The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1810-10-16

:
10y the first Adventures in any new line of
business generally encourages both them &
others to pursue il still more largely till the
market becomes oyers,ocked. aud the trade
instead OF continuing to afhrd a profit is at
tended with heaYy losses. This has been the
case for some time past, with many leading
branches OF that commerce in which specu-
lative men are engaged and we have only
I TO examine into the fact to be satisfied of the
! trsth of this remark.
| 1t We turn our eyes tn the Baltic trade, we
shall ind that the eagerness of commercial
men to lodge large quantity of British man.
ufactures and produce in the ports of Russia
and Prussia, while they were yet open for
their reception, and to secure AN adequate
supply of hemp, tallow. and other commo
dites which we derive from those COMMITTEES
IN return. induced them to carry on this
branch or commerce last year. to an extent
wholly without example. The CONSEQUENCE
OF these excessive importations had been,
that the prices of all those commodities,
winch had risen to very great height,
nave experienced as rapid decline and
the importers and SPECTATORS either have
| their capital still locked up in them,
or have sold them to very great disadvan
| tage.
The trade to Hcligoland formerly took off
vast quantity of British merchandise and
thence into the neighboring ports of the con
tlnent. But Bonapartc in order to put a
stop to this traffic. established a new Gordon
OF custom house officers (dou0niers all a.
long the Coast and, although it may be
presumed that they will not be more inccr
rupub,e than their predecessors, vet the in
habitants must have an opportunity of becom
| ing acquainted with them, and feeling their
! pulses properly, before the trade can go on
In t,a a.
have continued to such an excess. thata room
"a feet square. now rents at Helligoland for
one hundred guineas per month and whole
cargoes OF goods are lying there exposed to
the weather, for want of warehouses to put
them into. Under these circumstances of a
total stagnation of sales and want sf returns,
| the parties concerned in this branch Of com
merCc are necessarily in state of much en-
barrassment.
If we consider the state of Holland, we
Ind that two thirds fthe funded property OF
that country have been annihilated by Bon
aparte. This loss falls chiefly upon the
merchants. who are great capitalists and
the reaction of such blow must necessarily
affect the British merchants with whom they
are connected
1T we so farther to the westward, we shall
| md that the desire of making provision of
the commodities of Spain and Portugal. be
tore the final subjugation of that peninsula,
nasled to The same consequences as IN the
ba'iic trade The approximations of our be
ing shortly deprived of any future supply of
the commodities Of those countries, raised
their value here. This rise occasiened eX
traordinary Importation, which increase
the stock on hand so as 10 lower the price "a
gam, and to bring very heavy losses on the
Spectators. For example, Spanish wool
rose to more than 20s. per Id. and is now not
worth more than from eight to ten shlIings
per ID
Nor have the speculations to the foreign
COLONIES been more productive than those 10
the continent of Europe. The markets in
the Brazils and the Spanish provinces in
South America, are compiled ely overstocked
with British goods and all the late adven
lures 10 those settlements have been very los
ing concerns to the persons who embarked in
them.
The same observations apply to St Domin
go, with the additional misfortune, that cof-
fee the principle article bro't from thence in
return can hardly be sold at any price, and
if sold at all. must be sold at ruinous de
probation.
A far greater quantity Of goods has bsen
sent to Martinique and Guadalupe than the
consumption Of those Islands can, by any pos
sibiity, take off; and competition for pro
duce to load ships home has been so great. as
| TO raise the price OF s.gar there 40 per ceHt
upon the purchasers a commodity, which
when it arrives, is Just as unsaleabe, in the
present state of things, as the coffee of St.
Domingo.
Since our intercourse with the y. S of
b. America has been renewed, the glut of their
produce, which has been accommodating
while their embargo and nn-inte recourse
laws were in force, is pouring into this coun
try, with rapidly that not only depresses
its value, but even deters the purchasers
from buying many articles at any price
the quantity arrived aud expected being such
as can neither be consumed here, nor
/ exported from hence to the continent of Eu
rope
Under these circumstances, the conse
quence of glutted and depressed market,
arising from all excessive and overstrained
importation in most branches of commerce,
must inevitably bring great distress upon
those whose speculations have led them into
engagements beyond the extent of their cap
ital. Speculation, confined within proper
bounds, has undoubtedly its advantage {:
like strong liquors if used in moderation.
it acts as cordial, and quckens the too
laDguid circulation /; but like them, too if
taken to excess, 1t leads to intoxication and
ruin.
The great cause of this mischievous ex
cess OF speculation, is the abuse of paper cre-
! dit Men con,rive to raise an artificial cap
ital by accommodation bills, on which they
trade, beyoad all reasonable proportion to
their real means. This paper does infinite
/ htf.N. ~. T.