1844 to 1849-£54,000,000 in 1854 and £71,000,000 in 1856.

Look where we may, we shall find evidence that, as men become more free, the proportion of taxation to production tends to decline that diminished proportion tending, more and more, to assume the form of a direct and honest application on the part of those who govern, to those who are governed, with constant growth in the feeling of responsibility on the part of those by whom the public revenue is expended.-Where, on the contrary, man declines in freedom, the proportion grows, with constant increase in the necessity for privately abstracting from the pocket of the contributor what dare not be asked directly; and as constant decline in the feeling of responsibility on the part of governors towards those who are governed-abundant proof of this, being found in the phenomena which now meet our view, in Ireland and India, Jamaica and Turkey, Virginia and Carolina, Great Britain and the United States.

§ 13. Why not, then, it will be asked, at once abolish all the duties of excise, duties of customs, and other interferences with commerce-establishing perfect and entire freedom of intercourse between man and man, throughout the world? Such is the idea at times suggested by men who hold, that the happiness and prosperity of men are to be advanced by extending the dominion of trade, and who see, in the growth of the number and size of ships, the most conclusive evidence of that advance. As well, however, might they ask-Why not give to each and every man a farm? Why not make all men proprietors? Why not, at once, quadruple the wealth of the community, and thus enable every member of it to feel himself enriched? In the natural course of things, land tends to become divided; men's faculties tend to become developed; wealth tends to increase; the division between the few and the many tends towards the production of equality; and taxation tends to become more direct. All these phenomena, however, are evidences of civilization-appearing, invariably, in all communities in which the circulation increases in rapidity, and disappearing as the circulation dies away. The more the demand for human

force tends to become instant upon the existence of the power to produce it, the greater is the tendency towards that state of things in which direct taxation becomes possible. The longer the interval elapsing between production and consumption, the larger are the proportions borne by movable to immovable capital, and the greater must be the tendency towards seeking to obtain, by indirect and deceptive means, the supplies that cannot be directly asked for. In proof of this, we beg the reader to turn again to the diagram in the previous pages, with a view to see where, on the left, he can find the means of direct taxation. Man is there a mere slave, and land is so utterly valueless, that hundreds of square miles would be given in exchange for a single dollar. Coming nearer, we find the government purchasing millions of acres, for an amount of money that would be refused in France or England, were it offered in payment for a single property. Where, then, are the subjects of direct taxation?

Passing further east, the margin for profits decreases, with constant diminution in the power of indirect taxation. Land and labor steadily assume larger proportions-the slave of the earlier period being replaced by the freeman of the later one, and the wretched owners of vast bodies of land, being replaced by thousands, and tens of thousands, of wealthy farmers, owners of the soil they cultivate. The man and his land may now be taxed; but, before they are so, the freeman must be consulted, as to the mode of taxation to be adopted—the extent to which it may be carried and the purposes to which the proceeds are to be applied.

Taxation tends to become direct, as men become free; and the greater that tendency, the more rapid is the diminution borne by the claims of government, to the power of the community to meet them. Men become free, as the prices of raw materials tend more and more to approximate the former rising and the latter falling. That approximation takes place in the ratio of the existence of the power of association and combination that, in turn, being found in the ratio of the diversity in the demand for labor. The more perfect the society-the more various the demands for mental and physical faculties- the more rapid must be the circulation, the greater the power of accumulation, the

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larger the proportion borne by fixed to movable capital, and the greater the power to obtain, through direct taxation, the means of meeting those expenditures required for maintaining order, and thus securing all in the peaceful enjoyment of the rights of person and of property.

Such are the tendencies in all the countries following in the lead of France-land and labor there rising in value, as prices more and more approximate, and direct taxation tending, there, to the supercession of that which is indirect.

The reverse of this, is found in all of those which follow in the lead of England. India gives more cotton for less iron, lead, tin, copper, and gold, than she did forty years since. Land and labor declining, therefore, in value, her government becomes, from year to year, more dependent on salt and opium monopolies for support. How, under such circumstances, attempt to abolish indirect taxation? Jamaica gives more sugar for all the metallic products, than she did forty years since, while having less to sell. Portugal, Turkey, and Ireland, are in the same condition—all having less to sell, and obtaining lower prices for what is sold. So, too, is it in the United States, all of whose rude products have declined steadily in price, during a period of forty years; whether measured by copper or iron, tin or lead, silver or gold. Throughout the country, the proportion of movable to fixed property is a steadily increasing one-producing a constant increase in the necessity for looking to interferences with commerce for the means of obtaining revenue. So was it, in the period from 1817 to 1824, and in that from 1835 to 1842—both of which are now recognised as the periods when the policy of the country was directed towards the maintenance of such interference, as a part of the systematic policy of the governmentprotection being then regarded merely as an incident attendant upon the acquisition of revenue. So was it not, in the periods from 1828 to 1834, and 1842 to 1847-the demand for the means of supporting the government having then assumed a more direct form - protection having then become the distinct object of the tariffs of those periods, leaving the question of revenue to occupy the incidental place. Land and labor then rapidly increased in value; and for the reason, that the prices of rude and finished commodities steadily approximated to each

other thus affording the highest evidence of that approach towards civilization, required for enabling a government to apply directly to the people for all the means of its support.

Commerce becomes free, as indirect taxation ceases to exist. The power of indirect taxation diminishes, as the farmer is more and more freed from the oppressive tax of transportation. That tax diminishes, as the faculties of man are more developed, and as the power of association more and more arises. That it may arise, and may extend itself, diversity in the modes of employment is an indispensable requisite. The production of such effects having been the intent and meaning of the protective tariffs of 1828 and 1842, and those effects having been realised, not only in this country, but in all of those which follow in the lead of France, adopting the policy of Colbert, the experience of the world may be adduced in proof of the assertion, that the road to perfect freedom of commerce is to be found in the adop tion of measures tending to the creation of a domestic market, and to the consequent relief of the farmer from that first and most oppressive of all taxes the one resulting from the neces

sity for effecting change of place. Such, precisely, was the idea of Adam Smith, when enlarging upon the advantages to commerce, resulting from combining tons of food with hundreds of pounds of wool, in the form of pieces of cloth, that could so readily be transported to the most distant quarters of the world.

§ 14. The more perfect the commerce among its people, the greater is the power for honest and direct taxation, and the greater the strength of the State. Commerce grows as employments become diversified, as individuality becomes developed, and as agriculture becomes a science. That the countries which follow in the school of Colbert, are becoming stronger, has been proved by the facts, that Russia maintained her credit during an exhausting war, while Prussia maintained neutrality, in despite of every effort of the Western Powers. That those which follow in the train of the economists of England, are becoming weaker, is proved by the cases of Turkey, Portugal, Ireland, and the Indies of both the West and East. It is further proved, by all the experience of the United States-comparing the States of the South and West, with those of the North and East, or the

Union with itself, at different periods. Florida and Mississippi follow in the train of England, and stand, at the present moment, in a state of repudiation. California now does the same, while Massachusetts enjoys a credit equal with that of any country of the world. The Federal Government extinguished its debt, in 1835, by help of the tariff of 1828; whereas, in 1842, with no war upon its hands, it was unable to borrow at any rate of interest. The strength of the State grows with growth in the value of land and labor, and with increase in the proportion borne by fixed to movable capital. American policy tends towards increasing the movable capital at the expense of that which is fixed, and hence the growing weakness of the State.

§ 15. The views thus presented, differing wholly from those of the Ricardo-Malthusian school-trade being there regarded as first among the pursuits of man, and slavery, as the goal at which he must arrive- we may, for a moment, turn to one of its most distinguished professors, for the reasons offered in support of the doctrines therein taught.

"Indirect taxes," says Mr. McCulloch, "have been the greatest favorites of princes and subjects;" "there being," as he thinks, "very sufficient reasons for the preference"-constituting, as they do, "an ingenious plan" for extracting from the people a portion of their substance, leaving their "prejudices" untouched.*

In support of this view, he quotes from the Marquis Garnier, who highly approves of filching the means of maintaining governments -it being "in the midst of the profusion of the repast, that the taxes have ever been and still are paid- the public treasury thus finding a source of profit in the provocatives to expense excited by the gaiety of feasts."

This is, certainly, a very proper argument, to be used by those who regard man as a mere beast of burden - an animal that must be fed, that will procreate, and that can be made to work; but, how far it is a proper one to be addressed to the thinking MAN-the being created in the image of his Maker, and endowed with faculties qualifying him for obtaining dominion over nature, the reader may determine for himself.

Mr. McCulloch is opposed to direct taxation in general, but

* MCCULLOCH: Taxation and Funding, p. 147.