s in other lands. It has been computed that the
United States of America have, _during the last five years_, absorbed
in this manner more than TWENTY-FIVE MILLIONS of English capital,
which sum has been invested in various public undertakings, such as
canals, _railroads_, and banks in that country. Large sums have also
been, from time to time, invested in the public securities of that and
other foreign governments, not always, indeed, with a profitable
result." We need hardly remind our readers of the poignant testimony
of the Rev. Sydney Smith as to the profit derived from such
investments, or the probable fate of the actual capital under a
repudiating system.

These may be taken as two great instances of the danger of foreign
speculation. The capital of the mining companies was squandered with
no other effect than that of providing employment, for a certain
number of years, to the lowest of the Mexican peasantry; whereas the
same amount, applied to a similar purpose in this country, would not
only have produced a handsome return to the invester, but would have
afforded work and wages to a considerable portion of the community.
There is a reciprocity between labour and capital which never ought
to be forgotten. Labour is the parent of all capital, and capital,
therefore, should be used for the fostering and assistance of the
power by which it is produced. Here, however, it was removed, and
became, to all intents and purposes, as useless and irrecoverable as
the bullion on board of a vessel which has foundered at sea. This,
therefore, may be regarded as so much lost capital; but what shall we
say to the other instance? Simply this--that whoever has lost by the
failure of American banks, by repudiation, or by stoppages of
dividends, need not claim one single iota of our compassion. With
British money has the acute Columbian united state to state by more
enduring ties than can be framed within the walls of Congress--with
it, he has overcome the gigantic difficulties of nature--formed a
level for the western waters where none existed before--pierced the
interminable forests with his railroads, and made such a rapid stride
in civilization as the world has never yet witnessed. What of all this
could he have done on his own resources? Something, we must
allow--because his spirit of enterprise is great, even to
recklessness, and a young and forming country can afford to run risks
which are impossible for an older state--but a