The Sun.
London, England, 1857-10-19 00:00:00

SOUTHAqPrON, OCT. 18.
The United States' mail Bteenier Ariel, Captain
Cr. D. Ludlow, arrived off Cowes this morning, to
route from New York to Havre and Bremen. She
left at noon on the 3d, •and ilts had a very stormy
passage. She brings 15. passanzens, but no specie.A passenger named Felix Carron, died on board op
the 13th inst. of chrome diarrllcea.

Financial affairs ,continued in a very gloomy
be getting worse, ra-
stthaetret,
haannd things
better.
AaPnTishr:rd ptsonic seized upon holders
of stock securities in New York on the Ist, which
increased in in•ensity on the following day. The
mquey article of the Herald, dated 6 p.m. on the
2d, say a :
" Of all the gloomy days we bare seen within the past
six months this has boen by all cods the worst. All the
panics previously experienced are as nothing compared
with that of to-day. The decline in stock since yester-
day has been greater than yet realised in the same length

of time taut) th® present revulaima commenced. At the

first board to-clay there was a tuoit frightful stamped°
atoong holders of stocks, and the best on the list wore
slaughtered right and left. If there is a much lower

depth for some st9cki they will go completely out of
sight. The leases realised mult be immense, aid the
community at large moat be sulfuring immensely from
the en( ralous depreciation in niarket value. At the first
board to-day Missouti Sixes atiedioesi 2 per cent. ; Erie
booth, 1871, 3; New York Central Sevenths, 1 ;
Merchants' Bank, 1 ; Park Bank, 5 ; American Ex-
change Bank, 4 ; Cumberland Coal, 1 ; Delaware and
nucleon, 4 ; Pennsylvania Coal, 4.; New York Central
Railroad, 5 ; Erie, ; Newhaven and Hartford, 2 ;
Reading, 2; Michigan Central Railroad, 7; Michigan
Southern, 1; Illinois Central Railroad, 41; Cleveland

and Pittsburg, 1; Galena and Chicago, 6 ; C.eveland an'i
Toledo, 2 ; Chic ego and Rock related, 7 ; Milwaukie and
Mi.sisaippi, 1. Here we have a fall ranging from one.
half to 7 per cent. At the clove yesterday no one auti-
cipa•ed such a serious and eudden decline, and no one
knows but that a similar movement may be realised to-
morrow. The welters are those, who from actual necessity
are compelled to realise at
any price. The sacrifices are
not made so much by those who are afraid of further
deprec:ation as by those who want money and are dis-
posed to sell anything they possess- to meet their cur-
rent payments. This shows what material our corn-
temerity is made of, and it is such material that has made
this city the metropolis of the Unica. It is fearful to
think of the consecpences of such self-sacrifices, and it
is,terrible to contemplate the result of such a determine-
ticn on the part of business men. After all it is better to
do this than to succumb to the first reverse—than to sit
quietly and patiently down and eee the wreck going on
about us without inakieg
`the first effort to resist
the revulsion. By those who can see their way out,
if there are any such, such racrifices are cheerfully made ;
but those who are so deeply involved as to be only get-
ting deeper and deeper ireto difficulties do wrong to ex-
haust their remainingprobability
of ultimate success.
"Toe failure of the hese of Pierre Choateav, jun., and
Co., fur dealers, eece,
was announced this morning. This
is a branch of the St. Louis house. There are several
other houses, and it is supposed they have alt gone
down together. Tots is one of the oldest houses iu the
country, and until very lately was opposed to be very
strong. The feature of the present revulsion is that
some of our oldest and largest mercantile cenoerns have
been the first to suspend. We are requested to say that
Mr. Choateau's iron house in the city, known and con-
ducted ander the firm of P. Chouteau, jun., Sanford,
and Co., at No 9, Nassau-street, will not suspend, but
meet promptly all its engagements. The business and
aseets of this latter firm have always been kept entirely
distinct from those of Mr. Chouteau's other houses.
"At the second board the market was, on the
whole, lower. American Exchange Beak declined
per cent. ' • Reading, el ; cieeelaed and Toledo, 1 ;
La Crosse and Milwaukie 4. New York Central opened
at 55, but fell iar medietely back to 521 per cent., and
closed heavy at that. There was not much business this
afternoon, there being no bum, both tom the want of
means and the disposition. As a general thing, all of
our railroad stocks a-e unproductive. It is pretty cer-
tain that on the part of theso corporations there will be
a general suspensiensof dividends, and it 'will
.be years
We have loeg anticipated snob a result, and it
resume.
is about being realised. This class of see.urities vei:l be
before the best of them recover, and many will never
unproductive for years. Bank stocks are settling down
about at fast as any other on the lilt, and the sales are
.daity increasing.
"The position of our banks is a matter for calm and
serious consideration. This month and the next is the
time for our heaviest payments, and we must look for
such times in the financial world as hare
.never before
property the future will be full of
been seen or imagined. The banks have a dangerous
and difficult part to perform during the next 60 days,
purporting to have been passed
fthese institutions amounts to jest
andhnby: pt
thehiiine nothing nThaeahtyneall. ea
managers
resolutiono
was only partially agreed to, and not
sufficiently official to be binding It was intended more
than fact, and it is our impression that the next
forra cytufrannswill show that it has not been carried out. The
banks of this city cannot expand and preserve their posi-
iri atsrasPcetn. P New England must sus-
pend. We do not see how they can avoid it ; but the
banks of this city can sustain themselves if they will
adhere to the policy they have for some weeks:pnreued.
itc'ite.aYTihn
n con g
banks of institutions. Their only safety is
The
Nothing else can save them. The banks must now show
to the community that they have in reality no soul, and
they must not flinch an instant from the awful responsi-
bility resting upon them. An expansion would lead to
an immediate drain upon our specie reserve, and stop at
once the current of specie now setting into their vaults.
A butnexp it nsionwould temporarily relieve the commu-
nity, would end in suspension of specie payments
by the bank& Better hundreds upon hundreds of our
merchants should fail than our banks suspend. It is a
distressing alternative, but we see no help for it. With
our banks firm and fixed as specie-paying institutions,
the country may. recover from this revulsion in a few
months ; whereas a suspension of specie payments would
prostrate every important interest, from which we should
not recover in years. It is bard, and may seem cruel,
that the commercial community should be sacrificed to
preserve our banking institutions, but it is necessary to
act eo as to guarantee the greatest good to the greatest
cumber. Our banks muBl, Net look now to individual
o esei, but to the community at large. A few must be
sacrificed—ininielated, if necessary, to preserve the
masses. We are aware that in aivocating these men'
sures we meet the condemnation of many, but we do
not heed that, in pursuing the general object in view.
The managers of our banks seem to be at least fully
awake to the dangers and difficulties of their posi-
tion, and we wish to assure them of the support and
countenance of the public in a steady :adherence to the