It is, in the second place, all the bullion necessary for the labouring gold and silver-smiths, from the first gold-smith in London to the last plated-button maker at Birmingham.
It is, thirdly, all that importation which is required to make good the deficit occasioned by petty stock-jobbing, and the melting down of guineas, which no workman will ever scruple, when there will be a few more pence to be got that way, than by the purchase of bullion, or as often as, having no bullion at hand, he shall find himself in the immediate necessity of working.
It is, fourthly, all that which is wanted to replace the few guineas carried away annually from England by travellers, smugglers, or by means of some inferior transactions in trade, and which cannot always be exactly balanced by the contraband trade carried on elsewhere by the nation.
Ever since the English have acquired the immense landed revenue which they possess in the East-Indies, it is probable they do not carry there so much money; yet some must be sent there. The above five articles are the only ones I know of, which may render necessary an annual importation of money. The first of those articles is absolutely independent of the caprice of any one; it is always subservient to the quantity of effects to be put into circulation, as well as to their price; and can at no time deprive the other parts of Europe of their share in the mines of America. The third and fourth are in a manner included in the first; nor can they, when viewed separately, be very considerable: The second alone is truly prodigious, but is likewise subservient to the demands of that very silver when wrought, that is to say, converted into some articles of luxury: But it is necessary to observe, in regard to this, that great care is taken to find out purchasers for that metal thus improved by the hands of the workman, not only in England, but wherever people can possibly be found willing to take from her, that part of the precious balance, which she had taken upon herself, only in hopes of getting rid of it.
This I think is sufficient to demonstrate the impossibility of that pretended favourable balance, amounting, in the space of 75 years, to 162,774,769l. the existence of which many people imagine to be real, from the statements of Sir Charles Whitworth: for, if they would confine themselves to say, that, in the course of 75 years, England has profited in trade to the amount of 162,774,769l. I have proved much more, since I proved (p. 17 to 22) that all the benefits which have accrued, and might now be spent, form together a solid mass of clear and palpable savings; and that this mass would now be, without doubt, 332 millions, instead of 162, had the 180 millions, lent by the subjects to government, and swallowed up by the war, been laid out in the improvement of lands and industry.
As to the inference that might be drawn from the apparent exportation of 105 millions of money, during the same period, according to the above statement, it is also necessary to make an observation on this matter.
In any grand mercantile operation, where prompt and certain remittances are required, be the motive of such operations what it may; if there goes out of England, we shall suppose, 400,000l. in bullion, this very same bullion, after the bargain is struck and fulfilled, either in goods or in bills of exchange, comes back to London, to resume if necessary, the same course three weeks afterwards: For the space of 40 years, therefore, the same sum may an hundred times be placed in the catalogue of exports, and perfectly answer to a capital of 40 millions, the place of which it has really supplied: This is a well-known resource; nothing then can be concluded in regard to the 105 millions of bullion exported, according to Sir Charles, but, that there ever has been, and probably ever will be, in England all the bullion necessary to answer the exigencies of the most unforeseen and extraordinary negociations of all kinds, and industry enough to recall in time, that bullion which had only been given as a pledge. It is like a jewel worth 100,000 crowns, which, for the space of 20 years, is said to have passed ten times backwards and forwards from Paris to Amsterdam, but finally remained at Amsterdam, by a reason contrary to that which keeps up the commercial shuttle between England and Holland.
In order to come as close to the point as it is necessary, on a matter, besides, of which it is equally useless and impossible to obtain an exact knowledge, here follow some facts, the essential results of which by no means depend on more or less exaggeration in the exposition either of the sale, or of the credit.
The period from 1764 to 1773, must be allowed to have been the most flourishing era of Great Britain. During those ten years the exportation of English merchandises into Spain, has exceeded the importations from Spain into England, by 5,095,998l. In the same space of time, the balance of trade between England and Portugal has been 3,274,133l. in favour of the former. The two favours united, amount all together to 8,370,131l.; add thereto the favourable balances of Madeira, and the Canary Islands, paid probably in Spain and Portugal, amounting, in the same space of time, to 516,863l.—the total presents us with the aggregate sum of 8,886,994l. which, divided by 10 years, proves an annual balance, in favour of England, of 888,699l. real money.
The light of probability now begins to dawn upon me: at least I here find myself at the source of money; and, as I know, first, that England must absolutely be provided with a certain quantity of it, whatever that quantity may be, for the five articles before mentioned: