-we fall back
upon an element which is more easily ascertained, and that is, LABOUR.
We hold it to be a clear economical maxim, that beyond a certain
point, at all events within a given time, capital, however abundant it
may be, cannot _create_ labour. It has passed into a sort of truism
that there is nothing which money cannot accomplish--analyse it, and
you will find that it is not a truism but a popular fallacy. There are
many, many things which money cannot accomplish. It has no power to
clear the social atmosphere from crime; it may mar the morals of a
people, but it cannot make them; and still less can it usurp the
stupendous functions of the Deity. It may rear labour, but it cannot
by any possibility create it, after such a fashion as the crop that
sprang from the sowing of the Cadmean teeth. Let us illustrate this a
little.

Probably--nay, certainly--there never was a country in which labour
has been so accurately balanced as in Great Britain. Our population
has been for a number of years upon the increment; but the increase
has been of the nature of supply, consequent and almost dependent upon
the demand. The wages paid to the children in manufacturing districts
have swelled that portion of our population to a great degree, though
probably not more than is indispensable from the fluctuating nature of
commerce. But, so far as we can learn from statistical tables, the
number of agricultural labourers--that is, those who are strictly
employed in the cultivation of the land, and who cannot be spared from
that most necessary task--has been rather on the decrease. Our
business, however, is neither with manufacturer nor with
agriculturist, but with a different class--those, namely, who are
engaged in the public works of the country. Let us take Mr Porter's
estimate, according to the census of 1831.

"The summary of the returns of 1831, respecting the occupations of
males twenty years of age and upwards, throws considerable light
upon the subject, by exhibiting them under several subdivisions.
The males belonging to the families included in the
non-agricultural and non-manufacturing classes, were given at the
last census under four distinct heads of description, viz.:--

"Capitalists, Bankers, Professional, and other educated men.

"_Labourers employed in labour, not Agricultural._

"Other males, twenty years of age, except servants.

"Male servants, twenty years of age.