The Press.
London, England, 1853-08-06 00:00:00

THE RUN FOR SILVER.

EvinxNcx accumulates by every arrival to
corroborate the views which have been pro-
pounded in the Press as to the phenomena now
in process of development, arising out of the
altered proportions of the precious metals
consequent on the recent discoveries of gold.
In 1840 the annual production of gold was
1,290,0001., and that of silver 6,852,274/. In
1850 the yield of silver has been very slightly
increased, whilst that of gold has suddenly
been multiplied THIRTY-lOU.
In every currency in the world a certain
proportion of silver and small coin is neces-
sarily implied in relation to the quantity of
gold in circulation, which, as it is mixed with
alloy, is necessarily below standard value.
But, independently of this, silver and gold,
like every marketable commodity, must be
subjected to a certain fluctuating value, cal-
culated on the extent of their comparative
production and demand ; and hence the un-
foreseen abundance of gold, whilst it has
tended, and is inevitably tending, to render
that metal cheaper, has simultaneously com-
municated an increased importance to silver,
the comparative scarcity of which has already
rendered it dearer throughout every country
on the globe.
Hence the unprecedented export of silver
from the United Kingdom is at the rate of
weirs million ounces per annum. Irrespective
of the shipments of silver to Europe, our ex-
ports of that metal in 1852 were, to India
direct, 1,075,000 ounces; and to Egypt, whence
the specie finds its way to China and the
Presidencies, 11,600,000 ounces. A similar

SATURDAY,

commotion is simultaneously disturbing the
of 'try in Europe. In
• a choice
Finance is

. gold—
cheaper
' silver,
ce and
alarm
of the

so profit-
within the

necessary
to apply a remedy, by raising the export duty
on silver specie, which had been 100 reis, or
about 51d. per mark (of eight ounces), to 1,000
reis, or four shilling! and sixpence per mark—an
impost of no less than twelve per cent., which
it has become essential to enforce, in order to
retain sufficient silver for the circulation of
the kingdom.

But a still more remarkable state of things
appears to prevail in Western Mexico, which,
though a silver-producing region, has been par-
tially denuded of its supply of silver coin. So
scarce has the minor currency become that retail
trade has been absolutely checked by the im-
possibility of giving small money in exchange
for gold ; and squares of soap, stamped with
the seals of the municipalities, have come into
circulation as coin on that portion of the
Pacific coast.

Farther south the resources of Chili have
received a singular and unexpected impulse
from the same cause. The mountains of that
region abound in silver ores of a very peculiar
quality, inasmuch as the principal metal is
found in such combination with copper and
antimony that its extraction is a matter of
difficulty in any case, but of impossibility there,
owing to the absence of machinery and fuel.
In addition to this, even the tractable ores
have hitherto yielded but an inadequate pro-
portion of their silver, in consequence of the
imperfect system of amalgamation to which
they were subjected by the, Chilian miners.
The whole range of coast is therefore covered
with these hitherto almost valueless products.
But since the discoveries of gold at California an
entirely new trade has sprung up in Chili,
the vessels returning from San Francisco
finding it a profitable adventure to drop down
to Copiapo and Caldera to load with the in
tractable ores and regulus, from which the
silver is now being extracted in extensive
works upon the Thames, and to bring home
the rejected refuse of the Chilian mines for
further treatment in England. Still, so insuf-
ficient are these expedients to meet the rising
demand for silver in every country in Europe,
that the supply is inadequate to the demand, and
the price of the metal, which was four shillings
and eleven pence seven-eighths per ounce in 1848,
has risen steadily in every year since, and was
quoted last week at ss. lid., having already
touched ss. ltd. before the Bank had raised
the rates of discount, in order to check immo-
derate speculation.
In the face of these accumulating facts,
however, our Government still hesitate to take
any measure for the relief of our commerc.
with India, in which, by the strangest and
most indefensible of all anomalies, we carry
on a prodigious trade (and one which could
be almost indefinitely increased, did we en-
courage and develop as we might the cultiva-
tion of cotton in our possessions there), binding
ourselves to pay in a metal which we have
already a difficulty in procuring, and which is
daily becoming dearer so long as the produc-
tion of gold and silver goes on increasing in a
distorted proportion.
In October last the Government of the
Earl of DERBY relieved our colonies east of
the Cape of Good Hope—in which the
silver coins of India and the United King-
dom passed current as an unlimited ten•
der—by issuing an order in council that
"in Australia, New Zealand, Ceylon, Mau-
" ritius, and Hong-Kong, the coins of our
" United Kingdom shall pass current in the
" manner directed in the several acts of Par.
" liament which regulate the currency of the
" same ; and that the silver coins of our United
" Kingdom shall not be a legal tender in pay-
" ment of sums exceeding forty shillings." But
this relief, whatever convenience it may yield to

currency of every country in Europe
France, where the. currency presents a
of either metal, the Meister of Fina
alarmed ;,t the riOdity
,with which
whiehts,4coming '.. .re ihtindant and c:
—is bsupikrsecling ' : 4roulation of
, zr
which 41 tweet,- .%owing scare
mot.* v4thible. In ' ugal an equal
has peen...excit4 lor e rapid drain
silver coinage, which it has become so
able a sOeculation to export that, witl
last month, the Cortes have seen it nec

AUGUST 6, 1853.

the internal currency of those possessions, will
be absolutely nugatory and nil, as regards their
trade with the East India Company's territories,
so long as the system which has been abolished
in our Eastern colonies is tolerated without
alteration there. What relief will it be to
Australia to draw her supplies from Madras or
Calcutta if she can only pay for them in a metal
which she cannot command, whilst her own
boundless supplies of gold are rejected as a
legal tender? Or what benefit will Mauritius
and Ceylon derive from an arrangement the
object of which is to facilitate the circulation
of gold in these islands, whilst they are still to
remain under the compulsion to pay for their
supplies of labour and rice in the costly
rupees of the East India Company?
So obvious is the evil of the present system,
so urgent the necessity of doing justice to the
commerce of Great Britain and our colonies
by its redress, that, whatever may be the im-
policy of delay, we repeat our conviction that
the proposal of Mr. DISRAELI fin• making gold
a legal tender in India is one whose ultimate
adoption is inevitable. The measure now in
progress for reconstructing the Government of
India seems to present an opportunity in every
respect suitable for conducing to this change;
and, should it be neglected by her Alajesty's
Ministers, Parliament cannot fail to be early
urged by the country to take the necessary
steps for correcting the omission.