The Express.
London, England, 1861-09-02 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, MONDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 2, 1861.

SIIOOIID-H•ND PIA NOFOR T E S. i For the half year, therefore, the following results
asised.lind BRAM 4 co- b.., a WI. se.nua." of
y tllll Mimi rstoeme4 makers. st I are presented in this branch of the import trade,
ens* subissi gekm— . liseset amt.
Increase in imports of wheat .1:6,7004,...15
other gram
flour

T.OYSICL'S HYDROSTATIC) TIA airioo7l23
MAI ITACOLATOJL —1 to 100,000 cam draw sall1::
alaiMoot. Great awslas. ot.ooo sold. I root M.
ITlmat km —J. CuLLIA, wag, 9%, caaassatresk
11.111110 N, Weaved 4809. 984 lootatainot. W.

1:9,8: 'Z,:419

ght erortos.

Here is a foreign outlay of nearly ten millions
sterling in six months over sad above what we
spent in the same period of last year ; and herein
is the root of our recent financial difficulties.

Atin!mAßE

TOM Prying°, PACCAR!, AND ARIADWIL Mae L. Lerirmi.
THE AOrf %. N. rirs. Iftekstamr, C. Mathew., rod 4'o°lo.° :
Pr . C i Illawllllar° —PAT PIA v. CLAI FEU.
—Asol 111 111 ANA NI/A WiI.INT.-4,Ximmagm al I.

As long as this stupendous foreign expenditure
went on there could be nothing but a flow of gold
from this country, and a tight and dear money
market. Before any improvement could occur
there must be a check to the imports. That check
has been given. The figures which we will next
submit, and which give the values for the single
month of June, present a marked difference from
those last cited. The imports of wheat sere as
follows :
June, 140 1:1,1:V01
„ PM* 1,121,463
„ 1861 1,36:053

1 he increase over last year was only 243,6901.,
whilst there waa actually a decrease of 342,018 f.,
compared with June, 1859.

The month's imports of barley, oats, beans, peas,
and Indian corn were :
Jane, 1559 L'31(7,917
„ 1544 1 :NM MI

1,132,452
This shows a decrease of 72,331 f. comp red
with last year.
Finally, the month's imports of flour wore :
Jose, 1891 t457,4+11
„
„ 11461 102,8143

The increase compared with last year is 84,58:4.
The ►ummary of the month's trade in bread-
stuffs steads, therefore, as follows, comparatively
with last year :

Incr;sas in imports of wheat 1243,600
do. du. flour

Cr 204,275
Deduct decrease in other genie

Leaving the oat increams only

These few figures show that, whereas in the first
six months of the present year we imported
9,143:i,3191. more of grain and flour than in the
seine period of last year, being an average ewes'
of 1,6:19,2191. • month, the excess in Jime—the
last of those six montlis--wu reduced to 255,944/.
Nothing could exhibit more conclusively the dimi-
nution in the grain pressure. We have now fairly
thrown the bad harvest of 1860 behind us, and
have emerged from the distress which it occasioned.
The swiftness with which a great fall in the
rates of discount has followed the slackening in the
imports of food illustrates strikingly the value of
these statistics as • financial index, and throws
into strong relief the disgraceful dilatoriness which
prevails in the public offices. It is not until the
very end of August that they furnish information
of the quantities imported in July, whilst as re-
gards the value of the imports—a lioirt of great
interest—the latest figures rendered refer only to
the month of June, being close upon two months
old ! Verily, there is a broom wanted, both by
the personnel and by the system. The returns of
the values of imports, if furnished promptly,
would enable the commercial and financial commu-
nity to read the future of the money market,
whereas under the existing system they merely
come in time to shed • light upon a pest event.
They tell ua on the present occasion not that the
value of money is likely to fall, but why it has
fallen.

As regards the quantities of grain imported in
July, the latest month reported upon, there is
nothing in the official statistics to invalidate the
hopeful inferences suggested by the foregoing
figures, for, although the wheat imported in July
was as much aa 703,342 quarters, against 509,358
in July, 1860, and the flour imported amounted
to 778,411 ewts., against 467,519 in the same
month of last year, the imports of other kinds of
grain fell to 755,981 qrs., against 1,105,776 las..
year. Consequently, it may be said that the
import& during July continued upon a diminished
scale.

Hitherto, we have only examined the imports
of grain and flour, because it is chiefly to the ex-
pansion of the trade in those articles that our We
financial straits were attributable. But the gene.sl
returns of imports suggest still more hopeful con-
clusions. Our readers have seen that the mouths
of June and July have been marked by imports
of grain in a reduced ratio. Yet the amount of
those imports was still somewhat larger than in
the same months of the previous year. But the
general returns of imports for June present a
marked improvement, inasmuch as they show an
aggregate cons;derably less than for the same
period of last year. The figures, which, be it re-
membered, include grain and flour, speak for them
selves :

DI PORTA OF ALL =MI PLATED AIRTICL VA.
June, Ix'.9
„ 1860
„ 1461
- -

. ,
There was a decrees of 1,465,3381. compared
with last year—a fact which shows that, whilst
importing a somewhat increased quantity of grain,
we contented ourselves with a greatly reduced
qtiantqy of many other ankles. The difference
Leconte* very striking if we contrast with this evi-
dence of economy the proofs of our extravagant
expenditure for the first au months of the present
year, as shown below :

MIMS Or ALL Ieft'IMIAI7D AR7WLIdt.
Bix moths et I$M
1880
1861
The mere increase in our consumption or pur-
chase of foreign and colonial commodities was
6,897,143/. compared with 1880, and no less
than 21,450,812/. compared with 1859. A trade
of this character means of course a high value of
money. We will only remark further that the
promptitude with which retrenchment in our im-
ports in June, July, and August has been followed
by an accumulation of gold in the Bank of Eng-
land and by a fall of 2 per cent. in the rates of
interest, confirms our view respecting the great
value attaching to the statistics of this branch of
trade, since it indicates that the nation pays for
its imports for the most part in ready money. Our
cash reserves ran low until June, but, almost
instantaneously with the reduction in the import
trade, they began to accumulate again. These
are all the characteristics of a ready money busi-
ness. lu exporting, we have, to a great extent,
to give credit ; in importing, we have to pay cash.
The immediate inference is satisfactory, since it
would appear that we do not owe the foreigner for
any portion of the huge amount of produce which
we have lately taken from him.
The interest which attaches at present to cotton
statistics warrants our drawing a little further
upon the Board of Trade returns. In the first six
months of the present year the value of the im-
ports of cotton was as follows :

- Cotton Imported six months of VW.. V 7,407,851
Ditto ditto DM.. 24,501,978
Ditto ditto 1861.. 23009,532
This comparison tends to show that the cotton
dearth is still prospective. It seems strange for
us to be alarmed for the lack of an article of
which we hare received twenty-three millions'

sterling worth in six months, but what greater
testimony could be borne to the stupendous pro-
portions of this department of the national busi-
ness? It is not the present condition of the
cotton supply, but its prospects, that trouble the
manufacturing interest. In the single month of
June, although we received 857,144/. of East
India descriptions, against only 308,7971. in June,
1860, the total imports of cotton exhibited a
marked falling-off, being as follows :
Cotton imported, Jnas,lBs9 £.1.:1163,621
Ditto do. 1860 7,7511,080
Ditto do. HSU 4,600,621
The decrease is explained by the curtailment of
the supply from America, whence the receipts
were :

American cotton imported June, lari9 E1,91C1,454
Do. 1860 .... 5,089,971
Do. do. 1861 .... 3,46:peti
The imports of cotton in July were not of a
character to excite alarm, being :
t 'Awe imported July, 18.19 .... 1,417,767 ma
do. do. 11160. 621,0(15 „
do. do. 1681 .... 1,253,865 „
Of the above quantity 840,084 cwts. came from
America, against 701,182 in July, 1860, and
1,199,967 in July, 1859, whilst the receipts of
East Indian were again good, being 349,028 cwts.
against 84,088 in July, 1860, and 173,538
in July, 1839. If cotton is rising to a
price at which " short time " and • partial
closing of mills must be resorted to, it is some
consolation to reflect that this is done chiefly as
a matter of precaution, and that it is the beat
pomible means of securing a remedy.

U'l /M3l I SSIONS WITHOUT PURCHASE.

Price's army. Also, that secessionists under Col.
Staples had gathered in considerable force in Pettis
and Johnson counties, and had taken military pos-
session of Warrensburg in Johnson, and George-
town and Sedlia in Pettis counties. Squads
and companies of men were constantly leav-
ing the northern counties, and pushing south-
ward to join the States forces. General Price bad
issued a proclamation at Springfield (51o.), threaten-
ing punishment to all who recognised the State
Provisional Government, and saying that the Home
Guard would be treated as enemies to the Southern
Confederacy. The Federal forces in Missouri
had arrived at Rolla. A dispatch, dated Bt.
Louis, August 20, says :—" The town of Commerce,
40 miles above Cairo, which was taken by a battery
planted by the secessionists, was retaken last night by
600 troops sentdown from Cape I; irardeau, by order
of General Fremont. The rebels made no stand,
but retreated with their battery on the approach of
our troop.. Their number was about 150 infantry
and 150 cavalry."
It is reported that Major Lynd, of the 7th
Infantry, had surrendered, with 500 troops, in New
Mexico, to the rebels, without firing a gun. He
abandoned Fort Fillmore on the 28th July, and
marched towards Fort Staunton, 18 miles from
Fort Fillmore. He surrendered his whole com-
mand.

There wan an engagement on the 19th, near
Charleston (Mo.), between a Foderal force, 250
strong, cousisting of the 22nd Illinois Regiment,
under Colonel Doherty, accompanied by Lieut.-
Colonel Rawson, of the 11th Illinois Regiment,
and a Confederate force, estimated at 000
or 700, commanded by Colonel Hunter,
of Jeff. Thompson's army. The Federal troops
were, it is asserted, victorious, routing the enemy,
killing forty, and taking seventeen prisoners.
Captain Noleman, with fifty mounted men, left
Bird Point the same evening for Charleston, to
join the forces under Colonel Doherty, but failed
to form a junction. They met a party of Con-
federates, about 100 strong, and gave them battle,
killing two. They also took 33 prisoners, and
captured 35 horses, without the loss of a man.
Advioe.3 overland from California are to the 10th
of August from San Francisco. The markets were
quiet anJ steady. The steamer Sonora left Fran-
cisco for Panama on the 10th, with 858,000 dollars
in specie. A destructive fire had taken place in
Sonora.

Prince Napoleon hail gone to Lake Superior.
COMMERCIAL

NEW YORK (v Rada:), AUtillET 22, EVENING.

The money market is easy. Sterling Exchange,
bankers' bills, 1071 ; commercial, lON. Bread-
stuffs steady : winter red wheat, 1 dol. 28c.; Chi-
cago spring, 1 dol. 08c.; extra state flour, 4 doL 60c.
Indian corn, mixed Western, 48c. Coffee quiet
but firm. Lard and tallow steady. Freights to
Liverpool : flour, 2s. od.; wheat, 10(1.