TO lay extraordinary restraints upon the importation of
goods of almost all kinds, from those particular coun-
tries with which the balance of trade is supposed to be
disadvantageous, is the second expedient by which the com-
mercial system proposes to increase the quantity of gold and
silver. Thus in Great Britain, Silesia lawns may be im-
ported for home consumption, upon paying certain duties.
But French cambrics and lawns are prohibited to be im-
ported, except into the port of London, there to be ware-
housed for exportation. Higher duties are imposed upon
the wines of France than upon those of Portugal, or indeed
of any other country. By what is called the impost 1692, a
duty of five and twenty per cent., of the rate or value, was
laid upon all French goods; while the goods of other na-
tions were, the greater part of them, subjected to much
lighter duties, seldom exceeding five per cent. The wine,
brandy, salt and vinegar of France were indeed excepted;
these commodities being subjected to other heavy duties,
either by other laws, or by particular clauses of the same
law. In 1696, a second duty of twenty-five per cent., the
first not having been thought a sufficient discouragement,
was imposed upon all French goods, except brandy; together
with a new duty of five and twenty pounds upon the ton of

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