The Express.
London, England, 1868-03-12 00:00:00

HA RD TIME $.

DISTRICS, is not confined to the East-end. It
is also to be found in a degree at the West-end.
While the poor inhabitants of Bethnal-green and
Stepney are throwing themselves upon the charity
of the benevolent, some of the hitherto prosperous
denizens of the regions of fashion are putting down
their carriages and reducing their establishments.
The hardship of the East is want of bread, the
hardship of the West, the necessity to ride in hack
cabs instead of easy-going, luxuriously appointed,
private carriages. We have the authority of the
revenue returns for the distressing fact. The duties
on horse*, and "four wheels," and armorial bearings
are falling short of the usual amount. This would
seem to imply " hard times." Yet, if we look at
the revenue returns as a whole, we find that our
export and import trade is as brisk as ever it was,
and that there is a full demand for the comforts
and necessaries of life. This is not a time of
scarcity. There is an abundance of food, and
prices are as moderate as they have been at any
time for several years past. Moreover, the banks
are "bunting" with money. What, then, is the
cause of the prevailing distress ? We cast about
in vain for a rational answer. We can only
come to another inquiry. Does the cry of the
East-end--does the putting down of establish-
ments at the West-end—really signify " hard
" times?"

When a man has been living at the rate of a
thousand a year, and is obliged to reduce his ex-
penditure to five hundred, he is apt to complain
that the times are bad ; but it may be that he was
never justified in living up to the larger sum, and
that the modest five hundred truly represent
his earnings and the amount he is entitled to
spend. This guage would seem to apply to both
the classes who are now complaining. For many
years past, ever since the railway mania in fact,
the enterprise of the country has been going at
high pressure. Commeroe has been forced into
the region of gambling. Money has been put in
circulation by an infinite variety of schemes and
projects. Speculators got rich—working-men
obtained high wages and full employment.
May it not be suggested that both
parties immediately began to live at a
higher rate than was justifiable I When the
butchers were assailed on the score of exorbitant
prices, they pleaded that the working man would
have his prime rump steak as well as his betters ;
and any attentive observer of middle-class society
must have observed that, of late years, beer at the
dinner-table has been giving place to wine.
If enterprise is dead, as some say, it may be
a question if it has not died • natural
death. Railway enterprise has been exhausted.
Limited liability has reached the end of its tether.
The public is no longer to be dazzled by schemes
for the establishment of financial companies and
the erection of huge hotels. We have made haste
to complete every useful work, and we have
lavished capital on many other works which have
proved utterly useless. Capital finds itself in the
position of ALEXANDER--eighing for new worlds of
enterprise to conquer. Whether these new worlds
will be found in some new sphere beyond the
limits of our past operations remains to be seen ;
but in the meantime it is difficult to
I resist the conviction that we are suffering in the
present because we have been reckless in the past.
And as to the future, it is reasonable to expect
; i that when enterprise flows in quieter channels,
society will be less subject to those fluctuations
of fortune which are so trying to the national con-
; stitution.

A warrsa in the A rat y and Nary Gazette moralise' s
upon the aged men holding high places in our Royal
Navy in a manner which is far more philosophic
than consolatory to the nation at large. It appears
that in case of war our fleet would have to be led
into action, and it is hoped to victory, by men
who might have been interesting to the late Sir