The Sun.
London, England, 1865-03-07 00:00:00

BRAZIL AND RIVER PLATE MAILS.

The Royal Mail Company's screw steamship.
Oneida, Captain P. M. Woolcott, arrived at South-
ampton, at 1 p.m. yesterday, with mails of the fol-
lowing dates, in charge of Captain Bingham, R.N.,

naval mail agent :—Buenos Ayres, January 26 ;
Montevideo, January 29 ; Rio de Janeiro, February
8 ; Bahia, February 11; Pernambuco, February 13 ;
St. Vincent (Cape Verdes), February 21; and Lis-

bon, March 2.
From Rio to Bahia the Oneida had fine weather,
with moderate breezes from S.W. ; thence to Per-

nambuco cloudy weather, and squally winds from
N. and E. ; to St. Vincent fine weather, with fresh
N.E. winds ; to Lisbon fine weather, with very
strong N.E. trade winds and heavy head sea ; to
Cape Finisterre fine clear weather, and fresh N.N.E.

breezes ; and the remainder of the voyage squally
weather, with strong westerly winds.
The Oneida brought 74 passengers, £20,435 in
specie (of which £17,100 was gold and £3,335
silver), 985 bales of 'cotton, 562 rolls of tobacco,
589 bags of coffee, 30 barrels of arrowroot, 28 casks
of wine, 4 packages of diamonds, 30 bales of beef,
and 130 packages of sundries.
There is very little war news by this arrival. The
following items of intelligence are extracted from the

Buenos Aryes Standard of the 26th of January :
" It was rumoured in town yesterday that Gen.
Munoz, who broke into the Brazilian territory at
the head of a body of cavalry, has carried every-
thing before him ; and some even go so far as to
say that he has more than 1,000 prisoners. The
war seems to be spreading now, for the news by the
steamer yesterday morning was that a couple more
bands of 'raiders'•had left Montevideo a few days
ago for the same purpose. _ _

" We read in the Reforma that General Basilio
Munoz had invaded Rio Grande, and taken 1,000
negro prisoners. Flores and Netto are said to have
arrived at the Gerrito on Tuesday morning. Among
the passengers per Tevere were 42 National Guards,

and several families are expected to-day by the Rio
del Plata. The blockade of Montevideo will pro-
bably be put on Monday next, the 30th inst.
" The Tribuna publishes a list of foreign war
vessels in the River Plate, of which 16 are Brazilian,
eight English, three French, three Italian, two Spa-
nish, and one Dutch—total, 33 vessels, carrying 229
vessels.
The Standard of the 25th says : _ _

" Possibly the most important event which has
occurred in the River Plate since the sailing of the
last packet has been the suspension of specie pay-
ments by the Maua and Commercial Banks in Mon-
tevideo. The unpleasant but not unlooked-for event
has been the result of the civil war, which has now
desolated the Banda Oriental for nearly two years.
The Montevidean Government having exhausted
every possible means to raise more money for the
subjugation of the rebels, has at last had resort to
the unjustifiable measure of forcing a loan from the
Maua and Commercial Banks for poo,ooo. The
securities which this impoverished and barefaced
Government could offer being of a most questionable
character, the suspension of specie payment for six
months has been legalised by an edict of the Presi-
dent, and the consequence is that gold commands a
premium of 10 per cent. in Montevideo to-day. Pre-
vious to the enforcing of this loan it is right to ob-
serve that owing to the dull state of business inMon-
tevideo, and the great scarcity of money in Buenos
Ayres, the drain of gold from the former city was
excessive, and close observers believed that sooner or
later resort would be made to the ' inevitable paper
dollar,' to save the whole fabric of Montevidean
commerce from a fearful crash. The indigence of
the Government has, however, precipitated this
event. Political animosity and private jealousies
have for the last ten days been brought to bear
against the credit of an institution which is so justly
popular in the River Plate—the Maua Bank ; but
we are pleased to say that this institution has
triumphed over all, though sorely put to the test by
the scandalous attacks of a press which in England
would be characterised as licentious. In Buenos
Ayres the Maua Bank not only paid every demand
in gold, but actually sustained the market by giv-
ing facilities at a period when other establishments
declined to lend a dollar. One of the bitterest
attacks ever published against any monetary insti:
tution appeared in a paper which is the acknow-
ledged organ of President Mitre's Government ; it
called on the people to withdraw all deposits from
the Maua Bank, and even stooped to the lowest
personalities against the deservedly esteemed Baron
Baua, but the Maua Bank owes its prominent posi-
tion in Buenos Ayres to neither clique nor party ; it
is sustained by three-fourths of the whole commer-
cial community of this city, and all the slanders
and calumnies of a venomous press failed to disturb
the confidence of the public in a bank which is so
ably managed and well directed. We cannot leave
this subject without remarking that, with the experi-
ence which the Maua Bank has already had of the
arbitrary conduct of needy Governments, any re-
fusal on the part of the bank to conform to the
terms of the Monte Videan Government would lead
to a repetition of M. Riestra's conduct in 1860,
when, disregarding the solemnities of a contract,
and trampling upon the rights and privileges secured
thereby, this gentleman, who was then Argentine
Minister, and is now the consulting director of
the London and River Plate Bank, put his name
to a fiat prohibiting the circulation of the Maua
notes in the Republic. To avoid this, and save the
whole commercial body in Montevideo from ruin,
the bank had no other alternative than to act as it
had done. The Legislature of Buenos Ayres has,
in its hurry to redeem the paper currency, forced us
into the crisis through which we are at present pass-
ing. The present period being the wool season,
paper money is in the greatest demand, and has be-
come so scarce that interest has risen to a rate which
no business in Buenos Ayres can afford to pay.
All the surplus paper money hitherto in circulation
has been burnt, and still the burning continues with-
out any provision whatever for replacing the cur-
rency so destroyed. The consequence is that wool,
hides, tallow, real estate, stock, all have fallen, to
the great prejudice of the unfortunate producers
and owners."

MARKETS—This Day,

HAY MARKETS.

SMITHFIELD.—Meadow hay, £4 4s to £5 5s Od ; clover,
£5 5s to £6 Gs Od ; and straw, £l. 8s to £1 12s per load.
Trade dull
CUMBERLAND.—Meadow hay, £4 4s to £5 5s ; clover,
£5 5s to £6 68 ; and straw, .£1 8s to £1 12s per. load.
A slow demand.
WHITECHAPEL.—Meadow hay, £4 4s to £5 5s Od ; clover'
£5 5s to £6 6s Od ; and straw, .£1 8s to £l. 12s per load.
Trade inactive.