898

THE VATUUE AND CAUSES OF

could deal to a greater extent. But it seldom happens to beconvenient for all the correspondents of a merchant to receivepayment for the goods which they sell to him, in goods ofsome other kind which he happens to deal in. The British merchants who trade to Virginia and Maryland happen to bea particular set of correspondents, to whom it is more conve-nient to receive payment for the goods which they sell tothose colonies in tobacco than in gold and silver. They ex-pect to make a profit by the sale of the tobacco. They couldmake none by that of the gold and silver. Gold and silver,therefore, very seldom appear in the commerce between GreatBritain and the tobacco colonies. Maryland and Virginiahave as little occasion for those metals in their foreign as intheir domestic commerce. They are said, accordingly, tohave less gold and silver money than any other colonies inAmerica . They are reckoned, however, as thriving, and con-sequently as rich, as any of their neighbours.

In the northern colonies, Pennsylvania , New York , New Jersey , the four governments of New England , &c. the valueof their own produce which they export to Great Britain isnot equal to that of the manufactures which they import fortheir own use, and for that of some of the other colonies towhich they are the carriers. A balance therefore must be paidto the mother-country in gold and silver, and this balancethey generally find.

In the sugar colonies the value of the produce annually ex-ported to Great Britain is much greater than that of all thegoods imported from thence. If the sugar and rum annuallysent to the mother-country were paid for in those colonies,Great Britain would be obliged to send out every year a verylarge balance in money, and the trade to the West Indies would, by a certain species of politicians, be considered asextremely disadvantageous. But it so happens, that many ofthe principal proprietors of the sugar plantations reside inGreat Britain. Their rents are remitted to them in sugarand rum, the produce of their estates. The sugar and rumwhich the West India merchants purchase in those coloniesupon their own account, are not equal in value to the goodswhich they annually sell there. A balance, therefore, mustnecessarily be paid to them in gold and silver, and this ba-lance too is generally found.

The difficulty and irregularity of payment from the dif-ferent colonies to Great Britain, have not been at all in pro-