PREFACE. 



THE following sheets owe their composition to 

 the friendship with which, during more than 

 twenty-five years, I had been honoured by the late 

 Mr. Huskisson. It will be readily believed that 

 his penetrating mind and assiduous habits would 

 lead him to accurate views of the influence of the 

 precious metals on the industry of mankind. He 

 saw that an increase in the production of the mines 

 might act as a stimulus to excite industry, inven- 

 tion, and energy ; whilst a decline in their pro- 

 duce might have the contrary tendency. He 

 looked with attention to other consequences which 

 might arise from the failure or defalcation of the 

 mines, and considered the effect of gold and silver 

 on the production of wealth to be of less im- 

 portance than the influence it would exercise on 

 the distribution of it in the complex situation of 

 the several classes of which modern society in 

 Europe is composed. Whether any and to what 

 extent a diminution in the supply from the mines 



