صفحة 468 من 2651

But if you add one twentieth to one sixth, you will find that the

whole average rent of the tin mines of Cornwall, was to the whole

average rent of the silver mines of Peru, as thirteen to twelve.

But the silver mines of Peru are not now able to pay even this

low rent; and the tax upon silver was, in 1736, reduced from one

fifth to one tenth. Even this tax upon silver, too, gives more

temptation to smuggling than the tax of one twentieth upon tin;

and smuggling must be much easier in the precious than in the

bulky commodity. The tax of the king of Spain, accordingly, is

said to be very ill paid, and that of the duke of Cornwall very

well. Rent, therefore, it is probable, makes a greater part of

the price of tin at the most fertile tin mines than it does of

silver at the most fertile silver mines in the world.