goods, but with gold and silver, that England
paid for the commodities annually imported
from France, the balance, in this case, would
be supposed uneven, commodities not being
paid for with commodities, but with gold and
silver. The trade, however, would in this
case, as in the foregoing, give some revenue
to the inhabitants of both countries, but more
to those of France than to those of England.
It would give some revenue to those of England.
The capital which had been employed
in producing the English goods that purchased
this gold and silver, the capital which
had been distributed among, and given revenue
to, certain inhabitants of England, would
thereby be replaced, and enabled to continue
that employment. The whole capital of England
would no more be diminished by this
exportation of gold and silver, than by the
exportation of an equal value of any other
goods. On the contrary, it would, in most
cases, be augmented. No goods are sent
abroad but those for which the demand is supposed
to be greater abroad than at home, and
of which the returns, consequently, it is expected,
will be of more value at home than
the commodities exported. If the tobacco
which in England is worth only L.100,000,
when sent to France, will purchase wine which
is in England worth L.110,000, the exchange
will equally augment the capital of England by
L.10,000. If L.100,000 of English gold, in
the same manner, purchase French wine,
which in England is worth L.110,000, this
exchange will equally augment the capital of
England by L.10,000. As a merchant, who
has L.110,000 worth of wine in his cellar, is
a richer man than he who has only L.100,000
worth of tobacco in his warehouse, so is he
likewise a richer man than he who has only
L.100,000 worth of gold in his coffers. He
can put into motion a greater quantity of industry,
and give revenue, maintenance, and
employment, to a greater number of people,
than either of the other two. But the capital
of the country is equal to the capital of all its
different inhabitants; and the quantity of industry
which can be annually maintained in
it is equal to what all those different capitals
can maintain. Both the capital of the country,
therefore, and the quantity of industry
which can be annually maintained in it, must
generally be augmented by this exchange. It
would, indeed, be more advantageous for
England that it could purchase the wines of
France with its own hardware and broad cloth,
than with either the tobacco of Virginia, or
the gold and silver of Brazil and Peru. A
direct foreign trade of consumption is always
more advantageous than a round-about one.
But a round-about foreign trade of consumption,
which is carried on with gold and silver,
does not seem to be less advantageous than
any other equally round-about one. Neither
is a country which has no mines, more likely
to be exhausted of gold and silver by this annual
exportation of those metals, than one
which does not grow tobacco by the like annual
exportation of that plant. As a country
which has wherewithal to buy tobacco will
never be long in want of it, so neither will
one be long in want of gold and silver which
has wherewithal to purchase those metals.
It is a losing trade, it is said, which a workman
carries on with the alehouse; and the
trade which a manufacturing nation would
naturally carry on with a wine country, may
be considered as a trade of the same nature.
I answer, that the trade with the alehouse is
not necessarily a losing trade. In its own
nature it is just as advantageous as any other,
though, perhaps, somewhat more liable to be
abused. The employment of a brewer, and
even that of a retailer of fermented liquors,
are as necessary divisions of labour as any
other. It will generally be more advantageous
for a workman to buy of the brewer the
quantity he has occasion for, than to brew it
himself; and if he is a poor workman, it will
generally be more advantageous for him to
buy it by little and little of the retailer, than
a large quantity of the brewer. He may no
doubt buy too much of either, as he may of
any other dealers in his neighbourhood; of
the butcher, if he is a glutton; or of the draper,
if he affects to be a beau among his companions.
It is advantageous to the great body
of workmen, notwithstanding, that all these
trades should be free, though this freedom
may be abused in all of them, and is more
likely to be so, perhaps, in some than in others.
Though individuals, besides, may sometimes
ruin their fortunes by an excessive consumption
of fermented liquors, there seems to be
no risk that a nation should do so. Though
in every country there are many people who
spend upon such liquors more than they can
afford, there are always many more who spend
less. It deserves to be remarked, too, that if
we consult experience, the cheapness of wine
seems to be a cause, not of drunkenness, but
of sobriety. The inhabitants of the wine
countries are in general the soberest people of
Europe; witness the Spaniards, the Italians,
and the inhabitants of the southern provinces
of France. People are seldom guilty of excess
in what is their daily fare. Nobody affects
the character of liberality and good fellowship,
by being profuse of a liquor which is
as cheap as small beer. On the contrary, in
the countries which, either from excessive heat
or cold, produce no grapes, and where wine
consequently is dear and a rarity, drunkenness
is a common vice, as among the northern nations,
and all those who live between the tropics,
the negroes, for example, on the coast of
Guinea. When a French regiment comes
from some of the northern provinces of France,
where wine is somewhat dear, to be quartered
in the southern, where it is very cheap, the