"_All depends on races._ The first, the most noble of races, comes naturally from the North of Asia. The Russians are the nearest to it, and this is the reason why they have made more progress in fifty years than can be got out of the Portuguese in five hundred."[34] Belonging to the Latin race, Galiani was entitled to speak thus freely. 1. In another letter to Madame d'Epinay, _dated at Naples, 18th May, 1776_, he had already foretold the success of our Revolution. Few prophets have been more explicit than he was in the following passage:-- "Livy said of his age, which so much resembled ours, 'Ad hæc tempora ventum est quibus, nec vitia nostra, nec remedia pati possumus,'--'We are in an age where the remedies hurt as much as the vices.' Do you know the reality? _The epoch has come of the total fall of Europe, and of transmigration into America._ All here turns into rottenness,--religion, laws, arts, sciences,--and all hastens to renew itself in America. This is not a jest; nor is it an idea drawn from the English quarrels; I have said it, announced it, preached it, for more than twenty years, and I have constantly seen my prophecies come to pass. _Therefore, do not buy your house in the Chaussée d'Antin; you must buy it in Philadelphia._ My trouble is that there are no abbeys in America."[35] This letter was written some months before the Declaration of Independence was known in Europe. 2. In another letter, _dated at Naples, 7th February, 1778_, the Abbé alludes to the "quantities" of English men and women who have come to Naples "for shelter from the American tempest," and adds, "Meanwhile the Washingtons and Hancocks will be fatal to them."[36] In still another, _dated at Naples, 25 July, 1778_, he renews his prophecies in language still more explicit:-- "You will at this time have decided the greatest revolution of the globe; namely, _if it is America which is to reign over Europe, or if it is Europe which is to continue to reign over America_. I will wager in favor of America, for the reason merely physical, that for five thousand years genius has turned opposite to the diurnal motion, and travelled from the East to the West."[37] Here again is the idea of Berkeley which has been so captivating. ADAM SMITH.--1776. In contrast with the witty Italian is the illustrious philosopher and writer of Scotland, Adam Smith, who was born 5th June, 1723, and died 17th July, 1790. His fame is so commanding that any details of his life or works would be out of place on this occasion. He was a thinker and an inventor, through whom mankind was advanced in knowledge.