The Sun.
London, England, 1840-12-31 00:00:00

EVENING EDITION

MONEY MARKET and CITY NEWS.

(WEDNESDAY 27ENING.)
CIMON/CLE.—The subjoined communications,
being extracts from letters dated Ist of December, le -
*dived from a mercantile house at New York, agents for
riire State of Illinois, will be satisfactory to the holders
ref the Stock of that State, the credit of which was
shaken in consequence' of the proceedings adopted by
the State against Mr. John Delafield, of New York.
Mr. Delafield had received fro:n the Fund Commis-
sinners of Illinois a large amount of State Bonds, under
eentract of the 7th May, 1839, to the extent of 283
bonds, for 1,000 dollars each, which he was bound to
pad Ly instalments in terms of contract. appears,
ho,wever, that he only paid the two first instalments
Excording to contract, and the Fund Commissioners,
therefore brought a suit against him in the Chan-
cellor's Court for breach of agreement. Mr. Dda-
field pleaded much in his defence on the bad
faith of the State of Illinois, whereby the value
of the:r bonds had been seriously depreciated. His
plea was founded on the following resolution of a com-
mittee of the Legislature of Illinois, of date the 30th
January, 1840 :—" Resolved, That the contract made
by MM. Rawlings and Charles Oakley, fund commis-
sioners of the State of Illinois, with John Delafield,
banker, New York, on the 7th day of May, 1839, for
ties sale of 283 State Bonds, for 1,000 dollars each, is
not made in conformity with law, and is hereby repu•
iliateri." It it important to observe that this resolution
‘ViIS passed in consequence of the protest of the drafts
for the Duci.mber and January instalments of Mr. De-
latield's debt, and, above all, that it was rejected ulti-
mately by the Senate, and was never entertained by
the House of Representatives of the State of Illinois.
It originated from the failure of agreement on the
pin of Mr. Delafield, who passed the bonds of the
State into other hands without paying ti.e price,
and in consequence of which illegal conduct on his
part, the State, after a long and useless correspondence,
to .ffect a compromise, was ultimately compelled to
eeek redress in a court of law. The object of the
visit, however, was not to repudiate the validity of the
bonds which Mr. Delafield had, by himself or agents,
&gaited so thiri parties. The State of Illinois never
vo-:ant to question their liability for the bonds ; they
telly wished for an injunction to prevent Mr. Delafield
from passing those remaining in his hands away to
others, and to make the proceeds of those which he
bad gold answerable for his debt, under the contract
with the State. That such was the nature of the pro-
ocedinfs against Delafield is fully explained from the
following letters :
On mount of the unfavourable impression which has
been made is the Loudon market, in consequence of cer-
tain proceedings of the State of Illinois against Mr. John
Delafield of this city, we have thought it would be inter-
esting to you to receive the inclosed letter, addressed to us
by the Hon. Daniel Webster, who, you would perceive, was
one of the counsel employed by the State. We hope the
explanations contained in this letter will effectually remove
all further apprehensions on this subject.
" Since enclosing you the letter of Mr. Webster by this
conveyance, we bare received the enclosed letter from
Mr. S. B. Ruggles, who was also engaged with lir.
Webster as the solicitor of the State of Illinois:—

(Copy.)
" New York, Nov. 30, 1840.

" Gentlemen,—Mr. Ruggles has suggested to me that
some alarm has been excited among the holders of Illinois
Bonds by the Chancellor's decision in the suit of Illinois
against Delaficid. I know no reason of alarm, arising
from anything decided, or contended for, in that case. It
was not suggested by the Counsel for the State of Illinois,
nor, as I understand, intimated by the Chancellor, that
the State could repudiate the bonds, or refuse their pay-
ment. On the contrary, the ground insisted on for the
relief claimed was, that the bonds must be paid, in all
events, to the holders, into whose hands they passed from
Delafield.—l am, &c.,
( Signed)

,i DANIEL WEBSTER."

(Copy.)
" New York, Nov. 28, 1840.

" Gentlemen,—ln answer to inquiries made by your-
selves and others, holders of Illinois bonds, as to the ob-
ject of the suit in Chancery, prosecuted by the State of
Illinois against Mr. Jobn Delafield, and of which I have
charge as Solicitor, I state that the object of the suit is,
not to-repudiate, or in any way disavow the bonds of the
State, but merely the contract by which they were sold to
Mr. Delafield. The bonds are regarded throughout as
being, of and in themselves, valid and perfect securities,
obligatory against the State in the hands of all persons
except the original parties to the contract, and the main
object of the Bill is to prevent Mr. Delafield from parting
with the bonds, and thereby placing them in hands where,
in all events, they would be binding on the State.
" It will be seen that the decision of the Chancellor
plainly recognises this principle, in attaching the proceeds
of such of the bonds as Mr. Delafield may have nego-
tiated ; and such, too, was the whole scope of the reason-
ing of the eminent counsel (Messrs. William Kent and
!girlie!, Webster) who argued the cause in behalf of Illi-
nois before the Chancellor. The idea was never for a
moment thrown out or entertained, either by court or
esnnsal, that the bonds once out of the possession of Dela-
field were not legally, as well as morally, binding on the
*taws, and thil obligation was not only admitted, but it
was urged anenlied on, as furnishing the sole ground for
seekiag the aid of the Court. The opinion of the Chan-
cellor will show that he recognises this obligation as the
very bjelis of his decision.
itnestion arising in the cause, as to the legality
of- the entginal sale of the bands to Delafield, by the fund
Commissioners' is a matter resting exclusively between
List and the &ate, in no way affecting third parties holding
the bonds, who are not bound either to prove, or know, or
inquire how, or by whom, the bonds were originally put
in circulation. " I am, &c.,
( Signed) " SAMUEL B. RUGGLES."

Mr. Daniel Webster was counsel for the State of
ll!inois, in the action against Delafield, and Mr.
Ruggles was solicitor in the cause. The above com-
munications, therefore, which fully explain the nature
anti object of the proceedings, cannot fail to give con-
fidanca to those who may be holders of bonds of the
state of Illinois.

TlMES.—There have been frequent intimations of
late of the approaching introduction of foreign ►oans
into this market, but they have died away again for the
most part and been forgotten. All this implies, as
plainly as though it had been publicly stated on unde-
niable authority, that the market has been examined
very carefully, and found not to be capable of receiving
any additional supply to a large extent. This is to be
ascribed in part to the efforts of the Bank to make
money scarce ; bet there exists another and more power-
ful cause for it, which is, that we have not at hand much
spent capital available for such purposes. Projects at
ler.° of various kinds, but principally those connected
with railways. have absorbed money to an immense
amount, in permanent investment, for good or evil,
as the case might turn out to be ; while the
systematic dealers in money, who might be tempted,
while it ras• of little or no value in the
discount market, by the high• rate of in-
terest on foreign loans, to lend their help at least in
setting them. forth, have been able to derive all the
profit they could have derived, and of a safer kind
also, .front the current rare of money on private loans,
to the profit on which there is, in fact, hardly any
limit, as the recent disclosures respecting some of the
loan societies have proved. These circumstances,
joined with the discredit attaching to foreign loans gene-
rally limn the quantity of dishonoured paper of that
kind now in circulation, will probably keep us free for
some time to come from any large introductions of that
kin.l. _ _

The Consol market was buoyant to-day with improv-
ing symptoms.
'Tie arrangement of the account to-day in the share
market being passed over easily, although as much as 15
per cent. was paid for accommodation, the prices of the
general descriptions have been fully maintained, whilst
is nrime a further advance occurred.

liy she usual official return published by the Customs,
the exports of the precious metals from the port of Lon-
don to foreign and colonial ports, for the week ending
tits ?4th instant, was as under :

Ounces.
Silver coin to Belgium 2,000
Mauritius
Connected with the desire which is generally felt
for the introduction of a higher stamp for the postage
of foreign letters, are a memorial to the Treasury
slay the Committee of the Bombay Chamber of Coni-
et-etse„ and an accompanying letter by the London
1. kyr. India and China Association. The B inthay
eiteet3:ialswet represent that they have observed w ith
et ;re' that the present impossibility of pre-pa: ins
titor 'Asters to littglaud prevents them availing them-
sdet:s of ae advantages of overland communication,
er.,! go so gar as so any, that many persons who would
open correspondences in England are de-
li reed from so doing by an unwillingness to entail
exormse on those
parties with whom they might car-
rt scoot. They therefore suggest that envelopes and
stamps similar to those in England%ut specially stamped
for Indian letters, should be sold by the home Post-office
to the English stationers, who would for 1 man per
ceP:age transmit them for sale to India. In the letter
that. Accompanies this memorial the Committee of the
East India and China Association, considering that stamps
of the present low denomination would, from the num-
ber that would be requisite for Indian communication,
both disfigure the letters and increase their weight,
suggests that Is. be the amount of the statnps made
far India, provided the wish of the Bombay memo-
rialists is granted. As the Indians themselves are will-
ing to purchase these stamps, there seems no objection
that can be urged by the Government against a mea-
sure that would tend to increase the revenue, while pub-
lic convenience was at the same time consulted. For on
the transmission of the pre-paid letters from India to
England no loss could of course be sustained by the
Government did any accident prevent their safe
delivery ; whereas, under the present arrangement
the loss of a letter is a loss to the revenue as well as
to the party for whom it is designed. Some persons
suggest.. in addition to this alteration in favour of the
Indian public, that a similar stamp should be made for
the postage of the letters taken to India from England.
This would prevent much of the delay which now arises
from thf clerks who take the letters to the Post-office
hosing to wait while their letters are examined and
taxed, and the consequentupwd which is found to be so