Page:Thoughts on the causes and consequences of the present high price of provisions.djvu/14

[ 6 ] wife, or his ass, as cheap as formerly; he was therefore under a necessity of advancing the price of his sand, out of which alone all the taxes which he paid must be refunded. Thus I think it is evident beyond all doubt, that the increase of taxes must increase the price of every thing, whether taxed or not; and that this is one principal cause of the present extraordinary advance of provisions, and all the necessaries of life.

The other great source, from whence this calamity arises, is certainly our vast increase of riches; the causes and consequences of which, I will now briefly consider. That our riches are in fact amazingly increased within a few years, no one, who is in the least acquainted with this country, can entertain a doubt: whoever will cast his eyes on our public works, our roads, our bridges, our pavements, and our hospitals, the prodigious extension of our capital, and in some proportion that of every considerable town in Great