their children, by generosity and liberality to kinsmen and indigent men of worth, and by compassion to the distresses of the poor.”
Under “Military skill and fortitude” Hutcheson discusses what Adam Smith afterwards placed under “Arms,” and decides in favour of a trained militia.
In the same chapter he has a section with the marginal title “what taxes or tributes most eligible,” which contains a repudiation of the policy of taxation for revenue only:—
“As to taxes for defraying the public expenses, these are most convenient which are laid on matters of luxury and splendour rather than the necessaries of life; on foreign products and manufactures rather than domestic; and such as can be easily raised without many expensive offices for collecting them. But above all, a just proportion to the wealth of people should be observed in whatever is raised from them, otherways than by duties upon foreign products and manufactures, for such duties are often necessary to encourage industry at home, though there were no public expenses.”