So  much  is  it  to  be  lamented,  when  men  of  that  stamp  lend
their  intellect  and  popularity  to  the  propagation  of  error!  It  is
in  vain  that  others,  less  distinguished,  point  out  errors  of  &ct
and  doctrine;  their  works  are  forgotten,  while  those  of  sudi
men  flourish  in  constant  vigor.  The  same  sophism  which,  a  cen-
tury ago,  misled  the  readers  of  the  **  Spirit  of  Laws,"  the  papers
of  the  **  Spectator,"  and  the  "  Essays"  of  Hume  and  Locke  on
money,  commits  the  same  mischiefs,  with  equal  success,  at  the
present  time.  Harris,  in  an  "  Essay  upon  Money  and  Coins,"
published  only  a  few  years  after  the  "  Spirit  of  Laws,"  a  writer
of  far  more  practical  knowledge  than  either  of  the  distinguished
men  above  mentioned,  was  wholly  unable  to  surmount  the  theory
of  Montesquieu,  and  adopts  it  broadly,  though  evidently  contra-
dicted and  disproved  by  many  of  his  own  positioivs.
But  this  fanciful  proposition  was  not  sent  to  the  world  without
being  early  contradicted.  It  was  very  soon  severely  questioned
and  overthrown  by  a  writer  upon  political  economy,  who  will  be
hereafter,  as  we  trust,  better  appreciated  than  has  yet  been  his
lot.  Sir  James  Stewart,  to  whom  we  refer,  snms  up  this  false
theory,  as  he  found  it  in  various  authors,  thus :  —

"First  The  prices  of  commodities  are  always  proportioned

>  L'Esprit  du  Lois,  livre  xzii.  chsp.  vii.
SIB    JAMBS    STEWART.  641

to  the  plenty  of  money  in  a  country.  So  that  the  augmentation
of  wealth  even  fictitious,  such  as  paper,  affects  the  state  of  prices
in  proportion  to  its  quantity.
