222 INCREASE OF COIN CHAP. XXIV. 



continental kingdoms it is probable there has been 

 a progress made, but it has been attended with 

 many and lengthened interruptions in all of them, 

 and in some the effects of those interruptions were 

 felt during many of the years of tranquillity which 

 followed the events of 1814 and 1815. 



Viewing Europe as a whole, comprehending 

 with it England, and taking into the view the 

 United States of America which had risen from 

 low beginnings to become a wealthy and inde- 

 pendent power, we are compelled to believe that 

 the whole mass of material wealth had increased 

 at a rate much beyond that which has been shown 

 to have been the rate of increase of the precious 

 metals. If we could be led to estimate the rate 

 of the advance in material wealth to have been 

 very much beyond the increase of the rate of me- 

 tallic wealth, we might expect that the prices of 

 commodities in general would have fallen instead 

 of having risen in the period under consideration. 

 It must, however, be borne in mind that times of 

 internal turbulence favour the conversion of me- 

 tallic wealth from articles of luxury into current 

 coin. This operation especially was proceeding in 

 the early part of the wars which originated in the 

 French revolution. In France itself the most tan- 

 gible property of the royal and noble families who 

 became emigrants was their plate and jewels. The 

 same was the case with the churches, monasteries, 

 and other public establishments. Whether that 



