The Sun.
London, England, 1856-08-29 00:00:00

DECENCY :IN DRESS,

Why will our countrymen persist in making
" Guys" of themselves whenever they turn their
wandering steps out of the limits of their own
country? There is a decency in the dress of
Englishmen in England which we are in the habit
of holding up in favourable contrast with the
sartorial efforts of foreign artists. The English-
woman of the middle classes leaves, no doubt,
much to be desired as far as dress is concerned in
comparison with her French sisters. Her gowns
are ill made, and worse put on. She has most
imperfect theories upon the important matter of
wearing her shawl. She will persist in adopting
some tawdry dab of velvet in summer, and winter
beholds her flaunting about in satin. She delights
in bad contrasts of colours, and the more of these
she can bring into imperfect combination the better
satisfied with herself she appears to be. English-
men, however, have a right to say of themselves
that in their own country they are the must de-
cently attired men in Europe. We do not swathe
our legs in checked trowsers of such brilliant hue
that the very horses would. shy at us as they prance
past. We do not bedevil our waists with puckers
and gathers, nor impart a pear-like tone to our ex-
ternal man. We do not usually wear flaunting
waistcoats, uor do we lace ourselves up like an Aus-
trian dandy. We do not stalk about the streets
in dramatic cloaks, like lost heirs about to reveal
themselves to their disconsolate parents. Travel,
in short, where you will about the streets of Lon-
den, and, with the exception of a sparse sprinkling
of young attorneys' clerks, who are the favourite
clients of our Jewish tailors, or of ....tising ecclesias-
tics, who-from High Cgurch motives take to long
greatcoats and waistcoats of many buttons, there
is really very little to offend the eye. Why, then,
as soon as our countrymen have put a few miles of
salt water between themselves and the country
which for so many years has seen them decently
clothed, do they wander into so many extrava-
gances of costume
It is not very strange that foreigners should take
up unfavourable ideas of the taste and habits of
Englishmen, when they see our representatives
surpassing their own enormities, or sauntering
about the pavement of their capitals in costumes
which they would never dare to wear in Regent-
street or Pall-mall. We read in a letter, published
the other day, from our Parisian correspondent,
that at the present moment Englishmen abound
in the capital of France, " recognisable, as usual,
by their eccentricities of costume and manner,
which many of them seem to think it not
only justifiable but proper to adopt as soon
as they step off English ground, even though the
capital they repair to be quite as civilised as the
one they quit, and as little accustomed to pheno-
menal shooting-coats, distorted wide-awakes, and
low-crowned nautical' straws' with oilskin covers."
If our wandering countrymen have no respect for
themselves, at least let them not bring ridicule on
the nation to which they belong by so total a dis-
regard of the decencies of life. It matters, of
course, very little that some individual Jones,
Brown, or Robinson should make a monkey of
himself. Tuat is his own concern, and doubtless
he best knows his own position in creation. The
case, however, is different when all, or nearly all,
the representatives of our country who honour the
continent of Europe with their presence commence
their travels by throwing off that regard for the
pro;.-rieties of life which they would strictly observe
at home.—Times.

BOARD OF TRADE RETURNS.

(Front the Times' City Article.)

A return has just been issued by the Board of Trade
of the declared values of British and Irish produce and
manufactures exported from the United Kingdom in the
year 1855, specifying the amount to each country and
colony. From this document the following list has
been compiled, showing the order in which the various
communities of the world rank es our customers. The

total is 95,688,085/ , against 97,298,900/. in 1854 and
93,933,781/. in 1853. Owing to the revulsion from
over-speculation in the Australian and Canadian trades,
the proportion taken by our own possessions, amounting
in the two preceed;ng years to about a third of the
whole, presents a falling off of 7,000,0001., alth.ough
India, which, from the prosperity consequent on the
demand for substitutes for Russian produce and the out-
lay fur rail wa3s, exhibited in 1854 an increase of
1,800,0001., figures again for an increase of 900,000/.
With regard to foreign countries, the effects of the
chronic pressure which has continued to prevail in the
New York money market have again been shown in a
diminution of our exports to the United States. In
1854 there was a decrease of 2,248,0581., and a for-
eer falling off of 4,092,2331. is now observable. The
amount to Germany has been swollen by the overland
trade to Russia, the augmentation being 1,222,7761.
France exhibits the extraordinary increase of 2,837,3681.
—equal to 90 per cent.—a result due partly to the pur-
chase of war materials in this country, and par ly to
modifications in her tariff. To Turkey, as might have
been expected, our exports have more than doubled.
Russia is of course entirely out of the list, but the con-
signments to Balaklava and other ports in our own pos-
session amounted to nearly half a million. Among the
countries which show an improvement are Sweden and
Norway, Brazil, and New Granada, the difference in
each of these cases being large. The trade with Syria
and Palestine in consequence of the war has experi-
enced a great development. The exports direct to the
Danubian Principalities, which declined from 170,5101.
in 1853 to 16,4021. in 1854, stand in the present return
at 45,3371. Belgium, Greece, Italy, Mexico, Peru,
Venezuela, and China, are all on the favourable side.
Spain shows a falli, g off. The River Plate trade expe-
rienced a heavy reaction, Buenos Ayres and Uruguay
both presenting a great decline. Portugal and Denmark
have been stationary :-
1. British possessions :
East Indies £10,927,694
Australia •.. •.• 6,278,966
British America ... 2,885,331
West Indies ... 1,979,956
Gibraltar 829,354
South Africa ... 791,313
Malta ... 625,823
Ports of occupation in the Crimea 493,398
Channel Islands 468,078
Hong Kong 389,265
Sierra Leone, &c. 306,091
Mauritius 303,173
lonian Islands ••• 211,886
Other possessions 62,544

£26,552,875
2. United States; including California ... 17,313,086
3. Germany ::
Hanseatic Towns ... 8,3511,228
Prussia "• 1,100,021
•••
Hanover •.. 337,354
...
---- 9,787,600
4. France ... ... ... 6,012,658
5. Turkey ~. ... ... 5,639,898
6. Holland •.• ... 4,558,210
7. Brazil ... ... ... 3,312,728
8. Italy :
Naples and Sicily ... 921,220
Sardinia ... 853,216
...
Lombardy, &c. ... 717,713
Tuscany ... ... 620,397
Papal territories ... 147,0 i 3
---- 3,260,169
9. Belgium ... ... ..: ..: ... 1,707,693
10. Portugal, including £124,922 to the
Azores and Madeira .„ ..,, ... 1,475,713
11. Egypt 1,454,371
12. Chili 1,330,355
13. Peru 1,283,166
14. Spain, including £110,015 to the Canary

_
Islands ... ••• •• •
15. Cuba ••• ••• •••
16. Sweden and Norway ...
17. Syria and Palestine ... •••
18. China ••• ••• •• •
19. Western Coast of Africa
20. Denmark ... .• • •••
21. Buenos Ayres ...
22. New Granada ••• ••• •..
23. Mexico ...
24. St. Thomas ...
25. Java
26. Philippine Islands
27. Venezuela
28. Uruguay
29. Greece
30. Hayti
31. Morocco
32. Wallachia and Moldavia
33. French Senegambia •• • • •
34. Other countries ... ••• ••

1,268,815
1,059,606
1,032,784
946,601
888,679
839,831
759,658
742,4
588,935
585,898
562,789
529,815
393,037
378,491
291,938
222,460
11;0,128
138,697
45,837
11,270
542,322

£95,688,085