The Sun.
London, England, 1856-11-03 00:00:00

MONETARY AFFAIRS.

The state of monetary affairs in this country con•
tinues to be very remarkable. By the last Bank Re.
turn the bullion had again decreased by 379,5851., and
the total amount was 9,760,4821. In the panic 0f,1847
the amountof bullion for several weeks stood at between
seven and eight millions ; we have, therefore, not much
more than a million more bullion in the Bank than we
then had. _ _

But circumstances have in the meanwhile changed.
The greatest change arises from the immense gold dis-
coveries of California and Australia. These inspire a
confidence in renewed supplies of gold which nothing
else could give. However great the exportation there
is a strong persuasion in the public that importation
will supply the deficiency. The Bank, moreover, ap.
parently acting in this belief, has not thought it neces-
sary to adopt such stringent measures as would other-
wise be requisite. In the meanwhile the monetary
alarm in Paris has by no means subsided, nor can we,
at present, see any sound reason for expecting any im
portant improvement in the state of affairs.
While we are ready to admit that extensive corn
purchases, and the large foreign undertakings of the
Credit Mobilier and the exportation of bullion to the
armies in the Crimea, may have bad their effect, it ap-
pears to us that the great reason of the drain of silver
bullion from the French Bank, and the consequent drain
of gold from this country, have arisen from the very
unwise enactments which are allowed to remain in
France with respect to the silver coinage. It pays in
France to melt the coin and sell it as bullion. Thus it
has been a trade to get coin from the bank, melt it
down into bars, and sell it again to the bank at a profit.
Can human absurdity with regard to money get beyond
this ? And why should such a process stop? As long
as it is profitable to melt down silver and sell it to the
bank, or export it, why should there be a' cessation of
this process ? The French government is trying indeed
to put down this traffic by legal penalties.
The common sense method is to render the exporta-
tion in melting of money an unprofitable business.
But this at present the French government, either
from ignorance or timidity,
have neglected to do. And
the commerce and trade of the country suffer accord-
ingly. The people are becoming disaffected and the
government unpopular.—Deebyskiee Courier.

- -
THE LORD MAYOR ELECT,—Mr. Alderman Finnic,
the Lord Mayor elect, attended this morning at the
residence of the Lord Chancellor, accompanied by the
Recorder and the other officers of the Corporation,
when his lordship was introduced to the Lord Chan-
cellor by the Recorder, and received her Majesty's ap-
proval of the choice of the livery.
MICHAELMAS TERM.—This being tLa first day of
Michaelmas Term, the Lord Chancellor held a usual
levee, and entertained most of the leading members of
the bar at breakfast at his official residence. Their
lordships afterwards proceeded in state to Westminster
Hall and commenced the legal business of the term.
The man Griffin, stabbed by the men in Bermondsey,
lies in a very precarious state in Guy's Hospital.
Everything depends on surgical treatment. He is fed
ou ice, and has been bled to keep down inflammation.
Mr. Sergeant Wells has been appointed recorder of
Bedford.
The Prince of Wales, Captain Nolan, from New Zea-
land, landed on Friday at Portsmouth! f ir the use of the
government, two spars of Kauri pine of the most extra-
ordinary proportions ever brought to this country—viz.,
100 feet in length and 341 inches diameter, without a
I They will most likely become masts for the
Queen's state yacht.
MR. CHARLES MACNAY.—Tt is pleasant to learn that
the voice of the nfghtingaie will be heardin November ,
and under an English sky. " Undcr Green Leaves is
the poetic and appropriate title of a volume of verse
which Charles Mackay is to give us amidst the fogs of
November. All the verses—so some of Mr. Mackay's
many sensible American admirers assure us—were ac-
tually written under green leaves and under au English
sky, and thi,t they consequently breathe the very air in
which they were written.—From •‘ Town and Table
Talk "pin the lilvstrated Lando'', Yews,