COMMERCE, the exchange of the na tural or artificial productions of a country for those of another, either by barter or by representative signs of their value : the most general representative of the value of other commodities b eing coin or bullion, the profits of commerce are frequently es timated by the quantity of money it brings into a country ; but a very beneficial fo reign trade may be carried on without any balance being payable in money, or the balance may be absorbed by payments on other accounts. The commerce of Great Britain has long been in a very flourish ing state, and has become of unparalleled extent, but the quantity of coin and bul lion in the country has not increased in any considerable degree.
Commerce, in a general point of view, is usually distinguished into two kinds, the commerce of impOrt and of export ; but there is little reason for this distinc tion, for whatever a nation imports, it must have paid an equivalent for to the country of which it is purchased, and consequently the two branches are inti mately dependent, and could not exist separately for any considerable period.
The value obtained in foreign markets, for the goods or manufactures which a nation exports, repays the labour of pro curing or manufacturing them, with a profit to the master manufacturer and to the exporting merchant ; and this value being invested in foreign produce, which on importation affords a further profit to the merchant, it is evident that the trans action, while it supports individuals, makes a real addition to the wealth of the country, by the greater value of the re turns imported beyond that of the goods exported. Commerce, therefore, while it is the means of procuring a mutual inter change of conveniencies between distant countries, and of extending knowledge and civilization over every part of the globe, contributes essentially to the strength and influence of the countries by which it is encouraged.
Superficial views on subjects of politi cal economy have inclined princes and statesmen to the opinions, that wealth consisted principally in gold and silver, and that those metals could be brought into a country which had no mines only by the balance of trade, or by exporting to a greater value than it imported ; com merce has therefore experienced public encouragement, and, agreeable to the principles on which its value has been estimated, the principal regulations have consisted in restraints upon importation, and encouragements to exportation. The
duties and restrictions imposed by one country, either with the view of encourag ing its trade and manufactures, or for the purpose of rendering commerce a source of public revenue, have, however, only created similar returns from other states, and the commerce of Europe has become a complicated system of high duties, drawbacks, prohibitions, and bounties, attended with much unnecessary expense, and holding out continual temptations to fraud and evasion. The impoliey and injustice of many of the existing restraints has been shewn by Dr. Adam Smith and others, and the prevalence of just sen timents of the reciprocal advantages of freedom of trade will render future com mercial arrangements more liberal and beneficial.
Commercial intercourse was one of the earliest effects of the progress of civiliza tion, but it was not till the gradual im provement of navigation bad lessened the dangers of long voyages, that distant nations were enabled to exchange their surplus produce, and to enjoy the conve niencies and luxuries of foreign climes. The Egyptians, at a very early period, opened a trade with the western coast of the continent of India ; but the Pheni cians and the Carthaginians carried com merce to a much greater extent, the trading voyages of the latter extending not only to all the coasts of Spain and Gaul, but even to Britain. The commerce of the Greeks was confined to the ports of the Mediterraneah till the foundation of Alexandria. which soon acquired the greater part of the trade with India, and became for a time the first commercial city in the world. The extent of the Roman empire, and the spirit of its gov ernment, gave facility and security to commercial transactions,- and rendered Rome the metropolis of the commercial world till the fourth century, when the seat of empire was removed to Constan tinople, which was thus made the empo riuni of commerce. Here it continued to flourish, even when the devastations of the Goths and Vandals had annihilated commercial intercourse in almost every other part of Europe, and a considera ble trade with India was kept up, al though, after the conquest of Egypt by the Arabians, it could only be carried on by a very tedious and difficult channel of conveyance.