ction of the strangers.

The theories of domestic manufactures and free trade have lately
occupied so large a portion of public interest, that it is curious to
see in what light they were regarded by a statesman so far in advance
of his age as Pombal. The minister's theory is in striking
contradiction to his practice. He evidently approved of monopoly and
prohibitions, but he exercised neither the one nor the other--nature
and necessity were too strong against him. We are, however, to
recollect, that the language of complaint was popular in Portugal, as
it always will be in a poor country, and that the minister who would
be popular must adopt the language of complaint. In an eloquent and
almost impassioned memoir by Pombal, he mourns over the poverty of
his country, and hastily imputes it to the predominance of English
commerce. He tells us that, in the middle of the eighteenth century,
Portugal scarcely produced any thing towards her own support. Two
thirds of her physical necessities were supplied from England. He
complains that England had become mistress of the entire commerce of
Portugal, and in fact that the Portuguese trade was only an English
trade; that the English were the furnishers and retailers of all the
necessaries of life throughout the country, and that the Portuguese
had nothing to do but look on; that Cromwell, by the treaty which
allowed the supply of Portugal with English cloths to the amount of
two million sterling, had utterly impoverished the country; and in
short, that the weakness and incapacity of Portugal, as an European
state, were wholly owing, to her being destitute of trade, and that
the destitution was wholly owing to her being overwhelmed by English
commodities.

We are not about to enter into detail upon this subject, but it is to
be remembered, that Portugal obtained the cloth, even if she paid for
it, cheaper from England than she could have done from any other
country in Europe; that she had no means of making the cloth for
herself, and that, after all, man must be clothed. Portugal, without
flocks or fire, without coals or capital, could never have
manufactured cloth enough to cover the tenth part of her population,
at ten times the expense. This has occurred in later days, and in
more opulent countries. We remember, in the reign of the Emperor
Paul, when he was frantic enough to declare war against England, a
pair of broadcloth pantaloons costing seven guineas in St Peterburg.