The Sun.
London, England, 1833-05-10 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

ILLUSTRATIONS OF PoLITICAL ECO-
NOMY. No. XVI.
MESSRS. VANAERrUT ANT) SNOEK.
Miss Martineau has endeavoured very suc-
cessfully to make plain in this number of her
admirable productions the mys•eries of bills of
exchange, but is occasionally tempted to make
excursions into the general question of free
,racic. The politico-economical part of the book
is connected by a story of a very slight texture,
hut of some interest, exhibiting the domestic
manners of the Dutch. Although political
science is now better understood than formerly,
there are still many, both in and out of Parlia-
ment, who have some silly notions about the
disadvantages of trading with a country which
requires to be paid in money rather than in
goods. For the benefit of these gentlemen wa
beg to make the following extract :•••••••
" flow can you tease the boy ?' inqoired Master Pe'er.
And he asked Christian if be really suppn.ed that every
thing that was bought, all the world over, w,is bought
with gold and silver? If he would on y comid r the
quantity of coin that would have been collecred in 'he
States by this time, if all their produce had been thus oaid
f. r, he wont,' see how troublesome such a method of earn,
coerce would be.

" But some of this money would go away again, Chris.:
tian observed, as long as the States hought as well MI sold.
However, be perceived that while there was mutual ex -
change, it must save much trouble to exchange tl e goods
against one another, as far A 8 they would go, and pay only
the h dance in money. But this b dance, when lanes,
must be a very sad thing for the country that had to pay it.
" ' Do you think the country would become liable to
pay it,' asked Master Peter, if it had no advantage in
return ? Do you think your brother would rib up heavy
bills with the French wine-growers, if he did not hope to
make profit of their wines? When my country has as
many ships as I wish her to have, I shall enc..urage my
merchants to—l mean, I hope my countrymen will—
make very large purchases from foreign countries.'
" ' But if Heins sends away a ship load of guilders,'
remonstrated Christian, the States will be so much till
poorer, however much wine may come in return; b-ctuse
the wine will be drunk in Amsterdam, and paid for with
more guilders. And then Heins will send out these
guilders again, I suppose, and not care how little money
there is left in the couatry, so long as his own pocket is

" Heins smiled condescendingly, and promised Cht7.
tian that when be grew older he should know better what
he was talking about. How should the boy know better,
unless his questions were answered ?' asked Gertrude, who
came with Katrina to relieve Master Peter of his charge.
But the good-natured sailor took his seat on a piece of
timber, saying that the little man should have his ques-
tions properly attended to—questions the very same as had
been asked by many a taller, if not a wiser man. Chris.;
tian did not like to be called ' little man,' but forgave the
expression, in consideration of his questions being thought
manly. Peter told him that many Kings having f-ared
for their kingdoms what Christian feared for the States.—
that they would be emptied of money—had passed law
to prohibit money being sent out of the country. Tht?:
had not remembered, any more than Christian, that °the'
countries must buy also; so that Heins's neighbours woul
be taking money from abroad, while Heins was sending,
it out—supposing that it actually went in the shape o'
guilders.
" ' But how do we know that they will buy ?' asked
Christian. 'lf they do not choose to buy—what then?'
" ' They always do choose it, and must choose it, since
they cannot get what they want in any other way. The
iiv
en:i
andw whatpots to
and
kettles, with
and no
people in the mine-countries—in South America—have
more than they
kl know
that they consider necessary to
theirnoone g
ofcomfort.lidol amany
noc
eann'd
silvera
Now,rltoitch :n es twould not it he very fooli.h in their
governors to prevent their sending out their spare gold in
exchange for what they must otherwise do without ?'
" Yes; but Christian thought the case of mining

countries peculiar. No where else, he supposed, was
precious metal superabundant. If it were indeed—But
perhaps the truest sign of there being too much of it was
the wish of the people to send it away. What would
Master Pet-r do if he was a, ruler?
" Master Peter's nation being in great want of gold and
silver, he should wish his people to send out as much tallow
and timber as they could sell; but if he ruled in Holland,
where there was more precious metal than was wanted,
be would encourage the Dutch to send out velvet+ and
he should
tvould
hwealth inth
es osmakee mo
for
we
huas
te fuwl form.as bro u
gllan
backeihe
brandy, for the sake of bringing hack, not money, but
.thcaastel%
be anxious to have the produce of the country exported.
" Of course, Christian observed, there could be little good
in sending property away unless for the sake of what is
brought back. He, for his part, should have un particu-
lar wish to dispose of his show-box at the next fair, if lie
was to have only an apple in exch Inge ; but he should be
glad to sell it for the model of a ship which he much de-
sired to have. In the latter case, he should be much
pleased ; but his pleasure would be, not in parting with
his show-box, but in gaining the model.
"4 Well, my dear boy,' said Heins, 'that will do. W.
are not children who want to have every thing esplaired
by a wise little man like you.'
'‘ `'those Kings were not children that Master Peter
was speaking of,' observed Christian ; and yet they
seemed to want to have it explained that they might as
well part with their gold as anything else, since the thing
that signified most was whether they got anything better
in exchange.'
"' You have quite changed your opinion,' said Ger-
trude. 'An hour ago, you thought it a very sad thing to
part with gold.'
" Yes; because I thought gold was somehow more
valuable than anything else ; that it had a value of its
own. But, if there is any one country where gold is of
little use, it seems as if it was much like other goods—fit
to be changed away when one has too much of it, an I got
back again when one wants it.'
" Then it is time,' said Gertrude, that merchants,
and those who rule them, should leave off being very glad
when money is imported tattier than goods, and very
sorry when it is exported.'
" They may feel sure,' Heins observed, that they
will soon have an opportunity of getting more money, if
they want it. No one thing is bought and told so n'ten as
money ; and they may be as confi.lent that some will soon
fall in their way as that there would always be blue cloth
in the m irket, if every trader in the world bought and
sold blue cloth.'
" Christian saw yet another consequence from what
Master Peter had told him. If gold was very cheap in
Peru and very dear in Russia, aid if furs and he np were
very cheap in Russia and very dear in Peru, it would do
as much good to the one country as to the other to ex-
change them, while it could do nobody any harm. At
this grand discovery the boy wis so delighted that he ran
• the risk of bringing on his pain by the start which he
made to put his face opposite to Master Peter's."

SHIPPING INTELLIGENCE-(THIS DAY.)