The Sun.
London, England, 1863-01-27 00:00:00

Manchester Chamber of Commerce

The annual meeting of the Chamber was held yesterday
at Manchester, Mr. H. Ashworth, the president, in the chair.
Among the gentlemen present were—Mr. Bazley, M.P.,
Mr. Pender; M.P., Mr. J. Cneetham, Mr. M. Ross, Mr.
W. Gibb, Mr. E. Ashworth, Mr. H. Mason, Mr, Cassells,

Mr. Leppoc, Mr. Slagg, Mr. Rumney, and Mr. Chadwick.
The report of the directors was of considerable length.
It was principally devoted to a review of the proceedings of
the Chamber during the past 12 months, the principal por-
tions of which have from time to time been reported.

" Your directors," it observes, " cannot close this record
of their proceedings during a year which has been rendered
unutterably sad by the fratricidal conflict in America, and
its ruinous consequences to the industry of this district,
without expressing their profound sympathy with those
members of the community who have suffered, and continue

to sutler, so intensely by these unfortunate events ; and they
desire alto to pay a tribute of admiration on the one hand
to the patience and heroic self-reliance displayed by the
operative classes under their many and grievous privations,
and on the other to that noble spirit of benevolence evoked

by the distress, pervading all ranks throughout the length
and breadth of her Majesty's dominions,"
Mr. FLEMING, the secretary, road a letter from Mr. W.

R. Wood, in which that gentl man stated that, had he not
been prevented by illness from attending the meeting, he
should have been compelled to vote against the adoption of
the report, on account of passages it contained reflecting on
Sir C. Wood. He believed the appearance of that portion

of the report would not further the object in view, while it
would tend to lower the character of the Chamber and im-
pair its efficiency.

The PRESIDENT, in moving the adoption of the report,
said, —The affairs of our mercantile and manufacturing dis-
tricts ate invested with a degree of what I may call
solemnity in the estimation of those who have taken part
in the alleviation of the distress and the distribution of the
funds which have found their way hither. Those who were

present here two years ago will remember that, at the expi-
ration of the year 1861, there was a very buoyant feeling in
this Chamber upon the achievement of a commercial success
that was unprecedented. The cotton manufactures which
we had exported, over and beyond the amount of cotton
manufactures required for home consumption, had reached
the enormous amount of £56,000,000- When we were con-

sidering the colossal proportions of our system of industry,
how little could we have imagined that that commercial
giant was standing upon feet of clay—that in a very short
time the African blood which had become an element of its
existence would become an occasion of war in the United
States, cutting off our supplies to the extent of about 80 per
cent. of our consumption 1 An affair so momentous wag
calculated to fill this country with a large amount of appre •
hension for the well-being of our people. The price of the
raw material became heightened to, probably, more than
fourfold its previous rate, while the manufactured article

was only about double in price. (Hear.) The consequent loss

- ,
to our manufacturers was one which seriou-ly impaired
the efficiency of that description of capital usually called
"floating capital ; " exhausting from year to year the
amount of that capital which gives life-blood to our in-
dustry and commerce. And should it proceed as it has
done, and continue as we may reasonably suppose it is likely
to do, it will become a very weighty consideration for this
country in what manner and to what extent our manufac-

turing industry can hereafter, for years to ,come, be re-
newed to anything like its previou s importance. Moreover,
our population, previously in the enjoyment of comfort
beyond that of any other population, and at the same time
possessed of a degree of intelligence beyond that which or-
dinarily falls to the lot of working men, has had to sustain
a most painful effect upon its general welfare. Many gen-
tlemen here present, no doubt, are those who have for the
time had to leave the places they have usually held upon
committees for the relief of the distress. I appeal to them,
on their own knowledge, as to the very becoming demeanour
of the working classes under privations so severe, and so
much the more sensitively felt through contrast with their
previous degree of prosperity. While we remark with gra-
tification the forbearance, fortitude, and the propriety of
behaviour of our working classes, let us not forget how
much we are indebted to all other classes for the sympathy
and the benevolence which have been manifested on every
hand. I believe there has never been an occasion on which
our feelings have been so largely called upon as on the pre-
sent. The British people has been renowned for many ex-
cellent qualities—we have been considered courageous, we
have been deemed adventurous, we have been the authors
of many wonderful systems of manufacture and commerce,
together with inventions of every kind calculated to advance
the civilisation of the world ; but amid the rough and
hardy qualities of the British race, let us not forget that,
when called upon, their feelings -are in accordance, and
stand forth as splendidly in front of our other qualities as
any other attribute we possess. (Cheers.) Gentlemen, it
is not charity we want, it is cotton. (Hear.) The time
will come, possibly it may be nearer than we expect, when
thoso large funds which have been contributed for the
sustenance of our people will become nearly, or more
nearly exhausted. It cannot be expected that we shall
be able to galvanize into existence that amount of
sympathy and goodwill which has previously been shown
to such a degree, that county meetings headed by
noble lords and landed proprietors and others will again
be held to bring forward subscriptions in the manner they
have been hitherto forthcoming. It is to be expected that
whenever an appeal shall be required to the benevolent, they
will be prepared to inquire if there is not something to be
done which shall remove the occasion of distress and not
leave us to continue dependent year after year upon public
charity. (Hear) It is very important that people of every
locality throughout this busy district should begin to consi-
der whether or not they can in any way contribute to arouse
attention to the cultivation of cotton. It has been alleged
that price would bring it. Possibly price has more to do
with the increased amount which has been already received
than anything else that has been called into action. But if
we are to wait until the effect of price has brought the quan-
tity of cotton we require, we must not forget that time is an
element in the question. We cannot afford to wait until
price has done it, without at the same time expressing in
one way or another that which is our advice, that which
belongs to our intelligence to understand, as to the manner
in which the cultivation of cotton shall be promoted other-
wise than by a large price. At the recent Exhibition in
London I think there were not fewer than 48 samples of
cotton exhibited from different parts of the world ; but no
doubt many of those samples were merely grown in gardens
more particularly to show the capability of countries to pro-
duce the cotton in quality rather than in quantity. There
have been arising out of the distress and our own want of
cotton a number of cotton companies formed to operate in
different parts of the world, but those cotton companies must
havetime to mature their operations. Among other countries
that have been forward in promoting the growth of cotton it
is very obvious that even the Ottoman empire—an empire
which has been deemed to posse's a great deal of infirmity in
its political institutions—even that country has been forced
to action by the temptation of a large price for cotton, and a
large amount of money to be distributed over the world for
the production of cotton. I hold in my hand a copy of a
despatch from the Minister of Cammerce at Constantinople,
notified by the Sultan, encouraging the cultivation of cotton
in the Ottoman Empire. He refers to the production of the
United States in the year 1859 of 4f millions of bales, which,
at £lO per bale, would give £15,000,000 sterling, a sum four
times greater than the value of the total export of all articles
from the Ottoman dominions. With a view to encourage
the cultivation of cotton and the breaking up of uncultivated
land, he offers the gratuitous possession of it—title deeds
without cost except for stamp duty, and exemption from
tithe for five years. "'lle State will undertake to procure free
of cost, cotton seeds of the choicest qualities, and instruction
and treatises on the most profitable methods of cultivation ;
and will exempt from customs' duties the importation of im-
plements and machinery used for cultivating and cleaning
the cotton," and, by way of stimulus, will offer " prizes for
the encouragement of cultivators and exhibitors of the best
grown cotton." A similar effort is shown in a report made
to the Minister of Agriculture, Industry, and Commerce of
the Kingdom of Italy by G. D. Vincenzi, member of the
Italian Parliament, and Commissioner of the International
Exhibition of 1862. He draws attenticn to the immense ex-
tent of land in Southern Italy, equal to 5,000,000 English
acres, which has of great antiquity been known for its cot-
ton-producing capabilities and to the great abundance and
cheapness of labour, He remarks also upon the example
of American success, he exhibits drawings of the cotton
plant, and proceeds to show that they can grow cotton
equal to New Orleans at 4d. per lb.; and he illustrates the
advantages of commercial activity, which by this means
may connect the fortunes of England with the destinies of
Italy. Following two such examples, you will naturally
inquire whether or not the effect of the cotton famine has
been felt elsewhere, and more particularly in the councils
of India. It is true Lord Canning took the alarm, being
Governor of India, and being fully aware of the conse-
quence to England of the American war; and he ap-
peared to find in some corner of his bureau a despatch
which had been received some two or three years before
from Lord Stanley,
immediatelywhiwhich
waste issuedlands
ordering the sale of waste lands. He
should
on,d resolutionhe d
disposede sc r ibi nogt; tahl es mo
forantnheer
rien.
demption of the land-tax, and he ordered immediate pains
to be taken to prepare roads of the most c ,nvenient cha-
racter for the removal of cotton from the plantations to the
seaboard. This is some indication of the readiness of that
tarlightened Governor to put India in motion to bring about
some alleviation of our distress. You would not only sup-
pose that the Indian Council, at the head of which is Sir C.
Wood, would have been equally alive to the emergency,
but that they would in this country, as well as Lord Can-
ning in India, have been put in motion instantaneously,
with a view,
Pnseible, to minister to our relief. lam
sorry to say, on the contrary, that what has been done by
them has been the undoing of that which Lord Canningehad
done. By an order from Sir C. Wood, the sale of the waste
lands, and the redemption of the land-tax, has been sub-
verted. Sir C. Wood himself will not see that it has been
subverted, but it has been changed ; and the change is of
that character which amounts in reality to a prohibition of
the sale of land. Under Lord Canning's regulations, the
applicant for the
Purchase of land had three operations to
undertake, viz.,—t© mark out the land be wanted, to pay
ss. an acre for it, and to wait one month to see if any other
applicant or owner happened to turn up. So that in one