The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1848-02-08 00:00:00

FINANCIAL AND COMMERCIAL SUMMARY.

The reduction of the rate of interest on money lent
upon bills and other approved securities, from five to four
per cent. by the directors of the Bank of England, as an-
nounced in our last, has increased confidence in the com-
mercial and trading circles very considerably. At " call,"
money will not now be received by the discount houses at
more than three per cent., and first-class mercantile paper
is readily taken in by Private and Joint Stock Bankers at
31 per cent. The supply of good Bills of Exchange, re-
presenting bona tide transactions, is anything but abun-
dant. The spring trade in manufactured goods has com-
menced under rather auspicious circumstances. The
position of the Directors of the Bank of England is most
satisfactory. Their stocks of bullion and coin are im-
mense, and are likely to be increased by every arrival, for
some time, from the United States. Money is still accu-
mulating in the hands of the bankers, and a little more
confidence is apparent in its use. First-class bills were
discounted on Wednesday morning as low as three per
cent., but this applies only to paper of indisputable secu-
rity, ordinary mercantile bills being scarcely negotiable
at all. The public securities have continued in a steady
course of upward tendency. Consols for Money and Ac-
count have very nearly touched 90, and Exchequer Bills
the high premium of 395. The large holders of the latter
securities are looking with some confidence to a funding
of about ten millions of these securities. There have not
been any larger sales of stock this week.
The state of our cotton, corn, timber, &c., trades will
be found elsewhere.
The accounts from Manchester come more favourable
this week respecting the state of the cotton trade in that
district. It must be out of the question of course to look
for a hasty and full return of the prosperous times of years
not long past. But, the safest improvement, and pro-
mising the greatest permanency, is assuredly that which
arrives and grows gradually. The circular of Messrs.
Ferguson, of Manchester says,—" The large stocks of yarns
and goods yet here, coupled with the extraordinary means
of production, must naturally keep down prices, until a
great change be wrought in the consumptive power of our
home and colonial markets, now so greatly depressed by
various causes which require time and many modifying
circumstances to remedy. The only quarter to which we
can look at present for a material improvement is India,
and in this direction we can only reasonably expect a gra-
dual revival."

A decided improvement has taken . place in the appear-
ance of the colonial markets during the week, and very
large transactions have been concluded. In sugar there
has been considerable activity, and at the opening of
business on Tuesday prices rose Is. to ls. Gd. per cwt.
Operations in British plantation were on Friday, however,
in a measure restricted by the speech of the Chancellor of
the e xchequer on Thursday. The coffee-market has been
firm, and native descriptions have been freely taken by
private contract at 335. 6d. per cwt., but few sellers are
at present to be found at this rate. Plantation kinds
have also experienced a better demand, and some of the
finer sorts have advanced about 2s. to 3s. per cwt. The
indigo sales will commence on the Bth instant, when
about 10,100 chests will be brought forward ; several par-
cels included in the catalogues are goods under hypothe-
cation to the East India Company. The tea trade have
been occupied since Wednesday with their public sales,
and a larger quantity than usual has changed hands. A
brisk demand has existed for green teas, and nearly all
those descriptions have been taken at very full prices.
Black teas have not sold so freely, but prices remain un-
changed. The sales concluded on Monday, and as the
qualities offered have in this' case been in a great measure
suited to the wants of buyers, the result to the importer,
it is anticipated, will be satisfactory.
By the arrival of the Overland Mail in the early part of
the week, intelligence of interest was received of the con-
dition of business at Calcutta. Extreme prostration, ac-
cording to the contents of private letters, pervades every
department of trade, the succession of mercantile disasters
having utterly paralyzed confidence. The sole attention
of the mercantile community was directed to the several
meetings of creditors, and to the prospects which accounts
presented for the redemption of engagements by the sus-
pended firms.
Her Majesty's packet Express, Lieut. James, from Rio
Janeiro, the 13th of December, has arrived at Falmouth.
Exchange had risen to 28, and the Six per Cents. to 89.
The receipts of the Custom-house in the month of Novem-
ber exhibit a strong proof that the imports were de-
creasing, and the imports increasing, and account satis-
facily for the advance in the price of the funds and the
rate of the exchange. From Monte Video there is no-
thing authentic but at Buenos Ayres the blockade of the
coasting trade from the Oriental republic had been put a
complete stop to. On the other hand, the French were
endeavouring to render the blockade effective as regards
the entrance of foreign vessels from abroad. The exchange
at Buenos Ayres had fallen to 2s. per dollar. In Entre
Riols, Urquiza was at the head of 9,000 troops, and was
still threatening Corrientes, but it was strongly sus-
pected that his movement would be towards Monte Video,
with a view of assisting Oribe.
We regret to record the suspension of two highly res-
peetable and old-established firms in this town, whose
stoppages are universally regretted,—Messrs. Jevons,
Sons, and Co., an old iron concern of fifty years' standing ;
and Messrs. John and George Campbell, in the West
India trade. The enormous decline in the value of iron,
and heavy investments in works and other real property,
are the causes of the first named suspension. The actual
liabilities inthe shape of acceptances are stated at £70,000 ;
but they.must have large loans on mortgage. MesSrs.
Campbell ascribe their difficulties to the locking dip of
funds in Mexico. Both parties speak confidently of paying
in full. •

The return from the Bank of England for the week
ending the 29th of January gives the following results
when compared with the previous week :
Public deposits £1,171,203 Increase, £88,755
Other deposits 10,768,087 Decrease, 6,783
Rest 3,723,950 Increase, 586
On the other side of the account—
Government securities£ll,ss3,2l4 Increase, £89,249
Other securities 14,321,905 Decrease,- 188,458
Notes unemployed 7,640,315 Increase, 192,130
The amount of notes in circulation is £19,141,920,
being an increase of X 30,040; and the stock of bullion
in both departments is £13,390,314, showing an increase
of £213,502 when compared with the previous return.
On Friday Consols opened rather depressed, but shortly
after they were done at 88k, both for money and account.
At this lower rate buyers made their appearance, and
prices rallied to 89, but at the close a slight re-action de-
pressed them to 881 to 9 for account, and 88.1 to for
money. On Saturday there was much activity in the
market for the home Funds, and prices have improved as
much as -L per cent. Consols are firm at 89 to ;1- for
Money ; and 891 to s for Account. Reduced Three-per-'
Cents 89a. to 4 ; New Three-and-a-Quarter per Cents.
901 to I.
Specie still continues to pour into the country. On
Thursday the sum of £130,000 was received at the Bank
of England, overland from Russia, and during the last
week £53,000 have been received at this port from Neiv
York.

SHERIDAN KNOWLES' LECTURE ON PULPIT
ORATORY AT THE COLLEGIATE INSTITUTION.

On Friday evening Mr. Knowles delivered his second
and concluding lecture on elocution ; and the subject
being a most interesting one—the advantage of the study
of elocution being made a portion of the training of young
men for the ministry, with remarks upon the deficiency
in this respect of the mass of the clergy—a most respect-
able auditory was in attendance, though not quite as nu-
merous as might have been anticipated. The lecturer
commenced by asserting his opinion, formed on his own
experience and the deductions of reason, that there was
no human being, possessed of the requisite organ of
voice, to whom could not be imparted the qdvantage
of a delivery in reading or reciting, and the power of ex-
pressing his sentiments fluently in public, provided he
was possessed of ordinary talent. He then proceeded to
show that language was divided into two descriptions, the
natural and the artificial. The first, the natural, com-
prised only the expression of emotion ; and would be
uttered with the same distinctness by the child deprived
of the organ of hearing, and him who possessed his com-
plete organs. After this came artificial language—the
utterance of sounds of a compound or imitative charac-
ter; and this could be acquired only by education. After
stating_that lie should commence the work of .teaching a
I ..r.alrer-Wtt /1,6. cater

confidence of success than a class of adults ; the lecturer
proceeded to remark how monstrous it was that young
men, designed for the pulpit or the bar, should be com-
pelled during their
.university career to devote the whole
of their time to the dead languages, to science, logic,
mathematics, &c., and, when they were called upon to
enter upon their sacred duties, be condemned to make the
discovery, that with all their profound scholarship, they
were utterly incapable of speaking or reading their own
mother tongue with either force, grace, or perspicuity.
After a few further remarks the Lecturer gave a speci-
men of the monotonous tone and ineffective manner in
which, he said, clergymen, untaught in the art of elocution.
were too much in the habit of delivering' even the finest
composition. The piece read was an extract from a very
fine sermon by Kirwan. He afterwards gave the same
piece as it would be spoken by the practiced rhetorician,
and, subsequently, as it would be spoken by one who
threw his mind and feelings into the subject. He then
Proceeded to give examples of the three divisions into
which composition and delivery were arranged by the
schools, viz., the didactic, the persuasive, and the vehe-
ment. The 'first he illustrated by reading a passage from
Bacon ; the second, the persuasive, was an extract from a
sermon of the late Legh Richmond, to whose amiable
character, effectiveness in the ministry, and sincere piety,
he paid a very feeling and eloquent tribute, having had
the pleasure and advantage of his acquaintance in early
youth, when that lamented pastor was located in the Isle
of Wight, where his church was much frequented by the
officers, many of whom derived lasting profit from his
preaching. The third, the vehement style, he remarked,
was much used by the most successful Reformers, who
thus swayed the democratic classes, and by some of our
'
most popular preachers • and he illustrated it by reciting
the celebrated speech of Marcellus to the Roman citizens.
After delivering the spirit-stirring address in which
Cicero impeached the Prmtor Varres, before the Roman
Senate, Mr. Knowles concluded his most interesting lec-
ture by reading a comic mock law case. The able lecturer
was duly applauded throughout the evening.

WRITS N G.—After a resider ce of over twenty years in Liverpool
Mr. Thompson appeals with confidence to the public for sup-
port. His merits arr. -wn in the hundreds of gratifying testi-
monials he has rec• vel 'rom those to whom he has imparted
his beautiful and gi caw system of writing.
CORNS.--S 0 numei....a, are the testimonials receives! by Air.
Levi, the eminent chiropedist, during his short sojourn here,
that, owing to a pressure of advertisements and other matter,
we are compelled to omit a few of them. It will, however, be
gratifying to him to learn that from a private individual, who
has been operated upon, we have received a most flattering
account of his skill, ' •

THE LIVERPOOL UNION BANK. -ANNUAL
MEETING OF THE SHAREHOLDERS YES-
TERDAY.

Yesterday, at one o'clock, the annual general meeting
of the proprietors in the Liverpool Union Bank was held
at the Clarendon-rooms. There was a numerous attend-
ance.

EDGAR GARSTON, Esq., occupied the Chair. He said
the Report, which the Manager would read, was more
than usually explicit, and therefore he might consider
himself exempted from offering any introductory remarks.
He would however obsexve that before drawing up the
report, the Directors had considered it. their duty to deal
boldly with the results of the difficulties of last year, and
to provide amply for them. The commercial embarrass-
ments last year had been of an unusual and unexampled
character, and had fallen with especial severity upon
Liverpool. In appreciating the report which the directors had
to lay before the in eeting, he had no doubt that those present
would bear this in mind ; and although the results now
to be declared were not precisely such as had been antici-
pated when he had the honour of presiding at a similar
meeting last year, he hoped that the Directors and
Managers would receive as compensation for their unusual
anxiety, the meed of their approbation. (Applause.)
He then called upon _

Mr. JAMES LisTEn, the manager, who read the report.
It stated that in the last annual report, the directors had
expressed a hope to show a progressive increase of their
surplus fund from year to year; but the calamities in
which the commercial world, and this locality more espe-
cially, had been involved, would not only preclude them
from doing it at present, but entailed upon themthe neces-
sity of taking a portion of the reserved surplus fund to
provide for the losses which might result from the bad
debts of the year, not yet wound up. The paid-up ca-
pital of the bank was Z 300,000, and the number of share-
holders 269. On the 31st December, 1846, the reserved
surplus fund was £50,000 ; which, when the nett profits
for the year 1847 (Z 42,277) were added, amounted to
£92,277. From this must be deducted two half-yearly
dividends, .-€23,209 ; carried to the contingent fund as a
provision for bad and doubtful debts £39,068,—X20,000
of the latter item being taken from the surplus fund,—
which made the amount of surplus fund now on hand
£30,000. After a rigorous investigation of bad debts, the
directors had a full conviction that the sums which they
had transferred would be amply sufficient to meet
them ; they had consequently not felt warranted
in making a reduction of dividend for the past half-
year, but they recommended the shareholders at the
present meeting to pass a resolution, limiting the dividend
in fbture to six per cent. (instead of eight) till the surplus
fund should be raised to £6o,ooo.—(Hear, hear.) In
consequence of the lamented death of their valuable
colleague Mr. Hackford, the directors, in conformity with
the powers giVen in the deed of settlement, had elected
Mr. Glynn, of the firm of Glynn and Anderson, to supply
his place at the board. Mr. ASpinall Turner and Mr.
Chilton were the directors, who would now have to retire
in rotation. Although the report was not such as might
have been anticipated, the directors felt satisfied that
taking into account the unexampled difficulties which had
been met, it would give satisfaction to the proprietors,
and that they would continue the confidence hitherto
reposed in them.
In answer to a question from Mr. Joseph,
Mr. LISTER said the proposed reduction on the diVi-
dend of 2 per cent. would amount to £OOOO a year.
The CHAIRMAN said, that £6OOO a year, if they escaped
bad debts, would soon bring the fund up to the amount
proposed.
Mr. JOSEPH said that many parties had bought the
shares with a view to the dividend, and he thought it hard
that they should have to receive six when they had calcu-
lated upon eight per cent.
Mr. LISTER said everything had been taken into ac-
count. The directors themselves were the largest holders
of shares"; they held one-fifth of the whole amount.
Mr. BusHELL moved the adoption of the report. He
said, although he had not seen the resolution till he
entered the room, it met his entire concurrence. He was
sure there was not one gentleman but had felt, as he, a
large proprietor, had done, considerable anxiety last
year, as to the position of the Union Bank. They
could not go upon 'Change any day without hearing of
some commercial disaster, and at one time they could
not have gone without hearing the condition of every
bank in town canvassed and spoken of. Not being in
strong health, he himself had felt most nervous on the
subject ; but, from his intimate knowledge of the directors,
he felt that if energy, talent, promptness, and integrity,
could save a bank, then the Union Bank would be sale_
(Applause.) He must therefore confess, considering the%
things, that the present report, was to him, much more
gratifying than the report presented on the last occasion.
(Hear.) The parties present must know what difficulties
every bank had had to go through, and they knew,
not by mere surmise, but by pretty substantial evidence,
what had been the result in regard to some of them.
If the report which had been read was a fair and honest
report—(and where was the gentleman who knew the
directors who could doubt it)—then he thought the pro-
prietors owed to the management the highest meed
gratitude and praise for the extraordinary result which
they had attained. (Applause.) If the high opinion
which he entertained of the management and direction of:
the Bank could be increased, it would be so by that very -
demand to increase the surplus fund now made upon the
meeting, and to which Mr. Joseph appeared to object.
In such as we had gone through, every man made
a resolution to retrench by all means his expenditure, 'to -
make up as much as he could for disasters which might
occur. Even if we had not personally suffered, still we
had seen so much of suffering around us, as to make us
emyloy more than ordinary caution and prudence in the
management of all our affairs. (Hear, hear.) It might
be true, as Mr. Joseph had stated, that some people
had invested their money in the shares of the Union
Bank, to secure a larger dividend ;—(Hear, hear)—but
he presumed they had also invested it with a view to se-
cure their property, to make it safe. (Hear, hear.) And
which was the greatest evil, to risk their property by giv-
ing a large dividend ; or to make it secure by taking (for-
what he believed would in this instance be a short season,),
a smaller dividend? (Applause.) Ile thought he need
not argue the thing further. The present bank, and all
banks, would be more likely to receive the approbation.
and confidence of the public, by limiting the dividend, -
than by straining the capital to pay a large one. (AP
plause.) Let the meeting then agree to the proposition; -
it was a sound and safe principle, he felt assured. He
had often heard the objection urged against joint-stock
banks, that to give large dividends giey made, in some•
cases, imprudent and extravagant advances. He believed
the statement was in a great measure true ' • and therefore
it was that the proposition of the directors had his cordial
support. (Applause.)
Mr. POWELL seconded the motion, which was carried
unanimously.
Mr. J. A. Turner, of the North Shore Mills, and Mr.
Alderman Chilton, were re-elected directors, with warm
encomiums on their courteous and attentive conduct.

Mr. POWELL moved the presentation of £509 to the
directors not on the bill committee; for their valuable ser-
vices. He fully concurred in what had been said by Mr_
Bushell. The sum named he thought was as much as the
proprietors could afford—(laughter),--but it was by no
means adequate to what the directors were entitled to.
Mr. GEDDES seconded the motion, which was carried.
Mr. TURNER, as one of the directors not on the Bill
Committee, returned thanks. It would be valued by the
directors not for its amount but as an expression which
he hoped was sincere on the part of the proprietors, that
they had endeavoured to do their duty in the past year-
(applause.) He had had more anxiety, spent more sleep-
less nights, in regard to the Union Bank last year, than
he did in regard to his own business ;—for the bank was
so much at the mercy of circumstances over which no pru-
dential measures could have control, that it was to him
and to his colleagues a most anxious time. It would not
have been at all surprising to him, at one period, if every-
bank in the town, except one or two of the old private-
banks, had been closed.- He was glad the proprietors
had expressed their confidence. Bank directors were
generally called over the coals rather for making extrava-
gant dividends than suggesting a prudential course. lie
and his brother directors were more deeply interested in
the bank than other proprietors. He himself took Lot
only the shares which had been allotted to him, but those
of some other parties which were not taken up. He
could not therefore give a better proof that lie had con-.
fidence—that rthe undertaking was a good investment;
an4lllo oultLassura ans. p,.anant
head
better
opiracin.. of that investment than even lie had at first.

Mr. BUSHELL, in neat terms, moved a vote of thanks
to Mr. Lister, the manager, acknowledging in the warmest
terms the invaluable services which that gentleman had
rendered.

Mr. JOSEPH seconded the motion, which was carried
by acclamation.
Mr. LISTER, in appropriate terms, returned thanks ;
and after a vote of thanks to the chairman, the meeting
broke up.