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The Evening Star SATURDAY, JUNE 14, 1873.

The English Mail supplies in detail many items of intelligence previously announced in their results by telegraph, as well as very important measures of which no intimation has been given. The disagreements in the French Chambers have led to the resignation of M. Thiers, and the election of Marshal M'xMahon to the Presidency. It is impossible to pronounce an opinion upon the causes that have led to this change, and equally difficult to judge of wbat may be the results. It seems only following the natural order of revolution, the course of which is commonly ultimately determined by the party who commands the army. M. Thiers has done much to entitle him to the grateful remembrance of the French. He was placed in his exalted position at a most critical period, and has given very effectual aid in restoring the country to order, and giving form and efficiency to the institutions which have grown out of anarchy; but in many respects his ideas were of the past. In matters of commerce he was decidedly opposed to the only system that has proved itself beneficial to the world—free trade; and it is probably owing to this, and to his peculiar notions of glory, as displayed in his history of “The Consulate and the Empire,” that his retirement has become expedient. Marshal M'Mahon, Due de Magenta, who succeeds him, it is needless to say, has distinguished himself as a soldier in Africa, the Crimea, Italy, and during the Franco-Prussian war. It is supposed that, in the last, had he been allowed to command, many of the disasters of the army of France would have been avoided. Nor is he without political experience, as for many years he has been a member of the French Senate. What his pecular notions are on the relations of France and Prussia we do not know. We should imagine from the past that, like the late Duke of Wellington, he knows so much about war as earnestly to desire the maintenance of peace. Possibly this change may be but a transition step to a Monarchy or Empire. Although in preceding reigns M'Mahon went through several gradations of rank, he owes his high position in the army to the late Emperor, and is not likely to forget the past. The position of France is, however, much changed : the country districts have more influence in political affairs than formerly, and thus, those sudden and violent changes, the result of fickle and ill-directed popular passions, that have marked the history of the past may not recur. It is certain, however, that we cannot judge of the present condition of France by referring it to our standard of democratic self-government. Democracy in France and in the British Colonies cannot be compared advantageously. At Horae, that national iniquity, the monopoly of the Bank of England, is attracting attention; but is not likely, we fear, to be dealt with in a rational and business-like way. There is so much ignorance amongst all classes in this matter, and it has been so complicated and mixed up with questions that do not belong to it, that like many other subjects, the demonstration of which is before men’s eyes, they will not see it. Nor is it a monopoly that affects merely the people of England. We, in the Colonies, though powerless to assist in reforming the system, are periodically sacrificed to its viciousness. The records of every mail tell us of the price of money. We do not know whether many of our readers have had the curiosity to watch that index of commercial prosperity, the rate of discount, and to collate it with the prices of wool and produce. If they have, they will arrive at the conclusion that those prices are not regulated solely by the law of supply and demand, but that there is a disturbing influence, of the power of which the price given for the use of money is the sign. One month produce rules high, is in great demand, work is plentiful, workmen hardly obtainable; the next, without apparent cause, all this is reversed : mills are stopped, bankruptcies are abundant, workmen want bread. |The public journals set to work to account for it, and from the London Times downwards, there is an univeral condemnation of the overtrading which is asserted to have produced these results. They point to the failure of bubble companies, the capital of the batch of which, formed during a year of prosperity, would not affect the commerce of Great Britain to any appreciable degree, if it were cast into the sea; and they seek about in every direction for reasons why the commercial panic should have occurred, but invariably turn their gaze from the heart of commerce, the Bank of England, where alone the disease exists. Three-and-a-half per cent, at the Bank means fair demand and steady trade; four, and four and

a-half increasing demand for money ; five per cent, tells the public that the Bank is beginning to be a little pinched; six per cent, means accommodation withdrawn, and every amount beyond that tells of commercial disaster leading to panic. Because this banking arrangement was devised by the late Sir Robert Peel, many persons accept it as a great and wise measure. Our own estimate of the talent of the great baronet differs widely from that usually entertained. In commercial and monetary matters, no man made greater mistakes. His latter days were spent in undoing the errors of his youth, and unfortunately he did not live to see the disasters that followed his mistake of 1844. With the success of the Scotch system standing in strong relief as a contrast to the clumsy monopoly of the Bank of England, it is surprising that the commercial world has so long submitted to the hidden tyranny. The subject is once more before the world, and the world is interested iu setting it to rights. We hope this time it will be settled on sound and equitable principles, though we doubt it.

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Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ESD18730614.2.9

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Evening Star, Issue 3219, 14 June 1873, Page 2

Word count
Tapeke kupu
1,012

The Evening Star SATURDAY, JUNE 14, 1873. Evening Star, Issue 3219, 14 June 1873, Page 2

The Evening Star SATURDAY, JUNE 14, 1873. Evening Star, Issue 3219, 14 June 1873, Page 2

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