TRA 
trade is exhibi.ted by the excess of exporU, 
must be inaccurate. Suppose the mer- 
chants of this country to purchase, for ex- 
portation, on their own account, Britisli 
maiiutactures to the amount of 20,000, OOOi.j 
the net proceeds tliereof in the countries to 
which they are exported, after paying all 
charges, cannot be considered as less than 
22,000,0001. ; and this sum being invested 
in foreign produce, and imported into this 
Country, will amount, after repaying the 
duties and all expences, to at least 
24,200,0001. returning the merchants the 
capital they had originally advanced, with a 
profit of 21 per cent. Here is an evident 
gain to the country of 4,200,0001., because 
the goods brought into it, exceed in value 
those which were sent out by this sum. Will 
. those who discover the commercial profits 
of the country in a small amount of im- 
ports, pretend that the advantage of the 
merchants, or of the state, would have been 
greater, if the imports received in return 
for the twenty millions sent out had been 
only of sixteen millions value ? 
If the merchandize imported in return 
for any quantity exported is of greater 
actual value in this country, that is, if it 
yields a greater price after allowing for all 
charges, and the interest of the capital em- 
ployed, the surplus must be an addition to 
the wealth of the nation; and if the whole 
of our foreign trade was of this description, 
the excess of the imports w'ouid show the 
total profit, or the acquisition of wealth, by 
the exchange of commodities with other 
nations. It may, however, frequently hap- 
pen, that a country carrying on a profitable 
commerce may not have occasion for an 
amount of equal or greater value than its 
exports in the produce or manufactures of 
other countries, in which case the imports 
from other countries will diminish, and the 
difference must be made up by coin or bul- 
lion, which, in a commercial view, ought to 
be considered nearly in the same light as 
any other articles of merchandize. In con- 
sequence of an act of Charles II. coin and 
bullion are exempt from entry at the cus- 
tom-house on importation into this king, 
dom, therefore this article cannot appear 
in the account of imports, though it is W'ell 
known, that, besides the bullion used in 
keeping up or increasing the coin, and in 
importation and exportation as a merchan- 
dize, great quantities are imported as a raw 
material for the use of our manufactures. 
The quantity sent out of the country legally 
is known; the quantity imported must be 
TRA 
much greater ; but while no account of it is 
taken the real amount of the imports must 
be very incomplete, and consequently any 
conclusions respecting the balance of trade, 
drawn from such a defective account, may 
be very erroneous. It cannot be denied, 
that, if the country derive a profit from 
its foreign trade, the value of the merchan- 
dize and of the coin and bullion imported, 
must together exceed that of its exports ; 
particularly as it has been shown, that a 
partot the former is to be considered rather 
as a remittance of property from abroad to 
its ow’ners in this country than as a return 
for exports ; it might indeed be otherwise 
for a short period, from qur merchants al- 
lowing a longer, or larger, credit to their 
foreign correspondents; but this would be 
only a temporary suspension of the re- 
turns. 
Therefore, as it appears by the Custom- 
house accounts, that the value of foreign 
produce and manufactures imported is usu- 
ally considerably less than that of the ex- 
ports, it would follow, supposing these valua- 
tions were correct, that the difference, 
together with a sum equal to the whole 
profits of foreign trade, is annually imported 
in cash and bullion, which are not included 
in those accounts. But if this were really 
the case, our stock of the precious metals, 
either in the form of bullion, specie, or 
goods manufactured of gold and silver, must 
have increased, not only to an amount 
greater tlian there is any evidence to prove, 
but far beyond all probability. In fact’ 
this rapid flow of wealth into the country 
from foreign trade, which, although certainly 
giegt, is probably less than it would appear 
in the usual way of estimating it, has been 
almost constantly counteracted in various 
degrees, by political engagements with 
other countries, by losses at sea, and many 
other circumstances, by which wealth is 
carried out of the country without any ad- 
vantageous return. 
Tradb winds denote certain regular 
winds at sea, blowing either constantly the 
same way, or alternately this way and that ; 
thus called from their use in navigation, and 
the Indian commerce. 
The trade-winds are of different kinds, 
some blowing three or six months of the 
year one way, and then the like space of 
time the opposite way ; these are very com- 
mon in the Indian seas, and are called mon- 
soons. 
Others blow constantly the same way ; 
such is that general wind between the tro’ 
