142

INCREASE OF COIN AND

CHAP. XXT.

their wealth—not as measured by money, but incorn; in cattle; in the improved condition of thesoil; in the number, condition, and furniture oftheir houses; in their implements of industry anddomestic utensils ; in their fuel and clothing ; inthe stocks of goods in stack-yards, barns, shops,and warehouses ; in their carriages for business orpleasure ; in their ships and boats; and, in short,in all the various descriptions of real wealth—we may fairly conclude that the five million fivehundred thousand individuals in 1700 enjoyed atleast double the amount of material wealth thatwas possessed by the three million eight hundredthousand in 1600. If that conclusion be admitted,it must follow, that as the new commodities wouldfor the most part not be consumed by those whoproduced them, but must have been exchangedfor money, more than double the quantity of silverand gold in the form of coin must have been re-quired for easy circulation, and to keep theirmoney prices from falling.

This view has been more minutely directed toEngland than can be necessary with respect to theother European commonwealths. Some few of thosecountries advanced both in wealth and populationat a more rapid pace than England. It was thecase with Holland; with the Netherlands , thencomprehending the part now known as FrenchFlanders ; with the plains of Lombardy ; andperhaps with that which now makes a part of