I have read your Common Sense, which is good sense, and so intelligible
that he who runs may read, and he who reads can scarcely fail to
understand.
I wish you had treated the subject of monopolies more copiously, and
informed your readers that in the early ages of commerce monopolies were
so extended, and the principle so abused, that they could not fail to
become obnoxious to all, and tradition has made the name hateful ever
since.
The kings of France, particularly Louis XIV. to raise money sold
_maitrices_, as they were called, or a sort of privilege for exercising
certain trades, and he at the same time limited the number, this
practice, together with the former monopolies not abolished, created a
general wish for _Freedom of Trade_ in France.[A] The sect of economists
were composed of republican philosophers, who proclaimed the grand
advantages to be derived from the entire Freedom of Trade, nor was it
then foreseen that under that pretext they were seeking _Liberty and
Equality_, which but a few years after deluged France with the blood of
her best sons, and had nearly ruined the world.
You mention Adam Smith, he was the disciple and admirer of the
economists; in a word he was what we denominate a democrat. As to entire
Freedom of Trade, who that ever thought on the subject could dream of
it. The corn laws, all bounties and drawbacks, the regulation even of
weights and measures, the assay of silver and gold, the interest of
money, &c. &c. &c. are directly in opposition to it, and prove the
economists were wrong. When the French revolution broke out, excepting
in weights and measures, every restraint was done away, but instead of
things improving thereby they grew visibly worse. A short history of
monopolies would be a very useful work, as it would clear up many
mistakes concerning them.
If Adam Smith were now alive he would probably have changed many of his
opinions, for he was a good, and honest, as well as an able man, but he
was deceived, not being initiated in the ulterior mysteries of M. Turgot
and his associates.