太子爷小说网 > 英语电子书 > wealbk04 >

第64节

wealbk04-第64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!



pit; or even at the shipping port for exportation。

     The exportation; however; of the instruments of trade;

properly so called; is commonly restrained; not by high duties;

but by absolute prohibitions。 Thus by the 7th and 8th of William

III; c。 20; sect。 8; the exportation of frames or engines for

knitting gloves or stockings is prohibited under the penalty; not

only of the forfeiture of such frames or engines so exported; or

attempted to be exported; but of forty pounds; one half to the

king; the other to the person who shall inform or sue for the

same。 In the same manner; by the 14th George III; c。 71; the

exportation to foreign parts of any utensils made use of in the

cotton; linen; woollen; and silk manufactures is prohibited under

the penalty; not only of the forfeiture of such utensils; but of

two hundred pounds; to be paid by the person who shall offend in

this manner; and likewise of two hundred pounds to be paid by the

master of the ship who shall knowingly suffer such utensils to be

loaded on board his ship。

     When such heavy penalties were imposed upon the exportation

of the dead instruments of trade; it could not well be expected

that the living instrument; the artificer; should be allowed to

go free。 Accordingly; by the 5th George I; c。 27; the person who

shall be convicted of enticing any artificer of; or in any of the

manufactures of Great Britain; to go into any foreign parts in

order to practise or teach his trade; is liable for the first

offence to be fined in any sum not exceeding one hundred pounds;

and to three months' imprisonment; and until the fine shall be

paid; and for the second offence; to be fined in any sum at the

discretion of the court; and to imprisonment for twelve months;

and until the fine shall be paid。 By the 23rd George II; c。 13;

this penalty is increased for the first offence to five hundred

pounds for every artificer so enticed; and to twelve months'

imprisonment; and until the fine shall be paid; and for the

second offence; to one thousand pounds; and to two years'

imprisonment; and until the fine shall be paid。

     By the former of those two statutes; upon proof that any

person has been enticing any artificer; or that any artificer has

promised or contracted to go into foreign parts for the purposes

aforesaid; such artificer may be obliged to give security at the

discretion of the court that he shall not go beyond the seas; and

may be committed to prison until he give such security。

     If any artificer has gone beyond the seas; and is exercising

or teaching his trade in any foreign country; upon warning being

given to him by any of his Majesty's ministers or consuls abroad;

or by one of his Majesty's Secretaries of State for the time

being; if he does not; within six months after such warning;

return into this realm; and from thenceforth abide and inhabit

continually within the same; he is from thenceforth declared

incapable of taking any legacy devised to him within this

kingdom; or of being executor or administrator to any person; or

of taking any lands within this kingdom by descent; device; or

purchase。 He likewise forfeits to the king all his lands; goods;

and chattels; is declared an alien in every respect; and is put

out of the king's protection。

     It is unnecessary; I imagine; to observe how contrary such

regulations are to the boasted liberty of the subject; of which

we affect to be so very jealous; but which; in this case; is so

plainly sacrificed to the futile interests of our merchants and

manufacturers。

     The laudable motive of all these regulations is to extend

our own manufactures; not by their own improvement; but by the

depression of those of all our neighbours; and by putting an end;

as much as possible; to the troublesome competition of such

odious and disagreeable rivals。 Our master manufacturers think it

reasonable that they themselves should have the monopoly of the

ingenuity of all their countrymen。 Though by restraining; in some

trades; the number of apprentices which can be employed at one

time; and by imposing the necessity of a long apprenticeship in

all trades; they endeavour; all of them; to confine the knowledge

of their respective employments to as small a number as possible;

they are unwilling; however; that any part of this small number

should go abroad to instruct foreigners。

     Consumption is the sole end and purpose of all production;

and the interest of the producer ought to be attended to only so

far as it may be necessary for promoting that of the consumer。

The maxim is so perfectly self evident that it would be absurd to

attempt to prove it。 But in the mercantile system the interest of

the consumer is almost constantly sacrificed to that of the

producer; and it seems to consider production; and not

consumption; as the ultimate end and object of all industry and

commerce。

     In the restraints upon the importation of all foreign

commodities which can come into competition with those of our own

growth or manufacture; the interest of the home consumer is

evidently sacrificed to that of the producer。 It is altogether

for the benefit of the latter that the former is obliged to pay

that enhancement of price which this monopoly almost always

occasions。

     It is altogether for the benefit of the producer that

bounties are granted upon the exportation of some of his

productions。 The home consumer is obliged to pay; first; the tax

which is necessary for paying the bounty; and secondly; the still

greater tax which necessarily arises from the enhancement of the

price of the commodity in the home market。

     By the famous treaty of commerce with Portugal; the consumer

is prevented by high duties from purchasing of a neighbouring

country a commodity which our own climate does not produce; but

is obliged to purchase it of a distant country; though it is

acknowledged that the commodity of the distant country is of a

worse quality than that of the near one。 The home consumer is

obliged to submit to this inconveniency in order that the

producer may import into the distant country some of his

productions upon more advantageous terms than he would otherwise

have been allowed to do。 The consumer; too; is obliged to pay

whatever enhancement in the price if those very productions this

forced exportation may occasion in the home market。

     But in the system of laws which has been established for the

management of our American and West Indian colonies; the interest

of the home consumer has been sacrificed to that of the producer

with a more extravagant profusion than in all our other

commercial regulations。 A great empire has been established for

the sole purpose of raising up a nation of customers who should

be obliged to buy from the shops of our different producers all

the goods with which these could supply them。 For the sake of

that little enhancement of price which this monopoly might afford

our producers; the home consumers have been burdened with the

whole expense of maintaining and defending that empire。 For this

purpose; and for this purpose only; in the two last wars; more

than two hundred millions have been spent; and a new debt of more

than a hundred and seventy millions has been contracted over and

above all that had been expended for the same purpose in former

wars。 The interest of this debt alone is not only greater than

the whole extraordinary profit which it ever could be pretended

was made by the monopoly of the colony trade; but than the whole

value of that trade; or than the whole value of the goods which

at an average have been annually exported to the colonies。

     It cannot be very difficult to determine who have been the

contrivers of this whole mercantile system; not the consumers; we

may believe; whose interest has been entirely neglected; but the

producers; whose interest has been so carefully attended to; and

among this latter class our merchants and manufacturers have been

by far the principal architects。 In the mercantile regulations;

which have been taken notice of in this chapter; the interest of

our manufacturers has been most peculiarly attended to; and the

interest; not so much of the consumers; as that of some other

sets of producers; has been sacrificed to it。



                              CHAPTER IX



Of the Agricultural Systems; or of those Systems of Political

Economy which represent the Produce of Land as either the sole or

the principal Source of the Revenue and Wealth every Country 



     THE agricultural systems of political economy will not

require so long an explanation as that which I have thought it

necessary to bestow upon the mercantile or commercial system。

     That system which represents the produce of land as the sole

source of the revenue and wealth of every country has; so far as

I know; never been adopted by any nation; and it at present

exists only in the speculations of a few men of great learning

and ingenuity in France。 It would not; surely; be worth while to

examine at great length the errors of a sy

返回目录 上一页 下一页 回到顶部 0 0

你可能喜欢的