SECOND PART.

JOHN had pondered all these things a good deal in his mind, at a loss what to think or what to believe, when one day his landlord looked in upon him to talk over farming matters. Before Edition: current; Page: [156] the squire went away, John took courage to ask him about what was uppermost in his mind, and said,—"May I be so bold as to ask your honour a question?" The landlord nodded good naturedly. "Why, then, my brother Bob and my son Tom, but a bit of a chap as he is, have been arguing with me that we neither gain nor lose by trading with foreign parts, and wearing foreign manufactures." Then observing the landlord smile, "you may think, perhaps," added he, twirling his hat in his hands, "that I ought to be minding my own concerns, and not troubling my head about what is above my capacity."

"I am very far from thinking," said the landlord, "that it is not your business to reflect and consider what is or what is not good for your country. It is not only the right but the duty of every free-born Englishman to do so to the best of his abilities. This, thank God, is not a land in which we are afraid of the people learning to distinguish between right and wrong, even in matters which concern the welfare of the country."

John was pleased: he held up his head and seemed to think all the better of himself for being counted among those who had a right to think about the welfare of the country. "I am sure," thought he, "if I had informed myself Edition: current; Page: [157] to the best of my ability before I went to the fairy, I should never have been such a fool as to have made her turn every thing upside down, as I did twice running." Then, addressing the landlord, he said,—" Indeed, your honour's right; for, in my mind, there is more mischief done for want of knowing better than there is from sheer wickedness."

"I am quite of your opinion," replied the landlord; "but, as for Bob and young Tom, there, I think they are somewhat mistaken in supposing that the country neither loses nor gains by foreign trade."

"Ay, I told you so," said John, exultingly, addressing himself to his brother and the boy.

"Then I hope your honour will set us right," replied Bob.—"Why," said the landlord, "I maintain that, when two countries trade freely with each other, they are both gainers."—"Hear what his honour says now," cried Bob: "no loss on either side, but both gainers:—all prizes, and no blanks!"

"This requires some explanation," said the landlord, "which I will try to give you. Foreigners send over to us such goods as they can make or produce cheaper and better than we can; therefore, when we buy those goods, we get them cheaper or better than we could have made them ourselves."

"There's no denying that," cried Bob, "for Edition: current; Page: [158] if they were not either cheaper or better than we can make, we should not buy them." Tom chuckled in a corner, though he did not dare open his lips.

"Now, for instance," continued the landlord, observing the piece of silk for Patty's wedding-gown, which was laid upon the table; "they have the art of making silks cheaper in France than we have in England. You may buy a silk in France for the value of two shillings a yard, which would cost you three in England. Well, then, every yard of French silk sold in England (supposing there were no duty) would be a shilling saved to those who buy it."

"And a shilling saved is a shilling gained," said Bob. "Then, she who buys a French instead of an English silk gown (supposing it took ten yards) would have ten shillings left in her pocket, would she not?"

"Certainly; and so, if many French gowns were bought, there would be many a ten shillings saved. This money," continued the land-lord, "might be laid by till wanted; or it might be spent immediately, in cotton gowns, perhaps, for the children, or shoes and stockings, or pots and pans; in short, whatever article may chance to be wanted; but, whatever it be, it will have employed people to produce it; and there is so much the more work for the labouring classes. While, on the other hand, if an Edition: current; Page: [159] English silk gown had been bought, the ten shillings saved would have been spent, and nothing more could have been purchased."—"Then it is very clear," said Bob, "that, if people wear the dear English silk gowns instead of the cheaper French ones, there is less work for our work people."

"You are quite right," answered the landlord; "and it is just the same with every other article that is purchased from abroad as it is with silk. So long as we get goods cheaper we make a saving, and that saving sets more hands to work."

"Ay," said John, "that's all very well for us; but your honour told us that the French were gainers by the trade as well as ourselves: now, it seems to me, that what we gain must be their loss."

"Why so?" cried the landlord. "Take an example or two:—We have more iron in the bowels of the earth, here, than they have in France; we are therefore more used to work it, and do it better than they do. Then we know how to construct steam-engines better; so that the. French can purchase wrought iron and steam-engines cheaper and better of us than they can make them at home. If, then, we send them iron and steam engines in exchange for their silks, they are gainers as well as we." Edition: current; Page: [160]

"But I thought," said John, "that we sent the French people broad cloths in exchange for their silk and laces."

"No; the broad cloths, I believe," said the landlord, "are exported to Spain, Portugal, and other countries. But the name of the country is of no consequence, any more than the name of the goods exchanged; the principle is the same. Buy the goods wherever they are to be had cheapest and best."

"To be sure," cried Dame Hopkins; "that is just what we do ourselves, husband: often is the time that I trudge over to the market town to buy things a trifle cheaper than I can get them in the village."—"Yes, and when you get there," cried Bob, "you go to the best shop, without caring whether its master be friend or foe."

"But," said John, "we don't go over to France to choose the goods as we do at market. It is they send them over to us; and they may chance to send us such goods as we can make as well and as cheap at home: in a word, goods that we don't want from them."

"I can assure you," replied the landlord, "that merchants often do go to foreign countries for the very purpose of choosing such goods as will be most wanted in England. And when they don't go, they write, which answers much Edition: current; Page: [161] the same purpose."—"But how can they tell what is wanted?" cried Bob; "for, one wants one thing, another wants another; but, to say what most people want, must be a hard matter to make out."—"Far from it," said the landlord; "there is as sure a means of knowing it as if the different sorts of goods had each a voice, and one cried out, 'I am the most wanted;' another, 'I am next;' and another, 'I not at all.'"

This made them all stare; and they listened with great attention to learn what this voice could be.—"It is neither more nor less than the price of the goods," said the landlord. "The more goods are wanted the better price they will fetch; so it is the price which I call their voice; and, moreover, a voice that always speaks the truth."—This set them all laughing. "Now," continued the landlord, as soon as they had had their laugh out, "we cannot expect that the French or any other foreigners should send over such goods as we want, just for the pleasure of obliging us: their view is to make money."—"As every dealer's is and ought to be," interrupted Bob, "when it is done above board; that is, fairly and honestly; so we need bear them no grudge for that."

"Very true," continued the landlord; "they seek their own interest, not ours; and send over Edition: current; Page: [162] the goods that will fetch the best price, because those will give them the greatest profit."

"If they don't seek our interest, they find it nevertheless," said Bob; "for the goods which will fetch the best price, are just those which we most want. So, what suits them to sell, suits us to buy: well, to be sure, that is cleverly contrived."

"No wonder that it is clever," replied the landlord; "for it is in the nature of things; which means that it is so ordained by the Author of Nature, an all-wise and beneficent Providence.

"Well, you see, my good friends," continued the landlord, "that foreign trade—that is, trading with foreign countries—is advantageous to every country engaged in it; for, what is true of one, is true of all: and when we buy a piece of foreign goods, be it what it may, or come from whence it will, we encourage the British manufacture thereby, just as much as if we bought the piece of goods at Leeds or Manchester."

"Ay, and a little more, too," cried Bob, "according to your honour's reckoning; for you have forgot to take into the account the money saved by buying the cheaper goods, which saving is laid out in something else, and so sets more hands to work." Edition: current; Page: [163]

"That is true," cried the landlord; "I was falling into your argument, my honest tar, that there was neither loss nor gain in foreign trade; but I am glad to find you steer so clear of error that you can become my pilot. We are agreed then, that there is gain on both sides; and I hope, John, that you begin to think so too."

"Why," said John, "to be sure your honour must know best; and, if all you say be true, (as no doubt it is,) why I can't but say it must be so."

"Well," continued the landlord, "but there is another advantage in foreign trade, which I have not yet mentioned. There are some things, such as good wine, that it would be impossible for us to make, because our climate is not hot enough to cultivate vineyards; so, if we did not get it from other countries, we should be obliged to go without."

"Oh! for the matter of that," cried John, "foreign wines will never come within our reach: we poor folk should not be the better for them, even if they paid no duty at all."

"But you are sometimes the better for foreign spirits, John, I take it," said the landlord.

"And sometimes the worse, too," said his wife. "However, I have no right to complain; for that is only once in a way."

"Well, to say nothing of the wine and the Edition: current; Page: [164] spirits," continued the landlord, addressing himself to the wife, "you, good dame, would not have a spoonful of sugar to sweeten your tea, without foreign trade. Nor could you give me a pinch of snuff," added he, holding out his hand to John, who first tapped his box and then opening it, respectfully offered it to his landlord.—"And as for the English silks," said Bob, "why we should have had none to dispute about without foreign trade; for, though we can spin and weave silk, we can't breed silk-worms in our climate."—"Nor could you smoke your pipe," said the landlord; "for tobacco is not raised in England any more than silk."—"But I have heard some talk," said John, "of passing a law to let them grow tobacco in Ireland."

"If the law of the land should allow them, I doubt whether the law of nature would," replied the landlord; "for the warm climate of Virginia, in America, whence it comes, is much more favourable to its growth; and, if they attempt to raise it in Ireland, I doubt but that it will cost them dearer, and not be so good."—"Why, then," said John, "it would be wiser to make a law to prevent instead of to allow them to grow it."

"The best way would be to pass no law, either for or against," replied the landlord. Edition: current; Page: [165] "Let men have their own way, and plant and sow, buy and sell, just where and how they like; they will soon find out what will answer best. If they can raise tobacco in Ireland as cheap and as good as in America, they will do it; and if they cannot, they will let it alone."

"Ay," cried Bob, "a man has a sharper look out for his own interest than any one else can have for him."

"So you see, my friends," continued the landlord, "foreign trade has two advantages; for it not only procures things better and cheaper, but things which our climate renders it impossible for us to produce at home; such as wine, sugar, tobacco, plums, currants, rice, spices, cotton, silks, and other things without number."

"Oh, then," cried the good woman, "I could not even treat my children with a plum pudding at Christmas without foreign trade; for there's no making it without plums and spices."

Patty smiled, and cast a look upon her wedding gown, which her mother observing, said,—"Well, child, take it up and make it up. I should be loth to say or think ill of it, after all the squire has told us."

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