The Sun.
London, England, 1840-01-11 00:00:00

PRICE sd.

:MONEY MIRK.ET and CITY NEWS.

(FRIDAY EVENING.)
TIMES.—It has been remarked among the brokers
of most extensive business at the Stock Exchange, that
they have had scarcely any orers for the purchase of
stock; arising frcm the payment of the dividends, but
that there have been, on the contrary. more numerous
orders than usual to sell for private holders.
'lie Foreign Exchanges hare not fulloxml the
course which was anticipated. 111 Is on Amsterdam
were in great demand to-day, and the supply not being
large there was a depression i❑ the rate on that place.
With respect to Paris the ease was similar, though not
quite so strongly marked. On Hamburg the business
was limited, and the rate about the same as last post.
with, however, rather an indication of advance. _

By accoents received from the River Gambia, dated
November 3d, it appears that the French have commit-
ted the most violent and uojustitiable attacks on British
trade in that quarter. To make the case more gene-
rally intelligible, it is as well to describe the position
and extent of the French and British possessions in the
western part of Africa. The Senegal, which was re-
stored by England by the treaty of Paris, 1814, with
reservation of a right of trading for gum at Portendic,
is the principal French possession. The Hand of
Gorce, situated about 100 miles to the south of the
Senegal, and restored by the same treaty. also belongs
to France, and these comprise the whole of her posses-
sions on the west coast of Africa, and are conse-
quently the only two places with which she has an
exclusive right of trading. The River Gambia is
the only British possession in the same quar-
ter, which was secured to the English by the
treaty of 1783, and retained by the treaty of Paris.
The taking possession of Albredar, on the north bank
of the Gambia, in 1810, by the French, seems to have
been the first successful invasion of British rights in
that quarter. The facts of the late aggression (which
are corroborated by affidavit) are as follow :—There is
at St. Louis, on the Senegal, a French chartered com-
pany, trading with a settlement called Gallam, which is
about 1,000 miles up the river. The charter of this Com-
pany having expired about three years ago, was renewed
by the French Government, on condition that the Com-
pany should form new settlements at the Cazamanza, a
river which joins the Gambia on the south. On this
river the French Government agreed to build forts,
and afford necessary protection. The Portuguese
have occupied the Cazamanza from the earliest days
of African discovery, without attempting to exclude
others from a free trade, and the English have been in
the constant habit of navigating its waters to carry on
commerce with the natives. In pursuance of the agree-
ment between the Company and the French Govern-
ment, a naval and military force proceeded to the Ca-
zamanza, selected for settlements such places as would
he best adapted to draw the trade from the Gambia, and
erected forts. The merchants of the Gambia, feeling
their trade in peril, addressed the British Governor on
the subject, who promised to represent the matter at
home. Whether any notice was taken of the affair is
not known, but the French carried on their proceedings
for two years without impediment, and not a single Bri-
tish Government vessel has been sent to the Cazamanza

to watch what the French were doing, or to protect Bri-
tish property. In the course of last August, while two Eng-
lish vessels:were at anchor off the town of Sedjeu, and the
supercargo was carrying on trade with the natives, two
boats full of French soldiers came alongside one of the.n,
and took forcible possession of her, upon whi3h she was
left by the supercargo and crew in the hands of the
French. The fact is, that although the sovereignty of
Cazamanza is admitted by Europe to belong to the Por-
tuguese, the French, having increased their e,tablish-
ment to four factories, claim an exclusive right to
trade with the natives, and this aggression has been a
manifestation of their claim. On application being
made to the governor of Senegal, be replied to the Go-
vernor of Gambia, that the French had undoubted
rights in Sedjeu, including that of removing all foreign
ships that persisted in trading there, and coolly re-
commended time English Governor to order ships pro-
ceeding from St. Mary's to Cazamanza to abstain from
going to Sedjeu till" our respective Governments have
decided the question."

POST.—An attempt was made to bolster up tl.e
Spanish Market, but it proved abortive. The cuckoo
note of " "or" 1" was heard all day, but the late
exposures in the Paris Journals seem to have given the
coup de grace to the miserable bubble. None but the
veriest idiots, a class of persons whom it would be
shame and an indelible blot on toe character of jobbers
to saddle with a piece of worthless paper in exchange for
money, or any longer to be imposed upon with a de-
scription of " security" which is scarcely to be compared
to bank-notes with the word "forged " stamped upon
them. The Deferred Bonds left off at ; and the Ac-

tives, as they are called, but which would appear to be also
" deferred" ad Kaleadas Grcecas, at 25. M. Paradis, the
chairman of the Committee at Paris, is ever attentive to
the interests of the cheated and insulted bondholders
and, were his exertions only seconded in a proper man-
ner by a London Committee, the villanics of the Madrid
Government would be presently put a stop to. M.
Paradis and his Committee are doing their duty, while,
with us, all is apathy and neglect. On the authorisa-
tion of the loan and conversion of 1834, by the Stock
Exchange Committee, Mr. Weeding and the old Com-
mittee of Bondholders, acting from the year 1823
to that period, threw up the office and retired, dis-
e.usted at their toleration of the treatment of the
English claimants on his Government by Count
Toreno, and thus washed their hands of the busi-
ness. The home debt was saved from confiscation,
and respectable persons could not, without compro-
mising themselves, do otherwise. It was impossible
men of character could in any way countenance so
palpable and barefaced an injustice, and it is now seen
how correct these gentlemen were in their views. Mr.
Thornton became chairman of the Committee upon the
resignation of Mr. Weeding, and we believe that if the
bondholders would only rally round him, and give him
the requisite assistance, their affairs would not long be
in the hopeless state they are in at present. The
Spanish Government are not only induced to withhold
payment of the dividends on their old obligations, but
it is plain that they are attempting in every possible
way to incur new one;, owing to the culpable forbur-
ance of their English creditors. Let them not only
come forward and support Mr. Thornton in his en-
deavours to serve them, but, further, let such of them
as can afford it enter into subscriptions for defraying a
portion of the expenses of the FrencheCommittee. who
are in the meanwhile doing so much for the promotion
of the common cause.

CHRONICLE.—We have on several occasions
lately, and yesterday more explicitly, given the reasons
why we did not look for a change at present in the po-
licy of the Bank ; and, in support of that view of the
matter, reasons are easily adduced ; but it becomes a
very different matter to discover good grounds for say-
ing that the position of the Bank of England is now so
materially improved as to justify those who manage her
affairs in adopting such a course of financial conduct as
would necessarily lead to a general advance in prices, and
stop the foreign merchants from making purchases in
our markets. We fully believe that the Directors are
desirous to enter upon a more liberal principle of action,
as regards the Money Market, se soon as they can do
so with safety ; and no doubt the worthy Governor, Sir
J. R. Reid, is anxious to get it accomplished before, the
meeting of Parliament, otherwise it may be said by Mr.
Hume, that his " summer cloud" has cast its shade upon
commerce longer than is exactly consistent with the
usually short-lived existence of such evanescent appear-
ances ; but if we reflect on the state of the country
generally—consider that in parts of the counties of
Northumberland and Durham the harvest of last year
was so unfavourable that some of the crop is still ex-
posed in the fields, and that, in the estimation of good
judges, the appearances for next crop are viewed as
very discouraging, we shall find good cause for believ-
ing that the proceedings of the Bank Parlour must be
characterised by great caution until tne spring season
sets in, to enable them to see their way more clearly.
The parties who still speak confidently that the Di-
rectors will relax the pressure in a week or two, must
have private grounds for their opinion, otherwise the
weight of reason points all the other way, with no coun-
tervailinginfluerpe, unless the circumstance that certain
country banks, in Manchester and Liverpool, have set a
bold example. The prudence of such a course is ex-
tremely questionable, but of that the parties interested
ist ab lni sglmeln
countryts are t
joinhejt.ou sdtgeck s.
baTnkhes proceed-
ingshave not
n th
leo fs etheestablishments
English
in general been marked with
much caution or success ;
and, although we do not
mean to impugn the acts of
those to whom we have just alluded, it will at once be
seen that their position is very different from that of the
Bank of England ; for while they have no burden or
responsibility in maintainime the value of the currency,
and can pay in Bank of England notes, the Bank of
England again must be prepared with bullion, not only
for the home supply, but also to meet the drain which
has been, and will soon most likely be again, severely
felt by her in providing gold to pay for the spring im-
portations of foreign corn.
We notice the arrival in the London Docks (21st
December) of the 9ortuguese ship Prayer et Alegria,
500 tons, direct from Angola and Berguela, with valu-
able cargo of 3,089 sacks of Orchilla, and 115 ele-
phants' teeth. This, we believe, is the first direct ar-
rival in this country from a Portuguese African colony.
We notice it with the greater satisfaction as an evidence
that the Portuguese African colonists have now turned
their attention to the products of that rich country for
the purposes of legitimate trade; the recently este-