240
 

CHAPTER   X.

On Lord King's Hypothesis, that the Surplus of Exports is
occasioned by the Remittance of Silver to India.

CHAPTER oooN after the publication of my Remarks on Currency
^^^^l.^^ and Commerce, in which I attempted to refute the theory
of the balance of trade, by contending, that the surplus
of exports resulted from the payment of our foreign ex¬
penditure, instead of resulting from the influx of money,
Lord King presented an hypothesis to the public, in which
he contended, that it resulted from the remittance of
silver to India.

He was convinced, that the doctrine of the indefinite
accumulation of money by the perpetual recurrence of a
favourable balance of trade was erroneous, and he ad¬
mitted, that the theory of a balance, as applied to com¬
merce in general, had been successfully refuted by the
arguments of the new school; but he thought, that the
balance of trade and the excess of exports were con¬
vertible terms, that because there was an excess of exports
there must necessarily be an influx of money commensu¬
rate with it3 extent. He therefore concluded that, in
conformity to the principle of the nullity of a balance,
a perfect correspondence should subsist between our
exports and imports, not observing, that by deducting