obtained, no fall in the exchangeable value would induce other consumers
to come forward, or those who are already supplied to take more. Let us
suppose that this is the case in Germany with cloth. Before her trade
with England commenced, when 10 yards of cloth cost her as much labour
as 20 yards of linen, she nevertheless consumed as much cloth as she
wanted under any circumstances, and if she could obtain it at the rate
of 10 yards of cloth for 15 of linen, she would not consume more. Let
this fixed quantity be 1000 times 10 yards. At the rate, however, of 10
for 20, England would want more linen than would be equivalent to this
quantity of cloth. She would consequently offer a higher value for
linen; or, what is the same thing, she would offer her cloth at a
cheaper rate. But as by no lowering of the value could she prevail on
Germany to take a greater quantity of cloth, there would be no limit to
the rise of linen, or fall of cloth, until the demand of England for
linen was reduced by the rise of its value, to the quantity which one
thousand times ten yards of cloth would purchase. It might be, that to
produce this diminution of the demand, a less fall would not suffice,
than one which would make 10 yards of cloth exchange for 15 of linen.
Germany would then gain the whole of the advantage, and England would be
exactly as she was before the trade commenced. It would be for the
interest, however, of Germany herself, to keep her linen a little below
the value at which it could be produced in England, in order to keep
herself from being supplanted by the home producer. England, therefore,
would always benefit in some degree by the existence of the trade,
though it might be in a very trifling one.

But in general there will not be this extreme inequality in the degree
in which the demand in the two countries varies with variations in the
price. The advantage will probably be divided equally, oftener than in
any one unequal ratio that can be named; though the division will be
much oftener, on the whole, unequal than equal.

2. We shall now examine whether the same law of interchange, which we
have shown to apply upon the supposition of barter, holds good after the
introduction of money. Mr. Ricardo found that his more general
proposition stood this test; and as the proposition which we have just
demonstrated is only a further developement of his principle, we shall
probably find that it suffers a little, by a mere change