The Sun.
London, England, 1866-05-21 00:00:00

The Price of Gold.

The quotation of gold at Paris is about per mille pm., and
the short exchange on London is 25.15 per £1 sterling. On
comparing these rates with the English Mint price of £3
I:a. tojd. per ounce for standard gold, it appears that gold is
about2-IGths per cent. dearer in Paris than in London.
I he courre of exchange at New York on London /or bills at
60 days' sight is 106 i to 107 per cent. At these rates there
is no profit on the importation of go.d from the United
States.

By adviccs from Hamburg the price of gold is 427 per mark
and the short exchange on London is 13.5 i per ..C1 stcrlinJ.
Standard gold at the Engll,ll Mint price is, therefore, at
abeut2-10ths per cent. dearer in Hamburg than in London.

The Duke of Marlborough has gone to the Isle
of Wight for a short yachting excursion. The Duchess
and Ladies Churchill have gone to Blenheim Palace, near
Woodstock.
THE CHINA DINNER.—The annual banquet came
off at Willis's Rooms on Friday last, Sir T. Davis, K.C.8.,
in the chair. Covers were laid for 80. Mr. Ede Champs,

with three members, Kyang-ying, Feugh-yid, and Tell
ming of the China Mission, were present, and occupied
seats at the table opposite the chairman. After the usual
loyal toasts the health of the Emperor of China was drunk,
and replied to by Teh-Ming. Then followed "the Church "
(Rev. Dr. Irwin), "the Army, Navy, and Volunteers" (Sir
Michael Seymour), "the Civil Service" (Sir John Bowring)
British Commerce in China" (Mr. Robertson, M.P.), " the
Visitors " (Lord Richard Grosvenor), and " the Chairman,"
proposed by Major the Hon. A. Anson, M.P General Sir
Hope Grant and Sir James Matheson, M.P., were unavoid-
ably absent.

: Intelligence has been received at the Colonial Office
of the arrival of Mr. Manners Sutton at Melbourne.—
Observer.

EARLY GRASS MOWING.—In some marsh-land at
Weybridge the scythe is in the field, and on Wednesday
several acres of grass were brought into swath. The grass
crops are unusually early this year in this district.

THE LATE PANIC.--The panic of 1866 was a
credit panic, not a capital nor bullion panic. The evil was
not an over-expenditure of capital such as at other times,
as in 1847, has caused a panic; nor a drain of bullion, which
except for admirablehabul
considering
oe.
aysethat
d hheanriet.jmanagement,
London in
blBa6n4,kewrso,udledphosaivtse
caused one, but a failure of credit from intrinsic defeat. Sus-
picion got abroad, not because our whole reserve of bullion
was too low to support the credit of the country; not be-
cause our annual expenditure had much surpassed our annual
saving; but because the lenders of money were suspected of
misusing it ; because a celebrated old house evidently had
misused it; because no one knew who else might not lnaeto
blame ; because all persons under obligationosftoit Fs
liabilitiesa Yu :e the
anltdbfraodma
floatingde-
mand felt
peril they
might m u
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thei
their
wu just
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athemselvesnodr e
naturei f
thethey didsuspension
s pe not
ns ion they
ot
'serve were
—in so much danger as the
000,00 town anoofdnoinhaugnlttarynrde,
orf
:, osfbelinavt.l nyeb countrykroly4aVwe'
atmr
the
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rteptunderstood u
in general
anda four millions, andto a largerolaFli sumday thatmaun the Londonsthave amountedre_
sinertrhe T
e.
aggregate
bankers m ould not—and we believe some
of them plainly used such language—allow the Bank of
England to go on while they failed. Nothing is so imita-
tive as panic, and if one or two large bankers had drawn
their balances, all the rest would have followed like
sheep, and the banking department of the Bank of Eng-
land must have been left bare. We believe and hope that
from this time the improvement will be gradual ; but still

it must be interrupted by painful events, and cannot be
healthy if it is too rapid. "Finance" paper too often
means bad investments, and while so much of it is held
about the market credit must be tender, uncertain, and
liable to vicissitudes and shocks. Of course this applies
rather to money-lending credit than to mercantile credit.
A merchant is a borrower, not a lender ; he will not have
taken finance paper ; if his bUsinees is good, and except
iu particular branches of speculative trade (as cotton, or
pig iron, or the ship-dealing and owning fostered by
Barneds') English commerce was hardly ever sounder.
The Economist.

LONDON AND NORTH WESTERN RAILWAY.—The
directors of the London and North Western Railway
Company have :resolved to allot to their proprietors,
rateably, at par, additional ordinary stock, equal in amount
to about 5 per cent. on the ordinary capital. The allot-
ments will be made to the proprietors registered on the
19th May, 1866, and will be in the form of ordinary stock
to be fully paid up on the 30th June, 1866, and will carry
ordinary diyidend from that date.

.a4r

AMERICA,

ARRIVAL OF THE AFRICA.

The Royal Mail steamship Africa, from Halifax
and Boston, arrived at Queenstown at 6.45 p.m. on
Saturday, with 174 cabin passenners, and $15,243
in specie. She landed 126 sacks of mails and eight
passengers, and proceeded at 7 p.m. for Liverpool.
All well.

NEW YORK, May 8 (Evening).

A resolution has been referred to the Judiciary
Committee of the House of Representatives in
favour of an amendment to the constitution to
authorise an export duty on cotton. A resolution
has also been passed instructing the Judiciary Com-
mittee to report a bill prohibiting the admission, as
a State, of any territory wherein the franchise is
denied on account of colour, and declaring such
denial to be unconstitutional.
Mrs. Davis is still at Fortress Monroe. She is
permitted to remain with her husband from reveille
to sunset every day. Secretary M'Culloch had a
long interview yesterday with Mr. Davis.
President Johnson has ordered the release on
parole of ex-Senator Guin, now confined in Fort
Jackson.
It is generally believed the President will veto the
bill admitting Colorado State into the Union.
O'Mahony has issued circulars declaring that the
Eastport expedition was proposed by Kilian, who
continued an useless expenditure after he (o'Ma-
bony) had ordered the recall of themen, and that the
launch of an Irish ironclad upon American waters,
to co-operate with the expedition, had been pre-
vented by red tape formalities.
Capt. Grace declares the Eastport expedition to
have been planned by O'Mahony and Killian, in order
to sell the bonds. Roberts, Sweeny, and O'Mahony
subsequently caused the failure of the expedition
because of Killian's popularity. Several circles have,
after an investigation, acquitted O'Mahony of all
blame in the Eastport fiasco.
The Peruvian, Quebec, China, City of Boston,
and Borussia have arrived out.
NEW YORK, May 10 (Evening).
To-day the House of Representatives adopted the
amendment proposed by the Reconstruction Com-
mittee by 128 against 37 votes.

The Senate has confirmed the appointment of
Mr. Smythe as collector of New York.

The Senate has concurred in a joint resolution
relative to the attempted assassination of the Czar
of Russia.

A bill has been introduced in the Senate provid-
ing that the President cannot remove any officer
appointed by consent of the Senate, except members
of the Cabinet.
It is believed that the House of Representatives
will reject the constitutional amendment reported
by the Reconstruction Committee, a number of the
Republican members having declared themselves
opposed to it.
President Johnson, replying to a recent address
presented by a delegation of Methodists, said that
great misapprehension existed with reference to the
present condition of the South, and that the irregu-
larities there were grouped together in order to con-
vey the impressiou that they illustrate the condition
of the country. Individual conduct should corre-
spond with what was professed. He believed that
if a proper spirit of government was persevered in, a
good feeling would soon be restored. The interests
of both sections demanded a strict compliance with
the Constitution and the enforcement of the laws.
The President has approved the West India
Telegraph Bill.
It is believed that the Grand Jury of 'Norfolk
will bring in a bill of indictment against Mr. Davis
and the other leaders of the rebellion. Judge
Underwood charged the jury yesterday, urging the
necessity for the punishment of treason. Secretary
M'Culloch has advised a relaxation of rigour to Mr.
Davis in his imprisonment.
Fort Goodwin, Arizona, has been captured by
savages, and the garrison, 124 in number, mas-
sacred.

The cholera is abating in New York Quarantine,
and the steerage passengers on board the steamer
England have been permitted to come into the city.
Stephens, the Fenian Head Centre, is reported
to have arrived here to-day by the steamer Napo-
leon, from Havre.