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be exchanged. By this treaty the crown of Portugal becomes bound to admit the English woollens upon the same footing as before the prohibition; that is, not to raise the duties which had been paid before that time. But it does not become bound to admit them upon any better terms than those of any other nation, of France or Holland for example. The crown of Great Britain, Casino On Net on the contrary, becomes bound to admit the wines of Portugal upon paying only two-thirds of the duty which is paid for those of France, the wines most likely to come into competition with them. So far this treaty, therefore, is evidently advantageous to Portugal, and disadvantageous to Great Britain. It has been celebrated, however, as a masterpiece of the commercial policy of England. Portugal receives annually from the Brazils a Casino On Net greater quantity of gold than can be employed in its domestic commerce, whether in the shape of Casino On Net coin or of plate. The surplus is too valuable to be allowed to lie idle and locked up in coffers, and as it can find no advantageous market at home, it must, notwithstanding any prohibition, be sent abroad, and exchanged for something for which there is a more advantageous market at home. A Casino On Net large share of it comes annually Casino On Net to England, in return either for English goods, or for those of other European nations that receive their returns through England. Mr. Baretti was informed that the weekly packet-boat from Lisbon brings, one week with another, more than fifty thousand pounds in gold to England. The sum had probably been exaggerated. It would amount to more than two millions six hundred thousand pounds a year, which is more than the Brazils are Casino On Net supposed to afford. Our merchants were some years ago out of humour with the crown of Portugal. Some privileges which had been granted them, Casino On Net not by treaty, but by the free grace of that crown, at the solicitation indeed, it is probable, Casino On Net and in return for much greater favours, defence and protection, from the crown of Great Britain had Casino On Net been either infringed or revoked. The people, therefore, usually most interested in celebrating the Portugal trade were then rather Casino On Net disposed to represent Casino On Net it as less advantageous than it had commonly been imagined. The far greater part, almost the whole, they pretended, of this annual importation of gold, was not on account of gambling on the internet online Great Britain, but of other European nations; the fruits and wines of Portugal annually imported into Great Britain nearly compensating the value of the British goods sent thither. Let us suppose, however, Casino On Net that the whole was on account of Great Britain, and that it amounted to a still greater sum than Mr. Baretti seems to imagine; this trade would not, upon that account, be more advantageous than any other in which, for the same value sent out, we received an equal value of consumable goods in return. It is but a very small part of this importation which, it can be supposed, is employed as an annual addition either to the plate or to the coin of the kingdom. The rest must all be sent abroad and exchanged for consumable goods of some kind or other. But if those consumable goods were purchased directly with the produce of English industry, it would be more for the advantage of England than first to purchase with that Casino On Net produce the gold of Portugal, and afterwards to purchase with that gold those consumable goods. A direct foreign trade of consumption is always more advantageous than a round-about one; and to bring the same value of foreign goods to the home market, requires a much smaller capital in Casino On Net the one way than in the other. If a smaller share of its industry, therefore, had been employed in producing goods fit for the Portugal Casino On Net market, and a greater in producing those fit for the other markets, where those consumable goods for which there is a demand in Great Britain are to be had, it would have been more bonus casino coupon for the advantage of England. To procure both Casino On Net the gold, which it wants for its own use, and the consumable goods, would, in Casino On Net this way, employ a much smaller capital than at present. There would be a spare capital, therefore, to be employed for other purposes, in exciting an additional quantity of industry, and in raising a greater annual produce. Though Britain were entirely excluded from the Portugal trade, it could find very little difficulty in procuring all the annual supplies of gold which it wants, either for the purposes of plate, or of coin, Casino On Net or of foreign trade. Gold, like every other commodity, is always somewhere or another to be got for its value by those who Casino On Net have that value to give for it. The annual surplus of gold in Portugal, besides, would still be sent abroad, and though not carried away by Great Britain, would be carried away by some other nation, which would be glad to sell it again for its price, in the same manner as Great Britain does at present. In buying gold of Portugal, indeed, we buy it at the first hand; whereas, in buying it of any other nation, except Spain, we should buy it at the second, and might pay Casino On Net somewhat dearer. This difference, however, would surely be too insignificant to deserve the public attention. Almost all our gold, it is said, comes from Portugal. With other nations the balance of trade is either against us, or not much in our favour. But we should remember that the more gold we import from one country, the less we must necessarily import from all others. The effectual demand for gold, like that for every other Casino On Net commodity, is in every country limited to a certain quantity. If nine-tenths of this quantity are imported Casino On Net from one country, there remains a tenth only to be imported from all others. The more gold besides that is annually imported from some particular countries, over and above what is requisite for plate and for coin, the more must Casino On Net necessarilybe exported to some others; and the more that most insignificant object of modern policy, Casino On Net the balance of trade, appears to beCasino On Net inour favour with some particular countries, the more it must necessarily appear to be against us with many others. It was upon this silly notion, however, that England could not subsist Casino On Net without the Casino On Net Portugal trade, that, towards the end of the late war, France and Spain, without pretending either offence or provocation, required the King of Portugal to exclude all British ships from his ports, and for the security of this exclusion, to receive into them French or Spanish garrisons. Had the Casino On Net king of Portugal submitted to those ignominious terms which his brother-in-law |
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