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an enormous difference, for when exchange is at i this ratio percent, inftcad of 5*-becomes 11, if the capital is remitted from Britain : but as that immenfe lofs (50 per cent)op the exchange of France arifes from the political hate of the kingdom, the fame circum-ftanccs which caufe it would be eftimated at fo much hazard and danger. 'But bringto account the operations of the National AiTemblv, relating to the non-inclolure of.commons; the land-tax, variable with improvements (an article fufficient to- ftifle thethoughts of fuch a thing); the export of corn at an end; the tranfport everywhereimpeded ; and your granaries burnt and plundered at the pleafure of the populace, if.they do not like the.price ; and, above all, the prohibition of the export of all materials ofmanufactures, as wool, &c. and it is fufficientlyclear, that America offers a vaflly more eli-gible field for theinveftment of capital in land than France does; a proof that the meafuresof the National Aflembly have been ill-judged, ill advifed, and unpolitical: Ihad ferious<thoughtsof fettling in that kingdom,in order to farm there; but the twomeafures adopted,.of a variable land-tax, .and a prohibition of the export of wool, damped my hopes, ardent.as they were, that I might have breathed that fine climate, free from the extortions of.a government, ftupid in this refpedt as that of England It is however plain enoughthat America is the only country that affords an adequate profit, and in which a man.who calculates with intelligence and.precifion can think of inverting his capital. Flowdifferent would this have been, had the National Aflembly conducted themfelves on-principles dire&ly contrary ; had they avoided, all land-taxes * ; had they preferved thefree corn-trade, a trade of import more than of export; had they been filent upon in-clofures ; and done nothing in relation to raw materials, the profit of inveftments wouldhave been higher in France than in America , or-any country in the world, and immenfecapitals would have flowed into the kingdom from every part of Europe ; fcarcity andfamine would not have been heard of, and the national wealth would have been equal toall the exigencies of the period.
Chap. XXII.— Vines.
THE number of notes I took, in mod of the provinces of'the kingdom, relative tothe culture of vineyards, was not inconfiderable ; but the difficulty of reducing theinfinite variety of French meafures, of land ^nd liquids, to a common ftandard, added toan unavoidable uncertainty in the information itfelf, renders this the mod perplexing-inquiry that can be conceived. It was an object to afcertain the value given to the foilby this culture; the amount of, the annual produce; and the degree of profit attendingit; inquiries not undeferving the attention even of politicians, as the chief interefls of acountry depend, in fome meafure, on fuch points being well underflood. Now there isfcarcely any product fo variable as that of wine. Corn lands and meadow have their bad
* To have avoided land-taxes, might very ealijy have been made a molt popular meafure, in a kingdomfo divided into little properties as France is. No tax is fo heavy Upon a finall.proprietor ; and the cccotio-.mjies might have forcfeen what has happened, that fuch little democratic owners would not pay the tax ;but taxes on confumption, laid as in. England, and not in the infamous methods of the old government ofFrance , would have been paid by them in a light.proportion, without knowing it ; but the aconomifies, tohe confident with their old pernicious doctrines, took every Hep to make all except hind-taxes unpopu-lar; and the people were ignorant enough to be-deceived into the opinion, that it was better to pay a tax onthe bread put into their children’s mouths—and, what is worfe, on the land which ought, but does not pro-duce that bread than to pay an cxcife oirtobacco and fait ; better to pay a tax which is demanded equally,whether they have or have not the money to.pay it, than a duty which, mingled with the price of a luxury,is paid in theealieft. mc.de, and at the moll convenient moment. In the writings of the a.onomifles, youhear of a free corn-trade, and free export of every thing, being the reccmpence for a land-tax ; but fee theirdftions in power—they impofe the burthen, and forget the recompcnfe !
and