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never yet had the sense ingenuity to think of any such thing. Having
no such jealousy against my country, much less against my own
Utopia, I would beg it might be banished from within my walls. I
fancy I fancy my contractor would be full as well pleased with its room
or with its company: and as the same indulgence has been granted to other
persons, sorts of people, of whose industry no great jealousy seems to be entertained,
such as Soldiers, and Sailors. I have no great fear the indulgence
would be denied me. Much I believe is not apprehended in that way
from the Redcoats and Jack Tars: and still less I believe, would be
apprehended from my heroes.
This stumbling block cleared away, the first thing, I
imagine, my Contractor would do, would be to set to work his good
hands: to whom he would add as many of his capapble hands as he
could muster.
With his promising hands and his drones, he would set up
a manufacture. What then shall this manufacture be? It may be this
and that, and t'other thing; says the Hard labour Bill: It shall be
any thing or every thing, say I.
I will not attempt to As to the question what sort of manufactoryture
or manufactures would be likely to answer but, it is a discussion I will not attempt to lead you into: for I do not
propose at present to entertain you with a critical examination of
the several actual and possible manufactures, established and
establishable in Great Britain. The case, I imagine, would be, that
some manufacturer or other would be the man I would have for my
Contractor: a man who being engaged in some sort of business that was work that way and easy to
learn, and doing pretty well, with as many hands as he was able
to get if on upon the ordinary terms, might hope to do better still, with
a greater number whom he could get on much better terms. Now
whether there are any such manufacturers, and how many is what
I cannot so well tell you, especially at this distancex: but if you think
it worth while to ask Mr Daily Advertiser, or Mr St. James's Chronicle,
I fancy it will not be long before you get some answer.x
In my View of the Hard Labour Bill I ventured to throw
out a hint upon the subject of putting the good hands to their own
trades. Whether any and what use was made of that hint, I cannot
recollect: for Neither the Bill that was brought in afterwards, nor any chapter
of that history, has travelled with me to Crechoff: nor should I have had
a single scrap of paper to refresh my memory on that subject, help rub up my recollection but for the Copy
of my own pamphlet which I found upon my Brothers shelf. The
general notion seemed to be, that as the people were to be made to work for
their punishment, the works to be given to them all should be somewhat
which they would did not like: and in that respect it looks as if the consideration
of punishment, with its appendage of reformation, had kept the other of
economy a little behind the curtain: But I neither see the great danger,
nor the great harm, of a man's liking his work too well: and, how
well so ever he might have liked it elsewhere, I should still less apprehend
his liking the thoughts of his having it to do there. Supposing
no sage regulations made either by any body Parliament or by Visitors to
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