MONEY MARKET. STOGIE EXCHANOI. FRIDAY AFTERNOON.

There has been a disposition to sell Stock during the week, and money has been more in demand. All the current varieties of English Stock have conse- quently been depressed about i per cent. below the prices of last week ; but have all recovered again, and are today at the same quotations at which they stood on Saturday last. The business has been (as is usually the case at this period of the year) upon a very limited scale; and, with the exception of a sale of Reduced Three per Cents. by the Bank-broker, no bargain of importance has occurred. Bank Stock has been steady between 165 and 1651 and Ex- chequer Bills have never varied from the premium at which they have stood for some time, viz. 10s. to 12s.

The aspect of commercial affairs is extremely gloomy : the failure of a very old and respectable firm occurred yesterday, and it is feared that at the turn of the year we shall have to report many disasters of a similar kind. When noticing (in our last) the anticipated failure in the payment of the Dividends becoming due upon the American Stocks, we omitted to state the names of the States which are expected to be defaulters: they are Mississippi, Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan. The appointment of a Commission to inquire into the manner in which the issue of Exchequer Bills has been conducted since the remodelling of the Exchequer, and to point out and devise a remedy for the existing defects of the system, has given rise to a report that the Government have already deter- mined to transfer the business of this department to the Bank of England ; and it is confidently anticipated that the recommendation of the Commis- sion will be to that effect. Our readers will remember that some weeks ago we noticed such a suggestion ; and as we then stated our reasons in favour of its adoption, we need not repeat them here. The holders of the tainted bills consider the appointment of the Commission as favourable to their interests ; as, though it not does appear that any inquiry is contemplated beyond that of the mode of conducting the business of the Ex- chequer, they are convinced that during the progress of the investigation, such instances of incaution on the part of the Exchequer Bill Office will be made apparent, as will give the holders of the bills an irresistible claim against the Government. It will be remembered, that upon the first rumour of the forgeries, several of the holders of Exchequer Bills paid them into the Bank of England in liquidation of the instalments due upon the Scrip of the recent Funding ; and that some time after the bills had been so received, the persons who had paid them into the Bank received notice that the bills were detained as forged at the Exchequer Bill Office; and a demand was at the same time made upon them for a retransfer of the Stock that had been created in their favour by the cancelling of such Exchequer Bills : this notice was disregarded, the parties in question having determined not to submit to the loss unless com- pelled by law. One action has been commenced against one of the parties ; bat it has been allowed to slumber ; and it is believed that this inactivity arises from k conviction on the part of the authorities that the claims of the holders of the bills are such as to enable them to establish their right to the possession of the stock into which they have been converted. Hence, as it is impossible that one set of holders can be paid and the claims of others refused, the con- viction that the Government will be compelled to acknowledge all the bills be- comes more general every day. The dividend upon the Shares of the Danube and Mayn Canal, which be- come due on the 15th instant, has not been paid in due course ; in conse- quence, it is stated, of a dispute as to the accounts of the Canal, at present existing between the house of ROTHSCHILD of Frankfort and the Bavarian Government. Upon the first formation of the Company, in 1835, the capital proposed to be raised in shares was 10,000,000 florins; which has been all paid up ; and Messrs. ROTHSCHILD of Frankfort, who were the agents of the Government and treasurers of the undertaking, were authorized to retain out of the capital the sum necessary to pay the interest upon it at 4 percent. till the commencement of 1843: the Bavarian Government contracting to pay all excess of expense in the construction of the canal over the 10,000,000 florins, and guaranteeing to the shareholders an interest of 4 per cent. upon the capital whenever the revenue of the canal should fail to yield that amount. The dividends were regularly paid up to June last, when an attempt was made to reduce them to 3 per cent. instead of 4 per cent.: the shareholders generally resisted this, and refused to receive the reduced dividend. Upon application for the present dividend at Messrs. ROTHSCHILD'S in London, agents of the Frankfort house, it appears that no dividend is forthcoming ; the Frankfort establishment declining to make further payments until the Bava- rian Government have passed the disputed accounts. It is evident, however, that this suspension is little regarded in Germany ; where the shares have for some time been in considerable demand. The price here is at present within 24 per cent. of the quotation at the period of the refusal of the last dividend ; the original shares of 41/. 13s. 4d. each being in demand at 30/., instead of, as in June last, at 324. It may be remarked that, since the commencement of the undertaking, they have frequently been as low as 25. The Bavarian Govern- ment has religiously fulfilled its portion of the contract ; having paid 3,000,000 florins out of its own funds for the completion of the canal; and the failure of the present dividend is entirely owing to the dispute between the contractor and the Government, and not to any other cause.

In the Foreign Market, the business has been as limited as that in the Eng-

lish ; and the fluctuations have been as unimportant. The only large trans- actions have been in Spanish Active Stock; which has fluctuated about per cent., the extreme points having been 233 and 244. The market closed at 24 to h yesterday afternoon ; but has been depressed today, in consequence of a decline of 4 per cent, in the price of the Stock in Paris ; and after being at 24b, closes at 234 4. The South American and Mexican Bonds are unchanged. So are the Portuguese. We have, however, to notice a few transactions in the newly-converted Stock at 28; one or two trifling purchases having occurred by brokers employed by houses connected with Holland, where it appears there exists a slight demand for this description of bonds. The disposition for investment in the Railway Shares seems to be upon the increase; and a fair degree of business has occurred in the current varieties, at prices in some cases at an advance upon those last quoted. The shares of the Brighton line have fluctuated between the limits of our last quotations, which were 373 to 383 ; but have been rather firmer, in consequence of the re- opening of the Croydon line today, and the consequent reestablishment of the communication along the whole line between Brighton and London. As tomorrow, being Christmas Day, will be kept as a close holiday, our re- port of the week's business must finish with the closing prices of the afternoon. In addition to our prices of the Funds given below, we have to note the occur- rence of the following bargains in Railway Shares : Eastern Counties, 84 ; Great Western, 85 ; Hull and Selby, 381 ; London and Brighton, 384 4; Lon- don and Birmingham, Quarter Shares, 234; Ditto, Thirds, 56; Ditto, New, 274; South-western, 584 9; North Midland, Thirds, 16; South-eastern and Dover, 20; Ditto' New, 9 ; York and Western Shares have given way from buyers

3 per Cent. Consols shut.

North Midland, New, 314-. The Great

to sellers at 85.

Columbian 6 per Cents. 201 Ditto for Account 891 1 Danish 3 per Cents. 80 81 3 per Cent. Reduced .. 891 4 Dutch 2} per Cents 511 24

31 per Cent. Ditto 931 Mexican 5 per Cents. Could. 26 264 New 34 per Cents shut

Portuguese Re,geney 5 per Cts.

324 3 Bank Stock 1651 Ditto New 5 per Cents. 1811 . ?71 8 Exchequer Bills ... 11 12 pm. Ditto 3 per Cents.

0 215

India Stock shut

Russian 5 per Cents ..... 119134

Brazilian 5 per Cents 64 5 Spanish (Active) 231

Belgian 5 per Ceuta

1004 14