Though commerce be subject to great
revolutions, yet it is possible that certain physical causes, as the
quality of the soil, or the climate, may fix its nature for ever.
We at present carry on the trade of the Indies merely by means of
the silver which we send thither. The Romans carried annually thither
about fifty millions of sesterces;
[1]
and this silver, as ours is at
present, was exchanged for merchandise, which was brought to the west.
Every nation that ever traded to the Indies has constantly carried
bullion and brought merchandise in return.
It is nature itself that produces this effect. The Indians have
their hearts adapted to their manner of living. Our luxury cannot be
theirs; nor theirs our wants. Their climate demands and permits hardly
anything which comes from ours. They go in a great measure naked; such
clothes as they have the country itself furnishes; and their religion,
which is deeply rooted, gives them an aversion for those things that
serve for our nourishment. They want, therefore, nothing but our bullion
to serve as the medium of value; and for this they give us merchandise
in return, with which the frugality of the people and the nature of the
country furnish them in great abundance. Those ancient authors who have
mentioned the Indies describe them just as we now find them, as to their
policy, customs, and manners.
[2]
The Indies have ever been the same
Indies they are at present; and in every period of time those who traded
with that country carried specie thither and brought none in return.
