The Express. — 1857-12-03 (London, England)

THE PANIC AT HAMBURG.  (FRON OVA OWN COZONSPONDINT.) _ _ .  HAMBURG, Die. t. I deeply. regret to state that the gloomy picture gave you in the postscript of my letter yesterday was far from being exaggerated, and from what has this morning come to my knowledge, I have reason to say that the Hamburg Exchange is seized with a perfect panic, which is spreading in wider and wider circles, as fresh failures are announced, and the oldest and most respectable houses are compelled to give way to the force of circumstances, and stop payment. Numbers of houses are inextricably involved, without the slightest fault of their own, but from bills unexpectedly returned protested from abroad, or the unforeseen failure of houses here, unable to pay their acuptances, on which the holders of the bills had calated. Business being completely at a standstill, the natural consequence is the stopple of many de' ecriptiens of factories, the sudden discharge of great numbers of workmen, and the reaction of the panic on the lower classes. It will, therefore, not surprise your readers to hear thatduring the last few days there has been a run on the savings-banks, which not being prepared with ready money for such an emergency, have been obliged to make all sorts of shifts to obtain money, though unsuccessfully. The depositors who belong to the uneducated classes are not able to comprehend that their little capitals are perfectly safe, being invested in first-rate mortgages, but give way to their fears which are contagions among their friends and neighbours, who take it up and carry the panic farther and thus praises a state of horror-stricken anarchy, threatening. to dissolve all social ties and subvert all principles of civil order and legal authority. In this manner the runs on the savings banks were for considerably more than a million of dollars, and accompanied by such furious conduct, wild excitement, and opprobrions language, that a strong body of the police force were not able to restore order and allay the fears of the multitude. The fifteen millions of Exchequer Bills ordered to be created for the purpose of affording relief to merchants in temporary difficulties, have failed in their intended object, as they were completely exhausted on the very first day, when the applications for sums to be advanced on the security of =perish' able merchandise and Government Bonds amounted to several hundreds of millions. Our merchants have therefore petitioned the Senate to convene the Burgerochaft again for the purpose of further extending the benefits to be derived from this salutary meg' sure by increasing the amount of Exchequer Bills Ito at least a hundred millions of Marks Banco. The Senate is at this moment holding an extraordinary sitting to deliberate on the propriety of acceding to the suggestion. It is also proposed to suspend for the present that paragraph of the regulations in force here with respect to bills of exchange, which empowers the holder of a bill, in case of the failure of the acceptor, I to demand security from the lad endorser for the eventual payment of the bill. This paragraph is already a dead letter and virtually abrogated, as in the present excited state of our Exchange, no one can give or obtain security of any description at all. P.S.—Four o'elook.—The excitement on 'Change today was worse than ever. The panic may be said, to be general. A large number of fresh failures were announced, amongst whom are the firms of Sieveking and Co., Lozent Am Ende and Co., Lomer Uhde and Co., F. van Leesen, and C. M. S— and Co. The head of the latter house is a member of the Senate and connected by family ties with the first families of this city. The great Swedish house of Ullberg and Cramer, which was in difficulties more than a week ago, but obtained assistance from the Bank of Stockholm and even from an exalted personage in Sweden, has notwithstanding been unable to resist the pressure, and is swept into the vortex. Mr. L—n, the head of an immense house of business here, with manufactories employing more than 700 workmen, most of whom have been lately discharged, was reported last night to have shot himself; and Mr. Bahre, a most respectable merchant in the South American trade, being in difficulties, committed suicide this morning by hanging himself. In coffee, spelter, and oil, no transactions took place, and quotations lower. Bills on London in demand, at about the same exchange as on Friday last. Discount nominally 9to 9 per cent, but nobody is willing to discount any paper in the present critical state of affairs.