quainted with new wants. My only object is to bring about a revolution in their habits and manners, without which, every attempt to introduce solid improvement will be fruitless. Preparatory to this salutary measure I have recommended such a course of instruction as may fit them for the enjoyment of those comforts and harmless luxuries to which their labour and industry may entitle them. But I should be as sorry, were they converted into a nation of voluptuous Sybarites, as I should be to see them left in their present state of rudeness. The pursuits which I am anxious to excite the people of Ireland to follow, are those which tend to create the blessings of civilization, and the arts of industry and of peace. I am no disciple of Raynal or Rousseau ;* I am unacquainted with the happiness of ignorance, or the pleasures of savage life; nor do I admire the opinion of Necker, who asserts, that idiots are the favourites of the Almighty.+ Cicero has said that there is nothing so absurd, that has not been maintained by some of the philosophers. The moderns, in this respect, are not inferior to the ancients; for none of the latter ever propagated a doctrine more ridiculous than that of men walking on all fours in the forests. To enter into a discussion of this subject is foreign to my present purpose; and I flatter myself that, in the present age, it is needless to advocate the cause of civilized life, and to point out the benefits and advantages which attend it. The savage may, indeed, possess a degree of contentment, because he has the means of gratifying the few wants with which he is acquainted: but, if this be happiness, his enjoyments are very little superior to those of "the brutes that perish." A very intelligent traveller remarks, that he found those Hottentots who had learned trades to be happier than others; and he bestows much praise on the intentions of a Hernhuter, who proposed paying a visit to the savage Bosjemans, in order to promote among them that sense of comfort which has so effectually aroused their exertions in another part of the colony.§ The worthy bishop, whom I have already had occasion to quote, asks "whether the bulk of our Irish natives are not kept from thriving by a cynical content in dirt and beggary, which they possess to a degree beyond any other people in christendom; and whether comfortable living doth not produce wants; wants, industry; and industry, wealth."|| But, if there are men so far infatuated as to embrace the opinions of a certain class of philosophers, who bestow such encomiums on savage life, I shall refer them to Mickle's Introduction to his Translation of the Lusiad, where they will find an able refutation of so absurd and erroneous a doctrine. Some will, perhaps, think that I have been guilty of an omission in not exhibiting tables of the balance of trade as it affects Ireland. But the truth is, that I hold any * Sur L'inegalité parmi les hommes, not. 8. + Monboddo, on the Origin and Progress of Language, vol. i. p. 75. Barrow's Travels in Southern Africa, vol. i. p. 352. Ibid, p. 399. Berkeley's Works, Dublin edit. 1784, vol. ii. p. 353 and 363. in very little estimation deductions drawn from tests of this kind. In this respect I differ from men of no small celebrity, experienced in the arts of government, and acquainted with the operations of finance; but, if I have some authorities against me, I console myself with the reflection, that I do not stand alone. Mr. Necker has dwelt much on the "balance of commerce," as the criterion of a nation's increase in wealth.* Mr. Rose, also, that useful and indefatigable servant of the public, has exulted in the prosperity of England, as deduced from the same result; and in this he has been followed by Mr. Chalmers, to whose abilities I am ready to pay a just tribute of respect. My opinion, however, is, that that nation is richest whose imports and exports are nearly equal; and I should add together their amount, considering the total increase as a proof of the increased industry of the people, from which alone the real capital of a country is derived; and which, were it entirely deprived of metallic money, would constitute wealth. Mr. Oddy has illustrated this position as it affects the northern powers; and his reasoning upon the subject will apply to all civilized states.|| Should any of my readers disagree with me in the opinions which I have here expressed, and believe that the balance of trade is a true test of the riches of a country, I shall beg leave to refer them to Smith's Essay on the Wealth of Nations;¶ and to Hume's Essay on the Balance of Trade;** where they will find the subject treated in a masterly manner, and opposed by such arguments as, I trust, will induce them to believe that I have not adopted a fallacious idea, or asserted, on slight authority, that the increase of riches derived from trade, can be estimated only from the amount of the exports and imports. Hume says that" there still prevails, even in nations well acquainted with commerce, a strange jealousy with regard to the balance of trade, and a fear that all their gold and silver may be leaving them. This seems to me, almost in every case, a groundless apprehension; and I should as soon dread that all our springs and rivers should be exhausted, as that money should abandon a kingdom where there are people and industry."++ Bishop Berkeley asks, "whether it would not be a monstrous folly to import nothing but gold and silver, supposing we might do it, from * Necker's Administ. of the Finances of France, vol. ii. p. 110. + Brief Examination, &c. Introd. 4th edit. p. 2. Chalmers' Estimate, 1810. p. 249. ✔ Bishop Berkeley asks whether there ever was or will be, an industrious nation poor, or an idle one rich. Berkeley's Works, Dublin edit. 1784, vol. ii. p. 351. || Oddy's European Commerce, p. 3. Book iv. chap. 3. vol. ii. p. 109, 7th edit. ** Essays, vol. i. p. 278. Lond. 1788. Hume's Essays, ut supra, p. 279. every foreign market to which we trade; but whether we do not all see the ridicule of the Mogul's subjects, who take from us nothing but our silver, and bury it under ground to make use thereof against the resurrection."* In this short sentence the learned bishop wishes to shew the wisdom of that nation which exchanges its manufactures for the raw materials of other countries; and the extreme folly of those people who receive these metals in the course of trade, and bury them in the earth, where they are as useless as they were before they were taken from the mine.+ The force of this illustration is evident; yet every one who attaches importance to the balance of trade, founds his reasoning on a principle which the worthy bishop holds up in the most ridiculous light; because they conceive that this balance of trade is paid for in specie, which adds so much to the permanent wealth of the nation. If this be admitted, bishop Berkeley's Mogul would be a model of political wisdom. Those who entertain so high an idea of the balance of trade, would do well to consult Jefferson's Notes on the State of Virginia, evidently the production of an enlightened mind, written in the language of a practical statesman, who never harboured a wish that his country should possess this balance. They will derive, also, much instruction from the venerable Macpherson, whose able explanation of this subject is of too much value to be omitted. The whole work proves the author to be completely master of his subject; and therefore the greater credit is due to his statement, wherein he shews, from the difference in the rates, and the omissions in the Custom House entries, that all calculations or conclusions founded upon the balance of trade are, at the best, exceedingly fallacious.§ Berkeley's Works, vol. ii. p. 413. + Munn's English Treasure by Foreign Trade, Glasg. 1755, chap. 4. On the Exportation of our Moneys as a means to increase Treasure. Consult Hist. and Political Remarks upon the tariff of the Commercial Treaty, Cadell, 1787, p. 110. § Macpherson's Annals of Commerce, vol. iii. p. 341. CHAPTER XV. FISHERIES. DR. FRANKLIN says, "he that puts a seed into the earth is recompensed, per haps, by receiving forty for it; and he who draws a fish out of the water, draws up a piece of silver."* Another celebrated writer remarks, that "no species of natural industry is more lucrative than fishing, because it converts the ocean into a mine, and furnishes immense profits, without any other expense than what consists in labour."+ Such being the advantages of fisheries, it cannot excite surprise, that they should have been an object of attention, even in the earliest periods, to all maritime nations, who seem to have carried them on as the means of supplying part of their food, or of furnishing them with articles of commerce. In the book of Job, who is said to have resided in Arabia, and to have been contemporary with the sons of Abraham, allusion is made to fishing with spears and harpoons; and hence it may be inferred, that the people of that country were acquainted with the method of catching whales, a kind of fish still found in the Indian seas, between the coast of Africa and that of Malabar. In Egypt, fishing must have been practised, and well understood, at a very early period; for we are told by Diodorus Siculus, that the Nile furnished fish in such plenty, that the inhabitants, besides those which they employed for present use, had so many left, that they preserved them by means of salt. We are informed also by the same author, that Moeris, one of the Egyptian kings, gave the revenue arising from the lake of the same name, to his queen, in order to purchase perfumes and other articles for her toilet. This lake is said to have contained twenty different kinds of fish, and in so great abundance, that though a numerous body of people were employed in salting them, they were scarcely adequate to the task. There is reason to think that the fish trade in Egypt, at this time, must have been very great, since the sale of those caught is said to have amounted to no less than a talent a day.¶ The Byzantines, whose territory was so favourably situated near the sea coast, p. * On the Internal State of American Works, vol. iii. 397. § Τοις γαρ ἐν χωρίοις, ἢ μόνον ἐκ τῶν προσφάτως αλισκομένων παρέχεται δαψιλῆ τὴν ἀπόλαυσιν ἀλλὰ καὶ πλῆθος εἰς ταριχείαν ἀνιήσιν ανεκλειπτον. Diod. Sic. edst. Wesseling Amst. 1746. lib. i. cap. 1. vol. i. p. 42. Η Καὶ τοῦτον ἀντων ἁλίσκεσθαι πλῆθος ὥστε τὸς προσκαρτερώντας τᾶις ταριχέιας, ὄντας παμπληθείς, δυσχερῶς περιγίνεσθαι τῶν ἔργων. Ibid. ib. p. 62. ¶ About £93. of our money. carried on a very advantageous fishery* in the Pontus Euxinus, the Thracian Bosphorus, and the Archipelago, where they caught immense quantities of tunnies, which they cured and exported to various parts of Italy and Greece. The revenue arising from the fishery before Constantinople alone, was sufficient, it is said, to maintain the table of the emperor Andronicus Paleologus, as well as of his whole establishment; and it is well known, that the produce of the fishery in the Archipelago, formed a very important article in the revenue of the empire.+ Ælian gives a very accurate account of the manner in which the tunnies were caught in the Propontis. Two wooden posts of considerable height, were erected in some elevated place close to the shore, which were joined together by cross beams, so as to enable a man to ascend readily to the summit. Here, one of the fishermen took his station to watch the arrival of the tunnies; and as soon as he perceived them approaching, he gave notice to his companions, who were ready with their nets and boats waiting for the signal. The' nets were of considerable length, and each boat was rowed by twelve young men, six being seated on each side. When the signal was given, the rope at the one end of the net was made fast to one of the wooden posts, which served as a station for the watchman; and the net having been previously disposed in such a manner, that a part was placed in each boat, the boats were pushed off in regular succession, till the net was extended quite round the fish, which in this manner were completely enclosed, that there was no possibility of escape. Ælian says, that the people of Eretria, and of the island of Naxos, were exceedingly expert in this method of fishing.§ The Turditani, a people of Spain, are said to have been enriched by a great fishery which they carried on, not only on their own coast, where fish of a superior size and quality abounded, but also to a considerable distance beyond the Strait. According to Strabo, these people had salt mines, which enabled them to salt large quantities of these fish, forming a very important article of their trade. We are * Tacitus alludes to the opulence of the people here, in consequence of their fisheries. "Quippe Byzantium fertili solo fecundoque mari; quia vis piscium innumera, ponto erumpens, et obliquis subter undas saxis exterrita, omisso alterius litoris flexu, hos ad portus defertur. Unde primo quæstuosi et opulenti." Annal. lib. xii. cap. 63. edit. Lips. 1801. p. 293. Pliny speaks of the great numbers of fish which were found in the neighbourhood of Byzantium, and he asserts that the tunnies were so tame, that they were not frightened when a three-pronged fish spear was thrown among them. Iidem sepe navigia velis euntia comitantes mira quadem dulcedine per aliquot horarum ́spatia et passuum a gubernaculis non separantur, ne tridente quidem in eos sæpius jacto territi. Hist. Nat. lib. ix. cap. 15. Lugd. Bat. 1669. vol. i. p. 598. Hist. Histoire du Commerce des Anciens, p. 241, 242. A place of this kind was called ovоTV. Some of them on the coast of Italy are mentioned by Strabo, lib. v. edit. Almel. Amst. 1707, vol. i. p. 223 and 225. Elian de Hist. Animal. lib. xv. cap. 5. Colon Allob. 1616, p. 867. He mentions tunnies caught in many other places, and particularly on the coast of Sicily, p. 870. |