Ethics of Commerce, 479 



manufacture. We were here two thousand miles beyond 

 Singapore and Batavia, which are themselves emporiums of 

 the " far east," in a place uuvisited by, and almost unknown 

 to, European traders ; every thing reached us through at least 

 two or three hands, often many more ; yet English calicoes 

 and American cotton cloths could be bought for 8s. the piece, 

 muskets for 15s., common scissors and German knives at three- 

 halfpence each, and other cutlery, cotton goods, and earthen- 

 ware in the same proportion. The natives of this out-of-the- 

 way country can, in fact, buy all these things at about the 

 same money price as our workmen at home, but in reality very 

 much cheaper, for the produce of a few hours' labor enables 

 the savage to purchase in abundance what are to him luxu- 

 ries, while to the European they are necessaries of life. The 

 barbarian is no happier and no better off for this cheapness. 

 On the contrary, it has a most injurious effect on him. He 

 wants the stimulus of necessity to force him to labor ; and 

 if iron were as dear as silver, and calico as costly as satin, 

 the effect would be beneficial to him. As it is, he has more 

 idle hours, gets a more constant supply of tobacco, and can in- 

 toxicate himself with arrack more frequently and more thor- 

 oughly ; for your Aru man scorns to get half drunk — a 

 tumbler full of arrack is but a slight stimulus, and nothing- 

 less than half a gallon of spirits will make him tipsy to his 

 own satisfaction. 



It is not agreeable to reflect on this state of things. At 

 least half of the vast multitudes of uncivilized peoples, on 

 whom our gigantic manufacturing system, enormous capital, 

 and intense competition force the produce of our looms and 

 workshops, would not be a whit worse off physically, and 

 would certainly be improved morally, if all the articles with 

 which we supply them were double or treble their present 

 prices. If at the same time the difference of cost, or a large 

 portion of it, could find its way into the pockets of the manu- 

 facturing workmen, thousands would be raised from want to 

 comfort, from starvation to health, and would be removed 

 from one of the chief incentives to crime. It is difficult for an 

 Englishman to avoid contemplating with pride our gigantic 

 and ever-increasing manufactures and commerce, and think- 

 ing every thing good that renders their progress still more 



