REMARKS ON GAMBLING.

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“speculating in the funds;” and there I am certainlyinclined to believe that “ men of rank,” and even ministersof state, have fallen so low into that state of moral blind-ness and degradation which gaming of all sorts produces, asto avail themselves of their official means of making“ news” and moving telegraphs, in order to insure the gainof their fraudulent stake.

But let people talk of clubs and “hells,”—of Graham’s,Brooks’s, Crockford’s,—of the Palais Royal , Frascati, andother sinks of London and of Paris , there is nothing thereto equal the iniquity of the “ time bargain” gambling ofthe stock exchanges. A gambler buys “ stock,” to be deli-vered in fifteen days; that is, to pay or to receive the dif-ference in the price of the two periods. He wins, and putsthe money into his pockets, and gives his broker half-a-crown per hundred pounds’ commission. He loses ;—if hethinks fit, he pays the difference. He keeps on losing tillall is gone. At any of the “ hells,” the pockets emptied,the wretched maniac skulks away ; but on the stockexchange, with empty pockets, he has still the means, and,of course, the felon heart, to make a desperate stake uponthe credit and the risk of his cat’s-paw broker. He loses,—leaves his broker to pay, and snaps his fingers at him,because the whole transaction has been illegal.

Again, which of the two is in England the most disgustingregister of crime and ruin,—the “ Racing Calendar,” or the“ Newgate Calendar.” The careful observer of facts willhave some difficulty in deciding. Verily the “scum ofsociety” in England is, as in its beer barrels, on the top.In playing at games of chance, where there is a bank, theplayers are sure in the long run to lose, and for this reason.If they win they do not go away, but continue playing tillthey lose. When all is lost, then they go. The bankremains.