coffee, while they were in our possession, were chiefly exported; consequently left but a part of the duty to the revenues besides which, the sugar of our own islands is of a much superior quality to that of the Dutch.

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Great reliance.might likewise have been placed, upon the increase of our exports to the East Indies, from the immense territorial acquisitions which we had gained during the war. We had a right also to expect a considerable augmentation of imports from that quarter, the whole of the Mediterranean, and some parts of Europea

Experience has fully ascertained, that extensive dominion operates as a discouragement to trade; and as a proof that it is not essential to it, I might select Holland as an instance, which, until the war with England, in 1780, had amassed by trade a capital unknown at any former period. No country can make any considerable progress in trade or manufactures, except where the people have an unbounded reliance upon the stability and good faith of the government, and the latter, unites the commercial with the political interests of the state. In no part of the world is this principle so well understood as in Great Britain; hence, in all public exigencies, and important transactions, we find them invari

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ably united for the public good. If it be said, that the change of government in France was likely to produce, at the return of peace, a simiJar effect in that country; I answer, that nothing which has hitherto been perceptible in the course of the French revolution, has had the remotest tendency to give correct notions upon the subject, either to the government or people. Indeed, its contexture is of that peculiar deseription, that nations must fall in with the system by regular gradations, and not expect the system to come to them on a sudden in the shape of perfection. We must have practical demonstrations of its existence before we can beFieve in, much more take alarm at its reality. Trade cannot flourish but upon the basis of conAdence and good faith between man and man, as well as between the government and the pubHic. The effects of this in a commercial country are visible in various ways; and in none more usefully so than by the floating capital, applicable to temporary wants, which it affords. This capital exists through confidence only; it is in constant activity; and. in a great degree, regulates the value of money. A short time before the signature of the preliminaries, the best bills on bankers in Paris, were at a discount of

twelve per cent.; and after that event, at eight per cent. With respect otó paper on tradespeople, and that of the second and third order, the premium given to convert it into cash, made France appear almost in a bankrupt state. In addition to this, it should be remarked, that their superfine broad cloths were double the price of

ours.

Our possessions (at the peace) were immense, and many of them susceptible of the greatest improvement. We had seen what prodigies had been effected in our India trade by a few years of prudent encouragement: We had a right, therefore, to look forward to further national advantages. Trinidada, besides its fine port and admirable situation for trade, is capable from its soil and climate, of an extent of cultivation, which under the mild government of this country, seconded by British capital and industry, promises to become in a few years, an invaluable acquisition. To these advantages I may add, that it may be justly considered as the Gibraltar of South America. It follows, therefore, that by improving what we already possessed, or had obtained Jy the peace, to the extent of which it is capable, and by preserving our naval superiority, we had nothing to apprehend from the

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rivalship of France in time of peace; and in case of the renewal of war, her colonies would either fall into our hands, or, by the vigilance of our fleets, we might render them of little comparative value to our enemies. These, Sir, are FACTS, not ARGUMENTS; as the events of the last six months have demonstrated.

No one can deny that our trade and manufactures flourished to an unprecedented degree during the late war. Many causes, which it would be foreign from my present purpose to investigate, united to produce this effect. Bnt no man will seriously: contend that we ought to have continued that war, from an apprehension that we might lose in peace a portion of those advantages. To reason thus, would be to convert the subject into a mere question of figures, which it is not, and therefore, cannot be so treated. If our trade should not have proved so great in peace, our wants would of course have been fewer; and it was high time to direct to better purposes the mines of wealth which were wasting in a contest of indefinite object; and beyond the compass of our means to attain, had it been otherwise. The position of Fra when at peace, was likely to be more precarious to herself than alarming to us; for as traders, we were

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ready to start with our capitals and industry to every part of the globe. Not so our rival. He was obliged to recur to the most disastrous expedients, even to inflict an irreparable blow on public confidence, by robbing the public treasury of revenues collected for the immediate internal wants of the state; by squeeze→ ing from the departments the sums about to be employed in the repartion of their high-roads, canals, and bridges, which had gone to decay during the course of war; and lastly, to crown the whole, by swindling even the poorboxes of his hospitals in order to fit out the expedition to St. Domingo, and Guadaloupe*.

We are too apt to consider France as a great nation restored to peace, after the events of a common war, and that, like ourselves, she had only to consider in what manner to avail herself of the advantages which peace had given to her. But, it is precisely in this very essential point that we differed materially from her. Ad mitting her desire to extend her trade, she had

That I may not be suspected of the least exaggeration, I refer to the official document of the French government, entitled "Analyse des procès-verbaux des conseils généraux de département.??

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