Political Arithmetic , 
country, by European experience. It is impossible to enter fully into 
the discussion within the bounds of a ne wspaper Essay ; nor can 
the back country supply the necessary materials for it ; but imper- 
fect as this will be, I am fully satisfied that there is a class of read- 
ers, whose approbation I shall be proud of, who will peruse it with 
attention, and regard it with indulgence. 
It seems determined in America , that we shall be a commercial 
country. Our navy, our army our loans, our increased taxes 
have arisen from our Commerce. This is cried up as the grand 
source of national wealth, and power, and prosperity. I, on the 
contrary, am firmly persuaded that until the home territory of a 
country be well cultivated and peopled— until manufactures found- 
ed on population, are in a state to require other markets to be 
sought, foreign commerce is a losing concern ; an appropriation of 
capital, seldom expedient, frequently detrimental ; that it has prov- 
ed so, wherever agriculture has been thrown into the back ground 
to advance the commercial system ; that to afford it support by pro- 
hibitions and bounties, or protection by engaging in wars on account 
of it, or manning navies for its defence, is equally unwise and un- 
just; that if it cannot be carried on without the fostering aid of go- 
vernment, it ought like every other losing scheme to be left to its 
own fate, without taxing the rest of the community and their poste- 
rity for its support. That foreign commerce is unnecessary as an 
investment of surplus wealth in this country, where there is so 
much land calling aloud for cultivation and capital, and so deplora- 
bly managed for want of these ; that all the usual motives to fo- 
reign commerce, greatly fail in this country, which comprising 
every climate, may be made to supply every variety of produce 
from its own industry. 
1st. Of the meaning of Commerce . The barter or exchange 
of commodities between different persons is Commerce . If it be 
confined to the citizens of any country among themselves, it is call- 
ed internal commerce , or the home trade ; if between the citizens 
of one country and those of another, it is external commerce , or fo- 
reign trade ; if by means of the citizens of one country bartering 
abroad the produce or manufactures not of their own, but of other 
countries, it is the carrying trade . 
2dly. Cafiital employed in the home Traders more beneficial 
to the country than capital employed in the foreign Trade , or 
the carrying trade. Suppose a merchant of New Orleans pur- 
chases % 1000 worth of pork and whiskey from a Kentucky farmer, 
