...an invidious eye upon the prosperity of all the nations with which it trades, and to consider their gain as its own loss. Commerce, which ought naturally...the most fertile source of discord and animosity," Smith lamented. That view reflected "the impertinent jealousy of merchants and manufacturers." Smith...

...an invidious eye upon the prosperity of all the nations with which it trades, and to consider their gain as its own loss. Commerce, which ought naturally...has become the most fertile source of discord and animosity.*1 This theme—that international trade should bring "union and friendship"—is constant...

...to look with an invidious eye upon the prosperity of all the nations with which it trades," and so, "commerce, which ought naturally to be, among nations,...most fertile source of discord and animosity." The mercantile system, Adam Smith said contemptuously, had sprung from the "spirit of monopoly"; it was...

...invidious eye, upon the prosperity of all the nations with which it trades, and, to consider their gain as its own loss. Commerce, which ought naturally...the most fertile source of discord and animosity. Difference of rank (which is entirely a result of this system,) is extremely hostile to a practical...

...invidious eye upon the prosperity of all the nations with which it trades'. The consequence, then, was that 'commerce, which ought naturally to be, among nations,...has become the most fertile source of discord and animosity'.9 But, though such Smithite views of international trade were beginning to influence the...

...most famously expressed by Montesquieu. Smith echoes this thesis when he says that "Commerce . . . ought naturally to be, among nations, as among individuals, a bond of union and friendship" (IV.iii.c.9). He also makes "commerce" connote more than the exchange of goods by rooting it in conversation,38...

...friendship" among individuals and among nations. Like Hume, Adam Smith acknowledged that in practice "commerce which ought naturally to be, among nations...friendship, has become the most fertile source of animosity."26 Steuart and Smith also acknowledged that in practice "the spirit of monopoly" was preventing...

...spirit' of merchants and manufacturers. Mercantilism considers another's gain as one's own loss. It makes 'commerce, which ought naturally to be among nations,...among individuals, a bond of union and friendship . . . the most fertile source of discord and animosity' (Smith, 1976 [1776]: vol. 1, p. 493). This...

...to consider their gain as its own loss.70 Echoing Florus, Grotius and the Physiocrats, Smith wrote: "Commerce, which ought naturally to be, among nations, as among individuals, a bond of union & friendship, has become the most fertile source of discord & animosity."71 War was, on this view,...

...The Wealth of Nations, where Smith highlights the nefarious influence of merchants on foreign policy: "The capricious ambition of kings and ministers has not, during the present and the preceding century, been more fatal to the repose of Europe than the impertinent jealousy of merchants...