CHAPTER IV.
COMMERCE.
95. As the currency conveys right of choice out of many things inexchange for one, so Commerce is the agency by which the power of choiceis obtained; so that countries producing only timber can obtain fortheir timber silk and gold; or, naturally producing only jewels andfrankincense, can obtain for them cattle and corn. In this function,commerce is of more importance to a country in proportion to thelimitations of its products, and the restlessness of itsfancy;--generally of greater importance towards Northern latitudes.
96. Commerce is necessary, however, not only to exchange local products,but local skill. Labour requiring the agency of fire can only be givenabundantly in cold countries; labour requiring suppleness of body andsensitiveness of touch, only in warm ones; labour involving accuratevivacity of thought only in temperate ones; while peculiar imaginativeactions are produced by extremes of heat and cold, and of light anddarkness. The production of great art is limited to climates warm enoughto admit of repose in the open air, and cool enough to render suchrepose delightful. Minor variations in modes of skill distinguish everylocality. The labour which at any place is easiest, is in that placecheapest; and it becomes often desirable that products raised in onecountry should be wrought in another. Hence have arisen discussions on"International values" which will be one day remembered as highlycurious exercises of the human mind. For it will be discovered, in duecourse of tide and time, that international value is regulated just asinter-provincial or inter-parishional value is. Coals and hops areexchanged between Northumberland and Kent on absolutely the sameprinciples as iron and wine between Lancashire and Spain. The greaterbreadth of an arm of the sea increases the cost, but does not modify theprinciple of exchange; and a bargain written in two languages will haveno other economical results than a bargain written in one. The distancesof nations are measured, not by seas, but by ignorances; and theirdivisions determined, not by dialects, but by enmities.[44]
97. Of course, a system of international values may always beconstructed if we assume a relation of moral law to physical geography;as, for instance, that it is right to cheat or rob across a river,though not across a road; or across a sea, though not across a river,&c.;--again, a system of such values may be constructed by assumingsimilar relations of taxation to physical geography; as, for instance,that an article should be taxed in crossing a river, but not in crossinga road; or in being carried fifty miles, but not in being carried five,&c.; such positions are indeed not easily maintained when once put inlogical form; but _one_ law of international value is maintainable inany form: namely, that the farther your neighbour lives from you, andthe less he understands you, _the more you are bound to be true in yourdealings with him_; because your power over him is greater in proportionto his ignorance, and his remedy more difficult in proportion to hisdistance.[45]
98. I have just said the breadth of sea increases the cost of exchange.Now note that exchange, or commerce, _in itself_, is always costly; thesum of the value of the goods being diminished by the cost of theirconveyance, and by the maintenance of the persons employed in it; sothat it is only when there is advantage to both producers (in gettingthe one thing for the other) greater than the loss in conveyance, thatthe exchange is expedient. And it can only be justly conducted when theporters kept by the producers (commonly called merchants) expect _mere_pay, and not profit.[46] For in just commerce there are but threeparties--the two persons or societies exchanging, and the agent oragents of exchange; the value of the things to be exchanged is known byboth the exchangers, and each receives equal value, neither gaining norlosing (for whatever one gains the other loses). The intermediate agentis paid a known per-centage by both, partly for labour in conveyance,partly for care, knowledge, and risk; every attempt at concealment ofthe amount of the pay indicates either effort on the part of the agentto obtain unjust profit, or effort on the part of the exchangers torefuse him just pay. But for the most part it is the first, namely, theeffort on the part of the merchant to obtain larger profit (so-called)by buying cheap and selling dear. Some part, indeed, of this larger gainis deserved, and might be openly demanded, because it is the reward ofthe merchant's knowledge, and foresight of probable necessity; but thegreater part of such gain is unjust; and unjust in this most fatal way,that it depends, first, on keeping the exchangers ignorant of theexchange value of the articles; and, secondly, on taking advantage ofthe buyer's need and the seller's poverty. It is, therefore, one of theessential, and quite the most fatal, forms of usury; for usury meansmerely taking an exorbitant[47] sum for the use of anything; and it isno matter whether the exorbitance is on loan or exchange, on rent or onprice--the essence of the usury being that it is obtained by advantageof opportunity or necessity, and not as due reward for labour. All thegreat thinkers, therefore, have held it to be unnatural and impious, inso far as it feeds on the distress of others, or their folly.[48]Nevertheless, attempts to repress it by law must for ever beineffective; though Plato, Bacon, and the First Napoleon--all three ofthem men who knew somewhat more of humanity than the "British merchant"usually does--tried their hands at it, and have left some (probably)good moderative forms of law, which we will examine in their place. Butthe only final check upon it must be radical purifying of the nationalcharacter, for being, as Bacon calls it, "concessum propter duritiemcordis," it is to be done away with by touching the heart only; not,however, without medicinal law--as in the case of the other permission,"propter duritiem." But in this more than in anything (though much inall, and though in this he would not himself allow of their application,for his own laws against usury are sharp enough), Plato's words in thefourth book of the Polity are true, that neither drugs, nor charms, norburnings, will touch a deep-lying political sore, any more than a deepbodily one; but only right and utter change of constitution: and that"they do but lose their labour who think that by any tricks of law theycan get the better of these mischiefs of commerce, and see not that theyhew at a Hydra."
99. And indeed this Hydra seems so unslayable, and sin sticks so fastbetween the joinings of the stones of buying and selling, that "totrade" in things, or literally "cross-give" them, has warped itself, bythe instinct of nations, into their worst word for fraud; for, becausein trade there cannot but be trust, and it seems also that there cannotbut also be injury in answer to it, what is merely fraud between enemiesbecomes treachery among friends: and "trader," "traditor," and "traitor"are but the same word. For which simplicity of language there is morereason than at first appears: for as in true commerce there is no"profit," so in true commerce there is no "sale." The idea of sale isthat of an interchange between enemies respectively endeavouring to getthe better one of another; but commerce is an exchange between friends;and there is no desire but that it should be just, any more than therewould be between members of the same family.[49] The moment there is abargain over the pottage, the family relation is dissolved:--typically,"the days of mourning for my father are at hand." Whereupon follows theresolve, "then will I slay my brother."
100. This inhumanity of mercenary commerce is the more notable becauseit is a fulfilment of the law that the corruption of the best is theworst. For as, taking the body natural for symbol of the body politic,the governing and forming powers may be likened to the brain, and thelabouring to the limbs, the mercantile, presiding over circulation andcommunication of things in changed utilities, is symbolized by theheart; and, if that hardens, all is lost. And this is the ultimatelesson which the leader of English intellect meant for us, (a lesson,indeed, not all his own, but part of the old wisdom of humanity), in thetale of the _Merchant of Venice_; in which the true and incorruptmerchant,--_kind and free beyond every other Shakspearian conception ofmen_,--is opposed to the corrupted merchant, or usurer; the lesson beingdeepened by the expression of the strange hatred which the corruptedmerchant bears to the pure one, mixed with intense scorn,--
"This is the fool that lent out money gratis; look to him, jailer," (asto lunatic no less than criminal) the enmity, obse
rve, having itssymbolism literally carried out by being aimed straight at the heart,and finally foiled by a literal appeal to the great moral law that fleshand blood cannot be weighed, enforced by "Portia"[50] ("Portion"), thetype of divine Fortune, found, not in gold, nor in silver, but in lead,that is to say, in endurance and patience, not in splendour; and finallytaught by her lips also, declaring, instead of the law and quality of"merces," the greater law and quality of mercy, which is not strained,but drops as the rain, blessing him that gives and him that takes. Andobserve that this "mercy" is not the mean "Misericordia," but the mighty"Gratia," answered by Gratitude, (observe Shylock's leaning on the, tohim detestable, word, _gratis_, and compare the relations of Grace toEquity given in the second chapter of the second book of the_Memorabilia_;) that is to say, it is the gracious or loving, instead ofthe strained, or competing manner, of doing things, answered, not onlywith "merces" or pay, but with "merci" or thanks. And this is indeed themeaning of the great benediction "Grace, mercy, and peace," for therecan be no peace without grace, (not even by help of rifled cannon), noreven without triplicity of graciousness, for the Greeks, who began butwith one Grace, had to open their scheme into three before they haddone.
101. With the usual tendency of long repeated thought, to take thesurface for the deep, we have conceived these goddesses as if they onlygave loveliness to gesture; whereas their true function is to givegraciousness to deed, the other loveliness arising naturally out ofthat. In which function Charis becomes Charitas;[51] and has a name andpraise even greater than that of Faith or Truth, for these may bemaintained sullenly and proudly; but Charis is in her countenance alwaysgladdening (Aglaia), and in her service instant and humble; and the truewife of Vulcan, or Labour. And it is not until her sincerity of functionis lost, and her mere beauty contemplated instead of her patience, thatshe is born again of the foam flake, and becomes Aphrodite; and it isthen only that she becomes capable of joining herself to war and to theenmities of men, instead of to labour and their services. Therefore thefable of Mars and Venus is chosen by Homer, picturing himself asDemodocus, to sing at the games in the court of Alcinous. Phaeacia is theHomeric island of Atlantis; an image of noble and wise government,concealed, (how slightly!) merely by the change of a short vowel for along one in the name of its queen; yet misunderstood by all laterwriters, (even by Horace, in his "pinguis, Phaeaxque"). That fableexpresses the perpetual error of men in thinking that grace and dignitycan only be reached by the soldier, and never by the artisan; so thatcommerce and the useful arts have had the honour and beauty taken away,and only the Fraud and Pain left to them, with the lucre. Which is,indeed, one great reason of the continual blundering about the officesof government with respect to commerce. The higher classes are ashamedto employ themselves in it; and though ready enough to fight for (oroccasionally against) the people,--to preach to them,--or judge them,will not break bread for them; the refined upper servant who haswillingly looked after the burnishing of the armoury and ordering of thelibrary, not liking to set foot in the larder.
102. Farther still. As Charis becomes Charitas on the one side, shebecomes--better still--Chara, Joy, on the other; or rather this is hervery mother's milk and the beauty of her childhood; for God brings noenduring Love, nor any other good, out of pain; nor out of contention;but out of joy and harmony. And in this sense, human and divine, musicand gladness, and the measures of both, come into her name; and Cherbecomes full-vowelled Cheer, and Cheerful; and Chara opens into Choirand Choral.[52]
103. And lastly. As Grace passes into Freedom of action, Charis becomesEleutheria, or Liberality; a form of liberty quite curiously andintensely different from the thing usually understood by "Liberty" inmodern language: indeed, much more like what some people would callslavery: for a Greek always understood, primarily, by liberty,deliverance from the law of his own passions (or from what the Christianwriters call bondage of corruption), and this a complete liberty: notbeing merely safe from the Siren, but also unbound from the mast, andnot having to resist the passion, but making it fawn upon, and followhim--(this may be again partly the meaning of the fawning beasts aboutthe Circean cave; so, again, George Herbert--
Correct thy passion's spite, Then may the beasts draw thee to happy light)--
And it is only in such generosity that any man becomes capable of sogoverning others as to take true part in any system of national economy.Nor is there any other eternal distinction between the upper and lowerclasses than this form of liberty, Eleutheria, or benignity, in the one,and its opposite of slavery, Douleia, or malignity, in the other; theseparation of these two orders of men, and the firm government of thelower by the higher, being the first conditions of possible wealth andeconomy in any state,--the Gods giving it no greater gift than the powerto discern its true freemen, and "malignum spernere vulgus."
104. While I have traced the finer and higher laws of this matter forthose whom they concern, I have also to note the material law--vulgarlyexpressed in the proverb, "Honesty is the best policy." That proverb isindeed wholly inapplicable to matters of private interest. It is nottrue that honesty, as far as material gain is concerned, profitsindividuals. A clever and cruel knave will in a mixed society always bericher than an honest person can be. But Honesty is the best "policy,"if policy mean practice of State. For fraud gains nothing in a State. Itonly enables the knaves in it to live at the expense of honest people;while there is for every act of fraud, however small, a loss of wealthto the community. Whatever the fraudulent person gains, some otherperson loses, as fraud produces nothing; and there is, _besides_, theloss of the time and thought spent in accomplishing the fraud, and ofthe strength otherwise obtainable by mutual help (not to speak of thefevers of anxiety and jealousy in the blood, which are a heavy physicalloss, as I will show in due time). Practically, when the nation isdeeply corrupt cheat answers to cheat; every one is in turn imposedupon, and there is to the body politic the dead loss of the ingenuity,together with the incalculable mischief of the injury to each defraudedperson, producing collateral effect unexpectedly. My neighbour sells mebad meat: I sell him in return flawed iron. We neither of us get oneatom of pecuniary advantage on the whole transaction, but we both sufferunexpected inconvenience; my men get scurvy, and his cattle-truck runsoff the rails.
105. The examination of this form of Charis must, therefore, lead usinto the discussion of the principles of government in general, andespecially of that of the poor by the rich, discovering how theGraciousness joined with the Greatness, or Love with Majestas, is thetrue Dei Gratia, or Divine Right, of every form and manner of King; _i.e._, specifically, of the thrones, dominations, princedoms, virtues, andpowers of the earth:--of the thrones, stable, or "ruling," literallyright-doing powers ("rex eris, recte si facies"):--of thedominations--lordly, edifying, dominant and harmonious powers; chieflydomestic, over the "built thing," domus, or house; and inherentlytwofold, Dominus and Domina; Lord and Lady:--of the Princedoms,pre-eminent, incipient, creative, and demonstrative powers; thus poeticand mercantile, in the "princeps carmen deduxisse" and themerchant-prince:--of the Virtues or Courages; militant, guiding, orDucal powers:--and finally of the Strengths, or Forces pure; magistralpowers, of the More over the less, and the forceful and free over theweak and servile elements of life.
Subject enough for the next paper, involving "economical" principles ofsome importance, of which, for theme, here is a sentence, which I do notcare to translate, for it would sound harsh in English,[53] though,truly, it is one of the tenderest ever uttered by man; which may bemeditated over, or rather _through_, in the meanwhile, by any one whowill take the pains:--
[Greek: Ar oun, hosper Hippos to anepistemoni men encheirounti dechresthai zemia estin, houto kai adelphos, otan tis auto me epistamenosencheir chresthai, zemia esti];
FOOTNOTES:
[44] I have repeated the substance of this and the next paragraph sooften since, that I am ashamed and weary. The thing is too true, and toosimple, it seems, for anybody ever to believe. Meantime, the the
ories of"international values," as explained by Modern Political Economy, havebrought about last year's pillage of France by Germany, and theaffectionate relations now existing in consequence between theinhabitants of the right and left banks of the Rhine.
[45] I wish some one would examine and publish accurately the latedealings of the Governors of the Cape with the Caffirs.
[46] By "pay," I mean wages for labour or skill; by "profit," gaindependent on the state of the market.
[47] Since I wrote this, I have worked out the question of interest ofmoney, which always, until lately, had embarrassed and defeated me; andI find that the payment of interest of any amount whatever is real"usury," and entirely unjustifiable. I was shown this chiefly by thepamphlets issued by Mr. W. C. Sillar, though I greatly regret theimpatience which causes Mr. Sillar to regard usury as the radical crimein political economy. There are others worse, that act with it.
[48] Hence Dante's companionship of Cahors, _Inf._, canto xi., supportedby the view taken of the matter throughout the middle ages, in commonwith the Greeks.
[49] I do not wonder when I re-read this, that people talk about my"sentiment." But there is no sentiment whatever in the matter. It is ahard and bare commercial fact, that if two people deal together whodon't try to cheat each other, they will in a given time, make moremoney out of each other than if they do. See Sec. 104.
[50] Shakspeare would certainly never have chosen this name had he beenforced to retain the Roman spelling. Like Perdita, "lost lady," orCordelia, "heart-lady," Portia is "fortune" lady. The two great relativegroups of words, Fortuna, fero, and fors--Portio, porto, and pars (withthe lateral branch, op-portune, im-portune, opportunity, &c.), are ofdeep and intricate significance; their various senses of bringing,abstracting, and sustaining being all centralized by the wheel (whichbears and moves at once), or still better, the ball (spera) ofFortune,--"Volve sua spera, e beata si gode:" the motive power of thiswheel distinguishing its goddess from the fixed majesty of Necessitaswith her iron nails; or [Greek: ananke], with her pillar of fire andiridescent orbits, _fixed_ at the centre. Portus and porta, and gate inits connexion with gain, form another interesting branch group; andMors, the concentration of delaying, is always to be remembered withFors, the concentration of bringing and bearing, passing on into Fortisand Fortitude.
[This note is literally a mere memorandum for the future work which I amnow completing in _Fors Clavigera_; it was printed partly in vanity, butalso with real desire to get people to share the interest I found in thecareful study of the leading words in noble languages. Compare the nextnote.]
[51] As Charis becomes Charitas, the word "Cher," or "Dear," passes fromShylock's sense of it (to buy cheap and sell dear) into Antonio's senseof it: emphasized with the final _i_ in tender "Cheri," and hushed toEnglish calmness in our noble "Cherish." The reader must not think thatany care can be misspent in tracing the connexion and power of the wordswhich we have to use in the sequel. (See Appendix VI.) Much educationsums itself in making men economize their words, and understand them.Nor is it possible to estimate the harm which has been done, in mattersof higher speculation and conduct, by loose verbiage, though we mayguess at it by observing the dislike which people show to havinganything about their religion said to them in simple words, because thenthey understand it. Thus congregations meet weekly to invoke theinfluence of a Spirit of Life and Truth; yet if any part of thatcharacter were intelligibly expressed to them by the formulas of theservice, they would be offended. Suppose, for instance, in the closingbenediction, the clergyman were to give vital significance to the vagueword "Holy," and were to say, "the fellowship of the Helpful and HonestGhost be with you, and remain with you always," what would be the horrorof many, first at the irreverence of so intelligible an expression; andsecondly, at the discomfortable occurrence of the suspicion that whilethroughout the commercial dealings of the week they had denied thepropriety of Help, and possibility of Honesty, the Person whose companythey had been now asking to be blessed with could have no fellowshipwith cruel people or knaves.
[52] "[Greek: ta men oun alla zoa ouk echein aisthesin ton en taiskinesesi taxeon oude ataxion ois de rythmos unoma kai haomonia emin deous eipomen tous Theous] (Apollo, the Muses, and Bacchus--the graveBacchus, that is--ruling the choir of age; or Bacchus restraining; 'saeva_tene_, cum Berecyntio cornu tympana,' &c.) [Greek: synchoreutasdedosthai, toutous einai kai tous dedokotas ten enrythmon te kaienarmonion aisthesin meth' edones ... chorous te onomakenai para tescharas emphyton onoma]." "Other animals have no perception of order norof disorder in motion; but for us, Apollo and Bacchus and the Muses areappointed to mingle in our dances; and there are they who have given usthe sense of delight in rhythm and harmony. And the name of choir,choral dance, (we may believe,) came from chara (delight)."--Laws, bookii.
[53] [My way now, is to say things plainly, if I can, whether they soundharsh or not;--this is the translation--"Is it possible, then, that as ahorse is only a mischief to any one who attempts to use him withoutknowing how, so also our brother, if we attempt to use him withoutknowing how, may be a mischief to us?"]