Foreign Commerce. 57 
other, tend to give a vague character to the 
hopes of the trader, and generate a spirit of 
adventure which often leads to disappoint- 
ment. An industry of a steadier and happier 
kind would be produced, if a constant atten- 
tion to business were attended with a slower 
augmentation of fortune, exempt from all 
risk of disappointment. The mind, in that 
case, no longer injured by excessive passions, 
would be invited to relish life, by the uniform 
encouragement which it would  afford.— 
Perhaps the state of commerce may, at a 
future period, be in this, point of view im- 
proved. The frivolous caprice of fashion 
among the rich, may give place to a taste for 
more steady enjoyments; and thus a more 
uniform demand for the products of the useful 
arts may be created. An improvement may 
also take place in commercial sagacity, which 
will enable the merchant more easily to foresee 
the fluctuations of the market, and prevent 
the derangement occasioned by unexpected 
changes. | 
Let us now consider the influence of foreign 
commerce on national power. ‘This part of 
the subject is at present peculiarly interesting, 
as the posture of the affairs of Europe threatens 
_to bring the principle to the test of experience, 
H 
