The Sun.
London, England, 1857-10-27 00:00:00

THE GREAT MONEY PANIC ZX THli
UNITED STATES.

rT AVAL AND MILITARY INTELLIGENCE.

Intelligence has been r eceived at Chatham that
Ensign Thomas S. Mitchell, 89th Regiment, who
was placed under arrest at Shorncliffe, with orders
to proceed to Chatham garrison for the purpose of
'being tried by general court-martial on several
charges of disgraceful conduct and drtmkennes
while on duty, has broken his arrest and gone to
-the continent, leaving behind him a letter addressed
to the adjutant of the corps, in which hestates that,
as there was no doubt whatever of his being found
guilty by the general court-martial, and, conse-
quently, dismissed from the service, he declined
taking his trial, and had proceeded to France. In
consequence of the course taken by the prisoner her
sty will direct his dismissal from the army.
YeAerday Captain C. C. Abbott, commandin
'the Falkland Island Corps, which has been raised
at Chatham, received an order from the War-1
(ace directing the non-commissioned officers and
men to proceed to Graveseud, there to embark
on board the Ealing Grove for conveyance
to the Falkland Islands, where they will relieve a
detachment of pensioners who have been doing mi-
litary duty at that station for many years. The
whcle of the men are married, and on their arrival
at their destination each will be provided with guar.
ters and a certain quantity of land, and in addition
to the ~egulation pay, will receive free rations for
himself a:td family. The sum of 3/. has been pre-
sented to each man by order of the authorities at
the Horse Goads for the purchase of sea comforts.
Orders have ,_men received at the Invalid Esta-
blishment, St. Mails, Chatham, directing arrange-
ments to be made fo' .1. the reception of 200 sick and
wounded troops, who are now on their passage
from India, having been wounded in their conflicts
with the mutineers, and of 70 men who are shortly
expected to arrive invalided home from China.
Owing to the large nungbers of infirm troops who
have lately been discharged at Chatham onaccount
of their unfitness for further service the strength of
the invalid depot is reduced t.) less than 100 men.
Durhiet‘the past week unwards of 100 wheelers
and smith's have been added to the Royal carriage
cleparttnent of Woolwich Arsenal, bringing the
estaldishment, exclusive of contractors' labourers,
to 6,ooo—nearly equal to the highest number em-
ployed at any period during the Russian war. The
officials are collecting subscriptions for the present
relief of the wives and families of. the Artillery
soldiers who have already gone to India.
The following appointments were made yester-
day at the Admiralty :
Lieut. F. P. Doughty and Lieut. H. Packe to
the Royal Albert for disposal ; Lieut. H. E. G.
Earle to the rersian ; J. L. Hope, acting mate, to
the Triton.

OPENING OF THE FIRST DOCK ON THE TYNE.

On Thursday took place the formal opening of
the first dock on the Tyne. The dock has already
been in practical use—the first ship having entered
it on May 7. Thursday's proceedings were in
celebration of the laying of the last coping stone by
the Duke of Northumberland, after whom the dock
is called the Northumberland Dock. It is situated
at Hayhole. The area of the main dock is 55 acres,
the tidal basin being 2 acres. The dock and river
entrances to the basin are respectively 70 feet wide.
The lock is 52 feet wide, and 250 feet between the
gates. The sills of the entrances, to the 52 feet lock
are laid at 10 feet below low-water level. When the
- dock is in full working order, the water can be kept
in the dock from 18 to 24 feet according to the state
of the tides. The entire outlay incurred in the com-
pletion of the works is about 180,0001., being at the ' ,
rate of little more than 3,0001. per acre ; and we
have heard the dock characterised as the cheapest
in point of construction of any in the kingdom. The
- cofferdam was begun Aug. 9, 1853, being the first
part of the works. It was closed on the 10th April,
1851. The first stone, which was the pointed sill
stone of the 52 feet lock, was laid 14111111oseph Cowen,
Esq., chairman of the Tyne Commission, on the
13:u Sept., 1854. There are two rows of piles in
the embankment, extending to the length of 3,800
feet ; the number of piles being 7,600. The embank-
ment involves somewhat peculiar principles of con-
struction, which it would perhaps be scarcely jus-
tice to the engineers to make public. Suffice it to
say that it has answered every purpose ; and that,
after being put to the fullest test, it has been found
to be perfectly water tight. The tidal basin is 475
feet in length, and 175 feet in breadth; including,
as already stated, an area of about two acres. The
.dimensions of the dock are such as to enable some
of her Majesty's largest steamers to come in and
take a supply of coals. The amount of land re-
claimed in the construction of the dock has been
about 70 acres. There was on one occasion 25
fe-t of water in the dock ; and the embankment
then bore the teat to complete satisfaction. This ,
being only a coal dock, the amount of quay space is
merely nominal. The dock gates were contracted
for and constructed by Messrs. Hawks and Craw-
*hay. A remarkable fact of a highly gratifying
nature is, that the dock has been constructed with
little or no interference with the traffic of the river,
or with the deep water channel close to
the staiths adjoining. It may ,Le worthy
of men ion that the coals shipped from
these staiths at the time when the dock works
- were commenced were to an annual amount of
1,200,000 tone, and have since increased to an
annual amount of 1,400,000. .Now that the water
is held up in the docks, there will be facilities for
shipping double the latter amount, or nearly
3,000,000 tons a year. In the dock, this week,
there have been some sixty or seventy vessels
of an average tonnage of 250 tons. A dock now
c netruoting on the opposite side of the river by
the North Eastern Railway Company, and called
the Jarrow Dock, is progressing favourably. An
act of Parliament has already been obtained for a
third dock at Coble Dene, which is to have an area
of 40 acres, depth 2G feet, and a 70 feet entrance.-
When the three docks are completed, Newcastle
wilt be in dock accommodation inferior only to.
London and Liverpool.
About 10 o'clock in the morning the Duke of
Northumberland arrived at Newcastle, and pro-
' ceeded by steamboat down the river, the shipping
of which was gaily decorated, as far as the new
~dock. The Mayor and principal inhabitants, and
large number c.f ladies and gentlemen from the
immediate neighbourhood, were present to receive
Lis grace, who, after inspecting the dock, received
from Joseph Cowen, Esq., a richly ornamented,
trowel, manufactured by essrs. Reid and Sons,
which bore the following inscription :—" To the
Most Noble Algernon, Duke and Earl of Northum-
berland, &c., K. G., this trowel was presented by
the Tyne Improvement Commissioners, on laying
the last stone of the Northumberland Dock, 22d
October, 1857." On the reverse side, or back of
the trowel, were inscribed the names of commis-
sioners, with the names of the clerk and secretary—
Mr. Claytonnames and Mr, Guthrie.
His GRACE having taken the trowel, and the
mortar being applied, the stone was then moved to
its position. His Grace then said, that instead of
Lying the foundation stone at the commencement
_of this work, the commissioners had prudently
delayed any ceremony until to-day, when the
coping stone had been placed. To this dock,
which was the first dock ever built on the Tyne,
• ell must wish prosperity. Indeed, no doubt could
be entertained of its success. There was one matter
which was due to the contractor of the works,
And that was that no serious accident bad occurred.
In conclusion, he asked the Chairman of tbe com-
missioners to accept the trowel as a memorial of the
,completion of the dock. (Cheers.)
Alter the ceremony, a dinner took place, his
Crace the Duke of Northumbarland in the chair.
There were present—the Mayor, the River Corn-
- rni-sioners, Mr. G. Ridley, M.P., Mr. Ingham,
M.P., Mr. G. Hudson, M.P., Rev. Dr. Davies,
rector of Gateshead. ; and other gentlemen. The
veecht's had reference solely to local and commer-
cial interests. On Friday the workmen employed
at the docks had a ho'iday and entertainment.

THE LATE RAILWAY ACCIDENT AT WESTOIN-BRIDGE.—
Ii
is satisfactory to state that the sufferers by the late
accident at Weston-bridge,. near Tuxford, on the main '
:Ins of the Great Northern Railway, who were left at the
latter place and at
.11 ,:tford, have sufficiently rec:ivered
t
R.,rd two inn,
to their reFpective hona:,e, excepting two ladies 1
• lnn gentlemen who ate still staying at the Queen
etttrd,Dyenn, the guard, has greatly improved
of the at,Y,Z4,41:); but he is atilt suffering from the effect.
Tim
tot:easier; of the brain he sustained.
tiaturdsy ON
,r A GENTLEmAN POUND DaoIYSZD.
y.,ars ag'z,
wnaon, tin, body of a gentleman, about
:,tsar the brid, tt,it sting in the Surrey Canal,
ptford road. The body,
19:1hciuniltilhtiaodnatnarr:atn1,9i'ten:birir Pte.' water 801110 days, was
neighbouring 11,.ve
Qe.dtt7:tois.:sed ab iut 5 feet 10
o t 9 a'xait.tsti irgnest.. TheY
Tihf,,;eik• atar dressed
ni nd
• I,cheef-high, and hit 9 auburn
►
aJ vhiin niat, sl.a-al pattern
g :irropaition
black silk st,:ck, with whit,: recta.
that the deceased lied been
• banks, and fallen ih to ttie"water, as at theZietit'i: chandTd.
was discovered he hid on his hands a pair of blneKek-°k-iYa
lotea. Oa his person were toued a white leather purse,
a Rossia leather po,:ketbook, and a new church service
r • DREADFCL MURDER IN TIPPERARY —Account; have
• reached town asinounciag that Mr. Ellis, a Scotchman,
was shot dead near Temp;emore on Thursday night last.
lie had shortly bebie arrived by train at that station
from Maryborough, and was on his way home to Dover,
when he was met by a man armed with a pistol.' The
a 'l,a,vihin, it is said, discharged the contents of 134 wevon
in cue ii•girn, of
were others the ill-fated gent.l#mau's heart. Where
Trans, present at the time
to Mr. Mr. Ellis wasiagent
in that neighboOfrhra,"ea' and p.urchased some preperty
cause of )uri, which is rumoured to be the
;nation. He a'so rented: Ilia farm of
Meelick, near Mountenelick in the Queen's County,
which place he spent the most part of last Thursday.

From the Preto Toni Correspondent of the Times.)
NEW YORK, Oar. J 4.

Picture to yourself the immense crowd that- four
years ago lined the Strand to witness the funeral
procession of the Duke of Wellington, all clothed
in masculine habiliments, the universal black smoke-
, pipe of London exchanged for the many-coloured
sloughed hats of New York, the smooth-shaved
faces covered with beards and the mouths draped
with moustaches, the j •lly English expression elon-
gated and careworn, and the round cheek sunken ;
fancy those easy, careless sightseers thus metamor-
phosed all pressing into Lombard-street with a
hurried, anxious pace, crowding and jostling their
neighbours in their has' e until compelled by their
very numbers to drop into the slowly moving lines
marching and countermarching up and down the
centre of excitement; imagine Lombard-street ex-
pyided to twice its length, audits trottoir enlarged
to more than twice the present width, and every
third house a bank, with depositors or billholders
bent upon obtaining gold for their debts, and you
will have a real idea of the condition of Wall-street
yesterday. New York was in a state of convulsion.
A financial earthquake was rocking its moneyed
institutions to their centre. One fell after another;
shook followed shock ; and, -in the panic, no one
felt sure that, at the day's close, anything would
be felt to tell the tale of the wealth, the commercial
credit, and the mercantile honour of this commu-
nity. This morning the partial suspension of yes-
terday has become general, and New York is now
doing business on currency.- On Saturday morn-
ing last it was announced that the Illinois Central
Railway Company had yielded to the storm, and
had made an assignment ; that the Erie had al-
lowed its acceptances to go to protest ; and that
the Michigan Central had, in the modest language
of its Boston friends, deferred the payment of its
floating debt. Some of the sugar acceptances ma-
turing on that day were also left to go to protest,
owing to the attei inability to get money. One
house of limited liability and undoubted, means
and credit was obliged to suspend with the best
mercantile- paper on hand only 15 days to run.
Notwithstanding this Monday went by without a
breakdown. There were several commercial failures,
but nothing indicating a general breakdown. At
four o'clock on Monday afternoon, after banking
,hours, the clearing-house statement for the week
was made public. It showed, as compared with
the statemer t of the week p:ovious, a
_ _

Decrease of loans . - 4,017,930 dole;
Increase of specie 75,881 „
Decrease of undrawn deposits 3,053,190 „
Decrease of circulation 224,668 „
Decrease by failure of capital 656,000 „
In other words, the banks had, in the face of. the
panic and the demand for money, proceeded with
their liquidations to the amount of 4,000,000 dole.
This statement shows, in round numbers, a liquida-
tion since the commencement of the panic of about
18,000,000 dole. ,by the contraction of loans. In
ordinary times, and with money at anything short
of extraordinary prices, it would have been thought
to be a favourable statement. With a contraction
of loans of over 4,000,000 dole., and a payment of
liabilities to depositors of over 3,000,000 doll., the
specie reserve had actually increased, notwithstand-
ing aid known to be afforded to country banks, and
the known fact that depositors had been making a
run for gold. But in the present feverish state
such a contraction was regarded as the precursor of
still further trouble. Besides this I believe that
the country banks brought an hostile influence to
bear upon the city banks. The motives to this
were twofold-Ist. The domestic exchanges upon
New York from all parts of the country are at such
a premium as to entirely put a stop to all business.
Not only is the transmission of gold impossible,
from the unwillingness to part with it, but the pro-
duce of the country is equally unavailable. Confi-
dence is so entirely destroyed that the farmer will
not sell to the local dealer, and the local dealer
cannot forward to New York. At this mo-
ment Chicago is filled with grain which the
machinery of commerce affords no means of
moving to New York, although Chicago owes New
York and wishes to pay the debt, and New York is
suffering, dying, I may almost say, from want of
the remittance. The Illinois Central Railway Com-
pany has a large amount in the Chicago Land-office
for investment in its Construction Bonds. These
bonds are selling here at 50 ; it is ready to pay 65
forithem in Chicago in the currency of that place ;
and yet nobody can be found to undertake the
operation. This one illustration will show you how
completely the business of the country is blocked by
the unexpected and unaccountable destruction of
domestic exchange. Its wealth becomes unavail-
able. The resources relied uporr to get out of its
difficulties prove unavailable. Sterling exchange,
too, naturally sinks under the pressure, and New
York, the creditor of the country, is left to bear the
brunt of the battle. The country banks, who feared
that a continuance of the present state of things
would drain them of specie for New York remit-
tances, have been naturally anxious to create a
suspension here, in order by that means to restore
the equilibrium in exchange, and prevent the drains
of gold. 2d. They have also been influenced by
the desire to protect their circulation. The cur-
rency of the interior is supplied by means of bank-
notes, issued upon a deposit of State securities with
the Controller of the State. The stringency of the
money-market has compelled the retirement of this
circulation to a large amount, and the redemption
of these securities for the purposes of sale. The
amount thus forced upon the market has reduced
the value of State Stocks. Simultaneously with this
a new issue of bonds has become necessary for
covering certain State canal liabilities. These
securities have not been negotiable within the line
required by law ; it is reasoned that if specie pay-
ment be suspended in New. York, there will again
be a demand for country currency, and an up-
ward turn given to State securities. There is reason
to believe that the movements of yesterday were
not entirely without concert of action. The final
blow, however, was as rapid, and apparently as un-
premeditated as the blow that brought about the
French revolution of 1848 ; like that, there was a
concealed power that excited and directed the
popular feeling.
The first run yesterday was made upon the smaller
banks outside of Wall-street, that afford accornmo-
datiou and circulation for the tradespeople, artisans,
shopkeepers, hotelkeepers, itc. These institutions
were naturally in a less strong position than the
banks doing business with the mercantile classes,
and less able to stand a run. They opened at 10,
and: before 12 had fallen. Up to 1 o'clock every-
thing was quiet in Wall-street—as quiet, that is, as
has been any day for the past three weeks. There
was a steady payment of specie over the counters
to depositors, but nothing indicating a general alarm.
Almost in an instant the street was crowded, and
a run begun upon the American Exchange Bank,
the weakest of the largest institutions. I had
passed the Exchange a few minutes before ; there
was no appearance of unusual commotion. When
I looked from my window there was a crowd of
some hundreds (or thousands rather) gathered in
front, and a long line of hill-holders and depositori
formed en queue. Mr. David Lemitt (of North
American Trust and Banking Company fame)
mounted a step, and treated the crowd to the uni-
versal Anglo-Saxon panacea7—a speech ; and the
crowd partially dispersed, but the bill holders kept
up the run. From every direction men now poured
into Wall-street. The marble steps of the Custom-
house, the classic entrances to the banks, the noble
spaces around the Exchange, the ugly stoops (an
inheritance from the architects of Amsterdam) that
gave a ladder-like entrance to the offices, were all
alike quickly covered with curious spectators.
The desks of the offices were deserted and the
windows crowded. From the American Exchange
Bank the attack was shifted to two or three
banks further up the street. The Bank of
America and the Mechanics' Bink were particu-
larly selected. The stream of the anxious in-goers
steadily increased ; as they came out-, with
hands- filled and pockets bulging out with gold,
[ s )me looked happy —more looked uneasy and
foolish. Fr mn Wall-street the rush extended into
Pine and _Nassau, and tho large Broadway banks ;
and before 3 o'clock the specie reserve was reduced
to 5,500,000 doll. The whole thing was as sudden
as a tornado ; the comparison also bears good as to
the effect. Eighteen banks fell, with a united line
of
_loans of 21,000,000 dots. The banking commu-
nity of New York was.called upon to l4uidate in
less than two hours. No bank could have stoat]
the pressure. Last night those that had gone
safely through the day met in council. The Seni.in
lasted until 11 o'clock, and resulted in an nn trti-
mous agreement to suspend specie payment °eel.
the counter ; to petition the Governor for a can of
an extra a ssion of the Leg slature for the pas,agf•
of laws to protect the banks, and prevent a 'sum-
wary and forced liquidation ;hat would destroy all
the capital ieveeted in them ; and to resume specie
Parnen.s at the earliest possible moment. I wi'l
riot try to *speculate upon the causes that have
ffesught New York to bankruptcy at a time when
there Lee ever
se esee. actual wealth in the country{ than
which matuexreeattti
been before. If the West had made.
a vigorous
been averted. on to pay its debts to New York,
but an absolute inability is
There
time of the year, it woub haste-
plenty of property there,
six months ago I wrote
tY to forward it. More than
woods'
that when the 00ober
there would be trouble, ovrraents should mature
of the West. The intervelfj° the expanded state
inn of the September
panic has changed the anticipated pr
universal bankruptcy. The certainty oettlC ict
3 a
a ailed upon the banks to maintain a bold eerneessaunrde