§ 20 

What is the cause of all this? Somebody might think it is the workmen's slackness, as there is no strict watch kept over them. "Vagabonds," they say, "are idling everywhere in the country; journeymen and Apprentices are no longer what they were; Men and Maids won't move unless their Master is with them himself."

I do not know whether there are more Inspectors anywhere than with us. But who is to keep watch, when the Inspectors themselves sleep till ten o'clock in the morning? I have heard several proposals of this kind: that when a peasant will not work diligently on his farm he should be whipped at the whipping-post or at least be driven from his freehold. Indeed, it has already actually happened that some have been punished, because they have not been able at once to give up a very old source of livelihood without which they would, in the first place, have had to be at least half-starved.

Such people unfailingly understand our liberty. Flogging and liberty together, a strange idea!

Do not let us accuse the Nation and its genius of slackness; do not lay the blame on corrupted morals. True, we should most easily get away from the problem in that way, but the Country will gain little good thereby. The source of this evil is to be found elsewhere.

The more opportunities there are in a Society for some persons to live upon the toil of others, and the less those others may enjoy the fruits of their work themselves, the more is diligence killed, the former become insolent, the latter despairing, and both negligent.

This foundation is so firm and so established by our knowledge of the human heart and our daily experience that I challenge anybody to overthrow it fairly.

Industry and diligence require a gay heart and constant competition, if they are not to slacken. They are never to be found under the yoke; but when they are encouraged by liberty, quick returns and individual gain, the natural torpor, which can never in the long run be driven away by blows, will be overcome.