The Sun.
London, England, 1866-05-22 00:00:00

The Recent Commercial Crisis.

The following circular has been transmittedby the
Foreign•office to the British Embassies and Lega-
tions throughout Europe

" Foreign-office, May 12.
" Sir,—The monetary crisis through which this
country is now passing will naturally attract great
attention in other countries, and it is therefore de-
sirable that a clear conception should be formed,
Government
to havemeet
e ea t
both of its nature and probable extent, but more
particularly of the measures which her Majesty's
cldatoenatli:s of thelethemercaprensetinle
communityt
44;hrit'oe-
mil
situation.
Long-coutinued prosperity in commercial affairs,
and the general wealth consequent on it, have pro-
duced their ordinary results in encouraging specula-
tion, especially of a monetary or financial character,
and fostering hopes of acquiring wealth by more
speedy means than are presented by the ordinary
methods of commercial industry. Again, the events
which are taking place on the Continent have tended
not only to produce immediate derangement in com-
mercial transactions, but also to shake that confi-
dence in the future without which a return to sound
state in monetary matters was not to be looked for.
" The immediate cause, however, of the crisis lay
iu the stoppage of thegreat discount house of Over-
end, Gurney, and Co., in whose hand were lodged
many millions sterling, which, in other times,would
in great part have formed, and which, perhaps,
ought to have formed, the reserves of the various
private and joint stock banks of the country. This
failure directed the action of the panic against the
banks in London, and it was to be apprehended that
the movement in the capital would be followed by a
similar agitation in the rest of the kingdom, where,
in addition to the large deposits in the hands of the
bankers, there are manymillions of paper circulation
resting only on the commercial credit of the issuers.
"In this state of things it could not be surprising
that the reserve of the Bank of England was heavily
affected yesterday, and it was the combined conside-
ration of what had then actually happened and of
what might follow on subsequent days which in-
duced her Majesty's Government to adopt the mea-
sures on which, in the course of the evening, they
decided. For the money drawn from the banks, hav-
ing been withdrawn from circulation under the in-
fluence of panic, the Bank of England might, with-
out some new resource, have been unable to continue
its accustomed assistance. Thus the crisis, which
had been anxiously apprehended from this combina-
tion of circumstances, has come at last, but with a
severity and suddenness in regard to its immediate
consequences which could not have been anticipated.
" The Bank of England is prepared to extend re-
lief, to the utmost of its means, to all cases which
are justly deserving of its support ; while her Ma-
jesty's Government, in full reliance on the eventual
sanction of Parliament, should it be necessary to go
beyond the law as itnow stands, have signified to the
Bank of England their permission to hold itself free
I from the observance of the ordinary limitations on
its issues, if the exigencies of the time require such
an extraordinary measure. Her Majesty's Govern -
ment trust that by this timely assistance all com-
mercial establishments which are based on sound
principles, and have been conducted with proper
prudence, will be enabled to withstand the shock to
to which the panic occasioned to the recent great
great failure in the city will have exposed them. Her
Majesty's Government have no reason to apprehend
that there is any general want of soundness in the

ordinary trade of this country which can give rea-
sonable ground for anxiety or alarm either in this
country or abroad ; they are satisfied, on the con-
trary, that the present crisis, peculiar and unprece-
dented as it is, is one of a character essentially more
favourable than others which have been successfully
passed through ; and that all that is required is that
all classes should co-operate with the Government
in endeavouring to allay needless alarm, and in
acting with prudence and forbearance while so much
agitation prevails.

It appears to her Majesty's Government to be of
great importance that the commercial interests

abroad should be reassured in regard to what is

npoassin g
time ti* nn
tale' itsh
ocroiusinntygry,
oaon d
tOI
nihave,e k therefore,eewnte lost
(
Government to which you are accredited, and gene-
rally to those who have a direct interest in such
matters, the view taken by her Majesty's Govern-
ment of the present state of affairs, the active mea-
sures which have been adopted to avert any evil
consequences, and the confidence which her Ma-
jesty's Government feel that those measures will be
attended with success.
" The abatement of the panic in the city this
morning is, her Majesty's Government trust, an
earnest of the good result likely to attend the mea-
sures which they have authorised the Bank of Eng-
land to adopt.—l am, with great truth, your most
obedient humble servant,

" CLARENDON,"

POPULATION, REVENUE, AND REPRESENTATION.—
A Parliamentary return just published shows that
the estimated population at the middle of the year 1866 was
—in England, 21,210,020;
in Scotland, 3,103,413; in Ire-
land, 5,571,971 ; and the total of the United Kingdom was
29,935.404. The aggregate amount of revenue derived
from taxation in the two years ending Dec. 1865, was in
England) £102,639,522; in Scotland, £17,303,325; and in
of
representatives
Wereallotted tvhi
to Which
them
haelii
proportionately h
c
Ireland, .£12,821,817 ; making for the United Kingdom a
total amount of 132,766,664. A table is given in the return
division of the United Kingdom Would have if the 658
membersw hichhsofowtsht
t h
Houseoe numberf of
Commons
: Ist, the estimated population in the
middle of the present year ; 2d, to amount of revenue in
of the numbers allotted
the two years ending Dec. 31, 1865 ; and 3d, to the mean
to revenue. Under proportionately to population and
the ffrst head, 467 wouldbe
second,.
England, 69given to
to Scotland, and 122 to Ireland; under the
England would have 508, Scotland 86, and Ireland
6_ 41 and under the third, England 487, Scotland, 78, and
Ireland 93. At present England has 500 members, Scot-
land 53, and Ireland 105.
MRS. JEFFERSON DAVIS having been permitted to
visit her husband, arrived at Fortress Monroe
lately from Montreal. The official report of the capture of
Jefferson Davis has been sent to the War Department by
Colonel Pritchard, who commanded the troops who over-
took his party, and should set at rest for ever the absurd
story of Mr. Davis having disguised himself. Colonel
Pritchard says when the capture was made, it was so dark
that he could not distinguish the uniforms, and in the cturse
of his narrative adds :—" On my return to camp
I—was accosted by: Davis from among the pri-
soners, who asked if I wag the officer In com-
mand, and upon my answ.wing that I was, and asking
him
who I was to call him, he replied that I might call him
what or whoever I pleased; when I replied to him -that I
would call him Davis—and, upon a moment's hesitation.
he said that was his name, when he suddenly drew himself
up in true royal dignity and exclaimed, 6I suppose that you
consider it bravery to charge a train of defenceless women
and children—but it is theft, it is Vandalism ! " Nothing
is said in'the narrative about his being disguised, and had
the disguise story been true Colonel Pritchard would cer-
tainly ha.ve mentioned it. . _ _

3HART STREET IS THE DEPART-
MENT for LADIES' RIDING HABITS, LIVERIES, and
Other CLOTHING MADE TO ORDER,
At E. MOSES & SON'S.

TOTTENHAM COURT ROAD,
137, is subivided into Departments for HATS and
CAPS, BOOTS and SHOES, and SHIRTS, HOSIERY,
PORTMANTEAUS, and RAILWAY RUGS,
At E. MOSES Sr SON'S.

138 TOTTENHAM COURT ROAD
is subdivided into Departments for OUTFIT:
MECHANICS' CLOTHING, OVERCOATS, DRESS
and
FROCK COATS, and BEADY MADE CLOTULNG of
every description,
At E. MUSES 3z SON'S.

283 EUSTON ROAD, IS SUBDIVIDE)
into Departments for VENICE CLOTHING,
LADIES' RIDING HABITS, LIVERIES and other
CLOTHING MADE TO ORDER,
At E. MOSES St SON'S.

N.8.-ALL ARTICLES ARE MARKED IN
PLAIN FIGURES TE LOWEST PRICES,
FROM WHICH NO ABATEMENT CA.N BE
MADE.

'At E. MOSES & SON'S.

N'll."------SHO'ULD ANY ARTICLE NOT BE
APPROVED OF IT WILL BE EXCHANGED
THE MONEY WILL BE RETURNED,
At. E. MOSES & SON'S.

LIST OF PRICES WITH FASHION CARD,
AND RULES FOR SELF-11EASUREMENT7
GRATIS AND POST-FREE.
At E. MOSES & SON'S.

-L-1 MOSES & SON'S ESTABLISHMENTS
• are closed every Friday at Sunset till Saturd at
Sunset, when business is resumed till
11 o'clock.ay

MOSES & SON, CORNER OF MINORIES
J. and ALDGATE, NEW OXFORD STREET, Corner Of
}TART STREET, and Corner of TOTTENHAM COURT
ROAD and EUSTON ROAD ;
NISO at BRADFORD, YORKSHIRE.

,
T 1-1 E “suN" NEWSpAI-----'
p E ,
G. R. GLENIE, Sporting Library, 4, (,‘„,,,n.-", .
terrace l'A rware-road, i's spe.;ially
*appointed A.GElil,ht..
deliver' the -LAT E /DI TILLN of ' THE
earlie4t po*sible moment after ieaving tendres tile a ablee
to deliver copies in ToWn, the Suburbsin many parte of
the Country at a comparatively early hour the same evening,
say 40 miles by 9 o'clock•
_...-------

THE ~ s 13- N,, NEWSPAPER.—
G. R. GLENIE delivers t,e LATE EDITION at
tnelset, 7.40 ; tuba n, 8; Starch-green, 8; Woolwich, 7.30 ;
12 x brid,..; e, 9 20 ; Wan: d. 8.17,
-----------

THE LATEST EDITION of " THE SUN."
J. MAME.; begs to inform his friends, and the pub.h.
generally. that he supplies the LA I'P,ST EDI1:)N ot
HIM SUAN" as seou as published —No. 16, Hampstead-
road, N.W.

T" LAST EDITION of " THE SUN "
suDri-lic.l as sLIOn a 3 Published, containing' all. the
LACE N INITELLIGE:Iieb, by
EL "7 11.1itt Ye L;l,-.lc:iiriz:s4Qa4l,
L'Aacton,

•
'lf g
4,44,5(v,