Almost all states, however, ancient as well as modern, when reduced to

this necessity, have, upon some occasions, played this very juggling

trick. The Romans, at the end of the first Punic war, reduced the As,

the coin or denomination by which they computed the value of all their

other coins, from containing twelve ounces of copper, to contain only

two ounces; that is, they raised two ounces of copper to a denomination

which had always before expressed the value of twelve ounces. The

republic was, in this manner, enabled to pay the great debts which it

had contracted with the sixth part of what it really owed. So sudden and

so great a bankruptcy, we should in the present times be apt to imagine,

must have occasioned a very violent popular clamour. It does not appear

to have occasioned any. The law which enacted it was, like all other

laws relating to the coin, introduced and carried through the assembly

of the people by a tribune, and was probably a very popular law. In

Rome, as in all other ancient republics, the poor people were constantly

in debt to the rich and the great, who, in order to secure their votes

at the annual elections, used to lend them money at exorbitant interest,

which, being never paid, soon accumulated into a sum too great for the

debtor to pay, or for any body else to pay for him. The debtor, for fear

of a very severe execution, was obliged, without any further gratuity,

to vote for the candidate whom the creditor recommended. In spite of all

the laws against bribery and corruption, the bounty of the candidates,

together with the occasional distributions of coin which were ordered by

the senate, were the principal funds from which, during the latter times

of the Roman republic, the poorer citizens derived their subsistence. To

deliver themselves from this subjection to their creditors, the poorer

citizens were continually calling out, either for an entire abolition of

debts, or for what they called new tables; that is, for a law which

should entitle them to a complete acquittance, upon paying only a

certain proportion of their accumulated debts. The law which reduced the

coin of all denominations to a sixth part of its former value, as it

enabled them to pay their debts with a sixth part of what they really

owed, was equivalent to the most advantageous new tables. In order to

satisfy the people, the rich and the great were, upon several different

occasions, obliged to consent to laws, both for abolishing debts, and

for introducing new tables; and they probably were induced to consent

to this law, partly for the same reason, and partly that, by liberating

the public revenue, they might restore vigour to that government,

of which they themselves had the principal direction. An operation

of this kind would at once reduce a debt of L.128,000,000 to

L.21,333,333 : 6 : 8. In the course of the second Punic war, the As was

still further reduced, first, from two ounces of copper to one ounce,

and afterwards from one ounce to half an ounce; that is, to the

twenty-fourth part of its original value. By combining the three Roman

operations into one, a debt of a hundred and twenty-eight millions of

our present money, might in this manner be reduced all at once to a debt

of L.5,333,333 : 6 : 8. Even the enormous debt of Great Britain might in

this manner soon be paid.

By means of such expedients, the coin of, I believe, all nations, has

been gradually reduced more and more below its original value, and the

same nominal sum has been gradually brought to contain a smaller and a

smaller quantity of silver.

Nations have sometimes, for the same purpose, adulterated the standard

of their coin; that is, have mixed a greater quantity of alloy in it. If

in the pound weight of our silver coin, for example, instead of eighteen

penny-weight, according to the present standard, there were mixed eight

ounces of alloy; a pound sterling, or twenty shillings of such coin,

would be worth little more than six shillings and eightpence of our

present money. The quantity of silver contained in six shillings and

eightpence of our present money, would thus be raised very nearly to the

denomination of a pound sterling. The adulteration of the standard has

exactly the same effect with what the French call an augmentation, or a

direct raising of the denomination of the coin.

An augmentation, or a direct raising of the denomination of the coin,

always is, and from its nature must be, an open and avowed operation. By

means of it, pieces of a smaller weight and bulk are called by the same

name, which had before been given to pieces of a greater weight and

bulk. The adulteration of the standard, on the contrary, has generally

been a concealed operation. By means of it, pieces are issued from the

mint, of the same denomination, and, as nearly as could be contrived, of

the same weight, bulk, and appearance, with pieces which had been

current before of much greater value. When king John of France,[79] in

order to pay his debts, adulterated his coin, all the officers of his

mint were sworn to secrecy. Both operations are unjust. But a simple

augmentation is an injustice of open violence; whereas an adulteration

is an injustice of treacherous fraud. This latter operation, therefore,

as soon as it has been discovered, and it could never be concealed very

long, has always excited much greater indignation than the former. The

coin, after any considerable augmentation, has very seldom been brought

back to its former weight; but after the greatest adulterations, it has

almost always been brought back to its former fineness. It has scarce

ever happened, that the fury and indignation of the people could

otherwise be appeased.

In the end of the reign of Henry VIII., and in the beginning of that of

Edward VI., the English coin was not only raised in its denomination,

but adulterated in its standard. The like frauds were practised in

Scotland during the minority of James VI. They have occasionally been

practised in most other countries.

That the public revenue of Great Britain can never be completely

liberated, or even that any considerable progress can ever be made

towards that liberation, while the surplus of that revenue, or what is

over and above defraying the annual expense of the peace establishment,

is so very small, it seems altogether in vain to expect. That

liberation, it is evident, can never be brought about, without either

some very considerable augmentation of the public revenue, or some

equally considerable reduction of the public expense.

A more equal land tax, a more equal tax upon the rent of houses, and

such alterations in the present system of customs and excise as those

which have been mentioned in the foregoing chapter, might, perhaps,

without increasing the burden of the greater part of the people, but

only distributing the weight of it more equally upon the whole, produce

a considerable augmentation of revenue. The most sanguine projector,

however, could scarce flatter himself, that any augmentation of this

kind would be such as could give any reasonable hopes, either of

liberating the public revenue altogether, or even of making such

progress towards that liberation in time of peace, as either to prevent

or to compensate the further accumulation of the public debt in the next

war.

By extending the British system of taxation to all the different

provinces of the empire, inhabited by people either of British or

European extraction, a much greater augmentation of revenue might be

expected. This, however, could scarce, perhaps, be done, consistently

with the principles of the British constitution, without admitting into

the British parliament, or, if you will, into the states-general of the

British empire, a fair and equal representation of all those different

provinces; that of each province bearing the same proportion to the

produce of its taxes, as the representation of Great Britain might bear

to the produce of the taxes levied upon Great Britain. The private

interest of many powerful individuals, the confirmed prejudices of

great bodies of people, seem, indeed, at present, to oppose to so great

a change, such obstacles as it may be very difficult, perhaps altogether

impossible, to surmount. Without, however, pretending to determine

whether such a union be practicable or impracticable, it may not,

perhaps, be improper, in a speculative work of this kind, to consider

how far the British system of taxation might be applicable to all the

different provinces of the empire; what revenue might be expected from

it, if so applied; and in what manner a general union of this kind might

be likely to affect the happiness and prosperity of the different

provinces comprehended within it. Such a speculation, can, at worst, be

regarded but as a new Utopia, less amusing, certainly, but no more

useless and chimerical than the old one.

The land tax, the stamp duties, and the different duties of customs and

excise, constitute the four principal branches of the British taxes.

Ireland is certainly as able, and our American and West India

plantations more able, to pay a land tax, than Great Britain. Where the

landlord is subject neither to tythe nor poor's rate, he must certainly

be more able to pay such a tax, than where he is subject to both those

other burdens. The tythe, where there is no modus, and where it is

levied in kind, diminishes more what would otherwise be the rent of the

landlord, than a land tax which really amounted to five shillings in the

pound. Such a tythe will be found, in most cases, to amount to more than

a fourth part of the real rent of the land, or of what remains after

replacing completely the capital of the farmer, together with his

reasonable profit. If all moduses and all impropriations were taken

away, the complete church tythe of Great Britain and Ireland could not

well be estimated at less than six or seven millions. If there was no

tythe either in Great Britain or Ireland, the landlords could afford to

pay six or seven millions additional land tax, without being more

burdened than a very great part of them are at present. America pays no

tythe, and could, therefore, very well afford to pay a land tax. The

lands in America and the West Indies, indeed, are, in general, not

tenanted nor leased out to farmers. They could not, therefore, be

assessed according to any rent roll. But neither were the lands of Great

Britain, in the 4th of William and Mary, assessed according to any rent

roll, but according to a very loose and inaccurate estimation. The lands

in America might be assessed either in the same manner, or in according

to an equitable valuation, in consequence of an accurate survey, like

that which was lately made in the Milanese, and in the dominions of

Austria, Prussia, and Sardinia.

Stamp duties, it is evident, might be levied without any variation, in

all countries where the forms of law process, and the deeds by which

property, both real and personal, is transferred, are the same, or

nearly the same.

The extension of the custom-house laws of Great Britain to Ireland and

the plantations, provided it was accompanied, as in justice it ought to

be, with an extension of the freedom of trade, would be in the highest

degree advantageous to both. All the invidious restraints which at

present oppress the trade of Ireland, the distinction between the

enumerated and non-enumerated commodities of America, would be entirely

at an end. The countries north of Cape Finisterre would be as open to

every part of the produce of America, as those south of that cape are to

some parts of that produce at present. The trade between all the

different parts of the British empire would, in consequence of this

uniformity in the customs-house laws, be as free as the coasting trade

of Great Britain is at present. The British empire would thus afford,

within itself, an immense internal market for every part of the produce

of all its different provinces. So great an extension of market would

soon compensate, both to Ireland and the plantations, all that they

could suffer from the increase of the duties of customs.

The excise is the only part of the British system of taxation, which

would require to be varied in any respect, according as it was applied

to the different provinces of the empire. It might be applied to Ireland

without any variation; the produce and consumption of that kingdom being

exactly of the same nature with those of Great Britain. In its

application to America and the West Indies, of which the produce and

consumption are so very different from those of Great Britain, some

modification might be necessary, in the same manner as in its

application to the cyder and beer counties of England.

A fermented liquor, for example, which is called beer, but which, as it

is made of molasses, bears very little resemblance to our beer, makes a

considerable part of the common drink of the people in America. This

liquor, as it can be kept only for a few days, cannot, like our beer, be

prepared and stored up for sale in great breweries, but every private

family must brew it for their own use, in the same manner as they cook

their victuals. But to subject every private family to the odious visits

and examination of the tax-gatherers, in the same manner as we subject

the keepers of alehouses and the brewers for public sale, would be

altogether inconsistent with liberty. If, for the sake of equality, it

was thought necessary to lay a tax upon this liquor, it might be taxed

by taxing the material of which it is made, either at the place of

manufacture, or, if the circumstances of the trade rendered such an

excise improper, by laying a duty upon its importation into the colony

in which it was to be consumed. Besides the duty of one penny a-gallon

imposed by the British parliament upon the importation of molasses into

America, there is a provincial tax of this kind upon their importation

into Massachusetts Bay, in ships belonging to any other colony, of

eightpence the hogshead; and another upon their importation from the

northern colonies into South Carolina, of fivepence the gallon. Or, if

neither of these methods was found convenient, each family might

compound for its consumption of this liquor, either according to the

number of persons of which it consisted, in the same manner as private

families compound for the malt tax in England; or according to the

different ages and sexes of those persons, in the same manner as several

different taxes are levied in Holland; or, nearly as Sir Matthew Decker

proposes, that all taxes upon consumable commodities should be levied in

England. This mode of taxation, it has already been observed, when

applied to objects of a speedy consumption, is not a very convenient

one. It might be adopted, however, in cases where no better could be

done.

Sugar, rum, and tobacco, are commodities which are nowhere necessaries

of life, which are become objects of almost universal consumption, and

which are, therefore, extremely proper subjects of taxation. If a union

with the colonies were to take place, those commodities might be taxed,

either before they go out of the hands of the manufacturer or grower;

or, if this mode of taxation did not suit the circumstances of those

persons, they might be deposited in public warehouses, both at the place

of manufacture, and at all the different ports of the empire, to which

they might afterwards be transported, to remain there, under the joint

custody of the owner and the revenue officer, till such time as they

should be delivered out, either to the consumer, to the

merchant-retailer for home consumption, or to the merchant-exporter; the

tax not to be advanced till such delivery. When delivered out for

exportation, to go duty-free, upon proper security being given, that

they should really be exported out of the empire. These are, perhaps,

the principal commodities, with regard to which the union with the

colonies might require some considerable change in the present system of

British taxation.

What might be the amount of the revenue which this system of taxation,

extended to all the different provinces of the empire, might produce, it

must, no doubt, be altogether impossible to ascertain with tolerable

exactness. By means of this system, there is annually levied in Great

Britain, upon less than eight millions of people, more than ten millions

of revenue. Ireland contains more than two millions of people, and,

according to the accounts laid before the congress, the twelve

associated provinces of America contain more than three. Those accounts,

however, may have been exaggerated, in order, perhaps, either to

encourage their own people, or to intimidate those of this country; and

we shall suppose, therefore, that our North American and West Indian

colonies, taken together, contain no more than three millions; or that

the whole British empire, in Europe and America, contains no more than

thirteen millions of inhabitants. If, upon less than eight millions of

inhabitants, this system of taxation raises a revenue of more than ten

millions sterling; it ought, upon thirteen millions of inhabitants, to

raise a revenue of more than sixteen millions two hundred and fifty

thousand pounds sterling. From this revenue, supposing that this system

could produce it, must be deducted the revenue usually raised in Ireland

and the plantations, for defraying the expense of the respective civil

governments. The expense of the civil and military establishment of

Ireland, together with the interest of the public debt, amounts, at a

medium of the two years which ended March 1775, to something less than

seven hundred and fifty thousand pounds a-year. By a very exact account

of the revenue of the principal colonies of America and the West Indies,

it amounted, before the commencement of the present disturbances, to a

hundred and forty-one thousand eight hundred pounds. In this account,

however, the revenue of Maryland, of North Carolina, and of all our late

acquisitions, both upon the continent, and in the islands, is omitted;

which may, perhaps, make a difference of thirty or forty thousand

pounds. For the sake of even numbers, therefore, let us suppose that the

revenue necessary for supporting the civil government of Ireland and the

plantations may amount to a million. There would remain, consequently, a

revenue of fifteen millions two hundred and fifty thousand pounds, to be

applied towards defraying the general expense of the empire, and towards

paying the public debt. But if, from the present revenue of Great

Britain, a million could, in peaceable times, be spared towards the

payment of that debt, six millions two hundred and fifty thousand pounds

could very well be spared from this improved revenue. This great sinking

fund, too, might be augmented every year by the interest of the debt

which had been discharged the year before; and might, in this manner,

increase so very rapidly, as to be sufficient in a few years to

discharge the whole debt, and thus to restore completely the at-present

debilitated and languishing vigour of the empire. In the mean time, the

people might be relieved from some of the most burdensome taxes; from

those which are imposed either upon the necessaries of life, or upon the

materials of manufacture. The labouring poor would thus be enabled to

live better, to work cheaper, and to send their goods cheaper to

market. The cheapness of their goods would increase the demand for them,

and consequently for the labour of those who produced them. This

increase in the demand for labour would both increase the numbers, and

improve the circumstances of the labouring poor. Their consumption would

increase, and, together with it, the revenue arising from all those

articles of their consumption upon which the taxes might be allowed to

remain.

The revenue arising from this system of taxation, however, might not

immediately increase in proportion to the number of people who were

subjected to it. Great indulgence would for some time be due to those

provinces of the empire which were thus subjected to burdens to which

they had not before been accustomed; and even when the same taxes came

to be levied everywhere as exactly as possible, they would not

everywhere produce a revenue proportioned to the numbers of the people.

In a poor country, the consumption of the principal commodities subject

to the duties of customs and excise, is very small; and in a thinly

inhabited country, the opportunities of smuggling are very great. The

consumption of malt liquors among the inferior ranks of people in

Scotland is very small; and the excise upon malt, beer, and ale,

produces less there than in England, in proportion to the numbers of the

people and the rate of the duties, which upon malt is different, on

account of a supposed difference of quality. In these particular

branches of the excise, there is not, I apprehend, much more smuggling

in the one country than in the other. The duties upon the distillery,

and the greater part of the duties of customs, in proportion to the

numbers of people in the respective countries, produce less in Scotland

than in England, not only on account of the smaller consumption of the

taxed commodities, but of the much greater facility of smuggling. In

Ireland, the inferior ranks of people are still poorer than in Scotland,

and many parts of the country are almost as thinly inhabited. In

Ireland, therefore, the consumption of the taxed commodities might, in

proportion to the number of the people, be still less than in Scotland,

and the facility of smuggling nearly the same. In America and the West

Indies, the white people, even of the lowest rank, are in much better

circumstances than those of the same rank in England; and their

consumption of all the luxuries in which they usually indulge

themselves, is probably much greater. The blacks, indeed, who make the

greater part of the inhabitants, both of the southern colonies upon the

continent and of the West India islands, as they are in a state of

slavery, are, no doubt, in a worse condition than the poorest people

either in Scotland or Ireland. We must not, however, upon that account,

imagine that they are worse fed, or that their consumption of articles

which might be subjected to moderate duties, is less than that even of

the lower ranks of people in England. In order that they may work well,

it is the interest of their master that they should be fed well, and

kept in good heart, in the same manner as it is his interest that his

working cattle should be so. The blacks, accordingly, have almost

everywhere their allowance of rum, and of molasses or spruce-beer, in

the same manner as the white servants; and this allowance would not

probably be withdrawn, though those articles should be subjected to

moderate duties. The consumption of the taxed commodities, therefore, in

proportion to the number of inhabitants, would probably be as great in

America and the West Indies as in any part of the British empire. The

opportunities of smuggling, indeed, would be much greater; America, in

proportion to the extent of the country, being much more thinly

inhabited than either Scotland or Ireland. If the revenue, however,

which is at present raised by the different duties upon malt and malt

liquors, were to be levied by a single duty upon malt, the opportunity

of smuggling in the most important branch of the excise would be almost

entirely taken away; and if the duties of customs, instead of being

imposed upon almost all the different articles of importation, were

confined to a few of the most general use and consumption, and if the

levying of those duties were subjected to the excise laws, the

opportunity of smuggling, though not so entirely taken away, would be

very much diminished. In consequence of those two apparently very simple

and easy alterations, the duties of customs and excise might probably

produce a revenue as great, in proportion to the consumption of the most

thinly inhabited province, as they do at present, in proportion to that

of the most populous.

The Americans, it has been said, indeed, have no gold or silver money,

the interior commerce of the country being carried on by a paper

currency; and the gold and silver, which occasionally come among them,

being all sent to Great Britain, in return for the commodities which

they receive from us. But without gold and silver, it is added, there is

no possibility of paying taxes. We already get all the gold and silver

which they have. How is it possible to draw from them what they have

not?

The present scarcity of gold and silver money in America, is not the

effect of the poverty of that country, or of the inability of the people

there to purchase those metals. In a country where the wages of labour

are so much higher, and the price of provisions so much lower than in

England, the greater part of the people must surely have wherewithal to

purchase a greater quantity, if it were either necessary or convenient

for them to do so. The scarcity of those metals, therefore, must be the

effect of choice, and not of necessity.

It is for transacting either domestic or foreign business, that gold or

silver money is either necessary or convenient.

The domestic business of every country, it has been shewn in the second

book of this Inquiry, may, at least in peaceable times, be transacted by

means of a paper currency, with nearly the same degree of conveniency as

by gold and silver money. It is convenient for the Americans, who could

always employ with profit, in the improvement of their lands, a greater

stock than they can easily get, to save as much as possible the expense

of so costly an instrument of commerce as gold and silver; and rather to

employ that part of their surplus produce which would be necessary for

purchasing those metals, in purchasing the instruments of trade, the

materials of clothing, several parts of household furniture, and the

iron work necessary for building and extending their settlements and

plantations; in purchasing not dead stock, but active and productive

stock. The colony governments find it for their interest to supply the

people with such a quantity of paper money as is fully sufficient, and

generally more than sufficient, for transacting their domestic business.

Some of those governments, that of Pennsylvania, particularly, derive a

revenue from lending this paper money to their subjects, at an interest

of so much per cent. Others, like that of Massachusetts Bay, advance,

upon extraordinary emergencies, a paper money of this kind for defraying

the public expense; and afterwards, when it suits the conveniency of the

colony, redeem it at the depreciated value to which it gradually falls.

In 1747,[80] that colony paid in this manner the greater part of its

public debts, with the tenth part of the money for which its bills had

been granted. It suits the conveniency of the planters, to save the

expense of employing gold and silver money in their domestic

transactions; and it suits the conveniency of the colony governments, to

supply them with a medium, which, though attended with some very

considerable disadvantages, enables them to save that expense. The

redundancy of paper money necessarily banishes gold and silver from the

domestic transactions of the colonies, for the same reason that it has

banished those metals from the greater part of the domestic transactions

in Scotland; and in both countries, it is not the poverty, but the

enterprizing and projecting spirit of the people, their desire of

employing all the stock which they can get, as active and productive

stock, which has occasioned this redundancy of paper money.

In the exterior commerce which the different colonies carry on with

Great Britain, gold and silver are more or less employed, exactly in

proportion as they are more or less necessary. Where those metals are

not necessary, they seldom appear. Where they are necessary, they are

generally found.

In the commerce between Great Britain and the tobacco colonies, the

British goods are generally advanced to the colonists at a pretty long

credit, and are afterwards paid for in tobacco, rated at a certain

price. It is more convenient for the colonists to pay in tobacco than in

gold and silver. It would be more convenient for any merchant to pay for

the goods which his correspondents had sold to him, in some other sort

of goods which he might happen to deal in, than in money. Such a

merchant would have no occasion to keep any part of his stock by him

unemployed, and in ready money, for answering occasional demands. He

could have, at all times, a larger quantity of goods in his shop or

warehouse, and he could deal to a greater extent. But it seldom happens

to be convenient for all the correspondents of a merchant to receive

payment for the goods which they sell to him, in goods of some other

kind which he happens to deal in. The British merchants who trade to

Virginia and Maryland, happen to be a particular set of correspondents,

to whom it is more convenient to receive payment for the goods which

they sell to those colonies in tobacco, than in gold and silver. They

expect to make a profit by the sale of the tobacco; they could make none

by that of the gold and silver. Gold and silver, therefore, very seldom

appear in the commerce between Great Britain and the tobacco colonies.

Maryland and Virginia have as little occasion for those metals in their

foreign, as in their domestic commerce. They are said, accordingly, to

have less gold and silver money than any other colonies in America. They

are reckoned, however, as thriving, and consequently as rich, as any of

their neighbours.

In the northern colonies, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, the four

governments of New England, &c. the value of their own produce which

they export to Great Britain is not equal to that of the manufactures

which they import for their own use, and for that of some of the other

colonies, to which they are the carriers. A balance, therefore, must be

paid to the mother-country in gold and silver, and this balance they

generally find.

In the sugar colonies, the value of the produce annually exported to

Great Britain is much greater than that of all the goods imported from

thence. If the sugar and rum annually sent to the mother-country were

paid for in those colonies, Great Britain would be obliged to send out,

every year, a very large balance in money; and the trade to the West

Indies would, by a certain species of politicians, be considered as

extremely disadvantageous. But it so happens, that many of the

principal proprietors of the sugar plantations reside in Great Britain.

Their rents are remitted to them in sugar and rum, the produce of their

estates. The sugar and rum which the West India merchants purchase in

those colonies upon their own account, are not equal in value to the

goods which they annually sell there. A balance, therefore, must

necessarily he paid to them in gold and silver, and this balance, too,

is generally found.

The difficulty and irregularity of payment from the different colonies

to Great Britain, have not been at all in proportion to the greatness or

smallness of the balances which were respectively due from them.

Payments have, in general, been more regular from the northern than from

the tobacco colonies, though the former have generally paid a pretty

large balance in money, while the latter have either paid no balance, or

a much smaller one. The difficulty of getting payment from our different

sugar colonies has been greater or less in proportion, not so much to

the extent of the balances respectively due from them, as to the

quantity of uncultivated land which they contained; that is, to the

greater or smaller temptation which the planters have been under of

over-trading, or of undertaking the settlement and plantation of greater

quantities of waste land than suited the extent of their capitals. The

returns from the great island of Jamaica, where there is still much

uncultivated land, have, upon this account, been, in general, more

irregular and uncertain than those from the smaller islands of

Barbadoes, Antigua, and St. Christopher's, which have, for these many

years, been completely cultivated, and have, upon that account, afforded

less field for the speculations of the planter. The new acquisitions of

Grenada, Tobago, St. Vincent's, and Dominica, have opened a new field

for speculations of this kind; and the returns from those islands have

of late been as irregular and uncertain as those from the great island

of Jamaica.

It is not, therefore, the poverty of the colonies which occasions, in

the greater part of them, the present scarcity of gold and silver money.

Their great demand for active and productive stock makes it convenient

for them to have as little dead stock as possible, and disposes them,

upon that account, to content themselves with a cheaper, though less

commodious instrument of commerce, than gold and silver. They are

thereby enabled to convert the value of that gold and silver into the

instruments of trade, into the materials of clothing, into household

furniture, and into the iron work necessary for building and extending

their settlements and plantations. In those branches of business which

cannot be transacted without gold and silver money, it appears, that

they can always find the necessary quantity of those metals; and if they

frequently do not find it, their failure is generally the effect, not of

their necessary poverty, but of their unnecessary and excessive

enterprise. It is not because they are poor that their payments are

irregular and uncertain, but because they are too eager to become

excessively rich. Though all that part of the produce of the colony

taxes, which was over and above what was necessary for defraying the

expense of their own civil and military establishments, were to be

remitted to Great Britain in gold and silver, the colonies have

abundantly wherewithal to purchase the requisite quantity of those

metals. They would in this case be obliged, indeed, to exchange a part

of their surplus produce, with which they now purchase active and

productive stock, for dead stock. In transacting their domestic

business, they would be obliged to employ a costly, instead of a cheap

instrument of commerce; and the expense of purchasing this costly

instrument might damp somewhat the vivacity and ardour of their

excessive enterprise in the improvement of land. It might not, however,

be necessary to remit any part of the American revenue in gold and

silver. It might be remitted in bills drawn upon, and accepted by,

particular merchants or companies in Great Britain, to whom a part of

the surplus produce of America had been consigned, who would pay into

the treasury the American revenue in money, after having themselves

received the value of it in goods; and the whole business might

frequently be transacted without exporting a single ounce of gold or

silver from America.

It is not contrary to justice, that both Ireland and America should

contribute towards the discharge of the public debt of Great Britain.

That debt has been contracted in support of the government established

by the Revolution; a government to which the protestants of Ireland owe,

not only the whole authority which they at present enjoy in their own

country, but every security which they possess for their liberty, their

property, and their religion; a government to which several of the

colonies of America owe their present charters, and consequently their

present constitution; and to which all the colonies of America owe the

liberty, security, and property, which they have ever since enjoyed.

That public debt has been contracted in the defence, not of Great

Britain alone, but of all the different provinces of the empire. The

immense debt contracted in the late war in particular, and a great part

of that contracted in the war before, were both properly contracted in

defence of America.

By a union with Great Britain, Ireland would gain, besides the freedom

of trade, other advantages much more important, and which would much

more than compensate any increase of taxes that might accompany that

union. By the union with England, the middling and inferior ranks of

people in Scotland gained a complete deliverance from the power of an

aristocracy, which had always before oppressed them. By a union with

Great Britain, the greater part of people of all ranks in Ireland would

gain an equally complete deliverance from a much more oppressive

aristocracy; an aristocracy not founded, like that of Scotland, in the

natural and respectable distinctions of birth and fortune, but in the

most odious of all distinctions, those of religious and political

prejudices; distinctions which, more than any other, animate both the

insolence of the oppressors, and the hatred and indignation of the

oppressed, and which commonly render the inhabitants of the same country

more hostile to one another than those of different countries ever are.

Without a union with Great Britain, the inhabitants of Ireland are not

likely, for many ages, to consider themselves as one people.

No oppressive aristocracy has ever prevailed in the colonies. Even they,

however, would, in point of happiness and tranquillity, gain

considerably by a union with Great Britain. It would, at least, deliver

them from those rancourous and virulent factions which are inseparable

from small democracies, and which have so frequently divided the

affections of their people, and disturbed the tranquillity of their

governments, in their form so nearly democratical. In the case of a

total separation from Great Britain, which, unless prevented by a union

of this kind, seems very likely to take place, those factions would be

ten times more virulent than ever. Before the commencement of the

present disturbances, the coercive power of the mother-country had

always been able to restrain those factions from breaking out into any

thing worse than gross brutality and insult. If that coercive power were

entirely taken away, they would probably soon break out into open

violence and bloodshed. In all great countries which are united under

one uniform government, the spirit of party commonly prevails less in

the remote provinces than in the centre of the empire. The distance of

those provinces from the capital, from the principal seat of the great

scramble of faction and ambition, makes them enter less into the views

of any of the contending parties, and renders them more indifferent and

impartial spectators of the conduct of all. The spirit of party prevails

less in Scotland than in England. In the case of a union, it would

probably prevail less in Ireland than in Scotland; and the colonies

would probably soon enjoy a degree of concord and unanimity, at present

unknown in any part of the British empire. Both Ireland and the

colonies, indeed, would be subjected to heavier taxes than any which

they at present pay. In consequence, however, of a diligent and faithful

application of the public revenue towards the discharge of the national

debt, the greater part of those taxes might not be of long continuance,

and the public revenue of Great Britain might soon be reduced to what

was necessary for maintaining a moderate peace-establishment.

The territorial acquisitions of the East-India Company, the undoubted

right of the Crown, that is, of the state and people of Great Britain,

might be rendered another source of revenue, more abundant, perhaps,

than all those already mentioned. Those countries are represented as

more fertile, more extensive, and, in proportion to their extent, much

richer and more populous than Great Britain. In order to draw a great

revenue from them, it would not probably be necessary to introduce any

new system of taxation into countries which are already sufficiently,

and more than sufficiently, taxed. It might, perhaps, be more proper to

lighten than to aggravate the burden of those unfortunate countries, and

to endeavour to draw a revenue from them, not by imposing new taxes, but

by preventing the embezzlement and misapplication of the greater part of

those which they already pay.

If it should be found impracticable for Great Britain to draw any

considerable augmentation of revenue from any of the resources above

mentioned, the only resource which can remain to her, is a diminution of

her expense. In the mode of collecting and in that of expending the

public revenue, though in both there may be still room for improvement,

Great Britain seems to be at least as economical as any of her

neighbours. The military establishment which she maintains for her own

defence in time of peace, is more moderate than that of any European

state, which can pretend to rival her either in wealth or in power. None

of those articles, therefore, seem to admit of any considerable

reduction of expense. The expense of the peace-establishment of the

colonies was, before the commencement of the present disturbances, very

considerable, and is an expense which may, and, if no revenue can be

drawn from them, ought certainly to be saved altogether. This constant

expense in time of peace, though very great, is insignificant in

comparison with what the defence of the colonies has cost us in time of

war. The last war, which was undertaken altogether on account of the

colonies, cost Great Britain, it has already been observed, upwards of

ninety millions. The Spanish war of 1739 was principally undertaken on

their account; in which, and in the French war that was the consequence

of it, Great Britain, spent upwards of forty millions; a great part of

which ought justly to be charged to the colonies. In those two wars, the

colonies cost Great Britain much more than double the sum which the

national debt amounted to before the commencement of the first of them.

Had it not been for those wars, that debt might, and probably would by

this time, have been completely paid; and had it not been for the

colonies, the former of those wars might not, and the latter certainly

would not, have been undertaken. It was because the colonies were

supposed to be provinces of the British Empire, that this expense was

laid out upon them. But countries which contribute neither revenue nor

military force towards the support of the empire, cannot be considered

as provinces. They may, perhaps, be considered as appendages, as a sort

of splendid and shewy equipage of the empire. But if the empire can no

longer support the expense of keeping up this equipage, it ought

certainly to lay it down; and if it cannot raise its revenue in

proportion to its expense, it ought at least to accommodate its expense

to its revenue. If the colonies, notwithstanding their refusal to submit

to British taxes, are still to be considered as provinces of the British

empire, their defence, in some future war, may cost Great Britain as

great an expense as it ever has done in any former war. The rulers of

Great Britain have, for more than a century past, amused the people with

the imagination that they possessed a great empire on the west side of

the Atlantic. This empire, however, has hitherto existed in imagination

only. It has hitherto been, not an empire, but the project of an empire;

not a gold mine, but the project of a gold mine; a project which has

cost, which continues to cost, and which, if pursued in the same way as

it has been hitherto, is likely to cost, immense expense, without being

likely to bring any profit; for the effects of the monopoly of the

colony trade, it has been shewn, are to the great body of the people,

mere loss instead of profit. It is surely now time that our rulers

should either realize this golden dream, in which they have been

indulging themselves, perhaps, as well as the people; or that they

should awake from it themselves, and endeavour to awaken the people.

If the project cannot be completed, it ought to be given up. If any

of the provinces of the British empire cannot be made to contribute

towards the support of the whole empire, it is surely time that Great

Britain should free herself from the expense of defending those

provinces in time of war, and of supporting any part of their civil or

military establishments in time of peace; and endeavour to accommodate

her future views and designs to the real mediocrity of her

circumstances.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] It is mentioned, that when about three years old, he was stolen from

the door of his uncle, Mr. Douglas, in Strathenry, where his mother had

been on a visit, by some tinkers, or gypsies. He was rescued in Leslie

wood by his uncle, who was thus the happy instrument, Mr. Stewart

observes, of preserving to the world, a genius, which was destined, not

only to extend the boundaries of science, but to enlighten and reform

the commercial policy of Europe.

[2] Boswell's Life of Johnson, vol. iv. p. 17

[3] Edinburgh Review, vol. i. p. 432.

[4] It may not be uninteresting to mention what has been said of the

manner in which the writings of Mr. Smith were composed.--'Mr. Smith

observed to me, not long before his death,' says Mr. Stewart, 'that

after all his practice in writing, he composed as slowly, and with as

great difficulty as at first.' He added, at the same time, that Mr. Hume

had acquired so great a facility in this respect, that the last volume

of his History was printed from the original copy, with a few marginal

corrections. Mr. Smith, when be was employed in composition, generally

walked up and down his apartment, dictating to a secretary. All Mr.

Hume's works, it has been said, were written with his own hand.

[5] This observation, as may easily be perceived, cannot apply in

certain indirect imposts, such as those for the support of the roads;

which, as they cannot be confounded with the price of any consumable

commodity, combine all the inconveniencies of indirect, with those of

direct imposts.

[6] Plin. Hist. Nat. lib. 33, cap. 3.

[7] Pliny, lib. xxxiii. cap. 3.

[8] This was written in 1773, before the commencement of the late

disturbances.

[9] See his scheme for the maintenance of the poor, in Burn's History of

the Poor Laws.

[10] See Denisart, Article Taux des Interests, tom. iii, p. 18.

[11] See Idyllium xxi.

[12] See Madox Firma Burgi p. 26 &c.

[13] See the Statute of Labourers, 25, Ed. III.

[14] Voyages d'un Philosophe.

[15] Douglas's Summary, vol. ii, p. 372, 373.

[16] See his Preface to Anderson's Diplomata Scotiae.

[17] Lowndes's Essay on the Silver Coin, 68.

[18] See Tracts on the Corn Trade, Tract 3.

[19] Solorzano, vol. ii.

[20] Postscript to the Universal Merchant, p. 15 and 16. This postscript

was not printed till 1756, three years after the publication of the

book, which has never had a second edition. The postscript is,

therefore, to be found in few copies; it corrects several error in the

book.

[21] See Ruddiman's Preface to Anderson's Diplomata, &c. Scotiae.

[22] Lib. x, c. 29.

[23] Lib. ix, c. 17.

[24] Kalm's Travels, vol. i, p. 343, 344.

[25] See Smith's Memoirs of Wool, vol. i. c. 5, 6, 7. also vol. ii.

[26] Wanting in the account. The year 1646 supplied by Bishop Fleetwood.

[27] See Ruddiman's Preface to Anderson's Diplomata, &c. Scotiae.

[28] The method described in the text was by no means either the must

common or the most expensive one in which those adventurers sometimes

raised money by circulation. It frequently happened, that A in Edinburgh

would enable B in London to pay the first bill of exchange, by drawing,

a few days before it became due, a second bill at three months date upon

the same B in London. This bill, being payable to his own order, A sold

in Edinburgh at par; and with its contents purchased bills upon London,

payable at sight to the order of B, to whom he sent them by the post.

Towards the end of the late war, the exchange between Edinburgh and

London was frequently three per cent. against Edinburgh, and those bills

at sight must frequently have cost A that premium. This transaction,

therefore, being repeated at least four times in the year, and being

loaded with a commission of at least one half per cent, upon each

repetition, must at that period have cost A, at least, fourteen per

cent. in the year. At other times A would enable B to discharge the

first bill of exchange, by drawing, a few days before it became due, a

second bill at two months date, not upon B, but upon some third person,

C, for example, in London. This other bill was made payable to the order

of B, who, upon its being accepted by C, discounted it with some banker

in London; and A enabled C to discharge it, by drawing, a few days

before it became due, a third bill likewise at two months date,

sometimes upon his first correspondent B and sometimes upon some fourth

or fifth person, D or E, for example. This third bill was made payable

to the order of C, who, as soon as it was accepted, discounted it in the

same manner with some banker in London. Such operations being repeated

at least six times in the year, and being loaded with a commission of at

least one half per cent. upon each repetition, together with legal

interest of five per cent. this method of raising money, in the same

manner as described in the text, must have cost A something more than

eight per cent. By saving, however, the exchange between Edinburgh and

London, it was less expensive than that mentioned in the foregoing part

of this note; but then it required an established credit with more

houses than one in London, an advantage which many of these adventurers

could not always find it easy to procure.

[29] James Postlethwaite's History of the Public Revenue, p. 301

[30] Some French authors of great learning and ingenuity have used those

words in a different sense. In the last chapter of the fourth book, I

shall endeavour to shew that their sense is an improper one.

[31] See Brady's Historical Treatise of Cities and Boroughs, p. 3. &c.

[32] See Madox, Firma Burgi, p. 18; also History of the Exchequer, chap.

10, sect. v, p. 223, first edition.

[33] See Madox, Firma Burgi. See also Pfeffel in the Remarkable events

under Frederick II. and his Successors of the House of Suabia.

[34] See Madox

[35] See Pfeffel

[36] See Sandi Istoria civile de Vinezia, part 2, vol. i, page 247 and

256.

[37] The following are the prices at which the bank of Amsterdam at

present (September 1775) receives bullion and coin of different kinds:

SILVER.

Mexico dollars } Guilders.

French crowns } B--22 per mark.

English silver coin }

Mexico dollars, new coin 21 10

Ducatoons 3 0

Rix-dollars 2 8

Bar silver, containing 11-12ths fine silver, 21 per mark, and in this

proportion down to 1-4th fine, on which 5 guilders are given.

Fine bars, 28 per mark.

GOLD.

Portugal coin }

Guineas } B--310 per mark.

Louis d'ors, new }

Ditto old 300

New ducats 4 19 8 per ducat.

Bar or ingot gold is received in proportion to its fineness, compared

with the above foreign gold coin. Upon fine bars the bank gives 340 per

mark. In general, however, something more is given upon coin of a known

fineness, than upon gold and silver bars, of which the fineness cannot

be ascertained but by a process of melting and assaying.

[38] This paragraph was written in the year 1775.

[39] See the accounts at the end of this Book.

[40] Before the 13th of the present king, the following were the duties

payable upon the importation of the different sorts of grain:

_Grain._ _Duties._ _Duties._ _Duties._

Beans to 28s. per qr. 19s. 10d. after till 40s. 16s. 8d. then 12d.

Barley to 28s. 19s. 10d. 32s. 16s. 12d.

Malt is prohibited by the annual malt-tax bill.

Oats to 16s. 5s. 10d. after 9-1/2d.

Pease to 40s. 16s. 0d. after 9-3/4d.

Rye to 36s. 19s. 10d. till 40s. 16s. 8d. then 12d.

Wheat to 44s. 21s. 9d. till 53s. 4d. 17s. then 8s.

till L 4, and after that about 1s. 4d.

Buck-wheat to 32s. per qr. to pay 16s.

These different duties were imposed, partly by the 22d of Charles II. in

place of the old subsidy, partly by the new subsidy, by the one-third

and two-thirds subsidy, and by the subsidy 1747.

[41] See Dictionnaire des Monnoies, tom. ii. article Seigneurage, p.

489, par M. Abbot de Baringhen, Conseiller-Commissaire en la Cour des

Monnoies a Paris.

[42] The interest of every proprietor of India stock, however, is by no

means the same with that of the country in the government of which his

vote gives him some influence.--See book v, chap. i, part ii.

[43] See book I chap. I

[44] See the Journal of Mr. De Lange, in Bell's Travels, vol. ii. p.

258, 276, 293.

[45] Plin. 1. ix. c. 30.

[46] Plin. 1. viii. c. 48.

[47] They are to be found in Tyrol's History of England.

[48] Since publishing the first two editions of this book, I have got

good reasons to believe that all the turnpike tolls levied in Great

Britain do not produce a neat revenue that amounts to half a million; a

sum which, under the management of government, would not be sufficient

to keep in repair five of the principal roads in the kingdom.

[49] I have now good reason to believe that all those conjectural sums

are by much too large.

[50] See Memoires concernant les Droits et Impositions en Europe, tome

i. page 73. This work was compiled by the order of the court, for the

use of a commission employed for some years past in considering the

proper means for reforming the finances of France. The account of the

French taxes, which takes up three volumes in quarto, may be regarded as

perfectly authentic. That of those of other European nations was

compiled from such information as the French ministers at the different

courts could procure. It is much shorter, and probably not quite so

exact as that of the French taxes.

[51] See Memoires concernant les Droits et Impositions en Europe tome i.

p. 73.

[52] See Sketches of the History of Man page 474, and Seq.

[53] Memoires concernant les Droits, p. 240, 241.

[54] Memoires concernant les Droits, &c. tom. i. p. 114, 115, 116, &c.

[55] Id. tom. i. p. 83, 84.

[56] Id. p. 280, &c.; also p. 287, &c. to 316.

[57] Memoires concernant les Droits, &c. tom. ii. p. 139, &c.

[58] Since the first publication of this book, a tax nearly upon the

above-mentioned principles has been imposed.

[59] Memoires concernant les Droits, &c. p. 223.

[60] Memoires concernant les Droits, tom. i, p. 74.

[61] Memoires concernant les Droits, tom. i, p. 163, 167, 171.

[62] Memoires concernant les Droits, &c. tom. ii. p. 17.

[63] Lib. 55. See also Burman, de Vectigalibus Pop. Rom. cap. xi. and

Bouchaud de l'impot du vingtieme sur les successions.

[64] See Memoires concernant les Droits, &c. tom. i. p. 225.

[65] Memoires concernant les Droits, &c. tom. i. p. 154.

[66] Id. p. 157.

[67] Memoires concernant les Droits, &c. tom. i. p. 223, 224, 225.

[68] Memoires concernant les Droits, &c. tom. ii. p. 108.

[69] Memoires concernant les Droits, &c. tom. iii. p. 87.

[70] See book i. chap. 8.

[71] Memoires concernant les Droits, &c., p. 210, 211.

[72] Le Reformateur

[73] Though the duties directly imposed upon proof spirits amount only

to 2s. 6d. per gallon, these, added to the duties upon the low wines,

from which they are distilled, amount to 3s. 10-2/3d. Both low wines and

proof spirits are, to prevent frauds, now rated according to what they

gauge in the wash.

[74] The neat production of that year, after deducting all expenses and

allowances, amounted to L.4,975,652 : 19 : 6.

[75] Memoires concernant les Droits, &c. tom. 1, p. 45

[76] See Examen des Reflections Politiques sut les Finances.

[77] See James Postlethwaite's History of the Public Revenue.

[78] It has proved more expensive than any one of our former wars, and

has involved us in an additional debt of more than one hundred millions.

During a profound peace of eleven years, little more than ten millions

of debt was paid; during a war of seven years, more than one hundred

millions was contracted.

[79] See Du Cange Glossary, voce Moneta; the Benedictine Edition.

[80] See Hutchinson's History of Massachusetts Bay vol. ii, page 436, et

seq.

INDEX.

A

_Absentee_ tax, the propriety of, considered with reference to

Ireland, 379.

_Accounts_ of money, in modern Europe, all kept, and the value of

goods computed, in silver, 16.

_Actors_, public, paid for the contempt attending their profession,

44.

_Africa_, cause assigned for the barbarous state of the interior

parts of that continent, 9.

_African company_, establishment and constitution of, 309. Receive

an annual allowance from parliament for forts and garrisons, 310.

The company not under sufficient controul, ib. History of the Royal

African company, 311. Decline of, ib. Rise of the present company,

ib.

_Age_, the foundation of rank and precedency in rude as well as

civilized societies, 297.

_Aggregate fund_, in the British finances, explained, 388.

_Agio_ of the bank of Amsterdam explained, 194. Of the bank of

Hamburgh, 195. The agio at Amsterdam, how kept at a medium rate,

197.

_Agriculture_, the labour of, does not admit of such subdivisions

as manufactures, 3. This impossibility of separation prevents

agriculture from improving equally with manufactures, ib. Natural

state of, in a new colony, 38. Requires more knowledge and

experience than most mechanical professions, and yet is carried on

without any restrictions, 53. The terms of rent, how adjusted

between landlord and tenant, 60. Is extended by good roads and

navigable canals, 62. Under what circumstances pasture land is more

valuable than arable, 63. Gardening not a very gainful employment,

64. Vines the most profitable article of culture, 65. Estimates of

profit from projects very fallacious, ib. Cattle and tillage

mutually improve each other, 93. Remarks on that of Scotland, ib.

On that of North America, 94. Poultry, a profitable article in

husbandry, ib. Hogs, 95. Dairy, 96. Evidences of land being

completely improved, ib. The extension of cultivation, as it raises

the price of animal food, reduces that of vegetables, 103. By whom

and how practised under feudal government, 137. Its operations not

so much intended to increase, as to direct the fertility of nature,

149. Has been the cause of the prosperity of the British colonies

in America, 150. The profits of, exaggerated by projectors, 154. On

equal terms, is naturally preferred to trade, 156. Artificers

necessary to the carrying it on, ib. Was not attended to by the

northern destroyers of the Roman empire, 157. The ancient policy of

Europe unfavourable to, 162. Was promoted by the commerce and

manufactures of towns, 170. The wealth arising from, more solid and

durable than that which proceeds from commerce, 172. Is not

encouraged by the bounty on the exportation of corn, 207. Why the

proper business of new companies, 251. The present agricultural

system of political economy adopted in France, described, 275. Is

discouraged by restrictions and prohibitions in trade, 279. Is

favoured beyond manufactures in China, 282. And in Indostan, 283.

Does not require so extensive a market as manufactures, 284. To

check manufactures in order to promote agriculture, false policy,

285. Landlords ought to be encouraged to cultivate part of their

own land, 350.

_Alcavala_, the tax in Spain so called, explained and considered,

381. The ruin of the Spanish manufactures attributed to this tax,

ib.

_Alehouses_, the number of, not the efficient cause of drunkenness,

148, 200.

_Allodial rights_, mistaken for feudal rights, 168. The

introduction of the feudal law tended to moderate the authority of

the allodial lords, ib.

_Ambassadors_, the first motive of their appointment, 307.

_America_, why labour is dearer in North America than in England,

29. Great increase of population there, ib. Common rate of interest

there, 38. Is a new market for the produce of its own silver mines,

85. The first accounts of the two empires of Peru and Mexico

greatly exaggerated, ib. Improving state of the Spanish colonies

there, 86. Account of the paper currency of the British colonies,

134. Cause of the rapid prosperity of the British colonies there,

150. Why manufactures for distant sale have never been established

there, 156. Its speedy improvement owing to assistance from foreign

capitals, 157. The purchase and improvement of uncultivated land

the most profitable employment of capitals, 171. Commercial

alterations produced by the discovery of, 181. But two civilized

nations found on the whole continent, ib. The wealth of the North

American colonies increased, though the balance of trade continued

against them, 203. Madeira wine, how introduced there, 204.

Historical review of the European settlements in, 229. Of Spain,

232, 233. Of Holland, 234. Of France, ib. Of Britain, ib.

Ecclesiastical government in the several European colonies, 235.

Fish a principal article of trade from North America to Spain,

Portugal, and the Mediterranean, 237. Naval stores to Britain, 238.

Little credit due to the policy of Europe from the success of the

colonies, 242. The discovery and colonization of, how far

advantageous to Europe, 243. And to America, ib. The colonies in,

governed by a spirit of monopoly, 261. The interest of the consumer

in Britain sacrificed to that of the producer, by the system of

colonization, 274. Plan for extending the British system of

taxation, over all the provinces of, 397, 398. The question, how

the Americans could pay taxes without specie, considered, 402.

Ought in justice to contribute to discharge the public debt in

Britain, 402. Expediency of their union with Britain, 403. The

British empire there a mere project, 404.

_Amsterdam_, agio of the bank of, explained, 194. Occasion of its

establishment, 195. Advantages attending payments there, ib. Rate

demanded for keeping money there, ib. Prices at which bullion and

coin are received, 196, _note_. This bank the great warehouse of

Europe for bullion, 197. Demands upon, how made and answered, ib.

The agio, how kept at a medium rate, ib. The treasure of, whether

all preserved in its repositories, 198. The amount of its treasure

only to be conjectured, ib. Fees paid to the bank for transacting

business, ib.

_Annuities_, for terms of years, and for lives, in the British

finances, historical account of, 389.

_Apothecaries_, the profit on their drugs, unjustly stigmatized as

exorbitant, 46.

_Apprenticeship_, the nature and intention of this bond of

servitude, explained, 42. The limitations imposed on various trades

as to the number of apprentices, 50. The statute of apprenticeship

in England, ib. Apprenticeships in France and Scotland, 51. General

remarks on the tendency and operation of long apprenticeships, ib.

The statute of, ought to be repealed, 191.

_Arabs_, their manner of supporting war, 289.

_Army_, three different ways by which a nation may maintain one

in a distant country, 178. Standing, distinction between and a

militia, 292. Historical review of, 294. The Macedonian army, ib.

Carthaginian army, ib. Roman army, ib. Is alone able to perpetuate

the civilization of a country, 296. Is the speediest engine for

civilizing a barbarous country, ib. Under what circumstances

dangerous to, and under what favourable to liberty, ib.

_Artificers_ prohibited by law from going to foreign countries,

273. Residing abroad, and not returning on notice, exposed to

outlawry, ib. See _Manufactures_.

_Asdrubal_, his army greatly improved by discipline, 294. How

defeated, ib.

_Assembly_, houses of, in the British colonies, the constitutional

freedom of, shewn, 240.

_Assiento Contract_, 312.

_Assize_ of bread and ale, remarks on that statute, 75, 77.

_Augustus_, emperor, emancipates the slaves of Vedius Pollio for

his cruelty, 241.

B

_Balance_ of annual produce and consumption explained, 203. May be

in favour of a nation, when the balance of trade is against it, ib.

_Balance_ of trade, no certain criterion to determine on which side

it turns between two countries, 192. The current doctrine of, on

which most regulations of trade are founded, absurd, 199. If even,

by the exchange of their native commodities, both sides may be

gainers, ib. How the balance would stand if native commodities on

one side were paid with foreign commodities on the other, ib. How

the balance stands when commodities are purchased with gold and

silver, ib., 200. The ruin of countries often predicted from the

doctrine of an unfavourable balance of trade, 202.

_Banks_, great increase of trade in Scotland since the

establishment of them in the principal towns, 120. Their usual

course of business, 121. Consequences of their issuing too much

paper, 122. Necessary caution for some time observed by them with

regard to giving credit to their customers, 124. Limits of the

advances they may imprudently make to traders, 125. How injured by

the practice of drawing and redrawing bills, 126, 127. History of

the Ayr bank, 128. History of the bank of England, 130. The nature

and public advantage of banks considered, 131. Bankers might carry

on their business with less paper, 132. Effects of the optional

clauses in the Scotch notes, 133. Origin of their establishment,

194. Bank money explained, 195. Bank of England, the conduct of, in

regard to the coinage, 226. Joint stock companies, why well adapted

to the trade of banking, 317, 318. A doubtful question, whether

the government of Great Britain is equal to the management of the

bank to profit, 344.

_Bankers_, the credit of their notes how established, 118. The nature

of the banking business explained, ib., 121. The multiplication and

competition of bankers, under proper regulations of service to

public credit, 135.

_Baretti_, Mr. his account of the quantity of Portugal gold sent

weekly to England, 225.

_Barons_, feudal, their power contracted by the grant of municipal

privileges, 163. Their extensive authority, 168. How they lost

their authority over their vassals, 169. And the power to disturb

their country, 170.

_Barter_, the exchange of one commodity for another, the propensity

to, of extensive operation, and peculiar to man, 6. Is not

sufficient to carry on the mutual intercourse of mankind, 10. See

_Commerce_.

_Batavia_, causes of the prosperity of the Dutch settlement there,

263.

_Beaver skins_, review of the policy used in the trade for, 273.

_Beef_, cheaper now in London than in the reign of James I., 63.

Compared with the prices of wheat at the corresponding times, 64.

_Benefices_, ecclesiastical, the tenure of, why rendered secure,

335. The power of collating to, how taken from the pope, in England

and France, 338. General equality of, among the presbyterians, 340.

Good effects of this equality, ib.

_Bengal_, to what circumstances its early improvement in

agriculture and manufactures was owing, 9. Present miserable state

of the country, 30. Remarks on the high rates of interest there,

39. Oppressive conduct of the English there, to suit their trade in

opium, 263. Why more remarkable for the exportation of manufactures

than of grain, 284.

_Berne_, brief history of the republic of, 164. Establishment of

the reformation there, 338. Application of the revenue of the

catholic clergy, 341. Derives a revenue from the interest of its

treasure, 344.

_Bills of Exchange_, punctuality in the payment of, how secured,

126. The pernicious practice of drawing and redrawing explained,

ib. The arts made use of to disguise this mutual traffic in bills,

127.

_Birth_, superiority of, how it confers respect and authority, 298.

_Bishops_, the ancient mode of electing them, and how altered, 335,

337.

_Body_, natural and political, analogy between, 280.

_Bohemia_, account of the tax there on the industry of artificers,

366.

_Bounty_, on the exportation of corn, the tendency of this measure

examined, 81.

_Bounties_, why given in commerce, 183. On exportation, the policy

of granting them considered, 205. On the exportation of corn, 206.

This bounty imposes two taxes on the people, 207. Evil tendency of

this bounty, 209. The bounty only beneficial to the exporter and

importer, ib. Motives of the country gentlemen in granting the

bounty, 210. A trade which requires a bounty, necessarily a losing

trade, ib. Tonnage bounties to the fisheries considered, 211.

Account of the white-herring fishery, 212. Remarks on other

bounties, 213. A review of the principles on which they are

generally granted, 267. Those granted on American produce founded

on mistaken policy, 268. How they affect the consumer, 274.

_Bourdeaux_, why a town of great trade, 138.

_Brazil_ grew to be a powerful colony under neglect, 233. The Dutch

invaders expelled by the Portuguese colonists, ib. Computed number

of inhabitants there, ib. The trade of the principal provinces

oppressed by the Portuguese, 236.

_Bread_, its relative value with butcher's meat compared, 62, 63.

_Brewery_, reasons for transferring the taxes on to the malt, 376.

_Bridges_, how to be erected and maintained, 303.

_Britain_, Great, evidences that labour is sufficiently paid for

there, 30. The price of provisions nearly the same in most places,

31. Great variations in the price of labour, ib. Vegetables

imported from Flanders in the last century, 32. Historical account

of the alterations interest of money has undergone, 37. Double

interest deemed a reasonable mercantile profit, 40. In what

respects the carrying trade is advantageous to, 152, 153. Appears

to enjoy more of the carrying trade of Europe than it really has,

153. It is the only country of Europe in which the obligation of

purveyance is abolished, 161. Its funds for the support of foreign

wars inquired into, 178, 179. Why never likely to be much affected

by the free importation of Irish cattle, 186. Nor salt provisions,

ib. Could be little affected by the importation of foreign corn,

187. The policy of the commercial restraints on the trade with

France examined, 192. The trade with France might be more

advantageous to each country than that with any other, 202. Why one

of the richest countries in Europe, while Spain and Portugal are

among the poorest, 221. Review of her American colonies, 234. The

trade of her colonies, how regulated, 236. Distinction between

enumerated and non-enumerated commodities explained, 237. Restrains

manufactures in America, 238, 239. Indulgences granted to the

colonists, 239. Constitutional freedom of her colony government,

240. The sugar colonies of, worse governed than those of France,

241. Disadvantages resulting from retaining the exclusive trade of

tobacco with Maryland and Virginia, 244, 245. The navigation act

has increased the colony trade, at the expense of many other

branches of foreign trade, 245. The advantage of the colony trade

estimated, 247. A gradual relaxation of the exclusive trade

recommended, 250. Events which have concurred to prevent the ill

effects of the loss of the colony trade, ib. The natural good

effects of the colony trade more than counterbalance the bad

effects of the monopoly, 251. To maintain a monopoly, the principal

end of the dominion assumed over the colonies, 254. Has derived

nothing but loss from this dominion, ib. Is perhaps the only state

which has only increased its expenses by extending its empire, 256.

The constitution of, would have been completed by admitting of

American representation, 258. Review of the administration of the

East India Company, 264, 265. The interest of the consumer

sacrificed to that of the producer in raising an empire in America,

274. The annual revenue of, compared with its annual rents and

interest of capital stock, 345, 346. The land-tax of, considered,

348. Tithes, 352. Window-tax, 357. Stamp-duties, 363, 365.

Poll-taxes in the reign of William III., 367. The uniformity of

taxation in, favourable to internal trade, 382. The system of

taxation in, compared with that in France, 384. Account of the

unfunded debt of, 387. Funded debt, 388. Aggregate and general

funds, ib. Sinking fund, 389. Annuities for terms of years and for

lives, ib. Perpetual annuities the best transferable stock, 391.

The reduction of the public debts during peace bears no proportion

to their accumulation during war, 392. The trade with the tobacco

colonies, how carried on, without the intervention of specie, 401.

The trade with the sugar colonies explained, ib. Ireland and

America ought in justice to contribute towards the discharge of her

public debts, 402. How the territorial acquisitions of the East

India Company might be rendered a source of revenue, 403. If no

such assistance can be obtained, her only resource pointed out, ib.

_Bullion_, the money of the great mercantile republic, 179. See

_Gold_ and _Silver_.

_Burghs_, free, the origin of, 163. To what circumstances they owed

their corporate jurisdictions, ib. Why admitted to send

representatives to parliament, 164. Are allowed to protect refugees

from the country, 165.

_Burn_, Dr. his observation on the laws relating to the settlements

of the poor, 58, 59.

_Butcher's meat_, nowhere a necessary of life, 370.

C

_Calvinists_, origin of that sect, 339. Their principles of church

government, ib.

_Cameron_, Mr. of Lochiel, exercised, within thirty years since, a

criminal jurisdiction over his own tenants, 168.

_Canada_, the French colony there, long under the government of an

exclusive company, 234. But improved speedily after the dissolution

of the company, ib.

_Canals_, navigable, the advantages of, 62. How to be made and

maintained, 303. That of Languedoc, the support of, how secured,

ib. May be successfully managed by joint stock companies, 317.

_Cantillon_, Mr. remarks on his account of the earnings of the

labouring poor, 28.

_Cape of Good Hope_, causes of the prosperity of the Dutch

settlement there, 263.

_Capital_, in trade, explained, and how employed, 112.

Distinguished into circulating and, fixed capitals, ib.

Characteristic of fixed capitals, 113. The several kinds of fixed

capitals specified, ib. Characteristic of circulating capitals, and

the several kinds of, 114. Fixed capitals supported by those which

are circulating, ib. Circulating capitals how supported, ib.

Intention of a fixed capital, 116. The expense of maintaining the

fixed and circulating capitals illustrated, ib. Money, as an

article of circulating capital, considered, ib. Money no measure of

capital, 118. What quantity of industry any capital can employ,

120. Capitals, how far they may be extended by paper credit, 125.

Must always be replaced with profit by the annual produce of land

and labour, 136. The proportion between capital and revenue

regulates the proportion between industry and idleness, 138. How it

is increased or diminished, ib. National evidences of the increase

of, 141. In what instances private expenses contribute to enlarge

the national capital, 142. The increase of, reduces profits by

competition, 145. The different ways of employing a capital, 147.

How replaced to the different classes of traders, 148. That

employed in agriculture puts into motion a greater quantity of

productive labour than any equal capital employed in manufacturers,

149. That of a manufacturer should reside within the country, 150.

The operation of capitals employed in agriculture, manufactures,

and foreign trade compared, ib. The prosperity of a country depends

on the due proportion of its capital applied to these three grand

objects, 151. Different returns of capitals employed in foreign

trade, 152. Is rather employed in agriculture than in trade and

manufactures, on equal terms, 155, 156. Is rather employed in

manufactures than in foreign trade, 156. The natural progress of

the employment of, 157. Acquired by trade, is very precarious,

until realized by the cultivation and improvement of land, 172. The

employment of, in the different species of trade, how determined,

183.

_Capitation taxes_, the nature of, considered, 367. In England, ib.

In France, ib.

_Carriage_, land and water, compared, 8. Water carriage contributes

to improve arts and industry in all countries where it can be used,

9, 62, 87. Land, how facilitated and reduced in price by public

works, 303.

_Carrying trade_, the nature and operation of, examined, 152. Is

the symptom, but not the cause of national wealth, and hence points

out the two richest countries in Europe, 153. Trades may appear to

be carrying trades which are not so, ib. The disadvantages of, to

individuals, 183. The Dutch, how excluded from being the carriers

to Great Britain, 187, 188. Drawbacks of duties originally granted

for the encouragement of, 205.

_Carthaginian army_, its superiority over the Roman army accounted

for, 294.

_Cattle_ and _Corn_, their value compared, in the different stages

of agriculture, 62. The price of, reduced by artificial grasses,

63. To what height the price of cattle may rise in an improving

country, 92, 93. The raising a stock of, necessary for the supply

of manure to farms, 93. Cattle must bear a good price to be well

fed, ib. The price of, rises in Scotland in consequence of the

union with England ib. Great multiplication of European cattle in

America, 94. Are killed in some countries merely for the sake of

the hides and tallow, 97. The market for these articles more

extensive than for the carcase, ib. This market sometimes brought

nearer home by the establishment of manufactures, ib. How the

extension of cultivation raises the price of animal food, 103. Is

perhaps the only commodity more expensive to transport by sea than

by land, 186. Great Britain never likely to be much affected by the

free importation of Irish cattle, ib.

_Certificates_, parish, the laws relating to, with observations on

them, 58.

_Child_, Sir Josiah, his observation on trading companies, 309.

_Children_, riches unfavourable to the production, and extreme

poverty to the raising, of them, 33. The mortality still greater

among those maintained by charity, ib.

_China_, to what the early improvement in arts and industry there

was owing, 9. Concurrent testimonies of the misery of the lower

ranks of the Chinese, 30. Is not, however, a declining country, ib.

High rate of interest of money there, 40. Great state assumed by

the grandees, 86. The price of labour there lower than in the

greater mpart of Europe, 87. Silver the most profitable article to

send thither, ib. The proportional value of gold to silver, how

rated there, 89. The value of gold and silver much higher there

than in any part of Europe, 101. Agriculture favoured there beyond

manufactures, 282. Foreign trade not favoured there, 283. Extension

of the home market, ib. Great attention paid to the roads there,

305, 306. In what the principal revenue of the sovereign consists,

353. The revenue of, partly raised in kind, ib.

_Church_, the richer the church the poorer the state, 341. Amount

of the revenue of church of Scotland, 342. The revenue of the

church heavier taxed in Prussia than lay proprietors, 351. The

nature and effect of tithes considered, 352.

_Circulation_, the dangerous practice of raising money by, explained,

127. In traffic, the two different branches of, considered, 132.

_Cities_, circumstances which contributed to their opulence, 165.

Those of Italy the first that rose to consequence, ib. The commerce

and manufactures of, have occasioned the improvement and

cultivation of the country, 170.

_Clergy_, a supply of, provided for, by public and private

foundations for their education, 55. Curates worse paid than many

mechanics, ib. Of an established religion, why unsuccessful against

the teachers of a new religion, 330. Why they persecute their

adversaries, ib. The zeal of the inferior clergy of the church of

Rome, how kept alive, ib. Utility of ecclesiastical establishments,

331. How connected with the civil magistrate, ib., 332. Unsafe for

the civil magistrate to differ with them, 334. Must be managed

without violence, ib., 335. Of the church of Rome, one great army

cantoned over Europe, ib., 336. Their power similar to that of the

temporal barons during the feudal monkish ages, ib. How the power

of the Romish clergy declined, 337. Evils attending allowing

parishes to elect their own ministers, 339.

_Clothing_, more plentiful than food in uncultivated countries, 68.

The materials for, the first articles rude nations have to offer,

ib.

_Coal_ must generally be cheaper than wood to gain the preference

for fuel, 70. The price of, how reduced, ib. The exportation of,

subjected to a duty higher than the prime cost of, at the pit, 273.

The cheapest of all fuel, 370. The tax on absurdly regulated, ib.

_Coal mines_, their different degrees of fertility, 70. When

fertile, are sometimes unprofitable by situation, ib. The

proportion of rent generally paid for, ib., 71. The machinery

necessary to, expensive, 112.

_Coal trade_ from Newcastle to London employs more shipping than

all the other carrying trade of England, 153.

_Cochin China_, remarks on the principal article of cultivation

there, 66.

_Coin_, stamped, the origin and peculiar advantages of, in

commerce, 11. The different species of, in different ages and

countries, ib. Causes of the alterations in the value of, ib., 12,

13, 14. How the standard coin of different nations came to be of

different metals, 16. A reform in the English coinage suggested,

19. Silver, consequences attending the debasement of, 82. Coinage

of France and Britain examined, 193. Why coin is privately melted

down, 225. The mint chiefly employed to keep up the quantity thus

diminished, ib. A duty to pay the coinage would preserve money from

being melted or counterfeited, ib. Standard of the gold coin in

France, ib. How a seignorage on coin would operate, 226. A tax

upon coinage is advanced by every body, and finally paid by nobody,

ib. A revenue lost by government defraying the expense of coinage,

227. Amount of the annual coinage before the late reformation of

the gold coin, ib. The law for the encouragement of, founded on

prejudice, ib. Consequences of raising the denomination as an

expedient to facilitate the payment of public debts, 395.

Adulteration of, 397.

_Colbert_, M., the policy of his commercial regulations disputed,

189, 275. His character, 275.

_Colleges_, cause of the depreciation of their money rents inquired

into, 14. The endowments of, from whence they generally arise, 318.

Whether they have in general answered the purposes of their

institution, ib. These endowments have diminished the necessity of

application in the teachers, 319. The privileges of graduates by

residence, and charitable foundation of scholarships, injurious to

collegiate education, 320. Discipline of, ib.

_Colliers_ and _Coal-heavers_, their high earnings accounted for, 43.

_Colonies_, new, the natural progress of, 38. Modern, the

commercial advantages derived from them, 183. Ancient, on what

principles founded, 227, 228. Ancient Grecian colonies not retained

under subjection to the parent states, ib. Distinction between the

Roman and Greek colonies, 228. Circumstances that led to the

establishment of European colonies in the East Indies and America,

ib. The East Indies discovered by Vasco de Gama, 229. The West,

Indies discovered by Columbus, ib. Gold the object of the first

Spanish enterprises there, 230. And of all those of all other

European nations, 231. Causes of the prosperity of new colonies,

ib. Rapid progress of the ancient Greek colonies, 232. The Roman

colonies slow in improvement, ib. The remoteness of America and the

West Indies greatly in favour of the European colonies there, ib.

Review of the British American colonies, 234. Expense of the civil

establishments in British America, 235. Ecclesiastical government,

ib. General view of the restraints laid upon the trade of the

European colonies, 236. The trade of the British colonies, how

regulated, ib. The different kinds of non-enumerated commodities

specified, 237. Enumerated commodities, 238. Restraints upon their

manufactures, ib. Indulgences granted them by Britain, 239. Were

free in every other respect except as to their foreign trade, 240.

Little credit due to the policy of Europe from the success of the

colonies, 242. Throve by the disorder and injustice of the European

governments, ib. Have contributed to augment the industry of all

the countries of Europe, 243. Exclusive privileges of trade a dead

weight upon all these exertions both in Europe and America, ib.

Have in general been a source of expense instead of revenue to

their mother countries, 244. Have only benefited their mother

countries by the exclusive trade carried on with them, ib.

Consequences of the navigation act, 245. The advantage of the

colony trade to Britain estimated, 247. A gradual relaxation of the

exclusive commerce recommended, 250. Events which have prevented

Britain from sensibly feeling the loss of the colony trade, ib. The

effects of the colony trade, and the monopoly of that trade,

distinguished, ib. To maintain a monopoly, the principal end of the

dominion Great Britain assumes over the colonies, 254. Amount of

the ordinary peace establishment of, ib. The two late wars Britain

sustained, colony wars, to support a monopoly, ib. Two modes by

which they might be taxed, 255. Their assemblies not likely to tax

them, ib. Taxes by parliamentary requisition as little likely to be

raised, 256. Representatives of, might he seated into the British

parliament with good effect, 257. Answer to objections against

American representation, 258. The interest of the consumer in

Britain sacrificed to that of the producer in raising an empire in

America, 274.

_Columbus_, the motive that led to his discovery of Americas, 229.

Why he gave the name of Indies to the islands he discovered, ib.

His triumphal exhibition of their productions, 230.

_Columella_, his instructions for fencing a kitchen garden, 64.

Advises the planting of vineyards, 65.

_Commerce_, the different common standards or mediums made use of

to facilitate the exchange of commodities in the early stages of,

10. Origin of money, ib. Definition of the term value, 12. Treaties

of, though advantageous to the merchants and manufacturers of the

favoured countries, necessarily, disadvantageous to those of the

favouring country, 222. Translation of the commercial treaty

between England and Portugal, concluded in 1703, by Mr. Methuen,

223. Restraints laid upon the European colonies in America, 236.

The present splendour of the mercantile system owing to the

discovery and colonization of America, 259. Review of the plan by

which it proposes to enrich a country, 266. The interest of the

consumer constantly sacrificed to that of the producer, 274. See

_Agriculture_, _Banks_, _Capital_, _Manufactures_, _Merchant_,

_Money_, _Stock_, _Trade_, &c.

_Commodities_, the barter of, insufficient for the mutual supply of

the wants of mankind, 10. Metals found to be the best medium to

facilitate the exchange of, ib. Labour an invariable standard for

the value of, 14. Real and nominal prices of, distinguished, ib.

Component parts of the prices of, explained and illustrated, 21.

Natural and market prices of, distinguished and how regulated, 23.

The ordinary proportion between the value of two commodities, not

necessarily the same as between the quantities of them commonly in

the market, 89. The price of rude produce, how affected by the

advance of wealth and improvement, 91, 92. Foreign are primarily

purchased with the produce of domestic industry, 151. When

advantageously exported in a rude state, even by a foreign capital,

156. The quantity of, in every country, naturally regulated by the

demand, 176. Wealth in goods, and in money, compared, 177.

Exportation of, to a proper market, always attended with more

profit than that of gold and silver, 179. The natural advantages of

countries in particular productions sometimes not possible to

struggle against, 185.

_Company_, mercantile, incapable of consulting their true interests

when they become sovereigns, 264. An exclusive company a public

nuisance, 265. Trading, how first formed, 307. Regulated and

joint-stock companies distinguished, ib. Regulated companies in

Great Britain specified, ib., 308. Are useless, 308. Constant view

of such companies, ib. Forts and garrisons, why never maintained by

regulated companies, 309. The nature of joint-stock companies

explained, 310, 311, 316. A monopoly necessary to enable a

joint-stock company to carry on a foreign trade, 317. What kind of

joint-stock companies need no exclusive privileges, ib. Joint-stock

companies, why well adapted to the trade of banking, ib. The trade

of insurance may be carried on successfully by a joint-stock

company, ib. Also, inland navigations, and the supply of water to a

great city, ib. Ill success of joint-stock companies in other

undertakings, 318.

_Competition_, the effect of, in the purchase of commodities, 23.

Among the venders, ib., 37.

_Concordat_ in France, its object, 337.

_Congress_, American, its strength owing to the important

characters it confers on the members of it, 257.

_Conversion price_, in the payment of rents in Scotland, explained,

76, 77.

_Copper_, the standard measure of value among the ancient Romans,

16. Is no legal tender in England, ib.

_Cori_, the largest quadruped on the island of St. Domingo,

described, 229.

_Corn_, the raising of, in different countries, not subject to the

same degree of rivalship, as manufactures, 3, 4. Is the best

standard for reserved rents, 14. The price of, how regulated, 15.

The price of, the best standard for comparing the different values

of particular commodities at different times and places, 16. The

three component parts in the price of, 21. Is dearer in Scotland

than in England, 31. Its value compared with that of butcher's

meat, in the different periods of agriculture, 62. Compared with

silver, 75. Circumstances in a historical view of the prices of

corn that have misled writers in treating of the value of silver at

different periods, 76. Is always a more accurate measure of value

than any other commodity, 79. Why dearer in great towns than in the

country, 80. Why dearer in some rich commercial countries, as

Holland and Genoa, ib. Rose in its nominal price on the discovery

of the American mines, 81. And in consequence of the civil war

under king Charles I., ib. And in consequence of the bounty on the

exportation of, 82. Tendency of the bounty examined, 83.

Chronological table of the prices of, 108. The least profitable

article of growth in the British West Indian colonies, 159. The

restraints formerly laid upon the trade of, unfavourable to the

cultivation of land, 162. The free importation of, could little

affect the farmers of Great Britain, 187. The policy of the bounty

on the exportation of, examined, 206. The reduction in the price

of, not produced by the bounty, ib. Tillage not encouraged by the

bounty, ib. The money price of, regulates that of all other

home-made commodities, 207. Illustration, 208. Ill effects of the

bounty, ib. Motives of the country gentlemen in granting the

bounty, 209. The natural value of not to be altered by altering the

money price, 210. The four several branches of the corn trade

specified, 213. The inland dealer, for his own interest, will not

raise the price of, higher than the scarcity of the season

requires, ib. Corn a commodity the least liable to be monopolised,

214. The inland dealers too numerous and dispersed to form a

general combination, ib. Dearths, never artificial, but when

government interferes improperly to prevent them, ib. The freedom

of the corn trade the best security against a famine, 215. Old

English statute to prohibit the corn trade, ib. Consequences of

farmers being forced to become corn dealers, ib. The use of corn

dealers to the farmers, 216. The prohibitory statute against the

corn trade softened, 217. But still under the influence of popular

prejudices, ib., 218. The average quantity imported and exported

compared with the consumption and annual produce, ib. Tendency of a

free importation of, 219. The home-market the most important one

for corn, ib. Impropriety of the statute 22 Car. II. for regulating

the importation of wheat, confessed by the suspension of its

execution by temporary statutes, ib. Duties payable on the

importation of grain before 13 Geo. III. ib. _note_, ib. The

home-market indirectly supplied by the exportation of corn, ib. How

a liberal system of free exportation and importation and among all

nations would operate, 220. The laws concerning corn, similar to

those relating to religion, 221. The home-market supplied by the

carrying trade, ib. The system of laws connected with the

establishment of the bounty, undeserving of praise, ib. Remarks on

the statute 13 Geo. III. ib.

_Corporations_, tendency of the exclusive privileges of, on trade,

26. By what authority erected, 50, 52. The advantages they derive

from the surrounding country, ib. Check the operations of

competition, 54. Their internal regulations combinations against

the public, ib. Are injurious even to the members of them, ib. The

laws of, obstruct the free circulation of labour from one

employment to another, 57. Origin of, 163. Are exempted by their

privileges from the power of the feudal barons, 164. The European

East India companies disadvantageous to the eastern commerce, 181,

182. The exclusive privileges of corporations ought to be

destroyed, 191.

_Cottagers_, in Scotland, their situation described, 49. Are cheap

manufacturers of stockings, ib. The diminution of, in England,

considered, 95.

_Coward_, character of, 329.

_Credit_. See _Paper Money_.

_Crusades_, to the Holy land, favourable to the revival of

commerce, 165.

_Currency of states_, remarks on, 194.

_Customs_, the motives and tendency of drawbacks from the duties

of, 203. The revenue of the customs increased by drawbacks, 205.

Occasion of first imposing the duties of, 307. Origin of those

duties, 371. Three ancient branches of, 372. Drawbacks of, ib. Are

regulated according to the mercantile system, ib., 373. Frauds

practised to obtain drawbacks and bounties, ib. The duties of, in

many instances uncertain, ib. Improvement of, suggested, 374.

Computation of the expense of collecting them, 380.

D

_Dairy_, the business of, generally carried on as a save-all, 96.

Circumstances which impede or promote the attention to it, ib.

English and Scotch dairies, ib.

_Danube_, the navigation of that river, why of little use to the

interior parts of the country from whence it flows, 9.

_Davenant_, Dr. his objections to the transferring the duties on

beer to the malt considered, 377.

_Dearths_, never caused by combinations among the dealers in corn,

but by some general calamity, 214. The free exercise of the corn

trade the best palliative against the inconveniencies of a dearth,

217. Corn dealers the best friends to the people at such seasons,

218.

_Debts_, public, the origin of, traced, 386. Are accelerated by the

expenses attending war, ib. Account of the unfunded debt of Great

Britain, 387. The funded debt, 388. Aggregate and general funds,

389. Sinking fund, ib. Annuities for terms of years and for lives,

ib. The reduction of, during peace, bears no proportion to its

accumulation during war, 391. The plea of the interest being no

burden to the nation considered, 394. Are seldom fairly paid when

accumulated to a certain degree, 396. Might easily be discharged,

by extending the British system of taxation over all the provinces

of the empire, 397. Ireland and America ought to contribute to

discharge the public debts of Britain, 402.

_Decker_, Sir Matthew, his observations on the accumulation of

taxes, 369. His proposal for transferring all taxes to the

consumer, by annual payments, considered, 371.

_Demand_, though the increase of, may at first raise the price of

goods, it never fails to reduce it afterwards, 314.

_Denmark_, account of the settlements of, in the West Indies, 234.

_Diamonds_, the mines of, not always worth working for, 73.

_Discipline_, the great importance of, in war, 293. Instances of,

ib.

_Diversions_, public, their political use, 334.

_Domingo_, St. mistaken by Columbus for a part of the East Indies,

229. Its principal productions, ib. The natives soon stripped of

all their gold, 230. Historical view of the French colony there,

234.

_Doomsday-book_, the intention of that compilation, 351.

_Dorians_, ancient, where the colonies of, settled, 227.

_Dramatic exhibitions_, the political use of, 334.

_Drawbacks_, in commerce, explained, 182. The motives to, and

tendency of, explained, 203. On wines, currants, and wrought silks,

ib. On tobacco and sugar, 204. On wines, particularly considered,

ib. Were originally granted to encourage the carrying trade, 205.

The revenue of the customs increased by them, ib. Drawbacks allowed

in favour of the colonies, 213.

_Drugs_, regulations of their importation and exportation, 272.

_Drunkenness_, the motive to this vice inquired into, 200.

_Dutch_, their settlements in America slow in in improvement,

because under the government of an exclusive company, 234. Their

East India trade checked by monopoly, 261. Measures taken by, to

secure the monopoly of the spice trade. See _Holland_.

E

_East Indies_, representation of the miserable state of the

provinces of, under the English government there, 30. Historical

view of the European trade with those countries, 86. Rice countries

more populous and rich than corn countries, ib. The real price of

labour lower in China and Indostan than in the greater part of

Europe, 87. Gold and silver the most profitable commodities to

carry thither, ib. The proportional value of gold to silver, how

rated there, 89. Great extension of foreign commerce by the

discovery of a passage to, round the Cape of Good Hope, 181.

Historical review of the intercourse with, ib., 182. Effect of the

annual exportation of silver to, from Europe, ib. The trade with,

chiefly carried on by exclusive companies, 261. Tendency of their

monopolies, ib.

_East India company_, a monopoly against the very nation in which

it is erected, 261. The operation of such a company in a poor and

in a rich country compared, ib. That country whose capital is not

large enough to extend to such a distant trade ought not to engage

in it, 262. The mercantile habits of trading companies render them

incapable of consulting their true interests when they become

sovereigns, 264. The genius of the administration of the English

company, ib. Subordinate practices of their agents and clerks, 265.

The bad conduct of agents in India owing to their situation, ib.

Such an exclusive company a nuisance in every respect, 266. Brief

review of their history, 313. Their privileges invaded, ib. A rival

company formed, ib. The two companies united, 314. Are infected by

the spirit of war and conquest, ib. Agreements between the company

and government, ib. Interference of government in their territorial

administration, 315. And in the direction at home, ib. Why unfit to

govern a great empire, ib. Their sovereign and commercial

characters incompatible, 344. How the territorial acquisitions of,

might be rendered a source of revenue, 403.

_Economists_, sect of, in France, their political tenets, 275.

_Edinburgh_, its present share of trade owing to the removal of the

court and parliament, 138.

_Education_, the principal cause of the various talents observable

in different men, 7. Those parts of, for which there are no public

institutions, generally the best taught, 320. In universities, a

view of, 323. Of travelling for, 324. Course of, in the republics

of ancient Greece, ib. In ancient Rome, ib. The ancient teachers

superior to those in modern times, 326. Public institutions

injurious to good education, ib. Inquiry how far the public ought

to attend to the education of the people, 327. The different

opportunities of education in the different ranks of the people,

328. The advantages of proper attention in the state to the

education of the people, 329.

_Egypt_, the first country in which agriculture and manufactures

appear to have been cultivated, 9. Agriculture was greatly favoured

there, 283. Was long the granary of the Roman empire, 284.

_Ejectment_, action of, in England, when invented, and its

operation, 160.

_Employments_, the advantages and disadvantages of the different

kinds of, in the same neighbourhood, continually tend to equality,

41. The differences or inequalities among, specified, ib. The

constancy or precariousness of, influences the rate of wages, 43.

_England_, the dates of its several species of coinage, silver,

gold, and copper, 16. Why labour is cheaper there than in North

America, 29. The rate of population in both countries compared, ib.

The produce and labour of, have gradually increased from the

earliest accounts in history, while writers are representing the

country as rapidly declining, 141. Enumeration of obstructions and

calamities which the prosperity of the country has surmounted, ib.

Circumstances that favour commerce and manufactures, 171. Laws in

favour of agriculture, ib. Why formerly unable to carry on foreign

wars of long duration, 180. Why the commerce with France has been

subjected to so many discouragements, 202. Foundation of the enmity

between these countries, ib. Translation of the commercial treaty

concluded in 1703 with Portugal, 223. Inquiry into the value of the

trade with Portugal, ib., 224. Might procure gold without the

Portugal trade, ib. Consequences of securing the colony trade by

the navigation act, 245.

_Engrossing_. See _Forstalling_.