Appendix A: Temporary and Permanent Emigration, Considered as National Wealth

When a traveller arrives in France, and there spends 2000 dollars, it must not be supposed that the whole sum is clear profit to France.

The traveller expends it in exchange for the values he consumes= the effect is just the same, as if he had remained abroad and sent to France for what he wanted, instead of coming and consuming it here; and is precisely similar to that of international commerce, in which the profit made is not the whole or principal value, received, but a larger or smaller percentage upon that principal according to the circumstances.

in a week, as much as would have maintained their families at home for a year. So that France was two ways a loser; first, of the sums expended by the monarch, which had been levied on the subjects at large; secondly, of all that was spent by individuals. The sum total of the consumption was thrown away, that a few tradesmen of the metropolis might make their profits upon it; which they would equally have done, had their industry and capital taken a more beneficial direction. The matter has not hitherto been viewed in this light.

In the firm conviction of this maxim, that metal money was the only item of real wealth, people imagined, that, if a foreigner came amongst them with 2000 dollars in his pocket, it was so much clear profit to the nation; as if the tailor that clothes him, the jeweller that furnishes him with trinkets, the victualler that feeds him, gave him no values in exchange for his specie, but made a profit equal to the total of their respective charges.

All that the nation gains is the profit upon its dealings with him, and upon what he purchases= and this is by no means contemptible, for every extension of commerce is a proportionate advantage; 231 but it is well to know its real amount, that we may not be betrayed into the folly of purchasing it too dearly.

An eminent writer upon commercial topics, tells us, that theatrical exhibitions cannot be too grand, too splendid, or too numerous; for that they are a kind of traffic wherein France receives all and pays nothing; a proposition which is the very reverse of truth; for France pays, that is to say, loses, the whole expense of the exhibition, which is productive of nothing but barren amusement, and leaves no value whatever to replace what has been consumed on it. Fetes of this de- scription may be very pleasant things as affording amuse- ment, but must make a ridiculous figure as a speculation of profit and loss. What would people think of a tradesman, that was to give a ball in his shop, hire performers, and hand re- freshments about, with a view to benefit in his business? Be- sides, it may be reasonably doubted, whether a fete or exhibi- tion of the most splendid kind, does in reality occasion any considerable influx of foreigners. Such an influx would be much more powerfully attracted by commerce, or by rich frag- ments of antiquity, or by master-pieces of art nowhere else to be seen, or by superiority of climate, or by the properties of medicinal waters, or, most of all, by the desire of visiting the scenes of memorable events, and of learning a language of extensive acceptation. I am strongly inclined to believe, that the enjoyment of a few empty pleasures of vanity has never attracted much company from any great distance. People may go a few leagues to a. ball or entertainment, but will seldom make a journey for the purpose. It is extremely improbable, that the vast number of Germans, English, and Italians, who visit the capital of France in time of peace, are actuated solely by the desire of seeing the French opera at Paris. That city has fortunately many worthier objects of general curiosity. In Spain, the bullfights are considered very curious and attrac- tive; yet I cannot think many Frenchmen have gone all the way to Madrid to witness that diversion. Foreigners, that have already come into the country on other accounts, are, indeed, frequent spectators of such exhibitions; but it was not solely with this object that they first set out upon their journey. 232 A stranger, that comes into a country to settle there, and brings his fortune along with him, is a substantial acquisition to the nation. There is in this case an accession of two sources of wealth, industry and capital an accession of full as much value, as the acquirement of a proportionate extension of territory; to say nothing of what is gained in a moral estimate, if the emigrant bring with him private virtue and attachment to the place of his adoption. “When Frederick William came into the regency,” says the royal historian of the house of Brandenburgh, “there was in the country no manufacture of hats, of stockings, of serge, or woollen stuff of any kind. All these commodities were derived from French industry. The French emigrants introduced amongst us the making of broad- cloths, baizes and lighter woollens, of caps, of stockings wove in the frame, of hats, of beaver and felt, as well as dyeing in all its branches. Some refugees of that nation established them- selves in trade, and retailed the products of their industrious countrymen. Berlin soon could boast of its goldsmiths, jew- ellers, watch-makers, and carvers; those of the emigrants, that settled in the low country, introduced the cultivation of to- bacco, and of garden fruits and vegetables, and by their exer- tions converted the sandy tract in the environs into capital kitchen-garden grounds.”

This emigration of industry, capital, and local attachment, is no less a dead and total loss to the country thus abandoned, than it is a clear gain to the country affording an asylum. It was justly observed by Christina, queen of Sweden, upon the revocation of the edict of Nantes, that Louis XIV had used his right hand to cut off his left.

Nor can the calamity be prevented by any measures of legal coercion. A fellow-citizen cannot be forcibly retained, un- less he be absolutely incarcerated; still less can he be pre- vented from exporting his movable property, if he be so in- clined. For, putting out of the question the channel of contra- band, which can never be closed altogether, he may convert his effects into goods, whose export is tolerated or even en- couraged, and consign, or cause them to be consigned, to some correspondent abroad. This export is a real outgoing of value; but how is it possible for government to ascertain, that it is intended to be followed by no return? 233

The vaunted fêtes of Louis XIV had a still more mischievous tendency. The sums spent upon them were not supplied by foreigners, but by French provincial visitors, who often spent

The best mode of retaining and attracting mankind is, to treat them with justice and benevolence; to protect every one in the enjoyment of the rights he regards with the highest rever- ence; to allow the free disposition of person and property, the liberty of continuing or changing his residence, of speaking, reading, and writing in perfect security. continue to exist, without a single act of exchange or trans- fer.. I make this remark, merely with a view to correctness of first principles, without any design to detract from the impor- tance of exchange and transfer to the progressive advance- ment of production; indeed, I set out with the position, that they are indispensable in an advanced stage of civilization. Having thus investigated the means of production, and pointed out the circumstances, that render their agency more or less prolific, it would be endless, as well as foreign to my subject, to attempt a general review of all the various products that compose the wealth of mankind= such a task would furnish materials for many distinct treatises. But there is one amongst these products, the uses and nature of which are very imperfectly known, although the knowledge of them would throw much light upon the matter now under discussion= for which reason I have determined, before the conclusion of this part of my work, to give a separate consideration to the product money, which acts so prominent a part in the business of production, in the character of the principal agent of exchange and transfer. Admitting, then, the necessity of interchange, let us pause a moment, and consider, what infinite confusion and difficulty must arise to all the different component members of society, who are for the most part producers of but a single article, or 2-3 at the utmost, but of whom even the poorest is a consumer of a vast number of different products; I say, what difficulty must ensue, were every one obliged to exchange his own products specifically for those he may want; and were the whole of this process carried on by a barter in kind. The hungry cutler must offer the baker his knives for bread; perhaps, the baker has knives enough, but wants a coat; he is willing to purchase one of the tailor with his bread, but the tailor wants not bread, but butcher’s meat; and so on to infinity.

By way of getting over this difficulty, the cutler, finding he cannot persuade the baker to take an article he does not want, will use his best endeavours to have a commodity to offer, which the baker will be able readily to exchange again for whatever he may happen to need. If there exist in the society any specific commodity that is in general request, not merely on account of its inherent utility, but likewise on account of the readiness with which it is received in exchange for the necessary articles of consumption, and the facility of proportionate subdivision, that commodity is precisely what the cutler will try to barter his knives for; because he has learnt from experience, that its possession will procure him without any difficulty, by a second act of exchange, bread or any other article he may wish for.