太子爷小说网 > 英语电子书 > wealbk04 >

第18节

wealbk04-第18节

小说: wealbk04 字数: 每页4000字

按键盘上方向键 ← 或 → 可快速上下翻页,按键盘上的 Enter 键可回到本书目录页,按键盘上方向键 ↑ 可回到本页顶部!
————未阅读完?加入书签已便下次继续阅读!



a hundred and ten thousand; this exchange will equally augment

the capital of England by ten thousand pounds。 As a merchant who

has a hundred and ten thousand pounds worth of wine in his cellar

is a richer man than he who has only a hundred thousand pounds

worth of tobacco in his warehouse; so is he likewise a richer man

than he who has only a hundred thousand pounds worth of gold in

his coffers。 He can put into motion a greater quantity of

industry; and give revenue; maintenance; and employment to a

greater number of people than either of the other two。 But the

capital of the country is equal to the capitals of all its

different inhabitants; and the quantity of industry which can be

annually maintained in it is equal to what all those different

capitals can maintain。 Both the capital of the country;

therefore; and the quantity of industry which can be annually

maintained in it; must generally be augmented by this exchange。

It would; indeed; be more advantageous for England that it could

purchase the wines of France with its own hardware and broadcloth

than with either the tobacco of Virginia or the gold and silver

of Brazil and Peru。 A direct foreign trade of consumption is

always more advantageous than a roundabout one。 But a round…about

foreign trade of consumption; which is carried on with gold and

silver; does not seem to be less advantageous than any other

equally round…about one。 Neither is a country which has no mines

more likely to be exhausted of gold and silver by this annual

exportation of those metals than one which does not grow tobacco

by the like annual exportation of that plant。 As a country which

has wherewithal to buy tobacco will never be long in want of it;

so neither will one be long in want of gold and silver which has

wherewithal to purchase those metals。

     It is a losing trade; it is said; which a workman carries on

with the alehouse; and the trade which a manufacturing nation

would naturally carry on with a wine country may be considered as

a trade of the same nature。 I answer; that the trade with the

alehouse is not necessarily a losing trade。 In its own nature it

is just as advantageous as any other; though perhaps somewhat

more liable to be abused。 The employment of a brewer; and even

that of a retailer of fermented liquors; are as necessary

divisions of labour as any other。 It will generally be more

advantageous for a workman to buy of the brewer the quantity he

has occasion for than to brew it himself; and if he is a poor

workman; it will generally be more advantageous for him to buy it

by little and little of the retailer than a large quantity of the

brewer。 He may no doubt buy too much of either; as he may of any

other dealers in his neighbourhood; of the butcher; if he is a

glutton; or of the draper; if he affects to be a beau among his

companions。 It is advantageous to the great body of workmen;

notwithstanding; that all these trades should be free; though

this freedom may be abused in all of them; and is more likely to

be so; perhaps; in some than in others。 Though individuals;

besides; may sometimes ruin their fortunes by an excessive

consumption of fermented liquors; there seems to be no risk that

a nation should do so。 Though in every country there are many

people who spend upon such liquors more than they can afford;

there are always many more who spend less。 It deserves to be

remarked too; that; if we consult experience; the cheapness of

wine seems to be a cause; not of drunkenness; but of sobriety。

The inhabitants of the wine countries are in general the soberest

people in Europe; witness the Spainards; the Italians; and the

inhabitants of the southern provinces of France。 People are

seldom guilty of excess in what is their daily fare。 Nobody

affects the character of liberality and good fellowship by being

profuse of a liquor which is as cheap as small beer。 On the

contrary; in the countries which; either from excessive heat or

cold; produce no grapes; and where wine consequently is dear and

a rarity; drunkenness is a common vice; as among the northern

nations; and all those who live between the tropics; the negroes;

for example; on the coast of Guinea。 When a French regiment comes

from some of the northern provinces of France; where wine is

somewhat dear; to be quartered in the southern; where it is very

cheap; the soldiers; I have frequently heard it observed are at

first debauched by the cheapness and novelty of good wine; but

after a few months' residence; the greater part of them become as

sober as the rest of the inhabitants。 Were the duties upon

foreign wines; and the excises upon malt; beer; and ale to be

taken away all at once; it might; in the same manner; occasion in

Great Britain a pretty general and temporary drunkenness among

the middling and inferior ranks of people; which would probably

be soon followed by a permanent and almost universal sobriety。 At

present drunkenness is by no means the vice of people of fashion;

or of those who can easily afford the most expensive liquors。 A

gentleman drunk with ale has scarce ever been seen among us。 The

restraints upon the wine trade in Great Britain; besides; do not

so much seem calculated to hinder the people from going; if I may

say so; to the alehouse; as from going where they can buy the

best and cheapest liquor。 They favour the wine trade of Portugal;

and discourage that of France。 The Portugese; it is said; indeed;

are better customers for our manufactures than the French; and

should therefore be encouraged in preference to them。 As they

give us their custom; it is pretended; we should give them ours。

The sneaking arts of underling tradesmen are thus erected into

political maxims for the conduct of a great empire: for it is the

most underling tradesmen only who make it a rule to employ

chiefly their own customers。 A great trader purchases his goods

always where they are cheapest and best; without regard to any

little interest of this kind。

     By such maxims as these; however; nations have been taught

that their interest consisted in beggaring all their neighbours。

Each nation has been made to look with an invidious eye upon the

prosperity of all the nations with which it trades; and to

consider their gain as its own loss。 Commerce; which ought

naturally to be; among nations; as among individuals; a bond of

union and friendship; has become the most fertile source of

discord and animosity。 The capricious ambition of kings and

ministers has not; during the present and the preceding century;

been more fatal to the repose of Europe than the impertinent

jealousy of merchants and manufacturers。 The violence and

injustice of the rulers of mankind is an ancient evil; for which;

I am afraid; the nature of human affairs can scarce admit of a

remedy。 But the mean rapacity; the monopolizing spirit of

merchants and manufacturers; who neither are; nor ought to be;

the rulers of mankind; though it cannot perhaps be corrected may

very easily be prevented from disturbing the tranquillity of

anybody but themselves。

     That it was the spirit of monopoly which originally both

invented and propagated this doctrine cannot be doubted; and they

who first taught it were by no means such fools as they who

believed it。 In every country it always is and must be the

interest of the great body of the people to buy whatever they

want of those who sell it cheapest。 The proposition is so very

manifest that it seems ridiculous to take any pains to prove it;

nor could it ever have been called in question had not the

interested sophistry of merchants and manufacturers confounded

the common sense of mankind。 Their interest is; in this respect;

directly opposite to that of the great body of the people。 As it

is the interest of the freemen of a corporation to hinder the

rest of the inhabitants from employing any workmen but

themselves; so it is the interest of the merchants and

manufacturers of every country to secure to themselves the

monopoly of the home market。 Hence in Great Britain; and in most

other European countries; the extraordinary duties upon almost

all goods imported by alien merchants。 Hence the high duties and

prohibitions upon all those foreign manufactures which can come

into competition with our own。 Hence; too; the extraordinary

restraints upon the importation of almost all sorts of goods from

those countries with which the balance of trade is supposed to be

disadvantageous; that is; from those against whom national

animosity happens to be most violently inflamed。

     The wealth of a neighbouring nation; however; though

dangerous in war and politics; is certainly advantageous in

trade。 In a state of hostility it may enable our enemies to

maintain fleets and armies superior to our own; but in a state of

peace and commerce it must likewise enable them to exchange with

us to a greater value; and to afford a better market; either for

the immediate produce of our own industry; or for whatever is

purchased with that produce。 As a rich man is likely to be a

better custom

返回目录 上一页 下一页 回到顶部 0 0

你可能喜欢的