The Sun.
London, England, 1852-09-01 00:00:00

THE SUN,

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LONDON, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 1852•

Some people have been so sagacious as to compare the
present desire of the public to embark in joint-stock
companies with the " mania" eras of 1825, 1835, and
1845. In our humble judgment the cases are the
reverse of parallel. Six-and-twenty years ago, with
a money plethora, JOHN BULL sank twenty-five
millions sterling in foreign loans, money as much
and as irretrievably lost as if it had been cast into
the bottom of the sea. Within the last seven-and-
twenty years (taking into account the money thus
wasted in foreign loans, what was spent in foreign
mines, and what has been invested in foreign rail-
ways), over one hundred millions have gone out of
this country. Of this amount, three-fourths are lost
for ever. What would be the value of the balance
should circumstances involve this country in war ?
Superabundance of money creates speculation.
When only two per cent. can be obtained for capital
(on account of its plenty), the capitalist naturally
seeks investments which promise more. Thus, in
1825, money being very plentiful, somewseixrelaupnrdorjeedetaendd,
twenty-fourwhich
over
seventeen joint-stock companies
millions
and a half were
In 1835 the same game was
played, Ypaid
a
ans depts
immenseand osi
sum likewise raised by way
of deposits in public companies. In 1845 the " mania"
was at its height, and, besides numerous other joint-
stock speculations,
as
e many
so
rise money
to.e fourteen
railway companies registered. Over
one
hundred
hun-
dred millions f ray
we
changed hands in the transac-
tions they gave

Now again, money is so plentiful that it cannot be
very profitably employed. Consols, during this
summer, have been as high as 102. At this moment
they are over par. The result is that, once again,
people are inclined to joint-stock speculations. These
have chiefly been limited to the auriferous produce of
America and Australia—thA latter being the fa-
vourite scene of operations, as being our own terri-
tory, wherein, under the protection of the law, life
and property are safe. It appears to us that, on
the whole, the investments in such speculations
are considerably less than might have been
anticipated. The amount received by all
the companies now before the public is less than, in
1845, would have been obtained on account of ten
railway schemes of the second class, making
1,100,0001.—the full amount of all the deposits yet
received by ALL the mining companies of 1852.
No one, therefore, can pretend that there is much of
a " mania" at present. Speculations they are—as
every commercial enterprise must be,—but when
gold is to be had for the mere digging for it, and
when, in some cases, large tracts of country yielding
abundance of the precious metal, have been exclu-
sively secured, by lease or purchase, for particular
companies, it would be ridiculous to deny that the
prospects of a profitable yield are most favourable
and promising. When runaway convicts gain for-
tunes in " the diggins," without organization, with-
out capital, without the machinery which money can
procure and organization properly apply, it will be
odd, indeed, if associated bodies, with the requisite
funds, have not abundance of success.
It is maintained that, at the present market prices,
the sum of 1,200,0001., or ten per cent. premium
might be obtained for the shares on which the sum
of 1,100,000/. hes been paid. Ten per cent. is a con-
siderable yield on such an investment, made, as is
obvious, on present expectation of a future profit.
But the question is beyond this. It may be put
thus :—lf there be tcl,tu per cent. profit already, on
the contingency abo'
,named, what will the profit be
when the returns com,
'n .071 Dotal nEuarsitinna ? The
supply, by all accounts ;3 exhaustless. Gold is to be
found in Australia in) almost unlimited quantities.
Suppose that a man hid invested 1001. in a railway
company, would he not think four per cent. per
annum, a very fair return ? That is what may be
anticipated from Australia! For example, the
Burrs copper-mine was discovered in 1845, when the
colony of South Australia was exceedingly depressed.
With extreme difficulty a capital of 20,0001. was
raised, in five pound shares, to purchase the land.
After the first year, each five pound share has been
worth 1201. If such be the result as to copper, what
may be looked for from gold ?
The future historian of the time will probably
wonder at the very trifling amount of joint-stock
speculation now. The whole investments of this
year have not involved such payments as were
actually made in a single day in 1845—made, too,
on the chance of a speculation receiving incorpora-
tion companies
sendwhereoaust the mining
raise
and
otifonlBfrso2mhaPvaerloina
Parliament,
refine
the golden wealth with which nature has so profusely
enriched the soil of New South Wales.

and we must add very
graAnndoiothsee,ratvteermy enpthearic
sgehteen,
made by Blackwood to
smooth the way before the present Cabinet in anti-
cipation of the meeting of Parliament. Nothing, we
must admit at once, can exceed the mingled energy
and industry of our contemporary. He steps out in
the first instance with an ill-concealed air of import-
ance—although disclaiming the idea of being in aay
way officially authorized to appear before the public as
a sort of political pursuivant to the administration.
After insisting upon this point very decidedly, Black-
wood—as if aware that there is really no time what-
ever to be lost in merelyapologetic and complimentary
introductions—adventures boldly upon his somewhat
difficult enterprise of preparing the path before the
DEBBY Government. The offices assumed by the
writer in this direction, it must be acknowledged,
are at any rate the most diversified, and even anoma-
lous in their character. At one moment he is lustily
sounding the trumpet of party to the glorification
of the PRIME MINISTER, and the whole troop of his
Ministerial
_ colleagues. At another he is whistling
don the whole of the motley Members of the Oppo-
si"e a, and this, as it were, with the shrillest tokens
of disgustand contumely—whi • stling them down, as
Frenchmen
used
flant stir les clesill*
s.enaetimes to whistle down any ob-
noxious speaker
instant the writer 'iui:!l.3l`
the Chamber of Deputies, souf-
a l'extermination 1 At one
approachiulackwood is daintily strewing
before the
gaudiest weeds
alas ! sometimes also,
Ministers the most delicate
flowers of compliment,
tbh
before
fovreepeople,
p the
eeo,
leadersf_ fla t t e r
andy.
the A t
here and there, the
right and left,
another he is bludgeoning
poles wsahlkou. should like
to clear the way pleasantly
subalterns of the new Government,t
soN once said that, if he were akiig,Dhoctor JOHN-
in the streets, to knock everybody
to have two fellows with lcng
be-
foreon way. Blackwood
seems to be doing this kind office gratuitously before
the bead who stood in his
then
the Chieftain of the DERBY Administration.
Where-
eversbcloundceeoanprarAsntd b e
come ao
" in the
way”adnowunnftucoormensatthee
g
handful of other flowers and weeds, and another blast
on the trumpet.
Repeatedly before now we have insisted upon the
extraordinary difficulty of the position in which the
Earl of DERBY and his colleagues have been placed
ever since they were suddenly called to assume the
cares of state during the course of last February. We
have maintained that anything like precipitate con-
demnation would be ungenerous towards a Cabinet so
surprised into existence, and the members of which
nevertheless consented, in spite of all the accu-
mulated dangers of the em to take upon
themselves, almost at an emergency,
ours warning, the
onerous responsibilities of
wards administration. Up- I
of six months have elapsed since then i
—and still we have said to the country, Let
us hear what Ministers havenew
before
to say on the assembling
in the Parliament, eforewe consent, while still
dark, with eyesblindfolded by circumstances,
to pronounce thesentence of their condemnation. We
have regretted that
has the revelation of the DERBY
policy not been
latest delays of that n earlier. We have considered the
revelationunnecessary. We have
complained that there
been evidenced of late an
undue amount of proc;asas
at
the same
Yet we have per-
severed in declaring
time that it would be
unfair and ungenerous to condemn the Government I