The Sun.
London, England, 1839-12-30 00:00:00

MONEY MARK ET and CI rY NEWS

(SATURDAY EVENING.)
An intimation that the Manchester Ch amber of
Commerce have had a meeting in the course of the
week to receive a report from the Board of Directors
on the effect of the administration of the Bank of Eng-
land upon the commercial and manufacturing int crests
of the country, seems to have produced some feeling of
alarm in the Bank parlour. A short account only of
the meeting has been given, but enough has transpired
to show that the general movement of the commercial
body has at length commenced, which is to put the merits
of that administration to the proper test. It is confessed
by the parties who take the lead on this occasion that they
were ignorant till lately of the causes which produced
those rapid alternations of &stress and feverish ex-
citement to which they have been subjected, but
their recent inquiries have led them, it seems, to fix the
whole upon the management of the Bank of England,
not through any fault of the Directors themselves, but
the inherent defects of the system which they have
been coiled upon to administer. In the report lead
to the Manchester meeting a calculation is made
that the recent effort made by the Bank to recover
six or seven millions of specie bad caused a loss
of 40,000,0001. to commerce. We have said re-
peatedly, and are not disposed to retract that opi-
nion now, that the Directors of the Bulk hare to
share the blame in a considerable degree with the
system itself ; but, whtrever the fault may lie, there
san be no more acceptable service conferred upon the
commercial interest than to subject both to the freest
inquiry possible, and there can be no better source
from which to press the inquiry than the leading men
of the great manufacturing districts, who are rendered
by their position in great measure independent of the
Bank of England, which, there is great reason to fear,
from many past occurrences, is not the case in the
metropolis. A firm demonstration from Manchester
and Liverpool must force the subject upon the atten-
tion of Parliament, and that before the Session is far
advanced.

A project of a law for increasing the post-duty,
and abolishing the stamp duty, as far as regards
printed papers (that is, journals, periodicals, music,
prospectuses, notices, and placards), has been sub-
mitted to the French Government. The post-duty
on books and prospectuses as established by thu
law of the 4th Thermidor, year 4, is sc. for a
sheet of 25 square decimetres, 5 liards for a sheet
of 26 decimetres, 6 for one of 38, and so on. The post-
duty on journals and p,riodicals fixed by law of the
14th of December, 1830, and decree of the 10th of
May, 1837, is 4c. for a sheet of 30 square decimetres
and under, and 4c. for every sheet exceeding 30 deci-
metres or fraction thereof. The projected law having
for its objects the removal of all that is arbitrary in
the receipt of the post duty, the advantage of the
journals and books in the departments, and the
disencumbering the central administration of the
masses of prospectuses, notices, and placards,
with which the mails are always loaded, pro-
poses to effect these objects by adopting unity of
taxation. While the law of the year 4 recognised
sheets of 25 decimetres, the projected law would re-
cognize none under 50. The law of December extended
the dimension to 30 decimetres, doubling the duty for
the least fraction, while in the projected law the duts
of 5c., established on a proportion of one centime for 10
square decimetres, would gradually increase at the rate
of one centime for every 10 decimetres or fraction
thereof, above the dimensions of the 50 fixed as the basis.
Thus the prospectuses wi'ich by the law of 4 paid but a
liard would pay 5c., as WO d also those journals which
now pay but 4c. no de ..tn of the projected law is to
accompany this increase ~t d ity with an abolition
of the stamp on printed papers. Those who are fa-
vourable to the projecteu denv that the stamp is
an instrument of control. Among the remarks on the
journals, it is said that the Journal des Debits, the
Constitutionnel, and the Gazette de France, are the
only papers of which it can be positively affirmed
that the value exceeds the capital expended. The
inconveniences attendant on sending papers to the Stamp-
office, which are particularly felt in the departmer is
where the stamp-offices are more imperfectly organised
than at Paris, and the bad effect of a stamp on an elegant
piece of music, or any other work in which value touch
depends on beauty of appearance, are also made to bear
on the question. The advantages held forth by the
adoption of the new law to journals are an increase of
size, and of the number of subscribers by the reduction
of expense. An improvement of the reviews, which
are disadvantageously contrasted with those of England,
is likewise promised as a consequence, as well as the
conveniences resulting from the facilities afforded to the
publication of placards and prospectuses. A curious
tact comes to light under the discussion, which is, that
the Moniteur is indemnified by the Treasury for the
expenses of stamping.