The Sun.
London, England, 1855-08-02 00:00:00

111-E NEW FRENCH LOAN

The results of 'the public subscription recently
opened in Paris for the new French loan greatif
surpass all that could have been anticipated from
any former experiment of the same kind, and con-
stitute one of the most remarkable financial occur-
rences we have ever witnessed. The total amount
subscribed within ten days amounts to no less than
three milliards and 610 millions of francs, or 144
millions sterling • no less than 310,000 persons
have participated in the subscription, and about
a third of the loan actually_required is subscribed
in small sums of '5O francs Rentes, or a capital not
exceeding 501. As a tenth part of the whole sum
tendered subscription was at once deposited by
the public, no less than 14 millions sterling were
at once paid into the Bank of France ; but a lafge
portion of this deposit will be returned to the
the policy and declared intention:of the
French Government being to accept all the tenders
for less than 50 francs Rente in full, and to com-
plete the loan by a rateable proportion on the
larger sums.
There can be 'no doubt that this transaction
affords a strong additional proof of the confidence
of the French nation, or at least of a very large
part of it, in the present Government, and of its
readiness to advance on the,garedit of the State
any sums which may be necessary for the conduct
of the war. A ruler may, beiforgiven who deems
the resources of his empire inexhaustible when he
finds that every successive appeal he makes to the
purse of the nation is responded to with such avi-
dity that his only difficulty is to satisfy the claim-
ants; and we know not on what grounds it can be
argued that the war is unpopular in France, when
we find the whole people eager to raise in a week a
sum for military expenses equal to three years' or-
dinary revenue. As far, therefore, as this mani-
festation shows confidence in the Government and
determination in the war, it is of essential value to
the cause in which we are engaged, and we have no
desire to underrate its importance. But it is also
our, duty to consider these facts in their strictly
financial character, and to endeavour to form a
correct estimate of the transaction as it affects the
monetary resources of France.
In the first place, then, we n. reme,rk, that
the more favourable the conditions o!, tb, loan are
to the subscribers, the more disadvantageous they
are to the permanent interest of the nation, The

which the public have
taken up the loan proves that the price at which it
was issued by the Government was lower than the
actual credit of France required, and that a con-
siderable profit was anticipated by the holders of
the scrip at the expense of the State. The loan
was for 30,000,600 t. sterling, and, whether much
or little was subscribed, the actual demand upon
the country was limited to that sum. The price
was fixed by law at 92f. 25c. for the Four-and-a-
Half per Cent. Rentes, and at 65f. 25c. for the
Three per Cent. Rentes. At this rate, aided by
some further advantages to the subscribers in the
mode of payment, the profit which may be realised
on the Three per Cent. Rentes is about 4 per cent.
on the capital named. Thus we find it stated that
a man who makes a deposit of 109 francs on a
claim to 50 francs Rente might secure a profit of
from 50 to 60 francs on this preliminary,opera►tion.
The eagerness shown by the public, therefore, is
something like that which was displayed in the
allotment of shares at the height of the railway
maniain this country, because the whole prOfit which
may attach to the share of the Reutes may be re-
alised on the first deposit. No wonder that such
terms as these brought every one into the market,
more especially as it was provided that the demands
for 50 francs Itente were not to be subject to re-
duction.

This, again, is a circumstance accounting in some
degree for the enormous multitude of the subscri-
bers and the enormous amount subscribed. As the
small tenders were to have a preference over the
large ones, it became the interest of persons wish-
ing for a certain amount of the loan to subdivide
their applications into small amounts. A man ap-
plying for 1,000 francs Rent would only obtain on
the final adjustment about one-tenth of what he
asked for ; but the same man applying for twenty
inscriptions of 50 francs Rente in the names of his
children, his clerks, or his servants, would get all
that he required. This species of substitution has
been practised on a very large scale.- In one in-
stance we are told that a company of the National
Guard sent in its names to swell the list of its
captain ; and every sort of expedient of this kind
was attempted. This circumstance accounts in
some degree for the multiplication of the subscri-
bers ; another equally explains the amount sub-
scribed, for, as it was generally believed that the
allotments of the loan would be materially reduced,
nothing was more simple than for a subscriber to
ask for ten times as much as he hoped to receive.
Nevertheless, making ample allowances for all
the effects of stockjobbing on the most gigantic
scale, it cannot be doubted that the success of this
loan does furnish very positive proof of the mag-
nitude of the resources of the French people, and
of the vast extension of the principles of credit
among them within the last few years. Nearly 40
millions sterling of this money have been subscribed
in the departments, and 24 millions from foreign
countries, and the actual deposit of 10 per cent. on
the subscription paid on the spot amounts to half
the entire capital of the loan, which is to be raised
by instalments extending over 18 months. If we
compare this state of things with the financial ex-
haustion which preceded and brought on the first
French revolution of 1789, or with the depression
caused by the events of 1814, and the pecuniary sa-
crifices obtained at that time from France, or again
with the financial earthquake of 1848, which over-
threw so many of the strongest commercial houses
and all but reduced the Government of the Repub-
lic to insolvency, it must be admitted that this
revival and extension of credit in France and of
French credit abroad is one of the most remark-
able facts in modern history. In London alone
nearly two millions sterling were paid into the
hands of Messrs. Rothschild and Messrs. Baring
last week by way of deposit on the demands made
through them ; yet, although this vast sum was
suddenly withdrawn from the money-market, the
operation did not produce any sensible effect on
the ordinary transactions of business. Such is the
astonishing, and we must add the dangerous,
facility with which a public debt of this nature
may at this time be contracted by the Western
Powers. Above all, it proves that the present
war has been and is still carried on by them
without any real pressure on the resources at
their command. The price of their securities
literally rises while fresh burdens are imposed on
them by the Legislature, and the confidence of the
people immeasurably outruns the demands of the
Government. That is the reason why the prolon-
gation of the war tells so much in our favour and
against the enemy, and will eventually secure to
us the most advantageous conditions of peace.
Russia may for a time strain her resources to de-
fend her vast frontier, but the burden of these
sacrifices falls with tenfold weight on her capita-
lists, her traders, and her population. The most
formidable adversaries she has to encounter are the
Banks of England and France, regarded as the
depositories of the wealth of those two great
nations. Wealth has not relaxed or unnerved
their arm, but, on the contrary, it has increaseddene _
their spirit of enterprise, and placed unprecedented
means means of hostility at the disposal of their
and the same spirit which has in
.teueday.ser,atisse,(i.
144 millions of money in France _
successfulbi
prosecute this contest to a glorious and
termination.—Tinics.

Acyonathmeisfisinol
a
principally
hhleropeei
snSiyeircni irisatgplefipPaoertil
ealGrti
reason ei
beopi
iej -flSas.r bhetunioEputasi
r_naat:
dnno:v gdoe'lwatpr: feni
ocruidsbhseceisodt
thellhmtkaheyNtmneo.dydoi—sopsseciYitnuohi
Channelielmnarolsentegretnss eintixie:pn,c.raileiardsres:e.relatesgene-
rallyli
thati
t
was issued. It is
It will be remembered that the former
c at lh dutiesan
harbourand
upong shipping
pfor all
lheler
report was.sr
p chargesu
r *9 levied
-e, MEDlCALtohoenß,slatzutEdtsehnr :es' re
ool: f
University
vE,
eßarssldiTti
yYs
dparyi
za4tetron
DisTRIBUTION
CtCr:i bliluettgEle°GntCoofk°mpneldaiNcileeoanlat that institution, in the presence of
the Earl of Harrowby (who presided), the Marquis of
Westminster, and the learned professors of the depart-
ments. The following is a list of the medals awarded :
Anatomy—Gold medal, E. W. Thomas • Ist silver,
Davidunior
eßoswellla Reid, jun. ;2d silver, Osm' ond Black;
J
_silver medal, Thomas Hawkins. Anatomy
and Physiology—Gold medal, Henry Maudeley ; silver,
equal, James
medal,
James Gibbs Blake, Sidney Ringer. Chemistry
A. J. Balmanno Squire ; Ist silver, Wm.
Whittaker • 2d silver, Alfred Woodforde ; Birkbeck
class—gold medal, John Connor; Ist silver, Robert
Williamson ;2d silver, John Ormsby. Comparative
Anatomy—Gold medal, John D. Scurrau. Surgery—
Gold medal, Henry Maudsley ; Ist silver, John
C. Thorowgood ' • 2d silver, D. B. Reid, jun., Medicine.
—Gold medal, Edwyn Andrew ; Ist silver, John D.
Scurrah ; 2d silver, W. B. Ramsbotham. Botany.—
Gold medal, Alfred Woodforde ; silver, Hugh Rees.
Pathological Anatomy.—Gold medal, James G. Blake ;
silver, Victor Bazire. Medical Jurisprudence.—Gold
medal, Michael Castaneda. Midwifery.—Gold medal,
Victor Bazire ; Ist silver, M. Castaneda ; 2d silver, T.
Vincent Jackson. Materia Medica.—Gold medal, E.
W. Thomas ; Ist silver, G. E. Jeafferson ; 2d silver,
W. J. Fox. Fellowes' Clinical Medals.—,Winter Term,
gold, Thos. Turner ; silver, John D. Scurrah. Sum-
mer Tenn.—W. B. Ramsbotham, silver ; E. Andrew
Williamson, prize of 50/. for experimental research in the
Birkbeck laboratory. Prizeman.—Wm. Gould. The
various students were loudly cheered as they approached
the tribune to receive their well-earned prizes.
A large
number of " certificates of honour" were also awarded.
The theatre, considering the wretched etat e of the
weather, was well attended.