The Sun.
London, England, 1861-11-20 00:00:00

LAW INTELLIGENCE.—Nov. 19.

terms:—
" A little more than a year ago, in studying
the movement of the foreign commerce of France
for 1859, we remarked that that year, the last of
the protective regime, was also the most bril-
liant, for French transactions amounted to the
enormous sum of 4,904,000,000 fr. official value,
and 5,412,000,000 fr. actual value—that is to
say, precisely double the amount of the
most prosperous year of the monarchy of July
(2,437,000,000 fr. in 1843). Ia distinguishing the
total value of the imports from that of the ex-
ports, we find that the increase in the national
production had been still more rapid than that of
the commercial ceoxrapmeretra ycioanll
movement. sprese n t e d movement itself, for in the amount
of 1816 the imports represented 511 per cent., and
while the exports4B
' Li
amounted
nplloenrlome6to:hnrewtert.
oh,
twhiswioa6erhi
idt2i
the
e3tte
shrBiaenen
ell
per cent..
. 50 of
f theimports
li
importsen e r
a l re
gof
1859 showed an increase of 70.88, per cent. com-
pared with those of s
propor-
tional augmentation amounted to 1331 per cent. for
the exports."
Such prosperity, the article observes, told strongly
in favour of the excellence of a system which the
Protectionist party supported so strongly in oppo-
sition to free trade. The moment was not then

teresting :
" I shall refer to Liverpool alone, as the imports
into the other ports of the United Kingdom are
comparatively trifling.
" For the 101 months from Jan. 1 to Nov. 14, 1860,
Liverpool received 422,103 bales of East Indian
cotton, being about an average import; while for
the same period of the current year she has received
742,437 bales. On Nov. 1, 1860, there were afloat,
from the East Indies to Liverpool, 43,295 bales,
against 168,415 bales on Nov. 1, 1861—equal to
double the usual supply. The stock of East Indian
cotton at Liverpool on Nov. 14, 1860, was 100,630
bales, and on Nov. 14, 1861, it amounted to 289,370
bales. The sales of East Indian cotton for the same
period were, in 1860, 509,940 bales, while in 1861
they were 994,190 bales.
" The present average price at Liverpool of the
five descriptions of East Indian cotton sold under
the general name of Surats, for the good and fine
quality, is 9d. per lb. The price there of the same
quality in the middle of last year was 4;ld. per lb.,
exhibiting a rise in price over that of last year of
41d. per lb., equal to 100 per cent.
" By the last advices from Bombay the price at
which this quality could be purchased there and
landed at Liverpool, all charges paid, was about
6d. per lb., the Liverpool price for the same being
9d. per lb., or 2.1 d. above that in India, showing a
profit of 42 per cent. on making shipments of cot-
ton from India at existing prices there and those
now current here. This state of that market, as a
general rule, is exceptional, the competition for im-
porting Indian cotton into this country being so
great that at the time shipments are made in India
the price the cotton stands at is fully equal to that
of the home market, and in many instances far
above it.
" It must not be forgotten that the total supply
of raw cotton to Liverpool from all countries, ex-
clusive of the United States and the East Indies,
for the period above stated in 1860 was only
189,278 bales, and that for the same time this year
it has been even less, or 184,306 bales.
" Without venturing on any actual estimate of
the quantity of cotton we shall receive from India
for next year, a collation of the facts connected
with the trade, based on the operations of the pre-
sent year, will yet enable us to judge as to the pro-
babilities for and against a large supply next season.
" I believe the question to be one simply of price,
and that the present rates are about sufficient to
insure a supply equal to our diminished require-
ments caused by high prices if confidence were felt
in their being maintained. As there can be no
guarantee for this there must consequently be great
speculative risks in the importation of cotton from
India.
" The impediment to a large supply from that
country is the existence of the American crop
(although it is reported to be under an average),
and the possibility of some event occurring any day
to enable it to be imported within a few months,
from which time, allowing for cleaning, packing,
transit, &c., we should as usual have that crop in
this market, entailing very heavy losses on the ship-
pers of Indian cotton, even at the present prices there.
" The favourable features for a large supply from
India are that last year India sent to Liverpool
double the usual quantity under every disadvantage:
She was suffering from an unprecedented drought,
extending to many of the cotton districts. At the
time of planting there was no unusual demand for
cotton, but the reverse. Her markets were glutted
with manufactured goods from this country, which
could not be sold at rates leaving even 20 to 30 per
cent. loss, giving little encouragement to ipporters
to make heavy shipments of the raw material. The
price in our home market for her cotton was the
usual average rate, whereas now it is double, and
at no time in the history of Indian trade has any
article exhibited such enormous profit at the time
of shipment as cotton does at the present moment.
" There are now buyers in this market for any
quantity of Indian cotton afloat at the highest cur-
rent prices, enabling consignees to effect sales for
arrival as soon as they receive advice of shipments,
thus curtailing the risk to the shipper. The last
intelligence from India, dated Oct. 27, advises con-
siderable improvement in the import market there
for piece goods. The enhanced price paid to India
for cotton has circulated large sums of money in the
cotton-growing provinces, increasing their power
of production, and, in place of a year of drought
and famine, there have been plentiful rains all over
India, greatly benefiting the cotton cultivation, and
insuring to her farmers their cold weather, or most
remunerative crops, still further affording them the
means of purchasing British piece goods.
"To this may be added the general opinion that
the settlement of the American question appears
now more remote.
" These circumstances combined render the pro-
duction of a large cotton crop in India this season
highly probable, and from the state of the markets
in both countries it may be expected that large
orders will be sent out from home for its shipment.
" Any one acquainted with the Indian markets—
the largest and the best for our manufactured piece
goods—will admit the truth of your remarks, that
the cessation of the shipments of American cotton,
under existing circumstances, far from being any
real disaster to Manchester, was the greatest boon.

COURT OF EXCHEQUER.
(Sittings at Nisi Prius, at Guildhall, before Mr.
Baron Martin and a Common Jury.)
WOODIN Y. THE LONDON AND SOUTH-WESTERN
RAILWAY COMEANY.-THE OLIO OF ODDITIES IN

A FIX.
This was an action brought by the plaintiff, the
celebrated Mr. Woodin, against the defendants, to
recover compensation in damages for an alleged
breach of contract.
The defendants paid 40s into court as sufficient
to satisfy the plaintiff's claim.
Mr. Collier, Q.C., and Mr. Kingdon were coun-
sel for the plaintiff; Mr. Hawkins, Q.C., and Mr.
Millward for the defendants.
It appeared that on the 15th of August last the
plaintiff gave a performance at Yeovil, and had
announced his intention of repeating it at Crew-
kerne, a place about ten miles distant, on the follow-
ing night. Accordingly, on the following day, he
contracted with the defendants to take the van con-
taining his dresses, &c., to Crewkerne, but they
neglected to do so, in consequence of which he was
unable to carry out his announcement, and he was
subjected to the jeers of the audience, who called
him " a humbug," said he was " no go," and used
other offensive expressions towards him, in conse-
quence of which the plaintiff alleged he had lost his
reputation there.
The defendants' case was in support of their plea,
that 40s. was sufficient to satisfy the plaintiff's
claim.
After hearing the evidence,
The jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff.
damages £22, over and above the amount paid into
court.

COURT OF PROBATE AND DIVORCE
(Before Sir C. Cresswell.)
LAUTOUR V. LAUTOUR AND WESTON (THE QUEEN'S
PROCTOR INTERVENING)—JUDGMENT.
The Attorney-General (with whom was Dr.
Spinks) said that he appeared on the part of the
Queen's Proctor, and applied to the Court that a
decree obtained by General Latour, the petitioner,
should be reversed, his petition dismissed, and that
he should be condemned in the costs incurred by
the Queen's Proctor. It was proved at the trial
that the parties were married in 1826, and that
Mrs. Lautour cohabited with her husband until the
year 1827, when she eloped with the co-respon-
dent, she at the time having one daughter, issue of
the marriage. Since the trial the Queen's Proctor
received information which induced him to inter-
vene, and plead adultery on the part of tho peti-
tioner at the time of instituting his suit. He
read affidavits to prove that the petitioner, shortly
after his wife's desertion, formed an immoral
connexion with a female, with whom he was
living up to the present time, and by whom he had
a son, aged 23 years. The petitioner brought
an action of trim. con. against the co-respondent,
and the jury awarded him £1,500, and subse-
quently he obtained a divorce a mensa et Moro in
the Arches Court. The learned counsel contended
that, under the circumstances, the petitioner was
not entitled to any relief from the Court.
Dr. Phillimore, Q.C., (with whom was Mr.
Thompson Chitty) appeared for the petitioner, and
said he was not in a position to deny the adultery
of his client—but argued that in this case the
Court was not bound to grant the application. The
petitioner was deserted by his wife ; and it was not
until that event took place that he formed any im-
proper connection. Having referred to the section
of the act under which the Court was empowered
to grant the application of the Attorney-General,
he contended that the Legislature never contem-
plated the interference of the Crown in cases simi-
lar to the petitioner's. With reference to the delay
of the petitioner in adopting proceedings for a dis-
solution of marriage, he stated that he intended to
have applied the damages awarded him to that
purpose, but that his solicitor left the country, and
took the money with him, and that his means were
inadequate to obtain a divorce at the time, in con-
sequence of the expense then attending such pro-
ceedings.
Sir C. Cresswell said it was not proved that Gen.
Lautour could not have instituted proceedings in
the House of Lords •, and if he had retrenched his
expenses, instead of keeping a mistress, he might
have been able to have done so. The learned judge
having read the section of the act which vested him
with discretion in dealing with applications of :this
description, said that he was bound as far as pos-
sible to follow the practice which prevailed in the
Ecclesiastical Court ; and acting on that principle,
and according to his judgment, he felt called on to
grant the application of the learned Attorney-Ge-
neral. If General Lautour had consulted his
legal adviser, he would have been informed
that the adultery now pleaded against him
would be a most material element in regulating
the decision of the Court, instead of which
he (Sir C. Cresswell) was left in total dark-
ness. The Court could not entertain for a moment
the doctrine of the learned counsel for the
petitioner, namely, that because a man's wife de-
serted him he should take the remedy in his own
hands, and live for years in a state of adultery. He
must therefore decide that the decree should be re•
versed, and the petition dismissed on the ground of
the adultery of the petitioner. With regard to the
costs of the Queen's proctor, he thought the peti-
tioner should pay them.
THOMAS V. THOMAS AND CROWTHER.—JTJDGMENT.
In this testamentary suit, the facts of which have
been reported, the learned judge dismissed, with
costs, the appeal from the finding of the jury, on the
ground that the will, whieh was stated to hare been
made years before the decease of the testator, was a
forgery.
RATCLIFFE V. BAILEY AND ANOTHER. JUDGMENT.
In this case the plaintiff propounded the will and
codicil of a Mr. Baines, who possessed considerable
property in Lancashire, which was disputed by the
defendants, his daughter and her husband, on the
ground that the latter instrument was executed
under undue influence, and when the testator was
not of sound disposing capacity.
The case was heard before Mr. Baron Martin at
the Liverpool assizes last August, and the jury
found a verdict for the plaintiff. The defendants
appealed, allegicg that the case was decided in the
absence of material witnesses, and the case stood
over for the learned judge to read the notes of Mr.
Baron Martin.
Sir C. Cresswell now dismissed the motion for a
new trial, with costs.
WALKER V. WALKER,NICOL, CRAIG, AND ANOTHER.—
JUDGMENT.
The husband, in this case, petitioned the court for
a dissolution of marriage, by reason of his wife's
adultery with the co-respondents, one of whom was
not known. All the parties live at Liverpool, and
Mr. Nicol is a builder and Mr. Craig a medical man.
The case was decided last July in favour of the peti-
tioner ; and on the sth instant counsel, on behalf of
Mr. Nicol, moved for a rule calling on him to show
cause why there should not be a new trial,
on the ground that the verdict was against the evi-
dence. The petitioner's case rested on the testi-
mony of witnesses who deposed to Mr. Nicol having
been in the habit of visiting Mrs. Walker during
her husband's absence, and remaining in the house
for a considerable time. Some letters which
read
had
been written by Mr. Nicol to Mr. Craig were
which showed that they were on terms of fami-
liarity, but which, per se, did not establish any im-
moral intimacy.
Sir C. Cresswell now delivered judgment, and
said that he did not consider there was any ground
for interfering with the verdict of the jury. The
facts alleged in the petition were proved by the evi-
dence, and the letters in question, read by the light
of that evidence, did not bear an innocent construc-
tion.
The rule was discharged, and the decree nisi made
absolute,
Dr. Phillimore, Q.C., represented the petitioner,
and Mr, Coleridge, 4.C., the appellat.