t in time, and finishes by
robbing the wealthy nation of its superiority, obtained by giving credit.
It is thus that in all their intercourse, the first advantage is to the
rich nation, but terminates in favour of the poor; for whenever equality
of prices are the question, and both can give sufficient credit, the
poorer nation has the advantage in point of price.

With regard to rivalling each other, in a third place, the poor nation
has the advantage, if the merchants there have the means of paying
with ready money, because the price is lower than that of the richer
country. {149} If they have not that means, they cannot deal with
them, but must wait till they have, by perseverance; and, in course of
time, come to have the means when the poor nation is certain to enter
into competition with advantage.

But this is not the only way in which the capital of a rich nation is
employed in fostering a rivalship in a poorer nation. Were the
manufacturers the only persons who sold goods, it would be confined
to this; but that is not the case, for merchants, who are the sellers,
study only where they can purchase the cheapest; thus English
merchants purchase cloths in Silesia, watches in Switzerland, fire-
arms at Liege,

---
{148} The Dutch used to give long credit, and buy with ready money,
by which means they had great advantage for a long time; but, at last,
the ready money they paid to some, and the credit they gave to others,
set their industry at work, and they became rivals. Dutch capital was,
at one period, of great service to the English, as that of England now is
to the Americans.

{149} This is not meant to apply to any particular sort of manufacture.
In some, a nation may have a permanent advantage over another; in
others, only a temporary one, and in the greater portion no other
advantage than what arises from superior capital.
-=-

[end of page #180]

in preference to laying out the money in England or Ireland; and they
will give credit, as before explained, to the nation that wants it.

In this manner it is, that the capital of a rich country supplies the want
of it in poorer ones, and that, by degrees, a nation saps the foundation
of its own wealth and greatness, and gives encouragement to them in
others.

It is then that the weight of taxes, the high price of commodities, and
the various causes which encumber those who live in wealthy nations,
begin to produce a pernicious effect. The tendency of in