The Sun.
London, England, 1842-12-26 00:00:00

BYIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.
FRO) THE EVENING PAPERS OF SATURDAY.
GLOBE.—We shall not enter upon a controversy
as to the causes of the distress which desolates Paisley
—where out of a population of sixty thousand, eleven
thousand are daily dependent on the precarious, in-
sufficient, and necessarily decreasing supply afforded
by private benevolence. It would militate against
the design with which we bring this lamentable
exhibition before the eye of the public, were we
to make it the text of an argument, possibly
leading to a controversy, but little advantage-
ous to the general sympathy we would. fain create
for the sufferers. It may be, and probably is,
true, that the staple manufacture of Paisley has
ceased to be in demand, because of the change which
ever-varying fashion has undergone. Shawls of a
cheaper fabric, manfactured elsewhere, have super-
seded those long almost exclusively produced in Pais-
ley. With. distress, however deplorable and extensive,
caused by such fluctuations, the Corn-law, gay its
advocates,tan have nothing to do. But if want of
employment for the labouring population, occasioned
to a great extent by the restrictions imposed upon trade
by this and other modes of protecting class-interests
at the'expense of the community, had not inflicted
distress- and suffering upon every manufacturing dis-
trict in -the-kingdom, the unemployed work-people of
Paisley would have sought, and many of them would
have found, a market for their labour in other places ;
while those who remained would have obtained relief
by the benevolent efforts of the inhabitants. The
local funds would not have been taxed, as they have
been, beyond their powers of endurance ; and these,
if necessary, would have been increased by supplies
sent from other quarters, raised by those appeals
which are never made in cases of real necessity,
without being responded to with promptitude and
effect by those who possess the power of doing
good. But the widely-spread depression of trade in
the manufacturing districts has called for the utmost
efforts of the benevolent, who possess the means, to
mitigate the sufferings of the unemployed who dwell in
their own localities. The help which would have
been readily extended to Paisley by those resident in
Manchester, has been demanded by masses perishing
around them in their own town, or in those other
densely-populated places within a short distance of it.
The general distress of the country, which we charge
on the Corn and Provision-laws, has paralyzed the
powers of extended benevolence, by restricting its ex-
ertions to the localities within which its agents have
their own residence. Thus are the Corn-laws, and
their kindred enactments, chargeable, either imme-
diately or remotely, with national distress, and with
snch instances of local destitution as is presented by
the population of Paisley.
STANDARD.—There has rarely occurred a case
in which the exposure of deliberate and systematic
fraud has been so complete, as in the recent attempt
to excite discontent and alarm in the agricultural
class by the threat of a meditated change in the pro-
tecting laws. The enterprise was begun by a series
of misrepresentations of the speeches of noblemen and
gentlemen connected with the landed interest, and sup-
posed to be in the confidence of the Government—
misrepresentations as gross and audacious as ever
were employed to deceive the public. These misrepre-
sentations supplied texts from which the Whig-Ra-
dical journals expatiated, day by day, upon the un-
grateful and dishonest policy of the Government. At
length the artificers of fraud had wrought themselves
up to the pitch of confidence to dare anything, and
forth came the impudent lying announcement of the
Globe, that the graduated scale was forthwith
to be replaced by a fixed duty. It is not
to be wondered at that a scheme of false-
hood, so artful and so audacious, succeeded in
swaying the opinions of some of even our most in-
telligent and honest journals, particularly, if like
the Times, these journals had a bias in favour of
the change announced ; perhaps it is as little
astonishing that the pseudo-Conservative journal,
written and compiled in concert with the evening
organ of the Whig-Radical Ministry, affected to
give implicit credit to a story dishonourable to Sir
Robert Peel's Government, and even went beyond
its Whig-Radical playfellow in pretending to cast
doubt upon the contradiction of the lie, when
that, contradiction appeared by authority in the Stand-
ard. That this combined movement of Whig-Radicals
and mock Conservatives, which succeeded to some ex-
tent in imposing upon even honest and intelligent
journals, has proved at least temporarily injurious to
Sir Robert Peel's Government cannot be doubted. It
was designed for that purpose, and for that purpose
only ; and how could it fail of misleading simple-
minded men, who believe others as honourable and
candid as themselves, such as constitute the majority
of the agricultural class ?

MONEY MARKET and CITY NEWS.

FROM THE MORNING PAPERS OF SATURDAY.
TIMES.—One step has been taken towards the
enforcement of claims against the Peruvian Govern-
ment, which does not seem to be generally known.
Mr. Caldcleugh, lately agent for the Chilian creditors,
has, it appears, tendered his services to the Committee
of Spanish American Bondholders, and has offered to
repair to Lima. It is said that the Committee are
anxious to avail themselves of his services, but that a
question as to the mode of remuneration prevents the
arrangement from being concluded.
A correspondent, adverting to the fact as noted in
the printed share lists of dividends amounting to 171
per cent., and recently to 20 per cent., per annuin
being paid on the shares of a banking company in the
west of England, desires the question to go forth to
the public if such a rate of profit can really be made
on the transaction of regular banking business ? It
is incumbent, however, on the shareholders, more
particularly of the bahk in question, to probe this
matter thoroughly, since a great portion of the loss
and. ruin brought on by such investments has arisen
from their sitting down quietly without inquiry, and
from even taking the large amount of dividend as an
assurance that all was right. The notorious Biddle,
in his management of the United States Bank, was
enabled to cover half his delinquencies by the regular
payment of a 7 per cent. dividend, which suddenly
dropped to nothing, and the capital itself disappeared
-wittiequal rapidity. Shareholders become clamorous
andinquisitive only when a small dividend, or no di-
vidend at all, is paid—a time when in most cases the
evil is past all remedy. The directly contrary course
of proceeding would be more safe and of far greater

There were Mauritius papers received to-day to
the 15th of October, which speak of the embarrassed
state of the island, as far as money matters are con-
cerned, and the scarcity of negotiable bills for remit-
tances on England. No Treasury bills were offering
in the market, and private bills at 90 days' date, few
in number, were sold at 6to 7 per cent.
epyrearneciournm..
The. Price Current, on the subject of n
modation, says, " Gold and silver coin is becoming
daily more scarce, the difficulty of procuring bills on
India have caused the recent transmission hence to
Pondicherry of remittances in specie to the amount of
upwards of 100,000 dols." The crop of sugar ap-
pears to be arriving but slowly to market, since but
1,646 bags had been placed at auction. These fetched
prices ranging from 7 dols. 25c. to 8 dols. 5c., ac-
cording to quality. The vessels loading were the
Champion, for London, with 1,567 bags on board ;
the Fleetwood, for the Clyde, with 2,594 bags ; and
the. Richard Mount, for Launceston, with 830 bags.
Freights to London, Liverpool, ard Bristol, were 3/.
per ton.
The "Sufferer," who unfortunately converted his
Consols into Indiana Stock, blinded no doubt by the
prospect of a high rate of interest, is informed that the
last thing that was heard of the financial operations of
Indiana was the declaration of a Committee of Ways
and Means, that the dividends could not be paid with':
out taxation, with the additional remark that they
should not feel justified in recommending the imposi-
tion of taxes. It is now a long time since this fact
was made public, and it was commented on at its
appearance as a sign of the growing spirit of " re-
pudiation."
As we anticipated from the first, the omission ofl
all mention of the Treasury bondholders in Senor
Calatrava's financial exposition has awakened the
indignation of that most ill-used class of creditors,
who had every reason to believe when they took
that special description of securities called "Treasury
bonds," that they were receiving an actual equiva-
lent for specie, which was in fact paid to the
domestic creditors at the time of the issue. That
Senor Borrajo's offer to treat the Treasury bonds as
coupons, and admit them into the general conversion
of arrears of interest into the New Three per Cents.,'
waa highly displeasinc, to the holders, is well known.
They not only saw thatc' there was something contrary
to reason in a demand to consider a document bearing
5 per cent. interest in the same light as a coupon
which hears no interest at all, but had strong doubts
even of the legality of the proceeding, conceiving that
an agent who was authorised to convert arrears had
not a right to cancel one description of Stock and
issue_ another in its place by virtue of such authority.
In their opposition to these acts of the Spanish agent
they were encouraged by the hope that some plan for
their especial benefit would be brought forward by
Senor Calatrava, and hence when his declaration made
its. appearance their disappointment was extreme.
Already are they taking steps to remind both the
British and Spanish Governments of the nature of
their claims, and. the following letters have been ad-
',dressed. by the Chairman of their Committee to Lord
Aberdeen and Senor Calatrava
Tut CART, Or ABERDEEN.
Lord,—All your Lordship's kind solicitude
and valuable exertions and remonstrances in favour
of the holders of Spanish Treasury Bonds are, I la-
meat to state, up to this date wholly unproductive of
the result your Lordship had reason to expect, and
the said holders with so much sanguine confidence an-
ticipated.
" Senor Calatrava, in his financial exposition to
Cortes a few weeks since, abstained from making