The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1857-12-03

Great Britain France, Germany and Holland in fact
through all the most civilized regions of the world,
immense amounts have been sunk in railways, steam
boats, telegraph lines &C., and although such under
takings yield gradual return and pass in the shape
Of bonds from hand to hand in times Of comparative
prosperity il is not the less certain that in times OF
adversely there is thus added to the list Of other de-
precated securities an amount Of unrealizable pro-
perry which did not exist fifty years since; and It
will be found that the gigantic agencies of pub
lie wealth in times of plenty, will become so many for
midable sources OF public calamity in times ofpenury
tional poverty, as the case may be, has never yet
been properly taken into account and Of its re-
suits will be that national financial crisis in Europe,
which in former days only involved, let us say ten
millions OF dollars of public securities will now De
aggravated in proportion of the new and scarcely
less colossal item of railway bonds. II il singular
fact that the agents who chiefly monopolZe almost
all these two species Of securities are very limited in
number The bulk of the business is chiefly done by
the large Jewish houses-the R0thschilds in Frank
fort, Vienna, Berlin, Hamburg, Paris, London,
Madrid, Naples, Rome, Amsterdam, and New
in al l. Of which cities they hys aod
Christian house Of Hope, of Amsterdam; These
houses are the main carriers Of this trade The stock
exchange men are their underiings and the public
bona de purchasers, dupes victims, as the case
may be. Prom this state of thingstwo mighty ques-
tions loom up In the minds of the people" Are the
governments reliablc?" Are these great houses
safe?' AS long the faith in the responsibility Of
the one and solvency of the other not shaken, all
is well and good in Europe. The crisis here may for
| time make havoc, even fierce havoc, in certain
classes and localities in Europe; hit long as these
two great monetary questions admit Of satisfactory
answer, crisis in America however deep and for
mdable, can seriously shake the European balance
of monetary power. But when, as of late in Europe,
doubts begin to be entertained in several cases about
| the agreeable solution Of those two questions the
American crisis is calculated to give an increased
force and shape to the doubt and may perform that
feat which revolution has yet succeeded in effect
ng-a permanent destruction of the present forms OF
European governments.
There is no in Disgusting it, for it is clear,
broad fact, that bankruptcy has been only driven
back from the Austrian, French and some other
European governments, as it has been driven from
so many OF our railroads here, by the onerous ex-
pedent of continued loans and that these loans have
only been made practicable by the extraordinary de-
velopement OF industrial activity which was, to
great extent, produced by the new demand for COM
modities which sprung up in America, demands
which were materially increased and strengthened
| by the new supplies of gold from California and
Australia This is broad statement OF broad facts,
but they will bear the closest analysis, and 1t can
actually be proved that Austria, and France, aud
| Prussia, and Sardinia and Turkey-we do not in
| clude England OF course, though the failure OF
Others would react on her-and whole hosts OF small
| needy governments would never have been able
to raise loans if America had not indirectly supplied
the means, by difusing- through her colossal
absorption of labor; Of British, German, Swiss
ROO0S. OF COHee, from braZll, OF Tea,
| from China; OF spices, drugs and dyes from the
| British possessions in lndia of wine, spirits and
beer of the liquor dealers of the world; and thou
| sand other articles OF luxury and necessity-new
elements Of wealth all over the globe. and particu
larry over Europe If these new elements of wealth
| had not been introduced into Europe, the govern
| ments would have succumbed to the revolutions of
lS4S financially much more painfully than they did
| for time politically. Loans would have been i'm
| practicable. Austria, and other rotten countries,
| would have become bankrupt. In word, the
| financial gloom Of those years would have settled
down into confirmed insolvency, If it had not been
| for the new accession of wealth which vaguely
ascrbed to the gold beds Of California, but which in
reality, produced by the gigantic accession Of
new consumers, which the extraordinary develope-
ment of the colonization of America brought to the
producers of the worlds goods and chattels and by
the great skill and activity of the European manu-
facturers and working classes in meeting the de-
mand.
How is it that the Russian war passed smoothly
over the money markets Of Europe without ruffling
them to any perceptble degree of per centage! Mil
lions were actually taken away from the general cir
culation and sunk in unproductive ornaments. The
| labor of thousands Of workingmen were diverted
from the normal channels Of activity into the abnor
NAL pursuits of war; yet consols kept steady, Steg
litz bonds and metalliques were not shaken, rents
\ continued in comparative buoyancy, the Bank of
England hardly felt the pinch, and money remained
| abundant at the average rates. Thus an event
which at the beginning Of the century, would have
| unhinged the great money houses and shaken the
the financial world, and while the most formidable
war, except Napoleons. since the days Of Alexan-
der, was raging on the battlefelds of the East,
the stock exchanges of Europe did not move
a muscle. Such steadiness Of public confidence,
in the face of such disturbing events, could not
have been manifested If for FIVE millions which
Europe thus lost ten millions had not been added
to its exchequers by American consumers. On the
same basis the whole marvel admits Of easy explana-
ton. and II Is perfectly patent to the wsest English
statesman. however polite they may deem il to slide
in public the fact. Well, this Russian has
been brought to close apparently there is no great
public calamity at work in Europe, excepting in
Great Britain, which suffers from the revolt Of its
great Eastern dominion.
Politically (although deep under the apparent
calm there rankles a bitter feeling of alienation
among the working classes against such of their poll
teal or theological or industrial masters a. they
deem unjusD Europe may be said 10 be nj peace just
tho bp ha masrrs
g0uUeT1e la m0ide." Those ranking feelings OF dis
satisfaction which in times Of prosperity are eva
porated in pleasure and enjoyment are apt in times
of adversely to explode, and wreak mischief and
venge unfortunately. At the present moment. the
most combustible OF all nations-the French
happens 10 vince most severely, as do we
here, under the agonies inflicted by swindng
railways and stocEobbing extrayaganzas Still,
however this may affect individuals classes. the
two great paramount questions which alone can
shake the financial equilibrium Of Europe have not
been agitated yet. The Roth-chids and the great
money houses display as much financial nerve "a
ever. and the governments feel little uneasiness
about eventual deficiencies in their exchequer since
public confidence in their bonds holds strong and
nothing has occurred to battle their attempts at rails
ing new loans.
But the plot is thickening. We have shown how
the shock Of public confidence has been averted
chiefly by the American demand for European Ia
Dor. We have shown how loans would have been
mpncticable If il had not been for the indirect as
sitance thus rendered by America TO the lettering
exchequers of European Powers. All this is altered
now. Not that we expect an immediate crash in
Europe. Many houses will break at once; but IT,
instead Of thousands, there were millions Of banks in
America, and all the millions suspended and re-
NAMED irrctrievably broken, Europe would not be
| permanently affected What will break Europe
| Is, not the breaking Of banks here-that, on the
| whole. win be looked on as species Of
| financial hocuspocus-but, sure as heaven Is
| above. the falling off Of American consumption Of
\ the product Of European artidce and labor will
break Europe, i the recuperative energies of this