Page:Victoria, with a description of its principal cities, Melbourne and Geelong.djvu/180

 has exerted. To every dogma, theory, or argument, there are two sides: if, therefore, the love of money be the root of all evil, it is equally evident, when properly used, it may be productive of much good; nor can it be denied that the wheels on which the world move are gold.

The history of Melbourne is a marvellous one. Not that it is a mere dream,—the evidence of its power is fast developing, and this at the present moment is daily seen by the change taking place, more particularly in France and Germany, where the circulation of gold is fast causing the disappearance of the spurious coin of the country, and the extensive circulation of the small-paper currency, always considered detrimental in establishing thorough confidence in the reciprocal monetary transactions between nations. The gold discovery, also, though not so much felt in England, has benefited, to a great degree, her sister country; and since our return to the land of our birth, during the last few months we have wandered over a considerable portion of the Emerald Isle, when it was with feelings more easily imagined than described, that we saw everywhere a certain degree of advancement, an absence of the squalid poverty, in former days in many districts so common; an appearance of comfort amongst the lowest classes formerly unknown; and the general aspect of things assuming a more healthy and genial character. It is the gold of Australia that has done this.