§ 14 

If we finally imagine that we have surmounted all these obstacles and got ideal laws on this subject, a few special incidents might change the whole of this excellent state of things and make the most useful laws quite harmful to the Nation, in which fact the fourth reason against them is obviously to be found.

What changes in goods, what different values, are not to be seen daily? Quite unexpectedly Providence opens to a Nation a source of Wealth that will last for some time; but often it suddenly dries up, and a second or a third comes into existence on which the National gain will chiefly depend. Among the thousands of possibilities the law - even if it is the very best - is thus useful only in certain circumstances, namely, in those for which it was made, but harmful in all others.

And these are the real reasons why our wellintentioned Statutes must have had such an ill effect.