The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 01, No. 04, February, 1858

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 1, No. 4, February, 1858, by VariousThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it,give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online atwww.gutenberg.netTitle: Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 1, No. 4, February, 1858Author: VariousRelease Date: May 10, 2004 [EBook #12319] [Date last updated: May 14, 2005]Language: English*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ATLANTIC MONTHLY ***Produced by Joshua Hutchinson, Tonya Allen and PG Distributed Proofreaders. Produced from page scans provided byCornell University.THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY,A MAGAZINE OF LITERATURE, ART, AND POLITICS.* * * * *VOL. I.—FEBRUARY, 1858.—NO. IV.* * * * *THE GREAT FAILURE.The crucial fact, in this epoch of commercial catastrophes, is not the stoppage of Smith, Jones, and Robinson,—nor thesuspension of specie payments by a greater or less number of banks,—but the paralysis of the trade of the civilizedglobe. We have had presented to us, within the last quarter, the remarkable, though by no means novel, spectacle of asudden overthrow of business,—in the United States, in England, in France, and over the greater part of the Continent.At a period of profound and almost universal peace,—when there had been no marked deficit in the productiveness ofindustry, when there had been no extraordinary dissipation of its ...