Commerce

16035 — No place, 1757. 2 volumes. (2), 302 pp.; (2), 392 pp. 12mo. Contemporary marbled calf, spines gilt in compartments, red labels with gilt lettering, marbled edges, small loss of calf to front cover of volume 2, very lightly rubbed. McCulloch 46; Kress 5600; Goldsmiths 9242; Higgs 1465; not in Einaudi; Conlon 57:669; not in Mattioli. First French edition, first published in 1744. The French translator, J.P. de Gua de Malves, added extensive comments and therefore this French version is sought after. Sir Matthew Decker, director of the East India Company, merchant and pamphleteer, was born in Amsterdam. In the present work he urges the replacement of all customs and excise duties by a single tax on the consumption of luxury goods - a kind of income tax with the merits, as it was conceived in the eighteenth century, that the taxpayer voluntarily assesses himself by choosing to consume such articles and to such an extent as he wishes. Decker argues strongly against restrictions on trade, emphasizing the significance of industry and trade to the welfare of the country. He would exempt the houses inhabited by the poor from all duties - not on grounds of social sympathy but because it would necessarily lower their wages and consequently increase the competitive strength of British exports; he advocates the luxury tax because it would check luxury, the bane of virtue and industry. He was opposed to monopolies and bounties and was skeptical as to whether trade can ultimately be forced into 'an unnatural channel,' thus anticipating the discussion on the operation of natural laws in the economic world. In some respects he is considered an important precursor of Adam Smith. 'The first part of the work is devoted to a detailed criticism of the fiscal difficulties under which England is labouring; the second part to showing the intricate connection between the trade of a country and the value of the land; while in the third part Decker displays the great sources of wealth and prosperity possessed by England (and over her two chief rivals, France and Holland), and shows how the references he suggests would permit her to avail herself of these, her natural strength' (Palgrave, i, p. 519).