An inquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of

772

The Wealth of Nations

raising of the denomination of the coin.

An augmentation, or a direct raising of the denomination of the

coin, always is, and from its nature must be, an open and avowed

operation. By means of it, pieces of a smaller weight and bulk are

called by the same name, which had before been given to pieces of

a greater weight and bulk. The adulteration of the standard, on

the contrary, has generally been a concealed operation. By means

of it, pieces are issued from the mint, of the same denomination,

and, as nearly as could be contrived, of the same weight, bulk, and

appearance, with pieces which had been current before of much

greater value. When king John of France, {See Du Cange Glos-

sary, voce Moneta; the Benedictine Edition.} in order to pay his

debts, adulterated his coin, all the officers of his mint were sworn

to secrecy. Both operations are unjust. But a simple augmentation

is an injustice of open violence; whereas an adulteration is an in-

justice of treacherous fraud. This latter operation, therefore, as

soon as it has been discovered, and it could never be concealed

very long, has always excited much greater indignation than the

former. The coin, after any considerable augmentation, has very

seldom been brought back to its former weight; but after the great-

est adulterations, it has almost always been brought back to its

former fineness. It has scarce ever happened, that the fury and

indignation of the people could otherwise be appeased.

In the end of the reign of Henry VIII., and in the beginning of

that of Edward VI., the English coin was not only raised in its

denomination, but adulterated in its standard. The like frauds were

practised in Scotland during the minority of James VI. They have

occasionally been practised in most other countries.

That the public revenue of Great Britain can never be com-

pletely liberated, or even that any considerable progress can ever

be made towards that liberation, while the surplus of that rev-

enue, or what is over and above defraying the annual expense of

the peace establishment, is so very small, it seems altogether in

vain to expect. That liberation, it is evident, can never be brought

about, without either some very considerable augmentation of the

public revenue, or some equally considerable reduction of the

public expense.

A more equal land tax, a more equal tax upon the rent of houses,

and such alterations in the present system of customs and excise as

those which have been mentioned in the foregoing chapter, might,

perhaps, without increasing the burden of the greater part of the

people, but only distributing the weight of it more equally upon

the whole, produce a considerable augmentation of revenue. The

most sanguine projector, however, could scarce flatter himself, that

any augmentation of this kind would be such as could give any

reasonable hopes, either of liberating the public revenue altogether,

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Adam Smith

or even of making such progress towards that liberation in time of

peace, as either to prevent or to compensate the further accumula-

tion of the public debt in the next war.

By extending the British system of taxation to all the different

provinces of the empire, inhabited by people either of British or

European extraction, a much greater augmentation of revenue

might be expected. This, however, could scarce, perhaps, be done,

consistently with the principles of the British constitution, with-

out admitting into the British parliament, or, if you will, into the

states-general of the British empire, a fair and equal representa-

tion of all those different provinces; that of each province bearing

the same proportion to the produce of its taxes, as the representa-

tion of Great Britain might bear to the produce of the taxes levied

upon Great Britain. The private interest of many powerful indi-

viduals, the confirmed prejudices of great bodies of people, seem,

indeed, at present, to oppose to so great a change, such obstacles

as it may be very difficult, perhaps altogether impossible, to sur-

mount. Without, however, pretending to determine whether such

a union be practicable or impracticable, it may not, perhaps, be

improper, in a speculative work of this kind, to consider how far

the British system of taxation might be applicable to all the differ-

ent provinces of the empire; what revenue might be expected from

it, if so applied; and in what manner a general union of this kind

might be likely to affect the happiness and prosperity of the

differrent provinces comprehended within it. Such a speculation,

can, at worst, be regarded but as a new Utopia, less amusing, cer-

tainly, but no more useless and chimerical than the old one.

The land-tax, the stamp duties, and the different duties of cus-

toms and excise, constitute the four principal branches of the British

taxes.

Ireland is certainly as able, and our American and West India

plantations more able, to pay a land tax, than Great Britain. Where

the landlord is subject neither to tythe nor poor’s rate, he must cer-

tainly be more able to pay such a tax, than where he is subject to

both those other burdens. The tythe, where there is no modus, and

where it is levied in kind, diminishes more what would otherwise be

the rent of the landlord, than a land tax which really amounted to

five shillings in the pound. Such a tythe will be found, in most

cases, to amount to more than a fourth part of the real rent of the

land, or of what remains after replacing completely the capital of

the farmer, together with his reasonable profit. If all moduses and

all impropriations were taken away, the complete church tythe of

Great Britain and Ireland could not well be estimated at less than six

or seven millions. If there was no tythe either in Great Britain or

Ireland, the landlords could afford to pay six or seven millions addi-

tional land tax, without being more burdened than a very great part

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