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Page 48
'Put a girdle round about the earth,'
whereby London may speak to San Francisco (the prospective
commercial centre of the world) in less than '_forty minutes_.'
During the same short space of sixteen years the suspended States
of this Union (five at least) have resumed payment of their
obligations; two violent wars, with sundry revolutions, have
occurred in Europe; the ancient city of the Cortez has been
conquered by the 'hordes of the North,' and magnanimously given up
by the captors to the possession of their weaker enemy, and
millions were paid to the latter for portions of their territory;
the northwest passage of the American continent has been
discovered; steam has accomplished wonders between Europe and
America, and between Europe and their distant colonies of Asia,
Africa, and Australia; Ireland has been on the verge of
starvation,[6] when 600,000 of her people died from hunger alone
and its effects, and her population was reduced two millions by
emigration and privation; England's minister has been expelled from
the capital of the United States; speculation has been rife in
Europe and America, and its inevitable effects, revulsion and
bankruptcy, have followed in its train; the railway and the
telegraph have brought remote regions together; China, with her
four hundred millions of people, has been conquered by the united
forces of the English and the French.
'The Bank of England, instead of pursuing one even course, with a
view to permanent commercial interests, has unfortunately, and, we
fear, from selfish and individual views, fostered speculation by
reducing her rate of discount to 2 per cent., and soon after, but
too late, discovered the error, and forced her borrowers to pay
from 6 to 10 per cent.
'We propose to give the leading events of each year, from 1844 to
1861, referring the reader to authorities where more copious
information can be gained by those who wish to study the invariable
connection between commerce and money.
'The bank shares in the depressed period of 1847-8 fell to 180,
after having reached, in the flattering times of 1844-'5, 215 per
share, or 115 per cent. advance. Consols, at the same depressed
period, fell to 78-3/4, when starvation stared Ireland in its face,
and the bank simultaneously sought protection from the Cabinet.'
Attention has been recently directed in this country to the premium on
gold, or to the alleged fall in the value of bank paper and Government
notes. Although the premium on gold as an article of merchandise has
reached a high rate during the present year, it will be seen, on
reference to the reliable tables in the History of the Bank of England,
that a great difference occurred during the suspension of the bank in
1797 to 1819. Gold at one time (1812) reached �5 8_s._, a difference of
30 per cent. The annexed table shows the changes from 1809 to 1821.
YEARS |Price of |Difference| Nominal |Amount in
|Gold. |from Mint | Taxes. |Gold
| |prices. | |Currency.
------------------------|------------|----------|----------|----------
| � s. d. |per cent. | � | �
| | | |
1809, | 4 9 10 | 16-1/3 |71,887,000|60,145,000
1810, | 4 5 0 | 9-1/10 |74,815,000|68,106,000
1811, | 4 17 1 | 24-1/2 |73,621,000|55,583,000
1812, | 5 1 4 | 30 |73,707,000|51,595,000
Sept. to Dec. 1812, | 5 8 0 | 38-1/2 | ... | ...
1813, | 5 6 2 | 36-1/10 |81,745,000|52,236,000
Nov. 1812, to Mch. 1813 | 5 10 0 | 41 | ... | ...
1814, | 5 1 8 | 30-1/3 |83,726,000|58,333,000
1815, | 4 12 9 | 18-8/9 |88,394,000|66,698,000
1816, | 4 0 0 | 2-1/2 |78,909,000|72,062,000
Oct. to Dec. 1816 | 3 18 6 | under 1 | ... | ...
1817, | 4 0 0 | 2-1/2 |58,757,000|57,259,000
1818, | 4 1 5 | 5 |59,391,000|56,025,000
1819, 4th Feb. | 4 3 0 | 6-1/3 |58,288,000|54,597,000
1820, | 3 17 10-1/2| par. |59,812,000|59,812,000
1821, | 3 17 10-1/2| par. |61,000,000|61,000,000
The increased volume of Government and bank paper afloat in the United
States since the 1st January, 1862, is conceded to be only temporary.
The Government is engaged in crushing the greatest rebellion known to
history; in doing this, the national expenditures are six or seven fold
what they ever were before, in a time of peace. During the four years
1813 to 1816, when war raged with England, the whole expenses of the
Government were $108,537,000. During the Mexican war, when the
disbursements of the treasury were much heavier, the average annual
expenses of the Government were about 35 to 48 millions. It will be well
to recur to these tabular details for future history. They are presented
as follows, for the whole period of the General Government.
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