Page:Notes on the State of Virginia (1802).djvu/239



HE preſent ſtate of manufactures, commerce, interior and exterior trade?

We never had an interior trade of any importance. Our exterior commerce has ſuffered very much from the beginning of the preſent coteſt. During this time we have manufactured within our families the moſt neceſſary articles of cloathing. Thoſe of cotton will bear ſome compariſon with the ſame kinds of manufacture in Europe; but thoſe of wool, flax, and hemp are very coarſe, unſightly, and unpleaſant: and ſuch is our attachment to agriculture, and ſuch our preference for foreign manufactures, that be it wiſe or unwiſe, our people will certainly return as ſoon as they can, to the raiſing raw materials, and exchanging them for finer manufactures than they are able to execute themſelves.

The political œconomiſts of Europe have eſtabliſhed it as a principle that every ſtate ſhould endeavor to manufacture for itſelf: and this principle, like many others, we transfer to America, without calculating the difference of circumſtance which ſhould often produce a difference of reſult. In Europe the lands are either cultivated, or locked up againſt the cultivator. Manufacture muſt therefore be reſorted to of neceſſary not of choice, to ſupport the ſurplus of their people. But we have an immenſity of land courting the induſtry of the huſbandman. Is it beſt then that all our