Xll PREFACE. 



culture, which constitute the true wealth of this 

 country, in order to prevent the French and Au- 

 strian nations from further giving way to their love 

 of manufactures, to which they are tempted by 

 erroneously supposing that the power of England 

 is derived from these sources. 



The object of the English translation is to show 

 to the English, in a more attractive form than is 

 presented by many folio volumes of parliamen- 

 tary reports, what the real condition of this country 

 is ; and how manufactures and commerce, in their 

 present excess, are sources of weakness, and not 

 of strength, to the country ; of distress, and not 

 of comfort ; of discontent, and not of peace. 



The only source of real wealth and prosperity to 

 a people is the produce of their land. None other 

 can be permanent, none other can be anything 

 but fallacious, specious, and ultimately prejudicial. 

 Hence it follows that the inhabitants of a country 

 are interested in its permanent prosperity only in 

 proportion as they are owners of land, or derive 

 their support from its produce in some form or 

 other. On the other hand, a manufacturer of silk 

 or cotton, for example, who brings his raw produce 

 from the Mediterranean, converts it into some 

 other form by his mill on the Clyde or at Man- 

 chester, and exports the manufactured article to 

 the Seine or the Baltic, is no more interested in 



