The Express.
London, England, 1859-10-24 00:00:00

TRADE AND FLNANCE.

(From the Asily News.)

Tux events of the past week, political and finan-
cial, have, upon the whole, been of a character to
strengthen the hops of a commercial revival. The
Conferences at Zurich may not have accompliehed
much towards the permanent settlement of the ques-
tions connected with the state of ltaly—tnestious
which, since the despatch of French troops to Rome,
eleven years ago, have impressed every sagacious
observer with an uneasy sense of the precarionnees
of tranquillity in Europe ; but the announcement
made on Monday last, that the instrument which
places on solemn record the preliminaries of
places on solemn record the preliminarie. of
Villafranca has been signed per procuration
by the two principals in the recent fray, hen
inspired more confidence in many persons
who, patting little faith iu princes, waited
anxiously for the formal proclamation of paten
I True, the event bona not been followed by say earthe-
n/it speculative outburst ; but there is a quiet sz-
gmeniem of satisfaction—a sensation of relief—in
neamsaile e.ireles, which will rte long have its effect
ups the statistics of trade. A sudden expulsion of
is not to be looked for, simply because,
tY sited by as last week prove, the extent of
Ihs Weer already in progress is fairly satisfactory.
Thus is, happily, not the same room for improve-
ment se there would have been had our merchants
eUd manufacturers been kept idle for months put,
Waging with alternate hope and fear upon each
latheation from Zurich. No matter what
Ow on there, we have had oar hands
piety well etwupied with attending to the
Winn of NW Asiatic, Australian, and Amo-
ebas enehnneen The inherent elasticity of our
teeseeseemis and simnel trade places us to a great
eziest beyond the seep of those adverse political la-
Ihrsees by which the commercial prosperity of the
Continent has of late been seriously impaired.
France, Germany, and other countries which depend
chiefly upon the profits of their internal industry
rather than upon foreign commerce, have been placed
at a far greater relative disadvantage. We may
reasonably assume that se soon as their repressed
energies are again called into active play we shall
benefit almost as much as they will. The question
which awaits solution is—will the industry of the
Continent revive at the joint bidding of the two
EnPaltolts A little time must be allowed before
• definitive sawyer can be gathered. The last re-
turn of the Bank of Fran., indicated a outs!, ic-
eman of commercial !minces, together with a with-
drawal of a couple of millions sterling from the mem
of spent, the inordinate accumulation of which hoe
formed one of the most striking evidenoee of stage*.
tion. The transactions of some of the other grad
financial establishments in France have also, it is
•

mid, increased its extent during the last few weeks.
The official returns of the revenue from the French
Customs, however, are not particularly encouraging,
teethe total Ste the first nine months of the present
1307.
aal to 6,690,0001. sterling—was only
Trlll more than in the corresponding nine months
of last year, when the paralysing effects of the great
crisis were still felt. The Customs revenue for
last month (September) presented a still lees
favourable comparison, the total, 807.0001.,
bring 11,000 E ilea than in September, 1868, and
60,0001. lees than in September, 1867. It is not so
mach the entail war-drain that has weighed upon
French enterprise, as the bar of what the morrow
may bring forth. The commesity have apparently
not attempted to utilise the light afforded by recent
events, by glancing back at the previous manifests-
tioos of NAPOLEON'S policy, both in his presidential
and his Imperial career. They have not taken the
trouble to mark the steady growth of the antagonism
between France and Austrian Italy. The Rubicon
may have been realty crossed when the French
troops first landed at Civita Vecchia eleven years
ago • and from that date to the present the solution
of the Italian difficulty by means of war may have
been only • question of time ; yet commercial men,
seeing little beyond their ledgers, are aghast when the
explosion occurs, remain obstinately incredulous
when amused that peace is restored, and refuse to
cocinde spin in a system under which, so far as
their narrow observation goes, a period of three
menthe may suffice at any time for a transition
frees a state of peace to a European conflagration.
What has happened recently, argue commercial cor-
=dents to France and elsewhere, may happen
So it may ; for no one can feel really safe
nieder • r,yens wherein the deliberative voice of the
isimitrial classes is stifled ; and yet, to cherish an
emeggurated notion of our liability to similar die.
apaisattle surprises in the future is mischievous in the
exteimie. The excess of caution and suspicion now wit.
teemed will probably work its own core. The French
Gefeeenanent jut now cannot build a gun-boat, equip
• teanipsete or despatch a naval squadron for its !m-
-aligned elamele, without • DOES of fear being
seandled in same quarter. Even the armament which
degenerate Spain is ostentatiously preparing to
launch against • dusky potentate on the opposite
coast of the Mediterranean is viewed with segue sus-
picions. Men's minds cannot be kept permanently
in this state of tension ; and there is ground to believe
that after the sentiment of distrust, now so common,
shall have been succeeded by the inevitable
reaction, the alarmists of to-day will be those who
Imill be caxght sleeping when danger really ap-
' roaches.
Amongst the hopeful features of the past week
has been an increased demand on the part of the
monied public for good investments. The British
funds, the new Indian Loan, the Indian Four per
Cent. Debentures, Indian railway shares, India
Bonds, Exchequer Bills, British railway stocks, in-
cludieg the preferential and guaranteed descriptions,
colonial government bonds, braxilian railway shares.
and sundry other securities, have been more inquired
for than for some time past, and have improved in
price. Investors exercise a good deal of discrimina-
tion. Many railway and other securities which,
though not devoid of promise in the future, are sub-
jected to immediate embarrassments, remain quite
neglected, there being • remarkable absence
of even that moderate appetite for specu-
lation which in ordinary times stimulates
moseyed people to purchase and lock op,
in anticipation of an ultimate rise, stocks standing at
• peat depreciation in the market. Daring the last
two day s • check has arises to the previous buoyancy
in the Stock Exchange; but the reaction seems to
have been merely of that wholesome character by
means of which an upward movement in prices be-
sass, purged of the speculative element. No new
political feature has presented itself calculated to
modify the cheerful impression excited at an earlier
period of the week, with the exception of the quarrel
between Spain and Morocco, which assuredly will
Neither entail a creation of Consols, nor chock the
of dividend-yielding railway trunk.
rrrioleia Erroneous impressions are frequently occa-
sioned by watching too closely the move-
ments in the Stock Exchange, which @Sled af
best • very uncertain index to the course of public
opinion. That establishment, moreover, was shorn
of a good deal of its wealth in the panic six moans
ago and the result is now seen in the timidity of
the dealers, end in the celerity with which the prices
of securities are affected by the mss breath of

rumour. The stock markets are meek mere imprta-

sible than hearty. If the public eels.* .dealt; fee
some particular clam of stock, its price is driven up
considerably, because the dealers in the article
wanted have no supply on band ; whilst, if a stock
L pressed for sale from several quarters at once, if
only in moderate amounts, an exaggerated effect is
again produced, in consequence of the limited
capacity of the market and the reluctance of the
dealers to buy.
Home securities maintain, in a very marked
degree, their superiority over foreign, just as trade
here has been preserved from participation in the
depression of trade abroad. Holders of foreign secu-
rities have been impressed with a painful sense of their
liability to ruinous depreciation from contingencies
against which provision can scarcely be attempted.
Events are constantly occurring which prove that,
notwithstanding the bad management of many of our
home joint-stock undertakings, foreign investments
are still lees to be trusted. A case in point is the
latest revelation made in connexion with Austrian
finance. Seven years ago Austria raised a national
loan, the amount of which was fixed, with all due
formalities, at five hundred millions of florins,
representing nominally fifty millions sterling—a
good stiff sum, certainly. A sustained pressure was
put upon every moneyed individual in the Empire,
and all civil and military servants of the Crown, as
well as the clergy and public bodies, were specially
" invited" to subscribe, in virtue of their position
and in ceder to encourage others. The result was
that, " by hook or by crook," subscriptions for stock
to the amount of 611,500,000 florins, or 61,150,0001.
sterling, were collected, being 81,500,000 florins, or
6,150,0001., in excess of the maximum solemnly fixed
by the Imperial decree. The Government quietly
availed itself of the god-send, allotted the entire
amount applied for, and kept its own counsel until
a few days ago, when the truth fleshed upon the asto-
nished senses of the Vienna financiers, producing
equal consternation and anger. The Government
has perpetrated a flagrant fraud upon each indivi-
dual subscriber, whose interests have been propor-
tionately damnified by the flooding of the market
with the excess of stock. A State which can act
thus is utterly careless of the first principles of mo-
rality ; and any securities which it may hereafter
offer ought to be placed under the ban of Europe.
The world was already familiar with the jugglenee
of Austrian finance, but this last illustration caps
them aIL It is the more important that the decep-
tion should be universally denounced because
of the danger of the precedent involved. If
Austria is permitted to escape with impu-
nity when she thus palters with her public
obligations, may not. other States follow her example,
and even issue surreptitiously additional amounts of
old loans ? The fraudulent over-issue of the Austrian
National Loan has a tendency to confirm the dis-
favour into which foreign securities generally have
latterly sank in the English market. Better a
moderate rate of interest from investments under our
own control, and hedged round with the protection
of English law, than the promise of a larger return
from channels where there is no security whatever
beyond the bare word of a perhaps forsworn
debtor. Were the Austrian National Loan
quoted on the London Stock Exchange, it
would be the duty of the Committee to expunge it
from the list. Considering the important bearing
which this medal has upon the position of foreign
loans generally, many persons are of opinion that the
Committee ought to take special cognizance of the
matter as it now stands. The Austrian Government
ought to be called upon for an immediate explana-
tion, failing which the Stabs ought to be placed under
the ban imposed some years ago upon Spain.