124 Political Economy, 
Foreign commerce is beneficial 
1. Because it brings into ojieration the advantages which 
he derived from the different value of the precious metals^ in differ-- 
ent countries. 
The precious metals, now the general medium of circulation 
in the civilized world, may be considered, as possessing a fixed va- 
lue, in the same coimiry^ at the same period., which is solely regu- 
lated by the proportion of their supply, to the exigencies of the 
public. But their value is by no means the same in all countries. 
In one, money may be scarce, while it abounds in another. The 
home-value of money, at each time, is settled; relative national 
value., at the same time, is various. This is one cause of the dif- 
ference of prices of commodities in different countries ; a differ- 
ence giving birth to favourable exchanges,* renouncing the be- 
nefits of which will be lost to a nation renouncing foreign trade 
The precious metals abound in Mexico, whilst our manufactu- 
rers, and mechanics, excell in skill and knowledge, those of that 
country. Even our flour, so readily transported, is more within 
reach of the people at Vera Cruz, than their own, which descends 
to them, on the back of mules, from the plains producing it, six 
thousand feet above their level, f Our cabinet ware, our saddlery^ 
our flour, and many other commodities, might, of course be favour- 
ably exchanged for silver at that place. With this silver we might 
procure East India muslins, teas, nankeens, and china- — very de- 
tion at great distances from the national territory — at an expence which no 
reasonable calculation of commercial gain can ever repay — and at the perpetu- 
al hazard of war, induced by commercial monopoly, commercial jealousy, and 
commercial fraud. Especially, as these have notoriously proved during a cen- 
tury and a half, the most sure and productive causes of modern warfare. It 
is not pretended by any person whatever, so far as I know, that foreign com- 
merce should be either abandoned or neglected, while it can be safely, and 
productively pursued — -without involving the consumers at home, in the ex- 
pence and deprivation attendant upon commercial hostilities, to protect the^ 
speculation, and ensure the profits of the merchants abroad. T. C. 
* The commerce depending upon fluctuations in the value of bullion in Eu- 
rope C even since the depreciation of paper currency in England) is so trifling 
as to be perfectly insignificant in a national point of view. The course of ex- 
change depends, not on the relative values of bullion, which influence it but 
in a slight degree ; it depends on the right of one nation to draw on another 
for the balance of mercantile transactions. T. C. 
Alexander de Huiribold, Political Essay, on the kingdom of Xev/ Spahy 
