The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-01-03 00:00:00

DEATH FROM A FRACTURE OF 'TIE SKULL..

.
Yesterda,, an inquest was held on view of the body of
John Hickson. The deceased was employed in the stables
belonging to the Royal .Hotel, in Dale-street, and was
in the habit of sleeping in the hayloft, over the stables,
to which the only access was by a trap-door, to reach
which, a ladder was fixed' perpendicularly against the
wall. The deceased was found lying in. the stable at the
foot of the, ladder yesterday morning, quite dead, and with
his head bent under his body. The deceased, it appeared,
was in the habit-of drinking hard, and when last seen (be-
tween seven and eight o'clock on the_ previous evening) he
was very , tipsy. Another man, named Cadman, used to
sleep in the hay-Toff, and was sleeping there on Tuesday
night; -bat:he stated that he IVitS himself tipsy when he went
to sleep, (between 'six and seven o'clock), and did not know
that' anything had happened to the deceased until he was
called up, and tot that he was dead—, This witness said he
had sometimes had a few words with 'the deceased, only in
joke ; ii&thiiii-serionS; Mr. Cripps, surgeon, was called
in immediately cin, the -deceased being found; but the body
was then tiff„ and the deceased had evidently been .dead
some boiiri. The skull was fractUred, and a portion of the
bone pressed. npon the. brain. It appeared, too, that the
neck was dislocated ; but the injury to the head was suffi•
cient to account for death. Verdict, " Fotind dead, with a
mortal fracture of the skull, of which he died ; but how he
received the fracture there was no evidence to show."

DEATH BY PALLING INTO A DOCK.
On the same day an inquest was held on view of the body.
of William Carss. The deceased, who was about 35 years of
age, was chief mate of the barque Turk, of Newcastle, lying
in the King's Dock. He left the vessel about three in the
afternoon of Monday, and returned to the dock, to go on
board, about eleven at night. One of the sailors then in the
vessel went on shore to assist him to come on board, as he
was very tipsy. They had several vessels to cross before
they could get on board their own ship, which -was in the
middle of the • dock. There was a plank placed from •the
quay to the nearest vessel, and the before-mentioned sailor
offered to assist the deceased over it ; but he would not
allow him. The deceased then went on his hands and knees
on the plank, and when about half way along it,- he fell side-
ways into the dock. Assistance Was immediately procured,
and a young man went down with a rope, and fastened the
deceased to it and he was taken out. He had not been more
than a minute in the water but was quite dead. Mr. Gas-
kell, surgeon, was instantly called in to the deceased ; who
was carried to a neighbouring house, and he used every means
to restore animation for an hour, but without effect. On
introducing the air pump into the nostrils, a quantity of
blood issued which is not usual in cases of drowning. Mr.
Gaskell added, that from the account he had received, com-
bined with this circumstance, the deceased must either have
died in a fit, or struck against something, but there were no
external marks of injury. He was of opinion that the de-
ceased did not die from the effect of drowning. The same
gentleman afterwards made a post mortem examination of
the body, and said—" the lungs were filled with air, which
is positive evidence that the deceased did not die from drown-
ing. At the end of the windpipe I found a piece of meat, and
in the trachea I found several smaller pieces, and these, in
my opinion, were the cause of death, by producing suffoca-
tion. Ido not think the immersion in the water had any-
thing to do with his death." Verdict accordingly--" Acci-
dental death, through suffocation."

A paragraph having appeared in some of the newspapers
regarding the will of the late Miss Lines, of Stow, we are
authorised to state, that the fortune left by her is very greatly
exaggerated, and that no person has any right to any part of
her fortune except her legal heir and executor.—Edinburgh
paper.

- -
CHELTENHAM AND GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY..—The
railway bridge across the Lansdowne road, at Cheltenham,
was opened a few days back, and now forms the " permanent
way to Gloucester and South Wales. The portion of the
road extending from the bridge to the proposed station, and
the junction within the Gloucester and Birmingham line,
which has been so long in a state of unprogression, it is ex-
pected will be proceeded with immediately, the centering and
other impediments to the thoroughfare under the bridge hav-
ing been removed.—Gloucester Chronicle.

LORD JOHN RUSSELL AND THE CHARTISTS.—WE have
ascertained, from an authority perfectly unexceptionable,
that Lord John Russell has been served with a subpoena to
attend as a witness at the approaching trial of the Chartist
leader, Frost. It is well understood that the object of the
legal advisers of the unfortunate prisoner is to call upon the
Secretary of State, who appciinted him a magistrate, to speak.
to the character of the man to who'll he delegated so im-
i,ortant a trust ; and, further, we believe we do not hazard:,
a very presumptuous anticipation of' the line of examination"
intended to be pursued by the eminent lawyers retained for
the defence, if we say, that they expect to be able to esta-
blish, beyond cavil or controversy, that the first of the
Chartist meetings at which inflammatory language was used,
and dangerous doctrines inculcated, was immediately subse-
quent to, and a direct corollary from, the celebrated Liver-
pool harangue of the noble secretary who is about to be
brought forward—a most reluctant witness. We are quite
aware of the ludicrous terrors that beset, and the extraordi-
nary efforts made in the precincts of Downing-street to con-
ceal the fact of the service of the subpoena, but our readers
may rely upon the statement we have submitted to them.—
Britannia. , .

PROGRESS OF SOCIALISM.—The socialists are most in-
'clustriously spreading the poison of their doctrines through-
but Liverpool, Birmingham, Sheffield, and other large pro-
vincial towns. Able and zealous men are engaged as mis-
sionaries, a sort of itinerant ministers of vice, to each of
which is assigned a district of circuit of country, which he
is to impregnate with the germs of socialism. They are un-
happily, succeeding in their work of demoralisation to an
alarming extent, not merely in our manufacturing districts,
where the population is dense, and public morals are at the
lowest ebb, but in many a quiet and country village ; work-
ing insidiously, distributing their tracts, and entrapping the
unwary by their fervid zeal for the dissemination of their
tenets. Their tracts generally contain the most awful
blasphemies and the most depraved language, denying al-
together the existence of a God, and charging upon Christi-
anity the majority of the evils which overrun the world. And
yet the head of this atrocious system was publicly presented
to our youthful and unsuspecting Sovereign, in the sight of
all England, by Lord Melbourne.—Morning Herald.
INTERESTING TO LADIES.—The more delicate the beauty.
of a female, the more susceptible is it to the effects of our
rigid winters. The fine skin of 11agland's lovely women is
not calculated to withstand expospre, to. their own climate,
without the assistance of some so thing application to allay
the smarting irritability produced by the action. of a wintry
atmosphere. No discovery has effected this purpose except
Rowland's Kalydor, the application of which not only re-
moves the tenderness of the skin- produced by cold, but all
cutaneous eruptions. In addition to there
.advantages, by
imparting a pliancy to the surface, which is delightful and
luxurious to the sensation, it decidedly prevents the skin from
being susceptible to the attacks of bleak biting winds.—
See advt.

LIVERPOOL COTTON BROKERS' CIRCULAR.

Liverpool, 31st December, 1839.
If proofs were wanting of the fallibility of all attempts to
penetrate the mysteries of the cotton question, they are to
be found in the.history of the last twelve months, wherein
are developed facts and conclusions so widely at variance with
the reasonings and opposite predictions of men equally sa-
gacious in commercial affairs, that the merit of being right,
even by accident, would seem to have been denied to all. A
brief notice of the position of the market, and of the state of
Public opinion at the Commencement of, the year, will serve
to confirm the justice of this observation.
The conflicting accounts as to the extent of the coming
crop had invested the subject of supply with more than or-
dinary interest. For two months the advices from the
United States had been steadily pointing to the probability
of a large lleficiency, and the statistical details by which they
were accompanied, imparted to them an air of truth,_ well
calculated to recommend them to general acceptance ; though
it must be admitted that the professed believers at this early
period were comparatively few. The majority entertained
doubts, partly from information derived from sources equally
deserving of credit, and partly from the absence of any as- .
eertained cause sufficient to explain so extensive a failure in
the crop as that alleged. The only one assigned was a drought
in the spring; out, from the silence of the planters at the
time, who are usually not slow to complain, it was reasonably
concluded that the mischief was neither serious nor wide-
spreading. Saving this, there had been nothing unpropitious
in the seasons from wind or rain, or premature frost; and
when it.is considered that the growth of the United States '
had exhibited, for a series of years, (with but a solitary ex-
CeiStion,) a constant average increase of 120,000 bales, it did
require a combination of adverse circumstances, far stronger
than any which appeared, to surrender not merely the cus-
tomary annual increase, but to reconcile the falling off, be-
sides, of 150,000 bales. From the effects, however, which
these reports, whether well or ill founded, had upon prices,
it may be suspected that the numbers who secretly partici-
pated in the fears of a scarcity were by no means inconside-
rable ; though it may, be regarded, perhaps, as a fortunate
circumstance, that the less sanguine views upon the subject
ostensibly prevailed. None of the authorities in the cotton
circles committed themselves to a smaller crop than 1,800,000
bales, and the portionappropriated to this country varied from
'900,000 bales to 1,030,000 bales • adding to this the import
from other places, estimated at 305,000 bales, the same as the
preceding year, and the stock in the ports, 321,000 bales ;
also the stock held by the trade above their usual compli-
ment, stated to be 60,000 bales, and deducting 102,000 bales
of re-exportation, gave a supply for the service of the year,
ranging from 1,484,100 bales to 1,614,100 bales. From the
smaller of these quantities the more ardent believers in a
short crop claimed a reduction of 150,000 bales, leaving as a
minimum, for the year's consumption, 1,334,100 bales. But
whatever diversity of opinion existed as to the supplies, the
most perfect uniformity obtained on another no less kill-
' portant item of the calculation, the consumption, which by
'common consent was .fixed at not-lessthin 24,000 bides nes
week, or 1,2 i 53,000 bale-, fur toe year ; being the moderate in-
crease of only 4 per cent. on that of the year before.: To
have hinted at the probability of any material diminution
would have been deemed a sort of heresy, unless indeed on the
only grounds that were admitted, extravagantly high prices,
owing to the scarcity of the raw material ! Under the influence
of these, impressions, prices had gradually advanced since
October (when they were at the lowest) lid. to 2d. per lb ;
fair Uplands being at sad. per lb, and other qualities in pro-
portion. •
Such were the state and prospects of the cotton market in
the first week in January. Amongst other topics of specu-
lation was the part which the " United States Batik" intended
to play in the commercial operations of the year. The move-
ments of this body were therefore watched with some anxiety,.
as it was obvious that a crop so much reduced would be an
easy' prey to its monopolizing grasp, and that any large por-
tion of it 'being held up, whether on the other side of the
water or on this, would tend greatly to aggravate the evils of
a scanty supply. All doubts, however, were cleared upon ,
this point before the middle of the month, by the appearance
of a letter from Mr. Biddle, in which he distinctly declared,
that, having succeeded in the purpose of his interference,
which was to protect the " prostrate planter" from the
reckless waste" of the British merchants' the mucus by
which that object bad been accomplished " were ran- • -
quished, but that now they had totally and finally ceased."
But other parties had taken the field, " both willing and:
able, as Mr. Biddle expresses it, to do justice to " American •
interests." The principal importers manifested the sin-
cerity of their own belief, by withholding their cotton
as it arrived from the market, in which they were encou-
raged by each succeeding account being more confirma-
tory than the last, as to the deficiency of the crop., The
trade, on the -other hand, fairly stocked with cotton, and
without any corresponding demand for goods and yarns, de.
dined entering into competition with the speculator ; and,
with their habitual. scepticism, kept aloof, their purchases
being considerably within what was required for their then
weekly consumption. About the first week in March, how-
ever, when the advices from the States assumed a still more
decisive character, their fears appear to have been thoroughly
awakened, and joining with the speculators in a simultaneous
rush upon the market, in that and the two following weeks
they secured 96,000 bales, at an advance, first and last, of ld,
to lid. per lb. This seemed to be the expiring effort of the
market ; for afterwards it sank into a state of the most ex-
treme depression, in which it continued with scarcely a gleam
of sunshine for sixteen weeks. Between the 23d of March
and the 18th of July, prices fell nd per lb., the sales to the
trade, from the same period, averaging only 12,000 per week.
The spring demand bad failed in bringing the anticipated re-
lief, and the stocks in the manufacturers' hands had accumu-
lated to an extent that rendered the working " short time,"
with many a measure rather of necessity than of choice.
Though this curtailment in the hours of spinning was suffi-
ciently extensive to produce a sensible effect on the amount
of business, it was considered scarcely adequate to explain so
protracted a cessation of the demand, and hence it was rather
hastily concluded by some, that the. quantity held by the
trade at the end of the year had been underrated by some
20,000 or 30,000 bales. Could the existence of so large an
error have been proved, the discovery at this critical juncture
would, indeed, have been a fatal blow to the hopes of the
holders ; for the excess could not be looked upon merely in
the light of a simple addition to the. stock, but from its hav-
ing contributed to swell the apparent consumption of last
year, and by consequence of this also, it would have led to a
constantly increasing error in the stock in the kingdom from
the commencement of the year. But the foremost of all the
difficulties with which the market was beset, was the pressure
for money, which, taking the rate of commercial discounts as
test, was always severe, and sometimes intensely so. The
fairness of this criterion, hewever, as a medium of com-
parison with former years, may perhaps be questioned; as,
by the relaxation of the usury laws, an increased facility for
..raising moneympon, bills has- been afforded, to the discou-
ragement of other financial expedients resorted to in cases of
embarrassment, which, in one shape or other, are in reality
more costly to the parties accommodated. To this cause
also may be referred the escape from those extremes in the -
depression of prices, (for fair Uplands have never fallen be-
low frid. per lb.) which on previous occasions of mercantile
distress have been the necessary result of a general forcing of
sales as the only legal means of meeting pressing engage- ,
rnents.

Towards the middle of July, the stocks of cotton in dell.
hands of,the trade were evidently exhausted, and the markek;
began to show signs of returning animation. But the game
was up ; the contest between " short crop"-and "short time"
had terminated in favour of the latter, and the year was too
far advanced to recover the lost ground, the quantity on hand
being more than enough to answer any calls that in the scope
of possibility could, be made upon it. Although the import
by the third week in July, from the United States, had fallen
short by 280,000 bales, and from other quarters by 20,000
bales, the stock in this port alone amounted to 333,000. bales,
which, being composed nine-tenths of American cotton, con-
verted the small numerical difference between the present and
the stock at the corresponding period of the year preceeding,
into an increase of no trifling magnitude. Prices had now
reached their lowest point; in the last week in July they ad-
.vanced id. to id. per lb, but in the next they declined id.
per lb, which, however, was regained in the following week.
From the second week in August the movement was unf,
formly downwards, by gradations of id. per lb nearly each
snccessive week, with a slight check about the end of Octo-
ber, till the middle of November, when prices realised id.
per lb, qn some very vague reports of the crop having sus-
tained injury from another drought. The accounts •by the
next packet, however; dissipated these apprehensions, and
the market relapsed again into its former state of inactivity,
prices at the same time drooping, being lid. per lb lower for
American descriptions on the last day of the year than on the
first ; whilst the prices of Brazils, which had not been sub-
ject to the same fluctuations, closed as nearly as possible the
same.

Since the revival of the demand in July, the market may
be said to have been, on the whole, rather animated than
otherwise, the sales having averaged 27,667 bales per week.
Of this quantity 65,000 bales have been taken by speculators,
and 64,800 bales bona fide for export, leaving for home con-
sumption 22,260 bales per week. It has already been ob-
served; that the state of cotton in the interior was reduced to
the lowest ebb at the end of June, which, for the purpose of
estimating the rate of consumption for the latter half of the
year, may be regarded as a sort of starting point. Limited
as, no doubt, the stock in the hands of the trade is at the
present time, it must be greater than at the period alluded to
by some 25,000 to 30,000 bales, as the quantify iu transitu
must always preserve a certain proportion with the quantity
in use. On these data, therefore, the average consumption
of the last six months, out of this market, will appear to be
about 21,050 bales per week; but some mills for particular
qualities of yarn are still working short time, and others, not
a few, are wholly standing for want of the means or the'credif
to carry them on. In the face of prospects so discouraging,„
it is surprising that prices should have been so well sustained ;
but many of the principal importers stood pledged to parties
on the other side to wait the issue of the crop ; and specula-
tors were always on the alert to take advantage of monetary
depressions. To speculation account must be placed, alio a
portion of the business reported for shipment, which; it is
understood, was retained tor re-sale, on the spot.
For full particulars, relating to stocks and imports, refer-
ence is requested to the annexed tables, which have been
much enlarged and improved, and will be found to contain a
variety of details, useful and interesting to those who are
minutely investigating the subject. The first object which
will attract notice is a defalcation of no less than 308,540
bales in the import from the United States—a result con-
firming the accuracy of the advises early in the year, and
furnishing an ample justification of those who acted upon
them, whose hard fate it has been to pin their faith upon a
single fact, which, could it have been foreseen in its reality,
would have been pronounced, with one voice, to be all-suffi-
cient to the anticipated end. Nor has the deficiency been
supplied from other places, but rather the reverse ' • a small
increase from India is more than counterbalanced by a fall-
ing off from Brazil, the import from which quarter has been
nearly stationary for some years. The imports of Egyptian,
and of miscellaneous kinds, are, as nearly as possible, the
same. But the most important item is, the decrease in the
consumption. The stock, as ascertained by the annual
returns, which there is every reason to believe have been
made in the strictest good faith, amounts to 250,490 bales, of
which there are in Liverpool 206,050 bales, London 31,610
bales, and Glasgow 27,800 bales. Deducting, this quantity,
and what has been re exported, from the total import into
the kingdom, and the stock on hand on the Ist January, the
deliveries to the trade have been 1,058,676 halei ; but in order
to arrive at the consumption, to this quantity must be added
what is held in the interior less than at the same period last
year, generally estimated at 70,000 bales, the trade being
supposed to hold at the present time not more than 80,000
bales ; thus the quantity actually consumed has been on the
average 21,706 bales per week, or a decrease of 1335 bales
per week from the consumption of last year.
In comparing the stocks as returned, with the weekly
statements prepared by this association, some important dis-
crepancies will be observed. Of American cotton the quan-
tity appears to be less than was supposed by 27,830 bales,
and of Brains by 5;100 bales, whilst the stock of Egyptian
is 2,800 bales, and of East India 5,580 bales more. Assum-
ing that the stock has been correctly returned, of which
there is no cause to doubt, the differences can only be ac-
counted for as follows,: viz.: in American and Brazils, by
supposing that a quantity of both may have been forwarded,
unsold, up the eountrY,- the returns of which have been
furnished in a different:/nanner to former years ; the excess
in Egyptian and Surat has probably been occasioned by con-
signments from London and' -Glasgow; Which- are known to
have been considerable, and which- are not included in the
import.
It has -been usual to conclude the summary of 'the year's
transactions by some opinions of the future, though recent
experience has.tended to, throw discredit upon these gratui-
tous predictions. The year Nis been a singularly- disastrous
one to The inani:ifw•turer, th 4. spinner, and the merchant.
The former began the year. encumbered with heavy stocks,
which, entering' into competition with the-produce of the

current year, caused a ruinous decline in prices, in spite of
which the complaints of want of demand were loud and ge-
neral. The demand, however, must have been small only
when compared with the magnitude of the stocks, for, ac-
cording to " Burn's Commercial Glance," it appears that
although the export of twist was less for the first nine
months by about one-seventh, that of all descriptions of
goods, with but a few unimportant exceptions, was consider-
ably greater than during the corresponding period in the year
before, whilst the home-trade is considered to have been
tolerably satisfactory, notwithstanding the high price of
bread. But the prospects have already begun to brighten ;
the old stocks are cleared off ; the demand has become more
regular and steady, and what with the advance in yarn and
the fall in cotton, spinning is no longer, conducted at a loss.
The position of the importer has not ben less f
the earlier unfortunate.
imports,
With the exception of a small portion_o
which were disposed of befOre the fall took place, and a few
arrivals of the new crop, the entire import from the United
States has either been sold, or is still held at a loss of pro-
bably not less than from £3 to £5 a bale. Such have been
the baneful effects of a system of paper-money upon the
mercantile and manufacturing industry of this country—but
the evil has worked its own cure ; the decline of credit which
has rendered a large class of American securities valueless as
a medium of exchange, has wrested from the banks of the
union the power of dictating the terms upon which the ma-
nufacturers of Great Britain shall be supplied with an article
of the first necessity. The dealings between the two coun-
tries must henceforth be carried on upon the sound commer-
cial principle of mutual benefit. The time is auspicious for
the change, for by the concurrent testimony of all parties the
crop is most abundant, being estimated by some as high as
1,750,000 bales; and by none lower than 1,650,000 bales.
Prices have opened low on the other side, and it is greatly to
be desired that they should rule proportionately low on this.
A permanently cheap and plentiful supply of the raw mate-
rial is the.oee thing needful for infusing new life into every
branch of the cotton manufacture; it will create new uses,
discover new markets, and give an impulse to the extension
of this, the most important of all the departments of na-
tional industry, to which no man can prescribe limits ; and,
if one of the conditions of these advantages should be a low
rate of profit to the merchant and the manufacturer, they
must look for a compensation in the increase of their busi-
ness, and, above all, in the exemption from risks which are
inseparable from high prices and fluctuating markets.