The Sun.
London, England, 1852-02-18 00:00:00

WEDNESDAY EVENENG, FEBRUARY 18, 1852.

THE SHARE MARKETS.

BRITISH RAILWAYS.

Railway&

PAW.

Nominal Prices,

Business dons
to-day.

Aberdeen.. • • • •
Ambergate, Nottingham,
Boston, & E. Juncion
Belfast and County Down
?Arming.. Wolverhamp.,
and Steer Valley
Dlrkenh., Lan., & Cheek
June., late 881. 65. 841..
Do. Chest. & Birkenkd.,
601. & 251. Consolidated
Do., do., 201. ••
Bristol and Exeter..
Caledonian • • • • • •
Chester and Holyhead
Imblin and Belfast Junet.
Dublin and Kiagetovin—
Dandalk and Enniskillen
Dundee, Perth, and Aber-
leen Junction .• • •
Do., New .. •
East Anglian (261. L.
E. and L. & D.) •• .•
Do, (181. E. & IL)
Eastern Counties • • • •
Eastern CI-den, class A,
late E. U. shares • •
Do. do. do. ..
Do. de., B & C shares
East Lancashire • • ••
I), New quarters • •
East & West India Docks
and Birm June.
East & West York. June.
Edinburgh and Glasgow
Eden., rerth, and Dundee
Glasgew and south-West.
De. do. G.D. & C.ateck
Great Northern
Do. halves, A. deferred
Do. halves, B, 6 Per et.
Great r!antherr. and
Western, Ireland ..
Great Western ..
Lancaster and Carlisle
Do. thirds • • ..
Lancaster and Preston
Lancashire and orkshire
Do. quarter el-aces
Do. fifths .. •
Do. West Riding Union
Leeds Northern ..
Liverpool, Crosby, and
Southport • • •.
London and Blackwell ..
Do., Tilbury Ext. Scrip
London, Brighton, and
South Coast
London and N.-Western
Do. do. cinarters
De. fifths • • • • ..
Do. 101. sh.• 31•& It (a)
London and 5.-Westera •
Do. new 501. ..
Do. new 401. .• ••
Manchester, Buxton, and
Matlock ••
Manchester, Sheffield, &
Lincolnshire
Do. Manchester and
Lincoln Union ..

113( to 11%
5U —5%

11% 3i
5%3r

9% a 10%

17%
100

die.
8b —B7
15 ISM
19 19%
20 —lB d.

116% %
15
19 %

slalland ••
Do. 501. shares ..
De. Birming & Derby
Ilialand Gt. West. (Ire.)
Newcastle and Carlisle..
Do. quarter shares ..
Newmarket ..
sewport, Abergavenny,
and Hereford
Newry and Enniskillen..
°wry, W arrenpoint, &
ite,strevor
:Scrfolk •• .•
Do. New 201. shares..
Northern Counties Union
North British..
North Devon ..
North Staffordshire ..
North-Western ••
North & Sth.-West. Jane.
Oxford, Worcester and
Wolverhampton.. ..
Se9ttish Central
Seottish Midland ..
Do. new ..
Shrews. & Birm„ Class A
Do. Class 8.. .. • •
Screws. & Hereford., Old
Do., do.. New • •
Shrewsbury and Chester
(Nor. W. Nam) • • ••
Do. halves
Do. Oswestry
Do. New....• .. • •
Shropshire Union • • • •
Do., A, B, C, & D, folly
paid up at per cent • •
South Devon ..
South• Eastern .. • •
South ..males..
south Yorksh. and River
Dui
5h..1., Roth., and Goole,
South Division
attains nd D.nfermlinO
Stockton and Hartlepool
ruff Vale .. .. •.1
Taw Vale Extension ..
Thames Haven Dock and
Railway .. • •
or Neath
Waterford and Kilkenny
Waterford and Limerick,
Waterford, Wax., Wick.
and Dublin ..
West Cornwall , •• • •
Whitettaven and Farness
York, Newc., & Berwick
Ditto and Newcastle
Extension
Ditto G.N.E. purchase
York and North Midland

7.1-1 C M S

5% -6%

3% -3%
2% -2%
7% -7%

4% -ISM

ib 16% x.cll

49 -50

26 -28
4)4 - 5

100
6 6 6

18% - 18%
5% - 5
13% - 13%

100
au
1 13 4
47%
100

853{ —B6 x.d
74 —77
7% —8 P.

66% —6N
7% —6% cl.
d.
14% —15%

. •
. -•
•
7 -7%

94 -95

114% —ll9
3% —3% P
35f, 3%P•
1% 110.
85 —B6 z.d
die. zd
16% 834 dia. zd

100
42%

2% -2%

2334 30

4 2 0
100

314 di'.
57S 58
28 —3O

100
473•.

15 -83 ii

434 4 Ms,
die.

ii -25

2S
17%
19
334

14 —i2
3N( 3 dia.
675
8 —77 % dis.
87 —B% dis•
dis.
%du. par

7% %

3%
lb% x.d

au
all
all
1
634

35% (84%x.d
85%34 i 14% 35
74%

115% 16
13% 4%
9 —1936
9
4 3 dia.

.. ••• • •

12 —l4
6 7
9 —lO
dls... •••• ••
s% 3 d.

26%
4%

18 -15

20-34 2%
30 - 300%

3% -2% &

iso 152 A.. 1
••

65% 66 65%

94 %
119% % %

$5 $43 x.d
34%

29 g 29

67% b 7 % %
__ Di% 87

a X %

5% % %

23%

to dig.
9% =IOU
34
44
163 w 17%

—5, dia.
17% 18
734 7

12%
53
2134

rxxince

'TA.3IB.

Agua Fria ... ...

Anglo CaAlton Jan :: ::

Australian .... .. ::::
Ave Mari* .........

Blaenarvon Iron & Coal
British Austira/ian Gold
British Iron . ......
Brazilian Imp (Is. 51. p.)
Do. Cocaea. and Cuiabs

Do. St. Jobe , del ltey..
Cobre Copper
Copiapo —•
Eng. &Auatr aillan Copper
Gold Mounta lit •
Great Polgoot h
Mexican& t. American
Nouveau Moxi de........
Santiago de Ct aba
Tin Croft • • • •• •••• • • • •
United Maxi a sn.. • • • • • •
West Maripc ts a ..... .

Assusissis
British Nort i America..
Colonial ...... ••..•• • • • •
Commercial CI f London..
London Join A Stock ..
Landon and iffeetminster
National Pr. to rincial Eng.

De. New . • • ..
National of I reland .. • •
Oriental inn a k Corporat.
Provincial c f Ireland. • •

Do. New ... ........
Union of A. s itralia ~ • •

Do. New .
enlon of L. )1 don
Unto!: or vA Jiria

1111

Gen. Steam Navigation .
renin. & ri ental Steam.
Ditto ditto

Royal Mail Steam ......

k`aid.

Nominal Vrices.,

tloz
!o-day.

2% 76 %;
13

(We can•oE)t be animal
still not be influenced by

MONEY and COMMERCIAL NEWS.

CITY, TWO O'CLOCK.

The sales of Cotton at Liverpool yesterday were es-
timated at from 12,000 to 14,000 bales, of which 1,000
Surat ski 500 American were taken for export, and
1,500 Surat and 1,500 American on speculation. The
market closed with an upward tendency, and American
and Surat were id. per lb. higher, and all other kinds
were tight.—Railway Shares were flat at lower prises.
Some conversation has taken place upon the nume-
rous failures that have occurred in Dublin, and the im-
pression prevails with many that the trade of that city is
in a state of decay. We believe, however, that this is
entirely erroneous, for it must be remarked by those
who pay attention to the subject, that the parties who
have suspended are mostly in the colonial and provision
branches,, and these it is well known have been more
fluctuating than any other. Compared with what has
occurred in London, the liabilities of the different
firms are unimportant, and many of them will pay a
very fair dividend. We apprehend that the
same mistake has been made throughout the
world with regard to the future prices of tropical staples.
There cannot be any safety in speculating for a rise at
the present day, and we should strongly deprecate fal-
lacious hopes, because the sooner a permanent level is
estsbliehed the better it will be for the growers as well
as the merchants. Taking Sugar and other articles in
the Calcutta and West India markets at prices which it
seems impossible to realise in London, is a poceeding
which any school-boy would understand to be ruinous in
its results, and yet throughout the past year this may be
said to have been done by merchants of standing and ex-
perience. We have before explained, however, that this is
not so much an error of judgment as a compliance with
force of circumstances, for if our manutactures are
pressed into the Eastern markets beyond the power of
consumption, there is no alternative but to accept what
we can get in return, and the greater the detav,nd the
higher, of course, will be the prices. In Mincing-lane,
at present, there is a far greater amount of caution, and
we could hardly point to one article in which the sales
are more than equal to the average, weekly consumption.
These may give a dull appearance to general trade,
but it is a healthy system, and those only who think
of becoming suddenly rich, and-who, as often, are made
irretrievably poor, will object to it. It is satisfactory
also to know that our provision markets are firmer, and
that the Admiralty thinks it advisable to give a prefer-
ence to Irish cured meats. This was proved by the
smaller quantity of American taken when the last con-
tract was entered into. Grain, likewise, is not expected
to-go lower, and the late harvests in the north of Europe
will not leave any large surplus for exportation to Eng-
land, unless a greater temptation is offered with regard
to prices.

Objections are making to the Australian Mail con-
tract, and Mr. French urged upon Parliament last
evening that Mr. Walton had not performed his agree-
ment in forming a company. This is obviously an
error, because we have already been informed by public
advertisement that the Australian Mail Steam-packet
Company have purchased two screw-vessels, which will
be ready in April to make a commencement; and al-
though we have before urged that we require at least, in
the present altered circumstances of the colonies. a
monthly communication, we must likewise feel gratified
that the movement has been made, and are certain that
the feeling in the City is that the new company has taken
it at an 'exceedingly low figure.

The Amsterdam Stook Market on the 16th inst. was
well supported for Dutch Bonds. South American
were likewise in request.

The more the question of the Exchequer-bills is con-
sidered, the greater the dissatisfaction expressed with
the conduct of Sir Charles Wood in not availing himself
of the exiatiog abundance of money to effect some re-
lief of the existing burden. It is true, the saving won
the 8,500,0001. falling due would be only about 32,0001.
if the daily interest were lowered to lid. per cent.,
but this is an object, and with the existing high pre-
mium upon the bills, it is obvious the public could
obtain the saving. We apprehend the Government in
its weakness thinks to" curry favour" with the banking
interest by postponing the measure, but in this they
may be mistaken, seeing the general impoliCy of their
proceedings and their consequent unpopularity.
The Stock Market is still heavy and there is very
little money business doing. Consols bring 97-1 for
Transfer and 97i to # for Account. The premium on
Exchequer-bills has been 58a. to 61a., and on India
Bonds 695. to 718. premium. The New Three-and-a
Quarter per Cents. are 99i to and the Three per
Cents. 97i to 98. Bank Stock is very firm at 217.
Foreign Securities have been a good deal dealt in.
Spanish Five per Cents. have been 231; and the Three
per Cents. 41. The Deferred are 18i 4, and the Certi-
ficate has risen to 1 a per cent. Portuguese Four per
Cents, have been marked 32i I. Grenada Bonds have
been quoted lower, sales being made to realise profits.
The Active have been 214 and since 20k. Equador are
also down, being 4 Deferred Grenada have re-
ceded to 71. These stocks have been run up too fast,
and not altogether upon valid ground, for one follows
the other. Venezuela Old Stock is at 371 i. Belgian
Four-and a-Half per Cents, are 91/, and Dutch Four
per Cents. 92 to I. Mexican Stock has been worth
32i j for Money, and up to 32i and 33 for Account.
Peruvian Old Bonds are at 98k.
Railway. Shares have been rather weaker, but sales
have not been pressed.
Gold Mines have been firm and a moderate business
is doing in them.

The following is from the Committee of Spanish Ame-
rican Bondholders respecting the Equador debt:—
At a meeting of the Committee of Spanish American
Bondholders, held to-day, it was determined, in pur-
sua►nce of a resolution passed at a meeting of Colombian
Bondholders, held some time since, to dispatch Mr.
Eli%s Mocatta of Liverpool, to Quito, to endeavour to
effect an adjustment of the foreign debt of the republic
of the Equador."

THE ST. ALBANS DISFRANCHISE-
MENT BILL.

- - -- • ---- .
The House of Commons on Monday night presented
one of those scenes of injured innocence with whieb it
periodically wipes off the stain of continual corruption.
The smut is always accumulating on the coalheaver's
face, but about once a week he finds sufficient leisure
and soap to restore his complexion to a sort of conven-
tional cleanliness. In the case of the House of Commons
this ceremonial purification is repeated two or three times
in a session, and, as might be expected, with the greatest
zeal on the occasions of the most crying scandal. St.
Albans is not unfitly compared by its unfortunate re-
presentative to the scapegoat on which the House of
Commons grafts the sins of every one of its Members,
on the supposition that, by exterminating that one
borough, the House will be left perfectly pure. That is
the Levitical notion. In these days, perhaps, we should
borrow cur images from some of those gigantic systems
of sewerage which lately divided the attention of the
sanitary world. St. Albans is the great sump or monster
cesspool into which the reeking ebeminations of
St. Stephen's are carried away, though, as it
appears, we only excbauge one difficulty for
another; for how is St. Albans itself to be dis-
posed of ? The process ot self-purgation attempted
on Monday is very ingenious, and nothing could exceed
the reality with which the various personages threw
themselves into their parts; but, after all, the annihilation
of a nuisance is all but impossible, There are a thou-
sand excellent plarls by which furnaces are warranted
to consume their own smoke, and we have no doubt they
have all been tried at Buckingham Palace; but when we
stood before the new front, of that edifice last Saturday
afternoon there rose from behind the figure ot Britannia
a dense column of smoke that would have done honour
to any brewery in the metropolis. We should not be
surprised it the new patent corruption-consuming sp-
paratuse now on trial in the House of Commons, should
attain but a partial success. A sagacious contemporary
made it a point the other day in favour of the new Par-
liamentary Representation Bill, that whereas the first
Reform Bill might be compared to Hercules in his cradle
strangling the serpent sent to devour him, the present
measure represents the adult hero with nothing further
to destroy, his work all done, himself' a gentleman
of leisure and independence, in easy circumstances,
much like a modern man upon town. That, of
course; is the delusion which plausible men are always
palming on fools. Strangle your serpent, do your
Schedule A once for all, or, if there must be a comme-
morative sacrifice, slay a St. Albans once in ten years,
and you may then say to your soul, " Soul, take thine
ease; eat, drink, and be merry." But on this point our
learned contemporary, and, we will add, the concoetors
of the new Reform Bill, and the sacrificers of St. Al•
bans, are all wrong. When Hercules grew up, instead
of a simple serpent, he had a fifty-headed Hydra to kill,
besides other monsters; and that is exactly the sort of
work which the Hercules of our days, the British House
of Commons, has to accomplish, and will have to the
end of the world.
Yet it must be confessed that the various actors in
the farce of Monday night did their parts well. Sir
George Grey was full of admiration at the very com-
plete way in which " the Act of last session" had
worked in detecting and exposing the corrup-
tio❑ of St. Albans. Read his speech, gentle
reader. Except the single expression, " almost un-
precedented," there is literally hot a syllable in
it chat would lead one to suspect bribery had ever
bean heard of in this country before. Had be been
describing the unparalleled atrocities of Burke and Hare
he could not have been more indignant and more simply
bent on the work of discovery and retribution. He
wiped his mouth, and sat down tee champion of poli-
tical purity. But where there is virtue there will ever
be calumny also, and the Minister found himself auda-
ciously accused from the very record on which his
speech had been framed. Mr. Whiteside asked " whe-
ther the attention of the Right Hon. Baronet had been
directed to that part of the St. Albans evidence which
stated that Government places had been the reward of
persons who had committed corruption on behalf of
Reform candidates?" Sir George Grey was at no loss
for a reply. " He was ignorant of any such rewards
having been given by the Goverment to which he be-
longed for any such corrupt practices." The imputa-
tions which the Horne Secretary had to meet were vast
but general; and perhaps it is easier to ignore, in
set phrase, the corruption of an (invite, of a Legis
lature, or a Government, than the bribery of at,
individual; but there were those present who had
to meet the most direct personal charge of malprac-
tices, and they did their part as well as Sir George Grey
had done his. Foremost of these is Mr. Jacob Bell.
This much-injured man, brought fairly to bay, has at
last made a capital fight. He confesses the sins o St.
Albans. On that point, indeed, he says that, like the
House of Commons, he has derived great light from the
published evidence. He begs the Hon. Members not to
condemn him by the perfect insight they now have into
the wrongs of St. Albano, but to put themselves into his
situation while he was still a raw candidate, as must of
them, indeed, poor creatures, have been in their day.
What did he do ? He accepted the unanimous invita-
tion of the borough. He prepared an address with the
usual ingredients from the new Whig pharmacopoais.
tie showed it to those high authorities Mr Coppock
and the Secretary of the Treasury. Did not
that show at least a disposition to be right, and
where could ho fiuj better advisers ? Be toes
his committee, he canvassed the electors,
be submitted to a searching t xsmination as
to his political tenets, and le joked to find himself ap-
proved by his cautious and discriminating critics. He
thought it tight to confide in those who placed confi-
dence in him. What is more generous than a❑ inter-
change of confidence? He found the Liberal cause
staked in his own person, and determined to go on. He
was victorious. When all was over, and the thing was
dose, the bills began to come in. He had had his sus-
picions before, and now the reality dawned upon him
that he had been victimized at every stage of the affair.
He repented, but too late. But, after all, he asks is his
own case much worse than the average? "Re has had
the excitement of an election, the luxury of a petition,
and the further indulgence of a commission, and the total
sum of his expenses has not exceeded 4,3001." Why, it
this is corruption, it is very cheap corruption. St Albans,
old as it is, does not know how to charge. We will
warrant that it is far below the average of the sixty-seven
boroughs which Lord John Russell proposes to perpetuate.
Such is Jacob Bell's defence, and we have hardly
done justice to its simplicity. His colleague's story was
the same. Some days after the election the bills began
to come in, and he found there had been bribery. Mr.
Bagshaw represents Harwich, and says whatever the
case has been, there is no corruption now. Sir J. Wil-
loughby did once represent Harwich, and says that.
whatever the case now is, there was no corruption then.
There are evident gaps in the chronology of Harwich.
The last of these innocents is Mr. Hayter. He knows
nothing of corruption. Nobody has asked him for
places, and he has promised none. He cannot think
what people mean by these insinuations. All he knows
about St. Albans is, that he happened to meet with Mr.
Bell in the presence of Mr. Coppock, when Mr. Bell
showed him the address he had issued to the electors of
St. Albans. All he said on that occasion was, that be
thought the address a good one; that it appeared quite
consistent with Mr. Bell's views, and he hoped it would
be found equally consistent with the views of the electors
of 'St. Albans; from which expressions we may at least
infer that Mr. Bell stood in the same relation to the ad-
dress as the electors of St. Albans did, and bad as much
to do with its composition. Who, then, was its author,
and what was the meaning of this mysterious conference
between the Secretary of the Treasury, the Whig bo-
rough agent, and the candidate for St. Albans?—Times.

LLOYD'S SHIPPING--(THIS DAY.)
LONDON, FEB. 18.—Wind at BOOR W.N.W., fresh
bre, zt., fin., clear dry weather.
TORBAY, FEB. 17.—Wind N.W., strong—Pat back
Hope, Havannah.
WATERFORD, FEB. 16.—Wind W.N.W., strong—Sid.
Clarence, Sydney, New South Wales.
SUNDERLAND.—Sid. Royal Oak, New York.
HULL, FEB. 17.—Wind W., strong—Sid. Gremanica,
Greenland; Rose, ditto.
SHIELDS.—Sid. Alexandrine, Aden; St. Lawrence,
St. Helena.
LIVERPOOL, FEB. 17.—Wind W.N.E. to N.W.--
Arrd. Oliveer Van Noord, Shanghai; Garland, Callao;
Gardyne, Valparaiso; Corinthian, New Orleans; Saw
toga, Now York; Perseverance, St. John's, New Bruns-
wick; Empress, ditto. Put back, Gossypurn, Aden.,
The Antarctic, for New York, has put back with da-
mage ar.d part of cargo thrown overboard,
having been
on Blackweter Bank. The Marion, from Ceylon, has
arrived at the Mauritius with loss of foremast, mainmastsprung, and other damage. Off port, Urgent, Essex, anti
Regina. W.S.W
DEAL, FEB. 17.—Wind N.W. to N.E.; P.24'
moderate.—Arrd. Sir Beira, Vs heave ; Jamestown,
Whampoa; Lady Sale Gambia; Krou Princess Caro--
line, Berbice. Arrived' from the River Corsair's Bride,
Algox Bay ; Tigris, Jamaica. Sid. Hannibal, Shanghai;
Paradise, Calcutta; Arethusa, Algoa Bay. Arrd. from
the River Giorioss, Calcutta ; Governor M'Lean, Africa;
Reward, Jamaica; Forest
,Queen, New York; Sham-
rock, ditto.
SOUTHAMPTON, FEB. U.—Sid. Clyde steamer, W est
Indies.
OFF FALMOUTH, FEB. 17.—Wind W.N•W•••—Diana'
Buenos iNyv-s, and sailed for Alton&
QUEENSTOWN, FEB 16.—Wind W., strong and squall,' •
—Arrd. Colooney, Callao; Hugh Bailment, Callao.
Three large men-of-war are entering the harbour just
at post hour, and the Lisbon fleet are supposed to be
coming in.
FALMOUTH, FEB. 16.—The Charles, of and for Ply-
mouth, trorn the Bay of Honduras, was abandoned, 23d
Jan., lat. 25 N., Jong. 30 W., with loss of rudder and
•
three feet water in her hold; crew saved.
PORTSMOUTH, FEB. 17.—The Hope, of Brill:tam,
Antwerp to Belfast, is supposed to have foundered,
having been cut down to the water's edge by collision,
last night, off St. Albans, with the Jacobus, Rotterdam
to Beavia, which has put in with the crew of the Hope
on board her.
.&NGLESEA, FEB. 17.—The Maria Emilia, Liverpool
to Naples, is on shore on Dulces Ruck,
Lynas, full of water. near rota