We now proceed to consider the last proposition:"The capital of the country remaining the same, the demand for labour will still be the same, though it be exerted in different places, and in different occupations.”*

To prove the extreme fallacy of this position, we will take the case of any particular branch, in which there are one hundred master manufacturers, each worth ten thousand dollars, forming together, "a capital," of one million, whose business is destroyed by the "restoration of the freedom of commerce," and "the purchase of articles from abroad cheaper than we ourselves can make them."

It is well known that the property of manufacturers generally consists in buildings for their works, machinery, raw materials, manufactured goods, and outstanding debts. The result of " the restoration of the freedom of commerce," on Dr. Smith's plan, would be to reduce the value of the four first items, from twenty to fifty per cent, and to bankrupt a large proportion of the proprietors.

As this is a point of considerable importance, we shall take a single instance, which is always more easily comprehended than a number, and yet affords as clear an illustration.

We will suppose the case of a tanner, worth thirty thousand dollars; of which his various vats, buildings, and tools amount to ten thousand; his hides and leather, ten thousand; and his outstanding debts, an equal sum. By the inundation of foreign leather, sold, we will suppose, at half price, he is unable to carry on his business, which sinks the value of his vats and buildings three fourths, and of his stock one-half. At once, his fortune is reduced twelve thousand five hundred dollars: and thus, with a diminished capital and broken heart, perhaps in his old age, he has to go in quest of, but will not find, a "collateral manufacture," to employ that diminished capital. Analogous cases without number would occur, by the doctor's system of "restoring the freedom of trade:" and let us add, as we can with perfect truth, and we hope it will sink deep into the minds of the citizens of the United States, that throughout this country there are numberless cases equally strong, which no man of sound mind and heart can regard without the deepest sympathy for the ill-fated sufferers, and regret at the mistaken policy which produced such a state of things.

*Wealth of Nations, I. 330.

It therefore irresistibly follows, that Dr. Smith's idea, that "the capital of the country will be the same," after the destruction of any branch of manufacture, is to the last degree unsound: and, of course, that the superstructure built on it partakes of its fallacy.

The doctor gravely informs us, "The tailor does not make his own shoes, but buys them of the shoemaker. The shoemaker does not attempt to make his own clothes but employs a tailor." And he adds farther,

"By means of glasses, hot-beds, and hot-walls, very good grapes can be raised in Scotland, and very good wine too can be made of them, at about thirty times the expense for which at least equally good can be brought from foreign countries. Would it be a reasonable law to prohibit the importation of all foreign wines, merely to encourage the making of Claret and Burgundy in Scotland?"+

From these positions, to which no man can refuse assent, he deduces the specious, but delusory maxim of "restoring the freedom of trade," which, in fact and in truth, is nothing more nor less than impoverishing a nation, and sacrificing its domestic industry at the shrine of avarice, in order to purchase goods "cheaper than they can be made at home."

But by what process of sound reasoning does it follow, because the shoemaker will not become a tailor, or the tailor a shoemaker; or because it would be folly and madness to exclude foreign wines, in order to introduce the culture of the vine into Scotland, a country wholly unfit for that object; that therefore thousands of men, employed in useful branches of business, diffusing happiness among tens of thousands of workmen and their numerous families, and enriching their country, are to have their usefulness destroyed, their prospects blasted, their workmen with their families reduced to distress, and the country exposed to a ruinous drain of specie?

These maxims are the basis on which a large portion, indeed the most important part of Dr. Smith's work, depends. If the basis be solid and impregnable, the fabric will stand firm: but if the foundation be sandy, the superstructure will crumble into ruins. We trust we have fully proved that the foundation is thus sandy; and that the ne† Idem, 320.

*Wealth of Nations, I. 320

cessary and inevitable consequence follows, that the theory itself is wholly untenable and pernicious.

With one more extract, we shall conclude this review: "That foreign trade enriched the country, experience demonstrated to the nobles and country gentlemen, as well as to the merchants; but, how, or in what manner, none of them knew! The merchants knew perfectly in

what manner it enriched themselves. It was their business to know it. But to know in what manner it enriched the country, was no part of their business! The subject never came into their consideration, but when they had occasion to apply to their country for some change in the laws respecting foreign trade."*

It is hardly possible to conceive of a passage more absurd or erroneous than this. That "the nobles, and gen-. tlemen, and merchants," were ignorant "how foreign trade enriched their country," is almost too ludicrous to be assailed by argument, and is a strong instance of the delirium, in which enthusiastic theorists are liable to be involved, by the ignis fatuus of their visionary views. Can there be found a man, in the wide extent of the United States, to believe that sir Joshua Gee, Josiah Child, Theodore Janssen, Charles King, Thomas Willing, Robert Morris, George Clymer, Thomas Fitzsimons, Governeur and Kemble, and the thousands of other merchants, of equal mind, who have flourished in Great Britain and this country, were ignorant " in what manner foreign commerce enriched a country," without the aid of the Wealth of Nations? It is impossible. Take any man of sound mind, who has followed the plough, or driven the shuttle, or made shoes all his life, and clearly state the operations of trade to him, and he will rationally account for the “manner in which foreign trade enriches a country." Indeed a merchant's apprentice of six months standing, could not mistake “ the manner." Any one of them would at once pronounce, that foreign trade enriches a country, exactly as farmers, planters, or manufacturers are enriched; that is, by the very simple process of selling more than they buy. No nation ever was, none will ever be enriched in any other way. And it is unaccountable that Dr. Smith should have supposed that it was reserved for him to make the grand discovery. The principle was well

* Wealth of Nations, I. 303.

understood by the merchants of Tyre, 3000 years before Adam Smith was born. And if Spain be one of the most forlorn and wretched countries in Europe, it has not arisen from ignorance of the true principles of political economy, but from neglecting them, as well as the counsels of her wisest statesmen. Ustariz, who flourished about a hundred years since, in that ill-fated and impoverished country, has ably developed the grand principles of that noble science, in a system as far superior to Dr. Smith's as the constitution of the United States is superior to the form of government of Spain.

NO. III.

Philadelphia, April 12, 1819.

WE proceed to take a view of that portion of the system of political economy pursued in England, which regards the protection of her manufacturing industry, and which has elevated that country to a degree of wealth, power, and influence, far beyond what her population or natural resources would entitle her to. This part of her system displays profound policy and wisdom, and may with safety be taken as a pattern by other nations, with such variations as particular circumstances may require. We do not pretend that it is altogether perfect; nothing human ever deserved this character. But that it has more excellence than, and as little imperfection as, that of any other nation in ancient or modern times, can hardly be questioned. The nearer any nation approximates to its leading principles, the more certain its career to prosperity. Indeed, it is not hazarding much to aver, that no nation ever did or ever will arrive at the degree of power, or influence, or happiness, of which it is susceptible, without adopting a large portion of her plan of protecting the industry of her subjects. There are parts of it, however, which are "more honoured in the breach than the observance:" we mean those particularly that restrain personal liberty, in preventing the emigration of artists and mechanics.

The grand and leading object of this system, into which all its subordinate regulations resolve themselves, is to encourage domestic industry, and to check and restrain whatever may injure it. This pervades the whole political economy of the nation; and as industry has ever been, and, according to the fixed laws of nature, must eternally be, a great security to virtue and happiness, this is among the primary duties of every legislative body: and their neglect of or attention to, this duty, affords an unerring criterion of their merits or demerits. To enable her to effect this object, Great Britain is unwearied in her efforts

I. To facilitate the importation of raw materials, for the employment of her artisans and manufacturers;

II. To discourage, or wholly prohibit, the exportation of raw materials;

III. To export her manufactures in the most finished form possible;

IV. To secure her own manufacturers from the ruinous effects of foreign rivalship;

V. To prohibit the emigration of artists and mechanics, and the exportation of machinery.

To accomplish these purposes, she has steadily employ. ed the powerful means of

1. Bounties on, or encouragement to, the establishment of new manufactures;

2. Absolute prohibitions, or such heavy duties as nearly amount to prohibition on the importation, of such articles as interfere with her own manufactures;

3. Drawbacks, on exportation, of the whole or chief part of the duties paid on importation.

All great undertakings, such as the establishment of extensive manufactures, require heavy disbursements previous to their commencing operations; and in their incipient state are attended with great difficulty, in consequence of which they too frequently fail of success in all countries, and involve the undertakers in ruin. While they are in this perilous situation, the aid of government is necessary, and wisdom commands to afford it. Small temporary sacrifices are abundantly compensated, by immense permanent national advantages. We shall furnish noble instances of this kind, on a large and liberal scale, worthy of a great nation, when we enter on the discussion of the policy of Prussia.