The Sun.
London, England, 1844-11-29 00:00:00

THE AMERICAN PAPERS.

At this juncture, when the people of the United
States have just given their decision upon the re-
spective merits of the contending political parties in
that republic by electing Mr. Polk, a summary view
of the results of previous similar elections may be in-
teresting. First, however, we will show the mode of
proceeding laid down for the Presidential electors.
They meet at the capital (Washington), and elect
from their own body a president and secretary, to the
former of whom the Secretary of State delivers three
lists of the names of the electors, signed by the Go-
vernor, and sealed with the seal of each State. The
electors then vote by ballot for President and Vice-
President, who must belong to different States. Dis-
tinct lists of the voters for President and Vice-Presi-
dent must be made, with the number for each, which
must afterwards be signed, certified, and delivered to
a messenger appointed to deliver the same to the Pre •
sident of the Senate, at the seat of Government. The
compensation of the electors is the same as allowed to
the Members of the Legislature for travelling the
same distance, and attending the same length of time.
In case of no choice being effected by the electors (the
number necessary to elect is 275), as instanced in the
election of 1824, the House of Representatives (we
believe) gives the decision. The following view of
the results of former Presidential elections shows the
votes given for each candidate from 1796 to the elec-
tion of 1840. Washington was unanimously chosen
the first President, and was inducted into office on
the 30th of April, 1789, and he continued in for
eight years. For the third Presidential term the
votes were as follows :

1796.
For President. For Vice-President.
John Adams received 71 I T. Pinckney received . 58
Thomas Jefferson ... 68 Aaron Burr ... ... 50

MONEY MARKET and CITY NEWS
FROM THE MORNING PAPERS OF THIS DAY.

CITY, THURSDAY EVENING.
TIMES.—The following notice was issued this after-
; noon by the Bank of England :
" Bank of England, Nov. 28, 1844,
" The Governor and Company of the Bank of Eng-
land are ready until further notice to receive applications
for loans upon the deposit of approved bills of exchange
not having more than six months to run, Exchequer
Bills, and East India Bonds, such loans to be repaid on
or before the 17th of January next, with interest at the
rate of 2i per cent. per annum, and to be for sums of not
less than 2,000/. each."
The above does not differ from former notices, except
that the interest is 2i, instead of 3 per cent. ; ut it is
' tolerably evident that the expectation of such a reduc-
tion has prevailed in the Money-market for several days
past, and that to this is to be ascribed the recent rise and
great firmness of the Consol-market. The Directors in
this case are pursuing that course which they have
already intimated it was their intention to do, of forcing
business on such terms as the state of the Money-
market would permit, considering themselves quite as
much in the character of private as in that of chartered
bankers, It will effectually prevent that rise in the
value of money which befure was generally anticipated
as likely to take place.
We have received a letter from a Correspondent con-
taining some queries respecting the Bank returns, and
the position of that Company. The first is—" The
Bank
,having reduced their Government securities to
13,539,775/, as stated in the last return, which is nearly
half a million less than the securities required as the
basis of their issue, how is it that the 14,000,000/ still
appears to their credit in the issue department ?"
In answer to this, it is sufficient to point out that the
14,000,000/. in the issue department is formed of
11,015,0001. original debt due from the Government to
the Bank, and which is so expressed in the return, and,
added to this, 2,984,9001. of securities to make up the
amount of 14,000,0001 This latter small sum probably
consists of Exchequer Bills or funded stock. These•
form the basis of the issue of notes according to the last
Act, and they have nothing whatever to do with the
amount of 13,539,7751, which is the amount which the
banking department, and not the issue department, holds
of Government securities, and which varies according to
the amount which the Bank has for investment. Thus,
when the public deposits on the 12th of October were
upwards of 8,000,0001, the Bank had upwards of
16,000,000/. invested in Government securities ; and
now that after the payment of the dividends the public
deposits have been reduced to below 4,000,0001., the Go-
vernment and other securities held by the Bank have
been diminished in a corresponding proportion, and this
has taken place, as was recently observed, without mate-
rially altering the amount of notes in circulation ; the
difference in which at the two periods above alluded to is
below 300,0001

The fact, therefore, being, as is apparent both from
,he wording of the Act and the nature of the returns,

that the 14,000,000/. in the circulation department is
totally distinct and separate from the item headed " Go-
vernment securities," in the banking department, the
next query of our Correspondent, regarding the neces-
sity of altering the amount of the first of these sums in
the return, in proportion as the second varies, does not
require further answer.

The last of his inquiries, as to " whether the dead
weight annuity is not held by the Bank of England as
security for a portion of the debt of 11,015,0004 due to
them by the public ?" appears to require no other reply
than a reference to the Act, and the periodical returns.
The 11,015,0004 is put down in the circulation depart-
ment distinctly by itself as the " Government debt ;"
while in the banking department the Government secu-
rities held by the Bank are explicitly stated to include
the " dead weight" annuity ; and it is well known to all
who are also in the least degree acquainted with the
subject, that the two transactions are perfectly distinct
in their nature, and owed their origin to two dissimilar
transactions at very different periods, the one taking its
rise from money advanced to Government at the estab-
..

lishment of the Bank, and becoming increased by subse-
quent additional loans ; and the " dead weight" annuity
being a sum paid for a limited period of years to the
Bank in compensation for money advanced to Govern-
ment after the close of the last war.

POST.—The Bank, it will be recollected, have, since
the appearance of their September notice, been giving
money on bills at the rate of two-and-a-half, and on
notes at the rate of three per cent. ; so that there is in
tho present announcement less to remark upon than
would at first view be supposed. The exchanges con-
tinue favourable to this country, and, lately, the institu-
tion has been recovering a portion of its treasure. There
was consequently no motive for making money dearer
by an advance in the charge for interest. With respect
to an increase in the stock of bullion, however, it may
be observed that no importance is to be attached to the
matter. The accession of 100,0001. more or less was
owing, no doubt, to the purchase last week of an impor-
tation of half a million of dollars from Mexico or else-
where, and this shows the uselessness of making compa-
risons of returns issued at intervals of a single week.
The Bank returns require to be looked at quarterly, or
perhaps rather oftener. An examination of the items
upon this system will enable bankers and others to see
what is the governing policy of the Board of Directors,
and what the course of the foreign exchanges. On the
whole, the reduction of the Bank rate to-day has been
regarded as a measure by no means unfavourable to
speculative enterprise.

SUN.—The arrangement of the Account has produced
a further rise this afternoon in the value of Consols, which
close at 100.1 for Money, and at 101 to f for the 17th
January ; New Three-and-a-Quarter per Cents. were
1021 ; and the Three per Cents 99/ to 100.
The Foreign Bonds drooped a little. Spanish Five
per Cents. were 23/ to 24 ; and the Three per Cents.,
35+ to i ; Portuguese Converted, 53f ; Mexican Ac-
tives, 35f to 361 ; Belgian, 101 f ; and Dutch Two-and-
a-Half per Cents., 62/ to 63*.
The additional transactions in Railway Shares have
been these :—Cambridge and Lincoln were f to .1 ;
Great Western, 66{ ; Birmingham, 119 ; London and
York, 1/ ; Midland, 7f ; Newcastle and Darlington,
37 to 36; Richmond and West-End Junction, 4-; South •
Eastern, 4-1; Ditto, New, 7k 7 ; York and North Mid-
land, 50f to 50 ; Ditto, New, 25f ; Ditto, Selby Scrip,
46f ; Ditto, Extension, 13 ; Boulogne and Amiens, 2+ ;
Orleans and Vierzon, 9f ; Ditto and Bordeaux, 41 to 5;
Paris and Lyons, 1; Paris and Orleans, 21i ; and Ditto
and Rouen, 19* to * premium. Birmingham and Glou-
cester have been 5; Direct Northern, ; Eastern Coun-
ties, ! ; Blackwall, 9i ; Greenwich, 3k ; Midland and
Birmingham and Derby, 21 ; and West London, 17
discount.

DR. KEENAN'S SYSTEM OF
PHYSIOLOGY.
Last night Dr. Keenan concluded his short course of
lectures at the Western Literary and Scientific Institu-
tion on his new system of Organic Chemistry, which at-
tributes the nervous energy to the generation of electri-
city in the lungs. In applying his theory to practice he
attempted to show the peculiar actions of various kinds
of food and air on the animal strength and spirits, and
he illustrated his opinions by reference to the constitu-
tion and temperaments of the inhabitants of different
climates. The vivacity of the French he attributed to
the dryness of the air of France, and he contrasted the
energy of the Affghans with the lassitude of the Ben-
galese, in exemplification of the different effects of dry
and moist air. The humidity of the air in England
was, he affirmed, the cause of our sombre dispositions,
but though the climate of Ireland is at least equally hu-
mid, he dilated on the great cheerfulness of the people,
notwithstanding their potatoe diet, in confirmation of his
theory—the effect in their case being attributed to their
more frequent exposure to the air. In this instance, as
in many others during the course of Dr. Keenan's lec-
tures, his facts either did not bear out his theory, or
they had little relation to it. lie dwelt much, and with
great truth, on the bad effects of cultivating the mind so
exclusively in children, without sufficiently attending to
their physical condition ; but admitting, as probably
most of his audience would, that the want of air and
exercise is prejudicial even to mental development, it
does not follow, as a necessary consequence, that the air
inhaled generates electricity, and that the size of the chest
indicates health merely because it shows there is a large
galvanic battery in action within. Dr. Keenan regretted
that the limited time of these lectures would not allow
him to enter into details, and that much of his theory
might therefore be considered as assumption without
proof ; but if the great principle were admitted that the
nervous influence is caused by electricity generated in
the lungs, all the lesser effects might be deduced there-
from. He was loudly applauded at the conclusion of the
lecture.

LIVING IN CARMARTIIEN.—It is satisfactory to us
to know that the wages, added to the privileges of the
working classes in this vicinity, are superior to those of
the same class in many parts of England, while they
have house-rent and provisions much cheaper. It may
be interesting to our distant readers to learn the prices
of the luxuries of living in Carmarthen ; our London
friends in particular will be astonished at finding that in
the market last Saturday might be bought—fine geese
at 2s. each; a fine young turkey, 3s. 3d. to 3s. 6d. ; a
pair of ducks, 2s. 2d. to 2s. 6d. ; and fowls from ls. to
Is. 6d. a couple. Our poultry is certainly not so large
as that from Norfolk, but for succulency and delicacy of
flavour it is not to be surpassed. Beef, mutton, and
pork are to be bought at 4d. and W. ; picked joints of
the finest meat, sd. We have a most plentiful year of
potatoes ; they may be bought, fine and gocd, at Is. the
bushel, 60 to 65 pounds to the bushel. Fresh butter,
26 ounces to the lb., at Is. 6d. Eggs are now 24 a shil-
ling, in the summer they are 36. Good heavy oats, 40
pounds to the bushel, are at Is. lid. to 2s. Cheap, how-
( via, as all this appears to be, we are quite outdone in
Jersey, which, being a free port, is enabled to import
duty free from Britany, one of the cheapest provinces of
France, provisions, wines, &c., at very low rates. There
(in Jersey), a turkey is 2s. to 35.; ducks, ls. 6d. a pair ;
gunpowder tea, ss. per lb. ; doube refined sugars, 4id.
to 6id. per lb. ; and Brazil sugar, 3d. Very good port
and sherry at 245. the dozen, claret at IBs. to 24s the
dozen, brandy, 4s, the gallon ; very fine and old do.,
is. ; Hollands, 2s. 10d. to 3s. 4d. the gallon. The prices
are still further reduced by the English shilling passing
for thirteenpence. Add to all this, there are no taxes,
and there is not a toll-bar in the island.—Carmarthen
Journal.

GAS EXPLOSlON.—Yesterday afternoon, about
four o'clock, a man, named Edward M'Donald, 50 years
of age, in the employment of the Equitable Westminster
Gas Company, ilorseferry-road, entered an excavtion in
the Vauxhall-road with a lighted candle in his hand, for
the purpose of examining the various joints of the main
gas-pipe, when presently a quantity of gas, which was
escaping from a small aperture in the pipe,ignited, and
exploded with a loud report, and before Al‘Donald could
effect his escape his clothes caught fire, and his face and
hands were frightfu7 scorched. and burnt. Ile remains
in a state of great su enug.