According to the above State of the Account, the Sum Total of the Value of the Exports to Holland and Germany alone, during a Period of nine Years, exceeded that to all the [present revolted] Provinces of North America, by no less than 10,234,103l. 7s. 7d. which is more than ONE-THIRD of the Whole. And yet this very Period was more favourable to American Exports than any other: 1st. Because during this Period, there was the greatest Emigration from Europe to America, and particularly from Holland and Germany, that can be remembered; and each Emigrant, if a Customer to England, whilst resident in Europe, not only swells the American Account by his Removal, but also sinks the European: So that he acts in a double Capacity, by adding Weight to one Scale, and by substracting, at least an equal, if not a greater, from the other:—2dly, Because During this Period, the Colonists, and more especially the four New-England Governments, were preparing for a Non-Importation System; and therefore were storing their Magazines with great Quantities of Goods to serve for many Years. This Circumstance appears on the very Face of the Account:—And 3dly, Because the Business of Commercial Puffing, during this Period, was carried, by the Partizans of America, to a greater Height than ever, in order to make the American Trade appear to be of much more Consequence to this Nation, than it really is.—To explain this Artifice of Commercial Puffing, to such Persons, who are not conversant in the Progress of Commercial Laws, I must beg their Attention to the following short Narrative.—Formerly the Kings of England established certain Duties or Taxes (generally five per Cent. ad Valorem) both on the Import and Export of Goods, merely by Virtue of their own Prerogative; and, as it was the universal Practice for every Prince to act in the same Manner, these Duties or customary Payments were therefore called the Customs,—the Place where these Duties were paid the Custom-House, and the Officers who collected them the Custom-House Officers. In Process of Time, the Subjects gained a little more Liberty; so that the Duties, which were originally imposed by Virtue of the mere Prerogative of the Crown, were afterwards collected by the Authority of an Act, or Acts of the whole Legislature.

And yet, notwithstanding this Change of Authority, there was very little Alteration in the System of Taxation: For Exports as well as Imports (in those Days of commercial Blindness) paid a Duty of about five per Cent. [9] ad Valorem, as low down as the Reigns of Charles II. and James II.—King William was the first Prince who had a true Notion of introducing wise and beneficial Regulations into the System of Exportation: For he caused the Duties to be taken off from the Exports of English Woollen Manufactures, and of a few other Articles: Queen Ann followed his good Example, and extended the same politic System a little farther: But it was reserved to the Reign of George I. and to the Administration of that great and able Minister, Sir Robert Walpole (whom the Traders, and the Populace always abused) to enrich this Country by Means of a general System of judicious Taxes, and salutary commercial Regulations. For in one single Act of Parliament in the Year 1722, (8th of G. I. Chap. 15.) there were about 196 Taxes repealed, [see Crouch’s Book of Rates] Taxes which had been injudiciously laid, partly on Raw-Materials coming in, but chiefly on British Manufactures going out. But tho’ this excellent Law was productive of the greatest Advantage to the Nation; yet it must be allowed, that like many other good Things, it was the innocent Cause of introducing some Evil. For from that Time we may date the Origin of our modern Puffing, respecting the Export of Goods, which has spread but too generally ever since. English Manufactures, when entered in the Custom-House for Exportation, now pay no Tax or Duty; therefore this Circumstance becomes a Temptation to many Persons to make larger Entries for Exportation, than in Truth and Reality they ought to do. Vanity, and the Desire of appearing to be Men of large Dealings, and extensive Correspondencies, and perhaps other Motives still less justifiable, will but too well account for such Proceedings in the mercantile World. Consequently in commercial Puffing, the Traders to Holland and Germany, and the Traders to North-America are much upon a Par: So that were they to accuse each other, it might be said of both,

Clodius accusat MÆchos, Catalina Cethegos.

But nevertheless in other Respects there is a wide Difference between them. For the Partizans of America are actuated not only by Self-Interest, or Vanity, but by Principles still more powerful, viz. By such a Spirit of Enthusiasm, and a Zeal bordering on Phrenzy, as will stick at nothing to promote the Good of the Cause. Hence therefore we may reasonably infer, that tho’ the Entries for Exportation to every Country are somewhat exaggerated, yet that those to North-America are doubly so. Other Traders may probably consider these puffing Advertisements [I mean their exaggerated Entries for Exportation] as a Kind of Peccadillos, very allowable for the Promotion of their Interest; but an American Partizan views them in a much higher Light, viz. as meritorious Acts done for the Good of his Country.