Again we have to remark, that certain phenomena in commerce
and the money-market are the natural incidents of political difficul- ties abroad, under the still stronger influences, however, of perma- nent causes. The fall in the price of bread in the metropolis, and in the principal towns, is only a sign to the householder of the great influx of wheat into the corn-market. Between Saturday and Tuesday, as a contemporary remarks, not less than 50,580 quarters of foreign wheat, 14,000 of barley, 54,000 of oats, and 247 barrels of flour, arrived in London. Of two or three hundred ves- sels which arrived in the Thames from the North of Europe at the end of last and the beginning of the present week, most were laden 'with corn ; and supplies have been thrown in at home. It would appear that the consequences of the deficient harvest had been somewhat over-estimated by holders in England, who had kept back in the hope of fabulous prices. The days of fabulous prices, however, have departed ; and the high prices in this country have sufficed to draw supplies from North and South, from the East, and above all from the West, where the supplies appear to be practically inexhaustible. The attraction of high price is increased in its effect upon traders abroad and merchants at home, by the security of export as well as import. If our corn-trade no longer forbids the import of foreign corn, neither does it imprison ships which have once been entered; and the consequence is, that as respects corn we are at the present moment the very centre of the markets of the world.
A corresponding attention, but of an opposite kind, has been drawn to the outflow of gold from the Bank of Englaird. There is, however, as little anxiety properly due to that circumstance as to the comparative suspension of corn supplies a few weeks back. Of all commodities gold is the one which most freely ebbs and flows according to supply and demand; and as Eng- land is the country possessing the largest proportion of ac- cumulated wealth, while in Europe she is the most active in production and exchange, she must always be able to com- mand a preference in the gold-market of the world. Add to this fact, that she is at the receipt of the first supplies from America and Australia, and it 'will be evident that she needs never lack a supply of the precious metal ac- cording to her wants. Those who are beginning to howl about the insufficiency of the medium of exchange in con- sequence of the Bank Act of 1844, ought to show that a true defi- ciency of the medium ever existed. Let them bring forward a single ease of a merchant, who, in default of other mediums, could not obtain credit on his own paper, even without cost to himself, exactly in proportion to his known probity and substance.
The whole state of trade, disturbed as it may be by the uncer- tainties of the moment, is satisfactory, in some cases highly active and prosperous. There is no statement that men cannot find money to pay their way in regular engagements either at home or abroad ; while sustained wages and cheapening food improve the condition of the working classes very generally.
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