Chapter 24 - Page 2

tea that had been obtained at Canton, in
exchange for the sandal-wood carried out; and Saunders, accordingly, had
filled the holds of both vessels with such articles, besides bringing
home with him a considerable amount in specie, half of which went into
the public coffers, and half into the private purse of governor
Woolston. Money had been in circulation in the colony for the last
twelve months; though a good deal of caution was used in suffering it to
pass from hand to hand. The disposition was to hoard; but this fresh
arrival of specie gave a certain degree of confidence, and the silver
circulated a great deal more freely after it was known that so
considerable an amount had been brought in.

It would scarcely be in our power to enumerate the articles that were
received by these arrivals; they included everything in common use among
civilized men, from a grind-stone to a cart. Groceries, too, had been
brought in reasonable quantities, including teas, sugars, &c.; though
these articles were not so much considered _necessaries_ in America
fifty years ago as they are to-day. The groceries of the state as well
as many other articles, were put into the hands of the merchants, who
either purchased them out and out, to dispose of at retail, or who took
them on commission with the same object. From this time, therefore,
regular shops existed, there being three on the Reef and one on the
Peak, where nearly everything in use could be bought, and that, too, at
prices that were far from being exorbitant. The absence of import duties
had a great influence on the cost of things, the state getting its
receipts in kind, directly through the labour of its citizens, instead
of looking to a customhouse in quest of its share for the general
prosperity.

At that time very little was written about the great fallacy of the
present day, Free Trade; which is an illusion about which men now talk,
and dispute, and almost fight, while no living mortal can tell what it
really is. It is wise for us in America, who never had anything but free
trade, according to modern doctrines, to look a little closely into the
sophisms that are getting to be so much in vogue; and which, whenever
they come from our illustrious ancestors in Great Britain, have some
such effect on the imaginations of a portion of our people, as purling
rills and wooded cascades are known to posses over those of certain
young ladies of fifteen.

Free trade, in its true signification, or in the only signification
which is not a fallacy, can only mean a commerce that is _totally
unfettered by duties, restrictions, prohibitions, and charges of all
sorts_. Except among savages, the world never yet saw such a state of
things, and probably never will.