one question only is to be asked: at what rate is specie to be procured? If it be high, trade declines for want of a due encouragement, and of the active intercourse by which it should be sustained. If, on the other hand, it be low, the circulation is animated and revived by the extension of its limits, and by the distribution of the funds among the most useful and industrious part of the nation. Spain, which, in 1500, paid an interest of ten per cent. reduced it, in 1550, to four per cent. by the rapid and excessive augmentation her treasury acquired by the discovery of America.
As the merchant does not contract a debt, unless to acquire by his industry, a substantial profit; and as the lender does not advance his money, unless to appropriate to himself a part of this advantage; it is certain that the interest is a pension imposed by the rich possessor on the active trader. Consequently, in a state, the prosperity and opulence of which depend on the augmented number and labour of men, it is important that this burthen should be light.
The superiority and advantages of a state are founded on the extension and combination of its commerce. When the interest of money is reduced, more persons are enabled to trade, because there are more lenders, and because the consumption is augmented by the opportunity of selling at a more commodious price. The low rate of interest, and the moderate value of the merchandizes, are naturally derived from an extended commerce, which, by the production of great funds, diminishes the interest and the gains. There being such an intimate connexion between the causes and effects, the interest of money may be considered as the true barometer of the prosperity of a kingdom; as the sure token of the activity of
