The Sun.
London, England, 1845-11-22 00:00:00

ECUADOR BONDHOLDERS.

Yesterday a meeting of the holders of Ecuador bonds (for-
merly Colombian) was held at two o'clock, at the London
Tavern, to consider the propriety of accepting an offer, made
by Colonel Wright, on behalf of the Government of Ecuador,
in liquidation of loans contracted in 1822 and 1824, when that
State formed, along with Venezuela and New Grenada, the
republic of Colombia.
Mr. Robinson was unanimously called to the chair.
The CHAIRMAN opened the business by reading Col. Wright's
letter, containing the proposal which appeared in all the
Tuesday's papers. Having done so, the Hon. Gentleman
went into an explanation of the circumstances which had
led to the present meeting. The committee had received
the proposal from Colonel Wright, and in consequence they
had thought it the wisest course to call the bondholders
together to take their sense of the proposal. As a
means of understanding the capacity of the State of
Ecuador, Colonel Wright had supplied him with a state-
ment of the revenue and expenditure for several years.
The following is an abstract of the statement in question :
In 1839, revenue 1,007,480 dolls. ; expenditure 1,290,128
; deficit 282,648 dolls. 1840, revenue 870,316 dolls. ;
expenditure 1,084,713 dolls. ; deficit 214,397 dolls. 1841,
revenue 772,042 dolls. ; expenditure 1,230,569 dolls. ; de-
ficit 458,327 dolls. 1842, revenue 703,369 dolls. ; expen-
diture 1,231,208 dolls. ; deficit 527,839 dolls. 1843, revenue
1,154,236 dolls. ; expenditure 1,218,043 dol. ; deficit 63,807 dol.
He was anxious, seeing that a great increase had taken place
in the revenue from 1842 to 1843, to know if there had been
a similar improvement in 1844. In order to learn this he
had written to Colonel Wright for information, but ke (the
Chairman) had not received any answer, arising, no doubt,
from that gentleman being out of town. Looking at the
proposal made in all its bearings, he was not disposed to ac-
cede to the terms. They were promised only a
sixth of their debt, though it appeared there was
no security for even that, the expenditure being greater
than the' revenue. Beyond the one per cent. per annum
premised, there was no likelihood of increase, unless they
could manage to send out from 5,000 to 25,000 persons as
emigrants, as they were promised 1 per cent. for every 5,000
persons sent out; but that proposal was not likely to be
realised, as there was a great objection to South America as a
field of emigration. But even were that piacticable, which he
did not think it was, they would require at least 120,0001. as
a fund to carry that into effect. He left it in their hands to
deal with the proposition as they 'thought fit. He could
not, however, advise them to accept the terms; the sum was
so paltry that he was almost ashamed to name it to them.
Whether the rejection of the proposal would lead to better
terms, as had been stated by a writer in the Times the other
day, he could not say, as he was ignorant of the resources
and means at the disposal of Ecuador to merit its obli-
gation.
After a brief discussion, in which the strongest feeling
was expressed against the proposal, a resolution was put and
carried, with but two dissentients, that it be rejected. It
was also agreed that the committee be empowered to take
measures to effect more favourable terms for the bondholders,
and that the assistance of the British Government be re-
quested to forward their negotiations.
The meeting then broke up.

BANK OF ENGLAND.
(From last Night's Gazette.)
An Account, pursuant to the Act 7th and Bth of Victoria,
cap. 32, for the Week ending on Saturday, the 15th day of
November, 1845.