A _merchant_ shall hardly keep himself from doing wrong; and an
_huckster_ shall not be freed from sin.
As a nail sticketh fast between the joinings of the stones; so doth
sin stick close between buying and selling.
_Ecclesiasticus._
It has been observed in the House of Commons, “That commerce tends to
corrupt the morals of a people.” If we examine the expression, we shall
find it true, in a certain degree.
Perhaps every tradesman can furnish out numberless instances of small
deceit. His conduct is marked with a littleness, which though allowed by
general consent, is not strictly just. A person with whom I have long
been connected in business, asked if I had dealt with his relation whom
he had brought up, and who had lately entered into commercial life. I
answered in the affirmative. He replied, “He is a very honest fellow.” I
told him I saw all the finesse of a tradesman about him. “Oh, rejoined
my friend, a man has a right to say all he can in favour of his own
goods.”
Nor is the seller alone culpable. The buyer takes an equal share in the
deception. Though neither of them speak their sentiments, they well
understand each other. Whilst a treaty is agitating, the buyer
pronounces against the article; but when finished, the seller whispers
to his friend, “It is well sold,” and the buyer smiles at the bargain.
The commercial track is a line of minute deceits.
But, on the other hand, it does not seem possible for a man in trade to
pass this line, without wrecking his reputation; which, if once broken,
can never be made whole. The character of a tradesman is valuable; it is
his all; therefore, whatever seeds of the vicious kind may shoot forth
in the mind, they are carefully watched and nipped in the bud, that they
may never blossom into action.
Having stated the accounts between morality and trade, I shall leave the
reader to draw the balance, and only ask, “Whether the people in trade
are more corrupt than those out?” If the curious reader will lend an
attentive ear to a pair of farmers in the market, bartering for a cow,
he will find as much dissimulation as at St. James’s, or at any other
saint’s, but couched in more homely phrase. The man of well-bred deceit
is “infinitely your friend--it would give him immense pleasure to serve
you!” while the man in the frock “will be ---- if he tells you a word of
a lie!”
Having occasion for a horse, in 1759, I mentioned it to an acquaintance,
and informed him of the uses the animal was wanted for; he assured me he
had one that would exactly suit; which he showed in the stable, and held
the candle pretty high, “for fear of affecting the straw.” I told him it
was needless to examine him, for I should rely upon his word, being
conscious he was too much my friend to deceive me; I therefore
bargained, and caused him to be sent home. But by the light of the sun
which next morning illumined the heavens, I perceived the horse was
“greased” on all fours. I therefore, in gentle terms, upbraided my
friend with duplicity, when he replied with some warmth, “I would cheat
my own brother in a horse.” Had this honourable friend stood a chance of
selling me a horse once a week, his own interest would have prevented
him from deceiving me.
A man enters into business with a view of acquiring a fortune--a
laudable motive! That property which arises from honest industry is an
honour to its owner; the repose of his age, the reward of a life of
attention; but great as the advantage seems, yet, being of a private
nature, it is one of the least in the mercantile walk. For the
intercourse occasioned by traffic gives a man a view of the world, and
of himself; removes the narrow limits that confine his judgment, expands
the mind, opens his understanding, removes his prejudices, and polishes
his manners. Civility and humanity are ever the companions of trade; the
man of business is the man of liberal sentiment: if he be not the
philosopher of nature he is the friend of his country. A barbarous and
commercial people is a contradiction.[316]
[316] Hutton’s History of Birmingham.
* * * * *