duce of our various fisheries, and a confiderable part of the imports from our poffeffions in the Eaft and Weft Indies. The whole of the produce of these fisheries is certainly an acceffion of national wealth. So much thereof, as is imported directly into this country, muft be confidered as an increafe of ftock to it: the value of fuch parts as are fent directly from the fifhing places to foreign countries, and fold there, is either remitted in bills of exchange, which is wealth; or it is laid out in the purchase of commodities, to be imported into this country, which is an increase of stock. This produce is procured, not by any wealth fent from this country, but by the adventurous enterprise of our fishermen; and the value of fuch produce, when it is fent directly from the fishing places to foreign countries, cannot appear in any cuftom-house account. In like manner, a confiderable part of the imports from the Eaft and Weft Indies, ought not to be stated, in the balance of our commerce, as unfavourable to this country, particularly fuch parts of the investments in the Eaft Indies, as are purchased by the revenues of the British fettlements there; as well as thofe parts, which are imported either from the Eaft or Weft Indies for the purpose of remitting private fortunes acquired there, or as the incomes of perfons, who, having eftates or mortgages in the West Indies, refide and fpend their incomes in Great Britain. The value of fuch part of thefe imports, as it is re-exported, will appear on the export fide of the account, and ferves to balance the value of the fame articles, as ftated on the import fide; and the whole of the mercantile profit, which they leave behind, is in it felf a confiderable acceffion of wealth to this kingdom, that cannot appear in the cuftom-house accounts. Mr. Irving has delivered it as his opinion that the true balance of our trade amounted, on a medium of the four years preceding January 1796, to upwards of 6,500,000l. per annum, exclufive of the profits arifing from our East and Weft India trade, which he eftimates at upwards of 4,000,000l. per annum; and exclufive of the profits derived from our fisheries. But whatever uncertainty may still remain, in forming an estimate of the true balance of our commerce in any particular year, the accounts of the inspector-general of imports and exports, ferve at leaft to afford a good comparative state of the amount of our commerce in different years; for it is fair to prefume, that the defects are not greater in the accounts of one year than of another. Great however as this balance of commerce may appear, it would have been still greater in a very confiderable degree, but from the unusual scarcity of grain, which made it neceffary both for government and individuals, to import large quantities of grain for the relief of the inhabitants of this kingdom. In an account delivered by Mr.Claude Scott, an eminent cornfactor, it appears that for the three years preceding the 5th of January 1797, there were paid to foreign countries, for grain imported into this kingdom, the following fums, viz. Add, imported in 1793, as estimated by Mr. Scott in his evidence before the committee 1,500,000 Total .8,946,012 This balance of commerce was alfo rendered lefs favourable, by the great fums paid for naval ftores during the war, beyond what are ufually paid in time of peace. It appears by an account prefented by the commiffioners of his majefty's navy, that the value of naval stores imported on account of his majefty's navy, in the four years previous to 1797, amounted to £7,825,876 And in the four years preceding 1793, amounted only to 2,500,139 And it appears by an account presented, of the amount of bills drawn on the commiffioners for victualling, from foreign parts, in the four years, ending the 5th of January 1797, that they amounted to £1,368,921 And in the four years ending the 5th of Ja nuary 1793, to Though it cannot be doubted that the balance of our trade, even with thefe deductions, muft have brought great wealth, in various articles of commerce, into this kingdom, and that unufual quantities of foreign merchandife muft, in confequence thereof, have been depofited in it; yet it may be doubt ed, whether it brought fo great a quantity of the precious metals, to be converted into coin, as in former periods; for it appears in the evidence of fir John Hort, who was his majefty's conful general in Portugal for twenty-nine years, and of Mr. Whitmore, an eminent Portugal merchant, that the importation of gold and filver bullion, from Lifbon into this kingdom, has been lefs than it was formerly and that the exchange between Lifbon and London,which used formerly to be greatly in favour of London, has of late, from a variety of circum 134,629 Excels £•5,325,737 1,234,292 Total Excefs £.6,560,029 ftances, been fometimes in favour of, and fonetimes againft, this country; and, for the last three years, more against this country than in its favour, from caufes which are fully explained in the evidence of thofe gentlemen. Mr. Whitmore adds, that the quantity of filver which has of late been imported, has greatly exceeded the quantity of gold. But as the Mint price of filver bullion has been, during nearly the whole of the prefent century, confiderably lefs than the market price of this precious metal, the filver bullion fo im ported could not be converted into coin, but after having left a quantity fufficient for the ufe of our manufactures, muft have again been exported, and did not contribute in the fmalleft degree to augment the. coin of this kingdom. The accounts prefented by the officers of the Mint, of the quan tity of bullion coined in the laft four years, fhow that the quantity coined at the Mint in 1795, amounted only to 493,4161. and in 1796, to 464,680l. which is not more than a fixth of what was brought to the Mint to be coined in the two preceding years, and 'greatly inferior to what had been coined, upon an average of the former years of his majesty's reign. By an account prefented by Mr. Irving, of the quantity of bullion exported from this country from the year 1790 to 1796, both inclufive, it appears that the quantity of gold bullion exported on an average, in the four last years, being years of war, is not a third of what was annually exported on an aver age in the three preceding years of peace; and that the quantity of filver bullion exported in the four laft years, being years of war, is alfo not a third of what was annually exported on an average in the three preceding years of peace; and this account receives a certain degree of confirmation, from the accounts delivered in by the EaftIndia company, of the amount of Spanish dollars exported by the company, or permitted by the coinpany to be exported by private perfons, which prove that in the laft years the amount of Spanish dollars exported, has been lefs than ufual. three The committee wifhed to throw farther light on this fubject, by obtaining an account of the amount of gold and filver coin or bullion imported into this kingdom, in the before-mentioned periods; but they find, that by a law paffed in the 15th year of the reign of his late majefty Charles II. ch. 7. fec. 12. coin and bullion are exempted from entry at the custom-houfe, on importation into this kingdom: fo 1797. that the officers of the cuftoms could not produce an account of any fuch importation. There are, however, other circumftances in evidence before the committee, which may have contributed to render lefs perceptible, hitherto at least, the advantages arifing from the influx of wealth into this kingdom, in confequence of a favourable balance of trade. It was obferved by Henry Thornton, efq. (and it is indeed felf-evident), that in proportion as the commerce of this country increases, a greater capital is neceffary for carrying it on; and alfo, that any given quantity of commerce, in time of war, by the increased expenses of freight, infur ance, and mercantile charges, requires a greater capital than the fame quantity of commerce in time of peace. Thefe two circumstances nuft have had confiderable influence, in the course of the last three years, upon the circulating cafl and paper of the kingdom, efpecially when it is confidered, that, from caufes already aligned, the circulation of paper was confiderably diminished; and Mr. Bofanquet, a bank director, in affigning the caufes of the great preffure on the bank, for want of cafh, in the year 1783, is of opinion that the drain of cafh at that time proceed ed from the great extenfion of commerce which followed the peace, and which occafioned fo large an export of the commodities of this country, that the circulation was hardly fufficient to support it. It appears laftly, by the evidence of the bank directors, that in confequence of the long credit given by our merchants, the payments for the great quantities of our ma nufactures, produce, and other mer chandife exported, do not take (P) place place till a confiderable time after the evidence of the said governor their exportation, though a great and deputy governor, and other diadditional capital has been pre-rectors of the bank, when they atoufly employed, in providing the tended the committee, either as a dearticles fo exported. The balance putation, or in their individual caof payments, which arifes out of pacity, as well as from the minutes the balance of trade, is neceffarily of thofe conferences, and the copofterior to it, and in countries pies of the refolutions delivered by like Great Britain, where long them to the chancellor of the excredits are given, it may not pro- chequer: it will appear alfo, duce its full effect upon our circu- from the evidence of the chancel lation, for a confiderable time. lor of the exchequer, and from the letters written by him to the governor of the bank; all which are inferted in this report, and to which the committee think it more proper to refer the house, than to give a fummary of them. The refult of all the various circumftances before stated, does not appear, on the whole, to have produced any permanent difadvantageous effect on the cafh of the bank, till the month of September 1795: the cafh of the bank had, indeed, been much lower than ufual in March and June 1793; but it rofe in the September of that year nearly to its ufual average. From September 1795, however, it continued progreffively declining, fo as to be, during the whole of the year 1796, confiderably lefs than in the year 1795, but not lower at the end of 1796 than in the middle of that year; and in the commencement of the prefent year, ftill lefs than in the year 1796and in the week preceding the iffuing of the order of council, it diminifhed rapidly: it was not, however, even at that period, in any degree fo low as in the year 1783, and particularly in the month of October of that year. The conferences between the chancellor of the exchequer, and the governor and deputy governor of the bank, on the apprehenfions they entertained of the diminution of their cash, and the reprefentations made by them, from time to time, on the effect which foreign loans and remittances had on the ftate of their cafh, will appear by The accounts before inferted, and the evidence just referred to, will alfo fhow, what was the nature of the advances made by the bank to government-Upon what funds or credit they were made— What was their amount at different periods-How far the amount of thofe advances, during the prefent war, have exceeded thofe made in time of peace -How far they have exceeded thofe made in the last war-And whether they were greater or lefs, immediately previous to the iffuing the order in council of the 26th of February, thau at any preceding period. The committee were defirous of throwing farther light on this fubject, by laying before the houfe fame accurate account of the exchanges between Great Britain and other countries; as thefe, when they can be correctly afcertained, afford a good criterion of the balance of payments between Great Britain and other countries, and thereby fhow, whether there is reafon to conclude, that any coin or bullion have been exported or im 5 ported. ported. At prefent, the only places with which there fubfifts any regular courfe of exchange with Great Britain, are Lifbon and Hamburgh. At this last place, a great proportion of the accounts between Great Britain and the northern parts of Europe, is now fettled and paid. The par of exchange with Lifbon can be accurately stated; it is 67. It has already been flown from the evidence of fir John Hort and Mr. Whitmore, how far the exchange between London and Lisbon has been of late to the difadvantage of this country; and their account of it is fully confirm ed by a statement of the courfe of exchange taken from Cafting's papers, inferted in this report. With refpect to the exchange between Great Britain and Hamburgh, the committee have not been able to decide, to their fatiffaction, what is the actual par of exchange between London and Hamburgh. The witneffes they have examined have widely differed, with respect to the par of exchange between thofe places. The committee, however, have inferted in the minutes of the evidence, the anfwers of Mr. Boyd to two queftions put to him, and a paper prefented to this committee by one of the members of it, which throw confiderable light on this intricate fubject, and will account, in fome degree, for the difficulty the committee had experienced in deter mining, with fufficient accuracy, of this exchange. the par The mercantile accounts in Hamburgh and London have a reterence to different metals. Silver ap. pears to be the common coin of Hamburgh, and gold is, in that place, rather to be confidered as a commodity. Gold is the mercantile coin of Great Britain, and fil ver has been for many years only a commodity, which has no fixed price, and is very rarely carried to the Mint to be coined, but varies according to the demand for it at the market. The market price of thefe precious metals appears alfo to have an influence on the Banco money of Hamburgh, in which the exchanges are reckoned-It is probable that to these circumstances is to be imputed the difficulty of determining the par of exchange between London and Hamburgh. On the prefent fubject, therefore, all that the committee can fay with certainty is, that according to the evidence of the governor of the bank of England (which is confirmed by a paper annexed), the exchange with Hamburgh ceafed to be unfavourable to this country, in March 1796, became more favourable in the month of October laft; and that it continued favourable till the 26th of February, when the order of council was iffued; and that it continues fo ftill. The committee have hitherto stated the feveral points relating to the more remote caufes, by which the circulation of the kingdom, and the general state of the bank, may have been affected. They proceed now, to thofe, which immediately preceded the 26th of February laff, and more directly contributed to the neceffity of the or der of council, which was iffued on that day. It appears from the evidence of Mr. Ellifon, that a few weeks previous to the 25th of February, two great mercantile banks at Newcaftle ftopped payment in cafh, ow. ing to the effect of a local alarm, fimilar, as ftated by this gentleman,, to that in 1793, which occafioned moft of the country bankers to draw large fums of money from the (P2) metropolis, |