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then known may be inore barren than any that nution of their value, however, has not been was wrought before the discovery of the mines owing to the increase of the real wealth of of America. Whether the one or the other of Europe, of the annual produce of its land those two events may happen to take place, is and labour, but to the accidental discovery of of very little importance to the real wealth more abundant mines than any that were and prosperity of the world, to the real value known before. The increase of the quantity of the annual produce of the land and labour of gold and silver in Europe, and the increase of mankind. Its nominal value, the quantity of its manufactures and agriculture, are two of gold and silver by which this annual pro- events which, though they have happened duce could be expressed or represented, would, nearly about the same time, yet have arisen no doubt, be very different; but its real va- from very different causes, and have scarce lue, the real quantity of labour which it could any natural connection with one another. The purchase or command, would be precisely the one has arisen from a mere accident, in which same. A shilling might, in the one case, re- neither prudence nor policy either had or could present no more labour than a penny does at have any share; the other, from the fall of present; and a penny, in the other, might re- the feudal system, and from the establishment present as much as a shilling does now, But of a government which afforded to industry in the one case, he who had a shilling in his the only encouragement which it requires, pocket would be no richer than he who has a penny at present; and in the other, he who had a penny would be just as rich as he who has a shilling now. The cheapness and abundance of gold and silver plate would be the sole advantage which the world could derive from the one event; and the dearness and scarcity of those trifling superfluities, the only inconveniency it could suffer from the other.

Conclusion of the Digression concerning the Va- of its land and labour. riations in the Value of Silver.

some tolerable security that it shall enjoy the fruits of its own labour. Poland, where the feudal system still continues to take place, is at this day as beggarly a country as it was before the discovery of America. The money price of corn, however, has risen; the real value of the precious metals has fallen in Poland, in the same manner as in other parts of Europe. Their quantity, therefore, must have increased there as in other places, and nearly in the same proportion to the annual produce This increase of the quantity of those metals, however, has not, it seems, increased that annual produce, has neither improved the manufactures and agricul ture of the country, nor mended the circumstances of its inhabitants. Spain and Portugal, the countries which possess the mines, are, after Poland, perhaps the two most beggarly countries in Europe. The value of the precious metals, however, must be lower in Spain and Portugal than in any other part of Europe, as they come from those countries to all other parts of Europe, loaded, not only with a freight and an insurance, but with the expense of smuggling, their exportation be ing either prohibited or subjected to a duty. In proportion to the annual produce of the land and labour, therefore, their quantity must be greater in those countries than in any other part of Europe; those countries, however, are poorer than the greater part of Europe. Though the feudal system has been abolished in Spain and Portugal, it has not been succeeded by a much better.

The greater part of the writers who have collected the money price of things in ancient times, seem to have considered the low money price of corn, and of goods in general, or, in other words, the high value of gold and silver, as a proof, not only of the scarcity of those metals, but of the poverty and barbarism of the country at the time when it took place. This notion is connected with the system of political economy, which represents national wealth as consisting in the abundance and national poverty in the scarcity, of gold and silver; a system which I shall endeavour to explain and examine at great length in the fourth book of this Inquiry. I shall only observe at present, that the high value of the precious metals can be no proof of the poverty or barbarism of any particular country at the time when it took place. It is a proof only of the barrennes of the mines which happened at that time to supply the commercial world. A poor country, as it cannot afford to buy more, so it can as little afford to pay dearer for gold and silver than a rich one; and the value of those metals, therefore, is not likely to be higher in the former than in the latter. In China, a country much richer than any part of Europe, the value of the precious metals is much higher than in any part of Eu- But though the low money price, either of rope. As the wealth of Europe, indeed, has goods in general, or of corn in particular, be increased greatly since the discovery of the no proof of the poverty or barbarism of the mines of America, so the value of gold and times, the low money price of some particu silver has gradually diminished. This dimi-lar sorts of goods, such as cattle, poultry

As the low value of gold and silver, therefore, is no proof of the wealth and flourishing state of the country where it takes place; so neither is their high value, or the low money price either of goods in general, or of corn in particular, any proof of its poverty and barbarism.

The evidence is more complete than could well have been expected in a matter which is naturally so very difficult to be ascertained.

As to the high price of corn during these last ten or twelve years, it can be sufficiently accounted for from the badness of the seasons, without supposing any degradation in the value of silver.

The opinion, therefore, tnat silver is continually sinking in its value, seems not to be founded upon any good observations, either upon the prices of corn, or upon those of other provisions.

game of all kinds, &c. in proportion to that | ferent markets in France, which have beer of corn, is a most decisive one. It clearly de-collected with great diligence and fidelity by monstrates, first, their great abundance in pro- Mr Messance, and by Mr Dupré de St Maur. portion to that of corn, and, consequently, the great extent of the land which they occupied in proportion to what was occupied by corn; and, secondly, the low value of this land in proportion to that of corn land, and, conse quently, the uncultivated and unimproved state of the far greater part of the lands of the country. It clearly demonstrates, that the stock and population of the country did not bear the same proportion to the extent of its territory, which they commonly do in civilized countries; and that society was at that time, and in that country, but in its infancy. From the high or low money price, either of goods in general, or of corn in particular, we can infer only, that the mines, which at that time happened to supply the commercial world with gold and silver, were fertile or barren, not that the country was rich or poor. But from the high or low money price of some sorts of goods in proportion to that of others, we can infer, with a degree of probability that approaches almost to certainty, that it was rich or poor, that the greater part of its lands were improved or unimproved, and that it was either in a more or less barbarous state, or in a more or less civilized one.

Any rise in the money price of goods which proceeded altogether from the degradation of the value of silver, would affect all sorts of goods equally, and raise their price universally, a third, or a fourth, or a fifth part higher, according as silver happened to lose a third, or 1 fourth, or a fifth part of its former value. But the rise in the price of provisions, which has been the subject of so much reasoning and conversation, does not affect all sorts of provisions equally. Taking the course of the present century at an average, the price of corn, it is acknowledged, even by those who account for this rise by the degradation of the value of silver, has risen much less than that of some other sorts of provisions. The rise in the price of those other sorts of provisions, therefore, cannot be owing altogether to the

The same quantity of silver, it may perhaps be said, will, in the present times, even according to the account which has been here give., purchase a much smaller quantity of several sorts of provisions than it would have done during some part of the last century; and to ascertain whether this change be owing to a rise in the value of those goods, or to a fall in the value of silver, is only to establish a vain and useless distinction, which can be of no sort of service to the man who has only a certain quantity of silver to go to market with, or a certain fixed revenue in money. I cer tainly do not pretend that the knowledge of this distinction will enable him to buy cheaper. It may not, however, upon that account be altogether useless.

It may be of some use to the public, by atfording an easy proof of the prosperous con.. dition of the country. If the rise in the price of some sorts of provisions be owing altogeth er to a fall in the value of silver, it is owing to a circumstance, from which nothing can be inferred but the fertility of the American mines. The real wealth of the country, the annual produce of its land and labour, may, notwithstanding this circumstance, be either gradually declining, as in Portugal and Poiand; or gradually advancing, as in most other parts of Europe. But if this rise in the price of some sorts of provisions be owing to a rise in the real value of the land which produces

degradation of the value of silver. Some them, to its increased fertility, or, in conse other causes must be taken into the account;quence of more extended improvement and and those which have been above assigned, good cultivation, to its having been rendered will, perhaps, without having recourse to the supposed degradation of the value of silver, sufficiently explain this rise in those particular sorts of provisions, of which the price has actually risen in proportion to that of corn.

fit for producing corn; it is owing to a cir cumstance which indicates, in the clearest manner, the prosperous and advancing state of the country. The land constitutes by far the greatest, the most important, and the most durable part of the wealth of every extensive country. It may surely be of some use, or, at least, it may give some satisfaction to the public, to have so decisive a proof of the increasing value of by far the greatest, the most important, and the most durable part of its wealth.

As to the price of corn itself, it has, during the sixty-four first years of the present century, and before the late extraordinary course of bad seasons, been somewhat lower than it was during the sixty-four last years of the preceding century. This fact is attested, not only by the accounts of Windsor market, but by the public fiars of all the different counties of It may, too, be of some use to the public, Scotland, and by the accounts of several dif-in regulating the pecuniary reward of some of

the real Price of Manufactures.

its inferior servants. If this rise in the price rise in the price of any other sort of rude proof some sorts of provisions be owing to a fall duce cannot much affect them. They suffer in the value of silver, their pecuniary reward, more, perhaps, by the artificial rise which has provided it was not too large before, ought been occasioned by taxes in the price of some certainly to be augmented in proportion to manufactured commodities, as of salt, soap, the extent of this fall. If it is not augment- leather, candles, malt, beer, ale, &c. ed, their real recompence will evidently be so much diminished. But if this rise of price is owing to the increased value, in consequence Effects of the Progress of Improvement upon of the improved fertility of the land which produces such provisions, it becomes a much nicer matter to judge, either in what proporIt is the natural effect of improvement, tion any pecuniary reward ought to be aug- however, to diminish gradually the real price mented, or whether it ought to be augmented of almost all manufactures. That of the maat all. The extension of improvement and nufacturing workmanship diminishes, perhaps, cultivation, as it necessarily raises more or less, in all of them without exception. In consein proportion to the price of corn, that of quence of better machinery, of greater dexteevery sort of animal food, so it as necessarily rity, and of a more proper division and distri lowers that of, I believe, every sort of vege-bution of work, all of which are the natural table food. It raises the price of animal effects of improvement, a much smaller quanfood; because a great part of the land which tity of labour becomes requisite for executing produces it, being rendered fit for producing any particular piece of work; and though, in corn, must afford to the landlord and farmer consequence of the flourishing circumstances the rent and profit of corn land. It lowers of the society, the real price of labour should the price of vegetable food; because, by increasing the fertility of the land, it increases its abundance. The improvements of agriculture, too, introduce many sorts of vegetable food, which requiring less land, and not more labour than corn, come much cheaper to market. Such are potatoes and maize, or what is called Indian corn, the two most important improvements which the agriculture of Europe, perhaps, which Europe itself, has receiv- carpenters' and joiners' work, and in the ed from the great extension of its commerce coarser sort of cabinet work, the necessary and navigation. Many sorts of vegetable food, rise in the real price of barren timber, in con besides, which in the rude state of agriculture sequence of the improvement of land, will are confined to the kitchen-garden, and raised more than compensate all the advantages only by the spade, come, in its improved state, which can be derived from the best machinery, to be introduced into common fields, and to the greatest dexterity, and the most proper be raised by the plough; such as turnips, car- division and distribution of work. rots, cabbages, &c. If, in the progress of im- But in all cases in which the real price of provement, therefore, the real price of one the rude material either does not rise at all, species of food necessarily rises, that of anoth- or does not rise very much, that of the maer as necessarily falls; and it becomes a mat-nufactured commodity sinks very considerter of more nicety to judge how far the rise ably. in the one may be compensated by the fall in This diminution of price has, in the course the other. When the real price of butcher's of the present and preceding century, been meat has once got to its height (which, with most remarkable in those manufactures of regard to every sort, except perhaps that of which the materials are the coarser metals. A hogs flesh, it seems to have done through a better movement of a watch, than about the great part of England more than a century middle of the last century could have been ago), any rise which can afterwards happen in bought for twenty pounds, may now perhaps that of any other sort of animal food, cannot be had for twenty shillings. In the work of much affect the circumstances of the inferior cutlers and locksmiths, in all the toys which ranks of people. The circumstancees of the poor, through a great part of England, cannot surely be so much distressed by any rise in the price of poultry, fish, wild-fowl, or veni son, as they must be relieved by the fall in that of potatoes.

rise very considerably, yet the great diminution of the quantity will generally much more than compensate the greatest rise which can happen in the price.

In the present season of scarcity, the high price of corn no doubt distresses the poor. But in times of moderate plenty, when corn is at its ordinary or average price, the natural

There are, indeed, a few manufactures, in which the necessary rise in the real price of the rude materials will more than compensate all the advantages which improvement can introduce into the execution of the work

In

are made of the coarser metals, and in all
those goods which are commonly known by
the name of Birmingham and Sheffield ware,
there has been, during the same period, a
very great reduction of price, though not al-
together so great as in watch-work.
It has,
however, been sufficient to astonish the work-
men of every other part of Europe, who in
many cases acknowledge that they can pro-
duce no work of equal goodness for double

or even for triple the price. There are per- those times, have beer. equal to at least three haps no manufactures, in which the division pounds six shillings and sixpence of our preof labour can be carried further, or in which sent money. The man who bought it must the machinery employed admits of a greater have parted with the command of a quantity variety of improvements, than those of which of labour and subsistence equal to what that the materials are the coarser metals. sum would purchase in the present times. In the clothing manufacture there has, dur- The reduction in the real price of the coarse ing the same period, been no such sensible re-manufacture, though considerable, has not duction of price. The price of superfine been so great as in that of the fine. cloth, I have been assured, on the contrary, In 1463, being the 3d of Edward IV. it has, within these five-and-twenty or thirty was enacted, that "no servant in husbandry years, risen somewhat in proportion to its nor common labourer, nor servant to any arquality, owing, it was said, to a considerable tificer inhabiting out of a city or burgh, shall rise in the price of the material, which con- use or wear in their clothing any cloth above sists altogether of Spanish wool. That of the two shillings the broad yard." In the 3d of Yorkshire cloth, which is made altogether of Edward IV., two shillings contained very English wool, is said, indeed, during the nearly the same quantity of silver as four of course of the present century, to have fallen a our present money. But the Yorkshire cloth good deal in proportion to its quality. Qua- which is now sold at four shillings the yard, lity, however, is so very disputable a matter, is probably much superior to any that was that I look upon all information of this kind then made for the wearing of the very poorest as somewhat uncertain. In the clothing ma- order of common servants. Even the money nufacture, the division of labour is nearly the price of their clothing, therefore, may, in prosame now as it was a century ago, and the portion to the quality, be somewhat cheaper machinery employed is not very different. in the present than it was in those ancient There may, however, have been some small times. The real price is certainly a good deal improvements in both, which may have occa- cheaper. Tenpence was then reckoned what sioned some reduction of price.

is called the moderate and reasonable price of But the reduction will appear much more a bushel of wheat. Two shillings, therefore, sensible and undeniable, if we compare the was the price of two bushels and near two price of this manufacture in the present times pecks of wheat, which in the present times, at with what it was in a much remoter period, three shillings and sixpence the bushel, would towards the end of the fifteenth century, when be worth eight shillings and ninepence. For the labour was probably much less subdivid-a yard of this cloth the poor servant must have ed, and the machinery employed much more imperfect, than it is at present.

parted with the power of purchasing a quan tity of subsistence equal to what eight shillings and ninepence would purchase in the present times. This is a sumptuary law, too, restrain. ing the luxury and extravagance of the poor. Their clothing, therefore, had commonly been much more expensive.

In 1487, being the 4th of Henry VII., it was enacted, that "whosoever shall sell by retail a broad yard of the finest scarlet grained, or of other grained cloth of the finest making, above sixteen shillings, shall forfeit forty shillings for every yard so sold." Sixteen shilThe same order of people are, by the same lings, therefore, containing about the same law, prohibited from wearing hose, of which quantity of silver as four-and-twenty shillings the price should exceed fourteen-pence the of our present money, was, at that time, reck-pair, equal to about eight-and-twenty pence of oned not an unreasonable price for 2 yard of our present money. But fourteen-pence was the finest cloth; and as this is a sumptuary in those times the price of a bushel and near law, such cloth, it is probable, had usually two pecks of wheat; which in the present been sold somewhat dearer. A guinea may times, at three and sixpence the bushel, would be reckoned the highest price in the present cost five shillings and threepence. We should times. Even though the quality of the cloths, in the present times consider this as a very therefore, should be supposed equal, and that high price for a pair of stockings to a servant of the present times is most probably much of the poorest and lowest order. He must superior, yet, even upon this supposition, the however, in those times, have paid what was money price of the finest cloth appears to have really equivalent to this price for them. been considerably reduced since the end of the In the tie of Edward IV. the art of knitfifteenth century. But its real price has been ting stockings was probably not known in any much more reduced. Six shillings and eight-part of Europe. Their hose were made of pence was then, and long afterwards, reckon-common cloth, which may have been one of ed the average price of a quarter of wheat. the causes of their dearness. The first perSixteen shillings, therefore, was the price of son that wore stockings in England is said to two quarters and more than three bushels of have been Queen Elizabeth. She received wheat. Valuing a quarter of wheat in the them as a present from the Spanish ambassapresent times at eight-and-twenty shillings, dor.

the real price of a yard of fine cloth must. in! Both in the coarse and in the fine woollen

manufacture, the machinery employed was to restrain, by high duties, the importation of much more imperfect in those ancient, than foreign manufactures, but rather to encourit is in the present times. It has since re-age it, in order that merchants might be enceived three very capital improvements, be- abled to supply, at as easy a rate as possible, sides, probably, many smaller ones, of which the great men with the conveniencies and luxit may be difficult to ascertain either the num-uries which they wanted, and which the inber or the importance. The three capital im- dustry of their own country could not afford provements are, first, the exchange of the rock them.

Conclusion of the Chapter.

and spindle for the spinning-wheel, which, The consideration of these circumstances with the same quantity of labour, will perform may, perhaps, in some measure explain to us more than double the quantity of work. Se- why, in those ancient times, the real price of condly, the use of several very ingenious ma- the coarse manufacture was, in proportion to chines, which facilitate and abridge, in a still that of the fine, so much lower than in the greater proportion, the winding of the worsted present times. and woollen yarn, or the proper arrangement of the warp and woof before they are put into the loom; an operation which, previous to the invention of those machines, must have been extremely tedious and troublesome.-| I shall conclude this very long chapter with Thirdly, the employment of the fulling-mill observing, that every improvement in the cirfor thickening the cloth, instead of treading cumstances of the society tends, either directit in water. Neither wind nor water mills of ly or indirectly, to raise the real rent of land any kind were known in England so early as to increase the real wealth of the landlord, his the beginning of the sixteenth century, nor, power of purchasing the labour, or the proso far as I know, in any other part of Europe duce of the labour of other people. north of the Alps. They had been introduced into Italy some time before.

The consideration of these circumstances inay, perhaps, in some measure, explain to us why the real price both of the coarse and of the fine manufacture was so much higher in those ancient than it is in the present times. It cost a greater quantity of labour to bring the goods to market. When they were brought thither, therefore, they must have purchased, or exchanged for the price of, a greater quantity.

The extension of improvement and cultiva tion tends to raise it directly. The landlord's share of the produce necessarily increases with the increase of the produce.

That rise in the real price of those parts of the rude produce of land, which is first the effect of the extended improvement and cultivation, and afterwards the cause of their being still further extended, the rise in the price of cattle, for example, tends, too, to raise the rent of land directly, and in a still greater proportion. The real value of the landlord's share, his real command of the labour of other people, not only rises with the real value of the produce, but the proportion of his share to the whole produce rises with it.

The coarse manufacture probably was, in those ancient times, carried on in England in the same manner as it always has been in countries where arts and manufactures are in their infancy. It was probably a household manufacture, in which every different part of the work was occasionally performed by all the different members of almost every private fainily, but so as to be their work only when they had nothing else to do, and not to be the principal business from which any of them derived the greater part of their subsistence. The All those improvements in the productive work which is performed in this manner, it powers of labour, which tend directly to rehas already been observed, comes always much duce the rent price of manufactures, tend incheaper to market than that which is the prin- directly to raise the real rent of land. The cipal or sole fund of the workman's subsist- landlord exchanges that part of his rude proThe fine manufacture, on the other duce, which is over and above his own conhand, was not, in those times, carried on in sumption, or, what comes to the same thing, England, but in the rich and commercial the price of that part of it, for manufactured country of Flanders; and it was probably produce. Whatever reduces the real price of conducted then, in the same manner as now, by people who derived the whole, or the principal part of their subsistence from it. It was, besides, a foreign manufacture, and must have paid some duty, the ancient custom of tonnage and poundage at least, to the king. This duty, indeed, would not probably be very Every increase in the real wealth of the sogreat. It was not then the policy of Europe ciety, every increase in the quantity of useful

That produce, after the rise in its real price, requires no more labour to collect it than before. A smaller proportion of it will, therefore, be sufficient to replace, with the ordinary profit, the stock which employs that labour. A greater proportion of it must consequently belong to the landlord.

ence.

the latter, raises that of the former. An equal quantity of the former becomes thereby equivalent to a greater quantity of the latter; and the landlord is enabled to purchase a greater quantity of the conveniencies, oruamer ts, or luxuries which he has occasion for.

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