PRODUCERS AND CONSUMERS.
[TO THE EDITOR OP THE .SPECTATOR..)
Sia,—The following passage—the italics are mine—from the first volume of Gibbon is not without its bearing on a vexed question in the Fiscal controversy "It has already been observed, that as the wealth of the provinces was attracted to the capital by the strong hand of con- quest and power ; so a considerable part of it was restored to the industrious provinces by the gentle influences of commerce and arts. In the reign of Augustus and his successors, duties were imposed on every kind of merchandise, which through a thousand channels flowed to the great centre of °paleface and luxury ; and in whatsoever manner the law was expressed, it was the Roman purchaser, and not the provincial merchant who paid the taz."* —I am, Sir' Sic. • Tacit. Ansa, XIII., SI.
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