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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



to the year 1848 is estimated at a much lower amount 

 by Mr. Tooke than by Humboldt and other previous 

 writers on the subject. The former, we believe, had an 

 opportunity of inspecting the public records, or at 

 least of learning from authority their contents, as to 

 the quantity of gold and silver which passed through 

 the Custom-houses of Spain, and he estimates it at 

 9j millions sterling per annum. Malte Brun also puts 

 the quantity at the value of 39 millions of piastres, 

 which, reckoning the piastre at 4s., gives ^"7,800,000 

 sterling ;* and the Abbe Raynal makes the average for 

 288 years amount to £5,369,318 sterling per annum. 

 Thus Humboldt makes the aggregate for 288 years 

 amount to 2,736 millions, Malte Brun £2,346,400,000. 

 and the Abbe Raynal £1,546,363,584 sterling. On the 

 other hand, Mr. Tooke, following Danson and Jacob, 

 makes the aggregate amount in 346 years, from 1492 to 

 1848, only 1,513 millions, or about 4f millions per 

 annum. The probability is, that the quantity exceeded 

 any of the above estimates, the Custom-house returns 

 being no correct data to go by, on account of the 

 vast quantity which was smuggled out of the countries, 

 by the direct and universal connivance of those em- 

 ployed to prevent it. 



The produce, however, of the mines of Spanish 

 America previous to 1848, has been thrown into the 

 shade by the Californian and Australian discoveries. In 

 nine years from the above period gold alone has been 

 received to the amount of 174 millions sterling, although 

 the Australian deposits of that metal were not discovered 

 until 1851 ; since which, they have produced, up to 

 1856, sixty millions sterling value, in the following pro- 

 portions each year: — 



Thus the q\iantity is annually increasing ; and as the 

 fields in which it is found are of almost boundless extent, 

 this must necessarily be the case, as science and machinery 

 are brought in aid of manual labour in the extraction of 

 the metal from the quartz. The way in which this large 

 quantity of gold has been disposed of is as follows : — 



"average op gold and silver, nine years, 1848 to 

 1856, at the mints op great britain, france, 

 and the united states." 



(1) Gold Coinage, 

 years. england. france. u. states. 



1848 to 1851.. £10,522,000 £16,880,000 £21,478,000 

 1852 to 1856.. 39,856,000 £71,471,000 47,066,000 



Total. ... £50,378,000 £88,351.000 £68,544,000 

 (2) Silver Coinage. 



1848 to 1851.. £372,000 £16,880,000 £1,359,000 



1852 to 1856.. 1,688,000 6,751,000 4,819,000 



Total.... £2,060,000 £23,631,000 £6,178,000 

 It is impossible to estimate to its fullest extent the 



* The following passage occurs in " Harris's Voyages " : — 

 "There was brought into the King's Exchequer, iu Mexico, in 

 1730, one million marks of silver — not more tlian one-fifth oi 

 what was taken from the mines, which gives five millions 

 of marks of 8 ounces each. So that if we compute this silver 

 at 5s. per ounce, then the inhabitants of Mexico receive ten 

 millions sterling annually from the Mexican mines." It is 

 well-known that more than three-fourths the gold and silver 

 was smuggled out of the country. 



influence of this large addition to the metallic circulation 

 of the most commercial countries of the world. In order 

 to arrive at anything like a correct idea on the subject, 

 we must look not only at its effect upon prices, which 

 appears even on the surface, but also in connection with 

 the great enterprises of the age, the condition of at least 

 some of the governments of Europe, and the immense 

 extension of the commerce in those nations which have 

 shared most largely in its distribution. The difference in 

 the operation and effect of this increase upon England and 

 France, regulated by the difference in the political con- 

 dition of those countries, forms perhaps the most striking 

 feature in the history of the discovery. England, secure 

 in a credit, public and private, of unbounded extent, re- 

 ceives the gold from the fields as she would a consign- 

 ment of sugar from the West Indies, or any other com- 

 modity. The gold represents manufactures, and other 

 produce sent out in exchange, upon which the manufac- 

 turers receive their wonted profit : it is with them a 

 transaction of barter. We retain so much of the gold 

 and silver as is required for our metallic circulation, and 

 no more ; the system of paper money — sustained by pub- 

 lic and private credit — answering every purpose of com- 

 merce much better, on account of its convenience. Any 

 man, for instance, would rather receive, and carry about 

 with him, a thousand-pound note than a thousand 

 sovereigns. We, therefore, retain what we require of 

 the gold and silver as specie, and pass the surplus, at a 

 profit, to our neighbours, who receive it with eagerness. 

 Thus, every way, the nation is enriched by the gold, 

 although but a small part of it remains in the country, 

 being only of use in the minor transactions of business 

 at home, and for payments in foreign countries where a 

 barter trade does not exist — as with Russia. 



But with France the case is different, because pub- 

 lic and private credit have a lower standard of 

 value there than in England. It was, indeed, a fortu- 

 nate event for that country that the influx of gold into 

 Europe took place when it did. For, although at an 

 enormous expense and risk of future convulsion, it has 

 enabled the present ruler to maintain his position, and 

 to meet those heavy demands made upon the public re- 

 sources of France in consequence of the Russian war, as 

 well as from thenovel system introduced by him of sustain- 

 ing trade and the public credit. The danger there, will 

 begin when the latter receives a financial shock, which 

 would lead the people to hoard the gold, as was done 

 previous to, and during the first revolution. We should 

 be glad to see France overcome these diflSculties ; but 

 there is no analogy in history to afford data on which to 

 judge of the ultimate effect of the financial policy of 

 Louis Napoleon. The late Mr. Burke, being asked 

 what he thought would be the result of the French 

 Revolution, replied — "It is beyond the power of 

 the most far-seeing man to form an opinion; the Re- 

 volution is an event without precedent, and there' 

 fore without prognostic ." Might not the same be 

 said of the financial policy of the French Government at 

 the present time .' 



With respect to the effect on prices in this country 

 from the influx of gold, Mr. Tooke estimates that the 



