[58] Upon the money borrowed in 1760, the premium of one per cent was for twenty-one years, not for twenty; this annuity has been paid eight years instead of seven; the sum paid is therefore 640,000l. instead of 560,000l.; the remaining term is worth, ten years and a quarter instead of eleven years;[59] its value is 820,000l. instead of 880,000l.; and the whole value of that premium is 1,460,000l. instead of 1,440,000l. The like errors are observable in his computation on the additional capital of three per cent on the loan of that year. In like manner, on the loan of 1762, the author computes on five years' payment instead of six; and says in express terms, that take 5 from 19, and there remain 13. These are not errors of the pen or the press; the several computations pursued in this part of the work with great diligence and earnestness prove them errors upon much deliberation. Thus the premiums in 1759 are cast up 90,000l. too little, an error in the first rule of arithmetic. "The annuities borrowed in 1756 and 1758 are," says he, "to continue till redeemed by Parliament." He does not take notice that the first are irredeemable till February, 1771, the other till July, 1782. In this the amount of the premiums is computed on the time which they have run. Weakly and ignorantly; for he might have added to this, and strengthened his argument, such as it is, by charging also the value of the additional one per cent from the day on which he wrote, to at least that day on which these annuities become redeemable. To make ample amends, however, he has added to the premiums of 15 per cent in 1759, and three per cent in 1760, the annuity paid for them since their commencement; the fallacy of which is manifest; for the premiums in these cases can he neither more nor less than the additional capital for which the public stands engaged, and is just the same whether five or five hundred years' annuity has been paid for it. In private life, no man persuades himself that he has borrowed 200l. because he happens to have paid twenty years' interest on a loan of 100l.
[59] See Smart and Demoivre.
[60] Pages 30-32.
[61] In a course of years a few manufacturers have been tempted abroad, not by cheap living, but by immense premiums, to set up as masters, and to introduce the manufacture. This must happen in every country eminent for the skill of its artificers, and has nothing to do with taxes and the price of provisions.
[62] Although the public brewery has considerably increased in this latter period, the produce of the malt-tax has been something less than in the former; this cannot be attributed to the new malt-tax. Had this been the cause of the lessened consumption, the public brewery, so much more burdened, must have felt it more. The cause of this diminution of the malt-tax I take to have been principally owing to the greater dearness of corn in the second period than in the first, which, in all its consequences, affected the people in the country much more than those in the towns. But the revenue from consumption was not, on the whole, impaired; as we have seen in the foregoing page.
| Total Imports, value, | Exports, ditto. | |||
| 1752 | £7,889,369 | £11,694,912 | ||
| 1753 | 8,625,029 | 12,243,604 | ||
| 1754 | 8,093,472 | 11,787,828 | ||
| ————— | ———— | |||
| Total | £24,607,870 | 35,726,344 | ||
| ————— | 24,607,870 | |||
| ———— | ||||
| Exports exceed imports | 11,118,474 | |||
| ———— | ||||
| Medium balance | £,706,158 | |||
| ———— | ||||
| Total Imports, value, | Exports, ditto. | |||
| 1764 | £10,818,946 | £16,104,532 | ||
| 1765 | 10,889,742 | 14,550,507 | ||
| 1766 | 11,475,825 | 14,024,964 | ||
| ————— | ———— | |||
| Total | £32,685,513 | 44,740,003 | ||
| ————— | 32,683,613 | |||
| ———— | ||||
| Exports exceed | 12,054,490 | |||
| ———— | ||||
| Medium balance for three last years | £4,018,163 | |||
[64] It is dearer in some places, and rather cheaper in others; but it must soon all come to a level.
[65] A tax rated by the intendant in each generality, on the presumed fortune of every person below the degree of a gentleman.
[66] Before the war it was sold to, or rather forced on, the consumer at 11 sous, or about 5d. the pound. What it is at present, I am not informed. Even this will appear no trivial imposition. In London, salt may be had at a penny farthing per pound from the last retailer.