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it。 But by discouraging improvement; the monopoly necessarily

retards the natural increase of another great original source of

revenue; the rent of land。 By raising the rate of profit; too;

the monopoly necessarily keeps up the market rate of interest

higher than it otherwise would be。 But the price of land in

proportion to the rent which it affords; the number of years

purchase which is commonly paid for it; necessarily falls as the

rate of interest rises; and rises as the rate of interest falls。

The monopoly; therefore; hurts the interest of the landlord two

different ways; by retarding the natural increase; first; of his

rent; and secondly; of the price which he would get for his land

in proportion to the rent which it affords。

     The monopoly indeed raises the rate of mercantile profit;

and thereby augments somewhat the gain of our merchants。 But as

it obstructs the natural increase of capital; it tends rather to

diminish than to increase the sum total of the revenue which the

inhabitants of the country derive from the profits of stock; a

small profit upon a great capital generally affording a greater

revenue than a great profit upon a small one。 The monopoly raises

the rate of profit; but it hinders the sum of profit from rising

so high as it otherwise would do。

     All the original sources of revenue; the wages of labour;

the rent of land; and the profits of stock; the monopoly renders

much less abundant than they otherwise would be。 To promote the

little interest of one little order of men in one country; it

hurts the interest of all other orders of men in that country;

and of all men in all other countries。

     It is solely by raising the ordinary rate of profit that the

monopoly either has proved or could prove advantageous to any one

particular order of men。 But besides all the bad effects to the

country in general; which have already been mentioned as

necessarily resulting from a high rate of profit; there is one

more fatal; perhaps; than all these put together; but which; if

we may judge from experience; is inseparably connected with it。

The high rate of profit seems everywhere to destroy that

parsimony which in other circumstances is natural to the

character of the merchant。 When profits are high that sober

virtue seems to be superfluous and expensive luxury to suit

better the affluence of his situation。 But the owners of the

great mercantile capitals are necessarily the leaders and

conductors of the whole industry of every nation; and their

example has a much greater influence upon the manners of the

whole industrious part of it than that of any other order of men。

If his employer is attentive and parsimonious; the workman is

very likely to be so too; but if the master is dissolute and

disorderly; the servant who shapes his work according to the

pattern which his master prescribes to him will shape his life

too according to the example which he sets him。 Accumulation is

thus prevented in the hands of all those who are naturally the

most disposed to accumulate; and the funds destined for the

maintenance of productive labour receive no augmentation from the

revenue of those who ought naturally to augment them the most。

The capital of the country; instead of increasing; gradually

dwindles away; and the quantity of productive labour maintained

in it grows every day less and less。 Have the exorbitant profits

of the merchants of Cadiz and Lisbon augmented the capital of

Spain and Portugal? Have they alleviated the poverty; have they

promoted the industry of those two beggarly countries? Such has

been the tone of mercantile expense in those two trading cities

that those exorbitant profits; far from augmenting the general

capital of the country; seem scarce to have been sufficient to

keep up the capitals upon which they were made。 Foreign capitals

are every day intruding themselves; if I may say so; more and

more into the trade of Cadiz and Lisbon。 It is to expel those

foreign capitals from a trade which their own grows every day

more and more insufficient for carrying on that the Spaniards and

Portuguese endeavour every day to straighten more and more the

galling bands of their absurd monopoly。 Compare the mercantile

manners of Cadiz and Lisbon with those of Amsterdam; and you will

be sensible how differently the conduct and character of

merchants are affected by the high and by the low profits of

stock。 The merchants of London; indeed; have not yet generally

become such magnificent lords as those of Cadiz and Lisbon; but

neither are they in general such attentive and parsimonious

burghers as those of Amsterdam。 They are supposed; however; many

of them; to be a good deal richer than the greater part of the

former; and not quite so rich as many of the latter。 But the rate

of their profit is commonly much lower than that of the former;

and a good deal higher than that of the latter。 Light come; light

go; says the proverb; and the ordinary tone of expense seems

everywhere to be regulated; not so much according to the real

ability of spending; as to the supposed facility of getting money

to spend。

     It is thus that the single advantage which the monopoly

procures to a single order of men is in many different ways

hurtful to the general interest of the country。

     To found a great empire for the sole purpose of raising up a

people of customers may at first sight appear a project fit only

for a nation of shopkeepers。 It is; however; a project altogether

unfit for a nation of shopkeepers; but extremely fit for a nation

whose government is influenced by shopkeepers。 Such statesmen;

and such statesmen only; are capable of fancying that they will

find some advantage in employing the blood and treasure of their

fellow…citizens to found and maintain such an empire。 Say to a

shopkeeper; 〃Buy me a good estate; and I shall always buy my

clothes at your shop; even though I should pay somewhat dearer

than what I can have them for at other shops〃; and you will not

find him very forward to embrace your proposal。 But should any

other person buy you such an estate; the shopkeeper would be much

obliged to your benefactor if he would enjoin you to buy all your

clothes at his shop。 England purchased for some of her subjects;

who found themselves uneasy at home; a great estate in a distant

country。 The price; indeed; was very small; and instead of thirty

years' purchase; the ordinary price of land in the present times;

it amounted to little more than the expense of the different

equipments which made the first discovery; reconnoitred the

coast; and took a fictitious possession of the country。 The land

was good and of great extent; and the cultivators having plenty

of good ground to work upon; and being for some time at liberty

to sell their produce where they pleased; became in the course of

little more than thirty or forty years (between 1620 and 1660) so

numerous and thriving a people that the shopkeepers and other

traders of England wished to secure to themselves the monopoly of

their custom。 Without pretending; therefore; that they had paid

any part; either of the original purchase…money; or of the

subsequent expense of improvement; they petitioned the Parliament

that the cultivators of America might for the future be confined

to their shop; first; for buying all the goods which they wanted

from Europe; and; secondly; for selling all such parts of their

own produce as those traders might find it convenient to buy。 For

they did not find it convenient to buy every part of it。 Some

parts of it imported into England might have interfered with some

of the trades which they themselves carried on at home。 Those

particular parts of it; therefore; they were willing that the

colonists should sell where they could… the farther off the

better; and upon that account purposed that their market should

be confined to the countries south of Cape Finisterre。 A clause

in the famous Act of Navigation established this truly shopkeeper

proposal into a law。

     The maintenance of this monopoly has hitherto been the

principal; or more properly perhaps the sole end and purpose of

the dominion which Great Britain assumes over her colonies。 In

the exclusive trade; it is supposed; consists the great advantage

of provinces; which have never yet afforded either revenue or

military force for the support of the civil government; or the

defence of the mother country。 The monopoly is the principal

badge of their dependency; and it is the sole fruit which has

hitherto been gathered from that dependency。 Whatever expense

Great Britain has hitherto laid out in maintaining this

dependency has really been laid out in order to support this

monopoly。 The expense of the ordinary peace establishment of the

colonies amounted; before the commencement of the present

disturbances; to the pay of twenty regiments of foot; to the

expense of the artillery; stores; and extraordinary provisions

with which it was necessary to supply them; and to the expense of

a very considerable naval force which was constantl

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