The Sun.
London, England, 1870-08-20 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY EVEA ING , AUGUST 20, 1870.

rHE MONEY MARKET

AND

COMM ERCIAL INTELLIGENCE.

CITY, Two o'CLocx

On the Stock Exchange to-day there is little material
change, although on the whole the tendency is favourable
to a further advance in quotations. The demand for Cis-
count is moderate, but previous rates are maintained.
Consols are now 91 to 92 for money, and 91 to
92 for account ; Three per Cent. Reduced, 91 to 91f ;
New Three per Cents., 91 to 92 ; India Five per
Cents., 111 ; ditto Four per Cents., 1001 to 100 f ;
Metropolitan Board of Works, 3i per Cent. Stock, 92} to
92k.

In the Foreign Market Brazilian Bonds of 1865 are
91 ; Egyptian Seven per Cents. of 1864, 87 to 861; ditto
of 1868, 75 to 75;; Spanish of 1867, 27 to 261; ditto of
1869, 26 to 261 ; ditto Quicksilver, 741 to 74 ; Peru-
vian, 86 to 861; Turkish Five per Cents. of 1865, 44 I to 431;
ditto of 1869, 58 to 581 ; and Five per Cent. Italian of
1865, 77 to 82.
In Bank shares Alliance are quoted 14 ; Anglo-
Austrian, 8 10 premium ; Chartered Mereantile, 271 ;
Consolidated, 11 prom; Imperial Ottoman, 12121; Lon-
don and County, 471 ; London and Westminster, 60 ; Lon-
don Joint Stock, 34 ; and Union of London, 361.
The Railway Market—Metropolitan are 651 ; Great
Eastern 351 to 351 ; London and Brighton, 40 to 391;
Caledonian, 741 to 741; South-Eastern, 711 ; Manchester,
Sheffield, and Lincolnshire, 431; Great Northern, 1231 to
1241 ; ditto (A), 129 ; North Eastern, 1401; London
and North-Western, 1271 ; Midland, 1271; Lancashire
and Yorkshire, 1301 ; Great Western, 69.
Canada Six per Cents. are quoted 106 ; New
South Wales Five per Cents., 101 to 1011; NeW
Zealand Five per Cents., 991 to 99; Queensland, 1061;
Victoria Five per Cents., 1011; and ditto Six per Cents.,
113.

In 3 tiscellaneous Shares Berlin Water Works are quoted
14i ; Viceroy of Egypt 7 per cent. Mortgage Loan, 77 ;
National Discount Company, 111; and Peninsular and
Oriental Steam, 42.
Anglo Mediterranean, are 14 ; British Indian Exten-
sion 6 to 6f ; Falmouth, 9a to 91; British Indian
Submarine, 7i 71.
In American Securities, Five-Twenty Bonds are quoted
at 88i to 89; Ten-Forties, 82i to 83i ;_Erie Shares, 17i
to 18 ; Illinois, 106 to 107.

The rate for bills on France is now such at to admit of
gold being sent thither at a profit, but no purchases have
been made for the purpose, owing to apprehensions as to
the peril that might attend the consignment of bullion to
Paris. The cause of the tendency of gold to flow to
France in the face of the war expenditure and the sus-
pension of specie payments consists in the heavy sales,
not only of bonds but of manufactured goods, that are
now being effected there at a sacrifice for the sake of
realising cash. Some of our principal importing firms in
London, Manchester, and elsewhere have, under these
circumstances, made very extensive purchases of silk and
other articles.

The bullion now held by the Bank of France is
£36,200,000, showing a diminution of £15,500,000, from
the point at which it stood before the war.

The Submarine Telegraph Company's new cable has
just been submerged between Beachy Head and Etretat,
near Havre, a distance of 70 nautical miles, but the land
lines from London to Beachy Head and Havre to Paris
have yet to be completed. The erection of the lines in
France may be attended with some delay, owing to the
war, and the consequent difficulty in obtaining at the
moment practical workmen. The cable, which has six
conductors, has been manufactured by Mr. Henley, of
North Woolwich, at cost of about £40,000, and has a
coating of galvanised iron wire, covered with Bright and
Clarke's compound. When the new line begins working
the company will have four cables for the transmission of
messages between England and France, and the delay,
arising partly from a pressure of work, will, it is pre-
sumed, be obviated.

The latest advices from Frankfort describes an extra-
ordinary change in the condition of business on the
Bourse. Towards the end of July money was not to be
had, and the public funds and foreign bills were almost
unsaleable, while at the liquidation for the middle of the
present month everything was reversed. Some few out-
standing accounts for the fall had to be bought in at any
price, or heavy bonuses had to be paid for carrying them
over. Advances on United States' bonds were readily
made at 3 per cent. interest, and foreign bills have
reached a height which shows that Frankfort capitalists
are,purchasers in foreign markets. Almost all transactions
are for cash, speculative business being much restricted.
Ataerican Government securities are again extensively
bought for investment. Austrian Credit shares have
regained their former price. Austrian-French railway
shares also are in good demand, the rise in their price
being checked only by large sales on Paris account.
South German stocks are fast approaching peace quota-
tions, and a 5 per cent. Bavarian loan, to be subscribed for
on the 22d inst. and two following days, at a price not yet
fixed, will be readily taken. The new North German
loan is at 4i per cent. premium. The liquidation of W.
F. Jaeger's affairs proceed 4 very satisfactorily, and it
appears that the creditors will not suffer any loss.
American commerce is beginning to feel the effects of
the withdrawal of German vessels from the seas, as the
lists of clearances from New York present the names
of ships of American origin. Recently a bark cleared
from Boston with a cargo of flour and produce for London,
being, it is alleged, the first American vessel that has
cleared from that port in the last four years.
The advices from Geelong mention that a meeting had
been held of the creditors of Messrs P. M`Donald and Co.
Their liabilities reached £26,497, in addition to contingent
commitments, amounting to £30,000. The assets repre-
sented 226,400. An assignment was agreed to.

The Council of India will receive tenders on the 7th
prox. for bills on Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay, to the
amount of £400,000.
At the meeting of the Brazilian Street Railway Com-
pany (Limited) a dividend was declared for the half-year
at the rate of 12i per cent. per annum.

Tins MORNING'S NEWS.

DUNVILLE and Co., Belfast, are the largest holders
of whisky in the world. Their Old Irish 'Whisky is r ommended
by the medical profession in preference to French brand . Sup-
plied in casks and cases for home use or exportation. Quotations
on application to Messrs DUNVILLE & Co., Royal Irish Dis-
tilleries, Belfast ; or at thei London Offices, 4, Beaufort Buildings
Strand, W.C.

(CENTRAL PRESS TELEGRAMS.)
SHOCKING COLLIERY EXPLOSION.

At nine o'clock yesterday morning a terrible colliery
explosion occurred at Brynn Hall, near Wigan. 13 men
and boys were taken out of the pit badly burnt.
Four were brought up dead. The number of dead in the
pit, which is supposed to be on fire, will number twenty
more.

Later news states that two more dead bodies,
making in all six, have been recovered from the
mine, and fifteen persons have been brought
out alive. One of these has since died, and the re-
mainder are terribly burnt. Thirteen or fourteen
are still in the pit, all of whom must be dead.
Operations for the recovery of the dead had to be sus-
pended for a couple of hours, as the mine was believed to
be on fire. It being found, however, that the smoke came
from ignited trops, the fire was quickly extinguished, and
a party of explorers descended. All the bodies that have
been recovered were terribly mutilated. The mine was a
very small one. The force of the explosion was terrific.

OUR COTEMPORARIES---This Morning

THURSDAY'S 13ArfLE BEFORE METE,

To realise in its integrity the full meaning of this news,
we must remember that we have no word from the'French
side to mitigate the completeness of the disaster. The
main French fighting army, including the floweu..of the
French troops, is cut off from Paris and from its junction
with the reserves. Between it and all the other troops of
France, between it and the capital, stands an army
which, though it has suffered awful losses, is yet flushed
with victory. The whole of the troops of Prince Fre-
derick Charles and Steinmetz are before the de-
fences of Metz, and the army of Bazaine is within
them. How can it hope to cut its way
through, if it has already twice failed, though
it has fought with a bravery and determination falling
nothing short of heroism ? How can it hope to hold its
ground when its sources of supplies are in the enemy's
hands, and there is scarcely food for a garrison, none for
a great army, within the lines? In either circumstance
it seems a hopeless case ; and is there any direction
towards which it may look with reason for succour ?
What has it to look to for. help? Far away, more
than a hundred miles distant, lie to the nearest
supports, at the camp of Chalons, on the Marne, while
slowly, steadily, there is pushing on to attack those re-
serves the powerful army of the Crown Prince of Prussia,
full of the recollections of its victory over MacMahon, and
believing it has the secret of never-failing victory. What
are these troops at Chalons which are tom oppose
its onward march ? There is the remnant of
MacMahon's shattered corps, which cannot exceed
fifteen thousand men, available for the line of
battle. There is the corps of Canrobert, and the corps
newly organised for General Trochu till he returned to
command the army of Paris. There is some Garde Mobile,
and it may be some divisions of Douay's 7th corps ; but
it is impossible to estimate the mass at more than
100,000 of all arms, and these can scarcely be sup-
posed to be complete in the proportion of artillery
and cavalry. How can these resist the tide of
invasion, as the Crown Prince moves onward in his steady
advance? It seems impossible. Rather we should sup-
pose that they will retreat upon Paris, earn to them every
man that France can find with hands to fight and a soul
to care for his country, and there, under the walls of
the capital, resist with might and main the
German hosts. These, as they advance, must diminish—
France, in the interim, must gain strength of men. For
these troops at Chalons can give no help to Bazaine.
Should they try to reach him, they can only be crushed
by the weight of armed men that will be hurled
upon them as they advance. France has but one
chance. Bazaine, remaining in Metz, will detain before
its walls a larger force than his own, so long as he can
ffnd food on which to live ; while the other Prussian
armies must find that as they march on to Paris
it is an armed nation, and not only an army that opposes
their progress. Judged only in regard to the armies now
in the field, the military situation of France seems hope-
less ; but can a nation such as France be crushed by the
_ .

results of a single day? When the first armies of France
are spent, we may not say it is all ended. There are other
eventualities to be conceived.—Standard.
An examination of what has actually occurred since
Sunday night will present the situation in its full gravity.
With every possible incentive—for the sake of safety, even
if not of fame—to make a swift and brilliant retreat to a
point where he might retrieve the fortunes of the cam-
paign, Bazaine lingered for 36 hours, after he crossed the
Moselle, in a position only ten miles westward of
Metz on the routes towards the Meuse. Thus he gave
time to the Prussians to wheel around their centre and
left across the river above Metz, while their right—com-
posed of the First and Seventh Corps, which had
fought on Sunday—held firm between the Nied and
the fortress. When the Third, Eighth, Ninth, and
tenth Prussian Corps had passed the river, they
formed, with the two others, a line extending
round the city, from the St. Avoid and Boulay roads
on the east, to near Metz-la-Tour on the west. And
thus Bazaine found, on Tuesday morning, that he was cut
off from the road to Paris by a force which outnumbered
his own—yet which was perfectly sure of its communica-
tions, by the strong rearguard it had left on the eastern
side of Met; and by the abundant cavalry that scoured
the whole country over the twenty miles intervening
between. Meanwhile, whatever the reason for his delay,
on Tuesday morning Bazaine seems to have
got all ready for the start. His corps were
echeloned on either side of Rezonville, ten or twelve
miles from Metz, on the lower road to Verdun. His
rearguard was at Gravelotte, in readiness to resist any
attack that might be made by a pursuing enemy, crossing
the Moselle near Ars, to fall upon the flank of his
retreat. It does not appear whether he meant also
to use the upper road to Verdun, which diverges at
Gravelotte, and tends northwards, passing parallel
with the other, about six miles distant, by Con-
flans and Etain. Probably the Marshal's intention
was to conduct the mass of his army by the lower road,
through Mars-la-Tour and Manheulles, anticipating that
on his route he might receive the strongest attack of the
enemy, crossing above Metz. At any rata, ho
tells us himself that his troops were for the
most part echeloned about Rezonville, some to the
right and some to the left that is, some to
west and some to the east—of the army looking for
attack from the south. If, therefore, the cavalry of the
Third Corps and the Brandenburg Division attacked the
French right, they must have done a most daring deed.
For the French tight was the part of the army nearest to
Verdun— the very vanguard of the retreat ; and to reach
it the assailants must have made their way past the
whole French army, until, suddenly appearing on Fros-
sard's flank, they led Bazaine to suppose that the
whole Prussian force was between him and Verdun. On
some such theory may we best explain the Prussian
statement about the cavalry and the Branden-
ourgers delaying the march of Bazaine full six
nours, until the rest of the pursuing corps came up and
fronted the French columns advancing from Rezonville
westward to the line between Doncourt and Vionville.
On Tuesday, the French claimed the honour of maintain-
ing the field of battle, and of compelling the enemy to
ask an armistice, for the purpose of burying their dead.
But the Prussians claimed the solid advantage of having
stopped the retreat of their enemies, and forced
them back before Metz ; while even the French Marshal
Commander-in-Chief did not deny that he was constrained
zo delay his movement, though he explained the halt by
the necessity for replenishing his ammunition. Pro-
oably enough the success of the Prussians on Tuesday
amounted to little or nothing more than the fact that they
had stopped Bazaine's retreat; but, then, how had they
stoppedit ? Not by grappling with his rearguard as they fol-
lowed him along the same roads towards Verdun ; but by
intercepting him on those very roads, and compelling him to
fight for his communications with the west—for the very
life of his army. At noon on Thursday began the second
stage of the battle ; and for nine hours it lasted, with
an obstinacy which may be readily inferred from its
long duration, from the splendid quality of the
opposing troops, and from the tremendous issues
which each army had at stake. We only know,
as we write, that the King of Prussia's bivouac
was at Rezonville on Thursday night, and that his
Majesty claimed a complete victory, the result
of which had been to cut off the French altogether from
their communications with Paris. Setting the King's
description of the battle entirely aside, we look at the
place of his bivouac, and at once conclude that he had
gained the day. For, on Tuesday, Rezonville was in the
rear of the line on which Bazaine fought Stein-
metz and Prince Frederick Charles ; now it is
In the rear of the line on which the Prussian
hosts lie on their arms after Thursday's bloody
work. The French, therefore, must have been
forced back four or five miles towards Metz; and since, at
Rezonville, the two roads to Verdun are but two miles
apart, it is a matter of certainty that the victors hold
both. Possibly the great strife is not yet ended; certainly.
Bazaine must make a desperate effort before he submits
his army to the highest indignity that ever befell a martial
host in modern times—a disaster to which Ulm was mere
bagatelle. The Emperor at Chalons, the wearied and dis-
jointed corps of De Failly and Douay converging thither,
are powerless to aid him ; for is there not that terrible
Crown Prince yet to be settled with, at some point
nearer to Chalons, if not to Paris, than the Emperor will
like to know ? Bazaine must, evidently, trust to himself.
But, whatever efforts he may make, the fortunes of the
campaign must singularly change—the conduct of the
Prussian Generals and the courage of their soldiers must
strangely fail—if Metz is not destined to prove the
Caudine Forks of the Second Empire,— Telegraph.
There seemed no doubt from the beginning that the
esult of the sanguinary battle of Tuesday had been
po place the Prussians between the French army
And those roads to Verdun and Chalons through
which the army had attempted to retreat,
rile French army had been forced to fall back towards
Metz. But it still occupied a strong position outside the
place. The King stormed that position. He forced
oho French closer and closer upon Metz. The battle
Jf Thursday, however, only made assurance doubly sure,
The honour of shutting Bazaine up in Metz is due to
the force under Prince Frederick Charles. But that
force was inadequate to the task of closing every outlet
against so vast an army as still held its ground around
Metz. The Xing probably brought forward all the rest
g his available troops. What was on Tuesday simply a
repulse was on Thursday converted into an investment.—