The Express.
London, England, 1853-09-13 00:00:00

FRANCE.

PARIS, MONDLY EVENING.
The assertion of the Moniteur, in contradiction of
current reports, that government was not "about"
to purchase corn in the markets of Europe, having
been met by the statement that large purchases had
"already" been made, the Moniteur of to-day contains
the following explanation :—" Some foreign journals
again speak of purchases of corn made on account
of the French government. The contracts entered,
into in England about six weeks ago, for 419,000
hectolitres, for the annual supply of the army and
navy, are the only facts of this nature which could
give a pretext for such an allegation. With thel
exception of this purchase made abroad, in order
not to influence the markets of the interior, the go-
vernment has not and never had the idea of inter-
vening either directly or indirectly in any operation
relative to grain. It has already declared, and de-
clams again, in the most formal manner, that any
contrary supposition is absolutely false. It has full
confidence in the efficacious activity of commerce, and
only intends to exercise its action to facilitate opera-
tions by general measures."
The following lines from the commercial bulletin
of the Conatituttonnel indicate the true tendency of
the corn market :

Paris, Saturday, Sept. IL—Flour: The day passed
with little business doing. Advices from Chartres and
Milan announce a rise of from 21r. to 3fr. in wheat.
The markets are not well supplied and prices have risen
to nearly the quotation from which they fell on Saturday
last. This evening some of the brokers were enquiring for
flour. Wheat : There is no peat activity in business ;
prices, however, are firmly maintained. There are very few
sellers. _ _

The Echo Agrieole says:
The wheat crop in France presents a very considerable
deficit. It is in vain that some journals of Paris and of the
departments, either from a want of proper information, or
from a foolish desire to conceal and attenuate a sad truth,
have declared that the crop will be at least equal to that of
as average year ; the fact is that it is notably inferior. The
most exact reports each day confirm the apprehensions of
the first moment, and the prudent acts by which the govern-
ment has endeavoured to facilitate the entrance and circu-
lation of foreign grain, are the most powerful confirmation
of the bad state of the wheat crops of 1858.
About a fortnight since the Patrie affirmed that
the harvest was above an average, the prefects
made formal reports to the Councils-General to the
same effect, and these wilfully false assertions were
actually telegraphed to London as facts. I assured
you at the time that all trustworthy agricultural
reports concurred in stating that there was really a
serious deficiency. I believe the government is by
this time aware how worse than idle it was to at-
tempt to conceal the truth. The events of the last
few days must have taught them, if they did not
know it before, that any fall in the price
of provisions produced otherwise than by an
increase in the quantity offered for consumption,
I can only have the effect of repelling supplies. Dam-
nese is the natural remedy of scarcity. It acts in two
ways ; first by attracting provisions from countries
where they are cheaper, thus augmenting the supply,
and next by constraining individuals to be frugal,
thus diminishing consumption. Commerce has not
yet recovered from the shock it sustained by the im-
=ion that government was about to interfere on a
scale with the natural laws of supply and de-
mand. The note in the Moniteur of a few days back
had at once, however, a beneficial effect. On
the very day when that note was known at Mar-
seilles, business in grain, which had been paralysed,
showed a tendency to resume its normal condition.
But in every market, so soon as the activity artificially
checked recommenced, prices have shown a tendency
to rise. A circular has been sent to all the depart-
mental authorities declaring that a measure adopted
at Paris is exclusively intended for Paris, and does
not apply beyond the walls of the capital, and that
everywhere else the price of bread is to depend on
the quotations of flour, with such exceptions as may
be made by municipal bodies having sufficient funds
to come to the aid of necessitous families. In Paris
itself it is not thought the government can venture
to risk exciting the dissatisfaction of the population by
allowing a rise in bread to take place. Within
three days the tariff must be declared again, and
there is little doubt that the present artificial prices
will be maintained. The question must now speedily
be settled, in what way are the bakers to
be indemnified for their losses. The fairest
thing t3wards them would be to make them& money
compensation. But this would be by no means
easy to do upon any equitable system. When tickets
were issued to the poor entitling them to have bread
at an under value, while the rich paid the natural
price, the compensation to the baker was awarded
exactly without difficulty. Every baker brought
weekly to the mairie the tickets against which he
had delivered privileged loaves, and received the dif-
ference. But now, when rich and poor pay
alike, the loss sustained by each baker can only be
ascertained by an inquiry into his daily baking. It
is quite clear that if the bakers are to wait until flour
falls sufficiently low to enable them to make up their
losses by continuing to sell at sOc., many of
them will be ruined and compelled to close
their shops in the interim. It has been
suggested that the city will make advances by way
of loan to the most needy bakers. This plan would
certainly enable them to go on, but the complications
likely to arise from a long continuance of an artificial
system, are formidable to contemplate. When the price

of bread is higher outside the walls of Paris than
within; the inhabitants of the banlien will naturally
come into the city to make their purchases. When
at a future time bread shall be forcibly maintained
at a .higher rate in Paris than elsewhere,
the Parisians will go outside the walls to
buy, and the baker will sell less than
when he was forced to sell at a loss, and consequently
will not be compensated by the difference in price.
The subject greatly perplexes the municipality and
causes immense anxiety in the trade. Urn the
whole the bakers are of opinion that the simplest,
fairest, and most economical plan would be to return
to the system of issuing tickets to the necessitous,
leaving those who can afford it to pay according to
the regulating scale.
All the ministers proceeded yesterday to the palace
of St. Cloud, where a council was held, presided over
by the Emperor. The Minister of the Interior ar-
nved from Dieppe in the morning by a special train,
and M. Baroche, President of the Council of State,
having the rank of minister, arrived by the Rouen
train at eight o'clock. A special train took back M.
de Persigny at tive o'clock to Dieppe, where he is to
remain some days.
A decree, dated St. Cloud, the 11th, confides the
administration of the Ministry of the Interior, during
the absence of M. do Persigny, to M. Abbatucci,
Minister of Justice.