The Sun.
London, England, 1862-01-04 00:00:00

AMERICAN COTTON.

It must be confessed that our anticipated cotton famine
has hitherto resembled one of those evils which diminish as
they approach, and which are found more manageable in
proportion as they are more closely grappled with. Such,
at any rate, would be the natural conclusion on a retrospect
of 1861. We have got through half the winter without more
distress than has often been created by commercial impru-
dence, and it is even doubted whether the actual suspension
of manufacturing industry is not due in a greater degree to
a slackness of demand following on over-production than
to a lack of material created by the American blockade.
These deductions require, it is true, some qualification, but
at present the aspect of the cotton market is very remarka-
ble indeed, and the statistics of the trade show us distinctly
that no great pressure can have hitherto been felt. The
price of American cotton at this moment is about 50 per
cent. higher than it was at this time last year. Thai is the
whole amount of the difference established by events which
were expected to deprive us of our supplies altogether. The
rise is not much greater than the rise in the price of meat.
Beef and mutton are half as dear again as they were a year
or two ago, and yet the consumption appears to be main-
tained. If we look more closely to the figures of the Liverpool
reports, we shall discover still further reason to be surprised.
Taking the year 1861 as a whole, and comparing it with the
year 1860, we find that we got nearly as much cotton from
America in one period as in the other. Theyear 1860 brought
us 3,151,563 bales ; the year just past—a year of civil war,
commercial convulsion, and maritime blockade—brought us
2,791,892 bales ; and, as we began last year with a some-
what larger stock on hand, the aggregate supplies of the
two periods really show but little difference. What seems
still more curious is, that in December, 1861, the stocks of
cotton of all descriptions were actually greater than in De-
cember, 1860, so that upon a general survey it would ap•
pear as if the interruption of the American trade had pro-
duced no effect at all.

This conclusion, however, requires, as we have said,some
modification, The truth is, the cotton year does not begin
with January or end with December. The supplies re-
ceived from America in 1861 represented the crop of 1860,
and that crop had been pretty well transmitted to us before
the blockade of the Southern ports was established. The
crop of 1861 would only be on its passage to us at this time,
and would be gradually reaching us, if things had remained
as usual. These are the supplies which we shall miss as
the present year rolls on, and the loss of which we must
endeavour to compensate by imports from other countries.
For instance, at this time last year 170,000 bales of Ame-
rican cotton were known to be at sea, on their way to our
shores, whereas at the present moment there is not a single
bale expected. On the other hand, we know that 88,000
bales have been shipped from India for us, and will shortly
arrive, whereas at the beginning of 1861 only 65,000 were
coming ; this does not redress the balance. The actual stock of
American cotton a t the present time is not half what it was 12:
months ago, and it Is not likely-to he replenished, except
by the termination of the blockade. Here, therefore, the
pinch will be felt ; but, though it may increase somewhat
in severity, it is not probable that it will be so severe as
was anticipated.
But there is one feature of the cotton market which will
certainly appear surprising. We arc now actually supply-
ing the Northern States of America with American-grown
cotton. The manufacturers of Lowell are in want of the
raw material for their mills, and they can procure it only at
Liverpool. The Americans of the Federal States have
themselves blockaded the ports of the South, and they find
that their attempts to establish a privileged emporium at
at Port Royal, and drawn the cotton crop to a market
under the Federal flag, have altogether failed. So,
from sheer inability to obtain supplies elsewhere, they have
come to England, and we last week exported to the United
States upwards:of 3,000 bales of cotton which the United
States had previously exported to us. Besides this, we
sent them nearly 1,000 bales of East India cotton, and it
is on these stocks that they must henceforth draw. It is
curious to speculate on the paradoxical results which such
events involve. We have endured the loss of American
cotton with less pressure hitherto than anybody could have
expected. We may say, indeed, that the ultimate conse-
quence of the interruption will be to place our cotton sup-
plies on a better and less precarious footing than before;
but what may be the consequences to the Americans them-
selves ? The Southern States would lose their monopoly
and the chief source of their wealth ; the Northern States,
until they make peace with the rebels, would be deprived
of all supplies from that quarter, and, if they were now to
resolve on going to war with us, would cut themselves off
from the only market where cotton could be obtained.
rtaowdrmeaadteatiwala.r which These wvielrlydpepeeripvlee
In-
stead of Liverpool depending on America, it is America
which depends on Liverpool, and it is Americans, and not
oughtionfterdict on the exports from cotton-
fields to resort for the cotton to the
proceedings were designed to
fims theiretwhoaalrdr Englishmen,ksv hee manufacturerseenwdphnliiofc‘cwhy:hdhetsyhonmeni
pro w
quarrels
own proceedings
ith England they will find
that we can actually inflict upon them the very scarcity
which they always believed they could inflict upon us.
The fact is, there are monopolies of consumption as well
as of production, and we enjoyed the former while the Ame-
ricans possessed the latter. England was the market for
procurable the
cotton if America was the field, and it seems easier to
change the field than to change the market. No sooner
does the production of America cease than the cultivation
of cotton is eagerly taken up by other countries, but Liver-
pool is still the market for all. Whatever cotton is grown
finds its way to Liverpool, and it is to Liverpool that all
cotton buyers must come. It is we who hold the keys of
the market, and command the supply. The Americans
themselves can do nothing without us. We can paralyse
their manufactures and destroy their home trade. If they
mnoawnuffoarecteuarer
gaerredels,uhpuotn
theus,
power of manufacturing such
they will lose not only our
they do a
ft ro pm res
the present
Southern
probably ly
States more
in so,
a butaddition
theion
goods for themselves. Our mills will go on working at least
as briskly
cotton as
American mills would come to a stop. We should get all
the
to what we now get from other quartors, but the Northern
Americans would get none at all.
It appears too as if these unexpected conditions of the
cotton market were likely to be, if not permanent, at any
rate of some duration. There is little prospect of a renewal
of the American monopoly. The Southern planters decided
some time ago that if the cotton crop of last year could not
be sent to market they would not raise another in the ensu-
ing season, but would devote their attention to breadstffs
and other articles of food. The exigencies of the war, in-
deed, would render such a course absolutely inevitable, for
the Confederate States must feed themselves. The cessa-
tion of the blockade and the revival of the trade with Eng-
land would, indeed, modify these conditions; but there still
remains the question of slavery, and the Northerners ap-
pear to entertain the doctrine of abolition exactly as their
chances of success diminish. If the Southern Confederacy
were recognised by the European Powers, we might expect,
from all we have seen, that emancipation would be pro:
claimed at once. Altogether there seems very little likeli-
hood of any speedy or effectual re-establishment of the trade
of the South, and the suspension of this old monopoly
will be equivalent to its decay. Before the Plante" can
recover themselves the market will be in the hands of rivals
who will be difficult to dislodge, and, though there will be
for ample room competition, there will be little further
chance for monopoly.—

years a member of the
Co
::laan3sorf the Committee of Lloyd's
Registry Society,
has awepted the post of superintendent
Committee
Samuel m
of uLell Lloyd's,
Harper,
d,s,
as
w
of the underwriting business of the Universal Marine In-
surance Company, and was elected a director yesterday.

EMI

„

'

RURY-LANE THEATRE ROYAL.
Lessee, Mr. E. T. SMITH.

CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS.

GRAND MORNING PERFORMANCE of the PAN-
TOMIME every WEDNESDAY, at Two o'Clock.
THIS EVENING (4th January) her Majesty's Ser-
vants will perform the popular Farce, by J. B. Buckstone,
Esq., entitled AN AL NRMING SACRIFICE. Bob
Ticket, Mr. Atkins; Pugwash, Mr. Barsby ; Mr. Skinner,
Mr. Hope; Susan Sweet apple, Miss Keeley; Miss Wadd,
Miss Stuart ; Miss Tibbit, Miss Bland ; Miss Gimp, Miss
Harfleur ; Deborah, Mrs. Dowton.
After which will be produced, with that attention to com-
pleteness in every department by which the Christmas
Annuals of this Theatre have been so pie-eminently dis-
tinguished, the New Grand Comic Pantomime, entitled
HARLEQUIN and the HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT;
or, Old Mother Hubbard and het onderful Dog.

"If a man do build a dwelling upon common land fr•-)m
sunset to sunrise, and enclose a piece of ground, wherein
there shall be a tree, a beast feeding, a fire kindled, a chim-
ney smoking, and provisions in the pot, such dwelling shall
be freely held by the builder, anything herein to the con-
trary nevertheless notwithstanding."—ld Forest Charter.

The Novel Effects and Splendid Scenery by
WILLIAM BEVERLEY,

Assisted by Messrs. C. Pitt, Craven, Brow, &c., &c.
Masks, Symbolic Devices, Personal Appointments, and
Designs for the Costumes, by the celebrated Dykwynhn.
The Overture and Music composed and arranged by Mr.
J. H. T ULLY. The Machinery by Mr. Tucker and As-
sistants. The Tricks, Properties, Changes, and Transfer-
' mations, by Mr. Needham, assisted by Messrs Glindon, H.
Adams, H. Langham, &c. The Costumes by Miss Dickin-
son, Mr. Lauri, and Mr. Palmer. The Gas Appointments
by Mr. 2i inckley. The Choregraphic Arrangements by
Mr. Cormack. The Harlequinade and Comic Scenes by
Messrs. Cormack and B. Jones. The Perfume of the
Flowers supplied by Bimmel's process.
The Grotesque Burlesque Opening invented and written
by E. L. BLANCHAR u.
And the whole arranged and produced under the imme-
diate superintendence of Mr, ROBERT ROXBY.

Synopsis of Scenery, Incidents, and Characters,
OLD MOTHER HUBBARD'S COTTAGE,

With Rural Landscape, and Rookwood Manor Hall in the
Distance (Daylight),

"Old Mother Hubbard, she Wed, to.the cupboard, to gee
her poor Dog a bone; when she got there, the cupboard
was bare, and so the poor Dog had none."--Ancient Nur-
sery Legend.
Old Mother Hubbard, Mr. Atkins; Her Dog, Signor
Lorenzo ; Jack (the " Man all tattered and torn"), Miss
F. Hunt; the Squire, Mr, Tom Matthews • Dame Wiggins
of Lee, Mr. Dixon ; Dame Trot, Mr. Bars'by ; Her Won-
derful Cat, Master Waggles ; the Great Goose, Master
Sageaninguns ; Constables, Messrs. Grib and Grab ; Parish
Beadle, Mr. Bumble; Villagers, Messrs. Yokel, Pumpkin,
Whackstraw, Chawbacon, &c., &c.; Rosetta (the " Maiden
all Forlorn"), Miss Stuart. How Mother Hubbard has a
certain " party" to tea and turn out, and of the remarkable
pranks played by her comical Dog—The Head, the Hat,
and the Hose—The Dog's Tale and Mrs. H.'s Narrative—
Arrival of the Squire—Proclamation of Witch Burning—
Threatened incremation of Mother Hubbard on her oa n
hearth, and her Mystic Flight upon a Broomstick.
THE WITCHES' GLEN AND WATERFALL,
in the Valley of Perfumed Flowers, by Moonlight.
Will-o'..tho-Wisp

Ines Fatui—Mdlles. Sidney, Travers, Barnes, A. Barnes,
Livermore; Webb, Taylor, Braithwaite, Hammi ton, Stap
ley, Harris Candy, Copeland, Archer, Hawkins, Delaney,
Wilson, Williams, Robinson, Wood, Watson, and Hamel-
ton.

Grand Ballet, Chagne-a-Lanterne, by the Misses GUN.
NISS and the Ladies of the Corps de Ballet.

The Invocation I The Incantation I I and the Evapora.
tion I I I

THE VILLAGE GREEN AND ROADSIDE ALE

HOUSE.

Old Grype (the Steward), Mr. Glindon ; Old Scratche
(his Clerk), Mr. Tanner ; Tenantry, Messrs. Cringe,
Scrape, Shuffle, Cut, Packoff, Moonraker, and Runaway;
Tailor, Mr. Snipshears ; Bootmaker, Mr. Tightfit ; Mum-
mies, Messrs. Grinner, Joker, Magger, Cracksides,
O'Reilly, M'Phun, &c. ; St. George, Mr. E. Roe ; the
Dragon, Mr. Scalyfellow ; Valentine, Mr. Febbyerry ;
Orson, Mr. Wildman; Still-Walker, Mr. Longlegs; Bear-
Warden, Mr. Smuggins ; the Bear, Mr. Huggins ; Land-
lord, Mr. Trebles ; Morris-Dancers, Messrs. Trip, Tap)
Flip, Flap, &c., &c. ; Jack Padding, Mr. Merryman.
How the Squire celebrates his birthday, and the Village
Revel that follows—Coming of Age in the Olden Time
How the Tenantry treated in one way and how Jack is
treated in another—the Dog's instinct and Mother Hub -
bard's reason.

LOYAL. I' It IN cE S S'S THEATRE.-
Lessee, Mr A. Harris.

TIIIS EVENING, Saturday, Jan. 4, TIIE CRICKET
ON THE HEARTH. After which Will be produced, a
Grand Comic Christmas Pantomime, entitled WHITTING-
TON AND HIS CAT ; or, Harlequin King Kollywobbol
and the Genius of Good Humour. The grotesque opening
invented and written by Henry J. Byron, Esq., author of the
Princess's Pantomime of "Jack the Giant Killer." The
Scenery by Mr. James Gates, Mr. 11. Cuthbert, andnumerous
assistants. Good Humour, Miss Helm Howard ; Princess
Popsiwopsi, Miss Rose Leclercq; Alice, Miss Pauline Le-
clercq; Messrs. Garden, Cathcart, hlorland, Collett, Hast-
ings. Raymond; Dick Whittington, Miss Maria Harris;
Robin Goodfellow and the Cat, Master John Haslem, (pupil
of the celebrated Gabriel Ravel ; Clown, Mr. Hildyard ;
Harlequin• Mr. John Lauri ; Pantaloon, Mr. Paulo ; Colum-
bine, Miss Caroline Adams. Morning Performances will
take place at Two o'clock every Monday till further notice.

•
EW THEATRE-ROYAL, ADELPHI.-
1 1 Sole Proprietor and Manager, Mr. B. Webster.

THIS EVENING, and during the week the great Drama,
entitled THE OCTOROON ; or, LIFE IN LOUISIANA :
Messrs. Grace, Billington, Emery, Phillip Jamison, Smith,
Stephenson, Romer. Lewis ; Mrs. Billington, Mrs. 11. Mar-
ston, Miss C. Denvil, Miss Latimer, and Mrs. 11. Lewis.
After which, at 20 minutes past 9, the great Irish Drama
of THE COLLEEN BAWN. Mr.D. Bouctcault, Missßanoe,
Mr. Fisher, Miss Woolgar, &c. _

Box Office open from 10 t,ll 5.

NEW It OYALTY THEATRE,
Dean-street, Oxford-street.

Under the Di;eetiOnoiMdlle. Albina di Rhona.
- -

THIS EVENING,— A LESSON FOR HUSBANDS';
characters by Mr. Sinclair, Mesas. Clifford and I'erry. After
which, CAMP.;LIA ; Camelia, 'Mdlle. Albina di Rhona. Fol-
lowed by a New Operatic Burlesque, entitled THE VERY
LATEST EDITION OF IL TROVATORE ; or, Who
Killed the —; Messrs. Graham, Robins, James, Warren,
W. Worboys ; Mesds. Mason,.. Craven, and Hodson. To
con lude with new and ort2mal Farce, A NICE QUIET
DAy.--Comraence at half-past 7.

Asr"Y'S ROYAL AMPHITHEATRE.—
Last 12 Nights of "The Colleen Bawn"—Triumphant
Success of the grand Equestrian Pantomime.
THIS EVENING, and during next week, to commence
with Dion Boucicault's Drama, THE COLLEEN RAWN.
New and daring Scenes in the Circle, by the Eclipse
Artistes, nightly hailed with thunders of approbation.
Concluding with the Grand Comic Pantomime of
JOHNNY GILPIN'S RIDE TO EDMONTON.
SPECIAL NOTICE. A GRAND JUVENILE MORN-
ING PERFORMANCE will take place on SATURDAY,
Jan. 11, at 2 o'clock, for the convenience of families residing
at a distance. By the kind permission of the Commandant,
Colonel Crutchley, the Boys of the Military Asylum, with
their Juvenile Band, will attend.
Stage Manager, Mr. W. Searle.

CANTERBURY HALL CONCERTS,
AND FINE ARTS GALLERY.
Triumphant Success of Mr. Marshall's Grand Christmas
Entertainment, "THE ENCHANTED HASH " (SECOND
EDlTlON)—Wonderful Transformations—Every Evening
at a quarter-past ten—in Addition to the following Comic
talent: Mr. Frederick French, the great Shakesperian Bur-
lesque Vocalist, Mr. Wood and Son, Mr. J. G. Forde, Miss
Harriet Coveney, and Miss Greene.
Grand Selections from
LA TRAVIATA and TROVATORE,
• at ten o'clock,
By Miss Russell, Mr. Herbert, Signor Tivoli, and lull Chorus.
Musical Director, Mr. Jonghmans.
Admission—Hall, 6d. ; Stalls and Balcony, ls.

CANTERBURY HALL-VICTOR JULIEN,
" THE FLYING MAN " Every Evening at half-past
Nine o'clock.

THE OXFOItD
6, OXFORD-STREET,

OPEN EVERY EVENING.

Grand Selections from " E RNA NI," Macbeth," and
" La Circassienne," by Madame Enderssohn, Miss Ernst.
and Miss Russell ; Messrs. Albert, W. Morley, Greene, and
C. Greville. Full Band and Chorus.—Conductor, Mr. F.
Jonghmans. Solos by Mr. Viottl Collins (the great English
violinist). And other Vocal and Instrumental Entertain-
ments, the Comic portion by Messrs. Sam Collins, E. Mar-
shall, M. P. Foster, W. Randall. and Miss Harriet Coveney.
hall, 6d. ; Stalls and Balcony, is. ; Private Boxes, 10s. 6d.