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¬" Nothing indeed can so clearly expose the infinite danger of public profusion, as the neces- sity it imposes upon almost all governments, of direct taxation upon articles of universal and in- dispensable consumption: such revenues are un- doubtedly always great, and, in moderation, are therefore the best; but when they are pushed beyond the mark, which an enlightened view of the whole concerns of a country would make manifest to a great statesman, the advantages obtained arc countervailed and become nothing; because they dry up other sources of wealth and improvement which would carry even greater burthens, whilst the national prosperity was preserved. ¬u To continue this momentous subject, be assured that the very being of your country, above all at this moment, depends upon your making your own soil support your most ex- tended population, and that to consider popu- lation as an evil, is to be wiser than God, who, in your earth as in mine, commanded man to in- crease ¬
