeans in one way or another. It is impossible, because in this respect the Americans are not differently situated from other nations, who all have need of each other. The fertility of the American soil, the abundance and variety of its productions, the activity and industry of its inhabitants, and the unrestricted commerce, which will sooner or later be established in Europe in consequence of the American Independence, secure the relations of America with other countries; because she will furnish to other nations such of her productions, as they may require; and, as each country possesses some productions peculiar to itself, the demand and advantage will be reciprocal.

The second cause, which I have said must coöperate in producing an augmentation of wages in Europe, is emigration, or the mere possibility of emigrating to America, where labor is better paid. It is easy to conceive, that, when this difference is generally known, it will draw to the United States many men, who, having no means of subsistence but their labor, will flock to the place where this labor is best recompensed. Since the last peace, the Irish have been continually emigrating to America. The reason of this is, that in Ireland wages are much less than in England, and that the lower classes are consequently great sufferers. Germany has also furnished new citizens to the United States; and all these laborers must, by leaving Europe, have raised the price of work for those who remain.

This salutary effect will be produced even without emigration, and will result from the mere possibility of emigrating, at least in those states of Europe whose inhabitants are not compelled to leave their own country by excessive taxation, bad laws, and the intolerance of government.

In order to raise the rate of wages, it is enough that higher can be obtained in any place to which the workman, who depends upon them, can remove. It has been wisely remarked in the discussions, which have arisen upon the corn trade, that the simple liberty of exporting grain would keep up and even raise its price, without the actual exportation of a single bushel. The case is the same with wages. As European workmen can so easily remove to America to procure higher wages, they will oblige those who purchase their labor to pay them more for it.

Hence it follows, that these two causes of the rise of wages, actual emigration and the mere possibility of emigrating, will concur to produce the same effect. Each acting at first in an inconsiderable degree, there will be some emigration. Then wages will be raised, and the laborer, finding his gains increase, will no longer have a sufficiently powerful motive to emigrate.

But the rise of wages will not be equally felt by the different nations of Europe. It will be more or less considerable, in proportion to the greater or less facilities for emigration, which each affords. England, whose manners, language, and religion are the same with those of America, must naturally enjoy this advantage in a higher degree than any other European state. We may assert, that she already owes much to America; for her relations with that country, the market which she has found there for her merchandise, and which has raised the wages of the day-laborers employed in her

agriculture and manufactures, are among the principal causes of her wealth, and of the political influence we find her exerting.

But, to say nothing of other advantages, which may ultimately accrue from the rise of wages, this augmentation has already produced one most valuable result in England. It has ameliorated the condition of that class of men, who live by the labor of their hands alone, that is, the most numerous portion of society. This class, elsewhere reduced to the most scanty subsistence, are much better off in England. They there obtain by their labor the necessaries of life in greater abundance than in many other parts of Europe; and there can be no doubt, that this springs from the influence of American commerce on the rate of wages.

I know it may be said, that, notwithstanding the increase of labor and of subsistence in Europe, and notwithstanding the emigration which may take place, the same causes which we have mentioned, and which have reduced wages so low, will continue to operate, because they are inherent in the constitutions of European states, whose defects will not be remedied by the liberty and prosperity of America. Perhaps it may be said, also, that the number of proprietors and capitalists, a number very small compared with that of the men, who, having no landed property nor capital, are compelled to live upon wages, will remain the same, because the causes which accumulate landed property and capital in their hands will not change, and consequently that they will reduce, or rather keep wages very low. Finally, it may be said, that the tyranny of the feudal laws, the mode of taxation, the excessive increase of the public revenue, and the laws of commerce, will always produce the same effect of diminishing wages, and that,

should Europe derive any real advantage, in this respect, from American independence, it would not be permanent.

To these suggestions, many things may be said in reply. I will observe, in the first place, that, if the governments of Europe endeavour to counteract the salutary effects, which the independence of America would naturally produce in respect to them, it is not the less interesting to endeavour to ascertain what these effects would be. Better days may come, when, the true principles of the happiness of nations being better understood, there will be some sovereign sufficiently enlightened and just to put them in operation. The causes, which tend continually to accumulate and concentrate landed property and wealth in a few hands, may be diminished. The remains of the feudal system may be abolished, or, at least, rendered less oppressive. The mode of taxation may be changed, and its excess moderated. And, lastly, bad commercial regulations may be amended. The tendency of all these improvements will be, to enable the working classes to profit by the favorable change, which the American Revolution must naturally produce.

But, admitting that all the causes, which have just been mentioned, should concur to keep the wages, which the day-laborer receives for his work in Europe, at a low rate, they could, however, only weaken the influence exerted by the prosperity of America, and not wholly destroy it. If every thing else remained in the same state, there would still be a greater consumption, and consequently more labor to be performed. Now, this consumption and labor continually increasing in the same ratio with the increase of population and wealth in the New World, an augmentation of wages in Europe will be the necessary result; for the coun

teracting causes will not operate more powerfully than they now do.*

* The suggestion in this essay, that the capacity of a nation for cheap production is not dependent solely upon the lowness of wages, is very just, indeed quite obvious, and yet it is not usually so satisfactorily presented in works on political economy, as it is above. Those works are apt to lead the reader into a misapprehension on this subject, by assigning to the money rate of wages too predominant an influence on the money price of products. That it is not decisive in this respect is demonstrated in the example put in the text, namely, that of England, where wages are higher than in any other European country; and yet England maintains a successful competition in the foreign markets with other nations, and not only with those where labor is cheaper, but also with those where interest is usually lower, for instance, Holland. These are disadvantages under which England, and still more the United States, labor in competition with the Dutch in her foreign markets, and also the home markets, provided all goods, both foreign and domestic, are admitted into the home market upon the same footing without discrimination.

How are these disadvantages to be compensated? It may be by some or all of the following advantages, viz. 1. By low rents and cheap materials. 2. By plenty and cheapness of fuel. 3. By facility of inland transportation. 4. By a good geographical position for marine transportation. 5. By a good mercantile marine. 6. By commercial advantages secured by treaties and conventions with foreign nations. 7. By superior intelligence and skill of operatives. 8. By improvements in machinery and more perfect implements. 9. By more intense industry, rendering a day's labor more effective independently of any superiority of skill or implements. 10. By superior sagacity, activity, and enterprise on the part of the undertakers and conductors of the national industry. 11. By the greater enterprise, skill, and activity of the merchants. In comparing the condition of different nations as competitors in commerce, these causes ought all to be kept in view, no less than the money rate of wages and the rate of interest; and so presented, that a just weight may be assigned to each.

In regard to the influence of the growth of the United States upon the rate of wages in Europe, Franklin's argument supposes, that the increase of employment for European laborers will be greater in proportion to the increase of the laborers themselves, than if the country were stationary. The proposition is probably true, but not so obviously so, that it can be taken for granted. The essay would have been clearer and more satisfactory, had this question been treated.-W. PHILLIPS.