THE WEALTH OK NATIONS.

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it would be more advantageous for Great Britain to purchaseboth the wine and the foreign linen which it had occasionfor of France, than of Portugal and Germany . Though thevalue of the annual importations from France would therebybe greatly augmented, the value of the whole annual impor-tations would be diminished, in proportion as the French goods of the same quality were cheaper than those of theother two countries. This would be the case, even upon thesupposition that the whole French goods imported were to beconsumed in Great Britain .

But, secondly, a great part of them might be re-exportedto other countries, where, being sold with profit, they mightbring back a return equal in value, perhaps, to the prime costof the whole French goods imported. What has frequentlybeen said of the Fast India trade might possibly be true ofthe French ; that though the greater part of East India goodswere bought with gold and silver, the re-exportation of apart of them to other countries, brought back more gold andsilver to that which carried on the trade than the prime costof the whole amounted to. One of the most importantbranches of the Dutch trade, at present, consists in the car-riage of French goods to other European countries. Somepart even of the French wine drank in Great Britain is clan-destinely imported from Holland and Zealand . If there waseither a free trade between France and England, or if French goods could be imported upon paying only the same dutiesas those of other European nations to be drawn back uponexportation, England might have some share of a trade whichis tound so advantageous to Holland .

Thirdly, and lastly, there is no certain criterion by whichwe can determine on which side what is called the balancebetween any two countries lies, or which of them exportsto the greatest value. National prejudice and animosity,prompted always by the private interest of particular traders,are the principles which generally direct our judgment uponall questions concerning it. There are two criterions, how-ever, which have frequently been appealed to upon such oc-casions, the custom-house books and the course ot exchange.The custom-house books, l think, it is now generally acknow-ledged, are a very uncertain criterion, on account of the in-accuracy of the valuation at which the greater part of goodsare rated in them. The course of exchange is, perhaps, al-most equally so.