THE WEALTH OF NATIONS.

209

like trinkets, of which the whole amount is seldom of greatv alue. In the British coin, indeed, the value of the gold pre-ponderates greatly, but it is not so in that of all countries.In the coin of some countries the value of the two metals ispearly equal. In the Scotch coin, before the union with Eng-la nd, the gold preponderated very little, though it did some-what,* as it appears by the accounts of the mint. In the coinmany countries the silver preponderates. In France , theJar gest sums are commonly paid in that metal, and it is theremthcult to get more gold than what is necessary to carrya b°ut in your pocket. The superior value, however, of thes dver plate above that of the gold, which takes place in allCou ntries, will much more than compensate the preponde-ra ncy of the gold coin above the silver, which takes place° n Jy in some countries.

Though, in one sense of the word, silver always has been,probably always will be, much cheaper than gold; yet,tL a o 0t1 ' er sense, gold may, perhaps, in the present state ofe Spanish market, be said to be somewhat cheaper than sil-Ver - A commodity may be said to be dear or cheap, not onlyac ?ording to the absolute greatness and smallness of its usualP ri ce, but according as that price is more or less above the°West for which it is possible to bring it to market for any^° n siderable time together. This lowest price is that whicharely replaces, with a moderate profit, the stock which muste e mployed in bringing the commodity thither. It is theP r me which affords nothing to the landlord, of which rentl^akes not any component part, but which resolves itself al-together into wages and profit. But, in the present state ofe panish market, gold is certainly somewhat nearer to thisowest price than silver. The tax of the king of Spain upongold is only one-twentieth part of the standard metal, or fivePer cent.; whereas his tax upon silver amounts to one-tenthpart of it, or to ten per cent. In these taxes too, it has alreadyeen observed, consists the whole rent of the greater part ofunnrf° i s H v er mines of Spanish America; and thatnmfite^f +v. 1S worse paid than that upon silver. ThejL.„l m , he ^ nd ertakers of gold mines too, as they moreratP X a ff a for „ tu , ne > mu st, in general, be still more mode-of Q iaa I 10se the undertakers of silver mines. The priceProfh^ 18 1 • ' ’ therefore, as it affords both less rent and lesst, must, in the Spanish market, be somewhat nearer to the

See Ruddiman’s Preface to Anderson’s Diplomala, &c. Scotia.