In that early little tract of mine, to
which I have already more than once referred, I made many observations
on the usual method of computing that balance, as well as the usual
objection to it, that the entries at the Custom-House were not always
true. As you probably remember them, I shall not repeat them here. On
the one hand, I am not surprised that the same trite objection is
perpetually renewed by the detractors of our national affluence; and on
the other hand, I am gratified in perceiving that the balance of trade
seems to be now computed in a manner much clearer than it used to be
from those errors which I formerly noticed. The Inspector-General
appears to have made his estimate with every possible guard and caution.
His opinion is entitled to the greatest respect. It was in substance, (I
shall again use the words of the Report, as much better than my own,)
"that the true balance of our trade amounted, on a medium of the four
years preceding January, 1796, to upwards of 6,500,00_l._ per annum,
exclusive of the profits arising from our East and West India trade,
which he estimates at upwards of 4,000,000_l._ per annum, exclusive of
the profits derived from our fisheries." So that, including the
fisheries, and making a moderate allowance for the exceedings, which Mr.
Irving himself supposes, beyond his calculation, without reckoning what
the public creditors themselves pay to themselves, and without taking
one shilling from the stock of the landed interest, our colonies, our
Oriental possessions, our skill and industry, our commerce and
navigation, at the commencement of this year, were pouring a new annual
capital into the kingdom, hardly half a million short of the whole
interest of that tremendous debt from which we are taught to shrink in
dismay, as from an overwhelming and intolerable oppression.
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