The Sun.
London, England, 1855-04-09 00:00:00

victoria will at the same time visit h is Majesty at
Paris during the Exhibition.

N

;1 A K E

The Posta mpt Gazette of Frankfort quotes a i /'O.2IIkiERU TA LIN T ZLLIGENCE.
that D °in
letter fr
Berlin of the 4th, positively denying I a- _
Nichol r.
alalicit' physician to the late Emperor . - CITY, ,Two o'CLeicit:.
_unur.g. secretly. * " l on Saturday,
I___ as, has been, oblicred to leave Saint Peters-: The cotton market. at Liverpoo ,
He is still there, the letter says, cloy ed with a very firm appearance. The sales were
4 cl in the same situation as before. esti:mated at from 10,000 to 12,000 bales. Uplands
- The Sua blan M; at 5 1-16 d, Mobile at 51d., and Orleans at 50. The
Itatiover Mercury contains a letter from .
of the Ist, which states that the maxis- Rail way Share Market was steady.
trates
pre_ and syndicate of the burgesses of that city The impression that the letters by the overland
praying
seitnted the day before nn address to the king mail report much better markets for imports in
48 little hilt to cause the States to assemble with Auslzralia may prove mischievous, if not qualified
. e delay as possible.
by a -reference to facts. A few instances will serve
04filetter. from Berne states that, iu consequence to illustrate this. In the year 1854 there were
4,._6ute ratification of the convention of Milan by enou g h slates imported to roof the whole town.
'&7:Austrian Government, the Ticinese, who had The :average consumption of imported spirits in
47: expelled, will be allowed to return into Loin- New South. Wales during the last three years .has
9- from the 11th inst. been over 500,000 gallons annually, while the
quan City imported has been double that consumed.
Of w. 3 aring apparel, and especially drapery, the ac-
count; i given are very instructive, as well as dis-
couraging. In a Sydney Price Current it is stated
that--

TliE PENINSULAR• MAIL.

' SOUTHAMPTON, SUNDAY.
, l'he Iberia has arrive 1 with the Paninsular
.
31; L$
dates are--Gibraltar, March 30 ; Cadiz,
23 ; Lisbn, April 2d. ; Vigo, 4th. She brings
spoicisselagersi and- 30 packages o f specie. She
e the Madrid, with the outward mails.
ttrA.e_t Oporto bands of labourers were parading the
cie els) and breaking open bread stores, owing to
stitution.'
Lisbon Exchang e little doin ; rates in favour
of 111
Lisbon
g
i.. 110
°ISI tl General Screw steamer. Natal was wrecked
Ltd
'll,ie shores f Coniel. Her stores may be saved,
e vessel o
is likely to go to pieces.

" Ts. he average consumption per head is reckoned at
about 1;0s. under ordinary circumstances. Within the
last tcy o years, however, the importations have quadru-
pled t'a at amount, and although immense quantities have
doubtl.t :ss been consumed, still there is a very large stock
on hang, 1, and we maysay that the drapery trade has been
compl' tely prostrated. The' continued importations have
glutte il our stocks in every department, and we believe
that s I e most tremendous sacrifices will have to be en-
dured ',before our stocks get cleared, for large quantities
of goo, is now held as unsaleable from over supply will
becom so from age aed change in fashions, and the ac-
cumuli r ted charges will cause most disastrous account
sales it ever they are sold—but we apprehend it will be
along I i me before numbers ofconsignmentscan be closed.
In refer ence to this market we must observe that large
quanti ties of unsuitable goods have been forwarded, and
also t' sat rainy items of foreign fabrics have been 'im-
ported;, which, will ever be unsaleable in this community_
except at most unjustifiable sacrifices. The class, of
goods ].ow required for our consumption is of a much
better , d'escription than has been imported of late years.
The pe c unlary position of the labouring classes has been
so mu( 3:h bettered within' the last two years, that
their , 3 omestia habits have undergone a very ma-
terial ;Lange, and articles that would have been
eagerly sought for, or endured from necessity, are
now re j ected. This fact is most observable in every,
article connected with the drapery trade, more, par-
ticularl r in those kinds for female consumption.
We m: I y remark that there has been a great accession
to the niumber of retail diapers within the last three
years, a i td many persons without capital have left good
situatio c s and entered into business to the great loss
and inc c eivenience of the employers and the derange.
went ar Al dispersion of business generally. These per-
sons ha- i ing little or no stake took shops at the most ex-
orbitant c rents, and from the preposterrus facilities
heretofc lee offered of obtaining goods on credit, com-
menced a showy business. This sudden demand for
shops ar vii business houses excited the cupidity of land-
lords, a std rents have been raised extortionately and
wages ii i proportion, the consequences are now felt most
severely The decreased demand or rather the widely-
extende il competition for supplying the consumption
and the immensity of importations have induced a great
diminuti on of profits, and we are convinced that very
few hou 3 es that are of recent formation are doing much
more th ti n paying expenses, and we have no doubt a
great m a .ny cannot do that, and unless a much better
trade £3O( r n springs up we expect to find many will he
couipelle ct to return to their previous condition. Several
parties i r t the drapery trade have already succumbed to
the pre& r. nt depression, and there is a growing want of
confiden. 3e in this branch of business. Very largequan-
tities of d rapery goods are daily forded at auctions for
the pnrp o se of closing accounts or meeting liabilities,
but hea' ry losses are sustained. Quitting drapery in-
voices he r private sale is at present out of the question,
except a a discounts varying from 30 to 40 per cent.

1852. 1853. 1854.
Apparel
Cottons And drapery 140,479 -393,096 1,407,042
Haberdr illhery
Hosiery
Linens
Milliner: i
Silks , 17,458 : 135,817 45,382
Woollen) I & blankets 124,625 $30,429 250,019

Tots
626,496
2, 170 232 2,163,306
•
No improvement in demand has pakei place with the
new year, . and the expectations-of many have been dis-
appointed It Is in _this
,branCh of bilSiness that confi-
dence is t nest shaken, and unless we have a very marked
improvers wilt before long,. we_ apprehend, that many must
give way w hose capital is -too limited, and whose ex-
penses ar3 too heavy to allow them to withstand the
pressure Ex E the times and the ,ruinouddepreciation in the
value of ti ieir 'stocks. As yet this market has expe-
rienced no relief frail decreased imports, and most firms
have rncei ved coil iderable ;`augmentations of summer
goods, mil): ich will have to remain over unopened. As
an instant :e of the. losses sustained, we may mention
that at a :recent large sale of French ribbons and trim-
mings of good quality, a loss of ful!y 40 per cent. was
sustained.: •

Accordii ig to this, the drapery trade is now as un-
sound in. Australia as it was in London a few years

since.

From -the official statement of imports, an accu-
rate con :elusion may be drawn as to the ind7rect
trade of Russia, carried on through Prussia, tile
collectiv ei quantities of produce imported into the
United -Kingdom during 1854 being thus stated :
Russian Ports
in the Baltic.
Seeds— •

Articles.

Prussia.

Flax and Linseed Qrs. 10,173
Rape seed
Tallow Cwt. 31,687
Hemp, tmdressed „ 20,062
Flax, d rossed and undrsd „ 82,612 '
Copper,. unwronght and
part a •rought
The foregoing statement, extracted from the re-
cords of ,the Inspector-General's Office, exhibits the
importatzions of the specified articles from all the
ports, ez:cept those belonging to Sweden, which lie
within t t le Baltic ; that limitation being previously
understood to exclude the ports of the Danish ter-
ritory, a rlhether insular or continental. The im-
ports frc am the Baltic ports of Sweden could not be
()Albite I in this statement, being blended in the
official r scord with the imports from other ports of
the sam( ) country.
The e: [polls of British and Irish spirits from the
United Kingdom Were, in the four last years, as
under •

... 116,267
... 2,212
... 253,955

366:220
667,879

1853.

1854.

Gallons. Gallons.
British o )lonies and dependencies 603,033 473,586
Foreign ,u,untries and colonies 224,879 206,978

Total 827,212 680,564
Of this total there were shipped to Australia
529,167 gallons in 1853, and 355,436 gallons in
1854, While our North American colonies only re-
ceived 24,377 gallons in the year first named, and
55,227 ;gallons in the secqnd.
The edvices brought by the steamer Africa from
New York notice a quieter stock market, the non-
arrival of the Atlantic having checked operations.
Money continued very abundant, and the last
weekly return of the City banks showed an in-
crease, compared with the previous one, of 603,428
dollars in loans and discounts. In foreign pro-
duCtions there was more actiTity, but there was an
ample supply of most descriptions, and the arri-
vals were moderate. The grain markets were
affected also by the absence of later news from
Europe confirming the particulars of the Emperor
of Russia's death. The stocks of breadstuffs in the
New York markets were light. Cotton realised
steady rates.

The California accounts are three days later.
The firm of Wells, Fargo, and Co. had resumed,
and it was expected that Messrs. Page, Bacon, and
Co. would also recommence. The panic had greatly
subsided, but still there was some excitement. The
rains had set in, much to the encouragement of
the miners, who had accumulated immense quan-
tities of earth for washing. The yield during the
season is expected to be very large. There was a
better feeling in the commercial markets.
The Sitka, a very fine Russian vessel, has been
brought to Spithead from California as a prize to
the combined fleets. She was captured off Kams-
chatka.

News has jiist been received from Liverpool that

the North Carolina screw-steamer, from Philadel-
phia, has foundered, after having been in contact
with another vessel, and we regret to state that
only a part of the passengers and crew were saved.
Letters have been received from Pappenburg,
dated the 2d inst., which announce that no less than
15 vessels have been seized and laid under embargo
at Ismail by the Russians.

The Stock market continues extremely heavy,
under the impression that a new loan is shortly to
be announced ; and political events are looked for-
ward to also with great interest. Money, however,
continues extremely easy, and the bankers will not
allow more than .11. per cent. for it upon " call,"
while they discount readily at 4 per cent., and for
very grst class paper, at short dates, even as low
as 31. A leading broker has this morning given
3-16ths for tho call" of stook to-morrow, and