Further Considerations [3]
viz. the quantity of Silver, Men measure the value of all other things. Thus to measure what the value of Lead is to Wheat, and of either of them to a certain fort of Linnen Cloath, the quantity of Silver that each is valued at or sells for, needs only be known. For if a Yard of Cloth be sold for half an Ounce of Silver, a Bushel of Wheat for one Ounce, and an hundred weight of Lead for two Ounces, any one presently sees and says that a Bushel of Wheat is double the value of a Yard of that Cloth, and but half the value of an hundred weight of Lead. Some are of opinion that this measure of Commerce, like all other measures, is Arbitrary, and may at pleasure be varied, by putting more or fewer Grains of Silver in pieces of a known denomination, v.g. by making a Penny or a Shilling lighter or heavier, in Silver, in a Country where these are known denominations of pieces of silver Money. But they will be of another mind, when they consider that Silver is a measure of a nature quite different from all other. The Yard or Quart Men measure by, may rest indifferently in the buyers or sellers, or a third Person's hands, it matters not whose it is. But it is not so in Silver. It is the thing bargain'd for, as well as the measure of the bargain; and in Commerce passes from the buyer to the seller, as being in such a quantity equivalent to the thing sold: And so it not only measures the value of the Commodity it is apply'd to, but is given in Exchange for it, as of equal value. But this it does, (as is visible) only by its quantity, and nothing else. For it must be remenbred, that Silver is the Instrument as well as Measure of Commerce, and is given in exchange for the things Traded for: And every one desiring to get as much as he can of it for any Commodity he sells, 'tis by the quantity of Silver he gets for it in Exchange, and by nothing else, that he measures the value of the Commodity he sells. The Coining of Silver, or making Money of it, is the ascertaining of its quantity by a publick mark, the better to fit it for Commerce. In Coin'd Silver or Money there are these three Things, which are wanting in other Silver. 1. Pieces of exactly the same weight and fineness. 2. A Stamp set on those pieces by the publick Authority of that Country. 3. A known denomination given to these pieces by the same Authority. The Stamp is a mark, and as it were a publick voucher that a piece of such a denomination is of such a weight, and such a fineness, i.e. has so much Silver in it. That precise weight and fineness, by Law appropriated to the pieces of each denomination, is called the Standard. Fine Silver is Silver without the mixture of any baser Metal. Allay is baser Metal mixed with it. The Fineness of any Metal appearing to be Silver, and so called, is the proportion of Silver is in it, compared with what there is in it of baser Metals. The Fineness of Standard Silver in England is eleven parts Silver, and one part Copper, near: Or to speak more exactly, the proportion of Silver to Copper is as an hundred and eleven to nine. Whatever piece or mass has in it of baser Metal above the proportion of 9 to 111, is worse or courser than Standard. Whatever mass of Metal has a less proportion than 9 to 111, of baser Metal in it, is better or finer than Standard. Since Silver is the thing sought, and would better serve for the measure of Commerce if it were unmixt, it will possibly be asked why any mixture of baser Metal is allowed in Money, and what use there is of such Allay, which serves to make the quantity of Silver less known in the several Coins of different Countries? Perhaps it would have been better for Commerce in general, and more convenient for all their Subjects, if the Princes every where, or at least in this part of the World, would at first have agreed on the fineness of the Standard to have been just One twelfth Allay, in round numbers; without those minuter Fractions which are to be found in the Allay of most of the Coin in the several distinct Dominions of this part of the World. Which