The Sun.
London, England, 1806-10-02 00:00:00

It is every man's interest (which 110 one will
mistake 'if left to himself) to, purchase articles of
merchandise at a lower price in another country,
rat Ker than pay dearer for the same productions at
home and the advantage is iintnense Oben he can
precure them at once better and cheaper -from a fo-
reiguer than from
,his;-own countrymen. ..The pins,
of all the individuals constitute the advantage of the
-whole community. The true interest of a nation is
always, to supply its several wants by the smallest
pOssibleexpence of labour and capital. The greater
its eeonomy.in thesd respects, the more wants will
it be able to satisfy,' and the greater will be the sur-
plus to be applied 'in' augmentation of its positive
wealth, and towards the furtherance of its produttive
powers. When. the foreign.coinmerce of a nation
is governed by these principles_ (and they are its only
"groundwork in. the natural cotirsil. of things), it is
always benefiCial and. produalie. The interest of
particular classes-may sometimes be at variance with
them; but the advantage of the whole (even of the
individuals of those Very classes, when considered as
a part of the general Mass) is inseparably conneaed
with them.. Alanufaaurers and tradesmen, and .
statesmen who listen to them, may continue to ima-
gine that a nation is impoverished by receiving the
manufactures of another; but unprejudiced sense
will suspeet (and a true knowledge of the sources of
general wealth will ,confirm it), 'that every branch
of trade, be it where it will, if produced by au
aetrial improvement elhuman industry, is belieticidl
to every nation concerned, as well to the purchasers
as the sellers, Maimfatturers and tradesffien, and
statesmen influenced by them, first raised the pre-
sent .clamour,abont the dependance of Europe and
the ascendant of .British industry ; the political ene-
mies o England eagerly took advantage of a
mour so welcome to them ; what those had only
termed dependance, these inveighed against as an
~4ntolerable yoke : what those only deplored as a la-
mentable error, these writers described as the last
degree of weakness and abasement. Ignorance prO-
duced these absurdities ; prejudice and fraud disse-
minated them : and the scarcity of just ideas, con- .
cerning the true principleS of politital economy has
rendered ignorance and passion triumphant in an
age so-enlightened in other respetts, and so justly
proud of its attainments. •
AS far' as the superiority of' British industry is
actually founded on the weakness or negligence of
other nations, 'on the errors Of their political or
Mercantile system; so far does it rest upon a cause
not only detrimental to the countries it disgraces,
but prejudicial in its eifeas to every nation, and to
all civil society ; for the interest of the whole re- i
quires the utmost possible improvement of the
powers 'and resources of every nation. If Russia
and Portugal employ English capitals and English
hands in their internal manufaaures, it is a proof
of some great defeat in the system of their domestic
industry, or an absolute faultiness in their political
constitutions. To supply the one, or to, amend the
other, would not only be beneficial to those imrne'-
diately concerned, hut every nation in Europe would
fee-the advantage, in as much as there is a general
connexion-between the produtlive powers of the
whole.

But until such radical amendments' shall take
place, it is a clear and undeniable advantage not
only to those countries that employ the labour and
Capitals of strangers, but to the whole system of
European industry, • that the means and resources of
England should supply the deficiency of others. It
would be a much greater misfortune if those fields
of human industry which are now cultivated and
enlivened by British skill.and capital were to remain
waste and uuproduEtive. That would be a positive,
the present is only a relative evil ; is only such as far
as it proceeds from a state of things that is
self defeaive in every . other sense it is an ad-
vantage
This analysis will enable us easily to determine
how far' the' complaints against the ascendant.uf
British industry are well or ill fonnded 'on the one
hand ; and, on the other, how far the means by
whiCh it appears possible to counteract this superi-
ority, are salutary or pernicious. '
These complaints, as far as they relate to the
faulty inaaivity, the weakness, and bad administra-
tion of the countries which England has made tribu-
tary to her industry, are to fr certain degree well
founded ; while, on the other hand, they are ill un-
derstood in many respeEts, and at all events highly
Unjust when made matter of accusation against Eng-
land. They are well founded as tar as that intrinsic
interiority Which prevents a people from cultivating
its . peculiar resources, betrays a delelive or mis-
auided national econoloy, which must always be-a
real misfortune :- they ard_ill un4erstood; so far, as,
in such a state of things; the accession of foreign in-
dustry is'the only succedaneum, acid of course must
be an advantage even to the. nation that wants the
assistance ; they are unjust as charges against Eng-
land, because England can never be made reSpon-
sible•for the barbarism, the indolence, the unskilful-
ness,
the natural difficulties, or, the bad-administra-
!tion of other countries ; because England can 'never
be.blamed for profiting, to the utmost, in every law-
ful manner, by her arts, .her industry, and spirit of
taterprise, whenever she finds a field for them .and
because this mode of supplying the deficiency of in-
distrY in one country by its abundance in ,
ano-
ther, is not only beneficial to the nations receiv,
ing the assistance, but evidently advantageous to all.
But when these complaints are grounded upen ,the
-intrinsic merits of England's superior industry, 'they
are not only'extremely unjust, but in the highest
degree absurd. .The peculiar excellence' of (Great
Britain in this respea is a general advantage to all ►
nations, if measured by the'true principles ofpolitical.

•
economy. . .
..
AR Europe is extremely interested in the ex-
istence of a people among whom industry and inge-
nuity have been carried, to so .WonderfUl an extent ;
by whoin numerous objeEts of general consumption
are provided comparatheiy cheap, and of excellent
(Imlay ; and whose astonishing activity atliods a
striking, and not alWays fruitless example to other