the best year of any former period
of peace. A very great part of our taxes, if not the greatest, has been
imposed since the beginning of the century. On the author's principles,
this continual increase of taxes must have ruined our trade, or at least
entirely checked its growth. But I have a manuscript of Davenant, which
contains an abstract of our trade for the years 1703 and 1704; by which
it appears that the whole export from England did not then exceed
6,552,019_l._ It is now considerably more than double that amount. Yet
England was then a rich and flourishing nation.

The author endeavors to derogate from the balance in our favor as it
stands on the entries, and reduces it from four millions, as it there
appears, to no more than 2,500,000_l._ His observation on the looseness
and inaccuracy of the export entries is just; and that the error is
always an error of excess, I readily admit. But because, as usual, he
has wholly omitted some very material facts, his conclusion is as
erroneous as the entries he complains of.

On this point of the custom-house entries I shall make a few
observations. 1st. The inaccuracy of these entries can extend only to
FREE GOODS, that is, to such British products and manufactures, as are
exported without drawback and without bounty; which do not in general
amount to more than two thirds at the very utmost of the whole export
even of _our home products_. The valuable articles of corn, malt,
leather, hops, beer, and many others, do not come under this objection
of inaccuracy. The article of CERTIFICATE GOODS re-exported, a vast
branch of our commerce, admits of no error, (except some smaller frauds
which cannot be estimated,) as they have all a drawback of duty, and the
exporter must therefore correctly specify their quantity and kind. The
author therefore is not warranted from the known error in some of the
entries, to make a general defalcation from the whole balance in our
favor. This error cannot affect more than half, if so much, of the
export article. 2dly. In the account made up at the Inspector-General's
office, they estimate only the original cost of British products as they
are here purchased; and on foreign goods, only the prices in the country
from whence they are sent. This was the method established by Mr.
Davenant; and as far as it goes, it certainly is a good one. But the
profits of the merchant at home, and of our factories abroad, are not
taken into the account; which