144 Political Economy, 
There, merchants seldom break, but squalid poverty is the lot of 
the people.* 
Many more important deductions might be drawn, from the 
simple discrimination betv''een national gains^ and the gains of the 
merchant^ but they would lead me too far. Let me apply it to the 
point under consideration. 
Foreign trade is not carrying trade. If British merchants em- 
ployed a capital of 28-| millions of pounds sterling, in effecting ex- 
changes of property, in vessels not their own, between America, 
for instance, and the East Indies, and cleared by those operations 
twelve and an half per cent, on the amount invested — ^then perhaps 
the 3^ millions, resulting therefrom, v/ould be all that the United 
Kingdom could claim as national gain. If British bottoms were 
used on the occasion, then the amount of national gain would swell 
by the sums earned in freight, and insurance, and by the benefits 
arising from the industry, put in motion inconsequence of the con-- 
struction and equipment of the vessels furnished. But, if the 
question is of foreign, not carrying trade ; if the 2 8-|- millions are 
employed in exporting British goods, in British bottoms, and in 
bringing back in return raw materials, and other commodities— 
then the national gains augment beyond calculation, and the mer» 
chant’s profits sink into comparative insignificance. 
In order to reason correctly, ’ive ought to give credit to foreign 
trade^ for so much of the home trade^ as it fiut^ in motion ! Will 
you attempt to make the calculation ? I confess that I should not 
like, myself, to undertake the task.f But I shall state the princi- 
pal circumstances that ought to be taken into view. 
How many vessels are employed in the foreign trade, and what 
is the number of artizans, and mechanics that derive their living 
from the construction and equipment of these vessels ? 
What numbers derive their support from providing this body 
of artizans, and mechanics, with food and fuel, covering apparel an4 
lodging ? 
What proportion of the 28| millions of property exported, 
consists of the value of raw materials, imported and paid for ; or, 
of foreign commodities re-exported ? For all the rest, being value 
* I know no evidence of this in France. I do know, proofs of the most de- 
cided character, that this is the case in England. See Anal. Mag. Nov. 1813. 
T. C. 
f The calculation seems to me to be eas}/ enough. A thousand dollar.s 
spent at Isome, in a home-investment, puts in motion one thousand dollars 
worth of labour at home, and no more. Dr. liollman's mode of reasoning 
would tend to prove that it put in motion a million’s worth of labour. T, C 
