20.10. 10. An Institution adapted to economical Commerce.
In states that
carry on an economical commerce, they have luckily established banks,
which by their credit have formed a new species of wealth: but it would
be quite wrong to introduce them into governments whose commerce is
founded only on luxury. The erecting of banks in countries governed by
an absolute monarch supposes money on the one side, and on the other
power: that is, on the one hand, the means of procuring everything,
without any power; and on the other, the power, without any means of
procuring at all. In a government of this kind, none but the prince ever
had, or can have, a treasure; and wherever there is one, it no sooner
becomes great than it becomes the treasure of the prince.
For the same reason, all associations of merchants, in order to
carry on a particular commerce, are seldom proper in absolute
governments. The design of these companies is to give to the wealth of
private persons the weight of public riches. But in those governments
this weight can be found only in the prince. Nay, they are not even
always proper in states engaged in economical commerce; for, if the
trade be not so great as to surpass the management of particular
persons, it is much better to leave it open than, by exclusive
privileges, to restrain the liberty of commerce.
