An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations

Adam Smith · 1776 (composed/publication period); modern imprint not specified beyond a 1852 reprint primary

passage 795 of 803 · BOOK I. > L.21,333,333 : 6 : 8. In the course of the second Punic war, the As was still further reduced, first, from two ounces of copper to one ounce, and afterwards from one ounce to half an ounce; that is, to the twenty-fourth part of its original value. By combining the three Roman operations into one, a debt of a hundred and twenty-eight millions of our present money, might in this manner be reduced all at once to a debt of L.5,333,333 : 6 : 8. Even the enormous debt of Great Britain might in this manner soon be paid. (48/56)

↪ you wandered here via “Highlands emigration rage” — the connecting lines are tinted below

in brief

This passage continues index entries on Scipio and Scotland, covering labor and provision prices, Highland population, banking practices, agriculture before union, and the spread of the Reformation.

Scipio, his Spanish militia rendered superior to the Carthaginian militia by discipline and service, 294.

Scotland, compared with England as to the prices of labour and provisions, 31. Remarks on the population of the Highlands, 33. The market rate of interest higher than the legal rate, 37. The situation of cottagers there described, 49. Apprenticeships and corporations, 51. The common people of, why neither so strong nor so handsome as the same class in England, 68. Cause of the frequent emigrations from, 80. Progress of agriculture there before the union with England, 93. Present obstructions to better husbandry, ib., 94. The price of wool reduced by the Union, 99. Operation of the several banking companies established there, 120. Amount of the circulating money there before the Union, ib. Amount of the present circulating cash, 121. Course of dealings in the Scotch banks ib. Difficulties occasioned by these banks issuing too much paper, 123. Necessary caution for some time observed by the banks in giving credit to their customers, with the good effects of it, 124. The scheme of drawing and redrawing adopted by traders, 126. Its pernicious tendency explained, ib., 127. History of the Ayr bank. 128. Mr. Law's scheme to improve the country, 130. The prices of goods in, not altered by paper currency, 133. Effect of the optional clauses in their notes, ib. Cause of the speedy establishment of the Reformation there, 339. The disorders attending popular elections of the clergy there, occasioned the right of patronage to be established, ib. Amount of the whole revenue of the clergy, 342.

Sea service and military service by land, compared, 45.

Sects in religion, the more numerous, the better for society, 332. Why they generally profess the austere system of morality, 333.

Self-love the governing principle in the intercourse of human society, 6.

Servants, menial, distinguished from hired workmen, 135. The various orders of men who rank in the former class in reference to their labour, 136. Their labour unproductive, 280.

Settlements of the poor, brief review of the English laws relating to, 57. The removals of the poor a violation of natural liberty, 59. The law of, ought to be repealed, 191.

Sheep, frequently killed in Spain for the sake of the fleece and the tallow, 97. Severe laws against the exportation of them and their wool, 268.

Shepherds, war, how supported by a nation of, 289. Inequality of fortune among, the source of great authority, 298. Birth and family highly honoured in nations of shepherds, ib. Inequality of fortune first began to take place in the age of shepherds, 299. And introduced civil government, ib.

Shetland, how rents are estimated and paid there, 61.

Silk manufacture, how transferred from Lucca to Venice, 166.

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topics: money, coin, and credit · poverty and wealth

An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations · Adam Smith · 1776