to be there nailed up; and for the second offence, to be adjudged a felon, and to suffer death accordingly. Consumption is the sole end and purpose of all production; and the interest of the producer ought to be attended to, only so far as it may be necessary for promoting that of the consumer. The maxim is so perfectly self-evident, that it would be absurd to attempt to prove it. It cannot be very difficult to determine who have been the contrivers of this whole mercantile system; not the consumers, whose interest has been entirely neglected; but the producers, whose interest has been so carefully attended to. BOOK V OF THE REVENUE OF THE SOVEREIGN OR COMMONWEALTH CHAPTER I. OF THE EXPENSES OF THE SOVEREIGN OR COMMONWEALTH. The first duty of the sovereign, that of protecting the society from the violence and invasion, can be performed only by means of a military force. The art of war, as it is certainly the noblest of all arts, so, it necessarily becomes one of the most complicated. The state can make provision for public defence by a militia, where citizens of military age are obliged to join in some measure the trade of a soldier to whatever other trade or profession they may happen to carry on. Or, it may employ a certain number of citizens as a standing army. A militia is the less expensive, but a standing army is by far the more efficient defence. The second duty of