respectively belong to different sovereign powers, and the chief benefits of the navigation can be enjoyed by those countries alone where the rivers enter the sea. The great rivers which flow into the Baltic sea, from being frozen, are nearly useless for a third part of the year, and the benefits which would otherwise be derived from them, to the fertile countries in the neighbourhood, are greatly limited. When a river is divided near its confluence with the sea into a great number of navigable canals, like the Nile and the Ganges, or like the Rhine and the Maese in Holland, the advantages arising from the navigation are greatly extended.

There are no roads in several of the provinces of Brazil; and it is by means of navigable rivers alone that most of the productions in the interior are brought to the towns on the coast, as the places of shipment for Europe. Without the facilities of transport from the interior which the rivers afford, cultivation could not have proceeded in many districts far remote from the sea coast.

of

The sugars Brazil supply at present nearly the whole of the consumption of Portugal, and form no inconsiderable part of the supplies received by other markets on the continent of Europe. Were there no navigable rivers in Brazil, the supply of these sugars would certainly be far more limited; indeed the great expense of land carriage might, perhaps, have wholly prevented the cultivation of the sugar

cane in that country. Upon this supposition, the supply of sugar would be less abundant in Europe, and the price somewhat higher; consequently the enjoyment of this convenience or luxury must have been placed out of the reach of many of the present

consumers.

The like reasoning applies to most of the other productions of Brazil. Several rivers in that country are yet but imperfectly explored; some are not navigable from impediments of nature, which might be removed without difficulty; others, from the banks being in possession of tribes of uncivilized Indians. The inattention of the Brazilian government to facilitate inland navigation is equally manifest and reprehensible.

As the liberal reward of labour contributes to increase the market for its various productions, so it encourages workmen to greater activity, and stimulates them generally to augment the produce of their industry. As stated in the last chapter, this liberal reward often increases diligence; it may further be affirmed that it promotes dexterity, and makes workmen more desirous of inventing every kind of machinery that will add to the productive powers of labour.

The extension of knowledge, by making workmen better acquainted with the nature of their particular occupations, and with the true causes of many

G

different effects that are every day evident, also facilitates the invention of machinery for abridging labour, as well as for improving the quality of its produce. In another point of view the acquisition of knowledge is highly beneficial to workmen, as it will induce them to apply their wages to rational purposes, rather than to squander them away in a manner which occasions subsequent regret. From misappropriation, high wages prove sometimes not a benefit, but rather an occasion of misfortune to the labourer.

The extension of knowledge, and an increased activity, have produced effects most conspicuous in navigation. Voyages to the most distant countries, which were formerly regarded with admiration, are now of common occurrence. The coasting trade is equally improved, although the improvements may not be so obvious to the notice of the public. A badly navigated vessel, and but ill provided with maritime stores, would, about fifty years ago, make two voyages annually from a port on the eastern coast of Scotland to London, and return: now, a well-appointed smack will easily make twelve, and in some years fifteen or sixteen of these voyages. The shipmasters too become as it were, perfect pilots on the coast where they are continually passing, and consequently the navigation is now conducted with greater safety than heretofore.

It is further to be observed, that where the indus

trious members of the community are kept in a state of great dependence, they do not exert themselves with the same degree of energy, as where they are more free from controul or subjection. In villages and small towns, where the industrious occasionally depend for employment upon the custom, or upon the caprice of a few great families, it may be seen that they are more occupied in ministering to the pride of others, than in improving their own business. Even in countries where the right of property is seldom or never invaded, yet if the sovereign power be without controul, there is wanting that energy in the people, and that enterprize in their pursuits, which distinguish the abodes of freedom, and animate industry in the improvement of its productive powers.

842

ESSAY IV. ·

ON CURRENCY IN GENERAL, AND PARTICULARLY ON COIN.

WHEN mankind began to follow different occupations, and had made some progress in supplying reciprocally each other's wants, they must have found it extremely inconvenient to effect directly by barter the exchange of one kind of goods for another. A great deal of time must have been lost in finding out the parties who wished to dispose of the commodities required, and who were also willing to receive in exchange what the intended purchasers had to offer. A great deal more time would be lost in settling the total quantity of one of the commodities to be given or received, and the proportionate value which they bore to each other. The division of labour could scarcely go on, and the progress of industry must necessarily have been greatly retarded, until some medium was discovered, by which the exchanges of the different productions of labour for each other might be facilitated.