On this page

• Text (2)

  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.

  • 

    Untitled Article

  • 

    Untitled Article

• Transcript

  • 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.

    Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

    Untitled Article

    " And what occurs now ( continues the despatch of the ambassador ) ? The Austrian Government declares that Jrderhas not been sufficiently reestablished m Hungary to permit the liberation of Kossuth without danger to the peace of the empire . The Imperial Court regards itself as alone capable of forming an opinion upon the internal 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 , willbe 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 friendlyterms 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 given 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

    affording compliance to the just representations which induced 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-AH 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 . " Bujukde ' ' , August 18 , 1851 . "

    Turkey has been on the point of a political crisis . Hechid 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 Sultnn ' s daughter , a princess of eleven years of age ; 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 Itechid Pacha ' s son , a child of ten years of age , who , in spite of his extreme youth , has been named Vizir .

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

    Catholic Church , &c . ; ho added , 'that his " enemies hud 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 Blunder . The passage alluding to «• inteinperuneo" had been struck out by the journals in former reports ; but from the manner in which the Speech is now printed after bo long an intervul , it is evident it is restored by special command .

    In the Belgian olections which have juBt taken place , the Priests have been unusually active in opposition to the Ministerial party . Here , as elsewhero , the domination of the clerical faction signifies intolerance , retrogression , absolutist sympathies . Prom these intrigues wo turn with pleasure to the leten lit Hi-ubhoIh , which appear to have gone off with " 11 tho eclat which a city ulwayb gay and crowded with curious tourists , and a pooplo peaceful and cu > n' 1 > rL > ai < Jod ovcr hy u truc Citizen King , arc

    Untitled Article

    SOME MYSTERIES OF THE AUSTRIAN 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 not 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 too 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 . The 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 in 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 51 per cent . ; and as they , according to the real , not 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'Este , 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 leaders

    of the day , and they palliate almost without any opposition the unmistakeable pathology in the state of the empire , while they praise what is doubtful as the health of youth . All these supports of its policy are not sufficient , 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 fur that purpose a special bureau d'esprit , which sends to all points of the compass , but chicily to Germany , a journalistic firework of sophisms and news , the combustibles of which arc 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 in the Austrian .

    Add to these means of iinancial operation the important fact , that no foreign capitalist who wants to ascer - tain the true state of the Austrian money-market , in order to estimate the chances of a speculation in an Austrian loan , can obtain in the Kxeuange and commercial world of Vienna , as a last expedient of his instruction , that information which is trustworthy and deserving . Many months ago the telescope of the Austrian Government discovered this dungcr to its financial credit , and energetic preventive measures were devised to avert it . The Exchange of Vienna was purged of independent speculators , and sank under the tutelage of direct and indirect stock-jobbing agents of the ministiy . A coinmiuuury of the government distributes the cards of

    admiasion , the gendarmerie are , moreover , directed to interrogate uny stranger with a physiognomy dangerous to official quotations , tsccrct police agents mingle with the groups on 'Change , listening to every transaction , and ready to interfere as eocn a . s they perceive any tendency , however slight , to countermine the schemes of their employer *) , or hear uny expression calculated , however remotely , to affect the government market ; all private exchange *! , or gatherings of speculators , are strictly prohibited , to prevent any interference with Government designs on the Exchange and informers of all these , mul similar contraventions of law , are rewarded by half the fine imposed upon the offender . IJy such proceedings ! the Minister of Finance in enabled to compel tuo Iix . ch . ango of Vienna to tho wretched " sham . "

    of merely marking the quotations dictated by his official manoeuvres ; for 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 A per cent , loan of 1849 , issued at

    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 succeeded , 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 * he 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 system , 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 u 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-half of this voluntary forced , or forced voluntary , loan has been taken , and that the majority of the subscriptions are tantamount only to an exchange of Austrian stock bearing interest ; a result which can in no way improve the price 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 be considered a financial abortion , and it must prepare bitter diHicultics to the Government , and accelerate the money crisis of the empire . For , with irresponsible Governments , which , like the Austrian , keep a so-called National lJunk , 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 operations . The liank and Slaleuote printing press , which is at their command in times of need , places them bey > ntl the reach of such ( lilUcitlties .

    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 leawt to limit it as much as possible . As noon , however , as they are eompilli d to confess—as the Austrian Minister of Finance has done in his notifiention of September 1 , ltt . il , that they want , to employ a loan , partly to redeem the paper currency , they themselves declare that a financial crisis in uppioachiiif ? , and it is inevitable unless a loan for such a purpo .-io aueceedH .

    The new Austrian loan presented , indc > d , to the . solid man of bu . siucs . s suflieieni . grounds <>( ' nuspicion . It . deluded with profits with which only firms mi the brink of bankruptcy tempt the public ; it announced itself without the Godpalernity vt a great , banking-house which might have at least , undi i taken a Hint , of guarantee for the punctual payment of tin ; dividends , and it . excluded itself from tlie wobcr examination and the transparent medium of the Mnglish money maiket , from which in the last report every other money market ; liuiHt thaw its . supply . This statement of the wink points *> £ tho loan dots not . however , afford a complete explanation .

    Untitled Article

    Oct . 4 , 1851 . ] fltK & * & ***? 935

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 4, 1851, page 935, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1903/page/3/