Weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1858-1865, 1859-05-25
THE WAR OF 1854 AND IT'S FINANCIAL
FRUITS

If as now seems hardly less than inevitable, the
crash Of two hostile systems Of government in Eu-
rope is really upon us, and Napoleonc France is
about to draw the sword against the Austrian apostle
Of the fright divine to govern wrong" what conse-
quences we of the United States to expect from
this vast and violent collision? The events of the
last thirty years have so seriously modified the pot
ca and social relations of mankind that all inferen
ces drawn from premises established before the de-
velOpmcnt Of the power Of steam, even before the
gold discoveries of California and Australia must
naturally fail in calculations of the probable
results of present complications. 1t would be the
height Of folly to conclude that the forces which
were at work in the time Of Napoleon will produce
in the time of Napoleon III. the results to which
they gave birth fifty years ago.
Our nearest and safest standard for estimating the
effects upon the worlds commerce in 1859 of great
European is to be found in the economical his
tory of the war of 1854.
So far as one at least of the probable cotnbatants
in the new European conflict is concerned the dictum
Of Euripides, made English and popular by Joshua
Barnes sum up the probable truth of the case:
Qaem Deus cult perdere prius dementat, and the
mad defiance of France and Europe by Austria which
our columns to-day record, may safely be taken as
the augury of Austrias approaching DOWNFALL
Bankrupt in credit and character the House of Haps
burg can carry on war only by outraging every
principle of social economy.
But what, it may we'll be asked will be the effect
of a new European war on the great centres of f.
nance in England and the United States? What
were those effects in the war of 1854? The year
1854 opened in Europe and America not at all more
favorably than the year 1859. The year 1852 had
developed the resources of gold-bcaring Australia
announced first to the world in September, 1851
Notwithstanding the vague distrust excited in the
beginning of that year by the French coup Getat
the Australian emigration had raised the prices of
labor, and developed the resources of industry in
both Europe and America to wonderful degree
So extensive had been the initiation brought about
by the influences of that year, that on the Doth JAN
uary, 1853, the Bank of England, which had main
tanned its rate Of discount at per cent for near
twelve months previously, raised the rate to per
cent A general rise Of wages took place in Great
Britain and America during the year 1858, amount
ing to nearly 20 per cent in the average the rates
of 1852. Throughout the world, the first nine
months of 1858 constituted period of nearly
ampled prosperity. Towards September, 1853, how
ever the Russian dispute began to assume formidable
proportions in Europe. In October of that year, al
though the commercial classes persisted, as obst-
nately as in 1859, in disbelieving the approach of
hostilities the Cosos of England fell from "a to g.
And the next year opened with war. Nor with war
alone. serious crisis in the mercantile world of
this country, brought about by the overtrading of
California, was echoed by an Australian panic in
Great Britain. securities OF all KINDS were depreS
sed by violent and continual rise in the rate of in
terest on money. Failures and commercial discredit
everywhere paralyzed American enterprise The
Schuyler frauds shook public confidence in all cor
porate transactions and institutions. In San Fran
CISCO we had something very like general suspen-
sion, and many banks went by the board throughout
the Union.
Here were the elements, one would say-when
taken in conjunction with great war, involving
England, France and Russia--ofa great and general
confusion in all the world of commerce and finance
Yet no such confusion followed.
In the single department of shipping, the year
1855 saw, as the first shp-owners of Europe de-
clared less Jauctuation and more steady demand
than many years Of previous peace. In the manu-
featuring industry of Great Britain and America,
wages rose nearly 20 per cent upon the high prices
of 1854 The rates of discount at the Bank of Eng
land, fixed at per cent in July, 1853, had receded
by June, 1856, to 81 per cent Cotton, which aver
aged in April, 1864, A rose during the war till
it touched, in July, 1855, 81 to g. Tobacco ad-
vanced from d to in the same time During the
whole course of the Crimean war, no such variation
occurred inthe price Of American products as took
place at a time of profound peace in 1912, when
cotton fell in value from 60 to 70 per cent be-
tween the Spring of one year and the Summer Of
the next.
There is nothing in the present commercial aspect
of the world to authorize the notion that the out.
break Of great Continental war can now be other
wise than beneficial to the great commercial nations