The Sun.
London, England, 1870-01-04 00:00:00

rnE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, JANUARY 4, 1870.

JOINT-STOCK BANKS.

Closing
Share NAME. Paid. Price
10 Agra Limited, A all 11 111 111
IO Do B lO 44 5/
50 Albion l5 10 8
00 Alliance, Limited
20 Anglo Austrian
20 Anglo-Egyptian, lim all 22 220
20 Anglo-Hungarian 8 If 21
20 Anglo-Italian 1866, limited 10 5 4
40 Australasian
20 Bank of British Columbia all 12 13
20 Do issued at 2 pm.— , 5 5 4
25 Bank of Egypt
20 Bank of Otago, lim.
25 Bank of South Australia.— all 30 82
50 Bank of Victoria, Australia 25 37 39
10 Bank of New Zealand all 141 161
50 British North American
20 Chartered of India, Austra-
lia, end China all
26 Chartered Mere. of India,
I London, and China all
20 City lO
100 Colonial 25
10 Consolidated, lira. 4
60 Delhi and London, lint
50 East Loudon, lim b
20 English and American, lim 10
20 English Bank of Rio de Ja-
neiro. lim lO
20 English, Scottish, and Aus •
tralian Chartered 4.. all 161 101
281 Honc, Kong and Shanghai
Bank Corporation all 36 38
281 Do new lll 4 5
100 Imperial, lim 2O 15 16
20 Imperial Ottoman lO 21 24 121 I
25 lonian all 19 22
25 Do new 5 6 3
Lnd Mortgage of India, lint 4 34 34 i
100 Do ip. c. Debs.lB64, 30 all 76 76 b 0
100 London Bank! of Alexice
and South America, lim. 20 6 4
100 London and Brazilian, lint. 45 35 l.'l
20 Do new 71 h 41
100 London & River Plate, lint. 40 11 13
25 Do new 10 11 211
20 London Chart. of Australia all 254 241
20 London and County 2O 421 501 494
SO Do new, iss at 20 p.m, 16 pd ll
London Joint Stock
London and South African al
100 London &S.-Western, lim, 20 13 11
50 London & Venezuela, lim l2l
__. ..•
100 London and Westrainster 2O 671 881 5.91
100 Do Scrip, les at 10 pm 2O
100 Merchant, lim 25 61 84
10 Metropolitan, lira all Ili 74
00 Midland, lim.. ,
5 National of Australia
25 National of Liverpool, Bra l5 Bd 1p
00 National Provinc. of Eng'd 42 ... ...

done

17 18

31 32
10 II 101
1 41
i I 41

21 14

pr 1p

.111 -321 al

... • 42 ... ...

10 Do
50 National.. ...
20 New South Wales all 41 43
20 North-Western 7l ... ...
25 Oriental Bank Corporation all 41 42
50 Provinc. Bank. Corpo., Bin lO 6} 5i
80 Provincial of Ireland 25 90 92
10 Do new, all ... ...
104 Stand. of Brit. S. Africa, Bin 25 14 13
100 Do issued at 6 pin lO 8 6
25 Union of Australia all 48 41
100 Union of Ireland, lira
50 Union of London l5 37 38

TELEGRAPH COMPANIES.

Tr liiiTo-Ainerican Tel., lim an 19 2) 191 1
10 Anglo Mediter Te1.,1im.... le 171 1$ 19, 20 lit
st Atlantic Telegraph lO 13 16
st Do. 8 per cent.
st B. and I. Magnetic Tel., lim lOO 178 183
st Electric (It Inter. Telegraph 100 260 265
10 Do. New 8 12 13p
25 Indo-European Tel., lim all 23 2 i
5 Lond. Provincial Tel. lim all 21 31
1 Do. Prefer. 10 per cent all 1 I p
10 Mediterra. Eaten. Tel., lim. all 6 61
2.5 Reuter's Telegram all 78 60
20 Societe Transatlant., lim all 14 17 161 1
it Submarine Telegraph ..
1 Do. Scrip..... . .
5 U. Kingdom Tel. Co., lim all 7 41
5 Do. 10 per cent. Pref all (1 51
...—.....

MISCELLANEOUS.

10 Aiiii7Ciexican Mint all 141 144
25 Australian Agricultural
25 Australian Mort. Land and
Finance, lim
10 Baugarah Tea Estates, lim 8 3d
10 Berlin Water Works, lim all 111 141 114
10 Do. New all —--
100 Bolckow Vaughan, lim.
5 Bombay Gas, lim
5 Do. Now 4 11 Id
50 British American Land 44 15 17
20 British Indian Tea, lim all 21 81
20 British Ship Owners 7l
29 Canada Company all 64 06
10 Canadian Loan and InTest-
intent, lim 2l
20 Ceylon Company, lim
20 Do. A shares
10 City Discount, lim 6
25 City of London Real Pro-
perty, lim 9 51 4
30 City of Milan Improv. lim. all 5 6
25 City of Moscow Gas, lim all
50 City Offices, lim 25 23 22
SO Colonial, lim.
Do.
30 Commercial llnion (Assur) S -pr 1
10 Company of African Mer-
chants, lira
20 Continental Union Gas, lim all 25 $7 24
25 Copper Miners of England,
prof. 71 per cent.

•• ••
31 •
21ct
3 'A

Bank of France.

_PARIS, Dec. 30.

The following is the return of the Bank of France
for the week ending to-day, together with the cor-
responding figures of the previous account :

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

The Times remarks that the Official Journal of the
French Empire has printed the names of M. Emile
011ivier's colleagues in the new Cabinet—an array of
names well calculated to reward the patience of these
who, like ourselves, have been for many weeks looking
forward to its publication. The Emperor, indeed, has
earned a right to keep some friends about him by consent-
ing with so good a grace to welcome as his advisers men
who have been till this day his declared adversaries.
Count Daru, the newly - appointed Minister for
Foreign Affairs, although he bears an illustrious
name, associated with the days of the First Empire,
has been conspicuous since the coup dVtat among
the most consistent onemies of the Second. It is bard to
see how the reconciliation between the Founder of "Per-
sonal Rule" and the champions of sound Liberal princi-
ples could be more sincere or complete. In the very first
exercise of his prerogative as a Constitutional Sovereign
the Emperor waives his authority so far as to accept a
Cabinet from the construction of which he deemed it ad-
visable to remain entirely aloof. We do not see what
better proofs he could give of his confidence in his sub-
jects, or how he could place himself more unconditionally
in their hands. There is, indeed, in all this the ackuow-
ment of a radical change; there are symptoms of the
4. weariness of the traveller worn out by the length of
his way and the weight of his burden." But the Emperor
neither intends nor has it in his power to abdicate. He is
thinking of his son, whom any untoward event may call
to the inheritance of a power to which his own strength
and dexterity have not been more than equal. The
share of that power which, in his new compact with his
subjects, he reserves to himself, might, perhaps, without
uneasiness he bequeathed to a minor. A nation which
can be trusted with the formation of its own Ministry is so
far emancipated as to be able to conduct its own affairs,
and a self-governing nation may and will easily submit to
a sovereign reigning and not ruling.
- - -

The Daily News declares that the Tipperary scandal has
not been repeated in Longford. Mr. Greville-Nugent, the
son and heir of one of the new Gladstone peers, has been
returned by an enormous majority over Mr. John Martin,
once editor of the Irish Felon, and himself in 1848 a poli-
tical convict. Mr. Martin, though he could once claim the
honourable title which he gave to his newspaper has no
longer any right to it. He is at large, as free as any other
of her Majesty's subjects. His election would in no
sense back the demand of the agitators for the release
of the Fenian convicts. It would have none of the merits
of a practical joke. The sense of fun had something to do
_ _

with the choice of O'Donovan Rossa. But there is nothing
funny about Mr. Martin. He is a Presbyterian and a

landowner, and in these particulars had no advantage over
his rival, who is a landowner and a member of the Church
of England. The electors of Longford, having had the
matter clearly placed before them, have declared that they
prefer the Saxon yoke to the cause for which O'Connell
died. The vast major.ty of those who have voted at all,
have voted for the British officer, and against the "Irish
felon." There are in the present House of Commons
men, active, useful, and respected, who have stood
on the same platform with O'Connell, and have
been tenants of her Majesty's gaols as political prisoners.
But when Mr. Martin's claims to a seat in Parliament are
based upon the past, it is impossible to let bygones be
bygones. Mr. Greville-Nugent's personal fitness to repre-
sent Longford is better understood in Longford than in
London, But be has hereditary claims to favourable con-
sideration. His father, whose elevation to the peerage
has created the vacancy which the sonhas now been called
on to fill, is one of the few Protestant landlords who ad-
vocated religious equality when Liberal statesmen looked
askance at it, and who favoured legal security of tenure
when to mention the phrase, except to denounce it,
was to incur the reproach of aiming at revolution and cou-
fiscation.

The Pall Mall Gazette, in discussing the admission of
working men to Parliament, observes that the prevailing

.
opinion is that capacity for legislation comes, like reading
and writing, by nature, or as an inevitable result of the
possession of so many thousands a year. When a man
holds himself to have a strong claim to assist in making
laws because he has been a successful soap boiler or has a

large number of railroad shares, it would seem hypercritical

to urge that working men are, as a general rule, insufficiently

educated, and not deeply enough versed in political
studies. All that can be remarked upon this head is of a

more general application. It is really desirable, para-
doxical as the assertion appears, that men who have to
decide intricate questions of policy, and to reduce it
chaotic system of laws to something like order and har-
monious action, should possess trained intellects and have
received a thorough education. Little as these conditions

are regarded in practice, we should not quite lose sight o

them in theory. And it is certainly not a positive recom-
mendation to a man that he has passed the greater part
of his life in stitching coats or hammering iron. If, in-
deed, he has surmounted those disadvantages, ho has
shewn very unusual powers, which deserve encouragement;
but the fact, taken by itself, does not constitute a positive
recommendation. A really able and honest working man
might, indeed, be able to preserve his independence, to
command the respect of all parties, and to enforce a due

consideration of the views of his class. All that we say is

that a man coming in the name of the working classes,

with an exacting constituency behind him insisting upon
his making a noise at any price, with every party willing
to make a cat's paw of him for their own particular
objects, with the little experience of the class among which
he is placed, will be in a position requiring unusual tact
and strength of mind. Many working men who possess
genuine influence with their fellows would exert it far
more effectually from without than within the sacred
precincts. They would there be infinitely less liable to
suspicion or to temptation, and would obtain almost as
wide a hearing.

An epitaph by tho Times has, says the Standard, long
ceased to have any ethical or commercial value. Always

imbued with an extravagant share of the one quality pro-
verbially be!onging to this species of composition,
_the

epitaphs of the Times have come to be neither a truthfu

memorial to the dead nor a useful lesson to the living,

They are generally a compliment when they are intended
for a reproach, and an insult when they are written as
flattery. Very often they have a trick of being antedated,
for it is the humour of the once leading journal to affect
that its enemies are dead when their further living
becomes unpleasant to itself. It too often "comes
to bury Cvsar, not to praise him "—when Cxsar,
perhaps, is still in vigorous existence. The
decease of the Morning Herald has been the
latest subject for the exercise of this peculiar talent in our
contemporary. With a composure really remarkable under
the circumstances, the Times traces the decline of the
Morning Herald to a too zealous adherence to the cause of
its party. This too consistent journal fell, we are told, a
martyr to its immovability. No one, certainly, will ever
write in the Times epitaph, whenever that melancholy
duty has to be discharged by a surviving world, that it
died "because it stuck too long and too narrowly to the
same old work" meaning by" same old work "the consistent
advocacy of one set of principles. No one believes that the
Times will expire, as the Morning Herald did, of an over-
scrupulous and rigid adherence to the spirit of any one
party. Yet if we are to measure the decline of a party by
the accidents of journalism, then it is certainly not the
Tory party alone which has to lament a loss of influence.
If there have been changes in the ranks on one side, there
have been changes also on the other ; and the sneer that
Toryism is not what it was, is sufficiently met by the retort
that Liberalism is not what it was. Where is now the
party which the Times itself so long supported—the party
of Lord Palmerston ? Is it not more honest, at least, to
die for one's party, than to live by the killing of many

parties?
The Telegraph thinks that, in considering the question
of competitive examinations, it must be clearly borne in
mind that the Civil Service is not one department, but
comprises many, and that there is great variety in the
work. It would be impossible to establish one kind of
competition for twenty or thirty different departments.
For instance, French is imperatively required in the
Foreign Office, and arithmetic not at all, while no language
is demanded for entrance to the Revenue Offices, but the
competition in arithmetic is severe. It would seem, there-
fore, impracticable to establish any one entrance or com-
petition test for the whole Civil Service, or to decree that
the best man in that one test may enter any office he
selects. That would " never do." Besides, to make com-
petition fair it should take place at several local centres,
lest London, or Dublin, or Edinburgh lads should have an
undue advantage. For instance, if we take all the subjects
on which candidates are tested, from penmanship up to
Greek or the higher mathematics, we could make a
list that might form the programme of a
series of local standard examinations conducted in
at least every borough of the United Kingdom. From
this list, in the cases that we have imagined, Ministers
might choose three or more candidates for a limited com-
petition as each vacancy occurred, and thus gradually the
best men would obtain the vacant posts—the defeated
men still retaining the original local certificate, which
would probably be useful in obtaining Bank of England
and private clerkships. It willbe seen that this plan would
retain all the advantages of the present system, and abolish
its only disadvantage—its preference of political nominees
over young men without friends. But while we might
substitute perfect freedom of competition for those privi-
leges of competition which are now obtained through
political influence, we must take care that, in levelling
all class and family distinctions, we do not injure special
departments of the service requiring peculiar qualifications
and gifts. Of course it is a good thing to extirpate corrupt
patronage, but, after all, the raison d'etre of the Civil Ser-
vice is that the civil service of the country should be
effectually and suitably performed. Clerkships are
clerkships, and not prizes for the learning, virtue, or
piety of wonderfully crammed or vairaculoualy ofqoulating
boys.