Circumstances, However, Though They Cannot Destroy, Must Influence, Beneficially Or Otherwise, The Wealth And Commerce Of A Country; And It May Happen That Circumstances Apparently Unfavourable May Become Beneficial. This Was The Case With Britain:

During the American war, her manufactures and commerce languished; during the French wars they increased and throve most wonderfully.

The cause of this difference must be sought for principally in the very artificial and extraordinary circumstances in which she was placed during the French war: and of these circumstances, the most powerfully operative were her foreign loans; her paper circulation; the conquests and subsequent measures of Bonaparte on the continent; and her superiority at sea. Foreign loans necessarily rendered the exchange unfavourable to Britain; an unfavourable exchange, or, in other words, a premium on bills, in any particular country, enabled the merchant to sell his goods there at a cheaper rate than formerly, and consequently to extend his commerce there. The paper circulation of Britain, - though a bold and hazardous step, and which in a less healthy and vigorous state of public credit and wealth than Britain enjoyed could not have been taken, or, if taken, would not have produced nearly the beneficial effects it did, and would have left much more fatal consequences than we are at present experiencing, - undoubtedly tended to increase her commerce; and the very stimulus which it gave to all kinds of speculation has been favourable to it. The ruinous consequences of such speculation, though dreadful, are comparatively of short duration; whereas it is impossible that speculation should be active and vigorous, with commensurate means, without improving manufactures, and opening new channels for commerce; and these effects must remain.

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