given in the statement contained in this Chapter, which was selected from the London Price Current.

The next Chapter concludes the work; it points out the means of invigorating our Colonial Commerce, and of placing it upon a substantial and permanent footing, equitably adjusted to all portions of the Empire.

From this outline, the Author thinks it will appear, that in his undertaking, ́he has endeavoured to compass a very intricate subject, and to reduce its parts to consecutive order. Those imperfections which the judicious reader may detect, it is hoped will meet with some indulgence, when it is considered that an attempt is made in the same publication to reconcile views adapted to the merchant, the political economist, and

the statesman.

March, 1828.

COLONIAL COMMERCE.

CHAPTER I.

ADVANTAGES OF COLONIES.

SECTION I.-The Resources of the Empire extended by supplying an outlet for Population.

IT

appears to be the fate of all old states to find difficulties grow upon them in procuring subsistence for their population. A formal declaration has recently been made by the Legislature, that the means of industry in the United Kingdom are inadequate to give profitable employment to the entire people. If this state of things be not attributable to a temporary stagnation of trade, but proceed from causes which have permanent operation, we cannot bestow too close an attention upon any system of national policy which is calculated either to remove or to alleviate so great a grievance.

It is now generally acknowledged that numbers do not necessarily constitute strength, and that a redundant population tends to weaken a state; but at the same time, we hear the humane maxim inculcated, that it is better to remove the poverty than to check

B

the increase of the people. When paupers are converted into productive labourers, the community derives a double benefit: it is relieved of an oppressive tax, and increased energy is given to its industry by a more extended consumption of commodities. Still greater advantages ensue when the means of employment are directed to the production of articles not congenial to our own climate, but which are the growth of distant provinces, under the control of the mother country. By degrees, new tastes and wants arise amongst the remote as well as the proximate parts of the empire, which awaken ingenuity and enterprise, and augment the channels of commerce. Colo nies appear to contribute to all these ends; and they confer upon their parent country the glory of disseminating throughout barbarous regions her arts, her language, and her religion. Great Britain for centuries has borne a conspicuous part in this great work; she now surpasses all other states in the extent of her extraneous dominion, possessing at command every variety of climate and of soil.

It is our primary object to point out the manner in which those territories tend immediately to relieve her people, and to widen the means for their employment.

When the term redundant population is used, it is not implied, that the land in the parent state is unequal to the support of its inhabitants, but that there are more labourers than can be profitably employed.

It is usually affirmed that deficiency of capital is the cause why population outruns the means of subsistence; but this is not in all cases true. Capital may exist in great abundance where there is a redundant population. The situation of Great Britain, possessed of abundance of capital, as is proved by the low rate of interest, and with the redundant population of Ireland at command, is a case in point.

Again, if we take the term capital to mean the power of purchasing and consuming articles of exchangeable value, it does not necessarily follow that it will always be destined to the employment of the labouring population: its possessors may not be so satisfied with the rate of profit obtainable, as to be disposed to risk embarking it in productive industry. Neither does a fair prospect of gain necessarily cause production, even supposing that credit might supply any deficiency of means or capital. Men may decline availing themselves of that resource, and may prefer a moderate competency, with a life of pleasure, to the chance of obtaining a large fortune, if it is to be purchased by unremitting exertion.

Whoever will reflect for a moment upon the state of industry in civilized nations, must be sensible that skill and assiduity in workmen are quite unavailing, if there be no masters to employ them. The prosperity of a state in reality depends upon the habits of the middle orders; and