THE WEALTH OF NATIONS.

599

there as cheap as possible ; and that the Indian goods whichare brought from thence should bring there as good a price,or should be sold there as dear as possible. But the reverseof this is their interest as merchants. As sovereigns, theirinterest is exactly the same with that of the country whichthey govern. As merchants, their interest is directly op-posite to that interest.

But if the genius of such a government, even as to whatconcerns its direction in Europe , is in this manner essentiallyand perhaps incurably faulty, that of its administration inIndia is still more so. That administration is necessarilycomposed of a council of merchants, a profession no doubtextremely respectable, but which in no country in the worldcarries along with it that sort of authority which naturallyover-awes the people, and without force commands theirwilling obedience. Such a council can command obedienceonly by the military force with which they arc accompanied,and their government is therefore necessarily military anddespotical. Their proper business, however, is that of mer-chants. It is to sell, upon their masters’ account, the Eu­ ropean goods consigned to them, and to buy in return In­ dian goods for the European market. It is to sell the oneas dear and to buy the other as cheap as possible, and con-sequently to exclude as much as possible all rivals from theparticular market where they keep their shop. The geniusof the administration, therefore, so far as concerns the tradeof the company, is the same as that of the direction. Ittends to make government subservient to the interest of mo-nopoly, and consequently to stunt the natural growth ofsome parts at least of the surplus produce of the country towhat is barely sufficient for answering the demand of thecompany.

All the members of the administration, besides, trademore or less upon their own account, and it is in vain toprohibit them from doing so. Nothing can be 'more com-pletely foolish than to expect that the clerks of a greatcounting-house at ten thousand miles’ distance, and conse-quently almost quite out of sight, should, upon a simpleorder from their masters, give up at once doing any sort ofbusiness upon their own account, abandon for ever all hopesof making a fortune, of which they have the means in theirhands, and content themselves with the moderate salaries■which those masters allow them, and which, moderate as