The Sun. — London, England, 1855-12-19 00:00:00

THE CURRENCY QUEST2N• (Frans the Daily News.) letter In the column s o f a morn i ng con t em p ora r hieh has appeared under the signature of "Merccar, advo cate understood to be from the pen of a well-n?" cate of the Bank Act of 1844, whose ex'usive experi ence on as a banker gives great weight to (li , e , l :rt o i P cle in the financial subjects. Although 'or . th in the... .samejournal has endorsed the v a iews le se — t disposed to a quiesce fully in let ter, we are by no means these vie ws, or to suffer some of the pr3ciples contained therein to pass unchallenged. We dnur, for instance, to the axiom laid down at the out that "the trade and commerce of a country ars carried on, not by means of its paper money or its ci-Julation, but by means of its capital." That the capitald a country should be the measure of its commercialransactions is unques tionably true ; and when thse transactions are con fined to barter or to . dea'ogs for specie, the rule may equally hold good ; Jut the object of creat ing paper money is to arse trade beyond this pri mitive system by putting into circulation a por tion of the fixed capitp; of the trader, or of his compa triots. It follows, tlea, that so much of the circulating medium as is not Qecie represents capital invested or ire transitu, and is in fact the principal means whereby the trade and commerce of a country is conducted. The trader who drays a bill upon his customer to which he has sold goody, and who negotiates that bill, puts into circulation the proportion of his capital which is repre sented by these goods, rendering thereby that amount of capital immediately available to himself for further trans Eacqons. It may nevertheless happen that the conamo ditiss he produces involve the investment of a very large proportion of his capital in machinery, and it is evident that this cannot be put into circulation except by paper money representing its value, or, in other words, by his obtaining credit in proportion to the amount so invested. That portion of the paper money which represents gold in the coffers of bankers is only a more econo mical and convenient form of circulation than the coin itself, and derives its value from the fact that it is exchangeable for a commodity whose price is well aecertained. The necessity of having such a basis for part of the circulation we folly admit. It is requisite for the adjustment of the balances of our foreign trade, that all notes issued beyond the amount required for borne purposes should be readily convertible into the universal medium of exchange. Beyond this convertible amount there is another variable sum required for the daily wants of the community, and for the adjustment of the balances of our home trade ; and this portion we contend may safely be issued in the form of notes, re ;..resented by securities the value of which is universally known, provided a reeeocable margin is left for depre cation. The principle is in fact admitted by the Beek Act, but " Mercator" and his followers seem unable to escape from the charmed circle of the 14,000,000/. fixed by that aet, and appear to think that there is some mar vellous virtue in those figures which enables them to re pre:, eat at all tines the exact sum necessary for putting :suction the circulating capital of the country required or ordinary trading purposes. "Mercator" quotes the commercial panics of 1325 and 1337, but they only prove the lack of judgment in those who controlled the issue of notes. In 1847 the Bank Act was in full vigour ; but the scenes of 1837 were repeated in spite of it, and it was only on the an eouncement of a. periuission to relax its provisions, that confidence was restored and the ruin arrested. In France a metallic circulation has not prevented periods of cons mercial ; and, on the other hand, the elastic issues of the Bank of France have not provoked them. With a paper circelation regulated solely by the wants of the community, at times below its metallic reserve, and at others exceeding it three or four fold, that insti tution has contrived to maintain the rate of discount much more steadily than we have dare, either before or sioce the Act of 18-11. It is true that, as " Mercator" asserts, the puliic has the power of increasing, the circulation by de positing gold at the Ban!: ; but he omits to state that it would be necessary to purchase this gold abroad by freed sales of .other cemmodities, inasmuch as it would often happen that the country where gold was mast abundant might not be the one where our produc• toes were most in demand. Neither can we agree is the principle laid down by "Mercator" and his commen tstor, that the whole war expenditure is so much capital abstracted from the country. That war is a great con snmer of capital unproductively cannot be denied, or that commercial traneactions are thereby limited ; but it acts more mischievously as a displacer than as a con sumer of capital, so long as the bulk of the expenditure is immured in home labour. It may be true that we have spent a hundred millions in unproductive war, but to say that we have lost that amount of capital is absurd. Because a Lancaster gun destroyed at the siege of Sebastopol cost 1301., and is now valued at Id. per pound as old iron, it is not a necessary con sequence that; we have lost all that capital. it only means that that sum has been abstracted from the capital of the taxpayers in general, and has been t . ensferred to the capitals of the cannon founder and his workmen. It is lost to the community, but is gained by the individuals. Had the gun been sold to I foreigners instead of to the State, 1301. would have been aided to the general capital ; but it does not follow that if capital is not gained it is lost —it may evidently ' transferred. The arguments advanced by "Mercator" do not touch the real question at issue. It is not merely whether the circulation should be based upon gold, or should be represented merely by other paper ; it is not whether it should be limited or unlimited ; hut whether any fixed and invariable amount will at all times suffice for the legitiniatu requirements of commerce. It is for " Mercator," and those of his school, to demon strate that the sum fixed by the Bank Act fulfils that condition, and to show that the export of four or five millions of silver to the East would cause no greater derangement ifi 1855 than in 1844. The fourteen millions of inconvertible notes might have been perfectly adapted to our necessities at the lat ter period ; but we confess that we cannot under stand why they should be equally well fitted to answer the purpose now. In 1844 the trader who shipped goods to Australia would have to wait a year be fore the sailing vessels brought him his returns. Will " Mercator" explain how it is that trade and currency would be totally unaffected by the circumstance that fast steamers would a few years later bring back e those returns, not in goods, but in gold, in about 120 days l The mer cantile world looks for facts which will throw a light upon that portion of the subject ; and without re-opening the question before a Parliamentary committee, we strongly doubt whether " Mercator" or his followers are in a po. siion to assist them. Certainly they have stated nothing which gives them a right to be considered as entitled to pronounce a decision ex cathedra on so difficult a point. ( From the Morning Post . ) At the risk of trying the patience of many of our readers, we again advert to the subject of our bank note circulation, and the changes likely to be sug gested and discussed upon the occasion of renew ing the Charter Act of the Bank of England. We are moved to do so by the pertinacity with which the expediency of issuing for domestic use a paper currency, not professing to be based on gold or silver, nor representing a fixed value or quantity of either metal, but resting upon taxation, and deriving value from the power of paying every tax or demand of Go vernment with it, is advocated and pressed upon the consideration of the public by theorists of the anti-bul lion school. We have been ourselves accused of favour ing the doctrines of that school, because we advocate extending the power of issue, without equivalent gold deposit, possessed by the Bank of England, beyond the present limit of fourteen millions, which has just been increased to fourteen millions four hundred and seventy. five thousand, in consequence of the withdrawal from circulation of private bank notes to an amount exceeding seven hundred thousand pounds. But we most especially eschew and repudiate any idea of ever putting into cir culation a note of any kind that shall not possess a fixed value in bullion coin, such as shall make always . money or money's worth into whosoever's hands tt may fall ; and we are fully conv i n ced thatthere is no method whatsoever of securing this equal value, ex cept by adhering firmly to the condition that the Bank of England, or whoever issues the notes, shall be bound to pay gold or silver for them upon demand. As for the notion that it will auffice to make the notes payable in taxes, or in satisfaction of other Government dues or demands, it strikes us as quite absurd to expect that equality of value can ever be maintained under such a system. There is wanting the first essential element of equality, viz. ' a limit of the i ss u e t o the precise amount required to do the work of exchanges. All Government payments would, of course, at once be made in the proposed notes, but these payments are most irregular. The issue would begin at a value equal to bullion, but if more notes should so come into the market than were wanted, and the quarter's taxes were fit yet due, how is the excess to be disposed of The value of the notes must, of course, in snob case, fall, and circulating once at a discount, is the Government only to receive them at par, without a power of re-issue ? We have this precise difficulty and its consequences, in an apprehended national bank ruptcy, represented before our eyes in the example of Russia. The Russian Government commenced the very war we are now waging, with such an issue of Imperial roubles, been cempelled to seek awl has, in consequence, re sources for Its further prosecutio n by a. loan offered with the anomalous conditi on that in terest shall b e demand able not only in Russia, where it w ou ld b e liable to be paid in paper roubles, based only on taxation, but at a fixed rate of exchange, at any one of five of the principal cities of commercial Europe. The condition will, of coinee, enhance greatly the rate of interest ; but it is in dispensable, and must al ways be so with a Government which issues notes of credit for its interest paym ent ,. And if England were to adopt the same system, and to vest in its Treasury the power of issuing notes repayable only in t axes, our national credit would be annihilated, and we should be compelled to add a similar condition to every loan we attempted to negotiate for purposes of war or peace. This ta xation-basis-currency scheme is precisely that of Knblai Kh an, of Toghlug Shah, and of the aseignats of the French Revolution, to which we have before a - Inched ; and history would be as worthless as au old song book if we did not gather from it lessons prudence on this point—if it did not tea4t, us ' especially to avoid splitting upon this mei n we ley it down, therefore, as an absolute and indis enseble condition that not es adopted into our currenc Y awl ma d e part of our monetary system shall al ways, at the opt i on of the bolder, be convertible into bullion money. Under this condition they will circulate freely, and never falling to discount relatively to bullion will al wet s be kept in use to the extent required for purposes of ti attic and exchanges. We invest a public institu tion like the Bank of England with the exclusive charge of this issue, subject to the 004(1419n, be- cause we can control and watch the proceedings and dealings of such of an institution, and because, knowing the profits attending the exercise of the power so granted, we can exact a large equivalent for the benefit of the State. The equivalent hitherto exacted has been the cheap management of the national debt, and the lending of fourteen millions, without in terest, for Government purposes. The amount so lent will now be fourteen million four hundred and seventy five thousand, because of the increase consequent upon tse withdrawal of country notes. Why did Sir Robert Peel fix this limit for the amount to be issued without a gold equivalent in deposit ? Because he assumed the amount to be the lowest limit of what would be required for the circulation of the country—experience having showed that for many years the quantity of notes in cir culation had never been below that figure. Of course he took the side of caution when applying a new principle to the banking system of the country. The experience of 1847-48, however, proved the amount to have been fixed too low, and since 1844 19 and 20 millions sterling have been found to be the ordinary and average quan tity of Bank of England notes required under the condition of convertibility at all times for gold, and subject to the restriction, which it is very important to notice, of a prohibition to issue notes for a less sum than five pounds. Remove this prohibition, and allow Bank of England notes of one pound to be issued as hereto fore, and the circulation would increase at once to thirty or forty millions, placing at disposal so much gold more, now used as money. This is a resource available at any time, if the finance of the nation should require it. But we do not advocate a present resort to any such mea sure. Let us be content then still to confine the use of bank notes to receipts and payments in excess of five pounds; still we know that, even under this restriction, at least nineteen million Bank of England notes will always be in use, bearing a par value to gold. Why, then, should not the limit of 1844 be extended from fourteen to nineteen, or, at any rate, to eighteen millions. The effect of such a measure would be to leave precisely the same quantity of gold in circulation doing the work of money amongst the population, but to relieve the Bank from the obligation to keep four or five millions of gold locked up, doing no work or service whatsoever. The Government will have the difference as a loan, with out interest, in very convenient relief of its finances at juncture. Now, particular Now, the question which will present itself to most minds upon this proposition is—admitting even the right of Government to require, and the power of the Bank to lend, without interest, the entire amount of average circulation—whether it is wise or necessary to set any limit to the issues of the Bank except such as its own discretion under the known liability that it is called upon to pay in gold may impose ? There are many sensible men, and the late Mr. Fullerton was among the Dumber, who think it unwise to fetter a pub. lie national Bank with any restrictions whatever of this kind ; and, if the Bank Parlour could always be relief upon fir soundness of jur - a,gmeut, and the Government be relied upon for discretion in askiug foraccommodation, we should be inclined to come to the same conc'usion. But if the Bank's power of issuing notes were left unfettered, seeing the relation in which the institution iseetils towards the Government, and its period'ral •e -pendence upon it even for existence as a corperat 3 body, we should much f ear a Chancellor of the Esehequer's temptation to attempt to turn the facility of issue to a,c eount upon any exigency which gave him present trou ble for resources. As long as there is a legislative pr , • hibition to issue more than a certain quantity of in tes otherwise than under a gold equivalent deposit, the Bank directors had always an answer to any appleation hr irregular aid. They would want this if thtra were no limit set upon the issue. And for this reason, mainly, we think the Governmentwill be wise. especlaity hi this time of war, in retaining a limit extended only to the degree that experience since 1844 may warrant. That limit, it is now quite clear, may he extended safely to eighteen or nineteen millions, to the relief as well of the public finance as of the commercial interests which have hereto f ,re suffered by the restricted power of granting aecem ,nodation possessed by theßank under the narrow limits of 1844. A ny excess above the sum so limited would re• main, as heretofore, to be covered by a gold deposit. (From the Morning Chronicle.) The impulse which we have given to the fresh discus sion of the Bank Cearter Act has revived the dormant energies of its promoters and its opponents. The con troversy is now renewed in fu'l force. A leading con temporary has ushered into public notice, with beeormeg deferential solemnity, a second letter, from "a high financial authority," on the subject. The oracle, as be coming one superior to ordinary mot tale, speaks, to use a classic or a City phrase, "from under a cloud." Bait his adulation of " the wise and cautious statesmen wh , , consulting the lessons of experience, have established our monetary system," leaves no doubt that this high financhl personage to,- k a very prominent part in framing the ineasu'e of 1844. As Major Dalgetty exclaimed, when he applied a gentle pressure to the throat of the Marquis of A rg yll, in order to extort a confession of his identity, as described by Walter Scott, in the scene of the dungeon of Inverary—"My Lord, you must be a near friend of the Marquis, or rather you must be the Marquis himself." Public rumor univer sally proclaims, that the chief prmioter of the Act of 1344 has now come forward, to make a last and despe rate effort to defend its provisions, its policy, and its perfectibility. In this defence all mention of the Bank of England and its administration is studiously and adroitly avoided. The ground is shifted ; and instead of an essay on "the Condition and Conduct of the Bank of Bank of England," we are favoured with an abstruse lecture upon Capital and Curremny, which might via in rnyatiticatinn with anything which has ever appeared upon those con troverted topics. We have no wish to deride the science of political economy. It has been our lot to sit at the feet of Gamaliel himself. But after receiving with im p icit faith the highest abstract dogmas propounded by the most exalted of modern economical philosophers, we certainly did discover—we confess it with shame— that, like thousands of others launched into this wicked world to find out the crooked and devious ways of mak ing money—the real science of the distribution of wealth —we did discover that the sublime theories which in greener years had captivated the imagination, were ridi culously irreconcileable, with the stern facts and expe rience of daily life. When, therefore, the chief promoter of the Act of 1344 comes forward, and, dwelling with painful force upon the miseries of 1825 and 1837, as having been pro duced by the " power" to pay gold for paper not having been equal to the " obligation" —artfully suppressing ail mention of the panic of 1847, when similar mischiefs re curred, and his own panacea was in full force—we must regard it as rather a disingenuous proceeding, and that the champion of the Bank Charter Act is striving rather to achieve a t r i umph than to elicit the truth. He tells us that what we want is capital. The currency, paftly gold and partly paper, is in a perfect state. It is gold alone, the exclusive representa tion of capital, of which we are deficient. As fast as gold leaves us, the capital of the country is diminished ; as it returns, capital is increased. Labour alone pro ducts capital. People make as many commodities as they please. If they bring in gold, they increase the circulation—if they take it out, such is diminished. They are perfectly free agents. As a nation to be free has only to will it, so a people to be rich have only to wish it. This is sound and legitimate free trade in cur rency ; and the remedy for all the present evils must be left to the community at large, acting in free and unre stricted competition. These are almost, ipsissbna verlat, the theories of the leader of the extreme bullionists ; and, considering all we have written and published upon the subject, we are lost in astonishment that such crude and idle fallacies should still be gravely propounded. Our contemporary, too, endorses these dogmas with as much blind confidence as ho would a seven days' bill drawn on Lothbury or Lomber 1- street. In demolishing the the theories now set up, we do not intend to mystify our readers with economical disquisitions of abstract science culled from the pages of Adam Smith, Ricardo, Norman, or Torrens. One fact comprehensively considered in all its bearings is worth a thousand ideal speculations. We have a stupendous fact recorded in history, which, confirmed as it is in its essential features by the events of the present day, over throws at once all the idle theory set up of our alleged want of capital. In 1797 the Bank of England stopped payments in specie, wholly in conseqaence of a deficiency of that which is now called specie or capital. Was not the whale body of merchants saved from imminent ruin by the Order in Council ? Did the country suffer from it ? Was trade interrupted ? Were the exchanges ren• dered unfavourable, except at a long distant period there after ? Was industrial labour checked ? On the contrary, it received that vast impulse which has been increasing, with some brief intervals of suspension ever since. What did Mr. Pitt say before the Secret Committee of 0E: igoe lenapnhs. Inquiry into the State of the Currency I He spoke more diffidently than some moderin. d,otegdmautuinstssiderHateiosuaiodfthtbaet in the extensive and comp exchanges, he could only draw a b g l e d ne b r e a e l u co f n o c r lu t s w io o n y t e h aan, t the balances of the exchanges , Nevertheless, previously favourable tbe g,la to disappeared Engl a nd. u S 0 1797,the they areust as .t does now, with all the Australian gold . cominz in, but ru A nn b in st g ra t c h t r t o b n e g o h ri E es n a g b b o tn u d t a b s al t a l u ir u o e u s gh o limited sense quite inapplicable. Im o f ll E i o u u r s o Europe, only—and exclusive if butot F a ran smallce England, rw a da t sy l o s na o e T a k f i a n t g srlae il l i ee e . arein population tl t single piece of gold each person, it once the reserve of the French and English banks.. What becomes, then, of the argument about the free-will of the English community, producing goods, and bringing in or carrying out gold at will ? The gold disappears ht t against their will. Let th e b u lli on i s t s l a y down what dogma they may, hacked by trade tables, and wilder• ing calculations of imports and exports, which drive the human mind to distraction, the common sense of man kind will support us, when we point out that the secret springs of human action, irrespective of trade and coin is'erce, will predominate over all. Self-preservation prompts at this moment millions in Russia and else where to hoard gold to the full extent of their means. This action alone carries away millions of gold, in spite of all our efforts, by acting upon the currency, to cir culiveet it. By this process, in spite of our high fivan cial authority, a general deficiency of circulation is not only an impossibility, but it i s a palpable fac', both al e . solntely and relatively. If the war goes on, it will be come an impossibility for any " wise and cautious " statesman to attempt to conceal it, even as before, by an absurd resolution of Parliament. We will illustrate the disturbing cause, of the ex changes by another fact. Some years ago the good people of Amsterdam, notoriously the best catnbists in the word, were perpetually perplexed by a. variation iu the current exchanges, for which they could not ac count. It was at length discovered that a see ly•looking thrifty Jew, with a cnrpet-bag, was continually t o b e eeen amongst the second-class passengers in the Datavier, crossing backwards and forwards from London to Rot t"."ll2. Wary bo a smuggler ? ,Ito. It trouping length that this enterprising individual carried in his carpet-bag 100,0001. or 200,0001. portable Dutch Stoek, and sold it in either market, negotiating bills against it, just as he could contrive to turn a few guilders. This was free competition. But it only proves that the new element of foreign securities, now introduced to an incalculable amount, acts upon the exchanges just as much as so much sugar or tallow imported or exported. The seller of a million of Russian or Austrian Stock in the London market —a Demi doff or an Esterhazy—can carry away its amount in gold ; and how is the operation to be detected 'I The Rothschilds, the Raphaels, and the Bischoff scheims smile at political economists, when "these finan cial authorities" pretend to instruct them about the ex changes. Mr. Pitt was more diffident. But be, be nighted man I had not studied under the modern self satisfied philosophers, who have p l aced our currency upon an immutable basis. In this rich country, abounding with wealth above all favoured nations since the creation of the world, within a few years we have raised 300 millions of currency, con verted into fixed capital, to establish a system of loco motive intercommunication ; besides investing, perhaps, an equal amount of surplus income in internal and fo reign securities. And yet a milliounaire tells us we are deficient of capital ! We leave our readers to decide, whether the whole mistake does not spring from a con fusion of terms. At all events, between 1797 and 1815 the people made a prodigious stride in national wealth, and gold was, for all practical purposes, at one time absolutely out of existence. Capital and gold cannot, therefore, always be synonymous terms. The vast banking undertaking promoted in recent years, backed by millions of capital, is another striking proof that there is no lack of capital in England. We say more. The vast national funded debt of 800 millions has, by means of Public Credit, and an ingenious system of bank ing founded upon public and private confidence, and not upon capital alone, converted that debt into a perpetually available pledge for raising fresh inexhaustible resources. The whole of the new Credits M)biliers are founded upon this system, and it is therefore sheer waste of time to pursue the subject further. We have not space to allude to the question of com petition ; but we will, however, add one single word about the vexed questions of Currency, Capital, and Credit. It is no doubt a high attribute of intellectual superiority to subject our currency , capital, and credit to a rigorous analysis. If we can define philosophically the exact limits of each, fix their relative, ever-changing, abstract value, and from these results elevate our presrnt crude speculations into a mathematical demonstrative science, it is doubtlers a great accession to human know ledge. The chemist who analyses the waves of the ocean is a benefactor to mankind, whether his discoveries have or have not a practical application. But the nicest and most incontestable proofs of the chemical component parts of the sea, can no more warn the cautious mariner whence the gale will arise, or how high it will drive the waves against his ship, than will be the vague distinc tions bet veen a hill of exchange, a bank-note, or coined ,uhl. vio wed as currency, throw light upon the future storms which may be impending in the monetary world. Tnis is all the difference between abstract inductive ,cience and practical experience. INFLUENCE OF GOLD ON TRADE. TO THE EDITO3 OF THE SUN. SIA M --Gold is the principal cause of the high price o food. California and Au4tralia have exported to them hip. rnense quantities of fbur, butter, cheese, bacon, and manufamuued goods, to produce which great employ. ment is given to our labourers, mechanics, manufacturers, ship builders, sailors, and others, all of whom are con• sumers of food, for which we receive gold in exchange— an article that daei not in any degr:;t: of itself contribute to our material wants. If California and Australia gave us in exchange wool, flax, jeer, timber, or anything that would feed, clothe, or shelter us, there would then be full compensation in trading with them. But it does appear that all the people who are employed in raising gold, and in produc ing food and manufactured goods to buy gold with, are giving so much labour and energy for nothing, and the food used for such purposes is consumed without any in trinsic value being obtained in return—there being no real value in gold beyond its u , e3 for ornamentation. The estimated amount of gold raised in California and Arietralia is already fifty millions sterling annually, a suns exceeding the landed rental of England ar.d Ira• Land ; and this is in addition to the supplies coming from other parts which were found sufficient before these fields were discovered. And so long as the standard price of gold is guaranteed by Government at 31. 17s. 10Ad. per ounce, and that any one has goods or property to dis pose of, there never can be an accumulation of gold in the coffers of the Bank of England. And should the supply still increase, that increase will raise the price of food proportionately higher ; and as food advances ma nufactured goods fall, owing to the great consumers, the working classe', requiring all their income, or nearly so, to buy food with, which leaves them but little to buy clothing and other manufaentred goods. Hence it is that our home trade is flat, and spinners' and others wages are reduced to meet the low price of manufactures. We are told that we require a medium by which we can convert Bank of England and other notes into an article of standard value, and that that article is to be gold. Concluding that the present quantity, 50,000,0001. a•year only is raised, it wilt be 500,000,0001. increase of gold coin to the world in ten years—a sum that would derange and destroy every interest in the universe—and where then will be our golden standard of value ? There is also every probability of new gold fields being discovered, the extra influx from which would at once set aside its slue—for gold represents nothing. Hut if we had V. and other notes circulated by bankers who should deposit approved deeds of estates in the hands of Government, aid then to be allowed to issue notes for two-thirds of their value, which would really make such notes deeds of estates, and as stable as our institutions—for estates yield every requirement of life, and are the true stand ard cf value—these notes might justly be made legal tenders, the cost of making which would be com paratively nothing, and the stability of this circulating medium would he beyond dispute. We find that the Scotch and Irish system of Banking without that security works so admirably that it is sometimes diffi cult to induce the people there to take gold in payment for goods, as they prefer their one-pound notes, knowing that their banks are established on sound principles, each bank having numerous shareholders, many of whom are very wealthy, and their whole property is liable for the payment of their notes. We have now only to look at our monetary dealings with foreign countries, where we find gold holds a simi lar value to that of our own, and it is a great medium of exchange in every civilised nation ; but the same cause that will be the destruction of our gold circula tion will be theirs also. If we send goods to Turkey, Spain, Russia, or America, and they pay us for them in gold, that gold has been bought by them with produce of some kind, or produce has been given to those who raised it, and we could get that produce, or paper repre senting it, in exchange for our goods ; an enlarged sys tem of banking would arrange for and meet this without difficulty ; and our notes, and those of many other countrie4, based on deeds in the hands of Government, would pass through bankers and mercantile hands with out any extra cost or obstacle, and would be sufficient to meet all the differences of exchange arising between dif ferent countries.—Yours faithfully, Cork, 15th Dec., 1855. J. P. BOOTH. THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 19 1855. MR. SALT ON THE CURRENCY. The following letter has been addressed to the Editor of the Times : Sir,-1 think your comments on my sayings at the meeting on the Bank Charter Act give me a claim for a space in your columns for explanation. You say that I " tantalise you with a promise of eafe but inexhaustible riches," and you assume that a regulated issue of paper money would not give the honest labourer full employment at remunera tion prices. . _ Thereon your imagination indulges in an amus ing picture of a Chancellor of the Exchequer hunted home by packs of countless thousands of Man chester spinners, Dorsetshire labourers, Spitalsfield weavers, distressed needlewomen, (c,7c. Witty if you will, but pray keep in mind that a spice of wisdom would not mar your wit, and that all decent feeling of humanity must for a moment have slumbered, when you could enumerate so lightly classes whose very names call up recollec tions of suffering, neglect, and social crime too strong for words. But to return to your Chancellor hunt. What are the facts ? A diminished issue of money has invariably re duced employment and multiplied deputations,— set all all of moneyth packs a cks na i s n full cry i while an increased em ploy of labour, putinvariablyanendncru to eded deputations, dispersed p:I-1 dispersed the packs, and left the Chancellor sleep ingl,wendisttuhrebeGd in his form. During these re laxations of the money laws the deadly discords gc : a t vsee u rdn en i;negvalictt o te N r - t e . rnment and the people have each other's mutuaitoseovraxedi been sr h tne a en s deese. em t o voiceless, ha c, eand forgottenthe result of an increased oi sfsoinuteb oft thatlega legal tender. e w r i . l will b© t t u h e I But you app ear It will not be loc i k ag e o. d eo u utilt , see what will becom e interest is forfeited and capital-- if it did not exist. Thereore y be of c a u w s i e n bom while ad i e t is so m s so, it will as much so as money withoutm a equally use of. Now, the in employing a mode of employ labour to that extent and if the i be maintained, the power that creates wealth of money always effect its distribution, ministering to national wealth and individual haPPluess d what you call one of my "delicious • ar • moments" will be so far perpetuated. But a fear crosses your mind. " Who," say y ou " is to stop the floodgates ?" I ask, wh o s t ops them now ? The law ! Have we not 14 milli ons of legal tender paper issued on debt-14 millions of paper convertible into gold, without an ounce of gold to satisfy the promise ? You see, sir, that the system you uphold is not a pure and perfect chry- ; solite. It is the law and not the gold that limits this issue, and closes your floodgates. Then comes the question—Why was this amount of inconvertible paper fixed at 14 millions ? Be cause it was needf u l f or an i n d e bted Government. But shall there be no honey for the people, and 1 W 01414 it not be mop) creditable tblit the ircesitietill of the governed should be considered as well as those of the governing ? Is it the end for which Government was created that it should take care of itself, and utterly neglect and damage the interests of the people ? You say " there is a force and simplicity in the words, ' I promise to pay on demand."' Now, I will grapple with you on that point, and show that, taking these words in the sense used in the Bank of England note, they contain more of fraud, folly, and mystification than any words in human lan guage. The law assumes assigning to the promise to pay a definite quantity of gold, it fixes the value of the note. It does no such thing as fix that value. Abundance and scarcity are the only regulators of value. By the issue of paper money, in addition to gold money, money is made more abundant ; abundant money creates confidence, investments are multi plied, a vast quantity of bills at a date are created, this increased quantity of money and the increased rapidity of its circulation lower its value, till the exportation of gold and the withdrawal of the paper again lower the prices, and so all trade is made an alternative of speculation and ruin • honest industry is sacrificed, and the w a t c h ers of the turn of the market alone thrive, and this is th e plain meaning gnt of " I promi se t o pay." necessity the use of paper and From simple an money has grown in proportion to th e progress o f commercial civilisation, till it bears a dominant proportion to the use of metallic money, that the metallic money, though it can disarrange, is power less to regulate. ' The fixing the price of gold by Sir Robert Peel's bill is pure Jack Cadeism. If fixing the price fixes the value, why not fix the price of every , thing ? Why not fix the price of bread at ld. the quartern loaf ? Simply because fixing the price does not fix, but merely disguises, the fluctuations in the value of our legal tender—fluctuations which arbitrarily disturb and alter all other values. Hence the frequent ruin that has broken up our prosperity, disorganised an its elements, and made our wealth, our insolvency, and our pauperism alternately the wonder of the world. Hence it is that the Times, awakened from its " delicious dream," has to guess and wonder whether we shall get over the 4th of each month without the suffering and humiliation of vast in solvency ; to watch with sleepless vigilance the condition of the gold in the Bank coffers, to be racked by hope and fear if the arrivals from Aus tralia be delayed a week ; 'to be agonised by an east wind. All because we persist in staking our existence on the possession of gold, and at the same time in supporting a law that renders it impossible we should permanently retain it. I say the law prevents the possibility of our keeping possession of the gold. Gold money and paper money will not for any ength of time circulate together at equal values. There are two distinct values in the coin—the legal tender value and the metallic value, and these do not coincije, but vary inversely to each other. Thus, supposing a large quantity of metal to be taken up by the Mint to be coined and issued, the bullion would become scarcer and rise in value, while the legal tender would become more abun dant, and fall in value. At Melbourne, when coin bad become very scarce, an ounce of coined gold actually commanded an ounce and a third of uncoined gold of equal fineness. While the monopoly we have assigned to gold raises its value a s me t a l, th e issue of legal tender paper, making legal tender more abundant, lowers the value of the legal tender. The price of the gold being fixed by the law which binds the Bank to take all the gold offered at 3/. 17s. 9d., and to pay it out at 3/. 17s. 10d., this alternation in value of money is, for a time, only indicated by the rise in value of all other articles. This rise stimulates large exports. The importer looks around for his returns, all commodities have risen. We are under no engagement to supply iron, lead, tin, or any other article at a fixed price, except gold. We thus bribe the foreigner to take our gold instead of our goods. The gold being gone the Bank is compelled to reduce her issues of paper. Eight hundred private and joint-stock banks are instantly afflicted with the cramp, and seek to lock up the remaining money by increasing their reserves. Now, as unreduced debts cannot be paid by re duced money, this phasis of our system is equiva lent to a general decree of loss or insolvency against all who by commercial enterprise have been con tributing to the welfare of the country. Just at this moment the watchful times advises caution, recommends all to limit their transactions, which means limiting employment, which is limiting the life of the labourer. It is equivalent to a procla.Lation through the land, "Now get ye to the workhouse or to your graves." No other resource is left to the labourer thrown out of em ployment by this fatal system. Even the press, the tardigrade press generally, is heginning to inquire into a system which becomes daily more incompatible with the advances of com mercial civilisation. It is impossible much longer to bind i n d us t r y an d its complicated divisions of labour down to barter —nay, what is worse, to a monopoly of bartar for gold. Free trade will not tolerate this bondage. The paper system, which the instiects an d neces sities of the people have continually enl arge d, can not longer be permitted to rest on the narrow basis of gold, rendered unstable both by the law and by the increased rapidity of communication with foreign States. A foreign loan or s p ecu l a ti on, a short harvest, a telegraphic despatch, anyt hi ng, i n short, may, by causing a sudden exp or t a ti on o f gold, derange our whole commerci a l sys t em . I scarcely need recall to your mind how frequent and fatal such panics have been, how fertile of insolvency, misery and crimes, and that in the depth of our ruin and th e triumph of our prosperity the amount of our w ea lth was exactly the same, but disorganised b y th e fa i lure of our monetary system. It will b e we ll for the Times seriously to consider wheth er it w ill b e be coming its rank and character to be the fi rs t t o err, the last to learn, in a matter so d ee pl y i nvo l v i ng the interests of civilisation and humanity. It is a vulgar error, that the value of legal tender money depends on the obligation of the issuer to redeem it in gold, or to redeem it at all, o r t o g i ve any security whatever. The value of wheat depends on the fact that it ministers to the great human necessity of satisfying and in both cases t h ose hunger. The value of legal tender d epen d s on i ts legal po wer o f ministering to the equa l h uman necessity of satisfyingdebt, values will vary exactly in proportion to th e i r abun dance and scarcity relatively to the w an t s o f man kind. To satisfy debt is the sole functi on o f money and the sole element of i▪ ts value. Money oug ht not to be merchandise which ca n b e me l te d an d robbed of its vital function as the cance ll er o f d e b t. Instead of "the promise to pay," which appears so simple and definite to the 't Imes, it is payment which is more simple and definit e s till. Th e on l y problem to solve is to mai▪ ntain it in such quanti ties as shall be in harmony with the just require ments of industry. conditions we seek! The first and What are the most sacred right we have to p ro t ec t i s th a t o f th e labourer to full employment. I have shown that increased money of necessity increases employment and sustains prices. A sufficient issue of legal ten der money will give full employment to labour, producing the greatest amount of national wealth, and the money that produces the wealth will al ways be able to effect its distribution, securing the greatest amount of national happiness. In 1853, with abundance of legal tender money, labour was fully employed in every branch through out the kingdom ; all the classes you have enume rated were happy, prosperous, and contented. Every man was his owu Chancellor of the E x chequer. The air was everywher e resonan t with the music of gipsey parties of the labouring classes, there was joy and contentment throughout the land, and the workhouses were empty. The Bank of England, under the compulsion of the law, reduced its issues, and at the present moment the workhouses and gaols are altogether insufficient to contain the paupers and criminals ; our wealth and means 0 i wealth being identically the same, the derange ment of our monetary system alone disorganises every interest. The Times has fulfilled many a mission of humanity and justice ; I still hope it will look more deeply than it has hitherto done into this all-important question, and that it will enter its powerful protest against the happiness o f the people being longer made the sport of an obsolete theory.---I am, Sir, your obedient servant, J. C. SALT. COURSE OF EXCH Amsterdam 11 17% Ditto, three months .. 11 19 , i Rotterdam ............ 11 1914 Antwerp .. 25 50 11r reels ....•......... 25 50 ilamburgh ............ 13 9 Altona ..•• ............ Paris .• •• • • •• •• •• 25 32% Ditto, three months .. 25 72% Maneilles ............. 25 72% Rourdennx ............ Frankfort-on Maine .... .1197; Berlin •• •• •• •• •• .• •• •• Vienna •• •• •• • • re •• •• •• 11 14 Trieste.• •• •••• .• •• .• •• 11 16 Petersburg ............ 34 N Nradrid .........., 494,i Cadiz •• • • ..... 49% i R areelona ........... 50 , 7111 e.. • ... ••••• CANGE.—YESTRIMAT. , Gibraltar •• •• • • • • • • • • • • Leghorn 30 1 5 Genoa Milan ...• ....... ..... Ven1ce........•• Naples ...... 44 Palermo •• 13 3 Messina ... . 133 ii Lisbon ...... ...... •• •• Oporto 03 7 is Rio Janeiro. .... . -- Buenos Ayres .. New York.6o days' sight Philadelphia .......... PRICES OF RULLICN, pERC) Foreign Gold in Bars £3 17 Portugal Gold Ccin 00 0 Mexican Dollars .... 0 0 0 New 1)ollars 0 0 0 Silver in bail 0 0 0 A REMARKABLE CIIAMBERMAID.—A notice of a recent steambo.:t r. swarm ashore ; 8) uid the cuatnbermaid. She was in• cured for 15,000 dollars, and loaded witla iron 4n cri• Gwn Papers From the London Gazette of Last Night. FOREIGN OFFICE, DEC. 15. The Queen has been pleased to approve of Mr. Albert Pillsbury as Consul at Halifax, Nova Scotia, for the United States of America. WAR-OFFICE, DEC. 18. BREVET. The undermentioned promotions to take place conse quent upon the death of the following officers :—General Sir John Brown, died Nov. 16; Major-General F. Mark ham, Nov. 21 ; Lieutenant-General James Lindsay, Dec. b. Colonel John Cox, half-pay unattached, to be Major- General ; Lieutenant-Colonel Frederick Paul Haines, half pay unattached, to be Colonel ; Major William Clarke, half-pay unattached, to be Lieutenant-Colonel; Captain William Radcliffe, 84th Foot, to be Major. COMMISSIONS SIGNED BY LORD-LIEUTENANTS. Royal North Lincoln Militia—Walter Stewart Brown, Gent., to be Lieutenant, vice Mason, appointed Ensign 82d Foot ; William Longstaffe, junr., Gent., to be Lieutenant, vice McDakin, appointed Ensign, 42d Foot ; Charles Key worth, Gent., to be Lieutenant, vice Deane, resigned; Messing Thomas Laxton, Gent.,to be Lieutenant, viceßur ton, appointed Ensign, 14th Foot ; Robert Henry Owston, Gent., to be Ensign, vice Brown, promoted. 76th or Inverness-shire, &c., Highland Light Infantry Militia.—The Hon. Simon Fraser to be Lieut.-Colonel, vice Thomas Gordon, Esq., deceased. East Kent Militia.—Lieut. Duncan Inverarity to be Captain, vice C3orge, deceased ; George Ross Soden, Gent., to be Ensign. Ist or Royal East Middlesex Miliaa.—William Vevers, Gent., to be Ensign, vice Stone, promoted. 9 Ross Caithness, Sutherland, and Cromarty Rifle Mi litia.—Alexander Thom, A. .M.R.C.S.L., to be Sur geon, vice .James Wiabart, resigned. Worcestershire Militia.—Boddam Castle, Gent., to be Lieutenant; Vice Vale, promoted. _ _ Royal Perthshire Rifle ItazNaghten Leslie, Gent., to he Ensign. NAVAL PRIZE MONEY. INDIVIDUAL'S SHARE OF NAVAL PRIZE MONEY, WHEN CLAIMABLE UNDER A POWER OF ATTORNEY. . _ Department of the Accountant-General, Admiralty, Somerset-house, Dec. 18. Notice is hereby given, to Navy Agents and all other persons interested therein, that no share or shares of any prize money, bounty, salvage, or other moneys payable and distributable to and amongst the officers and crews of her Majesty's ships and vessels of war, will be Paid under any power of attorney, now or hereafter, executed by any two or more of the officers and crews of any of her Majesty's ships and vessels of war, unless the persons who shall have executed the said power are the executors or ad ministrators of some deceased person entitled in distribu tion. The above-mentioned regulations, established by the Lords of the Admiralty for the purpose of preventing an individual's share of prize or other monevs, as aforesaid, being paid in distribution under a power of attorney made by two or more persons, haying been referred to her Ma jesty in Council, in accordance with the directions con tained in the Act of the 17th of Victoria, cap. 19, sec• 13, her Majesty was pleased to approve and give her sanction to the same by her Order in Council, bearing date on the 7th December, 1855. Agents and others claiming to receive, by ♦irtue of a power of attorney, the share of prize or other moneys of any individual entitled in distribution, are hereby in formed that payment will be refused unless such power of attorney shall have been executed by that individual alone, or by the executors or administrators of some de ceased person entitled in distribution ; injmnforrcity with the existing practice, now sanctioned by her Majesty in Council. NOTICE TO MARINERS. East Indies —Light at Singapore. The Government of India has given notice that, on the 17th of March last, a fixed light was shown on the Govern ment Trill Flagstaff at Singapore. The light is bright ; it is placed at an elevation of 226 feet above the level of the sea, and will be visible in clear weather at a distance of about six miles. It stands in lat. 1 deg. 16 min. 15 see. N., long. 103 deg, 51 mein. 15 sea. East of Greenwich, according to the Ad. miralty Charts. Raffles Light on Coney Island. Although no official information bas been received re specting it. the mariner is cautioned that there is every reason to believe that a fixed bright light, named Raffles Light, is established on Coney Island, near the western entrance of the main strait of Singapore. The light should be visible in clear weather a distance of 12 miles, except in the quarter from N.W. by W. round northerly to E.N.E. By command of their Lordships. JOHN WASHINGTON, Hydrographer. Hydrogranhic Office, Admiralty, London, 21st Nov., 1855. This notice affects the following Admiralty Charts : Indian ocean, No. 743 a.: Singapore Strait, Sheet, No. 2,4( 3 ; China Sea, No. 1,270; also Horsbnrgh's E tst India Directory, Vol. 2, p. 271, (7th Ed.) ; and East India Light house List, Nos. 52 and 53. NOTICE TO MARINERS. United States of America. The United States Lighthouse Board has issued the fol lowing notices ; Fog Ball at Fig Island Lighthouse, Savannah River. A fog bell has been placed in the lighthouse on Fig Island, in the Savannah River, Georgia, which will be sounded in foggy weather. Vessels wishing to know the position of the Fig Island Light in a fog will sound their bells or steam-whistles, when they will be answered by the tolling of the Fog Bell. Buoys for Cape Romain Shoals and Bar at Bull Bay. A first-class Nun Buoy, painted with white and black perpendicular stripes, and a black flag on staff, has been placed in 15 feet water at low tide, in the Slue Channel, Cape Rom ain Shoals ; Cape Romain Light beating W.N.W. N. ; north point of Cape Island, N.N . V .by N. This Buoy must be passed close-to on either side. Courses from the Buoy out of the Slue Channel S.W. by W. and N.E. by E. Also a second class Can Buoy, painted with black and white perpendicular stripes, in three fathoms water, at low tide, off the bar at Bull Bay. Bull Bay Light, W.N.W. ' • south point Racoon Key, N.N.V. W. This Buoy must be passed closed-to on either side. Bell Boat off Charleston Bar, South Carolina. An iron Bell Boat, painted with black and white per pendicular stripes, has been placed outside of Charleston (South Carolina) main ship bar, in five and a quarter fathoms water at. low tide ; Charleston Main Light in range, bearing N.W. northerly ; Rattlesnake Shoal light vessel, N.E. by N. ; Sullivan's Island outer beacon, N. by W. W. Length of mooring chain, 32 fathoms. The bell is mounted on a mast, and rung by the action of the sea. _ ....- Masters of vessels, pilots, and fishermen, are particularly requested to report at the Custom-house, or Lighthouse Inspector's Office, should they see anything wrong with this boat. [All courses and bearings are magnetic.] By command of their Lordships, JOHN WASHINGTON, Hydrographer. Hydrographer Office, Admiralty, London, 23d Nov., 1855. These Notices affect the Admiralty Chart :—North America, East Coast, Sheet); No. 270. NOTICE TO MARINERS. MediterraneaTuThe;..--Light at Ceuta—Coast of Africa. The Spanish Government has given notice that on the Ist of December next a light will be established on the summit of the hill named Cerro do los Mosqueros, on Al mina Point, at Ceuta, on the North Coast of Africa, at the eastern entrance of the Strait of Gibraltar. The light will be a bright first-class, revolving once a minute. It is placed at an elevation of 476 English feet above the level of the sea, and will be visible in clear weather at the distance of 27 miles. The lighting apparatus is catadioptric of the first order, of the system of Fresnel. The tower stands in lat. 35° 53' 44" N., long. 5° 17' 12" West of Greenwich. By command of their Lordships. JOHN WASHINGTON, Hydrographer. Hydrographic Office, Admiralty, London, 22d Nov., 1855. This notice affects the following Admiralty Charts : Mediterranean, No. 2158 • Gibraltar to Alicante, No. 1186 ; Ceuta, No. 252 ; Gibraltar Strait, No. 142. Also Mediterranean Lighthouse List (edition 1855), No. 216. NOTICE TO MARINERS. Mediterranean Sea.- Harbour Light at Nice. The Captain of the Port at Nice has given notice that on the Ist July a new Light, to replace the former Light. was established at the extremity of the outer mole of the harbour of Nice, in the Gulf of Genoa. The light is a fixed bright light, varied by red flashes every half minute. It is placed at an elevation of 80 Eng lish feet above the level of the sea, and will be visible in clear weather at a distance of about 12 miles. The lighting apparatus is catadioptric ; and of the fourth order of the system of Fresnel. On nights when the entrance to the harbour is rendered dangerous on account of the heavy swell, the light will be extinguishhd, in order to signify that vessels cannot at such times enter the harbour, but must seek shelter at Villa Franca on the East or Antibes to the West, accord ing to the direction of the wind. By command of their lordships, J. WASHINGTON, Hydrographer. Hydrographic-office, Admiralty, Nov. 24. This notice affects the following Admiralty Charts : Mediterranean, No. 2153 ; Cape Roux to Monaco, No. 152 ; Villa Franca, Nov. 153 ' • Palamos to Ventimi g li a , No. 1182; Mediterranean Lighthouse List (ed. 1855), No. 60.* BANKRUPTCY ANNULLED. Robert John England and Thomas Augustus Garrard, druggists, Bristol. BANKRUPTS. Samuel Bolcher, hatter, Lower Marsh, Lambeth, to sur render Jan. 1, at one, and Jan. 29, at twelve, at the Court of Bankruptcy. Ea wards, official assignee, Sambrook court ; Crafter, Blackfriare-road. Benjamin Hainsworth, common brewer, Liverpool, Jan. 7 and 21, at eleven, at the Liverpool District Court. Mor gan, official assignee, Liverpool; Dibb, Atkinson, and Piper, Leeds ; Frodsham, Liverpool. Francis Bake Webster, blanket manufacturer, Heck mondwike, Yorkshire, Dec. 28 and Feb. 1, at eleven, at the Leeds District Court. Young, official assignee, Leeds; Iveson, Heckmondwiko ; Bond and Barwick, Leeds. Charles Robert Thomp - ion, wine merchant, Old Broad street, Jan. 2, at two, and Jan. 29, at one, at the Court of Bankruptcy. Stansfeld, official assignee ; Lawrence, Piews, and Boyer, Old Jewry-chambers. Nicholas Andrews and Thomas Andrews, ironmongers, Gateshead, Durham, Jan. 4 and 25, at half-past 12, at the Newcastle-upon-Tyne District Court. Baker, official as signee, Newcastle-upon-Tyne ; T. and W. Cbater, New castle-upon-Tyne ; Hoylo, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Thomas H. Taylor, cabinetmaker, Birmingham, Dec. 31, at half-past ten, and Jan. 21, at half-past twelve, at the Birmingham District Court. Christie, official assig: , ee, Birmingham ; Chaplin, Richards, and Stubbin, Birming - ham. Joshua James Petty, grocer, Bilston, Staffordshire, J an . 4 and 25, at the Birmingam Distrietl Court. Bittleston, official assignee, Birmingham ; Waterhouse, Bilston ; James, Birmingham. Robert George Webb, draper, Stafford, Dec. 31 and Jan. 21, at half-past ten, at the Birmingham District Court. Bittleeton, official assignee, Birmingham; Pinchard and Shelton, Wolverhampton ; Hodgson and All en, Birming ham, Pea.rse Lillicrapp, furrier, Davies-street, Berkeley square, Dec. 29, at half-past eleven, and Feb. 6. at twelve, at the Court of Bankruptcy. Nicholson, official assignee; Basinghall-street; Davies, Son, and Campbell, Warwick-street, Regent-street. William Cooper, builder, Nunhood, Peckham, Deo. 21, and Feb. 6, at eleven, at the Conrt of BR.nlzruptcy. ‘; ;,;;;, 0, ; lu:zi:L 'all Smith, New Broathatreet. Jeremiah Challenger Wooster, fancy cabinet mannfat tWOri Wont Smithfield, DW I W, hapast eleven, and Feb. 2, at twelve, at the Court of Bankruptcy. Pennell, official assignee, Basinghall-street ; Yenning, Naylor, and Robins, Tokenhouse-yard, London. SCOTCH SEQUESTRATIONS. Skinner, Notman, and Co., merchants, Glasgow, Dec. 26, at two, at the Globe Hotel, Glasgow. David Brown Watson, coach proprietor, Glasgow, Dec. 28, at one, at the Globe Hotel, Glasgow. DIVIDENDS DECLARED. James Crouch and Job Crouch, of Wimbledon, Surrey, builders, first div. of 3id. in the pound, payable at 1, Sam brook-court, Basinghall-street, on Wednesday, Dec. 19, and three following Wednesdays. R. Goodacre, of Nottingham, grocer, first div. of 2s. 61 in the pound, payable at Middle-pavement, Notting ham, on Monday, Dee. 24, and following Monday. H. Room of Birmingham, metallic bedstead manufac turer, first div. of ls. 6cl. in the pound, payable at 7, Wa terloo-street, Birmingham, on any Thursday. P. Greenslade, of Stoke Canon Devonshire, farmer, first div. of 4id. in the pound, payable at Queen•street, Exeter, on any Tuesday or Friday. R. J. S. Robins, of Tavistock, Devonshire, attorney, first div. of 4s. 6d. in the pound, payable at Queen-street, Exeter, on any Tuesday or Friday. A. A tcheson, of S trange ways, Lancashire, wine mer chant, first div. of 10d. in th. pound, payable at 45, George-street, Manchester, on Tuesday, Jan. 8, and any subsequent Tuesday. W. Oulton, of Liverpool, chemist, first div. of Bs. in the pound, payable at 9, South Castle-street, Liverpool, on any Monday. J. Stevenson, of Liverpool, provision dealer, first div. of :3e. 9iti. in the pound, payable at 9, South (..h.stle-street, Liverpool, on any Monday. J. Higginson, of Liverpool, merchant, third div. of 2s. 3d. in the pound, payable at 43, South John-street, Liver pool, on Wednesday, Dec. 19, and any subsequent Wed nesday after Jan. 2. G. Forster, of Liverpool, stockbroker, second div. of Bd. in the pound, payable at 53, South John-street, Liver pool, on Wednesday, Dec. 19, and any subsequent Wed nesday after Jan. 2. DIVIDENDS TO BE DECLABED. Thomas Barrett, of Oxford, timber merchant, Jan. 11 — William Henry Fleming, of Camberwell, brewer, Jan. 15 —Thomas Salmon, of Kettering, Northamptonshire, iron monger, Jan. B—R. 13, evitt, Coventry, ironmonger, Jan. 12—S. Boyle, Fenton, Staffordshire, china manufacturer, Jan. 16 —J. Ogle Holmes, Sunderland, and Young L. Marshall, Roker, Durham, timber merchants, Jan. 11 (and on the separate estate of J. 0. Holmes)—J. Fish, Helm shore, Lancashire, cotton manufacturer, Jan. B—John Mawer, Louth, Lincolnshire, butcher, Jan. 9--W. Poole, Kingston-upon-Hull, provision merchant, Jan. 16— Wm. Summers, Curry Mallett, Somersetshire, land surveyor, Jan. B—W. Glover, Charlton Mackrall, Somersetshire, draper ; J. E. Robbins, Langport Eastover, Somersetshire, victualler, Jan. 7—J. Peters, Exeter, lath-render ; Thos. Tyler, Exeter, saddler, Jan. 15—A. King, High-road, Suffolk, baker ; C. Tooley, Great Yarmouth, baker ; Geo. Foreman, Great Yarmouth, baker; D. Powley, Great Yarmouth, carter, Jan. 21—H. Varraway, Exeter, painter, Jan. 15. CERTIFICATES TO BE GRANTED. W. Jolley, Charing-cross, poulterer; T. Waller, Peters field, Hants, provision merchant, Jan. 10—S. Stringer, Nottingham-street, St. Marylebone, coach ironmonger ; J. Starkey, Old-street, St. Luke's builder, Jan. B—Moses Yearsley, South Bank, St. John's-wood, wine merchant, Jan. 10—R. Taylor, Watt's-terrace, Old Kent-road, Cam berwell, baker ; E. Bolton, Weymouth-street, Portland place, soda water manufacturer ; H. Buil and J. James Harper, Greenwich, upholsterers, Jan. 9. INSOLVENT PETITIONERS. Wm. Westley, of Little Abingdon, Berkshire, boot maker—John Wall, Manchester, hairdresser— James But terworth, Manchester, grey warper—Rev. J. H. Fisher, Kirksby Lonsdale, Westmoreland, clerk Elizabeth Curtis, Kettlethorpe, widow—W. Booth, Halifax, Yorkshire, teacher of music—H. E. Brierley, Halifax, York-hire, beerseller—J. Higgins, Halifax, Yorkshire, tavern keeper —J. Dobel, Castle Cary, Somersetshire, watch and clock maker—G. R. Jackson, Birkenhead, Cheshire, book keeper—W. Butler, Brebbington, Cheshire, commission agent. PARTNERSHIPS DISSOLVED. W. F. Rutter and E. F. Winstone, Staffordshire, and 1, Pickard-street, City-road, potters—H. W. Harris and W. E. Miller, 86, Queen-street, Choapside, City, whole sale stationers—E T. Holden and Eliza Holden, Walsall, Staffordshire, curriers—E. James and C. F. James, Truro, Cornwall, pawnbrokers—M. A. Richards and R. Richards, 3, Old Barge-house-street, Upper Ground-street, Black friars-road, pump manufacturers—R. Hodgson and R. Hothersall, Oswaldtwisle, Lancashire, painters—E. L. Blackburne and T. K. Green, 16i, Clement's-inn, archi tects—W. Baker and J. Baker, Littlehampton, Sussex, grocers—C. Cooper and H. R. Phillips, Coventry, ribbon manufacturers—R. Parkinson, and J. Tomlinson, Lancas ter, engineers —L. S. Butterfield, A. Brookes, and M. Brookes, Norwood, boardng-school mistresses—G. Hand ford and J. Cook, Birmingham, lacemen— S. Lewis and J. Evans, Merthyr Tydfil, Glamorganshire, tailors—J. Mar tingale and W. H. Goodwin, Romford, Essex, wheel wz J. Blakeley and W. Halliday, jun., Heckmond wike, Yorkshire, carpet manufacturers—J. Jones, D. Thomas, and J. Burgess, Rhondda Vach Valley, Glamor ganshire, contractors (so far as regards J. Burgess)—R. Howell and E. Knapman, Exeter, linen drapers—C. Pear son, Brough, Derbyshire, E. Peat, and T. L. Peat, Not tingham, cotton doublers —W. Timbrell and W. Merrick, Bradford. Wiltshire, attorneys—J. T. Gibson and J. B. Gibson, 35, St. Mary-at-Hall, City, ship brokers. HEALTH OF LONDON DURING THE WEEK. ( Prom the Report of the Registrar-General.) The effect of the cold weather recently experienced is now written very legibly in the mortuary registers. The deaths registered in London, which in the previous week were 1,099, rose last week to 1,271, and it may be stated the rate of mortality represented by this number of deaths is at least equal to the average for this advanced period of the year. Since the second week of November, when the deaths were below 1,000, and the mean temperature was 41 deg., the returns exhibit an increase of 300 deaths, and the weekly temperature has declined to 32.7 deg. There were registered last week 627 males and 644 females. Of these, without distinction of sex, 574 died under 27 years of age, 182 at 20 years and under 40, 241 were from 40 to 60 years of age, 202 60 years old and less than 80 ; and instead of 33 octogenarians who died in the previous week 60 died last week. A woman died in the Greenwich workhouse at the great age of 101. Of the 1,271 deaths, 246 are due to diseases of the zymotic charac'er, and 267 to diseases of the respiratory organs, exclusive of 143 caused by phthisis and 40 by hooping-cough. Fatal cases arising from bronchitis do not exhibit the increase which might be expected from the increase of the total mortality ; for in each of the last two weeks the number referred to that complaint is 119 ; nor is the increase great from pneumonia, which numbered in the same periods 93 and 105. They are both fatal to nearly the amount that is usual at this sea son. Scarlatina grows less fatal, and while it declines measles show an increase. Both prevail most in the central districts ; measles in St. Mary-le-Strand and the City-road ; scarlatina in St. Andrew Eastern and Gos well-street sub-districts. A family in Prospect-terrace, Bromley, lost three children from scarlatina maligns —they died on three consecutive days. Last week the births of 781 boys and 791 girls, in all 1,572 children, were registered in London. In the ten corresponding weeks of the years 1845-54 he average number was 1,440. There was a new moon on Sunday (the 9th.) The highest reading of the barometer was 30 . 07 in. at the end of the week ; and the mean was 29'874 in. The mean temperature of the week was 32 . 7 deg., which is 7.6 deg. below the average of the same week in 38 years. The mean temperature was 11.6 deg. below the average on Sunday, B'2 deg. below it on Monday, and 10 . 2 deg., 11 deg., and 13 deg. below it on the three following days. On Friday it began to rise, and on Saturday it was 4 . 4 deg. above the average. The mean temperature of Thurs day was only 27'2 deg., that of Saturday was 44.2 deg. The lowest temperature of the week occurred on the former day, when the thermometer fell to 21.3 deg. The highest temperature in the week occurred on the laver day, and was 48 deg. The mean dew point temperature of the week was 311 dog., and the difference between that and the mean temperature of the air was only 1 deg. The mean temperature of the water of the Thames was 37 . 2 deg. The water was coldest on the day on which the day was warmest. The wind, which at first was in the north, blew afterwards from the south-west till the end of the week, when it turned to the north-west. The air was quiet. Snow fell on Monday ; some rain and sleet on Friday. CAMBERWELL; Peckham.—At 18, Stockwell-street, Old Kent-road, on the 11th December, the son of a coal porter, aged 11 years, " inflamed leg, exhaustion, hav ing suffered privation before the attack." GREENWICH ; West.—At Dreadnought Hospital Ship, on 14th December, a Wear, aged 25 years, " scurvy ; death from anaemia." GREENWICH ; Eal.—At the Workhouse, 10th De cember, the wife of a wood-cutter, aged 46 years, " itch (3 weeks) boils and low fever." In the same sub-district, at the Workhouse, on 14th December, the widow of a shipwright, aged 101 years, " old age." MORTALITY IN THE METROPOLIS NUMBER OF DEATHS FROM ALL CAUSES REGISTERED IN THE WEEK ENDING SATURDAY, DEC. 15 Zymotic Diseases Diseases of Uncertain Seat Tubercular Diseases Diseases of the Brain, Nerves and Senses Diseases of the Heart and Blood-vessels 54 Diseases of the Lungs and other Organs of Respiration.. .. .... 267 Diseases of the Stomach, Liver, and other Organs of Digestion 70 Diseases of the Kidneys, &c. Childbirth, Diseases of the Uterus, &c. Diseases of the Joint s , B ones, and Muscles 11 Diseases of the Skin, &c. Malforino.tions 4 Premature Birth and Debility 27 Atrophy 3B Old Age Sudden 3l Violence, Privation, Cold, and Intemperance 49 Causes not specified ,DEATHS FROM ALL CAUSES Population Deaths in corre- Deaths Enumerated. aponding week in the 1851. of 1854. Week. West Districts North Districts 490,396 Central Districts 393,256 East Districts 485,522 South Districts Totals • 2,362,230 1,300 1,271 Males 627 Females 644 BIRTHS IN THE WEER. , b'eutaies "i'dl Total o o Country Markets. LIVERPOOL-Du. 18. There was a good attendance of town dealers and millers from a distance, who bought to a moderate extent of wheat at 1(1 to 2d per bushel on Tuesday's rates, but rather lower lower than on Friday. Red American lie 2d, and white lls 10,1 to 12s ld per 701 be. Flour neglected, at a decline of 6d per sack and barrel. Oats and oatmeal a slow N ale, at 6d per 24tilbs lower than last week. No change in 'bar ley, beans, and peas, and a limited sale. Prime mixes I In dian corn difficult to move at 44s 3d to 44e 6d per qr.,„ and 44s 6d for yellow. IPSWICH-1)n. 18. - --- The supply of wheat has fallen off, and the firs sales made were about is per qr. less then last week. Belt ley in tolerable supply, at a decline of 1s to 2s per qr. No , beans, and only a chance sample of peas. Plll% QUARTER. MK c) I /AK rv.,. Wheat, red (old) 76s to 80e Barley, grinding ... 3 33 to 38 Ditto (new) - t , 52 Ditto, white -2s to 86s Peas Ditto (old) - --s t. Barley, malting ... :19s to 41a Flour, per sack - --8 to AvEseess FOR TUB WERE ENDING 11E0. 15, ik 6. Wheat Oats — ~ ---- a Od Peas Barley Beans LEEDS-DEC. 18. Only a limited show of wheat to day. The Lou , lon re port causes a slow trade, still best dry samples are held nrinly at late rates ; inferior parcels move at iiTegular prices. Barley as b,fore. No material alteration iin oats, beans, or other articles. HULL-DEC. 18. A fair supply of wheat to-day, and sales were abo nt 1 per qr. lower than last week. Spring corn of all kis ids is lower. Linseed, oil, and cakes each dull and lower.. Rape cakes meet fair demand. I I Wheat, English, rod 75 to 78 Ditto whito BO to 86 Dantzic and Konigs berg Pomeranianand Ham- R. Si 'Peas, grey and black to Linseed, Black Sea... 78 to 82 Ditto Peter burgh ... 74k to 76 Ditto Riga and Arch- burgh Danish, Holstein, and angel Ditto Konigsberg and _ _ Friesland 75 to 80 Russian and Odessa 72 to 75 Oats, English Ditto Danish Ditto Friesland Ditto Russian 2S to 30 Barley, malting Ditto grinding 3B to 40 Beano Ditto foreign Peas, white and yel 54 to 60 Memel - V 65 td 70 Pox Tc.n. 11n111311& Odto 14.04 Ditto fine f0r.12/10s 131 1 5s Od Ditto inf. for. 01 Os Od to 0/ Ca Rapeseed..... 00/ Os to 0 01 Os Rape cakes 150 s Od to 151 is 64 Tares, English —s to — e Ditto foreign Guano OOl Os 81 to 13 • 154 Bones Rye Meal KIRIKCALI) t -DEC. 15. Large supplies of wheat and oats, bat only modem A e of barley. Fine qualities sold at about last week's pr ices middling and inferior is to 23 per qr. lower. Wheat. Barley. . Oats. j Be, turn. First BBB Od I 45s Od 33s Od I Os Od Second I Third 6os Od 3ss Od I 25s Od es 'Od DUBLIN-DEC. 18. A very small supply and a very dull market. Rti'me wheat barely supported last Tuesday's rates. All o t her kinds of grain lower and difficult to sell at the decline., trifling business done by retail in Indian corn. White wheat, 42s Od Co 44s 6d ; red ditto, 383 to 43 i Od ; barley, 16s Od to 23s 6d. ; oats, 15s Od to 17a Od ; rape seed, 40s Od to 44s Ocl per brl ; oatmeal, 16s Od to 18s Od ; be &era' flour, 25s 6d to 293 Od per cwt ; Imtiam corn, 45s Od to 4 8 04 per 4801bs. SEABORNE MAILS. lei dignmes that the mails are bent troin the General Peet , 01 lu y the night—and IS by the morning--4espateh.) Day whim Frans wI, al in General Post- Office, London." Abet due, in •q ne. I )1811.tteh, s ,, erT frridn ILiverpoo) Dec. A' 7 ILlverpoor IDec. 9 4 iSouthamot Ibec. 1 & IBouthampt. , Dever Cf it pi a b i Dee. 0 Plyrw Dover Southampt Southamp, Dover .... S,uthwnl• • S •0th.,,.. • Various por, qilly n. lb J$ ff. to IP inertial 163uth , tmwo 1.1 - a n. 1$ Southeutipto, Soutkamptot [Do . a:nolo; [Dover . Dover .... 1 Southamptoli' , SO lith arrli .D Lor.don Southanapt ,Dover •.• • •• '.'southainiet Plymouth Dover Dover.. Holyhead .. I Southamr 'ton! ISoutharni *LORI Liverpool 'Dover .... Ifloathaint ton' Dover ...... Southampton !Various p art:- Dover I Souttuoup tnn ;Southaml !Various r ortsi !Dever •• .• Dover .: 18onthamili n- !Southamp tam' 00VNTRIse A.merica(byllrit.pact \N merles, k by United Sts. packet) ..........N merits (by IT States packet) ..........N wstralia (via South ampton) ..........M pato (via Marseilles) NI lino (via Cape of Goed , Hope) ............N tfrica (West Coast) ...N N :iahamas ...........M teigium N 3razil ............ „ Ruonos Ayres M , ;Ape of Good Hope ,N ~ ;ape of Good Hope .N 'Apo de V e rde N ".ey'.on (see India) , Ceylon • • • • • • • • • • • • • • N Chanael isles.. S. . .• N .......... M •hina •;onstantinople Constfultinople cont. of Europe & N Egypt (see Italia) M & Gibraltar Greece (seo India) 'ireytown Ilanaburgh Einviumah Tolland M' ilanduras India (viaSonthampt.)Ml fr,dia (via Marssilles)M fonittn 1e.% (see India)! Ireland ........M Lisbon .............. M Wadeirn ............M Madeira . • • • Nj Malta (see India) Malta Mauritius (see India) Mauritius Mexico .......... .. New Granada ...... Dt New Zealand..• •• •. Papal States ........."N Peninsula ..........M Porn •• •• 00 •• •• •• M Port Natal Sicily 1. •• •• •• •• •• •• N Tuscany •• •• •• •• Venezuela Van Diemon's Land (se , . Australia) ........ , West Indies .... Art 13d or the cnontl . 64, 64, 14, & 30 ol 4th A , 'nth of more. 17th of the month . Dai1y............ 9th of the month.. j9th of the m00t5..., Stn of 02 month Mon., 2d R 17th` of menu Once.a month.... a,13, 18,23 0 5;28 o , u 4th tk 20th of mom. Twice daily .. `Twice dai1y...... 1 4,7, 17,20.27 efm I2nd & 17th of mon. (Tuesday & Friday !2nd of the month Daily.. ~ .. 17td t ;the month 4th is 20th of mon I Oth&26th of month 17, 17, & 27 of mon' Twice daily I 7,9, 17, & 27 of rn.! 9th of the month i 23d of manth 18,18, &MI of mon.l • 14th of the month 2nd of the month.. l sth 15t1125thofmon., 21 & 17th of month] By private ship .. bth 1 sth2sthofmon. Ith 17 th27thofinon. 2,1 & 27th of mon.l ily private ship...,l sthltith2sthofmon,! sthlsth2sthohnon. i 2d& 17th oftnonth ILTludat [Xs n. 4 illirloodally 17.*101dallp IDec. N. Daily 16thofmes Dec. 20 Twleedally Idan. Is 12d& 17th ot month 'Dee. 20 ;Dec. le lllnteridat 1 & 16 min 16 sum Whenany of these dates fall on a Sunday. the ma ils will be de. 'patched on the following day, with the exception of the India (yth Southampton). and the Malta. both *f which will be e ielipatelu'a the preceding day. SHARE MARKETS. LIVERPOOL, DEC. 18. STOCK EXCHANGE.---The tone of the market has been again quiet, at a slight advance on yesterdlay's prices. Lancashire sad Yorkshire, 771—South Eastern, 17 A -London and North Westerns, 941 Groat Western, 534—Caledonian, 27i i—Midland, 641 I—North Eastern, G.N.E. Purchase, d. 4i—Dutch Rhenish, d. lle. 3d. BIRMINGHAM, Dec. 18. STOCK EXCHANGE.—The tone of the market has been rather inactive to-day, and at the close prices weaker. The only sale reported was London and North Western Stook, at 91i. MANCHESTER, DEC, 18. STOCK EXCHANGE.—The market today has been steady, but the business was limited. Midlands, 64i—Dovers, 174 3-16—Leeds, 774 4—Great Western of Canada, 244. LEEDS, Dee. 18. STOCK EXCHANGIL—There was a flat business to-day, and transactions few and unimportant. Wensleydale' were done at i pm. DUBLIN, Dizo.l7. STOCK EXCHANGE.—Three per Cent. Consols (abut), 881 Ditto for Account, Jan. 8, 88 i i—New Three per Cent. Stock, 89 89k—Ditto, for Account, Bth January, 881 — /Midland Great Western and Royal Canal, (halves), 24 —Great Southern and Western, 51.—Ditto, 6 per cent. Prof., 7f)—National Bank (221. lUa. paid), 314—Royal Bank, "OA—Dublin and Wicklow, ss—Waterford and Limerick, 20—Grand Canal, 3:;—Bank Stock, 225—City of Dublin Steam Co., shares of 1836, 25k. BIRTHS. OF A SON. On the 16th inst., at 2R, Lowndes-square, the Hon. Mn.t George Augustus Browne. On the 17th inst., at 3, Princes-terrace, Hyde-park, the wife of David Ward Chapman, Esq. On the 13th inst., at Wrenbury Hall, Cheshire, the wife of Major :-tarkey. OP A DAUGHTER. On the 17th inst., at the Green, High Wycombe, Mrs. George Henry Hussey. Oti the 10th inst., at Worthing, Sussex, the wife of Ma jor W. Leader, of the Madras Army. MARRIED. On the 15th inst., at St. George's, Hanover-square, Al fred George Lapworth and Henry James Lapworth, twin sons of Alfred Lapworth, Esq., of Old Bond-street, t o Jane and Matilda, daughters of Thomas Stroud, Esq., o f Victoria-square, Belgravia. On the 15th inst., at St. Paul's, ICnightsbridge, Mr. J. rtman• F. Ward, of Pimlico, only eon of James Ward, E sq., of St. George's, Southwark, to Emily,. daughter of the late Mr. John Henry Gurney, of King-street, p o square. DIED. at Kingston Lacy, Wiznbonrn Min ster, Octavia s Elizabeth B an k er, youngest daughter of t Hon. Geo. Bankes, M.P ., aged 2? On h n D h . inst., at E a t on - square, Charles De Laet eOrt: the Right r e ig l elht 6 4t , h t ha inst., ° Waldo Sibthorpc, Esq., of Canwick House, in the county of Lincoln, and Pottrells, Hertfordshire, Colonel of the Royal South Lincolnshire Militia, and for nearly 30 yearn 0130 of tho representatives in Parliameat for the city of Lincoln, aged 73. On the 17th inst., Thomas Greenslade Whitmore, Esq., seymour.place, Wandsworth-road, aged 56. On the 17th inst., at South Hackney, Mr. Richd. Rogers, aged 56. On the 16th inst., at Hastings, Captain Richard Turner, R.M., aged 77. On the 17th inst., at Brighton, Miss Emma Curoton, aged 30. Leizr:fm.: F:rjuttA and Pc.)lliihvc4 by VURDO VOn', , '2 travi, at 14.8un Office, Strand, in the Precinct of the Savoy, in the county 0 Wgclsosdn a Deozabor 12,.1805.