An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations - Adam Smith (ebooks children's books free .TXT) 📗
- Author: Adam Smith
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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
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