The Sun.
London, England, 1853-10-20 00:00:00

TEHUANTEPEC RAILWAY.

The New York correspondent of the Times gives
the following particulars in reference to the Tehuan-
tepec Railway, the contract for the construction of
which has been signed by Sykes and Co., of Shef-
field, England :—" It appears that after Colonel
Sloo had learnt that the Mexican Government
would not reaffirm the Garay grant, because they
deemed it to have been rendered utterly null and
void by the non-compliance with its conditions, he
proceeded to Mexico, and for certain considerations
procured the exclusive and perpetual right of way
for a plankroad and a railroad across the Isthmus
of Tehuantepec, including the exclusive right of
navigation of the river Coatzacoalco. The right
was conferred on Colonel Sloo and his associates by
the then constitutionally existing authorities of the
Mexican Republic ; and a law was passed by tke
Mexican Congress especially for the purpose of recog-
nising the grant and adding the greatest possible
sanction to its legal validity. It was thought that
since Mexico was then in a disturbed state the vali-
dity of the grant might subsequently be questioned ;
and the highest authority of the State was invoked
to crown it. The Minister of Foreign Affairs was
authorized by the Mexican Congress to recognize
the claims of Colonel Sloo, thus established by
legislative action, in a treaty which was proposed
for the acceptance of the United States, and the
sole object of which was to impart the highest in-
ternational sanction to the Sloo grant. When.
Santa Anna returned to Mexico and took the
i con-
tol of the Government, he readily concurred n al/
that had been done on this subject, and instructed
his Minister to the United States to press the
adoption by our Senate of the treaty of which
have spoken. This treaty arrived in Washing-
ton
too late for the action of our Senate last
spring ; but, as there is no objection to it, it
will doubtless pass that body as a matter of form.
only; while I have ascertained that the same
Minister now has in his possession, already exe-
cuted by Santa Anna, another copy of the same
treaty, ready for delivery on the exchange of rati-
fications. It was with a full knowledge of all
these facts that Sykes and Co., of Sheffield, un-
dertook the construction of the Tehuantepec
Plankroad. and Railroad. The taint of suspicion
has attached to the validity. of nearly all the
grants for special or exclusive rights made to
individuals or corporations by the Americano-
Span ish Governments in both North and South
America. This has been owing chiefly either
to the informality which has attended the
conferring of these grants, or to the fact that they
were
made during the period of revolution. But,
in the case of the Sloo grant, the question of in-
formality, or legislative or official action during a
revolutionary period, can never legitimately be
raised ; for the grant had its origin in regular and
unanimous legislation, and has been confirmed and
reaffirmed, under every form of executive Govern-
ment that has existed since.
" These are the reliable facts in the case ; and I
deem it advisable to state them, since British in-
terests are involved in the whole transaction. The
Tehuantepec Plankroad and Railroad will, be de
facto, a British interest, as they are to be con-
structed mainly by British capital ; but, although
built mainly by British capital, the amount re-
quired is too small to affect the financial affairs of
England, even for the excitement of a day, as the
road is only 166 miles in length, and there are no
engineering obstacles of a formidable character to
encounter. The Isthmus of Tehuantepec is in lat.
17 N., corresponding with that of Jamaica, and is
a salubrious region. The climatic obstacles that
have opposed the construction of the railway across
the Isthmus of Panama have proved far more
serious than the engineer finds in tunnelling moun-
tains or bridging rivers."

STATE OF TRADE.

(From the Manchester Guardian of yesterday.)

MANCHESTER, Oct. 18.—There is some improvement
to-day in the general tone of our market. In several de-
partments, buyers are more disposed to operate, and
sellers more inclined to harden in their prices. For
India yarns, an advance of fully Ad. per lb is required ;
and the quotations for reeled water twist up to 30s, and
for 24s to 28s warps, are raised about the same fraction.
The German merchants are venturing to increase
their purchases. Warps and pincops for Domestics are
stiffer, and mule spinnings of twist and weft suitable
for Blackburn are firmer at previous rates. Fine
yarns and most counts of doubled do not share in this
tendency. In Domestics, there is no improvement what-
ever ; but 40-inch shirtings are more inquired after by
the India houses, and the makers are asking rather
higher prices. The causes of the little improvement ex-
perienced to-day appear to be the rather easier state of the
money market, the upward tendency of cotton, and the
somewhat more favourable condition of the Indian mar-
kets. The transactions of the day have not been large,
but they have been more numerous. Much regret has
been felt to-day at the announcement that an old,
extensive, and highly-respected spinning house has sus-
pended payment. No particulars are known.
HUDDERSFIELD, Oct. 18.—The goods which have
passed into the hands of the merchants to-day have gene-
rally been towards completion of former orders. Pur-
chasers of other goods have been exceedingly light, and
few in number, and complaints are general, in both the
cloth ball and the surrounding warehouses, of the scar-
city of business. The articles at all inquired for are a
few of the heavier and cheaper kinds of cloth, as
" unions," beavers, and pilotings, for the home markets,
and such as are likely to come into immediate use. In
the wool warehouses, very little has been done, either
to-day or during the past week.
ROCHDALE, Oct. 17.---We have had a very quiet and
dull market, although there has been a tolerably good
attendance of buyers. Low-priced goods have been
most in demand, and the merchants are offering lower
prices. There has been little or nothing doing in the
wool market ; the manufacturers show no disposition to
buy, as the London wool sales open this week (Thurs-
day), and they are expecting lower prices.
HALIFAX, Oct. 15.—As the merchants naturally feel,
in the present juncture, a disposition to contract their
operations as much as possible, there is very little busi-
ness doing. In every department of the worsted trade,
from the raw material to the finished article, consider-
able dullness prevails and prices are little more than
nominal.

BIRMINGHAM, Oct. I.7.—The quarterly meetings of the
ron trade have been held as usual during the last week.
The large dealers came forward on Thursday with their
amount of orders, and an extensive business was trans-
acted. Manufactured iron of every description main-
tained the nominal prices, indeed, contracts were reluc-
tantly undertaken at present rates, and conditionally
only, subject to the reduction of the wages movement,
yet unsettled—a very general presentiment obtaining
that higher figures will rule in a short time. For pig
iron there was much inquiry, and large sales were made
both at Birmingham, and on Saturday evening at Dudley.
Pig makers, in the absence of all speculative supply,
insisted upon considerably the higher figures, which the
manufacturers were ultimately obliged to concede, and an
advance of fully 5s per ton on this article has been esta-
blished. For ironstone higher prices have been
v en'
ut
coals remains at present unaltered. The_
dissatisfaction
among the colliers is generally attributed,amndeo
we think
justly, to the foolish attempt made in
and we are sorry
in so
partially to advance the price of
ton
limestone
that as
Gd.p
yet
rthey n have
additional ot resumed
hasbb been their e ir
obtained. w o r k
I
The trade is allowed on allin mosthands branchestoes oundan
and
healthy, and the demand is
outstrip-
ping the power of production :t but the
lastthe rtehsrueletsproenii
flith!
bungling policy decided upon a
nary meetings are being severely felt.

Loss OF THE WILLIAM AND JANE BAUM—The
barque William and Jane, of Shields, from Galatz,
foundered at sea a week ago. Captain Joss and crew
arrived at Plymouth on board a Norwegian brig yesterday.
SWINDLING THEATRICALS.—An account was given in
August last of the condemnation to three years impri-
wheere
sonment of a man named Delagneau for having com-
mitted numerous acts of swindling by obtaining sub-
scriptions from different persons on pretence that they
were for the distressed widow and family of a literary
tookMa d a mt
the
es
man of some note. Amongst his victims
Court against
The
urgaide, Tedesco, Cruvelli, Cerito, and other theatrical
notabilities. To commit his frauds,
lapsupmealhede retceeivtehdewaslmapbeoruiatl 2,
C5COorO f
false name of the Vicomte do •
btoeta
condemnation. The prisoner alleged tOhant Slaieturdis aye
literary man by profession, that he had been connected
newspapers, and that he had been accus-
tewimthedd itffoereeanrt
earn
money
by writing vaudevilles for noted
was stated in
brought
that i lames.n 181 t
34 he Was arr them out under their own
dramatists, who
esttehde f
ocro uhr
as ev
ionfg thheee
nproceedings
i
in a Carlo-republican plot, that in 4845 he was sentenced
to four month's
present case, mo
three prisonment for libel, and in 1850 he
t •
was condemned
eiv
imlo n
rightst 1 i s '
forimprisonment. andln fiveth the
years' interdiction of
he originally pretended that he had really
devoted the money received to a distressed family, and
that he should be able to Prove it by the testimony of
that family. But the proof was not forthcoming, and
the former sentence was confirmed.
THE COTTON CROP IN THE UNITED STATES.—The
season closed on the Ist of September with the largest
cotton crop ever produced in the United States, and
planters may congratulate themselves on a twofold
advantage. The prices they have received have so
far exceeded those, even on the shorter crop of last
year, almost in the same ratio as the greatly in-
creased quantity of the crop itself. Prices have
not been sustained with that remarkable degree of
steadiness which distinguished the market of last year ;
but, although its fluctuations have proved a source of
some annoyance to merchants, they have been attended
with very little inconvenience to planters themselves.
The extreme fluctuation for middling cotton has been
2ic. per lb.. which is lc. higher than the average of last
year, and only 2c. lower than the high prices of the year
before. There has not only been an increase of about
200,000 bales over last year's crop, but an increase in the
average weight of the bales; it having risen from 4381 b.
the average of 1851 and 1852, to 4551 b., the average of
1852 and 1853 ; thus increasing the entire crop about
i fifty•five Ma" 130112(15.