France, England, and the immortal Adam Smith

Thus far (see here and here), we have studied the first three passages in Adam Smith’s 79-page pamphlet: Additions and Corrections to the First and Second Editions of Dr. Adam Smith’s Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1784). Today, we will explore the next two substantive passages (Additions #4 and #5), which together take up three full pages. In his fourth insert (Addition #4, pp. 3-4), Smith describes Britain’s punitive trade policy toward France: “By what is called the impost 1692, a duty of five and twenty per cent … was laid upon all French goods; while the goods of other nations were, the greater part of them, subjected to much lighter duties, seldom exceeding five per cent…. In 1696, a second duty of twenty-five per cent., the first not having been thought a sufficient discouragement, was imposed upon all French goods, except brandy; together with a new duty of five and twenty pounds upon the ton of French wine, and another of fifteen pounds upon the…