nce of the splendid jewels of the
princess, which have since been redeemed from the Spanish gentleman, who
now resides at the Hague.

Gaming has always been held up in abhorrence as a vice; but it is rather
a passion strongly implanted by nature, and abhorrent from the dreadful
effects produced by its overpowering influence, than a vice _per se_.
Life itself is a lottery, and the best part of our life is passed in
gambling. It is difficult to draw the line between gambling and
speculation, for every speculation is a gambling transaction. Is not
the merchant a gambler? in fact, is not every venture an act of
gambling? As for the Stock Exchange, it is the very worst species of
gambling. All we can say is, that gambling may be legitimate or
otherwise; that is, there are species of gambling which may enrich the
individual if he is fortunate, but whether it enriches him or not, at
all events it is beneficial to the community at large. A merchant
speculates--he sends out manufactures of every description: he fails,
and is ruined: but the artisans have procured employment for their
industry, and, although the merchant fails, the community at large has
benefited. This is legitimate gambling; but do people in business stop
there? No: they will agree to deliver so many thousands of casks of
tallow or tons of hemp at such and such a time and at a certain price,
whatever the price may then be. They cannot complete their engagement,
and they are ruined; but in this instance, which is simply termed
speculation, we have quite as much gambling as if the money were at once
laid down on the table, and the chances decided in an hour instead of so
many months. But there is this difference, that this party does not
injure his character by such a transaction, whereas, if he lost his
money at the gaming-table he would. The English are, with the exception
of the Americans, the most gambling nation under heaven; naturally so,
because they are the greatest mercantile nation. The spirit of gambling
is innate, and when directed into the proper channel it becomes
enterprise. It is doubtless a great moral error on the part of a
government to encourage vice with the view of increasing the revenue,
but, at the same time, there is no tax so well laid on as that which is
imposed on vice. Again, there are certain propensities in man which
cannot be overcome, and which, if attempted to be wholly eradicated by
legal enactments, would occasion