The star of the north. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1849-1866, 1851-12-04

vance OF a thousand pei cent. The proceeds
he may invest there in the purchase Of goods,
which he can bring to Liverpool, and proba.
bly, sell at a profit of twenty or thirty pei
cent; and the aggregate profits realized al
Calcutta and Liverpool he takes home in spe-
Gle, or in imports, or in bill of exchange,
which he probably sells at premium for
remittance. Yet these profits may never ap-
pear, or may even appear as an unfavorable
balance under the head of impons.-Upon
the same fallacious theory, il, instead of pur-
chasing millions Of foreign fabrics from the
profits of foreign commerce, such valuable
foreign articles wers presented gratuitously
TO the American merchants, and brought by
him into the country, they would swell this
alleged unfavorable balance of trade"
The following is s<- xtracl from a speech
of Daniel Webster, and gives an accurate
view Of the vexed question relating 10 the
balance of trade, apd the Whig heresy shat
the expectation of specie is ruin 10 country.
"Now sir, the whole fallacy of this argu-
meEt consists in supposing that, whenever
the value of imports exceeds that of exports,
debt is necessarily created TO the extent of
the difference; whereas, ordinarily, the i'm
port is now more than the result of the ex-
port, anguntented in value by the labor Of
transportation. The excess of imports over
exports, in truth, usually shows the gains,
not the losses Of trade or in country that
not only buys and sells goods but employs
ships in conveying goods also, it shows the
profits of Commerce and the earnings of
navigation" and to illustrate his position at
page 2S3 he cites the fact that some years
before that, a ship left one of the towns OF
New England with 10000 specie dollars.
The proceeds TO Mocha, on The Red Sea, and
there laid out these dollars in coffee, drugs.
spices, sc. With this new cargo she pro-
ceeded 10 Europe, ,wo-thirds OF it were sold
in Holland for Sl30, 900, which she brought
back and placed in the same Bank from the
vaults of which he had taken her original
outfit. The other third was sent 10 the ports
OF The Mediterranean, and produced returi'
of $4,000 dollars in specie, and $4,000 dol
lars in Italian merch andize. These sums to-
getber make Sl7o,ooO, imported, which is
100000 more than was exported, and is
therefore proof of an unfavorable balance Of
trade 10 that amount in this adventure. We
should find no great difficulty, sir, in paying
off our balance, if this were the nature OF
them all. The truth is, MIR. Chairman, that
all these obsolete and exploded notions had their
-osisin in very mistaken ,S:sas of ,he trpe ma
ture of Commerce"
1t is subject of complaint by some Of
our speakers, protesting Democracy and ut
tering whig sentiments, that the present
times are owing 10 the expectation of specie.
Here again we refer TO the same speech,
page 2s6, I, for refutation of that argu-
ment
These are the shallower reasoners (says
WebsteD that those political and CONNER
cial interests who would represent it to be
the only and gainful end of commerce TO ac-
cumulate the precious metals. These are
articles OF use and article of merchandise,
with this additional circumstance belonging
to them, that they are made by the general
consent of nations, the standard by which
the valure of all o,Eer merchandise is TO be
eslimated.--There may after the precious
metals too much or too little in country at
q particular given time, as there may be of
any other article. Then the marke, is over.
stocked with them, as ii often is, their ex-
poration becomes as proper and as useful as
that of other commodities, under similar cir
curnstauces. We need no mora repine,
when the dollars which have been brought
here from South America, are despatched 10
other countries, than when coffee and sugar
take the same direction.-EHow true is this
now of The gold from California; We often
deceive ourselves by attributing 20 search
ty of money that which is the result of other
causes.o