The Express.
London, England, 1851-12-27 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, SATURDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 27, 1851.

MIDAS. Spain forfeited pre-eminence in Europe by
the discovery of unbounded treasures—does England
belong to a different order of humanity? May
she despise the warnings of history, proudly confiding
in her energy, her knowledge. and her power?
It is not probable that England will be exposed to
precisely the same danger that overwhelmed Spain.
The Anglo-Saxon race is not likely to be stripped, by
anything which can bo dug out of the ground, of
that sole foundation of abiding prosperity, the vigour
and laborious activity of its sons. 'Neither will Eng-
land be brought under the withering influence of
monopoly. She will not be crushed with the
exclusive possession of the golden fountain.
And yet her danger, probably from a too
sudden plethora of gold surpasses that of most
other European countries : so extensive and com-
plicated are the ramifications of her trade, so over-
whelming:the vastness of her public and private obliga-
tions. Moreover, she stands almost alone in the adop-
tion of a gold standard ; the one single circumstance
which renders the increase or diminution of the
It supply of gold from the mines of any importance.
I But whence this indifference, this calmness?
Whence this absence of anxiety in the classes
'so seriously threatened? Two feelings keep the
surface of the nation's tranquillity as yet un-
broken : it is not believed that great results
are likely to happen; and, secondly, supposing
considerable effects arc destined to 'be produced
by an augmentation of the gold currency, most people
are unable to predicate what those effects shall pre-
cisely be, either as to their character or extent. As
to the disbelief of any important revolution coming
to pass, it is enough to appeal to history. s'.
has occurred in the 16th century may be repeated in
the 19th. The enormous fall in the value of the
Precious metals occasioned by the discovery of America
is an example of what our own generation may wit-
ness,—a warning to prepare ourselves for it in time.
Many monuments of its effect upon prices survive; and
property,—especially theendownients of public institu-
tions,—are seriously affected by it to this day. We read
of wheat at Pis. a quarter, barley at as.; and 4(1. per
yard was specified by a benefactor, who thought ho
was providing the best cloth for ever for the scholars
of Vs inchester ; 41. a year was a common pension for
sending a boy to college; and 104/. was, in the days
of our ancestors, an income for a squire more than
equivalent to 1,0001. in ours.
Nature has not decreed gold shall he always rare
for the express convenience of our currency. The
abundance of gold and silver, either absolutely or
relatively to each other, is fixed by no law. It was
accident only. though a most fortunate one, which
has made their supply for nearly three centuries so
steady in itself, and in such exact equal proportions
for both metals. But we may not hope for the con-
tinuation of this great advantage. the Californian
mines were the discovery hut of yesterday, and yet
they are already contributing as annual amount of
upwards of twelve millions of gold ; Australia
promises equal abundance. The distant region of
Siberia will probably not be backward in the race.
The annual produce of all the gold and silver mines
was estimated in 143.1 by Mr. 11.Cessocit at six mil-
lions, of which less than one was gold. What results
may not he looked for, if California alone keeps up
its present yield? Geologists have sought to remove
oar apprehensions of such an abundance of gold sad
silver as would render them useless for furnishing
a standard of value, by speaking of superficial de-
posits, and river-beds enriched by the abrasion and
decomposition of mountains during countless ages,andl
ridiculing the expectation of discovering permanent
mines. But they may share the fate of those
scientific sophists, who pronounced the ocean impasse-
Me for a steamer, at the very time when practical
linerchants were building the ship that achieved the
'enterprise. The solid quartz has refuted these specu-
lations by treasures so diffused throughout its sub-
stance as to be invisible to the eye: and London and
Paris already abound with new companies, formed to
ransack the foundations of the American continent.
The operation of the Spanish discoveries on the
value of the precious metals was rapid; but it may
be found to be slowness itself when compared with
the speed which the progress of civilisation will
confer on modern mining. The powers which
engineering and chemistry now command, the
facilities of locomotion, the ample store of
capital seeking employment, the predominance of
peace, may compel the earth to give up its treasures
with a promptitude befitting the age which invented
the locomotive engine and the electric telegraph.
Illeulitlcsa, as gold becomes cheaper, larger quantities
will be used for plate and in the arts generally; it ,
will circulate in countries where at present it is set- 1
door seen ;it will be hoarded more commonly. It is
true, also, that the quick growth of new nations over
the globe creates a demand for gold, which, but for
augmented supplies, would have immensely enhanced
its value. But all these impediments to its over-
flowing, and consequent depreciation, may prove
almost cobwebs to arrest the might of ca-
pital and skill, wielded by men flocking together
from various quarters of the world. If the subterra-
nean deposit of the royal mineral does but exhibit
the same powers of endurance as the silver, much
less as lead or ironstone, who shall assert it to be
impossible that before this generation shall have
passed away. gold shall have almost overtaken silver
in plentifulness, and reduced the sovereign nearly to
the level of the shilling?
What would be the consequences of such an in-
crease of nature's bounty ? In those countries which
have made silver the standard of value, that is,
which direct all payments to be made in silver, an
enlarged supply of gold would be purely beneficial.
Gold would be cheaper. As a material' excellently
adapted by its natural qualities to many orna-
mental and useful purposes. it would come into much
larger demand. It would not, it is true, be such a
characteristic indication of riches as it is now. If
sold cost no more than silver, gold plate would not
be a better instrument of ostentation than silver. But
in all the arts, for which its natural virtues give
it a peculiar fitness, it would be extensively con-
sumed. If, too, supposing it to experience only
a moderate fall, the value of the gold coin, as
expressed in the silver mirrency, was properly ad-
justed to the bullion price of gold. it would
probably be largely used as a substitute for
silver in the currency: silver being too cumbersome
and too inconvenient to be carried about in great
quantities. Such countries would 'simply obtain a
great command of a useful metal. Life would be
adorned without a single drawback of disadvantage.
There would be no derangement of the value of
property; no rise or fall of prices; no contracting of
debts in coins of one value, and repaying them in 1
another; no confusion, no agitation. The market'
I price of gold would have fallen ; that would be all. I
But what would be the effect in England, where
the law adopts gold as the standard—where gold is
the solo legal tender for sums above two pounds
—where quarter-ounces of gold (within a small
fraction) are coined, and have given to them the
arbitrary definition of pounds, and where all pm-events
must be effected by such quarter-ounces, or
pounds? The ease here is wholly different from
what it would he where silver is the stan-
dard. And in England, if the supply of gold swells
very greatly beyond its present limits. the attention
of statesmen can scarcely fail to be called to the re-
adjustment of our standird.