1792 on the coal duties in Scotland, 29 
half a million of people, inot only does not alford any revenue, 
but is even a burde. ujon the other parts of the commu- 
nity. To this iet me add, that if the committee had ex- 
tended their researches into Banfishire, Aberdeenthire, 
Kincardinethire, and Perthfhire, excluding the towns of 
Aberdeen and Perth, with a small circuit round each; as 
also to the southern internal counties of Scotland, beyond 
the coal district, the same result would have appeared. 
Since, therefore, there are urarly two-thirds of the per- 
sons in Scotland who contribute nothing towards the 
public revenue drawn from th« ce, it follows that the whole 
of the national revenue drawn f m that country, is ob- 
tained from the small but active and industrious division 
of it, on both sides of the friths of the Clyde and Forth, 
which abounds with manufactures and commerce; and 
which, at the highest calculation, has never been computed 
to contain half a million of souls, in which places only, 
the expence of collecting the taxes, falls fhort of the re- 
venue collected by them. But from Sir John Sinclair’s 
account of the public revenue, [part iii. p. 354.] it appears 
that Scotland paid in the year 1788, a free revenue ta 
the amount of more_than one million sterling, after de- 
ducting the expence of collecting. Here, then, we are 
forced to draw the same conclusion as before. Those in 
the Hebrides, &c. who yield no revenue to the state what- 
ever, are opprefsed by the weight of taxes; while those 
others who yield at the rate of forty fhli ings a-head, are 
in thriving and prosperous circumstances; and feel not 
their prefsure in the smallest degree. In {hort, whatever 
Way we turn ourselves, we find that the prosperity of the 
people, and the proportional amount of the revenue yield- 
ed by them, keep pace with each other. How blindly, 
then, do those reason, who would persuade the people 
that the amount of the revenue yielded by us, is a proof 
