very small part,
unquestionably, without the use of British capital. We cannot, and we
will not, believe that any considerable portion of these loans will be
ultimately lost to this country. Great allowance must be made for the
anger and vexation of the prospective sufferers at the first apparent
breach of international faith, and it is no wonder if their lament was
both loud, and long, and heavy. But we think it is but a fair
construction to suppose that our Transatlantic brethren, in the very
rapidity of their "slickness," have carried improvement too far, given
way to a false system of credit among themselves, and so, having
outrun the national constable, have found themselves compelled to
suspend payment for an interval, which, in the present course of their
prosperity, cannot be of long continuance. So at least we, having lent
the American neither plack nor penny, do in perfect charity presume;
but in the mean time he has our capital--say now some thirty
millions--he has used it most thoroughly and judiciously for himself,
and even supposing that we shall not ultimately suffer, what gain can
we qualify thereby?

If John Doe hath an estate of some twenty thousand acres in tolerable
cultivation, which, nevertheless, in order to bring it to a perfect
state of production, requires the accessaries of tile-draining,
planting, fencing, and the accommodation of roads, it is quite evident
that his extra thousand pounds of capital will be more profitably
expended on such purposes than on lending it to Richard Roe, who has
double the quantity of land in a state of nature. For Richard, though
with the best intentions, may not find his agricultural returns quite
so speedy as he expected, may shake his head negatively at the hint of
repayment of the principal, and even be rather tardy with tender of
interest at the term. John, moreover, has a population on his land
whom he cannot get rid of, who must be clothed and fed at his expense,
whether he can find work for them or no. This latter consideration,
indeed, is, in political economy, paramount--give work to your own
people, and ample work if possible, before you commit in loan to your
neighbour that capital which constitutes the sinews alike of peace and
of war.

We believe there are few thinking persons in this country who will
dispute the truth of this position. Indeed, the general results of
foreign speculation have been unprofitable altogether, as is shown by
the testim