Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-07-06 00:00:00

THE NORTHERN TIMES, WEDNESDAY, JULY & 18t9

really know less about their officials than we do ourselves.
It was said among them, that he had .committed suicide, or
had died of grief, on hearing' of the execntign of his brother
Pih-seen, at Pekin, who, as mentioned in our last issue,
was publicly decapitated for tampering with the papers at
a literary examination, and whose death was the the more
ignominious as it is the only instance of a Mandarin of
the first rank having been publicly executed under
the.present dynasty.
As we anticipated, there has been little foundation for
the rumours in regard to the re-establishment at Canton of
the old Cohong, or authorised association of merchants
having the exclusive privilege of dealing with foreign
traders. There is no intention of re-establishing the
Cohong, but that the principal Chinese dealers in foreign
goods at Canton desired to do so in order to put a stop to
smuggling.
COMMERCIAL.

BOMBAY, June 4.—NeWs of the war and the last advices
from Liverpool have caused a decline ia cotton from sr. to
7r. per cin. Markets drooping, and holders anxioes to sell.
Market for cotton piece goods awl yarns same as last report.
In freights there is a slight decline, the sates for Liverpool
being 20 to 25.

HONG KONG, May s.—Trade dull. Rebels in possession
of the country interrupt transit. Cotton higher, owing to
local demand. The export of tea to Great Britain ihows.a
decrease for this season of 1,300,0001b5. To the 'United
States there is an increase of about one million pounds.
Exchange on London rather higher ; tonnage superabundant.
The market at Amoy overstocked with cotton, yarns, and
shirtin crs.

At Shanghai the import market bad improved consider-
ably. The exports of silk from China to Europe show an
increase of 10,000 bales.

CANADA THE UNITED STATES.

ARRIVAL OF THE NORTH BRITON

The screw steamer North Briton, arrived here this
morning, with Quebec and Montreal advices to the
26th ult., being' four days later than our previous
advices. She had also about 100 passengers.
There is nothing of the least interest from Canada.
The Quebec papers were filled with the war news
from Europe, and accounts of their growing crops,
the latter being of a most glowing description.
Later news from-California had been received via
St. Louis. San Francisco dates were up to the
30th May.

Business at San Francisco is very dull, with no prospect
of a very speedy revival, owing to the large stock of mer-
chandise on hand. Eastern shippers are cautioned against
further shipments.
Advices from Oregon state that the Legislature met at
Salem on the 16th of May. Luther Elkins was chosen
President of the Senate, and W. G. L. Fault, Speaker of
the House.

Judge Williams, and Mr. Grover, late a representative
in the Legislature, are the most prominent candidates to
supersede Delazon Smith in the U. S. Senate.
The news from Frazer River continues to be of a dis-
couraging nature, and the shipments of gold from there are
very small.

Governor Douglas had issued a decree providing for the
naturalisation of aliens after a three years' residence in the
Territory.

A despatch from New Orleans says :
The steamer Cahawba has arrived, with llavannah dates
of the 19th. Sugar is reported dull at 71,c. to 71e.; stock
on hand 400,000 boxes. Lard firm at 19tc. to 20c. Flour,
$4 50c. to $5 50c. Sterling Exchanger .113 to 116 ; draft
on New or at sight, 3to 5 per cent. premium ;on
Boston 5 percent.

COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE

QUEBEC, Saturday, June 25, 1859

Messrs. Forsyth, Bell, and Co., in their circular say

Since we lasfissUed our circular we have had more satis-
factory accounts of- the money market in England,' and
hopes are entertained that with the cheapness of money
confidence will revive, but until we have a more settled
state in Europe.we 'much fear trade will not improve to that
degree, as to be felt advantageously in Colonial produce
generally; certainly not in wood. '
White Pine is accumulating, and although occasionally
a raft changes hands the market is depressed.
lied Pine is also difficult of sale unless very fine, in
quality.
Oak : Some fair lots of last year have been sold at 15d
but the demand is not brisk, though rather better than it
was early last month, as the' shipments have been Pretty
large. New timber has been placed at our quotations.
Elm has •been sold in the 'raft at 11d to is per 40 feet,
while 8d to 9d may be quoted for 34 to 35 feet of ordinary
quality, while inferior is difficult of sale at any price.
Tamaric continues very dull.

Staves have' been telling pretty freely owing to the
reduction in price cat* standards may be quoted at £39 to
£4O, and West India £l2 10s to £l2 15s by large parcels.
In small lots £l2 lOs and £l3 to £l3 lOs is the ruling
price.

Deals are much as we last quoted.
Freights vary little frorn what they were a fortnight ago,
although for the outports vessels are wanted but few are
offering. _

MONTREAL, Friday, June 24, 180.
The weather has continued cloudy, with occasional
showers, but the temperature is seasonably warm. The
accounts from the country generally continue, on the whole,
favourable, though considerably injury has been done by the
two June frosts, particularly the second. Great stagnation
prevails here in every branch of- business, and people- are
thinking of going to the country 'or the sea side,

.• ;
Ashes : The price iti 13ritain'isdeclining, and the letters
are gloomy; COnsumerS there are fully suppliedond. the
quantity,. pressing on the inarket as well as- continually
arriving, is heiivy. In tlies&eireninstances shippers here
are holdina, off, and the prices paying are irregulars: We
quote pots 29s to 29s 9d ; the price paying for small bills
being. 29s to 291 i 3d; or, at the utmost, . 29s 6d ; and for
shipping parcels'29s 9d. Pearls are about 30s.
Furs : The first public sale of raw furs attempted in this
city took place at the store of the undersigned on Thursday
la*; and though but feW consignments haa'been sent to it
by country merchants, the plan not being generally knoWn
or appreciated, the attendance of buyers was good, and the
bidding very spirited, considering the great depression
that has Come.oVer the EnroPein market on account or the
war. The late sales in London have,. we understand, proved
a failure; and •Leipsic fair, which opened briskly, fell off
greatly towards the close. In fact, it is said prices of some
kinds of furs fell nearly 'one half during its continuance.
Notwithstanding these depressing influences— known, of
course, to all the buyers—the furs offered at the sale above-
mentioned brought the following prices, which, we are in-
formed, were their full value, quality considered. The
charges on this mode of selling arc 5 per cent., including
everything but freight : Musk rat, 8d ; fisher, lOs ;
otter, 25s ; Wolfe, 3s 9d ; mink, lOs 9d;' fox, 5s "9d ;
Wolverine, 6s;' coon, a very poor lot, 7}d—all per skin;
beaver, a poor lot, 4s 2d per lb. Joins. DotroALL.

NEw. YORK, Thursday. June 23rdi 18.591
Flour —Receipts fair. State and Western heavy, and 10
cents lower ; sales of Western 3,000 barrels. Superfine
State $5 ,to $6; extra, $6,20 to $6,40; round hoop Ohio,
$6,50 to $6,80; common to h.crood extra western. $6,25 to
$6,75. Southern heavy and. lower ; sales 6,000 barrels at
$6,75 to $7,30 for mixed .to good; $7,50 to $9 for fancy
and extra.
Canadian Flour—Superfine and Extra nominal.
Wheat heavy and' lower ; sales small ; Southern Red
$1,68 ; White $1 78.

Dorm-heavy sales of 16,000 bushels; mixed western at
80c to 82c ; Weitern yellow 84c.
Oats heavy ;. sales of Southern and Jersey at 42c to 44c ;
Northern. and:Western 450 to 50c.

Pork heavy and declining ; sales 100 barrels ; Mess,
$16,40 to $16,50; Prime, $13,70.
Lard quici, ; sales 200 packages at 10Ic to 1110.
Stocks are dull and heavy.
Money and Exchange are without any new features.

'PASSENGERS PER (s.s.) NORTH BRITON, Captain Grange,
from Quebec to Liverpool.—The Hon. George Pemberton,
Sheriff Tho Mas and Lady, Miss Thomas, Miss II Thomas,
Miss C. Thomas, Master .James Cartwright -Stevenson, and
nurse, Misses Reynolds, Miss Austin, Miss C. Austin, Miss
Ste Wart, Mids Gilmour, .A. B. Hawke, Esq., and lady, Miss
Hawke; Messrs. H. Russell, H. Rankin, C. E. Seymour,
Merrill, J. C. Gilmour, Coulson, P. Lintind, James Smith,
Lumley, L. Oliver, Privost, W. Bale, Barry, Edward
Martin, Savage, and Nield.

GREEBA CASTLE ACADEMY, DOUGLAS, ISLE OF MAN.—This
is the most delightful and beautiful spot any where to be found
on the loVely island, and is universally acknowledged to be the
healthiest. Few schools can offer so many advantages of
situation and comfort as' the above, it will be found in
every respect suitable for the residence and education of the
so
iFirst-class
masters provided for each
branchs
of i Prospectuses, .with eopper-plato
n of the
n gsetnrturcyton. o
engraving of the castle, may be had on application. Ttkn
midsummer., vacation will . terminate on the 30th Jr' y.
tonducted to and from. kivorpool by one
of the
PlastE rs, such t 9 th9iT midenceo, qa*44llired, tts

THE FINAWCES OF AUSTRIA.

It is pretty well known what the general state of the
Austrian exchequer is at the :present moment. Little
money, much paper, and an even greater amount -of
liabilities Without assets." Nevertheless,. a closer inspection
of the yearning coffers of the Hapsburg treasury will be
useful, if not in preventing new speculators from blindly
rushing upon their own ruin, at least in enlightening those
political observers, who would wish to coolly calculate the
chances Of a revivification of the corrupt body.

'Austria began the present war with a number of finan-
cial measures, which were scarcely worthy of being
designated by such business-like terms.
No sooner had the army been ordered to pass. the Ticino,
previous to the actual commencement of hostilities, than
the four following expedients were resorted to :

"I. The Vienna Bank suspended its cash payments,
which had been resumed only a short time previously.

" 2. A new loan of 200,000,000 florins was offered in
the market. It being, however, impossible, to get rid
even of a florin's worth of bonds, two-thirds of the loan
were covered by the issue of new notes of five florins each.
" 3. By an Imperial order it was decreed that, in future,
the interest uporrGovernment Stock should be subject to a
certain direct tax, no matter by. whom the Stock was held.
"4. All tolls and duties were to be paid in future in
cash, none of the Imperial bank notes forced upon the
public being accepted for this purpose."

To this series of arbitrary measures anoth(
worse one, was added, a few weeks after the I
been fired. The interest of the national debt was hence-

forth to be liquidated in bank notes only, that part of the
public loans expressly contracted for silver, not excepted.
All -these five expedients were of a kind such as no
Governments ever have recourse to, unless under the most
pressing circumstances, and after their means have been
exhausted by long and unsuccessful wars. Every where
the pockets of the people were drained previous to the
declaration of public bankruptcy. Here the question arises
as to whether Austria has behaved in a bona fide way or
not. In either case, the reply must be equally detrimental
to her reputation. For if she strained every nerve to
satisfy her creditors, before proceeiing- to all but open
'repudiation, the necessary conclusion is, that the country
has been impoverished to a degree that renders the payment
of the 'public. debt 'impossible; and, on the other band, if
she carelessly or wantonly threw off the burden from her
shoulders at a time when she was strong enough to bear it,
the inference, of necessity, would be even more detrimental
to her character. At all events, however, we should bear
in mind that Austria at this time is a State that has sus-
pended payment. The notes she issues to the public in
millions being considered too worthless to be taken back
into the Imperial pockets, their price in Austria has receded
to about half the nominal value. And there is no saying
how many more millions will be' issued, what rate of dis-.
count they will finally reach, and to what distant future
the prospect of their redemption may be postponed by the'
reckless expenditure of a Government obstinate in its
continuance of the war in spite of all reverses.
A glance at the origin and development of this financial
catastrophe will suffice to show from what depths of
mismanagement the evil has arisen. Even at the beginning
of this century the state of the Imperial exchequer was by
no means a brilliant one. A little time after the outbreak
of the French Revolution and the wars consequent upon
that event, the poverty of Austria had become so great as to
lead to the open confession of two bankruptcies within the
short pe!iod between the years 1810 and 1820. -At the
commencement of the year 1811 no less than 833 florins in
in bank-notes were required to cover the sum of 100 florins
in silver ; after this the rate of exchange improved a little,
and in 1813 the old assignats were superseded by new-ones,
in which operation 1 florin's worth of the fresh paper was
given for sof the late issue. But this comparatively
prosperous state of affairs did not continue long. Hostilities
against Napoleon having been resumed; new millions of
entirely worthless assignats Were manufactured, and the
value consequently deteriorated rapidly. At length, in 1818,
when peace had become a fait accompli, the Vienna bank
was again charged to effect an exchange of .the once more
depreciated mites. On this occasion 250 florin assignats
were
,demanded for 100 of the new bank-notes.

In 1848, the price of the bank notes was at par, but the
public debt had augmented quite out of proportion with the
financial resources of the Empire.• In 1818 the aggregate
of the sum amounted to 500,000,000 florins, which went on
increasing until it reached, in 1848, 832,000,00011brins.
By the revolutionary troubles of that year, the finances of
Austria were once more plunged into hopeless and inextrica-
ble confusion, as will be clearly apparent by the following
figures :

Revenue.
1818
1848

Expenditure.
152,955,000f1
166,930,000

There was,' then, in 1818, a surplus of revenue over
expenditure of 7,611,000f1., which, in 1848, by the two-
fold effect of a decrease in revenue and an increase of
expenditure, had been changed for a deficit of 45,110,000f1.
This, in 180, owing to the expenditure having in one,short
year reached the incredible figure of 270,000,000f1.,
amounted to the sum of 125,000,000f1.
Simultaneously with this progressive deficit, the bank,
notes re-commenced their downward movement. In 1845,
the aggregate 'of bank-notes was 180,000,000. In 1848 it
was as much as • 223,000,00, and, in 1849, no less than
250,500.000. As 71`,000,000 of assignats, besides these
bank-notes,. had been issued, the whole mass of paper
money, Withinfonr.years, had been raised from 180,000,000
to 321,000,000. .

Since that time, ten years have elapsed; but they were
no years of peam or quiet for Europe at large, and much
less so for Austria in particular. If four or five years had
been required •to overcome the worst consequences of the
French war in the beginning of this century, the expenses
occasioned to Austria by her armed neutrality during the
Crimean conflict drained the national exchequer almost as
much as an actual campaign. That under such circum-
stances the expenditure of the Empire could not be curtailed
is a matter of course, and the whole amount' of the evil
may be conveniently viewed in, the annexed tabular state-
ment. The expenditure amounted in

1850
18.51
1852
1853
1R54
1855
1856

to 181,000,000 florins
„ 210,000,000 „
„ 188,000 000 „
„ 312,000;000 „

343,000,010
„ 369,000,000
„ 396,000,000
„ 348.000,001
„ 438,000,000
„ 612,000,000
„ 424,000,000

The chief bulk of the increase was caused by the military
department, upon which, against a sum of 25,000,000 florins
in 1845, 218,000,000 were expended in 1855. Thus the
military.expenses.were increased more than fourfold within
these ten years. As to the increase of the disbursements in
the other departments within the same period, that of the
Home Office went up from 16,00(1,000 to 39,000,000 florins;
tliit of the Ministry of Finance from 12,000,000 to
28,000,000 florins; of the Ministry of Justice, from
5.000,000 to 15,000,000 fli)rins ; of the Ministry of Public
Education, from 2,000,000 to 5,000,000 florins: The Court
civil list does not amount to more than 6,500,000 florins,
the Imperial family'being possessed of immense private pro-
perty, acquired from the domains of the state.
_ _ _ _

.
Another interesting series of figures is supplied by a
comparative table of the sums required for the liquidation
of the interest on the public debt. For this purpose there
was set aside in •

1845
1850
1851
1854
.1855
1856

41,000,000 florins
50,041,000 ~
60,000,000 „
72,000,000 ~
77,000,000 „
98,000,000 ~

Thus, within eleven years, the amount of the interest was
exactly doubled, the total .of the public debt reaching
within the same space of time the enormous sum of
1;00,000,000 florins. Bnt even this was not enough.
Before the last day of 1857, the a&rgregate had been
extravagantly forced up to between 1,800,000,000 and
2,00,000,000 florins

Howeier, we ought not to forget the considerable, though
disproportionate increase of revenue, accruing to the state
during flu: same period by the restless activity of Freiherr
von Bruck, Minister of Finance. Against 160,000,000
florins, the auregate of the revenue in 1845, he contrived
to raise it to The sum total of 268.000,000 in 1856. The
principal source of this increase NMI in Hungary, which
up to 1848 had been liberated from all direct taxation, but
after that year had all at once an enormous impost laid
upon its inhabitants. By these and similar means
{taxation in all the provinces was stretched to its utmost
limits), Austria had As% resumed the exchange of certain
c;;;tegories of,paper money for cash, when the present war
in Italy was forced upon her by Napoleon, and the first
signs of amelioration wet, swept away for many f,%,
Correvonderit,

IMPERTAI PARLIAItiENT.

HOUSE OF' LORDS.-TUESDAY.

OUR' ITAVAD.DEFENCPS

Lord Lynllhurst, pursuant to notice, called attention to
the state of the national' defences. He referred' to the
changes in the condition of naval warfare brought about by
modern inventions, and especially by the application of
steam. It was now no Ibugsr possible that England, by
her fleets alone, could maintain herself safe from invasion.
It was, however, necessary to keep these fleets in a condition
of the highest efficiency, anti' to• make them able to cope
with the united navies of any other two countries in the
world. He contrasted, in some detail, the past and present
force of the British and French navies, and' contended that
much remained to be done in order to raise the former to
its proper relative superiority. Last year we were surpassed,
both in steam men-of-war and steam frigates, by the French
navy. In the first we had now recovered our supremacy,

and should increase that supremacy still further next year ;
but our inferiority in frigates, yet remained, and, as he was
well, assured, in the training and discipline of the seamen

Is we bad no fleet to secure us against invasion, we ought
to maintain a land force able to resist any invading force
that might be thrown upon our shores. For this purpose
not less than 400,000 regular troops, and an equal number
of militia, would be required, with additional precaution of
the construction of strong fortifications in our garrisons and
arsenals. With regard to the intentions of the Continental
Pawers, he attributed no ill-faith to the Emperor of the
French, but would not trusta Sovereign who had no reliance

on himself, but who was compelled to act according to the

ought to be secure in her own strength, without trusting
either to the alliance or the forbearance of foreign powers.
Lord Stratford de Redeliffe was not afraid of invasion,

but concurred in the necessity of maintaining a strong
defensive force both by sea and land.

Earl Granville considered that irritating allusions to the
conduct and position of foreign powers were highly injudi-
cious. At no time were we in less peril of invasion. We

were on the best terms with the United States ; Russia was
unprepared for war ; and France was engaged in a struggle

(reservation of

was. materially endangered by the inflammatory langnac,
coming from either branch of the legislature. He dec

aLd relax no exertions, to give ample

strength and efficiency

to the resources of the country