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MORALS OF THE DIFFERENT PROFESSIONS. [Part V.

trust; and that he betrays both, when he enters into the crookedpaths of dissimulation and artifice, or the still more deviousways of dishonesty and fraud. Strangers can know us only bythe individuals they deal with, whom, in the spirit and usage oftrade, they will take as specimens and samples of the wholenation. If they find their confidence abused, the reproach isvisited, not only on the fraudulent merchant, but on his nation,and we are all condemned for his iniquitous cupidity. Everyman, therefore, has an interest in the commercial character of hiscountry, and merchants ought to consider themselves as the menby whom the intercourse of the human family, however scatteredand remote, is kept up ; as the instruments of civilization and in-tellectual improvement; as employed to distribute the comfortsand luxuries of life over the whole surface of the globe. Bythem, the entire race of man, of every variety of complexion andcharacter, and wheresoever they may inhabit, are brought togeth-er, and taught to know each other, and to aid each other. Theyare the peace-makers of the world ; for they show it to be theinterest and happiness of all to remain at peace ; and they demon-strate, that it is easier to obtain the good things we may desireby commerce, than by conquest; by exchange, than by arms.They soften national asperities, and remove unjust prejudices.Such high functions require corresponding qualifications to per-form them ; and those who do perform them faithfully are amongthe noblest benefactors of mankind.

The life of a merchant, however, is necessarily a life of peril.He can scarcely move without danger. He is subject on allsides to disappointments, to fluctuations in prices and in thecurrent of business, which sometimes leave him stranded on anunknown bar, and sometimes sweep him helpless into the ocean.These vicissitudes depend on causes which no man can control;and are often so sudden, that no calculation could anticipate, orskill avoid them. To risk much, to be exposed to hazard, be-longs to the vocation of a merchant; his usefulness and successdepend* in a great measure, on his enterprise. He must havethe courage to explore new regions of commerce, and to encoun-ter the difficulties of untried experiments. To be unfortunate insuch pursuits is no more disgraceful to an upright merchant than