It is not so with Mahomedan princes: with them, nothing is sacred that they hate, nothing shameful that they do. Whatever their conscience may be, whatever may be the nature of their moral rules, rapine and murder are certainly not forbidden by them, or the law is not obeyed. In proportion to the despotism and ferocity of the sovereign, is the slavishness of the people, their brutality, and vice, in all Mahomedan countries; their character and its great inferiority is so well known, that it is impossible for any person to be ignorant of it.

When the Mahomedan governments possess power, they are proud and overbearing; the people luxurious, and given to every refinement in vice. When they sink, that pride becomes ferocity, and the luxury degenerates into brutality and sloth; but neither in the one nor in the other case have they the proper value for science, for literature, for liberty, or for any of the acquirements that either make a man estimable or useful. They neither excel in arts, nor in science; phisically sic, they are inferior in utility, and their minds are less instructed. They are not equal to Christians either in war or in peace, nor to be compared to them for any one good quality.

The greatest and the best portion of the old world is, however, in their hands; but, in point of wealth or power, they are of little importance, and every day they are sinking lower still.

Amongst those who profess Christianity it has been remarked, by all who have travelled, and who have had an opportunity of observing it, that agriculture, commerce, and manufactures, flourish most in Protestant countries. Even where there are different sects of the Christian religion in the same country, arts, manufactures, and commerce, appear to have flourished most amongst the Protestants. The [end of page #264] cruelties of the Duke of Alva, and the absurd bigotry of Louis XIV. drove the most industrious inhabitants from the Netherlands, and from France, merely because they happened to be Protestants, which is a proof that there is a connection between that branch of the Christian religion and industry. The Protestants were the most industrious.

The Protestants appear also to be the most attentive to preserving a good form of government, and to set a greater value upon liberty than people of any other religion. In this, England has an advantage that is inappretiable. {203}

The reformation in religion, and the establishment of manufactures in England, date from nearly the same period; it was about the same time, also, that the spirit of liberty began to break out first in Scotland, and then in England, which terminated in the revolution. There are, therefore, many reasons, from experience, for believing that the Protestant religion is particularly favourable to industry and freedom. There are other reasons, likewise, that arise from a consideration of the subject, that would lead one to the same conclusion, even if there were no experience of the fact.

Whatever frees the human mind from useless prejudice, and leads it to pure morality, gives dignity to man, and increases his power of becoming a good and useful member of society.

The Christian religion not only contains the most pure moral code, but the best, most useful, and simple rules for conduct in life are

—- {203} The great influence, founded on attachment to her person, and the feeling of the long happiness they had enjoyed, under Queen Elizabeth: her great authority, supported by esteem, and confirmed by long habit, restrained the spirit of freedom which so soon after tormented her successors. James had had full experience of that spirit before he left Scotland; and, when he mounted the English throne, was known, frequently, to exclaim against presbytry, as the enemy of monarchy. He, as was very natural, thought that the difference of religion caused the superior love of freedom in Scotland, for he was not sensible of the different effects produced by the calm, steady, and dignified deportment of Elizabeth, and the unsteady conduct of his unhappy mother, Mary. He also confounded hatred for arbitrary prerogative in kings, with hatred for kings themselves; and considered monarchy, and his own sort of monarchy, as essentially the same. Had he lived in our days, he would have experienced the difference, and not have considered the church of Scotland as being a greater enemy to kingly power than that of England, or as being more favourable to liberty. -=-

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there promulgated. The Roman Catholic faith was clogged, in the early days of the church, with a great number, both of dogmatical and practical errors, that tend not only to fetter the mind, but actually embarrass the business of human life.

In a former chapter, we had occasion to speak of the encroachments made by public bodies on the general mass of the people, but none ever was so pernicious in its effects, so grasping, and so well calculated to retain, as the Roman Catholic church.

Their celibacy took away from the clergy every disposition to alienate even personal property, while the practice of auricular confession, and the doctrine of the remission of sins, gave them an opportunity of besieging the human mind in its weakest moment, and the weakest place, in order to rob posterity, and enrich the church. In the moment of weakness, when a man's mind is occupied in reflecting on the errors, and perhaps the crimes, of a long and variegated life; when his ties to this world are loosened, and his interest in eternity becomes more lively, and near; a religion that enables a zealous or interested priest (aided by the casuistry and argument of centuries) to barter a promise of everlasting bliss, for lands and tenements bequeathed to the church, provides amply for the acquisition of earthly treasure, for its ministers, and those devoted to a life of religious pursuits. It is, indeed, wonderful, that, with such means, the church, in Roman Catholic countries, did not become more wealthy than it was. {204} With a continual means of acquiring, and none of alienating, it appears well qualified for absorbing the whole landed property of a nation. Such an encroachment on the public wealth, and industry of a people, is a sufficient reason for the Protestant countries (where the clergy have not the same means) becoming more wealthy and industrious.

It would not be difficult to prove that there is an effect produced on the minds of individuals in Protestant countries, that is favourable to industry; but a discussion of this nature might seem displaced in a book of this sort. It is sufficient that we see, from experience and

—- {204} In France, before the revolution, the revenues of the clergy, in lands, tythes, &c. were reckoned to amount to 25,000,000 L. sterling per annum. The number of feasts and fasts was also a great drawback on industry. -=-

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reason, that, of all religions, the Christian is the most favourable to the prosperity of a people, and that of its different branches, the Protestant, or what is termed the Reformed Religion, is again the best. It is the religion established in Britain.

Another source of hope arises from a circumstance of very great importance, and very peculiarly favourable to Great Britain.

It has been observed, that the colonies in the West, and conquests in the East, cost a great deal and produce little; that, in short, their possession is of very doubtful advantage.

The possession of the North American provinces, now the United States, were a great burthen to England, from their first settlement till about the year 1755, when their trade began to be of advantage to this nation; but, in twenty years after, the revolt took place, and cost England a prodigious sum.

To enter into a long detail on this subject it is not necessary; but no sooner were the hostilities at an end, than the American states bought more of our manufactures than ever. Their laws and manners are similar to our own, the same language, and a government evidently approaching as near to ours as a republican well can to a monarchical form. There is not, at this time, any branch of trade, either so great in its amount, or beneficial in its nature, as that with the United States; with this farther advantage, that it is every day augmenting, {205} and as no country ever increased so fast in population and wealth, so none ever promised to afford so extensive a market for our mannfactures sic as the United States. This market is the more secure, that it will not be the interest of the people who have got possession of that immense tract of country to neglect agriculture and become manufacturers, for a long period of time.

The greatest project, by which any nation ever endeavoured to enrich itself, was certainly that of peopling America with a civilized race of inhabitants. It was a fair and legitimate mode of extending her means of acquiring riches; but Britain failed in the manner of obtaining her object, though not in the object itself, and

—- {205} By this is not literally meant, that the trade every year is greater than the preceding, but that it continues to increase. -=-

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the United States promise to support the industry of England, now that it has humbled its ambition, far more than both the Indies, which gratify it so much.

It is highly probable, that America will increase more rapidly in wealth and population than in manufactures, such as she at present takes from great Britain; but if the ratio merely continues the same that it is now, the purpose will be completely answered, and a market for British manufactures insured for ages to come. In 1802, by the last census, the inhabitants of the United States amounted to about eight millions; and, for several years together, the exports of British goods have amounted to seven millions, so that it is fair to reckon a consumption equal to sixteen shillings a year to each person. It was about the same in 1774, previous to the revolt; and, as the population doubles in about fifteen years, in the course of thirty years more, the exports to that country alone would amount to 24,000,000 L. provided we continue to be able to sell at such rates as not to be undersold by others sic nations in the American market.

There is nothing great, nothing brilliant, in this commerce, all is solid and good; it is a connection founded on mutual wants and mutual conveniencey, not on monopoly, restriction, or coercion; for that reason it will be the more durable, and ought to be the more valued; but it is not. Governments, like individuals, are most attached to what is dear to purchase and difficult to keep. It is to be hoped, however, that this matter will be seen in its true light.

One circumstance, that makes the matter still more favourable for Britain is, that the western country of America, by far the most fertile, as well as the most extensive, is now peopling very rapidly. The labour and capital of the inhabitants are entirely turned to agriculture and not to manufactures, and will be so for a great number of years; for, when there are fifty millions of inhabitants in the United States, their population will not amount to one-half of what may naturally be expected, or sufficient to occupy the lands. The fertility of the soil will enable the Americans, with great ease to themselves, to make returns in produce wanted in Europe, so that we may expect a durable, a great, and an advantageous trade with them. In British [end of page #268] manufactures our trade was not near so great before the revolt, for we then supplied America with every article.

This, however, will depend partly on our circumstances; for, if wages and the prices of our manufactures rise, as they lately have done, our merchants will buy upon the continent of Europe, what they otherwise would purchase in England, to supply the American market.

America is the only country in the world where, with respect to the wages of labour, and the produce of industry, money is of less value than in England. The Americans will then be able to afford to purchase English goods, when other nations will not; but then, they will only purchase such articles as cannot be had elsewhere; for though they may and will continue able to purchase, they will not do it if they can get goods that suit them elsewhere. {206}

No country, that we read of in history, ever enjoyed equal advantages with the American states; they have good laws, a free government, and are possessed of all the inventions and knowledge of the old world. Arts are now conveyed across the Atlantic with more ease than they formerly were from one village to another. It is possible, that a new market of so great an extent being opened may do away those jealousies of commerce, which have, for these two or three last centuries, occasioned many quarrels, and which are peculiarly dangerous to a nation that has risen high above its level.

All those things, with care and attention, will prove advantageous to Britain in a superior degree. They afford us much reason for hope and comfort, and do away one of the causes for fearing a decline that has been stated, namely, the being supplanted by poorer nations, or by not having a market for our increasing manufactures.

There remains yet another consideration in favour of Britain, as a manufacturing and a commercial country; for, as such, we must view it, reckoning more on industry than on the ideal wealth of our colonies in the West, and our conquests in the East. It is this, we are the

—- {206} England begins already to lose the market for linen-cloth, window-glass, fire-arms, and a number of other articles. It would have entirely lost that of books, if any nation on the continent of Europe could print English correctly. As, it is, they are printing in America, in place of our keeping the trade, which we might have done with great profit and advantage. -=-

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latest of European nations that has risen to wealth by commerce and manufactures. In looking over the map, there does not seem to be any one to supplant us; all those, who have great advantages, have already gone before, and, till we see the example of a country renewing itself, we have a right to disbelieve that it is possible.

Russia is the only country in Europe that is newer than England, and many circumstances will prevent it from becoming a rival in commerce. It does not, nor it ever can increase in population, and carry civilization and manufactures to the same point. Though, very new, as a powerful European nation, the people are as ancient as most others in Europe; the territory is so extensive, the climate so cold, and the Baltic Sea so much to the north, and frozen so many months in the year, that it never will either be a carrying or a manufacturing country. To cultivate its soil, and export the produce of its mines, the skins, tallow, hides, timber, &c. &c. will be more profitable, and suit better the inhabitants than any competition in manufactures.

It is not in great extensive empires that manufactures thrive the most, they are great objects for small countries, like England or Holland; but, for such as Russia, Turkey, or France, they are a less object than attention to soil and natural productions; and, thus we see, that China, the greatest of all countries in extent, encourages interior trade and manufactures, but despises foreign commerce. {207}

One peculiar advantage England enjoys favourable to manufactures, deserves notice. The law of patents, if it does not make people invent or seek after new inventions, it at least encourages and enables them to improve their inventions. Invention is the least part of the business in respect to public wealth and utility. There has long been a collection of models, at Paris, made by one of the most in-

—- {207} The smaller a district, or an island is, the exports and imports will be the greater, when compared with the number of inhabitants. Take the exports and imports of all Europe, with the other quarters of the world;—considering Europe as one country, and it will not be found to amount to one shilling a person per annum. Take the amount in Britain, it will be found about forty shillings a person. Consider what is bought and sold by a single village, and it will be still greater than that; and, last of all, a single labouring family buys all that it uses, and sells all that it produces. And the meanest family, taken in this way, does proportionably =sic= more buying and selling than the richest state, taken in a body. Consider the whole earth as one state, and it neither exports nor imports. -=-

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genious mechanics of the last century, (Mr. Vaucusson,) at the expense of that government, in which were nearly all the curious inventions brought forth in England, together with many not known in it. Some Englishmen, in going through it, brought over new inventions here, for which they obtained patents, and, by which, they, as well as the public, were gainers, while the inventions lay useless and dormant in France.

Invention is not a thing in a man's power, and great inventions are generally more the effect of accident than of superior abilities; at any rate, no encouragement is certain to produce invention, but it always will produce improvement on invention. When a man has a patent for fourteen years, he does every thing in his power to make the object of that patent become as generally useful as possible, and this is only to be done by carrying the improvements as far as he is able. {208} Others, again, who have no patent, but are of the same trade, endeavour to preserve their business by improvement, and to this contest in excellence may be attributed the great progress, made in England, in bringing manufactures to a higher degree of perfection than in any other country.

The great inventions, from which others branch out and spring, are not due, it has often been asserted, to natives of this country. Probably this may be owing to the circumstance, that they were known before the advancement of this country in any of the arts; but let that be as it may, there are a vast number of inventions carried to greater

—- {208} This is sufficiently important to deserve to be illustrated by some examples. The improvement of the steam-engine, by Mr. Watt, was a matter of accident; an accident, indeed, that could not have happened, had he been an ignorant man; but the improvement of it was not accidental. It was, in consequence of great encouragement given, and to the prolongation of the patent, by an express act of parliament. This patent has been the occasion of almost totally changing the machine, and of extending its use to a vast variety of objects, to which it probably might never have been extended, had it not been the sole business of a very able man, aided by a number of other ingenious persons, whom he was enabled to employ. It was the cause of improving the mechanism of mills for grinding corn, and others of different descriptions, far beyond what they had been, although the most able engineer in that line (Mr. Smeaton) died before the last and greatest improvements were made.

The same thing may be observed of the cotton-spinning-machines, and with a little difference of all the inventions that have been brought to perfection, under the influence of exclusive privileges. -=-

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perfection, and turned to more advantage in this country than in any other.

This advantage, which England enjoys over other countries, is a more solid one than it appears to be, for it is intimately connected with the government and laws of the country, and with that spirit which sees the law well administered, which, in the case of patents, is a matter of no small difficulty, and prevents others from becoming our rivals, or attaining the same degree of perfection; {209} for, unless the law is well administered, there can never be the great exertion that is necessary to create excellence.

The fine arts and the mechanic arts are quite different in regard to the manner in which they are brought to perfection. Individual capacity and genius will make a man, even without much teaching, excel in one of the fine arts; whereas, in the mechanic arts, to know how an operation is performed is every thing, and all men can do it nearly equally well. The consequence of this is, that, as experience improves the manner of working, the mechanic arts improve, from age to age, as long as they are encouraged and practised. It is not so with the fine arts, or only so in a very small degree, and from this it arises, that, in sculpture, poetry, painting, and music, the ancients, perhaps, excelled the moderns. In the mechanic arts they were quite inferior. The best examples of this, (and better need not be,) are an antique medal, boldly and finely executed, but ragged on the edges, not on a flat ground, or of equal thickness, compared with a new guinea, or a Birmingham button tamely engraved but trimly executed. In the former, there is every mark of the artist, none of the machine. In the latter, there are some faint and flat traces of an artist, but great proof of mechanical excellence. The skill of the artist, necessary to produce the first, cannot be commanded, though it may, by encouragement, be called forth; but the reunion of talents, such as are necessary for the latter, is so certainly obtainable, that it, at all times, may be procured at will, after it has once been possessed.

—- {209} In 1790 the French laid down the law of patents, on the English plan, and rather, in some respects, improved; but the people never understood it. The lawyers never understood it; and, even before the anarchy came on, it was evident it would never produce any very great effect, for want of proper administration. -=-

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Security, to reap the fruits of improvements, is all that is wanted, and this the law of patents, as applied and enforced in England, affords in a very superior degree. Although, by the communication everywhere, the ground-work of every art whatever is now no longer confinable to any one nation, though the contrary is the case, and that the knowledge necessary circulates freely, and is extended by a regular sort of system, in periodical publications of various descriptions, yet the manner of turning that knowledge to advantage does not, by any means, seem equally easy to communicate.

The legislature of the United States of America has, indeed, in this case, done full justice to the encouragement of arts and to inventions; but circumstances, as has been already said, make other objects more advantageous for the employment of labour and skill in that country. For these reasons, therefore, we may look forward with some confidence, to the flourishing of arts and manufactures, for a long term of years, if the same attention that has been paid to their encouragement still continues; but neither this advantage alone, nor all the advantages united, that have been enumerated, will be sufficient to preserve our superiority, if those, who regulate the affairs of the country, do not favour them.

It is in consequence of great pains and care, that manufactures have flourished in this country, and they cannot be preserved without a continuation of the same care, although it is individual effort that appears to be the principal cause. Thus, the travellers, on a well-made highway, proceed with rapidity and ease, at their individual expense, and by their individual energy; but, if the road is not kept in repair, their progress must be impeded, and their efforts will cease to produce the same effect, for they cannot individually repair the road.

Such appear to be the peculiar circumstances that favour Great Britain; and that under disadvantages that are also peculiarly great, give hopes of prolonging the prosperity of the country.

There is still, however, something wanting to increase our advantage. Any person acquainted with the manufactures of England will naturally have observed, that they are all such as meet with a market in this country. We have no mannfactories sic for goods, for the sole [end of page #273] purpose of our foreign markets; so that, though we consider ourselves as so much interested in foreign trade, yet we have adapted all our manufacturies, expressly, as if it were to supply the home market.

This observation will be found to apply very generally, though there are a few exceptions, and though the quality of the goods manufactured, and intended for exportation, is adapted to the market for which they are destined. This last, indeed, is very natural, nor could it well be otherwise, but that is not going half the length necessary.

Instead of carrying our goods into a strange country, and trying whether the inhabitants will purchase, we should bring home patterns of such articles as they use themselves, and try if we can supply them with advantage. Nations vary, exceedingly, in taste, and so they always will. The colour of the stuffs, the figures on printed cottons, and even the forms of cutlery, and articles of utility, are, in some sort, matters of taste. If we are to manufacture for other nations, let us try to suit their taste as we do to suit that of our own people at home. The reasons why we do not do this are pretty evident. In the first place, it would not answer the purpose of an individual to procure the information necessary, and make a collection where the advantage, in case of success, would be divided with all that chose to imitate them; besides this, in many cases, the means are wanting to procure what is necessary.

The study of botany has been greatly advanced, and kitchen gardens greatly enriched, by the importation of exotic plants; and, probably, our manufactures might be greatly extended, if the same care were taken to collect foreign articles, the produce of industry. {210} We do not find every foreign plant succeed in this country, but if it seems pro-

—- {210} A collection of all sorts of stuffs, with the prices in the country, where worn, and the same of all sorts of hardware, toys, trinkets, &c., should be made, at the public expense, and be open, on application, to the inspection of every person who might apply in a proper manner; and even specimens, or patterns, should be delivered out, on the value being deposited. In Persia, and many places, if we would copy their colours and patterns, we might sell great quantities of cotton stuffs. Our hatchets, and some other of our tools, are not made of a form liked by the Americans. -=-

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bable, and worth trying, we never fail to do that; we trust it would be so with foreign manufactures, if we had proper patterns. A fair trial would be made, where success seemed probable, and the event would determine the future exertion.

Accidental circumstances, a few centuries ago, brought new plants into this country, they now come into it in consequence of regular exertions for that purpose. What was then true, with regard to plants imported, is still true with respect to manufactures exported. We manufacture for ourselves, and if any thing of the same sort suits other nations, we send it, if not, there is no trade to that part; now, this must be allowed to be an accidental cause, for the promotion of foreign trade.

Wherever it is possible to prevent the debasing the quality of an article, so as to hinder it answering the purpose, or gratifying the expectations of the purchaser, that ought to be done, for it has long been such a practice for English manufacturers to undersell each other, that they stick at no means of being able to do so.

A variety of qualities, according to price, is necessary. All persons cannot afford to buy the best sort of goods; but, when a reduction of price is carried so far as to be obtained by making an article that is useless, this is a means of losing the trade; and it would be very easy to prove that such examples are very numerous, and that various branches of trade have been lost by that means.

With regard to the extent of sea coast, the advantage that may be derived from the fisheries, and the benefit arising from that circumstance to commerce, they are natural advantages, and already perfectly understood. [end of page #275]



CHAP. VIII.

Conclusion.

After having gone through the subject of the Inquiry, according to the mode that appeared to be the best, in which there has been one invariable rule, never to oppose theory and reasoning to facts, but to take experience as the surest guide, a recapitulation can scarcely be very necessary; but a conclusion, applicable to the situation of this country, certainly may.

This, however, ought to be short, as the reader has all the materials for it in his own power, but it may save him trouble.

The great end of all human effort is, to improve upon the means which nature has furnished men with, for obtaining the objects of their wants and wishes, and to obviate, to counteract, or do away those inconveniencies sic and disadvantages which nature has thrown in the way of their enjoyment. {211}

With the mind, the same course should be used as with material bodies. It is impossible, in either case, to create; but we may turn the good to as profitable an advantage as we are able, and counteract the bad.

To attempt to hinder men from following their propensities, when in power, is always arduous, generally ineffectual, and frequently impracticable; besides, when it can be done coercively, it infringes too much on the liberty and the enjoyment of mankind. A controuling power should be employed as seldom as possible.

—- {211} Thus, in building a house, you form the stones, the clay, and other materials, which nature has furnished, in order to counteract the effect of heat or cold, moist or dry, as is most agreeable. Thus, men have learned to melt and vitrify the sand on the sea-shore, to make glass, grind it into a form, and make a microscope to view the most minute objects of nature, or to bring the most distant nearer, by the telescope: thus, rectifying the imperfection of human sight. Perhaps the burning of coals to convert water into steam, and, with that steam, raising coals and water from the mine is the most complete triumph of human skill over physical difficulties. How invention and discovery have improved the state of man since the time that the uses of corn and fire were unknown in Greece!!! -=-

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To attempt to smother the passions is vain, to controul them difficult; besides, it is from energy, arising from passions or propensities, that all good, as well as all evil, arise. The business, then, will neither be to curb nor to crush, but to give a proper direction. This is to be done by good habits, when young, and a proper education, which cannot be obtained by individual exertion, without the assistance of government; an assistance that it is therefore bound to give.

The general tendency of wealth and power are to enervate people, to make them proud and indolent, and, after a certain time, they leave a country. Individuals have no means to counteract this tendency, unless the governing power of the country gives a general impulse to them, in cases where they can act, and acts itself, with care and attention, where individuals can do nothing.

In the case of education and manners, in the case of providing for children, individuals may do much, but government must not only give the means, but the impulse. In the case of the soil becoming insufficient for the inhabitants, and of taxes and national debt increasing, government may stop the progress; and in the cases of individual bodies trenching on the general weal, as well as in the tendency of inventions, capital, &c. to emigrate to other countries, the government may counteract, and, perhaps, totally prevent them all.

In all cases, individuals will and must follow their lawful propensities, both in the means of employing capital and expending revenue; that is, they must be left free, in a general way, and only interrupted and regulated in particular cases; but, sometimes, the means must be furnished them of going right, and in other cases the inducements to do so augmented. We shall take the subjects in the same order that they followed in the Second Book.

Though the manners of people, arrived at maturity, can only be regulated by their education, when young, if that is properly attended to, it will be sufficient; for though it will not prevent the generation that has attained wealth, from enjoying it according to the prevailing taste, it will prevent contamination being communicated with increased force, as it now is, to the children. The evils then will go on in a simple proportion; they now go on with a compound one, and the evils arising from the [end of page #277] luxury of each generation are doubled on that which follows after. If that is prevented, it will be all that probably is necessary; at all events it is probably all that is possible.

In taxation, the government should study to do away what is obnoxious in its mode of collection, for that does more injury to the subject, in many cases, than an equal sum would do levied in another manner; and when payments are to be made, the mode should be rendered as easy as possible. Every unnecessary trouble should be avoided in collecting a tax. In the tax on receipts and bills, why should the sums to which they extend not be printed on them, so as to prevent error, which is sometimes attended with great loss, and always with inconvenience? If this had been done, how many law-suits, how many nefarious tricks, would have been prevented? But not to speak of those inconveniences only, how much useless trouble, uneasiness, and uncertainty, would have been saved in the common way of transacting business? In most cases, the subject is treated as if neither his time, nor his conveniency, nor his feelings, were worth attending to. This is equally impolitic and unjust: there is, perhaps, no country where people are more careful to keep within the pale of the law, than in England; but when they are within it, and have power, no people use it with a more insulting rigour; and for this there is no redress.

In many cases, this would be entirely prevented by proper attention in first laying on the tax. There should be a board of taxation, to receive, digest, and examine, the suggestions of others. In short, pains should be taken to bring to perfection the system. At present, it is left to chance; that is to say, it is left for those to do who have not time to do it, and, of consequence, the blunders committed are seen by all the world. {212}

—- {212} An act of parliament for a new tax is seldom ever right till it has been evaded a number of times, and even then in perfectioning =sic= it, an increase of revenue is the only object attended to; the conveniency of the subject is scarcely ever thought of. Taxes are laid on, that experience proves to be unproductive and oppressive, and sometimes are, and oftener ought, to be repealed; thousands of persons are sometimes ruined for a mere experiment. As the public pays for it, they, at least, might be indulged with a little attention; nothing costs less than civility. If half the attention were paid to preventing unnecessary trouble to the subject, [end of page #278] in cases of taxation, that is paid to the preservation of partridges, we should have the thing very differently managed. There should also be a public office, to hear just complaints against those who give unnecessary trouble, as there is for hackney coachmen. Men in all situations require to be under some controul, where they have power. Most of those who drive others, go wrong sometimes, unless held in check by some authority. -=-

The encroachments of separate bodies on the public, it is entirely in the power of the state to prevent. It is owing to weakness or carelessness, or ignorance, that governments admit of such encroachments, and they are easily to be prevented, partly, as has been shewn, by positive regulation, and partly by counteracting them, whenever they appear to be proceeding in a direction any way doubtful. When they do so, the conclusion may be, that they are working for themselves; and, in that case, they ought to be very minutely examined into; and, as all public bodies, and men belonging to a class that has a particular interest generally derive their means of trenching on the public from government, it may very easily controul their action, or counteract the effect.

As lawyers have the administration of justice amongst themselves; as the executive part is in their hand, the law-makers should be particularly careful to make them amenable by law for bad conduct; it ought not to be left in the bosom of a court, to strike off, or keep on, an improper man. It is not right, on the one hand, that attorneys, or any set of men, should be subject to an arbitrary exertion of power; and it is equally unfair for them to be protected, by having those who are to judge between them and the public, always belonging to their own body. In defence of this, it is said, that attornies are servants of the court, and that the business of the court being to do justice, their correction cannot be in better hands. This is a tolerably ingenious assertion, if it were strictly true; but the court consists both of judge and jury; whereas, in this case, the judge assumes all the power; that is to say, when a case is to be determined relative to the conduct of a lawyer, a lawyer is to be the sole judge, and the jury, who represent the public, are to have their power set aside; thus, when their opinion is most wanted, it is not allowed to be given. Under such regulation, what real redress can be expected? As for the taxing costs by a master, it is [end of page #279] rarely that a client, from prudential motives, dares appeal; and, when he does, the remedy is frequently worse than the disease; and, even in this case a lawyer judges a lawyer. Without saying any thing against the judgments, it will be allowed, that in neither case is the principle of Magna Carta adhered to, of a man being judged by his peers; besides, in every other fraud there is punishment proportioned to the crime. In this case there is no punishment, unless the extortion is exorbitant, and then the punishment is too great. It ought to be proportioned to the offence, as in cases of usury, and then it would be effectual; but to let small misdemeanors go free and to punish great ones beyond measure is the way to elude punishment in all cases. A man ought to pay his bill; let the attorney take the money at his peril, and let there be a court to judge fairly, at little expense, and with promptitude, and punish the extortion by a treble fine. This would answer; but all regulations, relative to law, are left to the lawyers themselves; and the fable of the Man, the Lion, and the Picture, was never so well exemplified, Never, in any case, was redress more wanted; perhaps, never was it less likely to be had.

The unequal division of property, as has been shewn, arises partly from bad laws, and partly from neglect of regulation; it is, indeed, one of the most delicate points to interfere in; nevertheless, as it has been proved, that laws do already interfere between a man and the use of his property, (and that it is, in some cases, necessary that they should do so) the question is reduced to one of circumstances and expediency, it is not one to be determined, in the abstract, on principle. It is also of too nice a nature to be touched roughly by general regulation; but, if large estates in land, and large farms, were taxed higher in proportion than small ones, it would counteract, to a certain degree, the tendency of landed property to accumulate in any one person's hand; and, except in land, property seldom remains long enough in one family to accumulate to a dangerous degree. {213}

—- {213} Besides the above truth, of other property being liable to be dissipated from its nature the law of primogeniture does not attach on it, and the evil, if it did, would not be any way considerable. -=-

[end of page #280]

The increased consumption of a nation, which we have found one of the causes of decline that increases with its wealth, may be more effectually prevented than any other; not by interfering with the mode in which individuals expend their wealth, but by managing it so that vegetable food shall always be in abundance; and if so, the high prices of animal food, and the low price of vegetables will answer the purpose of counteracting the taste for the former, which is the cause of the dearth, and brings on depopulation; and therefore its hurtful effect will be prevented. {214}

To this, gentlemen of landed property may object, and no doubt will object, but let them consider how rapidly ruin is coming on. At the rate matters now go, it would not be a surprising, but a natural effect, if most of the fields in Britain were converted into pasture, and our chief supply of corn obtained from abroad. The rent of land would, indeed, be doubled, the wages of labour would rise more than in an equal proportion, and a very few years would complete the ruin of this country. The landed proprietors surely would not, for any momentary gain, risk the ruin of themselves and of their country, for both may be the consequence of persisting in this system. {215} Or, if they will persist in it, will the government, which has other interests to consult and to protect, allow that single one to swallow up all the rest?

It is true, the freedom of trade will be invoked; but the freedom of

—- {214} Suppose that, of the waste lands, eleven millions of acres were cultivated, and that as much as possible (suppose five millions) were always in grain, those five millions would be able to supply the nation nearly in an ordinary year. A law might also be made, compelling all landlords and farmers to have only three-fourths in grass; this could be no hardship. There would then be always corn in plenty; monopoly would be prevented, because anxiety would be avoided; for a real deficiency to a small amount gives cause to great anxiety and grievous monopoly. The waste lands, when disposed of, might have whatever condition attached to them was thought fit.

{215} We say persisting in this system, for when bread fell to be at a moderate price, last summer, (1804,) the outcry amongst the farmers was great and violent, and the legislature altered the law about exports; the consequence of this was, that the price of wheat rose regularly every week till it was doubled. All this was the effect of opinion, for the price of corn rose too quickly to allow any to be sent out of the kingdom, by the new law. -=-

[end of page #281]

trade is a principle not to be adopted without limitation, but with due regard to times and circumstances; let it then never be invoked upon a general question, without examination. Though this is the true way of arguing the question, let freedom of trade be taken in another way; let it be considered as a general principle, it will then be immutable, and cannot be changed. {216} The present corn-laws must on that principle be done away, and no bounty allowed for exportation or for importation, which indeed would be the best way; but, at all events, let us have one weight and one measure for both parties, and not invoke freedom of trade to protect the corn-dealers when prices are high, and enact laws to counteract the effects of plenty, which produces low prices.

On this subject, government must set itself above every consideration, but that of the welfare of the country: it is too important to be trifled with, or to be bartered for any inferior consideration.

The prices of our manufactures will soon become too high for other nations. Our inventions, to abbreviate labour, cannot be perpetual, and, in some cases, they can go no farther than they have already gone; besides, the same inventions, copied by nations where labour is cheaper, give them still a superiority over us.

If increased consumption was the leading cause of the destruction of Rome, to which money was sent from tributary nations, and employed to purchase corn, (so that its supply was independent of its industry,) how much more forcible and rapid must be its effects in this country, living by manufactures, and having no other means to procure a supply from strangers, when that is necessary? {217}

The burthens of our national taxes continuing the same, those for

—- {216} When corn was dear, and the public cry was for regulation, it was announced, in the highest quarters, that trade was free. Ministers acted as if they had been the colleagues of of sic the economist Turgot; but, when prices fell, the language was changed, and new regulations were made. Compare the Duke of Portland's letter, in 1799, with the act for the exportation of grain, in 1804.

{217} The money sent out of the country for corn is a direct diminution of the balance due to us from other nations, and it now amounts to near three millions a year on an average. The balance in our favour is not much more than twice that sum at the most, and was not equal to that till lately: the imports of grain may soon turn the balance against us. -=-

[end of page #282]

the poor increasing, our means diminishing; what could possibly produce a more rapid decline?

The danger is too great and too evident to require any thing farther to be said; particularly as the last ten years have taught us so much, by experience.

It is unnecessary to repeat what was said about the mode of reducing the interest of the national debt without setting too much capital afloat; without breaking faith with the creditors of the state, or burthening the industry of the country.

On the increase of the poor and the means of diminishing their numbers enough has been said. That must originate with government in every case and in some cases exclusively belongs to it. They must act of themselves entirely, with respect to the very poor and to their children. With those who are not quite reduced to poverty, they should grant aid, to enable them to struggle against adversity, and prevent their offspring from becoming burthensome to the public.

The other affairs well attended to, capital and industry will lose their tendency to leave the country; and, if they should continue to leave it, the case will be desperate; for, after the lands are improved, and the best encouragement given to the employment of capital, and to the greatest extent nothing more can be done. It will find employment elsewhere.

The efficacy of a remedy, like every thing else in this world, has a boundary, but the extent and compass of that depends, in a great degree, on exertion and skill, and particularly so in the present instance. It remains with the government to make that exertion, either directly itself, or by putting individuals in the way to make it.

The government of a country must then interfere, in an active manner, in the prevention of the interior causes of decline. As to the exterior ones, they do not depend on a country itself; but, so far as they do, it is exclusively on the government, and in no degree on the individual inhabitants.

The envy and enmity which superior wealth create, can only be diminished by the moderation and justice with which a nation conducts itself towards others; and if they are sufficiently envious and [end of page #283] unfair to persist, a nation like Britain has nothing to fear. But we must separate from envy and enmity occasioned by the possession of wealth, that envy and enmity that are excited by the unjust manner in which wealth is acquired.

In respect to Britain, it has been shewn, that the envy and enmity excited, are chiefly by her possessions in the East Indies; we have seen, also, that the wealth obtained by those possessions is but very inconsiderable, and that they have, at least, brought on one-third of our national debt; it would then be well, magnanimously to state the question, and examine whether we ought not to abandon the possession of such unprofitable, such expensive, and such a dangerous acquisition; till we do so, it is to be feared that we shall never have a true friend, nor be without a bitter enemy.

We have had experience from America, which is become precious to us now, that we have lost it, and which was a mill-stone about our neck, while we were in possession of it. Let us take a lesson from experience, and apply its result to what is at this moment going on, and we cannot mistake the conclusion to be formed. Let the nation be above the little vanity of retaining a thing, merely because it has possessed it. {218} Let the great general outline of happiness, and of permanent happiness, be considered, and not that ephemerical splendour and opulence, that gilded pomp that remains but for a day, and leaves a nation in eternal poverty and want. Britain can only be firm and just in its conduct towards other nations, give up useless possessions, defend its true rights to the last point, encourage industry at home, and take every step to prevent the operation of those causes of decline that we have been examining; let merit be encouraged, and

—- {218} In this country, public opinion would be against a minister, who proposed to give up any possession abroad, however useless. This is owing to the pride occasioned by wealth. The people are not rapacious for conquests, but once in possession they are very unwilling to let them go.

It is not necessary to quit the trade to India, or abandon all our possessions, but to diminish our establishments, circumscribe our conquests, and not aim at possessing more than we had thirty years ago. That moderation would conciliate all nations, and envy would find its occupation gone. -=-

[end of page #284]

let it never be forgotten or lost sight of, that wealth and greatness can only be supported, for a length of time, by industry and abilities well directed, guided by justice and fair intention. This is the truth of which we are never to lose sight. We may keep sounding for the bottom, and reconnoitring the shore, the better to direct our steps, but we must never lose sight of the beacon, with the help of which alone we can safely enter the wished-for harbour.

There is a great disposition in the human mind to give the law, when there is the power of doing it. The abuse of power appears to be natural and dangerous; yet, we have seen, that most nations, both ancient and modern, have fallen into that error. The hour of British insolence has also been mentioned, and, certainly, with regard to America, we did not more materially mistake our power than we did the rights of those with whom we had to treat.

It is much to be questioned, whether the undaunted and brave spirit of our naval commanders does not, in some cases, lead them too far in their rencontres with vessels of other nations on the high seas, and we ought not to forget that, in this case, the match played is that of England against all the world. As no other nation is under the same circumstances with this, no one will be inclined to take our part, or to wink at, or pardon, any error we may commit.

The Hans Towns, at one time, were paramount at sea; they could bid defiance to all the world; and, at first, they did great actions, and employed their power to a good purpose. They destroyed the pirates, and humbled the Danes, after they had robbed both the English and French, and burnt both London and Paris; but they also had their hour of insolence. They began to be unjust, and to be insolent, and the cities that had begged to be united to them, in the times when their conduct was honourable and wise, withdrew from the participation of their injustice, pride, and arrogance. While they attended to protecting themselves, and to following their own affairs, they did numberless good offices to the ships of foreign nations; they had universal good will and commanded admiration. But, when they became supercilious, and a terror to others, their pride was soon humbled, never again to rise. [end of page #285]

In considering the whole, there is a considerable degree of consolation arises to British subjects, to see the very mistaken comparisons that have, in the first place, been made between Rome and Carthage; and, in the second place, the still more unfair comparison made between those two rival powers, and France and England.

As opinion and belief have a great power over the minds of men, whether they act in conformity to their views and wishes, or in opposition to them, it is of great importance to remove an error, which was of very long standing, very general, and had the direct tendency to make the people of both countries think the parallel well drawn, and therefore conclude that this mercantile country must, sooner or later, sink under the power of France. But, when it appears that most authors have been inadvertently led into the same mistake, with respect to those two ancient republics, and that, even if there had not been the mistake, the parallel drawn would not have been true, then France will probably cease to found her hopes on that comparison, and we may, at least, cease to feel any apprehension from so ill-grounded a cause.

That a nation once gone on in the career of opulence can never go back with impunity is as certain as its tendency to going back is. The possession of riches is of a transitory nature, and their loss attended with innumerable evils. Though nations in affluence, like men in health, refuse to follow any regimen, and use great freedom with themselves, yet they should consider there is a vast difference. A man, well and in health, is in his natural state; yet even that will not resist too much liberty taken with his constitution; but a nation that has risen to more wealth than others is always in an artificial state, insomuch as it owes its superiority, not to nature, but either to peculiar circumstances, our =sic—sc.: or = superior exertion and care; it is therefore not to be supposed capable of being preserved, without some of that attention and care, which are necessary to all nations under similar circumstances, and which, in the history of the world, we have not yet seen one nation able to resist.

There are sufficient circumstances, new and favourable in the [end of page #286] case of Britain, to inspire us with the courage necessary for making the effort.

There is one part of the application of this Inquiry, to the British dominions, left intentionally incomplete. It has been left so with a design to keep clear of those discussions that awaken a spirit of party, which prevents candid attention. It is of little use to enquire, unless those who read can do it without prevention or prejudice. It is therefore, very necessary not to awaken those feelings, by adding any thing that may rouse a spirit of party; and it is difficult to touch matters that concern men, deeply interested in an object, without that danger. What seems impartial to an unconcerned man, seems partial to those who are concerned; and sometimes the observer is blamed by both the parties, between whom he thinks he is keeping in the middle way.

The advantages of the form of government adopted in Britain have been fairly stated in account; but constitutions and forms of government, however good, are only so in the degree; they are never perfect, and have all a tendency to wear out, to get worse, and to get encumbered. The French were the first, perhaps, that ever tried the mad scheme of remedying this by making a constitution that could be renewed at pleasure. But it was a violent remedy, to implant, in the constitution itself, the power of its own destruction, under the idea of renovation. The English constitution has taken, perhaps, the best way that is possible for this purpose; it has given to king, lords, and commons, the power of counteracting each other, and so preserving its first principles. Without going into that inquiry, it is sufficient to say, that the advantages which may be derived from the British constitution can only be expected by the three different powers having that will, and exercising it; for, if they should act together on a system of confidence, without an attention to preserving the balance, they must overset, instead of navigating the vessel.

The individuals of whom a nation is composed, we have seen, never can, by their efforts, prevent its decline, as their natural propensities tend to bring it on. It is to the rulers of nations we must look for the [end of page #287] prolongation of prosperity, which they cannot accomplish, unless they look before them, and, in place of seeking for remedies, seek for preventatives.

It is very natural and very common for those who wield the power of a great nation, to trust to the exertion of that power, when the moment of necessity arrives; but that will seldom, if ever, be found to answer. The time for the efficacy of remedy will be past before the evil presents itself in the form of pressing necessity; and that very power, which can so effectually be applied in other cases, in this will be diminished, and found unequal to what it has to perform.

[end of page #288]

Application of the present Inquiry to Nations in general

IF there is a lesson taught by political economy that is of greater importance than any other, it is, that industry, well directed, is the way to obtain wealth; and that the modes by which nations sought after it in the early and middle ages, by war and conquest, are, in comparison, very ineffectual.

Notwithstanding that princes themselves are now convinced of the truth of this, by a strange fatality, the possession of commercial wealth has itself become the cause of wars, not less ruinous than those that formerly were the chief occupation of mankind.

It was discovered a few centuries ago, that small principalities, and even single cities, acquired more wealth by industry, than all the mighty monarchs of the middle ages did by war; but we are not yet advanced to the ultimate end of the lessons that experience and reason give in regard to the interests of nations, with regard to wealth and power.

To suppose that mankind will ever live entirely at peace is absurd, and is to suppose them to change their nature. Such a reverie would only suit one of the revolutionists of France; but let us hope that there is still a possibility to lessen the causes of quarrels amongst nations. The true principles of political economy lead to that, and the object is sufficiently important.

By agriculture and manufactures; that is, by producing such things as are conducive to the happiness of man, the aggregate wealth of mankind can alone be increased.

By commerce, which consists in conveying or selling the produce of industry, the aggregate wealth of mankind is not increased, but its distribution is altered. {219}

—- {219} Though the produce of soil is not obtained without industry, yet, to make a distinction that is simple and easily understood and retained, we suppose manufactured produce to go by the name of the produce of industry. -=-

[end of page #289]

As individuals, and sometimes nations, have obtained great wealth, not by producing, but by altering the distribution of wealth produced; that is, by commerce, that seems, to those who aim at wealth, to be the greatest object of ambition.

If every nation in the world were industrious, and contented with consuming the articles it produced, they would all be wealthy and happy without commerce; or, if each nation enjoyed a share of commerce, in proportion to what it produced, there would be no superiority to create envy.

Variety of soil and climate, difference of taste, of manners, and an infinity of other causes, have rendered commerce necessary, though it does not increase the aggregate wealth of mankind: but nations are in an error when they set a greater value on commerce than on productive industry.

Some nations are situated by nature so as to be commercial, just as others are to raise grapes and fine fruits; therefore, though one nation has more than what appears to be an equal share of commerce, it ought not to be a reason for envy, much less for enmity.

Some nations also find it their interest to attend chiefly to agriculture, others may find it necessary to attend more to manufactures; but that ought to be no cause of enmity or rivalship.

With a view, if possible, to diminish a little the envy and rivalship that still subsists, let us take a view of this business in its present state.

Britain, the wealthiest of nations, at this time, sells little of the produce of her soil, and a great deal of the produce of her industry; but she purchases a great deal of the produce of the soil of other countries, though not much of their industry: in this there is great mutual conveniency and no rivalship. In fact, her wealth arises nearly altogether from internal industry, and, by no means from that commerce that is the envy of other nations; for it is clear, that whoever produces a great deal may consume a great deal, without any exchange of commodities, and without commerce.

The English, number for number, produce more, by one-half, than [end of page #290] any other people; they can, therefore, consume more; they are, therefore, richer.

If France would cultivate her soil with the same care that we attend to manufactures, (at the same time manufacturing for herself as much as she did before the revolution,) she would be a much richer country than England, without having a single manufacture for exportation. Her wines, brandies, fruits, &c. &c. would procure her amply whatever she might want from other nations. Let France make good laws to favour industry; and, above all, render property secure, and she will have no occasion to envy England.

Russia, part of Germany, Spain, Italy, and Portugal, are all in a similar situation with France in this respect; they will each be as rich as England the moment they are as industrious, and have as many inventions for the abbreviation of labour.

Holland, Sweden, Denmark, Prussia, and some parts of Germany, are, more or less, in the same situation with England; they require to pay attention to manufactures, for they have not the means of raising produce enough to exchange for all they want.

If there is any occasion for rivalship, or ground for envy, it is then but very small, and it happens that the rivalship which exists is between those nations that, in reality, ought to be the least envious of each other, the nations who have the fewest quarrels are those who really might be rivals.

Rivalship is natural between those who are in similar situations. France, Spain, and Portugal, might be rivals. England, Holland, Prussia, and Denmark, might also be rivals; but there can be no reason for France envying England her manufactures and commerce, any more than for England envying France for her climate, soil, extent, sic of territory and population.

The way to produce the most, being to give industry its best direction. Nations, differently situated, ought never to be rivals or enemies, on account of trade.

If those, who regulate the affairs of nations, were to consider this in its true light, there would be less jealousy and more industry. [end of page #291]

There appears to be only one real cause for war, so far as it is occasioned by a wish to obtain wealth; and that arises from possessions in the East and West Indies, and in America.

If there were no such possessions, or if they were more equally divided, there would be very little cause for war amongst nations.

It may, very possibly, at some distant time, be an object for a general congress of nations, to settle this point; so that it shall be no longer an object of jealousy. This can be done only by abandoning entirely, or dividing more equally; but, at present, the animosity and enmity occasioned is considerable, though not well founded.

The Spaniards are not envied for the possession of Peru, nor the Portuguese for the Brazils, though they draw more wealth from them than ever England or Holland did from their foreign possessions; yet, England is, and Holland was, an object of envy, on account of possessions abroad. This is the more unreasonable, that the Spaniards and Portuguese keep the trade strictly to themselves, while England allows nations, at peace with her, the most liberal conditions for trading with her Indian possessions: conditions, indeed, that give them a superiority over ourselves. {220} This conduct ought not to bring down upon England, envy or enmity, (though it does); for the fact is, that if all nations were at peace with England, they might, if they had capital and skill, (and that they have not is no fault of England,) trade with India to great advantage, while we should have the trouble of defending our establishments, and of keeping the country.

Before the revolution, France obtained more produce from Saint Domingo alone, in one year, than Britain did from all her West India Islands together, in three years, and much more than England did from all her foreign possessions together; yet, France was never obnoxious to other nations on that account.

—- {220} This may seem strange, but it is literally true; the quarrels between the India Company, and the free trade, as it is called, are an ample proof of the truth of it. The free-trade-merchants chiefly act under the name of agents for Swedish and Danish houses, so liberally has England acted with regard to neutral nations. -=-

[end of page #292]

It appears, then, very evident, that the envy and jealousy do not arise from the magnitude or value of foreign possessions, but from some other cause, though it is laid to that account. This cause is worth inquiring into.

It appears that Holland and England have, alone, been causes of jealousy to other nations, on account of foreign possessions; but, that Spain, Portugal, and France, never have, though there was more real reason for envy and jealousy.

The reason of this appears to be, that those nations, who excited no envy, escaped it, because their indolence, or internal economy, prevented them from becoming rich; but, that Holland and England, which, in reality, owed their wealth chiefly to internal industry, and very little of it to foreign possessions, have excited great envy, and that England does so to the present hour. {221}

It is, then, wealth arising from industry, that is the object to be aimed at, and that cannot be obtained by war or conquest. The purpose is not advanced, but retarded, by such contests; and if those, who rule nations, would condescend to enter into the merits of the case, they would find, not only that the happiness of the people, and every purpose at which they aim, would be better answered than by contesting about the means of wealth, which, consisting in internal industry, does not admit of a transfer. One nation may be ruined, and another may rise, (as, indeed, they are continually doing,) but one nation does not rise merely by ruining another; the wealth of a nation, like the happiness of an individual, draws the source from its own

—- {221} From both the East and West Indies, England never has, till within these last ten years, drawn three millions a year, that could be termed profit or gain, and, even in the last and most prosperous times, not eight millions, which is not equal to more than one-twentieth part of the produce of national industry at home. Even the foreign commerce of England, except so far as it procures us things we want, in exchange for things we have to spare, is not productive of much wealth. Supposing the balance in our favour to be six millions a year, which it has never uniformly been, it would only amount to one- twenty-fourth of our internal productive industry. In short, we gain five times as much by a wise division of labour, the use of machinery, ready and expeditious methods of working, as by the possession of both the Indies!!! -=-

[end of page #293]

bosom. The possession of all the Indies would never make an indolent people rich; and while a people are industrious, and the industry is well directed, they never can be poor.

It is to be hoped, that the time is fast approaching, when nations will cease to fight about an object that is not to be obtained by fighting, and that they will seek for what they want, by such means as are safe and practicable. [end of page #294]



====== INDEX. ======

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[sic—no section heading in original]

ABSOLUTE monarchy, in some particular instances, has an advantage over limited monarchy; particularly in preventing the infringement made by corporate bodies or professions on the public, 117, 118, 119.

AGES, middle, commerce made slow progress during them, 3.—What places flourished in them, 44 to 50.

AGE, golden, the tradition, if that founded in any thing, must have been a very ignorant one, though very happy, 214.

ALEXANDER, the Great, history confused before his time, 20.—His conquests had no permanent consequences, 24.—The only permanent consequence was Alexandria supplanting Tyre, 52.—His expedition to India was on purpose to get possession of the fine countries that produced aromatics and precious stones, 53.

ALEXANDRIA, rendered Egypt first a commercial country, and brought on the decline of Carthage, 24.—Loses its commerce in the 7th century by the conquests of the Mahomedans, 54, 55.

ALFRED the Great, made many efforts to render the people happy, 118.

AMBASSADOR. See Diplomacy.

AMBITION, sometimes renders labour an enjoyment, 82.

AMERICA, its discovery forms a new epoch in the history of commerce, 3.—Little similarity between it and other nations, 103.— United States, of, their revenues, ib.—May take all the goods Britain can manufacture, 195.—British exports to, consist nearly all of manufactured goods, 204.—Probability of its great increase and consumption of English manufactures, 268, 269.—Encourages arts and inventions, but agriculture a better object to it, 273.

ANCIENT nations. See Nations.

ANIMAL food, much used in northern nations and by manufacturing people, 138.—Its effects on population, 139 to 146.—Price compared with bread, 147.—In case of the demand becoming too great, a remedy proposed, 155.

ANTWERP, at one time acted as a sovereign, 47.—Became, in the north, what Venice was in the south of Europe, 57.

APPRENTICES. See Education.

ARABIAN Gulf. See Red Sea.

ARKWRIGHT, Sir Richard, as an inventor met with great difficulties, 203.

ARTS. See Manufactures.

ARTS, fine. See Fine Arts.

ARTISTS, not unfit for soldiers, 32.—Banished by luxury from a country, 113.

ASIA, passage to it by the Cape of Good Hope a new aera in commerce, 3.—Its mode of fighting with elephants only disconcerted the Romans once, 31.

ASSIGNATS. See France.

ATHENS. See Greece.

AUGUSTUS, his resolution to kill himself when supplies of corn were likely to fail, 35.

[sic—no section heading in original]

BABYLON. See Syria.

BALANCE of trade, of England, has never much exceeded five millions.—To be seen on the chart 3, p.213, during 105 years.—Is not equal to more than one twenty-fourth of the produce of industry, 293.

BALANCE of power could not preserve a nation from interior causes producing decline, 185.

BALTIC Sea, manufacturers early established on its southern shores, 45 to 48.

BARTER, not an innate principle, as Dr. Smith thinks, 5, 6.

BLACK Sea, a new market opened to commerce,195.

BIRMINGHAM division of labour renders business easy, 217.— Apprenticeships not necessary to learn the art, but for other reasons.— Recruiting service succeeds there, ib.

BOARDING Schools. See Education.

BODIES Corporate and Public, their tendency to trench on the public, 117 to 124.

BOULTON, M. Esq. his spirited conduct in bringing forward the improvements, invented by Mr. Watt, on the steam-engine, 203.

BORROWING. See Money.

BRAZILS. See Portugal.

BREAD, proportion between the price of, and butchers meat, 140.— Prices in Paris and London,164.

BRITAIN, in what its power and wealth consist, 191.—Its interior situation and exterior, 192, 193, 194, 195.—Its conquests and colonies, 196 to 200.—Its great increase, 201.—

[end of page #295] Farthest advanced in manufacture, the consequence of that investigated, 203, 204, 205.—Comparison between its general trade and that to India, 206 to 211.—Begins to encourage agriculture, 213.—Its exports and imports represented in chart 3 described, 213, 214.

BRUGES acted once as a sovereign, 47.—Became a depot for India goods in the north, as Venice was in the south, 157.

BURKE, Right Honourable Edmund, his opinion relative to exterior causes of decline, 176.

BUTCHERS meat. See Animal Food.

C.

CAPE of Good Hope. Its passage a new epoch in commercial history, 3.

CAPITAL, the result of past industry, 161.—Commands trade, but supplies poor countries at the expense of richer ones, 181.—Tends to leave a country when it becomes too abundant, 161, 162, 163.— Would leave England if the sinking fund were to operate long in time of peace, 242.

CARTHAGE, of wealthy places alone escaped the conquests of Alexander, 24.—Mistake relative to its state, 32, 33.—Its fall ruined the Roman manners, ib.—Comparison between it and Rome unfair, 36, 37, 38.—Was never so degraded as Rome, ib.

CASPIAN Sea, goods brought by that route from India, 56.

CHANGES, interior, take place by degrees, 89.—Most rapid and observable amongst the Romans, 91.

CHARLEMAGNE, from the fall of the Roman empire till his time, nothing like wealth or power, 44.—Paved the way for civilizing and enriching the north of Europe, 45.

CHARTS, description and explanation of, illustrating the rise and fall of nations, 78, 79, 80.—Statistical explanation of, 190.—Of commerce, exports and imports, 213.—Of revenue and debts, 214.

CHILDREN. See Education.

CHRISTIAN religion most favourable to industry, 263, 264, 265, 267.

COMMERCE, progress slow in feudal times, 3.—Changed its abode when the magnet rendered navigating the ocean practicable, 4.— Commercial wealth degrades a nation less than wealth obtained by conquests, 33.—Commercial spirit, its operation on national character, 37.—Commerce with India, the only one in the ancient world, 51.— How carried on, 52.—Its vicissitudes, the envy it created, quarrels and revolutions it occasioned, 53 to 59.—Of Britain during the last fifteen years; the increase great, but not arising from any permanent cause, 193.—Its dependence on credit, 201.

CONSTANTINOPLE shares in the trade of India, 56.—Revolution occasioned partly by the contests about that commerce, 57.—Sunk before the discovery of America, by the conquest of the eastern Empire by the Turks, 68.

CONSUMPTION of food regulates the population of a country, 140.— Its nature and tendency in northern nations, 141, 142, 143.—Requires attention from government, 146.

CONQUEST first altered the natural state of the world, 2.—Its first effect to lessen taxes, 35.—Ultimately degrades a nation, ib.

CONDUCT in life. See Education.

CORN, donations of at Rome, 35.—State of crops in England, 145.— Impossibility, if it fell much short, to find ships to bring over the quantity wanted, ib.—calculations concerning, 146 to 154.

CREDIT necessary to carry on trade extensively, 202, 203.

CRUSADES tended to extend civilization and commerce, 45.

CUSTOMS, the first great branch of public revenue, 106.

CURING herrings, an improvement in the mode of, raised Holland above Flanders, 47.

D.

DEAD languages. See Education.

DECAY. See Decline.

DECLINE of nations. Though it cannot be finally prevented, may be considered as if it never were to come on in this Inquiry, 7.—Are of two sorts, 10.—Of the Carthaginians attended with less degradation than that of the Romans, 36.—Mistaken or misrepresented by historians in the instances of Rome and Carthage, 37.—Cause of it amongst the Romans, 39, 40, 41, &c.—Cause of in Flanders, 47.— General in all nations that had been wealthy at the time of the discovery of the passage to India and of America, 49.—Of the Turkish government, 69.—Occasioned by taxation, 167.—How to be prevented or retarded, 169.—Interior causes may be counteracted, ib.— In general hastened by the conduct of governments, 171.—Might be otherwise, ib.—Certain causes of, common to all nations, 173.— External causes of operating on a nation, envy, enmity, &c. 176, 177, 178.—Causes of peculiar to Great Britain, 257, 258, 259, 260.

DENMARK. Example of comparative power.—Occasions the Hanseatic League by its piracies, and is afterwards pillaged and nearly ruined by that confederacy, 48.

DEPRECIATION of money counteracts the effect of taxation, 114, 115.—Takes place where ever wealth is, 164.—Its effects in dealing with poor nations, 165.

DIPLOMACY. The circuitous conduct ascribed to ambassadors, partly necessary and not to be blamed, 186.

[end of page #296]

DIVISION of land. See Property.

DIVISION of property. See Property.

DUTCH. See Holland.

E.

EAST INDIES. See India.

EASTERN Empire. See Constantinople.

EDUCATION of children in all countries grows worse as a nation grows more wealthy, 90.—Brings on a change of manners, 91.— Would be better managed if parents were aided by govetnment, sic 94.—Cannot be properly taken care of without the aid of government, 95.—In what it consists generally, 96, 97, 98.—Has been in general wrong understood sic by writers on it, 98, 99.—Female, its importance, ib.—Has been ill understood and conducted, 100, 101.— Its importance, 216.—Of the higher classes of society is well enough, 217.—Not so of the lower, ib.—Apprenticeships, their advantages, 218.—To become a good member of society, the end of all education, whatever the rank or situation, 219.—Dr. Smith's opinion about apprenticeships examined, ib. and 220, 221, 222, 223, 224, 225, 226.— Of females in England badly conducted, 227, 228.

EGYPT, one of the first countries settled, 20.—Its fertility, &c. 21.— Its surplus industry appears to have belonged to the sovereign, 22.— Shared in the commerce to India at an early period, 51, 52.—Became the chief channel for the trade to India after the founding of Alexandria, 54.

ELIZABETH, queen, Spanish armada in her reign not equal to the privateers of our merchants now, 8.—Endeavoured to enrich the country, 118.

EMIGRANT ladies, astonishment shewn by them at the little progress made in female education at public schools in this country, 228.

ENERGY of those who attack greater than that of they sic who defend, 17.—Occasioned by poverty, and necessity the cause of changes and revolution, 19.

ENGLAND began to see the advantages of manufactures and commerce very late, 48, 74.—Its form of government a great advantage, 191.—Manners likely to change, 193.—Increase of its trade since 1791, owing to temporary causes, 195.—The American and Russian markets great and increasing, 204.—Envy and enmity excited by its conquests in India, 206.—Effects of taxation on it, 229, 230, 231, 232, 233.—Its national debt, 234 to 246.—Causes of decline peculiar to it, 257 to 260.—Circumstances peculiarly favourable to it, 261 to 270.—Ought not to be envied for its possessions in India 291.— Owes its wealth chiefly to internal industry, 293.

ENVY leads to rivalship in peace and brings on war, 14.—One of the external causes of the fall of nations, 175.—Occasioned the fall of Jerusalem after the death of Solomon, 177.—Excited by the wealth of England, and particularly by its possessions in the east, 206.

ESPRIT DE CORPS. See Bodies public and corporate.

EUPHRATES. See Syria.

EUROPE, wealth and power unequally divided in it, 13.—Division of states, with the population and revenues, illustrated by a statistical chart,190.

EXCISE, established long after the customs, 107.

EXPENDITURE of England consists chiefly in interest of debt, 233.— Cannot by any economy be much reduced in time of peace. ib.

EXPORTS, chart shewing, 213.

EXTERNAL causes of decline, cannot be prevented altogether by internal arrangements, but their effect greatly diminished, 173.—More simple than the internal causes, 175.—Envy and enmity, ib.—Opinion of Mr. Burke, 176, 177, 178.—Causes arising from poor nations having the advantage over rich in all dealings, 179.—High value of money in poorer nations, 182.—Conclusion of exterior causes, 184 to 187.

F.

FALL. See Decline.

FINANCES. See Revenue.

FINE arts do not flourish in a very wealthy country, 113.—Very different as to their improvement, from the mechanic arts.

FLANDERS enriched by manufactures, 3, 46.—The discovery of a bettar sic method of curing herrings by the Dutch is hurtful to it, 47.

FLORENCE served as a refuge for the nobles of Rome, when the city was taken by the Goths, 44.

FOOD. See Animal Food and Corn.

FORCE, human, the superiority it gave nearly done away by the invention of gun-powder, 4.

FORESTALLING. See MONOPOLY.

FRANCE has, since the revolution, invented new modes of fighting, 31.—Does not resemble Rome, 38.—Its assignats the principal cause of the nature of the revolution, 48.—Its monied capital was sent away when the revolution broke out,163.—Its burthens before the revolution, 169.—It expended great sums in the last war, 189.—It, before the revolution, gained more by the west-India trade than any other nation, 193.—Have now nearly lost it, ib.—Its capital greatly diminished, ib.—Will probably never possess great West-India trade again, 195.—Will never cease to be an enemy to England, 196.

FREED men.

FREE revenue. See Revenue.

FUND, public. See National Debt.

FUND, sinking. See National Debt.

G.

GAMING, though attended with painful sensations, is oftener followed from propensity, as a mode of occupying the mind and interesting it, than from a love of gain, 83. [end of page #297]

GENTLEMEN resemble each other pretty nearly in all countries, 218.

GEOGRAPHICAL discovery so far as connected with the rise and fall of nations nearly at an end, 12.

GENOA, why put with Venice in the chart of commercial history, 56.— Its greatness, ib.—Loses its superiority, 57.—Its power in the Black- Sea, ib.

GOLD. See Money.

GOLDEN Age. See Age.

GOVERNMENTS ought to aid in the education of the lower and middling classes, 94, 95.—Neglect education in the useful arts, 98.— Should counteract the internal causes of decline, 172, 173, 187.— Government of Great Britain should take care of education, 225.

GRAIN. See Corn.

GREEKS, their education peculiar to themselves, 25.—Studied Egyptian learning, 98, 99.

GUN-POWDER changed the art of war, 4.

H.

HANS Towns rose first to wealth in the north of Europe, 3.—Became formidable towards the end twelfth century, 45.—Arose from the circumstances of the times and necessity.—Became conquerors, 48.— Began to decline through pride and luxury, 49.

HERRINGS, a new mode of curing them, discovered by the Dutch, raised that country, and began to make Flanders decline, 47.

HISTORY, an appeal to the best mode of inquiry, 1.—Dr. Robertson's complaint about the scarcity of materials, ib.—Is confused previous to the conquests of Alexander the Great, 20.—Commercial chart of, for 3005 years, 78.

HOLLAND compared to the Phoenicians, 46.—New method of curing herrings raised it above Flanders. Great industry and economy, 48.— Triumph over Spain at home, and Portugal in India, 62, 63, 64, 65.— Increase in wealth till the end of the seventeenth century, 66.—The best example of overcoming difficulties, ib.—How it began to fall, 67.—How it at last sunk before France, 68.

HORSES, there sic great consumption of food, 147, 157.

HOUSE rent. See Rent.

HUME, David, Esq. his errors respecting national debt, though a man of great abilities, 114.

I.

JAMES I. did not understand the true reason, why the Scotch were greater lovers of liberty in his time than the English, 280.

IDLENESS, incompatible with riches in a nation, in every case, but not so with an individual, 82.

IMPORTS of, England, chart of, 213.

INDIA. Its productions seem to have been the first objects of commerce, 51.—Digression concerning this trade, 51 to 69.—Its trade and possessions excite envy, 193, 194, 195.—Our possessions too great, 197.—Budget, its statement and calculation of sums remitted home, 198.—Has lost the cotton trade notwithstanding the low rate of labour, 200.—Its trade compared with that of the country at large, 206, 207.—A peculiar cause of other nations envying England, 257.— Ought not to be so, as they produce very little wealth compared with what springs from national industry, 291.—The division of labour, ready methods of working, and inventions produce more wealth than both the Indies, 293.

INDIES, West, the trade of, lost to France, 193.—Trade of England to, of a permanent nature, 195.—A cause of envy, 196, 197, 198, 199.— Ought not to be a cause of envy.

INDIVIDUALS, some may live without labour, but all those of a country never can, 82.—Can pay for certain things, for which they cannot provide, 95.

INDUSTRY caused by poverty and necessity, 19.—A more permanent source of wealth than any other, 42.—Industry in youth, the great advantage of through life, 84.—Diminishes as wealth increases, 90.—Tends to leave a wealthy nation after a certain time, 161.— Industry of England, the great support of its wealth, and if other nations were as industrious, each in the way most advantageous, they would be as rich as England, 292.

INTERIOR causes of decline enumerated and examined as habits of life and manners, 81 to 93.—Arising from education, 94 to 101. The effects on the people and the government, from 102 to 115.—Arising from public bodies, from 116 to 124.—Arising from unequal division of property and employment of capital, from 125 to 136.—Arising from the produce of the soil, becoming unequal to the consumption, from page 137 to 160.—From the tendency of industry and capital to leave a wealthy country, from 161 to 166.—Conclusion of interior causes, from 166 to 174.

INTEREST, compound, its progress, more certain in paying off debts than in accumulating capital, 241.

INVENTIONS, three great ones almost totally changed the state of mankind, 4.—Inventions render more capital necessary to commerce, 126.—Is one of the things that renders our superiority in manufactures secure, 202.—A nation that remains stationary will soon be surpassed, 203.

JOHNSON, Dr. would have been a greater man if he had lived in a poorer nation, 113.

ITALY was unable to supply its inhabitants with food in the splendour of the Roman empire, 43.

L.

LABOUR, some individuals may, but a nation never [end of page #28] can exist without it, 82.—Division of, produces great wealth.

LAND, price of, two centuries ago, and comparison of the profit of purchasing, or lending on interest in a nation increasing in wealth, 130.—Its unequal division discourages industry, 132, 133, 134.—Total amount of rent in England, 153, 154, 155.

LANGUAGES, dead. See Education.

LAWS better administered in England in criminal than civil cases, 119.—Tend to become more complicated, 123.

LAWYERS, their ESPRIT DE CORPS, 120, 121, 122.—Individuals have no means to resist their incroachments, 123.—Government ought to do it, 124.

LIVERPOOL fitted out privateers last war, equal in tonnage and men to the Spanish Armada, 8.

LOANS. See National Debt.

LOCAL situation, one of the causes of wealth, 2.—The discoveries in geography and navigation have changed that with regard to particular nations,

LONDON burnt by the Danes, 9.—Rent and taxes heavier than in any other place, 237.—People prefer living in London, where all is dear, to the cheaper parts of England, 238, 239.

M.

MISERS, never a race of them for three or four generations, 83.

MOGUL, the prodigious and rapid decline of his empire, 197.

MONEY corrupted every thing at Rome when its decline begun, 46.— Money to borrow, only to be found in Italy and Flanders, 48.—Let sic out at interest, loses; laid out to buy land, gains in a country growing rich, 163.—Its value less in England than any country except America, 165.—Though the best measure of value is not accurate, being different in different countries, 182.—Its great value in poor countries serves to enrich them in dealing with wealthy nations, 183.

MONARCHY. See Absolute Monarchy.

MONOPOLY not an imaginary evil, 49.—Dr. Smith's opinion contradicted by experience, 150.—Proof of its existence, 151, 152, 153, 154.—Augments rent, and labour, and prices, 153.

MONTESQUEU, his mistake relative to Rome and Carthage, 32.— His opinion of the affairs of Rome, 40.

MONTAGUE, chancellor of the exchequer, attended by the lord mayor and sheriffs, went from shop to shop in London to borrow money, 239.