.414 A, D. 1797. 



-countries, as it appears upon the face of the accounts of imports and 

 exports, and fhowing the fallacy of implicitly taking the balances of 

 the fums contained in thole accounts as the ftandard of the real balance 

 of the trade of Great Britain, delivered it as his opinion, that the true 

 balance of our trade amounted, on a medium of the four years preced- 

 ing January 1796, to upwards of ^6,500,000 annually, exclufive of the 

 profits of our Eaft-India and Well-India trades, which he eftimated at 

 above /'4,coo,ooo a-year, and exclufive of the profits of the fiflieries.. 

 Great, however, as this balance of commerce may appear, it would 

 have been ftill greater in a very confiderable degree, if the unulual 

 fcarcity of grain had not obliged government and individuals to import 

 large quantities of that efl^entialLy neceflary article. An account deliver- 

 ed by Mr. Claude Scott, an eminent corp-factor, (howed, that the fol- 

 lowing fums were paid to foreign countries tor grain, viz. 



From'/" January 1794 to 5'" January 17 95 ^1,983,856 



From 5"" January 1795 to 5'" January \7q6 1,535,672 



From 5'" January 1796 to 5'" January 1797 3,9'26,484 



7,44(),Or2 



and he estimated the imports of grain in 1793 at -. 1,500,000 



the total in the four years being ^8,g4(),Ql2 



The favourable balance is moreover considerably diminished by the great sums 

 paid for naval stores in time of war. From the accounts of the commissioners of 

 the navy it appeared, that tlie value of naval stores, imported on account of the 

 navy in the four years preceding I797j amounted to ^7,825,87^ 

 and in the four years preceeding 1793 only to 2,500,139 



Tlie excess is ^5,325,737 



Tiie bills drawn from foreign parts on the victualing 



office in the fouryears preceding 1 797 amounted to ^1,368,92 1 



and in the four years preceding 1793 only to 134,629 



1,234,292 



The total excess in these two departments is ^0,560,029 



However favourable the balance of trade fince the commencement of 

 the war may have been, it does not appear from the quantity of money- 

 coined, which was much lefs in the years 1795 and 1796 than in the 

 preceding years, that any confiderable addition was made to the ftock 

 of gold and filver in the country. Sir John Hort, who had been twenty- 

 nine years conful-general in Portugal, and Mr. Whitmore, an eminent 

 Portugal merchant, made it appear, that the importation of gold and 

 filver bullion from Lifbon had fallen off confiderably ; that of the bullion 

 imported the greatefi: part was filver, the current price of which has 

 been, during almofi: the whole of this century, higher than the mint 

 price, whence it follows, that it could not be coined but at a lofs, and 

 that what has not been confumed in our manufaflures mufi: have found 

 its way abroad. Thefe gentlemen alio fliowed that the exchange be- 

 tween London and Lilbon, which ufed formerly to be greatly in favour 



