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

above mentioned, the only resource which can remain to her, is a

diminution of her expense. In the mode of collecting and in that

of expending the public revenue, though in both there may be

still room for improvement, Great Britain seems to be at least as

economical as any of her neighbours. The military establishment

which she maintains for her own defence in time of peace, is more

moderate than that of any European state, which can pretend to

rival her either in wealth or in power. None of these articles,

therefore, seem to admit of any considerable reduction of

expense. The expense of the peace-establishment of the

colonies was, before the commencement of the present

disturbances, very considerable, and is an expense which may,

and, if no revenue can be drawn from them, ought certainly to be

saved altogether. This constant expense in time of peace, though

very great, is insignificant in comparison with what the defence

of the colonies has cost us in time of war. The last war, which

was undertaken altogether on account of the colonies, cost Great

Britain, it has already been observed, upwards of ninety

millions. The Spanish war of 1739 was principally undertaken on

their account; in which, and in the French war that was the

consequence of it, Great Britain, spent upwards of forty millions

; a great part of which ought justly to be charged to the

colonies. In those two wars, the colonies cost Great Britain much

more than double the sum which the national debt amounted to

before the commencement of the first of them. Had it not been for

those wars, that debt might, and probably would by this time,

have been completely paid; and had it not been for the colonies,

the former of those wars might not, and the latter certainly

would not, have been undertaken. It was because the colonies were

supposed to be provinces of the British Empire, that this expense

was laid out upon them. But countries which contribute neither

revenue nor military force towards the support of the empire,

cannot be considered as provinces. They may, perhaps, be

considered as appendages, as a sort of splendid and shewy

equipage of the empire. But if the empire can no longer support

the expense of keeping up this equipage, it ought certainly to

lay it down ; and if it cannot raise its revenue in proportion to

its expense, it ought at least to accommodate its expense to its

revenue. If the colonies, notwithstanding their refusal to submit

to British taxes, are still to be considered as provinces of the

British empire, their defence, in some future war, may cost Great

Britain as great an expense as it ever has done in any former

war. The rulers of Great Britain have, for more than a century

past, amused the people with the imagination that they possessed

a great empire on the west side of the Atlantic. This empire,

however, has hitherto existed in imagination only. It has

hitherto been, not an empire, but the project of an empire ; not

a gold mine, but the project of a gold mine; a project which has

cost, which continues to cost, and which, if pursued in the same

way as it has been hitherto, is likely to cost, immense expense,

without being likely to bring any profit ; for the effects of the

monopoly of the colony trade, it has been shewn, are to the great

body of the people, mere loss instead of profit. It is surely now

time that our rulers should either realize this golden dream, in

which they have been indulging themselves, perhaps, as well as

the people ; or that they should awake from it themselves, and

endeavour to awaken the people. If the project cannot be

completed, it ought to be given up. If any of the provinces of

the British empire cannot be made to contribute towards the

support of the whole empire, it is surely time that Great Britain

should free herself from the expense of defending those provinces

in time of war, and of supporting any part of their civil or

military establishment in time of peace; and endeavour to

accommodate her future views and designs to the real mediocrity

of her circumstances.

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