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P352.5 (30 pt 1),

HARVARD
UNIVERSITY
LIBPAY

First reprinting, 1967, Johnson Reprint Corporation
Printed in the United States of America

THE

SOUTHERN QUARTERLY

REVIEW.

NEW SERIES......VOLUME II.

COLUMBIA, S. C.:
EDWARD H. BRITTON & CO., PUBLISHERS.
LONDON:

TRÜBNER & CO., PATERNOSTER ROW.

NEW YORK: WILEY & HALSTED, 351 BROADWAY... PHILADELPHIA: J. M. WILSON,
S. W. COR. NINTH & ARCH....BALTIMORE: HENRY TAYLOR, SUN BUILDINGS.
RICHMOND: J. W. RANDOLPH. WILMINGTON, N. C.: S. W. WHITAKER.
CHARLESTON: AUG. E. COHEN... SAVANNAH : W. T. WILLIAMS.
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60 CAMP ST...WASHINGTON, D. C.: FRANCK TAYLOR.

1856.

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Manuel du Spéculateur à la Bourse contenant: 1°. Une introduction sur la nature de la spéculation: son rôle dans la production de la Richesse, ses abus, son importance dans Economie des sociétés, et son influence sur la destinée des Etats. 2°. Un abrégé des lois et ordonnances qui regissent la Bourse, l'exposé critique et pratique des opérations, les différentes sortes de marchés, et les combinaisons auxquelles elles donnent lieu. 3°. Une notice sur chaque espèce de valeur côtée au parquet, rentes, obligations, Banque de France, crédit foncier et mobilier, chemins de fer, canaux, assurances, &c. Deuxième édition. Revue, corrigée, et augmentée. Paris. Garnier Fréres, Libraires-Editeurs. 6 Rue des Saints-Pères, 215 Palais Royal. 1 vol. 12mo.

SPECULATION! It is a fertile and suggestive subject, calculated to attract at once the interest and attention of all. Our lot has been cast in those stirring times when speculation has become almost synonymous with business; when the whole duty of active life seems to be concentrated on the contrivance, realization, and reduplication of rapid profits; when the acquisition of large gains has become to every man almost a necessity, and the sole profession of nearly all, however varied the modes of its accomplishment may be; and when ingenuity, dexterity, and skilful combination, have superseded or outstripped industry in the great transactions of commerce. Speculation! It is the key-note of modern society; the open sesame of the chief mysteries of modern trade. It is at once the instrument and the explanation of that feverish avidity for sudden fortune which now rules the world, and of that deepening degradation of the multitude which throws such a sombre hue over the portrait of our present civilization. It is speculation, in its endless diversities, which simultaneously augments the capital of the rich, the acute, the prosperous, and depresses the condition of

VOL. 2....NO. 1.

the simple, the unfortunate, and the labouring poor. To it we are indebted for the brilliant return of those flourishing times depicted by the Roman poet:

Creverunt et opes, et opum furiosa cupido:

Et, quum possideant plurima, plura petunt.
Quærere, ut absumant, absumta requirere certant:
Atque ipsæ vitiis sunt alimenta vices.
Sic quibus intumuit suffusa venter ab unda,
Quo plus sunt potæ, plus sitiuntur aquæ.
In pretio pretium nunc est: dat census honores,
Census amicitias; pauper ubique jacet.*

The political economists could not have described more accurately or scientifically the process of production for the sake of consumption, and consumption for the sake of production, than has here been done by Ovid. The socialists could not have more plainly indicated the consequences of the system which befall the poor, or the causes of their irremediable distress. The speculator on 'change has scarcely delineated more graphically the characteristics of modern brokerage; and we feel well assured that Freedley, in his notable work on the whole art of money making, has not exhibited a keener insight into the shrewd proceedings of the successful adventurer. But a single word sums up the indications of Ovid, the theories of political economy, the complaints of socialism, the investigations of the Parisian "Spéculateur à la Bourse," the lessons of Freedley, and the most remarkable phenomena of modern commerce; and that word is Speculation. Surely a term so significant, and a practice so generally diffused, merit the most careful consideration, and will be studied with general and anxious interest.

Such, at least, would be the natural expectation. And yet the experience of the past is contradictory to this anticipation. Speculation has been acquiring its present ascendency, winning its golden victories, and daily enlarging the circle of its operations, and the numbers of its hosts; but no one, apparently, before the publication of the little volume which supplies us with a text, has Zeemed the subject worthy of distinct philosophical appreciation. Passing censures and partial elucidations have been abundant, but no methodical study of the great and perplexing enigma had been previously undertaken. Those who had been enrolled in the ranks of speculation were too busily engaged in securing the spoils to discontinue their profitable labours, and reflect upon the character of their operations. The more intelligent might even have been reluctant to reveal the secrets of the game, and might have considered it treachery towards their fellows, disciples, and successors, to betray the machinery of success. Or the same spirit which

*Ovid. Fasti., lib. i., vv. 211-218.

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