166

POLITICAL  ECONOMY

own  type  is  inferior.  Finally,  commerce  first
taught  nations  to  see  with  good-will  the
wealth  and  prosperity  of  one  another.  Before,
the  patriot,  unless  sufficiently  advanced  in
culture  to  feel  the  world  his  country,  wished
all  countries  weak,  poor,  and  ill-governed,  but
his  own  ;  he  now  sees  in  their  wealth  and
progress  a  direct  source  of  wealth  and  progress ­
  to  his  own  country.  It  is  commerce
which  is  rapidly  rendering  war  obsolete,  by
strengthening  and  multiplying  interests  which
are  in  natural  opposition  to  it.  And  it  may
be  said  without  exaggeration,  that  the  great
extent  and  rapid  increase  of  international
trade,  in  being  the  principal  guarantee  of  the
peace  of  the  world,  is  the  great  permanent
security  for  the  uninterrupted  progress  of  the
ideas,  the  institutions,  and  the  character  of
the  human  race.”
How  far,  if  at  all,  in  certain  circumstances
the  regulation  or  restriction  of  foreign  trade
is  to  be  recommended  in  the  interest  of
national  wealth  or  health,  is  a  question  which
raises  issues  too  vast  for  discussion  in  this
book.