( H4 ) 



purfuits of the nation, would tend greatly to 

 cncreafe them ? 



With a great number of people importa-* 

 tion is a favourite objedl ; but whoever thefc 

 are, we do not hefitate in pronouncing them 

 to be enemies to their country. What neceffity 

 is there for importation at all, excepting in ex- 

 traordinary cafes ? If Britain had her depend- 

 ence entirely on importation, fuppofing a fa- 

 mine or fcarcity to arife in the neighbouring 

 kingdoms, and it happens to be fo this very 

 year, 1787; or which is often the cafe, our 

 fleets to be detained by contrary winds, per- 

 haps a month or two, or a great part of them 

 fliipwrecked; or, in time of war, when grain 

 could with difficulty be brought home, what 

 a deplorable fituation muft the nation be in. 

 The very freight and the land carriage to dif- 

 ferent parts of the kingdom, and the mer- 

 chants profits, would undoubtedly be equal, 

 in many places, to the original cofl of the 

 corns. 



Why may not our own country be im- 

 proved to fuch a degree, as to fuperfede any 

 occafion for importing the necefTaries of life? 

 So far is this from being a difficult matter, 

 that it might evidently be accomplifhed with 



the 



