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INCREASE OF COIN

CHAP. XXIV.

continental kingdoms it is probable there has beena progress made, but it has been attended withmany and lengthened interruptions in all of them,and in some the effects of those interruptions werefelt during many of the years of tranquillity whichfollowed the events of 1814 and 1815.

Viewing Europe as a whole, comprehendingwith it England, and taking into the view theUnited States of America which had risen fromlow beginnings to become a wealthy and inde-pendent power, we are compelled to believe thatthe whole mass of material wealth had increasedat a rate much beyond that which has been shownto have been the rate of increase of the preciousmetals. If we could be led to estimate the rateof the advance in material wealth to have beenvery much beyond the increase of the rate of me-tallic wealth, we might expect that the prices ofcommodities in general would have fallen insteadof having risen in the period under consideration.It must, however, be borne in mind that times ofinternal turbulence favour the conversion of me-tallic wealth from articles of luxury into currentcoin. This operation especially was proceeding inthe early part of the wars which originated in theFrench revolution. In France itself the most tan-gible property of the royal and noble families whobecame emigrants was their plate and jewels. Thesame was the case with the churches, monasteries,and other public establishments. Whether that