difpofition? To affert, that they cannot, appears evidently ridiculous. As the land is able to maintain more than an its inhabitants, they could never, in fuch an Utopian state, feel any other ills, than those which arife from bodily fick nefs; and these are not the half of human miferies. All other ills fpring from fome vice, either in ourselves or o、 thers; and even many of our diseases proceed from the fame origin. Remove the vices, and the ills follow. You must only take care to remove all the vices. If you remove part only, you may render the matter worse. By banishing vicious luxury, without curing floth and an indifference to others, you only diminish industry in the ftate, and add nothing to men's charity or their generofity. Let us, therefore, reft contented with afferting, that two oppofite vices in a ftate, may be more advantageous than either of them alone; but let us never pronounce vice in it self advantageous. Is it not very inconfiftent for an author to affert in one page, that moral distinctions are inventions of politicians for public intereft; and in the next page maintain, that vice is advantageous to the public? And indeed, it feems, upon any fyftem of morality, little lefs than a contradiction in terms, to talk of a vice, that is in general beneficial to fociety.

I thought this reafoning neceffary, in order to give fome light to a philofophical queftion, which has been much difputed in Britain. I call it a philofophical question, not a political one. For whatever may be the confequence of fuch a miraculous transformation of mankind, as would endow them with every fpecies of virtue, and free them from every vice, this concerns not the magiftrate, who aims only at poffibilities. He cannot cure every vice, by fubftituting a virtue in its place. Very often he can cure only one vice by another; and in that cafe, he ought to prefer what is leaft pernicious to fociety. Luxury, when exceffive, is the fource of many ills; but is in general preferable to floth and idlenefs, which would commonly fucceed in its place, and are more pernicious both to private perfons and to the public. When floth reigns, a mean uncultivated way of life prevails amongft individuals, without fociety, without enjoyment. And if the fovereign, in fuch a fituation, demands the service of his fubjects, the labour of the ftate fuffices only to furnish the neceffaries of life to the la bourers, and can afford nothing to thofe, who are employed in the public fervice.'

The

The Subject of our Author's third difcourfe is Money; a fubject, on which he has made many curious and uncommon obfervations. The abfolute quantity of money in any ftate, he tells us, is a matter of great indifference, and that there are only two circumftances of any importance, viz. its gradual increase, and its thorough concoction and eirculation through the ftate; the influence of both which circumstances is in this difcourfe very particularly explained.

In his fourth discourse our author treats of interest; he introduces it with obferving that nothing is esteemed a more certain fign of the flourishing condition of any nation than the lowness of intereft, but that plenty of money, tho' it be generally affigned as the caufe of lownefs of intereft, is not the true one; money, however plentiful, having no other effect, if fixt, than to raife the price of labour. High intereft, fays he, arifes from three circum→ ftances a great demand for borrowing; little riches to fupply that demand, and great profits arifing from commerce : and these circumstances are a clear proof of the fmall advance of commerce and induftry, not of the fcarcity of gold and filver. Low intereft, on the other hand, preceeds from the three oppofite circumftances: a fmall demand for borrowing; great riches to fupply that demand; and small profits arifing from commerce: and thefe circumftances are all connected together, and proceed from the increase of industry and commerce: not of gold and filver.' Thefe points he endeavours fully and diftinctly to prove in the fubfequent part of this difcourfe, and points out the reasons of this popular mistake with regard to the cause of low interest..

In treating the balance of trade, the fubject of our author's fifth difcourfe, after taking notice of feveral gross and palpable errors that have prevailed among nations ignorant of the nature of commerce, he obferves that there ftill prevails, even among nations well acquainted with commerce, a strong jealoufy with regard to the balance of trade, and a fear, that all their gold and filver may be leaving them. This feems to him, almoft in every cafe, a very groundless apprehenfion; but as it can never be refuted by a particular detail of all the exports, which counterbalance the imports, he forms a general argument to prove the impoffibility of fuch an event, as long as the people and induftry of a kingdom are preferved.

Suppofe, fays he, four fifths of all the money in Britain to be annihilated in one night, and the nation reduced

to

to the fame condition, in this particular, as in the reigns of the Harrys and Edwards; what would be the confequence? Muft not the price of all labour and commodities fink in proportion, and every thing he fold as cheap as they were in those ages? What nation could then difpute with us in any foreign market, or pretend to navigate or to fell manufactures at the fame price, which to us would afford fufficient profit? In how little time, therefore, must this bring back the money, which we had loft, and raise us to the level of all the neighbouring nations? Where, after we have arrived, we immediately lose the advantage of the cheapness of labour and commodities; and the farther flowing in of money is ftopt by our fulness and repletion.'

Again; fuppofe, that all the money in Britain were multiplied fourfold in a night, muft not the contrary effect follow? Muft not all labour and commodities rife to fuch an exorbitant height, that no neighbouring nations could afford to buy from us; while their commodities, on the other hand, became fo cheap in 'comparison, that, in fpite of all the Laws which could be formed, they would be run in upon us, and our money would flow out; till we fell to a level with foreigners, and lofe that great fuperiority of riches, which had laid us under fuch difadvantages?

Now, 'tis evident, that the fame causes, which would correct thefe exorbitant inequalities, were they to happen miraculously, must prevent their happening in the common courfe of nature, and muft for ever, in all neighbouring nations, preferve money nearly proportioned to the art and industry of each nation. All water, wherever it communicates, remains always at a level: ask naturalists the reafon; they tell you, that were it to be raised in any one place, the fuperior gravity of that part, not being balanced muft depress it, till it meets a counterpoize; and that the fame caufe, which redreffes the inequality when it happens, muft for ever prevent it, without fome violent external operation.

Can one imagine, that it had ever been poffible, by any laws, or even by any art, or industry, to have preferved all the money in Spain, which the Gallions have brought from the Indies? Or that all commodities could be fold in France for a tenth of the price they would yield on the other fide of the Pyrenees, without finding their way thither, and draining from that immenfe treature? What

other

other reason, indeed, is there, why all nations, at present, •gain in their trade with Spain and Portugal; but because it is impoffible to heap up money, more than any fluid, beyond its proper level? The fovereigns of thefe countries have fhewn, that they wanted not inclination to keep their gold and filver to themselves, had it been in any degree practicable.'

As our Author, throughout this difcourfe, frequently speaks of the level of money, he defires that it may be carefully remarked, that he always means its proportional level to the commodities, labour, induftry, and skill, which is in the several states; and he affirms that where these advantages are double, triple, quadruple, to what they are in the neighbouring states, the money infallibly will also be double, triple, quadruple.

He obferves, that there is one expedient, by which it is poffible to fink, and another by which we may raise, money beyond its natural level in any kingdom; but that thefe cafes, when examined, will be found to refolve into, and bring authority to, his general theory. I scarce know, fays he, any method of finking money below its level; but thofe inftitutions of banks, funds, and paper credit, with which we are in this kingdom fo much infatuated. These render paper equivalent to money, circulate it thro' the whole ftate, make it fupply the place of gold and filver, raise proportionably the price of labour and commodities, and by that means either banish a great part of those precious metals, or prevent their farther increase. What can be more fhort-fighted than our reafonings on this head? We fancy, becaufe an individual would be much richer, were his ftock of money doubled, that the fame good effect would follow were the money of every one encreased; not confidering, that this would raife as much the price of every commodity, and reduce every man, in time, to the fame condition as before. 'Tis only in our public negociations and tranfactions with foreigners, that a greater stock of money is advantageous; and as our paper is there abfolutely infignificant, we feel, by its means, all the ill effects, arifing from a great abundance of money, without reaping any of the advantages.

Suppose there are twelve millions of paper, that circulate in the kingdom as money (for we are not to imagine, that all our enormous funds are employed in that shape) and fuppofe, that the real cafh of the kingdom is eighteen

millions:

millions: Here is a state, which is found by experience able to hold a stock of thirty millions. I fay, if it be able to hold it, it muft of neceffity have acquired it in gold and filver, had we not obftructed the entrance of these metals by this new invention of paper. Whence would it have acquired that fum? From all the kingdoms of the world. But why? Becaufe, if you remove these twelve millions, money in this ftate is below its level, compared with our neighbours; and we must immediately draw from all of them, till we be full and faturate, so to fpeak, and can hold no more. By our wife politics, we are as careful to stuff the ,nation with this fine commodity of bank bills and chequer notes, as if we were afraid of being over-burthened with the precious metals.

'Tis not to be doubted, but the great plenty of bullion in France, is, in a great meafure, owing to the want of paper credit. The French have no banks: Merchants bills do not there circulate as with us: Ufury or lending on intereft is not directly permitted; fo that many have large fums in their coffers great quantities of plate are ufed in private houses; and all the churches are full of it. By this means, provifions and labour ftill remain much cheaper among them than in nations that are not half fo rich in gold and filver. The advantage of this fituation in point of trade, as well as in great public emergencies, is too evident to be difputed.-What pity Lycurgus did not think of paper credit, when he wanted to banish gold and silver from Sparta! It would have ferved his purpose better than the lumps of iron he made ufe of as money; and would alfo have prevented more effectually all commerce with ftrangers, as being of fo much less real and intrinfic va

lue.

But as our darling projects of paper credit are pernicious, being almoft the only expedient, by which we can fink money below its level; fo in my opinion the only expedient, by which we can raise money above its level, is a practice we would all exclaim against as deftructive, viz. the gathering large fums into a public treasure, locking them up, and abfolutely preventing their circulation. The fluid not communicating with the neighbouring element, may, by fuch an artifice, be raised to what height we please. To prove this, we need only return to our first supposition, of the annihilating the half or any part of our cafh; where we found, that the immediate confequence of fuch an event

would