It hath been a great Debate how the Ballance of our Foreign Trade shall be computed, and what Methods we should take whereby to know it, and it has been thought, that the most proper way to make a true Judgment therein is, by taking an Account from the Custom-House Books of our Exports and Imports; But if this Method would do, yet I do not think there can be any certainty, either of the one or the other, drawn from thence; for, as for our Imports, the Bullion, and such things of Value, are not entered there, and seldom presented; and as to the Exports, seeing our Woollen Manufactures go out Custom-Free, the Entries there made of them cannot be depended on; But suppose a more exact account of our Exports and Imports could be had, yet since so great a part of the Trade of this Kingdom is driven by Exchange, and such vast Quantities of Commodities are Imported from our Plantations for account of the Inhabitants there, the Produce whereof they leave here as a stock at Home, and that they are supply’d hence with so many things for their own Consumption, I cannot see how any Moderate Computation can be this way made of our general Trade, much less of that we drive with any particular Nation, the Commodities which we receive at one place, being often carried to an another; Thus we transport to _Italy_ the Sugars we receive for our Manufactures in _Portugal_, and bring thence Silk and other things to be manufactured here, and yet we must not conclude we lose by the _Portugal_ Trade, because the Returns thence fall short by the Custom-House Books, or that we get more by the _Italian_ Trade, because it doth not appear by those Books how we Exported Commodities to pay for what we Import thence; And as to the Profits we make by the Freights of our Ships, it doth not at all appear from them, nor at what Rates our Product and Manufactures are sold abroad, or our Plantation Goods to Foreigners at home; so the thing must still remain doubtful; and I know no more certain way to Judge of it, than by the Increase the Nation makes in its Bullion, which always arises from the over Ballance of our Foreign Barter and Commerce. [Sidenote: Committee of Trade.]