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In the cargoes, therefore, of the greater part of European ships

which sail to India, silver has generally been one of the most

valuable articles. It is the most valuable article in the

Acapulco ships which sail to Manilla. The silver of the new

continent seems, in this manner, to be one of the principal

commodities by which the commerce between the two extremities of

the old one is carried on; and it is by means of it, in a great

measure, that those distant parts of the world are connected with

one another.

In order to supply so very widely extended a market, the quantity

of silver annually brought from the mines must not only be

sufficient to support that continued increase, both of coin and

of plate, which is required in all thriving countries; but to

repair that continual waste and consumption of silver which takes

place in all countries where that metal is used.