The precious metals are used as coin or currency to facilitate exchanges; as wealth which may be conveniently kept or hoarded; and they are used in the arts in the shape of plate, and in gilding, and so on.

The quantities employed in these functions are very large indeed. They vary, however, in different countries and periods with the circumstances peculiar to each; such, for example, as the greater or less abundance of paper money, and the degree in which the use of coins is lessened by the various devices resorted to for economising currency; the fashion as to plate and furniture; the feeling of security at the time; and a number of other circumstances all liable to great and sometimes sudden changes.

The gold and silver employed in this country as currency, and in the customary reserves in the hands of the bankers, is supposed to amount to from 70,000,000l. to 75,000,000l. In France the precious metals employed in the same way, probably amount to nearly double the sum now mentioned, or to 130,000,000l. or 140,000.000.† And we believe that we may safely estimate the entire sum employed as currency in Europe, America (North and South), Australia, the Cape of Good Hope, and Algeria, at from 490,000,000l. to 510,000,000l., or 500,000,000l. at a medium.‡ Now, supposing this sum to be employed as above stated, as currency, we have first to inquire into its probable wear and tear and loss, and then into the probable rate of its increase. And taking into account the extraordinary extension of navigation and emigration, and the proportional risk of loss from shipwreck and other casualties, we are disposed to think that the annual wear and tear and loss of coin may be estimated at about 1 per cent. of the entire mass of the currency; which, taking the latter at 500,000,000l., would amount to 7,500,000l. a year.

It is difficult to form any probable estimate of the rate at which the bullion used as currency may be likely to increase, supposing its value not to fall off. The extremely rapid increase of refinement and population in most parts of the civilised world, and especially in America and Australia, is known to every one. And it seems pretty cer

tain that some important countries which have hitherto made comparatively little progress, are about to enter on a new career of industry and enterprise. In Russia, for example, the measures that are in progress for the construction of railways and the emancipation of the peasantry can hardly fail to awaken the dormant energies of the latter, and give new vigour to their exertions. And the capacities of that country are so very great, that it is not easy to imagine, were its resources at all developed, to what an extent its wealth and population might be increased.

At present some of the finest, best situated, most extensive, and of old the most populous and flourishing countries in the world, groan under the deadly influence of the superannuated but destructive despotism of the Turks. It is difficult, however, to suppose, despite the efforts that may be made to bolster it up, that this miserable fabric of superstition and tyranny should hold together much longer. And were it overthrown, and anything like an efficient government established in its stead, a fruitful and all but boundless field would be laid open to industry and enterprise.

But without insisting on such prospective considerations, and looking only to the advances that are now being made, we do not think that we shall exaggerate if we estimate the increase of currency that is now going on at 2 per cent. on its gross amount (500,000,000l.), or at 10,000,000l. a year.

It is impossible, however, supposing this estimate not to be very wide of the mark at present, to conjecture how long the currency will go on increasing in this ratio. It may, as we have seen, be safely taken for granted that the sphere of civilisation and commerce is destined rapidly to extend. But its expansion will no doubt be accompanied with various contrivances for economising the use of metallic money; so that the quantity of it in circulation may not increase for any very lengthened period at the rate above stated. If it did, it would absorb an immense supply of gold. In barbarous countries, and in those which are entering on the career of civilisation, the coins afloat may increase at the rate of 3 or 5 per cent., or more. But in countries which are more advanced their increase may be nothing, or less perhaps than even 1 per cent.

It has been estimated as high as 90,000,000Z.; but the best authorities look upon this estimate as greatly beyond the mark.

† It has been estimated by Levasseur (p. 106) and others at no less than 160,000,000. But this includes a portion of the coins that have been hoarded, and which can no longer be reckoned in the currency.

It would be inconsistent with the objects of this article, and with the limits within which it must be confined, to engage in a discussion of the numerous and often conflicting statements and details on which this estimate has been founded. Some information with respect to it may be found in Chevalier's valuable treatise De la Monnaie (p. 326, &c.), Paris, 1850; in Stirling's Gold Discoveries, p. 182; in the learned and excellent tract of Tegoborski, Essai de la Découverte des Gites Aurifères en Californie et en Australie, &c., p. 65; Levasseur, De la Question de l'Or, p. 106; in the work of Otreschkoff, De l'Or et de l'Argent; and a host of other publications. The precious metals in circulation in Russia in the early part of 1851 were estimated in the Petersburg Gazette (October 12, 1852), at 326,000,000 roubles, equal, at 40d, per rouble, to 53,800,000. The greater part (190,000,000 roubles) of this currency consisted of gold.

It is equally difficult to acquire any satisfactory information in regard to the quantity of bullion consumed in the arts. Jacob estimated its amount in Europe and America in 1830 at about 5,900,000l. a year. But it has since been repeatedly shown by various intelligent writers that this estimate was in many respects wide of the mark, and that on the whole it was a good deal underrated. And supposing the consumption of the precious metals in the arts to have amounted to 6,500,000l. or 7,000,000l. in 1830, it must now be very much greater. Everywhere, indeed, but more especially in England, America, Germany, and Russia, there has been an extraordinary increase of population and wealth during the last eight-and-twenty years. Plate and plated articles for use and ornamental purposes are now in extensive demand among all but the very lowest orders. Vastly more persons are raising themselves from poverty to competence and affluence than at any former period; and these are universally large buyers of plate and other costly articles. A taste for gilded saloons, magnificent glasses, and the gorgeous furniture of the age of Louis XIV., is at present all but universally diffused, and must have added greatly to the consumption of gold, which has been still further augmented by its increased outlay on the gilding of earthenware and china, harness, books, &c.* At the first blush of the matter, some of these items may not appear to the careless observer to be of much importance; but those who reflect a little on the subject, and who consider the immense and rapidly increasing demand for the articles referred to in this country and Europe generally, and in America and Australia, will be satisfied that the total consumption of the precious metals, and especially of gold, in the way now mentioned, must be quite immense.

We incline to think that the value of the precious metals in Great Britain in 1858, in the shape of plate, watches, jewels, and trinkets of all descriptions, may be safely estimated at about 41. to each individual of the entire population, making in the aggregate a sum of about 88,000,000l. to which, if we add 12,000,000l. for Ireland, the whole will amount to 100,000,000l. And vast as this sum may appear, we believe it is inside the mark. Silver spoons and forks, silver tea-services, with trays, &c. are now universally met with throughout the middle, as well as the upper classes; while most families, of any antiquity or consideration of any kind, possess large quantities of ornamental as well as useful plate. In the Continent and the United States the bullion invested in the way now stated is very great indeed. In Italy and some other countries the lower classes, especially the women, though not generally so well off as in England, spend more money upon massive rings, chains, brooches, and such like articles, which they regard much as girls in England do their deposits in the savings' bank, as a reserve fund or capital.

We are aware that Jacob says, that "In the present day in this country the quantity of gold and silver in actual existence, including utensils, ornaments, jewellery, trinkets, and watches, is three or four times as great as the value of those metals which exists in the form of money." (Historical Inquiry, i. 210.) And as the value of the precious metals in Great Britain, in the shape of coin, is certainly not less at present (1858) than 70,000,000l. or 75,000,000l., the value of the bullion in plate, jewellery, &c. ought, on this hypothesis, to amount to at least 210,000,000l. or 280,000,000l.! But there can be no manner of doubt that the lowest of these sums would be far beyond the mark. Tegoborski, indeed (Gites Aurifères, &c., p. 66), who is supported by Humboldt (Nouvelle Espagne, iii. p. 465, ed. 1827), estimates the value of the bullion vested in plate, watches, jewellery, &c., at only half the amount vested in coin. But this estimate, though not perhaps very far wrong if applied to the poorer countries of Europe, would undoubtedly, if applied to Great Britain, be as much under as that of Jacob is above the mark.

But, without pretending to an accuracy which, on such subjects, is unattainable, we run little risk in concluding that the expenditure of bullion in the arts—that is, in plate, jewellery, gilding, &c.,-in Europe, America, and Australia, cannot at present (1858) be under, if do not exceed, 15,000,000l. or 16,000,000l. a year. But of this a portion, estimated at about one-fifth, or 20 per cent., is supposed to be obtained from the fusion of old plate, the burning of lace, picture-frames, &c. And hence, if we deduct from the 15,000,000l. used in the arts 20 per cent. for the old bullion, we have 12,000,000l. for the total quantity of the supplies from the mines annually disposed of in this way; a considerable portion of which, including that used in the gilding of rooms, earthenware, books, harness, buttons, &c., cannot be again recovered or applied to any useful purpose.

And however great it may appear to be, this amount will be largely increased with the increase of population and the spread of refinement in the arts, and still more by anything like a considerable fall in the value of bullion.

* Estimates have been made of the expenditure upon some of these items, but the data on which they are founded are too vague to entitle them to much attention.

Hence it would appear, putting these items together, that the annual consumption of bullion as currency, and in the arts, amounts to about 29,500,000%, viz. :—

It will be difficult to show that these estimates are beyond the mark; and supposing them to be nearly correct, it follows, deducting the above sum from the previously estimated produce of the mines (38,050,000l.—29,500,000l.), that we have a surplus of 8,550,000l. to defray the sums required for hoarding, for exportation to the East, &c. And there certainly seems to be little reason for thinking that a supply of this amount will do more than meet the demands upon it.

It may be said, perhaps, that we must have exaggerated the consumption of the precious metals, inasmuch as the sum which we suppose is annually consumed considerably exceeds the entire produce of the mines previously to the supplies from California and Australia. But, while we admit the fact to be as stated, we deny the inference which is attempted to be drawn from it. The truth is, that while the discovery of the Californian and Australian deposits has added in so great a degree to the supply of bullion, it has also added very largely to its consumption. It has given an unparalleled stimulus to emigration and commerce. The population of California and Victoria has increased in a ratio hitherto unheard of, or from next to nothing a dozen years ago, the former to 507,000 in 1855 (American Almanac for 1858), and the latter to 463,000 on the 31st December, 1857. But despite this increase, wages, owing to the general desire to speculate on one's own account, continue to be extravagantly high. In California in 1856 miners readily obtained from 10s. to 25s. a day, according to their skill and capacity for enduring fatigue; common labourers from 8s. to 12s. a day; and house servants from 51. to 61. a month. For a while most articles were proportionally high, so that these extravagant wages were not so advantageous to the parties receiving them as might have been supposed. But there has latterly been a great fall in the price of manufactured goods and colonial produce; while, owing to the progress of agriculture, provisions have also been greatly reduced. Lodgings are still very dear, but not so exorbitant as formerly. In Australia, the state of things for a while after the discovery of the gold fields was not very dissimilar; wages, however, though still very high, are now (1858) a good deal lower there than in California; while in other respects there is but little difference between the two. And if, in addition to these unprecedented circumstances, we take into account the unsettled character of the population, with the absorbing pursuit of wealth on the one hand, and the utter recklessness of expenditure on the other, we must be satisfied that the currency of these countries cannot be otherwise than excessive as compared with their population.

The powerful influence of the late gold discoveries is not, however, confined to California and Australia. The emigration to these countries, and the new and rapidly increasing markets which they afford, bave told effectually here, and indeed in every commercial country. In England the rise of wages cannot be estimated at less than from 10 to 30 per cent., while in Ireland it has been a good deal more. And though the rise of wages in the latter be in part ascribable to the famine of 1846-47, and in a still greater degree to the emigration to the United States, yet, as this emigration has been powerfully promoted by the efflux of emigrants from the Atlantic States to California, it is clear that the gold of the latter has been at bottom a prominent cause of the improvement in the condition of the Irish peasantry. The same may be said of the emigration from Germany, which has latterly become of first-rate importance. At an average of the seven years ended with 1852, it amounted to 103,591 individuals a year; the numbers in 1851 and 1852 being respectively 120,708 and 155,730, of which by far the greater portion was destined for the United States.-( Report of Emig. Com. for 1853, p. 104.) In 1854 the emigrants to the latter from Germany only, amounted to no fewer than 223,862; and though not so great since, they are still very numerous, having amounted, in 1857, to 91,781.-(Hunt's Com. Mag., June, 1858, p. 768.)

The rise of wages consequent on these extraordinary mutations, and the increased exports of produce which they have occasioned, have exercised a powerful influence in the United States as well as in Europe. And there, consequently, as well as here, a greater supply of bullion is required to serve as currency. And while this influence is operating on the one hand, on the other the swarms of parvenus who are every day rising to opulence, contribute to swell the demand for all sorts of things, but especially for plate and plated goods, jewellery, and such like articles. And what is probably of still greater importance, the metallic basis of the currency is everywhere being enlarged; and the conviction is rapidly gaining ground in the United States as well as in Europe,

that no paper currency can be safe unless effectual measures be taken to maintain such a supply of the precious metals in the countries in which it circulates as may be necessary to insure its immediate conversion into coin.

nos

Burying of Gold and Silver.—It is singular that, in estimating the consumption of gold and silver, Jacob did not make any allusion to the practice which has uniformly prevailed in all countries harassed by intestine commotions or exposed to foreign invasion, of burying treasure in the earth. Of the sums so deposited a very considerable proportion has been altogether lost; and this has no doubt been one of the principal means by which the stock of the precious metals has been kept down to its present level. Every one is aware that during the middle ages treasure trove, or money dug from the ground, formed no inconsiderable part of the revenue of this and most other countries.* And though the burying of money has long ceased in Great Britain, such has not been the case among our neighbours. Wakefield tells us that down to 1812 the practice was common in Ireland†; and though much fallen off in the interval, it continues to this day to be occasionally resorted to in that part of the kingdom. It has always prevailed, sometimes to a less and sometimes to a greater extent, in almost every part of the Continent. The anarchy and brigandage that accompanied the revolution of 1789 made the practice be carried to an extraordinary extent in France; and there, owing to various causes which are too obvious to require being pointed out, it still maintains a broad and firm footing. So much so is this the case that, to use the words of a distinguished authority, "En France nous enfouissons notre argent dans nos coffres, ou nous le cachons dans les murs de nos maisons et les sillons de champs, selon les vieilles coutumes de l'Orient. Il y a peut-être un milliard (FORTY millions sterling) de notre numéraire rendu ainsi stérile."§ And yet we doubt whether the burying of treasure be at present as prevalent in France as in many parts of Germany and in Hungary, Russia, Italy, Spain, and European Turkey. The feeling of insecurity that has prevailed in all these countries, especially since 1848, has given a stimulus to this practice which nothing can countervail. Of the many millions that were distributed among the countries round the Black Sea during the recent campaigns in that quarter, the greater portion is believed to be as much withdrawn from circulation as if it had never been dug from the mine. But the burying of treasure in Europe is but trifling compared to what it is in the East. There the practice has prevailed from the remotest antiquity down to the present time, and has been and is carried to an enormous extent. Bernier, indeed, and all the most intelligent travellers and inquirers who have visited India, Persia, China, and the East, generally concur in thinking that this burying of the precious metals is a main cause of their continued drain to India, &c., where they never seem to become more abundant. But as we have already noticed this part of our subject at considerable length (antè, p. 560. &c.), it is needless to dwell further upon it. It is impossible, of course, to form any estimate of the sums that are thus annually placed, as it were, in mortmain. They vary from year to year, and are always greatest when wars or revolutionary disturbances are in progress, or when their occurrence is anticipated, or but little confidence is placed in the permanence of existing institutions. There can, at all events, be no question that the sums which have been disposed of in the way now stated in the different continental and oriental countries of late years have been quite enormous, and have far exceeded those absorbed by any of the other channels of expenditure.

Exportation of Gold and Silver to the East.-Humboldt estimated that, of the entire produce of the American mines at the beginning of this century, amounting, as already seen, to 43,500,000 dollars, no less than 25,500,000 were sent to Asia, 17,500,000 by the Cape of Good Hope, 4,000,000 by the Levant, and 4,000,000 through the Russian frontier.|| But some years ago this immense drain began to diminish, and in 1832 and 1833 it actually set in an opposite direction. Since then it has fluctuated, sometimes inclining to the one side and sometimes to the other. With the exception, however, of the bullion received in payment of the 21,000,000 dollars due to us by China, under the treaty of 1842, there was not for some years any very decided movement of bullion from Europe to the East, or from the East to Europe, though, on the whole, the imports into the latter appear to have exceeded the exports; at least, this was certainly

Blackstone, Com., b. I., cap. 8., § 13.

Account of Ireland, i. p. 593.

Storch, Economic Politique, i. p. 222, 1823.

Dupuynode, De la Monnaie, du Crédit, &c., i. 182. Paris, 1853; one of the best of the late French publications on the important subjects of which it treats.

Probably, however, this estimate was a good deal beyond the mark. "Humboldt, cela n'est plus douteux, estimait trop haut la valeur de l'or et de l'argent, qui s'écoulaient au commencement de ce siècle d'Europe en Asie, et portaient trop bas la déperdition qu'ils éprouvaient, dans la même temps, par le frottement et leur conversion en objets d'orfevrerie et de bijouterie."-(Dupuynode de la Monnaie, &c., i. p. 35.) There is no longer, we believe, any doubt in regard to the accuracy of the latter part of thir statement; and it is pretty generally supposed that the first part is, also, well founded.

But more

the case during the five years from 1844-45 to 1848-49, both inclusive. recently, or since 1850, the drain for bullion for the East has set in with renewed force; and for some years it has been wider and deeper than ever. This is evident from the following statements:—

Total Exports of Bullion from Great Britain to the East for each of the 7 Years ending 1857 (from Tables compiled by James Lowe, Esq., of Austin Friars).

Total Exports of Bullion from the Mediterranean Ports to the East, for each of the 5 Years ending

with 1857.

To which have to be added the exports by the Black Sea, the Russian and Turkish frontiers, &c. It is to be borne in mind that although India did not, for several years prior to 1850, derive any considerable supply of bullion from Europe, she drew during that period large supplies from China. This was a consequence of the vast increase of the importations of opium into the latter. With the exception of tea and silk, China has few native products, other than the precious metals, fit for foreign markets. And the exports of the former being for some years not much more than sufficient to pay for the products sent to her from Europe and America, a very considerable part of the cotton and opium she imported from India was paid for in bullion, the increased exports of which were said to have latterly brought her into serious difficulties. But the circumstances are now (1858) entirely changed. The demand for the silks, teas, &c., of China, in this and other western countries, has latterly become so immense, and has so far exceeded the value of the produce exported by them to China, that the balance in bullion received by the latter on her trade with them, has enabled her to meet with little or no difficulty the drain for bullion occasioned by the increased imports of opium from India. The following statements set these results in a sufficiently clear point of view :

Account of the Total Value of the Exports from India to China, and of those from China to India, in each of the 5 Years ending with 1857-58, showing the Excess of the Former over the Latter.

Account of the Total Value of the Exports from the U. K. to China, and of those from China to the U. K., in each of the 5 Years ending with 1858, showing also the Excess of the Latter over the Former.

Account of the Total Value of the Exports from the U. K. to India, and of those from India to the U. K. in each of the 5 Years ending with 1858, showing the Excess of the Latter.