yards of cloth, which will be in demand, or will find purchasers, at
that price. There is some given quantity of cloth, more than which could
not be disposed of at that price,--less than which, at that price, would
not fully satisfy the demand. Let us suppose this quantity to be, 1000
times 10 yards.

Let us now turn our attention to England. There, the price of 17 yards
of linen is 10 yards of cloth, or whatever quantity of money is
equivalent in England to 10 yards of cloth. There is some particular
number of yards of linen, which, at that price, will exactly satisfy the
demand, and no more. Let us suppose that this number is 1000 times 17
yards.

As 17 yards of linen are to 30 yards of cloth, so are 1000 times 17
yards to 1000 times 10 yards. At the existing exchangeable value, the
linen which England requires, will exactly pay for the quantity of cloth
which, on the same terms of interchange, Germany requires. The demand on
each side is precisely sufficient to carry off the supply on the other.
The conditions required by the principle of demand and supply are
fulfilled, and the two commodities will continue to be interchanged, as
we supposed them to be, in the ratio of 17 yards of linen for 10 yards
of cloth.

But our supposition might have been different. Suppose that, at the
assumed rate of interchange, England had been disposed to consume no
greater quantity of linen than 800 times 17 yards; it is evident that,
at the rate supposed, this would not have sufficed to pay for the 1000
times 10 yards of cloth, which we have supposed Germany to require at
the assumed value. Germany would be able to procure no more than 800
times 10 yards, at that price. To procure the remaining 200, which she