he heavy importations of gold which have since taken place, and
been converted into American coin, have failed to enter into the
circulation, as they would have done on the specie standard. The whole
of the forty-four millions of Treasury gold-notes, convertible
into coin on demand, held by the banks and the public on the 1st
of September would in that event have formed a part of the active
currency of the nation, instead of lying as dormant as the whole
eighty-seven millions of gold--part of which they represented--in the
Treasury.

That part of the currency of any country which is in specie is
necessarily elastic, because it is the money of the world, embodying
the value which it represents, and subject to that ebb and flow, in
accordance with the laws of trade, which attends the circulation of
gold and silver coin everywhere. Supply follows demand, and a nation
with a specie currency inevitably attracts the precious metals by
outbidding other nations in the rate of interest it offers for them.
Why, therefore, should we shut ourselves out from the advantages of
this form of communion with the commercial world by postponing the
resumption of specie payments a day longer than we are compelled to?

K. CORNWALLIS.

SAINT MARTIN'S TEMPTATION.

For forty-and-five long years
I have followed my Master, Christ,
Through frailty and toils and tears,
Through passions that still enticed;
Through station that came unsought,
To dazzle me, snare, betray;
Through the baits the Tempter brought
To lure me out of the way;
Through the peril and greed of power
(The bribe that _he_ thought most sure);
Through the name that hath made me cower,
"_The holy bishop of Tours!_"
Now, tired of life's poor show,
Aweary of soul and sore,
I am stretching my hands to go
Where nothing can tempt me more.

Ah, none but my Lord hath seen
How often I've swerved aside--
How the word or the look serene
Hath hidden the heart of pride.
When a beggar once crouched in need,
I flung him my priestly stole,
And the people did laud the deed,
Withholding the while their dole:
Then I closed my lips on a curse,
Like a scorpion curled within,
On such cheap charity. Worse
Was even than theirs, my sin!
And once when a royal hand
Brake bread for the Christ's sweet grace,
I was proud that a queen should stand
And serve in the henchman's place.

But