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Show INTRODUCTION. With regard to this latter subject indeed, it bears on so many points, that the truth or falsehood of the theories on all the principal questions in political econon1y lvould occasion, or at least ought to occasion, a practical difference in the n1ode of raising son1c of the actual taxes. It is \Vell kno\vn that, if the theory of the Econon1ists \Vere true, all taxes should be-laid on the land; and it depends entirely upon the general la,vs '~hich regulate the \Vagcs of labour, the profits of stock, the rent of land, exchangeable value, the currencies of di~erent countries, the production and distribution of ,.vealth, &c. &c. \Vhether any existing systen1 of taxation be the best, or \Vhether it 111ight be altered for the better. It is obviously, therefore, in1possible for a government strictly to let things take their natural course; and to recornn1end such a line of conduct, vvithout lin1itations and exceptions, could not fall to bring disgrace upon general principles, as totally inapplicable to practice. It n1ay, ho,vever, safely be asserted, that a propensity to govern too n1uch is a certain indication . of ignorance and rashness. The ablest physicians are the n1ost sparing in the use of n1edicine, and the most inclined to trust to the healing po\ver of nature. 1"1he statesn1an, in like n1anner, ,vbo kno\VS the n1ost of his business, \vill be the n1ost unwilling to interrupt the natural direction of industry and capital. But both are occasionally called upon to interfere, and the more science they respectively possess, the n1ore judiciously "rill they IN'l'HODUCTION. 21 do it; nor \\7ill the ackno\vledged propi·iety of interfering but little supersede, in any degree, the use of the n1ost extensive professional kno\vledo·e in both cases. 0 . One of the specific objects of the present \Vork 1~ to prep_are the g~ne~·al rules of political econon1y for practical application, by a freg uent reference t~ expe1ience, and by taking as cotnprehensive a vtew as I can of all the causes that concur in the production of particular phenon1ena. I an1 sufficiently aware, that in this n1ode of conducting inquiry, there is a chance of fallino· into b errors of an opposite kind to those \vhich arise · from a tendency to sin1plificati~n. Certain appearances, \v·hich are 111erely co-existent anu incidental, n1ay be tnistaken for causes; and a theory fanned upon this n1istake \Vill unite the double disadvantage of being both con1plex and incorrect. I an1 inclined to think that Adan1 Stnith occasionally fell into this error, and dre\v inferences fron1 actual appearance~, not \Van·anted by general principles. Frotn the low price of "vheat, for instance, during the first half of the last century, he seen1s to infer that \vheat is generally cheape:t; in rich t~an in poor countries ; and from the stpall q uanttty of corn actually imported durh1g that period, even in the scarcest years, he infers generally, that the quantity imported can never be such as to interfere with the home growth. The actual state of things at a subsequent period, and particularly during the last twenty-five years, has sufficiently shewn that these appearances were 1nerely Inct-cS |