BOOK was by him advanced to the occupiers of the II. land. All the rest of the produce properly belonged to him too, either as rent for his land, or as profit upon this paultry capital. The occupiers of land were generally bondmen, whose perfons and effects were equally his property. Those who were not bondmen were tenants at will, and though the rent which they paid was often nominally little more than a quit-rent, it really amounted to the whole produce of the land. Their lord could at all times command their labour in peace, and their fervice in war. Though they lived at a distance from his house, they were equally dependant upon him as his retainers who lived in it. But the whole produce of the land undoubtedly belongs to him, who can difpofe of the labour and fervice of all those whom it maintains. In the present state of Europe, the fhare of the landlord feldom exceeds a third, fometimes not a fourth part of the whole produce of the land. The rent of land, however, in all the improved parts of the country, has been tripled and quadrupled fince those ancient times; and this third or fourth part of the annual produce is, it feems, three or four times greater than the whole had been before. In the progrefs of improvement, rent, though it increases in proportion to the extent, diminishes in proportion to the produce of the land. IN the opulent countries of Europe, great capitals are at prefent employed in trade and manufactures. In the ancient ftate, the little trade that was ftirring, and the few homely and coarse manufactures III. manufactures that were carried on, required but CHA P. very small capitals. These, however, must have yielded very large profits. The rate of interest was no-where lefs than ten per cent. and their profits must have been fufficient to afford this great intereft. At present the rate of interest, in the improved parts of Europe, is no-where higher than fix per cent. and in some of the most improved it is fo low as four, three, and two per cent. Though that part of the revenue of the inhabitants which is derived from the profits of ftock is always much greater in rich than in poor countries, it is because the stock is much greater : in proportion to the ftock the profits are generally much lefs. THAT part of the annual produce, therefore," which, as foon as it comes either from the ground, or from the hands of the productive labourers, is deftined for replacing a capital, is not only much greater in rich than in poor countries, but bears a much greater proportion to that which is immediately destined for conftituting a revenue either as rent or as profit. The funds destined for the maintenance of productive labour, are not only much greater in the former than in the latter, but bear a much greater proportion to those which, though they may be employed to maintain either productive or unproductive hands, have generally a predilection for the latter... THE proportion between thofe different funds neceffarily determines in every country the general character of the inhabitants as to induftry or idleness. We are more industrious than our forefathers; II. BOOK forefathers; because in the present times the funds deftined for the maintenance of industry, are much greater in proportion to thofe which are likely to be employed in the maintenance of idleness, than they were two or three centuries ago. Our ancestors were idle for want of a fufficient encouragement to induftry. It is better, fays the proverb, to play for nothing, than to work for nothing. In mercantile and manufacturing towns, where the inferior ranks of people are chiefly maintained by the employment of capital, they are in general induftrious, fober, and thriving; as in many English, and in most Dutch towns. In those towns which are principally fupported by the conftant or occafional refidence of a court, and in which the inferior ranks of people are chiefly maintained by the spending of revenue, they are in general idle, diffolute, and poor; as at Rome, Versailles, Compiegne, and Fontainbleau. If you except Rouen and Bourdeaux, there is little trade or industry in any of the parliament towns of France; and the inferior ranks of people, being chiefly maintained by the expence of the members of the courts of justice, and of those who come to plead before them, are in general idle and poor. The great trade of Rouen and Bourdeaux feems to be altogether the effect of their fituation. Rouen is neceffarily the entrepôt of almost all the goods which are brought either from foreign countries, or from the maritime provinces of France, for the confumption of the great city of Paris. Bourdeaux is in the fame manner the entrepôt of the wines. III. which grow upon the banks of the Garonne, and CHA P. of the rivers which run into it, one of the richest wine countries in the world, and which feems to produce the wine fitteft for exportation, or best fuited to the tafte of foreign nations. Such advantageous fituations neceffarily attract a great capital by the great employment which they afford it; and the employment of this capital is the cause of the industry of those two cities. In the other parliament towns of France, very little more capital seems to be employed than what is neceffary for fupplying their own confumption; that is, little more than the smallest capital which can be employed in them. The fame thing may be faid of Paris, Madrid, and Vienna. Of those three cities, Paris is by far the moft induftrious but Paris itself is the principal market of all the manufactures established at Paris, and its own confumption is the principal object of all the trade which it carries on. London, Lifbon, and Copenhagen, are, perhaps, the only three cities in Europe, which are both the conftant refidence of a court, and can at the fame time be confidèred as trading cities, or as cities which trade not only for their own confumption, but for that of other cities and countries. The fituation of all the three is extremely advantageous, and naturally fits them to be the entrepôts of a great part of the goods deftined for the confumption of distant places. In a city where a great revenue is spent, to employ with advantage a capital for any other purpose than for fupplying the confumption of that city, is probably BOOK probably more difficult than in one in which the inferior ranks of people have no other maintenance but what they derive from the employment of fuch a capital. The idleness of the greater part of the people who are maintained by the expence of revenue, corrupts, it is probable, the induftry of those who ought to be maintained by the employment of capital, and renders it lefs advantageous to employ a capital there than in other places. There was little trade or industry in Edinburgh before the Union. When the Scotch parliament was no longer to be affembled in it, when it ceased to be the neceffary refidence of the principal nobility and gentry of Scotland, it became a city of fome trade and industry. It ftill continues, however, to be the refidence of the principal courts of justice in Scotland, of the boards of customs and excife, &c. A confiderable revenue, therefore, ftill continues to be spent in it. In trade and industry it is much inferior to Glasgow, of which the inhabitants are chiefly maintained by the employment of capital. The inhabitants of a large village, it has fometimes been obferved, after having made confiderable progrefs in manufactures, have become idle and poor, in confequence of a great lord's having taken up his refidence in their neighbourhood. THE proportion between capital and revenue, therefore, feems every-where to regulate the proportion between industry and idleness. Whereever capital predominates, industry prevails: wherever revenue, idleness. Every increase or diminution |