The Sun.
London, England, 1861-12-26 00:00:00

S 7 ATE OF TRADE.

MANCHESTER, Dec. 24.—Through the arrival of
what are interpreted to be peaceful accounts from
the United States, the Liverpool cotton market has
been suddenly excited, and an advance has taken
place of about Id per lb. This has reacted upon the
cloth market here, and though very little business
has been done, there is a feeling of very much
greater firmness. Purchasers are offering prices
which last week they would have refused to enter-
tain the mention of, and manufacturers are refusing
prices which they would gladly have accepted on
Saturday. The advance is pretty general, and
checks sales to a great extent. This report applies
to all sorts of goods suitable to India, as well as. to
T-cloths, domestics, and prin.ers. In the yarn mar-
ket there ~has been a rather extensive business,
although in that also the transactions have been
very much limited by the advanced rates demanded
by sellers. Those who have sold realised per lb.
advance on the prices of Friday. Several sales have
been made at 1 per lb. advance on Friday, and one
case at least may be mentioned in which the price
obtained is ld. per lb. higher than last Tuesday.
There would have been a much larger business if
spinners had been anything like moderate in their
terms, but many prefer withdrawing their stocks
entirely from the market, having great couti,
that peace will be maintained, and believing now
that prices will go higher than they have ever yet
attained. The tone of the market is more cheerful
than for many weeks past. Advices from Shanghai
to Nov. 5 report gray shirtings active ; but at Cal-
cutta on the 20th shirtings were dull of sale, and
prices unchanged. Messrs. John Slagg and Co.
report :—Since Tuesday last the market has gra-
dually improved, and a moderate business has been
done at the prices then asked, but which could not
then be got. To-day business has been checked by
the sudden advance in the cotton market, as a pro-
portionate advance on goods is generally asked,
which, so far, buyers will not listen to."
LEEDS, Dec. 24.—The cloth markets to day have
been tolerably changed in tone, but very little busi-
ness was done in either the coloured or the white
cloth hall. A few light goods for spring were
bought, and a sprinkling of purchases of a miscel-
laneous character constituted nearly the whole of
the rest of the business. Prices keep steady, those
of goods equally with these of wool. The blanket
manufacturers are in good employment, but several
of the clothiers are only poorly employed.
LEICESTER, Dec. 24.—There has been as much
doing in the hosiery trade this week as could have
been anticipated, considering the period of the year.
Goods are being made to order, but there will be no
amount of business done until the new year has
commenced. At Loughborough and Hinckley trade
is quiet. Yarns are selling at late rates, the de-
mand being fair. There is no change in the price
of wools, which are not much in request.
NOTTINGHAM, Dec. 24.—There has not bee a
much doing here this week in the lace warehouses.
Yesterday business was a good deal suspended in
consequence of the funeral of the Prince Consort,
most of the warehouses being closed. There are
some tolerable orders making up for the continent,
but the home trade is dull. Some small lots of plain
nets are finishing, and cotton fancy goods are meet-
ing a fair demand. There is not much doing in silk
goods, but in all departments an improvement is ex-
pected after Christmas. The hosiery trade has been
quiet this week, the same causes having operated
against it as in the lace. In both lace and hosiery
the stocks are very low. Yarns hold high, with no
disposition to recede in price.
ROCHDALE, Dec. 23.—As this was the day ap-
pointed for the funeral of the Prince Consort,which
was duly observed in this town in common with all
others in the kingdom, it could scarcely be expected
that the market would not be a little interfered

with. Upon the whole, however, the market for
bcth wool and flannel was not much different from
that of last week. There was little demand except
for fine goods, and in Yorkshire goods, heavy flan-
nels and wools, but a small amount of business was
done.

RACING FIXTURES FOR 1862.

FEBRUARY.

Lincoln
MARCH.

Nottingham S
Derby Spring 6

Liverpool S ll
Shrewsbury S
.IL.

Northampton 1
Croxton Park 4
Epsom Spring
Ponteland

Newmarket C 2l
Cat terick Bridge
Thirsk

Newmarket F S
Chester Spring
York Spring

Salisbury
Bath
Harpenden 3O

Epsom Summer 3
Chelmsford .. 11
Manchester ll

Ascot
Newcastle
Hampton

Odiham
Bibury Club
Newton
Stockbridge 3
Winchester
Newmarket
Worcester
Liverpool

Abingdon
Pontefract
Hungerford - 7
Nottingham
Southampton 22
Stamford 24
Marlborough
Goodwood
UST.

AUG

Radcliffe ..
Brighton..
Brighton Club
Lewes S
Wolverhampton .. 11

EEPT:

Devon and Exeter 2
Derby
Plymouth
Warwick 9
Doncaster

Reading
Egham
York
Oxford 2O
Stockton 26
1113 BR,
Richmond
Leicester
Monmouth ............ 25
Manchester... .. ....... 26
Newmarket 17 0

OCTOBER.
Bedford
Newmarket S 0........ 13 j Newmarket H
NOVEMBER.
Worcester ............ 4 j Liverpool ... l2
Hereford

2RA VEILING IX BIIITISII ANEIiICA..

Mr. W. B. Foward, of Liverpool, has sent the
following communication to a contemporary :—" I
am indebted to continued and unwarrantable poll-
) teal persecution by the United States' Government
which rendered it desirable that I should embark
on my return from America from a British port,
for a recent exploration of the route from Quebec
to Halifax. As this route is that which must be
traversed by the troops which are being sent ria
Halifax to Cana, the following notes of mv journey
may not be without interest.
I left Point Levi, opposite Quebec, by the Grand
Trunk Railway at noon, and, after a tedious jour-
ney of 115 miles, over a snow clad country,
arrived at 8 p.m. at Riviera de Loup, a small
watering place, forming the eastern terminus of the
Grank Trunk in Canada. Here it may be mentioned
that the season is considered a very open one, and
that it is probable the ice will not form, so as to
block the harbour, before the end of January.
At Riviere de Loup commences what in winter
may be termed the sleigh route uniting the
dif-
ferent provinces. The road for the first 10 miles is
regularly formed and well settled by cornfoit
log farmsteads, and then it runs through a series
of dense pine forests in a continuous ascent up to
1,500 feet above the level of the sea, descending
again by what is called the Portage to the shores of
Lake Temisconta. The Colonial Government has
completed this important road of 42 miles during
the last 12 monihs at great cost. Tnis is the most
arduous part of the journey ; there are very few
habitations, and these are occupied by lumber-
men. Leaving the Lake Port, the road
skirts the borders of Lake Temisconta for eight
miles when it pass through the small small
Tillage of Edmondson, containing some good farm-
houses with spacious outbuildings ; 12 miles fur-
ther on is Dishley, a small settlement at the foot
of the lake. The road, which still skirts the lake,
is hilly and narrow, but in winter when the lake
is frozen the the distance from the Lake Port is
shortened two miles by travelling on the ice, and
the journey much accelerated. From Dishley the
road is good for 16 miles to Little Falls, where
the British had a post during the last war, and
some of the blockhouses then erected are still in
existence. From the postmaster at this place (John
Edmondson) I learned that, in the event of troops
having to traverse this route in winter, at a week's
notice he could provide runners—i.e., sleighs and
horses, in sufficient number to convey a regiment
right through to Riviere de Loup. The farmers in
_ _

,his district have plenty of good horses, and sleighs
:o contain about ten soldiers each; but if means of

transport were required for a very large body o
men good strong sleighs to hold eight soldiers each
might be constructed at Woodstock, and they are so
simple that only a few days would be required to
put them together.

From Little Falls the road follows the left bank
of the St. John's River, which here forms the boun-
dary between Maine and New Brunswick, and is
tolerably good, and rather thickly settled by de-
scendants of the old French settlers. Thirty-six
miles from this is Grand Falls, a village of co
rable pretensions, where the road is carried over
the St. John by a suspension bridge of apparently
weak construction ; thence it traverses the right
bank of the river to Tibique, 25 miles
from Grand Falls, and forward for 48 mile

to Woodstock, one of the principal towns if
New Brunswick, containing 5,000 inhabitants.
Canterbury, six miles from Woodstock, is the ter-
minus of a line of railway running to St. Stephen's,
on the Bay of Fundy, whence steamers ply to St.
John's, New Brunswick, and Windsor, Nova Scotia.
At the latter place there is a railway to Halifax.
When I came through the steamers had ceased
to run, as in the winter there is very little traffic,
and 1 had consequently to continue my journey
through to Halifax by land, a further distance of
400 miles. The weather was intensely cold, the
thermometer marking 10 deg. to 16 deg. below
zero, and the snow, having lately fallen, was soft,
rendering the journey very laborious and tedious,
requiring ten days and eight nights to accomplish
it.

Should a necessity arise for moving large num-
bers of troops from Halifax to Canada this win er
I think it might be (fftcted by the route from
Woodstock. The total distance to be traversed
by sleighs would be 187 miles, and might be ac-
complished in three or four daps, or the whole
route from Halifax to Quebec via the Bay of Fundy
in five or six days, The expense is moderate,
being about ls. per mile for posting by sleighs.
The roads when snowed over are good and well
kept open, as in addition to the ordinary traffic the
lumber ers' operations carried on during the winter
form the roads well. The only difficult part of the
road is from the Lake Port to Riveire de Loup along
the Portage, which would eccupy 12 hours or more;
but if shelter was required on the way the huts
used by the road makers are available.

A pair of horses will draw a sleigh and ten men
over a stage of 25 miles with comparative case, and
ought t o perform that distance in five or six hours.
Cattle are plentiful in the country, but flour is
comparatively scarce. The settlers throughout the

route are very loyal in their sentiments and ready to
stand by the old country. Their indignation at the
Trent outrage was unmistakable, and I was fre-
quently interrogated as to what I thought would be

the action of Great Britain, and they said they wero

ready to volunteer to a man to defend their province;

in fact, I must say their loyalty could not be ex-

ceeded.

TILTS DAY'S MARKETS.

METROPOLITAN CATTLE MARKET.

Our market to-day was very scantily supplied with
beasts, and all kinds moved off steadily at full prices. The
best Scots realised ss. per 81bs. The few sheep on offer com-
manded steady, though not to say active, inquiry, on former
terms. The best old downs were worth quite se. 6d. per
Blbs. Calves—the show of which was trifling—were dis-
posed of at extreme rates. Pigs were held on former terms;
but the demand for them was inactive. Milch cows were
dull.

Per Sib. to s

the offal.

s. d. s. d.
Crse. & inf. beasts 3 4 3 8
Second quality do. 3 10 4 4
Prime large oxen 4 6 4 8 I
Prime Scots, &c. 4 10 5 0
Crse. & inf. sheep 3 2 3 6
Second quality do. 3 8 4 4
Lambs, Os 0,
Suckling calves, 21s to 30s ;
22s to 295.
TOTAL SUPPLY.

s. d. s. d
IPrimecrs-wool d 0.4 6 5 2
' Dine. S'thdowndo.s 4 5 6
I -
Largo arse. calves 4 6 5 0
I Prime small d 0... 5 2 5 6
Large hogs 3 10 4 4
Small porkers ... , 4 6 4 10
)(1 to Os Od.

and quarter-old store pigs,

FOREIGN SUPPLY.

Beasts
Sheep
Calves
Pigs. 2OO

Boasts _ .
140
Sheep
Calves
Pigs

NENVGATE AND LEADENIIALL,
The supplies of meat are good, and the trade is less ac-
tive, as follows :—Beef, from 2s 10d to 4s 4d ; mutton, 3s
2d to 4s 6d ; veal, 4s 4d to 4s 10d ; and pork, 4s Sd to 5s
per Slbs by the carcase.