The Sun.
London, England, 1867-01-12 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY EVENING, JANUARY 1?, 1867

recovered, though the ship was breaking up. On
Wednesday a fishing boat, attempting to run from
Newhaven to the securer harbour of Leith, was
capsized in the heavy sea, and those on board, four
young fishermen, were drowned. The accident was
seen from the shore.

JERSEY, Thursday.

The Channel Islands have suffered great incon-
venience during the storm which • has raged for the
past few days. The mail packet service has been
interrupted, so that the islands were without any
news from England for four days—viz., from Sa-
turday to Wednesday. The mail packet Brittany,
which should have left Southampton on Monday at
midnight, due in Jersey at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, did
not leave her port, in consequence of the weather,
until 7 a.m. on Tuesd:iy, and was then obliged to
bring up off Lyinington until 9 o'clock at night.
After a tedious passage she reached Jersey at 11 45
a.m. on Wednesday, with her gangways knocked in
and some of her stanchions started. The mail via
Weymouth, due yesterday (Wednesday), did not
arrive, the mail packet Brighton, Capt. Brache, not
being able to leave port on account of the severity
of the gala. Considerable damage was done to the
shipping in the harbour by the gale. A new bark,
the Virgilia, which was being towed into the har-
bour on Monday afternoon drifted into the rocks in
consequence of the breaking of the tow-rope. Her
anchors were thrown out, and she rode safely, but
during the night the gale drove her across St. Aubin's
Bay, high up the beach, near to Millbrook, whence
it will be difficult to remove her. A seaman named
William Cowley, belonging to the steamer Esk,
trading between London and the islands, was blown
over the quay at Guernsey on Saturday night during
the gale, and drowned.

Naval and Military Intelligence•

-

VALETTA, Jan. 6.—Lord C. Paget, taking ad-
vantage of the departure of the Caradoc to fetch
Capt. Clarke, director of Admiralty Works, left in
her on Tuesday last for Naples, where he is likely to

meet with Mr. Gladstone, Sir G. Grey, and others
of his old colleagues who are at present sojourning
in Italy. The Caradoc, bearing the flag of the naval
Commander-in-Chief, returned at 9 o'clock this

evening. It is understood he had hastened to return
as his services may soon be wanted for the investi-
ture of the Viceroy of Egypt as Grand Cross of the
Bath, and it is, I understand, the wish of the Queen
that the ceremony should be performed by the pre-
_

sent naval Commander-in-Chief in the Mediterra.

nean. It will be rendered as grand and imposing as

possible, and for this purpose a squadron of British
ships of war will assemble at Alexandria, for which
place of rendezvous several vessels have already
taken their departure. The Endymion, 21, screw
frigate, Capt. C. Wake, left on the 2d inst. for Ale-
xandria, and the Resistance left on the 3d for the
Piraeus, to relieve the Arethusa, 35, screw frigate,
Capt. It. J. Macdonald, which, it is rumoured, will
proceed to Alexandria to await his lordship's arrival.
The Cruiser, 5, screw sloop, Commander M. Singer,
has sailed for Beyrout, to relieve the Racer, 14, Com-
mander L. Brine ; both these vessel. 3, it is probable,

will form part of the complimentary squadron
H.M.S. Cossack, 20, Capt. R. D. White, left Malta
harbour on the 3d inst. for Spithead and Sheerness
to be paid off. The Prussian screw corvette Gazelle,
28, left on the Ist inst. for Naples, and the screw
gunboat Blitz, 4, of the same nation, left on the
same day for the Piraeus and Constantinople. The
United States' screw corvette Canandaigua, 9,
Capt. H. Upshur, has received orders to join Ad-
miral Goldsborough, whose flagship, the Colorado,
is at anchor at Nice. The greatest cordiality has
prevailed between her officers and crew and those of
her Majesty's ships and the regiments in garrison,
and hospitalities have been exchanged. She leaves
on the 8,1 inst. A party of naval officers, consist-
ing of Commander Fairfax, Commander Hopkins,
Lieut. Kennedy, and Mr. Brown, R.N., took their
departure on New Year's-day in the cutter yacht
Melita, of 24 tons, to shoot hares, woodcocks, deer,
and wild boars on the Albanian coast. A court-
martial assembled on the 31st ult., on board her
Majesty's ship Ilibernia, to try Mr. Purkis, assist.-
engineer, first-class, of her Majesty's ship Psyche,
on the following charge :—Returning on board in a
partial state of intoxication, creating a disturbance
on the upper deck, and conducting himself in a dis-
respectful manner towards Mr. Heitzel, his superior
officer. Capt. Hilyer, C. 8., commanding her
Majesty's ship Resistance, presided, and Mr. H. 11.
Shanks, secretary to the Commander-in-Chief, offi-
ciated as judge-advocate. The accused was found
guilty, but iu consideration of his previous high
character was only sentenced to be severely repri-
nanded and dismissed his ship. The Court having
been dissolved, re-assembled to try another assist.-
engineer, first-class, Mr. Blackwood, of the Caradoc,
on a charge of drunkenness, which being fully proved,
he was sentenced to be dismissed from her Ma-
jesty's service. The Roman Catholic Arch-
bishop of Malta entertained Sir Henry Storks at
dinner on the 31st ult., and the Governor gave
a return dinner on the 3d instant, to the Arch-
bishop. Lady Clarence Paget gave a splendid
ball on the evening of the 31st ult. Among the
guests were the officers of the American sloop
Canandaigua and the Prussian war vessels Gazelle
and Blitz. The Governor has issued invitations for
balls at the Palace on the 10th of January and the
6th of February. The following appointments have
been made by the Commander-in-Chief :—Lieut.
Nuthall, of the Resistance, to the Victoria, as addi-
tional Lieut. ; Mr. George Watson, engineer-in-
charge in theTyrian, to the Psyche, recommissioned ;
Mr.J.W. Nott, engineer, additional of the Victoria, to
the Tyrian, as engineer in charge, vice Watson ; Mr.
E. J. Beheuna, second master; Mr. W. Wyvil, en-
gineer ; and Mr. J. Wright (b), engineer, all addi-
tional, of the Victoria, to the Psyche. On the 4th
inst. two Government notices were issued reducing
the quarantine on arrivals from Sicily with foul bills
of health from 21 to 15 days, and intimating that
the quarantine on arrivals from the same island with
clean bills of health shall remain as notified on 27th
December last—that is to say, seven days. The
other notice referred to the importation of cattle,
and directed that cattle arriving at this island from
the regency of Tunis, or from Algiers, be admitted
in free pratique.
The Orontes, iron troopship, Capt. H. Phelps, in
dock at Portsmouth, and preparing for foreign troop
service, had her hull below the water line examined
and reported upon yesterday by the officials of the
yard. The Orontes has been eight months out of
dock, and the greater part of this time has been on
foreign service ; but her bottom plates are now nearly
as clean as when she was first put out.of dock prior
to her last trip. She is paid over below the water-
line with the Admiralty, or Hay's preventive and
anti-fouling composition. A portion of the plating
just below the water-line has been slightly indented
by rubbing against some wharf, or iron troop boat
—such as is made use of at Ascension for the embar-
kation and disembarkation of troops ; but the da-
mage is but slight, and can readily be repaired, and
without any loss of time in dock. The Orontes is
under orders to sail from Portsmouth for the Cape,
China, and Japan about the 23d inst., and will call
at western ports on her way down channel. Sixteen
naval engineersand 96stokers arc ordered to embark
on board her on the 21st inst. from the Ports-
mouth Steam Reserve for passage to China. They
will be at the disposal of the Commander-in-Chief
on that station, for service in gunboats and other

vessels.
Her Majesty's screw troopship Himalaya was put
through a trial of her machinery and speed at the
measured mile in Stokes Bay, yesterday, on the com-
pletion of her repairs, alterations, awl refit for further
troop service on re-commission. Commander Wells,
H.M.S. Asia, was in charge of the ship, and the trial
was conducted byMessrs. Ward and Murdock, Chief
Inspectors of Machinery Afloat, of the Steam Fac-
tory and Reserve ; and Mr. Brain, Assistant-Mas-
ter Shipwright. Six runs were made over the mea-
sured mile with the ship drawing 18ft. lio. of water
forward and 20ft. aft, the mean speed of the ship
being 13.637 knots. A full circle was turned to port
Malin. 3sec., and to starboard in 9min. 32sec. The
machinery worked satisfactorily, and the Himalaya
returned to Portsmouth harbour to complete the
necessary measures for immediate commission. It
is reported that Capt. Shute B. Piers will now coin-

mission the Himalaya, and not Capt. T. B. Leth-
bridge, at present commanding the screw troopship
Simoom, from foreign service, as was first arranged
by the Admiralty.
The Barrosa, 20, screw corvette, Capt. H. Boys,
whose arrival at Spithead from Japanese waters was
announced in The Sun of yesterday, sailed from
Spithead yesterday morning for Sheerness, to dis-
mantle and pay out of commission.
The following appointments have been made at
the Admiralty :—Capt. H. D. Hickley, to the Ad-
venture, re-commissioned; Commander R. M. Blom-
field, to the Canopus; Lieut. F. A. Gardner, to the
Lord Clyde ; Lieut. H. J. Clanchy, to the Octavia,
additional, for disposal ; Lieut. J. M. Morris, to the
Formidable ; IL 11. C. Hebden and Wm. K. Fox,
second masters, to the Princess Royal, additional ;
H. G. S. Baker, midshipman, to the Charybdis ; E.
Ponsonby, midshipman, to the Racoon ; A. Crosbie,
M.D., assist.-surg., to Haslar Hospital ; W. Ander-
son (b), assist.-surg., to the Impregnable, for the
Squirrel ; D. M'lver, M.D., assist.-surg., to the
Wizard ; J. Carlisle, chief engineer, to the Charyb-
dis ; H. Pitt and R. Findlay, engineers, to the Vic-
toria ; D. Millar and A. Reid, engineers, to the
Charybdis ; E. Fisher, first-class assist.-engineer, to
the Victoria ; and R. M. Rodgers, first-class assist.
engineer, to the Charybdis.

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE.

MANCHESTER, SHEFFIELD, AND LINCOLNSHIRE
The report of the directors of this company states
that the accounts for the past half-year show a total
revenue from all sources of £593,346, a total expen-
diture of £251,236, and a balance of net profits of
£342,110, which, with the balance of £1,486, brought
forward from the previous half-year, made a total
sum of £343,596 available for interest and dividend.
With regard to a special item of available revenue
not included in the above, the report states that in
the year 1854 a contract was made in the interest
and on behalf of the company by four of the directors
with the Birley Vale Coal Company for a supply of
coal for sale on the line, at fixed prices, the Birley
Vale Company undertaking to lay out a large capital
in sinking new pits upon the railway. For the se-
curity of the directors committed to this contract,
which could not legally be entered into by the com-
pany, an addition was made to the contract price
of the coal of ls. per ton, and carried to a sepArate
account. The amount was invested in securities,
which had now been realised, and there stood at this
date to the credit of that account £17,861, which
the directors now recommended the proprietors to
carry to the credit of net revenue. The debenture
and other interest chargeable against the revenue of
the half-year amounted to £81,411, the canal an-
nuities to £14,142, the dividends on the various
classes of preference stock and shares to £104,698,
and the South Yorkshire interest and dividends to
£64,477, making a total charge against the above
net balance of £264,728, leaving a balance of
£78,868, out of which the directors recommended a
dividend at the rate of £3 per cent. per annum on
the ordinary stock of the company, carrying forward
the large balance of £12,982 to the next account.
The dues,wharfage,&c., at Grimsby Docks amounted
during the half-year, on a tonnage of 424,913 tons,
to £6,138, against 401,378 tons and £6,598, show-
ing an increase of 23,535 tons and a decrease of
£460 as compared with the corresponding half of
1865. The company's share of the net profits of
the South Junction Railway amounted to £9,496,
as against £11,032 in the corresponding period of
last year. The working expenses in the past half-
year amounted to £229,119, against £215,603 in the
same half of 1865, showing an increase of £13,516,
chiefly iu the locomotive and traffic expenses. The
expenditure on capital account during the half-year
amounted to £248,280, of which £75,670 was for
contributions to joint lines, £145,753 for works and
stations, and £8,988 for rolling stock. This was
exclusive of the West Riding and Grimsby issue of
ordinary stock. The Trent, Ancholme, and Grimsby
Railway was opened on Oct. 1 last for local traffic.
The amount of £472,500 of the consolidated stock
of the company was issued to the proprietors of the
West Riding and Grimsby undertaking, 281 miles, in
purchase of one-half of their interest therein (the
Great Northern Company taking the other half), in
accordance with the Transfer Act, 1866. This com-
pany's proportion of the net revenue earned by the
West Riding line was £4,623, for the half-year, or £2
per cent. per annum on the £472,500 of stock which
consideredmiliigehptebresistent
eff
orts
madesatisfactory
bya organised
aza
commencement.party
of speculators to depreciate all railway property by
the circulation of unfounded reports, in the opinion
of the directors, required that the fullest explana-
tions between directors and proprietors should be
exchanged at the earliest possible dates, and that
ng to the railway sys-
tem
was required in
railway boards should set an example of moderation
and prudence by discouraging for the time all new
outlayth
that
tf
periodcap i capital, l,
of therebyrest
which
alone i
order to raise dividends to their maximum amount.
All uncertainties as to priorities or the rights of dif-
ferent classes of shareholders generally should be
rendered impossible by a simple declaration in an
act of Parliament of the actual capital of each com-
pany, in its proper order as at the moment raised,
and as authorised to be augmented. If railway
boards would follow these simple rules, and if Par-
liament, after the lessons of last year, would dis-
courage the waste of national resources in under-
takings not likely to be remunerative, that portion
of the railway system which was intrinsically sound
and solid property would again take its proper
rank in the public estimation. The capital account
showed that £11,983,269 had be expended, in-
chbidailnagace£7o2fol,72Bo,
£720,780 during
ing the past half-year, leaving
a

VICTORIA STATION AND PIMLICO.
The half-yearly general meeting of this company
was held yesterday at the offices, Westminster-
chambers, Victoria-street; Mr. W. Lee., M.P., in
the chair.
Mr. E. Bellamy, the secretary, read the report,
which stated that the revenue account for the six
months ending Dec. 31 admitted of the payment of
the same dividend as that of preceding half-year—
namely, 31 per cent., or at the rate of 7f per cent.
per annum. The very large outlay recently in-
curred by the Brighton, the Great Western, and
the London, Chatham, and Dover Companies in
making the new approaches to the Victoria station,
both north and south of the Thames, and in widen-
ing the bridge and the approaching connection of
the Victoria Station with a station to the Metropo-
litan District Railway were calculated to place the
maximum aggregate rental of £33,125, commencing
on the Ist of April next, in the.highest class of free-
hold ground rents. The directors were taking steps
to place the remainder of the perpetual 4- per cent.
debenture stock, and they had confidence that so high
a security would be readily taken up. The directors
' congratulated the proprietors that during a period
of unexampled commercial distress and of especial
distrust in all descriptions of railway property, the
position of their undertaking and the price of the
stock had remained unchanged. The capital account
showed that £481,426 had been expended, leaving a
balance of £13,337. , The revenue account for the
half-year ending the 31st of December showed that
the rentals amounted to £15,270, and the balance
from the preceding half-year to £l,Bss—total,
£17,125. The interest on loans and preference
shares and expenses amounted to £6,455, leaving
a balance of £10,669.

A company has been formed at Montreal, in-
cluding large capitalists, who intend to apply to
Parliament during its next session to dam the river
St. Lawrence at La Chine Rapids for the purpose
of obtaining hydraulic power. The capital proposed
by the company is to be $2,000,000._
ADVERTISEMENT.] - Holloway's Pills. Winterly
Drawbacks.—Whence fogs spring or whither they retire it
is not our present purpose to explain ; wo desire to point
out how their ill effects on the human frame can be neu-
tralised. The blood must be freed from superfluous carbon
and mephitic taints by some purifying medicine like Hol-
loway's Pills, which not only thoroughly cleanse the circu-
lation, but adjust in every organ the defects imposed upon
it by that fluid when it has become foul or sluggish. These
pills prevent stagnation, congestion, and are the best regu-
lators and preservatives against internal inflammations,
irritations, and ulcerations; while expelling morbid matters
from the system, they cool it by their gently aperient ac-
tion, and strengtheu it by their tonic virtues.

Miscellaneous American News.

On Dec. 15 a delegation of loyal Alabamians
called upon Mr. Stevens. They urged the entire

overthrow of the present ex-rebel State Govern-
ment, and declared that any reconstruction that did

not provide for the protection of Union men, black
and white, and enforce to some extent the Con-
fiscation Act, and reimburse Union men for

the property taken from them by the re-
bels, was a virtual surrender of the victors to
the conquered, and an abandonment of the
only friends that the Union has had, or now has, in

the South. Mr. Stevens informed them that he

should again press his bill for confiscation, and s•:nt
the delegates to see certain Senators, whom he
thought prevented the realisation of their desires,

which he pronounced to be just and according to

the law of actions.

A bill is being prepared in Congress to provide
for the purchase and working of all the distilleries
in the country by the Government. It is said that
twenty millions of dollars will pay for all the

property now used in the lawful manufacture of
ardent spirits. Two years ago there was one
hundred million gallons of whisky made and con-
sumed, the annual tax on which, if all paid to

the Government, would be two hundred millions
of dollars, whereas there is now received less than
twenty millions from the whole. The South is
filled with illicit stills, an enormous quantity of
liquor is being made, and good brands put upon

it, and then it is sent North for sale. The tax

upon this reputed good liquor if properly collected
would be nearly enough to pay the interest on the

National Debt..

There are four hundred and three vessels laid up
at the port of Chicago for the winter, including
three steamers, nineteen propellers, thirty-five
tugs, forty-eight barques, eighteen brigs, and
twenty-nine schooners.

The great cities of the kingdom may be thus ar-
ranged according to their rates of mortality during
the past year. To 1,000 persons living the deaths in
Birmingham were 24, Hull 24, Bristol 25, Edinburgh
27, Sheffield 28, Dublin 28, Salford 29, Gasgow 30,
Manchester 32, Newcastle-on-Tyne 32, Leeds 33,
Liverpool 42. The mortality was lower than it was
in the year 1E65 in Manchester, Salford, Birming-
ham, Hull, Edinburgh, Glasgow; and higher in
Leeds, Bristol, Dublin, Liverpool. Cholera was
excessively fatal in Liverpool.

The following is the latest intelligence from Cali-
fornia :—" San Francisco, Dec. 19.—The taxable

property returned in San Francisco during the
months of September and October have paid an
internal revenue of $1,600,000. Negotiations are
pending for the introduction from China by the
new mail steamship line of a large force of labourers
for the Central Pacific Railroad. The steamer
Constellation, for Panama, sailed to-day with
$1,061,700 in treasure, of which $870,000 is for
New York account. A shock of earthquake was
felt at Sacramento about 3 o'clock this morning.
Some persons report a shock here some time pre-
vious. A meeting of the stockholders, to perfect
an organisation to construct the railroad from Sa-
cramento to the Colorado River, was called yester-
day. The leading mining stocks are generally
weak : Belcher, $137 ; Savage, $1,980 ; Empire
Mill, $l9O ; Chellar, $2OO ; Gould and Curry,
$690 ; Ophir, $lBB. •In the cases of the assessors
of the fifteen counties indicted for making returns
to Avery instead of Bigler, the United States Dis-
trict Judge yesterday fixed the bail in each case at
$1,500, allowing it to be given before any State
magistrate, thus avoiding the necessity of the per-
sonal attendance of the assessors here. The sur-
veyor's.and engineer's reports brought here recently
for the projected railroad between Guadalajara and
Lake Chapelle, Mexico, a distance of 14 leagues; is
under the charter obtained from Maximilian last year.
It is thought the Imperial Government will sanction
the enterprise. The receipts of the Treasury from
the Interior during the present month is $9,000,000.
The money market grows easier. Leading bankers
quote corn drafts on Atlantic cities at 2i per cent. ;
currency drafts 22 per cent. premium on gold ; tele-
graphic transfers, 2i per cent. ; English exchange,
481 d. Eastern butter is quoted at 34c. Mining
stocks generally closed weak. Gould and Curry,
$7,30 ; Savage, $1,375 ; Imperial, $1,40 ; Yellow
Jacket, $1,165 ; Cholla.r Potosi, $2,16. Legal ten-
ders, 72.
A Washington correspondent of the Anti-Slavery
Standard calls the members of the Senate to account
for the frequent allusions in the debates to Mr.
Sumner's recent marriage. "In no other legislative
assemblage in the world," says the correspondent,
" would such an allusion be tolerated." This point
is well taken. The New York TVorld considers that
" It is indecorous, even insulting, for Senators to
" chaff' each other, after the manner of bar-room
tipplers, touching so delicate a matter as, marriage.
The Senate ought to be an assemblage of gentle-
men."

NEW ORLEANS, December 21.—(,general Sher-
man is the guest of General Sheridan. A
salute was fired this morning in honour of Gene-
ral Sherman by United States artillery. He remains
until the reception of despatches from Washing-
ton in answer to those sent by him last night. He
is almost immediately to proceed to Washington,
his mission to Mexico, as Minister Campbell's
advising agent, having been fulfilled. Minister
Campbell will probably reach New Orleans on
Sunday morning. General Sherman and Minister
Campbell will undoubtedly both proceed after the
exchange of despatches with the Washington Gover-
ment, on board the Susquehanna. The Susque-
hanna is anchored off the bar.
The General Land Office has just prepared a
patent in favour of the Central Pacific Railroad
Company, containing 42,000 acres. The patent is
preceded by a beautiful miniature map of the United
States, handsomely coloured, exhibiting all the
States and territories with great distinctness, as also
the line of the Pacific Railroad from the Valley of
the Mississippi to the Pacific Ocean.
The Hon. T. J. Coffey cannot leave his cases in
the Supreme Court to go to Europe for the Govern-
ment, and J. S. Redfield, of Lexington, Massa-
chusetts, having been tendered the mission, has
telegraphed his acceptance. He was once the Chief
Justice of the Vermont Supreme Court, but of late
years has been practising law at or near Boston.
He will go out at once, and take charge of all the
United States litigation in Europe.
There are now in the Government arsenals of the
United States 250,000,000 rounds of cartridges for
small arms, worth five and a quarter millions of
dollars, and 900,000,000 of percussion caps, worth
800,000 dollars. The Ordnance Department hav-
ing decided to change the calibre of small arms and
dispense with percussion caps these will be nearly
a total loss to the Government. There is also in
store 86,000,000 pounds of lead, worth seven and a
half millions of dollars, and nearly $l,OOO worth of
nitre.

The New York World informs us that while
General Butler was there he was incessant in his
efforts to prevail upon Congress to impeach the
President. He conducted his movements in a man-
ner that would produce as much of a tragic effect as
possible. He occupied the rooms at the Kirkwood
House which Andrew Johnson occupied at the time
of the assassination. Closeted in these quarters, he
spent his time, not otherwise taken up, in drawing
up articles of impeachment. No doubt he imagined
the spirits would communicate with him and reveal
some extraordinary fact in regard to the assassination
which would materially assist him his work.
But in this it is presumed that he has been disap-
pointed, for he felt there somewhat out of humour
at the hesitancy of the Senate to take up his
impeachment idea. Neither the spirits nor the
walls of the rooms revealed sufficient facts for him
to convince the Senate of the necessity of adopt-
ing his scheme. His tragic flourish was all for
nothing.
Mr. Elliott, of the Montana Post, is the fortu-
nate possessor of a remarkable fossil, which was
accidentally discovered by some miners in Bivin's
Gulch, Montana, and for which Mr. Elliott has
already refused $l,OOO. It is a molar tooth taken
from a fragment of jawbone sft. in length, and
weighing 571 b. The tooth itself weighs 31b., and is
described as of " curious configuration, not unlike
a cluster of four beavers' claws overlying each other.

It is believed in Denver City to be the largest fossil
of the kind yet discovered.

COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE.

NEW Yonx, Doe. 21

To-morrow being Christmas-day Will be a holiday, and
little business will be transacted during the week. In-
deed we have had a dull time of fnr some weeks past.
Gold has fallen heavily, as I expected It opened to-day
at 1331 and closed at 1331; a fall of e than 4 since I
last wrote to you.
The demand for money is less active. On call it is at
from 6to 7 per cent. The Bank statement is more favour-
able than' expected, and shows no unusual changes. In
last week's report there was an error, one bank having
given the gross instead of the net deposits. These deposits
show a reduction of over $4,000,000, but a part of this
sum can be thus accounted for. The wants of the people
at this season account for the withdrawal, and the sum is
considered small.

Stocks opened heavy and lower upon the active list, but
were in better demand after the bank statement was
made, and at advancing prices. The favourite of the day
was Michigan Southern, which sold at 821. North-Western
shares were very active, at steadily advancing prices, the
Common closing at 441 and the Preferred at 831. Govern-
ment stocks were steady upon the gold-bearing issues,
and higher on the 7.305. As compared with the morning
Board of Saturday, the active shares are all higher.
Western Union rose 11, Quicksilver 1, New York. Central
11, Reading 1, Michigan Southern 21, Milwaukee and St.
Paul 11, Illinois Central 11, Cleveland and Pittsburgh 1,
North-Western Common 1, do. Preferred 2, Rock Island
1, and Fort Wayne 1. After the call the market was
strong, and stocks in demand. Later in the day prices
wore very strong, witka large demand to cover short
contracts. The last prices were :—New York Central,
109+ to 1091 ; Erie, 68 to 681; Reading, 1041 to 1011;
Michigan Southern, 821 ; Cleveland and Pittsburgh, 86 to
861 ; Rock Island, 1031 to 1031 ; North-Western, 441 to
431; North-Western Preferred, 83+ to 831; Fort Wayne,
105+ to 1051.
The following shows the condition of the New York
City Banks this week and last :

Dec. 15. Dec. 22.
Loans $258,452,330 $258,255,514 Dec. $196,816
Specie.... 13,991,200 13,231,917 Dec. 759,283
Circulation 31,797,655 32,433,429 Inc. 655,774
Deposits 206,458,271 202,1129,877 Dec. 4,428,394
Legal Tenders 63,994,309 61,816,962 Inc. 822,653
Leading houses ask 109} for 60-clays Sterling. We
quote—Prime Bankers', 60 days, 108} to 1094 ; do., sight,
109* to 110 ; Paris, long, 5.16-1 to 5.15 ; do., short, 5.138 ;
Antwerp, 5.21; to 5.20 ; Swiss, 5.21* to 4.20 ; Hamburg,
368; Amsterdam, 411 to 411 ; Frankfort, 41* to 418 ;
Bremen, 78* to 79 ; Berlin, 724.
Exports (exclusive of specie) from New York to foreign
ports for the week ending December 24, 1866. Total,
$3,254,610. _ _

,
The trade of last week closed with a steady feeling.
During the late interim of improved activity agents have
seized the opportunity for selling out a part of their accu-
mulations at a brief concession, and there is consequently
less appearance of an anxiety to realise, and more appa-
rent firmness. How far this will be sustained must de-
pend chiefly upon the tone with which the spring demand
opens and the period at which it sets in. For the re-
mainder of the year little business is likely to be trans-
acted, firms being engaged in making up their annual
accounts and taking account of stocks.

(Glenn and Co.'s Weekly Circular.)
In the fulfilment of our promise made last week, we now
reopen the discussion on the merits of Secretary ll‘Cul-

loch and his Financial Administration.

As we expected, the defenders of the Secretary, now
happily growing smaller by degrees and beautifully less,
have replied to our arguments urging the sales of surplus
gold, by stating that Mr. M'Culloch "once upon a time"

did sell a large amount of gold, and the premium on the
same almost immediately afterwards advanced, which
statement is perfectly true. But what were the circum-
stances ? Now, there has been during President John-
son's administration just one week, and but one, when it
was not desirable for the Government to part with its
specie. The Secretary, of course, sold a large amount,
over $30,000,000, that very week. Had he not done so, he
would have lost his reputation for consistency: consistent
blundering we mean. It was the eventful week following
the now historical Black Friday. The great houso of

Overend, Gurney, and Co., had just gone down with a
crash that shook to its very centre the whole commercial
world; money was 10 per cent., and not to be had even at

that—the Bank of England for the first time in its history
refusing to loan money on Consols, and gold was leaving
this country for the Continent at the rate of nearly a mil-
lion a day—into the thick and constantly deepening gloom
that hung over London but one ray of immediate relief

penetrated. It came from America, and to that country
ovary banker and merchant who had any infinencc there
sent imperative messages for gold ; instant and large ship-
ments of the precious metals for Europe of course followed.
Had Secretary M'Culloch been anything of a financier
ho never would have sold the large amount of gold he did
to the London bankers—gold they were obliged to have,
and only„too glad to get hat any price--$1.3), when
ho could just as easily have sold it for $l6O, at which
price it advanced immediately after ho bad done selling.

We repeat with emphasis, at no time, before or since that
eventful week, would the gold premium not have rapidly
declined under free and legitimate sales by the Treasury
Department. There are two things, and but two, that re-
gulate the price of gold the world all over: they are supply
and demand, and public confidence. No ono who has
visited America during the past year can have any doubt
whatever of the perfect confidence displayed by all classes
in the legal tender-money of the country, viz., greenbacks
and National Bank notes, secured as the latter are by de-
posits with the) Government of United States Bonds, to
something more than the amount of notes issued by the
said banks; and yet the Secretary imagines that a return

to specie payments would cause a run on the banks for
gold, and another run on the Government for specie iu
exchange for greenbacks. But why should there be ?
Good redeemable paper money is always preferred in busi-
ness to gold and silver. It is not so bulky, is more conve-
nient for exchanges, and so long as people know it is con-
vertible, and have entire confidence in it, as we have
shown they have in America, they never desire, as
a general rule, gold and sillier for their notes, which fact
we humbly think wholly removes the Secreta' s's imagi-
nary danger of a collapse, when specie payments are
resumed. Now as to supply and demand, it is a notorious
fact, that the foreign exchanges are now, and have been
for three-fourths of the time in the last year, in favour of
America, showing a balance of trade against Europe—and
there would have been no shipments of gold at all from
America during that time, had it not been that the Phila-
delphia Mint charges nearly one per cent. for coining gold
dust, silver, and bullion ; whereas the English Mint charges
nothing—(the latter institution, very properly pays its ex-
penses from the alloy introduced in the money it coins),
and yet the Finance Minister that insists upon keeping up
this absurd charge on home coinage, thereby driving large
amounts of gold and silver out of the country, has the
reputation, in certain quarters, of being a great financier.
But notwithstanding this drainage, the mines on the

Pacific Slope are yielding so abundantly that at the
present time it is estimated there is in circulation,
and in the vaults of the Government and the
banks $300,000,000 gold and silver; but at least
one half of this sum is now entirely unavail-
able, it being locked up by Secretary M'Culloch
and Other - misers. Were spec; 3 1)1Y:11%111j re-
s•-mod to-morrow all of this gold and silver would
immediately circulate as money, thereby increasing the
circulation of the country by just so much ; and alsoim-
mediately ease the money market throughout the Uni▪ ted
States by bringing down prices to such a standard that it
would take very much less -money to do the business of
the country than is required at the present time. Gold is
the life-blood of a nation, and to stop its free circulati▪
on,
as Secretary M'Culloch purposes to do until the Ist July,
1868, is more than folly —it is a species of ignorant
treason, for which removal from office would be a punish-
ment far too small. The amount of gold held by the
banks and Sub-Treisury at New York is now
$100,000,000, quite enough to redeem all the National
Bank notes that would in any emergency be pressed for
redemption ; for there are less than $300,000,000 of such
notes issued, while greenbacks are so.largely hoarded, and
public faith in them is so great that no one would think
of converting them into gold ; and if some were so con-
verted there is quite gold enough constantly coming in
from custom duties to do it. In specie-paying times in
America, before the late war, the Sub-Treasury and New
York Bank usually held an average of $30,000,000
specie, then the paper money of the country was about
one-third what it is now ; but there is more than three
times the gold now held in New York there was
then, besides the wants of the country for paper
currency are much greater on account of growth
in population, higher prices, &c. ; and far less
amounts of notes in proportion could now be
gathered in for making runs on the banks. Money is
not idle in America, and but very little could for any
length of time be spared from the legitimate channels of
commerce and business for any such base purpose as
breaking the national banks. If these banks were in such
danger, by clubbing together they could easily support
each other when any of the 1,300 (which is the number of
national banks in America) were assailed. Especially is
this the case when nearly every national bank note is now
redeemable either in New York, Boston, or Philadelphia,
where all the specie of the Atlantic States is held. But
did Secretary M'CuEoch really wish to ruin the national
banks, he could not go about doing it in a more summary
manner than by contracting the greenback currency, or
the legal tender money of the country, and at the same
time continuo issuing more notes to the banks ; for as the
latter are now only redeemable by the former, it follows
that the decrease of greenbacks and increase of the bank
notes must soon lead to bankruptcy nearly every national
bank in tho United States. Yet this is the very policy the
Secretary of the Treasury proposes and vigorously urges.
We maintain, notwithstanding the voluminous argu-
ments of Mr. M'Culloch and the American newspapers in
his interests, that the amount of paper money in circula-
tion has but very little to do with the premium on gold ;

and history certainly proves the truth of our assertion. In
1816, shortly after Waterloo, paper money in England was
nearly on a par with gold ; but in 1819, after a contrac-
tion of paper money had taken placo, E old rose to about
40 prem., though there was far less notes in circulation
then than in 1816. In Scotland, a century ago, no one
scarcely ever saw any gold or silver money at all, because
there was next to none in the country ; yet there was a
large amount of paper money in circulation, and, what
is more, none of it was at a discount. Again, the pre-
sent and, in our judgment, wise policy of the Bank of
France pursues, viz., of issuing notes without limitation
as the wants of tho country require, contracting the same
as trade languishes and money becomes idle and cheap,
surely most conclusively proves how erroneous Mr.
MiCulloch's views are on this question ; for the Bank of
France issue and contract their notes regardless of the
amount of specie held in their vaults, and yet French bank-
notes aro never at a discount, or, more correctly speaking,
have not been at a discount for many years,—and yet
neither England, Scotland, nor France are gold-p;oducing
countries like America. Why, take the history of Secretary
11‘Culloch's own administration of American finance—then
gold fell from 210 to 127 within a few weeks about one
year-and-a-half ago, and yet there were more notes in
circulation when the premium was 27 than when it was
140. Again, about a year ago the price of gold in New
York was 135. The Secretary soon after suddenly drew
in and cancelled- $50,000,000 greenbacks; the money-
!
market was much disturbed, and so was the price of gold

—for, co,,lrary to Mr. M'Culloch's theory of contraction,
gold very soon .afterwards advanced 15 per cent. to 150,
and remained there some time. We repeat that it is supply
and demand and public confidence that regulate the price
of gold, and not the amount of paper-money in circulation.

:From E. F Satterthwaite and Co.'s Weekly Circular,

January 9.)

The last advices from New York by the Cuba are to the
24th ult. They report an active demand for money, and
a fall in nearly all descriptions of stock. Governments on
the week were about one per cent. lower, and railroads
from two to eight per cent. under previous week's quota-
tions, with the exception of Cleveland and Toledo, which
had advanced $5. State Stocks were also flatter, Georgia
alone showing an advance. Gold continued to decline.

In the London market for American Securities there
has been an average amount of business during the past
week. United States 5.20's of the earlier issue were at
one time taken as high as 73f, and looked strong at that
price, but the unfavourable political intelligence from
Washington has had a depresSing effect, and they close
721,- to I, or about I per cent. lower than this day week.
Eries have been neglected, but for Illinois Central there

has been an active demand at advancing rates, touching 821
to I, but from that pointthey have reacted, and leave off 801
to 811 only. Erie Third Mortgage are last quoted 65 to
68, and Pennsylvania Sterling Second Mortgage 89 to 91.
Atlantic and Great Western Debentures at one time ad-
vanced to 55 to 57, and the Consolidated Mortgage Bonds
to 42, but leave off weaker; the former being 51 to 53, and
the latter 40 to 41.

The detailed report of the New York Central Railroad
has come to hand during the week, and fully confirms the
figures which we gave in our last. To pursue the com-
parison of the annual statements for 1856 and 1866 it
appears that, besides regular payments of dividends and
important additions to the track and buildings, there has
been an increase to the rolling stock of 67 locomotive
engines, 114 passenger cars, and 2,278 baggage, freight,
and gravel cars, which cannot have cost the company less
than $4,000,000, and thus added to the permanent value of

the road and its appurtenances. This large addition has been
provided for entirely out of the earnings of the line, so
that it cannot create surprise that, during the past year,
the working expenses have been charged 75 per cent. of
the gross receipts. On analysing the accounts, it will bo
found that of this 33 per cent. only was the actual cost of

" operating the road," while 42 per cent. was expended in
"repairs of machinery" and "maintaning roadway and
real estate." The contrast between the system prevailing

in this country and that on which American railroads
generally are conducted is well exemplified by the NOW
York Central, and while we err by constant enlargement
of capital account, it is, perhaps, hardly just to stock-
holders to make such important improvements out of
revenue.

COUNTRY iTARKETS.

WAKEFIELD.-FRIDAY.

The wheat trade to day is firm, at last Friday's price/
with a steady consumptive demand. Fine barley fully a 0
dear. Bans and oats unaltered.

LINCOLN.-FRIDAY.

New .white wheat, 608 to 70s ; new red, 59s to 63s per 36
stone. Barley for malting, 49s to 51s per cp.; grinding,
26s to 36s per 30 stone. Oats. 24s to 31s. Beans, 483 to
508 per 38 stone.

DERBY—FRIDAY.
New white wheat ,60s to 68s ; old rod, 65s to GBs per 36
stone. Barley for ?halting, 418 to 48s per qr. ; grinding,
37s to 38s per 30 stone. Oats, new, 27s to 298; old, 29s to
34s per 21 stone. Beans, old, 508 to 525; new, 468 to 501
per 38 stone.