The Press.
London, England, 1855-03-10 00:00:00

235

It may, however, be said, " After all, you suggest
a remedy for evils which have no existence. A
head•quarter's bank may have been highly desirable
during the Peninsular campaigns, but in the case of
our troops in the East no such arrangement is
needed."
I reply, " Heaven grant it never may be ! Heaven
grant that our Crimean army, in addition to all the
atrocious sufferings already inflicted on it by official
improvidence and incapacity, may never know those
protracted agonies of perpetual bankruptcy which
their countrymen of a former generation had to
endure in the Peninsula."
But, sir, in the communications which reach us
from the seat of war, we may already observe one
symptom of a deranged circulation. True, neither
" Our Own Correspondents " nor " Our Special Cor-
respondents " have yet thought it necessary to give
us much light upon such points as the following :
What kinds of money circulate in the camp ; what is
the head-quarters' rate of exchange; how often and
in what coin do the troops receive their pay ; what
becomes of it all? Let us hope that, for the present
at least, all matters of military finance are going on
tolerably well. The newspaper correspondence, how-
ever, does on one point supply us with information,
and that is the very important one of prices. These,
it appears, have been enormous : boots, cooking
utensils, shaving-brushes, hams, and hinders, have
been selling at rates perfectly astounding. Upon
this subject I beg leave in conclusion to offer a few

remark*.
I call this high rate of prices a symptom of de-
ranged circulation, because, though an intelligent
journal could lead us to think that the evil is due to
an extraordinary and unaccountable backwardness
on the part of our merchants to ship goods for Bala-
Maya which they freely consign to all parts of the
world besides, a moment's reflection will discover
that there must be some bidden cause, or our mer-
chants would not be backward. If they consign to
other quarters with the prospect of but moderate
gains, nay, with the possibility of finding an over-
stocked market, why not to a market which promises
returns so ample?
Balaklava, as matters now standing a market for
the speculator and the adventurer; it is not a market
for the regular trader. Tho very rate of prices, run
up to fabulous amounts, expressively indicates an ab-
normal state of the currency. The steady-going
merchant, therefore, keeps his distance, repelled by
the self-same aspect of things which attracts the
speculative dealer ; for experience and common sense
combine to teach him that every market where the
sales are at enormous rates is liable to sudden vicissi-
tudes, and that profits which range unnaturally high
involve, of necessity, the contingency of commensu-
rate losses.
But, sir, only let the genius of British commerce
establish at our head-quarters in the East its prime
agent and regulator, a bank, let money thus become
easy and the circulation natural, let there be security
for the depositor, and cash for the bill-holder, a safe
channel for remittance, and accommodation for
solvent enterprise--then will there soon be a market
for the regular dealer, then will legitimate trade soon
raise its honest front, then will there be a continuous
and adequate supply of all things which officers and
soldiers need, the demand being uniform, and the
prices equitable. Then, also, will many grave evils
be obviated—evils otherwise unavoidable, and certain
ere long to appear—where large sums, as soon as
issued and distributed, are lavishly spent, scrambled
for, and absorbed; where one day every pocket is
bursting with specie, and another nobody has a
stiver ; where there is none but a metallic currency,
no paper currency to cushion it ; where, with every
facility for spending, there is none whatever for de-
positing ; where ruinous profusion takes the place of
current outlay ; and where the trader's object is, not
to drive a steady business with fair returns, but to
make a bit, and be off with the proceeds.
I have already ventured to offer the suggestion that
the proposed bank, if it is to succeed, must be alto-
gether a private speculation, conducted on the ordi-
nary principles of banking establishments, not in any
measure or degree a Government concern. Govern-
ment must absolutely have no hand in it. Govern-
ment interference would infallibly swamp it ; the least
rag of red-tape would be strangulation. Still be it
borne in mind, the undertaking would of course need
the countenance and favour of bead-quarters' autho-
rities. This, however, would be a matter of
.no
practical difficulty. Only let the firm, beanag
respectability and solvency written on its front, go to
work in a businesslike style, mind its own concerns
and keep to its own province ; let it ever be ready to
show, when applied to in time of need, how substan-
tially commercial resources can aid the fiscaalll opera-
tions of a campaign; let it evince, on just
occasions, that it knows what is handsome, and can
do it—then never fear. There can be no reason to
doubt that the services thus rendered will be duly
appreciated,
otglineiusedfulnesaso!
girth e, "yhoeurad-cqounartestaarst
bank "fully recandandse _i m
reader and most *obedient sellv4 Orant,
LD PUDIKLAR.