The Press.
London, England, 1854-04-01 00:00:00

298

dividends on the Three per Cent. Reduced, Three-
and-a-Quarter per Cents., and other stocks, which fall
due at the close of the present quarter, and, in addi-
tion, has brought himself under engagement to pay
off other stocks, amounting to between 2,000,0001.
and 3,000,0001. sterling. The liabilities of the Govern-
ment will thus be at least 10,000,0001. at the close of
the quarter, and it is quite clear that the Chancellor
will require to overdraw his account. There are, of
course, different opinions as to the propriety of the
Government being continually under obligations to a
commercial institution even as respects the credit of
the thing, since it looks as if the Government were
getting embarrassed, or else that the various specifics
for meeting commercial and monetary ailments had
not proved quite so infallible as their discoverers had
prognosticated. When the ability of the Bank to ac-
commodate the Government to the extent required
comes to be considered it becomes, however, a much
more serious question. The returns, however, afford
clear evidence that all the means of the Bank of
England will be required to meet the requirements
of the mercantile community, the business of the
Bank in discounts and advances having been aug-
mented during the week between the 11th and 18th ult.
by upwards of a million and a half sterling. It is to
be regretted that whilst there is so much pressure in
the commercial world the Government should be
compelled by their necessities to step in, and compete
with the public for the accommodation which the
Bank may he able to afford, and which should be
mainly given to the mercantile community. Yet
such is the position in which the commercial world is
placed by the reckless presumption of the Chancellor
of the Ex,,,bequer, but it is the penalty which it has
been repeatedly warned it would have to pay for the
privilege of having so brilliant a financier as the right
hon. gentleman. The question is of great importance,
and its solution is looked for with interest,
the general opinion being that the Chancellor of the
Exchequer will be compelled to borrow of the publio
after all; and who will say that if he had taken the
advice or regarded the warnings given last year, when
his financial resolutions were under discussion, that
it would not have been better for his reputation and
the country at large? As it is, he has succeeded in
involving the country in a sea of financial difficulty,
and has not the merit of having carried out successfully
even one of his many financial crotchets.—Herald.
A MEMORIAL TO THE LATE BISHOP OF SALISBURY,
testifying the reverence and affection in which he
was held by the clergy and laity of his diocese, was
determined upon at a recent meeting, and a com-
mittee appointed to carry out the object, of which
Earl Nelson, Earl Bruce, the Right Hun. Sidney
Herbert, M.P., Major-General Buckley, M.P., Mr.
H. C. Sturt, M.P., Mr. T. H. Sotheron, M.P., Mr. G.
W. Heneage, M.P., Mr. J. Floyer, M.P., Mr. H. K.
Seymer, M.P., and other gentlemen are members.
THE COMMISSIONERS whom Lord J. Russell in
tends to appoint under the new Oxford University
Bill are the Earl of Ellesmere, the Bishop of Ripon,
Mr. Justice Coleridge, the Dean of Wells, and Sir
John Awdry.
THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT announced to the
Ministries of England and France that no letters of
marque will be granted by the United States, the Fe-
deral Government having formally declared that acts
so contrary to international law will not be tolerated
on the territory of the Union.
MARCHWOOD POWDER MAGAZINES, in Hampshire,
which have been for some years out of use, are to be
again occupied. A small military force will imme-
diately be established there. These magazines are
constructed to hold about 24,000 barrels of powder.
They are situated close to Southampton Water, into
which a small pier runs for landing and embarking
gunpowder. Mr. Duncan, of the Ordnance Depart
ment at Portsmouth, has been appointed storekeeper
to the new establishment.
THE BOARD OF Currows have released a Spanish
cutter, Ingram, which was seized in the river off Ro-
therhithe, on Saturday, by the Thames police, with
some anchors and chains concealed in her cargo of
guano, on the payment of a small fine and expenses
for an infringement of the Clearance Act.
TWELVE HUNDRED DEATHS were registered in
London in the week that ended on Saturday, showing
a small increase on those of the previous week, when
the number was 1,188. The rate of mortality that
has prevailed during the last fortnight is slightly be-
low the corrected average.
THE ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY have been
granted 5001. per annum by the Government, to ena-
ble them to provide themselves with apartments ade-
quate to a public exposition of their numerous charts
and maps, and thus to increase the usefulness of the
society.

THE RESIGNATION OF MR-BAINES, President of the
Poor-law Boa• d, was announced on Thursday.
Respecting the causes which led to this determina-
tion on the part of the right hon. gentleman, we find
the following statement in the Times :
" Mr.llaines having, with the approval of the Cabinet,
prepared a Settlement and Removal Bill, confined in its
operation to England and Wales, and having introduced