The Sun.
London, England, 1856-10-11 00:00:00

(From the Morning Post.)

The uneasiness which undeniably exists in the French
money market has been, and is, the subject of much
miere•.resentation. By one class of persons French
credit is declared to be upon the very verge of ruin, and
ripe for a collapse at any moment—by another it is
represented as not only perfectly free from danger, but
actually augmenting in strength and security. Political
interest has much t ) do with both these statements.
There are advocates of other dynasties who will support
anything that will overthrow the present. There are
remnants of the republic ever anxious with both hands
to injure the cause of the empire. The oie are ready to
affirm the existence of evils they cannot prove, and the
other to deny advantages which they cannot but per-
ceive. The least change in the current, or the slightest
disturbance of the even flow of public affairs, is their
opportunity. When France went to war, the Orleanists
thought their day of redemption was beginning to dawn.
Never supposing that France could rise to the occasion
under any dynasty but their own, they looked confi-
dently for a crisis that never came—for disasters that
never happened, and political disturbances that never
took place. Events did not favour them, and they are
now quiet again. The war did not serve their turn—
it served the turn of France—which, next to that of the
public cause of Europe, was its legitimate result. Our
own share in it served our turn, and we rejoice in the
augmented glory which it has brought to our nation.
Thoroughly righteous in its beginning, operation,
and end, it has injured none but the aggressive
Power against which it was waged, and has confirmed,
rather than endangered, the stability of the French
Empire.
A temporary tightening of the Paris money market
has opened out a new vein for those who have all to gain
and nought to lose by any mishap to French credit.
But though it would be absurd to deny that the tight-
ness is severe while it lasts, it would be equally so to
conclude that it argues or augurs any important disturb.
ance of the public finances. The public securities have
certainly fallen to a lower point than they were at any
of the great revolutions ; and if those revolutions had
been brought about by the fall of public securities there
would be good ground for anxiety lest a like cause should
again produce a like result. But those disasters, as
every history knows, had their origin in provocations
fundamentally different, and were the causes, and not
the consequences, of the decline in the funds. Those
who do not wish well to France under the Empire,
may tax their ingenuity to make out an unfavourable
case ; but if any impartial looker on, of ordinary powers
of comprehension, will examine the depths of the sub-
ject, he will see that the present state of the Bourse has
in it no element of either permanent embarrassment or
political anxiety.
It is simply a question of time. The cause and
extent of the mischief are definite and easily trace-
able. In a country'situated as France has been
for the last five years, it is impossible that periodical
panics should not occur. They happen under our
own old-fashioned system, and in spite of our jog-trot
ways and the unimpeachable stability of our constitution.
Much more must they be looked for in a country whiele
unexampled prosperity dates but from three years back,
which has just come through a war of immense cost, and
has embarked in enormous public works not only in its
own but in other countries. If the present pressure be
more felt in France than the like of it would be in Eng-
land, it is entirely owing to the difference in the basis of
public credit. Here nearly all the great works—whether
railways, harbours, canals, banks, streets, squares, and
the like—are carried on by private enterprise. Govern-
ment interferes only far enough to legalise their contracts
and prevent their running wild or eating one another up.
It guarantees nothing. It charges no contingent loss
upon the public Exchequer. It carefully abstains from
mixing itself up with the pecuniary responsibilities of
joint-stock undertakings. It thus preserves for its secu-
rities a safe minimum value, however commercial affairs
may go amiss. Under the English system a bank breaks,
a railway becomes insolvent, a bubble bursts, and two
or three, or two or three dozen, great houses are smashed
and some excellent families ruined, but that is all. Bad
enough, truly, but private after all, and not in the least
affecting our national credit. The panic is scarcely felt
before it is gone, and all the great transactions of the
kingdom continue as itnothinghad happened ; thereensues
no additional taxation, no capitalising ot obligations, no in-
crease of the national burdens. The rate of discount is
raised as a precautionary matter, unreal speculation gets its
hint and stops, the market resumes its buoyancy, and
all goes on as before. How different it would be if the
public Exchequer had guaranteed dividends upon the
great( r und, rtakings may be easily imagined. The
public would 11l have borne a guarantee of LI. per cent.
to the Great Western when its dividend wee at 2/. Nor
would it regard Mr. Lowe with much fat our el •ald 1 •
propose next session to guy aetee the sharehtldors f
theSouth-Eastern, the Crystal Palace, or the Unity Bank'
But it is otherwise abroad. Governments are more
or less mixed up with all the great undertakings, and to
guarantee dividends especially on foreign capital is an
important part of their system. In Franca this has
been done largely ; and the result is that the Govern-
me'nt is to some extent a sufferer by the fluctuations of
the Bourse, without having that power of interference
which alone can control its proceedings within safe
limits. The tendency to undue speculation in France
has long been apparent, and it is not to be supposed that
it could go on without entailing commercial difficulties.
The enormous transactions of the Credit Mobilier may
be very successful as a whole, but they are particularly
likely to affect the money market in a most critical way.
Two peculiar features in it increase this tendency—the
first is the practice of capitalising a large portion of its
profits ; the next is the undertaking of foreign works.
By the first a large portion of the due returns of capital
never reaches the shareholders except as a dividend upon
a dividend; and by the second an immense exportation of
specie is rendered necessary. This money never returns
as money. It goes out as silver capital, and comes back
as paper interest. It is part of a good investment that
you should be able to reclaim your capital when you
want it. But this is just what you cannot do if you ex-
port your specie to pay the works on Austrian and
Spanish railways. The shares may be transferred from
one owner to another, and the individuals be no loser,
but the country does not get the money back. This is
the rub. If a country can stand a drain of 5,000,0101.
of its circulating medium without ditculty, that is an-
other thing, but few countries can ; and we believe that
it will soon be recognised that the extension of the ope-
rations of the Credit Mobilier must be so regulated as
to unite in better proportions than it now does the two
great items of credit and capital. To undue specula-
tion, party legitimate and partly fictitious, the present
panic must mainly be attributed, but it is capable at
once both of stoppage and remedy. Unremunerative
public works at home may also have added somewhat to
trueaultleynanted. wanted it
no is but biust a
simply
the wrong side. But in Paris at least the public works
wilt be eventually remunerative, although at present
manyio neei houses
thefid enhcaenwdsilloaft
G onceev weatherrnr
pthaetiesnteoer an 'm
Padtiesntereenagnte dhction
The soundness of the Government and the elasticity of
the people will dissipate theand
panic put croakers to
shame. Upon mere gambling transactions the effect of
the present difficulty may be serious, but we anticipate
no ill to the permanent interests of French finance.
'' ques-
tion
t.
y-
epbel
n of time.
Whatare is

MIDDLESEX SESSIONS, Oct. 10.—The Court eat to-
day at Cterkenwell, and pioceeded with the applications
for licences for music and • for music and dancing. Mr.
Archibald- Hinton applied for a licence for music and
dancing for the Highbury Barn Tavern, Islington. Mr.
Huddleston and Mr. Sleigh appeared for the applicant ;
Mr. Ribton appeared in support of a petition against
the application, and addressed the Court against it. Mr.
Huddleston made a brief, but most effectivereply, and
the chairman having put the question, two-thirds of the
magistrates present voted in favour of the lioence being
grant ed. The announcement that the licence was
granted elieitedia burst of applause. .