20.9. 9. Of the Prohibition of Commerce.
It is a true maxim that one
nation should never exclude another from trading with it, except for
very great reasons. The Japanese trade only with two nations, the
Chinese and the Dutch. The Chinese
[7]
gain a thousand per cent upon
sugars, and sometimes as much by the goods they take in exchange. The
Dutch make nearly the same profits. Every nation that acts upon Japanese
principles must necessarily be deceived; for it is competition which
sets a just value on merchandise, and establishes the relation between
them.
Much less ought a state to lay itself under an obligation of selling
its manufactures only to a single nation, under a pretence of their
taking all at a certain price. The Poles, in this manner, dispose of
their corn to the city of Danzig; and several Indian princes have made a
like contract for their spices with the Dutch.
[8]
These agreements are
proper only for a poor nation, whose inhabitants are satisfied to forego
the hopes of enriching themselves, provided they can be secure of a
certain subsistence; or for nations whose slavery consists either in
renouncing the use of those things which nature has given them, or in
being obliged to submit to a disadvantageous commerce.
Footnotes
[7]
Father Du Halde, vol. ii, p. 170.
[8]
This was first established by the Portuguese. — Pirard, "Voyages,"
part II, chap. 15.
