In the year 1762, about 2000_l._ sterling, carried to the island of
_Grenada_, was there received with that veneration due to gold when we
have been years without seeing any, and have not yet forgot its virtues.
The above sum regulated the markets; coffee was set up at eight or ten
pence _per_ pound; sugars sold _per_ quintal thirty or forty shillings
currency; the inhabitants were in perfect ecstacy: I shall say nothing of
the device practised in order to _hook in_, by means of those 2000_l._
about thirty times the value of that sum, and yet satisfy every body:
that is foreign to my subject; but I will say, with pleasure, that an
honest gentleman, moved at the distressed situation of another who was
dunned by merciless creditors, gave him in hard cash a trifling part
of the sum he wanted, and for the remainder furnished him with his own
bills of exchange on _London_, assuring him that those to whom they might
be presented would take them for cash without any demur. Those bills
had fully the promised effect; the same gentleman obliged several other
persons; the benefactor soon met with competitors, all difficulties
disappeared by means of scraps of paper on _London_, and the debtor who,
on the landing of the precious metal, had deemed himself too lucky to
sell his coffee at ten-pence and his sugar at 40 shillings, now offered
impudently his bill on _London_, indorsed by some patron, if a creditor
refused to give him 45 shillings for his sugar, and twelve-pence for his
coffee.
Gold, attracted by the first homage paid to it, came in plenty, and
fell in value by the establishment of credit; it afterwards took
another course, and went, no doubt, somewhere else to supply the want
of credit, and pave the way to it. From that moment very little money
came to _Grenada_, and no one ever wished for more; but then the price
of commodities was advanced, and the readiness with which goods, to the
amount of several thousand pounds sterling, were delivered to such a
planter as, six months before, would not have presumed to demand the
sixth part of them, did not permit him to start any objection against
the prices set on the goods he stood in need of, when he thought himself
indemnified for the excess in those prices, by that at which his
were rated, _and by the time granted him to make good his payments_.
The _Grenadians_ abused this credit, as they did in _Scotland_, and
unfortunately at the same period. But this is not the matter in point;
the present object is, that the establishment of credit in _Grenada_
enhanced the price of every thing there, and that the encouragement
and activity resulting from that increase doubled, in the space of six
years, the real quantity of the products in that colony, whilst credit
had, in the end, increased its nominal value hardly one tenth. In 1764
the exports of _Grenada_ amounted to 206,889_l._; in 1770, they were at
433,421_l._; two years after, they rose as high as 492,974_l._: it may
be added, that in _England_, thanks to the extension of that miracle
wrought by credit, the benefit arising from those new products, and the
necessity of furnishing the balance thereof in merchandise, propagated,
if I may be allowed the expression, from county to county, the necessary
means of _consuming_, that is to say, of _realising_, that augmentation
of wealth, whose price was constantly kept up by the additional
consumption of all kinds which followed it: such is the usual chain.
In effect, do but observe how easily a creditable merchant buys from
the manufacturer, payable at twelve months, an enormous stock of goods,
which he is himself obliged to sell, either to the consumer or to the
retailer, at twelve, eighteen, or twenty-four months credit, and which
often are not totally paid for at the end of three years. What difference
in the prices must be the consequence of that series of _facilities_! Are
high prices an evil? Put an end to credit, nothing more easy; nothing
more is required, than to suffer to lie dormant all those laws, which
secure to the creditor, the payment of his advances at the precise time
when they become demandable: it is that certitude of being repaid, at
the needful hour, that often induces the creditor himself to borrow, in
order to extricate a debtor, whom he knows to be indiscreet, but from
whose custom he derives a considerable yearly profit, upon a prodigious
consumption; a profit he would lose, by being less indulgent: take away
from the creditor the certainty of extorting his repayment, if it should
be refused at a moment when a critical event should render such rigour
indispensable, credit is destroyed, _as well as_ the consumption which
followed it, _as well as_ the production of the earth which could not be
paid, but by those manufactories annihilated by the want of consumption:
cross the Straits of _Calais_, and (in order to console the _worshippers
of the balance_) add, _as well as_ thousands of acres of vineyards in
_France_, the produce of which _strips England_ annually of so vast
a sum! _as well as_ thousands of acres in _Italy_, set apart for the
rearing of silk-worms, and the culture of olive-trees, which swallow up
a prodigious sum of _English_ money; _as well as_ thousands of acres
in _Silesia_, where they cultivate the hemp which _English_ money buys
in that country; _as well as_ thousands of acres in _Russia_ and in
_Sweden_, whence we are obliged to import, at the expence of so much
_English_ money, that immense quantity of timber, iron, canvass—articles
which would become useless by the extinction of credit, and the
destruction of that trade, of which credit was the very soul;—the chain
would lead us too far. It is sufficiently evident, that then all the
goods remaining unsold could not be purchased but with ready money, and
_then_ indeed every thing would be excessively cheap. Would all that be
for the best?—In a word, give up all thoughts of riches, or submit to the
highest prices; but let those high prices come to you from the profusion
of wealth universally diffused, and not from the tyranny of your own
monopoly.
_The happy Issue of a desperate Combat between Monopoly and some private
Interests._
The scene of this combat does not lie in _England_; we have seen that
there they think of nothing more than to keep the balance even, and make
up, as fast as possible, each in his own department, for the injustice
granted to the importunity and cupidity of others, without any other
inconvenience arising therefrom, than that of having a very large
surplus, excessively dear, and that of not being able to procure what
is wanted at the lowest rate, nor of the best quality. Even Smuggling,
which follows certain regulations, with bludgeons and pistols in hand,
cannot produce any great effect on the sum of national labour, though it
may perhaps considerably influence the revenue of the Exchequer; it is
probable that the smuggler exports as much _English_ work into _France_
as he imports of _French_ work into _England_; and that, in this respect,
the gain of the most fortunate individual comes to very little: my
intention is, to speak here of a combat, which has lasted a hundred years
between the _French_ FAIR trader and the _American_ smuggler.
The system of administration adopted under Mons. _Sartine_, for the
_French_ colonies, a system, for which they are indebted to ten years
labour of Mr. _Malouit_, the present Intendant of _Toulon_, permits us
to speak now of that combat, and to descry the dawn of a more serene
day, opening upon those colonies; till then, I should not have hesitated
to call them unfortunate, _in regard to their means_, if the private
interest of the inhabitants, as well as that of the general-officers,
Intendants and Directors of the Domain, (interests never combined but
amongst the latter) had not moderated the effects of that dreadful
punishment the galleys, denounced at the request of the _French_
merchants, against any one who should presume to import a negro or a
cheese from the _English_ islands into the _French_ colonies, however
good the one, however industrious the other might be; and whatever
advantage might be gained by paying for both in molasses which the
planter was obliged to throw away, _because the French merchants would
not buy it_.
It is true, that the humanity of the _great_ smugglers has often suffered
the _little_ ones to escape, before or after sentence, (the negro and the
cheese being duly seised); and that a dozen of the little smugglers whom
the policy of the great ones sacrificed _by installments_ to the clamours
of the merchant, were nearly the only victims of that barbarous law, the
strict execution of which would have deprived _France_,
First, Of the fifth part, at least, of the present revenue arising to her
from her colonies;
Secondly, Of all those branches of industry to which such an addition of
revenue gives constant life;
Thirdly, Of all the profit which the _fair_ trader, the instigator of
that barbarous law, gets annually on the importations and exportations
which that additional income requires;
Fourthly, Of the duties which the King’s treasury receives directly, or
indirectly, from the one and the other; (it is impossible to estimate
this article.)
Fifthly, and in fine, of the assistance which the State derives for
the Royal navy, from that increase in its trading one, which became
necessary after the increase of a revenue, due to people who should have
been sent to the galleys, had they been caught in the flagrancy of such
a crime. One half of the cotton and coffee which is gathered at _St.
Domingo_, _Martinico_, _Guadaloupe_, and _Grand Terre_ above all, owes
its existence to negroes, constantly furnished to the _French_ smuggler,
both great and small, by the _English_ merchant, the natural, _and as
it plainly appears_, the necessary enemy to _France_ and her trade;
the quantity of sugar and indigo which in the said colonies owes its
existence to the same means, is much more than necessary to make up that
fifth of the revenue, the glory of which may be claimed by the smuggler,
though the _fair_ trader comes in for a share in the profits.
Any one desirous to have this fact confirmed, may be informed of it by
nine tenths of the _French_ planters, provided they be taught that the
time is now come, when every useful truth may be spoken, even with
energy, when accompanied by decency. This once ascertained, he is no
native of _America_ who will refuse his evidence; an _American_ believes
in every thing that is just and reasonable, the very instant that it is
pronounced.
I sincerely wish that smuggling might produce in _England_ the same
good it has done to the _French_ colonies; this would appear to me very
just, and the more so, since it will not be the fault of the _British_
commerce, if that blessed contraband, after having given life to
_America_, does not spread the same animation every where, _Great Britain
excepted_. I have heard an _English_ manufacturer prove at the bar of the
House of Lords, that his manufactory was in want of a special patronage,
by so much the more, as the size and brittleness of his ware made it a
difficult point for him to smuggle it over to the continent, and as a
duty of 30 _per cent._ had been lately laid upon it, in the two countries
where it concerned him most to have it exported. Amongst other questions
that were put to him, I remarked four, which would have stunned me, had
I been in his place. One of these questions was as follows: “Have you
not heard that that 30 _per cent._ of which you complain, was laid in
consequence of some prohibitions, or extra duties imposed in _England_
on some articles imported from those very countries which you allude
to?” I could make nothing of the manufacturer’s answers; they were so
long-winded, they had been so carefully studied, they were so very full
of a policy which I do not understand, that it became impossible for me
to class them under any heads in my memory.
_Reflexions on a very strange Revolution in ~France~._
A General maxim, almost universally adopted beyond contradiction, and the
foundation of an hundred regulations, enforced from pole to pole, is,
that it is essential for all national commodities to be at the lowest
price, in order that foreign trade may turn out to the best advantage;
that is to say, for the native traders to be able to dispose abroad of
the products of national industry, at a cheaper rate than any other
nation can sell those of her own. Certain it is, that the less price
national commodities will bring, the less of the products of national
industry will be necessary to pay them off, the more of course will
there remain of those products to stock the foreign markets, and the
more also will the foreign purchaser be gratified by the reduced price
at which they may be given, to the detriment of the land proprietor of
the nation; this is so self-evident that it cannot be withstood. This,
methinks, is carrying to an excess the principles of Christian charity,
if the Legislators are land proprietors; it is a shameful abuse of power,
if the Legislators are at the head of manufactures; and in either case
one must be blind to the necessity of keeping up an even balance between
agriculture and industry.—_Had not Nature militated under hand, and with
some advantage against the dreams of speculators in this respect, and
against the much more dangerous surreptions of cupidity, to what state
of abjection and misery would not agriculture be now reduced in all
countries!_
I have said, that the price of every thing would perhaps be now in
_France_, very little different from what it was 40 years ago, had it
not been for an eventual circumstance, (I might have said a regulation,)
which a few years ago tertiated, at least, the fortune of every subject
in that kingdom;—nominally at first, it is true; but afterwards in
reality, owing to the prodigious encouragement that ensued; I mean the
regulation which permitted the exportation of wheat, and authorised each
of the _French_ Provinces not to consider herself as a stranger to all
the others. I shall only make a few reflexions on a matter which might
furnish enough to fill a volume.
First, The adopted maxim of the pretended advantage of enjoying the
national commodities at the lowest prices, _for the better encouragement
of industry_, was not held less sacred at the time the regulation took
place, than when that maxim was considered as the basis of the system of
exportation _the most advantageous to the kingdom_, and the condition
(_sine quâ non_) of the many wonders that might be expected therefrom,
towards an increase of wealth.⸺Yet if there exist a regulation calculated
to operate in diametrical opposition to the _sacred maxim_, it is clearly
the freedom of the corn trade; to be convinced of this truth, one need
but attend to its effect in _France_. The little success I have met
with in my endeavours to come, in this respect, at some particulars
which might perhaps have given me a few ideas, confines me to what I
can gather from recollection; but with truth I can say that my memory
seldom deceives me on the abstracts it presents to my mind. The reader
may perceive, that the summary I now stand in need of, has no manner
of connexion with the little springs that were put in play to ruin the
author of the scheme; the chief and true point, is, that all secret
intrigues, all public combinations, ended only in occasioning a reform
in what was deemed abusive, in a regulation the advantages of which
were fully demonstrated; and that the price of wheat, after having
tertiated, doubled, trebled perhaps by the help of the forestallers,
from whose abilities were expected the repeal of the law and the fall
of its devisers, was fixed at last between one half and three fourths
above the price, as it was upon the medium of ten years preceding the
regulation. It is easily conceived that the price of wheat dictated that
of all other commodities; in effect, previous to the last war, the only
decisive period in the present point, the nominal revenue of the lands
in _France_, increased by one half at least of what it was 15 years
before;—then, commodities were, upon the whole, dearer by one half; yet
the maxim was held _sacred_ still, and is not less so at the present
time—in _England_ as well as in _France_;—nevertheless I can see no
medium; either the maxim is absurd in itself, or _French_ industry has
lost one third of its benefits by a regulation which tertiated, almost
suddenly, the price of all productions in _France_.
Secondly, In order that industry may be said to have lost that third, the
increase of revenue, yielded by the land to its proprietor, must have
been cast into some national _vortex_, or sent into some foreign one, or
concealed in the earth by the suspicious proprietor; for if the surplus
of the landed revenue has occasioned a greater demand for and consumption
of the products of industry, and more culture of the land, industry, by
raising the price of her goods on the very first increase of the demand,
has obtained in the first year, her first share in that accession of
wealth; and she could not miss the second, so soon as a larger sum of
savings bestowed upon the lands, had brought about what they never fail
to produce, I mean, more productions, and soon after a greater demand for
goods, and _soon after_ again more goods to answer the additional demands.
Thirdly, If that sudden advance in the price of provisions, ended only
in an increase almost equally sudden in the price of the products of
industry, there could not be then any inconvenience, either to industry
or agriculture, in a sudden and proportionate rise which preserved
the former equilibrium, and presented the same correspondence between
the two revenues; (the only thing that can materially affect the two
_capitalists_, though neither of them think about it.)
Fourthly, If there has been no inconvenience in so considerable but
proportionable increase in the prices, _coming from agriculture_, where
could be the inconvenience in a proportioned increase, equally sudden and
general if _it should come_ from industry?
Fifthly, What difference can there be between a regulation which raises
the landed revenue in a kingdom, from 6 to 9, followed by a re-action in
industry, which raises equally to 9 what usually went for 6; and another
regulation which would begin the same operation in industry, and should
be equally followed by a proportionable re-action in agriculture?
Sixthly, When, by a regulation respecting the corn, industry is at
liberty to enhance the price of her goods, in the same proportion as
the effects of the regulation have raised the products of agriculture,
cannot a regulation that concerns or imposes taxes, and by which
industry is forced to increase her prices by the full amount of the
taxes,—cannot such a regulation, I say, permit the cultivator, without
inconvenience, to advance the price of the productions of the earth, in
the same proportion as the taxes, or the regulation concerning them, have
increased that of the products of industry?
Seventhly, Let us suppose that the operation is effected, and followed
by the sum of money which a nominal revenue, grown more considerable,
requires for the circulation; can there exist then the most trifling
difference between the present state of any individuals in the nation,
and the state they were in previous to their being loaded with that
enormous burden, called taxes?
Eighthly, If after enquiry, the only answer that could be given should be
a negative, would it not be profitable to let the public into the secret,
in order that after having observed a very singular analogy between a
young nymph loaded with a column of several thousand pounds weight of
air, each of them as heavy as if it were of lead, and the _French_ as
well as the _English_ loaded annually, constantly, in the same manner,
the one with 600 millions of _livres Tournois_, the other with 14 or
15 millions of pounds sterling, they should be led further to observe,
with what agility, what graces, what sprightliness, the young dancer
plays with her load—“trips it along on the fantastic toe,” and with what
grimaces, what groans, what lamentations, the two vigorous nations shrink
under a burden which is not more sensible than air, from the instant that
it is as perfectly divided?