you adopt the words you heard him apply, in a great affembly, to enforce the perfuafion that the mother-country, fhould_retract freely, fpeedily and magnanimoufly. Fine words! "RECTITUDE

IS DIGNITY. OPPRESSION ONLY IS MEANNESS; AND JUSTICE, HONOUR." If thefe expreffions had any meaning, and were not fpoken with the mere view of exhibiting ore rotundo, the oratorial abilities of the fpeaker, they are a libel (as is your whole letter) * on the legislature as well as the government of this country. They charge the latter, at whofe head is majefty itfelf, with having oppreffed, and dealt unjustly by the Americans, and, in fo doing, of having forfeited the honour and dignity of the nation; which they can restore only by retracing; he and you fay magnanimously, but I will venture to fay, even the Americans themselves would call it meanly. But, be this as it may, in the prefent distresing dilemma, into which the mother-country is brought, no matter by what means; when it is deftruction to go forward and ruin to recede, furely it is criminal in individuals to diffeminate difcontent in fpreading the rancour of mutual reproach, and widening a breach, perhaps already irreparable. Let me add that he putting up your fervent prayers that it may not be fo, would be more becoming your character as a man, a Briton and a Chriftian, than the publication of either particular remonftrances or general fpeculations, that, were they true as they are melancholy, can only ferve to promote diffatisfaction and induce despair. I am, Sir, yours, &c.

T. D.

We have inferted the above letter to Dr. P as a proof of our impartiality, but hope it will not be made a precedent, to fubject us in future to fimilar requests; as the length of fuch letters will be a great inconvenience.

REPLIES TO CORRESPONDENTS.

The gentleman, who infifts on knowing the author of a certain ar ticle in our laft Review, forgot, in his anger, to fend us his addrefs; which omiffion if he will pleafe to fupply, he fhall certainly be made acquainted with the author.

We received the book, which the writer of S. W. left with our publisher, but cannot with any propriety take notice of his work at prefent.

J. B's critique on Sir Edward Barry, is omitted for want of room, but shall have a place in our next.

Philofopbia is entreated to excufe our dropping a fubject, at least for the prefent, that, we conceive, muft begin to tire our readers.

The London Catalogue is in great forwardness and will foon make its appearance,

THE

LONDON REVIEW,

FOR MARCH, 1776.

ART. I. An Enquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. By Adam Smith, LL. D. and F. R. S. Formerly Profeffor of Moral Philosophy in the University of Glajgow. 2 vols. 4to. 11. 16s. Cadell.

When Science, fay the Poets, defcended from heaven, the dignity of her fteps on earth furpaffed defcription; the homage, firft paid her by Genius, was in the fpirit of true devotion. As its devoirs, however, were regulated by Reafon, they neither foared into enthufiafin nor funk into fanaticifm, The fcientific may fometimes be fophifts, but the wife are always fufficiently poffeffed of theinfelves to know they are men. Το the happinets of their fellow creatures, therefore, the studies of the first and beft philofophers are always devoted*. It reflects, on thofe of the prefent age, peculiar honour that, while a fpirit of luxury and diffipation appears to have diffufed itself over the face of the Earth, thefe intelligent guardians of mankind, not inattentive to their charge, devote their time and exert their talents, to withstand the impetuofity of the torrent, which might otherwise ingulph the intellectual endowinents of the whole hu

man race.

In the firft rank, of the fuperior order of philanthropists, muft we clafs the author of the prefent enquiry;t a work of equal ingenuity, induftry and utility. Of its general plan, we shall

The political, or the apparent and comparative, happinefs: for of any other, perhaps, the wifeft man in the world is no competent judge.

To whom the public is alfo indebted for many other ingenious and learned investigations, particularly the Theory of moral fentiments and a differtation on the origin of langonge.

VOL III.

N.

not

not prefume to give our readers a better account than is given in the writer's own introduction.

"The annual labour of every nation is the fund which originally fupplies it with all the neceffaries and conveniences of life which i annually confumes, and which confift always, either in the immediate produce of that labour, or in what is purchased with that produce from other nations.

"According therefore, as this produce, or what is purchased with , bears a greater or fmaller proportion to the number of those who are to confume it, the nation will be better or worse supplied with all the neceffaries and conveniences for which it has occation.

"But this proportion must in every nation be regulated by two different circumftances; first, by the fkill, dexterity and judgment with which labour is generally applied in it; and, fecondly, by the proportion between the number of those who are employed in ufeful labour, and that of those who are not fo employed. Whatever be the foil, climate, or extent of territory of any particular nation, the abundance or fcantinefs of its annual fupply must, in that particular fituation, depend upon thofe two circumstances.

"The abundance or feantinefs of this fupply too feems to depend more upon the former of those two circumstances than upon the latter. Among the favage nations of hunters and fishers, every individual who is able to work, is more or lefs employed in ufeful labour, and endeavours to provide, as well as he can, the neceffaries and conveniences of life, for himself, and fuch of his family or tribe as are either too old, or too young, or too infirm to go a hunting and fishing. Such nations, however, are fo miferably poor, that, from mere want, they are frequently reduced, or, at leaft, think themselves reduced, to the neceflity fometimes of directly destroying, and fometimes of abandoning their infants, their old people, and thofe afflicted with lingering difeafes, to perish with hunger, or to be devoured by wild beasts. Among civilized and thriving nations, on the contrary, though a great number of people do not labour at all, many of whom confuine the produce of ten times, frequently of a hundred times more labour than the greater part of thofe who work; yet the produce of the whole labour of the fociety is fo great, that all are often abundantly fupplied, and a workman, even of the lowest and pooreft order, if he is frugal and induftrious, may enjoy a greater thare of the neceffaries and conveniences of life than it is poffible for any favage to acquire.

The caufes of this improvement, in the productive powers of labour, and the order, according to which its produce is naturally diftributed among the different ranks and conditions of men in the fociety, make the fubject of the First Book of this Inquiry.

"Whatever be the actual state of the fkill, dexterity, and judgment with which labour is applied in any nation, the abundance. or fcantinefs of its annual fupply, muft depend, during the continuance of that state, upon the proportion between the number of those who are annually employed in ufeful labour, and that of thofe

who

who are not fo employed. The number of ufeful and productive labourers, it will hereafter appear, is every where in proportion to the quantity of capital stock which is employed in fetting them to work, and to the particular way in which it is fo employed. The Second Book, therefore, treats of the nature of capital stock, of the manner in which it is gradually accumulated, and of the different quantities of labour which it puts into motion, according to the different ways in which it is employed.

"Nations tolerably well advanced as to fkill, dexterity, and judg meut, in the application of labour, have followed very different plans in the general conduct or direction of it; and thofe plans have not all been equally favourable to the greatnefs of its produce. The policy of fome nations has given extraordinary encouragement to the induftry of the country; that of others to the industry of towns. Scarce any nation has dealt equally and impartially with every fort of induftry. Since the downfal of the Roman empire, the policy of Europe has been more favourable to arts, manufac tures, and commerce, the industry of towns, than to agriculture, the industry of the country. The circumstances which feem to have introduced and established this policy are explained in the Third book.

"Though thofe different plans were, perhaps, first introduced by the private interefts and prejudices of particular orders of men, without any regard to, or forelight of, their confequences upon the general welfare of the fociety; yet they have given occafion to very different theories of political economy; of which fome magnify the importance of that industry which is carried on in towns, others of that which is carried on in the country. Those theories havehad a confiderable influence, not only upon the opinions of men of learning, but upon the public conduct of princes and fovereign fates. I have endeavoured, in the Fourth Book, to explain, as fully and diftinctly as I can, thofe different theories, and the principal effects which they have produced in different ages and nations. "In what has confifted the revenue of the great body of the people, or what is the nature of thofe funds which, in different ages and nations, have fupplied their annual confumption, is treated of in these four firft Books. The Fifth and last Book treats of the revenue of the fovereign, or commonwealth. In this Book I have endeavoured to show, firit, what are the neceffary expences of the fovereign, or commonwealth; which of thofe expences ought to be defrayed by the general contribution of the whole fociety; and which of them, by that of fome particular part only, or of fome particular members of the fociety: fecondly, what are the different methods in which the whole fociety may be made to contribute towards defraying the expences incumbent on the whole fociety, and what are the principal advantages and inconveniences of each of thofe methods; and, thirdly and lastly, what are the reasons and caufes which have induced almost all modern governments to mortgage fome part of this revenue, or to contract debts, and what have

N 2

been

been the effects of thofe debts upon the real wealth, the annual produce of the land and labour of the fociety."

In the profecution of the above plan, our author enters firft into the detail of the caufes of improvement in the productive powers of labour, and of the order according to which its produce is naturally diftributed among the different ranks of the people. Under this head, which conftitutes the fubject of the firft book, the author feparately treats of the divifion of labour and the principle which gives cccafion to it. His exemplification, of this divifion in a very minute and methodical manner, he clofes with the following reflections.

"It is the great multiplication of the productions of all the different arts, in confequence of the division of labour, which occafions in a well governed fociety that univerfal opulence which extends itself to the lowest ranks of the people. Every workman has a great quantity of his own work to difpofe of beyond what he himself has occafion for; and every other workman being exactly in the fame fituation, he is enabled to exchange a great quantity of his own goods for a great quantity, or, what comes to the fame thing, for the price of a great quantity of theirs He fupplies them abundantly with what they have occafion for, and they accommodate him as amply with what he has occafion for, and a general plenty diffufes itself through all the different ranks of the fociety.

"Obferve the accommodation of the most common artificer or day-labourer in a civilized and thriving country, and you will perceive that the number of people of whole industry a part, though but a finall part, has been employed in procuring him this accommodation exceeds all computation The woollen coat, for example, which covers the day-labourer, as coarfe and rough as it may appear, is the produce of the joint labour of a great multitude of workmen. The firepherd, the forter of the wool, the wool-comber or carder, the dyer, the fcribbler, the fpinner, the weaver, the fuller, the dreffer, with many others, muft all join their different arts in order to complete even this homely proHow many merchants and carriers, befides, mult have been employed in tranfporting the materials from fome of thofe workmen to others who often live in a very diftant part of the country! how much commerce and navigation in particular, how many hip-builders, failors, fail-makers, repe-makers, must have Leen employed in order to bring together the different drugs made ufe of by the dyer, which often come from the remoteft corners of the world What a variety of labour too is neceffary in order to produce the tools of the meaneft of thofe workmen! To fay nothing of fuch complicated machines as the fhip of the failor, the mill of the fuller, or even the locm of the weaver, let us confider only what a variety of labour is requifite in order to form that very fimple machine, the thears with which the shepherd clips the wool. The miner, the builder of the furnace for melting the

ore,

the

feller