The Sun.
London, England, 1854-05-05 00:00:00

MONEY MARKET

AND

COMMERCIAL IN TELLIGENCI;'.

CITY, TWO o'CLOCK

The sales of cotton at Liverpool 3 esterdAy were
estimated at from 5,000 to 6;000 bales. The mar-
ket closed heavily, with prices of American id. per
lb. lower. The sales comprised 20 Penman and
Maranham, at 61d.; 20 Bahia at 61d., 154 Egyp-
tian at 6d. to 7d., 700 Surat at 3d. to 3id., and
the remainder American. Railway shares were
flat.

The wool trade at Liverpool recently, bas been
much depressed.
Very little business has been done in Colonial
Produce this week, and prices have mostly tended
downwards. Sugar has been firm, however, and
also Coffee, for which the demand however, has
been limited. Rice has declined. Saltpetre has
been heavy, and Cotton quiet. Tea has been steady,
and Tallow firmer. Hemp has receded, and Jute
is down 1/. 10s.•to 21. per ton. At the Indigo auc-
tions, 1;100 chests will be offered on the 9th inst.
For the public wool sales, 36,763 bales are de-
clared.

The mercantile community are much indebted to
Mr. Digby Seymour for the prompt manner in
which he has taken up the question of the " fraudu-
lent transfer of bills of exchange." We understand
the gentleman referred to in the following remarks
from a morning contemporary (which we assume to
be on good authority) is in communication with
Mr. Seymour, to get a clause inserted in the bill
he purposes bringing into the House on Tuesday
next to meet future cases of this sort of aristocratic
swindling; but we apprehend the law as it stands
is sufficient to bring the parties in this case to
justice :
" The remarks of Mr. Baron Alderson on the subject
of bill-stealing have given great satisfaction in the
moneyed circles. It is to be desired that this eminent
judge should have an opportunity of deciding whether
or not the following case does not come under the
operation of acts passed for the protection of the pub-
lic against conspiracy :--A merehant, well known in
the City, of very respectable means—means enabling
him to conduct his business without resorting to his
bill-hook—purchased a property through the solicitors
of a bank in a town in the county of Gloucester. The
purchase money was 5,000/. The vendor could not
furnish his title without some advance ; the merchant
consented to give his bills for 2,0001. and 3,0001., the
former to t,e discounted if required ' • the latter they
undertook to hold, and to furnish the title within a
given time ; but, contrary to this arrangement, they
paid both bills into the bank for which they acted
professionally, and they failed to furnish the title. At
the maturity of the bills, the bank applied to the
merchant for payment ; he paid ,;he 2,000/. bill, but re-
fused to pay the one for 3,600/. until the sale was com-
pleted—this being in accordance with the character
of the agreement. The country bank employed the
solicitors of a joint-stock bank in the City, who suc-
ceeded in getting the inercham, to give a judgment ;
the holders, namely, the bank in Gloucestershire, in
the meantime to proceed against their solicitors proper
for the amount. Twelve months have passed, no title
has been given to the property, the bank has not sued
the defaulting solicitors, and the judgment is held in
terrorern, over the head of the confiding capitalist. The
worst feature of this transaction is yet to be recorded,
and which shows but too painfully the moral standard
of firms said to be professionally respectable. The
vendors and solicitors proper to the bank in Glouces-
tershire wrote, on the 2d of May, 1853, two letters, one
to the persecuted merchant, stating that they could not
do anything towards relieving him from the position
that their unforcunate act had placed him and them-
selves in, but trusted that he would be able to get the
bank—adding that their connection with it was ended--
to forego proceedings ; the other letter was written to
the solicitors acting in the case in London, requesting
them to give the merchant no quarter, and to take all
means in their power to procure payment of the bill and
the law costs without delay. Both these letters by ac-
cident came into the hands of the merchant's solicitor.
Is not this a proper case for the consideration of Mr.
Baron Alderson when sitting for the adjudication of
criminal cases of the kind ? We submit that it is so."

The monthly return of the National Bank of
Belgium gives the active circulation at 86,084,760
francs, and the amount of the precious metals at
49,791,653 francs. The discounts were 67,043,590
francs. As compared with the previous month,
this shows an increase of 5,812,000 francs in the
bullion, and of 2,434,000 francs in the circulation.

Accounts from Odessa state that passengers
thence saw near that port, on the 19th ult., an
engagement between au English ship of war and a
Russian corvette, which appeared to be, at the
time they passed, in a sinking condition.
St. Petersburg letters mention that the Consuls
of England, where British subjects, had received
orders to leave Russia, but that those of France
were allowed to remain, except at Odessa, Tiflis,
and Warsaw.

Several of the American merchants in the city
have expressed a strong feeling of indignation at
the fact of a United States' clipper, the Grapeshot,
having, as a privateer, captured a French mer-
chantman off the Lands End. It appears that the
Grapeshot left New York ostensibly with hardware
for St. Thomas's, but was supposed by many to be
on a piratical expedition against Cuba. She had
arms on board, and would have proceeded to Fin-
land, but came out in her new character off
our coast. The party who fitted her out is,
We believe, a stage contractor at New York,
enjoying a higher reputation for 'cuteness than
honour, and it is fervently hoped that, if
captured, the crew of the Grapeshot will be
made an example of. It is surmised, however,
that both officers and men may be Russians, in
'Which case they may probably be regarded as
merely pursuing the legitimate occupations of a
state of war.
The Assam Company, at their meeting this day,
have declared a dividend at the rate of 5 per cent.
per annum.
There being no official information as to the pro-
gress of the subscriptions for Exchequer Bonds, we
can only deal with the surmises hazarded that the
applications are less numerous than could be
wished. Every one speaks well of the security, and
if the market had become habituated thereto, and
it had been ascertained that there would be facilities
for dealing in it, the bankers and capitalists would
be more ready to participate at the very favourable
terms offered, viz., 41. Os. 10d. per cent.
Public Securities are heavy, the additional Army
and Navy Estimates of nearly six millions sterling
Confirming the impression that, as the war goes
on, there will be a still heavier drain upon our
rnonetary resources. Still an expenditure of ten,
or even twenty, millions per annum should not be
of much account to a country with such an annual
revenue as ours, although a new loan may be un-
avoidable. Consols have been as low as 87k
having been done also at 871 for transfer. They
are now about 871 for accouui. To take up
Exchequer Bonds, Consols would probably have
to be sold. Bank Stock is rather firmer at 202 to
205. Exchequer Bills have been at 2s. discount
to 2s. premium, and India Bonds at 15a. discount.
Foreign Stocks are very quiet. There have been
a few bargains in Russian Five per Cents. at 93 to
932., and in the Four-and-a-Half per Cents. at 80k.
Spanish Three per Cents. have been at 80A. Bra-
zilian Old Stock is worth 96. Mexican Bonds
have been at 23i to I,
The Railway Share Market is flat, at a decline
of about to per cent.
Joint Stock Bank Shares are firm. Mines are
dull. Crystal Palace are flatter.

BRITISH FUNDS THIS DAY AT ONE O'CLOCK
( From the Official List.)

Business done.
Bank Stock ......•........................... 202 5 e.
Per Cent. Reduced Annuities B6A i
3 per Cent. Consols Annuities B7A as
11" 31 per Cent. Annuities
New 864 71
2 per Cent. Annuities
Ong Annuities, Expire sth Jan., 1860
Ditto 30 Years, Expire sth Jan., 1800 4Z
India Bonds, £lOOO ......
Consols for Account 11th May B7l a A i
Exchequer Bills, 2d.
2p 2 d
£lOOO
, ...........
Small 3 p 2d 1 p

PRICE OF FOREIGN FUNDS AT ONE O'CLOCK,
Itrazilian Bonds, 5 per Cont. 96
Mexican 3 per Cent.
tissian Bonds, 1822, 5 per Cent. £St 93i 3
Ditto 4i per Cent 81)
Spanish Bonds, 3 per Cent 3C
Dividends on the above payable in London.

HALF•PAST TWO,

Consols B7i
Ditto May Account . B7.f

CABINET COUNCIL.—A Cabinet Council was held on
Wednesday afternoon at the Foreign-cffice, Downing-
street. The ministers present were the Earl of Aber
derv, Lord John Russell, the Marquis of Lansdowne,
the Lord Chancellor, Earl Granville, the Duke of Argyll,
Viscount Palmerston, the Earl of Clarendon, the Duke
°I Newcastle, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sir
Charles Wood, the Right Hon. Sidney Herbert, Sir
William Molesworth, and Sir Jamas Graham. The
Council sat three hours
The office of Earl Steward of the Lorouo;11 of Grcat
'Yarmouth, vacant by the death of the late Earl of Lich-
field, was on Tuesday last conferred upon Lord Sondes
by a unanimous evte of the town council.