Chap. II. between the Inhabitants of Grcat-Britaifl, §£ic. 
for opening a direCt and immediate Correfpondence, ei- 
ther by the Cape of Good-hope , or by the Streights of Ma- 
gellan, with the Southern- continent; and in cafe any Pro- 
jeft of that fort fliould be laid before them, that was 
thought practicable, I fhould efteem it highly reafonable, 
that upon their Recommendation, the Eaft-India Compa- 
ny fhould be obliged to make fuch an Attempt, or if they 
refufed, that any private Perfons might be allowed to un- 
dertake it, and have proper Affurances and Encourage- 
ments given them by the Publick. For it is, and will be 
ever my Sentiment, that this, and all other Companies, 
are but fo many Corporations endowed with Powers in 
Truff for the Publick, for which they are, and muft be 
accountable to the Publick, and alfo be fubjeCt to fuch Al- 
terations^ Extenfions, and ReftriClions, as may render 
them mod ferviceable to the Publick. 
I the rather infill upon thefe Points at this Time, be- 
caufe, without fome Acceffion of new Trade, which we 
may poffefs as a Nation exclufive of all others, I do not 
fee how it is poffibie we fhould maintain our maritime 
Power at its prefent Height. As on the other Hand, T 
can fee no reafon whatever, why, if any Thing can be 
done for the Service of the Nation, in this RefpeCl, by 
opening a Trade to the fouthern Indies , by recovering the 
Trade of Japan, by difcovering any Countries to the North 
of that Empire, or by any other Method whatever, it 
fhould be left undone out of RefpeCl to the Powers or 
Priviledges poffeffed by any Corporation. 
J. come now to the lad Point that I have undertaken to 
clear, and that is the popular Objections which have been 
raifed againd the Commerce to the Indies , of which there 
are many, and fome of them fo piaufible, that Men of 
great, Parts, and good Intentions, have, been led away by 
them. The'firft of thefe is grounded upon the Exporta- 
tion of .Bullion, and which, if I conceive it right, is thus 
dated. The common Meafure of all Things in a com- 
mercial Way, is Silver, and confequently the great Mark 
of a Nation’s Wealth, is her drawing this common Mea- 
fure from other Nations} but the Eaft- India Trade is car- 
ried on by exporting this real and intrinfick Wealth, which 
never returns, but is employed to bring back Things that 
are not necelfary, but meer Indruments of Luxury. 
Before I proceed to the direCt Solution of this Difficul- 
ty, I mud obferve, that if we give this Objection its full 
Weight, it will dedroy all Commerce. The Neceffaries 
of Life are in every Country, or at lead in every habitable 
Country, and it is to what fome People call Luxury, that 
all Trade whatever is owing } fo that if we admit this Prin- 
ciple, we fhould not only drink Sage indead of Green-tea, 
but make ufe of Honey indead of Sugar. In ffiort, we 
fhould endeavour to cultivate and improve the Produce of 
our own Country, live upon it, and leave all the red of 
the World to fhifc for itfelf. How jud a Maxim this 
would be, for People who inhabit an Ifland, and how rea- 
fonable it is, for Folks who derive mod of the Bleffings 
' they enjoy from Trade, and maritime Power, to talk thus, I 
leave the Reader to judge. But if once we fet this Objection 
fo far affile as to allow that Trade is a commendableThing 
for the very Reafon the ObjeClion affigns^hz. that it makes 
the Country in which it flourifhes. Rich } the Trade to the 
Eaft -Indies becomes as defenceable as any other : For, if 
exporting of Bullion does not impoverifh the Nation, then 
there is no Force at all in. the ObjeClion ♦, and that it does 
not in this Cafe, I am very well able to prove. When 
the firft Charter was granted to the Eaft-India Company, 
this Evil was forefeen, and properly guarded againd by a 
Provifo, that the Company fhould be obliged to bring in 
as large a Quantity of Bullion as they carried out, in the 
Interval between the Voyages made, at the Rifque of the 
Company. In reality therefore, there never was any Foun- 
dation for this Complaint, that the Quantity of Silver in 
this Kingdom was diminifhed by the Eaft-India Trade. 
But by Degrees, and as this Commerce has increafed, in- 
ftead of impoverifhing, it has greatly encreafed the Wealth 
of this Nation, by bringing in on one Hand large Quanti- 
ties of Silver for the Indian Merchandize exported, and 
detaining here on the other as great Sums of Money, that 
muft otherwife have been exported for foreign Manufac- 
tures, which would have been worn here, if we had hot 
been better and cheaper fupplied from India . 
Another ObjeClion is, or at lead was, that the wearing of 
India Piece-goods hurt our own woollen and fiik Manufac- 
tures } but this in a great Meafure has been cured by the 
Laws paflfed for that Purpofe. It may not be amifs. How- 
ever, to obferve, that thofe ManufaClures are chiefly to 
be encouraged, which contribute to Exportation, fince it Is 
certain, that the cheaper People can be cloathed here, let 
that cloathing come from where it will, the cheaper they 
can afford to work } and it is the Cheapnefs of Labour, 
that is the great Point to be fludied in a Nation for ir 
we can Under- work other Nations, we fhall infallibly 
undermine their Trade, and extend our own } for, as I 
obferved before, private People may be enriched by home 
Confumption, yet the Publick gets nothing thereby, and 
this Confideration is Efficient to enable • the intelligent 
Reader, to difcern how a Clamour may be raifed in Fa- 
vour of Trades, no Way advantageous to the Publick, 
and againd^ fuch Trades as are highly beneficial to the 
People, and this from confounding the Intered of private 
Men, or of great Bodies of Men, with the Intered of the 
Publick, which it requires great Skill, Indudry, and Dif- 
interedednefs to difentangle, and fet in its proper Light. 
There is befides, a great Difadvantage in arguing on To- 
picks of this Nature, becaufe, while a Man is really plead- 
ing for the Publick, he is malicioufly mifreprefented as an 
Advocate for the private Intered of that Body of Men 
whofe Caufe he efpoufes, tho’ in Truth he does not 
efpoufe their Caufe out of regard to their private or parti- 
cular Intered, but merely from a Conviction of Mind, that 
their Caufe is in this refpecl the Caufe of the Publick. 
A third Objection is, that even the Exportation of In- 
dian Goods is difad van tageous to the Nation, becaufe it 
leffens, or at lead is fuppofed to leffen the Confumption 
of our own Manufactures, in thofe Countries to which the 
Produce of India is exported : A very drong ObjeClion 
this, in all Appearance, and yet at the Bottom a meer Falla- 
cy, and not at all grounded on Truth. For this Objec- 
tion fuppoles what is manifedly falfe, viz. that it depends 
upon our Exportation, whether the Inhabitants of thofe 
Countries to which we fend them, fhall wear the Manu- 
faClures of the Indies, or not •, but as it is notorious, that 
if we did not fupply them, they would receive them from' 
the Dutch, or French , which would have the fame EfteCt 
as to the Excluflon of our ManufaClures •, the true State 
of the Quedion comes at length to this, whether we fhall 
take their Money, or their Goods for Indian Commodi- 
ties, or whether we fhall fubmit to let them lay out that, 
or part with thofe for Indian Commodities, which we 
might fupply, to other People? 
The Truth of all this, as it will appear to every candid 
and ingenious Reader, from the Reafons and Arguments 
already advanced, fo, at this JunClure, it mud be evident 
to every Man who has but common Senfe, from the Light 
of Experience } for do we not fee, that the Ruffians v 
Swedes, Danes, and other Nations, are bent upon eda- 
blifhing a direCl Correfpondence with India , in order to ob- 
tain greater Quantities of the Goods of that Country •, 
and does not this manifedly prove, that the Appetites of 
thefe People for thofe Things were fo drong, that it was 
no Way in our Power to check, or correct them ? 
The Truth of the Matter is, that the foie ObjeClion 
againd this Commerce, that has any Force, lies in this 
Ample Propofition, that it is againft the Inter eft of the 
weftern Dart of the IVorld, to correfpond with the Eaft . 
The Reafons which are brought to prove this, are indeed 
very piaufible. It is faid, that the Baliance of Trade is 
againd us, that we import the Commodities and Manu- 
factures of the Indies , and export Silver to pay for them. 
That this drains Europe to fuch a Degree, as that fince 
the Difcovery of the Paflage by the Cape of Good-hope, its 
is demondrable, that the Indians have gained from the 
Europeans upwards of two hundred Millions in Silver, 
which immenfe Wealth they poffefs, while all that we re- 
ceived for it, is long ago lod and confumeck It is con- 
felled, even by the warmed Writers in Favour of the In- 
dian Trade (tho* I freely own I am of a different Opi- 
nion) that this Efficiently proves, that it would be for the 
Benefit 
