Year: 1867




ket, etc.


relapse of quarter per cent. in tho
price of consols will provoke many repe-
t1tlon OF the inquiry, SO common during the
last SIX months, why business is SO dull.-
There IS widespread belief that trade ia
unduly depressed, and the belief is NOT
without foundation in reason, even thouoh
the depression itself may be explicable
from ordinary causes. The bank rate of
discount is low. 1t has never been lower.
Bills are, however, discounted in what is
called the open market at even less rates
than that charged by the Bank of England.
The value OF money nthe Stock Exchange
is lower still. The rate paid for its use on
short loans does not exceed l per cent per
annum, and yet it is said an unexampled
supply creates no demand. Let the rate
of interest be reduced ever so low, no one
is excited to new ventures or to increased
trade. The ordinary maXims of political
economy appear to fail. There is no move
ment IN the commercial world. The slug
gIshness of the mercantile temper is irwin
clble. The certainty of q more than abun-
dant harvest in America, and the prospect
OF an ample harvest at home--circumstan
ces which in common times are powerful
to revive the dropping spirits of men of
business-are this year without influence.





The position of the money market is nm
douhtedly singular, if not unexampled.-
The bank rate is at per cent, and as the
bank holds nearly fifteen millions of money
IN hand to meet current liabilities amount
ing to little more than twenty-six millions,
the rate ought, according to ordinary poll
cy of the Bank directors, to be still further
lowered. The Bank of England is more
over. not the only national institution
which has IN its Golfers an amount of bull
lion altogether out Of proportion to the
necessity imposed on its management by
the amount of its liabilities. The Bank of
France has more than thirty seven millions
OF money In hand to meet current demands
of all kinds of less than sixty-two millions,
and the stock of coin and bullion at the
Bank of France continues to increase.


There is no recondite secret in the pres
ent situation of commerce and finance
There is no sure and Immediate remedy
which can be applied to cure its evils
The rCo5 of the matter is personal, and it
IS only by slow degrees that the distrust of
the possessors of capital can be abated.-
There have, indeed, been accidental cir
cumstances which have helped to aggravate
the intensity and duration of the fit of sus-
plclon which has followed q fit of too easy
confidence. We have had to pay about six
AAI41lAO1o L1OIS lOL corn Ill InG uISJ
seven months of this year than we had to
pay IN the same period of 1866. The APP
prehension of war on the Continent in the
spring, checked the renewal of confidence,
and the rumors Of tho last fortnight have
not been without their influence. Our
Colonial markets have been injured by the
wave of the financial panic of last year.
One OF our best customers-the United
States-is suffering from the pressure Of re-
strictivc legislation, and our exports to the
ports Of the North have fallen off in tho
course of the year to the extent of three
millions. But the real spring of the ills of
the commercial community is to be found
at home. The seat of sensation in that
huge commerce which, serpent-like, encoils
the world, IS here. There is distrust in
London, and its effects are felt III the re-
mOtest parts. We suffer, and all tho extent
of an organization as sensitive as it is vast
suffers with us. How long time must
elapse before q reasonable confidence revis-
ltsus, to degenerate in turn into blind trust
OF every pretender, no one will venture to say.


The present, like all seasons of difficulty,
is, however, to some q reason of success
The men of ability, acute, and ready, eau
tious to adopt course, but bold to pursue
it when adopted know their opportunity.
This IS to them an occasion efproft They
are able to discriminate between the re-
sponsible and the untrustworthy, the pro-
fitable and the worthless speculation. They
make their choice, and venture according
ly, and reap the deserved gains of courage
and wisdom. Their prosperity is too sure
to provoke crowd of imitators, who think
they may be as fortunate without too close
ly examining whetherthey possessthe same
credentials of success. BY and by, the full
tide of confidence will flow, and voices will
be vainly raised to warn adventurous cap
italists against the certain issue of tho
courses on which they fondly embark
Unless we can change the character of hu-
man nature itself, we must reconcile our
selves to this unreasoning interchange Of
blind trust and blind distrust we must be
content to know that the same persons will
to-day reject and will tomorrow accept all
those who seek their confidence, and that
on the third day they will exclaim against
some institution, upon which, and not on
their own folly, they charge the conse-
quences of their own actions.


Views OF Gen. Bcnurcgarl.