572 
POLITICAL ECONOMY, POLITICS, AND 
FINANCE. 
The Earl of Lauperpate has pub- 
Efhed a fanciful and fubtle ‘* Inguiry into 
the Nature and Origin of Public Wealth, 
aud into ibe Means and Caufes of its In- 
create.” 
In the courfeoPthe inquiry his Lordthip 
has offered fome very parad xical propofi- 
tions, which he has laboured to Subitan- 
tiate by trains of reatoning more ingenious 
than coovinciag. He contends that the 
fm total of individual riches forms no 
accurate ftatement of public wealth— 
*« Acommodity ({ays he) being ufeful or 
delightful to man, cannot alone give it va- 
lue. To corain value, or to be qualified 
to confitute a portion of private riches, it 
muft combine with that quality the cir- 
cumf@ance of exiiting in a certain degree of 
fearcity.”” His Lordfhip, anticipating an 
inference which would perhaps have been 
drawn, goes cn thus: ‘* Yetthe common 
fenfe of mankind would revol: at a propo- 
fal for augmenting the wealth of a nation 
by creating a fcarcity of any commodity 
generally uieful aud neceffary to man.— 
For example: let us fuppole a country 
pofleffing abundance af the neceflaries and 
conveniencies of life, and univerfally ac- 
commodated with the pureft ftreams of 
water ;—what opinion would be entertain- 
ed of the untlerttanding of a man, who, as 
the means of increafing the wealth of fuch 
a country, fhould propose to create a fcar- 
city of water, the abundance cf which was 
defervedly confidered as one of the greateft 
bieffings incident to the community ? It 
is certain, however, that fuch a projector 
would by this means fucceed in increafing 
the mafs of ind:vidual riches; for to the 
water, which would fill retain the quality 
of being ufeful anddefirable, he would add 
the circumftance of exifting in-fcarcity, 
which of courfe maft confer upon it value; 
and when it once obtained value, the fame 
circumfances that fix the value of its pro- 
duce for a cercain number of years, as the 
price of the pofleflicn of land which pro- 
duces food, would equally fix the value of 
the produce cf {prings fora certain number 
of years, as the price of the poffefiion of 
that which produced drink ; and thus the 
individual riches of the country would be 
increafed ina fum equal to the value of 
the fee-fimple of all the wells.”’ 
This furely is'a very fiagular inftznce 
of falfe-reafoning. ‘This imaginary pro- 
je&tor, who by creating a {carcity of water 
might half'depopulate his country, would 
neverthelefs foeceed in increaGng the mais 
of individual riches! His Lordtbip has 
‘ 
Retrofped? of Domeftic Literature.— Political Economy, &c. 
here unavailingly laboured to overthrow 
et to confound the diftinGtiors which all 
former writers on political economy have 
acknowledged between real and relative, 
nominal and intrinfic value. The value ofa 
neen Anne's farthing is altogether nomi- 
nai, arifing folely from its fearcity: gold 
and filver have a mixed value, derived - 
from theit {carcity, which is relative, and 
their ufefulnefs, which is intrinfic. The 
value of the coarfer metals is almoft folely 
intrinfic. Is a fhower of rain more valu- 
able on the barren defert of Arabia than 
upon the fertile vales of Britain, becaufe 
upon the former it falls more rarely ? Are 
the fun-beams of lictle value to us becaufe — 
they diffule fo regular and liberal 2 
warmth as to ripen our harvefts—to caufe 
grafs to grow for cattle and herbs. for the 
fervice of man? Let us, however, take 
the cafe which his Lordfhip has propofed: 
Tt is perte&tly untrue, even on his own 
principles, that the projeétor who fhould. 
create in any country a {carcity of water, 
would cobfequently increafe the mafs of 
individual riches. That he would increafe 
his own private riches may perhaps be 
granted; but it is molt clear, that as he 
increafed his own riches he would diminifh 
thofe of other people, and that here would 
be a transfer of riches from other people to 
him, but no actual increafe. Nor would 
the perfonak increafe be at all upon a par 
with the general diminution, becaufe the 
projector could not fet fo much labour into 
motion, as what, by the very fuppofitioa, 
he has deftroyed ; mills could no longer’ 
work when rivers were dried up ; manu- 
factures would foon be ftopped, and traflic 
be annihilated. 
In another place his Lordthip has at- 
tempted to: prove that the accumulation of 
capital is no increafe of public wealth ; a 
paradox as firange as the former. — 
Notwithfanding, however, the peculia= 
rities of fome of Lord Landerd ale’s opini- 
ons and economical tenets, the work dif. — 
plays great ingenuity and extenfive infor- 
mation. It proves, too, very clearly—if, 
indeed, fuch proof had been wanted—that 
h's Lordthip is a bold and original think- 
er—WNullius addigtus jurare in verba ma-. 
gifirt. 
The very ingesious aad well-informed 
author of the Crifis of the Sugar Colonies 
has recently publifhed a pamphlet which 
well deferves the attention of the public.. 
The: fobs: 
ject of it is, torecommend our Govern- 
It is untitled ** Opportunity.” 
ment to make an acknowledgment of the 
liberty of the negroes of St. D mingo ; to ~ 
enter into a federal engagement with them 
ae 
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