COMMERCE. 



rassments, and the scarcity of the specie which should bestow 

 on it vigour and a6tivity ; a persuasion being entertained, that 

 these pernicious results are precisely the efFe6l of a free trade. 



These vague and unfounded complaints, which confine the 

 view solely to the particular interest of the merchant, instead 

 of extending it to the advantages produced by the different 

 compensations of all the united obje6ts, are to be condemned 

 as contrary to the common felicity and general welfare of the 

 nation. 



Foreigners, aware of the advantages which may result 

 from the new regulations, have had recourse to subtleties and 

 sophisms, to bring into discredit this very useful system. 

 Spain, they observe, being but thinly peopled in proportion 

 to her territory, ought not to augment the facilities and re- 

 sources of the sea-ports, which, by embracing profits at once 

 more prompt, more secure, and more multiplied, cherish 

 commerce, to the prejudice both of agriculture, and of the po- 

 pulation. Cadiz, on account of its limited space, being in- 

 capable of receiving and maintaining a greater number of in- 

 habitants, the produ6tions were sent thither for traffic, but 

 the families remained on their possessions : hence resulted the 

 double utility of the funds being first circulated, and after- 

 wards remitted into the interior, for the support of the lands 

 on which the proprietors resided. In that port, the number 

 of vessels trading to the Indies is infinitely greater than in any 

 other ; consequently, there is a greater opportunity to divide 

 the risks, a necessary stimulus to the merchant, who cannot 

 ^ consent to expose the whole of his property to one fortuitous. 



event. The different speculations, relatively to the scarcity 

 or abundance of certain articles of commerce, which it is 



easy 



