Part 6
Such, I repeat it, such will be, in the last analysis, the result of the underworkings of nature; of nature, ever more slow, but ever more skilful in repairing evil than men are in creating it; of nature, who, as good at all times as the bread which she breaks to her children, fills up without intermission, incessantly levels, behind them, and unknown to them, whilst they are amusing themselves or playing tricks upon each other, all those little furrows which they imagine will be left to the care of their posterity.
Some one, no doubt, will exclaim against this additional fifteenth upon the prices of every commodity; an augmentation which I have represented as the only remaining trace of a war, which, for five years, attracted in both hemispheres, the eyes of all whose brains were not heated by it. I shall grant therefore that it was necessary to add thereto,
First, the trifling difference which must result from the impossibility of a thorough good understanding between the interested parties, together with the intention, not very liberal, but natural enough to each of them, of gaining more than they can lose.
Secondly, the difference, perhaps more sensible, which must follow the method so much boasted, of taxing in preference, those objects which are consumed by the rich; as if it were possible to apply to any object, an extraordinary portion of a given revenue, without taking off that very portion from some other article, the consumption of _which is equally necessary to the subsistence of artizans of another kind_.
Thirdly, and in fine, the far more considerable difference which must be produced, _especially in England_, by another kind of taxation, of which I shall speak hereafter.
Nothing contributes so much to render a question undeterminable, as to perplex it with a multitude of accessaries, each of which would require a separate dissertation; consequently, nothing can render the solution easier than to reduce it to the smallest compass. Some other person will, no doubt, do much better, what I can do only according to the extent of my abilities; nor did ever an author peruse his own work with more pleasure than I shall read the production of any one who shall throw the light of evidence where I can only form surmises. But if it be true, that after a short space of time, without any other assistance than the natural clashing of one interest with another, taxes, _judiciously laid_, are hurtful neither to individuals nor to the State,—would it not be better to labour with care to _lay them judiciously_, than to think of a reimbursement, the only effect of which will be to diminish, for a short time, amongst some individuals, the power of paying those very taxes?
I beg permission to add a word more on this fatal reimbursement.
_A Thought substituted to that of a Reimbursement._
To write in _England_, nay, to write with obstinacy against the plan of a reimbursement, the necessity of which is acknowledged by the whole nation, who expect wonders from its execution; to write for the purpose of persuading that such a step would equally militate against the interest of the State, and that of the subject; and especially to hazard such visionary ideas at the moment when _France_, so clear-sighted on her own interests, is herself busy in effecting a like reimbursement ... must surely be the attempt of a man hired by the _French_, to excite, if possible, some ferment in those heads which are all wound up to calculation; and to raise, during the little time the calculations will require, some plausible doubts, in order at least to delay the effect, of so salutary, so essential an operation; for, _France_ is so interested in the ruin of _England_, that she ought to spare no means to stop her, were it but for an instant, at that point which it has not been possible to prevent her from attaining.
On the other hand, to write in _French_, and endeavour to introduce into _France_, a pamphlet in which the author does not profess himself an admirer of a reimbursement, the possibility of which, now clearly demonstrated, has excited there a general enthusiasm, a kind of rapture the more excusable, as the most evident disorder in all parts of the finances, during the space of 80 years, did not permit even the humane and sensible mind to form a single wish for that very measure of which the execution is so certain, and the advantages pretended to be so positive.... It is suing with impudence for the good graces of a nation, to which I have, as it were, been turned over by the cession made to it of the country where my fortune lies: it is ridiculously flattering myself that I shall justify by a _trait_ of unbridled licence, the title of _Englishman_, conferred on me by the treaty of peace.
It is certain, that more than once a man has been most secretly accused, tried with the greatest expedition, condemned without being heard, and punished with merciless severity, in consequence of charges much less specious than the above; for I confess that there is a faint glimmer of plausibility in the heads of accusation which I have brought. But, in the end, justice must be done; and, thank heaven, my present trial is on the very first instance, brought to its last stage; the public shall be my judge; they shall be put in possession of all the documents relating to the trial; and I presume to hope, that no one of those who shall be able to bear the perusal of them, will suspect my sincerity when I protest, that, without any other motive but that which has at all times invariably guided me through life, I would burn this paper, if I could find therein a single word that might be hurtful to _France_—I would burn it, were I to find therein a single word that might be hurtful to _England_—I would burn it, were I to find therein a single word that might give offence to any individual of either of the two kingdoms.—But I freely own, that my ambition would be far from receiving its full gratification, were this work to prove useful only to those two parts of the world, however brilliant the part they act therein.—URBI ET ORBI.—_Shakespear_ says that the Warrior seeks “the bubble _glory_ in the cannon’s mouth:” a man who presumes to think, looks for it in the bottom of his inkstand: their hope is not always crowned with success; nay, very often, the one meets only death, and the other contempt. Yet there are some lucky chances: sometimes the former saves his country, the latter is sometimes serviceable to all mankind.
Be it as it may, I intreat the reader to observe, that the principles I lay down do not tend, by any means, to lessen the public credit, to spread any doubt on the faculties which _France_ and _England_ have of effecting the reimbursement which both these nations have in contemplation; I maintain, on the contrary, with the simplicity of a _child_, that it is a _childish play_, for the one as well as for the other. I say, that the one who appears the most distressed of the two, and is the most taken up with her pretended distress, has only to take from the _pocket_ of one, what he will be very _averse to give_, and put it into the _hands_ of another, who will be equally _averse to receive_. I say, with respect to the nation, which _now_ acts the most brilliant part, that all she has to do, is to give, to those who do not ask for it, a sum of money which she receives, and has no occasion for; _to give it_, I say, for fear of being solicited, importuned, and teazed, to make a bad use of it, or else be obliged to hoard it up, to the very great detriment of circulation. I shall add now, that a business, which to me, does not appear a _childish_ one, but really that of a man, would be to examine, whether the 40 or 50 millions of livres annuity, which are about to expire by degrees in _France_, and the million, or million and half sterling of taxes to be levied in _England_, over and above the sum necessary to pay the interest of the national debt, and other state expenditures, will be better employed in the diminution of some private revenue than in the increase of the general wealth in both States; that is to say, whether it is most advantageous to pay off the creditors, who, by such a reimbursement, will be compelled to place at 4 and at 3, what brought them in 5 and 4 _per cent._ than to lay out the money, for the purpose of increasing, perhaps by one fourth, the products of agriculture and industry, by a faithful and judicious repartition of those sums upon the cultivation of some millions of acres, which now yield nothing but brambles, or yield only the half of what they ought to produce.—How many of this description are to be found both in _England_ and _France_!⸺This is not all: how many kinds of taxes, the effects of which have not been sufficiently searched into! How many more, whose pernicious consequences are fully known! How many more, the levying of which can be justified only by reason of their produce being wanted, or by _the supposed_ impossibility of a commutation!—Ought the State to reimburse, before those have been scrutinized, these repealed, and all commuted which shall appear evidently to militate against sound principles?
The great art does not consist in finding, at pleasure, one million sterling more in _France_ as well as in _England_, or _vice versâ_. Heavens! what kind of minister would that man be, whose genius could not discover, in either kingdom, in the multitude of objects truly susceptible of taxation, a number of articles capable of furnishing that million annually, without injuring the general consumption, beyond the first year at the worst? The only difference which, in this respect, I might point out between the two nations, is, that in _France_ the impost would be registered, and paid after the usual remonstrances; and that in _England_, were the tax to have been devised, even by Supreme Wisdom, on the actual system, all those who might think themselves directly or indirectly interested in the operation of the tax, would not fail to clamour as loud as possible, and not without reason; for, after all, if the objects taxed, are equitably taxed, and in a due proportion with all the rest, why, out of 160 objects and upwards, already charged with equity, should _ten_ be picked out to be overloaded with a new burden?—Has at least a rotation been established for the future?—On what principles? Or does it evidently appear that there can be no fixed one adopted on so important a matter?—If a tax is offered to be laid on such articles as have paid none hitherto, then _Opposition_ stands on firmer ground; for, are not those objects, by their nature, evidently as sacred as the ark of the Lord? Did ever the least scrupulous, the boldest Minister of the finances, dare, to this day, to lay his hand upon it?—Would he have respected it, if he had not trembled for his head; that is, in plain _English_, for his place? For, thank Heaven, there is no necessity, now, for the _English_ to be more hot-headed than any other nation in _Europe_. It is generally acknowledged among themselves, with true _English sang-froid_, that, on the part of those champions of patriotism, who, according to the interest of the day, charge each other by turns with selling the people, and betraying the _SACRED constitution_, all terminates now in the most exact change of admirable sarcasms, and exquisite railleries. The pleasure of being a Minister because _the minister alone can do what is good_, and the concern at not being a Minister, _because the minister alone can do what is good_, are now productive of nothing more in _England_; and the People, as well as the King, are not worse served for it, nor are they worse informed: witness the speeches on both sides.
Amongst the questions which I have mentioned, and many others always appropriated to the subject, there are some sufficiently weighty to puzzle, in _England_ as well as in _France_, the respondent who should be obliged, before a tax is laid, to answer them in a _satisfactory_ manner. Luckily, as I have already mentioned, in _France_, thanks to the monarchical constitution, the King _commands_, the Parliament remonstrates, registers, and the People pay: and, as is known to all the world, thanks to the free constitution of _England_, there the King _demands_, the parliament debates, grants, and the People pay. With that facility which exists every where, of doing what is not palpably absurd, I think it might be possible now, without bringing credit or authority in question, to renounce the little vanity of devising a productive tax; and that a man of common abilities ought to confine himself to the establishing or maintaining order and clearness in the accounts, to the diminution of expences in collecting the revenues, and to fidelity in the use of them.—But the true, the unacquired glory to be obtained by a financier, would be, I think, to hit upon a simple scheme, the application of which might be obvious in all cases, a scheme productive of no fruitless evil, permitting all possible good, and which might, by degrees, be substituted to those vague taxations, to those _taxations_ founded on false principles, to those wild notions, which, by adding _five_ to an article not worth _three_, raise nevertheless that object to _eight_, and leave the trader at liberty to sell that for _fifteen_, which he sold formerly at _four_. It is true that, on the first exigency of the State, they pretend to remedy the abuse by an additional tax called _licence_, or by any other name which answers the same purpose, and compels the peculator to refund part of his extortion. But what does this licence come to, after all?—_To sell to a man the right of ransoming more severely the public, after having previously furnished him with the means and pretence for doing it._
No one doubts, in _England_, but that the system of _French_ taxation is a very bad one; nothing so self-evident as the reasons adduced in proof; every thinking man in _France_ approves of those reasons:—but does it clearly appear, that in _England_ some parts of that system are not adopted?—Is it not true, on the contrary, that it has prevailed, for a long time, in one point truly essential, in regard to which they have but diminished its inconveniencies, without thinking perhaps of the injustice, which is as inseparable from it, as it is from those wherein it appears more evidently?—The advantage of taxing the consumption is generally acknowledged; it is as generally believed that the way of bringing this system to perfection is by taxing, above all, _the consumption of the rich_:—yet, were it to happen that the poor should be more injured, and that for a longer time, by a natural effect of the very operation devised for their release, than he could be aggrieved if nothing should escape the tax....
I shall venture to throw out some thoughts on these different objects, after I have examined whether the necessity of a balance of trade, constantly favourable, be not as doubtful as that of a reimbursement, and a bankruptcy; and whether that balance is really such as many people imagine it.
_General Balance of Trade in ~England~._
When the proprietor of a considerable sum in the _English_ funds examines Sir _Charles Whitworth_’s truly valuable work, _State of the Trade of Great-Britain_; he thanks his stars, and says, “I have nothing to fear whilst the balance of trade continues in favour of this kingdom; but the moment it shall turn against her, recourse must inevitably be had to the expedient so long postponed: the application of the _sponge_ is inevitable.”—
I have perhaps already said enough to animate the greater part of those, who are concerned in the public funds of every enlightened nation, against every other fear but that of a reimbursement; but, as it may be believed, with regard to the public funds in _England_, that I have reasoned on the supposition, generally admitted, of that balance in their favour, of which the _English_ are so jealous, I would wish doubly to strengthen the mind of the parties concerned, by proving to them that their fortune rests on a basis much more solid than that of a pretended _favour_, which the private interest of every merchant, vigilantly repels, whilst the fancy of the body at large happily confines them to believe in the idol, and to invoke it.
I am indebted to the details contained in Sir _Charles Whitworth_’s work, for the advantage of applying to real facts, many reflexions which I had digested before I had read that work; but I was, till then, reasoning on _hypotheses_; I now reason on what so nearly approaches reality, that it is necessary to controvert my arguments, instead of consigning their foundation to the system of chimeras.
By means of that valuable work, I see, from the year 1700 to 1775, and that in the greatest detail, strengthened by all the proofs that the nature of the subject can admit of, a constant superiority of exports, which, in the space of 75 years, amounts to the enormous sum of 267,774,769_l._ (I have overlooked the fractions of each article.) This is, in the total amount, much more than one half of the gold and silver imported into _Europe_ from _America_, during the same lapse of time; but, of this period of 75 years, 30 must be attended to, wherein the superiority of _English_ exports comes up very nearly to five-sixths of the general importation of those two precious metals, _which were to make good so many other balances_. We should also observe, amongst those years, a most flourishing one, wherein that _English favour_ absorbs, as it were, all the silver imported into _Europe_; and five other years still more wonderful, where it surpasses that general importation by 10, 12, and even 1,300,000_l._; for, in 1750 the general exportation of _English_ goods exceeded the importation of foreign produce, by 7,359,964_l._ and yet all that product of the _mines_, belonging to _Spain_ and _Portugal_, is estimated only at 6,000,000_l._ sterling _per annum_.
I shall suppose, for a moment, that, during the space of time I have just mentioned, the balance of trade did, in reality, produce to _England_ an importation of money, to the amount of 267,774,769_l._ (for the reports of the Custom-House, as stated by Sir _Charles Whitworth_, brought in as a proof of that pretended, uninterrupted balance, in _favour_ of the nation, mean what I have said, or mean nothing at all, in regard to this matter; they do not prove one penny if they do not prove the whole sum). It is true that, according to the same reports, we must deduct for the money exported from _England_, during the course of those 75 years, about 105 millions, by which the nation at least got rid of a surplus which would have strangely disparaged the price of that which was preserved in the country: but is it very certain that the 162,774,969_l._ the precious _nett_ of the pretended balance, was actually preserved? This appears to me impossible, for the following reasons, which may perhaps furnish us with the means of knowing, precisely enough, in what the true balance consists.
Since the beginning of this century, the real and nominal value of the revenue in the other parts of _Europe_, has doubled, as well as in _England_. Now this augmentation, in the products and prices, has required, every where, a proportionable increase of the means of circulation; and _Spain_ and _Portugal_ are nearly the only two sources from whence that increase of means could be procured.
In the supposition that the revenue of _England_ constitutes one tenth of that of _Europe_ (it is a great deal), the other nations composing that part of the world were of course obliged to endeavour to secure the nine tenths of the money necessary for their own circulation; and their success in this is the less questionable, as, in case any one of them should be short of money for the circulation of its property, the _English_ themselves would eagerly supply that part of the precious balance, which it might want, because, in this case, the importation of money into such country would prove more profitable than an importation of fresh goods, whilst the old ones, carried there already, waited for money to circulate them. Hence it may be concluded, that the _English_ never had, or at least have not preserved, more than their tenth, twelfth, or rather, more than their natural portion in that absolute mass of gold and silver necessary to the circulation.
I shall now say, that it is not even probable that they have preserved that _quota_, necessary every where else for the circulation of a revenue similar to theirs, because _England_ is, of all known nations, the one where the circulation of property of all kinds, requires a less quantity of real cash: the merciless severity of the laws against debtors, the general credit which it encourages, the use and indubitable value of paper currency, which are derived equally from both, are three objects which, in this respect, set _England_ far above _par_, in comparison with all the other nations who have neglected to secure to themselves the same advantages.
Might we not further say, that _England_ evidently has not thought proper to get that _quota_, which she might have claimed, since one third, and perhaps half of her circulation, is effected by paper-money with more dispatch, with more facility, and with as much solidity as if it were effected by cash?