28 



COMMERCE. 



Commerce, peatedly ransacked, for the purpose of ascertaining the 

 V """"Y"'""'' particular amount of this gratifying receipt. Compa- 

 risons have been made, year after year, between our 

 exports and imports; and the almost uniform excess 



of the latter has been a source of wonderful comfort to Commerce. 

 the advocates of what is called, in political economy, «*y*""' 

 the mercantile system. Take, for example, the follow- 

 ing abstract of the 



Official Value of our Imports and Exports with the Continent of Europe, from 1805 to 1809 inclusive. 









Balance in fa- 









vour of Great 



Years. 



Imports. 



Exports. 



Britain, reck- 

 oned in Offi- 









cial value. 



' 1805 .... 



L. 10,008,649 



L. 15,465,430 



L.5,456,781 



1806 .... 



8,197,256 



13,21 6, 386 



5,019,130 



1807 .... 



7,973,510 



12,689,590 



4,766,080 



1808 .... 



4,210,671 



1 1,280,490 



7,069,819 



1809 .... 



9,551,857 



23,722,615 



14,170,758 



In this, however, are omitted some very important 

 items, such, for example, as draughts and remittances 

 of bills of exchange, the sum of which is frequently so 

 very great, as to give almost a new aspect to the ac- 

 count. Moreover, the abstract takes no notice of the 

 export or import of bullion ; of the monies paid to fo- 



reigners for freight; nor of the value of smuggled 

 goods. The following calculation is made out on a 

 comprehensive plan, and exhibits an allowance for se- 

 veral of those considerations, which, from the nature 

 of the customhouse books, cannot be entered in a re- 

 gular shape in an official return. 



Customhouse Return of the Balance of Trade in favour of or agamst Great Britain, in her Commerce with 

 all Parts of the World, from 1805 to 1809, inclusive. 



1805. 



1806. 



1807. 



1808. 



1809. 



Real value of imports as sold to the " 

 consumers, including mercantile 

 profit to the impoi-ters, but exclu- 

 sive of duties ; also including the 

 freights, great part of which are 

 paid to British subjects 



From which is deducted, 



1. The value of the Newfoundland, 

 Greenland, and Southern whale 

 fisheries 



2. The surplus of imports from Bri- 

 tish colonies and plantations, con- 

 sidered as favourable balance . . 



3. The surplus of imports from Bri- 

 tish India, likewise considered as 

 favourable balance 



Real value of imports (exclusive of 1 

 the above-mentioned deductions) J 



Real value of exports (exclusive of 7 

 the freights outwards) j* 



Balance in favour of Great Britain . 



L. 53,582,146 



L. 50,621,707 



L. 53,500,990 



L. 45,718,698 



L. 59,851,352 



9,089,449 



8,026,553 



8,885,275 



8,230,242 



8,718,289 



44,492,697 

 51,109,131 



42,595,154 

 53,028,881 



44,615,715 

 50,482,661 



37,488,456 

 49,969,746 



51,133,0t-3 

 66,017,712 



L. 6,616,434 L. 10,433,727 L. 5,866,945 L. 12,481,290 L. 14,884,6 49 



Medium of 1805 and 1806, 

 L. 8,525,080. 



Medium of 1806 and 1807, 

 L. 9, 174, 11 8. 



Notwithstanding the attention with which this esti- 

 mate was prepared by Mr Irving, inspector-general of 

 the customs, it is necessarily defective in the points 

 mentioned above. Whenever there exists an extraor- 

 dinary difference, as in the case of our exports and im- 

 ports with the continent of Europe, we have reason to 

 suspect the existence of some latent drain ; and when 

 the great expence of our foreign garrisons and occa- 



sional subsidies is taken into account, we need be at no 

 loss to explain the cause of the above mentioned ine- 

 quality. It is singular enough, that every nation makes 

 the balance of trade in its own favour. But the true 

 way of estimating the difference of value between the 

 same goods in different places, is to attend to their ap- 

 proximation to a market of consumption. A hogshead 

 of sugar, for example, is of more value in Britain than 



