This system everywhere takes into its consideration onlyindividuals who are in free unrestrained intercourse amongthemselves, and who are contented if we leave everyone to pursuehis own private interests according to his own private naturalinclination.This is evidently not a system of national economy,but a system of the private economy of the human race, as thatwould constitute itself were there no interference on the part ofany Government, were there no wars, no hostile foreign tariffrestrictions.Nowhere do the advocates of that system care to pointout by what means those nations which are now prosperous haveraised themselves to that stage of power and prosperity which wesee them maintain, and from what causes others have lost thatdegree of prosperity and power which they formerly maintained.Wecan only learn from it how in private industry, natural ability,labour and capital, are combined in order to bring into exchangevaluable products, and in what manner these latter are distributedamong the human race and consumed by it.But what means are to beadopted in order to bring the natural powers belonging to anyindividual nation into activity and value, to raise a poor and weaknation to prosperity and power, cannot be gathered from it, becausethe school totally ignoring politics, ignores the specialconditions of the nation, and concerns itself merely about theprosperity of the whole human race.Wherever international commerceis in question, the native individual is throughout simply pittedagainst the foreign individual; examples from the private dealingsof separate merchants are throughout the only ones adduced -- goodsare spoken of in general terms (without considering whether thequestion is one of raw products or of manufactured articles) -- inorder to prove that it is equally for the benefit of the nationwhether its exports and imports consist of money, of raw materials,or of manufactured goods, and whether or not they balance oneanother.If we, for example, terrified at the commercial criseswhich prevail in the United States of North America like nativeepidemics, consult this theory as to the means of averting ordiminishing them, it leaves us utterly without comfort orinstruction; nay, it is indeed impossible for us to investigatethese phenomena scientifically, because, under the penalty of beingtaken for muddleheads and ignoramuses, we must not even utter theterm 'balance of trade,' while this term is, notwithstanding, madeuse of in all legislative assemblies, in all bureaux ofadministration, on every exchange.For the sake of the welfare ofhumanity, the belief is inculcated on us that exports alwaysbalance themselves spontaneously by imports; notwithstanding thatwe read in public accounts how the Bank of England comes to theassistance of the nature of things; notwithstanding that corn lawsexist, which make it somewhat difficult for the agriculturist ofthose countries which deal with England to pay with his own producefor the manufactured goods which he consumes.
