CHAP. XIV.

! Review of the foregoing Documents proposed.A supplemental Proof from the Chronological Table of Trade annexed.-A Commentary thereon.-The successive Epochs, from 1660, to 1811.-The Tonnage of Shipping.-The value of exported Cargoes.-The Balance of Trade.The nett Customs.-The Coinage of every Reign. -The Conclusion of this Review, which reflects a flattering Prospect of our future Prosperity.

REVIEW of the several documents, which are ontained, in the foregoing Estimate, will greatly llustrate the interesting subject of the prosperity, and populousness, of Great Britain. As a supplemental proof, I have annexed a Chronological Account of Commerce, in this island, from the Restoration to the year 1811, inclusive, with design, to exhibit a more connected view of the weakness of its commencement, the struggles of its progress, and the greatness of its maturity, than has yet been done. This Chronological Table will speak to the eye, while it convinces the understanding, and comforts the heart. And, the commentary on the various heads of this Table will furnish opportunities, which did not occur before, of treating of many topics that, as they confirm the doubtful, and illustrate the dark, will throw a very pleasant light on our future prosperity, by taking a short retrospection of the past.

Of the Chronological Table, the eye instantly perceives the disposition of the parts, and the intellect fully comprehends the arrangement of the whole. In the first column may be seen the successive epochs, beginning with the Restoration, whence certainty may be said to commence, and ending with the year 1811; and exhibiting the eras of peace, and war. The second column gives the tonnage of the shipping, which, successively, sailed from Britain; distinguishing the British ships from the foreign, in order to find, in the amount of each, the salutary effects of the act of navigation. The third column contains the value of the merchandize, which were, from year to year, sent out; that the extent of the cargoes may be compared with the quantity of tonnage, which carried them; and, though the Scotish tonnage, and the value of the Scotish exports, could not be adjoined before the year 1755, both these are added subsequent to that epoch, because every one finds a gratification, in extending his views. The fourth column exhibits the result of our exports, and imports compared, which forms what has been denominated the balance of trade. The fifth column states the nett customs, which our foreign commerce has yielded, at different periods; because, while the detail gratifies curiosity, it furnishes no inconsiderable proof of the prosperity, or decline, of our traffic. And the last column contains, what may be regarded, as the result of the whole, the sums, which have been coined in

England, during every reign, from the Restoration to the present times; because the mint, as Sir Robert Cotton expresses it, is the pulse of the commonwealth.

That the progress of our traffic, and navigation, from the commencement of the seventeenth century, to the era of the Restoration, had been remarkably rapid, all mercantile writers seem to admit. The navigation act contributed greatly to carry this advance of the shipping up to the Revolution. Sir William Petty stated, in 1670, "that the shipping of England had trebled in forty years." Doctor Davenant afterwards asserted, "that experienced merchants did agree, that we had, in 1688, near double the tonnage of trading shipping to what we had in 1666." And Anderson t inferred, from the concurring testimony of authors on this interesting subject, "that the English nation was in the zenith of commercial prosperity, at the Revolution. " We have already examined how much the commercial gain of our traders was taken away, by the war, which immediately fol. lowed that most important event, in our annals. But, the eye must be again thrown over the Chronological table, if the reader wish for a more comprehensive view of the continual progress of navigation, from the station of eminence, to which Anderson had traced it; its temporary interruptions; and, notwithstanding the independence of the American states, its final exaltation, in the year 1809. * Vol. II. p. 29.

+ Chron. Commerce, vol. II. p. 187,

If we compare the greatness of 1688, with the amount of 1774, 1784, 1792, 1802, and those of 1809, we shall discover, that the navigation of the latter epochs had reached a point of the mercantile heavens, so much more exalted, than the former,

as to reverse its position; as to convert what was once the zenith into the nadir now.

Contrast 1688

with 1774

with 1784

with 1792 1,561,158 - 175,405 - 1,736,563 with 1802 1,626,966 - 461,723 - 2,088,689

with 1809 1,531,152 - 699,750 - 2,230,902 The famous Mr Gregory King calcu

lated," that we gained annually on the freight of English shipping,

in 1688, L. 810,000. " If the "national profit on the naval trade of England, in 1688," amounted to L. 810,000, what ought to have been the national profit on our naval trade, in 1774? If 190,000 tons gained L. 810,000, 901,000 tons, including the Scots ships, must have gained 932,000 tons, including the Scots ships, must also have gained, in

1784,

L.3,841,100.

L.3,973,260.

And, 1,561,158 tons, including the

Scots, must have gained, in 1792, L.6,665,463.

Dav. Works, vol. iv. p. 146.

1,626,966 tons, including the Scots

ships, must have gained, in 1802, L.8,134,830; And 1,531,152 tons, including the

Scots ships, must have gained, in
18c9,

7,655,760.

This is, doubtless, a vast sum to be, annually, gained, from our outward freights: But, great as it appears, in a mere mercantile light, when, as large a sum is added to it, for our inward freights; yet, must the immense navigation, from whence it arises, be considered, as still more advantageous to the State; being a never-failing source, from which seamen, and transports, may be, constantly, drawn, for the uses of war. If from the tonnage, which may be, most safely, followed, in discovering the benefits of our navigation, and commerce, during every age, we look into the column of cargoes, in the Chronological Table, we shall find an excellent auxiliary, in the ledger of the inspectorgeneral, for conducting our inquiries, and forming our judgements.

To investigate the value of our exports, and of our imports, during the disturbed times of our Edwards, and Henries, or even in the more tranquil days of Elizabeth, would be a research of curiosity, rather than of use. On a subject of such difficult discussion, as no sufficient data had yet been established, the most judicious calculators could only speak, in terms indefinite; and therefore unsatisfactory: yet Sir William Petty, Sir Josiah