NEWS OF THE WEEK.
Tea agricultural meetings of the season are still in progress about the country ; and it is pleasant to see that they are animated by a cheerful spirit. The leading agriculturists, even those who op- posed the Tariff on its passage through Parliament, now laudably deprecate panic, and exhort their followers to exertions for im- provement. It seems to be thought that absolute protection is not so essential as it was considered before the system was disturbed ; and at the same time the agriculturists have caught the useful hint that they should fit themselves to compete with foreign rivals. The Tariff therefore is likely to have a double influence on the supply of food—to admit that of foreign growth, and to stimulate the home growth.
We do not hear the same cheerful reports from "the City," the great heart of mercantile business, through which all commerce must pass. The money-market, indeed, is "easy," and money is a drug : so much so, for instance, that we have heard of one person who had 50,0001. on his hands and he could obtain for the imme- diate use of it but one and a half per cent ; the same person after- wards had 300,000/. on hand and for that he could obtain but one per cent ! This abundance of money, however, is regarded with
alarm rather .than satisfaction. Why is it ? Many commercial men are in "difficulty," and it might be expected that money would be scarce. But one vast draft for it is nearly stopped— speculation. Trade is at a stand, comparatively ; and the great machine of trade, money, is thrown "out of gear"; it lies idle, wanting employment, and therefore is it so cheap. For this stag; nation there are several causes. There is the notorious reaction after the "prosperity," aggravated by the insurrection in the ma7 nufacturing-districts, of which it was partly the cause; the large failures occasioned by the miscalculations of speculators in corn have contributed something ; commercial difficulties in many fo- feign lands enhance the effect of our over- exports : but none of these things, nor all together, could account for the intense gloom that pervades every part of the mercantile community. The great efficient cause is uncertainty. The alarm at the insurrection has barely subsided; financial experiments have but begun ; the fine harvest, the forlorn hope of the summer, has come ; and all is as bad as before ! the changes of last session are almost untried, yet the need of change is as great as ever ; but no one knows whether there will be change or not; or what it should be. All is doubt, and for mercantile spedidation no one feels a safe basis. Of Sir ROBERT PEEL'S measures the most tried has been the new Corn-law. The result has justified what we said of it on .the very week it was propounded—that while it unsettled the old system, it settled nothing in place of it. The improved sliding- scale proves just as ineffectual as the jumping-scale for admitting corn gradually. It was expected to mitigate the great evil of the old law, the inducement to dealers to hold back corn in the hope of a rise of price and fall of duty, and then to pour it into the market all at once: they did hold corn back in the hope. of a rise of price and fall of duty, and when what was supposed to be the minimum duty had been reached, they did pour it into the market—the import Of a few weeks sufficing probably, as usual, for a whole year. The disturbing influence of that process was aggravated by the "unto- ward event" of a fine harvest : prices have been beaten down, speculators have been altogether baffled, and the trade has been ravaged by the sweeping failures of which we have spoken. Some vindicators of the new law even boast of those failures as its distin- guishing effect—a kind of retribution on forestallers and regraters ! The new law, then, places the Corn-trade in a transition state : it has broken up the old system, but has established no other with any pretension to permanence. Yet, doubtless, it would be a breach of legislative etiquette for its framer to propose altering it out of hand, when it literally has not stood the test of time, and has not been tried through even one turn of the seasons. There is no prospect, indeed, that Sir Romer PEEL either will or can at present make any further change there. But he will not be allowed to rest next session. Ile will be called to account for evils which his measures have not prevented—even for those which they could not be ex- pected to prevent. The mismanagement of the Income-tax returns has abolished the prestige which attached to the new Government as likely to be more expert in the business of administration • and the dissatisfaction with the tax is general before a penny of the ge- neral proceeds has been collected. Parliament will meet after. the first instalment has been called in, every one chafing under the demand of the taxgatherer. There will probably be less of merely factious contest in the House of Commons ; but the Minister's post will be more beset with dangerous and disagreeable circum- stances. Last session, the discontent out of doors was mainly directed against the late Ministry, become the leaders of' the Opposition—the people being neutral, or even favourable to the new Ministers: next session, the spirit of discontent will be princi- pally directed against the Minister who has imposed the Income- tax and has not relieved "distress." There will be a degree of injustice in that discontent, but it certainly will exist, and be bard to deal with.
Under such circumstances, it urgently presses upon the statesman who undertakes the direction of the country's affairs to ponder whether there may not be other classes of measures for bettering the condition of the people—uncultivated and neglected fields, where party considerations do not prevail—to which pledges to do such things and so much do not apply. Though the gleam of sun- shine, the fine harvest, has come, the country does not right itself. Will the pilot that was to weather the storm give up the task in despair, or has he further resources?
