respect to the mode. Neither as a philosopher, nor as a politician, have you determined, whether the progrefs of knowledge be happy, in its effects, on the condition of our fpecies. You, indeed, quote Lord Bacon upon the point*: yet, you fly off in a fit of fceptical doubts, as your friend HUME would fay, leaving your readers perplexed in error. I have long thought, and often repeated, that real information is of great use, both to the governors, and the governed; as the million, who are well instructed, are lefs fubject to temporary terrors, and are more free from lafting impreffions, whether they arife from the fophiftry of an orator, or the perfuafion of a pamphleteer. I agree, then, with Lord Bacon, that knowledge is ftrength. In the acquirement of inftruction, I have liftened, at the Royal Society, with pleafure, and improvement, to your papers. As a philofopher, you make experiments, you adjust facts, you deduce juft conclufions, and you fettle an useful principle. The members, indeed, would not liften to loofe affertions, and vague deductions. The Society had been taught, in its youth, by that wonderful man, Sir William Petty, who may be deemed a fecond Bacon, never to talk of any thing in the general; but ever to mention the time, and place, the measure, or the weight, in precife terms. As a politician, you heed not this precept of Petty,

though you practise it as

a philofopher. Yet, throughout your letter, you

place commerce, and politics, among the fcientes. The object of every enquiry is truth. As an enquirer after philofophical truth, you ascertain facts: as an enquirer after truth, commercial, and political, you produce affertions. You may explain the caufe of this diverfity of practice in your next pamphlet.

You give a striking example of your own practice, in the fecond page of your letter: "The governments of Ruffia, Auftria, Poland, France, and Spain, are either bankrupt, or on the verge "of bankruptcy," fay you. You repeat these affertions; you count upon them, as indubitable truths. PETTY would doubtless afk, Who told you fo? Where is your document, to prove the time, and place, the manner, and the amount? You would answer, in the language of your letter *, "I " believe, that you will admit them at once, as un"queftionable." As Dryden faid to Swift, PETTY would fay to you: Coufin Currie, if, in this loofe manner, you affert fo much, and prove fo little, your works, commercial, and political, will not outlive their century.

I will, however, give you the vantage ground of argument, as Lord Bacon fpeaks. I will fuppofe, that you have a document: I will allow, the Britilh ambaffador, at Petersburgh, wrote officially, that the government of Ruffia was on the verge of bankruptcy. Yet, will I deny the inference. There are many questions to be afked, and anfwered, be

Page 2.

fore

fore we come to fuch a conclufion. Are there not more people in Ruffia than formerly? Are they not more induftrious, and better inftructed? Are there not more labour, more products, and more trade, than ever? Are there not more money, more circulation, and more facilities, than in the great Peter's days? Has not the fovereign, power from the constitution, over all perfons and all property, within the Ruffian dominions? If the ambaffador were to answer these questions in the affirmative, as the fact undoubtedly is, I fhould not, if he have the fquare toes of Walfingham, or the reverend beard of Burleigh, burst in his face; but I should laugh, in fecret, at feeing a diplomatic character reafon fo weakly, and write that to be likely, which is barely poffible:

Who wou'd not laugh, if such a man there be è

Who wou'd not weep, if Walfingham were he?

And, the event has decided against your affertion, in favour of my argument. The Empress, fince the fettled her accounts with Poland, has repealed feveral taxes, and given new facilities to her people, though I doubt, whether well-doing will either obtain your praise, or ftifle your fcoffs. You have received none of her fnuff-boxes*, though you be a man of letters. And,

Difdain repines at all good things it fees,

But, you are ready with your phyfic, or philofophy, to inftruct us, that the blasts of the north give

a vigour to the nerves, and a tone to the spirits, which the zephyrs, "wanton blowing," can never communicate to fouthern lands. Ruffia may be the Hercules, which Reynolds drew; while Spain may be "the poor country, almoft afraid to know itfelf," which Shakespeare feigned. Yet, have L feen in the British Museum a document, which, having been obtained by Burleigh's art, proves that, Spain had about five millions and a half of people, at the epoch of the armada*. There was, in 1787, an enumeration of the people of Spain, which evinced, that they had increased, during the effluxion of two hundred years, to 10,409,879 †. Yet, Spain has had her emigrations, and her wars, her years of profperity, and her periods of laffitude. creative powers may eafily fupply her intermediate employments. The fame documents, which demonftrate, that Spain is now more populous than formerly, clearly prove, that fhe is alfo more induftrious, more commercial, and more opulent. I believe I might add, without fear of difavowal, that he is now governed with more gentleness, and indulged with more immunities, though her forms may be lefs free, than during the good old

times of feudal anarchy.

Your

Neither with regard to Spain, indeed, nor the. other nations of Europe, have I infpected mi

See the Sloane MS. N° 908, for the revenue and population of Spain, in 1586, when the perfons mustered were only 1,125,390.

+ See Cenfo Espanol Executado de órden del Rey, 1787.

nutely

nutely the narratives of that numerous tribe of travellers, who tell us more of what they think and feel, than of what they faw and beard. I am, however, convinced, from a general furvey of the European ftates, that the governors are every where more mild, and the governed more happy, than at any prior epoch. Man was defined by Franklin to be a tool-making animal. The fame propensity urges him to make use of his tools. Wherever you fee mankind on the face of their globe, you behold them bufily employed in mending their feveral conditions. In civilized focieties, we perceive focial man ftill more active, in acquiring new comforts, in adding fuperfluity to comfort, and happiness to both. If, in your turn, you aik for my document, I fhall defire you to read a fecond time the following ESTIMATE, which demonstrates that, during the course of the last century, we have year after year fupplied the nations of Europe with greater quantities of products, as their confumption increased from a greater populoufnefs; and as they were able to purchase from their more abundant wealth.

If nations be more populous, more induftrious, and more wealthy, is it probable, that their rulers, who derive a revenue from the numbers of the people, the activity of their diligence, and the augmentation of their riches, are on the verge of bankruptcy? It may be admitted, however, in anfwer to the objection, which you are ready to make, that the governors may be embarraffed, while the governed are most profperous. Such was the cona 4 dition