An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith (ebook reader with highlighter txt) 📖

>distinguished in Europe as an eminent man of letters, is as

rarely to be found there as in any Roman catholic country, In

Geneva, on the contrary, in the protestant cantons of

Switzerland, in the protestant countries of Germany, in Holland,

in Scotland, in Sweden, and Denmark, the most eminent men of

letters whom those countries have produced, have, not all indeed,

but the far greater part of them, been professors in

universities. In those countries, the universities are

continually draining the church of all its most eminent men of

letters.

 

It may, perhaps, be worth while to remark, that, if we except the

poets, a few orators, and a few historians, the far greater part

of the other eminent men of letters, both of Greece and Rome,

appear to have been either public or private teachers; generally

either of philosophy or of rhetoric. This remark will be

found to hold true, from the days of Lysias and Isocrates, of

Plato and Aristotle, down to those of Plutarch and Epictetus,

Suetonius, and Quintilian. To impose upon any man the necessity

of teaching, year after year, in any particular branch of science

seems in reality to be the most effectual method for rendering

him completely master of it himself. By being obliged to go

every year over the same ground, if he is good for any thing, he

necessarily becomes, in a few years, well acquainted with every

part of it. and if, upon any particular point, he should form too

hasty an opinion one year, when he comes, in the course of his

lectures to reconsider the same subject the year thereafter, he

is very likely to correct it. As to be a teacher of science is

certainly the natural employment of a mere man of letters ; so is

it likewise, perhaps, the education which is most likely to

render him a man of solid learning and knowledge. The mediocrity

of church benefices naturally tends to draw the greater part of

men of letters in the country where it takes place, to the

employment in which they can be the most useful to the public,

and at the same time to give them the best education, perhaps,

they are capable of receiving. It tends to render their learning

both as solid as possible, and as useful as possible.

 

The revenue of every established church, such parts of it

excepted as may arise from particular lands or manors, is a

branch, it ought to be observed, of the general revenue of the

state, which is thus diverted to a purpose very different from

the defence of the state. The tithe, for example, is a real land.

tax, which puts it out of the power of the proprietors of land to

contribute so largely towards the defence of the state as they

otherwise might be able to do. The rent of land, however, is,

according to some, the sole fund; and, according to others, the

principal fund, from which, in all great monarchies, the

exigencies of the state must be ultimately supplied. The more of

this fund that is given to the church, the less, it is evident,

can be spared to the state. It may be laid down as a certain

maxim, that all other things being supposed equal, the richer the

church, the poorer must necessarily be, either the sovereign on

the one hand, or the people on the other; and, in all cases, the

less able must the state be to defend itself. In several

protestant countries, particularly in all the protestant cantons

of Switzerland, the revenue which anciently belonged to the Roman

catholic church, the tithes and church lands, has been found a

fund sufficient, not only to afford competent salaries to the

established clergy, but to defray, with little or no addition,

all the other expenses of the state. The magistrates of the

powerful canton of Berne, in particular, have accumulated, out of

the savings from this fund, a very large sum, supposed to amount

to several millions; part or which is deposited in a public

treasure, and part is placed at interest in what are called the

public funds of the different indebted nations of Europe; chiefly

in those of France and Great Britain. What may be the amount of

the whole expense which the church, either of Berne, or of any

other protestant canton, costs the state, I do not pretend to

know. By a very exact account it appears, that, in 1755, the

whole revenue of the clergy of the church of Scotland, including

their glebe or church lands, and the rent of their manses or

dwelling-houses, estimated according to a reasonable valuation,

amounted only to �68,514:1:5 1/12d. This very moderate revenue

affords a decent subsistence to nine hundred and fortyfour

ministers. The whole expense of the church, including what is

occasionally laid out for the building and reparation of

churches, and of the manses of ministers, cannot well be supposed

to exceed eighty or eighty-five thousand pounds a-year. The most

opulent church in Christendom does not maintain better the

uniformity of faith, the fervour of devotion, the spirit of

order, regularity, and austere morals, in the great body of the

people, than this very poorly endowed church of Scotland. All the

good effects, both civil and religious, which an established

church can be supposed to produce, are produced by it as

completely as by any other. The greater part of the protestant

churches of Switzerland, which, in general, are not better

endowed than the church of Scotland, produce those effects in a

still higher degree. In the greater part of the protestant

cantons. there is not a single person to be found. who does not

profess himself to be of the established church. If he professes

himself to be of any other, indeed, the law obliges him to leave

the canton. But so severe, or, rather, indeed, so oppressive a

law, could never have been executed in such free countries, had

not the diligence of the clergy beforehand converted to the

established church the whole body of the people, with the

exception of, perhaps, a few individuals only. In some parts of

Switzerland, accordingly, where, from the accidental union of a

protestant and Roman catholic country, the conversion has not

been so complete, both religions are not only tolerated, but

established by law.

 

The proper performance of every service seems to require, that

its pay or recompence should be, as exactly as possible,

proportioned to the nature of the service. If any service is very

much underpaid, it is very apt to suffer by the meanness and

incapacity of the greater part of those who are employed in it.

If it is very much overpaid, it is apt to suffer, perhaps still

more, by their negligence and idleness. A man of a large revenue,

whatever may be his profession, thinks he ought to live like

other men of large revenues; and to spend a great part of his

time in festivity, in vanity, and in dissipation. But in a

clergyman, this train of life not only consumes the time which

ought to be employed in the duties of his function, but in the

eyes of the common people, destroys almost entirely that sanctity

of character, which can alone enable him to perform those duties

with proper weight and authority.

 

PART IV.

 

Of the Expense of supporting the Dignity of the Sovereign.

 

Over and above the expenses necessary for enabling the sovereign

to perform his several duties, a certain expense is requisite for

the support of his dignity. This expense varies, both with the

different periods of improvement, and with the different forms of

government.

 

In an opulent and improved society, where all the different

orders of people are growing every day more expensive in their

houses, in their furniture, in their tables, in their dress, and

in their equipage; it cannot well be expected that the sovereign

should alone hold out against the fashion. He naturally,

therefore, or rather necessarily, becomes more expensive in all

those different articles too. His dignity even seems to require

that he should become so.

 

As, in point of dignity, a monarch is more raised above his

subjects than the chief magistrate of any republic is ever

supposed to be above his fellow-citizens ; so a greater expense

is necessary for supporting that higher dignity. We naturally

expect more splendour in the court of a king, than in the

mansion-house of a doge or burgomaster.

 

CONCLUSION.

 

The expense of defending the society, and that of supporting the

dignity of the chief magistrate, are both laid out for the

general benefit of the whole society. It is reasonable,

therefore, that they should be defrayed by the general

contribution of the whole society ; all the different members

contributing, as nearly as possible, in proportion to their

respective abilities.

 

The expense of the administration of justice, too, may no doubt

be considered as laid out for the benefit of the whole society.

There is no impropriety, therefore, in its being defrayed by the

general contribution of the whole society. The persons, however,

who give occasion to this expense, are those who, by their

injustice in one way or another, make it necessary to seek

redress or protection from the courts of justice. The persons,

again, most immediately benefited by this expense, are those whom

the courts of justice either restore to their rights, or maintain

in their rights. The expense of the administration of justice,

therefore, may very properly be defrayed by the particular

contribution of one or other, or both, of those two different

sets of persons, according as different occasions may require,

that is, by the fees of court. It cannot be necessary to have

recourse to the general contribution of the whole society, except

for the conviction of those criminals who have not themselves any

estate or fund sufficient for paying those fees.

 

Those local or provincial expenses, of which the benefit is local

or provincial (what is laid out, for example, upon the police of

a particular town or district), ought to be defrayed by a local

or provincial revenue, and ought to be no burden upon the general

revenue of the society. It is unjust that the whole society

should contribute towards an expense, of which the benefit is

confined to a part of the society.

 

The expense of maintaining good roads and communications is, no

doubt, beneficial to the whole society, and may, therefore,

without any injustice, be defrayed by the general contributions

of the whole society. This expense, however, is most immediately

and directly beneficial to those who travel or carry goods from

one place to another, and to those who consume such goods. The

turnpike tolls in England, and the duties called peages in other

countries, lay it altogether upon those two different sets of

people, and thereby discharge the general revenue of the society

from a very considerable burden.

 

The expense of the institutions for education and religious

instruction, is likewise, no doubt, beneficial to the whole

society, and may, therefore, without injustice, be defrayed by

the general contribution of the whole society. This expense,

however, might, perhaps, with equal propriety, and even with some

advantage, be defrayed altogether by those who receive the

immediate benefit of such education and instruction, or by the

voluntary contribution of those who think they have occasion for

either the one or the other.

 

When the institutions, or public works, which are beneficial to

the whole society, either cannot be maintained altogether, or are

not maintained altogether, by the contribution of such particular

members of the society as are most immediately benefited by them

; the deficiency must, in most cases, be made up by the general

contribution of the whole society. The general revenue of the

society, over and above defraying the expense of defending the

society, and