The Express.
London, England, 1847-11-22 00:00:00

per cent., the demands upon the Bank are neoesearily
very much limited, and. day by day are narrowing
within &smaller compass still ; the new* fond must
therefore be all the more enriched and more powerful.
The time is now arrived when that odious and
oppreasive disposition of the government must give
I place to a more liberal dispeneadon. The industrial
interests call loudly for it, and the Bank directors not
only do not regard it in the shape of a protestion for
the interests of the establishment, at the interests of
the circulation confided to their oars, but are known
to be anxiously desirous for quitting themselves of the
incubus white contributes to the unpopularity of the
institution winter adding to its prat Other mo-
ned and banking establishments are already under-
mg them is the loan and diorama/ market ;i
taste, the withdrawals of private Vita. The
Bank cannot act, however, in matter,
without the sanction of the government expressed
formally, or by tacit understanding, although
it is urged, in some quarters, that the necessity of
inch recurrence is obviated by the fact that, construed
with literal strictness, Peels Act has got been tres-
passed on. The plea is more plausible, however,
than of reality. Peel's Act was broken from the mo-
ment that the government by official act permitted
its abrogation. The Bank, therefore, will hardly
venture to act without official permit. The indig-
nant voice of a great industrial community will not
much longer tolerate, however, such an usurious and
oppressive exaction as 8 per cent interest upon the
uses of accommodation. The prudent policy of the
Bank, the license of the government obtained, will
probably be to graduate the fall from 8 to 7, and then
to 8 per cent, where probably it might rest for a
month or two, until the events of February next may
be ascertained in their extent. and guarded against.
But, we repeat it, the 8 per cent. is in the highest
degree prejudicial to industry, and can no longer be
borne with. The fault of its longer continuance will
lie with the government, and not with the Bank.
It may be mentioned, as a fact &ppm:Restively
correct, that one portion of the heavy remittances of
gold to this country from Russia has been invested in
Exchequer Bills to the amount of about half a million
sterling. It is supposed that a considerable amount
of gold now in hand from the same quarter, with
more to come, is destined to be invested in the same
or other public securities here.
A report appears to have been in currency, evi-
dently of stock jobbing origin, and certainly not
bawd of before in the more respectable quarters of
the Stock Exchange, that application had been made
by the East India Company for a loan of two mil-
lions to the Bank of England, which was entertained
by the latter on the condition that 8 per cent., as in
all other cases, should be paid for the accommodation.
This, the India board was said to have objected to,
and so the negotiation fell to the ground. It was
added, as a fact well known, that the company were
in great straits for money.
We are enabled to state, on double authority, that
for the whole and every part of this story there
neither was, nor is, the slightest foundation. Its
absurdity is apparent indeed on the face of it, for the
India Company have usually been creditors of the
Bank, and lenders of their surplus funds, instead of

borrowers.
The failure of the Union Bank of Madrid was
announced in the Daily News and other papers this
morning. A report has arisen upon it that the houses
of Maigniac, Smith, and Co., and Baring Brothers,
are largely involved, the latter particularly through a
tobacco contract. There is good reason to believe the
story to be an idle or ill-intentioned exaggeration, if
not fabrication. The Union was a joint-stock bank,
supported by a large proprietary, and will most pro-
bably be able to surmount its difficulties, arising
from a monetary crisis which has been growing from
bad to worse for some months past in Spain, aggra-
vated greatly by the political circumstances of the
times and the intrigues of the French government.
The tobacco contract could involve little loss to the
Baring* comparatively, as the payments for the raw
material are made periodically from the royal manu-
factories, and could never be suffered to fall so much
in arrear.
The Bank of San Fernando, at Madrid, was suf-
fering for the second time under a severe run, bat,
according to the last Makes, had so far met it well.
The following is the balanteralseet laid before the
creditors of Messrs. Johnson, Cohs, and Co., at the
meeting to-day. The statement wpm% and was con-
sidered, highly satisfactory. In malt, it was agreed
to wind up the estate under inspection. The in-
= appointed were Mr. Davidson and Mr.
STATEMENT OF ATFAIIE,4_2IrMSIB. JOHNSON,
COL *AD