The Sun.
London, England, 1866-06-11 00:00:00

Arrivals of Gold from America.

No event could more clearly show the gift of
prophecy, the judgment, the extensive knowledge
of its subjects—especially when these subjects are
American—possessed by the Times, than the im-
mense influx of gold from the United States into
this country. Our contemporary commenced the
year by prophesying all manner of disaster to Great
Britain from the excessive and incautious export
trade, by which its merchants were permitting
the Americans to run up a heavy debt, which
they would be unable to pay. We were told
these liabilities could not be met, and eventually
lead to losses which would end in panic both here
and there. Instead, however, of this trade bring-
ing on the ruin predicted, its effect has been to save
England in the most terrible financial collapse
experienced within the memory of the present
generation. Whatever pays a Yankee to export,
that article be will export—whether it be cotton or
whether it be gold. Cotton fell and gold rose ; so
instead of bales of cotton, boxes of the precious
metal poured into Liverpool. So long as America
is at peace, the looms of Manchester will never
be idle for want of the raw material, nor will
the acute American hoard gold if the price
in England makes it profitable for him to export it.
It is at times like these the advantages of a trade
with such a nation are most clearly seen. The Action
of Continental Europe was to extract bullion from
London in the hour of the greatest pressure, thus
aggravating intensely the panic. On the other
hand, the action of the United States was to flood
this country with her gold in that same hour of her
dire distress. When our till here was becoming ex-
hausted—when our credit was at the lowest ebb,
and negotiations were said to have been entered into
with France to strengthen the Bank of England, the
opportune arrival of millions sterling from New
York saved the great commercial mart of the world
from suing as a borrower in a foreign country.
Here is a contrast between a prophecy and a fact;
and here is a contrast between our trade with the
United States and Continental Europe. The action
of the timid dealers in the latter aggravates the
panic by withdrawing gold—the action of the for-
mer allays the panic by pouring the precious metals
into the vacuum thus created. So the cause confi-
dently predicted by the leading journal as about to
create a panic, has allayed one, and that organ has
shown itself as little able to appreciate what the
effects of the commerce between the nations is likely to
be, as it was in predicting to what • the financial
measures adopted by the Union during the War
were likely to lead. We have not yet seen the
crash that was again and again foretold as about to
take place in the States. If anything could teach
the writers in the Times that they are really igno-
rant of America and the Americans, we would-sup-
pose these constant failures would have that effect.
The United States cannot be judged from an Euro-
pean point of view. However right in theory these
writers may be, practically there are material dif-
ferences, which even the statesmen of the Union
itself may be unable fully to appreciate, and for
which there are no examples to act as a guide—the
history of the world producing no parallel to the
youth, vigour, and unbounded resources of the
great Republic. But though the influx of gold
may be of more temporary importance to the com-
mercial interests here than the influx of American
visitors to which we have elsewhere alluded, we
hail more joyfully the advent of the people, for we
attach the greater importance to the personal in-
tercourse of the nations than to the interchange of
commodities, however opportune may be the ex-
change for the moment.—Anglo-American Times.