fifty thousand crowns, which, at four and sixpence
the crown, amounts to L.33,750 sterling.
The government of Pennsylvania, without
amassing any treasure, invented a method of
lending, not money, indeed, but what is equivalent
to money, to its subjects. By advancing
to private people, at interest, and
upon land security to double the value, paper
bills of credit, to be redeemed fifteen years after
their date; and, in the mean time, made
transferable from hand to hand, like banknotes,
and declared by act of assembly to be a
legal tender in all payments from one inhabitant
of the province to another, it raised a
moderate revenue, which went a considerable
way towards defraying an annual expense of
about L.4500, the whole ordinary expense of
that frugal and orderly government. The
success of an expedient of this kind must have
depended upon three different circumstances:
first, upon the demand for some other instrument
of commerce, besides gold and silver
money, or upon the demand for such a quantity
of consumable stock as could not be had
without sending abroad the greater part of
their gold and silver money, in order to purchase
it; secondly, upon the good credit of
the government which made use of this expedient;
and, thirdly, upon the moderation with
which it was used, the whole value of the
paper bills of credit never exceeding that of
the gold and silver money which would have
been necessary for carrying on their circulation,
had there been no paper bills of credit.
The same expedient was, upon different occasions,
adopted by several other American
colonies; but, from want of this moderation,
it produced, in the greater part of them, much
more disorder than conveniency.
The unstable and perishable nature of stock
and credit, however, renders them unfit to be
trusted to as the principal funds of that sure,
steady, and permanent revenue, which can alone
give security and dignity to government.
The government of no great nation, that was
advanced beyond the shepherd state, seems
ever to have derived the greater part of its
public revenue from such sources.
Land is a fund of more stable and permanent
nature; and the rent of public lands, accordingly,
has been the principal source of
the public revenue of many a great nation
that was much advanced beyond the shepherd
state. From the produce or rent of the public
lands, the ancient republics of Greece and
Italy derived for a long time the greater part
of that revenue which defrayed the necessary
expenses of the commonwealth. The rent of
the crown lands constituted for a long time
the greater part of the revenue of the ancient
sovereigns of Europe.
War, and the preparation for war, are the
two circumstances which, in modern times,
occasion the greater part of the necessary expense
of all great states. But in the ancient
republics of Greece and Italy, every citizen
was a soldier, and both served, and prepared
himself for service, at his own expense.
Neither of those two circumstances, therefore,
could occasion any very considerable expense
to the state. The rent of a very moderate
landed estate might be fully sufficient
for defraying all the other necessary expenses
of government.
In the ancient monarchies of Europe, the
manners and customs of the times sufficiently
prepared the great body of the people for
war; and when they took the field, they
were, by the condition of their feudal tenures,
to be maintained either at their own
expense, or at that of their immediate lords,
without bringing any new charge upon the
sovereign. The other expenses of government
were, the greater part of them, very
moderate. The administration of justice, it
has been shewn, instead of being a cause of
expense was a source of revenue. The labour
of the country people, for three days
before, and for three days after, harvest, was
thought a fund sufficient for making and
maintaining all the bridges, highways, and
other public works, which the commerce of
the country was supposed to require. In
those days the principal expense of the sovereign
seems to have consisted in the maintenance
of his own family and household.
The officers of his household, accordingly,
were then the great officers of state. The
lord treasurer received his rents. The lord
steward and lord chamberlain looked after
the expense of his family. The care of his
stables was committed to the lord constable
and the lord marshal. His houses were all
built in the form of castles, and seem to have
been the principal fortresses which he possessed.
The keepers of those houses or castles
might be considered as a sort of military governors.
They seem to have been the only
military officers whom it was necessary to
maintain in time of peace. In these circumstances,
the rent of a great landed estate
might, upon ordinary occasions, very well
defray all the necessary expenses of government.
In the present state of the greater part of
the civilized monarchies of Europe, the rent
of all the lands in the country, managed as
they probably would be, if they all belonged
to one proprietor, would scarce, perhaps,
amount to the ordinary revenue which they
levy upon the people even in peaceable times.
The ordinary revenue of Great Britain, for
example, including not only what is necessary
for defraying the current expense of the year,
but for paying the interest of the public
debts, and for sinking a part of the capital
of those debts, amounts to upwards of ten
millions a-year. But the land tax, at four
shillings in the pound, falls short of two millions
a-year. This land tax, as it is called,