Defence of Usury [36]
is hardly reconciliable with the account I receive from the same quarter, of the impression made in that country by the Defence of Usury. Yet the subjecting the rate of interest to a further reduction by a new law, is a much more mischievous and less defensible measure than the continuing of the restraint upon the old footing: and adds to the mischief of the old established regimen others of a new and much more serious nature. It would be a tax upon the owners of money, much heavier than ever was levied upon the proprietors of land: with this circumstance to distinguish it from all other taxes, that, instead of being brought into the treasury for the public service, it is made a present of to the collectors, in expectation of the good they are to do the nation by the spending of it. If this be good thrift, in the name of consistency and equality let them impose a land Tax to the same amount, and dispose of the produce in the same manner. What makes my anxiety the greater, is the uncertainty whether this project of plunder without profit may not be still hovering over this island. Last year it was roundly and positively asserted in the Irish House of Commons, as if upon personal knowledge, to he determined upon in the Cabinet here: and the Administration being appealed to, though they of course would not acknowledge, would no contradict it. Its suspension hitherto may have resulted from nothing more than a doubt whether the nation were yet ripe, according to the Irish phrase, for this mode of enrichment: as if there were a time at which a nation were riper for plunder and waste than at another. I am truly sorry I can not find time to make one effort more for the express purpose of stemming the torrent of delusion in that channel. The straw I have planted has done something: what might not be hoped for, if your oak-stick were linked with it? As the world judges, one upon examination and nine hundred and ninety-nine upon trust, the declaration of your opinion upon any point of legislation would be worth, I won't pretend to say how many votes: but the declaration of your opinion in favour of a side to which conviction and candour had brought you over from the opposite one, would be worth at least twice or thrice as many: under such circumstances, the authority of the converter would tell for little in comparison of that of the proselyte, especially such a proselyte. We should have the Irish Chancellor of the Exchequer abjuring his annual motion in the face of the House, and Lord Hawkesbury who, it has been said, is Mr Pitt's tutor in this wise business, quietly and silently putting his papers and calculations into the fire. If, then, you agree with me in looking upon this as a most pernicious measure, you would, like me, be glad to see it put an end to, and for that purpose the acknowledgement of your opinion on a subject which you have made so much and so honourably your own, is an expedient to the use of which, I should hope, you would not see any objection: the less as you would hardly, I suppose, let another edition of your great work go abroad with opinions in it that were yours no longer. If, then, you think proper to honour me with your allowance for that purpose, then and not otherwise I will make it known to the public, in such words as you give me, that you no longer look upon the rate of interest as fit subject for restraint: and then, thanks to you and Turgot and Dr Reid, the Defence of Usury may be pronounced, in its outworks at least, a strong-hold.
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION
When the first edition of these letters was published, I was still in the distant country from which they were written. It is about two years, since that impression was exhausted: it is about a year and a half since this reimpression was compleated, the publication having been retarded till now by causes not worth mentioning. The alterations made in this second edition are few, and those merely verbal and of no importance. In this interval, had I heard of any objection, total or partial, I would have either admitted the
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION
When the first edition of these letters was published, I was still in the distant country from which they were written. It is about two years, since that impression was exhausted: it is about a year and a half since this reimpression was compleated, the publication having been retarded till now by causes not worth mentioning. The alterations made in this second edition are few, and those merely verbal and of no importance. In this interval, had I heard of any objection, total or partial, I would have either admitted the