3 o6 THE NATURE AND CAUSES OF

ftate of debt and credit between two places, mulllikewife be an indication of the ordinary courfeof their exports and imports, as thefe neceffarilyregulate that ftate.

But though the ordinary courfe of exchangefhould be allowed to be a fufficient indication ofthe ordinary ftate of debt and credit between anytwo places, it would not from thence follow, thatthe balance of trade was in favor of that placewhich had the ordinary ftate of debt and credit inits favor. The ordinary ftate of debt and creditbetween any two places is not always entirely re-gulated by the ordinary courfe of their dealingswith one another ; but is often influenced by thatof the dealings of either with many other places.If it is ufual, for example , for the merchants ofEngland to pay for the goods which they buy ofHamburgh , Dantzic, Riga , &c. by bills uponHolland, the ordinary ftate of debt and creditbetween England and Holland will not be regulatedentirely by the ordinary courfe of the dealings ofthofe two countries with one another, but willbe influenced by that of the dealings of Englandwith thofe other places. England may be obligedto fend out every year money to Holland, thoughits annual exports to that country may exceedvery much the annual value of its imports fromthence; and though what is called the balance oftrade may be very much in favor of England.

In the way, befides, in which the par of ex-change has hitherto been computed, the ordinarycourfe of exchange can afford no fufficient indication