THE FRENCH FUNDS AND RAILWAY SHARES.
22d December 1851.
Sin—Your views of the policy and prospects of the present Government in France are so completely at variance with that " political barometer " the price of the Funds, that I am not surprised at your attempting to get over the anomaly by insinuating that the late rise in French Rentes is fictitious. I can assure you, however, that it is bona fide ; several large sales of the stock having, to my knowledge, been made at the present prices, and the money received by parties in this country. Moreover, it is not the Government Funds alone that have improved in value ; all French Railway Shares and other securities have felt the, beneficial effects of the present state of affairs. These facts are so easily ascertained by one in your position, that I certainly was surprised to find these unfounded insinuations again repeated in your paper of this week.
I am, Sir, your weekly reader, A HOLDER OF. FRENCH RAILWAY SHARES.
JWe did not maintain that the rise in the French Funds was entirely fic- titious. It certainly appears to us too great to have been occasioned simply by natural causes • and the facilities afforded by the regulations of the French Bourse for effecting a factitious advance fully warranted the suspicion we expressed. We did not deny that among a very considerable number of capi- tahsts there was a disposition to grasp at anything that promised tranquil- lity, though our own opinion was that they attributed to such tranquillity as the coup d'etat could purchase, a greater chance of permanence than dispas- sionate reflection warranted. As to holders of Railway Shares and dealers in them, the history of railways rather tends to the conclusion that they are, if possible, more apt to deceive themselves by over-estimating the favourable appearances of the moment than any speculators in the public Funds; and consequently we attributed less importance to the movements in the Rail- way Share market.]
Previous page
