CONTENTS
OF THE
FIRST VOLUME.

BOOK I.
 
Of Population and Agriculture.
 
Introduction, Page 1
 
Chap. I. Of the government of mankind, 6
 
Chap. II. Of the spirit of a people, 8
 
Chap. III. Upon what principles, and from what natural causes, do mankind multiply; and what are the effects of procreation in countries where numbers are not found to increase? 17
 
Chap. IV. Continuation of the same subject, with regard to the natural and immediate effects of agriculture, as to population, 21
 
Chap. V. In what manner, and according to what principles and political causes does agriculture augment population? 26
 
Chap. VI. How the wants of mankind promote their multiplication, 31
 
Chap. VII. The effects of slavery upon the multiplication and employment of mankind, 36
 
Chap. VIII. What proportion of inhabitants is necessary for agriculture, and what proportion may be usefully employed in every other occupation? 41
 
Chap. IX. What are the principles which regulate the distribution of inhabitants into farms, hamlets, villages, towns, and cities? 46
 
Chap. X. Of the consequences which result from the reparation of the two principal classes of a people, the farmers and the free hands, with regard to their dwelling, 50
 
Chap. XI. Of the distribution of inhabitants into classes; of the employments, and multiplication of them, 59
 
Chap. XII. Of the great advantage of combining a well digested theory, and a perfect knowledgeknowledge of facts, with the practical part of government, in order to make a people multiply, 67
 
Chap. XIII. Continuation of the same subject, with regard to the necessity of having exact lists of births, deaths, and marriages, for every class of inhabitants in a modern society, 75
 
Chap. XIV. Of the abuse of agriculture and population, 82
 
Chap. XV. Application of the above principles to the state of population in Great Britain, 95
 
Chap. XVI. Why are some countries found very populous, in respect of others, equally well calculated for improvement? 101
 
Chap. XVII. In what manner, and according to what proportion, do plenty and scarcity affect a people? 109
 
Chap. XVIII. Of the causes and consequences of a country being fully peopled, 114
 
Chap. XIX. Is the introduction of machines into manufactures prejudicial to the interest of a state, or hurtful to population? 119
 
Chap. XX. Miscellaneous observations upon agriculture and population, 124
 
Chap. XXI. Recapitulation of the first book, 149
BOOK II.
 
Of Trade and Industry.
 
Introduction, 161
 
Chap. I. Of the reciprocal connections between trade and industry, 166
 
Chap. II. Of Demand, 172
 
Chap. III. Of the first principles of bartering, and how this grows into trade, 175
 
Chap. IV. How the prices of goods come to be determined by trade, 181
 
Chap. V. How foreign trade opens to an industrious people, and the consequences of it to the merchants who set it on foot, 184
 
Chap. VI. Consequences of the introduction of a passive foreign trade among a people who live in simplicity and idleness, 190
 
Chap. VII. Of double competition, 196
 
Chap. VIII. Of what is called expence, profit, and loss, 205
 
Chap. IX. The general consequences resulting to a trading nation, upon the opening of an active foreign commerce, 206
 
Chap. X. Of the balance of work and demand, 216
 
Chap. XI. Why in time this balance is destroyed, 225
 
Chap. XII. Of the competition between nations, 232
 
Chap. XIII. How far the form of government of a particular country may be favourable or unfavourable to a competition with other nations, in matters of commerce, 237
 
Chap. XIV. Security, ease, and happiness, no inseparable concomitants of trade and industry, 250
 
Chap. XV. A general view of the principles to be attended to by a statesman, who resolves to establish trade and industry upon a lasting footing, 261
 
Chap. XVI. Illustration of some principles laid down in the former chapter, relative to the advancement and support of foreign trade, 272
 
Chap. XVII. Symptoms of decay in foreign trade, 278
 
Chap. XVIII. Methods of lowering the price of manufactures, in order to make them vendible in foreign markets, 283
 
Chap. XIX. Of infant, foreign and domestic trade, with respect to the several principles which influence them, 301
 
Chap. XX. Of luxury, 306
 
Chap. XXI. Of physical and political necessaries, 311
 
Chap. XXII. Preliminary reflections upon inland commerce, 319
 
Chap. XXIII. When a nation, which has enriched herself by a reciprocal commerce in manufactures with other nations, finds the balance of trade turn against her, it is her interest to put a stop to it altogether, 328
 
Chap. XXIV. What is the proper method to put a stop to a foreign trade in manufactures, when the balance of it turns against a nation? 336
 
Chap. XXV. When a rich nation finds her foreign trade reduced to the articles of natural produce, what is the best plan to be followed? And what are the consequences of such a change of circumstances? 343
 
Chap. XXVI. Of the vibration of the balance of wealth between the subjects of a modern state, 359
 
Chap. XXVII. Circulation, and the balance of wealth, objects worthy of the attention of a modern statesman, 374
 
Chap. XXVIII. Circulation considered with regard to the rise and fall of the price of subsistence and manufactures, 394
 
Chap. XXIX. Circulation with foreign nations, the same thing as the balance of trade, 414
 
Chap. XXX. Miscellaneous questions and observations relative to trade and industry, 426
 
Chap. XXXI. Recapitulation of the second book, 482
BOOK III.
OF MONEY AND COIN.
 
PART I.
 
The principles of money deduced, and applied to the coin of Great Britain.
 
Introduction, 523
 
Chap. I. Of money of accompt, 526
  What money is ——
  Definitions ——
  Money a scale for measuring value, ——
  Principles which determine the value of things 527
  Prices not regulated by the quantity of money, ——
  But by the relative proportion between commodities and the wants of mankind, 528
  Necessity of distinguishing between money and price, 529
  Money of accompt what, and how contrived, ——
  Examples of it, 531
  Bank money, ——
  Angola money, ——
 
Chap. II. Of artificial or material money, ——
  Usefulness of the precious metals for the making money, 532
  Adjusting a standard, what? 533
  Debasing and raising a standard, what? 534
  The alteration of a standard, how to be discovered? ——
  Of alloy, ——
 
Chap. III. Incapacities of the metals to perform the office of an invariable measure of value, 535
 
  1. They vary in their relative value to one another, ——
  All measures ought to be invariable, ——
  Consequences when they vary, 536
  Defects of a silver standard, 537
  Arguments in favour of it, ——
  Answers to these arguments, 538
  Usefulness of an universal measure, 539
  They have two values, one as coin, and one as metals, 540
  Smaller inconveniences attending material money, ——
  It wears in circulation, ——
  It is inaccurately coined, 541
  The coinage adds to its value, without adding to its weight, ——
  The value of it may be arbitrarily changed, ——
  Trade profits of the smallest defects in the coin, ——
 
Chap. IV. Methods which may be proposed for lessening the several inconveniences to which material money is liable, 542
  Use of theory in political matters, ——
  Five remedies against the effects of the variation between the value of the metals, ——
  Remedies against the other inconveniences, 544
  Against the wearing of the coin, ——
  Against inaccuracy of coinage, ——
  Against the expence of coinage, ——
  Against arbitrary changes in the value of coin, 545
 
Chap. V. Variations to which the value of the money-unit is exposed from every disorder in the coin, ——
  How the market price of the metals is made to vary, ——
  The variation ought to be referred to the rising metal, and never to the sinking, 546
  How the money-unit of accompt is made to vary in its value from the variation of the metals, 547
  Consequences of this, ——
  The true unit is the mean proportional between the value of the metals, ——
  The unit to be attached to the mean proportion upon a new coinage, not after the metals have varied, 548
  It is better to affix the unit to one, than to both metals, 549
  Variation to which the money-unit is exposed from the wearing of the coin, ——
  Variations to which the money-unit is exposed, from the inaccuracy in the fabrication of the money, 550
  Variation to which the money-unit is exposed from the imposition of coinage, 551
  When coinage is imposed, bullion must be cheaper than coin, ——
  Exception from this rule, 552
  Variation to which the money-unit is exposed by the arbitrary operations of Princes in raising and debasing the coin, ——
 
Chap. VI. How the variations in the intrinsic value of the unit of money must affect all the domestic interests of a nation, 553
  How this variation affects the interests of debtors and creditors, ——
  A mistake of Mr. Locke, 555
  When the value of the unit is diminished, creditors lose; when it is augmented, debtors lose, 556
 
Chap. VII. Of the disorder in the British coin, so far as it occasions the melting down or the exporting of the specie, 558
  Defects in the British coin, ——
  Of the standard of the English coin and money-unit, ——
  A pound sterling by statute contains 1718.7 grains troy fine silver, 559
  The guinea 118.644 grains fine gold, ——
  Coinage in England free, ——
  The standard not attached to the gold coin till the year 1728, 560
  Consequences of this regulation to debase the standard, ——
  That debtors will not pay in silver but in gold, ——
  That some people consider coin as money of accompt, 561
  Others consider it as a metal, ——
  Operations of money-jobbers, when the coin deviates from the market proportion of the metals, or from the legal weight, 562
  They melt down when the metals in it are wrong proportioned, ——
  And when the coin is of unequal weight, ——
  Why silver bullion is dearer than coin, ——
  Because that species has risen in the market price as bullion, and not as coin, 563
  What regulates the price of bullion? 564
  1. The intrinsic value of the currency, ——
  2. A demand for exporting bullion, 565
  3. Or for making of plate, ——
  Exchange raises, and the mint price brings down bullion, ——
  Continuation of the operations of money-jobbers: their rule for melting the coin, 566
  The price in guineas equal to the price of shillings of 65 in the pound troy, ——
  When guineas may be melted down with profit, ——
  Silver is exported preferably to gold, 567
  This hurtful, when done by foreigners, ——
 
Chap. VIII. Of the disorder in the British coin, so far as it affects the value of the pound sterling currency, 568
  Two legal pounds sterling in England, ——
  And several others, in consequence of the wearing of the coin, 569
  Why any silver coin remains in England, ——
  Value of a pound sterling current determined by the operations of trade, ——
  To the mean value of all the currencies, 570
  Exchange a good measure for the value of a pound sterling, ——
  The use of paper money not hurtful in debasing the standard, 571
  The pound sterling not regulated by statute, but by the mean value of the current money, ——
  Why exchange appears so commonly against England, ——
  How the market price of bullion shews the value of the pound sterling, ——
  Shillings at present weigh no more than 1⁄65 of a pound troy, 572
  And are worn 4.29 troy grains lighter than their standard weight, ——
  A pound sterling worth, at present, no more than 1638 grains troy fine silver, according to the price of bullion, 573
  And according to the course of exchange, ——
  Shillings coined at 65 in the pound troy, would be in proportion with the gold, 574
  Which shews that the standard has been debased, ——
  And that the preserving it where it is, is no new debasement, ——
  Proof that the standard has been debased by law, 575
  And is at present reduced to the value of the gold, ——
 
Chap. IX. Historical account of the variations of the British coin, 576
  Purport of this treatise not to dictate, but to inquire, ——
  How the disorder in the coin may be remedied without inconveniences, ——
  By making the nation itself choose the remedy, 577
  If the present standard is departed from, every other that might be pitched on is arbitrary, ——
  People imagine the present standard is the same with that of Queen Elizabeth, 578
  Debasements of the standard during the reformation, ——
  Raised by Edward VI. ——
  Debased by Elizabeth, ——
  Supported by her successors, ——
  Until it was debased by the clipping, after the revolution, 579
  Lowndes’s scheme refuted by Locke: the standard raised to that of Elizabeth, and the consequences of that measure, 580
  Silver has been rising from the beginning of this century, ——
  The English standard has been debased by law, since 1726, ——
  The trading interest chiefly to be blamed for this neglect, 581
  Debasing the standard chiefly affects permanent contracts, ——
  And prevents prices from rising as they should do, ——
 
Chap. X. Of the disorder of the British coin, so far as it affects the circulation of gold and silver coin, and of the consequences of reducing guineas to twenty shillings, 582
  Why silver coin is so scarce, 583
  Consequences of fixing the guineas at 20 shillings, with regard to circulation, ——
  Will make coin disappear altogether, 584
  How light shillings are bought by weight, ——
  Consequences as to the circulation with merchants and bankers, 585
  That guineas would still pass current for 21 shillings, ——
  That the standard would be affixed to the light silver, as it was in the year 1695, ——
  That merchants would gain by it, 586
  Debtors would be ruined, ——
  Consequences as to the bank, ——
  Reducing guineas to 20 shillings is the same as making them a commodity, 587
 
Chap. XI. Method of restoring the money-unit to the standard of Elizabeth, and the consequences of that revolution, ——
  How to fix the pound sterling at the standard of Queen Elizabeth, ——
  The consequences of this reformation will be to raise the standard 5 per cent. 588
  Every interest in a nation equally intitled to protection, 589
  Those who suffer by the debasement of the standard, ——
  Ought only to benefit by the restitution, 590
  And not the whole class of creditors, ——
  Whose claim ought to be liable to a conversion, 591
  According to justice and impartiality, ——
 
Chap. XII. Objections stated against the principles laid down in this inquiry, and answers to them, 592
  That a pound will always be considered as a pound, 593
  That the standard is not debased at present, being fixed to the statute, not to the coin, ——
  That the pound sterling is virtually worth 1718.7 grains fine silver, ——
  That these principles imply a progressive debasement of the standard every new coinage, 594
  That the same argument holds for debasing the standard measures of weights, capacity, &c. ——
  That the wearing of the coin falls on them who possess it at the crying down, but does not debase the standard, ——
  That inland dealings, not the price of bullion, or course of exchange, regulate the standard, ——
  That public currency supports the value of the coin, ——
  That this scheme is the same with that of Lowndes, ——
  Answers to these objections, 595
  That a pound will be considered at its worth by all debtors, and by those who buy, ——
  If the standard was affixed to the statute, people would be obliged to pay by weight, ——
  No body can be obliged to pay 1718.7 grains fine silver for a pound sterling, 596
  That it is not the regulation of the mint, but the disorder of the coin which must debase the standard, ——
  That people are obliged to measure by the standard weight, but are not obliged to pay by the standard pound, 597
  That the loss upon light money when called in, does not fall upon the possessors, ——
  That inland dealings cannot support the standard where there are money-jobbers or foreign commerce, 599
  That public currency supports the authority of the coin, not the value of the pound sterling, 601
  That the scheme is similar, though not the same with that of Lowndes, 602
  Lowndes reasoned upon wrong principles, ——
  Locke attended to supporting the standard, without attending to the consequences, ——
  Political circumstances are greatly changed, 604
  Reconciliation of the two opinions, 606
  The question in dispute is not understood, 607
  The true characteristic of a change upon the standard is not attended to, ——
  Principles will not operate their effects without the assistance of the state, 608
  When people understand one another, they soon agree, ——
  Permanent contracts are confounded with sale in the dispute, 609
  The interest of creditors is always the predominant, and determines the opinion of a nation, 611
  Application of principles to the operation the Dutch have lately made upon their coin, 612
  All decisions in political questions depend upon circumstances, 613
 
Chap. XIII. In what sense the standard may be said to have been debased by law; and in what sense it may be said to have suffered a gradual debasement by the operation of political causes, 614
  These proportions appear contradictory, ——
  Debased by law, when affixed to the gold, 615
  Effects which the changing the proportion of the metals has upon melting the coin, and regulating payments, ——
  Payments made by bankers regulate all others, ——
  The standard gradually debased by the rising of the silver, 616
  The proportion of the metals in 1728, supposed to have been as 15.21 is to 1., ——
  By what progression the silver standard has been debased, ——
  The standard of Elizabeth, for the pound sterling, was 1718.7 grains silver, and 157.6 ditto gold, both fine, 617
  The gold standard of her pound worth, at present, 2285.5 grains fine silver, ——
  The variation of the metals has produced three different standards of Elizabeth, ——
  One worth £ 1 0 11⅜ present currency, 618
  Another worth £ 1 7 10⅞ ditto, ——
  And a third worth £ 1 4 5⅛ ditto, ——
  The last is the true standard of Elizabeth for the pound sterling, and worth at present 2002 grains fine silver, and 138 ditto gold, ——
  But may vary at every moment, 619
  Gold rose during the whole 17th century, ——
  And silver has risen since the beginning of this century, ——
  Some positions recapitulated, 620
 
Chap. XIV. Circumstances to be attended to in a new regulation of the British coin, 621
  The adopting of the standard of Elizabeth, has an air of justice, ——
  Advantages of that of Mary I., ——
  Conversions necessary in every case, 622
  Every interest within the state to be examined, ——
  Landed interest examined, ——
  Interest of the public creditors examined, 625
  Interest of trade examined, 628
  Interest of buyers and sellers examined, ——
  Interest of the bank examined, 629
  Inconveniences attending all innovations, 632
  Argument for preserving the standard at the present value, ——
  That every change must either hurt the bank, or the public creditors, ——
  A more easy method of making a change upon the standard, 633
 
Chap. XV. Regulations which the principles of this inquiry point out as expedient to be made, by a new statute for regulating the British coin, 634
  1. Regulation as to the standard, ——
  2. As to the weight, ——
  3. Mint price, ——
  4. Denominations, 635
  5. Marking the weight on the coins, ——
  6. Liberty to stipulate payment in gold or silver, ——
  7. Creditors may demand payment, half in gold, and half in silver, ——
  8. Regulations as to sale, ——
  9. Ditto as to payments to and from banks, &c., ——
  10. All coin to be of full weight, when paid away, ——
  11. Liberty to melt or export coin, but death to clip or wash, ——
  12. Rule for changing the mint price of the metals, 636
  13. When to change the mint price, ——
  14. Rule for changing the denomination of the coins, ——
  15. How contracts are to be acquitted, after a change of the denomination has taken place, ——
  16. The weight of the several coins never to be changed, except upon a general recoinage of one denomination at least, 638
  How these regulations will preserve the same value to the pound sterling at all times, and how fractions in the denomination of coin may be avoided, ——
  17. Small coins to be current only for 20 years, and large coins for 40 years, or more, 639
  18. All foreign coins to pass for bullion only, ——
  Consequences of these regulations, ——