The Sun.
London, England, 1839-12-31 00:00:00

MONEY MARKET and CITY NEWS.

(MONDAY EVENING.)
TlMES.—Business at the Stock Exchange s 11
continues very inactive. Little has been done in Eg-
lish Stock, and the few bargains made were at to
9-2,1- for the Account. Money being easier, Exclie.luer
Bills were at Is. discount to par.
In the Foreign House Dutch Stock was at 53 to
53-,k, (money) for the Two-and-a-Half per Cents., and
98-k to 9S:I- for the Five per Cents. This advance was
owing to the letters from Amsterdam, by which it ap-
peared that Dutch Stock had improved nearly per
cent.
It was settling day in the Railway Share Market.
The shares *illy maintained their prices.
The notion of introducing the decimal method of
computation into this country, with a
.modifiFation
of coinage suitable to that method, has given. rise to
several plans as to the best mode of applying the
decimal principle. One schema proposes to take ad-
vantage of the circumstance that the great old penny
of George 111., still in circulation, weighs about five
farthing, while the common penny weighs about four.
The idea is to strike a silver coin, equal to two shil-
lings and 1-10th of a pound, which is to be called a flo-
rin ; and a 10th part of this florin is to be represented
by another new coin, under the name of the stiver. This
stiver is to be proclaimed equal to 10 farthings, five of
which will be represented by the great and four by the
small penny. The coinage would then be thus ar-
anged

10 farthings = 1 stiver
10 stivers = 1 florin
10 florins = 1 pound

Under this arrangement the present shilling would
till b* an available coin as the half-florin, and be equal
Lo ten great pence. The great penny would be the half-
surer, and the small penny and halfpenny retain their
respective values of four and two farthings. It will be
seen that the pound will contain 1,000 farthings instead
of 960, the florin (or two-shilling piece) 100 instead of
96, the shilling 50 instead of 48, and the sixpence 25
nstead of 24. Thus no alteration is made in the value
of the silver, nor even of the copper coinage above the
farthing, except the distinction drawn between the pence
of different sizes, which is recognized by the favourers
of the scheme as legitimate.
Another scheme proposes the striking of a new cop-
per coin to be called the decimo, to represent the tenth
part of the present shilling, while the tenth part of the
decimo is to be called the cent. Thus there would be-
-10 cents = 1 decimo,
10 decimos = 1 shilling,
10 shillings = 1 half-pound,
and the half pound to be the highest denomination in the
scale. The present silver coinage might be retained,
and the sixpence, shilling, half-crown, and crown be
respectively worth 5, 10, 25, and 50 decimos. The
first difference between the two schemes is, in the first
place, that the one affects decimal division by doubling
the shilling, and the other by placing the half-pound as
the highest denomination, thus saving the necessity of a
new coinage. On the other hand, while the second
scheme proposes to strike decimos, the first finds the
decimo already existing in the great penny, while the
farthings exactly represent the 100th part of the florin.
However, the second scheme does not contemplate a
necessity for more than one new coin, as, making a trif-
ling allowance, the farthing would in that scheme repre-
sent 2 cents., and the halfpenny 4 cents.
By an arrival at Havre, accounts have been received
from New York to the sth instant. It appears the
President's message was not delivered on the assemblage
of Congress, as anticipated. Some difficulties in point
of form respecting the admission of certain new mem-
bers, in a case of double returns, it is believed, from the
state of Jersey, prevented the constitution of the House
of Representatives as a House of Congress, so that the
message was necessarily deferred until this legal for-
mality was fulfilled. The debates upon the subject are
represented as having been warm. The state of money
affairs at New York remained with little variation.
Money still commanded in discount from 1i to 2 per
cent. per month. In the stock-market considerable ac-
tivity is reported, but generally with a depression of
prices. United States Bank shares had receded to 67
to 68. Sales of paper on Philadelphia had been made at
9 per cent. discount, which was a slight improvement.
In sterling exchange but little doing. The Havre packet
had on board 57,000 dollars, and the Cambridge, for
Liverpool, 4,000 dollars only. The anticipation of un-
favourable intelligence hence by the Liverpool steamer
had tended to depress the market at New York, but at
Boston and Philadelphia commercial affairs were said to
be mending.

CHRONICLE.—By the Baltimore packet ship
arrived at Havre, advices have been received from New
York to the sth December. The Baltimore brings
about 57,000 dollars in specie. There appears to have
been a strong feeling manifested among the jobbers and
speculators that the Liverpool, which was hourly ex-
pected, would be the bearer of bad news from this side
of the water, but on what grounds these fears existed
does not appear. The accounts that the Liverpool will
have taken out from hence will, it is expected, give
much satisfaction, and create renewed confidence in
mercantile matters.
In Mark-lane there was a fair extent of business
doing, and both English and foreign wheat may be
qnoted Is. per quarter higher than this day week.
We have authority for stating that the reports of the
Bank of England having refused to continue the ar-
rangements with country banks, which, having no paper
of their own, issued that of the above moneyed corpora-
tion, are utterly confounded.

HERALD.—The Money Market has been very firm
throughout the day, the, same causes operating on it
which we noticed in our report of Saturday last. There
have not been, however, any large purchases made in
Exchequer Bills ; but the recent improvement has been
maintained with much firmness. In the morning a few
sales were made at 84. to Is. dis, ; but, at the conclusion
of business this afternoon, purchasers were obliged to
give par for such amounts as they required. Bank Stock
is again heavy at a fall from 178 to 1771. The specu-
lative holders are probably not well pleased with the
proceedings of the meeting of the Chamber of Com-
merce, at Manchester, on the subject of the manage-
ment of the affairs of the Corporation by the Directors
of the Bank of England.
The continental arrivals of this day are of little
interest. From Batavia we learn that in the interior of
that dependency to the crown of Holland a great deal of
property had been destroyed by fire.

POST.—A pamphlet on the monetary system has
been published by Mr. Henry Drummond, the purpose
of which is to point out " the causes leading to a Bank
Restriction Biil." Mr. Drummond is, as everybody
knows, a banker of high eminence, and his opinions
must, therefore, have considerable weight with the
public in relation to all matters of finance. Mr.
Drummond is, however, to a very great extent, a
theorist, and, although his treatise contains much
that is worthy of attention, we are by no means
prepared to say that his arguments and conclusions
will, in all cases, stand the test of experience. To
treat successfully of so complicated a subject as that
of the currency in all its bearings, it is necessary
that a writer should be an expert merchant as well
as a banker, and one whose commercial views have been
again and again defeated by a combination of circum-
stances to which, in that arduous character, he is often
exposed. Mr. Drummond appears to us to be one of
those reasoner' who, in reply to an opponent that shows
him where his doctrines are at variance with every-day
practice, would insist that those doctrines are neverthe-
less correct, and worthy of being acted upon at all ha-
zards. He is a stickler for an invariable observance of
the " principles of currency," as laid down by certain
authors and authorities, considering that, whatever de-
rangements exist in our money and commercial affairs,
all will come right again sooner or later.
Mr. Drummond condemns in the most positive man•
ner that alteration in the monetary laws of the country
which gave to the joint-stock banks the power of issu-
ing notes, the measures taken by the Bank of England
for regulating the currency being of necessity neu-
tralized and the derangements of the money markets
needlessly protracted by the counter-operations of the
others. All this is perfectly incontrovertible. Great
credit was given, upon the publication of the last return
of the circulation of the joint-stock banks, for the re-
duction they had effected in their issues in the course
of the preceding quarter. But, from what Mr. Drum-
mond states, it woul3 seem that no such credit was
due, and that, had strict justice been dealt out to them,
they would have been charged rather with the commis-
sion of a gross any premeditated fraud for the purpose
of deceiving the public on this point. Mr. Drummond
says of them—
" It has been stated upon unquestionable authority that
on application being made in a town where two of these
establishments existed, to know the amount of paper they
bad in circulation, it was discovered that they returned the
balance only after mutually clearing the charges they re-
spectively had upon each other; that is to say, one having
1,200,0001. and the other 1,500,0001. out in circulation,
the amount in the hands of each being 1,000,0001., they
cleared that sum, and then returned the balance—viz.,
700,0001. as the amount in circulation, instead of 2,700,000/.,
which was the truth."
Any comment upon such conduct were superfluous.
The degree of punishment to be inflicted on the delin-
quents is the only question. The observations on these
banks are about the most valuable portion of the pans-

SUN.—The American merchants are still in a state
of suspense in consequence of the non-receipt of the Pre-
sident's Message from New York. It is, however,
almost hourly expected. There was very little business
transacted on Change this afternoon in American or
Canadian produce. The other principal markets arc
also in a dull state, in consequence of the holidays.
Teas are looking up. Sales at a rise of 4d. per lb. on
the prices of this day week have been made to-day,
though we have arrivals from Canton and the Cape of
Good Hope announced to-day.
The public securities closed firmly this afternoon,
the opinion being that the Bank must support Exche-