The Sun.
London, England, 1869-02-01 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY E

Overena, Zurney, and Co. ceased in Febniaff.M:l,
and that, though the works were carried on in the
name of C. J. Mare and Co. to the end of that year,
he lina nothing whatever to do with them. He regrets
that Mr. Chapman permitted himself to use the word
" depredations " in connection with him (Mr. Mare),
and utterly repudiates the justice of any such expres-
sion. In conclusion, he states that the property
handed over to Overend, Gurney, and Co. in 1862 was
full value for the sums they had lent upon it. The
other communication is from Mr. Stefanos Xenos,
who simply says that his answer will be in the hands
of the public in a few days, when the world will be
able to judge who committed the " depredations."
The plot appears to be more complicated than ever.

ITALY.

The Menabrea Cabinet was rudely shaken by the recent
debate in the Chamber of Deputies. The assailants of the
Ministry held that the grist tax had been levied without
any proper preliminary arrangements ; that there was no
agreement with the millers, and no means of estimating
the amount of meal upon which the tax should be laid.
The popular disturbances were largely owing to this
want of method. The Ministers had no effective
reply to this charge. It was impossible wholly
to exculpate them from blame ; and a proposition by
Ricasoli, that the Chamber should pass to the order of
the day, unexpectedly saved them. Their majority was
50 ; on the last occasion of a party fight it was 77, and at
a more remote date 100.
The excesses committed by the infuriated peasantry
were far more serious than the Government reports
admitted. At Toligno the people nailed up the miller
on the door of his mill like an owl or bat, and at Ceuto
they seized two soldiers and put them fairly into the mill
and ground them ! The list of killed and wounded was
larger than the Government choose to admit.

The Weekly Pegisler announces that several conversions
have been made in Rome amongst the English, German,
and American ministers, in consequence of the sermon
delivered in both languages in the octave of the Epiphany.

G EN. BUTLER ON TIIE CURRENCY.

(From the .4 nglo-Anzerican Times.)

Whatever may be the merits of the bill intro-
duced into the Federal House of Representatives
on the 12th inst. by General BUTLER, we think
there can be but one opinion of the ability with
which he maintained his notion of a sound currency,
which may be summed up in two words—"inconver-
tible paper." It may be said that the United States
has that now; General BUTLER answers " No ;"
the Government has one currency for the people
and two for itself ; one of which he strikes at, and
that one—gold. To financiers who hold to the
Old World idea, that currency to be sound must
be metallic, or raper convertible at pleasure into
metal, the arguments of General BUTLER will give
a shock. lle says the Republic has got rid of every
vestige of the monarchies and slaveries of the Old
World save one, and that one the power by which
the masses of all nations have always been enslaved,
coined money. The first despots hit upon the
device of impressing their image and superscription
upon metal, which thev arbitrarily made a measure
of value, and the equivalent for which the property
of their subjects must be exchanged. Throughout
his speech runs this idea that the most powerful
agent in the hands of despots is coined money.
Laying it down that a currency should be uni-
form, sound, cheap, stable, and elastic, he goes
on to show, after defining each, that in none
does a metal equal a paper currency. The pro-
posals to return to specie payment are met and an-
swered. "One says,
' The way to resume specie
payments is to resume.' Suppose the physician
should say to the sick man, The way not to be
sick is to be well,' might not the patient ask his
doctor, How am I to get well ? So, a few years ago,
one may remember that the way proposed for the
Union armies to get to Richmond was On to Rich-
mond;' and I trust I may not be considered as
malicious in calling to mind that our armies found
some difficulties in carrying out that suggestion,
which resulted in such disaster, that it was hoped
that those who blindly advocated it would never
again dogmatise upon any subject the difficulties of
which they neither appreciated nor understood."
He then takes up 11Ir. INlSCeLLoett's plan, and
shows that by no Act of Congress can $100,000,000
be made to pay at par a debt of $700,000,000. Of
Senator MORTON'S scheme, he observes, "Another
learned, able, and intelligent gentleman, for whom
we have the highest regard, in a speech of great
power, supports a bill embodying a plan for the
relief of our financial difficulties, which would be
perfect were it not impossible." 'rids is his argu-
ment against the hoarding which the Senator pro-
posed to enable the Treasury, within a specified
time, and the National Batiks to return to specie
payment :—" Upon the beet authorities there are
only about $1,500,000,000 of specie currency in
circulation in all the nations where our bonds have
been or will be taken :114 an investment, or, indeed,
in the civilised world. If we should succeed in lock-
ing up $350,000,000 of that, or 20 per cent. of the
whole currency of the world, should we not make
what in technical phrase is known as a corner' on
the rest of mankind, in comparison with which the
late performance in that line of the Erie Railroad
and New York bankers would sink into merited
insig ficae.ce ? J 1 ;gain, suppose by this ingenious
and novel process of borrowing we were to return
to a 'state of solvency'—to use the phrase of those
who insist that our legal-tenders are depreciated,
failed paper,' becaus•.: not pail on demand—i.e.,
return to specie payments, to the state of currency
before the war, could that condition be main-
tained ? It will be remembered that before the
was the Government received all its dues and
paid all its expenditures in gold and silver only,
amounting to from sixty to seventy millions
yearly received and paid out, and there were in
the country,
.as is estimated, seine two hundred
to two hundred and fifty millions in specie, ex-
exclusive of what was hoarded, although in 1860
there were but $87,000,000 in the banks." He
thus concludes this portion of his address—There is
but one plan if specie payment be the only remedy,
" we must wait and grow to it." After showing
the superiority of a paper currency, the faults of
es to
give
voh even
is
o if practicable,
plan :—" the system now in force, the errors in the schemes
for a return to specie payment, and the unadvisa-
bilitypracticable, General
BuT of such
BUTLER
pro areturn,
proceeds
ed
Observ-
ing that the amount of Legal-Tender notes now
issued by the Government—say $350,000,000
—are very nearly equal the amount of the taxes
and duties to be necessarily collected by the Go-
vernment for a series of years to meet our expen-
ditures—at least the variation is not material for
my purpose-1 propose that, retiring the present
Legal Tenders without shock to the business of the
country iu the manner hereafter to be explained,
the Government shall issue an amount equal to its
taxes, say $350,000,000, of certificates of value, of
convenient denominations, not less than one dollar,
which shall be lawful money and legal tender for all
debts, public and private, which by the law creat-
ing them are not made payable in coin, and shall be
receivable for all taxes, duties, and imposts of every
kind whatsoever, to be reissued at pleasure under
the conditions hereafter set forth or in payment of
the debts of the United States, and which shall be
received for all public loans made to the United
States. It will be convenient here to explain the
changes suggested in this certificate of value from
the present Legal-Tender note. I propose that the
paper money of the Government shall be a " certi-
ficate," with appropriate vignettes, to prevent
counterfeiting, in form like bank notes, stating its
value only upon its face, with the provisions of the
law creating it, instead of as now a note promising
to pay a certain sum at the Treasury of the United
States, which is by law to be paid only in another
like it, so that no stupid person hereafter, in order
to depreciate the currency and have an opportunity
to declare it " failed paper," shall present it for pay-
ment to the Treasurer of the United States, ex-
pecting it to be redeemed in any other manner
than is provided by law and stated upon its face.
He went on to prove that the Old World faith in the
precious metals was a prejudice and superstition
in the masses, and a weapon of tyranny in the
rulers, productive of most injurious effects, tracing
the history of coined money, to which he ascribed
all great panics. These panics he certainly made
the most of, attributing them exclusively to a
metal basis, and as contrasts he followed the
career cf England through the crisis of the
struggle in Europe, and the United States dur-
ing the war of the Rebellion. Both were saved
by paper ; both went through these periods
with flying colours, and both experienced during
the time a prosperity in marked contrast with the
periods of terrible panic and depression brought
about in times of peace by the slavish adherence to
a barbarous medium of exchange. lie combated
the current delusion that the Government was in-
debted to the patriotism of the bankers and capi-
talists, who came forward to lend their gold in the
period of its utmost need, which was exactly what
they did not do ; indeed the banks hoarded, in vio-
lation of law and their own plighted faith, so that
a dollar was not to be got from their vaults. It was

the Legal-Tender Act which saved the country ; and
what petition, BUTLER asks, has ever come to
the House froM the" people, for relief from its
grievances ? Not one ; but only resolutions of
Boards of Trade and bankers, who now howl
at the doors of the Capitol for payment
of their bonds in gold, or, what is equivalent, a re-
turn to specie payments ; the very men who forced
the bonds down to a discount of 60 per cent. by
hoarding gold when the country needed it, make
this impolitic demand, unmindful of the destruc-
tion of values, the starving of the labourer, and
the ruin and desolation they may cause. " There-
fore," said BUTLER, "I stand here for incon-
vertible paper money—the greenback—which has
fought our battles and saved our country ; which
has been held by us as a just equivalent for the
blood of our soldiers, the lives of our sons, the
widowhood of our daughters, and the orphanage
of their children. I stand here for a currency by
which the business transactions of forty million
people are safely and successfully done--which,
founfled on the faith, the wealth, and property of
the nation, is at once the exemplar and engine of
its industry and power—that money which saved
the country in war, and has given it prosperity and
happiness in peace. To it 4,000,000 men owe
their emancipation from Slavery; to it labour is
indebted for elevation from that thrall of degrada-
tion in which it has been enveloped for ages. I
stand for that money, therefore, which is by far the
better agent and instrument of exttange of an en-
lightened and free people than gold and silver, the
money alike of the barbarian and the despot." This
remarkable speech had cost the indefatigable
BUTLER weeks to prepare, and it is one which can-
not fail to add to his reputation, however erroneous
may be the view it advocates, and however well and
fiercely his reasons may be controverted. There is a
dignity in the tone, force and originality in the
argument of this speech. History is not unfairly
quoted, and there is no vituperation when dealing
with the reasonings of others. We believe BEN-
JAMIN BUTLER to be altogether wrong, that he is
merely in pursuit of a chimera which has led away
many a man as clever as he is. Indeed, it is the
clever fellows who get entangled in these fallacies,
until they, or rather their dupes, are brought up by
a terrible experience. His most striking instance
was the ruinous effect of contraction and panics, and
the smooth easy flow of affairs during the periods
of rampant paper. But can BUTLER suppose that
there would be no panics but for specie ? Is he not
aware that they eventuate from a quality inherent
in human nature, and the best and most effectual
check is coined money, while the means of inflation
is invariably paper ? It matters not what may be
the currency, periods of speculation and of undue
values will occur, and periods of depression and de-
preciated values will supervene. Nor will the pre-
vailing tendency be checked for want of a medium
so long as man ca❑ write and there are pens and
paper. " Man being reasonable must get drunk,"
foolish is perhaps the word BYRON ought to have
used, though must is true, for there are more kinds
of intoxication than that caused by alcohol ; and
in all, the reaction is unpleasant, but the joy and
the grief, the hilarity and the gloom, come o❑ in
the individual; in fits resembling in the community
the sanguine periods of speculation, alternating
with those of collapse. General BUTLER talks of a
currency based on the debt of a nation ;—a very
strange foundation for a currency ; and, notwith-
standing the force of his arguments, we prefer a
precious metal basis. We must correct one false
impression lie has endeavoured to create. - In com-
batting the general remark that the currency of
the United States ought to be of the same value
as that of the world, be asserts that it never
is, nor ever has been the stamped coin
being merely valued as bullion, adding "As
an example, take Japan, where the standard
of value is silver. In 1857, our Consul at
Simoda, Mr. TOWNSEND HARRIS, informed us that
gold was only as 1 to 3i in silver, while with us it
holds by law, as a part of our specie standard, the
rate of about 15i to 1 ; i. e., in Japan 31 ounces of
silver would purchase an ounce of gold, while in
America it took 151 ounces of silver to purchase an
ounce of gold. How, then, can it be said that
gold is the standard of value of the world, when in
one country, which absorbs large amounts of our
specie, it stood depreciated in comparison with
silver at our standard at nearly 80 per cent." Were
we arguing against General BUTLER this is the in-
stance we also woull have quoted, and it is a sin-
gular proof how things may be put. Japan was a
country hermetically closed to the world, till sud-
denly opened about the time the Consul wrote,
when the discrepancy between Japanese values and
those of the rest of the world was discovered. Im-
mediately people in a position to do so, rushed to
Japan with silver to buy gold, and DENT'S house
being early in the field cleared a large sum. A
stringent regulation was passed to prevent any
exchange except through the Consuls aud Govern-
ment olliceis, for, by every device, the country was
being depleted of its gold, which rose rapidly in
value till the Government restrictions and the in-
creased cost put an end to the traffic. For a time
the discrepancy adverted to by the General in-
duced traders to fly at Japan, as a hawk flies at a
lark. But no one was told the consequence, the
fact only being adverted to, while it was not even
explained that the relative value in Japan could
have been maintained only by again severing all
connection with the outer world.

MONEY AND BUSINESS.

(Front the Springfield Republican, Jan. 16.)

With the exception of Tuesday, when a decided strin-
gency was induced in the early part of the day, by reports
of and the combination to lock-up greenbacks, money ha
been easier during the week, under the large disbursemen
for interest and dividends since the Ist. The amount now
in the market is too large to give the bear cliques any
chance, for a while at least, until credits have became p-o-
-portionately enlarged and prices distended to correspond
to the existing abundance of currency. We find the "bull"
interest accordingly in complete control of the market.
Every day increases the receipts of currency from the Wes
where the market has greatly ameliorated since the bank
statement, and collections are more liberal and easy. Ship-
ments to the south continue light for the season ; and the
large accumulations at New York are stimulating invest-
ments, while the recent failures are discouraging specula-
tions, and confining commercial operations within safer
and more restricted bounds. As a consequence we find
discounts slow and difficult for all but strictly prime
paper. The hostile propositions in Congress, looking
to a restriction of the national banks, and even a sup-
pression of their circulation, excite apprehension and
alarm in banking circles ; and several of the New York
banks, notably the Bank of the Commonwealth, have ini-
tiated measures to return to the State bank system. There
is no small amount of threatening as to what they will do
and won't do, should Congress interfere with their plea-
sure or their profits. We do not believe in persecuting
any interest ; but such threats from the national banks
are both mischievous and absurd. They can only provoke
the opponents of that system to extremities, and furnish
a degree of justification for whatever Congress may see fit
to do with the franchises and privileges. The fact is, it
has been owing to the blindness and selfishness of the
banks themselves with many honourable exceptions, of
course, which has caused these attacks, and which to-day
gives their enemies all the hold they have. The banks
have made enormous profits out of suspension and infla-
tion. That is plain and incontestable, and the whole body
of merchants and manufacturers know and feel it. No
one is disposed to quarrel with this, provided these
institutions show a willingness to take their fair share
of the burden of construction and resumption. If they
think that, after making profits for nearly five years with
which neither the mercantile nor manufacturing interests
can begin to compare; and doing it without any risk, for
they have had a sure thing and failure has been practi-
cally impossible ; and doing it without being obliged to
study either economy or efficiency, for no bank could do
business poorly enough in the pest five years to fall of
eight per cent. dividends, Lot to speak of reserved profits.
If they think that after such a feast of good things they
can leave the overburdened industry of the country to
carry the load alone, while they go on clearing an average
of 16 per cent. on their capital, they are very much mis-
taken, and when, instead of corning forward promptly, re-
cognizing their obligations, and themselves proposing
measures of contribution, they begin to bluster, and
threaten to go back under State laws and throw up their
charters from the general Government, they are simply
giving such demagogues as Butler a ten times stronger
hold upon them. As to going back to the State back sys-
tem, and discarding their national franchises, under which
they have made so much money, just as soon as any ser-
vice is exacted of them in return, it cannot be done. Revo-
lutions do not go backward. The results of the war have
been generally regarded as settling it that several things,
that used to belong to State control, belong now, by the no-

cessities of national progress and by the inexorable logic of
events, to Federal authorfty, and they will be kept there.
A return to the system, or want of system, in which banks
were organized under the charters of 30 odd States,
without any provision for mutual redemption, or for main-
taining a common standard, would hardly suit the nation
which waled secession out of South Carolina, and is to
finish the Pacific railroad next summer. If enough of the
national banks should acceet State charters to make them
worth noticing, the general Government would tax their
circulation out of existence in six months, if it took one
per cent. a month to do it. Therefore we cannot but re-
gard with regret this ill-timed and irritating bluster at
some of the momentary centres about the proposed action
of Congress. We should earnestly deprecate the destruc-
tion of the national banking system, believing that nothing
so good would be substituted, and therefore we deprecate
anything in the attitude of the banks which invites attack
and gives opportunity to artful and powerful demagogues.
Only by accepting the situation in good faith and good
feeling, and making their contribution to the public
necessities readily and cheerfully, can they avert the evils
which threaten them. Gold has stiffened somewhat during
the week, and there are ludic:A:ens of an upward move-
ment. A good deal is being quietly laid by, whether in reli-
ance upon the natural course of the premium, or with a '
view to producing a corner, has not yet been developed.
Governments have in general continmd their upward
movement, though seriously checked on Tuesday by a
rumour of new issues, which proved, in the special form
in which it appeared, to be without foundation ; but which
still hangs over Cie market like a threat, and serves ap-
preciably to restrict the rise in prices. The specific rumour
was that the Secretary had agreed to deliver to a well-
known house, through which the secret sales have been
conducted, five millions of six per cents. under the Act of
March, 1865 ; and the report seemed to receive some con-
firmation from the fact that certain operators, who have
been thought to know as much about such sales as any-
body, have been selling bonds heavily, in the face of
causes evidently tending to an advance. The ease of
money, the improving credit of the nation, and the
manifest impossibility of another "look-up," would
seem to leave no other chance for the "bears" than
some such action on the part of the Government.
The specific report, however, Mr. Van Dyck has de-
nied, stating that the only issue contemplated is
that of some remnants of previous issues, to the
amount of $500,000 or $600,000, in order to make the
numbers consecutive ; and even this has not been re-
solved upon. So much for the explanation of the Govern-
ment; bat the very fact that the market needed such an
assurance is a strong argument for putting it out of the
power of the Secretary to do anything so foolish and mis-
chievous. It would be a very pretty thing, indeed, to
have our bonds numbered without a break; exceedingly
gratifying to Treasury clerks and officials; but that is
rather a matter of taste, and the national credit is of more
importance at present. The power of the Secretary to
make any further issues of gold six per cents is a standing
threat to the market, and is being used by speculators for
injurious purposes. The matter should be promptly taken
up and settled by Congress. This country has no more
occasion to borrow money at six per cont. when its five
per cents. are above par and advancing. The bull move-
ment in the stock market continues in full force, and a
great body of stocks is being pushed up by a combination,
which carries, as yet, everything before it. Milwaukee
and St. Paul is now at 751 for the common, against 711 a
week ago, and 961 for preferred, against 901; Toledo
and Wabash common 631 against 611 ; Cleveland and
Toledo 1014 against 1011 ; Rock Island 1281 against
1181; North-western common 831 against 821, preferred
871 against 85 ; Fort Wagner 122 against 1181; and the
end is not yet.—Cleveland and Pittsburg stock is 3 per
cent. lower, having suffered to that extant already from
the reduction in its direction which was effected last
week in the triumph of the Lane faction, by means of pur-
chased proxies. Mr. Lane is a first-class operator, of the
Daniel Drew school, and was hardly warm in his seat be-
fore inaugurating some very wholesale operations, which
suspiciously resemble those which have made the Erie
Road a hopeless wreck. Three of the directors have pub-
lished a card, exposing what they regard as the fraudulent
action of the board. They give the following as the sub-
stance of the resolutions adopted at the meeting immedi-
ately following the election, by which the Lane party
came into power: To increase the capital stock $900,000,
to declare a scrip dividend of 15 per cent., and a cash divi-
dend of 2 per cent. upon the scrip dividend, to issue bonds
of the denomination of $1,000,000 each, secured by mort-
gage, convertible into stock, and be disposed of at not less
than 80 cents on the dollar. To abrogate all existing
byelaws of the company, to appoint an executive commit-
tee, with power to make byelaws and contracts, and to do
all acts which the board has power to do without report-
ing their action to the board; to apeoiut F. A. Lane
financial agent of the company, with right to possess
and hold all securities, bonds and moneys of the company,
without being required to give bond or security therefor ;
to double-track the road, and also to construct a road from
the line of the company's road to a point on the Cen ral
Ohio Railroad; to appropriate $300,000, to be placed in
the hands of F. A. Laae, to pay attorney fees, and to be
otherwise used as he might deem expedient. If that isn't
a pretty piece of work for one day, we should like to know
what would be considered such. The I.IOIV direction have
set out well ; and if they go on as they have begun, it is
not hard to tell what Cleveland and Pittsburg will be
worth six mouths from now. 'Toledo and Wabash is
being largely purchased by the parties who hold Rock
islan.l, with a view to advance the prices sharply on the
short'. Pacific Mail has advanced from 1201 to 123:.
The directors are said to hive divided the $5,000,000
of stock bought of Jerome, and aro bulling the stock heavily.
The upward movement in cotton still continues, and has
assumed surprising proportions. Middling uplands now
sell at 29Le, and there is nothing yet to indicate that the
end is reached. The custom of selling for future delivery
has grown greatly into use within the past year, and the
contracts for delivery in January, February, and March
are to a vary large amount. Most of these were made at
211 to 231 cents ; and the parties are now buying at 29
and upwards to cover. Expert has already been checked
by the advance ; and holders ar3 not generally disposed to
let their stock go. The excess of receipts for the year
over 1867 is now reduced to about 100,000 bales, and the
present upward movement is likely to cause a still further
diminution in receipts. The coal trade is comparatively
dull, and the receipts show a falling off as compared with
1808. The general trade of the country is quite far, and
in foreign merchandise somewhat in advance of last year.
Messrs. Stokes, MeLlo.ffie, and Co. have received the fol-
lowing telegrams from their New York correspondents :
ports, 38,000
"No; York, Jan. 27.—Four days' receipts of cotton at all
i
approximate estimate of receipts for
the w' 3erBk,
'e'oo
85;,o bales;
halos; same week last year, 83,000 bales.
New Orleans, ooa les ;
Jan. 27.--Middling from this port laid down
in Liverpool, with all charges, costs 12,1 d per lb. Sa-
vannah, Jan. 27.—Middling costs, laid down in Liverpool
with all charges, 1211 per lb. Galveston, Jan. 26.
Good ordinary Texas, laid down in Liverpool, with all
charges, costs 12d. per lb. All markets very weak. The
above quotations include an allowance of 6 per cant.
for loss in weight.
The following is from the Tribune of Jan. 16:—

At the close the market was strong and active, with a
good demand for all the leading shares. New York Cen-
tral was strong, advancing to 1594. Cleveland and Pitts-
burg was strong throughout the day, with heavy pur-
chases made to cover shorts. It is understood that the
present direction will not get control of the property, the
laws of Ohio being much less easily evaded than those of
this State, where injunctions are made and set aside wit
equal facility. Governments closed strongly.

The following were the bi
Stocks:—

Now York
Manhattan
Merchants'

Mechanics'

America

Phenix • 103;
Mechanics' Association 125

Seventh Ward
State of New York 112

Commerce
American Exchange ll3i
Bauk of the Republic 122

CLOSING QUOTATIONS IN
N. Y. Central 6s, 1883... 90i
N. Y. Central 6s, 1887...
N. Y. Central 6s, R Est..
N. Y. Central Gs, Sub'n..
N- Y. Central 7s, 1876...102
N. Y. Cen. 7; con. 76....
N. Y. Cen. 7s, '65-'76
_ _

Erie Ist Mort, Ex 102
Erie 7s, 2d Mort, 1879 98
Erie 7s, 3d Mort, 1883 92
Erie 7s, 4th Mort, 1880 86
Erie 78,5 th Mort, 1888 86

Long Dock Bonds
Buff. N.Y. &E. Ist 31,177 B9
Ilud. It 7s, Ist M, '69 101

Ibid. R. 7s, 3d M, '75...
Harlem Ist M, '6B '72...100
Mich. C. Ist M, 69'72 _ll4
Mich. new Ist M Bs, 'B2 1101

Mich. So., 7 p. c. 2d M... 90
N. Ind. Goshen Line '6B

Mich.S.&N.l.S.F'd7p.c. 95
111. Cen. 7 p. c, '7O 114 i
Alton & T. 11. IFt M 9l
Alton &T. 11. 2d pfd 83
Alton & T. H. 2d M. Inc. 761
Han.& t.J Land Grants 10b

Ban. & St. J. Con
Chi. B. & Q., Ist 31 1111
Chi. & N. West,' S. P 9B
Chi. & N. W. Con Cony —

Ex'n 8....

ids for Now York City Bank

Bank of North America 108
Shoe and Leather l2O
Commonwealth
Importers and Traders' 127
Park l5O
Central National
Fourth National lO2
Ninth National
Oriental Bank l3O
Ninth National
Corn Exchange l3O
Continental lO5

complex derangements in which the public finances are in..
volved, and that consequently a further period of inquiry
and discussion must be endured before any really practi-
cable measures can be reached. For this reason, the intro-
duction of financial measures into Congress is regarded
with little interest other than as indicating the progress
towel (Le a goal which is felt to be as yet far distant. Sena-
tor Morton's speech upon the resumption of specie pal"
ments, while indicating how rapidly our logislatoes may
improve their theoretical knowledge, yet shows how
much the most advanced of them have to learn upcn
practical finance ; for, while he estimates the stock of coin
in the country at from $400,000,000 to 500,000,400, it is
impossible to trace the existence of over $200,000,000 to
225,000,000, the Pacific States included. Tho Senate 110
also furnished another very satisfactory indication of pro-
gress, in taking the position, by an almost unanimous re-
solution, that there can be no consolidation of the debt at
a lower interest, uutil the Government has redeemed its
h3nour upon its demand obligations; but, coupling this
conclusion with the unpractical character of the steps
taken toward; resumption, there is little ground for ex-
pecting tlett the preseut ennlition of the debt, w:ll bee irlY
changed. There atTears to be consider:at, probability
that Congress may adopt a measure autheris'ug the en-
forcement of contracts for the payment of coin. Such e
law, however just in principle and convenient to important
commercial interests, might yet have consequences not
generally apprehended. In important sections of the Smith
U.S. notes are not liked and national bank currency is dis-
trusted. To such an ex tentdoes this feeling prevail that mall
of the planters have demanded gold in payment for their
0,t.t.0n, so that several millions of coin have been sent
South within the last three months, while the coin in the
Sub-Treasuries at New Orleans and Mobile has boon sold
to meet this demand. In the event of gold contracts being
protected by law, this disposition among the planters, en-
courage(' as it might be by the press and the local bankers,
would quite probably result in establishing the trade
of the South upon a gold basis. This, it is true,
would bring about specie payments in the Southern
States; but it would b 3 at the expense of such n
drain of gold from the North as would inflate the gold
premium and seriously embarrass any effort toward gene'
ral resumption. The gold premium is perhaps more closely
connected with the Southern preference for gold than )5
generally supposed. The preference is not to be regarded
as the mere expression of a temporary political prejudice,
but as the revival of that predilection for hard money
which has always characterized the South, and which its
recent experience of a depreciated paper .currency
has only helped to confirm. The peculiar indepen-
donee which the South derives from the cotton crop
enables it to demand payment in whatever form it
prefers ; and should gold receive preference among plan-
ters, even though in comparatively limited sections, the
result must inevitably be the permanent withdrawal of n
large amount of coin from the market. This is but one of
several considerations at present influencing gold in favour
of a higher premium. The protracted depression in the
European money markets, which has induced a to nark'
ably active demand for our securities and enabled us to
settle large }foreign trade balances by remittances 01e
bonds, is now giving place to a healthier activity. Europe
has begun to place more confidence in the pacific assur-
ances of Louis Napoleon, and trade is consequently re'
vivins with a rapidity which, during the present year,
is likely to induce higher rates of interest. The Bank of
England is expected every week to further advance its
rate of discount—and the Bank of France has lost since
the close of September, 160,000,000 fr. of bullion. 'full
a further development of this tendency, it is not to be ex-
pected that foreigners will take our bonds to the same t'%
tent as heretofore, except in the event of the gold pro:al°
advancing to such an extent as to make them appear rela-
tively cheap. Evidently, therefore, we must be Pre-
pared to send out more gold and fewer bonds, or to
reduce our importations. The latter alternative We
are not adopting, the importations for the spring trade
having, thus far, exceeeded those of last year. What then
is our position for meeting any considerable foreign de-
mend for gold ? Our receipts from the Pacific are light.
the total arrivals of California gold for the last quarter 7
1868 being only $2,800,000, against $6,100,000 in 186
and $11,000,000 in 1867. The gold movement at this po't
.
during the past year has resulted in a loss of $29,600,000,.
that is to say, the exports have exceeded the combined
foreign imports and the arrivals from California by that
amount. The advance in United States Bonds, foreslele
(lowed in our last advices, has been realized, and at the
moment the market for that class of securities shoiv'S
steady tone. In some quarters there is a sanguine feell
in favour of still higher prices, but it may be doubtet
whether any further rise would not bring out an importr_
supply of stock. The demand for the reinvestment of in
terest has already been, to a considerable extent, s tasted'
and, although speculative movements may produce it tern"
porary rise, we are disposed to regard current prices n'
affording a fair opportunity for intending sellers.

General Lorenzo Thomas has been visiting Lb!
South on a tour of inspection of the national cemeteries
that part of the country.—Mr. George W. Childs, Of thf
Philad_lpleia Ledger, gave a banquet, Tan. 11, in honour
11. W. Longfellow, which was attended by a large nuMbe
of Americans, artists, and eminent persons now in 11°Mei
David Dudley Field has succeeded William Cullen BrY%-s
as President of the New York Fur Trade League.---Mos;ti
11. Grinnell, the New York papers say, will he appoint-„
collector of thatport by Gen. Grant.—The handsomest
in Co n gross are said to be Gen. Logan and Samuel J.
Captain Kenny, U.S.A., has committed suicide at Sit*".
John Dixon, ex-clerk in the Oriental Bank of Melbour°e:
Australia, was arrested in San Francisco for forger);
BIM of exchange amounting to $85,000 were found Les.
him Commissioner Rollins returned to Washington Jan
vt
Wendell Phillips, when a youth, according to the 14,81
York San, wanted to become a chemist, but his TuOttgil'e
interfered.—ll. Clay Dallam, the messenger /run' 0
electoral college of Maryland, deposited the vote a t
State with Mr. Wade, the President of the Senate, JuT3;h;
The Indianapolis Journal says :—" Mrs. Matthews, 'T.
mother of the Vice-President elect, has been for suve;bo
weeks stopping with her friends in this city. Lilo 16
mothers of nearly all our great men, she is 3 11°-,„ii
woman, of great intellectual power. Mr Colfax owes rnu
It.
P
of his success to his mother, and he fully a preciatfl„oo
She is a remarkably hale and happy old lady, and
in. a quiet way over the success of her sou. Her 01119 -0
sire for his advancement seems to bo that he ma 9

placed in a position to do more good. ----
The Girard House, at the corner of West 130
way and Chambers'-street, Philadelphia, has been 011'x°-°
$150,000. The purchaser was John P. Huggins, ofd
°8
joy's Hotel. The edifice was built by the late 3:,
Boorman, and measured 75 by 160. The price is C°lll
dored remarkably low.
e
Mr. James Fisk, jun., has bought out Mr. .133te;
man, and has taken over the management of the °Pie
Bouffd Company. The price paid was $60,000,
W
eludes the wardrobes of thirteen operas. The New- 4oi
Herald gives this schedule of the property and effectthe Erie Railway Company :—Erie railroad, main line' seS,
old branch roads, one city railroad, two steamboat lieco
ono lice of freight barges, one ferry, one opera 11005'3; pi
French opera comp my, ono ballot company, lot od
wardrobe, and twelve law suits." This may b° i 4
"chaff," but it gives very little idea of what the va'-°O,ll
of the property sneered at. One of the best of A°)°/libed
railways, the Pennsylvania Central, might be des6-
much in the same way, minus the ventures in theatre 5t
Accommodation has been secured at the g° 0-
Vernon Hotel, Baltimore, from the 22d inst., for C°rlloaci
dory Farragut, Governors Clifford, Fish, Grahmo, „pi
Aiken, Bish. p Mellvaine, Messrs. Ewarts, lAinth;bo
Sears, Wetmore, Bradford, Russell, and Al'Allister, 'aro
will accompany General Grant. These gel:1001'11
trustees of the Peabody educational fund. , Airs.
Mrs. Eliza H. Walker, of Aburndale, and
Sarah E. Ely, of Now York, have been appointed to $5:116
the secretaries of the American board in looking eft°io
interests of the children of missionaries sent to
LADVERTISEMENT.I—IIoIIoway's Ointment and -1. ,11:.
o
Lives Saved.—How happy would those sufferers be tb
whole system is in danger of breaking down throug'dis"
daily drain of discharges from ulcerations and siciftbd
eases if they only knew that a day rarely passes sr./ 41:10
new cases of cure being brought to the knowledge °OOO,
For ti discoverer of these peerless remedies. leers' - 4 tb°
burns, bad legs, skin diseases, and similar inaladie,,,,
insufficiency of ordinary applications is admitted P.Ji.
but none thus afflicted have been disappointed in °lel- tlY'°
oectations when a fair trial has been ivon to Hello ibis
intment and pills. The pain and swelling attendnt and
class of ailments will diminish daily under the ne°li/'"'
soothing unguent.

Births.
-It lightli
BIRDWOOD —On the 29th ult., at Buttfield, near ;2,
-° cl, °
bridge, the wife of Major-General W. T. Birar
a daughter. ,ife °f
CLIVE—On the 29th ult. at 25, Chester-street, the Itef.
Lieut.-Colonel Clive, Grenadier Guards, of a daub Pl'
MoßrroN—On the 26th ult., at Worthing, the 101/'
R. Moreton, of a son.
Marriages. 0,
1,460 i
CHAPLIN —LANDELLS —On the 28th ult., at 5t.54,,
er
Chelsea, James, the eldest son of R. J. Chaplio,Aoght
Forest-hill, Kent, to Alice Isabella youngest " 0
7.
of the late E. Landels, Esq. A Pli i
0 , , 0
NlELL—SricEn—On the 26th ult., at CroY“--lite, j
Niell, M.D., to Martha Wilson youngest daura, $9
the late John Edward Spicer, 'Esq., of Clap
New Bridge-street.
Deaths. , fedl'
sv,

--- -
ATTENEOROUGII—On the 28th ult., at Bratuptoll.44 , a,
Market liarborough, James Attenborough, '
ra
75. co-g
GREEN—On the 24th ult., at 5, Kensington-Pa'
er,
dens, Bevis E. Green, Esq., aged 75. OAIIID
KNIGHT - On the 26th. ult., at Grosveuor-park,
well, George Knight, Esq., aged 76. _ro-
MAunE —On the 27th ult., John Maude, Esq., Caril
clirei
Leeds, aged 73. a°
MOLLING—On the 29th ult. in Connaught-Place'
Moiling, Esq., aged 85.
___4
--- --A 0913°111(
London : Printed and Pabliehed by WILLIAM` L 40,4 o
of No. 112, Strand, Printer, at THE Stni C'''''-botta"
Strand, in the Precinct of the Savoy, in the
Middlotinit+sl9nday, trebtlinry 1,1968.;