The Express.
London, England, 1855-09-22 00:00:00

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LONDON, SATURDAY, Sir TEMBBR 22.

AMONG Englishmen of all shades of opinion there
is but one wish for Franco—that she may be tran-
quil, prosperous. and great. The consciousness that
Englishmen and Frenchmen have struggled and
died, side by side, for the attainment of the sense
great object, has Mimed this kindly sentiment
throughout the land. And it is strengthened by •
sense of the growing identity of the interests of the
two countries. The deep due which so many English
capitalists have in extensive industrial enterprises in
all parte of France, and the daily multiplying rami-
fications of our commercial intercourse, are such
that any shock gives to mercantile prosperity
is France mast be felt to the eon of
England. At this moment, moreover, the
nations are partners in a great undertaking,
that will severely task the energies of
both, and have incurred conjoint liabilities with a
view to its successful prosecution. We trust, that
that the motives which induce us to rains a
voice of warning against the unsound flossaisi par
which prevails in that country, and withis lie;
Government too certainly fosters, will not be nsi►l
construed. We know that we speak the opinions of
not • few of the most intelligent and experienced
members of the moneyed interest of France; and
seeing that any monetary crisis in France would tell
with fearful force on our own money markets, we
have a right to speak.

Since the restoration of the Empire the great finan-
cial aim of the French Government has been the
development of credit. Signal good has unques-
tionably resulted from many of the decrees which
have emanated from the Imperial councils. Great
industrial enterprises have been undertaken, and
conducted with energy; public works of all kinds
have been advanced. There has been ample employ-
ment for the labouring classes, who have in conse-
quence been in comfortable circumstances, and ac-
quiring habits of regular industry and prudent fore-
sight. The employers have thriven in all the
manufacturing districts. We receive daily the moat
pleasing accounts of the aspect of affairs in all the
great centres of French manufacturing industry.
The resources of the nation have been enor-
mously developed, and the public: revenue
has shown an elasticity beyond what the
most sanguine could have anticipated. But under-
neath this prosperous surface has lain the quicksand
of credit strained to encourage excessive specula-
tion, and to invert the great and only safe principles
of political economy. Attempts have been made, by
artificial regulations, to cheapen bread when defi-
cient ha to necessarily enhanced its price. Unre-
munerative labour bas been provided for the unem-
ployed, in order that the people might find work at
any coat. Magnificent public buildings have been
erected to flatter the national vanity. A largq,
State expenditure has been persisted in. To
be brief, not only has the activity of credit
been increased by artificial stimulants, but
by its aid an expenditure—public and private
has been indulged in beyond what the national re-
sources warrant. These have been the prominent
features of Imperial finance : but—as under the old
Empire—all such devices to hide the real state of
affairs entail a heavy retribution upon those who
practise them. Sooner or later such inflation must
be followed by collapse.

Among the errors into which the Imperial Govern-
ment has fallen, the most prolific of evil, that which
enhances the deleterious operation of all the rest, is
the arbitrary interference with the natural course
of the money market. In this respect the institution
of the ertldit Mobilie► has pie-eminent claims upon
our attention. That company was established
under Government auspices, with a view to enlarge
the basis of credit in Francs. The operations of this
gigantic establiyhment in supporting the Bourse,
when ei t herove e-s peen lation has praluced its inevitable

re-action, or adverse political features, have depressed
public securities, have been watched with anxiety by
the most judicious financiers of Paris--an anxiety
which • brief retrospect will amply justify. The
Joint Stock Company (Sociiii d•onyme) of the
o•ldit Alobiher was authorised by a decree of 18th
November, 1852. Its social capital amounts to 60
millions of trance, in 120,000 shares of 500 franca
each, entirely paid up, and payable to bearer.
After the complete employment of the "social"
funds, the obligations created by the company may
amount to ten times its capital, or 600 millions of
franca. It is anthcrised to deal in all kinds of public
murkier, and securities of companies established or
to be establi+hed; to issue bonds (me propess obliga-
tions) equal in amount to the sums it employs is pur-
chasing or subscribing for shares; to sell or pledge
all kinds of shares, bonds, or obligations, or exchange
them for others ; to make offers for all kinds of loans
or public works, and to cede or sell them ; to lend
on pubic fonds, on the deposit of shares and other
public securities, and to open current credit
accounts on the deposit of such securities ; to
rrceive money on accounts current; to under-
take the business of companies, pay their
dividends, fie.; to take charge on deposit of
all titles to shares in the various enterprises it is
authorised to engage in. The administration of the
affairs of the company is vested in a council of fifteen,
and five administrators, who execute the decrees of
the council. The general meeting (which is held
once a year—in April) is composed of 200 of the
largest shareholders : a quorum may be formed by
forty members, representing the tenth part of the
social capital. The extent to which the operations of
a company thus constituted and administered, and
embracing so wide a field of action, may affect the
industrial enterprise of France and Europe, may be
inferred from a glance at the various companies which

are working ander its auspices and management.
There are the Company of Austrian Railways ; the
General Omnibus Company ; the General Maritime
Company (constituted to conduct the transportation of
Coolies to the French West India Islands); and among
French railways that of the South, of the Pyrenees,
of the Ardennes, and the Great Central Railway.
Nor is the company satisfied with these enormous
speculations—meddling with every department of en-
terprise in many countries: our readers will have seen,
by our yesterday's impression, that it is actually in
treaty for a contemplated Portuguese railway, and for
the projected railway from Venice to Trieste. Well may
a contemporary say—" Ws doubt whether anything
90 grand has been seen in Francs sines the days of
the Law and Mississippi scheme."
The Credit Mobiliar is, in feet, a rival, and in all
monetary wises a counteragent to the Bank of France.

When the latter seeks to impress upon the specula-
tive public the necessity of reefing their sails, the
Credit Mobsiier eneosinges and 'sables then to hoist
all sail. In this it is hacked by the same Govern-
ment which we ban ma interfere, within these few
days, to prevent the Bank of Praise front adopting
the prudent aid necessary measure of raising its
rate of dimwit. The finaneiel peltefet the illiepieel
which these facts reveal in• so startling a light, has
undeniably had the effect Of encouraging, and serer'
ously extending throughout France, a speculative
mania—to which the country has at all times been too
much predisposed. Capitalists—small and large—have
left the slow pursuit of conunsecial profit to embark
in ventures at the Bourse. At Court, in the streets,
in theatres, sad pints saloons, the rig and tall of
Reties or Shares form the great topic of discus-
sion aid personal interest. Moo feel, as they
walk the Boulevards and mark the ezoited faces
discussing in groups the fluctuations of the day, that
such a state of things is a national evil, and pregnant
with ruin to innumerable individuals and families.
True, the resources of Frazee are enormous—true,

her revenue has largely increased, and, with political
security, there is every hope for her future ; but these
bright spots on her national horizon are for the time
overcast by a monetary system the evil fruits of
which are already beginning to be recognised.
The general fall in securities in Paris, and the
enormous daily oscillations of the Bourse, are
warnings that speak trumpet-tongued. Natural
events have already occasioned a great pecu-
niary drain in France, which is certain to
continue, perhaps to increase. There is a deficient
harvest, which renders necessary extensive orders for
foreign oorn. The war necessarily leads to a large
expenditure, which, for the present, at least is entirely
unproductive, and much gold is finding its way to
the East, where it appears to be hoarded and re-
tained. The French people have already suffered
much from this expenditure. Taxes are on the
increase, while various schemes to cheapen food and
provide employment are partially abandoned.
This necessarily trying state of affairs cannot but be
aggravated by anything that obstructs the self.
curative process by which commercial difficulties
work out their own removal, or encourages imprudent
expenditure and rash speculation when prudent cau-
tion is most needed. Hitherto, whatever the discon-
tent of the higher classes, everything has been done,
and with temporary success, to propitiate the lower.
But the ebb and flow of the sea is not more
certain than the national perils which ensue fres
national errors. The phenomena of the Parisian
Bourse, to which we have been adverting, warrant
the most lively fears that this truth will ere long
find a practical illustration in France. Amid the
popular discontent which a monetary crisis would
produce, the position of NAPOLEON 111. would he one
of extreme peril. The supporters of his dynasty
have been mainly conciliated by a belief that it wee
a guarantee for national tranquillity. In the day of
trial now impending, not only may such hotbeds et
gaming and pawning as the Credit Mobilier be
swept away, but the stability of the throne may be
shaken to its base. For the sake of France—for the
sake of England, we desire that such a crisis may
be averted ; and for this reason, we hail with plea.
sure such indications of a return, on the part of the
French Government, to sounder economical principles
es the admirable remarks recently published it
the ltlensiteur on the natural laws which regulate the
bode ht grain.