340

GOLD AND SILVER

CHAP. XXVII

changed with other commodities than in countrieswhere it was wanted to perform that office, andwherever it was most wanted it would naturallyflow.

It is seen by the Appendix , No. 14, thatwithin the twenty years from 1810 to 1829, thetreasure transmitted to Europe from India andChina amounted to ^75814,388 sterling, and thiswas almost exclusively gold. It approaches so nearlyto the whole amount which is here estimated to beannually supplied, that it becomes natural to con-sider in what manner the quantity left behindcould satisfy the wants of the inhabitants. Thequantity of coined gold is almost exclusively con-fined to the territories of the East India company.There both gold and silver are coined, but in pro-portions very different from what is practised inEurope . Thus at the mint at Madras, the valueof the silver to the gold that is coined is as fifteento one ; of the rate at Calcutta we have not theexact proportion, but know generally that theformer very far exceeds the latter.

The extension of the dominion of the East India company has lessened the number and diminishedthe splendour of the native independent princes.They were the persons who used or retained thegreater portion of the gold. Before our power was ex-tended, the several princes were either engaged inhostility or preparing for it. To them hoards of trea-sure were necessary, and though gold was not the