Four tracts, on political and commercial subjects

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SUBJECTS. 64. POLITICAL AND So much as to the Reafon of" the Thing: Let ‘ us now confider the Fact, and be determined byl "Experience. Princes expect to get by fuccelsi ful Wars, and Series of Conqueits, either more Territory, or more Subjects, or a more ample Revenue; or perhaps, which is generally the Cafe, they expec‘t to obtain all three. Now, in regard to Territory, if mere Superficies were the Thing to be aimed at, it mutt be allowed, that a Country of a Million of fquare Miles is more in Quantity than one of Half that Ex- ' tent. 65 COMMERCIAL But if Countries are not to be valued bv Acres, but by the Cultivation and the Produci of thofe Acres, then it follows, that ten Acres may be better than a thoufand, or perhaps ten thoufand; and Bifhop Bentley's Qiery may come in here very .apropos,---May not a " Man be the Proprietor of twenty Miles {quart " in North flmm‘at, and yet be in Want oft " Dinner 3" As to Numbers of Subjects, :furely War and Conquefi .are not the moft likely Means for attaining this End; and a Scheme, which confills ‘ iitions would require more numerous Defences, and becaufe a People fcattered over an immenfe Tract of Coumry are, in fac‘t, much weaker than half their Number aeting in Concert to- gether, and able by their Vicinity to fuccout one another. Monaovm, as to the Adair of the Revenue, and the Produce of Taxes, the fame Arguments conclude equally firong in this Cafe as in the former: And the indilputable Fact is, that an ill-peopled Country, tho' large and eXtenfive, neither produces fo great a Revenue as a fmall one well cultivated and populous ; nor, if it did, would the net Produce of fuch 21 Revenue be equal to that of the other, becaufe it is, in a Manner, fwallowed up in Governments, Guards, and Garrilons, in Salaries and Penlions, and all the confuming Perquifites and Expences attendant or difltant Provinces. IN reference to the Views of the Pe0ple-as far as fuch Views coincide with thofe of the Prince, fo far they have been confidered already: But, feeing that the Thirft of inordinate Riches in private Subjects, which pulhes them in the Def‘truétion of the Human Speciesy l .18 a very firange one indeed .to be propofed for their Increafe and Multiplication: Nay, grantng that Numbers of Subjects might On to wifh fo vehemently for War, has fomething in it dif'tinét from the Avarice of Princes, let be acquired, together with the Accefiion of THmory, fiill thefe new Subjects would add no «real Strength to the State; becaufe new Acquifitions us conlider every Plea that can be offered. Us now examine, whether this Trade of War is a likely Method to make a People rich, and let _" Surely, fay thefe Men, to return Home laden E f_‘ with ;_:_m\r\umn ~-"‘" , "in"