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    Indeed , unless peace be concluded before the spring of 1856 , we foresee no contingencies that can save the Russian frontier , on the Priith from a combined attack . The successful bombardment of Odessa , perhaps , TTOuld be a sine qua non to the consummation , of such an enterprise ; but it must be rremembered that we are considering the idea from a political and not a military point of ¦ view . Given , however , that a campaign beyond the Danube resulted in signal triumphs cm the part of the Allies , how far could they

    penetrate the Russian Empire without attenuating their line , and how far could they provide for the exigencies of an inland war ? Similar criticisms apply to the proposed Baltic campaign . With the experience of Sebastopol in view , it would be rash to pronounce against the ~ possibility of reaching St . Petersburg . But a campaign from Riga southwards is the ideal of the revolutionary ita . vt . tr tVirrmprhoiit Europe—esneciallv of those party throughout Europe—especially of those

    who identify the cause of all the fettered tfations with the cause of the Poles . English military men believe , as far as we can leam , that half a million soldiers would be required to undertake this enterprise with a , ny chance of success . On the other hand , the Poles , who ought to know Poland , maintain that a moderate force only 3 s required as the nucleus of an insurrection , which would isolate the Russian fortresses . It

    would certainly be desirable to increase our knowledge of the military situation of Poland ; but if it be true that every fortress within its borders has all the appurtenances of ^ r citkdeli and is provisioned for eight years , any Minister is justified in declining to r risk- the perils of invading a territory encased in mail . _ «** ITet , with all these considerations in view , somd course must be adopted , and , after the

    Cr imea , all courses seem equally dangerous . " We are in ' this perplexity , — -that we desire to injure th e' head -of despotisp without touching the ? limbs . The British Government , whether or not it acts in perfect harmony with that of France , seeks to reconcile the violence of warfare with the reserve of diplomacy . It was diverted from a Danubian campaign by Sentiments of delicacy towards Austria . It relaxes the principle of a naval blockade out of ' rlfiforence to Prussia . It sacrifices

    important alliances with the Northern Powers , because it will not be p ledged to enforce restitution of their territories seized in former wars by Russia . Thus have our perplexities arisen . We assail the chief of the despots ; but in aH directions lesser tyrannies interpose , so that wherever a distinct object could be attained , some neutral" interest" prevents our attaining it .

    The winter comes to give to all engaged time for negotiation . Austria , still expectant , adheres to her version of the Pour Points , and once more offers them to Germany . Prussia , resolved to counteract Austria , baffles the&e pacific monoeuvres , and the Central Piet remains faithful to the policy of Prussia . Russia hergelf , which seems at present to be in' the hands of the war party , throws out no 1

    suggestion ofa compromise . At this stage of affairs , the Allied Governments seem absolutely without a poliby . It will be time to urge ' the prosecution of the war , in anew direction ; when a decisive issue has been reached in the Crimea '; but the nation—or the thinking part of it-bought to mature a Boheme of policy , 'should the next season arrive fttid find us still at war , and still drifting .

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    ^< r- ; ..- ' ¦ CASH AND CORN . •>• ¦ ¦ -., Aig the ' autumn advances , it does seem probable ithat the people of this country will be preuaed . for want of cash , while they will want a ^ iltegW !; amount because bread will be dear .

    These few words , not the pleasantest for us to write , predict for us increased " dulness " in the retail trade . The people of this country , therefore , especially in the middle class , will find business dull , incomings slow , and outgoings increased . Each man will contract his dealings , and his neighbour will suffer the more . The working classes will , perhaps , not suffer in proportion ; but their trouble will be worse in fact . The " great commerce , " as they call it in Prance , will still probably proceed , for reasons which we shall show as we advance , and therefore considerable numbers of the working classes will not be proportionately curtailed in their wages . They will not lose in income proportionately with the middle classes ; but they will have to pay dearer for bread , out of income originally narrower . It is not out of any internal difficulty that we are threatened with this prospect for the winter . The harvest is now completed , or nearly so , and the most probable accounts of it justify our anticipations , that it will be comparatively little short of the crop of 1854 . There was an early ripening season , a dull sky in the midst of the ripening , but splendid harvest weather towards the close , Weight for weight the crop is not at all equal to that of 1854 , but the grain is mostly in admirable condition ; every kernel will tell , and the old wheat will not be required to mix up with the new until the wet weather has set in . This is the report of the Agricultural Gazette . We have no need of higher prices at home , therefore ; for even if the crop be deficient , the immense surplus of America would cover it over and over again , and prevent us from knowing the difference . The trading difficulty in prdspect is not brought on by . tke war taxes , although the war has much to do with it . We pay to Government nearly double what we did last year , or have undertaken to do so ; but Government spends much of that at home ; and after all , heavy as the impost is , a doubling of taxes does not touch incomes in the humbler class like a doubling of bread . There is no sign that our productive trade will fall off ; the very demands of the war have stimulated manufactures . France is opening her exclusive Bystern to admit corn , and iron , and coal , and many , other things , free . America , which will send us considerable amounts of produce , will take our manufactures in return . The prospects of our manufacturing districts ai * e , therefore , far from being bad ; and this is why . the " great commerce" is likely to continue its operations , even when the little commerce is contracted . Amongst other indexes of rising price , we have a tabular statement of the prices at which the G-uardians of the Poor of JJeeds contracted for the supply of the workhouse dui'ing the month of September in each of the last eleven years . We find that the best flour declined from 47 s . 6 d . in 1845 , to 26 s . 6 d . in 1851 , and it rose to 55 s . in 1855 . Beef declined from 5 s . lOd . per stone of fourteen pounds to 4 s . 7 d ., and has risen to 6 s . lid . In mutton the corresponding figures were 6 s . 5 d . to 5 s . 9 d . and 8 s . Now , we might well expect these latter levels to bo the highest point , and followed by a decline , if we looked to ourselves alone—but France confesses to a deficiency of two million quarters of wheat , and stocks are low in most of the continental markets . It is true that , as in Belgium and Germany , the actual harvest has not been yet ascertained , and that there is that disposition to profit by rising prices which has kept back supplies , and , still keeps them back , to the latest moment ,. Wo must , however , reckon that there will be more than our own deficiency to make up out of the American surplus .

    Still there is a steady enhancement of price , a constant drain of cash , and an evident " sensitiveness" of credit . Men feel this personally , in the pressure exercised by those to whom they owe moneys while they have a difficulty in getting their own cash in > If we look to the Bank of England , we find that its bullion declined from 14 , 916 , 7702 . in the week ending the 1 st of September to 14 , 368 , 0102 . in the following week ; and to 13 , 368 , 005 ? . last week . It is for this reason that the Bank has raised its discount in two successive weeks to feur per cent ., and to four and a half per cent ., and follows this week , first by raising its advances on Government securities to the highest of those rates , and then by raising the general discount to five per cent . There has been the same process in the Bank of Prance—a constant drain of bullion ; and that Bank has raised its discount to five per cent . Where does the cash go to ? This is the important question for us . There is some drain somewhere , some leakage , and perhaps more than one . Financiers have accounted for the drain by the ordinary operations of trade , the demands of the war , and the holding back of Californian and Australian supplies . The Australian supplies , however , have been pretty nearly of the amount to be expected ; and even if they had not been received , under ordinary circumstances the requirements of active trade in this country would have sufficed to maintain the price of gold , and to keep it amongst us . If it is carried off , it must be because it is more in demand elsewhere ; and so it is . England is not the only country needing money . On the contrary , all the- great continental countries are wanting it , and what is anore , they are bidding for it . Prussia and Saxony are borrowing countries ; Russia is trying to raise a second loan before the first loan is entirely taken up , and as she is assisted by some of the German Governments , it is probable that she will get her money by her usurious terms . The liabilities that she will incur may be ruinous , the burdens that she drags upon herself may crush her ; but meanwhile she does abstract cash from a market which is not divided from the moneymarket of England . It follows that the more extravagant Russia is , the more obstinate , and the more she is permitted to protract her reckless expenditure in a wicked war , the more she will drain money from the market whence we draw our supplies ; and the more the English people will be pinched in the purse . That is a war tax which we must continue to pay , until the contest be brought to a conclusion . It is one that is much facilitated in the levying by the treacherous neutrality which has been permitted through the diplomatic character of the contest . There is , perhaps , a still larger and more direct drain in the economical Btate of France . Notwithstanding the pressure of the war and the necessity for feeding great armies and fleets , the Empeuob , also holds his throne upon the condition of feeding the French people . The Monitour has confessed that he cannot do so either by buying up the bread or fixing an artificial price in the market , as he has done before . The want is too vast for the resources of the Imperial Exchequer ; he proposes , however , to meet the wants of the French people nofc by keeping bread low , but . by letting prices remain high , in order , to draw that surplus from abroad which can only be . brought b y ordinary attractions . In the meanwhile , he promises to send it about the country at a cheaper rate , by railway ; and to supply the people with the means of purchase by paying them wages for works , or causing / them to be

    Untitled Article

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• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 29, 1855, page 936, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2108/page/12/