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TIJK NATURE AND CAUSES OE

provinces of a great empire the freedom of the inland tradeappears, both from reason and experience, not only the bestpalliative of a dearth, but the most etfectual preventive of afamine; so would the freedom of the exportation and im-portation trade be among the different states into which agreat continent was divided. The larger the continent, theeasier the communication through all the different parts of it,both by land and by water, the less would any one particularpart of it ever be exposed to either of these calamities, thescarcity of any one country being more likely to be relievedby the plenty of some other. But very few countries haveentirely adopted this liberal system. The freedom of thecorn trade is almost everywhere more or less restrained, and,in many countries, is confined by such absurd regulations,as frequently aggravate the unavoidable misfortune of adearth, into the dreadful calamity of a famine. The demandof such countries for corn may frequently become so greatand so urgent, that a small state in their neighbourhood,which happened at the same time to be labouring undersome degree of dearth, could not venture to supply themwithout exposing itself to the like dreadful calamity. Thevery bad policy of one country may thus render it in somemeasure dangerous and imprudent to establish what wouldotherwise be the best policy in another. The unlimited free-dom of exportation, however, would be much less dangerousin great states, in which the growth being much greater, thesupply could seldom be much affected by any quantity ofcorn that was likely to be exported. In a Swiss canton, orin some of the little states of Italy , it may, perhaps, some-times be necessary to restrain the exportation of corn. Insuch great countries as France or England it scarce evercan. To hinder, besides, the farmer from sending his goodsat all times to the best market, is evidently to sacrifice theordinary laws of justice to an idea of public utility, to a sortof reasons of state; an act of legislative authority whichought to be exercised only, which can be pardoned only, incases of the most urgent necessity. The price at which theexportation of corn is prohibited, if it is ever to be prohibited,ought always to be a very high price.

The laws concerning corn may everywhere be comparedto the laws concerning religion. The people feel themselvesso much interested in what relates either to their subsistencein this life, or to their happiness in a life to come, that go-