The Express.
London, England, 1860-11-26 00:00:00

ere, however,
hope
neighbours.

Thu exchange of silver
upon, to the extent

tween the Banks of

unquestionably the
feature of the past

suggestion, emsaa fed,

France, and was personally supported by a ma
bet of the owned of that establishment, 11.
Mann, who paid • visit to London for the pie,
pose. Viewing the arrangement simply as h►
tween the two Banks, it is evident that the whin-
tage is entirely on the side of the French em,
The success of the negotiation, therefore, NM
legitimately be regarded as a kind of triumph 1
the Bank of France, and as • fresh proof of the
remarkable ingenuity of our neighbours, as wall
as of the superiority of their talent for org{sts►
tion. It is probable that no such expedient wadi
have occurred to the minds of our own fmanciass
under similar circumstances, and that, bad it ote-
curred to them, the strait-laced notions which prr•
vail• amongst us in financial matters would have
effectually deterred the Bank of Enema frau
subjecting themselves to the seeming Ills
of sending • deputation to Paris to soheit, in the
face of the world, a direct favour from the Beek
of France. Our neighbours, we see, with their
usual happy knack of accommodating their policy
to circumstances, are not by any means too proud
to owe their extrication from a pressing difficullp
to the unrequited courtesy of our Bank. It does
not appear that the latter make anything by the
transaction. Had it bass an absolute purchase 011
the one metal as against a sale of the other, ft
would probably, as • mere matter of business,
have resulted in a profit to the Bank of England.
Had it been • loan, the case would
have been the same ; but this con-
tingency need not be considered, because,
under existing circumstances, the public would
have had • right to protest forcibly against any
such step. But as it is merely a temporary ex-
change of 2,000,0001. of gold against 2,000,0001.
of silver—each Bank retaining the freedom of dis-
posing as may be convenient of the treasure de- 1,
posited with it—it costa the Bank of England
nothing and gives them nothing. On the other'
hand, its advantages to the Bank of France are
obvious. At the cost of a little sacrifice of pres.
tige, which is but a breath, and of the compass-
tively inconsiderable sum incurred in the transport
of this mass of treasure, they are relieved from
the expense which was entailed by the large pur-
chases of gold at a premium lately carried on in
this market, and which must undoubtedly have
been continued but for the supply now op-
portunely secured. As we have pointed
out before, this expense was regarded by the Bank
of France simply as • regular business outlay.
Against it they set the large profits derived from
the extensive transactions which they kept up.
Their position was this :—The foreign drsili nes
reducing the amount of their bullion. They maul,
therefore, either curtail proportionately their busi-
ness and their note-issues, or keep on the old
track and appropriate a portion of their profits to
forcing in bullion. In their decision to adopt the
latter course, which is the less consonant with
sound financial principles, but one of the objects
of which is to dispense with, or at hest to adjourn
• protective rise in the rate of interest in
France, we think we can detect the finger of
a government which, both in its domestic
and its foreign policy, in its dealings
with the national debt and in its direotion of the
military power of the country, has ever uacriAosd
the sound to the popular, and the future to the
payment. But, passing this consideration by, we
think we have shown t►at, viewing the arrange-
ment u one simply between the two Banks, the
entire advantage falls to the Bank of France, who
are saved, for the time, from a considerable cost
which they had reckoned upon being obliged to
meet.

ments. But there seems to be little prospect d•
such a change if system, patticularly is long ai
the policy of the Bank is moulded by that of the
Government. The considerations presiding over s
Bank Board ought to be exclusively financial; as
soon as the political creep in, mischief is only too
likely to arise. Nothing is more difficult to deal
with in a despotic fashion than the money market.
It will not be dragooned ; it is as intractable
as the " public confidence " to which so
many invitations have been vainly addressed in
Imperial letters. No one ever heard of such do-
cuments paying a debt due from one nation to
another. "Indebtedness" is the position of France
now. The gold leaves her because she owes a
balance to the foreigner, and because this is the
medium in which international balances are ad-
justed. The evil cannot be cured u she re-
duces her foreign expenditure and foreign engage-
ments, and endeavours to attract foreign capital.
The principles of finance are understood and acted
upon here, but the policy of her government would
lead one to conclude that France has not yet mas-
tered the rudiments of this modern science.

The accounts received during the last week
from the manufacturing district. indicate in some
quarters a slackening of enterprise, though
scarcely of industry. There is a pause in several
branches, owing to the state of the money market
and of the foreign consuming markets. As one
criterion, it will be noticed that business on some
of the commercial lines of railway is not quite so
active as it was a short time back. The general
trade of the country, however, is still large, and
apparently sound. At Manchester prices have
declined, the disturbance in the money market
having added to the discouragement in the India,
China, and other trades in which long-dated
paper circulates ; but in the cotton, as
well as the woollen, hardware, and coal trades,
there is scarcely any exception to the continued
report of good employment for all kinds of labour.
At Nottingham, a number of the operatives are
only partially employed, whilst the existence of a
certain amount of what is termed "under selling"
in the iron trade indicates the exceptionally languid
condition of that department of brainless, in conse-
quence of the limited number of foreign orders.
We are not subscribing much towards foreign
railways at present, and the iron interest feels the
effect.

If there be any party which has a right to
murmur against the transaction, it is the holders
of Bank of England stock, who always gtt the
largest dividends when the necessities of trade are
great and the value of money high. It would
appear, however, that they have little cause of
complaint; for, so far as can be judged,
their business at present pays uncommonly'
well, and bids fair to continue to do
so. Their faint murmurs, even when combined
with those of the capitalists of the pure JONIS-
LLOYD school, who were watching with a grim
satisfaction the inexorable " tightening of the
screw" as the gold flowed out, are drowned in the
chorus of satisfaction which rims from the relieved
trade of the country. The effect of this simple
exchange between the two Banks has been so
rapid and decided as to Mamma one sow with a
particularly keen sense of the importance which is
attached by our curreney system to the movement
of a couple of millions of bullion, and of the acute
sensibility of this system to any derangement that
may arise abroad. Had the Bank of France forced
these two millions of gold from us, it is a quest:on
whether the rate of discount here would have been
7 or 8 per cent. ; but as they have arranged to
deposit with us, in lien of that sum, an equal
amount of a metal which will answer equally well
for the purpose of the Bank of England note-
issues, the rate of discount in Lombard-street has
fallen to 5 per cent. We may this see that the
twice-waived Beak Charter Act has a good deal of
vitality in it yet. We will not stop here to cal-
culate how many hundreds of millions sterling of
transactions would have been affected as a few
waggons carried off these two millions of gold. Let
us be content to note and accept the improvement
in the money market.

Whether this improvement will be permanent
is another question. It certainly strikes us that,
considering that a mere exchange of bullion will
not the better enable us to pay America and
Russia for corn, and the former country for cotton,
or to defray the expense of the China war, or to
stave off the immediate demands upon us in
respect of the vast quantities of goods which are
still lying waiting for buyers in the Indian, Au.
tralian, and other foreign markets—considering,
too, that it will not cause any abatement of the
similar but more pressing demands upon France, a
student of finance might well be tempted to throw
his books into the fire, and the practical financier
to fling all the teachings of his experience to the
winds, should the little operation just arranged
between the two Banks be attended permanently
with the almost magical effects which some persons
declare will follow from it. If A exchange s
sovereign against half a soverign and ten shilling
with B, how are A and B the richer as towards
their pressing creditor C I AU that France has
really gained by the transaction is that, to the
extent of the sum referred to, she has obtained
a peculiarly suitable medium of internitional ex-
change in lieu of a less suitable one. She cannot
repeat the operation, fur their Charter Act ties up
the hands of our Bank, stipulating that they shall
not hold in the issne department more than a cer-
tain proportion of silver. dbould the drain upon

.-..-..,..-..

THE EXPRESS, MONDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 26,

L INTELLIGENCE.

CHINA.
0111ICZ ntara.raiwp. .

..-
C ALLIES BEFORE PEKIN.
ROUT OF TEE TARTARS.

IORRON °TRICE, Nov. 26, IMO.
A telegram has been received from her Majesty's
Consul at Marseilles, dated this morning, and
stating that the Allies were within six miles of
Pekin on the 23rd of Sept.; that on the 18th and
21st they had completely defeated the Tartan near
Taugehow ; that Mr. Parkes had been taken prisoner
and sent to Pekin ; and that the rebels had retired
from Shanghse to Hangchow.

(wr NIL 1111711111161 11:10112118.1

HEADQUARTERS, EIGHT MILES FROM
PEKIN, Sirr. 23.

Mr. Bowlby, Tines correspondent ; Mr. Loch,
secretary to Lord Elgin ; Mr. Parkes, Messrs. De
Norman and Anderson, of Pane's Horse ; and
Captain Brabazon, have been made prisoners whilst
engaged in choosing camping ground. They have
been taken to Pekin, where they are well treated.
Zngagements were fought on the 18th and 21st
Sept., at Chang-kis-wan and Jang-chan. On both,
occasions 30,000 Tartar cavalry advanced, and were
completely routed by the anise ; 2,000 Tartars were
killed, and 50 guns taken. . The allies had only 18
wounded.
The Chinese have sent in a flag of truce, with the
provisions for a treaty.
Lord Elgin demands the release of the prisoners
before negotiating.

The Emperor's braker has been appointed Chief
Commissioner to make peace.
Tea to the value of 230,0001. sterling was taken
at Chang-kis-wan.
SHANGHAI Ocr. 4.
All is quiet. The rebels are threatening Hang-
ehan.

JAVA, OCT. 14.
The Dutch troops at Banjermassing have been
thrice repulsed by the rebels.

POINT DE GAUD, Nov. 1.
Sir Charles Maosrthy assumed the governmei
of Ceylon on the 22nd October.

- ' ROM PARIS.
oolastrosnewr.)
• r ' PARIS, SUNDAY Emma
I on *lll have the Moniteur of this day,
, its announcements of the various
changes (yesterday hinted at) in the constitution of
Legislative Body, as well as of the ministry and
the Senate. These great measures are made public
on a day when anything like discussion on the sub-
ject is out of the question ; all individual comment,
therefore, would be premature. I extract a few of
the remarks of the evening journals.
The Pays, of course, goes into ecstasies ; calls
"the political event" in question "one of the
most considerable which history has had to record."
It says further :

The principal and the most remarkable character of the
political measures determined upon and realised by the
Emperor Jr their spontaneity. This is not a coooessios
dragged by force, or even counselled by any prelim* of
public opinion ; it is not even a reform of the imperial
institutiora which h►ve hitherto worked so successfully ; it
is a natural development of the liberal and conservative
spirit of the empire, voluntarily and usefully, that is to ay,
timely arrived. It is better crowning well. The great
bodies of the state will have much more strength, sad the
throes no lass. In • word, it is the oombination of all the
advantages of the representative without the inooeveniences

and the dangers of the parliamentary system. • • • In
submitting himself more fully than ever to the national
judgment, the Emperor plainly shows that he accepts all the
obligations, all the labours, all the duties, all the sacrifices
which alone consolidate known. and found dynasties. In
boldly, opportunely, and wisely opening the door of useful int-
provanaste, the Emperor quits the paths in which so
=ay governments have perished, and he brilliantly juste.
des In the general eye by his internal policy the principles
extsesally profaned and made to prevail by his diplomacy.
So much for M. Granier de Caseagnac, who
writes himself down member of the Legislative
Body in question, and who condescends himself to
wield the pen on this momentous occasion.
M. Nefftzer, in the Prase, says :

These are modifications which we think will be received
with unanimous satisfaction. What appears to us of
paramount importance is the return of the ministry
to the chambers, and the right of address conferred
upon the Senate and the Legislative Body. This
lest arrangement enlarges considerably the functions
of the two chambers, and obtains for public opi.
Mon the means of manifesting itasif in a certain and autho-
rised manner. Everybody now knows that, after all, pub-
lic opinion governs the world. The bast served government,
then, will be that which will be in a position to let it op.*
the most plainly. In approving it, opinion strengthens it ;
in blaming it, opinion impedes it and obliges it to recede.
Voted with that independence without which there are no
serious votes, the addresses of the two chambers will be
manifestations of opinion of a great and incontestible au-
thority.

I would draw your readers' attention to this
last phrase. In England you are apt to regard a
parliamentary opposition as one of the main ele-
ments of good government. How about the
" opposition" in France 1 M. Dehunarre, in the
Patrie, says briefly :

In signing this decree, which will forma an epoch is the
history of his reign, the Emperor has given • signal proof
of the confidence and the strength of his government. Hs
gives the great bodies of the state the means of bringing
to political matters en aid, if not more devoted,
at kart more active than hitherto ; he give@ the
public the means of better appreciating that aid.
The country will bail with joy there decisions of the
Emperor, which are in harmony with the proper of
politica morals, sod which will give a new braking to oar
institutions. For ourselves, who have long ad easionely
celled for tLe time when these liberal armories@ could take
place without danger, we cannot but receive the decree of the
Moniteer with extreme gratitude towards the Emperor, and
• confidence which all France will share with us.

The following Imperial Decree is published in
yesterdDearing ay's
Aftln.alrr:d to the great bodies of the
State • more direct participation in the general
policy of our government, and • marked proof of
our confidence, we decree :

"Art. 1. Tliat the Senate and the Corps Legielatif
shall annually vote an address in reply to our
speech at the opening of the Chambers.
"Art. 2. This address will be discussed in the
presence of the government Commissioners, who
will give the Chamber the n explanations
on the interior and exterior policy o the Empire.
" Art. 3. In order to facilitate to the legislative
body the expression of its opinion in the prepars-
tion of the laws and the exercise of the right of
amendment, Art. 54 of our decree of March 22,
1852 is put iu force, and the regulation of the
legislative body is modified in the following
manner :

" Immediately after the distribution of the pro-
jects of law, and at the day fixed by the president,
the legislative body, before naming its commission,
assembles in secret committee, a surninarydiscussion
is opened on the project of law and the government
commissioners take part in it. The present dispo-
sition is applicable neither to projects of law of
local interest, nor to cases of urgency.
"Art 4. In order to render the reproduction of
the debates of the Senate and the Legislative Body
.more complete, the following project of a senatus
consult° shall be presented to the Senate :
" `The reports of the sittings of the Senate and
the Legislative Body drawn up by the secnitairee-
redacteurs under the authority of the President of
each Assembly, are addressed every evening to the
journals. Moreover, the debates of every sitting
are reported in short-hand and inserted in &dense
in the official journal of the following day.'
" Art. 5. During the session, the Emperor will
name the ministers without portfolio to defend
before the Chambers, in concert with the President
and the member of the Council of State, the pro-
jects of law of the government.
, Art. 6. The nunertry of our household is sup-
=; its functions are joined to those of the
Marshal of the Palace.
" Art. 7. The ministry of Algeria and the Colo-
nies is suppressed. The administration of the
colonies is united with the Ministry of the Marine.
" Art. 8. Services which do not directly belong
to public instruction or the special establishments
of the Duireraity, are withdrawn from the Ministry
of Public Instruction, and placed among the func-
tions of the Ministry of State.
"Art. 9. The Stud Department is removed from
the Ministry of .ieulture, Commerce, and Public
Works, and placed among the functions of the Mi-
nistry of State."
The decree also orders some changes in the
functions of the Ministries of Public Instruction,
Works, Agriculture, and Commerce.
" Art, 10. M. Clisselonp-Laubst has been ap-
pointed Marine and Colonial Minister.

" Art 11. Marshal Pelissfer has been appointed
Goveraor•Geueral of Algeria.
" Art 12. Admiral Hainelin has been appointed
Grand Chancellor of the Legion of Honour.
That part of the public service which is not
directly connected with public instruction, as well
as the special establishments of the University, are
transferred from the Ministry of Instruction to
that of the State. _

"Art 13. The Ministers without portfolios have
the rank and treatment of the Ministers with funo-
tions ; they form part of the Council of Ministers,
and are lodged at the expense of the State.
" Art. It Our Minister of State is charged with
the direction of the present decree.
"Done at the Palace of the Tuileries,
" Nov., 24,1860. " Naroxxow.
" By the Emperor.
" The Minister of State, A. WALEWSKI."

The In(Epee:34lde of Naples, of the 13th, has the
following suooencemeat All patrons who hays
anything to send to Cowed Garibaldi, at Capron, may
deposit either letters or pareels in the hands of the captain
1..11 schooner Emma, who will convey them to the
. The schooner Emma lames to-morrow, and
E.e—in-ia her crew o tj ie at ceneral
the spring." The Emma, le Y Akaandre Dumas' yacht

sswever, we are glad to see them made, and the Bank of France continue, or be resumed after
they mity be turned to the profit of our a pause of greater or less duration, all that will
Soars. have beenngained *time. Then. ermfebo
Ist mi&aluethOlbis VIA =ea
3 eschewe of silver against sgreed k n re; welt the Planck
to the extent of 2,000 ..ifterlina vemnts. and B to e Nut salutery
t the Banks of Fran,. ••England, hems policy ofiehuchme cauttotAtitinli cam eine
estionably the most, fieeneta looted. countrypermanentljo frit • 4 drain re•
re of the past week. The application, or suiting from an adverse interns tioill balance, in
stion, emanated, of course, from the Bank of conjunction with unduly extended home engage-
,