598 THE NATURE AND CAUSES OF

that of the sovereign of Bengal, arises chiefly from a land-rent. That rent must necessarily be in proportion to thequantity and value of the produce, and both the one and theother must depend upon the extent of the market. The quan-tity will always be suited with more or less exactness to theconsumption of those who can afford to pay for it, and theprice which they will pay will always be in proportion to theeagerness of their competition. It is the interest of such asovereign, therefore, to open the most extensive market forthe produce of his country, to allow the most perfect freedomof commerce, in order to increase as much as possible thenumber and the competition of buyers ; and upon this ac-count to abolish, not only all monopolies, but all restraintsupon the transportation of the home produce from one partof the country to another, upon its exportation to foreign coun-tries, or upon the importation of goods of any kind for whichit can be exchanged. He is in this manner most likely to in-crease both the quantity and value of that produce, and con-sequently of his own share of it, or of his own revenue.

But a company of merchants are, it seems, incapable ofconsidering themselves as sovereigns, even after they havebecome such. Trade, or buying in order to sell again, theystill consider as their principal business, and by a strangeabsurdity, regard the character of the sovereign, as but anappendix to that of the merchant, as something which oughtto be made subservient to it, or by means of which they maybe enabled to buy cheaper in India , and thereby to sell witha better profit in Europe . They endeavour for this purposeto keep out as much as possible all competitors from themarket of the countries which are subject to their govern-ment, and consequently to reduce, at least, some part of thesurplus produce of those countries to what is barely suffi-cient for supplying their own demand, or to what they canexpect to sell in Europe with such a profit as they may thinkreasonable. Their mercantile habits draw them in thismanner, almost necessarily, though perhaps insensibly, toprefer upon all ordinary occasions the little and transitoryprofit of the monopolist to the great and permanent revenueof the sovereign, and would gradually lead them to treat thecountries subject to their government, nearly as the Dutchtreat the Moluccas . It is the interest of the East India com-pany, considered as sovereigns, that the European goodswhich are carried to their Indian dominions should be sold