state, but to excite industry and ingenuity by the pressure of taxation, or by the luxury of public functionaries, an avenue would be opened to every species of malversation. It is, indeed, pretty certain that no people would submit to be taxed for such purposes; but if they did, the flagrant abuses to which it would inevitably lead, could scarcely fail of ending either in revolution or in national poverty and degradation. Economy in expenditure is, upon all occasions, the first virtue of government, and the most pressing of its duties.

We here close this view of the Principles of Political Economy. We have endeavoured to show the indissoluble connexion subsisting between private and public opulence,— that whatever has any tendency to increase the former, must, to the same extent, increase the latter, and that, speaking generally, SECURITY OF PROPERTY, FREEDOM OF

INDUSTRY, DIFFUSION OF SOUND INFORMATION, AND MODE

RATION IN THE PUBLIC EXPENDITURE, appear to be the only means by which the various powers and resources of human talent and ingenuity may be called into action, and society made continually to advance in the career of wealth and civilisation. Every increase of security, freedom, and intelligence, is a benefit, as every diminution, whether of one only or of all, is an evil. We have endeavoured to show that there is no real opposition of interests amongst the various classes of the community-that they mutually depend upon each other; and that any peculiar favour or advantage given to one class, is not only immediately injurious to the others, and subversive of that equality of protection which every just government will always grant indiscriminately to all who are under its protection, but that it is not either really or lastingly beneficial to those whose interests it is intended to promote. Except on extraordinary occasions, the true line of policy is to leave

individuals to pursue their own interest in their own way, and not to lose sight of the maxim pas trop gouverner. It is by the spontaneous and unconstrained, but well protected efforts of individuals to improve their condition, and to rise in the world, that nations become rich and powerful. Their labour and their savings are at once the source and the measure of national opulence and public prosperity. They may be compared to the drops of dew which invigorate and mature all vegetable nature: none of them has, singly, any perceptible influence; but we owe the foliage of summer and the fruits of autumn to their combined action.

APPENDIX.

NOTE A. Page 50.

THAT M. Quesnay is entitled to the merit of originality, cannot be disputed. He had, however, been anticipated in several of his peculiar doctrines by some English writers of the previous century. The fundamental principles of the economical system are distinctly stated in a tract entitled, "Reasons for a limited exportation of Wool," published in 1677. "That it is of the greatest concern and interest of the nation," says the author of the tract," to preserve the nobility, gentry, and those to whom the land of the country belongs, at least, much greater than a few artificers employed in working the superfluity of our wool, or the merchants who gain by the exportation of our manufactures, is manifest-1. Because they are the masters and proprietaries of the foundation of all the wealth in this nation, all profit arising out of the ground, which is theirs: 2. Because they bear all taxes and public burdens; which, in truth, are only borne by those who buy, and sell not; all sellers raising the price of their commodities, or abating of goodness, according to their taxes.”—P. 5.

In 1696, Mr Asgill published a treatise entitled, "Several Assertions proved, in order to create another Species of Money than Gold," in support of Dr Chamberlayne's proposition for a Land Bank. The following extract from this treatise breathes, as Stewart has justly observed, in his "Life of Dr Smith," the very spirit of Quesnay's philosophy :

"What we call commodities is nothing but land severed from the soil-man deals in nothing but earth. The merchants are the factors of the world, to exchange one part of the earth for another. The king himself is fed by the labour of the ox; and the clothing of the army and victualling of the navy must all be paid for to the owner of the soil as the ultimate receiver. All things in the world are originally the produce of the ground, and there must all things be

raised." (This passage has been quoted in Lord Lauderdale's "Inquiry into the Nature and Origin of Public Wealth," 2d ed. p. 109.)

These passages are interesting, as exhibiting the first germs of the theory of the Economists. But there is no ground for supposing that Quesnay was aware of the existence of either of the tracts referred to. The subjects treated of in them were of too local a description to excite the attention of foreigners; and Quesnay was too candid to conceal his obligations, had he really owed them any. It is probable he might have seen Locke's treatise on "Raising the Value of Money," where the idea is thrown out that all taxes fall ultimately on the land. But there is an immeasurable difference between the suggestion of Locke and the well-digested system of Quesnay.

We subjoin from the work of Dupont, "Sur l'Origine et Progrès d'une Science Nouvelle," a short statement of the various institutions which the Economists held to be necessary for the good government of a country.

"Voici le résumé de toutes les institutions sociales fondées sur l'ordre naturel, sur la constitution physique des hommes et des autres êtres dont ils sont environnés.

“Propriété personnelle, établie par la nature, par la nécessité physique dont il est à chaque individu de disposer de toutes les facultés de sa personne pour se procurer les choses propres à satisfaire ses besoins, sous peine de souffrance et de mort.

"Liberté de travail, inséparable de la propriété personnelle, dont elle forme une partie constitutive.

"Propriété mobiliaire, qui n'est que la propriété personnelle même, considérée dans son usage, dans son objet, dans son extension nécessaire sur les choses acquises par le travail de sa personne.

"Liberté d'échange, de commerce, d'emploi de ses richesses inséparable de la propriété personnelle et de la propriété mobiliaire. "Culture, qui est un usage de la propriété personnelle, de la propriété mobiliaire, et de la liberté qui en est inséparable: usage profitable, nécessaire, indispensable pour que la population puisse s'accroître, par une suite de la multiplication des productions nécessaires à la subsistance des hommes.

"Propriété foncière, suite nécessaire de la culture, et qui n'est que la conservation de la propriété personnelle et de la propriété

mobiliaire, employées aux travaux et aux dépenses préparatoires indispensables pour mettre la terre en état d'être cultivée.

"Liberté de l'emploi de sa terre, de l'espèce de sa culture, de toutes les conventions relatives à l'exploitation, à la concession, à la rétrocession, à l'échange, à la vente de sa terre, inséparable de la propriété foncière.

"Partage naturel des récoltes, en reprises des cultivateurs, ou richesses dont l'emploi doit indispensablement être de perpétuer la culture, sous peine de diminution des récoltes et de la population et produit net, ou richesses disponibles dont la grandeur décide de la prospérité, de la société, dont l'emploi est abandonné à la volonté et à l'intérêt des propriétaires fonciers, et qui constitue pour eux le prix naturel et légitime des dépenses qu'ils ont faits, et des travaux auxquels ils se sont livrés pour mettre la terre en état d'être cultivée.

"Sûreté, sans laquelle la propriété et la liberté ne seraient que de droit et non de fait, sans laquelle le produit net serait bientôt anéanti, sans laquelle la culture même ne pourrait subsister.

"Autorité tutélaire et souveraine, pour procurer la sûreté essentiellement nécessaire à la propriété et à la liberté ; et qui s'acquitte de cet important ministère, en promulguant et faisant exécuter les loix de l'ordre naturel, par lesquelles la propriété et la liberté sont établies.

"Magistrats, pour décider dans les cas particuliers quelle doit être l'application des loix de l'ordre naturel, réduites en loix positives par l'autorité souveraine ; et qui ont le devoir impérieux de comparer les ordonnances des souverains avec les loix de la justice par essence, avant de s'engager à prendre ces ordonnances positive pour règle de leurs jugemens.

"Instruction publique et favorisée, pour que les citoyens, l'autorité, et les magistrats, ne puissent jamais perdre de vue les loix invariables de l'ordre naturel, et se laisser égarer par les prestiges de l'opinion, ou par l'attrait des intérêts particuliers exclusifs, qui, dès qu'ils sont exclusifs, sont toujours malentendus.

"Revenue public, pour constituer la force et la pouvoir nécessaire à l'autorité souveraine, pour faire les frais de son ministère protecteur, des fonctions importantes des magistrats, et de l'instruction indispensable des loix de l'ordre naturel.

"Impôt direct, ou partage du produit net du territoire entre les propriétaires fonciers et l'autorité souveraine, pour former le revenu