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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.