THE WEALTH- OF NATIONS.

5G1

The most advantageous employment of any capital to thecountry to which it belongs, is that which maintains there thegreatest quantity of productive labour, and increases themost the annual produce of the land and labour of that coun-try. But the quantity of productive labour which any capi-tal employed in the foreign trade of consumption can main-tain, is exactly in proportion, it has been shewn in the secondbook, to the frequency of its returns. A capital of a thousandpounds, for example, employed in a foreign trade of consump-tion, of which the returns are made regularly once in the year,can keep in constant employment, in the country to which itbelongs, a quantity of productive labour equal to what a thou-sand pounds can maintain there for a year. If the returnsarc made twice or thrice in the year, it can keep in constantemployment a quantity of productive labour equal to whattwo or three thousand pounds can maintain there for a year.A foreign trade of consumption carried on with a neighbour-ing, is, upon this account, in general, more advantageousthan one carried on with a distant country; and for the samereason a direct foreign trade of consumption, as it has like-wise been shewn in the second book, is in general more ad-vantageous than a round-about one.

But the monopoly of the colony trade, so lar as it has ope-rated upon the employment of the capital of Great Britain,has in all cases forced some part of it from a foreign tradeof consumption carried on with a neighbouring, to one car-ried on with a more distant country, and in many cases froma direct foreign trade of consumption to a round-about one.

hirst, the monopoly of the colony trade has in all casesforced some part of the capital of Great Britain from a fo-reign trade ot consumption carried on with a neighbouring,to one carried on with a more distant country.

It has, in all cases, forced some part of that capital fromthe trade with Europe , and with the countries which lieround the Mediterranean sea, to that with the more distantregions of America, and the West Indies , from which the re-turns are necessarily less frequent, not only on account of thegreater distance, but on account of the peculiar circumstancesol those countries. New colonies, it has already been ob-served, are always understocked. Their capital is alwaysmuch less than what they could employ with great profit andml vantage in the improvement and cultivation of their land.

my have a constant demand, therefore, for more capital than