Excufes the E a s t-In d r a Company . 299 
to this nation. So long as foreigners confume all, or much 
the greateft part of what we bring home, the east- india 
company ought to be considered by far the moft refpedlable 
and ufeful trading company in the nation. And moreover I 
think this trade cannot be carried on fo advantageoufiy as by a 
company. At the fame time it seems as if fome new regula- 
tions are neceflary, tho’ it is not eafy to fay what thofe regula- 
tions ought to be. It is a clear point, that the east-india com- 
pany, as merchants, purfue a traffic in tea, becaufe they find it 
profitable ; and for the fame reafon, as dire&ors, they adl the 
fair part for the proprietors. They may not think themfelves 
obliged to be arithmetical politicians, nor to enter upon 
the confideration of what the nation gains or lofes : this talk 
however belongs to men of leifure and curiofity, uninfluenced 
by prejudice or private intereft. No body can pretend that the 
importation of tea, be it for the confumption of beggars or 
lords, is of the fame nature as felling gunpowder to an enemy 
the day before a battle. But when we confider that a nation 
may be a great gainer by one trade, and lofe by another, it 
feems neceflary for commercial politicians, to make occa- 
fional enquiries into the date of particular branches of com- 
merce, not wantonly to propofe alterations, but to new model, 
or difcourage fuch as can be proved to be injurious. If any 
trade can have a tendency to create a sickness in the body 
politic, or actually to bring on a lingering consumption ; if 
there is fuch a thing in nature, as an article of commerce rui- 
nous to a nation, tea I apprehend is one of thofe articles. 
Notwithftanding this, it is equally apparent, if we will drink 
Q^q 2 TEA, 
