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Show 44 8 0 N THE I .M J.\1 ED I ATE CAUSES ( C H, VII, ceeding without check in \lvealth and prosperity. But, if there is tnerely an increase of con1111odities, it is impossible to say, without further inquiry, that they may not be so distributed as to retard, instead of pron1ote, the progress of national 'veal th. It has been fully stated and allowed, that a period of stagnation must finally arrive in every country from the difficulty of procuring subsistence. But an indisposition to consurne in large quantities the goods produced at hon1e, and a want of the means of advantageous barter n1ay occasion, and has often occasioned, a similar stagnation at a very early period of 3: nation's progress. No country "vi th a very confined market, internal as 'veil as external, has ever been able to accun1ulate a large capital, because such a market prevents the fornlation of those 'vants and tastes, and that desire to consume, which are absolutely necessary to keep up the tnarket prices of con1rnodities, and to occasion an increasing demand for then1, and for the capital which is to produce then1. The distribution of commodities occasioned by in~rnal trade is the first step towards any considerable increase of 'vealth and capital ; and if no exchanges could have taken place in this country, at a greater distance than five n1iles, it is probable that not a fifth part of our present capital could have been employed before the effective encourao·en1ent to b accun1ulation and the further progress of ,vealth had ceased. The n1otivcs \Vhich urge individuals to engage SEC. Vl II.] ~F THE, PROGRESS OF 'VEALTH. 449 in foreign cotnmerce are precisely the san1e those which lead _to the interchange of good~ b:~ tween the m~re dtstai:t parts of the satne country, natnely, an Increase In the n1arket price of the local produc~s; .a.nd the increase of profits thus made by the Inchvidual, or the prevention of that fall of profits which 'vould have taken place if the capital had been etnployed at home, must be considered as a proportionate increase in the value of the national produce. Mr. ~icardo be~·ins his Chapter on Foreign Trade by stating that " No extension of foreio·n trade 'viii itnn1ediately increase the an1ount of 6 value in a. country ~I though it will very powerfully contnbute to Increase the n1ass of con1modities and therefore the sun1 of enjoyn1ents. '' This ·statetnent is quite consistent "rith his peculiar view of value, as depending solely upon the labour which a commodity has cost. Ho,vever· abundant n1ay be the returns of the merchant, or however greatly they n1ay exceed his exports in value according to the cotnmon acceptation of the term, it is certain that the labour etnployed in procuring these exports 'viii at first ren1ain the sarne. But, as it is so glaring and undeniable a fact that the returns from an unusually favourable trade 'vill exchange for a.n unusual quantity of money, labour and domestJc comtnodities; as this increased power of conlma~ ding money, labour and con1rnodities is in reality "'hat is meant by the n1erchant when he talks of the extension of the foreio·n market b and a favourable trade, it appears to me that such GG |