SECOND PART. DUM PROSIM TIBI. But reflect on our immense load of debt-should another war increase it, national bankruptcy must ensue.-CASSANDRA. We will hope not, for it is a wonderful country this. We see that, out of every difficulty and every danger, she rides more powerful and more pure.-ULYSSES. PREFACE. THE first part of this work consisted of the reprint of a Pamphlet published at the commencement of the year 1834, with a few pages of introduction, and a few lines in conclusion: the plans there recommended, are, perhaps, as crude and undigested, as were the author's ideas, neanmoins ils marchent. In continuing the subject, the Essay necessarily becomes more discursive, and reference is required to things old and new; to illustrate the assertion, that "countries are not ruined by Taxation, other causes must contribute, this alone will not effect the evil, for taxes laid on equally and with judgment do not oppress the people.' There must either be misgovernment, which ruins a state, or deficiency of good government, which impedes its prosperity. When the Chancellor Oxiernstein observed, it was astonishing with how little wisdom a great country might be governed, he did not mean to imply that it would increase its prosperity under ignorant rulers; but the machine, having been well constructed and put in motion, might go on a long time without intelligence equal to that which contrived and arranged it. Advancing civilisation increases the necessity for more self-restraint on the part of every individual of the community, and the mind naturally reverts to a consideration of the means, by which this was effected in ancient times, when states existed which, in some respects, had attained a higher elevation than ourselves. In doing this, we must refer to history, but not write it, we rather review it; without adhering to the regular succession of events, for this would require consecutive detail; moreover, in treating of taxation, the subject becomes complex, involves other science, becomes a science of itself, and assumes a form, a shape, a name the wealth of nations, as also their rise and fall, united in one term. Political economy: of which two words, the substantive receives its definition from Hammond and Blackmore, "Disposition of things; regulation." System of matter; distribution of everything to its place." 66 The bee, to accumulate honey, tries the opening bud, explores the expanding blossom, and revels in the sweets of the full-blown flower; satiated with possession, he rises to inhale the ether and view the prospect" the sweet south is breathing o'er a bed of violets, stealing and giving odours"-the current of fragrance is borne on the air, and passes within the sphere of the insect's ken; he returns to revisit the parterre he had quitted, the scene of past enjoyment, which he imagined he had exhausted, and finds treasure he had before neglected. A knowledge conversant in some particular parts of nature, leads a man to direct all his attention to it, either for his own subsistence or the benefit of his fellow-creatures; some, whose faculties are fitted to penetrate the internal fabric and real essence of bodies, make great discoveries in this department of science, and enlarge the stores of human knowledge. Others direct their views to what improves the human race generally, pointing out the path of advancement in this life, and that road which leads to a better; their teaching has the sanction of Divine revelation, as well as of human laws, and is considered the foundation upon which those laws are based. The gifted with talent to advance the progression of society are the few; and the very devotion of their time and lofty undertakings, prove them to be necessarily persons of unbounded commerce with the world of business, or of unbroken seclusion and study. Some of the most eminent of these, for good conduct and intellectual acquirements, are selected to superintend the education of princes. Associations of the rest, formed into universities and colleges, assume the occupation of training up the youth destined to fill what are called the liberal professions. The scions of aristocracy disdain not to unite with them, and compete in manly exercises as well as abstruse studies, and thus qualify themselves to fill the important offices of the state for which their hereditary pretensions eminently qualify them. For what are the attributes of a "Natural Aristocracy?" "To be bred in a place of estimation-to see nothing low and sordid from their infancy-to be taught to respect themselves to be habituated to the censorial inspection of the public eye-to look early to public opinion-to stand upon such ele |