------------------------------------------------------------------------ Transcriber’s Note: This version of the text cannot represent certain typographical effects. Italics are delimited with the ‘_’ character as _italic_. Footnotes have been moved to follow the paragraphs in which they are referenced. The table of contents includes references in Book III to sections printed in the text as marginal notes (sidenotes). Each has been linked for ease of reference. [Sidenote: Marginal Notes.] All marginal notes will appear prior to the paragraph they annotated as, prefixed with ‘Sidenote:’ There was an Errata included in the text. The corrections listed there were made. Minor errors, attributable to the printer, have been corrected. Please see the transcriber’s note at the end of this text for details regarding the handling of any textual issues encountered during its preparation. AN INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF POLITICAL OECONOMY: BEING AN ESSAY ON THE SCIENCE OF Domestic Policy in Free Nations. IN WHICH ARE PARTICULARLY CONSIDERED POPULATION, AGRICULTURE, TRADE, INDUSTRY, MONEY, COIN, INTEREST, CIRCULATION, BANKS, EXCHANGE, PUBLIC CREDIT, AND TAXES. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ By Sir JAMES STEUART, Bart. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ _Ore trahit quodcumque potest atque addit acervo._ HOR. Lib. I. Sat. 1. IN TWO VOLUMES. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ VOL. I. LONDON: Printed for A. MILLAR, and T. CADELL, in the Strand. MDCCLXVII. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ _PREFACE._ It is with the greatest diffidence that I present to the public this attempt towards reducing to principles, and forming into a regular science, the complicated interests of domestic policy. When I consider the time and labour employed in the composition, I am apt to value it from selfish considerations. When I compare it even with my own abilities, I still think favourably of it, for a better reason; because it contains a summary of the most valuable part of all my knowledge. But when I consider the greatness of my subject, how small does the result of my application appear!