Pagina 674 de 2651

The land constitutes by far the greatest, the most important, and

the most durable part of the wealth of every extensive country.

It may surely be of some use, or, at least, it may give some

satisfaction to the public, to have so decisive a proof of the

increasing value of by far the greatest, the most important, and

the most durable part of its wealth.

It may, too, be of some use to the public, in regulating the

pecuniary reward of some of its inferior servants. If this rise

in the price of some sorts of provisions be owing to a fall in

the value of silver, their pecuniary reward, provided it was not

too large before, ought certainly to be augmented in proportion

to the extent of this fall. If it is not augmented, their real

recompence will evidently be so much diminished. But if this rise

of price is owing to the increased value, in consequence of the

improved fertility of the land which produces such provisions, it

becomes a much nicer matter to judge, either in what proportion

any pecuniary reward ought to be augmented, or whether it ought

to be augmented at all. The extension of improvement and

cultivation, as it necessarily raises more or less, in proportion

to the price of corn, that of every sort of animal food, so it as

necessarily lowers that of, I believe, every sort of vegetable

food.