 any Nation, bordering on the Ocean, might derive the like Prosperity from the same Spring.
Not, my Lord, that I think Opulence a real Benefit to a People, for
Man's Life consisteth not in the Abundance of his Possessions.
But I look upon Industry, the natural Parent of Opulence, to be as well a Blessing as a Duty to Man, from the Time that he was appointed to
earn his Bread in the Sweat of his Brow.
Many mental Virtues, also, as well as temporal Benefits follow in the Train of Industry; it makes Men healthful, brave, honest, social, and pacific. He, who labours hard to acquire a Property, will struggle hard to preserve it, and Exercise will make him active, robust and able for the Purpose. As the Man of Industry hath, in himself, a living Fund of Competence for his own Occasions, he will be the less tempted to plunder or prey upon Others; and the poignant Sense and Apprehension of being deprived of a Property, so justly acquired, will give him the nicer and stronger Sense of such an Injury to Others. Industry further incites to Commerce and good Neighbourhood, in order to dispose of mutual Redundancies for the Supply of mutual Wants. And, lastly, it delighteth in Peace, that its Time and its Labours may not be interrupted, nor the Fruits thereof endangered, by Rapine and Invasion; and all this may be said of Nations, as well as of Men.
Your Observations, said the Earl, are perfectly just; the Works of Industry are, unquestionably, the Works of Peace, and tend to open the Avenues wherein the Virtues may walk. But, how to incite Men or Nations to Industry, that is the Question. The finer Arts, we see, may be encouraged and promoted by National Bounties, as now in
France;
but there is no inciting the Bulk of the People to Industry, in like Manner; that would be, as though the Public should grant a Bounty to itself. Nations certainly differ from Nations as Man differs from Man; Some are, by Nature, industrious and ingenious, such as
China
and
Holland,
it is their Propensity, their Talent; while Others, like
Ireland,
are naturally lazy and listless, and therefore remain in well merited Indigence.
You have greatly mistaken this Point indeed, my Lord.
China
and
Holland
are industrious and ingenious, because, whether it were through good Hap or good Policy, they hit upon the only Method whereby Industry and Ingenuity could be duly promoted. Whereas
Great Britain
and
Ireland
are totally
