sued. In the investigation of this subject, the secret springs and causes that have operated to abolish civil dissention and disorder will be distinctly seen, and we shall be led to consider the different conditions of men in their progress from primitive rudeness, to the inost refined civilization.

When we reflect on the numerous wants, which men must unavoidably feel in their rude state, and consider the versatile mind of man, ever ready to grasp at any thing that promises either novelty or convenience, we shall be at no loss to discover the first rudiments of that art, which may be justly called the parent of all others, and shall have reason to conclude, that its origin is as ancient, as its principles are simple.

Necessity, the mother of invention, carly suggested the means of supplying the wants of mankind by the easy method of exchange: the first advantages of this intercourse were but trifling; for in the early ages of society, man was in a condition little superior to that of the brute: while yet an inhabitant of the forest, or the cave, his reasoning faculties inust have lain dormant, or if roused into action, could have been exerted on no other objects than those of security and subsistence. But this barbarous state could not long continue, it was soon perceived that one man or one family could not live without the assistance of another, and that their condition would be improved by a mutual exchange of that portion of the necessaries of life, which was more than sufficient for their respective wants. Limited indeed must have been that exchange, while agriculture was unknown, while hunting was the sole employment of man, and the only means of his support. But when he began to till the ground, the husbandman would give his corn for hardearned spoils of the chace.

As intercourse became more common, manners were gradually humanized: commerce began to assume another, and more perfect form the many inconveniences to which exchange, simple and unimproved, gave birth, were obviated by the invention of money, at first rude and perishable, till at length metals were used for that purpose, and became the universal medium of trade. Thus in examining the usages of remote antiquity, we can discern the dawn of that light, which fostered the spirit of commerce, and cheered the mind of man, amidst the prevailing gloom of barbarism and ignorance.

Soon after the introduction of money, commerce began to be regular and unobstructed, and the different countries in which it was encouraged, started as it were into new life: the names of stranger and of enemy were no longer synonimous, when intercourse between different and distant nations prevailed. We are assured from the earliest and most authen

tic records, that this mercantile, Intercourse was carried on soon after the general disper sion of mankind. But the traffic between nations hardly deserved the name of commerce, till men were acquainted with navigation: it was long too before this art could attain to any degree of perfection, or that the knowledge of it was made subservient to the pur poses of social life. It has been observed by an elegant and judicious writer,† that "from "the raft or canoe, that served to carry the

66

savage over the river, that obstructed him "in the chace, to the construction of a ves "sel, capable of conveying a numerous crew "with safety to a distant coast, the progress "in improvement is immense."

The extensive influence of navigation on the subject we are now treating, will, in the course of investigating its progress, be clearly perceived; and the intimate connection, that commerce has with the operations of naval improvement, will in every stage of it open to our view. In the early ages which we are now considering, navigation must have been in its infancy, if not entirely unknown, it was long before men would venture on a boisterous element, and commit their property and their lives to the mercy of the winds and

waves.

But it is unnecessary to search in the barren waste of ruder ages for the seeds of that art, which when sown in the rich and fertile soil of Egypt, and watered by the streams of the Nile, was productive of wealth, of science, and of manners that distinguish and adorn a civilized people.

It has been generally agreed, that in Egypt the art first attained to any degree of perfection, and that commerce was there first carried on in an uniform and popular channel, We shall find this conjecture founded on reason and probability, if we consider the industrious and ingenious dispo sition of the people and shall be induced to believe, that they did not long remain ignorant or careless of the inestimable benefits, that might accrue to their country from the happiness of its situation. So sensible indeed were the inhabitants of this country of their local advantages, that the grateful and pious Egyptians beheld with reverence, and willingly subscribed to the deification of the first inventers and promoters of commerce and the arts. But superstition checked the advance ment of trade, and by whispering to the Egyptians that the sea was an enemy to their God, taught them to consider navigation as disgraceful. Mariners were regarded with dislike and abhorrence; and it was reserved for the Phenicians to explore unknown seas, and to enrich their barren coast by the pro

Genesis. chap. 37, v. 25.

+ Robertson's Hist. of America, vol. 1, p. 2,

ductions of distant countries. But, however, trade in earlier ages, might have suffered by this absurd opinion; Egypt has justly been celebrated as the nurse of ancient commerce, and of most of those arts that tend to civilise mankind. The Macedonian hero, the most refined politician, as well as the greatest conqueror of the age in which he lived, was so convinced of the advantageous situation of this country, that the grand object, as it were, and the most pro table effect of his victories, was the foundation of a city (Alexandria), which long continued the seat of trade, and the general mart of the world. Still the advancement of ancient commerce is chiefly to be ascribed to the Phenicians, whose national character, the reverse of the Egyptian, prompted them to engage in mercantile intercourse with every ation, whose commodities could either increase their power, or gratify their avarice. By an incessant attention to commerce, they erected on their sterile and rocky coast, an emporium in which the produce of every country then discovered was to be found. Their success in trade, and the benefits they derived from it were so great, that the merchants of Phenicia have been compared in splendour and eminence to "Princes and the honourable of the earth."

But though thirst of wealth was the most striking, it was by no means the only characteristic of this people, nor were their minds enervated by that opulence, which was the fruit of their trade: their long and uncertain voyage round Africa, in an age unacquainted with the use of the compass, and with almost every art that contributes to render navigation secure, must be considered as the most enterprising and arduous attempt at discovery that history records. Tyre has been celebrated no less for its commerce than for its siege. The memory of it will remain as a wonderful instance of mercantile intrepidity, and valiant resistance; the bravery of its defenders was as eminent, as the policy of its Nor was commerce conqueror was cruel.

· buried in the ruins of Tyre: for through the thick mist in which the history of this period is enveloped, we discover Carthage, raised and totally supported by trade, shining with a splendour, which increased by contrast with the surrounding darkness. In tracing the progress of commerce among the ancients, we shall no where find our admiration mere strongly excited, than in contemplating its happy influence in the aggrandisement of this people: the spirit of trade was engrafted on the very constitution of the state: to this it owed its origin, and its subsequent greatness. Whether we view it emerging from obscurity, and nursed by the parental care of the Phenicians, or in the plenitude of its power resisting the attacks of Roman jea

lousy, we shall have equal reason to admire the genial influence of commerce, and its vast resources, which afforded the Carth ginians the means of carrying on their tedious and expensive wars against that people, and made it for some time doubtful whether Rome or Carthage should give law to the world. The affinity between commerce and navigation is more clearly discovered and exemplified in the history of the Carthaginians, than in that of any other people, with which we are acquainted. Their unwearied attention to promote the interest of the state, and to cultivate every scheme that could tend to its glory and advantage, directed them to pursue navigation as their chief employment, to visit regions the most remote, and even carried thein to the then inhospitable shores of Britain, in quest of tin. At the demolition of this city, commerce was dispersed among the several provinces of the vast empire of Rome. The Romans (at least under the republic) actuated by the fierce and savage spirit of warfare, and despising the milder and more useful arts of peace, suffered the nations into which their arms had penetrated to carry on their usual trade without molestation. This certainly by keeping up a mercantile, if not a martial, spirit among the inhabitants of the provinces contributed to render their servitude more tolerable, and relieved them in some degree from the galling pressure of a master's yoke.

But however trade may have been neglec ted by the rugged sons of Rome, the capital of the world must necessarily have engrossed most of the productions of the provinces: the several nations of the old world never en joyed so free an intercourse as when connected under one general head Commerce then flourished without interruption, either from the frequent hostility of adverse states, or the jealousy of rival kings; all was conducted with order and regularity, till the irruptions of the barbarians. Commerce then fell; in the general conflagration was consumed, and lay buried in the wreck of literature, civilization, and law: till from its ashes arose a phoenix, more splendid, more flourishing than its parent, the source and prop of national strength, of liberty, and science.

During the devastation which followed the standard of the northern ravagers, and the long night of barbarisin that overshadowed the western empire, a faint ray of light, still glimmered in the east, and served to conduct the merchant to the shores of India, the sure.

spring in all ages of commercial opulence Constantinople long resisted the attacks of savage violence, and by cherishing commerce as the support of her independence, maintained the splendour, though stripped of the possessions of the eastern empire. When the fertile plains of Italy were laid waste by the

frequent inroads of the barbarians, and the continent of Europe became one vast theatre of war, outrage, and confusion; a few straggling families, fleeing from the desolating sword of Attila, took refuge in the marshes of Liguria, and the rocky shores of the Adriatic. Here though bereft of home, and of the pleasures of civilized society, they enjoyed liberty and independence, and by devoting their attention to trade, rendered their situation by degrees respectable, and at length the object of envy. Not satisfied with trading to the several ports of the Mediterranean, they took a wider range, and venturing beyond the streights, crept along the shores washed by the western ocean. Roused by the awakening call of industry, they formed themselves into civil communities, and became considerable and independent states. From this auspicious period they cultivated the commercial spirit with ardour, and prosecuted it with success. Such was the rise, and such the establishment of the once potent republics of Genoa and Venice.-While these republics were encreasing in wealth and importance, an event happened the most remarkable and extravagant that enthusiasm was ever known to suggest, or zeal to execute. The nations of Christendom, inflamed with religious frenzy, excited by the bold and popular eloquence of Peter the hermit, and kept alive by the policy of Pope Urban, formed the resolution of delivering Palestine from the yoke of the infidels. The most powerful chiefs, from love of adventure, and the hope of future reward, engaged in these enterprizes, and embarked with eagerness in the wild design. These valiant enthusiasts were transported in the vessels of the Venetians, the Pisans, and the Genoese, who, while other states were drained of their men and money, derived benefit from the fanaticism of the times. They supplied with provisions the vast armies of the cross, and amassed sums that would, even in this age, be esteemed immense. Constantinople, the general rendezvous of the christian warriors, was then indebted to Venice and Genoa for almost every commodity that wealth and luxury demanded.

The effects of the Crusades on manners, and consequently on commerce, were great and powerful, the Europeans who returned communicated to their countrymen a taste for Asiatic luxury; the simple habits of their ancestors no longer satisfied their desires, new customs, new fashions every where sprung up, and opened fresh sources of wealth and merchandize,"many valuable branches of commerce, which formerly centered in Constantinople were transferred to Venice, Genoa, or Pisa." Nor are we to conclude that these were the only states that were benefited by the crusades, and the intercourse produced by them with the Orientals: their beneficial VOL. I. [Lit. Pan. Jan. 1807.]

influence was as extensive and permanent, as the motives that gave rise to them were singular and wild.-Not long after this spirit of enthusiasm had evaporated, the polarity of the magnet was discovered, which contributed above every other cause to the extension of commerce, and, as it is expressed by an eminent writer,* "opened the universe." This discovery, in its consequences the most beneficial to mankind, laid open a wide field for enterprize and adventure: the mariner was no longer detained from traversing unknown seas for want of a guide to direct his course.— Commerce during this period, was not confined to the states of Italy: the inhabitants of the Netherlands, sensible of the prodigious advantages that those states derived from their trafiic with the East, formed the most powerful confederacy recorded in history, and vied with each other in the most vigorous exertions of trade. By this well-timed attention to the only art that could raise them from that ignorance in which Europe had beeen overwhelmed, and by exchanging the naval stores and other useful commodities of the North, for the productions of India and Egypt they became rich and powerful, surpassed in opu lence, and at length awakened the jealousy of the most mighty monarchs. The HansTowns equalled the cities of Venice and Genoa in riches and splendour. Bruges especially became the chief mart of every commodity that contributes either to luxury or use, and was justly esteemed one of the most opulent cities on the European continent.Thus did Italy, and the cities situated between the Baltic and the Rhine, monopolise the trade of Europe, and surpass their more martial neighbours, in wealth and consequence, till other nations, envying their prosperity, had recourse to the same expedient, and arrived at the same pitch of grandeur and magnificence. Among these none can claim a higher title to our regard than the Portuguese who encouraged by the most enterprising ge nius of his time, attempted and accomplished the dangerous, and, at least in modern times, unexplored circuit of Africa. This voyage, by affording a more ready and less expensive passage to India, was the principal source of opulence to the Portuguese: the change it produced in commerce was sudden and important; Lisbon encreased in wealth, while Venice declined and sunk into insignificance. While men were engaged in wonder and amazement at the fortunate issue of this voyage, an event occurred more marvellous and unexpected, and productive of consequences more momentous and permanent. The discovery of a new world roused the dormant faculties of men. Every one who was

* Montesquieu, ↑ Don Henry. 2 D

desirous of acquiring riches or reputation, was eager to hazard his life and fortunes, in the hope that he might rise to that eminence in another hemisphere, which was denied him in this. From this period the tide of commerce, no longer confined to the shores of Italy and Flanders, flowed into the ports of Spain and Portugal, and enriched those nations beyond the example of former ages. -It is remarkable that England, at present the most commercial nation in the world, should have been the last country that directed its attention to trade. Her numerous and almost perpetual wars, occupied her people for many centuries, and while the neighbouring nations had made several and important commercial adventures, so ignorant was England of her natural advantages, that the staple commodity of the kingdom was manufactured abroad. It were tedious and uninteresting to enumerate every state that owed its origin or importance to trade: in this general view of its rise, declension, and revival, we have seen the smallest states, and even cities, formed by the plastic hand of commerce into extensive sovereignties; and by thus having briefly surveyed its progress, we shall be the better able to judge of its more immediate, as well as more lasting effects.

Of the many and important consequences of commerce, none are more obvious, or felt more sensibly, than those that affect, and in some degree form the manners and disposition of a people. Industry and a love of freedom are among the most prominent features of the mercantile character; and in every country in which trade is cultivated, are seen to influence the conduct of the individual and the politics of the state. By commerce are men stimulated to the greatest exertions, their hopes animated, and industry encouraged by the sure confidence that their diligence will not be unrewarded, and that riches will ever obey the powerful attraction of enterprise and toil. Thus trade expands the faculties, and awakens the interest of man, excites him to activity, stimulates invention, and invigorates labour. We shall no where find a more striking example of the beneficial effects of commerce, and of the fatal consequences of its decay, than in a state already mentioned. The Venetians, while supported by trade were rich, and the state powerful; but as commerce sunk, their power, their importance declined, the nation languished, and having feebly supported the dignity of independent sovereignty, has recently become a scene of anarchy and rapine, and has fallen an inglorious prey to the insolent rapacity of France. The condition indeed of those nations who have suffered their commerce to decay is truly pitiable: deprived of the sources that supplied articles of pleasure or luxury, they sink into corruption

and effeminacy, and groan under the pressure of all those ills

"That opulence departed leaves behind." The Spaniards, since they have been in possession of the rich mines of America, have neglected the domestic sources of wealth. Trade, industry and manufacture have been exchanged for idleness, pride, and emigra tion. They have consequently become dependent on other nations for many of the conveniencies, and some of the necessaries of life, and the country is become weak, poor, and depopulated. To this indeed, their form of government has in some measure contributed, for commerce is ever seen to flourish under mild and equal laws, but always fades and sickens in the arid soil of tyranny and oppression. It is the happy object of commerce to enrich, at the same time, the individual and the country at large; the more the merchant acquires, the more is his country benefited. Trade then, is the great subject on which man may most profitably exercise his attention, and is the proper pursuit, and best support of an enlightened, powerful, and virtuous people. It has indeed been said, that luxury and corruption never fail to creep into commercial countries, and by poisoning the springs of national felicity, are more than a balance for all the benefits that a lucrative and extensive commerce can afford. It has been said also that people engaged in trade and manufacture are fraudulent, mercenary, and unfit for more noble employments; that their minds as well as their bodies become enfeebled and dispirited, and that they are incapable of those actions that have done honour to human nature, and exalted the dignity of man. But this objection has been unjustly urged; for though fraud may have entered into the breast of the trader of rude ages, and the petty retailer of our own, we may observe, that the merchant in an advanced state of commerce, is punctual, liberal, and generous; and the sedentary and peaceful occupation of the artificer and mechanic are surely preferable to the wandering and predatory life of the Tartar or the Arab.

We need not recur to foreign nations for proofs of the advantages of conimerce; they' are no where more conspicuous or more acknowledged than in our own. It is the happy

and envied boast of this island, to retain the possession of a trade as lucrative as it is universal, and by means of that trade to surpass other nations in wealth, strength, and consequence. And when we consider that this country, by no means the most considerable in extent or in the advantages of climate and fertility, is at present the most indepen dent and powerful; that she alone carries on with steadiness, and supports with spirit and dignity, a war in which most other nations have either actually suffered, or are now me

The receipt from the Sale of Salt has been considerably enhanced in the two last years, principally by the effect of regulations to prevent the illicit trade. The excess in 1803-4 beyond the average, of 1803-1 to 1802-3, is £070,000, and beyond that of 1802-3, of which it fortas a part, nearly £340,900.

It is found, that for several years past the estimates of the land revenues have been exceeded by the actual collections.

Sale of opium, £45,501. The productiveness of this resource is greatly to be attributed to the present system of management, which enforces the most scrupulous attention The excess to the quality of the article. now exhibited is owing to the actual sale price having been greater than the estimated.

Deficit-Oude Subsidy and revenues of, ceded provinces, 259,698. The deficiency is to be attributed, in the first place, to the failure of the monopoly of salt, which was proposed to be established on the same principle as in the Bengal provinces, and in the second place, to a most unfavourable season occasioning a failure in the harvests, which rendered considerable remissions absolutely necessary for the relief of the renters.

Sale of salt, £30,645. Notwithstanding the actual receipt has thus fallen short of the expectation, it is still the greatest amount ever realized from the salt sales, exceeding the last year £350,000, and the average of the last three years £570,000. The deficiency now shewn is intirely in the sale price: the quantity sold exceeded the estimate.

MADRAS.

The diminution, of average receipt is to be regretted, and the more, as in the two last years a decrease appears in the realization of these revenues. No detailed account has been received, by which the defalcations, in any particular instance, can be precisely explained; but the advices state, that the seasons have been, for several years, remarkably unfavourable, from the extraordinary prevalence of drought.

Excess: Land and sea customs, £24,883, partly from regulations recently established, and partly from contingent circumstances.— Revenues of the Carnatic, £119,558, partly by a greater collection on balances than esti mated, and partly in the customs.

Deficit:The revenues of Tanjore, and ceded and conquered countries of Mysore; also land revenues, the whole of which must be attributed to the extreme unfavourableness of the seasons.

BOMBAY.

It is satisfactory to observe, that notwithstanding the appichensions under which this estimate was framed, that the effects of excessive dearth and famine would be materially felt in the revenues, the gross collections are found to exceed the estimate.

The excess appears in land revenues, £22,6'3, chiefly in the collections from the districts ceded by the Peishwa: and in the farms and licences, £20,806.

The deficiency is in the customs and duties; imputable to a considerable decrease in the imports from Europe and China, also to the late arrival of the fleet, from which the customs could not be brought to account before the close of the official year.

An excess has occurred in the civil charges, £6,702, principally to be attributed to a charge incurred in consequence of the fire which did considerable damage at Bombay.

It is to be observed, that the Bombay army, exclusive of the detachment in Guzerat, was mercly in a state of preparation for active service in the later months of 1802-3, whereas it was generally employed on field service dur ing the whole of 1803-4; consequently the military expenses of that year were very much beyond those of the preceding. It appears that the charges in the last year were more by £413,671: of which 79,093, were in the military; the remainder, chiefly in the revenue department, for the expenses in the management of the newly acquired districts.

A considerable addition to the revenues for 1804-5, is reckoned upon from the territories which have come into the possession of the Company by treaty and conquest. The civil charges in general, from a variety of contingent circumstances, arising from the particular situation of affairs, are expected to be higher in this year than in the last.

BENCOOLEN, PINANG, &c. The measures taken to enforce the regular. transmission of documents have not hitherto produced the desired effect. As a more summary mode of proceeding has been adopted, by which the conduct of the affairs of the residency is under special examination, it may be hoped, that at no distant peried the actual state of them will, in common with the other branches of the concern, be brought under review, to the proper dates.