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Show 454 ON TliE IlHMEDIATE CAUSES [CH • VI I. comtnodities together, as far as regards v~lue, is lin1ited by the revenue and capital of the country. If one increases, the other must di1ninish." :J(• It appears to tne 1.hat in aln1ost every case of successful foreign trade, it is a matter of unquestionable fact that the de1nand for foreign and home commodities taken together decidedly increases; and that the increase in the value of foreign produce does not occasion a proportionate din1inution ¥ in the value of hon1e produce. I \vould still hovvever allo\v that the demand for foreign and hon1e conunodities together, as far as regards value, is li1nited by the revenue and capital of the country; but, according to n1y view of the subject, the national revenue, which consists of the sun1 of rents, profits, and wages, is at once decidedly increased by the increased profits of the foreign n1erc.hant, \Vit1Jout a proportionate din1inution of revenue in any other quarter; \Vhereas Mr. Ricardo is evidently of opinion that, though the abundance of con1n1odities is increased the revenue of the country, as far as rerrards value ' remains the 5 ' san1e; and it is because I object rather to the con-clusion intended to be conveyed, than to the actual tenns of the passage quoted, that I have used the 'vord inzplied rather than expressed. It will readily be allovved that an increase in the quantity of con1n1odities is one of the n1ost dcsira~ le effects of foreign con1.merce; but I wish particularly to press on the attention of the reader ~ Prine. of Polit. Econ. c. vii. p. 138. Qd edit. SEC. VIII.] OF THE PROGltE S OF 'VEA LTU. 455 that in aln1ost a_ll c_ases, another tnost i1nportant effect accompanies 1t, expressly rejected by Mr. Ricardo, namely, an increase in the amount of exchangeable value. And that this latter effect is so necessaryi in order to create a continued stimulus to productive industry, and keep up an abundant supply of com1nodities, that in the few cases in which it does not take place, a stagnation in the den1and for labour is in1mediately perceptible, and the progress of- \Vealth is checked. .l\.n extension of foreign con1n1erce, <J,ccording to the vie\v which Mr. Ricardo takes of it, \Vould, in n1y opinion, place us' frequently in the situation in which this country vvas in the early part of 1816, when a sudden abundance and cheapness of corn and other co1nn1odities, fro1n a gr~at supply tneeting a deficient demand, so din1inished the value of the_ income of the country, that it could no longer con1tnancl the san1e quantity of labour at the same price; the consequence of "'rhich vvas that, in the midst of plenty, thousands up9n thousands \Vere thrown out of en1ploy1nent-a n1ost painful but aln1ost una voidable prelin1inary to a fall in the money wages of labour, "''hich it is obvious could alone enable the general incon1e of the country. to en1ploy the san1e n un1 ber of labourers as before, and, after a period of severe check to the increase of wealth, to reco1ninence a progressive 1novement. Mr. Ricardo al \vays seems to think that it is quite the san1e to the labourer, ,vhether he is able to command n1ore of the necessaries of life by a rise in the 1noney price of labour, or by a fall In GG4 |