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’DIE NATURE AND CAUSES OF

was besides a foreign manufacture, and must have paid someduty, the ancient custom of tonnage or poundage at least, tothe king. This duty, indeed, would not probably be verygreat. It was not then the policy of Europe to restrain byhigh duties, the importation of foreign manufactures, butrather to encourage it, in order that merchants might beenabled to supply, at as easy a rate as possible, the greatmen with the conveniencies aud luxuries which they wanted,and which the industry of their own country could not affordthem.

The consideration of these circumstances may perhaps insome measure explain to us why, in those ancient times, thereal price of the coarse manufacture was, in proportion tothat of the fine, so much lower than in the present times.

CONCLUSION OF THE CHAPTER.

1 shall conclude this very long chapter with observing,that every improvement in the circumstances of the societytends either directly or indirectly to raise the real rent ofland, to increase the real wealth of the landlord, his powerof purchasing the labour, or the produce of the labour ofother people.

The extension of improvement and cultivation tends toraise it directly. The landlord’s share of the produce neces-sarily increases with the increase of the produce.

That rise in the real price of those parts of the rude pro-duce of land, which is first the effect of extended improve-ment and cultivation, and afterward the cause of their beingstill further extended, the rise in the price of cattle, for ex-ample, tends too to raise the rent of land directly, and in astill greater proportion. The real value of the landlord’sshare, his real command of the labour of other people, notonly rises with the real value of the produce, but the propor-tion of his share to the whole produce rises with it. Thatproduce, after the rise in its real price, requires no more la-bour to collect it than before. A smaller proportion of itwill, therefore, be sufficient to replace, with the ordinaryprofit, the stock which employs that labour. A greater pro-portion of it must, consequently, belong to the landlord.

All those improvements in the productive powers of la-bour, which tend directly to reduce the real price of manu-factures, tend indirectly to raise the real rent of land. Thelandlord exchanges that part of his rude produce, which is