The Sun.
London, England, 1869-10-25 00:00:00

TRADE AND FINANCE.

While we hear and road so much• of the discouraging
prospects of the cotton trade in England and America, it
is with no little satisfaction that wo are able to turn to a
more pleasing view of the question. A very great change
is passing over the cultivation of 'cotton in the Southern
States of America. Previously to the war it was the
custom to force the capabilities of the land to their utmost
extent, and a system of " cropping" was year by year
resorted to. This barbarous system could have but one
result, and accordingly it was found that the plan of
sweating the land without ever returning anything to it
was one that even the rich acres of the South were
unable to contend against. But land was cheap,
and when the soil was exhaurted in one quarter,
resort was had to another, so that the mis-
chief was widespread, notwithstanding the slow, ex-
haustive nature of the cotton plant. Since the war, how-
ever, the rapid curtailment of the labour market has in-
duced the planters to look for a greater return per acre on
the cotton lands, and as „this was not to be
expected without a proportionately increased atten-
tion on the part of the contlactors,the use of fertilizers has
become more frequent. The press has accordingly been
agitated with questions Us to the efficacy of particular
measures, and as to the depth to which ploughing should
or should not be carried. Steam cultivation is being gene-
rally advocated, and although its adoption must neces-
sarilybe a work of time, it is probable that the progress
of the United States in this direction will rival that of
older nations.

It is very evident that under the new system the yield
of cotton per acre will be vastly greater than under the
old. And more than this, it may be taken for granted that
the quality of the staple will improve in propor-
tion to the increased attention bestowed upon
its cultivation. We have, therefore, every reason to con-
gratulate ourselves upon the course of events in this parti-
cular. A very favourable feature is connected with the
labour market itself which has hitherto presented appa-
rently insuperable difficulties. The Chinese immigration has
continued on a very extensive scale, and the new source
of labour bids fair to supply the wants of the market, and
to render it, in some degree, independent of the freedmen.
It may be remarked, too, that the improved system of
cultivation will require additional intelligence in
the labourer, which the Chinese, from their
peculiar national character as a purely agricultural
nation, are well adapted to supply. Some little time
must elapse, however, before the Chinese become para-
mount in the labour market, but probably every year will
bring us nearer to this desirable consummation. In any
event wo may safely assert that the cultivation of
cotton in the states will in future be carried on
on very different principles, and that the quality
will probably shew for the future very different results to
those of past years. We do not mean to convey that this
will meet the wants of Lancashire, but as a permanent
improvement in the market it is difficult to over-estimate
its importance.

It was rumoured in Westminster Hall on Saturday
that Vice-Chancellor James had been appointed Lord Justice
in the place of the late Sir Charles Selwyn.

There bas been a fresh outbreak of the cattle
plague in Southern Russ:a, and in Galicia the disease still
prevails.

The Dover Express mentions a rumour that the
South Eastern Railway Company, and the London, Chat-
ham, and Dover Railway Company, are the successful com-
petitors for the carriage of her Majesty's mails to Calais.

At the petty sessions at Longtown, Cumberland,
on Thursday, Mr. Francis B. Graham, surgeon, was fined
ss. and costs for unlawfully selling a quantity of prussic acid
without labelling the bottle with the word "poison."

The Beverley Commissioners on Friday refused
expenses to a witness because he could not remember the
names of voters to whom he paid money four years ago.
They also rejected the evidence of another witness, who
stated that the Conservative manager at the Gas Works
dismissed a number of men who would not vote for Sir H.
Edwards.

The New York correspondent of the Irishman
writes that there is no ground for the lingering suspicion
that the Fenian, "Edward Martin," was, after all, one of
the two men rescued from the Manchester prison van. Ile
tells us that Deasy is living in Boston, and that Kelly was
married at New York on the very day on which the report
reached that city that ho was lying in a dying state at
King's College Hospital.
The transfer of Mr. Stephenson from the chairman-
ship of the Board of Inland Revenue to the permanent secre-
tarysbip of the Treasury is stated to Lave been finally deter-
ruined on. Many conflicting rumours are afloat regarding his
probable succeFsor. But that which seems to gain most
credence (says the Maachester Guardian) generally assigns
the vacant chair to Mr. Scudamore, whose active and sug-
gestive services in connection with the Post office and the
telegraphs aro known to have been highly estimated by the
late Administration as well as the present.

In reference to the European Insurance Office the
London Scotsman makes the following statement: —"We are
informed that it Las been determined on the part of one of
the petitioners to take an appeal against the late decision of
the Vice-Chancellor, dismissing the petitions for the wind-
ing up of the European Insurance Society; and that Sir
Roundell Palmer has been retained by the petitioner, while
the Attorney-General holds a retainer on behalf of the
society. But it may depend, wo aro told, on certain con-
tlngmcim whether the appeal will bo versevered with."