encumbered. The French were the first, perhaps, that ever tried the
mad scheme of remedying this by making a constitution that could be
renewed at pleasure. But it was a violent remedy, to implant, in the
constitution itself, the power of its own destruction, under the idea of
renovation. The English constitution has taken, perhaps, the best way
that is possible for this purpose; it has given to king, lords, and
commons, the power of counteracting each other, and so preserving its
first principles. Without going into that inquiry, it is sufficient to say,
that the advantages which may be derived from the British
constitution can only be expected by the three different powers having
that will, and exercising it; for, if they should act together on a system
of confidence, without an attention to preserving the balance, they
must overset, instead of navigating the vessel.

The individuals of whom a nation is composed, we have seen, never
can, by their efforts, prevent its decline, as their natural propensities
tend to bring it on. It is to the rulers of nations we must look for the
[end of page #287] prolongation of prosperity, which they cannot
accomplish, unless they look before them, and, in place of seeking for
remedies, seek for preventatives.

It is very natural and very common for those who wield the power of a
great nation, to trust to the exertion of that power, when the moment
of necessity arrives; but that will seldom, if ever, be found to answer.
The time for the efficacy of remedy will be past before the evil
presents itself in the form of pressing necessity; and that very power,
which can so effectually be applied in other cases, in this will be
diminished, and found unequal to what it has to perform.

[end of page #288]

_Application of the present Inquiry to Nations in general_

IF there is a lesson taught by political economy that is of greater
importance than any other, it is, that industry, well directed, is the way
to obtain wealth; and that the modes by which nations sought after it
in the early and middle ages, by war and conquest, are, in comparison,
very ineffectual.

Notwithstanding that princes themselves are now convinced of the
truth of this, by a strange fatality, the possession of commercial wealth
has itself become the cause of wars, not less ruinous than those that
formerly were the chief occupation of mankind.

It was discovered a few centuries ago, that small principalities, and
e