Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1856-11-05
From tie Journal of Commerce
Threatening Aspect Of Affairs in France.


The recent sudden fall in all public securi-
ties in France the increase in the rate of dis
count to six per cent. by the Bank of France
the rapid decrease in the specie of that institu-
ton and the extensive efilux of silver; the
unexpected advance in the price of grain the
failure by the department OF the Seine to raise
the loan OF fifty millions of francs authorized
in the last session of the Legislature, and the
difficulty experienced by the municipality OF
Paris to find means to cover the deficit OF its
income to meet its lavish expenditure the
unfavorable condition Of internal trade, and
the large falling of in the winter orders from
abroad, portend the approach Of financial
crisis in France, which we learn from public
and private accounts is causing more anxiety
and alarm in the political world than the af
fairs of Naples or the insolent manifesto OF
the Russian Chancellor.
The inordinate facilities for speculation
which have been offered by the Credit MoJiiier,
and the countless enterprises OF not less wild
and unsound character to which it has given
rise the colossal public works undertaken by
the Government as an expedient to provide
for the tranquility Of the country by giving
employment to the laboring classes, at an ex-
pense which the public means were utterly in
adequate to meet; the largely augmented sal
aries of Government functionaries; the reck
less extravaganza and luxurious mode Of liv-
ing of the upper classes the large sums cx-
pended for public festivals the disastrous ei-
fects of the inundat ions; the partial failure
of the silk crop, and the deficiency of the
harvest admitted, on all hands, to be the
primary causes of the present serious condi-
tion of affairs. Great as are the resources Of
France, and sagacious and energetic as may
be the measure which the Emperor may take
to avert the calamity by which his country is
threatened grave doubts are entertained wheth-
er he will be able to do SO, even should he
have recourse to the extreme measure attribu-
ted to him, of ordering the suspension OF spe-
Gle payments, giving forced currency to the
paper money of the Bank of France, and pro-
hibiting the expectation of silver. For years
the Emperor, the Government, and the major
ity of the people have been leading life of
extravagant splendor, to which the resources
of the nation were wholly unequal, drained as
they were to meet the costly and unproductive
expenditure of the war, and they now find
money and credit both exhausted. Added to
the financial difficulties which Napoleon and
his advisers are now called on to confront,
they have also to encounter the Vaccinations
of the rapidly spreading secret societies which
exist in every part of the country, which the
police, with all their subtlety and cleverness,
are unable to trace or to extirpate, and whose
objects are the assassination of the chief of
The State, the establishment of sthe democrat
ic and social republic and the assertion of the
insensate principles of communism. This dan
ger, which it is no longer possible to conceal,
and which might at any moment plunge France
and probably the entire continent of Europe,
into anarchy and confusion, adds considerably
to the dismay which financial and CONNER
cial embaFrassments have oceasioned and q
startling similarity is found to exist between
the present condition of affairs and that which
France has been convulsed for the last three
quarters of a century. Although all men of
common sense, however opposed to the pres
ent ruler of the French people, must agree in
copdemning the diabolical doctrines of the
Marianne and its branch societies, and in con-
sidering the principles which these conspira-
tors advocate as opposed toreason and the fun
damentsl rights Of property, the exis'enee Of