other commodities, the price which is barely
sufficient to replace, together with its ordinary
profits, the stock which must be employed in
bringing them to market. At a coal mine for
which the landlord can get no rent, but which
he must either work himself or let it alone altogether,
the price of coals must generally be
nearly about this price.
Rent, even where coals afford one, has generally
a smaller share in their price than in
that of most other parts of the rude produce
of land. The rent of an estate above ground,
commonly amounts to what is supposed to be
a third of the gross produce; and it is generally
a rent certain and independent of the occasional
variations in the crop. In coal mines,
a fifth of the gross produce is a very great
rent, a tenth the common rent; and it is seldom
a rent certain, but depends upon the occasional
variations in the produce. These are
so great, that in a country where thirty years
purchase is considered as a moderate price for
the property of a landed estate, ten years purchase
is regarded as a good price for that of
a coal mine.
The value of a coal mine to the proprietor,
frequently depends as much upon its situation
as upon its fertility. That of a metallic mine
depends more upon its fertility, and less upon
its situation. The coarse, and still more the
precious metals, when separated from the ore,
are so valuable, that they can generally bear
the expense of a very long land, and of the
most distant sea carriage. Their market is
not confined to the countries in the neighbourhood
of the mine, but extends to the
whole world. The copper of Japan makes
an article of commerce in Europe; the iron
of Spain in that of Chili and Peru. The silver
of Peru finds its way, not only to Europe,
but from Europe to China.
The price of coals in Westmoreland or
Shropshire can have little effect on their price
at Newcastle; and their price in the Lionnois
can have none at all. The productions of
such distant coal mines can never be brought
into competition with one another. But the
productions of the most distant metallic mines
frequently may, and in fact commonly are.
The price, therefore, of the coarse, and still
more that of the precious metals, at the most
fertile mines in the world, must necessarily
more or less affect their price at every other
in it. The price of copper in Japan must
have some influence upon its price at the copper
mines in Europe. The price of silver in
Peru, or the quantity either of labour or of
other goods which it will purchase there, must
have some influence on its price, not only at
the silver mines of Europe, but at those of
China. After the discovery of the mines of
Peru, the silver mines of Europe were, the
greater part of them, abandoned. The value
of silver was so much reduced, that their produce
could no longer pay the expense of
working them, or replace, with a profit, the
food, clothes, lodging, and other necessaries
which were consumed in that operation. This
was the case, too, with the mines of Cuba and
St. Domingo, and even with the ancient mines
of Peru, after the discovery of those of Potosi.
The price of every metal, at every mine,
therefore, being regulated in some measure
by its price at the most fertile mine in the
world that is actually wrought, it can, at the
greater part of mines, do very little more than
pay the expense of working, and can seldom
afford a very high rent to the landlord. Rent
accordingly, seems at the greater part of
mines to have but a small share in the price
of the coarse, and a still smaller in that of the
precious metals. Labour and profit make up
the greater part of both.
A sixth part of the gross produce may be
reckoned the average rent of the tin mines of
Cornwall, the most fertile that are known in
the world, as we are told by the Rev. Mr.
Borlace, vice-warden of the stannaries. Some,
he says, afford more, and some do not afford
so much. A sixth part of the gross produce
is the rent, too, of several very fertile lead
mines in Scotland.
In the silver mines of Peru, we are told by
Frezier and Ulloa, the proprietor frequently
exacts no other acknowledgment from the undertaker
of the mine, but that he will grind
the ore at his mill, paying him the ordinary
multure or price of grinding. Till 1736, indeed,
the tax of the king of Spain amounted
to one fifth of the standard silver, which till
then might be considered as the real rent of
the greater part of the silver mines of Peru,
the richest which have been known in the
world. If there had been no tax, this fifth
would naturally have belonged to the landlord,
and many mines might have been
wrought which could not then be wrought,
because they could not afford this tax. The
tax of the duke of Cornwall upon tin is supposed
to amount to more than five per cent.
or one twentieth part of the value; and whatever
may be his proportion, it would naturally,
too, belong to the proprietor of the mine,
if tin was duty free. But if you add one
twentieth to one sixth, you will find that the
whole average rent of the tin mines of Cornwall,
was to the whole average rent of the silver
mines of Peru, as thirteen to twelve. But
the silver mines of Peru are not now able to
pay even this low rent; and the tax upon silver
was, in 1736, reduced from one fifth to
one tenth. Even this tax upon silver, too,
gives more temptation to smuggling than the
tax of one twentieth upon tin; and smuggling
must be much easier in the precious
than in the bulky commodity. The tax of
the king of Spain, accordingly, is said to be
very ill paid, and that of the duke of Cornwall
very well. Rent, therefore, it is probable,