The Sun.
London, England, 1861-05-23 00:00:00

HONEY MA.RI ET AND-CITY NEWS.

-.~► --

CITY, Two O'CLOCK.
About £B,OOO in gold was sent into the Bank of
England yesterday.
The steamer City of Washington left Liverpool
yesterday afternoon for New York with £207,000
ni specie, and the Borussia was also despatched
from Southampton with £20,000 from England,
£1,200 from France, and £lB,OOO from Hamburg.
A pro forma meeting was held to-day of the
creditors of Messrs. Ede and Co., engaged in the
Levant trade, when the proposal to pay 20s. in the
Pound, with interest at 5 per cent. in four instal-
ments, extending over a period of 12 months was
accepted, and much gratification was expressed, at
the manner in which the estate is being liquidated.
Increased activity prevailed in the Liverpool
Cotton Market yesterday, and prices advanced fully
per lb. The sales amounted to 25,000 bales.
There is a quieter feeling in the Money Market,
and the minimum rate of discount at the Bank of
England remains at 6 per cent., the directors not
having found it necessary at their meeting to-day
to make any alteration.
The. English Stock Market is very quiet, and the
transactions are still conducted on the most limited
scale. Consols are 911 f, for transfer, and 914 for
the accoint. Monetary affairs at home and political
Contingencies in America still have the effect of re-
stricting business. The New Threes and the
Reduced are steady at 891 4 ; andlExchequer Bills
at es. to 2s. dis. ; India Stock has improved to
2261 ; ditto 5 per Cent. Loan to 110: ; and ditto
Zi per Cent. Enfaced Paper to 100.
A moderate amount of business has taken place
in Foreign Securities. Mexican are flat at 22a,
Grenada Active at 1611, and Brazilian 41 per Cents.
at 881, Spanish Deferred remain at 43:, 11116:Rus-
sian 41 per Cents. are firmer at 911 Turkish 6
per Cents, are 71 to 711, ditto 1858, 561 57.
The last week's railway receipts, ascertained up
to this day, are in round figures as under :

1861. 1860.
Great Western £44,739 £39,858
North-Western
South-Western
Irighton 16,920 15,061
Midland
South-Eastern
Great Northern 27,457 24,557
Lancashire and Yorkshire
Bristol and Exeter .. 6,666 6,917
North-Eastern
Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincoln
North British
South Wales
Edinburgh and Glasgow 6,431 6,206
Glasgow and South-Western
Grand Trunk of Canada
Great Western of Canada
These returns show a considerable improvement in
the receipts of most of the principal lines. On the
Great Western there is an increase of £4,881; the
North Western, of £2,622 ; the South Western, of
£4,332; the Brighton, of £1,859 ; the South Eastern,
of £1,265; the Great Northern, of £2,900 ; the
Lancashire and Yorkshire, of £2,306 ; the North
Eastern, of £1,385; the Midland, of £203 ; the
Edinburgh and Glasgow, of £225 ; the Grand
Trunk of Canada, of £1,126; and the Great Western
of Canada, of £296.

The transactions in the Railway Share Market
have been limited, and in some Instances prices have
shown rather less firmness. Lancashire and York-
shire, North Western, North Eastern (Berwick),
South Eastern, and West Midlands have declined
6s, and South Westerns, 10s.; Eastern Counties
improved 6s.

The Foreign and Colonial Lines remained dull.
South Austrian and Lombardo-Venetian have de-
clined to 151, and. Great Western of Canada to
lot 1; Great Indian Pali nsula have advanced to
981, and East Indian to 101.
Joiait Stock Bank and Miscellaneous Shares have
been neglected. London Chartered of Australia
however improved ss. ; Union of London, 55.;
Crystal Palace Stock and Royal Mail Steam
realised previous rates.

BRITISH 'FUNDS—ONE O'CLOCK.
! Per Cent. Reduced Annuities . S9l I
Pei Cent. Consols Annuities
'"ew
India 3 per
Stoc k Cent. Annuities B9
2264 t I 4
Ditto 6 per Cent •,•• lOll
Ditto Enfaeed Paper, 4 per Cent —
Ditto 64 per Cent
Ditto Debentuies, 1858 .
Ditto Bonds £l,OOO 2l die
Consols for Account, June 6 .. 914 4
Exchequer Bills, £l,OOO, lid
FOREIGN FUNDS—ONE O'CLOCK.
Brazilian 6 per Cent
Ditto 44 per Cent., 1860 BBk
hitiLican 3 per Cent —
Ditto Account
New Grenada Active, 34 per Cent.
Russian 5 per Cent. 1822, £ St • .
. Ditto 44 per Cent.
"%nigh 3 per Cent
Ditto New Deferred —
Ditto Account
Tgrkish 6 per Cent ..
Ditto Account
Ditto New Loan
Ditto Account
Dividends on the above payable in London.
Dutch 24 per Cent., Exchange 12 Guil.
Ditto Certificates, 4 per Cent.
Ditto Account
TWO O'CLOCK.
Consols, Money 914 4
Ditto Account 914 i

ARRIVAL OF THE KING OF THE BELGIANS AT
OSBORNIC,--PORTSMOUTH, May 22.—His Majesty the
Xing of the Belgians arrived to-day from Dover on a visit
to her Majesty at Osborne. His Royal Highness the
Prince Consort, accompanied by Prince Louis of Hesse,
left Osborne shortly before 11 o'clock this morning, and
embarked on board the Fairy for conveyance to Portsmouth
dockyard. On passing through Spithead the royal ensign
Was saluted by the ships of war at anchor there, namely,
the Edgar, Donegal, Hero, and Trafalgar, which manned
yards and were decorated with parti-coloured bunting.
The Prince Consort and his companion landed at the King's
Stairs, and proceeded in a carriage through the north-east
Sate of the dockyard to the Landport Railway to receive the
who arrived per special train on the South Coast
Railway shortly after 12 o'clock. The party returned by
the same route to the dockyard jetty, and were received by
Vice-Admiral W. Bruce, Rear-Admirals Erskine and
Grey, Major-General Lord W. Paulet, Colonels Thackwell
and Somerset, and various other officers of the port and
garrison. The royal party embarked on board the Fairy,
and left the harbour amidst the salutes which they received
on their arrival from the ships-of-war and garrison.
DEATH OF MR. DRUMMOND HAY.—Robert W.
Drummond Hay, Esq., Fellow of All Souls' College, Ox-
ford, has died at the residence of Lady Hamilton Chichester,
at Malta, after a lingering illness, in his 76th year. Mr.
flay had served his Government from early youth ; he was
for 13 years private secretary to; the late Viscount Melville,
when First Lord of the Admiralty, and subsequently Under
Secretary for the Colonial Department in the year 1836.
MR. FREDERICK PENNA'S ENTERTAINMENT.--
Mr. F. Penna's amusing and instructive " Highways and
Byways of Song" has now become one of the permanent
"entertainments" of London. His animated description
°f Milan, and the production there of Bellini's " La Son-
natabula," his faithful account of Franz Schubert's career,
remarks on various English contemporary composers, and
Practical illustrations of their powers, are nightly received
With unqualified marks of approval. Mr. F. Penns is as-
sisted by his accomplished lady, who accompanies him on
the pianoforte, and plays a sonata, by Beethoven, with re-
markable ability.
SIR W. ARMSTRONG'S GUN.—For two years Sir
IV. Armstrong has been superintending the manufacture of
his gun, at an amazing coat to the nation, and he now tells
us that during the same time he has been engaged in per-
fecting another invention, which is likely to supersede his
rat.. Now we have no hesitation in saying that the public
interests have in this matter been trifled with. Millions of
raoney ought not to be expended on Sir William's breech-
loading gut unless it was supposed to be the most perfect
that could be produced. But he could not have supposed it
the most perfect, or by should he for two years have been
engaged in perfecting another invention another *xi-
ciple He could not have had much
confidence P ence in his own
invention, or he would not,
in so short a time, hare at-
tempted to supersede it. He has now presented the nation
With his two guns. In which has he most confidence, and
Which does he recommend for the future ? If he has
most
eonfidence in the first, why introduce the second at the pre-
'lent moment ? If in the second, why sanction the waste
(1,,,f Public money in the costly manufacture of the first ?
This is a vital question, and demands investigation. We
suggested, a short time since, that a commission should be
appointed, consisting of competent persons, to inquire into
the fitness of the Armstrong gun. It is now more
than ever necessary that some such tribunal should jbe
euttatituted, as there is not merely a gun but guns
Wt.be inquired into. It is possible, and in fact likely, that
hen two or three more millions are expended on the first
4rtestrong gun, it will be found that it is not so efficient as
the Second or the third Armstrong gun. We may then be
a¢r'ted to begin de novo, and once more reconstruct our
13,4_ 17 system. We consider it would be much better to
b'e`tturg the inaturest thoughts and the ripest judgments to
?11 the question at once, and this may be done by ap-
-ten-
afe., S.such a commission 94 wo bays recommete.l4
,fik
Marazine,