The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-01-02 00:00:00

pebble, and he will subdue the stubborn

nature of inanimate matter, and bring to light
the hidden beauties of that on which they have
employed their time and skill. And why should
we not look to governments for something equally
meritorious, in calling forth the latent virtue
which sleeps in every human heart ?

Axe not the worst of women—
They all have a virtue in them."

says the poet ; and we have more solid testimony
in support of this aphorism. Our cottages and
cellars are the nurseries of our national virtue.
All that is good and great has risen from three
steps under ground, sprung from the peasant's
hearth, or fallen from the highest garrots. Let
us lay aside our vanities for a moment, and carry
back the chastity, integrity, prudence and caution
of the comparative few who have risen to
opulence and grandeur, one hundred years, and
see from whence they borrowed the shield and
weapons with which they have won their victory
over the snares, traps, and delusions of the
world. Coercion, that favourite hobby of
timid and vassilating rulers, has done noth-

ing for them. Early teaching freed them
from State restraint, and placed in their
hands the fortunes and dominant power they
possess. Parents did their duty towards their
offspring, and the well-taught child has done the
rest for himself. And with so many bright and
enduring examples before us, of what may be
done by every class of the community, we see no
reason why parents should not be compelled by
law, to educate and train their children for the
world they have to pass through. Death on the
scaffold, and all the other tortures and punishments
of crime, have signally failed in repressing the
weakness and wickedness of neglected youth and
a perverted nature ; and we must go back to
the cradle of the convict, and not rely on
the number of criminals who have found an
untimely grave, for the relief we seek, both for
the innocent and guilty. The New Year is
assuredly the most fitting time to look forward
with hope, and to redouble our efforts to secure
for the masses of our fellow-creatures that care
from our rulers and the public, which has not
been bestowed upon them hitherto, for reasons
almost too contemptible to name in a Christian
age. And relying on the prompt discharge of
this sacred duty, we believe that near a the
first day of 1858 is at hand, that we shall have
the satisfaction of recording a marked improve-
ment in the general condition of the millions, and
holding out still stronger feelings of hope and
promise than we can to-day.

Tim present position of the Cotton market, as
disclosed in the statistical tables which appeared
in the NORTHERN TIMES of yesterday, is a mat-
ter of grave national importance. The total im-
ports into the United Kingdom, for the year
1856, amounted to 2,468,069 bales, being an
increase of 189,924 over 1855. But this advan-
tage is overruled by the shortness of stock which,
on the 31st of December last, only reached
332,740 bales, being a decrease of 153,730, and
294,710 bales in the quantities on hand at the
close of the year 1854 and '55 respectively.
While this increase has been going on in the
imports and decrease in the stocks, we find an
increase in the weekly consumption of 3,110 bales.
This would be discouraging enough of itself in
all conscience, but when we turn to the United
States, we descover these additional causes of

•
uneasiness :
Decrease in receipts at American ports 32,000 bales.
„ Exports
„ At sea for Liverp00l

Total 321,000 bales•
Against all this we can only place an increase of
113,000 bales in the stock held at the Atlantic
Ports of America, which leaves 114 361,730 bales
worse off than we *ere this time last year.
But our deficiencies do not end here, for the crop
of 1856 is known to be fully half-a-million bales
less than it was in 1855.

These facts when thrown together do not, how-
ever, give all we have reason to dread. Taking
middling (Means Cotton as a standard of prices,
the advance:which has taken place is equal to
2d. per lb., or 41. per bale. Other descrip-
tions of Cotton have not advanced to fully the
same extent, still the staple most in demand is
the surest guide to follow. It demonstrates most
clearly that if we have to import, say 1,400,000
bales from the United States, we shall have to
pay 21. to 3/. per bale more than it cost us last
year. If trade should receive any unexpected
stimulus, the prices of this raw material will be con-
siderably enhanced, and we may have to pay six
or eight millions more for our supply, and few, we
think, will deny that the Bank Charter Act, and
the economic ravings of the London Times, have
contributed very materially towards forcing the
present state of things on the country. We had
dear money all through the war, to make the im-
porter wise and the manufacturer prudent. This
had no sooner passed away than we had money
cheap for a while, and matters went on in the natu-
ral current. But then came the screw in Septem-
ber, and the merchants were deterred from send-
for Cotton, notwithstanding that it was generally
known the crop was short. The great minds
who direct these important affairs will not
willingly take the burden of the evils we
have brought to light, on their backs. They
will pooh ! pooh ! the idea, and endeavour to
shuffle out of the responsibility. But the attempt
will prove abortive. Cotton, corn, and every other
product we require to employ and feed labour,
are sacrificed to gold. The old imposture of
" cash payments " has just been revived to gull
the public into a belief that all but the Bullionists'
doctrine, and the Bear's plunder, is so much
moonshine. Yet here we have in Liverpool—in
Lancashire—misery threatened, if not brought
home to us, by the practical operation of laws and
theories, which are a disgrace to a commercial
people. That we must have four or five millions
more gold than we had in, 1856 is quite certain,
and the cotton trade must be anxious to hear
how the Bullionists will meet this necessary de-

mand. Will they advance the rates of discount