The Sun.
London, England, 1863-01-05 00:00:00

THE SILK TRADE.

With regard to the silk trade, the following re-
marks are from Messrs. Durant and Co.'s circular :

" We beg to hand our annual statement of stock, im-
ports, and deliveries of silk. You will find an in-
creased_ import of 5,200 bales in China silk ; of
Trus showing Japan
silk; and 1,450 in Canton silk. an aggregate increase as compared with last
year of fully 10 per cent, in the weight of silk both of the
imports and deliveries. The aggregate stock remaining in
average,
especially warehouses is the same as last year, a high
especially as 5,000 bales China and Japan silk
are now in
course o: landing, and prices close 20 per cent. above the
quotations of last year, still the new year opens with a
buoyant appearance. The extent of business done and the
amount of the deliveries in the year 1862 has been very
large, almost on a par with our largest years, but we fearr
the result has not been satisfactory, certainly it has not been
so to our home manufacturers and throwsters. All
hope of a return to profitable trade vanished very early,
and the high range of prices, and the slug-
gish nature of the demand for goods made it
one long continued struggle for them. Importers have on
the whole done fairly well, but to speculators and dealers i t
has been a year of great opportunities. Starting with
moderate prices, cheap money, and the expectation of a re-
petition of the lamentable shortness of the European crop,
one element only was needed, and that was courage—no
trifling requirement, looking at the generally depressed tone
of the market and the miserable result of the trade of the
two previous years, the large stock and the almost certainty
of the continued limitation of demand from America—still
that courage was not wanting, many believing that the
limitation of demand from America could not oontinue.
Slowly but boldly they commenced their operations very
early in January. At first the effect was comparatively
slight, hut by the middle of February an advance was
established of 10 per cent, and this was increased to 20 per
cent, before the close of March. Then came the first halt
followed by a retrogade movement, and from that moment
the course of prices was subject to frequent fluctuations
more or less important—never receding to the lowest
point from which we started but scarcely regaining
the highest point till the middle of November, when the
impression became very strong that the total quantity from
China and Japan might not exceed 75,000 bales. The down-
ward movement commenced in April and continued till the
beginning of May—it had then reached 71 to 10 per oent.—
about the second week matters began to mend, and when
news arrived from America that for a day or two induced
the belief or rather hope of modification if not arrangement
of the difficulties, we had recovered the fall of 71 to 10 per
cent, which had been established, and fora few days the idea
entertained of a further advance, but as the favourable ex-
pectations passed away so prices began to recede, and the
close of June found us again 7} to 10 per cent. under the
highest point. This tendency continued till the arrival of
the new China silk in August, and the first transactions
were upon that parity, but upon receipt of the China
telegram early in September of very large settlements and
large shipments for the overland route, a further fall of 5
per cent. was established. This extreme depression was
short lived—early in October, an opinion began to gain
ground that the large settlements, twice, indeed three times
repeated must be the consequence of a well founded belief
in the shortness of the crop, and that the large quantity
brought down from the interior was to be looked upon as a
measure of precaution, and arising from the altered mode
of business in China rather than a proof of the existence of
increased quantity. Very large business was done, the deli-
veries of the month reached almost the highest figures
known, except in the month of March and in November;
we again reached the highest figures of March and May,
and with them we commence the year, notwithstanding the
quiet trade and small deliveries of December.

SHIPPING INTELLIGENCE—This Day.

LONDON, Jan. s.—Wind this day at noon—South;
fresh breeze, and cloudy weather.
QUEENSTOWN, Jan 3.—Arrived—St. Bede, from Mauri-
tius; Nile, from Demerara; Lovetrand, from New York;
Que-n of the Isles, from Mazagan.

FALMOUTH, Jan. s.—Arrived—Eliphalet Greely, from
Akyab.
SCILLY, Jan. 3.—Arrived—D. H. Watzen, from New
York.

PILL, Jan. 4.—Wind S.W.—Arrived—Dauntless, from
New York.
INVERNESS, Dec. 3,—Wind S.W.—Arrived—Flying
Fish, from Montreal.
PORTSMOUTH, Jan. 4.—Wind S.W.—Arrived—Scutari,
from London, for Calcutta, with loss ofjibboom; Reginald,
from London, for Madras ; Queen of the East, from Lon-
don, for Kurrachee • Wellington, from London, for Ade-
laide ; Byzantium, from London, for New York, with loss
of sails.
- - -

HULL, Jan. 3.—Wind W.S.W.—Arriv ed—Parj a, from
Buenos Ayres.

(AY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.)
SOUTHAMPTON, Monday Morning.
Arrived—Eagle, from Boston, wmdbound ; Favourite,
from. Alexandria ; Argyll, steamer, from Carentan.
EtailedPeninsular, steamer, for Gibraltar.

(BY MAGNETIC TELEGRAPH.)
GRAVESEND, Monday Morning.
Arrived, Jan. 4—Bombay, for Calcutta; Clipper, from
Guernsey; Cleopatra, from Demerara; Crinoline, from
Algoa Bay; Blandina Dudley, from Callao; Black Water,
from Kurrachee ; Bonnie Dundee, from Calcutta.
Arrived, Jan. s—Glasgow, from Belize; Gnole, from
Danizie.
DEAL, Monday Morning.
Anchored—Jacoba, from London, for Galatz.

IN TERNATIONAL EXHIBITION. Mr. Sydney
Whiting has lately received from the Prussian Go-
vernment, through the Prussian and Zollverein commis-
sioners, a magnificent porcelain vase from the Royal Berlin
collection, ti gether with a letter expressive of their appre-
ciation of the great assistance rendered by Mr. Whiting in
his capacity as editor of the official catalogue.
MAKING " MONEY."—According to the New
York, Tribune, in the week before Christmas there were 520
presses " in full blast" making postal currency.
Abd-el-Kader, on his way to Mecca, visited the
works of the canal of Suez, in company with N . de Les-
seps.
LORD PALMERSTON .—ln the management,indeed,
of the House of Commons and the treatment of our
domestic politics there has been no inconsiderable success
but in Lord Palmerston's foreign policy, and amidst the
thousand and one questions with which he has dealt, it is
hard to say what measure remains in which permanent suc•
cess has been, or is likely to be, achieved by his adminis-
tration. The maintenance of Turkey has sometimes been
cited as the happiest result of his diplomacy ; and for the
present condition of the Porte Lord Palmerston unquestion-
ably deserves the credit. His earlier efforts were bent to undo
the famous treaty of Unkiar Skelessi ; his latter years
were devoted to the conduct of the Crimean war. More
Turkish than the Turks themselves he has sustained the
Ottoman Government against French and Muscovite and
Greek, against the Christian rayah and the Egyptian pacha-
lik, and has often gone far to justify in appearance, though
not in reality, the recent charge, by a French author, of
converting the Russian into an English protectorate. For
this he " jockeyed Russia, soft-sawdered Austria and Frush•
sia, and rebuked that bugaboo of English statesmen, Fr
. enfc
ambition," in the language of a writer already quoted Or
this he was content to alienate our oldestailios, and to narrow
our foreign relations to a precarious dependence upon the
friendship of France. But with all this the inevitable hour has
only been postponed : discord, bankruptcy, and internal cor-
and neither is the "sickness" of the
dangerous contensions of her heirs
rruopr ttieo nc
ua
rreedgrnoowrintifipe
diminished, The difficulties of that question have been at
all times undeniably great, but the generation—whether
now or hereafter—which shall be compelled to deal with
them will hardly find that these have been lessened by
postponement. To this Lord Palmerston is probably in-
different. "Posterity has never done anything for us, and
why should we make sacrifices for it," was his re-
cent justification of a heavy debt imposed on the future
revenues of the country ; and the same make-shift
and hand-to-mouth character may be traced through
the entire course of his diplomacy. To Lord Palmerston
the words of the Latin historian may be justly applied—
".Fuft iater bona malaqueniutus." Intuitively clear in his
perception of the bearings of a question and vigorous in
his treatment of it; intimate with the under-currents alike
of society and the House of Commons ; with a warmth of
sympathy which has made many friends, and a physical
organisation which has defied the anxieties of half a con:
the
tury of office, he extorts admiration even in the midst of
censure. But he is, perhaps, for that very 84_‘
rio: faults
conduce and ability, his
more dangerous as a statesman, ::I°.Bung gush charac-
onal eminence amidst 13.*
are often so akin to the prejudices where we ought
Ines of English
ter that wo are tempted
utoie
more justly to condemn.
o Combine to
fruitfulness of resource, his I"rs
igeuiz,,,:aet.teher,straollngthre
jrrdgltgef future is pronounced these those
whn the
impartial awandicinhfeerZe°l'lliesha-s contemporaries;
dazzle the
impartial award many
deservedly be loss remembered than the
of principle, of consistency,
want
marks the 33 years of Lord Palmerston's foreign policy.—
excellences
Church and State _Review.

- The Right Hon. Sir Robert Peel, liart ,M.P* , has
left Whitehall-gardens, on his return to Ireland. Lady
Emily Peel is staying at Nice for the winter, and we are
happy to add that her ladyship is improved in health.
Since St. Denis, who was martyrised about the
year 275, up to the present time, 110 bishops and 17 arch-
bishops have administered the Church of Paris. Among
those prelates there are seven of the first centuries whom
the Church reveres as saints; 11 have been honoured with
the purple, and some have borne the title of Chancellor of
France.
FIRE AT BIRMINGHAM.—On Saturday morning,
a little before two o'clock, a fire was discovered on the ex-
tensive premises of Messrs. Brooks and Son, gunmakers,
in Whittal•street, Birmingham. The flames had spread
rapidly before the engines arrived. The roof and two uppertc
stories were soon destroyed, as was also a good deal ohf
o
m es nro-
consisting of gun furniture, barrels, and fittings.
4 perty destroyed has been estimated at upwards of 00v