ter portion of the price is far greater than the former. The same may be said of many of our expenses of the table and of various others.

Now, that men should not, if they have the ability, in any manner gratify their senses, and yield obedience to fashion, it is not necessary here to affirm; nor is it necessary that political economy should prescribe the limit, within which these gratifications shall be confined. A few considerations for the sake of illustrating the comparative economical advantages of other modes of gratification is all that will be here attempted.

1. Moral and intellectual pleasures are by no means expensive. To spend time in moral cultivation, is no more expensive than to spend it thoughtlessly and frivolously. The time consumed in thoughtless dissipation, if employed in moral culture, would be sufficient to effect great changes in our habits and tastes.

The pleasures of benevolence, so far as pecuniary consumption is concerned, are less expensive than those of the senses. Were the sums lavished in thoughtless caprice, in obedience to fashion, or in the gratification of appetite, to be reserved for charity, how great an amount of happiness might be created both in the benefactor and the recipient.

The same may be said of intellectual pleasures. Books and all the means for intellectual gratification, may be had at an expense within the reach of a very large class of the community. The useless ornaments of a drawing room, would frequently purchase a considerable library. The sums of money annually paid, by most families, to satisfy the demands of fashion, would provide them with as much reading as they would desire. Now, when these two kinds of pleasure are equally set before us, and when the one may be procured at so much less expenditure than the other, it surely is worth the attention of every man, deliberately to inquire by which mode of investment he will best secure his

own happiness. There seems something ill-adjusted, when the habitation of a moral and intellectual being, reminds us of every thing else than, that he is either moral or intellectual.

2. Moral and intellectual pleasures tend to the wealth both of the individual and of society.

The exercise of benevolence has several important economical tendencies. For instance, it tends directly to cultivate the habits of self-denial and selfgovernment, which are so essential both to industry and frugality. Sensual self-indulgence tends directly to produce both indolence and capricious and reckless expenditure.

Again. The habit of benevolence tends to moderate and correct that intense love of gain, which is so frequently the cause of ruin to enterprising men. In the management of any hazardous business, he will be the most likely to succeed, who looks with entire coolness on the chances of loss and gain. The too eager, governed by their imagination, rush into needless danger. The too cautious allow a fair prospect of advantage to pass by unimproved. The one is as liable to fail as the other. He who by the practice of benevolence, has learned a more accurate estimate of the blessings of wealth, will more probably than either, judge correctly. The miser and the sensualist will fall into opposite extremes, one upon each side of him.

Besides, the social benefits of benevolence are incalculable. It unites together the various classes of men, by the strong ties of affection and gratitude. By bringing all classes of men more directly under the view of the whole mass of society, social responsibility is increased, and the encouragements to virtue and the restraints upon vice are strengthened. When the rich are hard-hearted and luxurious, the poor are disaffected, anti-social and destructive. In so far as benevolence, therefore, tends to the improvement of the social dispositions of men, it may lay claim to great economical advantages.

And the same is true of intellectual pleasures. A man cannot enjoy these without improving his mind, and rendering it a more valuable instrument both for the production of his future happiness, and the accumulation of wealth. Knowledge is power, in what sphere of life soever it be exerted. The gratification of the senses enervates the body, enfeebles the mind, and tends to render intellectual exercise unpleasant, and to unfit us for any important or highly responsible exertion.

CHAPTER THIRD,

OF PUBLIC CONSUMPTION.

SECTION I.

OF TAXES, OR THE MANNER IN WHICH PUBLIC EXPENDITURE IS PROVIDED FOR.

We have thus far treated of individual consumption, or of that destruction of values affected by the individual, in the accomplishment of his own purposes; and for the gratification of his own desires. But, all the capital produced by a society, is not expended in this manner. A part of the annual revenue of every individual, is contributed in some manner to the public, and is expended by the agents of the public, that is, by the government. This part remains to be treated of, under the head of public consumption.

This expenditure is provided for by means of taxation. When a given sum is to be raised for the accomplishment of any object, it is, by some mode of assessment, distributed among the various individuals of the community, and every one is obliged to pay the proportion with which he is charged. The sum thus collected is then, for the accomplishment of particular purposes, consumed by the agents into whose hands it is delivered. The consumption itself is of precisely the same nature as that affected by individuals, that is, the value is destroyed; and the utility consumed, is annihilated. If an individual burn gunpowder, the value in time and material by which it was produced is destroyed; if a hun

dred or a thousand men do it, the result is the same. If a man in the digging of a ditch consume the labor of a thousand workmen, and use the provisions necessary for their sustentation, the whole value, thus expended, is annihilated. And if a thousand men unite in the undertaking, the annihilation is the same. This is really so evident, that to illustrate it at length seems almost childish. Does any one doubt when a house is burnt down, whether the value of a house is or is not consumed, because the owner did not set fire to it himself. Does any merchant doubt, whether his property is diminished or not, when it has been wasted by a profligate clerk? In a word, government is nothing but a system of agencies; and property consumed by the government, is as really consumed, and its value as really destroyed, as though the individual citizens consumed it themselves.

Now, this being the fact, the rule by which consumption is to be judged of, is precisely the same, whether it be public or private. If the product created by the consumption, whether that product be material or immaterial, be of greater value than the product consumed, it is profitable consumption; that is, the public receive in return a greater value than they parted with. If a less valuable product be created, than is consumed, it is unprofitable consumption, and the value might better have remained in the hands of individuals. If no product whatever be realized, it is a total loss; and the value taken from the individual might as well have been thrown into the sea. Nay, had they themselves thrown the value consumed into the sea, there would have been a gain, in the amount of the expense of collecting and consuming it. And still more, if the value consumed produce no valuable result, but, on the contrary, be employed to promote the purposes of oppression and misrule, the evil is enormous. The possessions of the individual are taken away, not only without rendering him an equivalent, but for