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FOREIGN MISCELLANY.

THE late financial crisis has been the subject of long debate in the British Parliament. The matter was brought forward by the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the 30th Nov., and committees of investigation have been appointed by both Houses. From the debate it appears the ministers are of opinion that, although the pressure may have been ultimately aggravated by the Currency Act of 1844, yet its real cause was an unprecedented drain on the available capital of the country, partly for the purchase of corn and partly for permanent investment in railroads, which began in the summer of 1846, and acting on an unduly extended state of credit, brought on the revulsion. In 1837 there was a season of great commercial depression, which destroyed the houses whose credit was too much extended. In 1839 occurred a severe drain of gold for purchases of corn, but trade being in a healthy state the commerce of the country was not very materially affected. In October, 1847, the circulation in the hands of the public, including bank post bills, was £19,577,000, being £3,000,000 more than at the same period in 1839; and the private securities lodged with the bank were £21,260,000, also showing an increase of £8,000,000 above Oct., 1839; from which it appears that the pressure was not from the mere want of notes or bank accommodation. In the summer of 1846, the Bank of England had on hand a very large amount of bullion and a large reserved fund; and they, in consequence, reduced the rate of interest to three per cent. There was also at that time an accumulation of deposits of railroad money in the hands of the London bankers, which enabled them to afford facilities to commerce, and made the money market easy. At that time there existed an unlimited expansion of credit. The harvest of 1846 failed and the potato crop also, which caused a great drain of gold from the country for the purchase of corn; and in this period the increased demand of capital for railroads had begun to take place; and the consumption of manufactured articles diminished, in consequence of the high price of food. In January the Bank raised the rate of interest, first to 3, and afterwards to 4 per cent. The drain of capital for railroads and food increased; and the rate of interest in the money market (not at the Bank) became higher. One of the most important railroad companies announced they were prepared to pay 5 per cent. for money on loan; the Bank fixed the same rate of discount, and

then came the panic. The Bank is severely blamed for having imprudently parted with their gold, and having afterwards too suddenly restricted their discounts, by which latter operation a great state of alarm was created. On the 30th July the notes in circulation amounted to £18,892,000; on the 5th August the Bank raised the rate of discount to 5 per cent., and about that time the great commercial failures began; but these failures, with few exceptions, were then confined to houses in the corn trade. Between May and September the price of corn had fallen no less than 50 per cent.; the average price in May being 102s. per quarter, and in September about 48s. The cost of corn imported, from June, 1846, to Jan., 1847, was £5,139,000; from January to July, 1847, £14,184,000; and the amount from July to October, 1847, was as great as that of the preceding six months, viz., £14,240,000; making altogether an aggregate of about £33,000,000. This was the cost of imports and freight, exclusive of profits made in Great Britain. The demand of capital for railways increased in a like manner. The amount expended on railways in 1841, 1842 and 1843, was about £4,500,000 per annum. In 1844 it rose to £6,000,000, and in 1845 to £14,000,000; in the first half year of 1846 to £9,800,000, and in the last half year of 1846 to £20,600,000; in the first half year of 1847 to £25,755,000; and, if the works had proceeded at the same ratio, they would have required in the last half year of 1847 no less than £38,000,000. Deducting from this about 5 per cent., for Parliamentary expenses and land, which was not a sinking capital, the sum expended on railways would amount altogether to between £80,000,000 and £90,000,000. The large abstraction thus caused from the capital formerly at the disposal of ordinary commercial enterprise, and the amount also converted into fixed capital, were the leading causes of the pressure.

Want of confidence in the public mind, also caused a large hoarding of gold and notes, which were thus withdrawn from circulation. Two of the great discount houses in London stopped payment, the others feared to act in such a state of affairs; and thus the discounting business of the country was, in a great measure, thrown upon the Bank of England. "At this time," (October,) says the Chancellor of the Exchequer, "the Government saw parties of all descriptions, who said to us, 'We do not want notes; we only want you to

give us confidence.' We asked, 'What will give you confidence?' They replied, 'If we only know that we can get notes, that will be enough. We do not want the notes. You can charge any rate of interest you please. Charge 10 or 12 per cent.; we do not mean to take the notes, we only want to know that we can have them."" Under these circumstances the Government, on the 25th October, gave the recommendation to the Bank of England referred to in our number of December last, when large amounts which had been kept in the hands of capitalists were again deposited with the London bankers, the amounts drawn from the Bank of England were very materially lessened, and public confidence restored.

On the 29th November, a bill for the suppression of crime in Ireland was introduced into the House of Commons by Sir George Grey, who stated that, so far from the disturbances being general throughout Ireland, in the greater part of that country crime has diminished, and life and property are as safe as in any other portion of the kingdom; and that the crimes against which the bill is directed are held in detestation and abhorrence by far the greater portion of that country. The bill is of a mild character, and had the support of a great portion of the Irish members; it passed a first reading with a majority of 206, only 18 votes being given against it, and on the 13th of December it finally passed the House of Commons by a vote of 173 to 14. A motion for repeal of the union was brought forward by Mr. Feargus O'Connor, on the 7th December, which was negatived by a vote of 255 to 23. Bills have also been introduced for removal of all Roman Catholic and Jewish disabilities, which are expected to pass the Commons; but the passage of the latter through the House of Lords is doubtful. About the 6th of December the coast of Great Britain was visited with terrific gales, and the destruction of shipping and boats has been most extensive. An American ship, the "Robert G. Shaw," was burned to the water's edge, off Weymouth, having been struck by lightning, December 6th. The present suspension of Sir Robert Peel's act for the amendment of the Corn Laws expires on the 1st March next. The President of the Board of Trade, in reply to an inquiry on the subject, stated that it was not the intention of the Government to propose a further suspension; in which case the import duties on wheat will be regulated by the following scale :-When the average price for six successive weeks is under 48s. per quarter, the duty will be 10s. per quarter. At every advance of 1s. per qr. in price the duty will fall 1s., until the price reaches 53s., at which price, and upwards, the duty will be 4s. per quarter. The average price for the six weeks ending 11th December was 52s. per quarter, at which rate the duty would be 5s. Accounts to the 1st January,

state that commercial affairs have not improved to the extent which the increased facilities for discount might have been supposed to warrant. In the manufacturing districts there is more employment, more hands are employed, and the short time system is being curtailed; but the produce markets continue depressed. In sugar and cotton there is a decline, and the general consumption is much affected by the state of the public health. The fluctuations in the funds have been less considerable than for a long time previously. On the 1st January consols for the account were, 853. The Bank of England has replenished its coffers to the extent of £11,991,376, in both departments, and the position of that establishment is considered safe and satisfactory. The Bank rate of discount was 6 per cent. on the 18th Dec., and was reduced on the 23d to 5 per cent.

The influenza prevails very generally throughout Great Britain. The number of deaths has consequently increased to an immense extent. In the week ending November 20th the number in London was 1086; and in the three following weeks, 1677, 2454 and 2416 the latter showing an increase over the average of the same season in other years of 1370, or 130 per cent. Mr. Robert Liston, the celebrated surgeon, died at London, on the 7th December, from a disease of the throat. An account for the year ending 10th October last shows the income of the United Kingdom from taxes, &c., to be £52,579,501, 2s. 1d., and the expenditure to exceed that sum by £327,608, 8s.

The governments of France and England have been in communication, relative to the blockade, by the former, of the river Plata ; and on the 13th of November it was stated by Lord Palmerston that he had no doubt, on the arrival of instructions there, a speedy cessation of hostilities would take place. The grippe (influenza) is extremely prevalent in many parts of France: 10,000 persons are said to be laid up with it at Lille; at Toulouse, 15,000 out of 55,000 are suffering from that malady; and at Marseilles half the population (of 160,000 souls,) are said to be confined to bed from the same cause. Precautions are being taken in France to prevent the introduction of the chol

era.

The reform banquets still continue, and are frequented by persons of distinguished character and station. Arrangements have been made by which, after the 1st of January, two mails will be daily dispatched between London and Paris-a day mail and a night mail from each capital. Specimens of cotton grown in Algeria have been sent by the Minister of Commerce to the principal manufacturing towns, with a view to ascertain its quality. The reports have been so favorable that the French government is likely to adopt measures to promote the growth of cotton in Algeria upon an extensive scale. Since 1830, Algeria has cost France half a million of soldiers.

sors, so shall I transmit this sacred deposit to my successors. I have three millions of subjects as witnesses, and I have hitherto accomplished much to unite my subjects with me, and to ascertain and provide for their necessities. It was particularly to ascertain those wants and to provide better for the exigencies of the public service, that I have assembled a permanent council. It was to hear your opinions, when necessary, and to aid me in my sovereign resolutions, in which I shall consult my conscience, and confer on them with the ministers and the Sacred College. Anybody who would take any other view of the functions you are called to fulfil, would materially err, as well as they that would see, in the Council of State I have created, the realization of their own Utopias, and the germ of an institution incompatible with the Pontifical sovereignty."

His holiness having pronounced these last words with some vivacity and some heat, stopped a moment, and then resuming in his usual mild manner, continued in the following terms:

The civil war in Switzerland is terminated | I received it full and entire from my predecesby the complete overthrow of the Sonderbund. After the capture of Fribourg, the Federal army advanced against Lucerne, and after some sharp fighting on the 22d and 23d of November, in which their superiority in artillery gave them great advantage, this stronghold of the Sonderbund was reduced, and the war virtually concluded. The number of the Federal troops engaged in the war was about 94,000, while their opponents did not muster above one third of that number. The Jesuits are entirely expelled from Switzerland, and their establishments and property forfeited. The cantons of the Sonderbund are to pay collectively and separately all the expenses of the war, to make good all damages done by their troops, and to pay the expenses of the occupation of the Federal forces. The total cost of the war on the side of the Federal government is estimated at 3,163,000f. and it is supposed the cost of occupation will be nearly two millions more. The result has created a great sensation in Austria, to which kingdom a considerable portion of the Jesuits have retired. The proposed intervention of the great European powers was rendered abortive by the termination of hostilities. The canton of Neufchatel is in rather an anomalous position. From 1707 to 1805, it was a principality of the crown of Prussia. In the latter year it was ceded to France and granted by Napoleon to Berthier, as a fief of the French empire. In 1814 the king of Prussia resumed possession, and gave to Neufchatel a constitution, and it was, with his majesty's consent, admitted into the Helvetic confederation; without, however, any cession of the rights of the king of Prussia. In the late civil war, that canton, with the approbation of the king, decided on a strict neutrality, and his majesty declared, in precise terms, to the Diet that every violation of this neutrality by the Diet would be regarded as a breach of the peace against himself. The Diet insisted that Neufchatel, as a member of the confederacy, was bound to furnish its contingent for the war, and has declared that it reserves to itself full liberty of action against the defaulting state. Thus between its loyal and conservative predilections, and its Federal relations, Neufchatel is in a most awkward dilemma.

On the 15th of November the Pope on the throne, at the Quirinal, received the members of the consulta, and, to an address from their President, replied in the following terms:

"I thank you for your good intentions, and as regards the public welfare, I esteem them of value. It was for the public good that since my elevation to the Pontifical throne I have, in accordance with the councils inspired by God, accomplished all that I could; and am still ready, with the assistance of God, to do all for the future, without, however, retrenching in any degree the sovereignty of the Pontificate; and, inasmuch as

concord.

"This warmth, and these words are not addressed to any of you whose social education, Christian and civil probity, as well as the loy alty of your sentiments and the rectitude of your intentions, have been known to me since the moment I proceeded to your election. Neither do those words apply to the majority of my subjects, for I am sure of their fidelity and their obedience. I know that the hearts of my subjects unite with mine in the love of order and of persons (and though few, they still exist) who, having nothing to lose, love disturbance and revolt, and even abuse the concessions made to them. It is to those that my words are addressed, and let them well understand their signification. In the co-operation of the Deputies I see only the firm support of persons who, devoid of every personal interest, will labor with me, by their advice, for the public good, and who will not be arrested by the vain language of restwith your wisdom to discover that which is most less men devoid of judgment. You will aid me useful for the security of the throne and the real happiness of my subjects."

But there exist, unfortunately, some

The deputies were afterwards admitted to pay their homage to the Pope, and, having received his benediction, withdrew. expressed their intention of inquiring, among They have others, into the following subjects:

"As to an equal division of taxes; the diminution or suppression of all charges which fall on the poor classes, or which impede the development of national prosperity; the re-establishment of public credit; the destruction of monopoly, and the extension of commercial liberty; the introduction in the prisons of a regimen which may render the penalty not a punishment which degrades, but a measure which may promote the regeneration of the culprit; the extension throughout the provinces of the munici

pal system, such as it is at Rome; and lastly, the adoption of a system of education and public instruction, and of a just and moral policy."

There is no news of importance from Spain or Portugal, except that in the former the insurgents appear to have been almost entirely put down; and, in the latter, the elections have greatly preponderated in favor of the Cabral party; the ministerial candidates at Lisbon having all been withdrawn, and those at Oporto defeated.

The cholera has almost disappeared from Constantinople, and is now so slight there as to be little regarded. It still continues to spread in Russia, but has lost its force in Moscow. From the appearance of the disease up to the 22d of November, the number of persons attacked at the latter place was 2360, of whom 1097 died. It has made its appearance, but in a milder form, at Dunaburg, within forty miles of the Prussian frontier. The St. Petersburg Journal of the 18th of November, publishes an imperial ukase for contracting a loan of 14,600,000 silver roubles, for the works of the St. Petersburg and Moscow railroad. The Emperor of Russia has lately published a

ukase which involves a great question of international law, having for its object to suspend the exercise of the right of fishing along the coast of the Black Sea, from Anapa as far as Batoumi, in order to prevent assistance to the Caucasus. By this measure the Emperor appears to arrogate to himself an exclusive property in the Black Sea.

Appalling accounts of famine have been received from the Polish provinces of Austria. Out of 328,641 inhabitants no less than 60,820 have died.

Accounts from the East Indies show a state of unusual tranquillity, and in Bombay the greatest commercial confidence prevails. It is said that not a single house there has suspended payment.

In a council of state of the united kingdoms of Sweden and Norway, held on the 28th ult., the King ratified the treaty of commerce and navigation between China and those two kingdoms. The treaty was signed at Canton, the 20th of March last, by M. Lillienvalch, counsellor of commerce, on behalf of Sweden and Norway, and by the Imperial Commissioner KiYng, on the part of China.

CRITICAL NOTICES.

Don Quixote de la Mancha. Translated from the Spanish of Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, by CHARLES JARVIS, ESQ. Carefully revised and corrected, with Illustrations, by Tony Johannot. In two volumes. Philadelphia: Lea and Blanchard. 1847.

This is a very respectable new edition of a book that can never grow old. The illustrations, however, which are either the copies or the worn-out originals of those given in a Paris edition some years since, are not much to our taste. Tony Johannot, the Leach of the French illustrators, is hardly equal to the task of providing scenery for Cervantes; and to those who have seen the elegant engravings of Smirke, these sketchy wood-cuts will possess little attraction.

The translation is by Jarvis, and it appears, and probably is, more exact than that of Smollet, though to those who were early accustomed to that version it cannot but seem less spirited and more artificial.

Of all the books in the world there is none except Shakspeare's plays so full of the vigor of youth as Don Quixote. De Foe had the

same minute observation and much of the same vigor, but in comparison with Cervantes he writes like an old battered voyager. In Don Quixote we find all that cool self-possession and confident reliance on the reader's credulity that appears in Mrs. Veal's Ghost and the History of the Plague, joined to the most hearty humor, the most unfailing vivacity, and indeed, all qualities that make an overflowing bodily and mental health. In respect of the bodily part, out of Cervantes, Shakspeare, John Bunyan, De Foe and Sir Walter Scott, all good stomachic writers, any reader of delicate perception would surely choose the former; Shakspeare's digestion was so good that he appears never to think of dining; Bunyan must have had a powerful organ for solid viands; De Foe could relish the same dinners all the year round, with a few grapes of his own rearing; Scott would have been tremendous at a venison pasty after a long ride; but to read Cervantes is of itself a cure for dyspepsia. The bodily vigor is so apparent throughout his pages that it is impossible to read without insensibly getting an appetite.

But the mental vigor, the liveliness of fancy,

the air of mirth that pervades the whole, the range of observation, a dozen lives all over Spain crowded into one, and so alive that it appears the writer has much ado to keep himself within proper bounds-these are qualities in which he must rank far below Shakspeare, yet still at the head of all other prose writers. No one has manifested himself to the world with more of the spirit of youth and apparent ignorance of care and sorrow.

Yet Cervantes could not have been a heartless gay man of mere animal life. The preface to his first volume and the prologue to the second bear the tone of reflection. Indeed, some of his episodes show that he had as keen a perception of the pathetic as of the comic, and could have written a serious novel had he chosen to do so. Charles Lamb calls him "the most consummate artist in the book way the world has ever produced." This was the secret of his success; he had infinite nerve; his hand was so steady nothing could shake it. When he had conceived what, if it were not now an old story, we should all consider the most whimsical fiction that ever was thought of, and requiring the most delicate touches, he set himself to work it out with such marvellous ease, such glorious cool strength, as amount almost to the power of a great epic poet. He himself always maintains the most dignified gravity; only by an occasional twinkle of the eye does the reader see that his author, like an old story-teller, is enjoying the fun internally as much as he.

And all this was done by him in advancing age, after a life of adventures and misadventures enough to have bowed any less resolute spirit, and in humble circumstances. How like a true gentleman does he put down the man who had not only anticipated him by writing a second part to Don Quixote, but had "What I gone out of his way to revile him.

cannot forbear resenting is, that he upbraids me with my age, and with having lost my hand, as if it were in my power to have hindered time from passing over my head, or as if my injury had been got in some drunken quarrel at a tavern, and not on the noblest occasion that past or present ages have seen, or future can ever hope to see.

The introduction to this edition contains a memoir of Cervantes, from which the following summary is worth extracting :

"Born of a family, honorable but poor; receiving in the first instance a liberal education, but thrown into domestic servitude by calamity; page, valet de chambre, and afterwards soldier; crippled at the battle of Lepanto; distinguished at the capture of Tunis; taken by a Barbary corsair ; captive for five years in the slave-depots of Algiers; ransomed by public charity, after every effort to effect his liberation by industry and courage had been made in vain; again a soldier in Portugal and the Azores; struck with

a woman noble and poor, like himself; recalled one moment to letters by love, and exiled from them the next by distress; recompensed for his services and talents by the magnificent appointmalversation with regard to the public money; ment of clerk to a victualling board; accused of thrown into prison by the king's ministers, released after proving his innocence; subsequently again imprisoned by mutinous peasants; become a poet by profession, and a general agent; transacting, to gain a livelihood, negotiations by commission, and writing dramas for the theatre; discovering, when more than fifty years of age, the true bent of his genius; ignorant what patron he could induce to accept of the dedication of his work; finding the public indifferent to a book at which they condescended to laugh, but did not appreciate, and could not comprehend; finding also jealous rivals, by whom he was ridiculed and defamed; pursued by want even to old age; forgotten by the many, unknown to all, and dying at last in solitude and poverty; such, during his life and at his death, was Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. It was not till after the lapse of two centuries that his admirers thought of seeking for his cradle and his tomb; that they adorned with a medallion in marble the last house in which he lived; that they raised a statue to his memory in the public square; and that, effacing the cognomen of some obscure but more fortunate individual, his countrymen inscribed at the corner of a little street in Madrid

that great name, the celebrity of which resounds through the civilized world."

The Poetical Works of John Milton; with a Memoir, and Critical Remarks on his Genius and Writings, by JAMES MONTGOMERY; and one hundred and twenty Engravings from Drawings by WILLIAM HARVEY. In two volumes. Harper & Brothers.

With the exception of the engravings, which are common-place in design, and by no means delicately executed, this is one of the most elegant editions of Milton ever issued. The paper is excellent, and the type so beautifully fair that an hour's reading seems rather to refresh the eyesight. Bound in cloth, and with gilt edges, these two volumes make as desirable a gift book as the season has produced, and one which ought to be on every parlor table where there is not a Milton already.

We cannot have the fathers of our literature and poetry too much with us. Though the number that read and relish Milton be few, yet it is something to see him daily, and to feel the conservative influence of his presence: where he is there will continue still some esteem for

learning, some reverence for sound thinking, some love of nobleness. Even where the only use made of him is to dust him every morning as he lies in gilt edges, with such companions as the annuals and the Book of Beauty, the daily sight of his form will be like the presence

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