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… is from page from page 33 of the 2nd edition of George Whatley [2]‘s 1774 Principles of Trade [3]; it is quoted on page 95 of Jacob Viner [4]‘s indispensable 1937 volume, Studies in the Theory of International Trade [5] (ellipses original to Viner):
Most of the statutes … for regulating, directing, or restraining of trade have, we think, been either political blunders, or jobs obtained by artful men, for private advantage, under pretense of public good.