صفحة 667 من 2651

In proportion to the annual produce of the land and labour,

therefore, their quantity must be greater in those countries than

in any other part of Europe; those countries, however, are poorer

than the greater part of Europe. Though the feudal system has

been abolished in Spain and Portugal, it has not been succeeded

by a much better.

As the low value of gold and silver, therefore, is no proof of

the wealth and flourishing state of the country where it takes

place; so neither is their high value, or the low money price

either of goods in general, or of corn in particular, any proof

of its poverty and barbarism.