Book XIII.
Chap. 11, & 12.ver open the baggage of those who are not merchants. Defrauding the customs in the territory of the Mogul is not punished with confiscation, but with doubling the duty. The princes of[1] Tartary who reside in towns, impose scarce any duty at all on the goods that pass through their country. In Japan, it is true, the defrauding of the customs is a capital crime; but this is because they have particular reasons for prohibiting all communication with foreigners; hence the fraud[2] is rather a contravention of the laws made for the security of the government, than those of commerce.
CHAP. XII.
Relation between the Greatness of Taxes and Liberty.
IT is a general rule, that taxes may be heavier in proportion to the liberty of the subject, and that there is a necessity for reducing them in proportion to the increase of slavery. This has always been and always will be the case. It is a rule derived from nature that never varies. We find it in all parts, in England, in Holland, and in every state where liberty gradually declines till we come to Turky. Swisserland seems to be an exception to this rule, because they pay no taxes; but the particular reason for that exemption is well
- ↑ History of the Tartars, part 3d. p. 290.
- ↑ Being willing to trade with foreigners without having any communication with them, they have pitched upon two nations for that purpose, the Dutch for the commerce of Europe, and the Chinese for that of Asia; they confine the factors and sailors in a kind of prison, and lay such a restraint upon them as tires their patience.
