| and 242) partially defends the methods of funding employed. The chief controversies at present as regards the National Debt are (1) on the expediency of its payment; (2) on the best methods for doing so. The chief arguments against the payment are, that it would be unjust to the present generation; that justice demands further remission of
Taxes on Commodities, Bk. V., ch. ii., part 2, art. 4.-Many of the suggestions made by Adam Smith in this chapter have now been carried into effect: for example, the number of articles now paying customs duties is practically only four-spirits, tea, tobacco, and wine, most of the other articles in the tariff being for the purpose of counter-taxation; that the burden is only nominal, acting some excise duty. Again, the bond- since the interest is transferred simply from ing and warehousing system has been adopt- one portion of the community to another; ed; the luxurious and not the necessary ex- that the country is continually growing more penses of the working-classes are taxed; and wealthy, and that it will be much easier to the possibility of a diminution in the .tax extinguish the debt at a future time; that giving an increase in the gross revenue is the rate of interest will probably fall, and so admitted. The comparative merits of direct the nominal debt can be reduced by mere and indirect taxation are still a matter of con- financial operations (as in America recently). troversy. Perhaps the case against indirect To these arguments is opposed the continutaxation is put in the strongest manner pos-ity of national life. As Adam Smith says, sible by Cliffe Leslie in his "Essay on Finan-"Though empires, like all other works of cial Reform." But, on the other hand, the experience of Germany shows that the working-classes can only be reached by indirect taxation, and it cannot be maintained that the present excise and customs duties press very hardly upon them. Certainly a great reform of the direct taxes must take place before they can be mainly relied on. (Cf. Mill's "Principles," Bk. V., ch. vi.) Perhaps the best instance of the effect of duties in restraining trade is furnished by the timber duties. (Noble's "National Finance," pp. 20, 21.) The brochure of Jevons on the Match-Tax is an admirable example of the considerations to be taken account of in tax-in Giffen's Essay. The plan that finds most ing any commodity.
men, have all hitherto proved mortal, yet every empire aims at immortality," so that one generation should be willing to make sacrifices for its successors. Further: it is urged that the real burden of the present taxation is slight, and further remission not necessary; that all taxation involves waste in collection and restraint of trade; and that the increase in wealth and fall in the rate of interest are both uncertain and problematical. (Cf. Giffen's "Essays on Finance," Essay XI.; Noble's "National Finance," pp. 322-325.) The principal methods of pay ment now advocated are stated and examined
favour is that adopted in the present (1883) budget of Mr. Childers. All kinds of methods have been proposed at different times; a list of some of the most curious is given by Leone Levi in his "History of British Commerce," p. 94, note. The most modern device for payment without taxation is to make government invest in railway stock and the like, continually re-investing the proceeds. For a general treatment of the whole subject cf. the paper by Wagner in Schönberg's "Handbuch," vol. ii., p.
Note 53, p. 404. National Debts, Bk. V., ch. iii. -For a history of the National Debt in this country see Leone Levi's "History of British Commerce," p. 90; Wilson's "National Budget" (appendix); Noble's "National Finance," p. 3 (note), explains in detail the method of effecting loans in the great French War. W. Newmarch ("Journal of Statistical Society," vol. xviii., pp. 104 433.
ABSENTEE tax, the propriety of, considered with reference to Ireland, 379.
Accounts of money, in modern Europe, all kept, and the value of goods computed, in silver, 16.
Actors, public, paid for the contempt attend- ing their profession, 44.
Africa, cause assigned for the barbarous state of the interior parts of that continent, 9. African company, establishment and constitu- tion of, 309. Receive an annual allowance from parliament for forts and garrisons, 310. The company not under sufficient controul, ib. History of the Royal African company, 311. Decline of, ib. Rise of the present company, ib. Age, the foundation of rank and precedency in rude as well as civilized societies, 297. Aggregate fund, in the British finances, ex- plained, 388.
Agio of the bank of Amsterdam explained,
194. Of the bank of Hamburgh, 195. The agio at Amsterdam, how kept at a me- dium rate, 197.
Agriculture, the labour of, does not admit of such subdivisions as manufactures, 3. This impossibility of separation prevents agricul- ture from improving equally with manufac- tures, ib. Natural state of, in a new colony, 38. Requires more knowledge and experi- ence than most mechanical professions, and yet is carried on without any restrictions, 53. The terms of rent, how adjusted be- tween landlord and tenant, 60. Is extended by good roads and navigable canals, 62. Under what circumstances pasture land is more valuable than arable, 63. Gardening not a very gainful employment, 64. the most profitable article of culture, 65. Estimates of profit from projects very falla- cious, ib. Cattle and tillage mutually im- prove each other, 93, Remarks on that of Scotland, ib. On that of North America, 94. Poultry, a profitable article in husban- dry, ib. Hogs, 95. Dairy, 96. Evidences of land being completely improved, ib. The extension of cultivation, as it raises the price
of animal food, reduces that of vegetables 103. By whom and how practised unde feudal government, 137. Its operations not so much intended to increase, as to direct the fertility of nature, 149. Has been the cause of the prosperity of the British colonies in America, 150. The profits of, exaggerat ed by projectors, 154. On equal terms, is naturally preferred to trade, 156. Artificers
necessary to the carrying it on, ib. Was not attended to by the northern destroyers of the Roman empire, 157. The ancient policy of Europe unfavourable to, 162. Was pro- moted by the commerce and manufactures of towns, 170. The wealth arising from, more solid and durable than that which pro- ceeds from commerce, 172. Is not encou- aged by the bounty on the exportation of corn, 207. Why the proper business of new com- panies, 251. The present agricultural sys- tem of political economy adopted in France, described, 275. Is discouraged by restric- tions and prohibitions in trade, 279. Is fa- voured beyond manufactures in China, 282. And in Indostan, 283. Does not require so extensive a market as manufactures, 284. To check manufactures in order to promote agriculture, false policy, 285. Landlords ought to be encouraged to cultivate part of their own land, 350.
Alcavala, the tax in Spain so called, explained and considered, 381. The ruin of the Spa- nish manufactures attributed to this tax, ib. Alehouses, the number of, not the efficient cause of drunkenness, 148, 200. Allodial rights, mistaken for feudal rights, 168.
The introduction of the feudal law tended to moderate the authority of the allodial lords, ib.
Ambassadors, the first motive of their appoint.
America, why labour is dearer in North A merica than in England, 29. Great in- crease of population there, ib. Common rate of interest there, 38. Is a new market for the produce of its own silver mines, 85. The first accounts of the two empires of Pe
ru and Mexico greatly exaggerated, ib. Im- proving state of the Spanish colonies there, 86. Account of the paper currency of the British colonies, 134. Cause of the rapid prosperity of the British colonies there,
Why manufactures for distant sale have never been established there, 156. Its speedy improvement owing to assistance from foreign capitals, 157. The purchase and improvement of uncultivated land the most profitable employment of capitals, 171. Commercial alterations produced by the dis- covery of, 181. But two civilized nations found on the whole continent, ib. The wealth of the North American colonies in- creased, though the balance of trade continu- ed against them, 203. Madeira wine, how introduced there, 204. Historical review of the European settlements in, 229. Of Spain, 232, 233. Of Holland, 234. Of France
ib. Of Britain, ib. Ecclesiastical govern- ment in the several European colonies, 235. Fish a principal article of trade from North America to Spain, Portugal, and the Me- diterranean, 237. Naval stores to Britain, 258. Little credit due to the policy of Eu- rope from the success of the colonies, 242. The dicovery and colonization of, how far advantageous to Europe, 243. And to America, ib. The colonies in, governed by a spirit of monopoly, 261. The interest
of the consumer in Britain sacrificed to that of the producer, by the system of colo- nization, 274. Plan for extending the Bri- tish system of taxation, over all the provin- ces of, 397, 398. The question, how the Americans could pay taxes without specie, considered, 402. Ought in justice to con- tribute to discharge the public debt in Bri- tain, 402. Expediency of their union with Britain, 403. The British empire there a mere project, 404.
Amsterdam, agio of the bank of, explained,
194. Occasion of its establishment, 195. Advantages attending payments there, ib. Rate demanded for keeping money there, ib. Prices at which bullion and coin are received, 196, note. This bank the great warehouse of Europe for bullion, 197. Demands upon, how made and answered, ib. The agio, how kept at a medium rate, ib.
The treasure of, whether all preserved in its repositories, 198. The amount of its treasure only to be conjectured, ib. Fees paid to the bank for transacting business, ib.
Annuities, for terms of years, and for lives, in the British finances, historical account of, 389.
Apothecaries, the profit on their drugs, unjust- ly stigmatized as exorbitant, 46. Apprenticeship, the nature and intention of this bond of servitude, explained, 42. The limitations imposed on various trades as to the number of apprentices, 50. The statute of apprenticeship in England, ib. Appren- ticeships in France and Scotland, 51. Ge- neral remarks on the tendency and opera-
tion of long apprenticeships, ib. The sta tute of, ought to be repealed, 191. Arabs, their manner of supporting war, 289. Army, three different ways by which a nation may maintain one in a distant country, 178. Standing, distinction between and a militia, 292. Historical review of, 294. The Macedonian army, ib. Carthaginian army, ib. Roman army, ib. Is alone able to perpetuate the civilization of a country, 296. Is the speediest engine for civilizing a barbarous country, ib. Under what cir- cumstances dangerous to, and under what favourable to liberty, ib.
Artificers prohibited by law from going to foreign countries, 273. Residing abroad, and not returning on notice, exposed to ontlawry, ib. See Manufactures. Asdrubal, his army greatly improved by dis- cipline, 294. How defeated, ib. Assembly, houses of, in the British colonies, the constitutional freedom of, shewn, 240, Assiento Contract, 312.
Assize of bread and ale, remarks on that sta tute, 75, 77. Augustus, emperor, emancipates the slaves of Vedius Pollio for his cruelty, 241.
Balance of annual produce and consumption explained, 203. May be in favour of a nation, when the balance of trade is against it, ib.
Balance of trade, no certain criterion to de- termine on which side it turns between two countries, 192. The current doctrine of, on which most regulations of trade are founded, absurd, 199. If even, by the exchange of their native commodities, both sides may be gainers, ib. How the balance would stand if native commodities on one side were paid with foreign commodities on the other, ib. How the balance stands when commodities are purchased with gold and silver, ib., 200. The ruin of countries often predicted from the doctrine of an unfavour- able balance of trade, 202.
Banks, great increase of trade in Scotland since the establishment of them in the prin- cipal towns, 120. Their usual course of business, 121. Consequences of their issu ing too much paper, 122. Necessary cau- tion for some time observed by them with regard to giving credit to their customers. 124. Limits of the advances they may im- prudently make to traders, 125. How in- jured by the practice of drawing and re drawing bills, 126, 127. History of the Ayr bank, 128. History of the bank of England, 130. The nature and public advantage of banks considered, 131. `Ban- kers might carry on their business with less paper, 132. Effects of the optional clauses in the Scotch notes, 133. Origin of their establishment, 194. Bank money explain- ed, 195. Bank of England, the conduct of in regard to the coinage, 226. Joint stock companies, why well adapted to the trade
Barons, feudal, their power contracted by the grant of municipal privileges, 163. Their extensive authority, 168. How they lost their authority over their vassals, 169. And the power to disturb their country, 170. Barter, the exchange of one commodity for another, the propensity to, of extensive o- peration, and peculiar to man, 6. Is not sufficient to carry on the mutual intercourse of mankind, 10. See Commerce. Batavia, causes of the prosperity of the Dutch settlement there, 263.
Beaver skins, review of the policy used in the trade for, 273.
Beef, cheaper now in London than in the reign of James J., 63. Compared with the prices of wheat at the corresponding times,
Benefices, ecclesiastical, the tenure of, why rendered secure, 335. The power of col- lating to, how taken from the pope, in Eng- land and France, 388. General equality of, among the presbyterians, 340. Good effects of this equality, ib.
Bengal, to what circumstances its early im- provement in agriculture and manufactures was owing, 9 Present miserable state of the country, 30. Remarks on the high rates of interest there, 39. Oppressive con- duct of the English there, to suit their trade in opium, 263. Why more remarkable for the exportation of manufactures than of grain, 284.
Berne, brief history of the republic of, 164. Establishment of the reformation there, 338. Application of the revenue of the catholic clergy, 341. Derives a revenue from the interest of its treasure, 344.
Bills of Exchange, punctuality in the payment of, how secured, 126. The pernicious prac- tice of drawing and redrawing explained, ib. The arts made use of to disguise this mutual traffic in bills, 127.
Birth, superiority of, how it confers respect and authority, 298.
Bishops, the ancient mode of electing them, and how altered, 335, 337.
Body, natural and political, analogy between,
Bohemia, account of the tax there on the in- dustry of artificers, 366.
Bounty, on the exportation of corn, the ten- dency of this measure examined, 81. Bounties, why given in commerce, 183. On exportation, the policy of granting them]
considered, 205. On the exportation of corn, 206. This bounty imposes two taxes on the people, 207. Evil tendency of this bounty, 209. The bounty only beneficial to the exporter and importer, ib. Motives of the country gentlemen in granting the bounty, 210. A trade which requires a bounty, necessarily a losing trade, ib. Tonnage bounties to the fisheries consi- dered, 211. Account of the white-herring fishery, 212. Remarks on other bounties, 213. A review of the principles on which they are generally granted, 267. Those granted on American produce founded on mistaken policy, 268. How they affect the consumer, 274.
Britain, Great, evidences that labour is suf ficiently paid for there, 30. The price of provisions nearly the same in most places, 31. Great variations in the price of labour, ib. Vegetables imported from Flanders in the last century, 32. Historical account of the alterations interest of money has under- gone, 37. Double interest deemed a rea- sonable mercantile profit, 40. In what re spects the carrying trade is advantageous to, 152, 153. Appears to enjoy more of the carrying trade of Europe than it really has, 153. It is the only country of Europe in which the obligation of purveyance is abolished, 161. Its funds for the support of foreign wars inquired into, 178, 179. Why never likely to be much affected by the free importation of Irish cattle, 186. Nor salt provisions, ib. Could be little affected by the importation of foreign corn, 187. The policy of the commercial restraints on the trade with France examined, 192. The trade with France might be more ad- vantageous to each country than that with any other, 202. Why one of the richest countries in Europe, while Spain and Por- tugal are among the poorest, 221. Review of her American colonies, 234. The trade of her colonies, how regulated, 236. Dis tinction between enumerated and non-enu- merated commodities explained, 237. Re strains manufactures in America, 238, 239 Indulgences granted to the colonists, 239 Constitutional freedom of her colony go- vernment, 240. The sugar colonies of, worse governed than those of France, 241. Disadvantages resulting from retaining the exclusive trade of tobacco with Maryland and Virginia, 244, 245 The navigatioc
act has increased the colony trade, at the expense of many other branches of foreign trade, 245. The advantage of the colony trade estimated, 247. A gradual relaxation of the exclusive trade recommended, 250. Events which have concurred to prevent the ill effects of the loss of the colony trade, ib. The natural good effects of the colony trade more than counterbalance the bad effects of the monopoly, 251. To maintain a mono- poly, the principal end of the dominion as- sumed over the colonies, 254. Has derived nothing but loss from this dominion, ib. Is perhaps the only state which has only in- creased its expenses by extending its empire, 256. The constitution of, would have been completed by admitting of American repre- sentation, 258. Review of the administra- tion of the East India Company, 264, 265. The interest of the consumer sacrificed to that of the producer in raising an empire in America, 274. The annual revenue of, compared with its annual rents and interest of capital stock, 545, 346. The land-tax of, considered, 348. Tithes, 352 Window- tax, 357. Stamp-duties, 363, 365. Poll- taxes in the reign of William III., 367. The uniformity of taxation in, favourable to internal trade, 382. The system of taxa- tion in, compared with that in France, 384. Account of the unfunded debt of, 387. Funded debt, 388. Aggregate and general funds, ib. Sinking fund, 389. Annuities for terms of years and for lives, ib. Perpetual annuities the best transfer- able stock, 391. The reduction of the pub- lic debts during peace bears no proportion to their accumulation during war, 392. The trade with the tobacco colonies, how carried on, without the intervention of specie, 401. The trade with the sugar co- lonies explained, ib. Ireland and America ought in justice to contribute towards the discharge of her public debts, 402. How the territorial acquisitions of the East India Company might be rendered a source of re- If no such assistance can be venue, 403. obtained, her only resource pointed out, ib. Bullion, the money of the great mercantile re- public, 179. See Gold and Silver. Burghs, free, the origin of, 163. To what cir- cumstances they owed their corporate juris- dictions, ib. Why admitted to send repre- sentatives to parliament, 164. Are allowed to protect refugees from the country, 165. Burn, Dr. his observation on the laws relating to the settlements of the poor, 58, 59. Butcher's meat, nowhere a necessary of life, 370.
234. But improved speedily after the dis solution of the company, ib.
Canals, navigable, the advantages of, 62. How to be made and maintained, 303. That of Languedoc, the support of, how secured, ib. May be successfully managed by joint stock companies, 317.
Cantillon, Mr. remarks on his account of the earnings of the labouring poor, 28. Cape of Good Hope, causes of the prosperity of the Dutch settlement there, 263. Cupital, in trade, explained, and how employ. ed, 112. Distinguished into circulating and fixed capitals, ib. Characteristic of fixed capitals, 113. The several kinds of fixed capitals specified, ib. Characteristic of cir- culating capitals, and the several kinds of, 114. Fixed capitals supported by those which are circulating, ib. Circulating capitals how supported, ib. Intention of a fixed capital, 116. The expense of maintaining the fixed and circulating capitals illustrated, ib.
Money, as an article of circulating ca- pital, considered, ib. Money no measure of capital, 118. What quantity of industry any capital can employ, 120. Capitals, how far they may be extended by paper credit, 125. Must always be replaced with profit by the annual produce of land and labour, 136. The proportion between capital and revenue regulates the proportion between in- dustry and idleness, 138. How it is increas ed or diminished, ib. National evidences of the increase of, 141. In what instances private expenses contribute to enlarge the national capital, 142. The increase of, re- duces profits by competition, 145. The dif ferent ways of employing a capital, 147. How replaced to the different classes of traders, 148. That employed in agricul ture puts into motion a greater quantity of productive labour than any equal ca- pital employed in manufactures, 149. That of a manufacturer should reside within the country, 150. The operation of capi- tals employed in agriculture, manufactures, and foreign trade compared, ib. The pros perity of a country depends on the due proportion of its capital applied to these three grand objects, 151. Different returns of capitals employed in foreign trade, 152. Is rather employed in agriculture than in trade and manufactures, on equal terms, 155, 156. Is rather employed in marufactures than in foreign trade, 156. The natural progress of the employment of, 157. Acquired by trade, is very precarious, until realized by the cultivation and improvement of land, 172. The employment of, in the different species of trade, how determined, 183. Capitation taxes, the nature of, considered, 367. In England, ib. In France, ib Carriage, land and water, compared, 8. Wa ter carriage contributes to improve arts and industry in all countries where it can be used, 9, 62, 87. and, how facilitated and reduced in price by public works, 303.
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