The Sun.
London, England, 1863-04-28 00:00:00

THE FRENCH MARKETS.

The accounts received from the provincial corn-
markets state that the fall in the price of corn is
making further progress. The weather is favour-
able to the growing crops, and they promise such
an abundant harvest that speculators are every day
becoming more cautious. The suppy of farmers'
wheat in the Paris market last week was about the
same as during the week preceding. Farmers who
attended the market refused to make any reduction
in price except for samples of inferior quality.
Choice samples of white wheat found buyers at from
34f to 35f the sack of 120 kilogrammes. Choice
samples of red wheat, 34f to 34f 25c; first qua-
lity, 33f to 33f 25c; ordinary, 31f to 31f 50c.; in-
ferior, 301 to 30f 50c. Merchants attended the mar-
ket with wheat from the banks of the Loire, but the
millers bought very little. Some very fine wheat
from the neighbourhood of Saumur was sold at
33f 25c the sack. Millers from St. Denis bought
wheat from Afontereau at 331 50c, being a fall of
50c since the preceding week. Wheat fr.= Chartres
of the first quality was sold at 33f the sack, and
ordinary at 32f. Rye was more offered than de-
manded. Some lots were sold at 20f the 150 kilo-
grammes, delivered at the Northern Railway termi-
nus. Oats were offered at a reduction of 25c tho
sack without finding buyers. There was scarcely
any bakers, flour sold in the Paris market last week.
Choice samples were offered at 62f the sack of 157
kilogrammes; good quality, 60f to 611; ordinary,
571 to 591. The millers from the Beauce refused to
make any reduction in their prices. Flour of the six
marks was difficult of sale. It was offers d at 61f 750
the sack for delivery during the present month, 62f
for May, 62f 25c for June, and 621 50c July and
August. The official quotations on Saturday after-
noon are, for delivery, Glf 50c ; May, 61f 500 ;
June, July, and August, 621 50c. The factors de-
clared on Saturday 543 sacks of flour, of which 268
of first quality sold for delivery within 30 days at
561 to 61f 25c the eack. The flour in the market
stores amount to 9,988 quintals, being an increase
of 101 quintals within the week. The animation
which was observed in the Marseilles corn market
15 days since has subsided, and business has be-
come very dull, with a tendency to a fall in
prices. Some American red wheat arrived at
Havre last week which was disposed of at 561 the
200 kilogrammes. Native wheat having fallen in
Normandy, factors find a difficulty in disposing of

foreign corn. Nothing can be duller than the corn
markets of Bordeaux and Nantes. Wheat is quoted
at Bordeaux at from 20f 50c to 22f the sack of 80
kilogrammes, and flour at from 36f to 40f the 100
kilogrammes. There is a strong tendency to a de-
cline of prices in the Nantes corn market, to which
farmers offer a determined resistance. It is, how-
ever, more sensibly perceived in the flour market.
Wheat was sold at Nantes on Friday at from 19f to
20f 75c. the hectolitre, and flour at from 54f to 59f
'Tans on Fri_
the sack of 157 kilogrammes. The market of Niort
and all the corn markets in the centre of France
show a marked tendency to a decline of prices.
Wheat was sold at the last market of Niort at from
l
12f4.1 tow2hsefastOfceltlhoeool O 0
the
kilogrammes,
at being a tall of
hectolitre
at , Fri-
day last. Merchants' wheat was sold frorn 26f
50c to 27f 600 the 100 kilogrammes, and flour at
from 65f to 58f the sack. ThereA was a slight fall at
r
the last market of Rouen. heat
from 24f to 28f 50c the 100 kit was quoted at
flour at from 55f to 50f the ogrammes, and bakers
mar-
kets in the northern d sack. rile corn
clinin department
g gradually. Wheat is worth from 181 to 23f
e*
Millers find it difficult to
dispose of bakers' fl
our at 37f the 100 kilogrammes,
Wheat is offer from 27f to 2
100 kilogrammes. offered at Metz at
7f 25c the
•.ogramtnes. There is no change in prices at
the Strasbourg corn market. Wheat maintains its
cto 2
price of from 27f 50 9f the 100 kilogrammes.
The price of wheat at
Lyons varies from 27f 50c to
291 the 100
kilogrammes, and flour from 451 to 50f
the sack
lof 125 kilogrammes.'

STRONG GALE AND EXTRAORDINARY LoW
WATER IN TIIE
THAMES.—A heavy gale from
due west broke over the metropolis yesterday morning, and
continued to blow with great violence during. the day. On
the ebb tide the up•traftic on the river was considerably
impeded, owing to the velocity of the current, aidcd by the
gale that blew ;n the same direction, and the river steaniere
could scarcely make headway against the wind and ebb.
At low water the banks in the Airway of tho river were
left high and dry, and the narrow channels between those
below Wcalminster-bridge were so ',hallow that it was with
great difficulty the small steamers could be navigated

through them.
however obstinate -Evr3Nr.J--Hohoway
1 's Ointment and Pills.--
re is every prospect of tin
for old wounds, sores, and uieer,,. If
_I ,disputable remedies. . .
iinEuiliAcinntlsh,eßef:triiti:a tcrop.o.of Ohio the
yield to their healing and
to directions given with them, there is no
ding
gbut wille or
long standing_, curative
s who have I.rs
properties. Numbers of
.person
—.( n pltien, .
E
CVOIIII .
u-_e_ed need: d.
wound, ulcerous sore, or b. acl breast,
without derivint, the slighteet I, ' 0 etair,erit
'urge"w' --
b H lr cndit, lapv , ' r.in
thoroughl swellings, y o oway's Ointment and nil.' cl' --
glandular tumours, anti s. LB. For
thc skin, there is no medicine that c curlY, and diseases of
an effect. In fact, in the wor an be used with s good
worst forma . o
upon the condition of al of disease, dependent
bibtibele e blood, the •A•
be 1111Cinee are ire..

LONDON, TUESDAY, APRIL 28, 1863.

Thanks to the hesitations and delays marking
the policy of her MAJESTY'S present advisers, in
regard to the Federal Government, it has
literally been just touch - and -go with the
construction that might have been put upon
our diplomatic proceedings. The manful ontspeak-
ing of the Lords and Commons of England has
extricated the Country—certainly the Cabinet—from
a dilemma. It has done so, briefly, this wise :—On
Thursday last (the circumstance cannot but be
recalled to mind now with a sense of gratitude,
no less than of earnest exultation) the resolute
course pursued simultanteously by both Houses of
Parliament—in reference to the audacious insults
offered to the British flag by the Federal
Navy, more particularly by Admiral WILKEs,
insults endorsed by Federal diplomacy,
more particularly by Mr. ADAMS, the Ameri-
can Minister to the Court of St. James's—
the unmistakeable tones of indignation expressed
both by the House of Lords and by the House of
Commons on Thursday evening, was so far effectual
—as it happened, most opportunely so far effectual !
—that in the very nick of time (for our National
Credit !) it elicited a promise, or at the very least a
half promise, of vigorous action at last on the part
of the noble earl the Foreign Secretary. We have
said that this was done in the very nick of time.
And it is nothing less than distressing to the
" amour propre" of Englishmen to recall to mind at
this moment how truly it was so. Scarcely had
Lord RUSSELL spoken, as Parliament had really
constrained him to speak, and as he would in all
human probability not have spoken otherwise—
judging, that is to say, from his silence and apathy
in the matter previously—scarcely had the Legisla-
ture, by its scornful demands upon the patriotic
action of the Government, compelled the Foreign
Secretary to speak at last,as he ought long previously
to have spoken without any such extraneous incen-
tive—when intelligence is brought to us of the utter
discomfiture of the Federal forces directed against,
and now, as it appears, ignominiously driven back
from, Charleston.

Had Earl RIISsELL'S speech on Thursday evening
immediately followed instead of immediately pre-
ceding (fte it did ! thanks, however, entirely
and exclusively to Parliament !) the arrival of this
news from America—it would have borne the
appearance of having been dictated by a despicable
readiness on the part of England, or at any rate on
the part of her Ministry, to assume a haughty tone
towards the Government of Washington, simply be-
cause the Government at Washington was just then
borne down by the pressure of a disastrous defeat.
As it is—thanks to our Legislature and not to our
Administration—the bold language drawn forth
from the Foreign Secretary by the indignant re-
monstrances of the Conservative Opposition, and of
the really Independent Liberals, will be remembered
to have been uttered at a time when the Federal
cause was supposed by many to be at length
in the ascendant ! And when the Confederates
at Charleston, at Vicksburg, and elsewhere, were
imagined to be very seriously threatened, if not, in
a manner, virtually delivered over to speedy de-
struction. So that it was literally, we repeat, in
homely phrase—just touch and go with the construe
tion that might have been put upon the attitude
assumed in the name of England by the English
Government, in its bearing, under the most irritat-
ing circumstances, towards the Federal Government
at Washington. For the imperilling of our national
credit at this juncture (let it not speedily be for
gotten) we have reason to bold her Majesty's present
fta'"lsen, and them alone, responsible ! For our most
°Plecltune extrication from the dilemma, upon the
verge of which," were all of us (quite unconsciously)
standing, we have, on the contrary, to thank the
independent and patriotic
ardour of the Lords

and Commons in Parliament assembled I So
that Mr. RoEßucis:'s indiscretion, as it was
thought to be by the more gingerly and mealy-
mouthed of our politicians, turns out after all to
have been in one sense alone discreet, there, at
that time in the popular branch of the Legislature.
Mr. HORSMAN'S equally bold speaking somewhat
to the same effect a few hours afterwards, being
in like manner, in its turn, productive of good—
for inasmuch as the sittings when this tone was
adopted by independent representatives like the
members for the boroughs of Stroud and Sheffield,
(and cheered (remember that!) again and again by
the House of Commons)—the sittings at which those
startling incidents occurred, it will be now recalled
to mind on both sides of the Atlantic, dated earlier
than, and not subsequent to, the repulse of the
Federal Fleet from before Charleston !

The result of the debate on Lancashire last night
was, on the whole, very satisfactory. Mr. FER-
RAND spoke at great length, and was at conside-
rable pains to describe the state of affairs in the
cotton districts. He explained that he had not ar-
rogated to himself any right to bring forward the
claims of the operatives, but that he had received
numerous letters from them requesting him to do so.
The hon. member very properly deprecated the con-
duct of Mr. POTTER, who had watched his move-
ments very closely, and endeavoured to frustrate the
object of his motion. First, he had proposed
referring the whole matter to a committee upstairs,
and now he proposed an amendment to the effec3
that " a Royal commission should be appointed to
inquire into the present state of the cotton manu-
facturing districts, and report on the best mode of
relieving the distress existing therein." Mr.
FERRAND said that such a scheme would be viewed
with dismay by the operatives, for it would in-
evitably cause delay when immediate action was
desirable. He then animadverted upon the conduct
of the cotton manufacturers, whom he declared to
have had ample warning that a crisis might soon
arise in American affairs, and many well-informed

persons had assured them it was madness to place
confidence in a supply of cotton from America only.
He then referred to the system of overtrading, and
quoted a sentence from a letter from the late Mr.
FIELDER, in which he urged the manufacturers to
manufacture less cotton and more honesty. HE

reminded the House that the cotton trade of England
had existed for 90 years, and he made this state-
ment not upon his own authority but upon that o+
those who studied the question, that during
that time there had existed three generation;.

of the English race, bat the cotton trade had
during that time destroyed nine generations of fac-
tory operatives. After referring to events some
time back the hon. member returned to the question
of the day and said, " again Mr. RATHBONE GREGG,
one of the largest spinners in Lancashire, spoke in
1831 of the degrading condition of the cotton opera-
tives, and pointed oat the imperative necessity for
the alteration of a system which left them no time
to be wise, and no leisure to be good, end he should
like to know whether in the present day there
could be found a single man who did not feel
anxiety for this state of things. They were in-
debted to the noble and magnanimous conduct of
the operatives themselves for the present tran-
qnillity of Lancashire_ The manufacturers had
broken faith with them, had violated pledges, had
locked the mills against them, and the warning
which was given by Mr. Gregg 30 years ago was to
be taken into the deep consideration of her Majesty's
Government at the present moment. It would
have been well indeed for a noble lord when he was

going to or returning from his festivities in Scotland
if he had spent one day amongst these poor people,
and seen with his own eyes and heard with his own
ears their painful sufferings, and he would then
have been able to tell those hon. gentlemen who
sneered and laughed at these things that it was no
laughing matter." It would have been well if Mr.
FERRAND could have avoided the introduction of so
many irritating topics, but nothing could have ex-
cused the exhibition of merriment at such a theme
as that introduced by the hon. member. The
sufferings of the people of Lancashire are too
solemn and sacred to be treated in such an
unbecoming tone, and met with such a spirit as

that evinced last night by the hon. members be
hind the Treasury benches. They found it con.
venient to forget that they were listening to a sub
ject that should have awed them into respect, and
if they could not sympathise with grievous sorrows
nobly borne, they might have affected a virtue if
they had it not, and at all events have comported
themselves with ordinary courtesy. Those men
whose families have been on the brink of starvation
for months, will not feel otherwise than hurt
and mortified to notice the constant introduc-

tion of " laughter" in the report of the de-
bates. Mr. FERRAND said that the Chancel-
lor of the Exchequer had shown that these
men worked hard and did much to increase the
prosperity of the country. But the right hon.
gentleman only took the master's side, the golden
side of the question. He wished to present the
workman's side, the iron side of the question.
In conclusion he stated that the operatives would
feel deeply indebted to Lord PALMERSTON for his
kindly giving him an opportunity of introducing
their case before Parliament. Mr. POTTER then
proposed his amendment to appoint a royal commis-
sion to inquire into the state of things. He thought
such a proceeding would quiet the public mind, and
he hoped Government would not refuse to sanction
his proposal. Mr. VILLIERS then said that he ob-
jected to botht he proposals of the hon. gentlemen
who had just addressed the House on this important
subject. Mr. Villiers stated that a royal
commission would give us no information
that we did not already possess, and he also consi-
dered that emigration was a desperate resource to
which he hardly thought we were yet reduced.
The right. hon. gentleman then stated that Lanca-
shire and Cheshire could furnish employment to
100,000 men in drainage and other works for
two months, and that he had employed
competent persons to inquire into these
works, and that he had the gratification
to inform the house that in three weeks a sufficiency
of employment could be found. On the receipt of
this intelligence both Mr. FERRAND and Mr. POT-
TER withdrew their motions. This promises to be
r e
n t himself
making
highly satisfactory, but Mr. FERRAND may con-
gratulate
in
en
upon having hastened the Go•
v
wasmeptionethdesoenararnany pevnitosu,s sinceoc
gm
nothing
casion of their intention to make such plans.
arrangements,
At all events no harm is ever done by
bringing such questions before the House
and the more they are dilated upon, and the longer
they occupy the time of our legislators, the better
for all partiee concerned, since a full and free dis

cession of all such matters is essentiAl to -their
right comprehension, and also to the due atten-
tion being paid to them by officials in high places.
It will be a joyful day for England when her long
depressed and inactive operatives are again in em-
ployment, and when the busy sounds of toil and
traffic replace the dull, void, and dreary
vacancy of inaction. The way has been
long, dark, and tedious that these energetic

sufferers have had to pass the last two years, but
they have shown such constancy and courage that
their characters are thereby greatly elevated, and
they have, by their endurance, borne testimony to
the true source of the strength of Englishmen
throughout the world.

The general aspect of European affairs is cer-
tainly not pacific. Angry feelings are surging up
between England and her great transatlantic kins-
folk. The strife between Russia and Poland
threatens to draw into its vortex more than one
other neighbouring power, while the long-pending
dispute between Denmark and the Germanic Con-
federation is beginning to assume a decidedly hos-
tile appearance. As is usually the case with wise
and temperate measures, the recent proclamation
of the King of DENMARK has met with opposition
in several quarters. The Rigsraad complains that
too great power for mischievous interference with
the rights of the rest of the kingdom has
been given to the estates of Holstein, while
Prussia and Hanover are up in arms at the prospect
of their prey eluding their grasp. It is easy to
talk of the rights of the Diet, the claims of the
people of Holstein, and the duties incurred by the
Danish King as a member of the Germanic Con-
federation. Nothing, however, is farther from the
real wishes of these declaimers than the acknow-
ledgment of those rights by the partial severance
of the Duehy of Holstein from the Kingdom of
Denmark. The excuse for interference with Danish
affairs, the hope of drawing that country into the
vortex of small German States would be gone, the
tempting provinces so long coveted by Prussia
would be beyond her reach, and we are not there-
fore surprised to find more than one of the Get man
Powers already preparing their protests and pro-
claiming their indignation. We all know how on
the occasion of the matter being brought forward
in the Prussian Chamber of Deputies, Herr von
BISMARK took the opportunity of promulgating one
of his extraordinary theories of independent govern.
ment, and declared that if the Ministers thought it
necessary for the preservation of the national hon-
our, they would declare war against Denmark with-
out waiting for the sanction of the Chambers. We
now find Hanover following suit, and submitting to
tr.e Federal Diet a string of resolutions on the
Schleswig-Holstein question; Nothing can be more
arbitrary and arrogant than the whole tone of these
resolutions. They plainly desire the Danish King
and Cabinet to abrogate their powers as rulers and
lay them at the feet of the Germanic Confederation.
' In everything relating to Government the word of
the Diet is to be law. The first paragraph of the
Hanoverian resolutions suggests that the Federal
Diet should declare the adjustment of the relations
of the Dachies in the Danish monarchy laid dowe
in the proclamation of March 30th to be opposed
to the treaties of 1851-52, to the fundamental laws
of the Confederation, and to Federal resolutions
Issued on the matter. According to this dogma, it
a Federal resolution is passed declaring Denmark
itself a German province, from the topmost cape of
Jutland to the southmost point of Zealand, the op
position of Denmark would be illegal. Secondly,
this moderate proposal suggests that the Danish
Government should be requested to retract the de-
cision it has just arrived at, and to make, within
six weeks, an announcement conforming to the
Federal resolutions of 1858.

The next task is to encourage the peoples of Hol-
stein and Lauenburg in rebellion against their ruler
by declaring the laws, regulations, and measures
emanating from the Cabinet of Copenhagen during
the last three years to be not legally binding. It
is easy to see the anarchy and confusion which the
adoption of these resolutions would occasion in the
Danish kingdom. It gives an opportunity to all
disaffected and unruly persons to range themselves
openly against the Government, supported as they
assuredly would be by the intrigues of German
agents. The two concluding resolutions are
worthy of the former, protesting against every
attempt to separate the Duchy of Schleswig from
its troublesome Southern neighbour, objecting very
strongly to its incorporation with the Danish
Kingdom, and finally recommending the Diet to
consider what steps are to be taken in case of a
refusal on the part of the Danish Government. As they
will assuredly meet with a decided refusal it is cer-
tainly well for them to decide upon their future
course. In the meantime the terms of these resolutions
and the language of Herr von BISMARK show us
plainly enough what Denmark has to expect from
the moderation of the Diet. It remains to be seen
how far her KING and Cabinet will maintain her
rights, and what degree of support she will receive
from the free nations of Europe.