The Express.
London, England, 1852-12-23 00:00:00

THE INFLUX OF GOLD.

TO TES lIDTTOD OF TIN DAILY JOWL
6114—The late arrivals of a large quantity of gold
from Australia, and the announcement that more instill
on its way, and that new gold fields have been dis-
covered, have again attracted attention to the stan-
dard of value, and the mousy apprehensions of its
depreciation are becoming more lively. It seems as
if the public still remembered or felt by tradition the
Inconveniences inflicted on society in former times
by arbitrary changes in the standard of value, and
anticipated as much evil from an event in the course
of nature as from a fraudulent wrong. It was by a
series of occurrences that might, without harshness,
be so characterised, that the old silver standard was
I displaced by a gold standard. It cannot, however,
be got rid of.
In all the journals there appears every week
announcementi an
that gold s so much-0.42
per cent. last week—dearer in London than in
Pars; or so much cheaper--0.83 per cent. a
few weeks ago—in Loudon than in Hamburg ;
or so much dearer-0.671 per cent.—in London
than in New York. Now, this dearness or cheap-
ness of gold is clearly not in relation to corn,
or cotton cloth; fur its relation to them is expressed
by their price. Nor does it express any absolute
want of gold, for there is much more in the Bank of
England than the director* or thc:r customers—the
real owners of the bullion—know what to do with ;
and yet gold is dearer in London than in Paris and in
New York, and was only temporarily cheaper • few
weeks ago in London than in Hamburg.
When we look at the terms of these comparative
exchanges,we find that the price or value of gold in Paris
is said to be about I per mine premium, according to
the new tariff, which expresses its relation to silver;
that the price of gold in Hamburg is about 4313 per
mark, which is a silver coin, and that the comparison
is made with the English mint price for standard
gold, 77,. 103 d. The price of gold, therefore, in
all the three markets and all over the world
means its value in silver, and in comparison
to its value in silver it is said to be dearer or cheaper
Thus, in spite of our Mint regulations making gold
our standard of value, that standard is continually
measured and its value determined by silver.
It has always been so. Our own pound sterling
was originally a pound weight of elver, and nothing
else, the value of which, by sundry fraudulent mea-
surer., in process of time, was reduced to about a third
of its denomination. From general and long usage—
usage as old as history—if not from natural circum-
stances prescribing it, silver, not gold, may be said to
be the universal, if not the natural, measure and
standard of value.

In 1816 the legislature, under the influence of
opulent landlords, first declared, after • forced
depreciation, that gold should henceforward be
our standard, though it has ken impossible to
prevent its value from being measured by the
universal standard. In all our transactions with
for.:igners, in the exchangeswith every other country,
in every capital of Europe, the value of the sovereign
is measured by silver.
The lesson assigned for preferring gold to
i
ulcer in our country, and on which it s still de-
fended, was that being a very rich nation, the more
vAluable metal, gold, was more suitable to our cir-
cumstances than silver. One of our self laudations
is, that a man is not obliged in England, as in some
countries of the continent, to carry about with him
a pound or two of silver for his ordinary expenses.
We learn, however, from experience, that the use of
gold for the opulent classes is not incompatible with
silver being the basis of a currency. The
p ovalence of Napoleon d'Ors, Frederick
d'Ors, and a variety of other gold coins
on the continent, demonstrate that satisfactorily.
'fhoso who advauccd the theory of the superiority of
a gold standard, and who still maintain it, forget
that the great multitude of every commuuity—ol
ours as of evert other—ia not composed of the opu-
lent. The few only arc rich, and the bulk of the
people are poor. It is very pleasant to those who
always have sovereigns in their pockets to have a
gold standard, but it is not so convenient to those
who rarely retain a sovereign in their possession;
and the statesmen who substituted the gold for the
silver standard forgot or despised the bulk of the
people.
It is worthy of notice too that now, when there
is a probability of gold becoming depreciated, and
adapting it in some degree more than formerly to
the use of the multitude, proposals are creeping into
notice to change the standard, in order that the
opulent chases—those especially who have claims on
the industry of the present and the next generation
—may not suffer the shadow of a shade of pecuniary
injury. The fact shows how exclusively still our
legislation, our habits, our thoughts, are moulded on
the old aristocratic form of society. In fact, though
it may appear strange to some, opinion does nut
mould society, but society moulds opinion, and our
opinions are still very generally moulded by the old
aristocratic 'society which has passed away. It will
take some time yet to fashion them on the democratic
society now only growing into existence.
A silver measure of Talus, though not so agreeable to
the upper andopuleat chuses,is far more suitable to the
wants and condition of the ses; of the people than a
gold measure of value. And ea low denomination,
it has been long ago obesead, Is peculiarly useful to
the lower classes. It 'SOW them to subdivide their
expenses, it ensures use eery in small matters, it
answers better for all their habitual purchases, but
their wants and their wisttss bend no voice in the
Withal% and a seisms peculiarly acceptable and
poseliarly useful to rats classes exclusively was
adopted. For the lower classes deteriorated counters
were thought sufficient, and the money appointed for
their use is in reality a cheat, for it does not possess
the value which the law assigns to it.
At present, silver in England in relation to gold is
dear, and a poor man, who had saved a hundred
shillings, would find no difficulty in exchanging
them for five sovereigns. We recollect a time, how-
ever, when silver coin was very redundant and gold
scarce, and when the man whose daily or weekly
war, paid in silver, could sot procure, for a hundred
stains, five sovereigns. Though there is no pro-
bability, at present, of such a circumstance occurring,
it may occur, and then the man who had received his
wars in shillings and hoarded them up would be
unable to pay a debt of 51. with lOUs. If this kind
of injustice bo not practically and frequently com-
mitted on the labouring classes it is the result of
circumstances totally different from our laws and our
Mint regulations.
To relieve our want of silver coinage, it has been
proposed to coin gold Os. pieces. Formerly, borrower,
• gold coin for 7.. was tried, and rejected is too small
for ma Such • coin would be very unsuitable to the
lower dime% who are particularly interested in mall
sums. Delwin or alloying the gold largely with
silver crappie, asking it into rings instead of dins
base boss sesiested as a means of extending the sine
of • small welt tof gold. After all these and other
similar seipsaiores have been examined, it will le
found, if the horny-handed multitude be considered,
that a silver Os. piece, or, better still, an cam of
silver, or the teeth part by weight of a pound if we
are to have the decimal system, with the Mint
stamp on it, will be the best. For them it would be
something tangible, and their wants can only bo met
by a good silver and good copper coinage.
For the bulk of the people and for the bulk of
transactions, silver—the almost universal measure
of value—is a better measure than gold. Silver,
therefore, should be adopted.
The silver coinage, as by far the mat in use, re-
quires the most attention. It is by the silver coin-
age that the most extensive frauds have been perpe-
trated. The pounds, too, or the gold coinage, being
the money of the rich, have a strong tendency, ac-
cording to the old proverb, to take care of themselves.
At present the use of gold coins is practically very
much restricted by the use of paper, which cannot so
conveniently and advantageously be substituted for
silver. Thus the government has paid the most at-1
tention to the coinage least in use, the compara-
tively unimportant money of the rich, and has ne-
glected or abused its trust in relation to the most
important part of the coinage, the money of the
bilk of the people. Hence there is now a want of
silver in circulation.
But even our gold coinage is involved in a mass of i
incongruities inexplicable, unless we carry back thei
attention through a long series of transactions.
Doubloons still weigh about an ounce of gold, and
are called " Ounces" in several parts of South
America as dollars still weigh about an
ounce of silver. All adage was originally multi-
ple, or aliquot parts by weight of some unit, like our