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jfeii A et. -' POLITICAL AW LITERARY REV...
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"The one Idea which. History exhibits as...
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©ontents s.
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McmcnpTuFwcrif .... Continental Notes 10...
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VOIi. VI. No. 291.] SATURDAY, OCTOBER 20...
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friHE raising of the Bank discount, and ...
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Jfeii A Et. -' Political Aw Literary Rev...
jfeii A et . - ' POLITICAL AW LITERARY REVIEW .
"The One Idea Which. History Exhibits As...
"The one Idea which . History exhibits as evermore developing itself into greater distinctness is the Idea of Humanity—the noble endeavour to throw down all the barriers erected between men by prejudice and one-sided views ; and by setting aside the distinctions of Beligion , Country , and Colour , to treat the whole Human race as one brotherhood , having one great object—the free development . ¦ of our spiritual nature . "—Humboldt ' s Cosmos .
©Ontents S.
4 L © ontents .
Mcmcnptufwcrif .... Continental Notes 10...
McmcnpTuFwcrif .... Continental Notes 1003 The Crimea as a Penal Settle- Translations and Translators ... 10 U NEWS OF THE . WEEK— ' 1 O 1 Voluntary Torture at Parkhurst meiit 1008 A Batch of Books 1015 The War 998 Prison 1003 The Ordnance Examinations ... 1009 THE ARTSTheOrimean Banquet at Glasgow 1000 Our Civilisation 1003 Political England 1009 Paintings at Olieffdeh House 1010 Public Meetings 1000 Miscellaneous 1005 The Sardinian States 1010 The Theatres 1016 Another Sunday Meeting . 1001 Postscript 1008 xuo iiiwiirai .. ^^ mi «> Ikmus Blanc ' s Reply to Che" Tri- LITERATURE- Births , Marriages , and Deaths .. 1017 ThTIted ^ Re " publtea ^ s " and " the PUBLIC AFFAIRS- Summary 1012 COMMERCIAL AFFA 1 RSQueen 1002 The Bed Manifesto * . 1007 Herbert Spencer's Psychology ... 1012 City Intelligence , Markets , Ad-Tbfi Italian Nightmares 1002 The Conservative Capitulation 1007 The Tribes of the Caucasus . 1013 vertisements . & c 1017-1020
Voii. Vi. No. 291.] Saturday, October 20...
VOIi . VI . No . 291 . ] SATURDAY , OCTOBER 20 , 1855 . Price { ggg ^ : gggggg-
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Frihe Raising Of The Bank Discount, And ...
friHE raising of the Bank discount , and the Jl gloom that conies ovei * the countenance of the commercial world , are signs of accumulated difficulties , springing from other causes as well as the war , at a time when the reports from the East do not inspire us with courage by any great announcements . It is true that Geneal Wimjams , af ter being left so long unsupported at Kars , has
succeeded in beating off the Russians , and inflicting upon them a tremendous loss before he could be relieved by Omab Pacha ; and the public feels a strong sympathy with a commander who has maintained his position under so many difficulties , and whom the force of circumstances might have prevented from reaping a victory with his own hand . It is to be hoped that Williams may have the honours accorded to him ; although we are not aware that the name of Williams is in the
aristocratic roll of the country . As for the rest , we have Gortschakoff uneasily watching the restless Allies , who teaze him now on his left flank and now on his fight at Eupatoria ; we have a bombardment going on at Odessa ; and a little variety is thrown in by a gunboat expedition up the estuary into which the Bug and the Dnieper pour their waters . The Allies in the East appear to be engaged in poking the Great Bear , 80 as to prevent his repose , and perhaps to increase the exhaustion that ho cannot conceal .
The exhaustion is not only shown in the passive and retiring attitude that Russia has taken on the shores of the Black Sea , but still more is it apparent in the efforts that she continues , to make for procuring supplies of money ; manifestly with small success . No new evidence on that point haa come out ; but the drain of gold has continued on the Continent down to the present week , unchecked by the endeavours both of the French and English financial administrators
and there is no mode of accounting for the degree or direction of the drain , except the hypothesis , novr rendered almost certain by a concurrent testimony , that Russia is using enormous exertions to obtain supplies at any cost . A man with bankruptcy ' staring him in tho fnco will give any price for accommodation ; and if the extent of the property at stake be largo , ho may offer such terms and secure such supplies as will inconvenience mote legitimate competitors in the same
market . Such seems to be the case with regard to the great powers in the European money markets . Nor is Russia alone ; the Austrian Government , since her comparative severance from the Western Towers , has been resorting to successive schemes for the purpose of raising money , and with little effect . The very retrenchments of her forces , which procured for her the just reproaches of the Western Powers , were dictated to her by want of means . She tried to raise money upon her North Italian railways , and could " not . She endeavoured to raise more money upon her Bohemian and Hungarian railways , already mortgaged , in vain . She accepted
overtures of . assistance from the great Credit society of Paris , but drew back upon the terms which that society required ; and now , it is understood , Baron Bbuck , who has been put to every sort of service which an underling could undertake , has consented to apply his ingenious mind to the design of a society resembling those established in France by M . Pereibe , —a Mortgage Bank , which shall lend the Austrian Government money on security , with power to borrow money in the European mai-ket . Thus Baron Bbuck becomes the instrument by which Austria hopes to collect means in the market of Europe , as it were , through a fence .
In France the symptoms of uneasiness increase , and are calculated to stimulate apprehensions elsewhere . We have no very decisive event , but the Government is meddling all round . It is regulating the price of meat by an official tariff fortnightly , the provisions of which are to be stated ih every butcher ' s bill of parcels . At the same time the Government is forbidding the export of
wheat from Algeria . It is telling the Societe de Credit Mobilier how far to speculate ; but the drain of bullion continues while that gigantic company is still pushing its speculations in all quarters of the globe . The last story is , that it is negotiating the buying up of all tho London omnibuses ; so that it . intends to teach us us how to live in our public vehicles .
Notwithstanding the fact that the raising of the Bank discount wns anticipated , it has created something like a panic , which is partly founded on reasonable apprehensions and partly unreasonable . They continue to repeat the assurance that this country is perfectly sound . We are importing and exporting with our greatest customers—the United States , the American colonies , tho West Indies , Australia , Holland , France , tho Levant ,
& c . —thus effecting an exchange of commodities with a decided profit to all concerned . But the demand for money on the Continent is obstructing our means of exchange , by calling off the floating capital ; and commercial men want the instrument for carrying out their operations . The char acter of the pressure is well shown in the distinction bet-ween the two rates of discount . The great exchanges of goods in commerce are perfectly sound transactions , but the supply of money is short . If all could be carried on in barter , all would go well ; but the purse is exhausted at every turn , and money is wanted for each particular day . Thus time becomes a great element ; and hence the distinction of the enhanced discount of six per cent : for bills having sixty days to run , and seven per cent , for bills having ninetyfive days . The difference shows how much greater the pressure is for ready cash , than for means to meet engagements in the long run . One of the first effects is panic ; and men so readily anticipate some excessive reaction in the commercial world , that they abstain from , buying the very things that are most certain to be wanted . For instance , there is no trade in the country of which the consumption is more certain than the wool trade . The market of our woollen manufactures has been restricted by deficiencies in the supplies ever since tho gold mania contracted Australian produce . But the wool sales commenced on Thursday , the day of the rise ; and at once men began to hesitate in the purchase of a commodity which they arc as certain to get off their hands as if it were gold itself . Hence a present loss resulting from no real decline in tho value of wool , but from simple alarm . It is an example of the difficulty which commercial men always make for themselves on such occasions , and which they are going to make now in ubundancc . They are also frightened at mere shadows . A number of people thought fit to get up a demonstration in tho Park against " dear bread , " and a baker who was rush enough to set out on tho honest mission of reasoning with them was severely handled . Hero wo have " a bread riot" in October , and wise men in tho City will turn pnlo , refuse perhaps another ten balos of . wool , andaekf— .. . ^ or expect some more discount I For sucu ^ *^ -- ; .. . ' ^ \ , causes does the heart of tho City boat , a ; ' W ^ tf * > ^ p Commerce is in gaol , in the porsons of W *« 9 gft ; f M ~ Pau * , and Daw s ; and society , repreptftfto l ^& fy ( r ^ tho Governor of tho prison , lias been W {^ XJgZ * £ ty ^ t " > ¦> . " yy * ' ;^ i \ "'•• Is ' ** >
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 20, 1855, page 1, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_20101855/page/1/
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