Wealth

‹ 11 · Outline · 13 ›

12.Trade, commerce and the wealth of nations

12a.Division of labour, exchange and the extent of the market

See also: Labor 3b

William Harrison, A Description of Elizabethan EnglandVol. 35

• p. 250Weekly markets and princely-assigned fairs supply all necessities; Stourbridge and Bartholomew fairs rival Europe's great marts.read · scan

Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of NationsVol. 10

• p. 15General plenty spreads to the lowest ranks through exchange of surplus goods.read · scan
• p. 16Commerce and navigation link many workers across the world to supply common goods.read · scan
• p. 18Exchange and division of labour give rise to general opulence.read · scan
• p. 19Smith argues that exchange by barter and purchase, driven by self-interest rather than benevolence, supplies our needs, as with butcher, brewer and baker.read · scan
• p. 19Exchange of surplus produce encourages specialization and greater gain for each.read · scan
• p. 22Small markets discourage specialization since surplus cannot be exchanged.read · scan
• p. 23Water-carriage opens wider markets and commerce cheaply, letting industry subdivide and improve along coasts and rivers.read · scan
• p. 23–24Markets opened by water-carriage bring early improvement of industry; inland areas develop later, limited by their nearby market.read · scan
• p. 25Egypt, Bengal and China derived great opulence from inland navigation by canals rather than foreign commerce.read · scan
• p. 25Lack of navigable waters kept inland Africa and Tartary from commerce; rivers running through other territories cannot support much trade.read · scan

George Washington, Washington's Farewell AddressVol. 43

• p. 236North, South, East and West each gain commercial, agricultural and manufacturing advantage from union; interest reinforces sentiment.read · scan

Ralph Waldo Emerson, English TraitsVol. 5

• p. 334England's island position gives the best commercial position, sure markets and a trading port in the Thames.read · scan
• p. 363English trade lives by manufactures for every foreign market.read · scan

Charles Darwin, The Voyage of the BeagleVol. 29

• p. 72Salt from the salinas is the town's harvest and export, its prosperity depending on the trade and comparative value of the salt.read · scan
• p. 131–132The river's grandeur lies in its being a means of communication and commerce between nations.read · scan

Richard Henry Dana, Jr., Two Years Before the MastVol. 23

• p. 149Hides go to Boston, are made into shoes, and return to California, a cycle of trade.read · scan

Treaty with Great Britain (1842)Vol. 43

• p. 282–284Free navigation and access for timber and agricultural produce along the St. John promotes industry and trade of inhabitants on both sides.read · scan

12b.The mercantile system and the balance of trade

See also: Taxation 6b · Government 8a · Law 8c · Opinion 9b

William Harrison, A Description of Elizabethan EnglandVol. 35

• p. 307England's fruitful soil yields commodities others need while needing few imports.read · scan
• p. 312Estimates crop yields and hop trade profits, with England able to export hops instead of importing them.read · scan
• p. 313Vine-planting abandoned because home wine costs more than imports, though patience would bring success.read · scan
• p. 314–315Woad, madder, tin and wool were chief commodities; neglect makes England buy from others.read · scan
• p. 315Ancient Britons were industrious in using their country's goods, later idle; private licences enrich few and harm many.read · scan
• p. 318Englishmen prize foreign trifles, enrich foreigners who undervalue English goods, and let cloth be finished abroad while clothworkers starve.read · scan
• p. 320–321Gold from the West Indies and Frobisher's false gold; church ornament once consumed precious metals; countrymen now rich.read · scan
• p. 328Wool as English commodity; merchants exporting rams for present gain harm the nation's trade and posterity.read · scan

Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of NationsVol. 10

• p. 311Popular notion equates wealth with money because money is instrument of commerce and measure of value; Tartars counted cattle, Spaniards gold.read · scan
• p. 312Locke and others hold gold and silver the most durable wealth; nations accumulate them, prohibiting export, to wage foreign wars.read · scan
• p. 313Merchants argue exporting bullion can increase it, as Mun likens trade to seed-time and harvest; balance of trade governs bullion flow.read · scan
• p. 313–314Smith judges merchants' arguments partly solid, partly sophistical; freedom of trade supplies bullion like other goods; exchange rates act like a tax on imports.read · scan
• p. 315Mercantile arguments convinced legislators; attention shifted to the balance of trade, and home trade was wrongly deemed subsidiary to foreign trade.read · scan
• p. 315–317Gold and silver are commodities bought like wine; free trade supplies them according to effectual demand, easily transported due to small bulk.read · scan
• p. 317–318Bullion flows according to effectual demand despite laws; prices of precious metals change slowly, and only shifts like discovery of America alter them.read · scan
• p. 318–319Smith argues scarcity of money is really over-trading and lack of credit; barter, credit and paper money can replace gold and silver.read · scan
• p. 319–320Wealth consists in what money purchases, not in gold and silver; money is only the instrument of commerce, and goods draw money.read · scan
• p. 320–321Gold and silver are limited by their use like pots and pans; accumulating excess metal does not increase a country's real wealth.read · scan
• p. 321–323Excess gold and silver are idle utensils that diminish the wealth which feeds and employs the people; distinguishes kinds of stored metal.read · scan
• p. 323Circulating money is fixed by the value of goods circulated; little can be spared for war, and paper money substitutes.read · scan
• p. 323Smith shows money need not be guarded by government; overtrading in profitable times produces complaints of scarcity of money.read · scan
• p. 325The war was paid for by exported British commodities, the annual produce of land and labour, not gold and silver; bullion is the money of a mercantile republic.read · scan
• p. 326Foreign trade's benefits are giving value to surplus produce and widening the market, not importing gold and silver.read · scan
• p. 328–330Smith refutes the popular notion that wealth is gold and silver and shows how it drove mercantile policy of restraining imports and encouraging exports.read · scan
• p. 330–331Smith lists the commercial system's six means of turning the balance of trade to gain gold and silver, and proposes to judge them by real wealth and revenue.read · scan
• p. 353Describes heavy British duties on French goods to improve the balance of trade and gold and silver, ending fair commerce and fostering smuggling.read · scan
• p. 355Smith argues custom-house books and the course of exchange are uncertain criteria of the balance of trade between countries.read · scan
• p. 356–357Exchange rates and par computed by mint standards give no sure indication of the real balance of trade or of debt and credit.read · scan
• p. 359–360Smith calls the balance-of-trade doctrine absurd; natural free trade benefits both countries, and gain is the annual produce and revenue, not gold and silver.read · scan
• p. 361Exporting gold and silver for goods of higher value augments a country's capital and industry, like any other export.read · scan
• p. 361–363Round-about trade in gold and silver is no worse than other trade; a country able to buy metals will not lack them.read · scan
• p. 365Merchants' monopolizing spirit invented the mercantile doctrine and its duties and restraints against the interest of the people, who benefit from buying cheapest.read · scan
• p. 368Free trade has enriched nations, contrary to the mercantile doctrine that an unfavourable balance of trade brings ruin.read · scan
• p. 369Nation's prosperity depends on balance of annual produce and consumption, not balance of trade; capital grows when produce exceeds consumption.read · scan
• p. 371Drawbacks on exports are defended as preserving the natural distribution of capital and labour among employments, while the carrying trade should merely be left free.read · scan
• p. 372–373Drawbacks help revenue and restore the natural balance of industry, but are pure loss where colonial monopoly makes them unnecessary, and open to fraud.read · scan
• p. 374Smith criticizes export bounties of the mercantile system: only trades that lose capital need them, and paying foreigners to buy is folly.read · scan
• p. 375Bounties force trade into less advantageous channels; the corn bounty costs society the farmer's capital and profit, diminishing national stock.read · scan
• p. 376–377The corn bounty imposes two taxes on the people, raising the price of necessities and burdening the labouring poor and employers.read · scan
• p. 380Smith argues Spain and Portugal's bans on exporting gold and silver merely glut them with cheap precious metals, discouraging agriculture and manufactures.read · scan
• p. 380Removing the export ban would only lower nominal values; real wealth stays, and idle dead stock becomes active capital employing industry.read · scan
• p. 380–383The corn export bounty, like Spain's policy, raises only nominal price, lowers silver's value, and gives Dutch industry advantage over British.read · scan
• p. 385Bounties on production would be more direct and cheaper than on exportation, but commercial-system prejudice favours exportation as the way to bring in money.read · scan
• p. 386–387Bounties draw capital into trades that do not repay cost and profit; only defence needs justify them, and folly is excused by great wealth.read · scan
• p. 387–388Premiums to excellent artists are cheap and do not upset the natural balance of employments, unlike costly bounties.read · scan
• p. 390–391Methuen treaty admitting Portuguese wine and English woollens is praised for expected gold balance.read · scan
• p. 391Methuen treaty is evidently advantageous to Portugal yet celebrated as English masterpiece because Brazilian gold flows to England; merchants' claims vary with their interest.read · scan
• p. 392–393Gold is a commodity like any other; a direct trade of consumption beats the roundabout gold trade and needs less capital.read · scan
• p. 393Smith argues the balance of trade in gold is an insignificant object; demand for gold is limited, so importing more from one country means less from others.read · scan
• p. 405The mercantile system restrains export of manufacturing materials and encourages their import, aiming to enrich the country through a favourable balance of trade.read · scan
• p. 406Smith examines duty exemptions and bounties on imported manufacturing materials, showing how merchants' interest shapes commercial regulation and trade.read · scan
• p. 406–408Mercantile system encourages industry for the rich and powerful while neglecting or oppressing that of the poor; bounties on colonial materials described.read · scan
• p. 408Catalogues bounties on colonial indigo, hemp, flax and timber imports as instruments of mercantile commercial policy.read · scan
• p. 409Lists further bounties on silk, staves and Irish hemp, noting high American labour costs make the silk bounty ineffective.read · scan
• p. 411Laws aimed to keep English sheep breed and wool trade from foreign countries.read · scan
• p. 411–412Regulation of the wool trade restricts commerce.read · scan
• p. 413Restrictions burden inland and coasting trade in wool.read · scan
• p. 414Manufacturers claimed English wool's monopoly would bring vast wealth by balance of trade; Smith shows this false and prices depressed.read · scan
• p. 416–417Low wool price affected quality and quantity less than expected; Smith would justify an export tax but not prohibition.read · scan
• p. 417Smith argues a moderate export tax on wool would yield revenue and serve growers and manufacturers better than prohibition.read · scan
• p. 419Statutes prohibiting or taxing export of metals and manufacturing materials show mercantile policy and its self-defeating ingenuity.read · scan

12c.Free trade and the critique of protection and monopoly

See also: Taxation 6b · War and Peace 9b · Government 8a · Labor 7d

Thomas Dekker, The Shoemaker's HolidayVol. 47

• p. 535–536Eyre obtains a market patent for buying and selling leather at Leadenhall.read · scan

First Charter of VirginiaVol. 43

• p. 56Forfeiture of goods and ship penalizes diverting colonial trade to foreign countries without license.read · scan

John Milton, AreopagiticaVol. 3

• p. 213Knowledge should not be made a staple commodity marked and licensed like wool.read · scan
• p. 231–232Licensing served monopolizing booksellers' trade interests, who used pretences to exercise superiority over others.read · scan

Jonathan Swift, A Letter of Advice to a Young PoetVol. 27

• p. 113Rejecting English goods for Irish manufacture; an author's wit is owed like a merchant's money.read · scan

Benjamin Franklin, His AutobiographyVol. 1

• p. 153–154The embargo damaged trade and was suspected of favoring contractors' profits.read · scan

John Woolman, The Journal of John WoolmanVol. 1

• p. 286Considers trade with the West Indies and pays higher passage-money as a testimony for less trading.read · scan

Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of NationsVol. 10

• p. 327–328East India trade and exclusive companies; the charge that silver exports impoverish Europe; free colonial trade proved more advantageous.read · scan
• p. 332Import prohibitions create monopoly of the home market; industry is limited by capital, so regulation only diverts it, not clearly to advantage.read · scan
• p. 333Merchants prefer home trade to foreign and carrying trade, keeping capital under their view and security, so capital naturally supports domestic industry.read · scan
• p. 333–335Capital in home trade employs more domestic industry than foreign trade; each employer seeks the produce of greatest value for profit.read · scan
• p. 335Individuals pursuing their own gain are led by an invisible hand to raise society's revenue, often better than when intending the public good.read · scan
• p. 336Never make at home what costs more than buying; monopoly of home market is useless or hurtful and diminishes the value of annual produce.read · scan
• p. 337Protective regulations cannot enlarge total industry or revenue, since capital grows only by saving from revenue, which they diminish.read · scan
• p. 338Prohibiting foreign wine to make Scottish claret at thirty times the cost is absurd; buying beats making whatever advantage, natural or acquired.read · scan
• p. 338–339Merchants and manufacturers gain most from home-market monopoly; free import of cattle would hardly affect graziers because of transport costs.read · scan
• p. 340Free import of lean cattle and salt provisions would little harm British graziers and would restrain breeding countries from taxing improved regions.read · scan
• p. 340Free importation of corn would barely affect farmers; the corn bounty increases both exports and imports, and corn merchants seek it most.read · scan
• p. 341–342Prohibiting foreign corn and cattle limits population and industry to home produce; manufacturers' monopoly spirit differs from farmers' generosity.read · scan
• p. 342–343Describes the Navigation Act's prohibitions and duties on foreign shipping and trade to give British ships a monopoly.read · scan
• p. 343–344Argues the Navigation Act harms foreign commerce and opulence, since free trade lets a nation buy cheap and sell dear.read · scan
• p. 344–345Considers duties on foreign goods to equalize competition when domestic produce is taxed, and whether taxes on necessaries raise prices of all goods.read · scan
• p. 345–346Argues taxes on necessaries cannot be offset by proportional duties on foreign goods; a further tax is an absurd remedy.read · scan
• p. 346–347Taxes on necessaries are a curse; Holland prospers in spite of them. Retaliatory duties and prohibitions and Colbert's policy are examined.read · scan
• p. 348Retaliatory duties are good policy only if they win repeal of foreign restrictions; otherwise they tax the whole country for one class.read · scan
• p. 348–349Freedom of trade should be restored gradually after long protection, though the disorder would be less than commonly imagined.read · scan
• p. 349The country's capital remains to employ an equal number of people in other ways.read · scan
• p. 349–351Manufacturers' monopoly is entrenched by private interest; free trade in Britain is as unlikely as Utopia.read · scan
• p. 352Fixed capital of manufacturers would suffer if home markets were suddenly opened; monopolies should not be extended, and import taxes destroy customs revenue.read · scan
• p. 353–354Argues free trade with France would benefit England, since cheaper, better goods lower total imports and French goods can be re-exported profitably.read · scan
• p. 360–361Both countries gain from trade, but the one exporting mostly native commodities gains more revenue for its people than one using a round-about trade.read · scan
• p. 363Restraints on wine imports favour Portuguese over French trade; a great trader buys where cheapest and best, unlike underling tradesmen.read · scan
• p. 366A rich neighbouring nation is advantageous in trade, a better customer, as a rich man is to neighbours; nations gain most trading with rich nations.read · scan
• p. 366–367Smith argues that commerce between neighbouring France and Britain would be far more advantageous than colonial trade, given quicker returns, larger markets and greater wealth.read · scan
• p. 389–390Commercial treaties granting monopoly favour the merchants of one country and disadvantage the favouring country by dearer imports, lessening its gain.read · scan
• p. 410Smith mocks the notion that colonies' wealth is Britain's, and attacks manufacturers' monopolies won by lobbying the legislature.read · scan
• p. 418Export prohibitions on leather, yarn and clock parts create monopolies favoring manufacturers over graziers.read · scan
• p. 420Manufacturers seek a monopoly over gum senega through duties, but their avidity defeats itself through smuggling.read · scan
• p. 421–422Duties on beaver skins and coals are manipulated to advantage manufacturers after conquest gave Britain control of supply.read · scan
• p. 422–423Prohibitions protect national manufactures against foreign competition.read · scan
• p. 423–424Consumption is the sole end of production; mercantile system wrongly sacrifices consumer to producer.read · scan
• p. 424Restraints, bounties and treaties sacrifice the home consumer to the producer, most extravagantly in colonial monopoly.read · scan
• p. 425The mercantile system was contrived by merchants and manufacturers for producers' interest, neglecting consumers.read · scan
• p. 457Particular branches of commerce with barbarous nations need extraordinary institutions such as forts and ambassadors, whose expense arises from commercial interests.read · scan
• p. 458–459Protection of particular trade should be paid by a moderate tax on that trade; chartered merchant companies prove burdensome or useless and mismanage commerce.read · scan
• p. 459Smith distinguishes regulated and joint stock companies, allows only a temporary monopoly for a new trade, and condemns perpetual monopoly as taxing the public absurdly.read · scan
• p. 459–460Joint stock companies fail at trade needing constant vigilance; they succeed only in routine trades like banking, insurance, canals and water supply.read · scan
• p. 462Joint stock companies are justified only for routine trades of great general utility requiring capital beyond private partnerships; banking, insurance, canals and water supply meet these tests.read · scan
• p. 463Other joint stock companies lack utility, manage ill and, by favoring particular manufactures, break the natural proportion between industry and profit.read · scan

Edmund Burke, A Letter to a Noble LordVol. 24

• p. 394His work in political economy and Britain's commercial and financial interests.read · scan
• p. 395He studied political economy from youth, when it was still in infancy in England.read · scan

Declaration of RightsVol. 43

• p. 148Duties are burdensome given scarce specie; trade restrictions leave colonists unable to buy British manufactures.read · scan

Sydney Smith, Fallacies of Anti-ReformersVol. 27

• p. 231Wealth was sacrificed to the navigation laws before they were repealed.read · scan

Articles of ConfederationVol. 43

• p. 159–160Guarantees equal trade and commerce among states and limits duties on property.read · scan

George Washington, Washington's Farewell AddressVol. 43

• p. 245–246Extend commercial relations with foreign nations while having as little political connection as possible.read · scan
• p. 246Commercial policy should be impartial, granting no exclusive favors, forcing nothing, and governed by treaties adjusted to experience.read · scan

Ralph Waldo Emerson, WorshipVol. 5

• p. 286Criticizes low political economy of tariffs and exclusion of foreign competition, favoring industrial excellence and fairs.read · scan

Ralph Waldo Emerson, English TraitsVol. 5

• p. 471Banquet in the Free-Trade Hall; the League's free-trade arguments known to all friends of free trade.read · scan

Treaty with France (1803)Vol. 43

• p. 252–253Commerce provisions: French and Spanish ships admitted to New Orleans on equal duties with American ships for twelve years.read · scan
• p. 253–254Trade privileges in ceded ports reserved to France and Spain for twelve years, then most-favoured-nation status; debts to be paid.read · scan

John Stuart Mill, AutobiographyVol. 25

• p. 64Political economy, free trade petitions, Ricardo and dismantling of the protective system asserted themselves in public affairs.read · scan
• p. 77Political economy texts studied produced theories of international values and profits.read · scan
• p. 77–78Mill's original theories of international values and profits in political economy worked out with Graham.read · scan

John Stuart Mill, On LibertyVol. 25

• p. 291Free trade doctrine: cheapness and quality of goods are best secured by leaving producers and sellers free under buyers' equal freedom.read · scan

Richard Henry Dana, Jr., Two Years Before the MastVol. 23

• p. 77–78Dana describes Californian trade: idle people pay inflated prices for imported goods, heavy import duties, and a single merchant house dominating commerce.read · scan
• p. 192The Corn Laws debate involves principles of political economy.read · scan
• p. 205Ships evade heavy Mexican import duties by transferring cargo at sea, trading between ports.read · scan

Treaty with Spain (1819)Vol. 43

• p. 274–275Mutual commerce is favored through assistance to merchant vessels in each other's ports.read · scan
• p. 275–276Spanish vessels get twelve years of trade in Florida ports on equal duties, to favor commerce and cement amity.read · scan

Treaty with MexicoVol. 43

• p. 294–295Treaty guarantees free navigation of the Gila and Colorado rivers, forbids taxes or tolls on vessels and merchandise, and protects the property of Mexicans who remain.read · scan
• p. 299–300Revives the commercial treaty of 1831 and sets duty exemptions for supplies and merchandise imported into ports occupied by US troops.read · scan
• p. 301Rules on duties, taxes and exemptions for merchandise and exported metals during the occupation, and the right to reship goods.read · scan
• p. 302–303Merchandise arriving after custom-houses are restored pays only the tariff then in force, for the interests of commerce.read · scan

Treaty with Spain (1898)Vol. 43

• p. 443–444Payment of twenty million dollars and equal commercial terms for Spanish ships and merchandise in Philippine ports for ten years.read · scan
• p. 447–448Copyrights and patents respected, and Spanish works admitted duty free for ten years.read · scan
• p. 448–449Reciprocal equal treatment of merchant vessels in port charges for ten years.read · scan

Convention Between the United States and the Republic of PanamaVol. 43

• p. 454–455Transfer of canal and railroad company property to the US; canal ports free of tolls and dues except US canal charges.read · scan

12d.The physiocratic doctrine that land is the sole source of wealth

See also: Liberty 8c · Labor 5b · Government 8a

Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of NationsVol. 10

• p. 310Political economy aims to enrich both people and sovereign; two systems, commerce and agriculture, arise from differing progress of opulence.read · scan
• p. 426Smith introduces agricultural systems that make land the sole source of wealth, and criticizes Colbert's mercantile favoring of towns.read · scan
• p. 427–428Physiocrats overcorrect Colbert, classing land proprietors and cultivators as productive and artificers and merchants as barren.read · scan
• p. 428Farmers' original and annual expenses and profits of stock must be restored; only the neat produce is the landlord's rent.read · scan
• p. 428–429Only landlord's and farmers' expenses count as productive; all other expenses and classes are called barren.read · scan
• p. 430Physiocratic view that manufacturers' and merchants' stock merely replaces itself with profits, producing no new value, unlike land which yields rent.read · scan
• p. 431Manufacturing adds nothing to total annual produce of land, since consumption equals value added; farmers' labour yields rent beyond replacement.read · scan
• p. 431–432Merchants and artificers can enrich a society only by parsimony, while cultivators enrich it through neat produce while enjoying subsistence.read · scan
• p. 433Freedom of competition in trades makes goods cheaper to landed classes; prosperity of all classes follows from the interests of each.read · scan
• p. 434Mercantile states serve landed nations; high duties on their trade would lower the value of surplus produce and hinder land improvement.read · scan
• p. 435Growing surplus produce creates capital that turns to home manufacturing, which eventually undersells manufacturers of distant mercantile states.read · scan
• p. 435–436Accumulating capital turns to foreign trade; landed nations' merchants outrival mercantile nations by finding cargoes at home.read · scan
• p. 436–437Duties and prohibitions lower value of land's surplus produce and shift capital from agriculture to manufactures, discouraging the more productive industry.read · scan
• p. 437Quesnai's Economical Table shows how annual produce is distributed among classes; encroachments on the natural distribution cause declining revenue.read · scan
• p. 438–439Smith names the capital error of the system: calling manufacturers and merchants barren and unproductive.read · scan
• p. 439A class that reproduces its own consumption and maintains its capital cannot properly be called barren.read · scan
• p. 440Artificers add real value to society's annual produce even if they consume equal value, so goods existing in the market exceed what otherwise would.read · scan
• p. 442Argues a trading and manufacturing country commands far more subsistence than one without trade, exchanging small manufactured produce for great rude produce.read · scan
• p. 442–444Town-country trade exchanges rude for manufactured produce; raising manufactured prices discourages agriculture; money called a great invention binding societies.read · scan
• p. 445Systems of preference or restraint retard the society's progress toward real wealth.read · scan

12e.Commerce as civilizing or corrupting

Buddhist WritingsVol. 45

• p. 638–639Kusavati is described as prosperous, populous and well provided with food.read · scan

Dante Alighieri, ParadiseVol. 20

• p. 352–354Upstart traders and merchants blamed for corrupting Florenceread · scan

William Harrison, A Description of Elizabethan EnglandVol. 35

• p. 236Trade brought riches, which bred idleness, excess and dependence on foreign imports, making Englishmen enemies to their own welfare.read · scan

John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's ProgressVol. 15

• p. 90–91Vanity Fair introduced as a place where all that is sold is vanity.read · scan
• p. 91–92Vanity Fair sells houses, lands, honours, pleasures, even souls; commerce in worldly goods is vanity.read · scan

William Penn, More Fruits of SolitudeVol. 1

• p. 395–396Distrust excludes confidence in commerce.read · scan

Voltaire, Letters on the EnglishVol. 34

• p. 77–78Excluded from office by oaths, Quakers turn to trade, and their enriched children seek honours and fashion.read · scan
• p. 82–83Commerce unites men of different faiths; only bankrupts are called infidels.read · scan
• p. 92Commerce enriched English citizens and made a small island powerful; merchants' loans saved Turin.read · scan

James Thomson, Rule, Britannia; To FortuneVol. 40

• p. 442–443Britain's cities shall shine with commerce and she shall rule the sea.read · scan

Samuel Johnson, Preface to the English DictionaryVol. 39

• p. 201–202Commerce, though lucrative, depraves manners and corrupts language by mingled dialects.read · scan

Oliver Goldsmith, PoemsVol. 41

• p. 509–520Trade's proud empire decays quickly, while poor states of native strength may be blest and self-dependent.read · scan
• p. 522–523Wealth and freedom reign at the cost of contentment, honour sinks where commerce prevails.read · scan
• p. 527–528Holland's industry begets love of gain; opulence brings convenience and arts but also craft and fraud.read · scan

Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in FranceVol. 24

• p. 216Commerce and manufacture grew under the shade of ancient manners; they may decay with their protecting principles.read · scan
• p. 264–265Vast coined treasure, cities, roads, canals and manufactures show France's opulence, incompatible with discouraged industry or insecure property.read · scan

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Hermann and DorotheaVol. 19

• p. 338Prosperous town, thriving trade and manufactures, and the opulent merchant driving his barouche.read · scan

Robert Burns, Poems and SongsVol. 6

• p. 252–254Edinburgh praised for wealth and busy trade, with architecture's splendour.read · scan

William Ellery Channing, On the Elevation of the Laboring ClassesVol. 28

• p. 362Better to decline or curb commercial and manufacturing competition than tread the path of great cities.read · scan

Alessandro Manzoni, I Promessi Sposi (The Betrothed)Vol. 21

• p. 54The retired merchant, enriched by trade, comes to despise the commerce that made his fortune and leaves a large inheritance to his son.read · scan

Thomas Babington Macaulay, MachiavelliVol. 27

• p. 369Italian commerce, banks and manufactures made Florence enormously rich; Villani's figures show revenue, wool factories and banks financing Europe.read · scan
• p. 371Italy's cities, markets, factories and cultivation abounded in riches and comforts.read · scan

Ralph Waldo Emerson, CirclesVol. 5

• p. 156–157Commerce and the banker's arithmetic are trivial beside love, faith and truth of character.read · scan

Ralph Waldo Emerson, English TraitsVol. 5

• p. 323Wordsworth fears Americans are too given to making money and lack gentlemen of leisure to give a tone of honor.read · scan
• p. 332–333England's magnificence, trades and endless wealth impress the visitor.read · scan
• p. 353Saxons are the wealthmakers with an eye to distant gain.read · scan
• p. 357–358Englishman makes trade everything; system and attention to detail create England's mercantile power.read · scan
• p. 373–374Commerce creates punctuality and precise dealing, giving English truth and credit.read · scan
• p. 394The ambition to create value makes government a manufacturing corporation and every house a mill.read · scan
• p. 397–398England's creation of wealth is a main fact of modern history; London fixes world prices and private fortunes are vast.read · scan
• p. 401England's success strengthens base wealth and materialism; expense despotism makes gain the aim, even of letters and arts.read · scan
• p. 426–427The English value ideas, saints and philosophers only for economic or practical results.read · scan
• p. 440Astronomy valued only for navigation bringing fruit-ships to London grocers; materialism.read · scan
• p. 443–444England is a volcano of material values, tariffs and glutted markets; comfort and utility displace higher aims.read · scan
• p. 467Trade governs policy; hospitality to merchants guaranteed by Magna Charta as a shop-rule.read · scan

John Stuart Mill, On LibertyVol. 25

• p. 267–269Commerce and manufacture spread ease and open ambition to all classes, promoting similarity.read · scan

Richard Henry Dana, Jr., Twenty-Four Years AfterVol. 23

• p. 375–376San Francisco is the centre of world-wide commerce, with clipper ships, steamers and wharves.read · scan

Henry David Thoreau, WalkingVol. 28

• p. 405–406Commerce and enterprise of modern times sprang from the western impulse meeting the Atlantic; from the West comes fruit.read · scan

John Ruskin, Sesame and LiliesVol. 28

• p. 120–121Tourism and commerce spread new hotels and shops over old cities.read · scan

12f.Merchants and commercial life in narrative

Homer, The OdysseyVol. 22

• p. 13Mentes explains trading iron for copper at Temesa.read · scan
• p. 211Gold and the child's sale price are offered as payment for passage.read · scan

The Book of PsalmsVol. 44

• p. 282The hungry settle, sow and multiply; business on the sea.read · scan

Herodotus, An Account of EgyptVol. 33

• p. 87–88Egypt's unprecedented prosperity under Amasis; Naucratis as privileged trading port; gifts of alum and silver.read · scan

Buddhist WritingsVol. 45

• p. 689Dobson buys and sells, grows rich and content, unmindful of Death.read · scan

Tacitus, GermanyVol. 33

• p. 116Hermondurians, faithful to Rome, alone among Germans may trade freely across the Rhine and into Rhaetia.read · scan

Pliny the Younger, Letters of PlinyVol. 9

• p. 317Selling the vintage to merchants, he loses money when prices fall and adjusts the bargain to their deserts.read · scan
• p. 381–382Transport of goods over the lake and canal is discussed in terms of trade, cost and labour saved.read · scan

Stories from the Thousand and One NightsVol. 16

• p. 15The traveler is a wealthy merchant trading with surrounding countries and collecting debts.read · scan
• p. 26He plans to sell the brass bottle in the copper-market for ten gold pieces.read · scan
• p. 55She buys lavish goods in the market and has the porter carry them.read · scan
• p. 116The physician rejoices at the quarter gold piece and hurries down.read · scan
• p. 120The broker deals in sesame, brokerage fees and large sums, profiting from a wealthy merchant's trade.read · scan
• p. 121The broker keeps the young man's money ready while great profit accrues to him from it; the young man is unconcerned about receiving it.read · scan
• p. 122He carries merchandise to Egypt to trade after inheriting his father's money.read · scan
• p. 123The merchant sells stuffs on credit through brokers, scrivener and moneychanger, doubling his silver; commerce is described in detail.read · scan
• p. 238–239The ship's master holds a drowned merchant's goods to sell and send the price to his family in Baghdad.read · scan
• p. 255–256Ship's owner entrusts an absent man's bales to Sindibad to sell for a fee.read · scan
• p. 256–257Trade in merchants' bales, commission for selling, and Sindibad reclaiming his goods.read · scan
• p. 257–259His goods and wealth are restored to him.read · scan
• p. 263–265He gains abundant wealth selling saddles in a prosperous city of markets.read · scan
• p. 273He buys goods and a ship, hires crew, and merchants pay him hire; the voyage aims at profit through buying and selling.read · scan
• p. 282He buys precious goods to trade; voyaging is driven by commerce.read · scan
• p. 293The tusks are a source of very great gain; merchants buy them at a fair.read · scan
• p. 294Sindbad sells goods at an excellent rate and buys rarities and presents on the way home.read · scan
• p. 346–347The Moor buys a merchant's suit, dines lavishly and introduces the boy to the market and merchants to make him a trader.read · scan
• p. 347–348Splendid palaces and merchant folk he is to meet.read · scan

The Voyages to VinlandVol. 43

• p. 14Skrellings trade valuable furs for milk, and Karlsefni forbids the sale of weapons.read · scan
• p. 17–19Karlsefni sells his wares and the Wineland wood for gold in trade.read · scan

Geoffrey Chaucer, The Prologue to the Canterbury Tales; The Nun's Priest's TaleVol. 40

• p. 18The Clerk is poor, unbeneficed and worldly ambition is lacking; the Sergeant of Law is rich.read · scan

Sir Thomas More, UtopiaVol. 36

• p. 137Far-off cities carry on continual merchandise and trade among themselves and with distant merchants.read · scan
• p. 204–206Few merchants come; they prefer to carry exports themselves; gold and silver held little value.read · scan

William Harrison, A Description of Elizabethan EnglandVol. 35

• p. 327Horse markets and the dealers' trade in buying and selling horses for profit.read · scan

Miguel de Cervantes, The History of Don Quixote of the Mancha, Part IVol. 14

• p. 313–315Travellers toil across seas to gain goods of fortune.read · scan

Edward Haies, Sir Humphrey Gilbert's Voyage to NewfoundlandVol. 33

• p. 281–283Commodities for sustenance and traffic, especially the famous cod fishery drawing many nations.read · scan

Francis Bacon, The New AtlantisVol. 3

• p. 146The servant refuses the offered reward and merchandise is proposed for trade.read · scan
• p. 150–151The State defrays all costs from the House's revenue, and merchandise is returned in kind or gold to them.read · scan
• p. 161–162Trade is explicitly not for gold, silver, jewels, silks or spices, but for knowledge.read · scan

William Shakespeare, The TempestVol. 46

• p. 429–430Stephano plans to take the monster to Naples as a present or to sell for profit.read · scan

John Heminge and Henry Condell, Preface to the First Folio Edition of Shakespeare's PlaysVol. 39

• p. 148Readers are urged to buy the book, since criticism alone does not drive trade.read · scan

Thomas Dekker, The Shoemaker's HolidayVol. 47

• p. 502–503Mayor offers a thousand marks and Eyre praises the trades of grocer and shoemaker as a living through the world.read · scan

Jonathan Swift, A Letter of Advice to a Young PoetVol. 27

• p. 116–117Jokes that poets' wasted paper advances the linen manufacture and trade.read · scan

Voltaire, Letters on the EnglishVol. 34

• p. 95A trading nation seizes on discoveries advantageous to commerce; epidemics suspend the trade in girls.read · scan

Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of NationsVol. 10

• p. 395–397Venetians gained a near monopoly of the East India spice trade through their connection with Egypt.read · scan

William Wordsworth, Essay Supplementary to PrefaceVol. 39

• p. 329Booksellers chose authors by the profits their works brought the Trade.read · scan

Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, Household TalesVol. 17

• p. 59Gold wares are the bait of trade; the princess wants to buy them allread · scan

Ralph Waldo Emerson, English TraitsVol. 5

• p. 347English merchants trade to all countries, explaining England's wealth since the conquest.read · scan
• p. 360–361London's commerce draws the world's trade; the English feel able to replace all the planet's wealth if it perished.read · scan
• p. 361Commercial advantage and trade of a vast empire; London as a shop.read · scan

Charles Darwin, The Voyage of the BeagleVol. 29

• p. 48The town has little trade, exporting a few hides and cattle; inhabitants are landowners and tradesmen.read · scan
• p. 153Province could support astonishing numbers of cattle; hide exports of three hundred thousand.read · scan
• p. 365–366Iquique lives on nitrate exports; everything, including water, is imported at high price; silver mines have declined.read · scan
• p. 435Warehouses, ships, and high rents show a booming colonial economy.read · scan
• p. 456The island's prosperity depends wholly on the cocoa-nut tree, whose oil and nuts are the only exports.read · scan
• p. 488Sugar exports rose seventy-five fold under English rule, aided by good roads, unlike French Bourbon.read · scan

Richard Henry Dana, Jr., Two Years Before the MastVol. 23

• p. 77Describes the trade in the ship's varied cargo of goods sold to the people of California.read · scan
• p. 94Describes the hide trade, storehouses and depot at San Diego where vessels collect cargoes.read · scan
• p. 96San Pedro is the best hide port, serving the interior's cattle herds, the Pueblo and wealthy missions.read · scan
• p. 113The Yankee shopkeeper trades varied goods; the treating costs the sailors' money.read · scan
• p. 120Hide trade: a hide-house holds forty thousand hides, and San Diego serves as depot for all vessels.read · scan
• p. 135Coast whales yield too little oil to repay the trouble, so whale-ships stay away.read · scan
• p. 148The hide and tallow trade between California and Boston, with vessels collecting cargoes for commerce.read · scan
• p. 199Rivalry with the Italian ship for the hide trade, and hides toward the forty thousand needed.read · scan
• p. 203–205Small vessels carry on a legal and illegal trade in skins, silks, teas and specie.read · scan
• p. 220Trade in tallow and grain; the bay and settlement promise commercial prosperity.read · scan
• p. 221The hide trade of the missions, carried by Indian boats in exchange for goods.read · scan
• p. 226–227Predicts the bay will be the center of California's prosperity and trade.read · scan

Richard Henry Dana, Jr., Twenty-Four Years AfterVol. 23

• p. 375Remote hide trade with the Missions and a lone Yankee's shanty of retail trade show slight commerce.read · scan
• p. 403–404The Alert's later career in the whale trade, delivering twenty-five thousand barrels of oil for her New London owners, shows commercial success and profit.read · scan

12g.Commerce of discovery and colonial plunder

See also: Monarchy 8d · Exploration 3b · War and Peace 7a · National Character 7c

Plutarch, AlcibiadesVol. 12

• p. 133He tells soldiers there is no money unless they conquer everywhere.read · scan
• p. 141Lysander's Persian money pays sailors more; Alcibiades must leave the fleet to raise funds.read · scan
• p. 141–143He amasses treasure by war on Thracians.read · scan

Stories from the Thousand and One NightsVol. 16

• p. 245–247He fills his pockets and clothes with diamonds obtained by the merchants' stratagem.read · scan
• p. 270–271He gathers jewels, pearls and ornaments from the dead.read · scan
• p. 282–283Island's shore abounds with jewels, aloes-wood and ambergris; survivors go like madmen at the riches.read · scan
• p. 352The boy gathers jewels beyond any king's, ignorant of their worth, and mistakes them for glass because he has no experience of precious stones.read · scan

The Voyages to VinlandVol. 43

• p. 14Wealthy Karlsefni shares spoils equally, gathers timber, grapes and game, and trades with Skrellings for furs.read · scan
• p. 14The party carries away booty of vines, grapes and furs when returning to Greenland.read · scan
• p. 17The voyage is a profit-seeking venture with shared spoils.read · scan

The Story of the Volsungs and NiblungsVol. 49

• p. 280–281The treasure is revealed and carried off to the king's ships as great booty.read · scan
• p. 291–293Sigurd brings home plenteous wealth from the victory.read · scan

Jean Froissart, The Chronicles of FroissartVol. 35

• p. 10The great riches plundered from the towns are the chief prize of the campaign.read · scan
• p. 10–11Soldiers seize the rich country's goods and keep the gold and silver themselves without accounting to the king.read · scan
• p. 12–13Rich cloth town of Saint-Lo yields immense plunder.read · scan
• p. 13Caen is described as rich in drapery, merchandise and abbeys.read · scan

Christopher Columbus, The Letter of Columbus to Luis de Sant Angel Announcing His DiscoveryVol. 43

• p. 22He notes mines of gold and metals, spices, and fertile land suited for planting and settlement.read · scan
• p. 22–23Natives trade gold and cotton for trifles; Columbus forbids the exchange as unfair yet seeks goods needed by Spain.read · scan
• p. 23The natives carry on commerce by canoe; the islands are worth having and must not be given up.read · scan
• p. 23Columbus founds Navidad near gold mines and trade routes, anticipating great trade and profit.read · scan
• p. 25Columbus promises the sovereigns gold, spices, cotton, mastic and lign-aloe in abundance with only slight assistance.read · scan
• p. 25–27He anticipates temporal benefits for Spain and all Christian nations.read · scan

Amerigo Vespucci, Amerigo Vespucci's Account of His First VoyageVol. 43

• p. 28Gold obtained by barter, though little; discovery of its presence considered enough.read · scan

John Cabot's Discovery of North AmericaVol. 43

• p. 45–46Discovery pursued for gain; king grants money and ships.read · scan
• p. 47Hopes of a spice trade rivaling Alexandria, rich fishing, and colony; Cabot seeks spices and jewels.read · scan

Sir Francis Drake, Sir Francis Drake RevivedVol. 33

• p. 138–139Describes a vast pile of silver bars and a treasure house of gold and jewels, the raid's object.read · scan
• p. 139The lure of the Treasure of the World drives the men's resolve.read · scan
• p. 140The men forgo rich spoil to save their captain, believing they can recover wealth only under him.read · scan
• p. 142–143Drake says he wants only the country's commodity, and the silver and gold left behind are noted.read · scan
• p. 143–144Describes the route by which Panama's treasure travels by mule and river to Nombre de Dios.read · scan
• p. 150–151The English plunder Spanish storehouses of provisions and learn how the gold, treasure and commodities of the colony are shipped to Spain.read · scan
• p. 151–152Seized provisions and plentiful stores are gathered in Port Plenty and storehouses, and shared with allies and French ships in want.read · scan
• p. 154–155The Cimaroons say they sank Spanish treasure in rivers out of spite rather than love of gold.read · scan
• p. 157–158Drake offers to trade his goods for gold and silver, but the King has forbidden traffic with foreigners.read · scan
• p. 160–161Victuals run short, villages are stripped of cattle and people by Spanish command, and a hoped-for prize frigate has neither meat nor money.read · scan
• p. 172–173Treasure trains laden with gold, jewels and silver carried from Panama to Nombre de Dios; the scale of Spanish colonial wealth.read · scan
• p. 181–182Disappointment at returning without treasure; plans to intercept treasure frigates and attack the rich gold mines of Veragua.read · scan
• p. 182–183Pezoro has heaped a mighty treasure of gold in chests, earning some £200 daily from his slaves.read · scan
• p. 183–184A frigate at Veragua is said to carry above a million in gold, and the pilot offers to guide Drake to it.read · scan
• p. 187–188The Recuas carry about thirty tons of silver, the prize the Cimaroons promise the raiders.read · scan
• p. 188–189The raiders take only a few bars of gold and bury fifteen tons of silver in crab burrows and river sand.read · scan
• p. 191–192The silver and gold are brought back and shared; a further trip is planned to recover the hidden treasure.read · scan
• p. 192–193Spaniards dig up the ground for the hidden silver, but the men still recover thirteen bars of silver.read · scan
• p. 195–196Their frigate captures include hides and a needed pump, part of taking most of the 200 coasting frigates.read · scan

Miguel de Cervantes, The History of Don Quixote of the Mancha, Part IVol. 14

• p. 273He dreams of converting subjects into ready money to buy an office and live at ease.read · scan
• p. 294Sancho eyes the kingdom's riches and plans to sell his black vassals for profit.read · scan

Captain Walter Bigges, Drake's Great ArmadaVol. 33

• p. 230–232Plunder of church stuff and a silver cross; the Spaniards report losses over thirty thousand ducats.read · scan
• p. 234–235The spoils taken are only wine, oil, meal and trade goods; no treasure was found.read · scan
• p. 242–243The city is ransomed for 25,000 ducats after burning proves laborious.read · scan
• p. 243Explains St. Domingo's modest riches: mines abandoned, copper money, trade in sugar, ginger and hides, imported provisions.read · scan
• p. 248Treasure at Panama was the expected recompense for their travails.read · scan
• p. 248Captured towns, ransoms and treasure fall short of the expectation of the enterprisers.read · scan
• p. 248–249Debate over accepting a smaller ransom for Carthagena; officers give their own share to the poor sailors and soldiers.read · scan
• p. 250–251Ransom of Carthagena settled at 110,000 ducats after failed treaties.read · scan
• p. 251–252Carthagena yields a greater ransom than larger St. Domingo because of its harbour, trade and richer merchants.read · scan
• p. 258–259Voyage's total gain estimated at sixty thousand pounds, divided between the companies and adventurers, with tally of captured ordnance.read · scan

Edward Haies, Sir Humphrey Gilbert's Voyage to NewfoundlandVol. 33

• p. 283The land can yield resin, pitch, masts, furs, flax and metals as plentifully as northern Europe by industry.read · scan
• p. 283–285Mineral wealth, furs and the mineral-man's confident claim of silver ore.read · scan
• p. 285–286Refiner asserts the ore is silver; Gilbert wants no talk of it.read · scan
• p. 293His deepest grief is for the lost ore, thought to be the riches the Saxon refiner brought.read · scan
• p. 294Gilbert plans to fund a great expedition by asking the Queen for a loan; the author hopes for a rich mine.read · scan

Sir Walter Raleigh, The Discovery of GuianaVol. 33

• p. 301He hoped to recover the plenty he once possessed.read · scan
• p. 301–302He returns a beggar though he might have bettered his estate; Guiana's golden city El Dorado is the prize.read · scan
• p. 303Argues Guiana holds more gold than Peru, and that Spain's real riches lie inland, not in the plundered port towns.read · scan
• p. 303–304Promises a better Indies for the queen, with gold enough from Spanish cities and Guiana's riches.read · scan
• p. 305Reports gold yields in pounds per ton from white spar and mines across Guiana.read · scan
• p. 316–317Raleigh promises Guiana's gold and cities would exceed Mexico and Peru, enriching whatever prince possesses it.read · scan
• p. 317–318Lopez's description of Inca court with gold and silver vessels, statues and gardens illustrates Guiana's fabulous riches.read · scan
• p. 320Martinez given gold, robbed of it by borderers, who mistake remaining gold beads for food.read · scan
• p. 322Abundance of gold in temples, plates and armour gives El Dorado its name.read · scan
• p. 324–325Spanish expeditions pursue the gold of Guiana and El Dorado, spending vast sums (300,000 ducats) and men for its riches.read · scan
• p. 325–326Gold plates of Guiana circulate by trade among tribes from Dominica to the Amazons, and French voyagers return rich.read · scan
• p. 327Amapaia is marvellously rich in gold, the lure of Berreo's expedition.read · scan
• p. 327–329Gold images gifted to Berreo, and hope of gold draws the conquest.read · scan
• p. 330–331Berreo learns the riches of Guiana from Carapana and seeks aid to pursue them.read · scan
• p. 332Gold plates and the fame of El Dorado allure the governor Vides; gold obtained from towns near Manoa.read · scan
• p. 334Trade in slaves, cassava, cotton and gold; Berreo gathers gold images to persuade the king to fund his enterprise.read · scan
• p. 343The absent lord trades for gold plates and cotton cloth, and buys women from the Cannibals, showing native commerce.read · scan
• p. 345Raleigh seizes gold ore and a refiner's tools, learns where the Spaniards mined, and hides this from his company to prevent a rush for profit.read · scan
• p. 345–346Raleigh declines to dig gold hastily, aiming at discovery of the mines rather than present profit.read · scan
• p. 355–356Promise of gold and a silver mine drives the exploring parties along the river.read · scan
• p. 356Glittering stones promise gold and silver, though most found are worthless; the true mine lies deeper.read · scan
• p. 358Raleigh says only the certainty of unmatched riches would lure him again; reports of gems and gold-grains in the lake.read · scan
• p. 361The river leads to provinces abounding in gold and the empire of Inga.read · scan
• p. 362Gold plates shaped as men, beasts and fishes come from Macureguarai.read · scan
• p. 365Desire for gold and trade prospects for England shape his decision.read · scan
• p. 366Gold gathered in grains from lake and rivers; Raleigh hides his desire for it and gives coin.read · scan
• p. 367Raleigh reports gold-bearing ore and hills as assurance of abundant mineral riches in Guiana, the object all men covet.read · scan
• p. 374Raleigh expects Manoa's ruler to hold more gold than Peru and the West Indies.read · scan
• p. 375Raleigh promises soldiers pay in gold plates and commanders richer cities and temples than Mexico or Peru.read · scan
• p. 376–377Argues Guiana's gold, dyes, cotton, gums and sugar soil, plus short safe navigation, make trade profitable.read · scan
• p. 377Notes that graves have not been opened for gold nor mines broken, implying the country's untapped riches.read · scan
• p. 378–379Promises a Contractation-House in London for Guiana exceeding Seville's trade in receipts from the West Indies.read · scan

Francis Pretty, Sir Francis Drake's Famous Voyage Round the WorldVol. 33

• p. 209The English plunder gold, silver bars and llama-loads of silver from Spanish ships and settlements along the coast.read · scan
• p. 210Drake's crew plunders Spanish barks and ships of silver, gold, jewels and cloth, pursuing the treasure ship Cacafuego.read · scan
• p. 210–212Further plunder of plate, silks, china and gold from ships and the town of Guatulco.read · scan
• p. 214–215Drake hopes the land's riches will enrich England.read · scan
• p. 218Drake seeks traffic and exchange of merchandise, sending a velvet cloak as a gift, and notes cinnamon.read · scan
• p. 218–219Traffic promised as profitable to the king.read · scan
• p. 219–220Gold-cloth attire and jewels display wealth; foreign traders keep continual traffic.read · scan
• p. 222The island is rich in gold, silver, copper, spices and fruits, and its people are skilled metalworkers.read · scan

Francis Bacon, Essays, Civil and MoralVol. 3

• p. 85Plantations need patience; hasty profit destroys them; settlers should be useful tradesmen, not the scum of people.read · scan
• p. 85Plantations should exploit local commodities like timber and iron; mining hopes make planters lazy.read · scan

Michael Drayton, Agincourt; To the Virginian Voyage; Love's FarewellVol. 40

• p. 225–228Voyagers exhorted to get pearl and gold and plenty in Virginia.read · scan

Christopher Marlowe, The Tragical History of Doctor FaustusVol. 19

• p. 207–209He would have spirits fetch gold from India and pearl from the ocean.read · scan
• p. 209Valdes and Cornelius promise treasure from wrecks, argosies of Venice and gold of America.read · scan

First Charter of VirginiaVol. 43

• p. 50Grants lands, mines, minerals, fishings and commodities to the adventurers.read · scan
• p. 51Grants colonists all lands, mines, minerals, fishings and commodities within defined bounds, treating territory as property and resource.read · scan
• p. 53–54Colonies may mine gold, silver and copper, paying the Crown a fifth or fifteenth; coinage established to ease trade with natives.read · scan
• p. 55–56Colonists may export goods and supplies duty-free for seven years to relieve the plantations.read · scan

John Milton, Paradise RegainedVol. 4

• p. 395Rome is shown enriched with the spoils of nations.read · scan

Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of NationsVol. 10

• p. 327America enriched Europe not by importing precious metals, which grew cheap, but by opening a new market for European goods.read · scan
• p. 398Trade profits from the East Indies motivated the voyages of discovery.read · scan
• p. 398–399Real riches of a country lie in animal and vegetable productions of the soil, which the newly found lands lacked, so Columbus had little to show Spain.read · scan
• p. 399–400Assesses the food and cotton produce of the islands as too meagre to appear of great consequence to Europeans.read · scan
• p. 400–401Columbus pinned the islands' value on gold, thought then the source of real wealth, and the crown claimed half of all gold and silver found.read · scan
• p. 401Plunder of natives yielded easy gold; once exhausted, mining made the royal tax impossible and it was reduced from a half to a twentieth.read · scan
• p. 403Colonial ventures were driven by projects of gold and silver mines, with a fifth reserved to the crown in English patents.read · scan

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, The Tragedy of Faust, Part IVol. 19

• p. 127–129Treasure from a captured Turkish ship was squandered, robbing the children of bread.read · scan

Alessandro Manzoni, I Promessi Sposi (The Betrothed)Vol. 21

• p. 469–470Princes hire more soldiers than they can pay, so plunder becomes the tacit compensation.read · scan

Charles Darwin, The Voyage of the BeagleVol. 29

• p. 358Copiapo's inhabitants all bent on making money from mines; necessaries extremely dear because of costly land carriage.read · scan

Richard Henry Dana, Jr., Twenty-Four Years AfterVol. 23

• p. 391Rich quicksilver mines, large-scale farming and fruit-raising, and Fremont's mines show the state's prosperity.read · scan

‹ 11 · Outline · 13 ›