The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-06-05 00:00:00

THE NORTHERN TIMES.---LIVERPOOL, THURSDAY.

Parliament, will most likely throw out the present
Bill altogether, and leave the engineers and gentle-
men of the sable robe, on either side, to settle
their differences of opinion. on a subject of which
the Committee must be wholly ignorant, in some
other place and way.

Such a course, under ordinary circumstances,
would be perfectly unobjectionable. The gentlemen
who are for and against the rival plans, have had
years of leisure time to discuss and adjust their
differences of opinion. Failing to have done this,
they can scarcely be surprised that Parliament will
not again hear them agree to differ. The rebuff
which they have received seems, in fact, to have
been suggested by their own contumaciousness and
importunities. And few would regret the salutary
warning which the legislature have given to all
those who may embark in a similar course, if it
was not for the moral certainty that the public
interest must suffer by frivolous and vexatious
delays in the execution of such works, as
those on which the professional belligerents are
engaged in this case. Those members of the
Committee who have given their attention to the
trade of the Mersey, and have watched its rapid
growth, can well understand the increasing

demand which must be felt for dock accommoda-
tion in this port, when the business of the country
returns to that level which will enable us to form
a correct estimate of its value, by the amount of
tonnage which enters and leaves our port. Were
the returning tide of posterity to carry us back to
1852-3, we should require a considerable addition
to our dock space. If the continuance ofpeace should
give the anticipated expansion to commerce
beyond what we witnessed in the above years, our
accommodation for shipping, in central and good
natural situations, would be found injuriously and
astoundingly insufficient.
The Committee, as representing the public weal,
should therefore pause before they reject a great
national undertakng, merely to get rid of personal
jealousies, and local squabbling. That we want
the Birkenhead Docks, and that they would greatly
facilitate the commerce of the port, is proved by
Parliament having sanctioned their construction,
What is strictly speaking, " the Preamble of the
Bill," is consequently proved, and if it is the
opinion of the Committee that they would not be
justified in reversing the decision of former Com-
mittees, with regard to the adoption of Mr REN-
DELL'S plan—simply because the Dock Estate has
changed hands—they can entertain the present
Bill, subject to the engineering plans sanctioned in
the former Acts. The difference between Mr. REN-
DELL'S and Mr. HARTLEY'S schemes are so trifling,
as far as docks and the accommodation of shipping
are concerned, that half a dozen school boys could
be made to understand it in a few minutes, and
although they are both open to the same grave
objections, the Committee are not likely to hear one
word about them; therefore, the only difficulty in
the way of the measure's passing into law, is the
railway hostility which Mr. HARTLEY appears
to have created by his high and dry plans—matters
on which the Committee can surely arrive at a
rational solution, without depriving this important
port for another year of the dock accommodation
it may require within the next six months.

SHOULD the desastre which has recently befallen
M. PLACE, extend to the Credit Mobilier Com-
pany of France, it must prove an European
calamity. Austria and Prussia have already
engaged in the erection of similar superstructures
of credit. Belgium, Turkey, Spain, and Russia
are to follow. The hopes of the entire Continent
are, in fact, wrapped up in the " organisation of
" credit," which is to give fresh vitality to the effete
doctrine of " cash payments." To those who love
to study the effects produced by the operation of
contrarieties and co-existant impracticabilities, we
commend this wide field for observation. There
is something peculiarly inviting about schemes
which propose to wipe off indebtedness by extend-
ing credit. Nations are caught by the delusion quite
as readily, if not more so, than individuals, but
that they survive the agonies of inauguration of
such a fallacy, must be the amazement of all
reflective minds. A country faltering and falling at
every step for money—a State provision wherewith
to support its population and develope its resources
—starts a Credit Mobilier Bank, or a company of
money-brokers, contributions are raised in the
metallic and paper currency of the State, which,
like that of Austria, may be at a heavy discount.
With this capital, the greater proportion of
which must necessarily be paper, they commence
business by making advances to the public, for
which they have to pay the current rates of
interest. The money thus lent is repaid. The
interest goes to the shareholders, and to defray
the expenses of management. Having borrowed
the capital with which they started, and so
absorbed a large share of the available means of
the community, as their business increases they
borrow, and absord more, and supply the public
as our discount houses do. But does this add
one fraction to that money power which enables a
State, and its subjects, to meet their demands by
" cash payments ?" Does it give a nation a solid
and expansive money basis ? Certainly not. Its
operations only widen the circle of indebtedness—
creating an external pressure, which, when it
reacheß the centre, is found to be based on
a very small amount of metallic money, and
a huge mountain of credits. They can make
no increase to the Legal Tender of the countries
in which they are established. They are based
on metallic money, and the further they
go beyond that basis to meet the wants of the
Governments or their customers, the sooner they
will find their doom at hand.

Such institutions are manifestly nothing more
than so many vain attempts at the old absurdity of
getting a " bushel of malt out of the peck of barley."
What three-fourths of the Continental States
require is Legal Tender to employ in the discharge
of debts and taxes. The State alone can take credit
from, and give accommodation to, a whole com•
munity. If they have not the prudence or honesty
to regulate these elements of social prosperity and
progress the fault is theirs, and the consequences
of folly or reckless abuse must recoil on its
authors, and until the truth of these long cherished
and established aphorisms are generally admitted,
the Credit Mobilier Companies of the Conti_
rent will continue to be the most hazardous con-
cerns in which British capitalists can invest their
money. If their respective governments were to give
such companies a credit of 14,000,0001., or some
like amount, and allowed them to add so much to
the cash paying currency of their countries, by
issuing Legal Tender, receivable in discharge of
private and State debts, then the credit basis would
be sound, and their operations would be so many
national blessings.

The burden of the Credit Mobilier song would
then be left on the Crowns of those who sanctioned
their melodious strains. But it will be urged that
there is not a State on the Continent which has
not too much paper afloat already, which is at a
ruinous discount, owing to the impossibility of
converting it into metallic money. Precisely so.
And what, we would ask, is to become of those

credit establishments which enter deliberately into
the vortex of such social disorganisation, and hope
to reap a harvest from the universal inability
to pay ? This does not apply to France ; still, its
credit establishment is based on the possibility of
,eventually meeting their engagements in bullion.
And what would the British public say if the Bank
of England, our bill-brokers, and all those who
incur debts and give credit, were to disregard
such an obligation and go on enlarging their
sphere of operations as though there was not to
be a day of reckoning ? We have been induced to
devote so much of our space to these very popular
institutions, seeing that it is hoped English capital
will flow freely into the coffers 'of their projectors ;
and being anxious to arrest the indiscretion of all
who may have overlooked the unmistakable danger
of engaging in the speculations of those who
expect to make an enormous amount of inconver-
tible debt profitable by an incalculable extension
of credit—we say, look at the misfortunes which
overtake us at home, when we lose sight of those
fixed principles which govern us in the smallest,
as well as largest, transactions of life.

MONETARY AND COMMERCIAL

LIVERPOOL, WEDNESDAY EVENING

There has been no change in the tone of the
Cotton Market to-day, and only a small business
has been done, the sales amounting to 6,000 bales,
of which 1,000 have been taken for speculation.
The Liverpool Share Market continues heavy,
and prices not well supported. The closing
quotations to - day were as folllows :—Aber-
deen, 13 131. Chester and Birkenhead, 154
16. Caledonian, 301 30,. Chester and
Holyhead, 16 161. Eastern Counties, 104- 104,. East
Lancashire, 191 19Z-. Great Northern, 231241. Ditto
A, 9810 s. Great Western, 601 601. Lancashire and
Yorkshire Stock, 92a 923. Liverpool, Crosby and
Southport, 171- 172. London and North Western
Stock, 1011 102. Manchester Sheffield, and Lin-
coln, 291 291. Ditto Pref., 11,4 111. Ditto New 6
per cent. Pref., t- 2- p . Midland Stock, 781 78Z.
North British, 8g 0. North Staffordshire, 6 54d.
South Eastern and Dover, 21 0-16 218. York, New-
castle, and Berwick, 201 20,1,. York and North
Midland, 294. 29a. Leeds Capital Stock, 17Z 17.
Buffalo and Lake Huron, 1 lip. Dutch Rhenish,
1: lip. Great Western of Canada, 25i 258.
Ditto New Shares, 2 7-16 2,1 p. Great Luxembourg,
8 1-16 Bd.

The Solent has arrived to-day at Southampton,
with the West India mails, and has brought nearly
4,000,000 dollars in specie. Her advises in other
respects are not important. Mining operations
continued farourable, whilst the markets were much
in the same state as previously reported.
Messrs. Taylor and Bright, of Hull, give the
following review of the corn trade for the past
month :

The trade throughout the month of May has had no
very marked character. There has been a steady demand
from consumers for the best runs of fresh red wheat, with
which farmers have very freely supplied the different
markets of the country, and it now remains to be seen to
what extent they can keep this up from the present time
to harvest. Our impression being that they do not hold
an average quantity, and knowing that the Baltic and
Denmark, from whence we usually look for aid at this
season, can only inadequately supply our wants, we are
prepared to see present prices maintained, with the most
favourable weather through the season, while anything
adverse would cause great excitement. Of lower descrip-
tions of wheat we are fairly supplied, and they have been
much more extensively used than in former years. Of
potatoes we have had a bountiful supply, and of excellent
quality ; they now, however, begin to be more scarce.
For barley, beans, and oats, there has been a great sale
all through the month, and each article is dearer, with
small stocks ; indeed, the unusual lateness of the season,
has caused the demand for every kind of feeding stuff to
be great. Notwithstanding the excess of rain we have
had during the month, and long continuance of cold
easterly winds, the growing crops are favourably re-
ported of. There is an unusual breadth of land under
wheat this year, and less of barley.

We have advices from Alexandria, Egypt, to the
23rd of May, and quote the following report from
the circular of Messrs. Peel & Co. :
Our last circular was of the 19th ultimo, since which
date the transactions in our market amount to :-70,000
cantars cotton ; 650 do. flax ; 6,000 ardebs wheat ; 7,000
do. beans ; 1,200 do. barley ; and 900 do. sessame, exclu-
sive of very considerable contracts for wheat and beans,
deliverable in September and October next, from the new
crops.—Cotton has continued in good demand, at very full
prices. The sales consist of 450 cantata from Sea Island
seed, at from 141 dols to 16 dols, or Fid to 91d per lb.,
f. o. b. ; 8,250 do. of various Pashas' produce at from 10i
dols to 133 dols, or 6 4-10 d to 8d per lb., f. o. b. ; and
62,000 do. private trade at from si dols to 14 dols, or 5 2-
10d to Bid per lb., f. o. b. ; middling fair is worth 6,14 per
lb., f. o. b., and better qualities higher in proportion.—
Flax continues scarce ; the sales are 250 cantars hand-
dressed at piastres 1471 to 160, or 401 18s to 441 7s per
ton; f. o. b. ; 400 cantars rough piastres 70 to 85, or 191
13s to 231 15s per ton, f. o. b.—Wheat: The contracts for
Saidi, deliverable in September and October, amount to
nearly 200,000 ardebs, at from piastres 65 to 80 per ardeb;
the present value is about piastres 75, or 29s per imperial
qr., f. o. b., exclusive of interest and guarantee. The
sales on the spot have been to complete cargoes, at from
piastres 82 to 90, or 31s 6d to 34s 4d per qr., f. o. b.
The arrivals of wheat and beans have been light. —Beans :
The contracts amount to about 15,000 ardebs, at piastres
56 to 65, present value piastres 63, or 23s 6d per qr.,
f. o. b. The sales on the spot are at piastres 60 to 61i, or
22s 6d to 23s per qr., f. o. b., for private, and at piastres
65 Tarif for Abbas Pasha's, or 24s 7d per imperial qr.,
f. o. b. A few ardebs of new Saidi have been taken at
piastres 63 to 68, or 23s 6d to 25s 3d per qr., f. o. b.—
Barley : The new crop will be •ery abundant. The last
sale was at piastres 58, or 22s 7d per qr., f. o. b., but
much lower rates are expected•—ln Lentils, Indian corn,
and linseed nothing done.—Sessame : 9)0 ardebs sold at
piastres 164 to 170, or 61s 6d to 63s 10d per qr., f. o. b.
—Freights have advanced. The quotations are, for wheat
or beans 6s to 6s 6d for orders, 5s to direct ports ; as bal-
last to Liverpool 4s, to London 4s 6d ; cotton id per lb. ;
flax 2/ to 3l; and wool 3/ to 3/ 10s.—Exchange : The above
calculations are made at piastres 99i per £.—Weights and
Measures : 1 cantar gross=92 lbs. nett cotton=9s lbs. nett
flax. 100 ardebs=6s imperial qrs. beans, 62i imperial
qrs. wheat, &c.—Exports : To all parts : 15,587 cantars
wheat, 692 do. flax, 25,085 ardebs wheat, 8,509 do. beans,
25,073 do. barley, 632 do. lentils, 2,313 do, linseed, 3,466
do. sessame. of which to United Kingdom, 8,055 cantars
cotton, 185 do. flax, 24,b65 ardebs wheat, 7,360 do. beans,
570 do. lentils, 2,313 do. linseed.

Accounts from Trieste report an active state of
trade in the principal articles of import during the
latter part of May, after a long state of stagnation.
Coffee was in demand, but prices were a little
reduced. Some sales were effected in Brazils for
export to the Levant and Greece. For the interior
the demand continued to be limited Prices ruled
as follows :-6,380 bags Rio, from 24 to 29 florins
per quintal; 144 cases St. Jago, fine quality, from
47fl to 48A; and 2nd do, from 40f1 to 4611

sugars were quiet, with a tendency in prices to
decline. The sales comprised 1,583 cases white
Havanna, at 201t1 to 2111 per quintal, and 300 bags
Benares, at 1911 to 1916. Refined sugars have main-
tained their prices with much firmness.
Accounts from the Vienna Bourse dated the 2nd
instant, state that the business of the month had
commenced with very little activity, and the
Austrian Funds had not recovered the gradual
decline of the previous month. The 5 per cent
Metallics were heavy at 837„ being a fall of 11 com•
pared with the same period in May ; and the 41 per
cents were without variation at 74i. Austrian
Railways were quoted at 260, and shares of the
New Credit Bank at 392, the latter having improved
811 during the previous month. Notwithstanding the
exertions of the National Bank to resume their specie
payments and decrease their paper currency, the
report at the close of May showed but a trifling
improvement on the April returns. The items are
as follows :—Total amount of specie in the bank
coffers, 56,914,534f1., (about 5,500,0001.,) being
2,842,59511, larger than on the 30th April ; amount
of notes in circulation, 368,407,663 florins (about
35,000,0001. at the present rate of exchange,) being
only 1,865,4311 less than at the close of the pre-
vious month. The rate of exchange on London is
now 10 3, and on Paris, 119}.
The public sales of colonial wool close this even-
ing, and the following information upon the subject
is taken from Messrs. S. B. Edenborough and Co.'s
circular :

Owing to the great activity in all the manufacturing
districts that has existed since the last sales in March, which
terminated with so much buoyancy, and the consequent
extreme lowness of stock on hand, some advance was anti-
cipated, but not to the extent that took place at the opening
sales, namely Id. to 24d. per lb. This rise com-
pletely. took both home and foreign buyers by surprise,
and, in most instances, caused parties to hold back
in the hope of a reaction, which so soon as pressing
demands were fully satisfied, ultimately took plate, and
prices receded to the closing rate of March sales. Pur-
chases on foreign account have not been important, many
having left without operating at all, expecting to do better
by waiting until July, when the quantity likely to be
brought forward will be so much larger, and theyfancy that
prices in consequence will be easier. The wool continues to
arrive very well got up, and of a healthy character, and
does great credit to the growers of all the colonies, both
Australian and Cape.

The half-yearly meeting of the Peninsular and
Oriental Steam Navigation Company was held to-
day, at which a report was presented, showing the
earnings of the ships to have been satisfactory,
and that no casualties of any. importance had
occurred to the fleet. The chief features of the
report were the erection of a Lighthouse on the
Basses Rocks, in the island of Ceylon, and the
intention of the directors totender for the
Australian postal service. A dividend of 33 per
cent was declared for the half-year ending 31st
March last.
Jay the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Company's
ship Indus, which was to sail from Southampton
to-day, the followiug amount of the precious
metals was exported :--To Bombay, Calcutta,
Singapore, Hong Bong, Canton, and Shanghai,
478,3461 in silver, and 11,340/ value in gold to
Alexandria, Madras, Calcutta, Singapore, and
Hong Kong—making a total of 489,686/.
The Funds experienced renewed depression this
morning, but afterwards assumed more firmness.
The daily fluctuations are still almost entirely
attribute lo to the American dispute, the influences

in operation upon the market being, in other
respects, highly favourable. The mass of mercan-
tile bills falling due to-day, the fourth of the
month, was unusually heavy, but the liabilities
were remarkably well met. In no department
of the Money Market was any pressure observable.
In the Stock Exchange, notwithstanding the
requirements in connection with the Consol settle-
ment, money was obtainable on easier terms, for
short periods, and did not command more than
5 per cent for longer loans. In Paris, to-day,
the Three per Cent Rentes closed at a fresh fail of
per cent. The Bourse can with difficulty sustain
the prevailing inflation, and the weight of the
mass of new securities almost daily created.
The quantity of specie brought by the Solent, from
the West Indies and Mexico, is even larger than
was anticipated--amounting to the unprecedented
total of about .723,400/ sterling, chiefly in silver.
The Corn Market to-day was firm at Monday's
rates. It is noticed that a parcel of grain has
arrived froth St Petersburg. Some of the country
markets held yesterday were rather dearer. The
Railway Share Market to-day was inactive and
flatter, but the decline in prices was not general.
The following were .the closing quotations :
Caledonian, 611. 61k. Eastern Counties, 10 1-16
10 3-16. East Lancashire, 78,1 791. Great Northern
95& 96. Ditto A, 78 79. Great Western, 604
61k. Lancashire and Yorkshire, 921 93.
London and North Western, 102 - 102•77-0
Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire, 29+
291. Midland Stock, 782 781. North British,
351 361. South Eastern and Dover, 72
721. York, Newcastle, and Berwick, 801 81.
York and North Midland, 581 581.

LATEST INTELLIGENCE.

DISMISSAL OF
MR. CRAMPTON.

A Metropolitan cotemporary states that the
American Government had communicated to Mr.
Crampton its decision that he should immediately
quit the United States. In consequence of
this decree, it is stated that Mr. Crampton had
left Washington, and had reached Toronto, in
Canada.