1208.] On the Advantages 
material is confined to one or two. Be- 
sides, in every manufacturing country we 
see the condition of the people much 
ameliorated. ‘Theirdress and their hahi- 
tations demonstrate it; now, from this 
event, it is evident that not only the ma- 
nvfacturer, but ithe workman enjoys a 
profit upon his labour, more than_ his 
mere Support amounts to, during the time 
he has been einployed; and by this profit, 
drawn from abroad, he is enabled to 
> Sh more at home. 
Whether the unproductive class of so- 
ciety are so injurious in relation to profit, 
as is represented, may be controverted. 
A., An unproductive \abourer, must give 
the same price for a coat as B., engaged 
in commerce or agriculture; butin a 
barter between A. and B. there is no 
transfer of profit, as when the tailor buys 
of the shoemaker, and vice versd: thus 
much of the loss occasioned _by puptc; 
ductive labour is corrected, and repaid. 
A corollary may be drawn from Mr. 
Spence’s remarks about the necessity of 
spending i m the landholder. When the 
unproductive labourer spends, he aug- 
ments individual and national riches; 
but when this happens in trade, it is a 
mere transfer, a compact of mutual sup- 
port. Butif the unproductive labourer 
saves, he adds, it is true to the mass of 
wealth; but he would do precisely the 
same thing, if he spent, and besides, add 
to the ie ee of the trader. Perhaps 
general well-being requires, that the sav- 
ing part of society should be the commer- 
cial. 
Mr. Spence hints, that the erportation 
of a durable commodity for the return of 
one of a differcnt kind, is a loss to the na- 
tion: in some degree an injury to society, 
It may be asked, is not this. position In 
the inverse Bano of fact? 
A is a gentleman of landed fortune: 
he orders a pipe of wine per ann, of his 
wine-merchant. The merchant buys it 
of the importer, who purchases it abroad 
by an export of woollen cloth: suppose, 
that instead of wine, he imported any du- 
table commodity, he then brings a com- 
petition in the market against our manu- 
factures, and deadens the source of indi- 
vidual and national profit. This may be 
made out by anexisting fact. The East 
india Company export. British manufac- 
tures, and import teas, callicoes, muslins, 
&c. - Now the teas interfere with no 
manufacture; but the case is otherwise 
with the calicoes and muslins. The sale 
of them acts against the Irish long-lawn, 
2 ; 
| DOBRO 
of Foreign Commerce. 308 
and other national manufactures of con« 
sequence. ) 
It is wrong to think that the import or 
use of perishable commodities, instead of 
durable, taspoverishes; they can be ob. 
tained no longer than they can be bought, 
and so long as they can be bought, be 
the exchange by manufacture, the im- 
port is beneficial. The breed of sheep 
must, from food and other causes, be 
supported in this island. While this is 
the case, the wool must. be wrought up, 
and this gives employ and profit to thou- 
swids: it is exported, and wine, perhaps, 
brought back im return: the profit, it may 
be admitted with Mr. Spence, is drawn 
from the consumer, who is so much the 
poorer; but then it is the unproductive 
labourer only who is so much the poorer 
(every species of tradesman replacing his, 
Capital), and that he should spend is ac- 
knowledged by Mr. Spence to be indis- 
pen sable, and has been before attempted. 
to be shown to be beneficial. We take it 
as a datum, that the produce of the soil 
must be disposed of. 
A further case may be stated: we ex- 
port our manufactures to Ireland, and 
bring back from thence their butter, pork, 
Thus we rob them of their 
stimulus to industry, at least; and sup- 
pose the ease inverted, we should find 
that the national advantage is bartered 
away by such a transfer. 
As long as the durable commodity is the 
produce of the soil, foreign trade must 
act upon the same principle as the expor= 
tation of corn, be the parent of plenty, 
and patron of industry: and that pro-~ 
duce must be wrought up to the utmost 
possible extent, and disposed of, or en-= 
couragement ceases. 
{t is this very traffic in perishablecom- 
modities which is a strong aid to indivis 
dual wealth. During the twelve years, 
peace, such was the cheapness of mo- 
“ney, that the three per cents. rose al- 
most to par. Let us consider even the 
present wealth of the nation: the pro- 
perty-tax amounts to fourteen miilions : 
multiply that sum by eight, and the pro- 
duct is one hundred and twelve millions, 
Th every war, government employs more 
than half of this income, for which it pays 
an interest, almost entirely in the sup- 
port of unproductive labourers (who take 
no profit away from the commercial 
man), and in perishable commodities, 
Let us consider, then, next, “what a cus- 
tomer povnaaraen becomes, how it sup= 
ports the value of trade, and hy taxing: 
only 
