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 EUROPEAN NATIONS. ^91 insure the same rate to the last he must have 12 per cent. The English merchant can, there- fore, afford to sell his goods two per cent, cheaper than the American merchant. The American merchantman sails to India in ballast, because none of the commodities of America are suited to the India market, and, therefore, the whole weight of freight falls on the homeward investment ; but the English merchantman carries out British manufac- tures, probably to the extent of one fourth of her tonnage, and the capitalist has in this manner the advantage of a double voyage. The advantages to be derived from combining intermediate or inter- colonial voyages with the direct voyage are strong- ly in favour of the British trader. The ports of the east coast of America are equally open to him as to the citizens of the United States, and so are the native ports of India, while in the latter he has the advantage of knowledge and experience. These almost assure to him the colonial trade in the staples of pepper, betel-nut, and tin. The bene- fits of a trade from one port of British India to another, or from these to a native port, are privi- leges which exclusively belong to the English trader. From this cause alone he can trade colo- nially in the two great staples of cotton and opium. In supplying the markets of continental Europe with Indian produce, the British trader has the convenience of his proximity. The distance be-