The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1839-11-08 00:00:00

NEW YORK MONEY MARKET.

(From the Courier and Enquirer of October 17.)
WEDNESDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 18.—The appearance
of matters in Wall-street, becomes brighter and brighter
every day, and those who have hitherto entertained fears that
our bank would not be able to continue specie payments dur-
ing the suspension of those south of us, are now confident
of a happier result. Specie continues coming in even from
Canada, to which there is usually a drain, which is probably
to be attributed to the British Commissariat there, hav-
ing been supplied with dollars from Mexico. Again, an
opinion is gaining ground—and we may have reason to believe
it is correct,—that our bank may rely upon the assistance of
the general government should they need it. A wise measure
called for by the interests of the United States Treasury, as
well as by those of the country, and lastly, the State Bank
and Bank of America are offering to draw on England at 94
per cent., and their drafts are, we learn, not founded on
shipments of specie, but on open credits.

• (From the Courier and Enquirer of October 18.)
THURSDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 17.—Stock have de-
clined to-day. United State Bank Shares which opened at
83, fell to 78, but at the second board recovered 1 per cent.
Delaware & Hadson Canal Co. declined 2 to 21 per cent.
Bank of Kentucky 11 per cent. North American Trust and
Banking Co. 2 per cent. 3,500 dollars Treasury Notes were
sold at 1004- to 1001.
European Exchange is abundant. Besides the bills offer
ing by our banks, shippers of flour and the new crop of cotton
are drawing. The rate of sterling bills is from 91 to 10 per
cent. Little however has been done in exchange to-day.
To-morrow no doubt the transactions will be important for
the steam ship which sails on Saturday.
There is little doing in specie, and no change has taken
place in the rates. The packet ship Louis Phillippe, for
Havre, takes out 48,000 dollars in specie and besides, which
is deserving of notice, 300 barrels flour.

(From Ike Courier and Enquirer of October 19J

FRIDAY EVENING, OCTOBER lB.—the steamer -Liver-
pool, which sails this day, will convey to Europe the first in-
telligence of the suspension of specie payments by the
Pennsylvania Banks, and of many banks south of them, un-
less the London packet ship Wellington should arrive before
her, which is not improbable.
On the departure of the Wellington, the suspension alluded
to, was of such recent occurrence, that we contented our-
selves with simply noticing it. Sufficient time had not then
.elapsed to consider this event iu all its bearings, to reflect on
its many important consequences, and its probable effects ;
and even now, though we purpose to enter more fully on the
subject, we shall principally confine ourselves to a statement
of facts on which reliance may be placed, for we arc still too
much in the dark as to the immediate causes of the
catastrophe, to venture a decided opinion on the causes which
produced it, or the consequences which may be expected to
flow from it.

All the banks in the city of New York (with a couple of
trifling exceptions, not worthy of notice) continue to meet
their engagements in specie, and are amply able to meet their
circulation (which may be presumed to be much curtailed),
and their deposits in specie, if demanded. There has, how-
ever, been no run upon them for specie, nor, foreign ex-
changes being in our favour, and the balance of indebtedness
with other parts of the union being also in our favour, is it
well possible to conceive from what quarter any such demand
should come. If it should come, however, our banks, we
repeat, are prepared to meet it in specie from their own re-
sources, and should these by any possibility fail, they will
have the support of the federal government. This latter fact
may appear strange in foreign countries, to which the cry of
" divorce of bank and state, and sub-treasury," has reached ;
but it must be recollected that by law the federal government
is only permitted to receive its dues in specie, or the notes
of specie paying banks ; and if there are none of the latter
—and there would then assuredly neither be specie—fOrth-
coming, the government would be placed in a sorry predica-
ment. New York is, therefore, the only sure foothold left
in which the government can collect its revenues. But while
we speak thus confidently, nay advisedly, of the ability of the
New York banks, it cannot be denied that they maintain it
at the expense of the commerce of this city, which is suffer-
ing to an unparalelleled extent. This day has been, on
'change, one of the severest pressure. Money scarcely to be
had on any terms, however unquestionable the security of-
fered. 'lt may be, therefore, asked, is it not possible that
our banks, yielding to the necessity of the case, will be in-
duced to bring their credit to the support of individual cre-
dit, whereby they would increase their liabilities to an extent
which might endanger their continuance of specie payments.
We are very far from being sure that, in view of the general
interests of the country, it would not be better they encoun-
tered this risk ; but there is almost an insuperable obstacle
to their doing it.
By a law of the state of New York, on the suspension of
tpecie payments by any of our banks, the chancellor may in-
terfere, stop their business, and appoint a receiver of all their
assets; and it is understood that the chancellor (nothing
loath! according to custom) would be very willing to take
this responsibility upon himself, which, putting the interests
of the holders of stock in our banks out of the question,
would, to the mercantile community at large, be still more
disastrous than the course which the banks now pursue.
There is, however, another view to be taken of our posi-
tion, and a more favourable one, which is, that the banks
having felt their way, and found that there is no danger of a
demand upon them for specie from foreign countries, will be
able to afford the same facilities to mercantile enterprise
which they have done, in other times, without endangering
their actual position. That this state of things has arrived,
or will very speedily arrive. there are many indications. Bills
on Europe, to-day, were offering. under par, and could find
no buyers. When this state of our foreign exchanges is once
firmly established, we think the banks may be under no ap-
prehension, and that their interest then, as well as inclina-
tion, will lead them to afford that aid to the mercantile com-
munity it so much needs.

The banks in the Eastern States continue specie payments,
with the exception of those in Rhode Island, a manufacturing
district, which sells chiefly to the Southern States, and which,
depending entirely upon its..returns from that quarter, have
not, in view of the probable suspension of the banks there,"
thought proper to push their people at home. The Boston
banks seem much in the position of the New York banks—
able to meet in specie at present all the demands that may
come upon them, but fearful of increasing their liabilities to
an extent which would meet the usual requirements of the
commmtity. A meeting of merchants, it will be seen, has
been held in Boston, calling upon the banks to extend their
discounts; but it is not believed it will have any effect on
the determinations of the directors.

The banks south of us have all stopped specie payments,
as far as the intelligence of the suspension in Pennsylvania
has reached. Charleston (S. C.) is the furthest point at which
it has been received, and there all the banks, except the Bank
of Charleston and State Bank, had suspended. It is pretty
clear, that these will also follow, and it is not improbable we
shall announce the fact, in a postscript.
We disclaim, in the most pointed manner possible, any
pretensions to superior prudencetn the part of the banks of
New York, or better management or sounder capital than
the banks of our sister cities. Those who have suspended
there will, we are satisfied, eventually be as able to redeem
their liabilities as we are. The position of the U. S. Bank
of Pennsylvania will no doubt be looked at with peculiar in-
terest in Europe, and we hesitate not to assert our perfect
conviction that all its liabilities in Europe will be punctually
met. An exposition of the causes of its suspension has been
published in some of the papers, which it has been assumed
comes from an official source. We believe no such thing,
and we caution those interested against giving to it such
importance. The bank has put forth no statement of the
causes which led to its suspension. All are left to their own
conjectures. We may tlierefore venture ours, which is, that
it is the impossibility of disposing of the large amount of
state securities which it holds, that has led to its embarrass-
ments. -Largely involved as the bank was in our Southern
States, holding there an immense amount of debts—in the
ordinary course of things the most secure,—it has converted,
as the better alternative, individual debts into state debts,
calculating on the facility with which the latter were sold in
Europe ; but in this it has been disapeointed, by the unfor-
tunate consequences of the failure of the crops of grain in
the north of Europe. The value of the bank shares (the
debts, we repeat, are out of the question) depends thus upon
the solvency of our Southern and Western States; and of
this no one, in this country at least, entertains a doubt. In
looking at the prices current for all our public securities here,
foreigners must keep in view the high rates of interest now
paid for the use of money, and that it is to the interest
capitalists to sell at a loss even state securities or bank shares,
which pay but an interest at most of 7 per cent., when they
can invest their money here on security as good, which will
give them 25 per cent. interest. .

A great deal of curiosity was excited at Haydon-bridge, on
Saturday last, by the exhibition of a turnip of the white globe
kind, which was grown upon the estate of M. N. Parker,
Esq., of Hilltions, measuring one yard and 3 inches in cir-
cumference, and weighed 3111b.—Newcastle Journal.

UNITED STATES.

The following extracts comprise the most interesting ar
des of news in the papers brought by the Liverpool :

FIRE AT MOBILE.

(From the correspondence of the Courier and Enquirer.)
MOBILE, Ocr. 8, 1839.—Again has our ill-fated city been
visited by a most destructive conflagration. Another fire
broke out last evening between seven and eight o'clock, in
an untenanted house on the corner of Conception and Dau-
phin-streets, which the unwearied exertions of the citizens
for hours were unable to arrest. The wind was fresh from
the east, blowing directly across the city.
The only water to be obtained was from the river, which
was to windward of the fire, and as there Were not enough of
engines and hose to lead it around, the machines were entirely
useless—in fact, scarcely twenty hhds. of water were thrown
by all of them combined.• To say how many houses and
stores were destroyed is now an utter impossibility, but the
devouring element has left twelve large blocks, but so many
heaps of burning ruins.
Rising twenty houses were blown up by pottiti-, but as the
wind was very strong for the first four hours, that expedient
proved almost entirely unsuccessful, until near midnight,
when happily it became calm, and at Franklin-street the
progress of the flames was arrested. For the information of
those who are acquainted with the localities of Mobile, I will
give you the boundaries of the " burnt district." Every
building within Conception-street'on the east, Centre-street
on the south, St. Francis-street on the north, and Franklin-
street on the west, is levelled with the ground.
The amount of property destroyed, it is thought, will not
fail short of A MILLION AND A HALF OF DOLLARS, and
the misery and distress it has occasioned is truly heart rend-
ing. Not less than 1000 persons are made houseless, anti
almost every article of their property destroyed, even after
it was, as they thought, conveyed to a place of safety. •
So very rapid Was the progress of the fire, that what at one
moment was considered a secure spot, the next half hour was
but a heap of blazing ruins.
The buildings destroyed were, with but four or five excep-
tions, all of wood. Those on Dauphin-street were mostly
retail stores, and those on the other streets dwelling-houses.
The fire was evidently the work of an incendiary, as the
place in which it originated had been unoccupied for the last
six months. None of our wholesale dealers and commission
merchants suffered, as they are principally located on Com-
merce, Conte, and Water-streets, near the river.
Amidst all our calamities, I am happy to say that the
sickness is abating rapidly. The burials on the sth were only
1, on the 6th. 2, and on the 7th, 9 ; of these 9, the greater
part were old cases from the hospital.

SECOND FIRE IN MOBILE.
(From the New York Gazette of October 19.)
We gave yesterday morning a brief account of the fire in
Mobile, on the night of the 7th inst. Another most destruc-
tive conflagration took place on the following night, the par-
ticulars of which we find in the following letter, in the Com-
mercial Advertiser of last evening. The loss by the first fire
is estimated at a million and a half of dollars.
" MOBILE, Oct. 9, 1839.—Afiliction upon affliction crowds
upon this doomed city. When I wrote you yesterday, I in-
tended to have given you to-day a more detailed account of
the fire of the 7th (Monday night), which we thought the
most dreadful affliction ; but a new horror has cast that, for
the present, into temporary oblivion. Last night the Man-
sion-house was fired in an unoccupied room on the third
storey, in a remote part of the building, and in such a way
as to give it a full sweep along the whole building. It suc-
ceeded, and the consequences are awful. While I write (at
8 A. as.), the Mansion-house is literally destroyed—the un-
furnished Government-street house is a heap of ruins—the
Merchants' and Planters' Bank (a fine structure, which cost
250,000 dollars)' is nearly down—one of the market-houses
is burned—and the whole range of buildings opposite, from
Court to Government-street, is wholly destroyed. Loss in-
calculable, and the certainty that- it is the work of villains,
deepens the horror of the scene.
Late in the night, while the Mansion-house and Bank
were in a blaze, and the street crowded with a thousand men,
a daring attempt was made to fire the row of brick buildings
on Royal-street, opposite the bank. A blazing barrel was
found filled full of combustible matter, under the eaves of
the house, in the garret, where, had it not been discovered
by accident, it must have enveloped the whole row in
flames in a few minutes, and added many thousands to the
loss. • It is not even sure now that it is safe, though I think
the fire will not extend much farther. The guard-house and
mayor's office were on fire, but it was put out. I write in
great haste, not knowing whether this will go-by mail to-day,
as the post-office is destroyed ; but all the papers and letters
will, I believe, be saved. I may not have another opportu-
nity ,c write to-day, and have snatched a moment to scrawl
this. We are, as you may suppose, in a state of utter con-
sternation. Insolvency, and pestilence, and fire, have been
visited upon us in such a rapid and alarming succession, that
we are in a state of stupefaction.
" Every body grieves for Callum, of the Mansion-house,
almost as a brother. Never did a quiet and modest citizen,
such as he is, win more univessal affection than he has done
during the season. his purse has been open to the sick and
needy, at all times, without stint or question—his house has
been their resort for food, medicine, and encouragement,
during the pestilence ; and only last night, the night selected
for consigning him to utter destruction, his spacious house
was given up, in part, to many whom the fire of Monday
night had made houseless women and children, and he was
watching by the bedside of a dying friend. And the fiends
selected him, at such a time, as the object of their particular
atrocity !