Had The Views, Desires, And Habits Of Mankind, And Especially Of The
Inhabitants Of Europe And The United States, Continued
As they were fifty
years ago, it is absolutely impossible that one half of the goods
manufactured in Great Britain
Could have been disposed of; and unless these
additional and enlarged views, desires, and habits, had been accompanied
with commensurate means of gratifying them, our manufactures and commerce
could not have advanced as they have done. Minutely and universally divided
as human labour is, no one country can render its industry and skill
additionally productive, without, at the same time, the industry and skill
of other countries also advance. No one nation can acquire additional
wealth, unless additional wealth is also acquired in other nations. Before
an additional quantity of commodities can be sold, additional means to
purchase them must be obtained; or, in other words, increased commerce,
supposes increased wealth, not only in that country in which commerce is
increased, but also in that where the buyers and consumers live.
4. Since the termination of the American war, Britain has been placed in
circumstances favourable to her commerce: the human mind cannot long be
depressed; there is an elasticity about it which prevents this. Perhaps it
is rather disposed to rebound, in proportion to the degree and time of its
restraint. It is certain, however, that the exhaustion produced by the
American war speedily gave place to wonderful activity in our manufactures
and commerce; and that, at the commencement of the first French
revolutionary war, they had both taken wonderful and rapid strides. The
circumstances, indeed, of such a country as Britain, and such a people as
the British, must be essentially changed, - changed to a degree, and in a
manner, which we can hardly suppose to be brought about by any natural
causes, - before its real wealth can be annihilated, or even greatly or
permanently diminished. The climate and the soil, and all the improvements
and ameliorations which agriculture has produced on the soil, must remain:
the knowledge and skill, and real capital of the inhabitants, are beyond
the reach of any destroying cause: interest must always operate and apply
this knowledge and skill, unless we can suppose, what seems as unlikely to
happen as the change of our climate and soil, the annihilation of our
knowledge and skill, or that interest should cease to be the stimulating
cause of industry; unless we can suppose that political and civil freedom
should be rooted out, and individual property no longer secure.
Circumstances, however, though they cannot destroy, must influence,
beneficially or otherwise, the wealth and commerce of a country; and it may
happen that circumstances apparently unfavourable may become beneficial.
This was the case with Britain: during the American war, her manufactures
and commerce languished; during the French wars they increased and throve
most wonderfully. The cause of this difference must be sought for
principally in the very artificial and extraordinary circumstances in which
she was placed during the French war: and of these circumstances, the most
powerfully operative were her foreign loans; her paper circulation; the
conquests and subsequent measures of Bonaparte on the continent; and her
superiority at sea. Foreign loans necessarily rendered the exchange
unfavourable to Britain; an unfavourable exchange, or, in other words, a
premium on bills, in any particular country, enabled the merchant to sell
his goods there at a cheaper rate than formerly, and consequently to extend
his commerce there. The paper circulation of Britain, - though a bold and
hazardous step, and which in a less healthy and vigorous state of public
credit and wealth than Britain enjoyed could not have been taken, or, if
taken, would not have produced nearly the beneficial effects it did, and
would have left much more fatal consequences than we are at present
experiencing, - undoubtedly tended to increase her commerce; and the very
stimulus which it gave to all kinds of speculation has been favourable to
it. The ruinous consequences of such speculation, though dreadful, are
comparatively of short duration; whereas it is impossible that speculation
should be active and vigorous, with commensurate means, without improving
manufactures, and opening new channels for commerce; and these effects must
remain. In what manner the measures of Bonaparte on the continent, and our
superiority at sea, were favourable to our commerce, it is unnecessary to
explain.
Lastly. It only remains to explain how our national debt has been
beneficial to our commerce. Necessity, if it is not absolutely
overpowering, must act as a stimulus to industry as well as interest: the
desire to avoid evil, and the desire to obtain good, are equally powerful
motives to the human mind. In the same manner as an increase of family, by
creating additional expense, spurs a man to additional industry; so the
certainty that he must pay additional taxes produces the same effect.
Individuals may contrive to shift the burden from themselves, and pay their
taxes by spending less; but there can be no doubt that the only general,
sure, and permanent fund, out of which additional taxes can be paid, must
arise from the fruits of additional industry. We wish to guard against
being taken for the advocates for taxation, as in any shape a blessing: we
are merely stating what we conceive to be its effect. But we should no more
regard taxation as a blessing, because it increased commerce, than we
should regard it as a blessing to a man, that, from any cause, he was
obliged to work fourteen hours a day instead of twelve. In both cases,
increased labour might be necessary, but it would not the less be an evil.
The only other nation, the commerce of which has increased very materially
and rapidly, is the United States of America; and if we trace the chief and
most powerful causes of their commercial prosperity, we-shall still further
be confirmed in the opinion, that at least some of the causes which we have
assigned for the extension of British commerce are the true ones; and that,
in fact, commerce cannot generally or permanently increase where these
causes do not exist, and that where they do they must encourage and extend
it
It is not our intention to enter into a detail of the causes of American
prosperity, except so far as they are connected with its commerce.
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