The Sun.
London, England, 1839-12-25 00:00:00

MONEY MARI4ET and CITY NEWS

TUESDAY EVENING.)
TIMES.— Considering the time of the year, there
was a fair amount of business to-day in the foreign ex-
changes. The price of paper on Amsterdam at three
months has risen from 12 3 to 4 last post, to 12 34 to.
On Paris the supply of bills appeared equal to the de-
niand, and, should any large quantity of draughts arise,
as is looked for, by the British Queen steam-packet
from New York, a rise is expected. On Hamburg
not many bills were offering generally ; the rate about
the same as last post. . _

By the usual official return published by the Customs,
the exportation of the precious metals from the port of
Loudon to foreign and colonial ports fur the week ending
the 19th of December is as under :

Ounces.
Silver coin to Granada 2,480
- Jamaica
- Canton ............... 295,805
Mauritius
Bars to Calcutta

In the Malta papers to the latter end of November
some complaints are stated of the Maltese masters of
merchantmen of the operation of that law of the mother
country by which it is required that three-fourths of the
crew of British vessels shall be composed of British
subjects. It was alleged that under this law they were
prevented from employing foreign sailors, at the same
time that it was impossible to procure a sufficiency of
native hands. It is, however, stated, on the contrary.
that no such deficiency of native hands existed, and that
the reason why foreigners would be preferred was the
fact that they could be procured at less wages, and so
their vessels be sailed at a cheaper rate. There was
or course, little disposition to concur in the justice of
the complaints, therefore, as tit is observed that the
wages of British seamen, whether on board men-of war
or merchant craft, were too low already, and much
lower than those of seamen in American vessels. The
rates of wages among the lonian and Greek population
of the Mediterranean are understood to be extremely
low.

According to advices from Alexandria of the latter
end of November, nothing had been definitely decided
on in reference to the free export of corn, which was to
be conceded by the Government. Country proprietors
were, however, to be allowed to export or sell for ex-
portation, subject to such a rate of duty as might sub-
sequently be fixed upon in order to regulate the price
by that of the 450,000 ardebs held by the Government
for sale on its own account, and for which more than
70 piasters had been refused. The export of gray peas
was, however, permitted on payment of a duty of 20
piasters per ardeb, and of 15 piasters for barley. The
markets and the country are represented to be over-
charged with stocks of corn of all kinds, which it was
believed to be the policy of the Government to reduce
to the lowest price, by withholding leave for a free
trade, and then profit by the distress of the holders by
purchasing on its own.terins.for resale at an enormous
advance of price.
Much having been said respecting the certificates
given by Captain Elliot to the British merchants for their
indemnity from the Government for the value of the
opium delivered up, we add the following form of them,
remitted with others to a mercantile house in London, to
claim the sum named therein :
" No. " Macao, June, 1839.

" I, Charles Elliot, Superintendent of the trade of Bri-
tish subjects in China, hereby certify that the opium sub-
scribed below formed part of the quantity surrendered by
- for the service of her Majesty's Government, in terms
of my public notice of the 27th of March, 1839, and for
which surrender they have been furnished with my general
recd;pt and certificate for recovery of indemnity. In wit-
ness whereof I have granted three separate documents, all
of this tenour and date. _ _

chests Patna.
do. Benares.
it do. Maiwa.
41 do. Turkey.

chests.

" CHARLES ELLIOT
" Chief Superintendent of the Trade of British
Subjects in China."

POST.—There was no disposition to take bills to
any extent. Indeed, there is never much business doing
in any way so immediately on the eve of the Christmas
;,91idays. The quotations are in the meanwhile a trifle
bettei. The coupons on the Dutch Bonds will now
be shortly cut off, and made to answer the purpose of
remittances. This cannot but have a favourable influ-
ence on the rates on Holland.
A statement has been made in the American cor-
respondence of a Morning Paper to the prejudice of
one of our leading commercial houses in connection
with the United States Bank. We never thought
very highly of the productions of the " Genevese
Traveller," whoever that wise and solemn personage
may be ; and, with regard to his attack on the emi-
nent firm in question, we are quite sure that as it
is an attack which is, upon the face of ic, clearly
unfounded, so is it also one that ought never to have
been ventured upon. It is not only not likely, but
more, it is not within the compass of possibility, that a
house which was in treaty for the agency of the United
States Bank, and which was affording to its temporary
representative here all the assistaage in its power, as
well by the advance of monies to a largo Amount as in
eve,T other practicable shape, could be doing Anything
calcula,:ed to injure its reputation. ¶lva are afraid the
Geneveso Traveller" is much more disposed to pick
up, and to give currency to, the " whisperings" of ma-
lignant people who have a sioistor purpose to answer,
than to put his employers in posst.,sloa of such intelli-
gence ;as might prove of
.public utility', an do credit
both to himself and those whose interests it id 114 V
to serve. _ _

We do not profess to have had any communication
with the party assailed, nor have we ; but we know
enough of their good feeling towards the United States
Bank and Mr. Jaudon to be able to state with the
most perfect confidence this much in their defence.
The well-known honour and the well-established re-
spectability of the firm may be thought to render a single
word from us in reply to the calumnies of the " Ge-
nevese Traveller," or any other" traveller," wholly need-
less ; anti doubtless it is so. We could not, however,
suffer a matter of this nature to pass over entirely with-
out observation. . _ _

Up to a late hour no account had been received of
the Britiih Queen. The following New York sailing
,ekets may be expected to be heard of by every post:
1,-
Cambridge to Liverpool, the Ontario to Ports-
mouth, b0,:21 leaving no the Ist inst. ; and the Indepen-
dence, also to Liverpool. This vessel was to leave New
York on the 7th inst.

_ -
CHRONICLE.—The English Stock Market has
again been without any feature whatever, be closing
price of Consols being the same as yesterday. fr;:'-'o)e-
-quer Bills, however, are Is. lower. The British OL.:"en,
sow so much over-due, occasions increased anxiety
amongst those connected with the United States. To-
morrow it is fully expected that one or more of the
sailing-packets will have arrived, when we may have
accounts at any rate of the Ist instant, and not impro-
bably those of the ith may come to hand.
The resolutions of a public meeting of Colombian
Bondholders, held at the London Tavern on the 13th
instant, in which a censure was passed on Messrs. Reid,
Irving, and Co., for having, in their capacity as
agents for the Government of Venezuela, ten-
dered to the bondholders terms of settlement of
an insufficient nature, have led to a correspondence,
published in the Morning Chronicle, between
the above-named firm and G. R. Robinson, Esq., the
Chairman of the said public meeting. We fully
approve of the rejection of the proposals made to the
bondholders, as being altogether of a paltry character,
and because they contain no provision for an increase
of the dividends in the event of an improvement taking
place in the financial concerns of the Republic of Vene-
zuela ; but we confess it does appear to us that the
meeting, went rather too far ; for in passing a vote
of censure upon the agents who made the proposals,
gessrs. Reid, Irving, and Co., state that their
situation in the matter is " strictly and purely
ministerial ;" and it is certainly going great lengths
to make them responsible for any unfairness which the
bondholders may consider they have suffered in con-
sequence. It is true, however, that they did express
an opinion upon the subject in reference to the pre-
sent means of Venezuela, to the effect that the pre-
sent state of the revenue of Venezuela does not admit
of their offering a larger money payment than they have
done. In that respect they may have formed an erro-
neous opinion ; and we think they would have acted
more in unison with the strictly ministerial character
which they assume, if they had abstained from giving
such an opinion ; but we do not see that they have com-
mitted themselves so far in that respect as to justify the
meeting passing a vote of censure on their conduct. If
such a system were admitted as a precedent, it might
be attended with most inconvenient results. The pro-
posals in question, practically speaking, are neither
more nor less than those ot An attempt at composi-
tion of a company of. insolvents their creditors,
communicated through the medium of at, agent--a
very common method of arrangement. When the
creditors come to consider the terms, they reject
them. Nothing is more common than this in cases
of insolvency ; but there is no instance in which
the agent making the proposals has been censured in
consequence, where he has strictly confined himself to a
discharge of the instructions he has received from his
employers, in which there is nothing personally disrepu-
table. It frequently happens that firms of the first re-
spectability propose much worse terms to creditrs than
those held out to the Colombian bondholders,o bad as
they arc ; but they have never been held responsible to
the extent which the Colombian creditors wish to fasten
on the agents of Venezuela. The real blame rests upon
parties who originally lent their money to mushroom re-
publics, induced by the high rate of interest which the
investment promised, but which time and reality have
proved to have been the fabrications of financial empi-
rics, by whose artifices John Bull seems to suffer from
periodical fits of susceptibility.
The money which he squandered in loans to the I

South American and other foreign States was immense.
We trust that our countrynwe have had their eyes
opened, and that they will in future see the propriety of
employing their surplus capital more considerately.
In the case now under consideration, Messrs. Reid,
Irving, and Co., exhibit rather an uncalled for anxiety
prevent their countrymen from being further misled by
" unfounded expectations" of future payment. If they
had adhered to their purely ministerial position, they
had no business to inquire whether the instructions in
their possession warranted the existing price of the
bonds or not ; and if, from a desire to put a stop to an
a unfounded speculation,'' they made known the nature
of the proposals to the public prematurely, we should
apprehend thm. the State of Venezuela would have a
much better right to find fault than the creditors of
that Republic.

HERALD.—The non•arrival of the British Queen
steamship up to the moment we are writing has very
materially increased the apprehensions which were pre-
viously entertained, that some accident has happened,
by which her arrival to her port of destination has been
so long delayed. Insurances have been effected at
Lloyd's Coffee-house to-day on second parcels of goods
shipped on board of the British Queen, at 4 to 5 per
cent., and should her arrival be much longer delayed,
no doubt the rates will be increased to 15, or even 20
per cent.
The accounts from the manufacturing districts re-
ceived to-day are of a most unfavourable character.
The rumours circulated that several large orders had
been received in Lancashire, for goods for the markets
of India, have not been confirmed. The manufacturers
in the provinces, as well as the merchants of the city,
are awaiting the receipt of the letters by the British
Queen with the utmost anxiety, in the expectation that
they may contain orders for goods suitable to the mar-
kets on the other side of the Atlantic.
The committee of the Colombian Bondholders assem-
bled at their office, this afternoon, to consider what terms
they should suggest to the commissioners of New Gre-
nada, Venezuela, and the Equador, on behalf of the par-
ties they represent, as a compromise for the claims they
have for the loans advanced to the state of Colombia.
The proceedings of the committee being merely prelimi-
nary, we are not enabled to state the result of their deli-
berations. In fact, whatever course the committee, as a
body, may feel disposed to adopt, must be submitted to
a general meeting of the bondholders for their approval
before any proposition can be sent in to the representa-
tives of Venezuela, New Granada, or the Equador, now
in this country. The value of Colombian Bonds has
been reduced to-day to 24 ; but the last prices were
24,34. Mexican Stock closed at 28i, and Dutch Two-
and-a-Half per Cents at 52a. Spanish Bonds rallied
this afternoon from 241 to 25i, but without any appa•
rent cause beyond the operations of the speculators, who
are anxious for a rise. The report that the Govern-
ment of Spain is about making arrangements to pay the
dividends on its foreign debt, currently circulated in
many quarters to-day, is wholly unworthy of public
credit,

Several of the Joint-Stock Bank Shares were in re-
quest this afternoon, but prices did not rally. The
Railway Shares looked more firm.

SUN.—Up to this hour we have not received any
tidings of the British Queen steam-packet from New
York. The apprehensions that some accident has hap-
poled to her are almost hourly becoming more general.
The Foreign Exchanges were rather higher this af-
ternoon. The closing rates were the following :—On
Paris 25f. 60c. to 25f. 621 c. ; on Amsterdam 12 31 to
12 31 ; on Hamburg 13 91- ;on Frankfort 150 f ; and
on Antwerp 12 34.
The Funds closed heavily. Consols for the opening
at 91i to 92 ; Exchequer Bills at 6s. to 4s. discount ;
and India Bonds at 7s. discount. Bank Stock, how-
ever, kept up to 178, and the 14:duced Three-and-
a- Half per Cents. rallied to 98i.
The Foreign Securities were rather better this after-
noon, but there was little business done. Nothing posi-
tive transpired relative to the measures which the Com-
mittee of Colombian Bondholders intend recommending
to the body at large. The Stock thisafternoon was at 24k
to i , Spanish Actives rose to 25, and Portuguese New
Five per Cents, to 33i. Dutch Two-and-a-Half per
Cents. did not rally, leaving off at 52i, and the Five
per Cents. only improved from 97 to 98.
The Shares were steady. The Brighton at 15 dis-
count, the Birmingham at 52 prem., and the South-
ampton at f discount.

ELECTION OF COMMON COUN-

CILMEN.

State of the Polls at the final close :—(Tuesday.)
CORDWAINERS' WARD.
Heath, Deputy, 48 ; Williams, 36 ; Croucher, 46 ;
Lott, 44 ; Joyce, 44 ; Mundell, 44 ; Jones, 42 ! #Joliff,
42 ; Culverwell.