Here it will not be amiss to consider again how and in what manner a Nation may be said to be enrich'd by _Trade_; for there must be a difference made between a Nations growing rich and particular Mens doing so by it, and I humbly propose that it may be possible for private Men to be vastly improved in their Estates, and yet at the Years end the Wealth of the Nation not to be a whit greater than at the beginning, and this both in an _Inland_ and an _Outland_ Trade; for whilst the thrifty Shopkeeper buys at one Price, and sells at another to the prodigal _Beaux_, and the industrious Artificer vents his Labour to the idle Drone, and the politick Contriver outwits the unthinking Bully, one raises his Fortunes on the other's decay; the same for our _Outland Trade_, if we Export the true Riches of the Nation for that which we consume on our Luxury, tho' private Men may get by each other, yet the Wealth of the Nation is not any way encreased: For suppose by one Hundred Butts of Wines the Importer gets Five Hundred Pounds, yet when drank among our selves, the Nation is not thereby Richer but Poorer, and so much poorer as those Wines cost at first; for if Imported by _English_ Men in _English_ Ships we loose but the first Purchase, the rest being Freights, Customs, and Profits, are divided amongst our selves, but if they are brought in by Foreigners, the Nation loses all but the Customs; I take the true Profits of this Kingdom to consist in that which is produced from Earth, Sea, and Labour, and such are all our Growth and Manufactures. To apply this now to the _East-India Trade_, we will first consider what are its Exports and Imports, and then inquire _Cui Bono_? whither the Contest for this Trade doth proceed from a design to serve the Nation, or from Principles of Self-Interest? or whither the Members of that Company who strive so much about it, would if in other Circumstances still be of the same Mind? for Principles that are in themselves true are always so, we may change our Opinions, but they do not change their Certainty; I confess as the state of a Nation alters so must our measures in _Trade_, but then it must appear that the State of the Nation and not our private Interests makes us to alter them; Now when I find that it is not the true Interest of this Nation to advance the Product and Manufactures thereof I shall change my Opinion. First then to begin with their Exports; and here I need not say much, it's generally allowed by the Traders themselves that our Product and Manufactures are the least part thereof, consisting chiefly in Gold and Silver.