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The history of the public revenue of the British empire
The history of the public revenue of the British empire Author:John Sinclair Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAP. IV. Of the national Resources. T T has unfortunately been too common a prac- tice, for even refpeftablc individuals, to lay before the public, ve... more »ry exaggerated accounts of the dangerous ftate of the national finances. The more our difficulties increafed, the greater plea- fure they feemed to take in announcing our fitua- tion to our enemies, in damping the exertions of thofe, by whofe judgment and abilities alone we could pofilbly be extricated from the embarrafi"- ments in which we were involved, and in proving to what fatal lengths, even valuable characters may be led, in fupport of a favourite hypothefis. As a perfon anxious to promote the honour and profpcrity of my native country, I have uniformly entered my proteft againft the general tendency of fuch performances. Every attempt to afllgn a period, however remote, for the ruin of a large community, ftrikes me as highly impolitic. Nature has wifely rendered the exiftence of the individual uncertain, left the fear of death mould embitter his days, and difcourage him in every purfuit, however great or laudable. What reafon, then, can be afiigned, why the order of nature Ihould be reverfcd when empires are in queftion ? DifpiritedDifpirited nations, like difpirited individuals, are incapable of vigorous efforts to extricate them- felves from danger: befides, the apprehenfion of evil is juftly accounted more dreadful than its real exiftence. Above all, fuch defponding ideas ought to be difcountenanced in a country, which has long been confpicuous for popular difcontent, during as flou- fifhing circumftances as perhaps a nation ever knew. Whether this originates from the natural turbulence of a free people, or from the gloomy atmofphere that we breathe, certain it is, that the inhabitants of this iQand hav...« less