COMMERCE. 



29 



in Jamaica ; — a ton of copper of more value in Hol- 

 land than in Cornwall. By making due allowances in 

 this respect, we shall be enabled to account for the ap- 

 parent contradictions of customhouse returns, without 

 the ridiculous supposition of a loss on one part, when- 

 ever there exists a gain on another. 



We conclude our mercantile Tables by a statement 

 of the trade of Ireland. 



Value of all Imports into, and all Exports from Ireland, 

 for jive Years, ending the 5th January 1810/ distin- 

 guishing each Year, and the Value of Irish Produce 

 and Manufactures from the Value of Foreign Articles 

 exported ; together with the Difference between the Of- 

 ficial Value and the declared Value of Irish Produce 

 and Manufactures exported in the Years ending 5th 

 January 1808, 1809, and 1810. 



c I 



-5 

 a 



Official Va- 

 lue of Im 

 ports. 



Irish Products 

 and Manufac 

 twees Export- 

 ed. 



f 10865,736,214 

 I 1807|5,605,96-V 



5th Jan. <{ 180816,637,90? 

 j 18097,129,507 



jl810!7,471,417 



Official Value of 



£ 

 5,059,867 

 .5,030,722 

 5,307,806 

 5,696,897 

 5,408,910 



Foreign and 

 Colonial Mer- 

 chandise Ex- 

 ported. 



£ 

 142,481 

 157,443 

 150,370 

 235,694 

 330,933 



Note.— The real value of Irish produce and manu- 

 factures, computed at the average prices current, ex- 

 ported in the years ending 5th January 1808, 1809, 

 and 1810. 



Year ending 5th January 1808 . . £ 10,110,385 



1809 .. . 12,577,517 



1810 . . . 11,464,265 



III. Principles of Commerce. — This department of the 

 subject will be treated at some length under the head 

 of Political Economy. At present we confine 

 ourselves to a few general observations, with the 

 view rather of correcting prevalent errors, than of at- 

 tempting to give any thing like a system in the case of 

 a subject which requires so great a variety of combina- 

 tions. 



Our readers have seen, from the Tables above, the 

 rapid increase in the value of our exports and custom- 

 house duties. A similar increase has taken place, as is 

 well known, in the value of landed property and of 

 houses, in the general revenue of the country, &c. 

 Although more striking, and perhaps more rapid in the 

 present than in any former age, a progress of this na- 

 ture has been regularly taking place during the last 

 three centuries. Dr Davenant computed, that between 

 the years 1600 and 1688, the " rental of England was 

 nearly tripled, the money in circulation quadrupled, 

 and the capital of the country increased fivefold." — 

 Such augmentations are commonly, we may say almost 

 universally, considered in the light of proportional ad- 

 ditions to the stock of public wealth. Our ministers 

 are accustomed to expatiate in parliament on the rapid 

 increase of national property, as demonstrated by the 

 increased produce of our taxes ; and persons in private 

 life, though conscious that their individual circumstan- 

 ces are not improving, take for granted, from the ge- 



neral enhancement of commodities, that there must be Commercj 

 a large accumulation of property throughout the coun- ^T"Y"— ' 

 try. It seldom occurs to these persons, that the fall in ('"^' n \' ' 

 the value of money would afford, in a great degree, a so- merc? 

 lution of the contradiction between their own straiten- 

 ed circumstances and the appearance of general pros- 

 perity. On turning to the official tables of custom du- 

 ties, we find an increase of double the amount between 

 1792 and 1808. Part of this increase arises from ad- 

 ditional imports ; part from extension of trade. But in 

 neither case must we flatter ourselves, that government 

 have doubled the real amount of the customs, since, 

 from the fall in money in the course of these sixteen 

 years, eight millions in 1808, would go no farther than 

 five or six millions in 1792. On applying a similar 

 rule to the computation of private property, we find 

 estates yielding now a rental of fifteen thousand pounds 

 a-year, which, twenty years ago, did not yield nine 

 thousand. Part of this difference is the result of the 

 improvement of the land, but another part, by much 

 the larger, arises from the fall of money. The proprie- 

 tor, on comparing the relative prices of the necessaries 

 and comforts of life, will find that the larger sum does 

 not at present go much farther than the smaller did in 

 1793. It is not enough to contend, in opposition to 

 this, that the rise in price has not been equal in all ar- 

 ticles; for, in a general view of those things which 

 constitute domestic expenditure, and for which, of 

 Course, money is chiefly required, the computation will 

 not prove exaggerated. The great exception is found 

 in the case of manufactures. Here the improvements, 

 from the use of machinery and the division of labour, 

 have been so extensive and so rapid, as to outweigh 

 both the increase of wages and the enhancement of the 

 raw commodity. 



This explanation of our supposed increase of wealth 

 is by no means flattering to those whose minds have 

 been elated with the belief of a rapid augmenta- 

 tion of our power and riches. They will find, how- 

 ever, a kind of counterpoise to their disappointment in 

 the exposition which we are now going to make of an- 

 other popular error. It was a saying of the respected 

 Judge Hale, that " the more populous we are, the 

 poorer we are ;" and a' writer of the present day has 

 circulated a long list of gloomy anticipations, from an 

 apprehension of excess in population. Now the fact is, 

 that in every tranquil and well-governed country, the 

 ratio of increase in population may, in various respects, 

 be regarded as an index of the advancement of its poli- 

 tical power. We view it in this light, less as a supply 

 for armies and navies, than as a means of augmenting 

 the productive powers of national capital. How wide 

 a field is still open for agricultural improvement, will 

 be apparent on considering, that the counties which 

 have been rendered the most productive in our island, 

 we mean the north of England, and the south-east of 

 Scotland, are by no means the quarters most favoured 

 in point of soil and climate. Were the practice of 

 granting leases general in the south and west of Eng- 

 land, the farmers would progressively acquire the en- 

 lightened habits of their northern countrymen, and 

 would learn, like them, to lay out capital on land 

 with a liberal hand, in the same way that a trader lays 

 it out in merchandise. It is superfluous to add, how 

 greatly the produce of the earth, or, in other words, 

 the means of supporting a growing population, would 

 be augmented by the adoption of this simple course. 

 Much more, we believe, would be gained by impro- 

 ving the management of land already cultivated, thar 

 2 



