The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1847-10-05 00:00:00

FINANCIAL AND COMMERCIAL SUMMARY

The pressure upon the money market has increased
during the week ; and the occurrence of failure after
failure has completely banished confidence from amongst
commercial men. Meanwhile, to add to our difficulties
and to profit by them seems to be the only object with
the directors of our national establishment, whose con-
duct is attracting a large share of public attention. The
announcement last week of their determination to refuse
all advances upon Exchequer Bills, is regarded as equiva-
lent to a proclamation of its impotence for all useful pur-
poses, and is more calculated to do injury than any pre-
vious step of that incompetent body. The writer of the
City article of the Times, of Saturday, remarks, with
justice, of the harrassing course pursued by the Bank :
" The natural results of the measure adopted by the
Bank of England on the 2nd of September have taken
place to-day, and the city has witnessed another panic,
consequent on the proceedings of that institution. Four
weeks back, in the face of a steady decrease of their re-
serve of notes, notice was given that advances would be
made on stock, Exchequer-bills, and bills of exchange, at
5 per cent., being a reduction of full one-half per cent.,
upon the rate then current in the market. The inevitable
consequences of this plan of reducing the price of their
commodity in proportion as the demand for it was increas-

was pointed out previously to the Bank-made panic of
April last. In both cases, however, experience was neces-
nary to enlighten the directors, and in both cases also the
penalty arising out of this necessity has been paid by the
public. Instead of husbanding its resources at the time
when, owing to the absence of absolute alarm in the money-
"ket "-+ - •tunit'

mark ~ a quiet oppor. cy is presented for it to do so,
with a view of securing the means of offering aid when a
time of emergency shall arise, and of thus checking the evil
of momentary fear, the Bank of England is always the
first in the field to add to the terrors of any existing
crisis. At periods when the slightest show of liberality,
even for four and twenty hours, would at once serve to
check the vague apprehensions which the occurrence of
two or three large failures is sure to create (and which
apprehensions in their effect are far more dangerous than
any real event that could possibly happen), the Bank is
always in embarrassment, and, so far from protecting
others, is seen to be engaged in sudden and desperate
efforts to protect itself; thus giving the tone to every
minor establishment, and causing universal timidity to
ensue when everything depends upon the boldness of
self-possession. Up to yesterday there was an all per-
vading cautiousness in the money-market, but there was
no panic. The Bank, however, have begun to act, and
now there is general contusion.

them selve
IVPI3It a nri

For these evils, however, the public have only to thank
The Gazette returns are published once a

leapen its advances, the
returns in question gave a warning which the public were
not bound to disregard merely because it was lost upon
the Bank directors. Week by week since that time the

samewarning has

,een repeatec

with growing urgency

panic nas oeen arwen to-nay wouta nave oeen regarded
only as the wholesome result of an attempt to regulate
business in total defiance of its commonest principle.
When the Bank returns in the Gazette shall be taken at
their true value, and be adopted as the guides of all com-
mercial men, and when the shifting measures of the Banl
Court shall also be taken at their

true value, and be
utterly disregarded, the money-market will then be wholly
freed from the danger of violent convulsions. Each
weekly change will be noticed, and a gradual course will
be foreseen ; there may be pressure of the severest kind,
but it will never be coupled with: the fatal, and, to a
people priding themselves upon their mercantile sobriety,
humiliating exhibition of helpless fright."
Under these circumstances it was to be anticipated that
a serious reduction in the prices, of public securities would
be experienced ;_and accordingly, on Friday, consols were

down-at 841- sellers. In other descriptions of property,
however, the depreciation is still greater, if indeed it can
be said that such a thing as a fixed price exists. Shares
are almost unsaleable; and in every branch of commerce
transactions are altogether of a retail character, the most
substantial houses hesitating to incur liabilities. It is re-
marked, in justification of this caution, and as evidence
that there is something rotten in our monetary system,
that the majority of the houses which have been driven to
suspend payments ought never to have been under such a
necessity, being perfectly solvent, and previously un-
tainted in credit.

The return from the Bank of England for the week
ending the 25th of September, gives the following results
when compared with the previous week :
Public Deposits £9,447,851 Increase .. £698,673

Other Deposits 7,484,042 Increase 298,969
Rest 4,043,012 Increase .. 22,134
On the other side of the account :
Government securities£ll ,636,343 the same as before.

Other securities .... 20,007,232 1ncrea5e1,266,747
Notes unemployed .. 4,112,290 Decrease 160,650
The amount of notes in circulation is £18,078,585, being
an increase of £146,120; and the stock of bullion in both
departments is £8,782,703, showing a decrease of £97,787
when compared with the preceding return.
The movement to arrest the reckless course which is
being pursued by the railway companies, has been greatly
advanced by a most influential meeting held in Manches-
ter on Thursday, at which a very judicious media via was
suggested. The stoppage, by legislative interference or
otherwise, of all railway construction, is felt to be impos-
sible, as calculated to plunge a large portion of our work-
ing classes into difficulty. But works not as yet com-
menced with, and for which calls are making, may be
postponed without any difficulty, and their various boards
of direction, engineers, lawyers, and secretaries, furnished
with a year's otium cam dipuitate, with or without their
pay, as the subscribers may determine. That some such

course should be taken, is clear from the astounding fact
that in the:face of the present unprecedented pressure upon
the money market, and of the total inability of share-
holders to transfer their property to parties capable of
meeting them without enormous satrifices, the calls an-
nounced in the present month amount to the enormous
sum of £3,493,717.

Our cotton market is operated upon by the pressure
for money and the decreasing consumption ; and not-
withstanding the rather unfavourable account of the state
of the crop brought by the Caledonia, we have to notice
a further decline of one farthing per lb. on all descrip-
tions. The sales for the week were 21,160 bales, of
which 800 were on speculation, and 2,024 for exportation.
The imports for the week were 12,705 bales. The stock
is now 399,690 bales, against 653,190 last year, showing a
decrease of 253,800. This is, however, a more favoura-
ble statement than was shown a few weeks ago. The
total crop of the United States for the past year is now
made up at 1,778,651 bales, which, with the stocks on
hand, at the ports at the commencement of the year,
107,122 bales, makes an available supply of 1,885,773
bales. Of this quantity the American consumption was
427,967 bales, having nearly doubled itself within the last
ten years.

The market for manufactured goods is almost at a
stand-still, and further reduction of working is going on.
We take the following description from the circular of
Messrs. Mc. Nair, Greenough, and Co.. dated Septem-
ber 30:— _ _

" The gloomy and unfavourable condition of business
matters, as indicated in our last circular, bseomes com-
paratively unimportant, when viewed in reference to the
actual position of affairs during this month,—a period
which, for its intense severity, will be long remembered.
We may endeavour, but it is utterly impossible, to make
parties at a distance intelligibly acquainted with the influ-
ence which a series of disastrous tidings has had upon
this locality. Failures, we believe, exceeding £5,000,000,
and many of them bearing directly o
cotton trade, could not

be expected to happen without
aggravating very materially the state of the money market,
and consequently rendering discount facilities more dif-
ficult of attainment. But for a perceptible improvement
in our home trade, and the existence of a very good de-
mand consequent upon that improvement, during the last
three weeks, we should have had to report something
approaching very near to a suspension of operations in
cloth. As it is, the business done is of a limited extent.
Some descriptions of yarns have, however, experienced a
fair demand. Stocks of both cloth and yarns are gene-
rally heavier than they were a month ago, though to no
material extent. Prices of both must, in many cases, be
considered perfectly nominal, and be determinable only
by the situation of the producer, and the character and
extent of the operation submitted to him. Though cot-
ton has declined about lid. per pound, from the highest
point, the position of spinners and manufacturers is not
essentially improved by it. Yarns and goods having also
given way, with a certainty of a further downward ten-
dency. The accounts by the overland mail, though far
from favourable, are considered to be as good as might
have been expected. We believe that we were amongst
the first to predict that bad consequences would result
from the immense and indiscriminate shipments which
were being made to India and China. No regard appears
to have been paid to the legitimate wants of these impor-
tant markets ; on the contrary, supplies have been sent
forward as if consumption were boundless, and the sources
of payment in return inexhaustibly valuable. The last
intelligence is painfully confirmatory of our views. We
may notice in conclusion, that the last American steamer,
which arrived in Liverpool yesterday, has brought a fair
amount of orders, and with them the agreeable intelli-
gence that the matters in dispute between the United
States and Mexico may now reasonably be expected to be
soon adjusted. Such, we hope, will be the case ; if so, a
valuable market will again be open to us.
The Corn Markets continue to exhibit a downward
progress in prices, Liverpool exhibiting the greatest
amount of firmness, which is accounted for by the fact of
no heavy importations being announced as on the way to
this country. With respect to the prospect for the coming
year, we quote the following remarks from the circular of
Mr. Robert Proctor, of Liverpool :
" Assuming the year to terminate, as regards the Corn
trade, with the month of September, the following tabular
statements of the imports and exports of grain, &c., into
and from this port may not be without interest

Average Yearly Import of Grain, &c., into Liverpool, for 12
Years, ending—
WHEAT
I Coast-
wise &z

FLOUR

I.
CORN

Ireland Col. For. Brit. For. Col. For.
Qrs. Qrs. Qrs. Sacks. Qrs. Qrs. Qrs.
Aug. 31, 1841292054 23400 170442 192087 175019 36022 ..
Sep. 30, 1842172365 24384 653637 65947 180505 221939
do. 1843125847 8934 76852 155507 10931 79680 ..
do. 1844223502 22083 240227 259556 155200 226833 ..
do. 1845295179 3413 65972 416903 41886 136086 37918
do. 1146194501 49038 287451 264983 877659 246276 192026
do. 1847130761 55006 519159 79948 1979491 410806 1171608
Exports for 12 Months, ending 30th Sept. 1845, 1846, and 1847.
Wheat. Flour. Indian Corn.
Cst. & Irel. For. Coast & Irel. For. Irel. & Coast
Ending 30th Qrs. Qrs. Sacks. Brls. Brls. Qrs.
Sept. 1845. 15627 8567 17508 30510 45636 16102
Ditto, 1846. 30510 .. 16603 159712 11671 144106
Ditto, 1847. 33115 4901 43887 641278 47611 539667

Oct. 5, 1547.

Imports of Indian corn meal, during this year,
barrels ; and exports 161,999 barrels.—On reference 0,
the above details it will be seen that the great excess 01
importation has been in American flour and Indian rel.
Comparatively large as the quantities of these articles ni
appear, they have done little more than satisfy the gr,e4
demand upon this port, and within the last two Won'
there has been very little accumulation of stock.
Lat-
terly, however, the supplies from abroad have been uncoit
monly heavy. There are no available means of correc,97.,
ascertaining the stocks held here, and in offering the
430,543
lowing quantities, I believe them to be a fair approxini:
tion at the present time :—Wheat, 120,000 qrs. ; ad:
400,000 brls. ; Indian corn, 300,000 qrs. ; Indian2oo,ooo brls. Of oats, barley, beans and peas, the qua;
titles are very moderate, and altogether are probablyon_A,
100,000 qrs. Of sack flour and oatrneal we have searcr',,
any here. The fluctuation in value, within the last tivelv"
months, has been important. Selecting three of that}
principal, articles import, American wheat, Western eon,.
flour, and Indian corn, I find the maximum and
of price of the best samples to be as follow :—Wheat, Pe
701bs, May 18, 14s 6d ; September 3,7 s Gd. W. C. Flout
per barrel, May 18, 49s Od ; September 3,25 s 6d ; India
Corn per 4801bs. Feb. 9,75 s • Aug. 17, 30s.—There seem
to be very little difference dopinion as to the productifei;
ness of the harvest in the United Kingdom. Barlec
probably the greatest crop we ever grew. Wheat, on
whole, has been good, and something better than 135
year, but the quality is not generally so fine. Oats prole
a good fair crop. Beans and peas are deficient probab
fully one-third. The potato disease is again spoken ci;
but as of a less destructive character than the last
years. There is, however, only one general opinion tin!:
a considerably less breadth of land was planted with tbl„
esculent last season ; the present price is about 100 Per
cent. over that of ordinary seasons. Notwithstanding
that a satisfactory result may be anticipated from the late
'on
harvest, the present and prospective rate of consul-1111J a
is evidently greater than it. is calculated to supply, °/1.,t
there can be little doubt that in the course of the ne,.,
twelve months large importations of bread-stuffs frc':.
abroad will be required, and obtained at moderate 1104
as the Continental and American harvests are reported °
even more favourably than our own."

FAMILIES OF CHOISEUL, PRASLIN, AND

SEBASTIAN'

(From Fraser's Magazine.)
i of
Scarcely a name is better known in the capita/5 .0
Europe than that of Horace Sebastiani ; but few tl?,'"
are in England, though he was for a considerable time
. _ _ _ _
le details of

Jondon, acquainted

with t

. -
particular biography.
shapedH service.
o raeegd
Sebastiani was born some 72 or 73 years ago, in Corsicl'
where his father exercised the very useful, but not tereti
distinguished trade of a cooper. The Sebastiani's
that they were allied to the family of Buonaparte but
this as it may, young Horace entered the army in his tit
year, in 1792. By his brilliant conduct at Arcola,
obtained the rank of chef d'escadron, and at Verona tit
of colonel, from Moreau. Buonaparte, on his return frat';
Egypt, was powerfully seconded by Sebastiani. With ttt
regiment of dragoons he commanded he greatly influenn
the fortunate issue of the 18th Brumaire, and from t"'"
moment did not cease to enjoy the favour of the EmPe
His master was prompt to see that he possessed not tike4
science for a great tactician, such as Davoust, Snehett
Soult,. or St. Cyr ;—the genius or coup d'evil of a gr,e"
captain, such as Massena, Hoche, or Ney. He was 611,,
aware that he was as little likely to shine as a gr'S,
politician, like Cambaceres or Talleyrand. But that;
was a sort of middle career—half military, half diplotaa_t2A
—in which, he wisely judged, that he might do g
iagitnenhEdcienfie
igdemvdroeaiwddceaedfdfillruedollsfiiitgzghrneua,arccteheul.eferuvelehH:aanideshasasgtnnhedadesnfloaumitCerhse:ar suan_fanaidhe acde
not el"
cwereeedi n look (flea°
parfait cavalier. The malicious wits of that day Us A
to say he would preserve his graceful dignity if sewed
up in a sack, and his agility if chained to a wash-tub. I_l'l
long air gave a poetic harmony to his Raphaeleque ben,
and it was impossible for women to resist so sentimer,
and seducing a dragoon. The Bishop of Malines,stimag''
the Abbe de Pradt, used to say, that if Buonaparte
the Jupiter, Massena the Mars, and Soult the Vulcant/i0
the revolution, Sebastiani was assuredly the Cupid.
countryman,-and, as Sebastiani says, his relative, deteui,
n
mined to turn this Corsican comeliness to account. 13,
attitudes fis eili
first, it was necessary to marry the tnvied, but unaq
Colonel ; and a rich heiress of one of the most illustried
houses of Normandy, which had given two marshal's :ter
numerous lieutenant-general to France, the only daag je
o
of the Duke of Coigny was selected. Mademoislot,
Coigny was woed and won after the battle of Austerw,
and soon after their nuptials, General and Madame Seota
tiani sa out for Constantinople, where the fortodor,
countryman of the Emperor was appointed ambassa sot
At Constantinople, Madame Sebastiani died, in the 11°,say
of her age, in 1807, in giving birth to the unfortunate a
whose sad fate has been recently deplored. DeeriVfi ber
early life of the fon care of a mother—deprived tniir..-
eighth year of event he superintending care of her fat'A re.
Modemoiselle Sebastiani was placed with her matern.'„di
latives. But these, however kind and considerateo,ws
never supply the mental aliment and instructions !1..n
af-
with such eloquent force from the lips and heart:
3fdlle•
fectionate mother. Of an age to enter into the worldnosition •
Sebastiani perceived herself completely in a fallre grand
In the year 1823, when she first appeared in
molishments
monde, she found, notwithstanding her aacn7 the so/Ong
and grace of mind, but a lukewarm reception ITI the
of the Fanbourg St. Germain. Notwithstanding •tg,
position and rank of her mother's family, her own raelhe
grace, youth, and fortune, the great dames who gave do
law in the rue de Bourbon, de Grenelle, de Baby/On-ben
St. Daminique, de Varennes, &c., looked coldly 0" TO
because of the legislative career of her father. and
Duchess de Berry, who was then in the ascendant' and
her clique, detested end despised the Sebastianis, ~Ter
considered them in the light of personal enemies. of
was this wonderful. For some time before the deat'loi
Foy—indeed from the beginning of 1824 Scbat7ire
sought to rival that military tribune, not with the cleoso
of benefiting his country and France, but for the POP
of serving the interests of the House of Orleans. ,t
an
Mdlle. Sebastiani is understood to have early felt e,,
attachment to a gentleman of the Royalist opinions. 10
Royalist "par sang ;" but this predilection is' sal the
have been combatted. The cupid of the consulateiot
Adonis of the empire, though born in the hum 010
sphere, always aped the airs of a grand seigneur, anderie
desirous that his daughter should marry into an lies
family. The young heir of the house of Choiseul Prasgp,
intimate with the house of Orleans, whose interests 01,
bastiana was serving, was chosen, and the nuptials to
place in 1825. steel
As Sebastiani's opposition to the ministers and sY,, eeil
of Charles X. was fiercer in that year than it had ever tithe
—as the " Comedie de 15 Ans," which was to Cld
tragedy of 1830, was drawing nearer to a close, til?, title
bourg St, Germain, then the arbiter of fashion, too ',.ess,
note of the marriage of a great heir and a great 117 jar.
both considered " des etres mal pennants," to use,t.l:lool/
gon of the time. Those, however, who intimateu,ewaS
the bridegroom, lamented the fate of the bride, for '
‘,ith
then considered, by those who had been brought UP .",.
him, to be a contemptible profligate and degraded belebi,
From the period of 1823 till 1830 M. and Mde. Choi.o
seul-Fraslin were certainly little seen in the society of tP
Faubourg St. Germain. The political conduct and as,oi
ciations of the father of the duchess, and of the father A
the duke, effectually shut against them the doors of why
the select set then called, la bonne compagnie." 111 a
father of the duchess is said to have felt this acute
but Madame de Praslin felt it not to any extent, forja"..
had become the mother of a numerous and yeal,goc-
creasing family, lived in a small circle, and was daVe on
cupied in the minute yet engrossing duties that aes%and,
maternity even in the highest rank. As to the be,' cum-
he must have felt that, under no combination of e',,ircle.
stances, could he have been a favourite in anY. circle.
Without any of the natural cleverness of the roues eraaa-
Regency, he was distinguished by all their moral def,.oo,
tion. He was vain, avaricious, sensual, susPereat
haughty, narrow-minded, ignorant of the value, indi'tb•
to the existence, and neglectful of the practice oft _so
In all the ramifications of his private affairs, no
egad
to
being could depend upon him ; and while he was de
profligate and promiscuous, he was penurious eve„r oof
meanness. Neither of sentiment, nor romance, I_cigt
moral truth, did he possess a particle. He had no frifatio
for he was gloomy, morose, and unsocial ; and witD„rcl,
instruments of his degraded pleasures he did not, untie
ing to report, unbend or compensate by generosity Pr,,joi
suspicion and arrogant haughtiness which were his o'

chTrahoucta-eristics. 01°
Though at one time austere and apparently supers tit!,
in the practice of the ceremonies of religion, he was Toe•
out religious or moral principle of any kind, without
rality, and without propriety.
Such a man could not comprehend the exalted fee or
the enthusiastic devotion, the excess of virtuous pas:,ant
the ecstatic joy, the excruciating sorrow, the pc,ig`",os
grief, of his doating and distracted wife. All that for
good and gentle in her nature was unknown to him'
the excess of deprivation renders men insensible t?,/,..
enjoyment. It is well said by the author of the Coifed' sur les Maury, that this excess is to be deprec9',
even in the interest of unlawful pleasures : "Car it arPieo
tient a l'exes de la depravation de detruire tolls
plaisirs."
Much may be, no doubt, pardoned to the ardent PPP)
tuosity of youth, but there is not one redeeming trolfroit
the errors and crimes of Choiseul-Praslin. The P„uaref
of pleasure may, perhaps, to a certain extent, be palu„,t
in a young man of nineteen or twenty ; but the Prop 10
cuous pursuit of debasing amours in a man close uP.°olll'
forty-fourth or forty-fifth year, the father of ten chit, t)
six of them daughters, is infamous, and shows tht,ot.i
delinquent was deprived of all the purer feelings of of
nature. To have made his own house the scene 00ir,
profligacy, and the instructress of his children his jso'.
tress, is a turpitude nearly unparalleled in the aial'Te
France. We must go back to the friend of his re'h
and kinsman, the prime minister of France, for silo!
exemplar, and we find him in the person of that Pt,
Chartres, afterwards Egalite, who visited Choiseul...lo9e
ville in his exile, and who subsequently installed 1"-a a 131
Geniis Sillery simultaneously as his own mistress f!iiiis
son's instructor. Fortunately the virtuous dispositi°otr
the youth were proof against the contagion of P7OOl
example and governess practice ; for the prince ,outlt
Louis-Philippe) was an incarnation of virtue in
and is a model of innocence, simplicity, generosity, b
lessness, and purity in old age.
Madame de Praslin was not a singular wife in theiatet
in which our clever weekly contemporary, the SPeco
calls her so. She had Corsican blood in her veins ,°.oeo
side, and on the side of her mother some of the fore'
and best blood in France. That she was there! be
warm, impassioned, sensitive, and high-minded, nit' VI;
conceded ; but these qualities ought to have secu.re„,,,
the affection and esteem, and not the murderous DP'
her monster husband.

Oct,
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