Adam Smith：The Wealth of Nations, Book V, Chapter II, Paragraph 1877

No two characters seem more inconsistent than those of trader and sovereign. If the trading spirit of the English East India company renders them very bad sovereigns, the spirit of sovereignty seems to have rendered them equally bad traders. While they were traders only, they managed their trade successfully, and were able to pay from their profits a moderate dividend to the proprietors of their stock. Since they became sovereigns, with a revenue which, it is said, was originally more than three millions sterling, they have been obliged to beg the ordinary assistance of government, in order to avoid immediate bankruptcy. In their former situation, their servants in India considered themselves as the clerks of merchants; in their present situation, those servants consider themselves as the ministers of sovereigns.

Source： https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3300
Locator：Book V, Chapter II, paragraph 1877 · Verified：2026-10-19 · Verification：Exact match

This is a direct reading: the original and source are kept; commentary will be added later.

公版英文原典；批量导入，未附中文解读。

This text is in the public domain. The edition and source link are above. Copyright

← Back to the library