Some noted that England had accumulated vast reserves of gold and silver thanks to its trade surplus, and established a link between the possession of precious metals and the wealth of the country.
[2] Although the supporters of Bullionism did not write theoretical treatises on the subject (unlike the precursors of the classical school in the following century), they did mobilize many leaders.
The doctrine was developing mainly in this region, because the influx of precious metals from America led to a sharp increase in purchasing power in the short term, which the authors saw as an implicit confirmation of their theory.
England did restrict exportation of money or precious metals around 1600, but Milles wanted to resume using staple ports (ports where incoming foreign merchants were required to offer their goods for sale before anywhere else) to force merchants from abroad to use their assets to buy English goods and prevent them from transferring gold or silver from England homewards.
He did succeed in creating one of the first economic controversies, and Edward Misselden opposed him in 1623 in his book The Circle of Commerce: Or, the Balance of Trade.