23 



".ships bound from Jaffa tc Constantinople, instead of pro- 

 " ceeding to that capital, would be carried to London, or 

 " elsewhere."* It is easy to be seen, bow much the pros- 

 perity of the fine arts is connected with the prosperous 

 state of the individual in society; with the general opu- 

 lence of. the community, the prevalence of commerce, the 

 free intercourse of man with man, and the security of 

 persons and property.-]- 



.The various accounts of the state of the Turkish em- 

 pire, of the government^ or rather of the methodized anar- 

 chy, of the Beys in Egypt, and of the other states, where 

 despotism prevails, shew what the fine arts may hope, from 

 arbitrary government. Despotism is highly unfavourable 

 to commerce, from the insecurity of persons and property, 

 in general; the jealousy with which strangers are regard- 

 ed; the constant drains ta which ti'ading people are pe- 

 culiarly subject, both from regular and systematic extor- 

 tion of the government; and from occasional acts of vio- 

 lence and rapacity, by the great men and officers of court. 

 Hence results a prevalent spirit of dishonesty, fraud, cir- 

 cumvention, and usurious dealing, on the part of the tra- 

 ders and monied men. For they are led to extort exor- 

 bitant gains, to counterbalance the dangers of their situ- 

 ation, and /the- periodical losses, to which they are inevi- 

 tably subject. In such countries, the accumulation of 



wealth 



* See Wittman's Travels, p. 133. 



t See die Accounts of the neglect of Agriculture, on the Barbary Coast.' 



