Postscript.

THE only set of Objections, as far as they have come to my Knowledge, which have been hitherto made to the Principles and Reasonings laid down and illustrated in the foregoing Treatise, are the four following:

1st. That according to this Hypothesis, Improvements, Industry, and Riches, may be advanced and encreased ad infinitum; which is a Position too extravagant to be admitted.

2dly. That in Consequence of this accumulating Scheme, one Nation might engross the Trade of the whole World, and beggar every other State or Kingdom: which Opinion is not only contradicted by Fact and Experience, but is also contrary to my own System of Commerce, wherein I strongly declare against Monopoly and Exclusion of every Kind.

3dly. That tho’ a poor Country cannot immediately and at once rival a rich one in its Trade and Manufactures, yet it may do it by Degrees, beginning first with the coarser and less complicated Kinds, and then advancing Step by Step to others more compounded, operose, and costly; ’till at length it hath reached that Summit of Art, Industry, and Riches, from which the rich Country hath lately fallen, and from whence also this upstart Adventurer must recede in its Turn. And to strengthen this Reasoning, it may be observed,

4thly. “That all human Things have the Seeds of Decay within themselves:—Great Empires, great Cities, great Commerce, all of them receive a Cheque, not from accidental Events, but from necessary Principles.”

Thus stand the Objections of that acute Philosopher, and celebrated Writer, who honoured the above Treatise with his ingenious Remarks. Let us now therefore attend to the Force of each of these Objections with that Care and Impartiality which the Cause of Truth deserves; and with that Respect also, which is due to a Person of Eminence in the Republic of Letters.

And 1st. I must beg Leave to observe, that the Gentleman has, in Part at least, mistaken my Meaning, where I say, towards the Close of the Treatise, “That Gold and Silver acquired by general Industry, and used with Sobriety, and according to good Morals, will promote still greater Industry, and go on, for any thing that appears to the contrary, still accumulating:”—I say, he has mistaken my Meaning, if he imagined, that I roundly and positively there asserted, that the Progress must be, ad infinitum: For I did not intend to assert any such Thing, and one Reason, among others, which restrained me, was the Consideration that I am not Metaphysician enough to comprehend was Infinity really means. Therefore what I undertake to maintain is this,—That such a Progression as here described, may be so far carried on, as evidently to prove, that no Man can positively define, when, or where it must necessarily stop: No Man can set Bounds to Improvements even in Imagination; and therefore, ’till the ne plus ultra of all Advancements in Arts, Sciences, and Manufactures, in Agriculture, Trade, and Navigation, &c. &c. is clearly demonstrated (a Thing which I presume no one will be in Haste to attempt) we may still be allowed to assert, that the richer manufacturing Nation will maintain its Superiority over the poorer one, notwithstanding this latter may be likewise advancing towards Perfection. This being the Cause it follows,

2dly. That my Hypothesis is so far from supposing that one Nation may engross the Trade of the whole World, and beggar all the rest, that it remains just the contrary: Because it follows, from my System, that every Nation, poor as well as rich, may improve their Condition if they please. The poorer Nation, for Example, may adopt the good Police,—the Abolition of Monopolies and exclusive Companies, and several useful Regulations of its richer neighbouring State: All these it may adopt without Expence, at the same Time that it may avoid their Errors or Mistakes; for Errors there will be, more or less, in all human Institutions. Moreover, tho’ the poorer Nation cannot rival the Manufactures of a richer one at a third Place, or in a foreign Market, where the Goods and Merchandize of both are supposed to be admissible on the same Footing, yet it may, and ought, by Means of judicious Taxes, to discourage the too great or excessive Consumption of alien Manufactures, and especially Liquors, within its own Territories; and as this likewise may be done without Expence, nay, to the great Advantage of the Revenue, it therefore follows, that the poorer Nation may get forwards in many Respects without being obstructed by the rich one. To which Consideration we should not forget to add, that there are certain local Advantages resulting either from the Climate, the Soil, the Productions, the Situation, or even the natural Turn and peculiar Genius of one People preferably to those of another, which no Nation can deprive another of, unless by Violence and Conquest; and therefore, these being out of the Question, the necessary Consequence is, that the poor Country is left at Liberty to cultivate all these natural and local Advantages, as far as it can. Nay, I observe further, than the very superior Riches of a neighbouring State may contribute greatly to the carrying of such a Plan into Execution: And here I do not mean merely to say, that the Manufactures and Merchant Adventurers of the poorer Country may avail themselves of the Wealth of a richer by borrowing Money, at a low Interest, to be employed in Trade; tho’ by the bye, that is no small Benefit: But what I lay the chief Stress on at present is, that a rich Neighbour is more likely to become a good Customer than a poor one; and consequently, that the Traders of the poorer Country will find a better Market, and a more general Demand for their peculiar Productions, whether of Art or Nature, by Means of the superior Wealth and great Consumptions of their richer Neighbours, than they could possibly have had, were the latter equally poor with themselves. Moreover, vice versa, I affirm on the other Hand, that even the rich Country will be benefited in its Turn, by this Accession of Wealth flowing into the poor one. For when the Inhabitants of the poorer Country feel themselves enabled, there is no Doubt to be made, but that they will also become proportionably willing to purchase some of the more commodious or more sumptuous Furniture, and elegant Manufactures, of those Persons, who are actually their best Customers, as well as richer Neighbours. Indeed, to say the Truth, these Things are no other than the usual Consequences, and almost necessary Effects of natural Causes: And surely that Man must have been a very great Stranger to what passes in the World, who cannot discern these daily Rotations of Commercial Industry.

But there is one Circumstance more, relative to this Subject, which being not so obvious to common Observers, seems therefore to require a particular Explanation. The Circumstance is this,—That the very same Country may be relatively both richer and poorer than another at the very same Time, if considered in different Points of View; and consequently, that all the opposite and seemingly contradictory Assertions concerning both the Cheapness and the Dearness of Manufactures, may be found to correspond with Truth and Matters of Fact. Thus, for Example, England is undoubtedly richer either than Scotland or Ireland, in regard to most Branches of Trade and Manufacture; and therefore it sells those Manufactures much cheaper than they can be fabricated in either of those Countries. But nevertheless, both Scotland and Ireland are richer than England in respect to one particular Point; for both these Countries have got the Start of England in respect to the Linen Manufacture, by more than Half a Century; and in Consequence thereof, their Capitals are larger, their Machinery is better, and their Correspondences are become more extensive; so that in short, almost every thing relative to the Linen Manufacture in those Countries is conducted with more Adroitness, and managed to greater Advantage, than in England. Hence therefore it is easily to be accounted for, how it comes to pass that the Scotch and Irish can sell their Linens, and more especially their fine Linens, considerably cheaper than the English Linen Manufacturer is able to do. Nay, by Way of strengthening the general Argument, I would observe further, that tho’ the Modes of Living are more expensive, tho’ the daily Wages, and Rents of Houses and Lands, and the Prices of Provisions, are at least doubled, if not trebled, in the manufacturing Parts of Scotland and Ireland, to what they were about 60 or 70 Years ago,—yet the present Linens are both better and cheaper than the former, in a very considerable Degree; so that the Scotland and Ireland of the Year 1763, if compared with the Scotland or Ireland of 1700, are as strong an Instance, and as convincing a Proof, as can possibly be desired of the Truth of these Positions:—And hence also we may observe, that the Riches of England in many Branches, and the Riches of Scotland and Ireland in some Branches, are mutually assistant to, and reciprocally advantageous to each other: For by mutually consuming and wearing each other’s Manufactures, the English, Scotch, and Irish, become the better and the greater Customers to each other.

The 3d Objection needs not a Reply so long and laboured as the second: For when the Gentleman proposed, that the poorer Country should first begin with the coarser and more simple Manufactures, and then proceed Step by Step to others more operose, complicated, and expensive, ’till at last it had supplanted the rich one in all its Trade and Manufactures,—he unfortunately forgot, that in Proportion as his poorer Country made a Progress in these Things, in the same Proportion, or nearly the same, would the Price of Labour, of Provisions, and of raw Materials, advance likewise; so that all these imaginary Advantages would vanish away like a Dream, when they were most wanted, and when he most depended on their Assistance. In fact, his not paying due Attention to this Circumstance was probably the very Thing which led him and others into so many Errors on this Head. But as he had one Objection more to offer, let us see whether the Weight of that will make up for the Deficiency of the others.

Now his 4th Objection, or rather his Observation, is, “That all Human Things have the Seeds of Decay within themselves: Great Empires, great Cities, great Commerce, all of them receive a Cheque, not from accidental Events, but from necessary Principles.” From all which it is implied, that the richer Nation cannot maintain its Superiority over a poorer one; because, when it comes to a certain Period, it must necessarily fall to Decay;—I say, this must be the Inference intended, otherwise the Observation is not applicable, and has nothing to do with the present Subject.

Here therefore, as the Ideas and Terms made use of, are borrowed from the State of natural Bodies, and from thence metaphorically transferred to political Constitutions, one Thing is taken for granted in this Argument, to which I cannot readily assent. It is taken for granted, that as all Animals, by having the Seeds of Decay within themselves, must die sooner or later, therefore political or commercial Institutions are subject to the like Fate, and on the same Principles. Now this remains to be proved; for the Parallel doth not hold in all Respects; and tho’ it be true that the Body Politic may come to an End, as well as the Body Natural, there is no physical Necessity that it must. A Set of Rules and Regulations may be formed for the distributing Property, the securing and disfusing Industry, the preventing the present shocking Vices of Electioneering, and in general, for the correcting most, if not all of those Evils, which great Riches, Excess of Liberty, and Length of Time, are too apt to introduce. I say such a Set of Rules and Regulations may be formed; against the Admission of which into our Code of Laws, there cannot be the least Pretence of a Physical Impossibility. In one Word, the Constitution of the Body Natural is so framed, that after a certain length of Time, no Remedy in Nature can restore it to its pristine Health and Vigour; for at last old Age will necessarily destroy it, if nothing else shall put a Period to it sooner:—But the Diseases of the Body Politic are not absolutely incurable; because Care and Caution, and proper Remedies, judiciously and honestly applied, will produce those Effects in one Case, which it would be impossible for them to produce in the other.