COM'MERCE, in a general sense, is the intercourse of natioint in each other's pi:otiose c: manufactures, in which tho superfluities: of one aro given for those of another, and then re-exchanged with other nations for mutual wants. Coin melee is hnth and intand. For eign commerce is the trade which one nation carries on with another; inland commerce, or inland trade, is the trade in the eXchAtige of commodities between citizens of the same nation. The benefits of commercial intercourse have been felt and a Imitte I front the earliest times ; but they have never been so highly ap preciated, or earrio 1 to such an extent as at present. It gives a stimulus to in dustry ; supplies mankind with enjoy ments to which they would otherwise he strangers, tends greatly to obliterate un founded prejuiliees between nations ; ex cites a spirit of laudable competition among all classes ; enables one country to profit by the inventions of another ; diffuses the blessings of civilization to the most remote corners of the earth ; enlarges the powers and faculties of the taint; and advances human knowledge by the improvements which it carries into every art an 1 science. On the other
ban 1, it cannot he denied that it has con tributed to unjust aggressions, and that the peace and welfare of man have often been made subservient to commercial avarice. Yet much as the evils attribut e t to commerce have been deplored by some moral writers, we cannot but adopt the sentiments of one who says, "To cone tneree, with all its mischiefs, with all its crimes, committed upon every shore, its depopulation of fields, and corruption of cities, to commerce we must attribute that growing intimacy between the mem bers of the human race from which great benefits have redounded, and greater still may spring."