The Sun.
London, England, 1866-01-24 00:00:00

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issue in America is finally settled, and \Oa? isies
decision in regard to the tenure of land A
south of the Ohio promises to be materially littiitene 1 „ S
by the discussion of those Free Trade and anti-
Monopoly questions which aro now dividing the Republic
into now and distinct camps. The conflict between the
principles of Protection and Free Trade in America dates
back to the formation of the Union itself, for the Nor-
thern States then exacted certain monopolies in trade and
commerce as the price of their consent to Southern de-
mands in regard to labor. While, in. after years, the
South steadfastly subordinated all questions to the main
idea of preserving and extending its peculiar institution,
the North was equally pertinacious in pressing its system
of economics upon the country, nun in building up for its
own benefit huge manufacturing and trading monopolies.
This condition of affairs might have continued to exist
even beyond the present tine but for the entrance of a
new actor upon the scene. The states lying west of the
Alleghenies were comparatively unimportant and power-
less until within the past fifteen years ; but European
immigration and the unceasing outpour from the Eastern
and Southern States have at length given them a nu-
merical preponderance over the other sections, and a con-
sequent majority in Congress. The, motives which
induced the Western States to commence hostilities with
the South were similar, but not precisely identical with
those which actuated their allies cast of the Alleghenian
range. The same passionate veneration for the Union in-
fluenced both sections alike ; but while the latter opposed
Slavery on abstract grounds, the North-West felt the •
tyranny of the institution, and resolved to destroy it as
the nearest and most oppressive of monopolies.
Having crushed Southern monopoly in labour, the West
turns its forces against other monopolies eLsewhere. The
war between the South and its Eastern and Western op-
ponents is concluded, another contest has already com-
menced, wherein the South and West will be firmly allied
against the monopolies and protective policy of the Eastern
States, and the late Message of President Josessos is the
declaration of war inaugurating this new campaign. The
two paragraphs in the centre of the Message protesting, in
the PRESIDENT'S own words, against "monopolies, perpe-
tuities, and class legislation," express the feelings and
wants of that action of the Union to which Mr. jortssost
politically belongs; and they have called forth the appro-
val of his "Western fellow-citizens in a higher degree, per-
haps, than any other portion of his Message.
In thus stating the present position of parties in the
United States, I am not " taking sides" with or against any
section, geographical or political. The ANGLO-AMERICAN
TIMES, I believe, regards the Union as "one and indivi-
" Bible," and it designs to avoid in its columns, as far as
possible, the use of such terms as " East," "South," and
" West." But the existence of these sectional divisions
cannot be ignored while laying down the proportions of
the politico-economic revolution now commencing in the
United States. This task might have been left to your
English contemporaries, but the press of Great Britain
seems resolved to ignore the existence of any portion of
the Union west of the Alleghenies. There are three
"centres" in the American Republic, three capitals as it
were :—Washington, the political ; New York, the com-
mercial; and Chicago, the centre, or representative, of pro-
duction. During the war, the correspondents of the
English press, with a single exception, avoided the
scene of active operations, and compiled their let-
ters front the reports of American newspapers,
or from such " hearsay" evidence as they could pick up in
New York, Philadelphia, and Boston—that is to say,
hundreds of miles away from the nearest battlefield. And
this same policy continues to be pursued by them. Repre-
sentatives of the English press in America confine their
investigations to the comfortable and easily accessible
cities above-mentioned, while they almost ignore the ex-
istence of Washington, Chicago, St. Louis, and Cincinnati;
a policy tantamount to regarding Liverpool, Dublin, and
Glasgow as the' chief representatives of English interests,
and taking small account, if any, of London, Manchester,
and Birmingham. While this short-sighted system con-
tinues, Englishmen must expect to be kept in almost total
ignorance of a country and people with whose prosperity
their own is so vitally connected.
The Western States are complaining that by the incon-
siderate "class-legislation" of the older Northern States
and the incubus of local monopolies, the vast and fruitful
regions bordering the Father of Waters and his many
tributaries, have hitherto lost the advantages which ought
to accrue from superior fertility of soil, excellence of
Climate, and greater population. The grievances of the
West, in fact, aro of the most practical and easily under-
stood character, and they necessitate a radical amendment
at xo very distant date. To use the words of the Chicago
Tribune-the most influential organ of the press in the
great West—" When a farmer has to give three bushels
of corn to send one to market a distance of ono hundred
miles; one hundred bushels to get a pair of boots; one
thousand bushels to obtain a suit of clothes ; or two tons
of corn for a too of coal, it is time for him to look around
and see what is the matter." The system maintained
by railroad and steamboat corporations is followed in Con-
gress itself, and, to a great extent, by the Federal Govern-
ment. The Comptroller of the Treasury recommends in
his late annual report that Congress should pass a law
compelling all the National Banks in the Union to redeem
their bills, in what ho calls " the great commercial and
financial centres of the country—New York, Philadephia,
and Boston." Should this advice ho followed, Chicago,
St. Louis, Cincinnati, and ether Western cities, will re-
ceive a sudden check to their prosperity; for the points
of redemption being distant a thousand miles, Western
bankers will be forced to keep a largo proportion of their
funds in the far East, to the manifest detriment of the
manufacturers, producers, and traders in the region of the
great lakes and the Mississippi Valley. The like system
of "class legislation" and "monopoly" has been carefully
followed in the appointment of Congressional committees,
Western representatives being excluded, as a rule, frem
fair participation in those important branches of legisla-
tion, and yet the Eastern States are merely the factors and -
agents of that section of the Union which is building up
Eastern prosperity and supplying a largo portion of the
outer world with tho means of existence. Such a condi-
tion of affairs cannot possibly continuo ; and the agitation
now prevailing in the regions of the Mississippi, Missouri,
and Ohio rivers, presages a very early and radical settle-
ment of this long-standing injustice.

Tho policy of the Western States on this question
will bo the subject of a future communication to your
columns. I confine myself to-day to the mere statement
of the grievances alleged, and would add in this connec-
tion that tho interests and aims of the South are identical
with those of the West upon this issue. Both sections are
producers and consumers, and they have a common into-
rest in selling their produce at the lowest rate in all
markets, and in buying in the cheapest.

A large number of respectable young men from
all parts of England are emigrating to New York in the
numerous steamers which aro now plying between various
English ports and the United States. This exodus appears
to have arisen in consequence partly of the ease with which
Now York can be reached from England, and from the
accounts constantly received of the 'wealth of the United
States, and the scope there for enterprise.
ESTIMATE OF PROPABLE COTTON SUPPLY.
Messrs. Ellison and Heywood, cotton brokers,
Liverpool, have issued their monthly cotton report, and
annual review of the cotton-market for 1865. It is a
document of great length, very elaborate in its treat-
ment of every point interesting to the trade, and the
lateness of its appearance is accounted for by the
great research which was necessary for the accurate
compilation of such a document, some of the facts em-
braced in it having to be waited for till the last
moment before publication. The following extracts
give an estimate of the probable supply of cotton :
" The new year opens with the promise of a healthier
and more remunerative trade than has been experienced for
several years past. The doubt and uncertainty that still
surround the future of supply will tend to repress ex-
cessive speculation, and lead to a cautious and steady legi-
timate business. As to supply, wo look for a moderate
increase upon the total import of 1865 ; less from the
Mediterranean, but more from other quarters. We are
yet so completely in the dark as to the quantity of cotton
remaining in the Southern States that any estimate of
supply from America must be more than usually conjec-
tural. We have assumed 800,000 bales, but should not be
surprised to see that figure exceeded. Muchwill depend upon
the amount of the next crop and the proportion which wo
shall receive before the close of the present year. The
stimulus of high prices, and the proverbial energy of tho
American people, will, perhaps, produce a larger yield
than seems at present to be generally anticipated, yet one
that will fall very far short of the requirements of the world,
and therefore render any important decline from present
rates improbable. The monetary disturbances of the past
year, and the high prices of cereals have exercised a pre-
judicial influence upon the Indian crop, more grain and
less cotton having been put into the ground than in the
previous season. But we have about 160,000 bales more
afloat than at this time last year, and which, but for the
great depression experienced in the spring, would have
been shipped in time to have been included in the import of
1865, we think it highly probable that the import of 1866
will reach from 1,250,000 to 1,300,000 bales, against
1,266,000 bales last year—due allowance being made fur
shipments to China. Should the arrivals from America
show any important excess upon our estimate, no doubt
prices would be depressed, and the shipments from India
T
curtailed, as was the case last year.
The Egyptian crop
accounts are very unfavourable. Opinion differs as to
the probable deficiency, compared with the yield of last
year; some authorities place it as high as 50 per
cent., others as low as five - and - twenty per cent.
Taking the least unfavourable view of the matter, Great
Britain's share of the crop would be about 250,000 bales,
against 331,000 bales. A similar reduction for Turkey,
whence the advicos aro equally discouraging, would give
us 60,000 bales, against 80,000 bales. From the Brazils
the news is very cheering, and we anticipate an import
thence of about 100,000 bales more than last year—say,
440,000 bales, against 340,000. The West Indies, Peru,
and miscellaneous sources will most likely send us 150,000
bales, against 131,000 bales.