ts claim to our gratitude. The fact of its being accomplished,
proves that it is a good thing.

B. But Bacon's axiom is true in the case of gold and silver. If we
admit that at a certain moment there exists in the world a given
quantity, it is perfectly clear that one purse cannot be filled without
another being emptied.

F. And if gold is considered to be riches, the natural conclusion is,
that displacements of fortune take place among men, but no general
progress. It is just what I said when I began. If, on the contrary, you
look upon an abundance of useful things, fit for satisfying our wants
and our tastes, as true riches, you will see that simultaneous
prosperity is possible. Cash serves only to facilitate the transmission
of these useful things from one to another, which may be done equally
well with an ounce of rare metal like gold, with a pound of more
abundant material as silver, or with a hundred-weight of still more
abundant metal, as copper. According to that, if the French had at their
disposal as much again of all these useful things, France would be twice
as rich, although the quantity of cash remained the same; but it would
not be the same if there were double the cash, for in that case the
amount of useful things would not increase.

B. The question to be decided is, whether the presence of a greater
number of crowns has not the effect, precisely, of augmenting the sum of
useful things?

F. What connexion can there be between these two terms? Food,
clothing, houses, fuel, all come from nature and from labour, from more
or less skilful labour exerted upon a more or less liberal nature.

B. You are forgetting one great force, which is--exchange. If you
acknowledge that this is a force, as you have admitted that crowns
facilitate it, you must also allow that they have an indirect power of
production.

F. But I have added, that a small quantity of rare metal facilitates
transactions as much as a large quantity of abundant metal; whence it
follows, that a people is not enriched by being _forced_ to give up
useful things for the sake of having more money.

B. Thus, it is your opinion that the treasures discovered in
California will not increase the wealth of the world?

F. I do not believe that, on the whole, they will add much to the
enjoyments, to the real satisfactions of mankind. If the Californian
gold merely replaces in the world that which has been lost and
destroyed, it may have its use. If