304 % FRENCH JEWELLERS. CHAP. XXVI. 



the cost of the gold is not more than one-fifth of 

 the price of the finished goods 1 ." He adds, " All 

 the statements I have been enabled to obtain, 

 either from my official situation, or from the 

 manufacturers, induces me to conclude that the 

 gold and silversmiths in France employ annually 

 of the two metals to the amount of sixteen 

 millions of francs, and the jewellery appropriates 

 annually to the amount of four millions ; of this 

 about three-fifths is used in Paris alone." 



According to these representations it is seen, 

 that the watchmakers, goldsmiths, and jewellers 

 together, must apply gold and silver in their 

 several fabrics to the amount of twenty-nine 

 million four hundred and fifty thousand francs, 

 or one million two hundred thousand pounds 

 sterling. 



These views of the consumption of gold and 

 silver in France were taken by the ex-minister in 

 the year 1819, when internal security had been 

 scarcely established, and when the foreign trade 

 had assumed no fixed and regular form. Since that 

 year, from all accounts, the trade in each of the 

 branches here noticed had been vastly extended, 

 and a proportionate quantity of the precious 

 metals must have been consumed. The increase 

 had gone on regularly up to the events of July 

 1830, when a sudden suspension of this as well as 



1 Chaptal, vol. ii. p. 164. 



