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Show . ON THE Il\JJ\IEDIA'fE CAUSES [en. VIr. rapid recovery of Ya t capital destroyed, 'vhich, in the san c deoT e, never probably occurred in the hi. tory of auy nation b fore. Bot, if \VC \Verc no\v to tnake sin1ilar issues of paper, the effect \vould be very different. Perhaps a sudden incrca e of currency and a ne\v facility Of l)OlTO\vino· tnio·ht, under any circun1 stances, b t:l • give a tetnporary s6rr1ulus to trade, but it would only be ten1porary. Without a large expenditure on the part of the govcrntncnt, and a frequent conYers ion of capital into revenue, the great po,vers of production acquired by the capitali ts, operating upon the din1ini hed power of purchasing poss~sscd by the ovvncrs of fixed incon1es, could not fml to occasion a still greater glut of con1n1oclitics than i. felt at present; and experience bas sufiicicnt1y she,vn u , that paper cannot upport prices under such circun1stanccs. In the history of our paper transactions, it \Vill be found that the abundance or scantiness of currency has follo\vcd and aggravated high or lo\v prices, but eldon1 or never led then1; and jt is of the utn1ost jn1portance to recollect that, at the end of the vvrar, the prices failed before tl1e contraction of the currency began. It \Vas, in fact, the failure of prices, \vhich destroyed the country banks, and shewed us the frail foundations on \vhich the excess of our paper-currency rested. This sudden contr~~tion no doubt ao·oTavated verv oTcatly the (!Is-ob .; o l .tresses of the tnerchants and of the country; an( for this very reason \Ve should use our utn1ost endeavours to avoid such an event 1n future; not, hoW-SEC .. X.J OF THE PHOGR F.SS OF 'YEALTJI . 515 ~ver, by vain e~orts to keep up prices by forcible ~ssu~s of paper, 1n defiance at once of the Ia \V ot JUStice and the gTeat principles of supply and clen1an~, but. by. the only effectual vvay, that of st~ach1y tnaintaining our paper of the san1e value Wit? tl:e co.in vvhich it professes to rcpresen t, and ~UbJect~ng It to no other fluctuations than tho e 'vhich belong to the precious metals. . In reference to the n1ain doctrine inculcated in the latter part of this 'vork, na1nely, that the progr~ ss of \IVealth depends ~1pon proportions; it \vill be obJc~ted, perhaps, that it necessarily opens the ,vay t? chfferences of opin~on relating to these propositions, .and thus throvvs a kind of uncertainty over the sc1ence of politic~l econon1y which ,va not snpposed to belong to It. . ~f, hc)\vever, the doctrine should be found, upon sufticicnt exatnination to be true; if it ad~quately ~ccounts for things a~ they .are, and explains consistently \vhy frequent n1is. takes have been n1acle respecting the future, it will ·be allo,ved that such objectors are ans\vered. 'V c cannot make a science tnore certain by our ,vishcs ·or opinions; but we rn~y obviously n1akc it n1uch more uncertain in it$ application, by believino· it to . be what it is not. b ' rfhough \VC Cannot, however, lfl,y dO\Vn ~certain rule for growing rich, and say that a nation will increase in \Vealth just in the degree in \Vhich it ·:saves frorn its revenue, and ~dds to its capital: yet even i? the lTIOst uncertain parts of the science, even in those parts which relate to the proportions of production and cop;un1ption, \VC are not left LL~ |