The Express.
London, England, 1866-10-01 00:00:00

BRITANNIA.

TIILI MINIM, MARY EDMOOOrrONE : OR, THE VICTIM
OF CIRCURSTAICka—The Brothers Vietorelll ; The Oreat
Vaulting Troupe: The. Delaranti • H. Wardiul ; The Louisville
Illustrebt—Anti Tkik: FALSE MoTIIBIL

NIGH WATER AT LONDON MIDGE.
TWA DAT —Morning, 6b. 34m Afternoon, Th. nat„
To-lloaitote—Morning, Th. 31101 Afternoon, Wt. 1610.

LaI47DON, MONDAY, OCTOBER 1.

THE last twelve months have not proved pros-
perous in a monetary point of view. If trade has j
benefited by the great American revival, there are ,
many diawbacks to be set against this one favour- 4
able feature. First comes the cattle plague, a 1
cause of material loss fully equal to a deficient .
harvest ; next, the failure of a number of joint,- i
stock companies, representing the destruction of a
considerable amount of capital, and, as a sequence,
the occurrence of a commercial crisis, which, I
although less universal, has been far more serious ;
than any since 1825. According to all ordinary
analogy the nation ought to be unusually poor.
It is perfectly evident that the agricultural and
commercial classes must have lost a not incon-
siderable part of their wealth ; and if we descend
to a lower scale we find that the labour movement,
involving a succession of strikes and lock-outs, has
equally served to impoverish the nation. And
yet money seems to be as abundant as even in the
best clays. When the deputation from the joint-
stock banks waited upon Mr. DISRAELI to com-
plain of the maintenance of the rate of discount
at the unnecessarily high point of 10 per cent.,
that gentleman was unluckily betrayed into ob-
serving that it was not currency that was wanted,
but capital. It would be curious to know what
the opinions of tllO CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER
are now. One thing is very certain, that although
money has fallen from 10 to 4} per cent., the de-
cline has not been caused by a large increase of
capital, properly so called. On the contrary, dear-
ness of money checks production, and therefore
refutes Mr. DISRAELI'S argument altogether. The
joint-stock bankers saw perfectly well where
the difficulty lay when they advocated an
implied increase of the currency, and it may
be safely assumed that their practical knowledge
of the subject is of far more value than the thec-
retical considerations of mere outsiders. A Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer who attempts to evo've
the money market out of his own moral conscious-
ness is likely to be just as successful as the
mythical German who adopted the same process
for describing a camel.
The fact, however, still presses upon us that
money is so plentiful that it is a mere question of
time when we shall see the rate of discount at 4,
or even 3 per cent. How are the accumulations
which were sedulously locked up during the crisis
to be employed 1/ It is clear that, for the mo-
ment, joint-stock enterprise is, in a great measure,
at a discount A new bank or financial company,
for example, would not be entertained for an
instant Another outlet for the investment of
capital also appears, at least temporarily,
closed. Although many Governments, both
in the Old and New World, would
be only too pleased to raise supplies
in this market, the present temper of the public
forbids any such appeal. With the illustrations of
Mexico, Venezuela, and Spain before him, even
the most credulous of British capitalists will keep
back from the highly coloured temptations that
may be offered to them. The last few years have
been eminently fatal to this class of investments.
It might, on the other hand, be fairly imagined
that the public inclination would turn to home se-
curities, whether national or private, but at pre-
sent at least the current has not set that way.
The funds will always command a certain price,
but it has been declining for years, and there
appears little chance that the event will soon be
repeated of the dealers bidding par for Consols
amid the cheers of the Stock Exchange. People
have been too long used to expect 5, 10, or even
20 per cent to be satisfied with the safe,
although moderate, 3 to 3} that can
be got from the public funds. The next
beat security that can be offered is in railway
debentures. Recent revelations, however, have

shown that the subscriber for these bonds runs the
risk of finding that he has purchased a part of an
issue that has been put forth by the directors
nitre virtu, and that he may therefore have no
legal claim upon the railway at all. Or it may
happen, as we know in one notorious instance,
that the company is so hopelessly insolvent that it

can neither pay principal nor interest on its lagal
obligations. Only lately, a trustee was had he-
vested the greater part of his trust,fu4ll in *we
securities, the safety of which wife 1i Mb un-
doubted, has been compelled to replace the whole
of the money at the cost of his own personal ruin.
If this am occur in the case of the best securities
that letsibirity eoutpanic is able to offer, how are
the holders of preference or ordinary stocks
likely to fare t Hence there has scarcely
been at any time so great a distaste mani-
fested by the public to take up investments
which under general circumstances should be most
valued. Speaking practically, there can be no
doubt of the intrinsic worth of our railway pro-
perty. As the general prosperity of the nation
grows, the value of railways must increase in at
least a proportionate degree. Unfortunately, mis-
management in detail, and financial extravagance
as a rule, have set everybody's mind against them.
Only the other day one of the most important
undertakings in the kingdom was obliged to
announce that its dividends could not be paid for
the present, because a new issue of preference
stock had been found impossible to be placed.
We are thus driven back to our old question,
how are we to use our money I It is evident that it
cannot be done in increasing commerce, in fostering
railway enterprise—the largest industrial interest in
the empire—or in affording to foreign governments
the means for internal improvements or wasteful
military expenditure, as the case may be. Nei-
ther does there appear the remotest probability
that our own Government will require to absorb
any portion of our savings in a public loan. But,
then, our savings are exceedingly large. The
amount is variously estimated at from fifty to a
hundred and fifty millions annually. A very con-
siderable portion of this sum is devoted to inter-
nal improvements : better houses are built, fields
drained, factories erected, shops opened, and so
forth ; but allowing for all these means of outlay,
a large balance still remains unaccounted for. It
cannot be left to lie idle in the safes of our
bankers. The instinct of the nation is thoroughly
against this practice. Under the influence of
panic the public are undoubtedly prone to hoard
their money, but the feeling passes away
with the exceptional circumstances that caused
it. As a rule, Englishmen have nothing
in common with the propensity of the Hindoo to
bury a few pounds of silver in the ground, a pro-
pensity by the way which not only prevails in the
East, but also extends to some nations of southern
Europe. With ourselves and our northern neigh-
bours money is looked upon as a means, nob an
end. To utilise our wealth has been almost im-
memorially our chief aim, and the wisdom of this
course, in benefiting not only ourselves but others,
is thoroughly demonstrated by experience. When-
ever a country or a colony desires to embark on a
career of material improvement the first require-
ment is British capital. Hitherto the aid has
been readily afforded, but its misuse has for the
time stopped the supply. Still the capital is ac-
cumulated ; and the question is, how is it to be
employed
It is with some mistrust that we attempt
to give an answer. All that can be done is to
judge by experience. After the panic of 1847
we had little enterprise until the gold discoveries
of California excited the public mind, and led to
the creation of a host of mining companies.
After 1857 there was again a period of quiet,
followed by a general rush into banking and
financial associations. After 18G6 what are we
to expect? The most notable success of the day
is the Atlantic Telegraph. Speculators on the
Stock Exchange and elsewhere think of little else.
Perhaps ocean telegraphy will prove the vent, and,
provided that it is kept within proper limits, the
whole world sill inevitably be the gainer.

OUR CONTEMPORARIES.
(THIS DAY.)

The Times congratulates the public on the state
of the national exchequer, finding abundant proof in the
revenue returns just issued that there is nothing unsound
in our industrial and commercial system, and that our na-
tional resources still retain their old elasticity. Dut:ng
the last two years Mr. Gladstone has prevailed on perils-
ment to legislate confidently, and his latest financial ser-
vices may be counted among his very greatest. The revenue
still increases, and at a rate which seems to show that in a
year or two still further advances may be made in relieving
the public, burdens. Though by the last two Budgets so
great an amount of taxation has been taken off, and though
our expenditure is still excessive in the matter of
military and nav►l armaments, there is now
little doubt that in 1867 the Chancellor of the
Exchequer of that period will be able to forego a
further proportion of his demands on the public purse.
The three great dit:tions of the revenue—customs, exci. e,
and the income tax, are in an eminently promising state.
The customs show an increase of 252,000/. as compared
with last year ; and the excise an increase of 188,0001.
The Poet-office is increased by 115,000!. in the half year
as competed with the corresponding period of last year ;
and the income tax shows a greater proportionate yield
than ever, the produce of a penny in the pound in the tax
having risen from a million sterling, which was the esti-
mated product ten years ago, to nearly 1,400,000/.
The Telegraph points the puzzled observer who wants to
discover how it is that our revenue it thus steadily grow-
in' despite incessant reductions of taxation,—to the trade
•td navigation returns. Our trade with the whole world
—whether with our own possessions or foreign countries—
is steadily on the increase.