The Sun.
London, England, 1857-06-22 00:00:00

ANOTHER NEW CLIPPER SHIP FOR

AUSTRALIA.

It would seem (says the Liverpool Daily Times)
that it is almost a daily portion of news, to chro-
nicle new ships despatched for the land where gold
groweth, and it was well said some time ago, by
one of the most extensive shipowners in the trade,
that the fleet would increase daily, and he would.
be glad of it. This prophecy has all but been ful-
filled within the last few years. If the trade be-
tween this and the colony, and vice versa, had not
rapidly increased, we should not have (at least
weAily) to record the introduction of the fine ves-
sels that wo describe. This week again that pleas-
ing task falls to our lot. We have to mention the
name of the Albion (and an appropriate name
it is), a clipper announced to be despatched by
the well-known house of Tapscott and Co., in this
month, from Liverpool for Melbourne. In the
abstract a fine ship is a pleasing thing to look at,
hut when she undergoes a thorough inspection, and.
all her beauties are examined in detail, then in-
deed to the landsman the wonder is how such float-
ing worlds can be so elegantly constructed and.
fitted for the intended purpose. The Albion is truly
a noble ship to look upon, and, without disparage-
ment :to the numerous vessels in the trade, she
may be said to be as fine a model as any that skims
the blue waters, and, as her namesake is the pride
of all lands, she may not inaptly be called " Al-
bion, the pride of the Ocean." A few words about
her construction and materials may be offered.
here. She is built of the best Virginia and live
oak together. The workmanship, as will at once
be observed, is of a Tory superior description, and.
a combination of strength and symmetry has been
accomplished. Her dimensions are as follows—her
length 200 feet, beam 38 feet, and depth of hold.
25 feet ; her registered tonnage is set down at
1,400, but it is said she will carry about 2,500, as
her stowage and carrying capacity, on light
. draught, very great, as proved by her voyage
here, which was also a remarkably quick and
successful one. The advantage of experience
has rendered the accommodation for passengers
by this ship of a superior order. Of the grand sa-
loon much need not be said, as it is complete in all
respects, having lounging, smoking, bath, and re-
tiring rooms attached; it is, however, limited in ex-
tent, as the great portion of the ship is destined for
the comfort and conveyance of second class, inter-
mediate, and steerage passengers. To this impor.
taut and always most numerous class of emigrants
the greatest attention has been paid by the owners.
The second cabin is a fine poop house, usually set
apart in other ships for firstclass passengers.
This is amply and elegantly fitted for about 100
passengers, and is over 8 feet in height, with
the best mode of ventilation, and as much light
as if a house on shore. This Compartment is
also well provided for with closets, bath rooms, &c.
all superbly fitted with furniture both for use and
ornament. The between decks are fully 9 feet
high in the cler, and here, too, passengers are pro-
vided for in everyrespect, and the intermediate and
steerageinhabitants
ship will have nothing more
hmtories portionof
of r ttlhi ea
nnoble
accommodation she affords, and the attention that
has been bestowed on everything conducive to health
and comfort on a sea voya An y one inspecting the
vessel willbear out these obs.ervations. Theculinary
and cooking
and
complete. Much attention has been given to
thisdepartments of the ship are ample
important portion of the vessel ; and here may
be mentioned that the victualling stores are sup-
plied with provisions of the first class, and in quan-
tities much beyond what the act of Parliament re-
quires. The house in this respect
. is long and well
known for its liberality. There is a fine promenade
roundthe poop,
andalso ontlie.flushdeck,s2 that none
can complain of the want of au• and exercise, as both
can be enjoyed without in With all these
attributes she possesses one more, though last not
least, and that is in her commander, who is a gen-
tleman long
.connected with the emigration trade
both to America and Australia, and the number of
handsome testimonials which have been presented
to him for his abilities as a sailor and his kind and
polite attention as a gentleman. The house, too,
is so well known in the passenger trade, that with
all these adjuncts the Albion must prow A very
doixablo ship for Australian passongera,

THE IMAGINARY COTTON CRISIS.

(From the Examiner.)

The clever but usually not very imaoinative-men
of Manchester are now, and hive been for come
years back, as it appears to 114, in a state of un-
called for alarm about the supply of coAon wool.
They are, at present, as they have been f.,r the
last half century, dependent on one country, Anglo-
Saxon America, for six-sevenths of their whole
supply, and suddenly come to the conclusion that
it" is to fail them. They have just published a pam-
phlet, entitled the Cotton Crisis and How to
avert it," and one of them, the hon. member for
Stockpot'', lately read before the Society of Arts a
long and elaborate paper on the same subject.
Moreover, the question is to be brought formally
before the Commons on Tuesday next. Our own
opinion, and not for the first time expressed, is
that there is no "Cotton at all, and that if
there were, the means proposed for averting it are
mistaken onei. We proceed at once, then, with
oar refutation of the mist 31Kes of Manchester.

In every one of the last seven years, during
which the long Manchester paroxysm has existed,
there has been a large increase in our importation
of cotton. In 1850 the import amounted to
663, 576, 8511 b. and in 1856 it rose to 1,023, 886, 5281 b.
an increase, in this b, ief period, of above one-half.
In 1850, Anglo-Saxon America furnished, of the
above supply, 493,153,1121 b. and this had risen in
1856 to 780,040,0161 b., an increase of fifty-eight
per cent., whereas th 9 increase of the supply from
all other quarters was but fifty-four per cent. In
1834 the value of the raw cotton which we im-
ported, as given in the public returns, was
26,175,3951., and in 1856 it had risen to
26,434,695/. _ _

The seven years now alluded to were those of
the gold discoveries of California and Australia,
which gave so wonderful an impetus to the indus-
try of the civilised world. Such, in this 'period,
his been the increased power of general consump-
tion, that prices have greatly risen in every com-
modity in which the supply did-not quickly respond
td the demand, such as hemp, flax, dyes, tea,
coffee, spices, tin, and copper. On the other hand,
there has been no rise of price, but in a few cases
even a fall, in commodities in which the supply
readdy met the demand, as in iron, sugar, and
sheep's woool. In this last category stands cotton
wool, in which there has been a fall of some five
per cent.
We derive our supplies of cotton from six dif-
ferent quarters, extending over above fifty degrees
of latitude of the old and new world. Let this be
compared with our supplies of similar commodi-
ties. Our supplies of sheep's-wool come from
about the same number of quirters, exclusive of
onr home supply. Of this article our imports in
1850 were 74,326,778 lb. and these had risen in
1856 to 116,211,395 lb. or an increase of 57 per
cent., notwithstanding a fall of some twenty per
cent. in price. We receive our supply of raw silk
from about the same number of quarters as our
supplies of cotton and sheep's-wool, and owing to
a disease in the worm in the chief supplying
countries, we were, for the last two years threatened
with a short supply ; but China, the parent coun-
try of silk, steps in to meet our wants, and the im-
ports which in 1850 amounted only to 5,411,9341 b.
bad risen in 1856 to 8,236,6871 h. Such examples
as these, we should think, are calculated to allay
the fears of Manchester, but we shall give one more.
Our whole supply of tea is virtually derived from
one country only,—that, too, one of the most
populous in the world, and distant 15,000 miles.
The import bas risen from the two pounds and two
ounces presented to King Charles the Second in
1664, not worth intrinsically sixteen sixpences, to
86,159,5171 b. valued in the public returns at
5,246,4591., and this without enhancement of price
but on the contrary a great fall.
As we have already said, six-sevenths of all our
raw cotton, in quantity, is derived from Anglo
Saxon America, and far more than that in value.
Without that supply (the produce, every pound of
it, of slave labour) the greatest of our manufactures
would inevitably become one of the smallest. It is
this state of things, perilous, however, only in
imagination, that has arouse I the fears of the
stirewel men of Manchester. The hypothetical con-
tingencies on which they ground their apprehen-
sions are various, and we shall state and answer
a •fevr of them. " The demand may outgrow
the supply." We have already shown that
the supply from America has not only kept
pace- with the demand, but even gone
ahead of it, and we now add that by
More skilful husbandry, and pushing the cuPivation
to climates more congenial to the plant, the price
has, within the last 50 years, been reduced from
22d. a pound to 6d. " There may occur a failure
of crop from a storm, a drought, or a mysterious
epidemic like the potato rot." Any of these cala-
, mities are possible, but highly improbable. 'The
cotton plant has been cultivated for 70 long years
in the Un.ted States and none of them have oc-
curred, and are now less likely to occur than in the
earlier time of the cultivation, since, instead of
being confined to a small northern aduncongenial
locality, as it originally was, it now extends in a
southern direction over ten genial degrees of lati-
tude. "The slaves may be emancipated." We
hope, for the honour of America and credit of hu-
manity, that they may ; but when emancipated,
they must labour to live, and in the labour in which
they will be employed they will enjoy a monopoly,
since it is such as no European can engage in. "If
not emancipated, they will emancipate themselves."
Four millions of miserable men of an inferior race
are not very likely to free theinselves from the bon-
dage of 21. millions of a superior race, the most
energetic that the world has ever seen. But then,
it is added, "We may be at war with the American
Union, and in this case the Americans hold a rod
With which they may beat us to death, that rod
being a denial of their cotton." We have been at
peace w.th America for 40 years, and every
year th) prospect of a war becomes less
and less. How comes it not to have occurred
to our usually adote opponen t s that two can play at
the game of mischief of . which they are so appre-
hensive ? If the Americans have a rod for us in
the refusal of a supply of cotton, do we not possess
a scourge no leis formidable for them by refusing
th. In a market for it ? In 1855, the sum which we
paid to the Ame,icani for -eutron was 16,863,228/.
Lest year it would exceed 20,000,0001. ; and some-
thing like this, to say nothing ref the worth of corn,
tobacco, and o'her trifle=, is ahout the amount of
the penalty-bonds in which England and America
a.e bound to kt.ed the peace t )wards each other, to
say nothing of broken crowns, war taxes, debt, and
lainkruptctes.
But now we come to the Manchester means for
averting the imaginary crisis. It consists in sub-
situting cotton, ;the produce of British India, for
that Of Anglo-Saxon America. India does supply
England with a considerable quantity of the worst
co tun which it receives from any quarter, and the
quanity has been larg‘ ly increased for some years,
without any improvement whatever in the quality.
In 1842 the quantity was only 92,972,609,1e5., and
this hatlincreasecl in 1856 to 180,496,6241b5., an
increase of ninety-four per cent. in fourteen years'
time, a proportion which exceeds that of America
itself within, the same time. Not so the quality ;
the Indian cotton always stands at the bottom of a
Icing list of quotations, and the valuation of the
Board of Trade makes it forty per cent. less valu-
able than the average of a'l other cottoes. It forms,
in fact, between one-fourth and one-fifth in quan-
tity, and between one-seventh and one eighth in
value of the American cotton. Four-and-forty years
of free trade that haveimproved several other pro-
ducts of India and called new ones into existence,
have made no improvement in Indian cotton, but
all this is to be suddenly changed, because some
men of the "City of Industry," frightened out of
their wits, will have it so !
. Every part of India is within the region in which
the cotton plant flourishes and every part of India
products it, but the districts which yield a surplus
are only the scantily peopled, and these are to be
found here and there between Ste Tropic and Cape
.;eraorin. The whole valley of the Ganges, with
Its densenctortpto,)pni:l at. On, produces an immense quan-
tity
but no surplus for exportation. On
the co
it has been an importer from the
under-peoaT
led countries of the south for a century
hack,.
Within the laltoPtint lation having greatly increased
it has even ceaseughtt:7
pr years, the result has`been that
export rice, its staple pro-
duct • for altho
potte'd into England see this. AI tide yearly fromim-
India, in 1855, to the
value of 1,576,000 c. it j 3
popu-
lous Bengal, but of feetitelir the produce of
r. can and Pegu, coun-
tries with from fifteen to twenty
Eve inhabitants to
tverna
v_ooo to 500 as in
the, square mile, instead of from
the valley of the Ganges.
e more populous
of the provinces of the south
yield no cotton surpl
to the
uqut aabre.
Thus Tanjore, with 450 inhabitants
.mile, does not produce a pile for exportation
but
is itself an importer from its less
denseolyn
.the
.peopled .neighbours. The cotton provinces which
yield a surplus cent iin usually from 80 to 150 inhabi_
_tants to the square !toile, and when these come to
be densely peopled they will cease to yield one, for
;they will, like Bengal, themselves consume all they
,produce. No populous country of Asia exports
cotton. The island of Java, where it is an univer-
sal object of cultivation, does not export a pound,,
because it has' 10,000,000 of native consumers, ors
some. 250- to very square mile. Populous China
• is an importer' froze every country that will supply!
-it, and underpeopled southern. India is one of them.
The native cotton of India (all foreign varieties
'have substantially failed) is short in the fibre, but
still more objectionable from always containing a
large per eentage ofa-shear dirt. It is, in fact, a
rudecommodityl and Such was the case with every

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