228 
HISTORY OF THE 
[book VI, 
send all their products to us raw, and in their first 
state; and that they should take every thing from 
us in the last stage of manufacture. 
Most of our commercial writers, and many of 
our statesmen, have considered the two great lead¬ 
ing principles above mentioned to be so closely in¬ 
terwoven together, and dependent on each other, 
as not to be disjoined without violence to both; 
whereas, in truth, the monopoly of our colonial 
products, and the advantages arising from the sup¬ 
ply of the wan^s of the colonists, might not only 
be supported, even though foreign built vessels 
were incorporated into the great body of our ship¬ 
ping, but it may eventually happen, that both our 
trade and navigation would be greatly improved 
and extended by such a measure.* 
That the maintenance of our naval strength is 
one of the most important objects to which the 
British government can direct its attention, no per¬ 
son of common understanding will venture to dis¬ 
pute ; and so long as Great Britain can herself fur¬ 
nish shipping on the cheapest terms, sufficient for 
all the great branches of her commerce, every pos- 
* “ There are some who confound commerce and navigation toge¬ 
ther, as one and the same thing : but the'one is only an instrument of 
the other, and not always an essential one. Commerce consists prin¬ 
cipally in the exchange of commodities, if it exists in inland coun¬ 
tries, where there can be no navigation. China has a commerce with 
all Europe extremely beneficial to her, but she has no navigation to 
any part of Europe. The ships of Europe are her carriers.” Smith' 
of South Carolina. 
