The Sun.
London, England, 1841-03-29 00:00:00

aware how much of hollowness there is amongs
them, we can scarcely conceive their vast asto-
nishment at witnessing the dissection of Mr,
CURTIS'S affairs.

There is a moral belonging to this state of things
in the City, for the sake of which we refer
to it, not from a wish to make remarks painful to
individuals. But when gentlemen are in such a
condition of doubtful solvency, we can well un-
stand that they must look with dread and horror
at any proposed change which, like the total and
immediate abolition of the Corn-laws, may per-
chance lower the value of the goods they hold,
a poor 5 per cent. The want of patriotism in the
City of London may be perhaps explained by the
balance-sheet of Mr. CURTIS.

The Levant mail, received this morning,
brings advices from Constantinople of the Bth,
from Alexandria of the 7th, and from Malta of

the 17th instant. The news from Turkey and
Egypt is by no means satisfactory. The SUL-
TAN had been so ill advised as to refuse modify-
ing the firman appointing MEHEMET ALI to the
Pachalic of Egypt, and the VICEROY, on his
part was at Cairo, engaged in warlike prepara-
tions. Among our extracts from the advices thus
received will be found the Report of a speech said
to be delivered by Lord PONSONBY, at a meet-
ing of Foreign Ministers at the Divan, which,
if correct, is a very extraordinary produc-
tion. We certainly doubt its authenticity,
but the form in which it has reached us
fully warrants its publication. If it be even
circumstantially correct—if it at all ex-
press the policy of our Government, we hesitate
not to affirm that MEHEMET ALI has been most
unhandsomely treated by England. Had he
not relied upon British good faith, he might be
now the recognised Sovereign of the Turkish
empire. But we shall await the arrival of more
authentic and positive intelligence before at-
tempting to bring public opinion to bear upon
the policy of our Government in Turkey and
Egypt-

Belgian and German papers have reached us
this morning. The following brief extracts in-
clude the only news they contain :
BRUSSELS, MARCH, 27.—The Moniteur promulgates the
treaty of commerce between Belgium and Greece, signed at
Athens on the 25th of September, 1840.
Count Hypotel Velain XI V., charge d'affaires of Belgium,
at the Court of Turin, has set out to-day to repair to his post.
We are assured that several very important resolutions tend-
ing to introduce improvements into the business of the Post-
office, will be shortly laid before the King for his signature.
Nothing of much importance was discussed in the Chamber
of Representatives in the sittings of 26th and 27th of March.

A trasstruc, MARCH 21. —lt appears from a letter just re-
ceived from Berlin, that the proposed prdongation for one year
of the treaty with Holland is objected to by the King.
The Estates of the Province of Prussia now assembled at
Dantzic, approved by a great majority in their sitting of the 10th
of March, the proposal made in a former session to make the
sittings of the Assembly public, se far that a certain number of
persons, especially the constituents of the members, might be
admitted to be present at the debates.
DUTCH FUND3.—AMaTERDAM, MARCII 46.
Money. Huila.
%ctual Debt, 2% per Cent LOI4 MN
.)itto, ditto 5 per cent.
Arne' t Svndic,4% per cent 88)4 83%
Ditto, ditto, 3)4 per cent 7;N, 71%
Commercial Company, 41,4 per cent 1t334 ,64!4
Ditto (15'.5 and 1837) 5 per cent. ......
Loan 1537, 5 per cent. .............. 95% 96
Exchange on London, One month l2 05
Two months ..... 11 95
Dutch Papers, March 26.
BELGIAN 1. UNDS—BRUSeItLe, MARCH 25.
Actual Debt, 254 per Cent.
Rothschild's Loan, 5 per Cant 98%
Loan of Thirty Millions, 4 per-Cent B9
3 per Cent.

Thirty-seven

(1,40) - ...... ---,ii
4
Loan of City, 1832, 4 per Cent B9
Sccietyof Commerce, 4Yy per Cent lOO
Bank of Belgium, 5 per Cent ........
National Society .
Exchange on London (short)
—Brussels Papers, March 26.
AUSTRIAN FUNDS.—VIHONA, MARCH 18
Five per Cents. Metalliques
Foxr per Cents. 99
Three par Cents.
Bank Shares 1625
...Allgenzeine Zeitung, Mareh '.:.'3
PRUSSIAN FUNDS.—Beetisr, Mane, 23.
Bills. Money.
St. Schuld. Sch., 4! per cent. 103% 113 i
Prussian English Loan, 1830, 4 per cent 1004 i 1005
Exchange on London, three months 6lt %
—Prussian State Gazette. March 24.

Madrid papers to the 20th instant have come
to hand. The Cortes were opened on the 19th
instant, without any ceremony or speech from
the Throne. On the same evening the Minister
of Finance called a meeting of capitalists, to
whom he stated that without a loan of fifty
millions of reals, the Government could not
defray its ordinary expenses. The terms upon
which he sought this loan were referred to a
Committee of bankers and capitalists. The
Five per Cents. were done on the 20th at 27/ for
cash, and 271 at sixty days.

We have received the whole of the Paris
Journals of Friday and Saturday. The great
question of the day is the Fortification of Paris
Bill, which is warmly debated in the French
Chamber of Peers. There was quite a scene
there during Friday's sitting. M. PERSIL, who
supported the Bill, accused the Royalists of op-
posing it from a desire to place, by means of
foreign bayonets, a Pretender upon the throne
of France. This called up the Duke de DREUX-
BREZE, who protested, in the name of the Duke
of BORDEAUX, against such a charge. A protest
in the name of the Prince was enough to raise a
storm in the Chamber, and, in fact, it became
quite a hurricane. The Duke withstood for
some time, but so great was the uproar, that he
was not allowed to utter a syllable. M. Guizor
delivered a long speech on Thursday in favour
telegraphic of the measure, of which he assumed the entire
responsibility.
egrap
The following
the Moniteur of Friday Lic despatch, appears in

nil Ro :0::::lei ;
onelllUed,
AIERsS.FILLES, AfaitcH 25.
Cont.INTERIOR.
DU RHONE TO THE
ti THE PEEFEIiCTINOIsciTt
ci The judicial inquiries are
The number of arrests is twenty.
circularpublgiiis`.avitiltiheongfeEatvearcyttihviintyg.
commanding
all
Journal
excited here nothing but disgust and one,
nut attempt has
is perfectly tranquil."
The Moniteur likewise
from the Minister of Commerce, es a
parted
all Prefects and Sub-Prefects to take
for carrying the Factory Bill into full effect.
There is some Oriental news in the
of Saturday. We regret to find it stated thats
Commodore NAPIER and the PACHA
coldly, and that the Gallant Commodore was so
annoyed by the circumstance as to refuse a
splendid diamond snuff-box which Bocuos BEY
was charged by the VICEROY to preSent to him.
The gallant Commodore and the PACHA have
been both very scurvily treated.
The speech of the Duke de Noailles has struck a decisive
blow against the fortification law, in the opinion of all impar_

a- year for expenses, it becomes a subject of astonishment to our
grave, plain, matter-of-fact men of business how he should
have been able, with his insignificant capital of 8,7711 13s ,
to maintain his position so long. Mr. Curtis debits
himself with 14,5001. for sums obtained from dif-
ferent directions, including 4,6001. from the Bane of England,
4,3501. from the Imperial Brazilian Mining Company, 1,800/.
from the Alliance Fire and Life Assurance Office, 2,4001.
from the Marine Assurance, and 1,350/., from the London
Dock Company. The withdrawal of amounts like these
from the funds of the Companies to which they are appli-
cable, while it has done but little for the creditors of Mr.
Curtis, serves, on the other band, to disgust the shareholders
of such bodies, and to render them exceedingly dissatisfied
with the poor dividends they are in many cases receiving on
their investments. It is, moreover, deemed to be most objection-
able that an individual with the very slender pecuniary means
possessed by Mr. Curtis, and with a business the reverse of
prosperous, should have been permitted to occupy a seat at
the Council table of our National Bank, availing himself
during the time, as he appears to have done, of a credit with
the establishment out of which a loss has been realised by the
proprietors beyond the amount of his capital. The aspect of
the balance-sheet, taken as a whole, is such as to have sub-
jected the affairs of Mr. Curtis to a severity of ci•iticism a e
have seldom witnessed upon any similar occasion, and we should
have failed to give a fair outline of the movements of the day
had we omitted to say so.

We occasionally hear a great deal about stagna-
tion of trade and want of credit in the City ; for
our parts, with such occurrences, we are surprised
that there is any credit at all, and that trade is
not wholly extinguished. Mr. CURTIS, bearing
one of the best known names in the City, is by
no means a solitary example of a gentleman
who has lately caused considerable surprise,
not to say consternation. The Messrs. MON-
TEMORE, who lately failed, bore a name al-
most as well known as that of Mr. CURTIS; and
we believe that City people look with as much
astonishment at their gigantic undertakings, and
their actual amount of capital, as they look at
Mr. CURTIS'S balance-sheet. Such circumstances
occurring amongst the best known men in the
City, may well create universal distrust.

If the Governor of the Bank, the Director of
the Imperial Brazilian Mining Company, of the
Alliance Fire and Life Assurance Office, of the
Marine Assurance, and the London Dock Com-
panies, be not a trustworthy merchant, where
shall we find one If he be false and hol-
low, what merchant in the City of London
shall be looked on as sound and substantial ?
If the gentlemen of the City be not habitually