, 'make such a bad mell,
that it catch him nose; and de berry Jurabie himself would run away
from it!' I know not the extent of Satanic endurance, but for a mere
mortal to bear with it is impossible, as I once found by experience,
when it compelled me to take refuge in the bush.

NATIONAL PROSPERITY AND INDIVIDUAL PANIC.

The _London Gazette_, of the 3d July 1852, announced, in its weekly
report of the Bank of England, that the gold coin and bullion in the
issue department had reached the sum of L.21,742,110. It had never
reached such a sum before. But this is not all. While this vast amount
of gold already lies in the vaults of the Bank, nearly every ship from
Australia, and steamer from America, brings more of the precious
metal.

There are not wanting persons to whom this accession of treasure to
the country is a subject of panic. The annuitant dreads a depreciation
of the value of gold, equivalent, of course, to a general rise in the
price of those commodities which conduce to his comfort; or, in other
words, to a diminution of his income. The millionaire sees rivals
springing up on all sides from the mountain of gold. Many in every
class, who are at ease in their circumstances, and would fain have
things remain as they are, look with dislike on a state of things so
new, and wish that the 'diggings' in California, and the gold region
of Australia, had never been disturbed by spade or pickaxe.

If gold were not our standard of value, no such panic could exist in
any mind; but, on the contrary, the abundance of a metal so
pre-eminent in beauty and utility must be universally hailed as a
boon. Silver is now the legal tender in most countries of Europe, and
used to be so in England, till it became too abundant; but where
transactions are large, silver is too cumbrous: a man can carry L.500
in gold in his pocket, but L.500 in silver would require a horse.

The reason why these two metals form the money of the most civilised
nations, need not be gone into here at any length. 'Their qualities of
utility, beauty, and _scarcity_,' says Adam Smith, 'are the original
foundation of the high price of those metals, or of the great quantity
of other goods for which they can everywhere be exchanged. This value
was antecedent to, and independent of, their being employed as coin,
and was the quality which fitted them for that employment.'

We have printed the word _scarcity_ in italics, because that is the
point of ala