PHI LOS 0 P H Y . - Classic Works of Apologetics Online

Agriculture, and Commerce. 463
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mpnt; 111 Ilnposlng restrIctIons too rIgorous, or In
continuing them too long; in not perceiving the
point of time when the irresi~tible order and progress
of human affairs demanded a change of laws and
P olicv. r J
t III~ l\IoNEY. Where nl0n~,' abounds, the people
are generally numerous : yet goid and silver neither
feed nor clothe mankind; nor are they in all couo-'
tries converted into provision by purchasing the necessaries
of life at foreign lllarkets ; nor do they ~ in
any country, compose those articles of personal or
dotnestic ornament, which certain orders of the com­
Inunity have learnt to regard as necessaries of lift', and
\vithout the Dleans of proc#.iring \\?hich tlley will not
enter into family establishments-at least this property
ot the pt~cious metals obtaL.1lS in a very small de ..
gree. The effect of money upon the number of the
people, though visible to observation, h not explained
without sOlne difficulty. '1'0 understar1d this connexion
properly, we must return to the proposition
\vith which we concluded our reasoning upon the
subject, " that population is chiefly promoted by em ..
ployml-nt." i Now of employment money is partly
the indication, and partly the cau~e. ) The only way
in which money regularly and !-poDtaneously j/fl".J)1
iiJl~ a country, is in return for the goods that are sent
out of it, or the work that is performed by it; and
rrlc GIlly way in which tnOlley is retained in a country,
~5 by the country supp1ying, in a great measure, its
own 'consumption of manufactures. i Cons~uently,
tl12 quantity of money found in a country, denotes
lIle' aOlount of labour and employment; but still
-::n~oynwnt~ not m01l.ey, is the (ause of population;
the accumulation of money being merely a collateral
effect of the sam\! cau~e, or a . circumstance which ac ..
C{1tllpallics 111e exi~tence, and measures the operation
of that cause. And this i$ true of money only whilst
it is acquired by the ino\13try of the inhabitants. The
tn'lsun.'s which belong to a country by the possession
tif min:.'~, or hy the ex~ti()n of tribute from foreign
Jt:pc!ld~ncit!ot, afford no conc1ujon concerning the
L 1~ !.