The Express.
London, England, 1867-01-07 00:00:00

HAYMAItkET.

THIg EVENINO. .t MERE CHILD. Messrs. Howe, Gordon,
Mesdames t hiplkvdde, ritzwilliam, Laws. Powell.
LEisON FOK LI FL Ntes,rs. S.ltheru, 11..eert.. Clark. JEN N
LIN h AT LAST. ltisi Burke. —Aa.I the BALLET. Ldlle. Sophia

PIUNCISSB'S.

111118 EVlRingo, RARNABY RUDOE. Mews. 8. Calhaeni.
F. Villiers. J. O. Shore, sod G. Honey : Min.es Augurrninorn-
son and Katherine Rodgers, Urn U. Vining, and Mist. C. Hon-
ruan.—.iud THE I N% ISIBLE PRINCE.

CEUM.

TR79 V.rrsinn, TR! TWO Nilay. Nfr. Wieldlaomb.—And
R(11,(ir; ;r Nut tt. Messra Fechtcr. Emery', !foreland,
Fitriyarick. I) dt..n. Itrylrdds, L... 11111.1. Andrew". Ander.,..n, dc. ;
11r*. L. Hurray, and ilisars Ilaurade, Grattan, and C. Lvelerc.i.

STIULYD.

Tut.: Xvringo, NEtflitilliiiit.4--After which will be produced
a Grand Ikulcsque, GUY FAWKE,4.—And BOUTS AT TIE&
a \‘A.ti.

HOLBORN.

TniA EVI,IIIIO, MY TFKR--ERT. Mr. Belmqre; MMus
lode and Lamea —And FLYING SCUD. Messrs. Neville, Rei-
nsure. I.l;ske, Vollaire. &c. ; Mesdames F. Juaaphs, C. Saunders,
Bessie Foote. Flddes, Lennox, Raymond, &a.

BRITANNIA.

Tnpi EMIN4. THE PRINcESS OF THE PEARL ISLAND:
OR. TIIE THREE KINGD,OIs 1W PEARL, COLD, AM)
SILVER. the Lane and Ja..ol,—First.rato raittomitaiita,
—AIM TUE SEELEToN CREW.

HIGH WATER AT LONDON DRIDOIL

TIIPI PAT —Morning, 2h. 57m Afternoon. 3h 12sh
TO-MOnnow—llornlng, Jh. 2vm Altensoon. 4n co.

LONDON, MONDAY, JANUARY 7.

THE new year has not opened very prosper-
ously for business. A heavy snow-storm has op-
posed an almost impenetrable barrier between the
City and the houses of merchants, bankers, and
brokers ; and hence the mercantile transactions of
the past week have been materially curtailed.
There is little to record except general dulness.
At the same time the opportunity seems a fitting
one to look back upon the commerce of 1866.
The lesson conveyed by the events of the most
serious period that the mercantile and financial
world have gone through for forty years will be
best appreciated now that they have enforced
leisure to consider it. In describing the progress
or decadence of our trade, the first thing, of
course, is to search the official tables published
from time to time by the Government. Unfor-
tunately, however, all Governments move slowly,
and especially our own, or we should not
have to wait until the end of February
for the Board of Trade Returns for tho preceding
year. At that time they will have lost all prac
tical interest, and will be of use only to compilers
of past statistics. Even then they refer only to
foreign trade, and have no information to give
with regard to our home production and consump-
tion, which are equally, if not more, important. At
best, they necessarily furnish a simple detail of
figures from which we have to draw our own con-
clusions. It by no means follows that they are
therefore worthless. Something is al ways gained
from precise, although limited information. As
regards exports, the declared veldt, during the
first eleven months of the past year stands as
follows:
January
February
March .
April
3“
June
July
August
September
October
November

L 14,354,748
15,116,063
17,520,&14
15,366,414
15,870,131
14,&30,120
14,957,kt34
17,450,156
16,671,078
16,8%1,894
15,080,430

Total

1:173,913,22

The enumeration of the imports includes only
ten months to the end of October. They are u
under :
January £9,847,364
February
March
April
May
Juno
July
August
September 18,356,015
October 19,530,442

Total

£103,298,047

The result is apparently a balance of trade
against us of no less than 34,466,2551. Accord-
ing to the opinions of a hundred years ago, the
English nation would be the poorer in specie by
nearly thirty-four millions and a half, but in the
present day we have learnt that there are many
other considerations to be kept in view besides
these ordinary calculations. First, we are in a
certain sense receiving tribute from almost all the
countries of the globe in the shape of interest on
loans, whether to Governments, public com-
panies, or private individuals, which more than
compensates for the difference. Secondly, there
are the profits on freight, mostly carried by Eng-
lish shipping, commissions, and the hundred inci-
dental gains arising from international commerce.
It is clear that, at all events, our imports of bul-
lion vastly exceed our exports. The totals of gold
and silver during the first eleven months of the
past year are as under :

Imports
Exports

£31,970,483
20,792,006

Difference in our favour... £11,178,187

So that instead of sending out near thirty-four-
and-a-half millions we have actually received more
than eleven millions. Thus far our foreign trade
appears to have been satisfactory, on the whole.
notwithstanding the marked decline that took
place after the first months of the crisis.
In taking the various items of our trade in
detail, the beat evidence to be obtained is from
the annual circulars of our principal merchants.
Cotton, of course, stands first. Upon the pro-
bable production of the crop in the Southern
States of America Messrs. NEILL Brothers and Co.
are unquestionably the best authorities. Acoord-
ing to their estimate the total will exceed
2,000,000 bales, an amount very much below the
produce of the years before the war, but more