Different countries, in consequence of diversities of climate or soil, produce useful articles in peculiar abundance and cheapness; and occasionally produce commodities that some regions cannot produce at all. Thus we get tea from China; coffee from Hayti, Brazil, or Arabia; wine from France, Spain, Portugal, or their colonies. There is a similar diversity in the products of human labor. We obtain our cutlery, hardware, and most of our woollens, from England; our silks from France and China; our linen from Germany and Ireland. In our own country, tobacco, cotton, timber, and naval stores, are more abundant and cheap than in any other. Every country, then, by exchanging those commodities which are there cheapest for those which are dearer, as it may do by its foreign traffic, is a gainer - and hence are the profits of Commerce.

Thus, in Turks Island, where, in consequence of a dry climate and hot sun, salt is made from sea-water by natural evaporation, it is so cheap that from five to ten bushels of it are equal in value to only one bushel of Indian corn; and there are many parts of the United States in which a bushel of salt has the value of four or five bushels of corn. So in the West Indies, an hundred pounds of flour will often be of equal value with two hundred pounds of sugar; while in this country, an hundred pounds of sugar may be equivalent to two hundred pounds of flour. By an exchange, then, of the salt for the corn, in one case, or the flour for the sugar, in the other, each country obtains the dearer foreign commodity in return for its own cheaper product; which exchange commonly affords to both parties a fair return, and sometimes a very liberal one, for the trouble and expense of the transportation.

As this expense of carriage is the principal cause of the different values which the same article bears in different places, whatever facilitates and cheapens the cost of transport, in the same degree adds to the productiveness of the national industry. Hence the importance of shipping for commerce with distant countries, and of canals and railroads for domestic commerce. If, for instance, the transport of a ton to a given distance, by any one of these modes, was a dollar, and, by some improvement, the cost could be reduced one-half, then of course there would be, on all commodities transported that distance, fifty cents saved to the producers or consumers, and which would commonly be divided between them.

Improvements in transportation enlarge the sphere of the market, as well as better that which previously existed. Thus, in the case supposed (the reduction of the cost of carriage from a dollar to fifty cents), the field of transport, and consequently of traffic, may be extended twice as far, and obtain the benefit of all the additional markets comprehended within the greater distance.

We have a ready illustration of the contributions of commerce to our comforts in an ordinary breakfast. The table is probably made of mahogany brought from Hayti or Honduras. The cloth which covers it, or the napkins, were the product of Ireland or Germany. The tea came from China; the coffee from Batavia, or Brazil; the sugar from the West Indies, or Louisiana; the knives from England, with handles of ivory from Africa; the spoons and forks, and other articles of silver, from Mexico; the plates, cups, and saucers, from China, England, or France; the salt from Liverpool, and the pepper from India; the meat, fish, or eggs, butter and bread, being the only domestic products. Thus, all the four quarters of the world had contributed materials to this daily meal, employing some eight or ten ships, navigating many thousands of miles, and hundreds, or perhaps thousands, of individuals in their transportation. If we examine our ordinary apparel, or the furniture of our houses, we shall, in like manner, find that a considerable part has been afforded by the exchanges of commerce.*

* Some years after the preceding illustration had formed a part of my lectures in the University, a similar exposition appeared in one of the English Reviews. It has doubtless occurred to others.

That portion of the mercantile class who carry on the foreign commerce of the country, commonly employ large capitals, by which they occasionally enrich themselves by benefiting the community. But, as their trade is very irregular, sometimes yielding enormous profits, and sometimes being attended with loss, the average gains of this employment of capital, according to a rule previously adverted to, is probably less than those of most others.

There is another portion of the same class who are employed in dividing larger quantities of useful commodities into small parcels, to suit the various wants of different members of the community, for which they obtain a higher price to compensate them for their trouble, for the deterioration which many articles experience by the keeping, and for the time that they may remain unsold. These are retail dealers and shop-keepers. Their business being less precarious than that of the importing merchant, is less likely to be followed by bankruptcy, and is rewarded by greater average profits.

There are some dealers of this class in whom integrity is of peculiar importance. In most of the commodities in which they deal, there are various qualities, differing greatly in value, which are not always discerned by any, and not at all by the inexperienced. These dealers, then, supposing them honest in the price or measure of their wares, may impose on their customers as to the quality with impunity. Of this description are grocers, dealers in liquor, and druggists.

The gains of foreign commerce have been estimated by very different rules. It was once considered that a commerce in which the imports exceeded the exports in value was injurious, and was beneficial only when the exports predominated; it being assumed that the difference was paid in gold and silver, which were deemed more desirable than any other commodity, and thought to constitute the only just measure of the national wealth. Governments accordingly discouraged imports by heavy duties, and sometimes even by prohibitions, and encouraged exports by bounties and drawbacks, or the repayment of duties.