The Express.
London, England, 1867-10-28 00:00:00

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LoNDON, MILVILI Y, onropEn 28.

Pens attention during the past week has been
engrossed more by political than by financial
events. The interest which attaches to the Italian
question has fur the time thrown all other topics
into the shade. Yet there are many matters
which deserve serious consideration from the
trading classes. Foremost among these is the
failure of the Royal Bank of Liverpool. A disaster
of this kind is at all times productive of distrust.
If it occur in a period of panic, it inevitably aggra-
vates to a certain extent the general alarm ; but,
on the other hand, the public are in some measure
prepared for the event. It is very well known
that when credit is practically dead, and the richest
and best houses in the kingdom can obtain accom-
modation with difficulty at 10 to 13 per cent.,
some country banks are almost sure to
succumb. Last year it was with no small
surprise that the public perceived how little appa-
rent harm was caused to the banking interest by
the stoppage of OVF.REND, iURNEY, and Co. The
necessary inference was drawn, that if these esta-
blishments were able to pans through a more cri-
tical ordeal than they had been subjected to for
forty years, their position must be such as to defy
all chance of danger. As a rule, a commercial
crisis has been the infallible test of the soundness
of either a great bank or of a mercantile firm.
This general conclusion has not proved infallible.
The Royal Bank of Liverpool escaped the perils of
186 e. it has fallen now from a raismanrement
continued for a series of years, which under ordi-
nary acceptation must have brought about its
stoppage eighteen months ago. It survived the
trial, but has at length fallen in times of compara-
tive quiet. When money is in overflowing
abundance, and lenders are glad to take 1 or
per cent., it is evident that the Royal Bank
could have experienced no difficulty in getting any
sums they required, provided always that their
securities would bear the test of examination.
Unfortunately this is not their case. Imprudent,
it is reported even irregular, advances have been
made, and the consequences have been, first,
heavy losses, and then the closing of the bank's
doors. The hope of a resumption of business
seems to be gradually dying away.
Grievous as the loss will be to the proprietors
of this unfortunate concern, it can be of no
appreciable consequence to the nation at large.
Probably about 700,0001. or 800,000/. of capital
only has been wasted. The only fear is the effect
that the event may have upon the public mind.
It is a fair presumption that the Royal Bank of
Liverpool is an exception to the general run of
bank management, but it is a hard task to make
people believe so. In monetary affairs nothing is
more easy than to excite suspicion, and nothing
more difficult than to allay it. At the same
time, there is no judging of the caprice
the public constantly show in these questions.
At the ',regent moment, as we have already ob-
served, they have something else to think about
than the stoppage of a country joint-stock bank.
Italy, Rome, the possibility of a Continental war,
are of moire importance, and the greater subject
shuts out the lesser. Hence as yet there has
been little said about the affair, apart from those
directly interested. tinder slightly altered cir-
cumstances this suspension might have caused
much greater uneasiness than has actually been
felt. As it is there has been more than enough,
although it is morally certain that scarcely any
other bank in the kingdom is reputed to have
squandered away its resources in loans on unsale-
able shipping.

Another important question also is the state of
the corn market. We have had a sudden and
extreme rise ; an equally sudden reaction ; and
then a fresh tendency to advance. It is generally
understood that the first movement was in a great
degree due to speculation. Still the bond fide
purchases were large. The French bought consi-
derably, and the speculators, seeing this demand,
ran up the price until, as usual, they overshot the
mark. Numerous arrivals being announced, and
the out-turn of our own crops proving better than
anticipated, there was an immediate relapse.
Heavy losses, however, must necessarily have been
experienced by purchasers of floating cargoes for
immediate delivery. These wide fluctuations are
productive of nothing but harm. They simply
foster a spirit of gambling which is already too
rife. hi this case it is some satisfaction to know
that those who have speculated the most have lost
the most, and that the regular dealers have
suffered comparatively little.

Again, what are the prospects of the money
market? A decline in the bullion at the Bank
has not been followed by its usual consequence of
a rime in the rate of interest. It is not likely that
any further sums will go, since the supplies
arriving from Australia will suffice to meet, and
perhaps more than meet, the continental denvoid.
♦ portiou will probably go into the Beak, and as