The Sun.
London, England, 1847-10-04 00:00:00

MONEY and COMMERCIAL NEWS.
CITY, Q /7,117 TER 7'o Ti! E.
In the Liverpool C,

F,tur

sales were 4,000 bales, and pruc^y were iii. per
lb. lower than last Friday.—Railway shares were very
depressed.

The character of the mercantile advices from Liver-
pool is very unfavourable, and heavy failures there are
a matter of certainty, unless the pressure speedily
subsides.

In the manufacturing districts there is a perfect stag-
nation of business, and the London accounts of Saturday
will make matters still worse there.

There is another faiture reported in the City this
morning, a house of some magnitude, and having most
influential connexions on the continent. The bills
falling due to-day, the " fourth," are being
but indifferently provided for, though, perhaps,
as well as can be expected, and there must be great em-
barrassment and further disasters under any circum-
stances. From Germany and the other parts of the
Continent, where the English " crisis" excites the
greatest solicitude, the accounts hitherto are tolerably
favourable.

The following upon money matters is from the letter
of Messrs. Tripp arid Co. :

" The decline that has taken place in the value of
Public Securities, since our last circular, is the inevi-
table result of a contracted currency, diminution of bul-
lion, increasing railway calls, at a time of almost urn-
versal distress and general prostration of credit. To
attach to the railway companies that undue portion of
the cause of our present financial difficulties, which a
portion of the public press has done, appears about as
reasonable and just as to lay the same blame at the
doors of builders, for in every quarter the continuous
erection of new buildings clearly shows the mass of ca-
pital that has been attracted to that one source of em-
ployment ; and were we to point to the annual sum con-
sumed in malt liquor and other unproductive manu-
factures, we should not be at a loss, did our limits per-
mit, to show that the railway expenditure has not been
of a magnitude disproportionate to other items of public
disbursement.

" Besides, it has been of no slight advantage. At a time
that all Ireland was starving, and our own manufacto-
ries at a stand-still, 500,000 men were employed in this
country usefully and profitably in the creation of rail-
ways—undertakings of benefit to each individual, that
have carried with them wealth to every place they
have touched—that must economise the strength and
service of our army—that must to Government be the
means of a great national defence, in addition to the un-
speakable benefits the manufacturer, the agriculturist,
the mining interest, and the whole community enjoy
from the rapid and cheap transit now afforded them.
And yet to proclaim that capital so employed is unproduc-
tive, appears to be about as wise as to prohibit the daily
national expenditure in newspapers, or any other article
of public utility. The real and indisputable truth is, we
have undergone a year of severe ♦isitation in the defi-
ciency of our crops, and whether we had railways or
none, the same distress would have existed, only
perhaps in a less mitigated form ; for the capital
which, in 1844 and in 1845, found employment in rail-
way investments, would in all probability, but for these
undertakings, have sought a return in foreign bonds and
foreign enterprise, which, sad as things now are, may
have left our affairs still worse. Regarding the railway
calls, it seems to escape general notice that the railway
companies have had much difficulty in renewing deben-
tures falling due, and hence the pressure of calls has
been increased by the necessity of providing for this
contingency ; but we blame directors for having made
calls beyond the amount they had led their shareholders
to expect. The Caledonian Company, for instance, have
called up all the money on their old shares, in the teeth
of promises made to their shareholders that not more
than 301. would be required ; in consequence of which,
many shareholders were induced to buy more than they
otherwise would have done, and now, finding themselves
unable to meet unexpected calls, are compelled to sell at
a ruinous sacrifice, or endure the tender mercies of the
Company's solicitor. Generally our impression is, that
the worst has been seen. Food is greatly reduced, the
foreign exchanges are all improving, and with a return
of bullion we may expect also a return of confidence,
with a more healthy revival of trade, and a gradual re
covery throughout our markets."

Wheat has risen 2s. to 3s. per quarter, compared with
this day week.
The Public Securities have been subjected to extreme
fluctuations this morning, amounting, as regards money
business, to no less than If per cent. Consols have
realised 84 for transfer, and are now as low as 834
Time bargains have been made at 85*. and since at
841 4. Exchequer bills have been reduced to 12s. and
20s. discount ; and India Bonds under 1,000/. are 10s.
discount.

The Foreign Securities have been dull. Spanish
Three per Cents. are 271 ; the Passive Bonds, 4 ;
Mexican, 18i ; Brazilian, 78 ex dividend ; Dutch Two-
and-a-Half per Cents are 531 to 531.
Railway Shares are all very heavy, and saleable only
on lower terms. Caledonian have been at 34i 1 ;
Eastern Counties at 161 ; Great Northern at 2i ;),-, ;
Great North of England at 223 ; Great Western at 98 ;
Brighton at 41k to 42/ ; North Western at 153 to 152 ;
South Western at 55i ; Midland at log to 110 ; North
British at 25 to ; North Stdfford at 71 1 ; Scottish
Central, at 241 ; Northern of France at 91 to 10 ; and
Boulogne and Amiens at 13.