COL 



760 



COL 



rvJmr. hd thr colonir $ remained subject to ut and our rrgula- 

 - " "* tiont, but the ratio of progreM has been much more ra- 

 pid in their independent state. The way to quicken the 

 increase of capital it to leave its possessor at liberty to 

 buy and sell wherever he thinks proper. In the case of 

 the Americans, the principal change that took place was 

 the purchase in Holland and other countries of a pro- 

 portion of commodities, chiefly raw produce, which we 

 formerly obliged thorn to take from us at a higher price. 

 If we reckon theamount of these purchases at L. 1,000,000 

 * year,andthennuiliving to the AmericansatL. '200,000, 

 we' (hall soon find the benefit of the saving in an increased 

 demand for our manufacture*. The L. 200,000 saved, 

 formed an annual addition to the American capital, and 

 increased, in a correspondent proportion, their general 

 power of purchase. While one fourth part of it was 

 employed in extending their continental trade, it is no 

 exaggeration to compute that the remaining three-fourths 

 were remitted . to this country. From official returns 

 oome years ago, it appeared that the United States pur- 

 chased only to the value of three millions a year from 

 the continent, while from us they took the triple, or ra- 

 ther the quadruple sum mentioned above. ( Baring on t/ie 

 Order* i Council.) It is evident, therefore, that of 

 every additional guinea made by America, the half, or 

 more properly two-thirds, were vested in British pur- 

 chases. Need we add more to prove that it is our inte- 

 rest to let them increase their capital in their own way ? 

 If we forego a small profit on articles of continental mer- 

 chandize, we have soon an opportunity of reaping this 

 profit threefold in the extended purchase of our own 

 goads consequent on this saving to the Americans. It 

 is clearly better for us to sell them twelve millions in va- 

 lue of British manufactures, than six millions of the 

 latter, and two millions of continental goods. Now this 

 is no unfair statement of the difference produced by the 

 independent situation of the United States. Had they 

 remained till now part of our empire, they would have 

 been involved in the war of 1793 ; and even in peace, 

 they would have been without all the saving and conse- 

 quent augmentation of capital which has ensued from 

 their purchasing continental produce at the first hand. 



The course of our reasoning will be rendered clearer 

 by attending to the material point, that in the case of 

 foreign merchandize re-sold to the Americans, the loss 

 to them was much greater than the profit to us. Of the 

 sum of L. 200,000 already mentioned as the computed 

 amount of enhancement, the chief part went in freight, 

 insurance, warehouse rent, and shipping charges, on all 

 of which the clear profit is much smaller than persons 

 out of trade are apt to imagine. The advantage to our 

 merchants on such transactions will not be underrated by 

 estimating the gain of all the parties employed at one- 

 fifth of the L. 200,000. Next as to revenue: Those 

 who calculate on public emolument from the carrying 

 trade, appear to forget that our duties are almost always 

 drawn back on re exportation. Is it not better, there- 

 fore, that a people eager to make an annual extension of 

 the purchase of our manufactures, should increase their 

 disposable capital by L. 200,000 a year, than that we, 

 for the sake of L, 40.000, should cause them a loss to 

 that amount? It may, however, be urged, that the 

 additional employment in the importation and re-ship- 

 ment of the continental merchandize was productive of 

 considerable advantage to this country. Now, in reply, 

 we have to ask, whether in time of peace any consider- 

 able number of our countrymen ever are at a loss fcr 

 -mployment ? Even in war, the want of work has been 

 'ittlc felt until the Orders in Council, an act of our 



own, caused a kind of revolution throughout tin. m . 

 cial world. The truth is, that the wants of mankind 

 are such as to supply, necessarily and permanently, an 

 effectual demand for the labour of the industrious; so 

 that we may allow the consumers of merchandize to pro- 

 vide .themselves, on all occasions, in the shortest and 

 cheapest way, without disquieting ourselves with an ap- 

 prehended deficiency of employment. If we apply this 

 course of reasoning, and the practical lesson given us by 

 the example of America, we shall soon see that most go- 

 vernmrnts have overrated the advantage of retaining set- 

 tlements in the tributary shape of colonies. The value 

 of colonial trade, when free and unrestricted, is, hk" 

 the value of other branches of trade, of the highest 

 consequence ; but the amount of this value becomes ma- 

 terially lessened by the imposition of restraints. While, 

 on the one hand, by favouring certain colonial articles 

 to the exclusion of those of foreign countries, we com- 

 mit the error so strongly deprecated by Dr Smith, of 

 driving into the colonial trade an undue proportion of 

 home capital ; on the other hand, by compulsory limi- 

 tations in regard to the sale of colonial produce, we cramp 

 most seriously the growth of colonial capital. As mat- 

 ters stand, such sales can take place only through our 

 medium ; and had Mr Brougham composed his book 

 with a knowledge of the eventful history of the last ten 

 years, he would not have considered the monopoly in so 

 harmless a light. If farther arguments are wanted to 

 produce the conviction, that our colonies would be more 

 profitable to us in a free than in a restricted shape, we 

 need merely refer our readers to the instructive tract 

 written on this subject by Mr Bentham, at the outset of 

 the French revolution. Nor will it be unprofitable to 

 make a practical contrast between the annual burden at- 

 tendant on the defence and government of the West In- 

 dies, Canada, or Nova Scotia, and our complete exemp- 

 tion from expence in the case of the United States, from 

 whom our mercantile gains are so much greater. See 

 Humboldt's Travels in Mexico, Brougham's Colonial 

 Policy, Smith's Weallli of Nations, Talleyrand on Co- 

 lonies, Say's Economic Polilujiie, Robertson's History 

 of America, Bryan Edwards' History of the West Indies, 

 Sir William Young's West India Common- Place Book, 

 and Mann's Neiv South Wales. (#) 



COLOURS, in optics. See ACHROMATIC TELE- 

 SCOPES, Disi'KKsioN, and OPTICS. 



COLOURS, in painting. See PAINTING. 



COLOURS, in dyeing. See DYEINO. 



COLOUR, (difference of, in the hutnanspecies.') Of all 

 the external varieties in the human species, none are so 

 remarkable as that diversity of colour which distinguish- 

 es the inhabitants of different regions of the globe. \c 

 see it in all its gradations, from the purest white, to the 

 deepest ebony ; and the question is, to ascertain the cause 

 of these variations. Two hypotheses have been main- 

 tained on this subject ; the one is, that all the varieties 

 of colour may be accounted for from the effects of cli- 

 mate ; the other is, that there have been, from the begin- 

 ning, different species of the human race, possessing dif- 

 ferent colours, as their peculiar characteristics. 



The first opinion is the most ancient, and we think it 

 has been demonstrated to be the most philosophical. 

 The ancients, who were scarcely acquainted with any 

 black nation, except the Nubians, regarded them as the 

 terminating shade of the tawny colour, heightened into 

 blackness, by perpetual exposure to the rays of the sun. 

 As far as their knowledge then went, every thing tended 

 to confirm this opinion. They observed the shade of co- 

 lour gradually to deepen as they approached the equa- 



