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[ Materials are, generally speaking, less expensive in America than in Europe, but the price of labor3 is much higher.]
The following comparison will illustrate4 my meaning. During the campaigns of the Revolution the French introduced a new system of tactics into the art of war, which perplexed5 the oldest generals, and very nearly destroyed the most ancient monarchies6 in Europe. They undertook (what had never before been attempted) to make shift without a number of things which had always been held to be indispensable in warfare7; they required novel exertions8 on the part of their troops which no civilized9 nations had ever thought of; they achieved great actions in an incredibly short space of time; and they risked human life without hesitation10 to obtain the object in view. The French had less money and fewer men than their enemies; their resources were infinitely11 inferior; nevertheless they were constantly victorious12, until their adversaries13 chose to imitate their example.
The Americans have introduced a similar system into their commercial speculations14; and they do for cheapness what the French did for conquest. The European sailor navigates15 with prudence16; he only sets sail when the weather is favorable; if an unforseen accident befalls him, he puts into port; at night he furls a portion of his canvas; and when the whitening billows intimate the vicinity of land, he checks his way, and takes an observation of the sun. But the American neglects these precautions and braves these dangers. He weighs anchor in the midst of tempestuous17 gales18; by night and by day he spreads his sheets to the wind; he repairs as he goes along such damage as his vessel2 may have sustained from the storm; and when he at last approaches the term of his voyage, he darts19 onward20 to the shore as if he already descried21 a port. The Americans are often shipwrecked, but no trader crosses the seas so rapidly. And as they perform the same distance in a shorter time, they can perform it at a cheaper rate.
The European touches several times at different ports in the course of a long voyage; he loses a good deal of precious time in making the harbor, or in waiting for a favorable wind to leave it; and he pays daily dues to be allowed to remain there. The American starts from Boston to go to purchase tea in China; he arrives at Canton, stays there a few days, and then returns. In less than two years he has sailed as far as the entire circumference22 of the globe, and he has seen land but once. It is true that during a voyage of eight or ten months he has drunk brackish23 water and lived upon salt meat; that he has been in a continual contest with the sea, with disease, and with a tedious existence; but upon his return he can sell a pound of his tea for a half-penny less than the English merchant, and his purpose is accomplished24.
I cannot better explain my meaning than by saying that the Americans affect a sort of heroism25 in their manner of trading. But the European merchant will always find it very difficult to imitate his American competitor, who, in adopting the system which I have just described, follows not only a calculation of his gain, but an impulse of his nature.
The inhabitants of the United States are subject to all the wants and all the desires which result from an advanced stage of civilization; but as they are not surrounded by a community admirably adapted, like that of Europe, to satisfy their wants, they are often obliged to procure26 for themselves the various articles which education and habit have rendered necessaries. In America it sometimes happens that the same individual tills his field, builds his dwelling27, contrives28 his tools, makes his shoes, and weaves the coarse stuff of which his dress is composed. This circumstance is prejudicial to the excellence29 of the work; but it powerfully contributes to awaken30 the intelligence of the workman. Nothing tends to materialize man, and to deprive his work of the faintest trace of mind, more than extreme division of labor. In a country like America, where men devoted31 to special occupations are rare, a long apprenticeship32 cannot be required from anyone who embraces a profession. The Americans, therefore, change their means of gaining a livelihood33 very readily; and they suit their occupations to the exigencies34 of the moment, in the manner most profitable to themselves. Men are to be met with who have successively been barristers, farmers, merchants, ministers of the gospel, and physicians. If the American be less perfect in each craft than the European, at least there is scarcely any trade with which he is utterly35 unacquainted. His capacity is more general, and the circle of his intelligence is enlarged.
The inhabitants of the United States are never fettered36 by the axioms of their profession; they escape from all the prejudices of their present station; they are not more attached to one line of operation than to another; they are not more prone37 to employ an old method than a new one; they have no rooted habits, and they easily shake off the influence which the habits of other nations might exercise upon their minds from a conviction that their country is unlike any other, and that its situation is without a precedent38 in the world. America is a land of wonders, in which everything is in constant motion, and every movement seems an improvement. The idea of novelty is there indissolubly connected with the idea of amelioration. No natural boundary seems to be set to the efforts of man; and what is not yet done is only what he has not yet attempted to do.
This perpetual change which goes on in the United States, these frequent vicissitudes39 of fortune, accompanied by such unforeseen fluctuations40 in private and in public wealth, serve to keep the minds of the citizens in a perpetual state of feverish41 agitation42, which admirably invigorates their exertions, and keeps them in a state of excitement above the ordinary level of mankind. The whole life of an American is passed like a game of chance, a revolutionary crisis, or a battle. As the same causes are continually in operation throughout the country, they ultimately impart an irresistible43 impulse to the national character. The American, taken as a chance specimen44 of his countrymen, must then be a man of singular warmth in his desires, enterprising, fond of adventure, and, above all, of innovation. The same bent45 is manifest in all that he does; he introduces it into his political laws, his religious doctrines46, his theories of social economy, and his domestic occupations; he bears it with him in the depths of the backwoods, as well as in the business of the city. It is this same passion, applied47 to maritime48 commerce, which makes him the cheapest and the quickest trader in the world.
As long as the sailors of the United States retain these inspiriting advantages, and the practical superiority which they derive49 from them, they will not only continue to supply the wants of the producers and consumers of their own country, but they will tend more and more to become, like the English, the factors of all other peoples. *k This prediction has already begun to be realized; we perceive that the American traders are introducing themselves as intermediate agents in the commerce of several European nations; *l and America will offer a still wider field to their enterprise.
k
[ It must not be supposed that English vessels are exclusively employed in transporting foreign produce into England, or British produce to foreign countries; at the present day the merchant shipping50 of England may be regarded in the light of a vast system of public conveyances51, ready to serve all the producers of the world, and to open communications between all peoples. The maritime genius of the Americans prompts them to enter into competition with the English.]
l
[ Part of the commerce of the Mediterranean52 is already carried on by American vessels.]
The great colonies which were founded in South America by the Spaniards and the Portuguese53 have since become empires. Civil war and oppression now lay waste those extensive regions. Population does not increase, and the thinly scattered54 inhabitants are too much absorbed in the cares of self-defense even to attempt any amelioration of their condition. Such, however, will not always be the case. Europe has succeeded by her own efforts in piercing the gloom of the Middle Ages; South America has the same Christian55 laws and Christian manners as we have; she contains all the germs of civilization which have grown amidst the nations of Europe or their offsets56, added to the advantages to be derived57 from our example: why then should she always remain uncivilized? It is clear that the question is simply one of time; at some future period, which may be more or less remote, the inhabitants of South America will constitute flourishing and enlightened nations.
But when the Spaniards and Portuguese of South America begin to feel the wants common to all civilized nations, they will still be unable to satisfy those wants for themselves; as the youngest children of civilization, they must perforce admit the superiority of their elder brethren. They will be agriculturists long before they succeed in manufactures or commerce, and they will require the mediation58 of strangers to exchange their produce beyond seas for those articles for which a demand will begin to be felt.
It is unquestionable that the Americans of the North will one day supply the wants of the Americans of the South. Nature has placed them in contiguity59, and has furnished the former with every means of knowing and appreciating those demands, of establishing a permanent connection with those States, and of gradually filling their markets. The merchants of the United States could only forfeit60 these natural advantages if he were very inferior to the merchant of Europe; to whom he is, on the contrary, superior in several respects. The Americans of the United States already exercise a very considerable moral influence upon all the peoples of the New World. They are the source of intelligence, and all the nations which inhabit the same continent are already accustomed to consider them as the most enlightened, the most powerful, and the most wealthy members of the great American family. All eyes are therefore turned towards the union; and the States of which that body is composed are the models which the other communities try to imitate to the best of their power; it is from the United States that they borrow their political principles and their laws.
The Americans of the United States stand in precisely61 the same position with regard to the peoples of South America as their fathers, the English, occupy with regard to the Italians, the Spaniards, the Portuguese, and all those nations of Europe which receive their articles of daily consumption from England, because they are less advanced in civilization and trade. England is at this time the natural emporium of almost all the nations which are within its reach; the American union will perform the same part in the other hemisphere; and every community which is founded, or which prospers62 in the New World, is founded and prospers to the advantage of the Anglo-Americans.
If the union were to be dissolved, the commerce of the States which now compose it would undoubtedly63 be checked for a time; but this consequence would be less perceptible than is generally supposed. It is evident that, whatever may happen, the commercial States will remain united. They are all contiguous to each other; they have identically the same opinions, interests, and manners; and they are alone competent to form a very great maritime power. Even if the South of the union were to become independent of the North, it would still require the services of those States. I have already observed that the South is not a commercial country, and nothing intimates that it is likely to become so. The Americans of the South of the United States will therefore be obliged, for a long time to come, to have recourse to strangers to export their produce, and to supply them with the commodities which are requisite64 to satisfy their wants. But the Northern States are undoubtedly able to act as their intermediate agents cheaper than any other merchants. They will therefore retain that employment, for cheapness is the sovereign law of commerce. National claims and national prejudices cannot resist the influence of cheapness. Nothing can be more virulent65 than the hatred66 which exists between the Americans of the United States and the English. But notwithstanding these inimical feelings, the Americans derive the greater part of their manufactured commodities from England, because England supplies them at a cheaper rate than any other nation. Thus the increasing prosperity of America turns, notwithstanding the grudges67 of the Americans, to the advantage of British manufactures.
Reason shows and experience proves that no commercial prosperity can be durable68 if it cannot be united, in case of need, to naval69 force. This truth is as well understood in the United States as it can be anywhere else: the Americans are already able to make their flag respected; in a few years they will be able to make it feared. I am convinced that the dismemberment of the union would not have the effect of diminishing the naval power of the Americans, but that it would powerfully contribute to increase it. At the present time the commercial States are connected with others which have not the same interests, and which frequently yield an unwilling70 consent to the increase of a maritime power by which they are only indirectly71 benefited. If, on the contrary, the commercial States of the union formed one independent nation, commerce would become the foremost of their national interests; they would consequently be willing to make very great sacrifices to protect their shipping, and nothing would prevent them from pursuing their designs upon this point.
Nations, as well as men, almost always betray the most prominent features of their future destiny in their earliest years. When I contemplate72 the ardor73 with which the Anglo-Americans prosecute74 commercial enterprise, the advantages which befriend them, and the success of their undertakings75, I cannot refrain from believing that they will one day become the first maritime power of the globe. They are born to rule the seas, as the Romans were to conquer the world.
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1
vessels
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| n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人 | |
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vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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labor
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| n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦 | |
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illustrate
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| v.举例说明，阐明；图解，加插图 | |
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perplexed
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| adj.不知所措的 | |
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monarchies
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| n. 君主政体, 君主国, 君主政治 | |
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warfare
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| n.战争(状态)；斗争；冲突 | |
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exertions
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| n.努力( exertion的名词复数 )；费力；（能力、权力等的）运用；行使 | |
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civilized
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| a.有教养的，文雅的 | |
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hesitation
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| n.犹豫，踌躇 | |
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infinitely
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| adv.无限地，无穷地 | |
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victorious
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| adj.胜利的，得胜的 | |
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adversaries
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| n.对手，敌手( adversary的名词复数 ) | |
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speculations
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| n.投机买卖( speculation的名词复数 )；思考；投机活动；推断 | |
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navigates
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| v.给（船舶、飞机等）引航，导航( navigate的第三人称单数 )；（从海上、空中等）横越；横渡；飞跃 | |
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prudence
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| n.谨慎，精明，节俭 | |
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tempestuous
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| adj.狂暴的 | |
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gales
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| 龙猫 | |
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darts
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| n.掷飞镖游戏；飞镖( dart的名词复数 )；急驰，飞奔v.投掷，投射( dart的第三人称单数 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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onward
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| adj.向前的，前进的；adv.向前，前进，在先 | |
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descried
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| adj.被注意到的，被发现的，被看到的 | |
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circumference
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| n.圆周，周长，圆周线 | |
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brackish
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| adj.混有盐的；咸的 | |
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accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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heroism
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| n.大无畏精神，英勇 | |
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procure
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| vt.获得，取得，促成；vi.拉皮条 | |
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dwelling
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| n.住宅，住所，寓所 | |
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contrives
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| （不顾困难地）促成某事( contrive的第三人称单数 )； 巧妙地策划，精巧地制造（如机器）； 设法做到 | |
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excellence
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| n.优秀，杰出，(pl.)优点，美德 | |
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awaken
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| vi.醒，觉醒；vt.唤醒，使觉醒，唤起，激起 | |
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devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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apprenticeship
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| n.学徒身份；学徒期 | |
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livelihood
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| n.生计，谋生之道 | |
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exigencies
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| n.急切需要 | |
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utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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fettered
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| v.给…上脚镣，束缚( fetter的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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prone
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| adj.(to)易于…的，很可能…的；俯卧的 | |
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precedent
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| n.先例，前例；惯例；adj.在前的，在先的 | |
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vicissitudes
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| n.变迁，世事变化；变迁兴衰( vicissitude的名词复数 )；盛衰兴废 | |
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40
fluctuations
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| 波动，涨落，起伏( fluctuation的名词复数 ) | |
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feverish
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| adj.发烧的，狂热的，兴奋的 | |
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agitation
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| n.搅动；搅拌；鼓动，煽动 | |
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irresistible
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| adj.非常诱人的，无法拒绝的，无法抗拒的 | |
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specimen
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| n.样本，标本 | |
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45
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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46
doctrines
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| n.教条( doctrine的名词复数 )；教义；学说；（政府政策的）正式声明 | |
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47
applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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48
maritime
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| adj.海的，海事的，航海的，近海的，沿海的 | |
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49
derive
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| v.取得；导出；引申；来自；源自；出自 | |
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50
shipping
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| n.船运（发货，运输，乘船） | |
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51
conveyances
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| n.传送( conveyance的名词复数 )；运送；表达；运输工具 | |
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52
Mediterranean
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| adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的 | |
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53
Portuguese
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| n.葡萄牙人；葡萄牙语 | |
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54
scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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offsets
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| n.开端( offset的名词复数 )；出发v.抵消( offset的第三人称单数 )；补偿；（为了比较的目的而）把…并列（或并置）；为（管道等）装支管 | |
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57
derived
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| vi.起源；由来；衍生；导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取 | |
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mediation
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| n.调解 | |
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contiguity
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| n.邻近，接壤 | |
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forfeit
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| vt.丧失；n.罚金，罚款，没收物 | |
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precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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prospers
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| v.成功，兴旺( prosper的第三人称单数 ) | |
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undoubtedly
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| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
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requisite
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| adj.需要的，必不可少的；n.必需品 | |
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virulent
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| adj.有毒的，有恶意的，充满敌意的 | |
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hatred
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| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
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grudges
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| 不满，怨恨，妒忌( grudge的名词复数 ) | |
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durable
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| adj.持久的，耐久的 | |
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naval
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| adj.海军的，军舰的，船的 | |
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unwilling
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| adj.不情愿的 | |
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indirectly
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| adv.间接地，不直接了当地 | |
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contemplate
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| vt.盘算，计议；周密考虑；注视，凝视 | |
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ardor
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| n.热情，狂热 | |
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prosecute
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| vt.告发；进行；vi.告发，起诉，作检察官 | |
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undertakings
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| 企业( undertaking的名词复数 )； 保证； 殡仪业； 任务 | |
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