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BOOK lawful to erect different fishing-chambers in all the different out-ports of the kingdom, provided a fum not less than ten thousand pounds was fubfcribed into the capital of each, to be managed at its own risk, and for its own profit and lofs. The fame annuity, and the fame encouragements of all kinds, were given to the trade of thofe inferior chambers, as to that of the great company. The fubfcription of the great company was foon filled up, and feveral different fishing-chambers were erected in the different out-ports of the kingdom. In spite of all these encouragements, almost all thofe different companies, both great and fmall, loft either the whole, or the greater part of their capitals; fcarce a veftige now remains of any of them, and the white herring fishery is now entirely, or almost entirely, carried on by private ad

venturers.

If any particular manufacture was neceffary, indeed, for the defence of the fociety, it might not always be prudent to depend upon our neighbours for the fupply; and if fuch manufacture could not otherwife be fupported at home, it might not be unreafonable that all the other branches of industry should be taxed in order to fupport it. The bounties upon the exportation of British-made fail-cloth, and Bririth-made gun-powder, may, perhaps, both be vindicated upon this principle.

But though it can very feldom be reasonable to tax the induftry of the great body of the people, in order to fupport that of fome par

V.

ticular clafs of manufacturers; yet in the wan- CHA P. tonnefs of great profperity, when the public enjoys a greater revenue than it knows well what to do with, to give fuch bounties to favourite manufactures, may, perhaps, be as natural, as to incur any other idle expence. In public, as well as in private expences, great wealth may, perhaps, frequently be admitted as an apology for great folly. But there muft furely be fomething more than ordinary abfurdity, in continuing fuch profufion in times of general diffi culty and diftrefs.

What is called a bounty is fometimes no more than a drawback, and confequently is not liable to the fame objections as what is properly a bounty. The bounty, for example, upon refined fugar exported, may be confidered as a drawback of the duties upon the brown and mufcovado fugars, from which it is made. The bounty upon wrought filk exported, a drawback of the duties upon raw and thrown fik imported. The bounty upon gunpowder exported, a drawback of the duties upon brimftone and faltpetre imported. In the language of the cuftoms those allowances only are called drawbacks, which are given upon goods exported in the fame form in which they are imported. When that form has been fo altered by manufacture of any kind, as to come under a new denomination, they are called bounties.

Premiums given by the public to artists and manufacturers who excel in their particular occupations, are not liable to the fame objections

VOL. III.

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as

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BOOK as bounties. By encouraging extraordinary dex. terity and ingenuity, they serve to keep up the emulation of the workmen actually employed in those respective occupations, and are not confiderable enough to turn towards any one of them a greater fhare of the capital of the country than what would go to it of its own accord. Their tendency is not to overturn the natural balance of employments, but to render the work which is done in each as perfect and complete as poffible. The expence of premiums, befides, is very trifling; that of bounties very great. The bounty upon corn alone has fometimes coft the public in one year more than three hundred thousand pounds.

Bounties are fometimes called premiums, as drawbacks are fometimes called bounties. But we must in all cafes attend to the nature of the thing, without paying any regard to the word.

Digreffion concerning the Corn Trade and Corn Laws.

CANNOT conclude this chapter concerning bounties, without observing that the praises which have been bestowed upon the law which establishes the bounty upon the exportation of corn, and upon that fyftem of regulations which is connected with it, are altogether unmerited.. A particular examination of the nature of the corn trade, and of the principal British laws which relate to it, will fufficiently demonftrate,

the

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the truth of this affertion. The great importance CHAP. of this fubject muft juftify the length of the digreffion.

The trade of the corn merchant is compofed of four different branches, which, though they may fometimes be all carried on by the fame perfon, are in their own nature four feparate and diftinct trades. Thefe are, firft, the trade of the inland dealer; fecondly, that of the merchant importer for home confumption; thirdly, that of the merchant exporter of home produce for foreign confumption; and, fourthly, that of the merchant carrier, or of the importer of corn in order to export it again.

I. The intereft of the inland dealer, and that of the great body of the people, how oppofite foever they may at firft fight appear, are, even in years of the greatest scarcity, exactly the fame. It is his intereft to raise the price of his corn as high as the real scarcity of the season requires, and it can never be his intereft to raise it higher. By raifing the price he difcourages the confumption, and puts every body, more or lefs, but particularly the inferior ranks of people, upon thrift and good management. If, by raising it too high, he discourages the confumption fo much, that the supply of the season is likely to go beyond the confumption of the feafon, and to laft for fome time after the next crop begins to come in, he runs the hazard, not only of lofing a confiderable part of his corn by natural causes, but of being obliged to fell what remains of it for much less than what he might have had

BOOK for it feveral months before. If by not raifing

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the price high enough he difcourages the confumption fo little, that the fupply of the feafon is likely to fall short of the confumption of the feafon, he not only lofes a part of the profit which he might otherwife have made, but he expofes the people to fuffer before the end of the season, inftead of the hardfhips of a dearth, the dreadful horrors of a famine. It is the intereft of the people, that their daily, weekly, and monthly confumption, should be proportioned as exactly as poffible to the fupply of the feafon. The intereft of the inland corn dealer is the fame. By fupplying them, as nearly as he can judge, in this proportion, he is likely to fell all his corn for the highest price, and with the greatest profit; and his knowledge of the state of the crop, and of his daily, weekly, and monthly fales, enable him to judge, with more or less accuracy, how far they really are fupplied in this manner. Without intending the intereft of the people, he is neceffarily led, by a regard to his own intereft, to treat them, even in years of fcarcity, pretty much in the fame manner as the prudent master of a veffel is fometimes obliged to treat his crew. When he forefees that provifions are likely to run fhort, he puts them upon fhort allowance. Though from excefs of caution he fhould fometimes do this without any real neceffity, yet all the inconveniencies which his crew can thereby fuffer are inconfiderable, in com parison of the danger, mifery, and ruin, to which they might fometimes be expofed by a lefs provident