The Sun.
London, England, 1867-02-05 00:00:00

COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE.

Commissioner David A. Wells having promulgated his
report, the subjects touched on by him have excited a
general feeling of interest, and provoked great comment.
Universal praise is bestowed on this elaborate, clear, and
exhaustive paper. Those who are arrayed at the ex-
treme ends of the opposing questions of Free Trade and
Protection are neither satisfied nor pleased. I believe,
however, that the general sense of the community goes
with Mr. Wells in his moderate and intelligent conclu-
sions. He estimates the income of the current fiscal year
at $455,000,000, of which $275,000,000 will come from in-
ternal revenue, and $150,000,000 from customs. The
expenditures will be about $286,000,000, exclusive of
$64,000,000 for bounties. Of the surplus, $103,000,000,
not moro than $50,000,000 should be set aside for the
reduction of the National Debt, and the remaining
$55,000,000 fairly limit the amount which taxation may
be safely reduced. Secretary M'Callorh's statement of
the public debt on the Ist of January shows an
increase of $29,422,150 in the debt bearing coin inte-
rest, which is partially offset by a decrease of $25,243,450
in the debt bearing currency interest, the transfer
being largely attributable to the conversion of Seven-
thirty Treasury Notes into Five-twenty Bonds. The total
reduction of the debt in December was $6,306,000. The
Treasury held $97,841,967 in gold, January 1, and since
then $2,247,000 has been received in a week, for imports,
and the receipts from this source promise to balance the
January payment of coin interest, so that the Government
will begin February with about the same amount of coin
on hand as it had a month before. The retirement of
greenbacks during December amounted to $4,944,007, and
the aggregate of legal tender in the country, January 1,
was $525,398,682.—The National Bank circulation was in-
creased only $18,400 last week, making the whole amount
in circulation $298,609,419, which is secured by deposits of
bonds worth $340,363,150. The Treasury Department
printed $275,044 in fractionals, last week, destroyed
$262,928 worth of old ones, and disbursed $308,719 in new.
The total internal revenue receipts last week were
$6,955,297.

Things have not improved ; on the contrary, the ten-
dency is adverse, and feeble attempts made by the " bulls"
to effect a rise have totally failed. Wall-street is sensitive
to a degree, and the state of the political atmosphere is
considered to be charged with electricity. Not only does
Mr. Ashley's Impeachment resolution threaten, but the
greatest uncertainty also exists as to what the course
of Congress will be on filancial questions. Stocks are
dull, and a bearish temper is in the ascendant. Money is
active, and more stringent, call loans now being at 7 per
cent., with a heavy demand. This stringency is strongly
felt in the West, where the market is tighter than it has
been for months. The tendency has been to neglect
shares and invest in Government Securities. There is an
uneasy feeling abroad as regards these shares. Ido not
look for an early return of confidence; indeed I think
the reverse might be predicted. Still there is no great
reason for alarm.
Gold has fluctuated about 2 per cont. during the week,
and closes flat at 133. Cash gold is abundant, and lower
prices are more likely than higher. The European
steamers on Saturday took out $606,700, and the Wednes-
day none. Tho receipts of gold from California last year
were $41,750,965, and the imports $9,578,029—a total of
$51,328,994. At the same timo the exports of gold were
$62,553,700, making the loss during the year $62,553,700.
Some of the New York banks have lent their greenbacks
on gold at 7 per cont. interest, and substituted the latter as
part of their lawful money basis—in other words, receiving
the gold on deposit free of interest, and charging 7 per
cent: against the checks made against it for currency.

The aggregate specie value of the foreign dry goods
imported at Now York, last year, was $126,222,855 against
$91,965,138 in 1865, and $71,589,752 in 1864. The woollen
manufactures were at $450,405,179 again5t536,074,585, the
cotton at $21,287,490 against $15,350,604, the silk at
$24,837,734 against $20,556,261, and the flax at $20,456,870
against $15,402,602. The total imports at New York for
the week were $1,149,074 against $5,728,178, and the total
exports, exclusive of specie, $3,716,624 against $4,091,557.
Railroad earnings in December—Chicago and Rock Island,
$232,450 ; increase, $719. Michigan Southern and Nor-
thern Indiana, $339,447 ; decrease, $17,455. Chicago and
Great Eastern, $102,957 ; increase, $13,394. Michigan
Central, $308,649 ; decrease, $20,200. Chicago and Alton,
$285,418 ; increase, $48,589.
The following are the latest quotations :—Stocks closed
heavy and lower, American gold 133, United States Five-
twenties (1862) 1061 to 10G (1864) 1041 to 105, (1865)
105 to 1051, (1865 new issue) 1031 to 104, United States
Ten-Forties 991, United States 7 3-10 Loan 1031 to 104,
New York Central Railroad 110 i, Erie 631, Erie preferred
77, Hudson River 130, Reading 1041, Michigan Central
107, Michigan Southern and Northern Indiana 791, Illi-
nois Central 118;1, Cleveland and Pittsburg 901, Cleveland
Pittsburg, Fort Wayne,
42i, Chicago and North-Westernpreferredole,
and Chicago
andariedf
eTrroeled North-Westernlo
81123;1,
1021; Ohio and Mississippi certificates 27, Western
Union Telegraph Company 451, Pacific Mail Steam-
ship YE 167, American Express Company 75,
United Express Company 68.
United

(From Glenn and Co.'s Weekly Circular, Jan. 30.)
During the past week the London market for American
Securities has been greatly excited, and the fluctuations
have been large. Atlantic and Great Western Debentures
have declined £l2, viz., from 53 to 41; and the Consoli-
dated Bonds .£l3, from 42 to 29; 5-20 Bonds, however, are
higher, and close firm at 721 to 731. Illinois Central after
selling at 811 are now 79 to 79}. The semi-annual divi-
dend on this stock is expected to be announced in a few
days. A telegram received to-day that Eries have declined
12 per cent. in New York, and that a panic was raging in
the stock markets, has sent down the price here from
42 to 37. Tho following is from the New York Com-
mercial and Shipping List :—" About the period of
his Fort Wayne speech, Mr. M'Cullocb, Secretary
of the Treasury, was undoubtedly one of the most
popular members of the Cabinet ; but latterly a large
share of the confidence reposed in him seems to have been
withdrawn. And now many financiers and newspaper
men who were his original supporters are unsparing in,
their denunciations of his financial management. The
pressure brought to bear against him is so
great that his
resignation of the Treasury portfolio is by no means im-
probable. Nor are animadversions on Mr. M'Culloch's
financial policy confined to this side of the Atlantic ; some
of the English writers on finance, we observe, are begin-
ning to criticise his management sharply. We have before
us the Circular of Messrs. Glenn and Co., a London firm
who deal in public securities, which contains a scathing
review of the head of our Treasury Department, &c."
Long eatracts from our Circular of the 27th December aro
then given, with editorial comments, in which the admis-
sion is made that there is a good deal of truth in what we
then stated.
Some time ago we closed a calm and unprejudiced re-
view of the Atlantic and Great Western Railway in these
words—" Sooner or later the Consolidated Mortgage Bonds
must sell for more than 42. We now wish to supplement
this remark by observing that we have good reason to
think it will bo "later." After what has transpired during
the last few days, we trust and earnestly beg the English
public not to harshly judge Americans and American
railways by such a standard as James Wllenry and the
Atlantic and Great Western Railway. Mr. M'Henry is
not an American born, and the Atlantic and Great Western
Railway was not planned by American engineers, nor
T capitalists on the other
has there ever been any considerable amount of American
capital invested in it—Wall-street never would touch the
bonds of this "company." he
side of the Atlantic reasoned in this way—" If the Erie
Railway, earning three times as much as the Atlantic and
Great Western Railway on about the same capital, cannot
pay a greenback dividend, how can the Atlantic and
Great Western Railway pay their gold coupons and ster-
ling bonds ?" And yet up to the 15th of the present
month the coupons were regularly paid—how ? And
wore they pail out of the earnings of the railway in
question ? We look the responsibility of saying so
square in the face, and assert that wo believe the financial
management of this road has been most corrupt- -that
traffic returns have been "cooked"-t-that dividends have
been paid out of the sales of bonds—and that when the
whole truth is known the London, Chatham, and Dover,
and its management, will compare favourably with the
Atlantic and Great Western Railway.
In reply to numerous inquiries, we beg to give as our
opinion of the Certificates of Debentures that they are

worth less then the Consolidated Bonds. They are a second
charge upon the railway, ranking after the Consolidated
Bonds, and the securities deposited at the Bank of England
to pay them off are almost entirely unsaleable ; we doubt
if they could be sold for enough to pay off at par 10 per
cent. of the £2,800,000 debentures that become duo on the
Ist of November next ; and our advice to investors who
are still determined to keep an interest in the Atlantic and
Great Western Railway, is to sell their Certificates of De-
bentures and buy the Consolidated Bonds; the exchange
can now be made at a profit of about 11 per cent; and
considering that the Consolidated Bank only guarantee the
interest on these debentures till next November, we have
no hoaitation in recommending the immediate exchange.

(From E. F. Satterthumite and Co.'s Weekly Circular.)

The China's latest advices from Now York are to the
.sth instant. The demand for Government Stocks con-

tinued, the Six per Cents. of 1881 and the 18G2 issue of
5.20's being in most demand. Railway Stocks were
generally steady at about former quotations. Mortgages
and State Stocks wore reported quiet. Money was in de-
mand to send South for the purchase of cotton, but for or-
dinary purposes was easy, and good Stock houses were well
supplied.
ATLANTIC AND GREAT 'WESTERN.—MUCK dissatisfaction
is felt at the delay in issuing the Annual Report of this
Company, which for the future is intended to be made up
to October 31, instead of December 31. An independent
audit of the accounts has been made by Mr. Bird, of the
firm of Messrs. Coleman, Turquand, Youngs, and Co., who
has recently returned from America, and whose accounts,
together with the President's Report, are looked for with
anxiety. A copy of the account for receipts and expenses
for the ten months, up to October 31st, from Mr. Calhoun,
the accountant and auditor of the Company at Meadville,
has been received. It gives the receipts for the ten months
$4,833,489 ; the working expenses for same time,
$3,522,460. Balance, profit, $1,311,029.

(Front Bowles, Brevet, and Co.'s Circular.)
Paris, Jan. 31.

The general appearance of the Bourse has not varied
since the 25th inst. Dullness and reserve are still the order
of the day, and no one can foresee the end of this state of
affairs, or can name any date at which confidence may bo
expected to revive.
There is now much less talk of a new loan, the rumour
having been denied by the Minister of Finance ; but, on the
other hand, the project of an income-tax for Franco is more
than ever discussed, and almost universally with marked
disapproval, and, should it ever be put into execution, would,
we think, excite serious commotion.

Exchange on London is slightly firmer, at 25.11 to 25.15.
The only securities in which continuous and iwpartant
operations have taken place during the week are those of
the United States 5-20 Bonds, quoted last week at 821,
closing to-day at 821. _ _ _

Although we were for fivo days without telegraphic
news from New York, and in spite of the rapid fall in
French Government Securities, we aro glad to say that
dollars (the usual term given on the Bourse) have not
yielded to the general current, but have restrained their
upward tendency, more especially since the news of the fall
of gold in the United States.

Nevertheless, as regards merely speculative operations,
the heaviest interest is still for the fall, many pessimits
predicting political troubles on the other side of the ocean,
and repeating continually that America is threatened with
a terrible financial crisis. We do not pretend to discuss
the matter, but we regard the question in a different light,
and do not cease to advise our friends to increase their in-
vestments in American Securities.

" Frank Leslie's" Sensational Style of

Illustration.

Frank Leslie has taken to a highly sensational
style of illustration. Under the heading of " Home
Incidents, Accidents, &c.," a page is devoted to such
graphic pictures of horrible events that one's hair
has a tendency to stand on end. Frank Leslie is
always truthful in detail, forcible in illustration,
and powerful and artistic in execution. The first
cut in the sensational page shows the bow of the
steamer Fashion ran ashore on the Mississippi river,
the midships in one sheet of flame, and all com-
munieation with the after part of the ship inter-
cepted. The men appear to have been mostly forward,
while the women were aft, where the loss of life and
the real horrors of the event were enacted. This is
described in the second illustration. There, the
women are seen throwing their children overboard
and springing themselves after them. A third cut
shows them in the water, and the rescue of those
saved in the boat by the captain and mate. This
occupies one column. The next begins with a bur-
glar scene, in which an heroic servant girl, single-
handed, confronted a gang of ruffians and fright-
ened them out of the house into which they hid
effected an entrance. The second gives an American
mode of punishment known only to the law of Judge
Lynch. The inhabitants are exerising an offender
on a rail ; the affair occurred in Connecticut,
and the man's offence was insolence towards a lady.
The last picture of this column carries us into
Canada and shows that a crinoline is at times useful.
A lady who had been skating got into the water,
and is represented coming down the river like a
balloon, buoyed up by the air confined within the
folds of her dress, by which means was kept
afloat till assistance came. The next scene illus-
trates the consequences of a visit to a menagerie
after the hours of exhibition, to which the animals
had become accustomed. There appears to have
been " a strike" amongst the animals in the mena-
gerie against disturbance at unseasonable hours.
The elephant making himself the organ of this
opinion seized the intruder with his trunk, and after
swinging him to and fro several times threw him up
about 20 feet. We have the intruder in the air, but
we are told he descended on a pile of hay. The
death of MARGARET M'NULTY is given. Her
clothes had become entangled on a fence, over
which, when intoxicated, she had attempted to
climb, and she appears to have died suspended with
her head towards the earth. With reference to this
illustration, Frank Leslie informs us that hanging
mutineers by the heels was a favourite mode of
punishment with Christian English officers during
the mutiny in India, and that experience proved
death was certain in about half an hour,
under the most horrible suffering. This is
a fair sample of Frank Leslie's comments
on the English, and we regret the tone on this
subject of an illustrated newspaper that would
otherwise be deserving of a wide circulation on this
side of the Atlantic. We have no wish to palliate
any atrocities committed during that period in India,
for we happen to know from our own personal ex-
perience that what Frank Leslie here asserts, is
grossly untrue. There are two or three more illus-
trations on this page of the same character as those
we have described ; but all its horrors are con-
densed into one large engraving occupying an en-
tire page, where the massacre is depicted of
United States troops by the Sioux and Chey-
enne Indians, near Fort Philip Kearney,
llacotah Territory. A detachment of nearly

90 soldiers were surrounded about four miles from
the fort, and not a man escaped to tell the tale.
The Indians, in all the glory of their feathers and
fantastic dresses, are in the act of tomahaw king
and scalping the troops. No pen can describe
so faithfully the facts of the terrible murders now
frequently enacted in the wilds of the Far West.
The spectator realises what actually occurred ; and
when the stories reach us of the appalling tragedies
in which these Red Indians are the actors, the truth
of the details come with a terrible significance
to our mind. Such pictures are calculated to
arouse a feeling of indignation and a cry for
retribution throughout the States. Frank
Leslie is far from encouraging this un-Chris-
tian sentiment—" It would seem as though
it might be possible so to arrange matters as to
preclude these constantly-occurring massacres.
Either the Indian tribes should be treated with
such constant and uniform justice and firmness as
would make them strongly our friends; or else
when the necessity arises, with such severity as
would show them how much for their disadvantage
it is to be hostile. It is difficult to dispossess our-
selves of the idea that the first course would• be
successful if really tried." These Indian outrages
appear to have excited the marked attention
,of the United States Government. A letter
from General GRANT, to the Secretary of War,
appears in our files of American newspapers, which
shows that a correspondence had occurred on this
topic and measures of protection been proposed.
The Commander-in-Chief is of opinion that the
regular army cannotbe usefully employed in prevent-
ing these massacres. lie thinks the Indian outrages
will diminish from this time forward, and we have
little doubt that the completion of the railway
across the continent will have the effect. To
return, however, to Frank Leslie, we are sur-
prised that this illustrated paper and Harper's
Weekly are not more generally sold in England.

American scenes are in these admirable journals
both beautifully and truthfully depicted, and con-
vey impressions which written descriptions fail to
accomplish.—Anylo American Times.

Miscellaneous French News.

(From the Correspondent of the Anglo-American Times.)

In my last letter to the Anglo-American Times
mention was made of the engagement of Made-
moiselle Cora Pearl at the Bouffes Parisian in the
character of Orphcie aux Enfers. Last Saturday
night she appeared before a most aristocratic
audience. The theatre is two small to hold the
crowds that flock to see her. Among those of
distinction present to witness her deldit were many
of the elite of France, Spain, and America, the
most noted being Prince Achille Murat, the Duke
of Hamilton, and the Marquis de Madene. Also
among the well-known theatrical personages was
Mademoiselle Lilly, whose quarrel with Made-
moiselle Schneider was so long the talk of France.
Mademoiselle Cora Pearl appeared at Grist
rather nervous, but very soon overcame all outward
signs of trepidation.
The works at the Exposition go bravely on,
and the interior will be commenced in a few days.
The dining-hall is to have a cupola of immense
size and beauty, ornamented with figures represent-
ing the different nations of the world coming as
pilgrims to Paris.
On Tuesday the Emperor appeared on horseback,
accompanied by his aide-de-camp, General Goyon,
and Monsieur Du Boury, his ecztyer. He visited the
barracks of Prince Eugene, and returned to the
Tuileries at about four o'clock in the evening.
There was a large dinner given at the Hotel de
Ville on the 26th. Among the guests were the
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Madame Moustier,
the Prince of Moskowa, and Count Nieuweskeske.
A German concert is given once a week at the Hotel
du Louvre. There was one there last Saturday

night. Madame Schroeder—who is engaged at the
Theatre Lyrique—sang, and was received with great
applause. After the concert supper was served, and
after supper an op6rette was performed.
Adeliva Patti appeared in the " Barbiere de
Seville," on Sunday night, at the Theatre Italien.
It is the first time she has conic before the public on
Sunday. Her new song--

"I could tell you his name,
But I won't, ah ! ah !"

is now the rage here.
Richard Wagram is at present in Paris. He is
the great favourite of the King of Bavaria, and it
is said the King intends to build him a theatre at
Munich.

A young lady named Mademoiselle Aicher has
arrived in Paris. She has run away—so says
rumour—from the Harem of Mahomet Pacha
Kibrisli, one of the principal dignitaries of the
Ottoman Empire.
The papers have been laughing at the intention
of M. Ilavin to erect a monument to Voltaire by a
subscription of 10 sous from each person. A cheap
subscription for a memorial of so great a man.
The grand ball at the Tuileries on the night of
the 30th was, if possible, more superb than the
previous one. The attendance was very large.
The names of the Americans who had the honour
of being presented to their Imperial Majesties are—
Mr. John W. Dix, the son of the United States
Minister to the French Court ; Mr. Wed. W.
Clarke, New York ; Mrs. Wed. W. Clarke, New
York; Mr. Clift, Mrs. Murray Smith, Mr. Phelps,
Mrs. Phelps, Mr. Giles, Mrs. Ellis, Miss Ellis,
Mrs. Bryce Smith, Miss Smith, Mrs. Spencer,
Miss Spencer, Mr. Barclay, Mrs. Barclay, Miss
Macomb, Miss Matteson, Mr Tuckorman, Mr.
Cobb, Mrs. Carey, and Miss Love. In my letter
next week I will give a description of the style of
dress worn by many of the ladies, the routine of
presentation, and other items connected with the
ball.

General Cleeseret, of the United States army,
has arrived in Paris. His mission is to study the
various military systems of France, with the view
of discovering a method by which the number of
the regular army of the United States can be dimi-
nished.
The exhibitors in the Champs de Mars are
beginning to flock here and to make arrangements
for the decorations of their stands suitable to the
style of their goods.
Among the recent arrivals of distinguished Ame-

ricans in Europe, I will mention the names of Hon.
John M'Ginness, United States Ministerat Sweden ;
Major-General. Roberts, from St. Petersburg,
where his improvements in firearms have at-

tracted much attention.—Hamilton Norton, Esq.,
Secretary of the New York Yacht Club, now in
Paris, and who is in correspondence with the Com-
missioners of the Exhibition in relation to the pro-
posed International Regatta, and Mr. Mignot, the
distinguished American artist, whose painting of a
64 Lagoon in.Guaquil," South America, is now on ex-
hibition at the American Gallery of Fine Arts, 14,
Rue Auber.
It is said that the crown jewels of France will be
shown at the Exhibition, and they will be so placed
as to be lowered into the ground at night, and be
exhibited from a raised platform during the day
time.

Mr. John Gordon Bennett, the owner of the
Henrietta, had the honour of an interview with the
Emperor on Wednesday. This gentleman has been
very cordially received, and I am glad to see that
the kindness of both the English and French na-
tions has modified favourably the tone of the New
Zorlo Herald towards these countries. A gold
medal has been presented to him by the Regatta
Society of La Rochelle ; so he is likely to carry off
many trophies in commemoration of the greatest
yacht race victory yet achieved.

The replies to the complaint of Mr. Charles
Dickens in the 7 blies of the perils of the Midland
Railway are amusing. Mr. James Howard, of the
Britannia Ironworks, Bedford, a gentleman known
as an .kmerican traveller, and one at least thoroughly
conversant with things agricultural and things ap-
pertaining to agriculture, expresses his total dissent
from everything Mr. Dickens has advanced against
the railway. N ext follows a letter of a captain of
Royal Engineers, who bears corroborative testimony
to the statement of Mr. Dickens, and proceeds to
give his own experience. But the funniest letter
comes from " a shareholder," who feels much in-
debted to Mr. Dickens for his powerful warning
against the reckless driving of " express" trains.
The " shareholder" can find nothing to complain of
but the speed, which was so frightful that it seemed
as if nothing could save the train from leaving the
metals. This is a novel " thing" in complaints,
and the " shareholder" could have got into a Par
liamentary train and travelled at a rate which would
have suited him. His letter must have been meant
as " chaff." lie says that this rattling speed, of a
mile a minute, is the constant practice of the Mid-
land, and that he has never had the good fortune
to find it otherwise. The " Engineer's" letter really
contains a complaint, for he states that the oscilla-
tion was so great that the carriages were perform-
ing a fantastic dance of a drunken character.
A deputation from the National Freedmen's Aid
Union of Great Britain and Ireland, consisting of
Sir T. Fowell Buxton, M.P. (President), Mr. John
Hodgkin (Vice-President), Mr. W. 11. Warton,
Mr. R. C. Warton, the Rev. J. C. Gallaway, M.A.,
Mr. Arthur Albright (Hon. Secretary), and the Rev.
A. Hatnpson (Secretary), had an interview with
Lord Stanley, at the Foreign-office, on Friday,
January 25, on the question of an appropriation
from the surplus funds for relief of distress in the
manufacturing districts in aid of the freedmen of
the United States of America.

The Great Eastern is to leave England for
America on the 20th of March. The intermediate
shaft of the paddle engines has been condemned,
and Messrs. G. Forrester and Co. are to put in a
new one, which is being forged by the Mersey Steel
and Iron Company, and which is to be finished by
February 12. Six new screw-engine boilers are alsu
being supplied. The " big ship," when she again
leaves the Mersey, will have accommodation for no
less than 2,800 passengers. She is to run between
New York and Havre during the summer in con-
.nection with the Paris Exhibition .