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bour which a pound of silver will command, must measure its power of purchasing in China, arising from intrinsic causes; it follows, that the value of money or of any other commodity in China, is measured by the quantity of Chinese labour which a given portion of it will command.

It is thought by some persons, that the cheap food and small quantity of it which is supposed to be earned by the Chinese labourer, must imply a low value of labour; but if things are in their natural state, what it really implies, is, that this food, however low in value it may appear to us, is of high value in China. The great demanders of the commonest sort of food in all countries are the labouring classes; and if a labourer in ordinary employment, and working with ordinary energy and skill, can, on an average, only obtain a comparatively small quantity of such food, it is a proof that its permanent supply compared with the demand is very scanty, and on the common principle of supply and demand, it must be of high value there.

To come to an instance nearer home. There is reason to believe that the common labourer of the Netherlands is as strong, and works for as many hours in the day as the English labourer. In the great business of agriculture, in which so large a part of the population of every country is employed, he is supposed to be peculiarly skilful, and in many manufactures he has been generally considered as excelling the workmen of most of the countries of Europe. Yet his wages measured in money are decidedly lower than in England. Is this owing to the lower value of labour in the Netherlands, or the higher value of money? To the latter most assuredly; and the cause of it unquestionably is, that though the great mass of the labourers in the Netherlands may work with as much energy and skill as the great mass of English labourers; yet a certain proportion of the latter, assisted by superior machinery, more abundant capitals and cheaper fuel, are able to produce a large quantity of