The Sun.
London, England, 1857-12-16 00:00:00

DE CE E IG, 1 8

LATEST NEWS

- AMERICA.

(BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.)

LIVERPOOL, WEDNESDAY MORNING.

The United States mail steamship Atlantic,
which was to have left New York on the sth inst.,
is off the port.

TURIN, DEC. 14.

The opening of the legislative session has just
taken place. The King was received with enthu-
siasm by the Parliament and by the people, who
had assembled in crowds to witness his passage.
The Royal Speech contained the following points :
—" His Majesty hopes that the new Chamber of
Deputies will, like the preceding one, accord a
loyal and energetic co-operation to the Govern-
ment for the application and development of
liberal principles, which are the immoveable bases
of the national policy. The interruption of
diplomatic relations with Austria continues, but
without troubling the civil and commercial inter-
course of the two countries. The equilibrium
between the expenses and the receipts will be pos
sible by employing a very marked economy ; it
will, however, be necessary to contraot a loan for
bringing to a successful termination the great
undertaking of the port of Spezia, and for cutting
through Mount Cenis. The King terminated by
stating that several bills of internal administration
would be presented.

FRANCE.
PARIS, TUESDAY.

It has boon intimated (extra-offi'cially) to the
Procureur Imperial at Colmar (Haut-Rhin) not to
appeal from the decision of that Court in the case
of M. Migeon. That functionary had till the 22d
to demand the reversal of the sentence, which is
considered by the Government not only too lenient,
but is felt in a certain sense as a defeat. It might,
however, lead to such delicate matters that it was
thought Netter to drop it.

The same arrondissement of the Haut-Rhin will
soon again be the theatre of an electioneering battle.
M. Migeon, nothing dismayed, it would appear, by
the hostility of officials, is determined to take the
field once more where he has already been victo-
rious. The supporters of M. Migeon appear con-
fident of his success.

Today, being the 17th anniversary of the arrrival
of the remains of Napoleon I. in Paris, a mass in
commemoration of that event was celebrated at 12
o'clock iu the Church of the Invalides.

A letter from Toulon, of the 13th inst., speaks
of the extraordinary change in the weather there
since the late storms. It says that not a trace of a
cloud now remains in the sky, and a bright sun
maintains the temperature at the degree of a fine
spring day. The trees in the neighbourhood re-
main perfectly green, and many of them are
covered with blossoms.

Bouzsz' Dec. 15, Two o'clock.—The market has
been very flat and inanimate, and prices about the
same as yesterday. There was, howevqr, afterwards
a slight rally, as it was announced that the bills
falling due to-day (Dec. 15) had been duly ho.
noured. But it was stated that several firms of
Nantes, Bordeaux, and Marseilles were embar-
rassed. Threes have been done at 661. 65c. and
66f. 70c.; Mobilier, 715 f. and 722 f. 50c. ; Lyons,
837 f. 50c. and 835 f. ; ditto, new, 832 f. 50c. and
830 f.; Northern old shares, 925 f. and 930 f.; ditto,
new, 757 f. 50c. and 7601.; Austrian steady at 6751.
to 676 f. 25c.

Half-past Three o'clock .—Tho market continued
in the same state to the close, when the following
were the last quotations :

Cash. fr. 1 - - End of Eronth.
1i per Cents
3 per Cents 66 40 66 65
Bank Shares 3140 Credit Foncier —
Credit Mobilier 723 Roman Bs-
i Account... 715 Austrian

Belgian 44 - - Spanish Threes —
Piadmontose (5) 9O Homo Debt

considerably modify the organisation of the Aus-
trian army. The Emperor has also ordered that
all the military constructions which are not indis-
pensably necessary shall ba suspended. This
measure will relieve the budget very considerably,
and be of great advantage to the progress of pri-
vate buildings, which had been checked by the
high price of ing.terials caused by the numerous
constructions which are being carried on by the
State.

The King of the Belgians, the Duke and Duchess
of Brabant, and the Count de Flandre arrived at
the Palace at Brussels yesterday from Laeken .
The King and the Duke gave a private audience to
Baron de Rothschild. His Majesty afterwards
received the Marquis d'Antouini, the Neapolitan
Minister ; and the Duke gave an audience to
General Pletinckx, the Commandant of the Na-
tional Guard of Brussels. In the evening the King
and the Princes returned to Laekon.

The Second Chamber of the States-General of
the Hague, in its sitting of thel2th, adopted, by a
majority of 53 to 6, the budget of ways and means
for 1858. It afterwards unanimously passed the
bill allowing a credit of six millions to the War
Department, and then adjourned to February 9.

Advices from the Hague state that Colonel C.
F. van Meurs, director of the artillery, has just
been named Minister of War.

The Madrid journals of the 10th contain no poli-
tical news. The Bank of Spain had resolved to
coin 25,000,000 reals in silver.

" Letters from Vienna," says the German Jour-
nal of Frankfort, " state that the Porte intends to
grant a constitution to the Principalities ; but it
would evidently have no right to do any such thing.
It may propose plans of organisation, but it is the
Congress of Paris alone which can definitively de-
cide the question."

According to a Vienna letter in the Borsenhalle
of Hamburg, a despatch from Constantinople an-
nounces that M. de Thouvenel is shortly to pro-
ceed to Paris on leave.

TJJID MONETARY CRISIS IN MB
NORTH OF EUROPE.

HAMBURG, DEC. 13. —This is the first time, for
several weeks, that we have the pleasure to com-
municate a certain revival of that mercantile
spirit and confidence the want of which has
created such melancholy results among the trad-
ing community of this city, and the effects of
which will be severely felt for a considerable
time to come. The decision of the Senate, sanc-
tioned by the unanimous approbation of the Here-
ditary Burgesses, in yesterday's assembly, to use
the ten millions of banco so generously advanced
by Austria—and for which aid the Assembly gave
their public thanks to the Emperor—has ultimately
turned the scale, and all classes aro now quite satis-
fied that the Senate could not have acted with greater
wisdom than in upholding those strong pillars
of the mercantile community, Merck and Co.,
Gossler and Co., Goddofroy and Sons, Lutterroth
and Co., C. H. Donner, of Altona, with some
others, who have not only been keeping up their
own credit hitherto, but doing much to assist
others to effect the same purpose.
Accounts from Copenhagen, Stockholm, Chris-
tiana, and other towns in Denmark, Sweden, and
Norway, state that parties are doing their utmost
to meet the crisis, when called upon by their re-
spective Governments and other civic authorities.
At Stockholm some important failures have taken
place. The Government is expected to grant a
loan of some millions, to put a speedy stop, if pos-
sible, to any more.

NORTHUMBERLAND AND DURHAM
BANK.

NEWCASTLE, TUESDAY NIGHT.

A special meeting of the shareholders of the Nor-
thumberland and Durham District Bank was held
in the Royal Exchange Hotel, in this town, this
afternoon ; Mr. Ridley, M.P., in the chair. There
was a crowded meeting. Mr. W. B. Ogden, acting
director, read a report from the directors. It stated
that the calamity which had overtaken the esta-
blishment must unquestionably be referred in a
great measure to losses sustained by the bank, and
still more to the circumstance that many of the
securities were not of a nature to be readily con-
vertible. The directors were entitled to say, as
they confidently did, that the difficulties arising
from this cause had been realised from what other-
wise would have been a total loss. The valuable
and profitable business enjoyed by the bank also
allowed the appropriation, according to the an-
nouncements particularly contained in the reports
of 1848 49, and continued in the subsequent re-
ports, of a considerable sum to meet the current
yearly losses, and to operate towards the redemp-
tion of those of earlier dates. Though the bank
had sustained no general run, there bad been a
gradual but constantly prevailing abstraction of its
resources. The attention of the directors, aided
by a number of influential shareholders had been
given to what was one of the oldest and incom-
parably the largest inconvertible advance of the
bank—namely, that due from the members of a
large manufactUring establishment in the neigh-
bourhood. They were now enabled to announce
that after an allowance had been made for the high
rate of interest charged Mr. Jonathan Richardsoft
bad guaranteed the payment of nearly the whole of
this debt. (Applause.) Considering the respecta-
bility and resources of the partners, whole liability
remained unaffected, the shareholders might rea-
sonably consider the account as satisfactorily ar-
ranged. The repayments, from the magnitude of
the engagements, would unavoidably extend over a
somewhat lengthened period, but the amount would
bear interest at 5 per cent. per annum. The obliga-
tion thus entered into by Mr. Richardson was in-
consistent with his continuance as a director, and
his retirement was the consequence. Mr. Matthew
Robert Bigg's retirement arose from his being one
of the partners answerable for the debt. The mode
of meeting the engagements of the. bank had
formed the subject of the director's deliberate
consideration, while the collection of assets had
their best attention. They were aware, if they
hoped for indulgence from the creditors in point
of time, the latter had a right to expect that an
effort should be made to meet the present emergency.
With the concurrence of a considerable number of
the principal shareholders, the directors had an-
nounced, for these reasons, a call of 5/. per share,
and placed it with the meeting to confirm that
measure. It was impossible at this early period to
form a decided opinion as to the precise time within
which the settlement of claims on the bank might
be made. With reference to the affairs of the bank,
it was difficult to arrive at definite conclusions, the
result depending upon the value of assets, of which
a certain opinion could not at once be formed. So
far as the directors could form a judgment, though
calls were absolutely necessary in order to meet the
present demands, a small portion of the capital
might in the end be preserved. Further examina-
tion of the accounts has the full attention of the
board, who invited the appointment of a committee
of sl areholders to assist them. The directors had
considered, and would submit to the creditors, a
distinct proposition for the liquidation of their de-
mands at the earliest date the result of the assets
would allow, which object they were most desirous
to promote.
Report adopted without discussion.
Messrs. John Richardson and Jonathan Priest-
man wore elected directors, in the room of Messrs.
M. R. Biggs and Jonathan Richardson.
Messrs. R. Mackreth, C. Milner, E. Graham, J.
Joicy, and J. Priostman, jun., shareholders, were
nominated a committee to assist the directors in
investigating the affairs of the bank. It was ob-
jected that these were interested parties ; but after
a warm discussion the committee, with power to
add two to their number, was agreed to, with direc-
tions to report in three months.
The following resolution, after a somewhat ani-
mated debate, was adopted
That a call of 51. per share be now made payable in
14 days ; and' that all payments hitherto made under the
call made by the directors be considered a part of the
payment."
An amendment for deferring it was negatived.
A SHAREHOLDER inquired if the portion of capital
which in the report was hoped would be preserved
was paid-up capital ?
The CHAIRMAN replied in the affirmative.
Another SHAREHOLDER asked if more calls would
be made ?

The CHAIRMAN said no more calls could be made
without another special meeting.
Mr. J. G. DILSTON announced the formation of
a private bank on the premises, with Messrs.
Hawks, Si'lick, Grey, and Priestman, proprietors ;
three-fourths of the profit would form a fund for
division among suffering shareholders in the district
bank. (Cheers.)
In answer to questions,
Mr. PRIESTMAN said it was intended to resusci-
tate the district bank.
Mr. HAWKS stated that the proprietors
new bank would be glad to transfer their powers
latter
we
the district bank when the liabilities of 11 of
rstltioe
were discharged.
proprietors
of /tkii
ov ontoewo fuat hn aknoklso
stoodt
thheochairman and
proceedings.

SCIEI3 )ROUGE ELECTION.— The following were the
numbers at the clod© of the poll at 4 o'clock on Monday
afternoon, 813 officially declared :—Dent, :17:1 ; n way,ey,
280; majority for Dent, I.'B.