The Sun.
London, England, 1856-01-24 00:00:00

AUSTRIA.

VIENNA, Jan. 20.--The prevalent report that
the Generals of the hostile armies have received
telegraphic orders to suspend hostilities is
false. It would be contrary to all diplomatic
usage to issue such orders before the prelimi-
naries of peace have been signed, and that they
will hardly reach this city before the 23d
inst. It is credibly related that neither the
British nor French Minister at this Court has yet
received from his Government powers authorising
him to sign the preliminaries. The seat of the
future Peace Congress is not yet fixed on, but some
out-of-the-way place is likely to be chosen, where
the diplomatists will find good food and lodging,
and nothing to distract their attention from their
important duties.
The Vienna Presse, which, is said to be the
favourite organ of his Excellency the Chief of the
Police, contains a lengthy article on the prospects
of peace that closes with the following menace
against England, which will probably meet with

THE BALTIC.

THE SOUND DUES.

HAMBURG, Jan. 22.—The arrival of as many
as 300 vessels laden with salt and other neces-
saries from the various German, Swedish, and
Danish ports at Russian harbours, principally at
Revel, Riga, and Baltic Port, is announced in
our journals, which mention that the quantity
of salt alone has been about 1,500 lasts, reducing
the price of that article considerably in conse-
quence. It is further -stated, however, that very
few ships have been enabled to reach Russian
ports with colonial produce, so much required ;
that many vessels had taken in cargoes for
Cronstadt and St. Petersburg again from these
places, but with the questionable probability of
reaching those harbours, in consequence of the
weather having changed to hard frost again. On
the 15th inst. 20 degrees of Reaumur had been re-
ported to be the state of the barometer in St. Peters-
burg, which will render it impossible for any vessels
to approach the coast. Very large quantities of
corn (chiefly rye) were ready for shipment at Riga,
and some vessels laden therewith were frozen in in
the harbour with cargoes taken on board for St.
Petersburg.
The reports from St. Petersburg state that much
severe weather had been experienced in the Crimea,
and that heavy snow had fallen in the vicinity of
Simpberopol. In order to reduce as much as pos-
sible the amount of the civil list, the Emperor had
given orders that all vacancies occurring in the
Imperial Court appointments should, for the
future, not be filled up as heretofore, until his or-
ders were made known on the subject. This
ukase proves that all due regard is not paid to the
strictest economy in the State expenses. All
troops organised from among the Bashkir tribes
are henceforth to be called soldiers of the " army
of the Bashkirs."

The weather continues very mild and rainy here,
and steamers have commenced running again.

The Sound dues conferences were formally opened
at Copenhagen on the 4th in,t., but the business
transacted consisted of little more than the presen-
tation and verification of the different credentials.
The Russian Commissioner, Tengoborski, was the
only specially nominated deputy there. The
Danish papers for a long time observed the most
perfect silence on the subject of these conferences,
and it was not till the 14th inst. that the Dagbladet
favoured the public with a few particulars front a
private source. According to this statement the
Minister Von Scheel opened the proceedings by
announcing that Herr Bluhme, the ci devant Mini-
ster for Foreign Affairs, was deputed by the Go-
vernment to represent Denmark, after which
communication he withdrew. The assembly
was composed of the representatives of twelve
States. Herr Bluhme proceeded to develope a
plan for the capitalisation of the Sound dues, and
of the other incidental payments, based upon a
mixed calculation of the imports and exports of the
various nations. -At that part of his speech in
which he described Denmark as having come for-
ward to meet the others half-way he was inter-
rupted by Herr Tengoborski, who maintained that
it was Russia that came half-way to meet Denmark,
seeing that the former had no desire at all to capi-
talise her share • Hamburg and Mecklenburg had
also already declared they had no desire to com-
mute their payment of the Sound dues for a fixed
sum down. The speech of the Danish representa-
tive was answered by Baron Lagerheim, the re-
presentative of Sweden and Norway. As all the
materials had not been collected that the members
thought necessary for their deliberations, more
particularly the reports or the Sound dues from
the years 1841 to 1847, the conferences were ad-
journed till the end of this month. The delibera-
tions seem hitherto not to have been conducted in
the most regular and tranquil manner possible, for
it is mentioned that it took considerable trouble to
get a protocol or minutes of the proceedings drawn
up and agreed to.

Letters from Vienna state that the Esterhazy
propositions are interpreted by the Russian party
there to permit the maintenance of Nicolaieff, and
also of the Russian forts on the Circassian coast,
as well as the re-edification of those which have
been partially destroyed.
Several of the foreign journals allege that the
Czar sent orders to Prince Gortschakoff on the 18th
to suspend hostilities.
The courier expected at Vienna from St. Peters.
burg, with the despatches containing the acceptance
of the peace propositions, was to arrive in the Aus-
trian capital today. _ _ _

A letter from Vienna of the 18th, in the Post
Ampt Gazette, says :—The armistice will be con-
cluded, it is said, for three months, because it is
hoped that by that time the negotiations for peace
may be sufficiently advanced to allow their result
to be foreseen with certainty.

ADMINISTRATIVE REFORM IN AMERICA.—The
fol-
loving letter, which has been addressed by Richard B.
Connolly, Esq., the county clerk, to his subordinates,
will exert a salutary influence in securing their atten-
tion to the public duties required of them. The example
thus set by 2,1 r. Connolly may be followed with profit
by the heads of other departments :—" County Clerk's
Office, New York, Jan. 2,—Dear Sir,—The under-
signed embraces thie mode of informing each clerk in
the office, or under his direction, that he has observed
for some time past a great want of attention to the busi-
ness of the office on the part of a number of the clerks ;
and as all such clerks who have failed to perform
their duty must be aware of the fact, this note is in•
tended to advise them that no considerations of a politi-
cal or other nature will induce the undersigned to tole-
rate a neglect of official duty ; and as each person ad-
dressed fully knows the hours prescribed by law for the
performance of the duties of the office, he begs to say
that hereafter he will require the faithful attendance of
each clerk from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. ; and further, that
a non-compliance with this request will be considered as
a resignation. Clerks who shall be assigned to perform
duties in the several courts are required to attend at
this office when not on actual duty courtsrep„eßPect-
,
turf v yours, RICHAND B. CONNOLLY. —New
.fortc Courier
and Enquirer.
CHARGE OF ROBBERY AT THE EXETER POST-OFFICE.—
Mr. Edwin Hyett, a clerk in the Exeter Post-office,
was charged before the Mayor and magistrates, sit-
ting at the Exeter Guildhall on Monday, under the let
Victoria, cap. 36, secs. 25, 26, and 27, with abstracting
money from a letter while in course of transmission
through the Post-office. The prisoner is respectably
connected, and has a wife and three children. Some
years ago he was charged, in conjunction with his
brother, with robbery at the Exeter Post-office, and,
although they were acquitted, Mr. Edwin Hyett, the
prisoner, was suspended from his situation for two years.
In the meantime a letter-carrier named Harrapp was
apprehended on several charges of robbery at the same
Post-office, and, being convicted and sentenced to trans-
portation, he confessed to have committed the robbery
with which the Hyetts had been charged. On this
being made known to the Post-office authorities Mr.
Ed vin Hyett was restored to his situation. The cir-
cumstance of the present charge, as sworn to by a
letter-sorter in the Exeter Post-office, named Elliot, were
these :--On Friday, the 18th inst., Mr. Hyett was on
duty as superintendent for the day. The north mail hav-
ing arrived, Elliot put the paid letters into their usual
places previous to" sorting," and tank the unpaid let-
ters to Mr. Hyett, for the purpose of having them
checked. Elliott then took bundles of letters to sort,
leaving one on a counter. Shortly afterwards he alleged
that he saw Mr. Hyett come over to the counter, feel
several of the letters, and ultimately take a coloured
one, with two or three others, to his desk, this being no
part of his duty. While at his desk Elliott said he dis•
tinctly saw him open the coloured letter, and just as he
had done so the postmaster, Mr. Teesdale, came into the
office, when Mr. Hyett re-folded the letter. Elliott
stepped forward and said, " That's not right, Mr. Hy-
ett, and took the letter in question from his hand, giving
it to Mr. Teesdale, and telling him the circumstances.
The letter was from Toronto, and contained three shil-
lings, one of them being wrapped in a piece of paper
which contained the words "This is for mother." When
Mr. Hyett was charged with the offence he indignantly
denied it, and said that the letter, as it often happens,
was opened, and that he was about to go to Mr. Tees-
dale and tell hill of it when he was accused by Elliott.
The letter was sealed with three wafers, but bad the ap-
pearance either of not having been securely sealed, or
that the person who opened it did it so very carefully,
as there were no pieces of paper sticking to the wafers.
The magistrates committed the prisoner for trial at the
next asslxe9, but accepted bail,

IRELAND.

DUBLIN, WEDNESDAY MORNING.

WRECK OF AN AURRICAN BARK.
The following account of the wreck of a fine American
hark on the north-eastern coast of Ireland appears in
Saunders of this day
DROGREDA, Tuesday, Jan. 22.—This morning► a
splendid American bark, the Independence, of Bath ,
State of Maine, Capt. Marshall, was wrecked on the,
strand, near Bettystuwn, north of the Nanny river,.
The vessel was returning on her first trip to Nes
Orleans from Liverpool. She was 1,300 tons regiatei r
anti 2,000 taus burden, having at the time a cres t
of 30 hand's, and carrying 700 tons of salt in bags .
She struck on the above strand about 4 o'clock a.m., ►
brisk I,,reeze blowing inwards at the time, and whicl
cont;.nued during the day. About an hour afterwards on e
of the Drogheda steamers, the Foig-a-Ballagh, Captaii
Reeney, coming from Liverpool, opportunely arrived ,
saved all the bands, and had them safely landed at th e
Drogheda quay. The Sir Wm. Stainer, of Marypor46,
Qaptain Bruff, coming towards the Drogheda port is 1-
rnediately afterwards, is described as having bailed lite-
rally through spare and rigging belonging to the ill-1 ated
vessel, but owing to the heavy sea running at the t ime,
and the darkness of the morning, no attempt could be
made to secure them. The wreck at present lies ou the
banks, and the wind continuing as described, there is
every probability of her being broken up."

~t~e X4l
attotobatit34 tir. CAla bn #364 a tilt flys 14 Mt tadlitzti oter,
"If party spirit on the other side of the Channel
should again endeavour to baffli the efforts made by
Austria to give peace to the world, a cry of indignation
would be raised throughout Europe, and it would soon
be seen that the most powerful of British Ministers
would be unable to opplse the unanimous longing for
peace which is felt throughout this quarter of the world.'
GREECE.
Letters from Athens of the 10th inform us that
a ball had taken place at the palace, being the first
which had been given since the death of the Em-
peror Nicholas. The members of the family of M.
Boudoura, who had been carried off by the bri-
gands, were restored, after a ransom of 60,000 f.
demanded by these freebooters. In three or four
months' time the elections for the Chambers will
take place. The Queen was using her influence
with the mayors and persons in authority to throw
every difficulty in the way of those who were
known "to be attached to the policy of the Western
Powers, in opposition to the Russian party. Should
her Majesty succeed, the Greek Chambers will not
certainly represent the people, and, on the con-
trary, favour the intrigues of the Court. The
Queen was using the utmost courtesy, however, to
the representatives of England and France, who
have lately made very strong representations to
Government on the subject of brigandage.

TO THE EDITOR Or THE TIRES.
Sir,—permit me, through your columns, to make one
more effort to clear away the mists and obscurity which
have been. thrown around the question of the Bank
Charter Act, and its effect upon the present state of our
bullion reserves and of commercial credit. The subject
is not in itself intxioate-or obscure ;..the-public will find
it to,be simple and easy intelligible, if they will .only be-
lieve it to be so, and will approach it free from all pas-
sionate feelings, and from that impression of mystery
which creates the evil it dreads.

The act of 1844 was passed as a complement to the
act of 1819.

Its purpose was to secure effectually the maintenance
of cash payments, by rendering the absolute exhaustion
of the bullion impossible.

It bad direct referenca only to the safety of the mo•
netary system.

By its effects in this respect the success or failure of
the act must be tested.

The effect of theact upon credit and speculation is in-
cidental only.
Could it even be shown that it produces no effect on
these, still the expediency and necessity of the act would
remain unaltered.

But, no doubt, the contraction of notes as bullion is
withdrawn does act indirectly upon credit, speculation,
and prices—the extent of the effect thus produced vary-
ing according to other concomitant circumstances.
We have had a practical illustration of both these
effects of the act, the direct and the indirect effects, in
the present state of monetary affairs.
The store of bullion has been effectually maintained,
notwithstanding a pressure upon the exchanges, from
various causes, of the severest character.

And this has been accompanied by a gradual
restrictive influence upon credit and speculation, the
utility of which few reasonable persons will deny, and
the connexion of which with the present safety of our
monetary system must be obvious to all who remember
the insecurity of our monetary system on former occa-
sions, previous to the act of 1844, when no such restric-
tive influence was brought into play during the early
period of a drain of bullion.
But, it is said, issues cannot be contracted so long as
bankers are liable to be drawn upon by depositors, and
are subject to demands from their customers for dis-
count.

It is surprising to what an extent a plain and simple
matter may be obscured and mystified by random asser-
tions couched in ambiguous terms.
It might as well be asserted that, notwithstanding the
deficiency of the supplies which Providence may furnish,
the food of a people cannot be contracted so long as hun-
ger prevails, and men must be fed.

- The total amount of bank-notes is now made by law
to correspond to the total amount of bullion. If the
amount of bullion is diminished by foreign drain, the
amount of bullion is diminished to an equal extent by
law. The aggregate body of bankers in that case can
command a less amount of bank-notes with which to
work their business. What, then, are they to do ? Their
depositors draw upon them.
At firAt they endeavour to meet these demands from
the bank-notes in their till—i. c., from their banking
reserve.

But as the total amount of notes issued has been dimi•
niched in proportion to the drain of bullion, the reserve
of each banker, already restricted by this process, will
hear no further pressure. The approaching exhaustion
of this fund will compel them to resort to other mea-
sures, through which they may be enabled, notwith-
standing the decrease in the amount of notes issued, still
to meet their outstanding liabilities.
They will necessarily proceed to realise their securi-
ties, and to contract their credits and their discounts.
It is idle to deny the possibility of this ; it is what
must occur by the very necessity of the case ; it is what
has occurred on former occasions, and what again is now
in progress, acting most beneficially, because the pro-
cess c immenced early and has proceeded gradually.
But the present state of commercial affairs, we are
told, requires an increased issue of bank-notes.
Let us consider what would be the certain and imme-
diate effect of such increased issue if "resorted to.
The exchanges are at this moment barely maintained
at par. Bullion is on the point of going out of the
cuuntry ; indeed it is still subject to gradual diminu•
tion.

This affords conclusive proof that our circulation is
not too high in value, and therefore is not deficient ia
amount when compared with the circulation of other
countries.

If we now prooeed to a farther issue of bank-notes,
this will at once render our circulation redundant com-
pared with that of other countries ; the exchanges will
be relaxed, and bullion will pass from us to those places
in which there has has been no corresponding increase
of circulation.
The process will go on so long as this additional issue
of notes is maintained at the increased amount.
It was by a persistence in this very process that on
occasions of adverse state of exchanges, before the act
of 1844, the bullion was reduced to an alarming ex-
tremity.
By the act of 1844 a recurrence to this fatal process
was rendered impossible ; hence the comparative safety
of our monetary system at this moment, and the satis-
factory state of commercial credit, as contrasted with
the state in which it was found at former periods of ad-
verse exchanges and consequent pressure.
Let it be clearly understood that no additional issue
of bank-notes can, under present circumstances, settle
down into a real increase of the circulation, if cash pay-
ments are to be maintained.

Our monetary condition, stated in round nuinbera,
stands thus :

The issue department holds 10,000,0001. of bullion
and 14,000,0001. of securities, against which it has
issued 24,000,0001. of bank-notes.
In this state of things the unsettled state of the ex-
changes tells us that the circulation is rather in excess
tha', otherwise, compared with that of other countries.
Suppose, then, we issuo more bank-notes—say
4,000,0001. Billion will at once begin to leave the
country, until the equilibrium between the amount of
our circulation and that of other countries is estab-
lished.

We shall then stand thus :
The I..sue department will hold 0,000,0001. of bullion,
and 18,000,000/. of securities, against which it will have
issued 24,000,0001. of notes.
We shall still remain with the same amount
(24,000,0001.) of notes issued ; the only difference being
that our reserve of bullion will have been diminished,
and a corresponding increase will appear in the amount
of securities.

Upon the supposition now undeit discussion—namely,
a further increase of bank-notes under present circum-
stances —we are inevitably brought into this dilemma :
—lf the increased amount of circulation be maintained,
the bullion will immediately leave the country, and a
suspension of cash payments must ensue. If the in-
creased amount of circulation, be not maintained, we
then revert to our former position ; the advantages an.
ticipated from an increased Amount of circulation will
not have been obtained, while our protective reserve of
bullion will have been serionsly diminished.
I must not trespass further to follow out these views
to all their legitimate awl not unimportant consequences.
Their duty must be perfovmed by the public on its own
account. I have endeavoured to indicate the true
course of inquiry, and to state the case in the shortest
and most simple form. In the terrent of discussion with
which this subject has been overwhelmed, we have had
tea many words and too little of clearness and simplicity
of views. Truth, however, is in its nature always simple
and clear ; and so it will be found in this case, even by
our imperfect faculties, when we seek it with singleness
of purpose and free from the misguiding influence of
prejudice, self-interest, and impatient passions. The
present Confusion of tongues, we must hope, is the pro-
cess through which truth will in the end be elaborated.
MERCATOR.

STATE OF THE CORN TRADE.
The country grain-markets continue to show- a down.
ward tendency. In Dublin, too, the decline in prices has
been even more marked, and at the Corn Each ange yes-
terday there was a further reduction to the extent of 2s.
on wheat, with a proportionate fall in othw kinds.
Altogether the market was an extremely dulls one, and
speculation is quite at a standstill, and will doubtless
remain so until something decisive transpires with
respect to the actual progress of the negotiations now
pending. A Kilkenny paper of this day ri ports as fol.
lows :

" A serious panic was created among the farmers gene.
rally by the sudden intelligence of a final pe ace last week,
but the altered tone of the newspapers hat, restored can.
fidence in some measure. But, at the s ame time, we
would admonish our agricultural friend', not to hold
back their produce when first-rate prices, are offered in
the market in the hope of obtaining others better still.
They might suffer severely from such ra ah spew-dation."
At Dundalk, another important grainquarket, wheat
fell yesterday 2s. O. lower than on Friday, and business
being extremely depressed, quotations for ail kinds were
merely nominal. In fact, so far, the reaction in favour
of the consumer exceeds the general anticipation. The
fall in the price of the loaf, nevertheless, is scarcely
worth mentioning.