VI 
TRADE WITH ENGLAND 
This objection goes upon the supposition that 
whatever the colonies gain Britain must lose, and 
that if the colonies can be kept from gaining an 
advantage, Britain will gain it. 
If the colonies are fitter for a particular trade than 
Britain, they should have it, and Britain apply to 
what it is more fit for. The whole empire is a gainer. 
And if Britain is not so fit or so well situated for a 
particular advantage, other countries will get it, 
if the colonies do not. Thus Ireland was forbid the 
woollen manufacture, and remains poor; but this has 
given to the French the trade and wealth Ireland 
might have gained for the British Empire. 
The government cannot long be retained without 
the union. Which is best (supposing your case)—to 
have a total separation, or a change of the seat of 
government? It by no means follows that promot- 
ing and advancing the landed interest in America 
will depress that of Great Britain; the contrary has 
always been the fact. Advantageous situations and 
circumstances will always secure and fix manufac- 
tures. Sheffield against all Europe these three hun- 
dred years past. 
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