profit on such an immense quantity of
goods exported and re-exported cannot fail of being very great: five per
cent, upon the whole, I should think, a very moderate allowance. 3dly.
It does not comprehend the advantage arising from the employment of
600,000 tons of shipping, which must be paid by the foreign consumer,
and which, in many bulky articles of commerce, is equal to the value of
the commodity. This can scarcely be rated at less than a million
annually. 4thly. The whole import from Ireland and America, and from the
West Indies, is set against us in the ordinary way of striking a balance
of imports and exports; whereas the import and export are both our own.
This is just as ridiculous, as to put against the general balance of the
nation, how much more goods Cheshire receives from London than London
from Cheshire. The whole revolves and circulates through this kingdom,
and is, so far as regards our profit, in the nature of home trade, as
much as if the several countries of America and Ireland were all pieced
to Cornwall. The course of exchange with all these places is fully
sufficient to demonstrate that this kingdom has the whole advantage of
their commerce. When the final profit upon a whole system of trade rests
and centres in a certain place, a balance struck in that place merely on
the mutual sale of commodities is quite fallacious. 5thly. The
custom-house entries furnish a most defective, and, indeed, ridiculous
idea of the most valuable branch of trade we have in the world,--that
with Newfoundland. Observe what you export thither; a little spirits,
provision, fishing-lines, and fishing-hooks. Is this _export_ the true
idea of the Newfoundland trade in the light of a beneficial branch of
commerce? Nothing less. Examine our imports from thence; it seems upon
this vulgar idea of exports and imports, to turn the balance against
you. But your exports to Newfoundland are your own goods. Your import is
your own food; as much your own, as that you raise with your ploughs out
of your own soil; and not your loss, but your gain; your riches, not
your poverty. But so fallacious is this way of judging, that neither the
export nor import, nor both together, supply any idea approaching to
adequate of that branch of business. The vessels in that trade go
straight from Newfoundland to the foreign market; and the sale there,
not the import here, is the measure of its value. That trade, which is
one of your greatest and best,