The Press. — London, England, 1857-12-19 00:00:00

THE PRESS, DECEMBER 19, 1857• 1220 of commerce approaches the conditioniwe have sketched, and there is not enough to sustain the credit or general trust which really effects the great mass of transactions. Now, in what form does this show itself in the commercial world? How has it shown itself at the present crisis ? Chiefly in the large increase of open credit-bills—in other words, those bills of exchange which, instead of exchanging goods, exchange only credit. Foreign bills of exchange, which really repre sent a transfer of goods, carry, or may carry, their own security with them. The bill of lading or other documents which give a title to the possession of the goods accompany it ; or, even if they do not, the real payment in goods of the acceptor is, of course, so much in favour of his being able to pay the next endorser, and so forth, through all the hands it may pass into before being paid off. But if a mer chant has sunk a great deal of his floating capital—say, in advances to the producer, to help him through difficulties, as is so common with sugar crops in the West Indies, and with indigo crops in the East—or, still worse, in purely speculative purchases of commodities on the chance of a rise in price, he will neces sarily be obliged to increase his floating capi tal by bills which do not represent goods, but are only accommodation paper. His capital, in either of the eases we suppose, is no longer capital—it is not available as mer cantile capital for promoting the transfer of goods, but is looked up, waiting, in the one case, for the ripening crops, in the other case for the rise in prices ; and therefore it is not part of the merchant's assets for the regular constantly-pressing demands of his business. Instead of being employed in sending goods to and fro, he has sunk his capital in other ways, and yet he cannot retrench his proper mercantile business, and needs as much as ever for it. The discounts he receives on goods, therefore, are not sufficient, if there be either loss or fear of loss, to carry on his bnsiness ; and besides these real bills of ex change, he is obliged to draw on his reputation for capital, by getting assist ance from other houses in what are called fictitious bills of exchange, which, if they be discounted by any banker, are simply personal loans from the banker on the personal security of the houses named in the bill. The rapid increase of this sort of bill always indicates a very un sound state of trade. It indicates that the merchant has either lost, or locked up in an unavailable form, capital which should always be strictly floating; otherwise, the discounts be receives on actual imports of goods would be ample to enable him, with his own capital, to carry on his business. We have seen that in an absolutely safe and cautious system of trade, if such a thing be conceivable, the credit represented by discounts on the value of goods alone would be sufficient to effect all the exchanges, and, therefore, when you add to these a merchant's own floating capital, there ought, if that be adequate, to be more than enough. Since 1847 many of the banks have made a strong effort to keep down these foreign open credit bills, refusing to discount except ou the production of the bills of lading or other docu ments by which real bills are accompanied ; and in all the localities where this practice has been, even to a considerable extent, carried out, the trade is still sound. In Calcutta, for example, we believe that, entirely owing to this practice, speculative advances to producers and speculative buying has been effectually discouraged, and the present crisis has told very little in consequence on its commerce. On the other hand, the trade with China has been very unsound, because this practice of discount ing freely open credit hills hay. been common, and in consequence the merchants have been encouraged to sink their capital in advances to producers, and otherwise, relying on their personal credit to fill up the gap. Of course their personal credit is worth nothing in a . time of crisis, and the sunk capital is not forth coming. The same bad custom has unforta nately been prevalent in the American trade ; and many of the late failures in connection with German houses have originated also in the same bad practice. Merchants are only too easily tempted to invest floating capital really needed for mercantile purposes in an unavail able form, if they can rely on such a substitute for it as accommodation paper proves, except in a time of crisis ; and when this is so, a very little genuine loss will bring on a crisis, because none of the floating capital that is alone available to meet such loss is really forthcoming. If the Government think that they can control these commercial crises at all by any Government action, we would re commend them to turn to causes affecting those crises somewhat more deeply than the question of circulation. An act restricting the discount of foreign bills of exchange, ex cept when accompanied by the documents giving tho title to the goods received, would be at least as wise as, though perhaps not more wise than, the Bank Charter Act of 1844. MR. HOPE'S BISHOPS AND LORD SHAFT ESB U RY'S FRIARS. IF wo were asked to take our choice between Mr. BERESFORD HOPE'S proposal for the remedy of spiritual destitution and Lord SHAFTESBURY'S coming Bill, on the ground of which was the less violation of the parochial system, we should unhesitatingly select the former. It seems to be imagined that the revolutionary character of a measure depends entirely on its magnitude; and that Mr. BERESFORD HOPE is the most dangerous reformer of the two, because his reform is based upon a principle, and would accomplish its end thoroughly. The establishment of such an imperium in imperio within the Church as Lord SaarrEs- BURY is desirous of adopting may or not be only " a slight modification of the existing system ;" but it contains within itself the germ of a complete revolution—the trans ference of spiritual teaching from the regular clergy to a class of vagrant gospellers, who should own no authority but that of some self-constituted head, at present represented by Lord ShaFrEseuaY. Now, whatever the objections to Mr. BERES. min HorE's proposition, it is at least in con formity with the essentials of the Church, and is not, under the guise of increased efficiency, aiming a secret blow at any particular doc trines. It is this which in our eyes consti tutes a broad and fundamental distinction between the two proposals. The one seeks to tamper with the foundations of the Church on the plea of widening the superstructure — the other would proceed by the slower but surer method of deepening and extending the foundations before any other work were attempted. But though we infinitely prefer Mr. HOPE'S new bishops to Lord SHAFTESBURY'S new friars, yet we do not think the former gentleman has devised a very happy mode of superseding Lord SHAFTESBURY'S measure. The latter has this very great advantage on its side ; that it can be clone at once, that the consent of the clergy is not required to it; and that from its simplicity it will impose on many persons who have not reflected on its ultimate ten dencies. Now, the tedious, and comprehen sive, and deep-cutting reform put forth by Mr. HOPE is no match for its more popular, plausible, and expeditious rival. And the worst is that a handle is so easily afforded to the enemies by propositions of this nature. " if that is all you can give us in exchange for " Lord SHAFTESBURY'S method of belief," they may well say, " we cannot afford to wait for it. " What you say may be all very true, but " it is only one addit►onal instance of the " thoroughly unpractical character of the " school you belong to. The Church was made " for man, and not man for the Church ; and " while your scheme is ripening millions of " souls may be lost." We fear that more harm than good is effected by these isolated expressions of opinion. The Church should reserve herself for united efforts. Such propositions as that of Mr. HOPE do but stimulate hostility, and exeite premature discussion, without strengthening the cause. Although, therefore, we do full justice to his sincerity, his zeal, and his eloquence, we are on the whole sorry that the letter has been published. We adhere to our own opinion that the sub division of parishes is the soundest and most practical remedy within our reach. We see no valid reason for supposing we should thereby create a race of impoverished incutn beuts. Many of our urban livings are exceed ingly wealthy, and could easily bear distribu tion. And who can doubt that a clergyman would rather surrender a third of his income than be perpetually thwarted and insulted by the intrusion of an itinerant preacher ? The character of the English clergy is in some respects not unfairly sketched by the leading journal in an article on Mr. HOPE'S letter. It is strange the writer should not see how completely that character must unfit them fur the acceptance of the peculiar class of auxiliaries whom the Times has undertaken to advocate. jortign cf,orrtsgoubturt. PARIS, Dec. 17. THE Danubian question is once more on the tapis, and several German papers argue the subjects in a tone the most serious. The point now under discus ston is, whether the Porte is entitled to the suzerainty or sovereignty of the provinces ? The Treaty of Paris acknowledges the suzerainty of the Porte, but not its sovereignty. After all, in considering the Danubian question, the most essential point to be remembered is the Atticle 425 of the organic regulations of the Principalities, which in so many words acknowledges the Union of Moldavia and Wallachia. That this union has never been zarried out depended on cir cumstances beyond the control of all the interested parties, but the Article 425 of the organic statutes still exists. I spoke of this important arti.: l e in my letter of the 2(lth of November. Since thin it has attracted the attention of the Court of Vienna, and the different journals in the inter!st of that power have been instructed to give the following reason for not carrying out its principle. It is, that the consti tution given to the Principalities in 1829 was the work of Russia, and that it bears the signatures of Minziaki and Kisseleff ; so that, in point of fact, the Reunions are now to be punished because the Rus sians succeeded in dragging From the Porte a reluc tant signature to au equitable constitution ! Count Bitol and Lord Clarendon must really be hard pressed for sound objections to the union of these provinces. The German papers, I see, also state that the Porte, after much labour, has brought forth a new constitution for the provinces. The Porte has not even prepared a constitution for the provinces, and for this simple reason,—that the future government of those provinces is in the hands of the Paris Congress, and not in the power of any clique at Constantinople. M. de Lessep's Suez Canal scheme appears likely to excite as much division in the different European Cabinets as the question of the Danubiat, provinces. Austria, which at one time was most favourable to the scheme, now in order to please Lord Palmerston, and without declaring decidedly against it, treats the pro position with true Austro-diplomatic tact. M. de Buol says that beyond all doubt the canal would be most advanttigeous to the commerce of Europe in general and Austria in particular ; but grave political questions are involved in the measure, and that much time will be required to examine the question fond. Lord Strattord has lett Constantinople. Previous to his departure his Excellency obtained a promise that nothing shJuld be dune in the canal affair until his return. The Porte assumes to be very angry with the English Government for having taken possession of the Island of Perim, and is reported to have addressed serious remonstrances against the annexation. All this, as the French say, Est une petite comedic Bien jouee." We have had some discussions both in the salons and the journals as to the constitutional opposition of M. Emile de Cirirarrlin iu the Courrier de Paris. ou ay rely upon it the Emperor does nt in the least m object to a fair constitutional oppositi o on. 00 the contrary, he rather courts it, come from what ever quarter it may, for he is determined to carry out the great fundamental principles of 1789. The financial crisis throughout France, although still existing, seems greatly on the decline. Belore. twen ty-four hours have passed the Bank rate of discount will be reduced to six per cent., and that will greatly assist commeice. The health' of the Emperor and Empress is most excellent. This moining his Majesty lets Palls for St. Germains, on a hunting excursion. Ile was accompanied by Count Walewski.