The Express.
London, England, 1851-02-20 00:00:00

MONEY MARKET.

THIS DAY.

Two o'Ci.ocx
There has been rather more movement in the mar-
ket for the home funds to-day. At the commence-
ment of business the uneertaiuty which pre-
vailed relative to the result of the weekly
board meeting at the Bank caused a good
deal of flatness, and the market was scarcely
able to sustain itself, even with the support
afforded by further operations in Consols by the go-
vernment broker. Since it has become known, how-
ever, that no change will, for the present at least, be
introduced by the directors, the more timid fre-
quenters of the Stock Exchange have become re-
assured, and prices have rallied !, at which im-
provement the market wears a steadier aspect.
Consols opened 961 to .1 for money, and 961 for
account, and then receded 4; hut have since rallied
to their present quotation, which is 961 to 1 for cash,
and 96 to 1 for the 11th of March. The other des-
criptions of home stock have also attracted more atten-
tion than has been bestowed upon them for some
days past. The prices of business, as reported in
the official list are : Three per Cod. Consols, 961,
1 ; do. for account, 961, 4; Three per Cents.
Reduced,edueed, 97, 1, 96!; New Three-and-a-Quarter per
Cents., 981, 1; Long Annuities, 1860, 7 11-16; do.
30 years, 1839, 7 7-16; do. 30 years, 1860, 7 7-16;
Bank Stock, 216; Indian Stock, 263, 2661.
In the unfunded securities there is still a good
deal of movement. Exchequer Bills have been dealt
in to some extent at 4.45. and 31s. prem. for all sizes,
which is a reduction of Is. on the closing prices of
yesterday. India Bonds, 1,0001., mark 60s. and 58s.
premium.
There is no material change in the quotations of
the foreign bonds, and the transactions are of an
unimportant character ; but it may be noticed that
more confidence is manifested generally, and prices
show more firmness. especially of the speculative
descriptions which yesterday experienced depression.
Spanish Actives mark 19. The official list reports
business in the following stocks only, viz.:—Danish
Five per Cents., 103. Two-and-a-Half per Cent.
Dutch, ; ditto Four per Cent. Certificates for the
account of the 28th, 91a, 1. Mexican Bonds, 33;
Peruvian Four-and-a-Half per Cents., 1819, 791.
Russian Four-and-a-Half per Cents., 97,1, 1; ditto
small, 971. Spanish Active Five per Cents., 19'4;
ditto for account,l9l.
'At the meeting of the East Indian Railway Com-
pany yesterday, resolutions were passed, confirming
the forfeiture of the shares, adopting the report, and
reelecting the retiring directors.
A most important meeting was held yesterday, at
the Hall of Commerce, for the establishment of tri-
bunals of commerce. The meeting was attended by a
most respectable body of commercial men, including
Sir J. I hike, and other members of parliament, though
most of the parliamentary supporters were absent on
account of the morning sitting of the House of Com-
mons. The resolutions were passed unanimously, the
sentiments of the meeting, as of the committee and
the large body of the memorialists, being strongly in
favour of the tribunals suggested, and opposed to the
present unpractical and vexatious proceeding. It
was also agreed to present memorials to the Prime
Minister and to the President of the Board of Trade
on the subject, a committee being appointed to carry
out the resolutions and to receive subscriptions.
There was, we were sorry to observe, a disposition
in one quarter to treat the simultaneous movement
for a ('lumber of Commerce in London as a move-
ment hostile to the tribunal, though one of the mea-
sures to which the proposers of the chamber are
pledged is a tribunal of arbitration, which is only-
one name for a tribunal of commerce. It was very
well observe! by Mr. Macgregor, that had London
possessed a Chamber of Commerce, in which its com-
mercial intelligence and influence were embodied, we
should already have a better system of commercial
law, and we should not have such monstrous pro-
(-ceding% us the eleven days' persecution of the Lon-
don Dock Company. The allusion to this case was
received by the meeting with very strong expres-
sions of feeling.
An allusion was made to the chartered powers
vested in the several City Companies for the deter-
mination of disputes between their members, but
which powers have been reduced to a dead letter by
the concurrent and superior jurisdictions set up
against them. The goldsmiths can surely better de-
el& disputes among goldsmiths, at least so thought
our wiser forefathers; the bakers among bakers, the
butchers among butchers : nor did the great law-
' giver of modern times, the Emperor Napoleon, think
otherwise, for efnmeile de prutlhommes do for the
several trades what Tribunals of Commerce do for
the general body of trades.
It was particularly dwelt upon at the meeting
that the legal right of arbitration is not well
established, and that arbitrations, deeds of composi-
tion with creditors, and deeds of ins, ection,are hablc
on the instigation of a litigant interest to be set
aside by the courts. The value of a lemilised system
of arbitration and conciliation was therefore! strongly
*supported In France arbitration is the first pro-
CCM ; here it is the last. The" Code Napoleon" directs
that before litigation commences the parties shall go
before the,juye de pax of their canton, who shall try
to reconcile them, and only on his certificate that the
parties have appeared can the litigation proceed.
Upon principles analogous to the Tribunals of
Commerce, the ancient municipal institutions of this
country were founded, the companies and guilds of
London and other great cities chartered. Powers
were given to our factories in Portugal, Russia,
India, and the Levant, to determine causes. In
like tribunals at Malta, Oporto, Lisbon, and
the East, many of our merchants have sat
as judges. Such a system is established in France,
Belgium, Rhenish Prussia, Denmark, Spain, and in
most European countries. Let us see how the evils
of the present oppressions are felt in this country.
The Society of Friends make it a matter of principle
to avoid courts of law, and to decide their own dis-
putes among themselves. The Stock Exchange,
numbering hundreds of members, and the yearly
transactions of which are numbered by scores of
millions in value, have organised a system of internal
jurisdiction which sets the ordinary courts, and even
the legislature, at defiance. The officers of the navy
and army, although under government control, are
allowed to administer justice among themselves;
they hold their own courts, and conduct their affairs
without legal assistance. Even in our Indian army,
the officers and privates are allowed to hold courts
for the administration of the cases arising among
them. The great co-operations which have sprung
up among us of late years do all they can to evade
the trammels of our complicated system. The rail-
way and steam navigation companies evade the assur-
ance duties, by becoming their own assurers, and
they evade litigation, by making stringent agree-
ments with their servants, and even with the public,
and by making all disputes on contracts determina-
ble by the decision of engineers and architects.
The remaining questionis whether the merchants
of London, Liverpool, and'Glasgow, are able to man-
age their own affinrs at home as in oer colonies and
factories abroad, as well as foreigners, or us well as
lieutenants in the navy, ensigns in the army, or
block sepoys in the East.
We think the question has gone a good way to-
wards decision. Public feeling has been strongly
pronounced in its favour in 'London, and there have
been strong expressions from the chambers of com-
merce and from individuals in most of the great
towns. Out of the members for `.the City of London
three have declared in favour of the principle, and
among the other adherents to it we find Lord
Brougham, Lord Wharucliffe, Lord Overstone, Mr.
Clay, M.P. for Hull; Mr. Macgregor, M.P. for Glas-
gow; Mr. R. J. 'ferment, M.P. for Belfast; Mr.
Scholefield, M.P. for Birmingham ; Mr. H ume, M.P ,
Mr. Anderson, M.P., Mr. John Williamne, M.P.
Jacob Bell, M.P., Mr. J. L. Ricardo, M.P., Mr. Wm.
Marshall, M.P., and Mr. IL C. Lacy.
In consequence of the heavy losses in the
last kw months' working of the United Mines