The Express.
London, England, 1862-06-30 00:00:00

RION_ WATIS AT LONDON SUDO&

TKO DAT —lowiWur. 3h Asit...7.llifitTrn 0013. 4b. MIL
TO.XOIIIOIf —l/Orning. 4h. 30131..... AltiThOOD. 4b. 464 h.

LONDON, MONDAY, JUNE 30.

THERE is still nothing in the whole course of
trade to compare in importance with the condition
of the cotton interest. The put week baa been
marked by a fresh access of alarming symptoms.
The whole trade is " staggered " (to use the not
very elegant expression of the market reports) by
the extraordinary and indeed unprecedented move-
ment which has taken place in the price of cotton.
The letters from Liverpool, dated Friday afternoon,
describe a degree of excitement unparalleled in
the experience of the oldest frequenters of the
market. The total stock of cotton in the port of
Liverpool is now so small that it is remarked that
" the mills of Great Britain alone could consume
" the whole, if at full time, in four weeks."
The total quantity is but 213,270 bales, against
1,123,000 at the corresponding date lest year.
Neither is there any prospect of an early supply.
The entire imports of cotton this week having been
but 18,094 bales, while the week's transactions
have reached the unprecedented amount of 158,870
bales, it is easy to see how swiftly the available
supply is being absorbed, and how seriously the
future of the trade is regarded by those most com-
petent to form an opinion. The prevalent ex-
citement is increased by the smallness of the pro-
spective supplies from India, the country upon
which chief reliance has been placed. Instead of
the shipments of cotton from India having in-
creased in proportion to the urgency of our re-
quirements and to the great stimulus implied in
the immense rise in the price, the mer-
cantile reports show that the quantity of Surat
growth now afloat for England is 45,000 bales
less than it was at the corresponding period of last
year, being only 240,000 bales, against 285,000
in 1861. There is, therefore increasing and
well-founded alarm with regard! to the prospects
of supply. Spinners, speculators, and exporters
seem to have at last made up their minds that
they are able to ascertain the precise extent, not
only of the existing stocks, but of all the supplies
which can come from any quarter, and that they
can, so to speak, grasp them all without running a
risk of having their calculations deranged by some
new turn in events or by the sudden development
of some fresh source of production. As soon as
they have arrived at this conclusion they precipi-
tate themselves greedily upon the very small
stock in port at Liverpool, and it is the pecu-
liar feature of the past week that they have
been snatching it up as fast as possible, quite re-
gardless of price. The vast extent of the trans-
actions affords the beet idea of the energy of the
demand ; we should probably be greatly within
the mark in estimating at between 2,000,0001.
sand 2,500,0001. the value of the 158,870 bales
of cotton which have been dealt in within this
single week at Liverpool. Buyers being appa-
rently almost careless as to what prices they
gave, but solely intent upon gaining possession of
the article, the advance has been to an extent
never before known within an equal per;od of
time. Quotations are described u " rambling "
and unsettled, but the rise up to Friday night ap-
pears to have ranged generally from Id. per lb. at
the lowest, to lid., and in a few instances to
2d. At the present moment, when we are
anxiously endeavouring to hurry on India
in her task of cotton production, it
is interesting to observe that the advance has been
relatively the greatest in Surat cotton, which on
Friday evening was ltd. to lid. per lb. higher
than in the previous week. The ordinary reader
will perhaps better understand the importance of
this movement by reckoning that 10. per lb. is
equal to an addition of about 15 per cent. to the
previously exorbitant cost of the commodity. It
is worthy of remark, too, that no kind of cotton
has lagged behind, the advance having extended to
American, Indian, Brazilian, Egyptian, and every
other available description. Nor is this the full
extent of the movement in the cotton market : we
have hitherto spoken only of the week's business
up to Friday night, but the telegrams of Saturday
afternoon's date, now before us, announce undi-
minished excitement, transactions larger than
ever (30,000 bales having been dealt in on Satur-
day), and a fresh rise of id, to ld. per lb., which
is equal of itself to one moiety of the advance
that occurred in the whole week up to Friday.
A very good idea of the effect that has been
produced upon the cotton trade may be obtained
by comparing the present prices with those cur-
rent at the corresponding period of last year,
when, be it remembered, the market was greatly
disturbed by the events in America. Ordinary
New Orleans is now worth 1314. per lb., against
7d. in 1861 ; middling New Orleans, 14id.
against Bd. ; ordinary Pernambuco, 13d. against
81d. ; ordinary Egyptian, lOid. against 7id. ;
and ordinary Surat, 9d. against 40. It may
thus be said—and more particularly with regard
to American and Surat sorts, which form the great
bulk of the staple consumed in this country—that
prices are nearly double what they were at this
period last year. _ _ _

We have now to see what effect these remark-
able movements in the price of the commodity
will have in the manufacturing districts, hereto-
fore hives of industry, but now distinguished
amongst the communities of the kingdom for en-
forced idleness, privation nobly borne, sad
an all-pervading gloom. It is not necessary
for the sufferers to entreat the attention
of their fellow-countrymen to their already pain-
ful situation, or to the increasing bitterness of their
trials, for the gaze of the whole country is rivettod
upon the sad spectacle now presented, and there