The Sun.
London, England, 1832-09-20 00:00:00

THE FUNDS.--(THIS DAY.)

CITY, TWELVE O'CLOCK.
They write from Aix-la-Chapelle that the cholera has
broken out there, and ma the 11th there were fourteen
cases, and seven deaths.

THE FUNDS.
Our opinion stated yesterday, that we did not believe that
hostilities would take place between the Dutch and the
Belgians, is confirmed this morning by private letters
from Brussels ; and as long as the English and French
ambassadors reside in that capital, there is no fear of an
actual war taking place between the two parties. They
have more weight and power than both the Dutch and
Belgian armies combined together.
In regard to the theatre of war in Portugal, we have
no fresh official information as yet, but report says that
accounts have been received from Lisbon of the 7th, by a
merchant ship yesterday, and that Don Miguel's squadron
had sailed on that day.
Consols opened at the price at which they left off yester-
day, 844- t; at present they may be quoted 841 for the
Account. Little doing.
lIALF-PAST ONE.

The Funds have been very heavy since the early part of the
morning, when Consols were at 8441, since which they
have receded to 8411 for the Account, and at present they
are 8111. This decline has caused several reports to be
put into circulation, such as that we are going to seed a
fleet to the Scheldt, disturbances in Belgium, with other
reports not worth stating.
We hear that the Bank Meeting has broken up, and the
usual dividend of 4 per cent, has been declared.
It is positively stated that Don Miguel's fleet has sailed,
to the number of six or seven ships of war, and the lighter
ones have been left in the Tagus.
The Dutch mail has not yet arrived. It is anxiously
looked for.

In the Foreign Market Dutch Stock is heavy, and has
declined per cent.
_

I❑ other Foreign Securities nothing doing.
THREE 0' CL 0 C.K.
. _

Consols 841 i for Account.
CLOSING PRICES.—FOUR O'CLOCK.

Consols
Ditto for Account 84a i Greek -
Brazilian Bonds 514 Mexican -
Buenos Ayres... Peruvian .. ...... •••
Chilian Ditto.... Russian —
Columbian 1824 -- Spanish

BANK OF ENGLAND.-(THIS DAY.)

MEETING OF PROPRIETORS.

This day a Quarterly General Court of Proprietors was
held at the B ink of England, for the purpose of deelarin2

a dividend, and for other busine.ss. John Hordey Palmer,
Esq., in the Choir.
_

A Proprietor, whose name could not be ascertained,
K.gged, before the Court proceeded to business, to state
that he saw several Reporters present; by whose authority

they were present he did not know, but he moved that
they be requested to withdraw.—(No, no.)
Mr. NIXON seconded the motion.—(Cries of " Go on,
go on.")
The Proposer observed i❑ answer to those cries, that
the Company had long suffered from the misrepresentations
of the Press. This meeting was one of Bank Proprietors,
and not Reporters of the Press.
The CHAIRMAN interposed by reading the minutes of
the last Court as the first step ; that done, and a vote of
confirmation of then having been carried,
The Proposer of the resolution proceeded, and stated
that no other persons but Bulk Proprietors should be pre-
Sent. He submitted to the Counsel for the Corporation,
who were present, whether any others could be allowed
to attend. He persisted in his motion.
Mr. SELWYN (King's Counsel) opposed the motion, on
this simple ground,—that, up to the present time, and
(luring the whole period that he had been a Proprietor of
Rank Stock, no such motion had been made—in no in-
stance had the Gentlemen of the Press been desired to
withdraw before, and on the present occasion it was

,igbly improper it should be made.—(Hear, hear.) He
considered it for the advantage of the Corporation that
every proceeding of theirs should be made as public as pos-
sible, and he ventured to affirm that they had gained much
of public confidence by the publication of that voluminous
report which had appeared in the public papers. He
thought that at the present time the motion was most un-
gracious, and ought not to have been made.—(Hear.)

Mr. FEARON moved, as an amendment to the motion,
that all persons, not Proprietors, be excluded, exc. pt the
Reporters for the Press.—(Hear.)
Mr. BLACKBURN said it was highly inconvenient that
the motion should have been made at the present moment.
A time might arrive when it would, perhaps, be desirable
to hold a Court in secret, hut that time was not the pre-
sent. He begged to move the previous question, by which
the motion might be got rid of without giving a direct
permission for the presence of Reporters.
Mr. YOUNG seconded the amendment of Mr. Fearon,
because he was convinced that great injury would result
to the Corporation by the exclusion of Reporters.
Mr. WEEDING (we believe) supported the motion for
the previous question.
Mr. FEARON consented to withdraw his amendment
on the understanding that the motion for the previous
question would cause the Reporters to remain.
The motion and the amendment for the previous ques-
tion were put by the Chairman, when the latter was
almost unanimously carried.
[The Reporters asked the mover and seconder of the
motion for excluding Reporters, for their names; the
litter politely gave his, but the former said, " Oh, no!
I don't want to be handed up by the b—y old Times;
the Press has been the curse of this country."—We were
consequently unable to obtain his name.]
The CHAIRMAN then said, this was a Quarterly Gene-
ral Court appointed by the Charter, and a Half-ye,irly Gene-
ral Court according to the bye-laws, and they were called
together to consider of a dividend. The Court of
Directors were of opinion that a dividend of
four per cent. be declared for the half year end•
ing the 10th of October next. The Directors, not-
withstanding the voluminous mass of papers which had
been produced, did not think it ❑ecessary to depart from
the usual course, and it remained for the Proprietors to
determine whether their interests would be promoted by
any, and what, further disclosure of the details of
the accounts If any proposition for a more detail; d ac-
count were made and carried, the Court of Directors were
both ready and willing to furnish it.—(Cheers.)
Mr. YOUNG could not omit this opportunity of remind-
ing the Court of Proprietors of the great principle he had
long advocated, viz. that of publicity, which he was con-
fident afforded the Proprietors the best security for their
dividends, and was the best for the interests of the public.
It was a duty incumbent on them to know the state of

theif own affairs, and indeed it was so provided for by their
Charter. He reminded the Court of the part he
had taken, in order that they should never in
future depart from that principle. With respect to the
state of their issues, he contended that hitherto they had
been only partialy disclosed, and that they had concealed
the amount of their deposits. That concealment had cre-
ated great insecurity and injury to the community, because
in instances when it was said only 19 or 20 millions were
in circulation, there had been 27 and 28 millions,
and even so high as 30 millions. It was to
that ignorance of the state of the issues that great
speculations had been entered into, to the injury of the
country. An artificial abundance had been thereby cre-
ated, generating foreign loans, and ultimately the crisis of
1825 had beers produced. In the year 1823 he foretold
such a crisis, and the event proved that he was correct.
He hoped, therefore, in future there would be no attempt
made to den) that deposits formed a part of the cir-
culating medium, and that those deposits were an evidence
of over issue, and he cautioned the Company against such
conduct as had been heretofore pursued. He was per-
fectly willing to admit that the mass of information which
had been published showed nothing disereiitable towards
the Directors, but it showed the advantages of publi-
city, and how such information could have been given
by the Directors to the Secret Committee of the House of
Commons which they refused to give to the Court of Pro-
prietors, he was at a loss to conceive. He thought that
information, however, should not have been given without
the previous authority of this Court, for he knew of no
power of Parliament to compel them to give it, and to
make such disclosures as they had made.
The CHAIRMAN was sorry that the llon. Proprietor
could so early have concluded that he meant to give the
most distant concurrence in the publication of the evidence
referred to.—(Hear.) He never sanctioned the pnblica•
tion of his evidence before the Secret Committee.

Mr. YOUNG did not charge the Hon. Governor with
sanctioning the publication of his evidence, but with not at
once protesting against its publieation.
The Proposer of the first resolution said, the evidence

given by the Directors, particularly by the Governor and
Mr. Richards, reflected the highest honour upon them ;

but there was a party not only in the Committee, but out
of it, who had shown a determined hostility to the Bank
of England ; it appeared that the Bank Company had
uniformly preferred the public interest to their own private
interest, but those who bad the rule of the country showed
a manifest ignorance of the interests of the country.
Mr. SELWYN concurred in the praise bestowed on the
Governor and Directors for the evidence they gave before
the Secret Committee ; they had upheld the interests of
the Company by their straight-forward and manly con-
duct.—(Hear, hear.) If any men could stand higher in
the estimation of this Court than they did before, it was
those Gentlemen.—(Hear.) No man was more anxious
to have a detailed statement of the affairs of the Bank
laid before the Court than he (Mr. Selwyn) was, but he
had always been overwhelmed by large majorities. The
Governor and Directors never lent themselves to mystery
and concealment, for the question rested with the Court of
Proprietors, who always refused to vote for the informa-
tion, and consequently they only were to blame. He had
been often left in a minority with his friend the late Mr.
Grundy, whose spirit if it now hovered over this Courtwould
be delighted at what had recently taken place.—(Laughter.)
The Court of Directors were entitled to the highest
credit, and if the coffers of the Bank could afford it, he
would propose a statue in gold to be erected to each of them.
—(Loud laughter.) He begged to put a question to the
Governor, and he promised to be very abstemious, seeing
that the Hon. Gentleman had already answered 926 ques-
tions before the Secret Committee.—(A laugh.) The ac-
counts just published were only made up to the 29th July
last; but he took it for granted that the accounts had now
been made up to the end of August. He wished to know
whether the "rest" on the account in August fell short of
or exceeded the "rest" on that of February ?
GOVENROR--it exceeds.
Mr. SELWYN expressed his satisfaction at that answer.
A PROPRIETOR asked whether the capital of each pro-
prietor upon each share was still to be considered as of the
value of tool.
The GOVERNOR answered in the affirmative.
Another PROPRIETOR asked whether the Court of Direc-
tors were still to be the tools of any Government, whether
right or wrong, and whether the public should be conti-
nued to be misled as to the capital of the Company ; also,
whether the Directors considered themselves justified in
reducing the funded debt from 5 to 4 per cent., and from
44e per cent, to 4 per cent., merely at the solicitation of
Government, and without the leave of the Proprietors. The
Directors were merely the servants or tools of the Go-
vernment, and acted not for the advantage of the pro-
prietors of Bank Stock, but for the advantage of the
Government.
The GOVERNOR said it was a mistake to suppose the
Directors were the tools of any Government, or that they
had done more than they were warranted i❑ doing.
—(Cries of " Hear, hear, hear.") The object of the
13" k was to employ their funds in the most

legitimate way.—(Hear, bear.) The Hon. Proprieto
was under a inistike it he supposed that Government had
no means of accomplishing, its objects thin by the aid of
the B nk. The large reduction in ,de in the funded deb.
in 1829 was made without any ail or advances by the
Bank. There were 135 millions reduced without any
assistance whatever from the Bank.

The same PROPRIETOR inquired, whether the Govern-
ment did not then apply to the Bank for assistance?
The GOVERNOR—.No; it was entirely done upon their
own account.

A PROPRIETOR adverted to the discount department.
And said he knew, of his own knowledge., that some ppr.
sons in that department received bribes for recommending
hills for discount.

To a question respecting the nature of certain bills,
The GOVERNOR said it was a practice with them not
:o discount accommodation bills.

Another PROPRIETOR said, after the assertion just made,
if a proposition be made to investigate any charge against
any of the servants of the Bank of receiving bribes, he
,vould second it in order that it might be inquired into; but
;tire he was, that there was not a local bank but would
call but far the aid of the Bank of England.
Another PROPRIETOR (from the rapidity with which
questions were asked, and the crowded state of the Court,
in was impossible to obtain names) wished to know if the
Directors meant to go on paying pensions to 193 persons,
without consulting this Court. It seemed that they were
merely called together at certain periods to concur in a
dividend as recommended by the Court of Directors.
A Puorairron stated, that as such a mass of inform ition
had been given by the Court of Directors, it was only
proper that this Court should express some opinion upon
it.—(Hear.) One thing was certain, and that was, that
the fears of those who imagined that danger would arise
from the publication of the affairs of the Bank wer'
proved to be groundless, for the Bank bad attained addi-
tional security from the publication of their affairs. Ile
begged to read the opinion of the Committee re-
specting their affairs,—a Committee formed, it should
he remembered, of men of different political opinions,—
in support of his assertion. The Commiteee stated in
their repot t " of the ample means of the Bank of England
to meet all its engagements, and of the high credit which
it has always possessed, and which it continues to
deserve, no man who reads the evidence taken before
this Committee can for a moment doubt." He could
not see on what better footing it could be rested than

the united voice of the Members of the House of
Commons that were on the Committee. He trusted that
the present Governor would now unburthen himself of
the petition that had been agreed to, praying Parlia-
ment to renew the Company's Charter, atid would
bAdly and fearlessly present it to the Legislature, relying
on the conduct that had been pursued by the Bulk for
the acquiescence of Parliament to the request. He thought
that the Bank deserved well of its country for what it
had done, and the support it had given it in the mainte-
nance and increase of its prosperity. The Honourable
Propri, tor concluded by giving his cordial support to the
motion.

Mr. BLACKBURN said, that as the matter of the report
had been slightly alluded to, be should trespass 'Moray on
the attention of the Proprietors with a few observations.
It appeared to him that the report had gone too far in the
disclosures which it made, and that, one day or other, that
information which the Court of Directors had so ineau-
fously given, would become a matter fur the serious inves-
tigation of the Clurt of Proprietors. As the present
meeting was principally for the purpose of declaring a
dividend—

Several Proprietors here caller! out " It's o❑ general
affairs."

Mr. BLACKBURN was aware of that. It appeared to
him that the concealment which Ministers kept up as to
their intentions with reference to the Charter, was dealing

very hardly with the Corporation.—(Hear, hear, hear.)
With respect to the disclosures in the report, he must
again repeat that more information had b en given than
was necessary or discreet, and Ministers had acted most
basely with the Directors in calling upon them for such
disclosures. The Hon. Proprietor then proceeded to draw
an analogy between the London and Country bankers, when
cries of " Question, question," resounded from all parts of
the room.
A PROPRIETOR observed, that it was impossible for the
business of the meeting to be properly or profitably con-
ducted if irrelevant matter was allowed to be introduced.
The GovERNOR thought the observations of the Hon.
Proprietor (Mr. Blackburn) quite irrelevant. He would
put the question of dividend to the meeting, and after
that was carried or negatived, the Hon. Proprietor could
make any motion he thought proper.
Mr. BLacKauax considered that be was taking an ex-

ceedingly proper course, and the observations he had made
were strictly applicab'e to the question of dividend.—
(Laughter.) The question with him was, whether the
disclosures that had been made might not have the effect
of disabling the Company from making so large a dividend
next quarter.—The Hon. Proprietor again launched out
into questions totally irrelevant, and the cries of " Ques-
tion, question," become louder than ever.
The GOVERNOR trusted that the Honourable Pro-
prietor would confine hi, observations to the question of
the dividends. _

After some further observations, the Honourable Pro- '
prietor gave way, and
The GOVERNOR, after putting the question, declared it
to be the opinion of the Court that a dividend of four per
Cent. should be paid on the stock of the Company for the
half-year ending on the 10th of October.
Mr. YOUNG said he could not allow the present meeting
to separate without calling for some remarks relative to the
general affairs of the Bank. After every thing connected
with it bad been laid in such a detailed manner before
the public, it would be most incorrect for the Court to
separate without giving some opinion on that subject.
However much he might he charged with inconsistency,
he could not but think the giving to the public information
relative to the concerns of the Bank in the way it hail been
was calculated to produce serious injury to the Bank and
also to the public, unless some reason was assigned
for the situation in which the Bank then stood. He
should, therefore, propose the following resolution for the
consideration of the meeting :—" That viewing the state of
the accounts of the Bank, the risks and losses to which it
had been su!,jected, and the fluctuations which bad
taken place in its issues, have been principally occasioned
by political causes, legislative interference, in assisting Go-
vernment in the plan of reducing the Four and Three and
a Half per Cents., and in the return to cash payments in
the place of the 1/. and 21. notes."
A PROPRIETOR seconded the motion.

Mr. SELWYN thought at present the Court had not
before it sufficient information to enab!e it to arrive at a
proper conclusion with reference to the propositisn of the
Hon. Proprietor, who, in his (Mr. S.'s) opinion, bad
taken by far too narrow a view of so important a
question, when he says that all the distress and
difficulty with which they bad been surrounded for
the last eight and thirty years had arisen from political
causes. It was notorious that breaches of trust had in a
great measure led to breaches committed by those who
had moved in the highest sphere, and who, under the cloak
of a high character and apparent honesty, had committed
acts of the most flagrant description, the consequence of
whose acts the Bank was bound to make good.

The GOVERNOR then put the resolution to the Court for
its approval, when
Mr. LLOYD rose. He was in hopes that at a meeting

like the present, and at such a period of the Court
of Proprietors, something like a discussion lead-
ing to the expression of the opinion of the Court on
the conduct of the Governor and Directors would have
been entered into ; such not having been the case, he felt
himself called upon to bring it before the attention of the
Court; and in so doing, he trusted that he should not be
considered as taking the part of any one, but as acting to-
tally independent towards the Directors in the exercise of
his own opinion, in what he thought was their just due.
It was impossible to read the evidence given by those Di-
rectors who had been examined, without coming to the
conclusion that they had long studied the duties that ap-
pertained to them in their twofold capacity as servants of
the proprietors and of the public. With respect to the
system they had now adopted, it was no doubt a matter re-
quiring great deliberation, but no person could doubt, looking
at the state of the public mind, but that the evidence
given by the Directors had been the means of removing
very erroneous opinions from men's minds, which had been
formed with respect to the conduct of the Bank, and had
raised it much in the public estimation. Amongst the
reflecting portion of the community it was now
allowed, that its affairs were conducted with great
attention and liberality, and with every attention to the
betnhse, interestsipeeteniiccooiiamni ltdlayhudo
conduct
tv:
titoenlhrifgeetipiil
sdrinei
thoughteicse).oirrnsei Actewht
Directors
rixe After
‘hriweteishlei
expression
onngbhpublicationeaoedfn couldtatihce
itr reond:oapnst
ohs:eaiupt,t,ti
opinion
rthb:l,oaytatnelt,
e
day. He considered that it was the duty of some well.
known Proprietor to come forward with a motion of
thanks.
The CHAIRMAN had already sufficiently answered the
charge which had been brought against him of being in-
strumental in the publication of the disclosures made to
the Secret Committee—he had distinctly stated that
neither directly nor indirectly was he a party to it.
That the publication of those disclosures could not possibly
produce mischief appeared to him as clear as the sun at