The Sun.
London, England, 1854-12-26 00:00:00

MONEY MARKET

AND
COMMBECIAL INTELLIGENCE.

CITY, TWO o'CLOCK. I
ihr
Yesterday being a holiday, the cotton and rail-
way markets at Liverpool were closed.
The overland letters from India are expected to
be delivered here on the 28th inst.
The ship Phoenician from Sydney brings dates of
August 26, and 5,2501. in gold.
There is nothing of mercantile interest in the
Continental letters.
The accounts from New York by the steamer
AfriCa-are to the 12th inst., and are by no means
of a reassuring character. The firms which have
recently suspended payment have brought down
other establishments, and the banks, which from
their number, have been compelled to enter upon
such a race of competition, and to foster mercantile
enterprise to an extent verging upon speculation,
havein turn experienced the severity of the pressure
and the weakening of public confidence. That much
of the reaction in the United States is due to the
war must be palpable to all, although the defi-
cienc!,- in the cern crops is an accessory cause. The
relations of America and Europe are now so inti-
mate that however neutrality may be supposed to
shield a country from danger, it is certain that it can-
not protect it from pecuniary loss. The idea has been
a favourite one until within the last three months,
that America had very little sympathy or concern
with the gigantic struggle that is being carried on,
but the rude monitors of dear money and failing
banks has taught the contrary, and the Message of,
the President, redolent as it justly is of national
prosperity, does not conceal the prejudicial charac-
ter
of the interruption to peace. That there is
anything in the commercial position of the States
to excite serious apprehension or regret we will
not pretend to assert. They are substantially rich,
thriving, and happy, and with a Government
exchequer so amply supplied individual suffering
must certainly subside. It is to our side of the
Atlantic that more of the inconvenience will now
be transferred. The rate of exchange on bankers'
bills• had fallen ere the steamer left to 108 to 108 k,
and private bills were done as low as 106 to Io6i.
Making every allowance for the mistrust which has
created such a wide difference in the quotations for

drafts upon England, we must accept the fact
as one of a nature to check the exportation of specie 25
from New York as a matter of profit, thoni,,h we 25
t.
may yet find bullion coming over as upon former iSt 2,
occasions with a very depreciated exchange, solely St.
from the difficulty of obtaining good bills. Then st.
50
as to the future, the sudden turn in the tide which 25
has just occurred must be due partially to artifi- I'oo
cial circumstances. The pressure for money 2t
in America induces all who have credits here, 50
whether against shipments of cotton or corn, to 20
draw much sooner than they otherwise would do, St.
and the liabilities which, under more normal condi- st.
tions, would be distributed over a longer period, 16
become crowded into one much shorter. It follows 16
8
necessarily that, when discharged, there will be a 8
rebound, and that the exchange will advance as St.
rapidly asit has fallen, and in the meantime a cau- 2255
tious policy is indispensable. We notice among 50
the failures that of an extensive dry goods' 850 t.
house at Boston, J. W. Blodgett and Company. 10
The liabilities are stated at 2,000,000 dollars, 1.0
and they are brought down by numerous
smaller suspensions at the south. The firm did a
good business with Canada. Three or four savings
banks at New' York had stopped, and the Cen-
tral Bank was unable to go on, A slight insight
into the cause of this we obtain from a local jour-
nalist, who observes :

"The Clearing House closed up another bank to-clay.
The Central Bank failed to make good its account this
morning, and was therefore suspended. This concern has
been putting up an elegant marble building on the corner
of Broadway and Chamber-street, at an expense of about
one hundred thousand dollars, equal to about one-third of
its capital, and the probability is that it will, when com-
pleted, bo occupied for some other purpose than that ori-
ginally intended: About a year ago, new banks were
created at the rate of one per week, they are now suspend-
ing at about the same rate. We shall soon get back again
to the old number. Bill holders of the Central Bank need
be under no apprehension regarding their value. The re-
turns of this bank for the week ending the 9'h inw ant,
were as follows :—Loans, 301,172 dole. ; deposits, 188,219
dols. • circulation, 83,733 dols.—Specie, 22,405 dole.
About Stocks and Shares the following informa-
tion is given

New York central stock still rules above the market
value of the bonds, but it probably will not continue so
long. The difficulty of getting large quantities of the
stock when required, in consequence of its general distribu-
tion, deters sellers from putting out large c-utracts, and
prices are therefore sustained much beyond its actual
value. Holders are waiting patiently for a dividend.
Their patience will soon be exhausted, when we may look
or a greater supply of stock on the market. It was a long
ime before holders of Erie Railroad stuck :ye(' that
nvestment was not the best on the list, and those who would
tsell at 80 or 90 percent. have since sold at 40 ,in,150 nor
tent. It will be just eo with New York Cent, c.l. It will go
sown as fast as Erie, and ultimately reach as ! .w poiois. It
is now the highest railroad stock on the market, and it is
the most inflated, overgrown corporation iu the country.
Its capital, funded and floating debt, amount to nearly,
forty millions of dollars, and will soon exceed that enor-
mous sum. It must break down from its own weight, and
when it does collapse it will leave a sad wreck behind.
From the time of the consolidation it has been going ra-
pidly to decay. Under the different companies the dif-
ferent stocks were kept at a premium, and large dividends
paid, in some way, but since the amalgamation the ten-
dency has been downward, and the entire concern has be-
come dilapidated and diseased. Since the consolidation,
twelve millions of dollars have been added to its indebted-
ness, without anything to show for it, and the roadway
and rolling machinery are in such a condition that an ex-
penditure of from three to five millions of dollars will be
required to place them in decent condition. ' The opinion
is- rapidly gaining ground that the New York Central 100
Railroad Company never will pay another dividend above
two or three per cent. per annum from its net earnings." 100
In the funds there is scarcely any business doing, 20
the attendance in the Stock Exchange being al-
ways limited during Christmas week. Consols 206
have been marked 91} to g. Exchequer Bills are
4s. to 75., and India Bonds 9s. to 12s. premium. 10
Bank Stock has been firm at 209. Tho New 3 100
per Cents. have been quoted 91} to 91i, the same 100
100
as Consols.

Foreign Securities have been rather flat gene-
rally, and more offered. Spanish Threes are 384,
and the Deferred 181 to 1. Russian 41 per Cents.
are 871. Turkish Stock is 74i- to I. The Deferred
Venezuela Bonds are 9 to 1.
The following are the nominal prices of foreign
stocks :—Grenada Deferred Bonds, 5 to 6 ; Mexi-
can 20i to 21} ; Peruvian, 68 to 70 ; Ditto 3 per
Cents., 48 to 50 ; Portuguese 4 per Cents., 41 to
13 ; Russian 5 per Cents. 97 to 99 ; Ditto 41 per
Cents., 87 to 89 ' • Spanish New Deferred, 181- to
19 ; Ditto 3 per Cents., 381 to 39i ; Ditto Certifi-
cates, 5* to 54 ; Ditto Passive, 4f to 44.
For railway shares there is very little inquiry,
but the quotations are generally firm. The foreign
lines are merely nominal.
The Cobre Copper Company's shares are higher,
and also the Brazilian Imperial.
South Australian land shares are steady. Banks
are about the same, and also Crystal Palace.

BRITISH FUNDS THIS DAY.—CLOSING PRICES.
(Front the Official List. j

Be dness done
Bank Stock ......,.. 209
3 per Cent. Reduced Annuities 9ll 1
New 3 per Cent. Annuities
Long Annuities, Expire sth Jan., 1860 ~, 4 5.16
India Bonds, £lOOO ..
Ditto, under £lOOO 9
Consols for Account, 10th January
Exchequer Bills, 24d.
• - ..
Exchequer Bonds 1858, 3i per Cent... 7 4
Ditto 1859, ~
PRICE OF FOREIGN FUNDS TH t‘,.; I)Ay.
Peruvian Bonds, 4i per Cent.
Portuguese Bonds, 5 per Cent —
Ditto, IS4B, 3 per Cent '',3A
Russian Bonds, 4. per Cent B.".
Spanish Bonds, :2 per Lent 3.,
Ditto New Deferred, 3 per Cent l`l
Spanish Committee Cert. of Coup. not fun sj i p c
Tarkish Scrip, paid up in full
Ditto for the Account 74i 4 i
Venezuela Bonds, 3i per Cent. .
Ditto Deferred, 1 per Cent 9,1, 9
Dividends on the above payable in bonrton
Dutch Exchange, 2A per Cent. 12 Guil .. . 61i
THREE O'CLOCK.

oonnols
Ditto, January Account
20

NEW BIILLET.—Mr. Wm. Palmer, of Feltwell, in this 50
county (says the Norfolk News) has just invented a ball 10c(),
suitable both for small guns and cannon, which he de- 100
scribes as far more deadly and destructive in its effects
then any yet in use. Ile says "It cuts, wounds, and 20
lacerates in such a, manner that it is scarcely possible 50
that any animal or man should lire after having been 20
struck by it. A ball that would fit a common gun—say 25
five-eighths of an inch in diameter—expands on leaving
the gun to four inches, and the instant that it touches 109
wr'!1':!;", ell!, Ir., :tl. i.-i,-;-: ._A c 11:;:11 L:.li on '-‘5 17:
same principle Would cut a iiih;:e of at i,a...i. tr,,,) ieet.
The invention has been tried several times in mall guns, 25
and it does not appear to affect the flight of the ball in 25
the slightest degree. It would be a very destructive 50
'shot in a regimont.