them with the price of the commodity: in the ſame manner as Tacitus obſerves, that the emperor Nero gained the reputation of aboliſhing the tax on the ſale of ſlaves, though he only tranſferred it from the buyer to the ſeller; ſo that it was, as he expreſſes it, "remiſſum magis ſpecie, quam vi: quia, cum venditor pendere juberetur, in partem pretii emptoribus accreſcebat[1]." But this inconvenience attends it on the other hand, that theſe imports, if too heavy, are a check and cramp upon trade; and eſpecially when the value of the commodity bears little or no proportion to the quantity of the duty impoſed. This in conſequence gives riſe alſo to ſmuggling, which then becomes a very lucrative employment: and it's natural and moſt reaſonable puniſhment, viz. confiſcation of the commodity, is in ſuch caſes quite ineffectual; the intrinſic value of the goods, which is all that the ſmuggler has paid, and therefore all that he can loſe, being very inconſiderable when compared with his proſpect of advantage in evading the duty. Recourſe muſt therefore be had to extraordinary puniſhments to prevent it; perhaps even to capital ones: which deſtroys all proportion of puniſhment[2], and puts murderers upon an equal footing with ſuch as are really guilty of no natural, but merely a poſitive, offence.
There is alſo another ill conſequence attending high impoſts on merchandize, not frequently conſidered, but indiſputably certain; that the earlier any tax is laid on a commodity, the heavier it falls upon the conſumer in the end: for every trader, through whoſe hands it paſſes, muſt have a profit, not only upon the raw material and his own labour and time in preparing it, but alſo upon the very tax itſelf, which he advances to the government; otherwiſe he loſes the uſe and intereſt of the money which he ſo advances. To inſtance in the article of foreign paper. The merchant pays a duty upon importation, which he does not receive again till he ſells the commodity, perhaps at the end of three months. He is therefore equally entitled to a profit upon
