ABSTRACT
In a letter to David Hume, Jean-Bernard Le Blanc, author of Lettres d'un François and translator of David Hume's Political Discourses, praised the Scottish philosopher's penetrating prediction that 'From now on, only commerce would cause peace and war in Europe'. Le Blanc's Lettres contains two points of view: one that considers commerce to be a system of reciprocal dependence beyond the control of each state and the other that considers commerce to be a useful method for the government to augment state power. For Le Blanc, commerce is the most essential aspect of politics, since it defrays the expense of war and preserves wealth in times of peace. Le Blanc's 'Preliminary Discourse' continued to analyse the question of jealousy of commerce. In witnessing the Seven Years' War, Le Blanc and Hume were obliged to be sceptical of Montesquieu's bright vision that the natural effect of commerce is to bring peace.
