The Express.
London, England, 1862-08-11 00:00:00

HIGH WATZI AT CONDOS BUDGE.

Tuft DerLifonihr t. 01. 50nt..... Afternoon, 311. lOnt.
I u-mOlteetr—ltorning, 3A. 30nt... Afternoon, 3n. trn.

LONDON, MONDAY, AUGUST 11.

Toe telegrams in advance of the mail which left
Shanghae on the 18th June inform us that affairs
at that place and at Ningpo were " much quieter,"
and the Taepings were " keeping back," though
preparations continued to be made to give them a
warm reception. The simple meaning of this is
that people at Shanghae had recovered from the
shock they experienced on finding that these rebels
were considerably more difficult to deal with than
they expected. At first sight it was all plain sail-
ing, and nothing seemed easier and more profitable
than to shell the Taepings out of their stock-
aded towns, or bring them into such
a state of confusion by the use of half
a dozen Armstrong guns, that it became child's
play to throw in a storming party of Marines and
Zonaves. It is true that in the assault on Najow
old Admiral Poivvrr happened to be killed, it
having become • fashion for commanders-in-chief
in China to expose themselves in a manner quite
unusual elsewhere ; but he was the only one of
the allied force who lost his life on that occasion,
and the other casualties were very few in number.
On the whole matters were going on most mer-
rily until the Taepings discovered that it was much
more advantageous to rise up behind our
troops than to make a stand before them.
Whether this result followed from the advent of
the Fighting King, or was due to an inference
which even inferior minds may draw from prac-
tical experience, is of no consequence; it might
have been expected and anticipated as the natural
resort of • numerous and determined foe in a dia.
tract of country so cut up by deep streams and
by innumerable canals, crossed by bridges in-
tended only for foot passengers, that our for-
midable artillery could not easily or speedily be
brought to bear at points where it was likely to be
required. General STAVELZY, in his report pub-
lished in the Gazette of the sth instant, mentions
that " the guns, provisions, and baggage " had to
be " conveyed in country boats," owing to the
character of the country on the line of
march ; and these boats would have to
follow many tedious windings and long digressions
from the direct route. There was also another
difficulty in the failure of the Imperialists to fulfil
their promise of holding the towns which the
Allies might capture. An attempt has been made
to throw all the blame of the failure of the expe-
ditions upon this lapse of the Chinese authorities ;
but such could hardly have been the case, as the
Geneqd himself admits that " the occupation of
" Riding alone did not prevent the rebels from
" ravaging the country between it and Shanghae."
What can be said of the generalship which,
with the small means at its disposal, could attempt
to clear the country within a radius of thirty
miles from Shanghae 4 So far from this
having been effected, a much smaller and
easier enterprise has proved a complete failure,
leaving matters in a vastly worse condition than
they were before. The operations on which Ge-
neral STAVELEY reports were carried on to gain pos-
session of the Poo-tung Peninsula, • small tract of
country in great part surrounded by the Shanghae
River, the Yang-tsze, and the sea, so affording us
every convenience for bases of operations, and
allowing the rebels there little opportunity of
being recruited from the main bodies of their force.
If a few thousand English, French, and disciplined
Chinese cannot hold that peninsula, then it will re-
quire a force of fifty thousand men to secure the
entire radius of thirty miles, and about 500,000
to hold the province. During the retreat, or
retirement, of the allied force, the Taepings
" appeared in very great force," and attacked
"it in the town, in front, and flanks con-
" tinually during the day, and eventually in the
" evening made a movement round towards the
" boats," in which were the artillery ammunition
and supplies. The difficulties of transport also
turned out to be very great, as the boats were con-
stantly grounding in shallow creeks, and it was
found exceedingly difficult to protect any length-
ened line of them. Of course, the Allies had
to withdraw, and the General declares that under
present circumstances he is unable to do any-
thing more than protect the city of Shanghae
itself.

This unfortunate enterprise was undertaken
for the special purpose of saving the people of
Shanghae from starvation, and we are extremely
sorry to observe that, instead of having done so, it
only renders the impending evil more certain.
The Taepings are now so incensed that they will
not fail to form a cordon round the city for the
purpose of cutting off its supplies. General
Sxxvxxxv says that they " have marauding parties
" ten miles from Shanghae, driving in the country
" people, and burning their houses in every direo-
" tion. I apprehend, therefore, that the crops will
" remain ungathered, and that famine must be the
" consequence." Is this what some of our contem-
poraries mean by regenerating China and acting
in the interests of humanity I The rebels have
not usually been in the habit of meddling with
the country people; but they do so in our imme-
diate neighbourhood. The Allies marched out to
prevent the inhabitants of Shanghae from being
starved, and the only result is that the people of

all the country round are also subjected to that
fearful suffering. If only about thirty thousand
poor villagers are destroyed in this way, the
Chinese must certainly regard the Taepings, the
Imperialists, and their European "protector's"-
with equal terror and detestation.
In this frustrate attempt on the Poo-tung
peninsula wo may see what will be the general re-
sult of the course, if it is still insisted on, which
we have begun to pursue in China. In advancing
against the Imperialists there was always some-
' thing to grasp. They had their Yemenis their
revenues, and their prestige to save by conces-
sions, yet their obstinacy in resistance was very
great. At Pekin we had our hand upon the very
throat of the Government, and not until it had
received a rather severe squeeze did it condescend
to come to terms for the moment. But the Tae-
pings are not to be so got hold of, for they have
nothing which they cannot afford to lose.
They disappear, at one point only to turn
up at another. It is quite sufficient prestige for
them that they can baffle, without being able
openly to defeat, European forces. Their num-
bers and capacity for concealment and flight are
so great that they can never be kept down
so as to cease to be formidable. They grow upon
that they feed on, recruiting their ranks from the
places which they destroy ; and no town or village
throughout the entire empire would be safe from
them unless permanently occupied by a sufficient
European force. Any operations we can under-
take in China will be powerless to im-
pose permanent protection and controL It
would be easy to occupy Nanking, but the
rebels would devastate the country round,
as they have done in the cue of Kading, and
soon after we left they would pass into the city and
occupy it as before. Were we able by a prodigious
effort and an army equal to those conflicting on the
American continent to exclude them entirely from
the valley of the Yang-faze, they would occupy the
province of K wang-tung, and cut off supplies from
Hong Kong. Even in such an insignificant matter
as the occupation of the Poo-tung peninsula,
the Imperialists showed, by yielding up the villages
they had undertaken to garrison, that it
is a delusion to suppose they will heartily
00-operate with us, and that their desire is to see
the Allies and the Taepings engaged in check-
mating each other. Much as they dislike the
Taeping, they fear and dislike much more the
foreigner, from whose influence he has sprung,
and regard it as the highest diplomacy that the two
should be kept in conflict.

THAT excess must be followed by reaction is
once more proved by the financial events of the
past week. To entertain four new foreign loans
simultaneously namely, the Portuguese, the
Peruvian, the Venezuelan, and the Egyptian—
constituted excess ; for although the total amount
of the draught entailed upon the money market
may not be more than it can bear con-
veniently at a time when the legitimate trade de-
mand for accommodation is so much below an
average, the stock markets must find difficulty in
absorbing so large a mass of new securities in so
short a space of tune. The only safe guide in
such matters is moderation, and the competition
of loan contractors sometimes renders it difficult
to secure this. If three or four firms have been
silently engaged in preparing new stock for the
English public, directly one of them comes forward
the others feel an uncontroll►ble impulse to
follow its lead, as though they were under the
hallucination that the early stirring competitor
would absorb all the loose money in the market
and leave none for them. The more prudent and
reasonable course would be for houses who are
forestalled in this way to wait with decent patience
until those who have already engaged the ear of the
market have concluded their business, and left the
coast clear. There would then be a proper interval
between each operation and its attendant
payments; the Stock Exchange would have time
to breathe ; those speculators who habitually take
part in and support foreign loans would
be able to detach themselves from one, in order to
plunge into another ; and the market for this kind
of securities, which is of only limited extent, would
run less dangerof becoming overloaded. But such
abstinence would seemingly accord ill with tho
views of the persons who act as purveyors of new
foreign stocks to the English market. With too
many of them the chief aim seems to be to get
the subscription lista well filled ; this done, the
subscribers must take care of themselves. We
have already pointed out that the crowding into a
single week of a series of new loans which ought
to have been spread over several months
would inevitably be attended with public
disappointment, because, from the distrac-
tion of the attention of the market
amongst so many schemes, subscribers would find
premiums disappear, and premiums constitute the
only inducement to enter into such transactions.
The applicants would thus no longer be able to fall
back upon that margin of immediate profit which
ought always to exist in the case of securities
exposed to such numerous risks as foreign invest-
ments.

The justice of this view is already shown.
Of the four loans mentioned, one of them—the
Peruvian—is already a disappointment, the scrip
being only saleable at a discount, so that
holders see their anticipated immediate profit
entirely cut away. Very possibly, after the
stock has been shifted into the hands
which will permanently hold it, and after the
extraordinarily large sinking fund has come fairly
into play, the market for Peruvian Bonds may
improve, but, just now, it is a question of the
interim ; and in any cue the fact is clear enough
that the holders do not stand at that profit—
computed reasonably at at least 2 or 3 per cent.—
without which, as a mere matter of business, it is
really not worth while to subscribe to any new
foreign loan. The rapidity with which the stock
has sunk to its present point would seem to
indicate that the price at which the new Peru-
vian Four-and-a-Half per Cent. Loan has been
issued-93 per cent.—is too high, and that 90
or 91 should have been fixed, if the subscribing
public were to be immediately and thoroughly
satisfied with their investment.
Another of the new loans—the Venezuelan—
though standing relatively better than the Peruvian,
inasmuch as it is at one-half per cent. premium,
is likewise, in some sense, a present disappointment.
It is brought out by a firm which for honour and
general standing is excelled by none and equalled
by few in the City of London. The price of issue
—63 per cent. for a Six per Cent stock—is cer-
tainly low, if Venezuela presents any security at
' all ; yet in this case alio the gilt is off the ginger-
bread, for a loan 'is no real success, as a
market operation f- if it offer to the
subscriber only par cent. profit. A
profit of so limited an amount is not adequate to
cover the trouble and loss of interest on money,
and to afford an insurance against the risks in-
separable from such transactions. Should the
pacification of Venezuela be completed, sad the
government walk straightly, a Venezuelan Six per
Cent. stock at 63 may hereafter yield a large