The Express.
London, England, 1857-10-08 00:00:00

LONDON, THURSDAY, OCTOBER R.

Om paper to-day is in a great measure an echo of
the devotional exercises of yesterday. Something
analogous to this will doubtless be observable in the
tone of the public mind. The heart of the nation
has been profoundly stirred by recent events in
India—the will of the nation has been braced for an
arduous straggle—and the solemn consecration of a
day to the act of communing with our GOD cannot
have failed to deepen, strengthen, and purify our
emotions and resolves, and elevate our sentiments
to a height from which they cannot all at once
descend to their wonted worldly level. It is
with a view to produce such a state of
mind that the Protestant Churches sanction the
occasional setting apart of days for what is rather
inaccurately called " fasting and humiliation." The
Protestant Christian, who holds that the Scrip-
tures contain the whole revealed word of God,
to which man may not without guilt add any-
thing, obeys the injunction to abstain from
outward shows of ascetic self-mortification. He
does not expect that his prayers or entreaties
can be of avail to alter the all-wise counsels and
eternal decrees of the ALMIGHTY. But he avails
himself of the SATIOUR'.4 permission—confirmed by
Ills example—to cast all his cares and anxieties upon
the Rock of Ages, in humble but unwavering faith in
His merciful and paternal care, as a powerful means of
strengthening him to do and endure whatever may be
incumbent on him in the great battle of life. It is
by such private exercises that men nerve themselves
for the duties of private life ; it is by such public
and social exercises that nations nerve themselves
for their mightier undertakings. The mind puri-
fied and elevated by worship in this sense feels itself
endowed with augmented and more enduring power
of action.

Sentiments like these, embodied in varied modes
of conception and expression, were yesterday im-
pressed upon the congregations of our Anglican
Churches of all denominations, with regard to India.
The minds of the members of these congregations
hare thus been led to elevate the work which lies
before us as a nation to the rank of a religious duty.
But the loftiest and most generous sentiments are
fleeting and ephemeral if we do not cherish and
exert ourselves to keep them alive ; and the ex-
treme difficulty of discharging in a manner consis-
tent with Christian convictions the terrible duty
which devolves upon us in India renders it pecu-
liarly incumbent on us to be mindful of this
truth on the pnaient:occasion.

CtorDs are gathering rapidly on the financial
horizon. It is but too evident that the value of
money has touched its lowest point for the present
year, and that we are on the eve of an unfavourable
change. With the single exception of Paris, where
the Council of the Bank of France consider them-
selves justified in increasing their loans upon Go-
vernment and Railway securities, there are strong'
symptoms of monetary disturbance nearly all over
the Continent. These symptoms began to manifest
themselves in a decided form two or three weeks ago,
and have during the last few days made rapid pro-
gress. The movement is especially observable in Ger-
many, which is still suffering from the consequences
of a too free indulgence in the excitement of
joint-stock enterprise. During the last two or three
years the mania for new undertakings has chiefly
taken the direction of Railway. and Banks, the latter
being mostly of a very speculative character. The
mass of new Railway projects has been so extrava-
gantly out of proportion to the means at command
that the seeds of prolonged difficulty have been sown ;
and there is every probability that the undue ab-
sorption of capital will keep the rates of discount at an
unusually high point for a considerable time to come.
The feature of the case, however, which demands
immediate attention is the repetition of the adverse
continental movement which took place about this
season in the years 1835 and 1836. In allthe German
markets the value of money has risen considerably this
week. At Berlin the rate of discount is now 61 per
cent. ; at Hamburg, 7 per cent. ; andat Frankfort, 6
per cent. There can be little doubt that a correspond-
ing movement will be rendered necessary in the
other foreign cities, including Amsterdam, where the
rate stands already at 3 per cent.--an unusually high
quotation for that place. Nor is it likely that the
French market will escape the influence, for the
Bank of France has found difficulty in keeping up
its stock of bullion, even by artificial means, and the
difficulty must be increased when the rest of the
Continent offers higher terms for capital.

In the autumn of 183.5 and 1556, a similar
movement on the Continent caused the Bank
of England to raise the rate of discount to 6
per cent. and upwards. It is evident that
the Indian war is at length affecting our
money market, especially through the in-

creamed and inevitable demand for funds for

State purposes. Government may abstain as long
as possible from pressing the East India Company
to agree to the raising of a public loan, but pre-
cisely the same effect is produced upon the money
market by the agreement entered into by the Bank
of England to furnish the East India Company at
once with a million sterling upon the security
of India Bonds. Indeed, most persons will be
of opinion that a loan in the open mar-
ket, to the amount mentioned, would have
exercised in reality a far less disturbing influence;
for a public ken tends to draw money from a variety

the East India Company at once trench to
of sources, whilst, by t,-----:x7r77-7
direct from the
Bank,
a serious extent upon the fund available for general
commercial purposes, and this contributes in an Im-
portant degree to a rise in the rate of discount.
There is room to suspect that the East India
Company arc particularly anxious to avoid, if
possible, the necessity of calling upon the
Pritieti Government for financial assistance. The
real motives of this reluctance arc obvious : if the
Bridal, Government place the purse-strings of the
nation at the disposal of the Indian authoritie, pro-
posals for a radical change in the system of Indian
Administration will probably accompany the boon.
But in addition to the elements of disturbance in-
volved in the rise in the value of money on the Con.
tinent, and in the demand for capital to defray the
expenditure incidental to the Indian war, the ex-
tending monetary panic in the United States is suffi.
cient of itself to prejudice oar own financial position.
Instead of our receiving gold from America, as we
have been accustomed to do for (years past, it is be
coming a question whether gold will not be remitted
from this side, for the fall in the exchange is so
considerable as almost to allow of the opera-
tion. It is obvious that at the present time,
when "prime" commercial paper cannot be dis-
counted in New York below 18 to 24 per cent. per
annum, and when there is actually a premium on
specie in some of the Western Cities, every exertion
will be made by American houses to postpone the
payment of their debts to this country, and to attract
capital. English firma will likewise avail themselves
of the opportunity to employ money in the American
markets at such extraordinarily high rates. At the same
time, imports of British goods will be greatly checked,
and shipments of American produce stimulated—if
nocessary,at reduced prices. Asa considerable amount
of American railway and other securities are also beim g
absorbed by English investors at the depreciated
quotations, it will be only prudent to look for a pro-
longed depression of the exchange between America
and England. At Philadelphia and Baltimore
nearly the whole of the Banks have stopped pay-
ment, and the gravest anxiety prevails at Boston
and many other cities. Considering the vast
mans of paper money which has so long
been kept afloat by the American banks, espe.
daily those in the Western States, and
considering, too, the sacrifices that will be im-
posed at this crisis upon railway companies which
are hampered with "floating debts," we cannot
help fearing that, as the panic has extended so far,
its subsidence will be very gradual. Money may
thus be expected to command an unusually high
value in America for some time to come. Already
the increased demand for capital from so many
quarters is severely affecting the position of
the Bank of England, which is understood
to have been subjected last week to an ex-
traordinary drain. This day the Bank has
raised the rate of discount to 6 per cent.
We are no alarmists, but do not feel by any
means assured that the advance in the value
of money will be arrested at that point. The com-
mercial public, however, have had practical proof of
late years that high rates of discount arc not incom-
patible with commercial activity and prosperity, and
they will doubtless derive confidence from the re-
collection.