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stances and conditions of the trade in which they 

 are engaged, and sufficient intelligence to enable 

 each to know what is best for his own interests, 

 must be premised. Neither the one nor the other 

 can be predicated of Indian traders generally. Nor 

 would I be understood to restrict the circum- 

 stances under which conclusions drawn from pre- 

 mises so based, will be true, to these cases only. 

 The laws and conditions by which propositions 

 in Economic Science are determined, must be 

 recognized, accepted, and acted on by both parties 

 in their dealings, or they will be, in a great measure, 

 if not wholly, inoperative. And this must be ob- 

 vious : for, to take a case in point, suppose Smith, in 

 full prescience, himself, of the remedies which the 

 principles of his science suggest for the indisposition 

 or malady under which his trade may be suffer- 

 ing, quietly to recline in his easy chair, in the 

 confident assurance that his distant relative Jones, 

 who alone possesses the means of relief, will, for 

 his own advantage, at once hurry to his assistance 

 and, from ignorance of Smith's deplorable circum- 

 stances, or failing to see that his interest lies 

 in relieving his sufferings, or from any other cause 

 whatever, Jones does not do so Smith's trade will, 

 in ordinary course, languish, and ultimately die. 

 But leaving this unfortunate victim of sound 

 principles, let us attempt some diagnosis of the 

 disease of his trade. It is not very long ago 



