THE WEALTH OF NATIONS.

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the tax upon gold; so silver might rise in its price in pro-portion to labour and commodities, notwithstanding an equaldiminution of the tax upon silver.

Such successive reductions of the tax, however, thoughthey may not prevent altogether, must certainly retard, moreor less, the rise of the value of silver in the European mar-ket. In consequence of such reductions many mines maybe wrought which could not be wrought before, because theycould not afford to pay the old tax; and the quanti ty of silverannually brought to market must always be somewhat greater,and, therefore, the value of any given quantity somewhat less,than it otherwise would have been. In consequence of thereduction in 175G, the value of silver in the European mar-ket, though it may not at this day be lower than before thatreduction, is, probably, at least ten per cent, lower than itwould have been, had the Court of Spain continued to exactthe old tax.

That, notwithstanding this reduction, the value of silverhas, during the course of the present century, begun to risesomewhat in the European market, the facts and argumentswhich have been alleged above, dispose me to believe, ormore properly to suspect and conjecture; for the best opinionwhich I can form upon this subject scarce, perhaps, deservesthe name of belief. The rise, indeed, supposing there hasbeen any, has hitherto been so very small, that after all thathas been said, it may, perhaps, appear to many people uncer-tain, not only whether this event has actually taken place, butwhether the contrary may not have taken place, or whetherthe value of silver may not still continue to fall in the Euro-pean market.

It must be observed, however, that whatever may be thesupposed annual importation of gold and silver, there must bea certain period, at which the annual consumption of thosemetals will be equal to that annual importation. Their con-sumption must increase as their mass increases, or rather in amuch greater proportion. As their mass increases, theirvalue diminishes. They are more used, and less cared for,and their consumption consequently increases in a greaterproportion than their mass. After a certain period, therefore,the annual consumption of those metals must, in this manner,become equal to their annual importation, provided that im-portation is not continually increasing; which, in the presenttimes, is not supposed to be the case.