monopolise it. No injury is done thereby to anyone, but a great benefit is
conferred upon the whole population of Holland and its dependencies, since the
produce of the state monopolies saves them from the weight of a heavy taxation.
Had the Government not kept the nutmeg trade of Banda in its own hands, it is
probable that the whole of the islands would long ago have become the property
of one or more large capitalists. The monopoly would have been almost the
same, since no known spot on the globe can produce nutmegs so cheaply as
Banda, but the profits of the monopoly would have gone to a few individuals
instead of to the nation.
As an illustration of how a state monopoly may become a state duty, let us
suppose that no gold existed in Australia, but that it had been found in immense
quantities by one of our ships in some small and barren island. In this case it
would plainly become the duty of the state to keep and work the mines for the
public benefit, since by doing so, the gain would be fairly divided among the
whole population by decrease of taxation; whereas by leaving it open to free
trade while merely keeping the government of the island; we should certainly
produce enormous evils during the first struggle for the precious metal, and
should ultimately subside into the monopoly of some wealthy individual or great
company, whose enormous revenue would not equally benefit the community.
The nutmegs of Banda and the tin of Banca are to some extent parallel cases to
this supposititious one, and I believe the Dutch Government will act most
unwisely if they give up their monopoly.
Even the destruction of the nutmeg and clove trees in many islands, in order to
restrict their cultivation to one or two where the monopoly could be easily
guarded, usually made the theme of so much virtuous indignation against the
Dutch, may be defended on similar principles, and is certainly not nearly so bad
as many monopolies we ourselves have until very recently maintained. Nutmegs
and cloves are not necessaries of life; they are not even used as spices by the
natives of the Moluccas, and no one was materially or permanently injured by
the destruction of the trees, since there are a hundred other products that can be
grown in the same islands, equally valuable and far more beneficial in a social
point of view. It is a case exactly parallel to our prohibition of the growth of
tobacco in England, for fiscal purposes, and is, morally and economically,
neither better nor worse. The salt monopoly which we so long maintained in
India was in much worse. As long as we keep up a system of excise and customs
on articles of daily use, which requires an elaborate array of officers and
coastguards to carry into effect, and which creates a number of purely legal
crimes, it is the height of absurdity for us to affect indignation at the conduct of