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Leader (1850-1860), 4th October 1851, Edition Country of 2, Page 3

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      A Glance At The Continent. Emile De Gira...

      ~ " ^ And what occurs now ( continues the despatch of the 1 . .. JmT ? The Austrian Government declares that H ! ft » St * £ ^ sufficientl y reestablished in Hungary to permit the liberation of Kossuth ™ f ~* J » 8 « £ the neace of the . empire . The Imperial Court regards Itself a » alone capable of forming an opinion iipaa the nternal condition of its provinces ; but it again gives the assurance that , as soon as the favourable moment shall have arrived , it will lose no time in informing the Ottoman Porte of the' same , and that it will then no longer oppose the liberation of the refugees . The despatch then declaims against the avowed intention of the Porte to liberate Kossuth , and adds : —

      " From these reasons , and considering that the Sublime Porte had gone even so far as to take steps for the liberation of the refugees kept in the interior at Kintahia , the undersigned finds himself in the necessity of formally protesting against the liberation of Kossuth and others confined in the above-named town . He repeats the declaration made on the 17 th of February of this year , that the departure of a single individual of the refugees , without the consent of the Austrian Government , will be regarded by the same as a breach of the convention agreed upon with regard to them , as an event which may lead to the most serious interruption of the existing good understanding between the two States . "

      The reply of Ali Pacha is dated the 16 th of August . The language is firm and mild . After stating the desire of the Sublime Porte to remain on friendly terras with Austria , the Turkish Minister says : — " Your excellency has thought fit to invoke the clauses of old treaties , and to point out assurances made by the Sultan by letter to the Emperor . It would be superfluous to recapitulate these treaties , as full explanations were Riven to the Austrian Government some time since as regards how far they were applicable or not . As regards the letter of the Sultan , it simply contained the assurance to keep such a watch upon the "refugees as to prevent them from causing any disturbance in the Austrian dominions . "

      It then maintains that , order having been reestablished in Hungary , it was perfectly justified in setting the refugees at liberty . To the above the Austrian Ambassador replies in another note , bearing date the 18 th of August , 1851 . It is as follows : — " The undersigned Charge des Affaires of the Emperor of Austria to the Sublime Ottoman Porte , has seen with the deepest regret , from the official note of his Excellency the Minister of Foreign Affairs of his Majesty the Sultan , of the 16 th August , that the Government of the Porte persists in liberating , on the 1 st of September , Kossuth and the other refugees detained at Kintahia , without affordwhich induced

      ing compliance to the just representations the Government of the Emperor of Austria to demand a prolongation of their detention . The undersigned , whilst he undertakes to forward such despatch to his Government , finds himself called upon to repeat the protest he made in his note of the 29 th of July , addressed to his Excellency Ali Pacha , and , in the name of the Imperial Austrian Government , must declare the Ottoman Porte responsible for all consequences which the liberation of the above-named refugees , without the previous consent of the Austrian Government , may lead to . " The undersigned has the honour , & c , "( Signed ) Ed . de Klezl . " Bujukd 6 re , August 18 , 1851 . "

      Turkey has been on the point of a political crisis . Rechid Pacha's power was tottering , and his successors were already talked of . It was said that the son of one of them had been chosen for the husband of the Sultan ' s daughter , a princess of eleven years of age j ^ but the young man , who was said to be full of talent , was found poisoned one morning , and the Sultan ' s daughter was affianced to Rechid Pacha ' s son , a child of ten years of age , who , in spite of hia extreme youth , has been named Vizir .

      The King of Prussia seems never tired of rendering himself ridiculous . The speech of his Majesty at Potsdam , on his return from Ischl , was given some time since ; the ultra-Royalist journal never published it till yesterday , when it gave a very prominent place to a corrected version . One passage , omitted in the original report , is now inserted . The King had specified the . slanders himself and the Queen have been subjected to , —that they were about to become converts to the

      Catholic Church , & c . ; he added , thut his " enemies had also reported he was addicted to intemperance in the use of wine ; since it had been proved that he generally drank water , that charge had been abandoned . " lie had no hope , however , that any contradiction would avail against the appetite of his enemies for slander . The passage alluding to " intemperance " had been struck out by the journals in former reports ; but from the manner in which the speech is now printed after ho long an interval , it in evident it in restored by special command .

      In the Ik-lgian elections which have just tnken place , the Priests have been unusually active in opposition to the Ministerial party . Here , fin elsewhere , the domination of the clerical faction Higiiilies intoler ance , retrogression , absolutist sympathies From these intrigues wo turn with pleasure to the fetes at Brussels , which appear to have gone off with all tlio eclat which a city always gay and crowded with curious tourists , and a people peaceful and "rustic , presided ovor by a true Citizen King , are capable .

      Austrian Of Merely Marking The Quotation...

      AUSTRIAN OcT . 4 , 1851 . ] gflg g , gg & gy . 935 _ i . _ __ —^——^ _^ rtiTTTi A TTOTD T A "XT

      Some Mysteries Of The Austrian Money Mar...

      SOME MYSTERIES OF THE MONEY MARKET . Letter I . To the Editor of the Leader . [ The subjoined letter from a valued correspondent , on whose resources of exact information we place the most complete reliance , is riot a subject of controversy , but a precise statement of facts and figures of the last importance to readers liable to be tempted into the whirlpool of an Austrian loan by inducements ( to use familiar language ) only to good to be true . We , therefore , insert it in our department of News , and recommend to the closest attention of readers who have learned how the Money Market is the true Autocrat of all modern Empires , an irrefutable account of the actual condition and operations of Austrian Finance . ] Sir , — The voluntary subscriptions for the Austrian loan of September 1 , 1851 , have now been closed . 1 he advantages promised were out of the common way . Subscribers are not required to pay up the amount of their subscription before September 1 , 1852 , and that only in ten equal instalments . Nevertheless each 93 florins m bank notes ( 100 florins in specie being nearly equivalent to £ 10 ) which were subscribed before September 16 , 1851 , for that series of the loan for which the dividend is payable in Austria , will bear interest of about 5 - per cent . ; and as they , according to the real , r . ot merely

      official , price of silver , are worth no more than about 75 florins in specie , they will bear interest of about 7 per cent ., and an addition of principal of about 25 per cent ., if the official declaration of the Minister of Finance should be fulfilled , that the Austrian paper currency will have conquered its crisis in October , 1852 , and will stand at par with silver . A smiling harvest indeed for the inconsolable speculators in Austrian paper currency after so many failures . A similar profit awaits those who have subscribed before September 1851 , for that series of the loan for which the dividend is payable out of Austria , and only a comparatively smaller those who subscribed

      later . "With the alluring prospect of these inherent advantages the present condition of the Continental press , and that of the Exchange and commercial world of Vienna , promoted this latest borrowing project of Vienna . The few Austrian journals not in the service of Government , and qualified to give information on the finances of the empire , are now gagged by the Draconic rule of the soldiery . They are even compelled to abstain from publishing any but favourable reports on the progress of this loan . The organs of the Government , on the other hand , employ the language of charlatanism . The loan is for them the magical wand which is sure to

      open new mines of Potosi . The Austrian Ministry , which fully recognizes , though indirectly , the power of the press , expends on its official and semi-official journals within the Monarchy scarcely less than one million of florins ( £ 100 , 000 ) , and may naturally expect hymns on the stability of its political organizations , and on the fortune of its money speculations for so prodigal a sum . It moreover , and at no small cost , fees its advocates in the foreign press , assisted , though it is for influencing French and English journals , by large contributions from the private purse of the Archduke Maximilian d'JEste , one of the richest men in Europe . A frank and fearless apotheosis of the Ilapsburg policy is , moreover , facilitated for the Austrian organs in Germany and France by the suppression or the violent intimidation of the independent press of both countries . They are the noisy loaders

      of the day , and they palliate almost without any opposition the unmistakeable pathology iu the state of the empire , while they praise what is doubtful an the health of youth . All these supports of its policy arc not suflicient , however , for the Austrian Ministry . It sees at a glance the necessity of perplexing the public opinion of Europe at any price , and by any means , and it keeps for that purpose a special bureau d ' esprit ' , which sends to all points of the compass , but chit-fly to Germany , a journalistic firework of sophisms and news , the combustibles of which are accurately calculated , and with great dexterity , to the thinking power and other peculiarities of the spot that is to be illumined . If ever , therefore , there was a Government well provided with a choice assortment of literary baits to fix to the hook of a loan project , it is the Austrian .

      Add to these means of financial operation the important fact , that no foreign capitalist who wants to ascer " tain the true state of the Austrian inonoy-niarket , in order to estimate the chances of a speculation in an Austrian loan , can obtain in the Exchange and commercial world of Vienna , as a last expedient of his in " Rtruction , that information which is trustworthy and deserving . Many months ago the telescope of the Austrian Government discovered this danger to its financia l credit , and energetic preventive measures were devised to avert it . The Exchange of Vienna was purged of independent speculator )* , and sank under the tutelage of direct and indirect stock-jobbing agents of the ministry . A commiHSary of the government distributes the cards of

      admission , the gendarmerie are , moreover , directed to interrogate any Htranger with a physiognomy dangerous to ofliciul quotation ^ Hecrot police agiuts mingle with the groups on 'Change , listening to every translation , and ready to interfere as soon as they perceive any tendency , however slight , to countermine the schemes of their employers , or hear any expression calculated , however remotely , to affect the government market ; all private exchanges , or gatherings of speculators , are Htrictly prohibited , to prevent any interference with Government designs on the Exchange , and informers of all these , and similar contrtwentions of law , are rewarded by half the fine imposed upon the offender . JJy nuoh proceedings the Minister of Finance it * enabled to compel the Ex . oh . ango of Vienna to tho wretched . <« ahum "

      of merely marking the quotations dictated by his official manoeuvres ; Jbr as often as he wants it , particularly when he has a design upon foreign exchanges , he will , a few minutes before the close of the Exchange , sell , regardless of cost , silver , which he had himself very likely bought at the actual price of about 25 per cent ., and the latter quotation is marked , while only a short time before , and after the close of the Exchange , no silver is to be had under the real price . After the same fashion , he determines , according to the wants of the hour , the quotations of gold , of bills on foreign places , and of Government funds of every kind , by fictitious sales and purchases . In general recollection will be his manoeuvres with the 4 £ per cent , loan of 1849 , issued at / sf * - * i Aval * r m ti vlri n » 4 ^« »«<* nlnl ! J ?_ a _*_ J l !_•_ ¦ - ¦ £ t * . «*!« 1

      85 . The Government press had expended the whole of its eloquence to recommend it to the patriotism of the then constitutional subjects of Austria , and to persuade them to the belief that it would very soon get up to 100 . Many subscribed , and subscription sums and subscribers were published as a reward . The loan , however , soon fell to 83 , and enormous sums , accordingly , were lost in the later instalments . The other day the Minister sueceeded , by no inconsiderable sacrifices and ingenious artifices , in screwing it up to 85 , with a view to get credit for his joungest loan-scheme ; but it could only be sustained for a few days at this figure , and , in spite of all artificial efforts , it . fell to 82 £ , because it came to be sold in sufficient quantity when that scheme transpired .

      The Vienna Exchange has at any rate ceased under such official pressure to be a faithful interpreter and exponent of the Austrian money market . But this is not all : not even the commercial world of Vienna can be taken as a guide to its labyrinths . The one flows from the other . In public places , and even in private circles , no one dares even breathe a murmur against the financial tribulations of the times , if he would escape the attention of the military courts as a disturber of public credit . . The Minister of Finance has a very sharp ear in that direction , and he seldom fails to learn of an occasional whispering candour at the tables of the bankers . Where ,

      however , the press is silent , and where almost every tongue is dumb , there even bankers cannot obtain an accurate insight into the true state of the finances . It is besides their own interest to keep to themselves as much as they know , and at any rate not to betray it to foreign countries . Their very existence is bound up with the vertigo of a paper sys ' , during the longer or shorter duration of which they are at least permitted to indulge the hope of realizing their fictitious stock on hand , and , on that account , in the league with the Government ; and , as far as it lies in themselves , they contribute materially to the procrastination of a ciisis , which , in its sweeping ruin , must press them more severely the sooner

      it comes . Considering these inherent and exterior chances of success which supported the latest Austrian loan , it sounds truly ominously that it should have found so little sympathy in Vienna , Frankfort , and Amsterdam , these capitals which have been for about forty years the largest lending and crediting colonies of the Austrian Government ; and that even the common council of Vienna could not launch it , directed though it was by a superior hint to devote to it every disposable sum under its control , to open subscription-lists down to the minimum of 100 florins ( £ 10 ) , and , of its own accord , immortalizing the subscribers and their subscriptions in a solemn record to be deposited for the admiration of

      posterity in civic archives—an example which has been followed in a similar way , and also upon superior hints and even upon semi-official menaces , by the communal authorities of other important towns , by tolerated associations of every description , and by Jewish traders , as well as by Catholic clergy . All trustworthy accounts from Vienna agree that nothing like one-hall of this voluntary forced , or forced voluntary , loan lias been taken , and that the majority of the subscriptions are tantamount only to an exchange of Austrian stock hearing interest ; a result which can in no way improve the prioo of metals , though this was the declared object of , and , considering the paper inundation of Austria , the plea of urgency for , the loan . In every point of view ,

      therefore , the new Austrian loan must he . considered a financial abortion , and it must prepare hitter difficulties to the Government , and accelerate the money crisis of the empire . For , with irresponsible Governments , which , like the Austrian , keep a so-called National Hank , only in a . nominal separation from , but in an actual dependence on , themselves , the necessity of covering a deficit , or of meeting extraordinary calls , is the mere pretext , of their loaning operation ;* . The Hank and Statenote printing press , which is at their command in times of need , places them bey > nd the reach of such difficulties .

      They borrow , therefore , only to postpone at an extraordinary sacrifice , the depreciation of the paper currency , partly by stemming its overflooding at home , partly by alluring precious metals from abroad , and , when it has come , at least to limit it as much as possible . As soon , however , as they are compelled to confess—as the Austrian Minister of Finance has done in his notification of September 1 , lH / il , that they want , to employ a loan , partly to redeem the paper currency , they themselves declare that a financial crisis is approaching , and it is inevitable unless a loan for such a purpono succeeds .

      The new Austrian loan presented , indeed , to tin ; solid man of business sufficient grounds of suspicion . it deluded with profits with which only ' firms on the brink of bankruptcy tempt the public ; it announced itself without the ( iodpaternity of a great , banking-house which might have at leust undertaken a sort of guarantee for the punctual payment of tho dividends , and it excluded itself from tho sober examination and the transparent medium of the English money market , from which in the last resort every other money market must draw its supply . This statement of the weak points of tho loan docs not . however , ullbrda complete explanation

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 4, 1851, page 3, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_04101851/page/3/