in immediate intercourse with each other, oscillated during the first hundred years subsequent to the discovery of the new continent, between 1: 10,7 and 1: 12; and in the two last, continues between 1: 14 and 1:16. This fluctuation is very far from depending solely upon the relative quantities of the two metals annually obtained from the bosom of the earth. The ratio of their values is very soon modified by the cost of mining, by the demand or necessities of consumers, by the greater or less expense of transport, by the application of metals in the manufacture of plate and other metallic articles. The simultaneous action of so many elements, joined to the facility of transmission amid the so general and so rapid commerce of the world, and to the immense quantity of metals accumulated in Europe, prevents now any partial oscillation in the relative value of gold and silver, from being very considerable or long continued. Of this, we may be convinced at any sudden interruption in production, as for instance, after the revolution in Spanish America; or even by instances of extraordinary employment of one only of the precious metals in the operations of an active mint. Thus, during the ten years from 1817 to 1827, there has been coined in England more than 1.294.000 marcs [650.000 lbs. avoirdupois nearly] of gold; and yet this consumption of gold raised the rate of gold and silver in London* only from 1: 14,97 to 1: 15,60. And still, at the close of 1837, one buys in London a pound of gold for 16,65 pounds of silver. We shall offer presently the numerical elements for the solution of a problem, in which it is proposed to determine what moditications are to be expected from the gradual and simultaneous action of the recent mines in the Ural and those of North America.

The mass of precious metal reaching Europe since the discovery of America up to the Mexican revolution, amounts for gold, to 10.400.000 marcs of Castile, [5.284.686 lbs. avoirdupois] and for silver, to 533.700.000 marcs [271.195.843 lbs. avoirdupois ;] and in value together to 5940 millions piastres [say 6000 millions of American dollars.] The silver taken in this interval from the American soil is here calculated upon the intrinsic value of the piastre, that is to to say, 0,903 fine; so these 533.700.000 marcs of standard silver make only 481.931.100 marcs [i. e. 244.889.846 lbs. avdp.] of pure silver. This would be equivalent to a sphere of pure silver having a diameter of [90,15 English feet.] Such a reduction to form and size is as admissible as other analogous figurative valuations. If, for instance, the product of silver from Spanish America for the whole period of 318 years, be compared with the product of iron from some European States for only a single year, [while we have for the former as before, a sphere of 90 English

See the recent excellent work of J. G. Hoffman, entitled Lehre vom Gelde, [Science of the Mint] 1838, p. 7.

† Such a sphere represents the mass of pure silver which has come from America to Europe in the space of 318 years, from 1492 to 1809. The marc of Castile is 0,229 killogramme. [Taking its better attested weight of 3557 grains English, it corresponds more nearly to 0,2305 kilogr. or 0,5081 lb. avdp. which is the factor actually used in the reduction for the text; which has retained] the specific gravity of silver at 10,474. Of the two analogous valuations in spheres given in the second edition of my Essai Politique, &c. (t. iii. p. 418, 459,) and expressing the mass of silver from 1492 to 1830, both in silver of the piastre-standard and of fine, the first is exact; in the second must be read 26,37 instead of 20,47 metres in diameter.

feet in diameter] we find according to the estimate of M. de Dechen, a distinguished geologist, spheres of pure [malleable] iron for Great Britain of 148 Paris feet, [157,7 English feet] for France 111 feet, [118,3 English] and for the Prussian monarchy 76 feet [81 feet English;] so great is the difference of quantity in these two metals, silver and iron, found in that portion of the earth's crust which man has been able to penetrate.*

While the current of gold and silver was thus directed from West to East, it only passed through Spain. Very little of it remained with the nation; still less was deposited in the royal treasury. Ferdinand the Catholic (as the admirer and friend of the great monarch, writes a few days after his death) died so poor that they did not know how to procure the money necessary for the suitable habiliments of the attendants who were to wait upon the funeral procession. I give this remarkable passage of his letter to the Bishop of Tuy:† Madrigalegium villulam Regis tibi alias descripsi. Tot regnorum dominus totq. palmarum cumulis ornatus, Christianæ religionis amplificator et prostrator hostium, Rex in rusticana obiit casă; et pauper contra opinionem hominum obiit. Vix ad funeris pompam et paucis familiaribus præbendas vestes pullatas pecuniæ apud eum neque alibi congestæ, repertæ sunt; quod nemo unquam de vivente judicavit. [Madrigalejos, the country-seat of the King, I have elsewhere described for you. Lord of so many realms, wearer of so many laurels, diffuser of the Christian religion, and vanquisher of its enemies, the King died in a rustic cabin; and, contrary to all opinion, died poor. Hardly money enough for the ceremony of the funeral and furnishing the few domestics with mourning suits, was found either upon him or elsewhere; what no one, while he lived, ever would have thought.] Ranke, in his dissertation on Spanish finances, has treated of the pecuniary embarrassments of Charles V. The ingenious historian has completed and confirmed by new documents the official vouchers] which I have given [elsewhere] of the small quantity

The estimate for Great Britain is upon the mean product of crude iron during 1828-30. (McCulloh, Dict. of Commerce, 1834, p. 736.) This mean is 617.352 tons or 12.149.487 Prussian quintals. The diameter of a sphere of crude iron, the product of one year, will be consequently 175 Prussian feet, or 169 Paris feet, [180 English feet.] Crude iron yields, when converted into bars, 5-7 of its weight. For the production of France has been taken that of the year 1835, (Resumé der Travaux Statistique, p. 61) 2.690.636 metrical quintals [of 100 kilog.] equal to 5 227 905 Prussian quintals or 1.345.000 tons English very nearly. In the States of Prussia, the production of crude iron was for the year 1836, 1.651.598 quintals [or 83.932 tons English.]

† Petri Mart. Epist. lib. xxix. No. 556 (xxiii. Jan. 1516.) Nine years later, the gold-washings of Hispaniola were already exhausted. Sugar and hides are alone mentioned as articles of export. Tres habemus ab Hispaniolâ naves (writes again Anghiera) saccareis panibus et coriis boum onustas. (Ep. No. 806, Kal. Mart. 1525.) This passage is important in the history of commerce; since the first sugarcane was planted in S. Domingo only in 1520 by Pedro Atienza.

Ranke; Fürsten u. Völker, &c. [Princes and People of the South of Europe] t. i. p. 347-355.

Essai Politique, &c. t. iii. pp. 361 — 482, 421–428. The working of the mines did not yield 3 million of piastres [dollars] a year, until 1545. The ransom of Atahualpa amounted, according to Gomara, to 52000 marcs of silver [about 425.000 dollars of our standard] and the booty (the pillage of the temples at Cuzco) according to Herrera, to the value of 25700 marcs, only.

of precious metals which the mines of America and the pretended treasures of the Incas yielded.

A more exact knowledge of the history of the metallurgic production or of the gradual developement of the great metalliferous beds in the New World, shews us why the lowering of the value of the precious metals, or (what is the same) the rise in price of wheat and other indispensable products of the soil and of human industry, was felt most sensibly only about the middle of the 16th century, and especially from 1570 to 1595. It was then only that the masses of silver from the mines of Tasco, of Zacatecas and of Pachuca in New Spain, of Potosi, of Porco and of Oruro, in the chain of the Peruvian Andes, begun to be distributed more uniformly over Europe and to affect the price of grain, of wool and of manufactured goods. The true opening and working of the mines of Potosi by the Spanish conquistadores, dates from the year 1545; and the celebrated sermon of Bishop Latimer before Edward VI.,* in which he expresses his indignation at the rise in price of all the most necessary articles, dates on 17 January, 1548. The laws relating to cereal grains, promulgated in England from 1554 to 1688, evince still better, if possible, than the prices of grain which have been collected by Fleetwood, Dupré des Saint Maur, Garnier and Lloyd, the accumulation of specie. The exportation of coin is, as wel know, only allowed there when the price of a certain measure reaches a scale determined by law. This limit was under Queen Mary, in 1554, 6 shillings a quarter; under Elizabeth, in 1593, about 20 shillings; and in 1604, under James I. more than 26 shillings. These figures are without doubt of great importance; but their explanation requires special circumspection, inasmuch as the problem of the price of grain, and indeed of prices generally, is highly complicated, and as the legislation of each epoch was under the domain of theoretical opinions very variable, was influenced by the aristocracy, the proprietors of the soil, and was controlled even by the unequal accumulation of money and merchandise at different points. Besides the changes of temperature, (the mean of the Spring and Summer months) which favour the culture of cereal grains, do not extend at the same time over the whole of agricultural Europe. Even the improvement in culture, the better employment of the productive forces of the Earth, modifies prices. Material increase of population and the developement of commerce which results from this increase, augment the demand for specie. Thus, along with the standard which we look for and think to find among the variable prices of grain, we have yet to keep count of two magnitudes which may be simultaneously modifying themselves. The rise in the prices of cereals does not express, even for any country taken by itself, the proportionate increase in the quantity of gold and silver, any more than it informs us of the general mean temperature, and (according to the theory of a great Astronomer) the number of spots on the Sun. We are absolutely without synchronizing data to embrace a large part of Europe; and exact researches have shewn that in Upper Italy, for instance, the rise in price of wheat, wine and oil

* Jacob: On Precious Metals: t. ii. p. 77, 132 and 138.

was much less between the 15th and 16th centuries, than might have been reasonably expected from what was known in England, France and Spain, where the prices of cereals rose quadruple and even sextuple. It is worth while to mention here a numerical result established upon the average prices for a period of fourteen years in the whole Prussian monarchy. This has been calculated with the greatest care, at my request, by the Director of our Statistical Bureau, Mr. PrivyCouncillor Hofmann. In the year 1838, while we can buy at Berlin, for 1 pound of gold, 15 pounds of fine silver, 1611 pounds of copper, and nearly 9700 pounds of iron; the pound of gold is worth, upon the means of the periods 1816-29, and 1824-37, likewise 20794 lb. of wheat, 27655 lb. of rye, 31717 lb. of barley, and 32626 lb. of oats.‡ [For greater illustration, the following Table is constructed to shew at the given epochs the relative value of equal WEIGHTS of the several substances: Gold being unity; as follows:

Gold: 1.

METALS.

Wheat: 0,000048

CEREALS.

Copper: 0,000621 Barley: 0,000032 Silver: 0,064103 Iron: 0,000103 Rye: 0,000036 Oats: 0,000029] The fears which, on the appearance of the work of Jacob (on Precious Metals,) a book of great merit, and which has not received in

* Gianrinaldo Carli; Opp. t. vii. p, 190. Savigny: Geschichte der Rechts [History of Jurisprudence] t. iii. p. 567. Information upon prices in Southern Europe, goes certainly as far back as the 14th century; for, in 1321, Marino Sanuto presented to Pope John XXII. an estimate of the expenses of a crusade which was to divert all the commerce of the East. From this estimate, as well as from the prices given by Balducci Pegoletti, the standard of coins is susceptible of being deterinined much more carefully than it has been yet by those who have occupied themselves with the doctrine of trade and the history of commerce.

=

† Elemencin, in the Mem. of the Roy. Acad. of History; t. vi. p. 553. Wheat (trigo) per fanega [1,6-10 U. S. bushel very nearly] was worth in Spain, from 1406 to 1502, at a mean, 10 reals; from 1793 to 1808, 62 reals, the coin being reduced to the same standard. This result accords with the researches of Say into the prices of cereals in France (Traité d'Econ. Polit. t. i. p. 352.) In the days of the Maid of Orleans, under Charles VII. the hectolitre of wheat, (weighing 75 kilog.) [1653 lb. avdp. nearly 2 bushels by Maryland standard] had fallen as low as 219 grains of silver [267,45 English grains 72 cents in money of American silver standard.] The average price a little before the discovery of America was 263 grains [88 cents;] it had risen to 333 grains [$1 10, nearly] in 1514; under Francis I., to 731 grains [$2 40;] under Henry IV., to 1130 grains [$3 72.] Lavoisier found that from 1610 to 1789, there had been an appreciation in the ratio of 1130 to 1342 grains. In 1820, a hectolitre cost in France 1610 grains [$5 30;] counting 9216 of these grains in a pound, or 0,489 kil. (See also Letronne: Considerations gener. sur les Monn. Grecques: p. 118, 123.) Ascending from the middle ages, we find a rise in the price of cereals. Under Valentinian III., in 446, the hectolitre was worth 344 grains of silver; and in the decline of the Republic, at the time of Cicero, as much as 528 grains. The results of Durean de la Malle give prices still higher. (Comptes Rendus, July, 1838, p. 84.)

The basis of this important statement are as follows: In the Statistical Bureau at Berlin, is registered, monthly, the market-price of the four principal kinds of grain in every port of Prussia; and the average is then taken for each separate province. From these averages, is then deduced at the end of the year, the mean prices for the whole year; and from a series of these means has been made up the averages for fourteen years in this manner: from among the prices of the following fourteen years is taken out, every time, the two highest and the two lowest, and the ten terms left are then added; the tenth of this aggregate is considered as the mean price of the fourteen years in question. In this operation, which embraces the time

Germany the attention it deserves, were spreading on account of the diminished import of precious metals from the New Continent, have not been realized. The metallic production, fallen so low from 1809 to 1826, has nevertheless, in spite of the troubled state of Spanish America, risen afresh to three-fourths of what it was when I left those countries. In Mexico, according to the most recent intelligence, which I owe to the attention of the Prussian Chargé d'Affaires, Mr. de Gerolt, the working has amounted to 20 and even 22 millions of piastres; a result for which, the chief contributions (besides that of Zacatecas) have come from the recently worked mines of Tresnilla, of Chihuahua, and of Sonora.

During the last peaceful epoch of the Spanish domination, I could not estimate the mean yield of the mines of Mexico at more than 23 millions piastres (about 53.700 kil. [1.184.000 lb. avdp. nearly] of silver, and 1600 kil. [3500 lb. avdp.] of gold. The account was then more easily ascertained; for there was but one central mint, and the laws restricted the commerce to a few ports. In no other place in the world was the activity greater then than in this central mint, which coined in domestic gold and silver, from 1690 to 1803, 1353 million piastres; and from the discovery of New Spain until its Independence, about 2028 million piastres, i. e. two-fifths of all the precious metals which

from 1816 to 1837, there results for the Prussian bushel [scheffel bushel, very nearly] the following prices: viz.

= = 1,56 U. S.

Pfenins.

10,5-9

1,5-9

8,1-9

8,1-3

[This table is given here just as it is printed; but there is manifestly an error. The two last cyphers in the column of thalers should be zeros ] The corresponding points for the four cereals are per bushel in Prussian lbs. (of two mares of Cologne) 85, 80, 69, and 52. The pound of gold is estimated in the silver coin of Prussia at 439 th. 11 sgr. 6,6-13 pf. The comparison of the two periods, 1816-29, and 1824-37, shews a fall in prices in the Prussian States of 14,2-7 per cent. for wheat; 11 per cent. for rye; 12 per cent. for barley; and 11,13-17 for oats;—a diminution which is attributable in great degree to enhanced production and better use of the soil. (Dieterich; Uebersicht des Verkaufs [View of Commerce] 1838, p. 174.) I consider this diminution here as entirely independent of the influence or supply of precious metals.

It is only this year [1837] that Mr. Ternaux Campans, in his extremely interesting collection of Original Memoirs of the Discovery of America (Conquest of Mexico, p. 451,) has published an official list of the sums sent between 1522 and 1587 by the Viceroys of New Spain to the mother country. I did not find this list in the Mexican archives. It is very remarkable, and shews that my former estimates of the metallic yield of Mexico, (Essai Polit. t. iii. p. 414) were yet a little too high. A contrary opinion has been of late frequently expressed. From the administration of Fernando Cortez up to the year 1552, when the mines of Zacatecas were just opened, the export rarely amounted in a year to 100000 peros [or piastres, dollars very nearly.] From this epoch, it took a rapid rise. In the years 1569, 1578, and 1587, it was already respectively 931.564, 1.111.202, and 1.812.051 peros of gold. These sums are calculated, not upon the piastres, but upon these peros of gold, [they must be multiplied at a mean by 11 in order to represent the value in dollars.] See the instructive work of Mr. Joseph Burkhardt: Aufenthalt ú. Reisen in Mexico, &c. [Residence and Travel in Mexico from 1824 to 1834] 1st Part: p. 360, 385. Second Pt.: p. 74, 152.