Lectures on History, and General Policy: To which is Prefixed, an Essay on a Course of Liberal Education for Civil and Active Life : and an Additional Lecture on the Constitution of the United States : the Whole Corrected, Improved and Enlarged: with a Chart of History and a Chart of Biography, Volume 2 |
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abfolute advantage againſt alfo almoſt alſo ancient arts becauſe Befides beſt buſineſs cafe caufe cauſe chooſe circumftance civil commerce common confequence confiderable confidered conftitution cracy crimes defpotic difpofed England Engliſh eſpecially eſtabliſhed Europe expence fafely faid fame favour fays fecurity ferve feudal fince firſt flaves fo complex fociety fome form of government France ftate fubfift fubject fuch fuffer fufficient fuperior fyftem greater greateſt Greece happineſs himſelf hiſtory houſe increaſe induſtry intereft itſelf king labour land laws leaſt LECTURE lefs liberty lords mankind manner manufactures meaſure ment moft monarchy moſt muft muſt nations neceffary neral obferved occafion particular perfons poffible Prefident preſerve prevent princes progrefs puniſhment purpoſe raiſe reaſon refpect religion repreſentatives republic riches rife Roman Ruffia ſcience ſeem ſeveral ſhall ſhould ſmall ſpirit ſtate taxes thefe themſelves theſe thing thofe thoſe thouſand tion trade unleſs uſe wealth whole whoſe wiſdom
Popular passages
Page 249 - No regulation of commerce can increase the quantity of industry in any society beyond what its capital can maintain. It can only divert a part of it into a direction into which it might not otherwise have gone...
Page 350 - The accounts of all travellers, inconsistent in many other respects, agree in the low wages of labour, and in the difficulty which a labourer finds in bringing up a family in China. If by digging the ground a whole day he can get what will purchase a small quantity of rice in the evening, he is contented. The condition of artificers is, if possible, still worse.
Page 350 - The subsistence which they find there is so scanty, that they are eager to fish up the nastiest garbage thrown overboard from any European ship. Any carrion, the carcase of a dead dog or cat, for example, though half putrid and stinking, is as welcome to them as the most wholesome food to the people of other countries.
Page 351 - Workmen, on the contrary, when they are liberally paid by the piece, are very apt to overwork themselves, and to ruin their health and constitution in a few years. A carpenter in London, and in some other places, is not supposed to last in his utmost vigour above eight years.
Page 217 - It appears, accordingly, from the experience of all ages and nations, I believe, that the work done by freemen comes cheaper in the end than that performed by slaves.
Page 412 - The greatest abuses which arise in France, the most perfect model of pure monarchy, proceed not from the number or weight of the taxes, beyond what are to be met with in free countries ; but from the expensive, unequal, arbitrary, and intricate method of levying them, by which the industry of the poor, especially of the peasants and farmers, is in a great measure discouraged, and agriculture rendered a beggarly and slavish employment. But to whose advantage do these abuses tend ? If to that of the...
Page 350 - ... the rivers and canals. The subsistence which they find there is so scanty, that they are eager to fish up the nastiest garbage thrown overboard from any European ship.
Page 401 - Moderate taxes operate like a constant spur and obligation to labour, and thereby greatly contribute to the flourishing state of a people, particularly if they be laid on gradually. Then, the only consequence of taxes is, that the poor increase their industry, perform more work, and live as well as before, without demanding more for their labour. This is agreeable to what is constantly observed, that in years of scarcity, if it be not extreme, the poor labour more, and live better, than in years...
Page 475 - ... happiness, than could have been brought about by any other means; at least, whether they be not, in fact, subservient to a state of greater happiness." This reasoning he elucidates by striking proofs from history, and concludes with an exhortation, that we should " Let the plain duties of morality be our rule of life. We see and experience their happy effects. But let us acquiesce in the Divine conduct, when we see him producing the same good and glorious ends, by means which are apt at first...
Page 448 - Europe^ is vastly pre*. ferable to what it was in any former period, is evident from the very first view of things. A thousand circumstances shew how inferior the ancients were to the moderns in religious knowledge, in science in general, in government, in laws, both the laws of nations, and those of particular states, in arts, in commerce, in the conveniences of life, in manners, and, in consequence of all these, in happiness.