MONEY MARKET.

STOCK EXORANGE, FRIOAT ATIKIIKOON.

The report of the illness of the King of the French, coupled with one of a difference between the Cabinets of Paris and St. James's upon the subject of the right of search, caused a depression in the Public Funds, and at one period the price of Consols forAccount was 91*: both these reports having proved un- founded, prices improved, and the quotation of Consols today reached 91i. This last improvement has been the result of the continual absorption of Stock by the general investments of the public, by which the market is cleared of all the Stock thrown upon it by speculators. The premium upon Exchequer Bills has advanced, and is quoted as high as 50s. The proclamation ofTuesday respecting the light sovereigns has caused cons siderable inconvenience at the various banks, where the necessity thst ha- arisen for weiahing every piece of gold individually causes great delay in the-- receipt of extensive payments made in gold. Some of the principal bankers have issued a notice to their customers requesting that when paying in a larger amount in gold than 10/. they will put the sovereigns into a bog; the come will then be weighed, the light sovereigns returned on the next day, and credit given for the good ones. Some of the bullion-dealers have made large profits by purchasing the light gold at 77s. per ounce ; at which rate one of them bought 7,000 on Wednesday ; and as they will all be resold at the Mint price. of 31. 17s. 104d. a profit of between 701. and 801. will he realized by by the transaction. The Bank of England, however, yesterday gave notice that they are willing to purchase light sovereigns in sums of not less than 50/. at the Mint price of 31. 17s. lO4d. per ounce. It is complained that the Government has not exchanged the light gold at the Mint without any cost toe the public. The expense would not have been very great. From tables given in Porter's Progress of the Nation, it appears that the whole amount of sove- reigns issued from the Mint up to 1836 was 55,134,802/. It is impossible to ascertain how much of this amount has been extorted; but it is believed that the wear and tear has deteriorated about 40 per cent of the gross circulation to the extent of 1 to 14 per cent ; and that the loss to be sustained by the public will be from 200,000/. to 300,000/. Had the Mint, however, determined to ex- change the deteriorated coinage for new sovereigns, the task would have been endless ; for though the old belief in the transmutation of metals is extinct, there are certain chevaliers d'industrie whose mechanical ingenuity is quite equal to effecting a trifling reduction of weight in gold coins, who would thus have had an inducement held out to them to extend their scientific operations to the floating amount of the coinage. Any attempt at what is vulgarly called sweating the sovereigns will now be useless, as the operators will not be enabled to dispose of the pieces upon which they have exercised their ingenuity at their nominal value, but must be reduced to sell them as old gold. The business of the Foreign Market has been chiefly confined to Spanish Stock; both varieties of which have experienced much fluctuation : in the early part. of the week, the Three per Cents, which were from 1 to 14 per cent higher in price than the Active Stock, were within * per cent of the current quotation of the latter; they have since risen in a greater proportion than the other, and are today rather more than 1 per cent higher. The decline of both Stocks was- occasioned by a belief that the dividend that will become due on the 1st of July on the Three per Cents would not be paid, in consequence of the difficulties by which the Government is now beset ; and the rise, which iu the Active has been about 14 per cent and in the Three per Cents about 2 per cent, is referable to the prevalence of a contrary opinion. We have been favoured by the Com- mittee of Spanish Bondholuers with the report of the proceedings of a recent meeting at which the holders of that portion of the Spanish overdue Dividends- which became converted into Treasury Bonds adopted resolutions expressive- of the injustice of the course adopted by the Government, la endeavouring, by withholding the interest due upon these securities, to force the holders to cue- vert them into Three per Cents. It will be remembered that when the Spanish Government were unable to pay the dividend due upon the Active Stock in November 1836, a decree was issued bearing the signatiire of M. MENDL+ &anat., the then Finance Minister, authorizing the conversion of the unpaid Coupons into Bonds, bearing interest at 5 per. dent: the holders of these securi- ties complain, and justly, that while the Govekment of Madrid have autho- rized the capitalization of later dividends than those referred to, and have actually paid the interest upon the Stock so created, they have not paid a single shilling of the interest of these Treasury Bonds, and seem as it they sought by withholding it to force the holders to son art their Bonds, whicis now bear interest at 5 per cent, into a stock bearing 3 per cent. The exertions of one of the gentlemen of that Committee, Mr. 'realign, who tilled the chair at the late meeting, are well known teall interested in Spanish finances : we can only regret that they have been so unavailing, and that the holders of Treasury Bonds seem doomed to meet the common fate of all who have trusted the Spanish Government.

There have been but few transactions in South American or Mexican Stocks; both of which are from 4 to 1 per cent above our last prices. Some inquiry has also occurred for Portuguese Securities, in consequence of the prevalence of a belief that the commercial treaty will soon he concluded / the price has conse- quently risen nearly 1 per cent. The other Fureign Funds have been without variation or business of importance; and the same may le said of Railway Shares.

SATORDAT,TWELVE O'CLOCK.

The little business that has occurred this morning in the English Funds has been at a reduction of prices, and the present quotations are 4 per cent below the highest of )esterclay : the only transaction of importance has been a sale. of 15,0001. Consols for Account, at 914. Exchequer Bills are the same.

In the Foreign Market, Spanish Stock is lower, and the others the same. The effect of the improvement of the Stock in Madrid has been counteracted by a decline of 4 per cent in Paris ; and Active Stock is 224 4, while the Three per Cents are 234 4. Opinion is still divided as to the payment of the dividend upon the Three per Cents.

The following transactions have occurred in Shares. Railway—Eastern Counties,94 ; Great Western, 894; Brighton, 35a. Banks—Australasia, 524.

SATURDAY, FOUR O'CLOCK.

Little has been doing during the afternoon, and the prices of the English Funds are the same as in the morning. In the Foreign Market, the arrival of an express from Madrid with the intelligence to the 3d instant, favourable to the interests of the English creditor, has given an impulse to Spanish Stock ; the Five per Cents having been at 224, and the Three per Cents at 244: but the market has since given way about * per cent to a per cent. The other Foreign Funds are unchanged. Great complaints are still made of the inconvenience and loss occasioned by the light gold. The Bank of England have in some degree lessened the extent of the latter, by purchasing light sovereigns at 77s. UV. per ounce; but as this only applies to sums not under 501, all the holders of small sums of coin are at the mercy of the bullion-dealers, who give only 77s. per ounce The Bank, however, it is understood, will open an office on Monday in the Hall to purchase light gold at the Mint price, in sums not less than 51. The holders of small amounts will thus only have to submit to a loss of from 3d. to 4d. per sovereign, instead of from 6d. to 7d. as at present. s 4 3 per Cent. Consols Dittof fir Account

3 per Cent Reduced 914 2

Columbian 6 per Cents .... Danish 3 per Cents ...... .. Dutch Slyer Cents...... ..

26 4

804 514 621 34. per Cent Dittu 1001 i Mexicali a per Cents Consd .

aft 4 New 31 per Cents shut Portuguese Regency 5 perCts. 374 kl• Bank Stuck 167 8 Ditto New 5 per Cents HAI . 311. 4 Exchequer Bills

Ditto 3 per Cents

22 *

India Stuck

Russian 5 per Cents

Brazilian 5 per Costs

6t4 71 Spanish (Active) 5 per Cents

22S I zu113 4114

Belgian 5 per Cents . 102 3 Ditto 3 per Cents 1842