APPENDIX. n 7 



by a fpirit of jealoufy againft thofe countries with which the Account of 

 balance of trade is fuppofed to be difadvantageous. All of them 

 appear clearly, from his reafonings, to have a tendency unfa- 

 vourable to the wealth of the nation which impofes them. 

 — His remarks with refpect to the jealoufy of commerce are 

 exprefTed in a tone of indignation, which he feldom afTumes 

 in his political writings. 



" In this manner (fays he) the fneaking arts of underling 

 " tradefmen are erected into political maxims for the conduct 

 " of a great empire. By fuch maxims as thefe, nations have 

 " been taught that their intereft conlifled in beggaring all their. 

 u neighbours. Each nation has been made to look with an in- 

 " vidious eye upon the profperity of all the nations with which 

 " it trades, and to confider their gain as its own lofs. Com- 

 * merce, which ought naturally to be among nations as among 

 " individuals, a bond of union and friendfhip, has become the 

 " mod fertile fource of difcord and animolity. -The capricious 

 " ambition of Kings and Miniflers has not, during the pre- 

 " fent and the preceding century, been more fatal to the repofe 

 ** of Europe, than the impertinent jealoufy of merchants and 

 " manufacturers. The violence and injuftice of the rulers of 

 " mankind is an ancient evil, for which perhaps the nature of 

 " human affairs can fcarce admit of a remedy. But the mean 

 " rapacity, the monopolizing fpirit of merchants and rnanu- 

 " fa&urers, who neither are nor ought to be the rulers of man- 

 " kind, though it cannot perhaps be corrected, may very earU 

 " ly be prevented from disturbing the tranquility of any body 

 " but themfelves." 



Such are the liberal principles which, according to Mr Smith, 

 ought to direct the commercial policy of nations ; and of which 

 it ought to be the great objecl of legislators to facilitate the efta- 

 blifhment. In what manner the execution of the theory fhould 

 be conducted in particular inftances. is a queftion of a very dif- 

 i ferent 



