Page:An answer to a pamphlet, intitled, "Thoughts on the causes and consequences of the present high price of provisions" in a letter, addressed to the supposed author of that pamphlet.djvu/31

( 29 ) the liberty to prophecy, I will, in my turn, assume the same priviledge, and declare, that by no other method than the one here pointed out, can our enormous debts be ever reduced, the price of provisions lowered, the just complaints of the people removed, or the nation saved from irretrievable ruin. This reformation, besides being attended with a considerable annual saving to the public, will likewise be productive of another good effect. It will prevent, in some measure, those eternal squabbles, which prevail among our great men; which evidently tend to interrupt the public business, and to lessen the authority of government; and which, during a time of the most profound external peace, throw the kingdom, or at least the metropolis, into a kind of intestine war. We shall then have a sure and infallible test, by which to judge of the principles of the different contending parties, as there will then be no longer reason (as there is now but too much reason) for saying, that it is not a desire of promot- ing