the necessary and pressing business is got over. The first thing, then,
for a government is to extricate itself from the situation of one who
struggles with necessity, after which, but not before, it may study what
is beneficial, and of permanent utility.

So far it would appear all nations are situated alike, with regard to the
general tendency to decay; {147} and so far all of them may be guided
by general rules, but as to the particular manner of applying those
rules, it must depend on the peculiar circumstances of the nation to
which they are meant to be applied.

In general, revenue has become the great object with modern nations:
and, as their rulers have not ventured to tax the necessaries of the
people to any high degree, but have laid their vices, rather than their
wants, under contribution, the revenue-system, (as it may be called,)
tends to make a government encourage expensive vice, by which it
profits, and check innocent enjoyment, by which it has nothing to
gain. This is a terrible, but it is a very prevalent system; it is immoral,
inhuman, and impolitic.

So far as this goes, a government, instead of checking, accelerates the
decline of a people; but, as this is not a natural cause of decline, as
it is not universal or necessary, it is to be considered with due

---
{147} The Chinese, and, in general, the nations of Asia have not been
considered as included in this inquiry. The Chinese, in particular, are a
people in a permanent situation: they do not increase in riches, and
they seem to have no tendency to decline. Their laws and mode of
education and living remain the same.