_Q._ Are not the colonies, from their circumstances, very able to pay the stamp duty?
_A._ In my opinion there is not gold and silver enough in the colonies to pay the stamp duty for one year.[84]
_Q._ Don't you know that the money arising from the stamps was all to be laid out in America?
_A._ I know it is appropriated by the act to the American service; but it will be spent in the conquered colonies, where the soldiers are; not in the colonies that pay it.
_Q._ Is there not a balance of trade due from the colonies where the troops are posted, that will bring back the money to the old colonies?
_A._ I think not. I believe very little would come back. I know of no trade likely to bring it back. I think it would come from the colonies where it was spent, directly to England; for I have always observed, that in every colony the more plenty the means of remittance to England, the more goods are sent for, and the more trade with England carried on.
_Q._ What number of white inhabitants do you think there are in Pensylvania?
_A._ I suppose there may be about one hundred and sixty thousand.
_A._ Perhaps another third; but I cannot speak with certainty.
_Q._ Have any number of the Germans seen service, as soldiers, in Europe?
_A._ Yes, many of them, both in Europe and America.
_Q._ Are they as much dissatisfied with the stamp duty as the English?
_A._ Yes, and more; and with reason, as their stamps are, in many cases, to be double[85].
_Q._ How many white men do you suppose there are in North America?
_A._ About three hundred thousand, from sixteen to sixty years of age[86].
_Q._ What may be the amount of one year's imports into Pensylvania from Britain?
_A._ I have been informed that our merchants compute the imports from Britain to be above 500,000_l._
_Q._ What may be the amount of the produce of your province exported to Britain?
_A._ It must be small, as we produce little that is wanted in Britain. I suppose it cannot exceed 40,000_l._
_A._ The balance is paid by our produce carried to the West Indies (and sold in our own islands, or to the French, Spaniards, Danes, and Dutch)--by the same [produce] carried to other colonies in North America, (as to New England, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Carolina, and Georgia)--by the same, carried to different parts of Europe, (as Spain, Portugal, and Italy.) In all which places we receive either money, bills of exchange, or commodities that suit for remittance to Britain; which, together with all the profits on the industry of our merchants and mariners, arising in those circuitous voyages, and the freights made by their ships, centre finally in Britain to discharge the balance, and pay for British manufactures continually used in the province, or sold to foreigners by our traders.