An inexhaustible quantity of
land, in a good climate, obtained without difficulty, and at little
expence; with the produce of it, when obtained and cultivated, entirely at
the disposal and for the exclusive advantage of the proprietor.
The same
with regard to all other labour; or, in other words, scarcely any taxes:
and with respect to labour in general, great demand for it, and extremely
high wages. These are causes of increased population and of prosperity, and
indirectly of commerce, peculiar to America. It requires no illustration or
proof to comprehend how the increased produce of a new soil must supply
increased articles for commerce. While Britain, therefore, finds increased
articles for her commerce, from her improvements in the machinery
applicable to manufactures, by means of which the same quantity of human
labour is rendered infinitely more productive, - the United States finds
materials for her increased commerce, in the increasing stock of the
produce of the soil.
Political and civil liberty, and the consequent security of property, are
causes of commercial prosperity, common to the United States and Britain.
It may also be remarked, that the circumstances of Europe, almost ever
since the United States have had a separate and independent existence, have
been favourable to its commerce. The long war between Britain and France
afforded them opportunities for increasing their commerce, which they most
sedulously and successfully embraced and improved. They became, in fact,
the carriers for France, and in many cases the introducers of British
produce into the continent.
There is only another circumstance connected with the United States to
which we deem it necessary to advert in this brief and general developement
of the causes of their commercial prosperity: we allude to the wonderful
facilities for internal commerce afforded them by their rivers, and
especially by the Mississippi and its branches. There can be no doubt that
easy, speedy, cheap, and general inter-communication to internal
trade, - whether by means of roads and canals, as in England, or by means of
rivers as in America, is advantageous to foreign commerce, both directly
and indirectly. It is advantageous directly, in so far as it enables the
manufacturer with great facility, and at little expence, to transmit his
goods to the places of exportation; and to ascertain very quickly the state
of the markets by which he regulates his purchases, sales, and even the
quantity and direction of his labour. It is advantageous indirectly, in so
far as by stimulating and encouraging internal trade, it increases wealth,
and with increased wealth comes the increased desire of obtaining foreign
produce, and the increased means to gratify that desire.
We deemed it proper to preface the details we shall now give on the subject
of the present state of commerce with these general remarks on the
principal causes which have enlarged it, in those two countries in which
alone it flourishes to a very great extent. But, as we have already
remarked, commerce cannot extend in one country, without receiving an
impulse in other countries. While, therefore, British and American commerce
have been increasing, the general commerce of the whole civilized world,
and even of parts hardly civilized, have been increasing; but in no country
nearly to the extent to which it has reached in Britain and the United
States, because none are blessed with the political advantages they enjoy,
or have the improved machinery and capital of the one, or the almost
inexhaustible land of the other.
In the details which we are now about to give, we shall confine ourselves
to the statement of any particular circumstance which may have been
favourable or otherwise to the commerce of any country during the last
hundred years, and to an enumeration of the principal ports and articles of
import and export of each country. We shall not attempt to fix the value of
the imports and exports in toto, or of any particular description of them,
because there are in fact no grounds on which it can be accurately fixed.
We shall, however, in the arrangement of the order of the goods exported,
place ihose first which constitute the most numerous and important
articles.
1. The countries in the north of Europe, including Russia, Sweden, Norway,
Denmark, and the countries generally on the south shores of the Baltic.
From the geographical situation of these countries, and their consequent
climate, the chief articles of the export commerce must consist in the
coarsest produce of the soil. These, and the produce of their mines, are
the sources of their wealth, and consequently of their commerce.
The principal exports of Norway consist of timber, masts, tar, potash,
hides, (chiefly those of the goat,) iron, copper, cobalt, tallow, salted
provisions, and fish. Corn, principally from the southern shores of the
Baltic, is the most considerable article of import. The only event in the
modern history of this country, which can affect its commerce, is its
annexation to Sweden; and whether it will be prejudicial or otherwise, is
not yet ascertained.
Denmark consists of the islands in the Baltic, and the peninsula lying in
the north-west of Germany, comprizing Jutland, Sleswig, and Holstein. The
face of the country, both insular and continental, presents a striking
contrast to that of Norway, being flat, and fertile in corn and cattle.
Denmark possesses a large extent of sea coast, but the havens do not admit
large vessels. The communication between the insular and continental
possessions, the German ocean and the Baltic, and consequently the commerce
of Denmark, was much facilitated by the canal of Keil, which was finished
in 1785. Prior to the year 1797, the commerce was much injured by numerous
restraints on importation. During the short wars between this country and
Britain, it suffered considerably. At present it cannot rank high as a
commercial kingdom. Denmark and the Duchies, as they are called, export
wheat, rye, oats, barley, rape seed, horses, cattle, fish, wooden domestic
articles, &c.; and import chiefly woollen goods, silks, cottons, hardware,
cutlery, paper, salt, coals, iron, hemp, flax, wines, tobacco, sugar, and
other colonial produce.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 213 of 268
Words from 216870 to 217892
of 273188
