Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1879-05-28
[From Our Regular. Correspondent
Our EurOnean Letter.
LONDON. Eng. May u, 1879.


The bishop of Gibraltar has been writ
ing to the Times on the subject of the
evils Of gambling at Monaco, and the very
emphatic language points out the unhappy
results of visit to the wicked little
principality. A few days before the blsh-
ops letter appeared the journal in question
contained a roseate article on the beauties
of Monaco as place per Sc, and concluded
with a well directed blow at the tables of
Monte Carlo. Without the slightest desire
to interfere with the bishops good work,
for he naively confesses he has never been
to Monaco, and only hears of its dangers
from afar, l can assure his grace that
there is more gambling going on in
London in one week than is carried on at
Monte Carlo in year. There are clubs
in London at which $4,000 change hands
weekly. Then, for downright gambling
of the basest description, horseracing, ms
conducted in Great Britain, is productive
of disastrous results. If the bishop would
ulIGCI lllS CllllCti dllCHIlOn W lIlb IuII anu
its abuses. he might possibly effect some
practical good among the hard working
and middle classes oil England who af-
tlicted with the betting mania, squander
tens of thousands annually on petty turf
transactions, which pass into the hands of
formidable clique of blacklegs of unpar-
alleled daring and depravity. Next to
drink, should say gambling is the upper
most evil of Great Britain at this very
moment.
The capitalists of England are hard up
for investments, With the bank rate of
interest at two per cent per annum, and
quotations in the open market at one and
one-half, it is exceedingly difficult to place
money, without dangerous risk, where it
will yield an income. Uuder these cir
cumstancos it is a little singular that con-
soils do not rise considerably in the market.
No investment is more safe, and three per
cent, considering the present plethora of
money, may be considered good rate of
interest. And, yet, this gilt edged gov
eminent paper, which represents the con-
solidated debt Of Great Britain, huctuates
but little, the quotations being about the
same from day to day all the year round,
marking the financial barometer of the
world. After having lent millions upon
millions to every nation on the globe,
John Bull, to-day, in his embarrassment
of wealth, is anxiously looking around for
borrowers to deplete his overlooking ex-
chequer! Hard rs it is to borrow money,
it is still harder to lend it on satisfactory
securities. And France, too, or rather the
Bank of France, is in SINH lar condition
Its crowded vaults now hold over one
hundred millions sterling, in specie, wait.
ing for employment But France, under
the intelligent financial administration of
NJ, Leon Say, has had the sagacity and the
courage to vote Il magnificent appropria-
ton for public works, amounting, in the
next ten years, to five milliaris of francs,
Or two hundred millions sterling, and
these proposed internal improvements
WILL doubtless, yield handsome revenues,
besides giving employment to thousands
of workmen, and making of France the
very grader of the world. Unfortunately
for England, she is spending all her sur
plus revenues on war, instead of public
improvements, and has nothing 10 show
for such vast and barren expenditures but
here and there piece Of foreign territory,
encountered by savages, far more expen-
sive than profitable to the imperial gov
eminent. But, instead of Increasing her
national debt, and multiplying her consols,
it is the policy of England to meet her
budget deficits by an increase of income
tax which is very hard on the tax payers,
especially in times Of great business stag
nation like the present, when compe ition
in all sorts of manufactures is threatening
to destroy the principal source of British
revenue. The people of the United States,
that younger Britain. are rapidly gaining
possession of all the great markets of the
world, including those of England herself,
even in her own specialtes. No wonder
the British capitalist, and the British Ia
borer, too, is alarmed at the outlook Her
financial philosophers and statesmen are
beginning to to urge the necessity of put
ting Il stop to these fatal war investments,
and of employing the resources of the ma
ton, both public and private, in better
paying enterprises. The United King
dom, like France, still has waste lands to
be reclaimed and cultivated, canals to be
built, rivers to be deepened, harbors i'm
proved, etc., etc. Unhappily the land in
England is largely monopolized by the
rich as pleasure hunting grounds, and not
devoted, as nature intended, to the bread
of the people. What both capital and
labor most need to-day is the stimulus of
some grand cosmopolitan enterprise, like
the Central American canal, which will
soon be in the market for 100000, 900,
and thousands Of laborers, and prove far
better investment for capitalists, anil for
mankind generally, than useless iron
clads, and foreign wars, which only i'm
poverish the people at home. groaning and
sweating under an ever-increasing income
tax. ALPHA.
Hon. John M. Thayer of Wyoming has
addressed a letter to the Cheyenne Leader,
| in nnrrectinn of q Statnmnnt To the nflnct