CHAPTER required.(^) He designed them to be what he em¬
phatically calls in his prefatory remarks, universal pro¬
positions, that included a v/hole science in a single theorem;
and he (b) exclusively addressed them to the speculative
politician, as a groundwork for the construction of a
future system.

The fundamental principles deducible from his argu¬
ment are :

That all prices are in proportion to the quantity of
money.

That an increase of money is not an increase of
wealth.

And that the value of money is every where on a
level.

But as he examined his subject in too cursory a
manner to give to his observations the consistency and
precision of a regular inquiry, he frequently drew partial
inferences in direct opposition to his general reasoning.

Though he contended, that an increase of money was
not an increase of wealth, as prices were raised in pro¬
portion to the augmentation, yet he asserted, that all
commercial (<:) relations were disadvantageous, which
required the efflux of money to support them: and
though he argued, that money every where maintained
its level, yet he admitted, that one nation might retain a
 

(a) See Hume's Essays, Vol. I. p. 282.

ib) Vol. L p. 314.                          (c) Vol. L p. 346.