ony of our ablest commercial writers. One of them gives the
following summary:--"Large sums have, from time to time, been lent to
various foreign states by English capitalists, whose money has been
put to great hazard, and, in some cases, lost. On the other hand, many
foreign loans have been contracted by our merchants, which have proved
highly profitable, through the progressive sale of the stock in
foreign countries at higher than the contract prices. It is evidently
impossible to form any correct estimate of the profit or loss which
has resulted to the country from these various operations; the
general impression is, that hitherto the losses have much exceeded the
gains." In that general impression we most cordially concur--indeed,
we never heard any man whose opinion was worth having, say otherwise.

But in the absence of home speculation it is little wonder that, for
the chance of unfrequent gain, men should choose, rather than leave
their capital unemployed, to run the risk of the frequent loss. It
does not, however, follow, as a matter of course, that home
speculation shall always prove profitable either to the invester or to
the nation at large. We have said already, that the proper function of
capital is to foster and encourage labour; but this may be carried too
far. For example, it is just twenty years ago, when, at a time of
great prosperity in trade--the regular products of this country being
as nearly as possible equal to the demand--a large body of
capitalists, finding no other outlet for their savings, gave an
unnatural stimulus to production, by buying up and storing immense
quantities of our home manufactures. This they must have done upon
some abstruse but utterly false calculation of augmented demand from
abroad, making no allowance for change of season, foreign fluctuation,
or any other of the occult causes which influence the markets of the
world. The result, as is well known, was most disastrous. Trade on a
sudden grew slack. The capitalists, in alarm, threw open the whole of
their accumulated stock at greatly depreciated prices. There was no
further demand for manufacturing labour, because the world was glutted
with the supply, and hence arose strikes, panic, bankruptcy, and a
period of almost unexampled hardship to the workman, and of serious
and permanent loss to the master manufacturer. Speculation, therefore,
in an old branch of industry, is perilous not only to the invester but
to the prospe