Page:The Effects of Civilisation on the People in European States.djvu/62

40 without which he cannot live. He is not obliged to work for A, B, C, or D, &c, but for some one or other of them he is under the unavoidable necessity of working, and at that kind of work, too, they please to require of him. And this power of the rich is as strong and effective as that of the most absolute monarch that ever lived, as far as relates to the labour of the poor; indeed, probably more so, since it is doubtful whether any power ever existed, in any kind of government whatever, that could impose on the people what is imposed on them by the power of wealth. To condemn so many to the mines; to confine such numbers to such nauseous, irksome, unwholesome, destructive employments—is more than equal to any kingly power on earth. To enforce the execution of such punishments would require an army almost equal in number to the people so punished. The punishments of tyrants are generally confined to those that are near them; but the power of wealth pervades the whole country, and subjects every poor man to its dominion.

If we further consider the nature of the power that wealth gives the rich, in most civilised countries, over the poor, in our times, we shall find it very similar to, and that it arises from, the same source with that which anciently the great allodial lords, and the feudal barons of almost all Europe,