STATE OF THE FOREIGN EXCHANGES.
DURING the last fortnight, a very large amount of gold and silver has been shipped to the Continent. One vessel alone conveyed to Calais 40,000 ounces of gold and 277,000 ounces of silver. The Times of Wednesday last, after stating (in its City article) that there is a renewed tendency in the foreign exchanges to give way, and yet that they are not so low as to render the exportation of bullion profitable, makes the following remarks upon these ope- rations. " They can only have been undertaken, therefore, for the purpose of prevent- ing, so far as is possible, a further decline in the exchanges, or of deriving a profit from it when it actually takes place. Whatever the motive may be, there is evidently a very strenuous effort snaking to export largely of the precious metals. About a fortnight ago, similar efforts, by the same parties, had checked the decline, and even turned the scale in favour of a rise; but this new reaction taking place thus early, has caused much doubt to be felt of the success of the second experiment."
Does not the tendency of the exchanges to give way, and the necessity for exporting bullion, explain the cause of that commer- cial activity, that wild spirit of speculation, which was prevalent in July and August last? What was the state of our paper cir- culation at that period ?
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