NOTES ON BRAZIL. 



597 



This branch of Foreign Commerce, although not carried on by her 

 own shipping or seamen, nor with her own capital, is of great advantage 

 to Brazil. It contributes to take off her surplus produce, and she receives 

 in lieu of it the manufactures of other countries, chiefly those of Great 

 Britain. Brazil, indeed, is placed in singular circumstances. It is not in 

 the power of commerce to take from her any thing but the produce of 

 her own labour ; it can yield her nothing which is valuable but the pro- 

 ceeds of Foreign ingenuity. If it be asked what she wants ? the reply 

 is nothing but luxuries. Are gold, silver, or jewels desirable ? — she 

 possesses them in abundance ; they cost her only labour. Does the 

 country refuse to yield corn, or wine, or oil, or any thing else which is 

 valuable in the support of life? — 'it has been controuied by Colonial laws, 

 and has not yet recovered the injury which they have done. Do the 

 people want clothing, or furniture, or articles of show and parade? — 

 these depend upon taste and fashion, and Brazil will receive no more of 

 of them than her surplus labour, which must always be voluntary in its 

 degree, can pay for. She can never purchase when she ceases to sell ; her 

 trade is only barter ; hence the balance can never be against her, and that 

 country must be her best friend which makes the largest purchases. 



The greatest peculiarity of th^ American Trade with Brazil consists 

 in vessels of that nation calling at Hio for bullion : they proceed with it 

 to Asia, purchase cargoes there, and finally distribute them through 

 Europe and the United States. In this important and lucrative branch 

 of commerce Britain has no share; — she prohibits it to herself! 



The importance and extent of the trade in Bullion has been men- 

 tioned already ; perhaps it may convey some notion of that in Precious 

 Stones to remark, that, when the quantity for sale in Rio had become 

 greater than the demand, one lot was advertised which weighed upwards of 

 a thousand pounds, and consisted of such stones as would be deemed valuable 

 ones to set in breast-pins, rings, and seals. Indeed all such articles, being 

 solely the produce of labour, and not of commerce, and since whatever 

 Brazil receives must be paid for in the most simple form, by the produc- 

 tions of her soil, the Imports to Brazil become actually a measure of her 



