163,219/. I have no doubt, that at present, the amount both of the
exports and imports to this country will be much greater, because
Great Britain is almost the only market to which Sweden can have recourse.
In 1782 the Swedish trade with Holland, with France, and
with Prussia was considerable. A t present the trade with all these
powers is reduced almost to nothing.
There are several circumstances connected with the Swedish trade,
which I cannot help contemplating as abuses that ought to be remedied.
I shall mention one or two of these by way o f specimen.
There are a great many articles o f the first importance, as porcelain,
broad cloth, cottons, &c. which the inhabitants of Sweden cannot dispense
with, that are prohibited from being brought into the country.
This prohibition does not prevent the importation of these articles, and
government must be aware that it does not. For every where you
meet with porcelain vessels, of English or French manufacture; all the
genteel people are dressed in British broad cloth; and cotton o f all kinds
(obviously British manufacture) is just as common in Sweden as in
England. Nothing then is gained by such a prohibition; unless the
disagreeable situation into which the importer is brought, and the
necessity he is under of bribing the custom-house officers, be considered
as an advantage. The effect of such prohibitions is merely to put into
the pockets of the custom-house officers a considerable part of the
money/which might have been drawn as revenue, had government
been wise enough to permit the importation of such articles, upon
paying a proper duty. Were such prohibitions intended to encourage
Swedish manufactures, something might be said in their favour; but
no such manufactures exist, and it is well known to every Swede that
such articles cannot be dispensed with. This abuse I allow is not carried
to so great a height in Sweden as in Russia, where the customhouse
officers are literally supported by the bribes which they receive,
in order to allow prohibited articles to land, and where the Emperor is
so well aware of the circumstance, that he is in the habit of purchasing
these very prohibited articles from the Russian merchants. No policy
can be conceived more miserable than this, more prejudicial to the interests
of the country, or more injurious to morality and virtue.
There is another abuse of a different nature, but equally prejudicial
to the interests of Sweden. Gustavus III. created an East India Company,
and gave them the exclusive privilege o f importing East India
commodities into Sweden. This company is fixed at Gottenburg.;
they have no vessels that go to the East Indies, as was no doubt the
intention of Gustavus that they should, but they alone are the purchasers
of all the East India commodities that are brought into Sweden
by foreigners; . and before the present war between Britain and America,
they were abundantly supplied with such articles by the Americans,
and the East India Company afterwards retailed those articles to
the Swedes at their own price. The only effect of such a monopoly
is to oblige the Swedes to pay a high price for articles o f indispensable
necessity, which they might have had at a cheaper rate, and thus to
enrich a few individuals at the expense of the nation at large.
, From the preceding review of the resources of Sweden, it appears
that Agriculture is the chief means of increasing the wealth and population
of the country. This source of wealth and population which is
very little connected with foreign circumstances, has been unaccountably
neglected. I t ; is devoutely to be wished that the inhabitants of
S weden would give an attentive consideration to the importance o f improving
the state of their agriculture, and that they would immediately
set about opening that golden mine, which promises to be so productive.
Situated as Sweden is at present, she can never hope to rise to the
rank of a European power of the first magnitude. She is surrounded
by two nations, with whom she has been at war for two centuries ;
against whom of course she has contracted an indelible hatred. These
nations are Russia and Denmark. The former of them is such a prodigious
over-match for Sweden, both in extent o f territory and number
of inhabitants, that she can never hope to wage with her more than a
defensive war, and is utterly unable to wrest from her any o f those
ancient territories which once belonged to the Swedish crown. But
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