two or three hundred years ago, may be still
in use, and, perhaps, some part of the gold
which was brought from it two or three thousand
years ago. The different masses of corn,
which, in different years, must supply the consumption
of the world, will always be nearly
in proportion to the respective produce of
those different years. But the proportion between
the different masses of iron which may
be in use in two different years, will be very
little affected by any accidental difference in
the produce of the iron mines of those two
years; and the proportion between the masses
of gold will be still less affected by any such
difference in the produce of the gold mines.
Though the produce of the greater part of
metallic mines, therefore, varies, perhaps, still
more from year to year than that of the greater
part of corn fields, these variations have
not the same effect upon the price of the
species of commodities as upon that of the
other.
Variations in the Proportion between the respective
Values of Gold and Silver.
Before the discovery of the mines of America,
the value of fine gold to fine silver was
regulated in the different mines of Europe,
between the proportions of one to ten and one
to twelve; that is, an ounce of fine gold was
supposed to be worth from ten to twelve ounces
of fine silver. About the middle of the last
century, it came to be regulated, between the
proportions of one to fourteen and one to fifteen;
that is, an ounce of fine gold came to
be supposed worth between fourteen and fifteen
ounces of fine silver. Gold rose in its
nominal value, or in the quantity of silver
which was given for it. Both metals sunk in
their real value, or in the quantity of labour
which they could purchase; but silver sunk
more than gold. Though both the gold and
silver mines of America exceeded in fertility
all those which had ever been known before,
the fertility of the silver mines had, it seems,
been proportionally still greater than that of
the gold ones.
The great quantities of silver carried annually
from Europe to India, have, in some of
of the English settlements, gradually reduced
the value of that metal in proportion to gold.
In the mint of Calcutta, an ounce of fine gold
is supposed to be worth fifteen ounces of fine
silver, in the same manner as in Europe. It
is in the mint, perhaps, rated too high for the
value which it bears in the market of Bengal.
In China, the proportion of gold to silver still
continues as one to ten, or one to twelve. In
Japan, it is said to be as one to eight.
The proportion between the quantities of
gold and silver annually imported into Europe,
according to Mr Meggens' account, is
as one to twenty-two nearly; that is, for one
ounce of gold there are imported a little more
than twenty-two ounces of silver. The great
quantity of silver sent annually to the East
Indies reduces, he supposes, the quantities of
those metals which remain in Europe to the
proportion of one to fourteen or fifteen, the
proportion of their values. The proportion
between their values, he seems to think, must
necessarily be the same as that between their
quantities, and would therefore be as one to
twenty-two, were it not for this greater exportation
of silver.
But the ordinary proportion between the
respective values of two commodities is not
necessarily the same as that between the quantities
of them which are commonly in the
market. The price of an ox, reckoned at ten
guineas, is about three score times the price of
a lamb, reckoned at 3s. 6d. It would be absurd,
however, to infer from thence, that there
are commonly in the market three score lambs
for one ox; and it would be just as absurd to
infer, because an ounce of gold will commonly
purchase from fourteen or fifteen ounces of
silver, that there are commonly in the market
only fourteen or fifteen ounces of silver for
one ounce of gold.
The quantity of silver commonly in the
market, it is probable, is much greater in proportion
to that of gold, than the value of a
certain quantity of gold is to that of an equal
quantity of silver. The whole quantity of a
cheap commodity brought to market is commonly
not only greater, but of greater value,
than the whole quantity of a dear one. The
whole quantity of bread annually brought to
market, is not only greater, but of greater value,
than the whole quantity of butcher's
meat; the whole quantity of butcher's meat,
than the whole quantity of poultry; and the
whole quantity of poultry, than the whole
quantity of wild fowl. There are so many
more purchasers for the cheap than for the
dear commodity, that, not only a greater quantity
of it, but a greater value can commonly
be disposed of. The whole quantity, therefore,
of the cheap commodity, must commonly
be greater in proportion to the whole quantity
of the dear one, than the value of a certain
quantity of the dear one, is to the value
of an equal quantity of the cheap one. When
we compare the precious metals with one another,
silver is a cheap, and gold a dear commodity.
We ought naturally to expect, therefore,
that there should always be in the market,
not only a greater quantity, but a greater
value of silver than of gold. Let any man,
who has a little of both, compare his own silver
with his gold plate, and he will probably
find, that not only the quantity, but the value
of the former, greatly exceeds that of the latter.
Many people, besides, have a good deal
of silver who have no gold plate, which, even
with those who have it, is generally confined
to watch-cases, snuff-boxes, and such like
trinkets, of which the whole amount is seldom