Though the career of prosperity must necessarily have a termination
amongst every people, yet there is some reason to think that the
degradation, which naturally follows, and which has always followed
hitherto, may be [end of page #iv] averted; whether it may be, or may
not be so, is the subject of the following Inquiry; which, if it is of
importance to any nation on earth, must be peculiarly so to England; a
nation that has risen, both in commerce and power, so high above the
natural level assigned to it by its population and extent. A nation that
rises still, but whose most earnest wish ought to be rather directed to
preservation than extension; to defending itself against adversity
rather than seeking still farther to augment its power.

With regard to the importance of the Inquiry, there cannot be two
opinions; but, concerning its utility and success, opinions may be
divided.

One of the most profound and ingenious writers of a late period, has
made the following interesting observation on the prosperity of
nations. {1}

"In all speculations upon men and human affairs, it is of no small
moment to distinguish things of accident from permanent causes, and
from effects that cannot be altered. I am not quite of the mind of those
speculators, who seem assured, that necessarily, and, by the
constitution of things, all states have the same period of infancy,
manhood, and decrepitude, that are found in the individuals who
compose them. The objects which are

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{1} Mr Burke.