The Sun.
London, England, 1856-11-18 00:00:00

FINANCIAL MATTERS.

(From the Derbyshire Courier.)

Another week has passed without any apparent
mitigation of the embarrassment in which the
monetary affairs of Europe are involved.
Our own last bank return was sufficiently unsa-
tisfactory ; for it exhibited an amount Lf bullion
(9,59G,327 )little more than a tnillion above that held
in the panic of 1847. The reserve of notes also in
the banking department, from which the require-
ments of commerce are supplied, is smaller than
it has been since the disastrous year of 1847.
Under these circumstances, with the foreign ex-
changes still against us, as might be expected, the
funds and all securities have declined. The bank,
however, well aware of the excitement and difficulty
which a further rise in the rate of discount would
occasion, is evidently extremely unwilling to resort
to such a step. The hopes of the commercial part
of the nation are now fixed on a certain vessel, the
James Baines, which sailed from Melbourne some
100 days since, and is reported to have about
700,0001. of gold on board. If the James Baines
arrives in time, the merchants of England will be
enabled to convert the bills representing many
valuable cargoes into certain bits of paper which
are a legal currency, and the loss of millions of
money to some, and the ruin of others, will be pre-
vented—and if not, not.

The pressure at Paris, meanwhile, is much more
severe, notwithstanding the efforts which have
been made by the French Bank to improve its
position. We must beg leave again to impress on
the financiers of France the importance of rectify-
ing the weight of their silver coins.
The ordinary price of silver before the gold dis-
coveries of California and Australia was 4s. 11d.
an ounce. By the Times of Tuesday last we per-
ceive that " the bar silver brought by the last West
Indian packet has been sold to-day (Monday last)
at ss, 2d. an ounce, being an advance of id. ou
the price realised for the amount brought by the
preceding steamer." It will of course be of little
avail to France to buy up silver bars at an advanced
price, and coin them into money, from which a
profit may be realised by melting it down or ex-
,
portinc, it. Yet such is at this moment the state
of the case !
Our silver coin is a mere token. We coin an
ounce of ,silver into ss. 6d.—which at the present
price is about 7 per cent. below its market value.
America 1853 reduced the weight of her silver
coinage so as to make it of nearly a similar value.
France persist' in coining silver as before the gold
an evident mistake. All attempts
keep
discoveries,oun wilen it was worth (Ally 4s. 11d. an
to silver ix' Fiance will fail while so excellent
omaya be obtained by its exportation.
French mechanic to have begun to
eee.p Th is i
hoard profitlri I.P Pse
silver at tlio commencement of this panic.
His silver coin can any day obtain for him more
than its nominal vaitze in gold, and by the depres-
sion of the prices of all commodities, through the
effects of the monetary _crisis, he will get 20, 30, or
more per cent. for the hoarded silver than he would
have done when he laid it by. It is evidently well
worth any man's while to heard silver in France.
We sincerely hope that the French financiers
may be wise in time. Let them also remember the
panic of 1847, and the state of the Bank of France
in 1848. They were then told that a suspension of
cash payments would make France bankrupt, and
totally destroy credit. Cash payments were sus-
pended, and France recovered its financial position,
ruin and suffering were averted from the people,
and the national credit preserved.
A Representative Paper Money authorised by
the Emperor and the Government, would not only
i'elieve the immediate monetary difficulty, but
would give an impulse to commerce, and a security
France,
which solidity to the monetary system of
which can be obtained by no other means whatever.

REPRESENTATION OF FINSBURY.—It appears from a
-tatistieal paper recently drawn up for the Administra-
tive Reform Association, O. at last sessio on
th6ere
of which
were 19t
divisions in the House of Commons'
fm 19
Mr. Ald. Challis was absent, while Mr. Duncombe was
absent from 177. On 158 occasions they were both
sented 8 times, half represented 30 times, and neutralised
ab-
sent. By their votes the constituency wAasmofullLyorsesproe-v
160 times. At the last numbelect_ionikuthaaccidmente,rs
asttoteonddeads
follow : —Alderman Challis, 7,404 ; Duncombe,
6,078 ; Mr. J. Wylde (formerly M.P. for Bodmin), 2,610.
Dora, for Bo 41
All
FATALtbe candidates s were LTiteirlistihEeßsshEiyp
LlFE.—Liverpool, Saturday.
unhappily by the loss of life, occurred to the steam tug
iron King, uuder the following circumstances : T h
steamerbayfrO 111"theeAnglb,geertd Dinoctkowtiongher anchorage in the river,
when an accident occurred to her machinery which caused
ga
ipo
co r.
rtoi oonmoaf
tthe n tuboe Vof course e, boilerbe caerifisteoenanlbfiedul
Inresidt,twhaie.nthdfirtsbetemeaeemil:-
a residingutmn eo u s
neardea
Yockferiryr.g, aanndothtehremanwovelrticvhßies at Birkenhead. The
en-
gineer,ieendd g J
jlia
a the
se
.
mw James Pearson,
Foulkes,
G:altuin'tuser were at once landed and
w conveyed to the Northern
Hospital, where their wound
and found not to be of a very seriousere immediately dressed,
nature.
T
of the unfortunate man was conveyed to the deade-hbooudei
co await the result of the coroner's inquest. The de-
ceased was a native of Manchester, but for the last few
year, has resided at Runcorn. He has left a widow and
family to lament his unexpected death. Four persona
out of seven on board the boat (including the master)
iescaped without any ii,p,ry. A, soon as possible after
the accident the Iron Kiiad. was toy'"', to Birkenhead,
N here she will be exannoed, and toe Ooooage, which is
not yet ascertained, but appears to be trifling, will be
repast ed.