their own battles, they might methinks in return allow a free vent to our manufactures; and as they are fure of taking our money, fhould give us a chance at least for feeing fome of theirs.

We have a great trade with Denmark and Norway, but we export very little; a fmall quantity of tobacco, and a few coarfe woollen goods is all; but we are forced to tack to thefe crown-pieces and guineas, to pay for timber and iron; and the matter is not all mended, but on the contrary grows worse; if instead of exporting our wealth, we ftay till the Danes come and fetch it, for then we not only pay for their goods, but the freight alfo; and this evil it seems is not in our power to cure at prefent.

We carry on the fame kind of lofing trade to Sweden, where it is a maxim of ftate to beat out as much as poffible all our commodities and manufac-tures; and this has been fo fteadily purfued, that it is now pretty near done, and gold and filver are almost our only exports. Copper, iron, and naval ftores, are the goods we bring from thence, to the amount of about three hundred thousand pounds a year. We were formerly under a neceffity of doing this; becaufe their goods must be had, and could be had no where elfe. At prefent it is otherwife, we might have all these at much more reasonable rates from our own plantations, which is much the fame thing as having them at home.

We export to Ruffia, tin, lead, and other commo-dities, a great quantity of tobacco; and of our manufactures, coarfe cloths, long ells, worsted stuffs, &c. On the other hand, we import from thence, tallow, furrs, iron, pot-afhes, hemp, flax, linen, Ruffia leather, &c. Our trade to this country is managed by a company, the beft conftituted, and the best conducted of any that we have; for any merchant may be admitted into it for a very finali confideration, and the measures they purfue are fuch as prove highly beneficial, and never can do any harm. The trade through

this empire into Perfia, may become a thing of great confequence, as it will furnifh us with that fort of filk which we want moft, at an easy price, and may be attended with other advantages that we have not room to explain.

We export to Holland almost all the commodities and manufactures that we have, as well as most of our plantation goods, and of thofe we bring from the Levant and the Eaft Indies. We import prodigious quantities of fine linen, threads, tapes, inkles, whalefins, brass battery, cinnamon, mace, cloves, drugs, and dying stuffs, &c. yet with refpect to the fair trade we have a large balance: the only doubt is, how far this may be abated by the great induftry of fmuglers, who gain their bread and raife fortunes by a fteady pursuit of their private interefts, at the expence of the public.

With refpect to our African trade, it is certainly of the highest importance to the nation, for it creates a vaft exportation of our commodities and manufactures, and produces a large balance in bullion from the Spaniards, as well as in gold-duft, red-wood, ivory, and other valuable commodities, fome of which are re-exported; but above all it fupplies our plantations with negroes, which is a thing of prodigious confequence. The old African company of England, once the most flourishing and profitable of all our companies, and but for bad management within, and party prejudice without, might have continued fo, has been at length diffolved by parliament, and the commerce put into a new channel, which either anfwers, or will be made to answer national purposes; fince no commerce can more nearly concern Great Britain and her colonies than this does, and fcarcely any is fo much the fubject of foreign envy, may

The Eaft-India trade is a prodigious thing, and of great benefit to the nation, though we export chiefly, bullion; and though it is carried on by a company.. But the goods we bring home are bought at low

prices,

prices, are fold at high rates, and what we export is believed to produce a balance equivalent at least to the bullion that is fent out to buy them. It has been of late fuggested, and not without good reason, that this commerce is capable of great improvements, by extending it to the north-eaft; for in that cafe, we might hope to vend large quantities of our manufactures, which would at once remove the only reasonable exception that was ever taken to this trade, would augment our navigation, and hinder the northern nations from interfering with us, by employing the very money we pay for naval ftores, in beating us out of a very confiderable branch of commerce, for the carrying on of which thofe ftores are purchased.

As for the plantation trade, we have already spoken of it elsewhere, and without doubt it is by far the moft confiderable of any that we have, and is notwithftanding this, far lefs confiderable than it might be; for with a little pains and encouragement, it might be made in its favings and in its produce, twice or thrice as beneficial at it is: for it has been computed, that by encouraging hemp and flax, pot-afhes, timber, iron, other naval ftores, and filk, we might either get or keep confiderably above a million annually; and by making other regulations it is demonftrable, that within a few years we might gain as much more.

In fhort, the advantages are infinite that redound to us from our American empire, where we have at least a million of British fubjects, and between fifteen hundred and two thousand fail of fhips conftantly employed.

The annual exports of English and foreign goods amount to between fix and feven millions fterling, and our imports do not exceed five millions. As a confiderable part of this is again exported, the annual iffues from England for foreign merchandize, has been cftimated at four millions. Yet our foreign trade does not amount to one fixth part of the in

land;

land; the annual produce of the natural products and manufactures of England amounting to above forty-two millions. The gold and filver of England is received from Portugal, Spain, Jamaica, the American colonies, and Africa; but great part of this gold and filver we again export to Holland, and the Eaft Indies; and it is fuppofed that two-thirds of all the foreign traffic of England is carried on in the port of London.

We shall conclude this account of our trade with the following comparative view of fhipping, which, till a better table can be formed, may have its ufes. If the shipping of Europe be divided into twenty parts, then,

Great Britain, &c. is computed to have.
The United Provinces.

The fubjects of the northern crowns

6

2

The trading cities of Germany, and the

Auftrian Netherlands

France

Spain and Portugal

Italy, and the rest of Europe

I

2

2

A bort View of the Stocks, or public Funds in England, with an historical Account of the Eaft India, the Bank, and South Sea Companies.

As there are few fubjects of converfation more general than the value of stocks, and hardly any thing fo little understood, nothing can be more ufeful than a fhort account of them, which we fhall here give in as clear and concife a manner as poffible; prefenting our readers with the rationale of the ftocks, and a fhort hiftory of the feveral companies, defcribing the nature of their feparate funds, the uses to which they are applied, and the various purposes they anfwer, both with refpect to the government, the companies themselves, and the community in general.

In order to give a clear idea of the money tranfactions of the feveral companies, it is proper we fhould fay fomething of money in general, and particularly of paper money, and the difference between that and the current fpecie. Money is the standard of the value of all the neceffaries and accommodations of life, and paper-money is the reprefentative of that standard to such a degree, as to fupply its place, and to answer all the purposes of gold and filver coin. Nothing is neceffary to make this reprefentative of money supply the place of fpecie, but the credit of that office or company, who delivers it; which credit confifts in its always being ready to turn it into fpecie whenever required. This is exactly the cafe of the bank of England, the notes of this company are of the fame value as the current coin, as they may be turned into it, whenever the poffeffor pleafes. From hence, as notes are a kind of money, the counterfeiting them is punished with death as well as coining.

The method of depofiting money in the bank, and exchanging it for notes (though they bear no intereft) is attended with many conveniencies; as they are not only fafer than money in the hands of the owner himfelf, but as the notes are more portable and capable of a much more eafy conveyance: fince a bank note for a very large fum, may be sent by the post, and to prevent the deligns of robbers, may, without damage, be cut in two and fent at two feveral times. Or bills, called bank poft bills, may be had by application at the bank, which are particularly calculated to prevent loffes by robberies, they being made payable to the order of the perfon who takes them out at a certain number of days after fight; which gives an opportunity to ftop bills at the bank, if they fhould be loft, and prevents their being fo eafily negotiated by ftrangers as common bank notes are and whoever confiders the hazard, the expence and trouble there would be in fending large fums of

gold