At all times, therefore, when in a country there is bullion, not demanded as such, the proprietor carries it to the mint, he sells it at the mint price; and as this mint price is stated at 8 _per cent._ below the price of coin, he gives it for the price he can get for it: this he does without regret, because, if next day he should want to change his coin into bullion again, he will find it in the market at the same value. If it be farther objected, that rather than carry it to the mint at 8 _per cent._ discount, people will lend it to foreigners: I answer, that if it be lent to foreigners, this lending will turn what we call the balance of trade against England, and then certainly no body will carry bullion to be coined; for in which ever way it happens that more bullion is exported than is imported, in every case the price of exchange and of bullion must rise; and this is constantly constructed, though very improperly, as a balance of trade against England; which, to mention it by the bye, is another reason to prove how ill people judge of the prosperity of trade by the course of exchange, since the lending of money, as well as the paying of debts, equally turns exchange against the country. Bullion, therefore, never will be carried to the mint, when it can be disposed of above the mint price; and both theory and experience, over all Europe, where, England excepted, coinage is imposed, proves, that bullion is carried to the mint, and sold below the price of coin, weight for weight of equal fineness. [Sidenote: How the mint price of the metals may be allowed to vary.] By fixing the mint price at 8 _per cent._ below the value of the coin, it is not necessary that this price be made invariable: a power may be lodged somewhere, by the state, to make deviations from the standard price. A war breaks out; large quantities of coin are exported; specie becomes scarce: May not the state, at such a time, deliver coin at the mint at the current price of the bullion? Let matters come to the worst, the price can never possibly rise above the present value, to wit, that of the coin, when it is preserved at its true weight. If peace returns, and trade becomes favourable, the mint may then be ordered to sink its price, in proportion to circumstances. In short, the mint may receive bullion at different prices, at different times, without occasioning the smallest confusion by such variations in the intrinsic value of the current specie, which must constantly be the same. It is of no consequence to any person who receives it, whether the coinage costs nothing, or whether it costs 8 _per cent._ [Sidenote: Influence of this method of imposing coinage on the price of commodities, and value of the pound sterling.]