The principal restraint upon trade which now exists is by the statutes re specting literary property (see that arti cle), and the exclusive rights of inven tors, under a patent for a limited time. These letters patent must be for the in vention of new manufactures or ma chines, and are to be granted only for fourteen years from the date of the pa tent. Statute 21 James I. c. 3. In order to render such a patent valid, it must be under the great seal, and must be inroll ed, and a specification of the particular process, or invention, must be inrolled in Chancery within six months. It is up on the novelty of the manufacture, as it respects England, and the fidelity of the specification, that the validity of the pa tent depends ; for if a process is not fully and fairly described, or is described with any degree of fraud or concealment, the patentee cannot enforce the benefit of his invention, and the patent may he re pealed upon application to the Chancel lor by sore fades. Although an Inver.
tion is not new abroad, yet if it has not been used here, a patent may be taken for it. See PATENT.
The aggregate gain which individuals engaged in tbreign trade derive from it, can by no means be considered as spew ing the accession of wealth which the na tion receives from this source. Many cir cumstances may concur to diminish, or even wholly to destroy, the profit of fo reign trade in this point of view, by which the gains of the merchant, and others, by whom it is carried on, are not in the least affected ; thus, the payments made to other countries for the dividends on the share foreigners hold of our public debts ; remittances of subsidies, or for the maintenance of,troops ; and the mo ney spent abroad by British subjects oc casionally resident there, all operate to the reduction of the actual wealth which this country would otherwise derive from its intercourse with other nations, which may therefore be rtry different from the general profit derived from trade, as a sum equal to the greater part, or even the whole, of the commercial gain may annually, or occasionally, be sent out of the country in the various ways just mentioned.
The balance of trade in favour of this country has usually been estimated from the excess of the exports beyond the im ports, and a comparatively small amount of the latter has been always considered highly desirable. This is a concise mode of determining a very important point ; but it is certainly very erroneous ; for, in this view, the whole of the imports are considered as if they were paid for ; whereas, in fact, a very large part of the imports never require to be paid for at all ; and instead of tending to draw mo ney out of the country, ought to be con sidered as an annual accession of wealth: This particularly refers to the imports from India, as far as they are purchased by the territorial revenues of that coun try, or by the private capitals of individu als acquired there ; to such proportion of the imports from the West Indies as are remittances from the income of individu als residing here ; and to the profits aris ing fl'om fisheries carried on in different parts of the world by subjects of this country ordinarily residing here. Besides the evident impossibility of making this distinction in the account of imports, the custom-house statements, both of the imports and exports, are totally inade quate to show even their coMparative amounts, as almost every article of mer chandize is there rated at a value entire ly different from its present actual value ; but even if these accounts of the exports and imports were far better adapted to show on which side the balance really lies than they are, it will be easily prov ed that all the statements founded on them, in which the annual gain of the country from trade is exhibited by the excess of exports, must be inaccurate. Suppose the merchants of this country to purchase, for exportation, on their own account, British manufactures to the a mount of 20,000,0004 ; the net proceeds thereof in the countries to which they are exported, after paying all charges, cannot be considered as less than 22,000,000/. ;g.nd this sum being invest-.
ed in foreign produce, and imported in to this country, will amount, after repay ing the duties and all expenses, to at least 24,200,000/. returning the mer chants the capital they had originally ad vanced, with a profit of 21 per cent. Here is an evident gain to the country of 4,200,0001., because the goods brought into it exceed in value those which were sent out by this sum. Will those who dis. cover the commercial profits of the coun try in a small amount of imports, pre tend that the advantage of the mer chants, or of the state, would have been greater, if the imports received in re. turn for the twenty millions sent out had been only of sixteen millions value ? If the merchandize imported in return for any quantity exported is of greater actual value in this country, that is, if it yields a greater price after allowing for all charges, and the interest of the capi tal employed,"khe surplus must be an ad dition to the wealth of the nation ; and if the whole of our foreign trade was of this description, the excess of the im ports would show the total profit, or the acquisition of wealth, by the exchange of commodities with other nations. It may,. however, frequently happen, that a coun try carrying on a profitable commerce may not have occasion for an amount of equal or greater value than its exports in the produce or manufactures of other countries, in which case the imports from other countries will diminish, and the difference must be made up by coin or bullion, which, in a commercial view, ought to be considered nearly in the same light as any other articles of mei shandize. In consequence of an act of Charles II. coin and bullion are exempt from entry at the custom-house on impor tation into this kingdom, therefore this article cannot appear in the account of imports, though it is well known, that, besides the bullion used in keeping up or increasiag the coin, and in importa tion and exportation as a merchandize, great quantities are imported as a raw material for the use of our manufactures. The quantity sent out of the country le gally is known ; the quantity imported must be much greater ; but while no ac count of it is taken, the real amount of the imports must be very incomplete, and consequently any conclusions re specting the balance of trade, drawn from such a defective account, may he very erroneous. It cannot be denied, that, if the country derive a profit from its foreign trade, the value of the tiler chandize, and of the coin and bullion im ported, must together exceed that of its exports ; particularly as it has been shown, that a part of the former is to be considered rat her as a remittance of pro perty from abroad to its owners in this country than as a return for exports ; it might indeed be otherwise for a short pe riod, from our merchants allowing a long er or larger credit to their foreign cor respondents; but this would be only a temporary suspension of the returns.
Therefore, as it appears by the Cus tom-house accounts, that the value of fo reign produce and manufactures import ed is usually considerably less than that of the exports, it would follow, suppos ing these valuations were correct, that the difference, together with a sum equal to the whole profits of foreign trade, is annually imported in cash and bullion, which are not included in those accounts: But if this were really the case, our stock of the precious metals, either in the form of bullion, specie, or goods manufactured of gold and silver, must have increased, not only to an a mount greater than there is any evi dence to prove, but far beyond all pro bability. In fact, this rapid flow of wealth into the country from foreign trade, which, although certainly great, is pro bably less than it would appear in the usual way of estimating it, has been al most constantly counteracted in various degrees, by political engagements with other countries, by losses at sea, and ma ny other circumstances, by which wealth is carried out of the country without any advantageous return.