8G4

I'll K N AT UUL AND CAUSES OF

lute king of Prussia are the only great princes of Europe ,who, since the death of Henry IV. of France, in 1610, aresupposed to have amassed any considerable treasure. Theparsimony which leads to accumulation has become almostas rare in republican as in monarchical governments. TheItalian republics, the United Provinces of the Netherlands,are all in debt. The canton of Berne is the single republicin Europe which has amassed any considerable treasure.The other Swiss republics have not. The taste for some sortof pageantry, for splendid buildings, at least, and other publicornaments, frequently prevails as much- in the apparentlysober senate-house of a little republic, as in the dissipatedcourt of the greatest king.

The want of parsimony in time of peace, imposes the ne-cessity of contracting debt in time of war. When war comes,there is no money in the treasury but what is necessary forcarrying on the ordinary expense of the peace establishment.In Avar an establishment of three or four times that expensebecomes necessary for the defence of the state, and conse-quently a revenue three or four times greater than the peacerevenue. Supposing that the sovereign should have, whathe scarce ever has, the immediate means of augmenting hisrevenue in proportion to the augmentation of his expense,yet still the produce of the taxes, from which this increaseof revenue must be drawn, will not begin to come into thetreasury till perhaps ten or twelve months after they are im-posed. But the moment in which war begins, or rather themoment, in which it appears likely to begin, the army mustbe augmented, the ileet must be fitted out, the garrisonedtowns must be put into a posture of defence; that army, that‘ileet, those garrisoned towns must be furnished with arms,ammunition, and provisions. An immediate and great ex-pense must be incurred in that moment of immediate danger,which will not wait for the gradual and slow returns of thenew taxes. In this exigency government can have no otherresource but in borrowing.

The same commercial state of society which, by the ope-ration of moral causes, brings government in this manner intothe necessity of borrowing, produces in the subjects both anability and an inclination to lend. If it commonly bringsalong with it the necessity of borrowing, it likewise bringswith it the facility of doing so.

A country abounding with merchants and manufacturers