1823.] 
of peace signed at Amiens, by which 
the colonial produce went again direct 
to the Continent, which sufficiently 
explains the disparity between the 
amounts in 1802-3, in col. 4.—War 
again declared in 1803. 
(d) In the autumn of 1810, the army 
of Napoleon spread itself along the 
whole line of coast, from the Elbe to 
the Gulph of Riga,and confiscated about 
seven millions value of British mer- 
chandize, and proscribed all future 
intercourse; which explains the dispa- 
rity between the years 1809-11. 
(e) In 1813, the Custom-House in 
London, with all its records, was de- 
stroyed by fire. The amounts in 
that year are therefore conjectural ; but 
are believed to be tolerably near 
the mark of correctness, as the opera- 
tions of the year were more consider- 
able than in 1812, although not so con- 
siderable as in 1814. 
(f) June 18, 1815, Napoleon defeat- 
ed at Waterloo, which led immediately 
to ageneral peace. Indeed, with the 
exception of France, peace may be 
said to have been established in 1814; 
and the extraordinary excess of ex- 
ports in 1815 is to be accounted for by 
the very large amount to the United 
States of America, with which for two 
years previous all commercial inter- 
course had been suspended. 
(g) ‘The harvest of 1816 was one of 
the most unfavourable ever remem- 
bered, which gave rise to great acti- 
vity in importing foreign grain during 
the years 1817-18; and in the latter 
year an effort was made to establish 
and render permanent a high money- 
price for all the yreat staple commodi- 
ties of agriculture and commerce; 
which completely failing, together with 
the re-establishment of an intrinsically 
valuable currency in 1819, renders the 
years (1) 1819-20 the commencement 
of a new era; to the peculiar and im- 
portant cireumstances of which it is 
intended to lead the attention of your 
numerous and intelligent readers, and 
to implore tlicir most serious conside- 
ration thereto. 
Value being a relative rather than 
a definite term, it will be necessary, to 
a right understanding of the statement 
and subject in question, in the first 
place to define the relation which the 
value bears to the merchandize, or 
things represented: fluctuating in price 
as all articles of merchandize have 
done, in the proportion of 1 to 3, and 
3 to 1, during the eventful period 
during the War 1793-1815. 
317 
since 1792; and artificial and nominal 
as price has been, especially under 
the circumstances, of at one time be- 
ing represented in a currency intrin- 
sically valuable, and at another time 
in a currency completely valueless ; it 
is obvious that, without a complete 
“definition of value, it will be impossi- 
ble to draw any correct conclusions o 
the subject. 
It is fortunate, however, for the 
elucidation of the present Statement, 
that it is not involved in the necessity 
of entering into a definition of value ; 
for, although the amounts represented 
are denominated values, they would 
have becn more correctly expressed if 
denominated quantities. 
The amounts refer to one uniferm 
standard, adopted as far back as 1694; 
whilst, therefore, the amounts repre- 
sented in each year have no reference 
to the value of the time, they are uni- 
form and consistent in reference te 
each other, as representing quantity ; 
with the year 1798 a declaration ef the 
real value of British produce and ma- 
nufactures exported commenccd; and, 
as such declaration of value was sub- 
ject to an ad valorem duty, to defray 
the expenses of convoy, it led to a io- 
lerably correct estimate of the real 
value of property exported; and, in 
contradistinetion to the declared or 
real values, the amounts in the State- 
ment herewith are denominated offi- 
cial values. 
Withthis explanation of the amounts 
represented, 1 shall now proceed to 
eall the attention of your readers to 
the excess of quantity exported over 
the quantity imported, and tlie propor- 
tions of quantity imported and export- 
ed at, different periods. The total 
excess of quantity exported over and 
above the quantity imported, com- 
meneing with the year 1789, will be 
found to amount to no less than 
396,764,7221. in the proportion of 
263,940,080/. up to the final termiua- 
tion of the war in 1815, and 
163,824,642/. from the commencement 
of 1816, down to the end of 1822; but 
there is another important circum- 
stance, which if is necessary to take 
into account, with respect to the total 
excess of export over import: for,whilst 
to all parts of the world in the aggre- 
gate there is a great excess of exports, 
from the East Indies and China, and 
from the West Indies and Llisheries, 
there is a yreat excess of both quan- 
tity and value imported over and 
3 above 
