The Express.
London, England, 1860-08-27 00:00:00

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LONDON, MONDAY, AUGUST TT.

THE anxiety which is felt with regard to our
food prospects, in consequence of the hitherto ex-
tremely unfavourable state of the weather, has
been further stimulated during the pest week by
what may be considered an announcement by the'
Government of France that the harvest in that I
country a a partial failure. That a considerable
deficiency would be experienced was fully antici-
pated by all who were acquainted with the diffi-
culties under which the crops have been gathered
in. The suddenness with which the Government
has acted shows that it is fully impressed with a
sense of the exigencies of the occasion and of the
responsibility cast upon it. In England we have
a Parliament and a constitutional Ministry to take
to task if any measures required for the national
welfare be omitted. In France, the Government

Alone—that is to say, the Head of the State
—must provide for all contingencies, or
stand accused of neglect at the bar of that
public opinion which, though silenced in the Press
and the Legislature, will yet make its voice heard
through the walls of the Imperial Council-
Chamber. Without any public debate or other
warning indication, the ports of France have been
suddenly thrown open for the space of • full
twelvemonth to the admission, duty free, of all
kinds of grain and flour. We say duty free, be-
cause this is substantially the effect of the Imperial
decree just published. Literally, it provides for
the entrance of all kinds of breadstuff' at the
lowest rate of duty prescribed by the sliding-scale
hitherto in force, but as that rate is equivalent to
only about 6d. per quarter, it is merely nominal,
and may be regarded as simply a trifling registra-
tion tax.. One or two other provisions enable us
to perceive that the Government regards the posi-
tion of affairs very seriously. No attempt is
made to prolong the delusion of favouring French'
shipping to the disadvantage of foreign competi-
tors. Flags of all nations bringing corn and flour
are to be admitted upon equal terms, as regards
duty, and are likewise freed from tonnage dues.
At the same time, with a view to increasing the
means of transport to and from the interior in its
most economical fonn, it is announced that the
tolls on the French canals are to be lowered from
the Ist of next month.
We shall act very foolishly if we do not give
these indications the full degree of attention to
*filch they are entitled. The weather here has
long been as unfavourable as it well could be; and
no doubt is entertained that a great deal of damage
which it is now too late to repair has been sos-
tainiAl both by the grain and potato crops. The
zonviction can no longer be resisted, that
the coming harvest in this country will,
under any circumstances, be decidedly below the
average, and that the extent of the deficiency will
be considerably increased, unless an improvement
takes place immediately in the conditions under
which the crops are to be garnered. The climate of
this country sufficiently resembles that of France
to warn us to make all needful preparations when
we witness a partial failure of the crops there.
The case would be serious enough were the failure
confined to ourselves ; but now that France is in
the same position, it becomes a question of the
means of drawing food from distant parts for the
sustenaLce of sixty or seventy millions of
people. That the supplies required will be
obtained its happily, already certain. Russia and the
United States, to my nothing of other producing
countries, can together spare sufficient from the
large yield already secured to meet all the needs-
sines of France and Great Britain. It is merely
• question of payment. In this respect, the com-
petition of France in the foreign corn markets will
undoubtedly tend to our disadvantage. Instead
of one large buyer, there are now two. The vir-
tual abolition of the corn duty in France condi-
tntes practically a bonus to the foreign grower.
Those duties imposed • be: between the transfer
of food from the place where it is grown to thp
place where it is consumed. The price of corn in
Prance was thereby (amongst other causes) kept at
• point above that warranted by the natural lows
of supply and demand. The tint effect of this
alteration ma, accordingly, a double movement
which tends to assimilate prices in France to those
elsewhere, allowing for the charges of transport.
The French corn markets are for the time droop-
ing. owing to the prospect of foreign supplies,
whilst the markets in England, Russia, and other
places are affected in an opposite sense. Our
ne.rehsnrs, - is their wont, had taken time by
the forelock, and had already drawn large supplies
into our ports, • portion of which will probably be
diverted to France, now that the conditions of the
corn trade there have been suddenly changed.
We, on our part, shall be obliged to provide our-

. -
selves to this extent twice over ; and there can be

little doubt that it we shall hare to apply
to wore remote markets we shall have to
pay a propuitionate advance in price. It is
a gnat satisfaction to know that every