The Sun.
London, England, 1865-06-29 00:00:00

STATE OF TRADE.

CARDIFF, June 27th.—The iron trade in this dis-
trict is pretty good. Rails and bars are in better
demand, and although American advices are not so
encouraging as might be expected, yet there is no
doubt entertained that ultimately a large quantity
of railway iron will be required for the States.
Quotations are firm, with upon the whole an upward
tendency. The make of puddling iron during the
hot weather has been below the demand, and in con-
sequence prices have been getting more in favour of
sellers. Pig commands an average sale. The im-
provement in the tinplate trade is fully maintained,
and the works are as a rule better employed, makers,
although their stocks are large, having unmistakable
confidence in the future. In steam coal business is
not so depressed as it was a few weeks ago, but the
export demand is still comparatively limited. House
qualities remain without any material change.
LEICESTER, 28th.—The hosiery trade in most
branches continues tolerably active. Manufacturers
are well engaged at the warehouses with orders for
goods of a general character. At Loughborough,
Hinckley, and the country districts business is
healthy and the workpeople well employed. Yarns
are extremely firm and high in price, spinners con-
fining their production to present requirements.
The wool market is also very firm, and exceedingly
high rates are quoted.
NOTTINGHAM, 28th.—There is not much altera-
tion in the lace trade. Business for the home
market has been, on the whole, quiet during the
past few days. Foreign buyers have been operat-
ing to some extent, but the demand for export is
not so active as it was expected would be the case
at the present time. The silk trade is quiet. There
is not much doing in silk mechlins, and quillings
are not in the slightest request. In cotton goods
generally business is inactive. The hosiery trade
continues extremely buoyant. The production of
goods is not at all equal to the demand. The work-
men in most branches have obtained an advance in
the rate of wages. Yarns continue very high in price.
The general prospect of the trade is very encourag-
ing.

Mr. DAVIS.—The Ex-President, since his arrival
on Northern soil, has been treated, not as a State
prisoner, but as a felon. It is not now denied that he re-
mained manacled for several days, and was relieved of the
irons only on the protestations of the physicians, who de-
clared that he was rapidly dying under the torture. It is
not denied that ho is excluded from the light of day, re-
fused the use of books or writing materials, and subjected
to the incessant presence and surveillance of guards. It is
difficult to frame any legitimate excuse for such treatment
of a political prisoner. It is, in modern times at least,
quite unprecedented. States and rulers have before had
captives not less important and far moro dangerous to their
peace ; but the most cruel of European despots has never
confined prisoners of rank in a dungeon so deadly as the
casemate at Fortress Monroe. The cruelty, moreover, ap-
pears wantonly gratuitous. It is nowhere alleged that Mr.
Davis rejected, or indeed that he was offered, an honourable
parole. But even if he had declined to pledge his word against
any attempt for his liberation, surely the resources of the
" mightiest nation," and the ingenuity of the " smartest na-
tion on the top of the earth," could have devised a plan to
keep a prisoner safe and yet treat him with the decency be-
fitting his station. England won little praise by her cus-
tody of Napoleon, and had in him both a captious and a
erilous charge, but it was not not deemed necessary to
load the fallen master of legions with chains or to feed
him with common soldier's rations. The Bastiles and the
Spielburgs of the old world are terrible places, but
they do not necessarily preclude their inmates from
air, light, moderate exercise, books, and civilised cooking.
We are now told that Mr. Davis has been removed
to a gunboat moored midway in the Potomac, under
the broiling summer sun of Washington, and that his
trial is delayed indefinitely, perhaps until July, perhaps
until September. It requires no prophet to foretell the
effects of enforced inactivity upon a mind morbidly active
from five years' overtaxing—of rigid confinement upon a
body naturally feebly and racked by neuralgic pains—of
studied insults and petty mortifications on a temperament
exceptionally nervous and susceptible to moral sufier-
ing. Grant that Mr. Davis will retain to the last) his in-
indomitable will, his inherent dignity of character, his
Christian firmness, and his manly self-respect, yet, if that
much talked-of trial' be only delayed for a few weeks or
months, he will spare the Washington Government the
embarrassment of disposing of their prisoner. Let Andrew
Johnson, President of the United States, and his advisers,
not deceive themselves that they can escape the verdict of
history, or even of their contemporaries. It will be that
they, lacking the courage to take their victim's life in open
day, cowardly murdered him in darkness.—The

WS_ A.PE
RAILWAY AND OTHER
—Q, ' 1;4,
INDIAN CARRYINGc(t
The report of the directors ottigiTemtkitlys
that the result of any single ilt.O.arit vork rig
-
could not be taken as a fair averatif of IL Air,•
inasmuch as the traffic during the six months ending
the 31st December was usually less than that of the
other half of the year. In the Bombay Presidency
the effects of the mismanagement of their former
manager were still experienced, and there had con-
sequently been a loss upon the working in that Pre-
sidency. This result must, however, be taken as
exceptional, as the new arrangements made by the
Board for the local management would, it was hoped,
hereafter, effectually protect the company's interests
in Bombay. In Madras the results had been also
affected by extraneous causes, a fire having occurred
on the company's premises which might entail a
loss of about £l,OOO, and the opening of the rail-
way to Bangalore had taken away the traffic on
that road. The transfer of the company's stock
and plant to other localities had been made, but
this operation was necessarily attended with ex-
pense, and some time must elapse before the traffic
on the new lines could be developed and made
remunerative. In both Presidencies, however, the
Board had reasonable ground for expecting that
the current half-year's working would exhibit
satisfactory results. In Bengal and the North-
West Provinces the company'sbusinesshad increased.
upwards of 150 per cent., the receipts for the half-
year having been £71,270 against £51,227 for the
previous 12 months. The settlement of the questions
connected with the transfer of the Government bul-
lock train to the company had been effected, and the
company had purchased upon most advantageous
terms stock and plant from the Government to the
extent of £14,000. The directors recommended that
an interim dividend at the rate of 6 per cent. per
annum, as before, be paid upon the capital of the
company; and in order to provide for the require-
ments of the extended business and operations of the
company the directors recommend that a call of 10s.
per share be made upon the present capital. The
choking of some of the railways with goods, and the
consequent delays in their transmission, had given
rise to many complaints from the company's servants
and ilia pnblie, and had materially interfered of late
with the progress and profit of their business. Those
evils, however, were now it was hoped being remedied.
The company had already opened no less than 59
agencies in Bengal, the North-West Provinces, and
the Punjab, embracingupwards of 3,000 miles of rail
and road, and extending from Calcutta to Peshawur,
and from Agra to Indore. •In Madras they had estab-
lished a system of communication between all the most
important places in the Presidency, extending from
Bellary, in the north, to Trichinopoly, in the south. In.
Bombay they had opened new agencies, and had estab-
lished a through communication between that port and
the north-west provinces. In addition to this, passen-
gers and parcels were booked between Bombay and
Madras and Calcutta. In all those presidencies they
were now engaged in carrying Government stores
and troops, ordinary goods, parcels, and passengers.
The directors, therefore, recommended that they
might be authorised to issue a fresh amount of capi-
tal not exceeding 25,000 shares, representing
£50,000. The directors' confidence in the success
of the undertaking continued unabated.

(HE LAST EDITION OF " TIIE SUN,"
JL Containing. the Latest SYUKTINU TA LLIGEk
San 3e had Every Evening of
G. K. GIANIE, NEW% AGENT,
• No. 4. Connaught-terrace. flyde-park.