THE WEALTH OF NATIONS. 5G3

a direct foreign trade of consumption into a round-aboutone.

Among the enumerated commodities which can be sent tono other market but Great Britain , there are several of whichthe quantity exceeds very much the consumption of GreatBritain , and of which a part, therefore, must be exported toother countries. But this cannot be done without forcingsome part of the capital of Great Britain into a round-aboutforeign trade of consumption. Maryland and Virginia, forexample, send annually to Great Britain upwards of ninety-six thousand hogsheads of tobacco, and the consumption ofGreat Britain is said not to exceed fourteen thousand. Up-wards of eighty-two thousand hogsheads, therefore, must beexported to other countries, to France, to Holland , and tothe countries which lie round the Baltic and Mediterraneanseas. But, that part of the capital of Great Britain whichbrings those eighty-two thousand hogsheads to Great Bri-tain , which re-exports them from thence to those other coun-tries, and which brings back from those other countries toGreat Britain either goods or money in return, is employedin a round-about foreign trade of consumption ; and is ne-cessarily forced into this employment in order to dispose ofthis great surplus. If we would compute in how many yearsthe whole of this capital is likely to come back to Great Bri-tain , we must add to the distance of the American returnsthat of the returns from those other countries. If, in thedirect foreign trade of consumption which we carry on withAmerica , the whole capital employed frequently does notcome back in less than three or four years; the whole capi-tal employed in this round-about one is not likely to comeback in less than four or five. If the one can keep in con-stant employment but a third or a fourth part of the domesticindustry which could be maintained by a capital returned°nce in the year, the other can keep in constant employmentknt a fourth or a fifth part of that industry. At some of the°nt-ports a credit is commonly given to those foreign cor-respondents to whom they export their tobacco. At the port

London , indeed, it is commonly sold for ready money.! * le n 'le is, Weigh and pay. At the port of London , there-fore, the final returns of the whole round-about trade arem ° re distant than the returns from America by the time only

*ch the goods may lie unsold in the warehouse; where,owever, they may sometimes lie long enough. But, had