modern times, that was the origin, foundation, and essence of power; or, in other words, constituted power itself.
In the times prior to the introduction of manufactures and commerce, few men being employed in them, of course more were left to cultivate the land, and, consequently, we may suppose the produce was more proportionate to the number of the people; besides that considerable numbers of them shared the hospitality of the lords, abbeys, &c. Hence, the poor of those times, besides being exempted from the pernicious employments of the manufactures, enjoyed a much greater plenty of the necessaries of life than in the present times. Adam Smith thinks Mr. Hume has great merit in having been the first that observed that manufactures had abolished the servile dependence of the people on the great feudal barons; but Dr. Smith was not aware of this new species of dependence of the lower orders on the rich, which is established in its stead, in most civilised states.
Wealth, or, rather, the unequal distribution of it, having been shown to be attended with such effects, it is necessary to inquire shortly into its origin, as well as into the justice and expediency of it.
Montesquieu considers the system of property, of most of the nations of Europe, as originating in
