THE WEALTH OE NATIONS.

5G5

tal of Great Britain, which buys the tobacco with which thislinen is afterward bought, is necessarily withdrawn fromsupporting the industry of Great Britain, to be employedaltogether in supporting, partly that of the colonies, andpartly that of the particular countries who pay for this to-bacco with the produce of their own industry.

The monopoly of the colony trade besides, by forcing to-wards it a much greater proportion of the capital of GreatBritain than what would naturally have gone to it, seems tohave broken altogether that natural balance which wouldotherwise have taken place among all the different branchesof British industry. The industry of Great Britain, insteadof being accommodated to a great number of small markets,has been principally suited to one great market. Her com-merce, instead of running in a great number of small chan-nels, has been taught to run principally in one great chan-nel. But the whole system of her industry and commercehas thereby been rendered less secure; the whole state ofher body politic less healthful, than it otherwise would havebeen. In her present condition, Great Britain resembles oneof those unwholesome bodies in which some of the vitalparts arc overgrown, and which, upon that account, areliable to many dangerous disorders scarce incident to thosein which all the parts are more properly proportioned. Asmall stop in that great blood-vessel, which has been arti-ficially swelled beyond its natural dimensions, and throughwhich an unnatural proportion of the industry and commerceof the country has been forced to circulate, is very likely tobring on the most dangerous disorders upon the whole bodypolitic. The expectation of a rupture with the colonies,accordingly, has struck the people of Great Britain withmore terror than they ever felt for a Spanish armada, or aFrench invasion. It was this terror, whether well or illgrounded, which rendered the repeal of the stamp act, amongthe merchants at least, a popular measure. In the total ex-clusion from the colony market, was it to last only for a fewyears, the greater part of our merchants used to fancy thatthey foresaw an entire stop to their trade ; the greater partof oui master manufacturers, the entire ruin of their busi-ness ; and the greater part of our workmen, an end of theiremployment. A rupture with any of our neighbours uponthe continent, though likely too to occasion some stop orinterruption in the employments of some of all these differ-