Of this pamphlet, originally published in 1701, 8vo., under the title of
_Considerations upon the East India Trade_, and afterwards in 1720, 8vo.,
with a new title-page, _The Advantages of the East India Trade to England
considered_, containing {472} 128 pages, inclusive of Preface, the author
never yet been ascertained.
Mr. M^cCulloch accords to it, and very deservedly, the highest praise. He
styles it (_Literature of Political Economy_, p. 100.) "a profound, able,
and most ingenious tract;" and observes that he has "set the powerful
influence of the division of labour in the most striking point of view, and
has illustrated it with a skill and felicity which even Smith has not
surpassed, but by which he most probably profited." Addison's admirable
paper in _The Spectator_ (No. 69.) on the advantages of commerce, is only
an expansion of some of the paragraphs in this pamphlet. In some parts I
think he has scarcely equalled the force of his original. Take, for
instance, the following sentences, which admit of fair comparison:
"We taste the spices of Arabia, yet never feel the scorching sun which
brings them forth; we shine in silks which our hands have never
wrought; we drink of vineyards which we never planted; the treasures of
those mines are ours which we have never digged; we only plough the
deep, and reap the harvest of every country in the world."--_Advantages
of East India Trade_, p. 59.
"Whilst we enjoy the remotest products of the north and south, we are
free from those extremities of weather which give them birth; our eyes
are refreshed with the green fields of Britain, at the same time that
our palates are feasted with fruits that rise between the
tropics."--_Spectator_, No. 69.
Mr. M^cCulloch makes no conjecture as to the probable author of this very
able tract; but it appears to me that it may on good grounds be ascribed to
Henry Martyn, who afterwards--not certainly in accordance with the
enlightened principles he lays down in this pamphlet--took an active part
in opposing the treaty of commerce with France, and was rewarded by the
appointment of Inspector-General of the exports and imports of the customs.
(See an account of him in Ward's _Lives of Gresham Professors_, p. 332.) He
was a contributor to _The Spectator_, and Nos. 180. 200. and 232. have been
attributed to him; and the matter of Sir Andrew Freeport's speculations
appears to have been furnished by him as Addison and Steele's oracle on
trade and commerce. It will be seen that in No. 232. he makes exactly the
same use of Sir William Petty's example of the watch as is done in the
tract (p.69.), and the coincidence seems to point out one common author of
both compositions. But, without placing too much stress on this similarity,
I find, that Collins's _Catalogue_, which was compiled with great care, and
where it mentions the authors of anonymous works may always be relied upon,
attributes this tract to Martyn (Collins's _Cat_. 1730-1, 8vo., Part I.,
No. 3130.). I have a copy of the edition of 1701, in the original binding
and lettering--lettered "Martyn on the East India Trade "--and copies of
the edition of 1720 in two separate collections of tracts; one of which
belonged to A. Chamier, and the other to George Chalmers; in both of which
the name of Martyn is written as its author on the title-page, and in the
latter in Chalmers's handwriting. I think therefore we may conclude that
this tract, which well deserves being more generally known than it is at
present, was written by Henry Martyn.