14 EFFECT OF COMMERCE CHAP. XVI. 



CHAPTER XVI. 



Of the commerce of Europe in the reign of Henry VII., as 

 affecting the locality of the precious metals. 



THE reign of Henry VII. in England, in which 

 the first discovery of America was made, is a 

 period of peculiar importance to the subject of 

 this inquiry, as it was that from which the cir- 

 cumstances of the precious metals began to ex- 

 perience a vast change. Up to that period the 

 decrease in the existing quantity had been pro- 

 ceeding during several centuries, and immediately 

 after, an increase began which has continued 

 without any interruption, though with much 

 variation, to our own time. It would be de- 

 sirable, if it were attainable, to know the quantity, 

 or nearly the quantity, of those metals existing in 

 the form of coins, and that in the shape of utensils, 

 or of bullion ; but as that knowledge cannot be 

 obtained, it may be desirable to attempt some 

 mode of estimation, which at least may have a 

 plausible approximation to truth. 



It was supposed that the stock of gold and silver 

 could be increased by compulsory laws, and it was 

 therefore by acts of the legislature, both of Eng- 

 land and Scotland, decreed that all merchants, 



