The Sun.
London, England, 1854-03-28 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY nvENrNiGI MAII,CTI 281 JAB&

Those who at other times, and under very differ-
ent circumstances, supported that unwise and in-
judicious law, must now feel that its modification
in some respect is imperatively required. Even
the Times itself, the organ of the Moneyocracy—
the }Alienist champion—many weeks since—in
the middle of February—admitted that " the
diminution of 700,0001. that has taken place
since 1844, in the paper circulation of the
country, partly through the failure of pri-
vate bankers, and partly from their having
entered into agreements to substitute the notes
of the Bank of England for their own, was a cir-
cumstance that was not intended, and which
should be remedied forthwith." After such an
acknowledgment, it is manifest that the question
is merely one of degree that as something
ought to be done, the nature and extent of the
fitting alteration should be taken into considera-
tion without a moment's unnecessary delay.
It was universally admitted that but for the
suspension of cash payments, and the enactment
of a Bank restriction law, we could not have car-
ried on the protracted and formidable contest in
which we were engaged at the close of the last
and the beginning of the present century. How
much greater would the difficulty have been if
there was not merely a necessity for maintaining
the convertibility of the Bank note, but also
if small notes were absolutely prohibited, and the
power of issuing the larger denominations re-
stricted within very narrow limits, and subjected
to the most stringent regulations? If Sir ROBERT
PEEL were now living, he would be the first to
recognise the necessity for an immediate change,
and that before an enormous amount of unne-
cessary mischief was inflicted on the trade and
commerce of the country, and great, and in many
instances, ruinous losses occasioned to respectable
families. Let his surviving friends act as they
believe he would have clone if his services were
still available to the country. It is on Mr.
GLADSTONE that his mantle has descended. It is
to Mr. GLADSTONE that we look for relief by
means of measures suitable to the crisis.
Every day's delay is injurious, and be-
fore many weeks have elapsed the damage
may be irreparable. To use a homely
but expressive maxim, it is but little good "to
shut the stable door after the steed has been
stolen." Let not Great Britain be driven to the
futile and ridiculous expedient. While we have
some gold still left, let us adopt means to stop
the leakage, or to provide an adequate substitute.
We have already pointed out the mode in which
it may be effected. Great relief might be given
by permitting the issue of notes to any extent on
adequate security—still greater by the issue of
the smaller denomination of notes, which would
liberate thirty or forty millions of sovereigns now
absorbed in the transactions of every-day life.
But greater than all would be the creation of a
National Bank, whose notes would be the only
medium for the satisfaction of fiscal demands,
and which would, therefore, be useful to the
full extent of our taxation. We have no
doubt that the value of this potent instrument of
finance will be fully recognised long before the
present generation has passed away, and that
the rejection of a paper currency will be regarded
in a similar light to the proceedings of the opera-
tives when they broke up and destroyed the
machines intended to economise and diminish
manual labour. The reasoning in one case is not
in any respect more tenable than in the other,
and we have no doubt that before the close of the
19th century, the Acts of 1819 and 1844 will
be referred to as affording additional and most
conclusive evidence of "the little wisdom," or
rather the absolute want of wisdom, with which
the affairs of great nations have been mismanaged.

MONEY MARKS T

AND
COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE.

BRITISH FUNDS THIS DAY.—CLOSING PRICES,
(Front/lc Official List.)

3 per Cent. Consols Annuities BG 3 3 5 Business.l 6annn 51 6/
Consols for Account 18th April B6s 5$ 61 51 6
India Stock 225
Exchequer Bills, 2d.
£lOOO ...
2500 ..
Small..

2d 2 p
2 2 p
2d 2 p
PRICE OF FOREIGN FUNDS THIS DAY.
Buenos Ayres Bonds, 6 per Cent 5O
Chiliau Bonds, 6 per Cent... .......
%re:dean 3 per Cent.
Peruvian 3 per Cent.
Portuguese Bonds, 4 per Cent 34 3
Russian Bonds, 1822, 5 per Cent. XSt B2 3 x d
Ditto 4i per Cent 7l t
Spanish-New Deferred, 3 per Cent. 164
Ditto Passive (Converted)
Dividends on the above payable in London.
Dutch Exchange, 21 per Cent. 12 Guil
Ditto 4 per Cent. Certificates . ..... _

THREE O'CLOCK.
Consols B6
Ditto April Account. B6

INDIA AND CHINA. —The overland telegraphic intelli-
gence from India and China yesterday appears very satis-
factory. The long-looked-for fall in the rate of exchatige
at Shanghai has at length taken place, the quotation,
which was 6s. 4d. on the former occasion, being now
ss. Bd. The drain of silver from England is likely,
therefore, to be effectually checked.
SEIZURE OF COMBUSTIBLES.-011 Saturday the officers
of Customs seized a vessel in the Thames laden with
saltpetre and sulphur consigned to a Russian port. It
is understood that the government intend to enforce the
penalties against the shippers.—Times.—[We have made
inquiries, but cannot learn that any vessel with such
a cargo has been seized here. We find, however,
that a Spanish cutter, laden with 100 tons of guano and
naval stores—viz., four new anchors, two chain cables,
and one smaller one, was seized by the Thames police,
off Hanover-hole, Rotherhithe, in the course of Satur-
day. It is said that the anchors, &c., were concealed
under the guano. The particulars of the seizure have
been laid before the Board of Customs this morning.—
Shippiii9 Gazette.]
ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATION OF A CLERGYMAN- OF THE
CHURCH OF ENGLAND.—The Rev. Mr. Moore, ()I-Easton-
lodge, Stamford, was shot at on Thursday evening last.
The assassin was traced by an Irish bloodhound belong-
ing to the rev, gentleman. He is a farmer at Ketton,
Stamford, and will be brought up forthwith to account
for his crime. Mr. Moore is domestic chaplain to a
nobleman, and highly-connected. The affair is most
mysterious, as Mr. Moore knew nothing of the ruffian.
A BRUTE.—At the petty sessions held at Watford a
few days since, Mr. H. H. Burchell presiding Septimus
Henry Moate, a farmer, was charged with having cruelly
tortured a cow. From the evidence it appeared that the
animal belonged to the defendant, and had been brought
with a young calf to Watford market for sale. While
in the market the cow became very much excited, and
to prevent its escape defendant ordered its horns to be
secured by ropes to the tail of a cart. This act still fur-
ther maddened the poor beast ; and one horse being in-
sufficient to drag it along, Moate ordered a second to be
attached. By this means the animal was forced on-
wards some distance, until its moans and evident severe
suffering caused the police to interfere, and it was at
length slaughtered in the street. The bench considered
the charge fully proved, and fined the defendant 10s.,
and 2/. 3s. 6d. costs.
ATTEMPT ON THE HOLYWELL PROVINCIALIBANK.—A
desperate attempt to break into this bank has just been
made, and through the cowardice or carelessness of a
police officer the burglar has escaped. Several attempts
on the bank having of late been made, the utmost cau-
tion has been observed. From a back window in the
house the burglar was observed by the manager
busily engaged in removing the bricts of the yard
wall, with a light glimmering beside him, it being
after midnight. This wall being a yard and a half in
thickness, he was allowed to proceed with his task. A
police officer being quietly sent for meanwhile, led by one
of the female servants to the spot from the front, was
instructed to keep his eye on the thief till he was joined
by the manager at the back, so that the capture might
be securely effected. Prior to entering the yard, the
official insisted on having a light, and while the servant
ran for one he became alarmed and allowed the thief to
pass through the door he professed to guard and make
his way down the street. The officer closely pursued
him, but in about ten minutes returned with the intel-
ligence that the burglar had escaped into the woods at
the lower end of the town.
BUSINESS IN THE COURT OF CHANCERY.—The Courts
of Chancery will rise for the Easter recess on Wednesday
next, and will not sit again before the first day of
Easter term, which falls this year on the Wednesday in
Easter week. Nearly all the causes set down for hear-
ing in the respective courts are disposed of, and there
will not remain in any one court, at the termination of
this sitting, more than ten causes. Such a scarcity of
business has not been known at this period of the year
for a considerable time. An application has been made
to the Lord Chancellor by the members of the bar, and
also by the United Law Society, to induce his lordship
to continue the sittings of the Court of Chancery
throughout the year at Lincoln's-inn, instead of at West-
minster. His lordship has expressed himself willing to
to take any course most agreeable to the profession.
There can be no doubt as the wishes of the profession
upon this subject, and it is to be hoped that the absur-
dity of removing the courts to Westminster for six
weeks in every year, and taking barristers, solicitors,
and clerks away from their chambers and from the
public offices, to the great detriment of their clients'
interests, will at length be finally abolished.

CITY, TWO O'CLOCK.
The sales of cotton at Liverpool yesterday were
estimated at 4,000 bales, all to the trade. The
market was heavy, and prices had a downward
tendency. The sales comprised 3,000 American,
140 Bahia at 6d., 300 Egyptian at Gd. to 91d.,
200 Surat at 31-d. to 4d., and 130 Sea Island at ls.
to 2s. Bd. per lb. Railway shares were heavy at
rather lower prices.
The letters by the Overland Mail are expected
this afternoon, the mail having arrived at Dover.
The accounts from New Yorkstate that the foreign
goods market was firm. Breadstuffs were active,
but rather unsettled in price. Rates to Liverpool
tended upwards. The last weekly return of the
City Banks showed a contraction in every depart-
ment. The discounts decreased 278,427 dots., the
deposits 1,749,092 dols., the circulation 72,275
dols., and the specie 727,917 dols.
From California we learn that the markets con-
tinued depressed. Gas had been introduced in
the streets of San Francisco. The mining opera-
tions had been favourable.
The following is a translation of an order issued
at Cuba, and which may be interesting to the coal
trade.
"Ist. Vessels entering the port of this island with mine-
ral coal, having on board an equal or greater quantity
than the number of tons stated in their registers, shall
continue enjoying the benefits and exemptions that were
hitherto granted to them, even when they bring other
merchanchise besides.
"2d. Vessels importing coal solely, but in lesser quan-
tity than their measure, shall have the relief only upon the
portion occupied by the coal; and the difference between
this portion and that which may result from the ad-
measurement to be effected, will be subjected to the pay-
ment of the full tonnage duty; but the vessels are allowed
no other exemptions.
"3d. Vessels having on board, besides coal in any quantity
to their measure, other cargo in any quantity, and in the
same case respecting the tonnage dupe, but will be sub-
jected to the payment of ponton and health dues, visits
registering, and other usual charges. ,
"4th, and last. Such vessels as after being discharged
shall give a result of twenty per cent. less than the quan-
tity manifested and certified by the respective col.suls,
lose the right to any exemption, and will be subjected to
the charges' established for other trading vessels. It is also
her Majesty's will that the exemptions specified are to be
understood for the term of one year, to be reckoned from
the date of the publication of this order, within which
time its effects are to be marked, so that, with a full
understanding of the subject, the measure may be defi-
nitely confirmed at the proper day, or revoked, as may be
convenient."
Public securities have gone down again consider-
ably this morning, and all are sellers, compara-
tively to former periods. Consols, after being 86g
have been as low as 85k, and are now only 86 to
It seems strange that the desire to sell should
s •
so suddenly possess the public mind, and that the
funds having long since been too high compared
with the increasing value of money, and the politi-
cal incertitude; should not sooner have adjusted
themselves to what might be considered a fair stan-
dard, but this in part arises from the erroneous
views which some of our capitalists and annuitants
have entertained, and the impression that the Em-
peror of Russia would give way at the last moment.
The fact that there is not a good balance in the
national treasury, and that Government will be in-
convenienced, or will have to press upon the Bank
of England for accommodation, has an injurious
effect. Exchequer Bills haie continued at 2s. dis-
count to 2s. premium.
Foreign Stocks are very dull and tend downward.
Russian 5 per Cents. are 82 to 82/, being lower ;
and in the 4i per Cents. there have been no deal-
ings. Portuguese 4 per Cents. are steady, at
34 ; and Mexican have declined nearly .12 per cent.,
being 22 to Spanish Deferred are inactive, at
161, and the Passive Converted at 3f. Dutch 21
per Cents. are 1 lower, being 511 ; and the 4 per
Cents. under yesterday's price, being 82.
In Railway Shares there has been a further de-
cline of about 1 per cent„ and with an indisposi-
tion to do business. Among those dealt in are—
Great Northern, Lancashire and Yorkshire, York
and Berwick, Eastern Counties, and South-Wes-
tern. French shares are about 10s. lower, bu'
Belgian tolerably firm.
The Mining shares have been quiet, but at aboui
former rates. In Banks there is not much doing,
The Land Companies' shares are steady.