The Sun.
London, England, 1864-08-16 00:00:00

:SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES.—Our readers may entertain themselves
this morning with an account of the largest trade
ever known in the world. The shop is kept by the
British nation ; the customers are supplied by the
four quarters of the globe. That the story may be
well understood we publish the whole statement of
the officers whose duty it is to inspect the books and
estimate the value of the business. Our own part
will be performed in a few plain words of introduc-
tion and comment. Most nations making any pre-
tension to civilisation have traded with their neigh..
bours—that is to say, they have bought what they
could not produce at home or produce insufficiency,
and sold what they produced exceptionally or
produced in excess. A few communities in all
ages have carried their trade beyond these limits,
and have bought not only for use, but for the ex-
press purpose of selling again. That is what we do
now, and this is the explanation of the first great
division in the accounts before us. We export to
foreign countries first so much of our own produce
—that is to say, the produce of Grest Britain and
Ireland—as we do not want at home, and then so
much of our imports from foreign countries and our
colonies as we do not need for home consumption.
Besides being manufacturers, therefore, we ere mer-
chants and carriers, and the account of our exports
is divided accordingly between articles produced by
ourselves and articles imported for the purpose of
exporting; while our imports are similarly classi-
fied as designed for our own use or for selling to
other. The proportions existing between the diffe-
rent branches of the account will be easily discerned.
Having premised this much, we do but request
the reader, after reflecting on the prodigious mag-
nitude of the totals, to observe the simple and
natural influences on which this immense business
depends. In its fluctuations it obeys the same laws
as the business of the commonest shop. There is
exactly the same liability to overtrading and its
consequences, exactly the same uncertainty of
speculation, exactly the same recurrence of lucky
hits and unexpected disappointments. The Cbm-
missioners of Customs are still surprised, if not
perplexed, to discover that the suspension of the
cotton trade really tells but little on the gross
trade of the country, though the moral now evia
dent is that such a commerce as ours does not de-
pend on any one staple or any one market. We
were under a delusion from the beginning in this
matter, and were alarmed without cause. It is
not that new Kings have succeeded Cotton, but
that cotton was never King at alt. So long as trade
is free and intercourse unimpeded we shall find out
what the wants of the world are and supply them.
People must not only eat, drink, but be clothed,
and after that they want iron. These wants will
be found to explain and cover all the items of ex-
ports selected by the Commissioners as showing a
notable increase over last year's returns- After this
we may say that the course of trade is modified by
war and the seasons, with a considerable allowance
for legislation. War is now the most potential ele-
ment at work. The American war first deprived us
of Southern cotton, and then, as its next result,
created a new class of customers and new demands.
We have been roaming over the whole earth in
search of the material which we used to procurefrom
Charleston, but could procure no longer. Where we
found it we bought it, whatever the price ; where
we did not find it, but thought it might be pro-
duced, we offered a premium for its production.
Thus our gold has been poured into India, Egypt,
and Turkey by shiploads ; and Hindooe, EgyFtiuns,
and Turks, enriched by our money, have spent it
afterwards in our markets. Then there are the
demands arising out of the war itself and all its
hideous work. The cannon and rifles, the swords
and bayonets, the lead, the powder, the bullets, and
the cartridges, that we have sent to America repre-
seat an entirely new trade. In fact, the trade has
been actually overdone, as any other might be. The
demand for these murderous commodities, though
still four times as large as it used to be, fell off a
little last year. Even Grant and Lee, voracious
consumers as they are, could not exhaust the stores
with which we glutted the American market the
year before last. Next to war comes the season—
that annual crisis through which we are passing at
this very moment. Let the reader look well to the
harvest prospects as we report them. The result may
govern the course of the American war more power.
fully than either Grant's obstinacy or Lee's gene-
ralship. If we have to send to America for
any considerable proportion of the corn which
we want, the price paid will help the Federal
Government, mollify the tempers of the North-
Western farmers, and perhaps enable Mr. Chase's
successor to pay his way for somo time. This is a
point at which the increase of our trade ceases to be
matter of congratulation. If we import more tea,
coffee, sugar, or wine than before, it is evidence of
general prosperity ; if we import more corn, it is
evidence mainly of a bad harvest. Wo must have
the corn somehow, and if it is not forthcoming from

the home crop, we must buy it elsewhere and pay
for it. The excellent harvest of last year brought
our imports from America down to a very low
figure, but left us all the richer instead of poorer.
Legislation can, of course, be so exercised as to
control trade absolutely, but in our own country
and in the present day there is no longer room for
any very great effect. A reduction of duties on any
article naturally increases consumption. It will be
seen that in the course of the last four years two-
thirds, as nearly as, passible, of the lessee anti-
cipated from the removal of Customs have been
recovered from the extension of trade. But still
these modifications, now necessarily slight, do not
much affect the gross results. Even in the most
notable instance of recent legislation—the French
Treaty—it seems doubtful whether we have not
overrated its probable action on the national trade.
The first effect of the new intercourse was an enor•
mous jump in our exports to France; but in the
very next year, the rise, though still maintained, was
less decided, and now we find that last year a reaction
had distinctly set in. There are two explanations
of the fact. In the original rise there was probably
something artificial or factitious—that is to say,
our opportunities had been over.estinaated, and we
supplied goods in excess of the real demand ; Bo
that a little curtailment of the trade ensued when
we discovered our mistake. But, besides this, it
is said that we have put the Frenchman on hie
mettle. He has no idea of losing his home trade if
he can keep it, and has set himself to work under
the stimulus of competition to match the manufac•
tures of England, not without success. It is, how-
ever, remarkable that there was a miscalculation on
the other side of the account also. On nothing was
60 much reliance placed, and naturally placed, as on
the disposition of Englishmen to consume French
wines if they were but made fairly accessible. We
entertain, as our readers know, grave doubts whe-
ther this condition has been properly fulfilled, but
as things now stand, it is certain that even the con-
sumption which was actually established is already
falling off. We did last year import wino in largely
increased quantities, but it was wine of the old
quality, not of the new. Port and sherry carried
everything before them, and totally eclipsed the
Clarets and Burgundies of our neighbours. In fact,
the practical result of the French Treaty has been
to set everybody drinking the white wines of Spain.
But the most assuring feature, after all, in the report
before us is the breadth of the commercial basis
which these very uncertainties disclose. It is satis-
factory to find that though things do not always
happen as they were expected to happen, still we
aro as well off as if they did. This broad general
result, always arrived at in some way or other, is
far better than the product of some special privilege
or monopolised manufacture. It lessens risks and
distributes liabilities. If, indeed, we could lose
such a trade as the cotton trade without feeling the
loss, we may without presumption think ourselves
sate for the future from everything but war. What
war might do no man can tell, but we think nobody
can read this report of our trade without rejoicing
that peace has been preserved through this critical
year against the manifold dangers which threatened
it.

HERALD.—Once more the Federal army has re-
coiled from the defences of Petersburg. On the 30th
July, after nearly six weeks of inaction, General
Grant made his final effort to storm the intrench-
ments from which he had been twice driven back ;
again he was defeated with losses exceeding in all
probability those of the former assaults. The attack
had been most carefully matured ; it was looked for-
ward to with confidence in the Federal camp ; the
secret had been well kept ; it was a surprise, and
began with ft disaster to the Confederates—one
of those terrible blows which most severely try
the stamina of an army—yet it failed completely
and disgracefully. Two days before two corps
of the Federal army had been transferred to the
left bank of the James River. This move-
ment was a feint, but a clumsy one. So expe-
rienced a General as Lee must have known well
that Grant had no intention of permanently
dividing his army, and the only effect the attempted
diversion had was probably increased vigilance at
Petersburg and minute preparation for the expected
assault. The two corps crossed and recrossed the
James River, and were in their old lines on the
morning of the 30th. At daybreak the assaulting
columns were quietly masaed behind the entrench.
ments, the word was viren, and a touch of the elec-
tric wire hurled into the air a commending battery
of six guns in the ConfederaTe position, burying in
its ruins 250 of its brave defenders. Sallying forth
from their earthworks, protected by a heavy fire of
artillery from along the whole line, the Federal
columns streamed over the shattered redoubt and
lined the trenches right and left of it. But they
tad no cover from the terrific storm of musketry
and grape poured on them from the inner line of
ekrtiiVorks, and they had no alternative but to de.