Secondly, That she exports, of her own goods, fifteen times as much as she need to do for that purpose:
Thirdly, That gold and silver are to Spain and Portugal, what wines are to France, silks to Piedmont, hemp and timber to Russia; and that, in order to procure those different articles at the easiest rates, they must be fetched from France, Piedmont, and Russia:
Fourthly and lastly, that Spain and Portugal stand exactly in the same need of making away with the surplus of their gold and silver, as England does of acquiring it, by getting rid of a surplus of her manufactures: I cannot therefore entertain the least doubt, but that it is at Cadiz and Lisbon that England procures all that gold and silver which is indispensably wanted for the five operations spoken of; and I must positively conclude, that there she has taken the whole quantity which she had occasion for; but I as positively conclude, that she took up only so much of it as was wanted, when I see that it depended entirely upon her to take more, and that she has not done it: A decisive point, which I cannot by any means call in question, when I have convinced myself, by Sir Charles Whitworth’s statements, that this sum of 888,699l. which England, if so disposed, might have procured annually during the ten years above mentioned, is no more than the balance of 1,785,826l. in goods exported there, one year with another, during the same space of time:—For, after all, why should not England have taken in money the amount of 897,157l. of Spanish and Portuguese goods, taken by her ships in return, were it not that the value of money, as that of all other kinds of merchandise, is always tyrannically fixed by the demand?
It seems, therefore, probable enough, that the money annually imported by England, during the period aforesaid, does not exceed the 888,698l. of the balance which appears against Spain, Portugal, Madeira, and the Canary Islands: But here follows a strong conjecture, that it is not so considerable as it appears by those accounts.—It is an uncontroverted fact, that the article of exportation is always exaggerated more or less; the man who first bethought himself of this harmless cunning, fancied that his own importance would appear more conspicuous to the nation, by reason of the quantity of goods which he might seem to export: this is now the secret of the play-house, every body knows it; but this practice is in a manner become necessary: one must unblushingly raise himself above his level, in order to be thought in his real place; the only way of deceiving in this respect, would be to speak the truth; and, in this case, the deceit would fall on the deceiver himself, and that just regard which the exporter has a right to claim, would be lost to him: Add to this necessary artifice, which is no longer a cheat, the usual mode adopted in regard to importation, the value of which is always a little under-rated, but only a little, because there might be some inconvenience in cheating Government to excess. With these trifling modifications, I think England will be found not much above the par of her quota, in the gold and silver imported from America.
Now, out of these 6 or 700,000l. in money, which I believe are really and annually imported into England, what quantity is sent to foreign markets,—not, indeed, before its value is considerably advanced by the workmanship?—But, if this metal be so precious, why part with it when once acquired? Why not employ the workman upon objects, the price of which would have received a ten-fold increase by his labour? Why should these continual prophanations of the sacred metal be permitted? Why give encouragement to that kind of prostitution of gildings of all sorts, which daily consume such quantities of gold? It is said, that in Birmingham alone, they consume 30,000l. worth per annum:—And shall it be on a metal thus lavished away, shall it be on that pretended balance, that England will build her resources, and the security of her creditors?—In what consists, then, the wealth of the nation, that wealth which is truly independent of all circumstances, and which will ever be superior to the national wants?
It consists in any sum whatever, money and paper currency, which is required to keep in the utmost activity, 3,000,000 of cultivators, 3,000,000 of tradesmen, and 3,000,000 of other consumers, as indispensable to realise the value of the objects by them consumed, as the tradesman and cultivator are necessary to produce them:—And if any question should arise on the number of inhabitants,
It consists in the number of men necessary to furnish annually exports to the value of fifteen or sixteen millions:—And if it should be urged that this exportation is over-rated,
It consists in the number of men capable of making up that quantity of exports, which is annually required for a trading navy of 775,024 tons, on the statement of which there cannot arise a single doubt.