III. ently either productive or unproductive hands. CHAP. They feem, however, to have fome predilection for the latter. The expence of a great lord feeds generally more idle than induftrious people. The rich merchant, though with his capital he maintains industrious people only, yet by his expence, that is, by the employment of his revenue, he feeds commonly the very fame fort as the great lord. THE proportion, therefore, between the productive and unproductive hands, depends very much in every country upon the proportion between that part of the annual produce, which, as foon as it comes either from the ground or from the hands of the productive labourers, is deftined for replacing a capital, and that which is destined for conftituting a revenue, either as rent, or as profit. This proportion is very different in rich from what it is in poor countries. THUS, at present, in the opulent countries of Europe, a very large, frequently the largest portion of the produce of the land, is deftined for replacing the capital of the rich and independent farmer; the other for paying his profits, and the rent of the landlord. But anciently, during the prevalency of the feudal government, a very finall portion of the produce was fufficient to replace the capital employed in cultivation. It confifted commonly in a few wretched cattle, maintained altogether by the fpontaneous produce of uncultivated land, and which might, therefore, be confidered as a part of that fpontaneous produce. It generally too belonged to the landlord, and II. BOOK was by him advanced to the occupiers of the 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. Thofe 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 service 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 prefent ftate of Europe, the share 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 increafes in proportion to the extent, diminishes in proportion to the produce of the land. In the opulent countries of Europe, great ca, pitals are at prefent employed in trade and ma nufactures. In the ancient ftate, the little trade that was stirring, and the few homely and coarse manufactures III. manufactures that were carried on, required but CHA P. very fmall capitals. Thefe, 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 interest. At prefent the rate of interest, in the improved parts of Europe, is no-where higher than fix per cent. and in fome 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 deftined 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 industry or idleness. We are more industrious than our forefathers; II. BOOK forefathers; because in the prefent times the funds deftined for the maintenance of industry, are much greater in proportion to those which are likely to be employed in the maintenance of idlenefs, than they were two or three centuries ago. Our ancestors were idle for want of a fufficient encouragement to industry. 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 industrious, fober, and thriving; as in many English, and in moft 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 fpending of revenue, they are in general idle, diffolute, and poor; as at Rome, Verfailles, 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 CHAP. 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 caufe of the induftry of those two cities. In the other parliament towns of France, very little more capital feems to be employed than what is neceffary for fupplying their own confumption; that is, little more than the smalleft 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 most industrious; but Paris itself is the principal market of all the manufactures eftablished at Paris, and its own confumption is the principal object of all the trade which it carries on. London, Lisbon, 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 confidered 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 consumption 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 |