rm. 'If,' say the alarmists, 'gold, which has been in all
the world's annals scarce, is to become plentiful, one of the
conditions of its fitness for coin is annihilated.' To this we reply:
Scarcity is a relative term. Actual scarcity of a commodity may exist,
to all practical purposes, in the midst of an abundance of that
commodity; because scarcity is occasioned by two very different
causes--namely, limited supply and excessive demand.

An amount of gold coin which would be very large for a small
community, might be very insignificant for the use of a great and
populous nation. In August 1789, the bullion in the Bank of England
amounted only to L.8,645,860; but we think that was a larger sum for
the Bank to possess, in relation to the population and trade of
England at that period, than L.22,000,000 now.

In 1801, the population of Great Britain numbered about from ten to
eleven millions; in 1851, nearly twenty millions. Whatever quantity of
money, therefore, was necessary for the former period, a very much
larger, perhaps a double quantity--supposing an equal degree of
prosperity to exist--would be requisite in the latter.

This necessity for a larger amount of coin is obvious when regarded
only in relation to the increase of population. If population
continues at its present rate of increase, a much larger amount of
coin than we possess now, even with our L.22,000,000 of bullion in the
Bank, will be required to keep pace with its wants. But this is not
the only view of the question. The population of 1851, it must be
granted, required a larger amount of coin than that of 1801, or of any
former period in our history, supposing each period to possess an
equal amount of prosperity. But how stand the facts on this question
of prosperity? If it should appear that, while more gold is
discovered, more iron, more tin, more copper, more of every other
mineral is also found; that more wool and cotton are produced, more
corn is grown, more ships built, more houses built, more towns raised,
more countries inhabited, and last, not least, that railways begin to
intersect every country, old and new, and in combination with
steam-ships on the ocean, to facilitate the communication among them
all--then it would appear that they required a larger amount in
proportion to the population; and that if prosperity continues on the
increase, so constantly progressive will be the necessity for more
coin, that scarcity will be a term appli