The Sun.
London, England, 1835-07-30 00:00:00

WEST INDIA LOAN.

The parties intending to bid for the West India Loan, ac-
companied by their friends and many leading members of the
monied interest, waited on Lord Melbourne and the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer this morning, (Wednesday,) at eleven
o'clock, according to appointment, to receive the requisite in-
formation on the subject of the contract. There were present, Mr.
Rothschild, with his son, Mr. Nathaniel Rothschild, Mr. Moses
Montefiore, Mr. D. Robertson, Mr. Cohen, Mr. Irving, Sir
John Reid, Mr. Mildnay, the Messrs. Ricardo, Mr. J. L.
Goldsmid, Mr. Maubert, Mr. F. Bailey, and Mr. W. Morgan,
in all about 30 gentlemen. The Governor and Deputy Go-
vernor of the Bank were both present. The meeting occu-
pied more than an hour and a half, many incidental points
having arisen in the course of it for discussion, but the results
are capable of being intelligibly stated in a very brief description.
The proposition of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, after
undergoing some modifications in consequence of the discus-
sions above mentioned, is, that the amount of the loan shall be
16,000,000/. • that he will give for every 1001. in money 751.
Consols, 251. in 3 per Cents. Reduced, and an indefinite
amount of Long- Annuities terminating in 1860, in which se-
curity the biddings are to take place. [The official document
will be found in another part of The Sun.)
The dividend in the Consols will commence from the Ist of
July, 1835, and that on the Reduced and Long Annuities from
the Ist of October, 1835. A discount of 2 per cent. is to be
allowed on payments made in full. The motive for placing the
first instalment at a period so distant from the deposit is un-
derstood to be, that a considerable time must elapse before any
large amount of the West India claims can be in course of pay-
ment, and it is the wish of the Chancellor of the Exchequer
so to conduct this operation as to avoid, if possible, any incon-
venient pressnre on the money-market, which would necessa-
rily ensue if a large sum were locked up in the Bank of Eng-
land, which could not be paid away again and brought once
more into circulation, on account of the non-adjudication of the
claims. It appeared to be the opinion of most of the gentle.
men present, that this inconvenience, which they regard in a
very serious point of view, has not been effectually guarded
against, and they pressed very strongly for two stipulations—
viz., either that the Government itself would engage to employ
the money thus lodged, or that the same thing sould be done
by the Directors of the Bank. These, however, have been de-
clined, and the Governor of the Bank, though repeatedly ques-
tioned on the subject by Mr. Irving and others, has not given any
assurance of the support of that corporation in any way to the
transaction. To provide for the possible case that the claims of
the slave-owners may be adjudicated more rapidly, and ac-
cumulate to a larger amount than the instalments of the loan
can meet, the Chancellor of the Exchequer has determined
that for all such surplus amount certificates shall be issued to
the claimants, bearing interest at the same rate as the loan
itself, and chargeable on the instalments as they accrue, such
interest on the certificates to cease as soon as the money to
take them up is provided by the payment of the instalments.
It is proposed by the Right Hon. Gentleman, that in the event
of disputed claims occurring to a very large amount, which it
is anticipated will be the case, the sums so disputed will be
paid to the Accountant- General of the Court of Chancery, to
be invested in the usual manner, and thus brought back again
into circulation.

On a question being put to the Chancellor of the Exche-
quer, in what manner he intended to provide for the additional
5,000,0001. voted under the Compensation Act, he stated that
of that sum the estimated compensation to the Cape of Good
Hope and the Mauritius amounted to 3,300,000/., which,
owing to the distance and other causes, cannot be claimed
until the next session of Parliament ; the remaining 1,700,000/.
is the appropriation for the claims from the island of Barba-
does, which, through some informality on the part of the Le-
gislature of that colony, cannot yet be claimed under the Act.
The Right Hon. Gentleman admitted, however, that this dif-
ficulty might at any time be obviated. Still he would not in-
clude that portion of the claims in the loan now about to be
negotiated, but intended to create stock specially to meet
them, to be paid to the claimants at the market price of the
day whenever their claims are adjusted. He further gave the
TT ceting to understand that the 3,300,000/. dependent on the
claims from the Cape of Good Hope and the Mauritius would
in all probability be negotiated in the course of the next year.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer had proposed in the first
instance, to make the deposit 5 per cent. only ; to allow no
discount for anticipation of the instalments, and, in fact, to
suffer no creation of stock under this operation until the whole
of the instalments were paid up. The inconveniences of this
course were pointed out by the gentlemen present with the
shrewdness and sagacity which belong to practical men of
business, and occupied a very long time in the discussion.
The whole, however, resolved itself into this--that a de-
posit of 5 per cent. only would leave the contractor with-
out any protection against throwing the scrip on his hands,
should any unfavourable political events occur to produce a
depression beyond that sum ; that mere scrip without any
option on the part of the holder to convert it into stock
would be a dead-weight on the market, as it could not be-
come in that state, not yielding interest, an eligible invest-
ment for men of capital. These arguments had their due
weight with the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who consented
so far to remodel his proposition.
The contract is to be according to the form of that in
1814, which was read to the meeting ; the biddings for it will
take place on Monday morning at 10 o'clock, in the usual
manner—i. e., Ministers %%ill place on the table a scaled
paper containing the minimum price at which they will allow
the contract to be taken. The tenders, also sealed, from
the respective parties will then be opened, and the highest
will be declared the contractor; only that if the whole of
of them shall be found below the minimum fixed by Minis-
ters, that minimum will be declared to them by producing
the sealed paper, when any of the gentlemen will have the
option of taking the loan at that price ; otherwise a new con-
tract will be entered into.
It was rerna:ked by Mr. Rothschild at the meeting, that
this is the first occasion, on which a loan has ever been made
for this Government with so high a current price of Consols
as 90.

When the deputation returned to the city, and the particu-
lars of the Conference were made known, there was a good
deal of agitation in the market, and the funds fell about 1 per
cent., and appearances threaten a further decline. In fact,
most people are, or profess to be, much alarmed at the po3sible
resu'ts of so large an operation in the critical state of politics
and of the money-market. It is understood, however, that
none of the lists originally formed are to be abandoned in con-
sequence of what passed at the Treasury meeting of this
morning. _ _

Cons-ols left off at 89j to for the Account, and Exche-
quer Bills at 265. to 28s. prem.
Prices were much depressed also in the Foreign market, and
business to any extent was impracticable. This cannot, how.-
ever, be more than a temporary state of things. The follow-
ing were the concluding quotations :---Portuguese 3 per Cents.
58. to 59 ; Spanish Bonds, 481- to 49 ; Brazilian, 85 to -.1- ;
Dutch 21 per Cents., 54i to 74:—.Morning Paper.

ACCIDENT TO LORD MUNSTER AND FAMILY.-
The Helvetic relates that the Earl of Munster, with his lady
and family, being on their way from Basle to Neufchatel, met
with an accident, between Montier and Conet, which might
have been attended with serious consequences. Upon reach-
ing the second turning of the road the carriage, in which were
the Earl and Countess, with their son and daughter, was,
through the negligence of the postilion, thrown down a pre-
cipice of more than twenty feet ; and if it had not been stop-
ped by two trees, would have fallen into the Birse. Two of
the horses went down with the carriage, and three others
were left on the road, from the traces breaking. Happily
none of the party received further injury than contusions. The
postilion was so alarmed, that be immediately took to flight.

We are very sorry to state that the Countess of
Chesterfield has been seriously indisposed for the last ten days.
Her malady is the ineazles.

INIr. Underwood, who lately d'ed near Paris, was so
great an enthusiast in science, that he wished only to live that
he might witness the return of Halley's comet ; and would
have consented to an excruciatingly painful operation if his sur-
gical friends could have given him hopes that his life could have
been prolonged by it only for a few weeks.

At Guildhall, yesterday, a mechanic, named Saun-
ders, was charged with using violent and threatening language
to Mr. Nicholls, a scale-rniker, in Aldcrsgate-street. It ap-
peared that the prisoner, who was a member of some Trades'
Union in that district, had assaulted several men in Mr. Ni-
choll's employment, because they were " knobsticks," or men
who would not quit their work at the desire of the Union.
The prisoner swore he would stab complainant, _when he
was ordered by him to go away from his door, and cease
his disgusting aiid threatening language.— In default of bail
he was committed to Nerrgate.