T, was a South American refugee, who brought with him a million of dollars in gold doubloons. After living here for many years, by which time, through foreign trading, his capital had doubled, he invested the entire avails in United States bonds, as a last and striking evidence of his faith in our institutions, and departed to his native country, there to rest his bones. This man clearly prospered, and so did the country in which he settled, and on whose national faith he lent all his fortune. Yet Mr. Greeley concludes the whole thing to have been a bad job for us, and harps upon another over-importation of $1,000,000.
U, is a gallant Yankee sea-captain, who picks up an abandoned vessel at sea laden with a valuable cargo of teas, and bravely tows her into port, receiving $200,000 of the proceeds of the sale of her cargo as salvage for his skill and intrepidity. From Mr. Greeley's point of view U is a traitor to his country, and suffering a merited poverty for over-importing. But U drives his carriage about town, and has his own opinion of Mr. Greeley's views.
V, having a debt of $300,000 due to him by a merchant in Alexandria, requests him to invest the same in Arabian horses, as fancy stock to improve American breeds. The horses arrive in good order, and on being sold, yield V a net profit of $30,000, besides enriching our native breeds of these useful animals. Mr. Greeley still holds out, and jots the whole transaction down as an additional evidence of national decadence.
Tabular Expose.
Official Returns of these Transactions as they would appear per
Commerce and Navigation Reports.—Sums all stated in gold.
| Exports. Value in the United States. | Imports. Foreign value. | Net profit to the individual. | Immediate accretion to the country's stock of productive wealth. | |
| A | $10,000,000 | $11,000,000 | $2,000,000 | $2,000,000 |
| B | 1,000,000 | 100,000 | 1,100,000 | |
| C | 1,000,000 | 100,000 | 1,000,000 | |
| D | 1,000,000 | 1,100,000 | 1,100,000 | |
| E | 1,000,000 | 1,610,510 | 610,510 | 610,510 |
| F | 200,000 | 50,000 | 50,000 | |
| G | 600,000 | |||
| H | 250,000 | 175,000 | 175,000 | |
| I | 40,000,000 | 4,000,000 | 4,000,000 | |
| J | 1,440,000 | 184,000 | 1,584,000 | |
| K | 222,222 | 22,222 | 22,222 | |
| L | 25,000,000 | 25,000,000 | ||
| M | 1,000,000 | 100,000 | 1,000,000 | |
| N | 1,000,000 | 100,000 | 1,100,000 | |
| O | 16,644,220 | 1,664,422 | 18,308,642 | |
| P | 10,000,000 | 10,000,000 | ||
| Q | 48,000,000 | 52,800,000 | 52,800,000 | |
| R | 500,000 | 500,000 | 500,000 | |
| S | 1,655,659 | 1,655,659 | 1,655,659 | |
| T | 1,000,000 | 1,000,000 | 2,000,000 | |
| U | 200,000 | 200,000 | 200,000 | |
| V | 300,000 | 30,000 | 330,000 | |
| W | ||||
| X | ||||
| Y | ||||
| Z | ||||
| $11,000,000 | $163,622,611 | $66,391,813 | $124,736,033 |
W, X, Y, Z, represent 43,628,427,835,109 other commercial transactions, in all of which the parties to them and the countries in which they live make money, but which, regarded from Mr. Greeley's solitary point of view, should be stopped at once by appropriate legislation.
These various transactions, it will be perceived, have netted to the individuals engaged in them a clear profit of $66,391,813, while the country has added to its immediate stock of wealth not only this sum, but $58,344,220 over, viz: $124,736,033; while, according to the Balance of Trade chimera, which simply weighs the custom-house reports of the value of the exports with that of the imports (and their values in their respective countries of production, too), this commerce has been a loss to the country of $163,622,611—$11,000,000: $152,622,611.