Another sign of the hoar is the rapid transfer of
money to England. This is going on so fast, the wealthy seeking safety for their hoards, that the Bank of England on Thursday reduced its rata of discount to 4 per cent. Easier money, however, has not prevented the fall in securities, which goes on steadily, and on Thursday became almost a panic. The decline in most national stocks, except the English and Russian, is very serious indeed, so serious that we expect to hear of Banks calling in their loans in alarm at the running-off of "margins." Italians have fallen eight per cent, and French relate almost as much. Russian Stocks are still supported by the Berlin dealers, afraid of a ruinous fall, and English Stocks by the general idea that this country will keep out of the contest. That she will try to do so we do not doubt ; but there is the Belgian difficulty ahead. Our guarantee for her is not a solitary one, and would not bind us to fight alone ; but there are general interests to be considered. The probability is that we shall insist on her not becoming a theatre of war, bat shall not bar—as, indeed, we cannot bar— the traversing of her soil. Note, as a nearly inexplicable feature in fivance, the heavy fall in Spanish Four per Cents.
