The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1847-12-07 00:00:00

TUESDAY MORNING, DEC. 7, 1847.

We have received the published statement of the
accounts relating to trade and navigation for the
month ended 6th Nov., 1847, and the ten months
'ended sth Nov., 1847, together with the returns
for the corresponding periods of 1845 and 1846,
furnished from• the statistical department of the
Board of Trade ; and as the results are rather im-
portant at this moment, as bearing upon the pre-
sent position and prospects of the country, we give
them here, with a few remarks upon the features
which they present to us. In the first placewe find
the following as the imports of agricultual produce
during the three periods :-
1845.
Live animals (number) 22,395 .

Provisions.
Bacon (cwts.),

Beef, salt andfresh, do.
Butter (cwts.)

Cheese do.
Hams do.

2,710 ..
72,964 ..
206,036 ..
202,775 ..
4,695 ..

1846.
101,600

1,302 ..
158,823 ..
199.231..
242,442 ..
9,010 ..

1847.
195,646

1,376
103,095
261,848
274,324
17,781

Corn.
Wheat (quarters) ..... 518,824 .. 1,219,178 .. 2,254,535
Barley do. .. , . 310,564.. 202,010.. 733,294
Oats do. .... 479,334.. 640,069.. 1,586,686
Other grain do. .... 179,342.. 307,728.. 528,798
In. corn, &c. do. .... 51,150.. 479.202 .. 3,412,546
Wheat meal&flour,cwts.sl6,63s .. 2,657,660.. 6,098,777
Barl,oat,&ryemeal,do 2,802.. 4,435.. 817,803
Indian meal, &c. do.
Eggs (number).— .. 66,803,780 .. 66,218,906 .. 66,752,964
We have thus had—and it accounts, in some mea-
sure at least, for the present disastrous condition of
the country'sfinances—an enormous increase of every
description of importable food, with nearly a suffi-
ciency of which, in ordinary years, our own country
has supplied us ; and it must be borne in mind
that, for the bulk of it, we have been paying inor-
dinate prices, more, in some instances, than double
those of ordinary years, and, at least double the
prices for which it is at present marketable. We
must give, however, a further list of articles of im•
port which are not such as enter into competition
with and supersede those of home growth, although
they belong to the category of those which have
been cheapened, and their increased importation
encouraged, by our free trade policy :-
1845. 1846. 1847.
3,242,181 .. 2,030,436 .. 4,161,465

Cocoa (lbs.)._

Coffee:Briiish &

fo'reign (lbs.) 37,203,832.. 40,814,635.. 39,473,936
Sugar, c01..5- for.
Unrefined (cwts. 4,754,614 .. 4,751,973 .. 6,976,067
Refined (do. 202,174.. 72,236.. 68,975
Molasses (do. 464,523.. 443,589.. 795,133
Tea (lbs.)
How have we paid for the above overwhelming
imports ? In the first place, we have, in a great
measure, exhausted our coffers of gold to meet the
drain upon us. In the next place, we believe it
will be found that the foreigner, who has supplied
us with such gold, has taken in exchange our na-
tional and other securities at depreciated rates.
For we find that the exports, which we were told
were to have balanced our purchases of foreign
food, however large they might be, have diminished
during the three years in question. We give the
declared value of exports to the sth Nov. from
the same return :

Total amount of the principal articles of British produce
and manufactures exported, to the sth of November,
in the three years
1845.
£45,618,482 .. £43,415,770 .. £43,264,653

There was, therefore, a falling off in the exports
in 1847 over those of 1846 of £151,117; and over
those of 1845, of £2,353,829. Amongst the items
in the above gross amount, the following articles,
embracing a large amount of labour and manufac-
turing skill, appear to have fallen off the most seri-
ously :—viz.,

1815. 1846. 1847.
X. X.
Itanufactu'd Cottons 16,272,491.. 14,808,394.. 14,650,649
Cotton Yarn
Manufactu'd Linens 2,511,976.. 2,276,518.. 2,452,110
Yarn ditto
Wool, Sh'p's & L'bs' 494,593.. 286,347.. 237,742
Woollen Yarn.. 925,862.. 781,688.. 864,202
Ditto Manufactured. 6,687,544.. 5,436,650.. 5,982,785

.. £33,772,727 £31,079,667 £29,770,625

In these articles, then, we find a gradual declen-
_sion in the three years; the decrease being, in 1846,
£2,693,060 as compared with the Exports of 1845 ;
and in 1847, no less than £4,002,102 as compared
with the Exports of 1845. Consolatory indeed
for the British Manufacturer The larger decrease
above shown in British manufactured goods, as
compared with the total decrease in our Exports,
is balanced by an increase of £1,232,856 under the
heads of iron and steel, copper and brass and
lead; and an increase to a limited amount in silk
manufactures, salt, and other articles. We may
observe, that we have omitted, on both sides of
the account. several items of minor importance, in
which, although the per eentage of loss and gain
is great, and tells for us, the result, as to amount,
is not material.

As contrasted with the largely increased amount
of our imports of food, it is startling to observe to
what a limited extent we have been importing the
raw materials of manufacture, required to employ
our industrious community, and to enable us to
pay for that food in manufactured commodities.
We give from the same returns the
Imports of raw materials of manufacture for the three
years, from the let of January to the sth November in
1845. 1846. 1847.
Cotton (cwts.‘,.... 5,648,599.. 3,990,411 .. 3,757,462
Flax or tow (cwts.) 1,212,727.. 930,110.. 879,206
Hemp (cwt 5.)..... 702,330.. 677,002.. 629,403
Silk, raw (1b5.).... 3,493,675.. 3,670,306.. 3,341,889
~ waste (cwts.) 12,134.. 7,027.. 8,222
thrown (lbs.) 385,525 . . 316,660 . . 233,146
Wool, sheep and
lambs' (cwts.) .. 65,216,613.. 55,538,498.. 50,706,976
It is obvious from the above that we have not
been providing ourselves with the means of pre-
paring for that influx of orders from foreign coun-
tries for manufactured commodities which, although
we have not as yet received them—our bullion being
regarded by the foreigner as a preferable commodity
to our goods—we are assured must ultimately come.
If we are to become large exporters ; if we are ever
fully to provide for the wants of our own popula-
tion ; if our mills are to resume at an early period
their wonted- activity, and the manufacturing in-
dustry of the country to be fully employed, we
shall have to rush into all the markets of the world
for raw materials, and thus to make up for any
abatement of the drain of specie from us, which
may be anticipated from a cessation of food ha-
ports, by immensely increased imports of these
staples of our manufactures. We must have cotton,
wool. flax, &c, before we can be enabled to pay off
the-balance of trade which is against us, and bring
the exchanges decidedly in our favour ; and, in the
meantime, we cannot look for the return of any
large amount of bullion to the country, unless
tempted here by the depreciated price at which we
are willing to part with our goods on hand, and
our public and private securities.
A few items in the return before us are worthy
of observation, as tending to shew that neither the
manufacturer, the importer, nor the minister who
has the care of the national revenue, has much right
to attribute any great portion of our present diffi-
culties to the want of active consumption in the
home market, which has obviously been the best
customer of each during the past year. We have li
noticed above the enormous increase in the impor-
tation of foreign agricultural products ; yet by the
aid of the high prices which he has been receiving
for these, it will be seen that the British agricul-
turist, and the labouring community, employed on
railways and other similar works, have been enabled
to consume more largely of sugar, tea, coffee, and
other imported commodities, and of course of British
manufactures, as a natural result, in addition to this
immense influx of bread stuffs. Thus we find the
consumption of rum in 1845, 1,980,618 gallons, and
in 1847, 2,684,008 gallons ; of brandy, in 1845,
869,553 gallons, and in 1847, 1,268,482 gallons ;
and of Geneva, in 1845, 13,003, and in 1847, 24,933
gallons. Of articles chargeable with excise duty the
following table exhibits a few of the principal.
Retained for Home Consumption.
1845. 1847.
Bricks, England, (No.) 1,727,348,001 .. 2,088,676,663
„ Scotland, (No.) 51,444,854.. 60,640,920
Malt, (bushe 15)....
Soap
British spirits . 16,876,548 .. 14,475,666

The above enormous increase of three thousand
millions in the consumption of bricks may, of
course, be in part accounted for by the railway pro-
gress which we have been making. The falling off

in the consumption of malt is attributable in part
to the high price of grain and the use of molasses
in distilleries. Moreover, we had, in 1836, the
large consumption of 28,000,000 bushels as a set-
off. Throw these railway companies into a suspen-
sion of their operations ; disband their vast masses
of labourers; adopt the only device which our cur-
rency-mongers can devise to relieve themselves of
their difficulties ; and the returns of the revenue
and the profits of the manufacturer will assume a
very materially different complexion to that which
they at present wear, bad though it be.
We leave the above figures to be digested by the
read{ r. On a future occasion we may remark fur-
ther upon them.

IN common with a great portion of the public,
we have been a little taken by surprise by the
announcement made by the Watch Committee, at
the last meeting of the Council, of the chahge
determined upon by them, with respect to the fu-
ture management of the police force. It was our
full intention to have adverted at length to the
subject; With a view of endeavouring to elicit what
are the most powerfully inducing reasons for the
step taken. We feel it impossible, however, at
present to do justice to it, and shall therefore
withhold our remarks until next week.

THE debate upon the motion of the Chancellor
of the Exchequer, for a select committee " to en-
quire into the causes of the recent commercial
distress, and how far it has been affected by the
laws for regulating the issue of bank notes payable
on demand," presents a fair epitome of the various
opinions of the leading members of the House of
Commons upon the important subject of our cur-
rency laws ; and has, no doubt, been perused with
deep interest by all commercial men. In referring
to it here, we do not propose to enter into any dis-
cussion upon a subject so wide, and with respect to
which the views of so large a portion of the talent
and experience of the day are now before our
readers. Our only object is to endeavour to arrive
at the conclusion to be drawn from it, as to the
probable future policy of the legislature with regard
to a question so vitally important to the community.
In the first place, it appears to us, from a dis-
passionate and careful perusal of the three day's
debate, that the act of 1844, as it stands, is already
doomed. With the dogged pertinacity of his nature,
indeed, the Chancellor of the Exchequer clings to
it, and would preserve it, totus teres atque rotundus.
Yet he is compelled to admit that it has not an-
swered all the expectations, or even the most im- •
portant of those expectations, of its authors and
supporters. It has not checked the extravagance
of speculation. On the contrary, it has even en-
couraged the commercial community, relying upon
the security which it was imagined to offer against
the result of such extravagance—a recoil and con-
sequent panic—to rush into it with more headlong
madness. The house was distinctly told by a gen-
tleman, Mr. J. Wilson, whose opinion upon com-
mercial questions will be received with great weight,
and who made, on Wednesday, one of the most
successful &buts, when the unattractive nature of
the subject is considered, that we ever remember to
have observed, that :
" He Mr. Wilson) could personally bear witness to the
fact of many eminent merchants in the year 1845 having
expressed their conviction that, notwithstanding the mania
which then prevailed, the act of 1844 would carry them
through without any precaution, and would save them
from all ill consequences. Many of those who in the last
year had fallen sacrifices to commercial pressure had en-
tertained the same belief, and at the period to which he
referred had consoled themselves with the hope that from
the self-acting principle of this bill nothing like a panic
could occur, and that the same discretion and attention
which had been needful in former years was then unneces-
sary. The act had done some injury in having created
among the public an unfair reliance upon the supposed
securities which it would afford, and to it might be attri-
buted that mischief which inevitably flowed from every
interference of the Legislature protecting objects connected
with commerce and trade. ( Hear, hear.) Every law affecting
to protect commerce, and intending to impart prudence to
the public, had the effect of spreading among the commu-
nity a false reliance upon the Legislature, and, pro tanto,
did induce them to throw aside that self-support and cau-
tion which would otherwise characterise them."

It was denied, indeed, by the Chancellor of the
Exchequer, that it had ever been represented that
the object of the act of 1844 was to repress undue
speculation. A different impression, however, was
entertained on this point by the public. The
restriction put upon the issues of private banks
was interpreted as an effort to repress undue spe-
culation. The weekly publication of the bank's
accounts was understood to be the index which was
to point out to the public its power to afford ac-
commodation. No one can deny that the commer-
cial world watched it as such, although it is clear
that a far better index would have been the amount
of private deposits in the Bank of England and
the joint-stock and other banks, available for dis-
counting purposes. The question, however, as to
this object of the bill, is set at rest by its author,
Sir Robert Peel, who, whilst denying having ever
promised that it would prevent the occurrence of
anything like a monetary crisis, admits that he both
expected, and that it ought to have done so—

"We did hope," he says, " that after the panic of
1826—after that of 1836—after that also of 1839, we did
hope that the Bank:of England would have confined itself
to those principles of banking which their own directors
admitted to be just, but from which they had admitted
their own departure, though prescribed in part by their
own regulations. In that hope lam bound to acknow-
ledge that we have been disappointed. Seeing commer-
cial difficulty coming, seeing the approach of a panic,
they still did not conform to those regulations—commer-
cial houses were swept away which had long been insol-
vent—other houses, which under different circumstances
might have proved perfectly solvent, suffered from the
failures of those whose inability to meet the demands
against them was well known. The bill has not sufficed
to prevent these results, and so far also I admit that we
have been disappointed; for the till was intended to im-
pose, if not a legal, at least a moral restraint on the bank,
and we hoped that it would prevent the necessity of hav-
ing recourse to measures of extreme stringency."

With respect to another anticipated effect of the
measure—its power of preserving inviolate the
convertibility of bank paper into gold—that, also,
has been disappointed. We do not say, of course,
that things have ever arrived at the extremity of
the bank's refusal to meet its payments in bullion ;
but it is tolerably clear that we have only been pre-
served from such a catastrophe by the unauthorised
violation of the act, contained in the Chancellor of
the Exchequer's memorable letter of the 25th Oc-
tober. What was the state of the Bank of England
at that time ? We give it, as stated by Mr. Her-
ries, on Friday night, and admitted by Lord John
Russell to be correctly quoted from the London
Gazette :

" There was, at the time, in the issue department
£7,865,000 of bullion ; notes outstanding in circulation,
£21,865,000. In the banking department there was
£447,000 of bullion, and the reserve of notes to meet the
enormous deposits, public and private, £1,547,000. The
private deposits were £8,580,000, and the public deposits
£4,766,000. The merchants at that time were in great
difficulty, and were pressing for assistance. (Hear, hear.)
The bank was in that condition, that if the private deposi-
tors—among whom, he presumed, were some of those
respectable men who formed the deputations to the govern-
ment—had said that within 24 hours they might have
occasion to ask for £2,000,000 upon their deposits, the
bank must have broken if they had done so. The market
was in such a state that at that instant it would not have
taken their securities, and there was no other means of
meeting the difficulty. That was the condition the bank
was in ; such was the workings of the law that the bank,
full of credit, full of bullion, the exchanges favourable,
and the bullion coming in, was not able to issue upon
credit a single note to meet the exigency, except by going
into the market with Exchequer bills, which were at 40s.
discount, and stock, in such a state that it would not sell
without ruin. (Hear, hear.) What would have been the
ruin in the city if the bank had gone into the market with
£2,000,000 of stock at that time ?"

It is not at all a mere " if," with respect to the
depositors of the Bank of England demanding their
amounts at the period in question. They had de-
termined upon that course. They had intimated to
Government that, unless their reasonable requests
for some demonstration of willingness to assist the
commercial community were conceded, they were
resolved to throw the bank upon the only resource
left for it by the stringency of the act of 1844,
viz.—a stoppage of payment ; and it is fully esta-
blished that they could have made good their threat.
We should then have witnessed the singular ano-
maly, described by Mr. Herries, of a banking esta-
blishment " full of credit, full of bullion, the
exchanges favorable, and bullion coming in," yet
incapable, because of its hands being tied by the
legislature, of performing those simple operations
required to keep its proprietors out of the Gazette.
Unconsciously, no doubt, the bemused and inca-
pable Chancellor of the Exchequer let us into the
secret on Wednesday, had we not known it before,
of the effect, in aggravating panic, of the very bill
which was to have warded it off

" Evidence, he says, was laid before the Government
which proved not only the existence of severe pressure
from the causes which I have stated, but also that it was
aggravated by the hoarding on the part of many persons
of gold and bank-notes to a considerable extent, in coi -a-

quence of which an amount of circulation which, under
ordinary circumstances, would have been adequate, became
insufficient for the wants of the country. As soon as the
panic ceased, thousands and tens of thousands of pounds
were taken from the hoards and deposited in banks. Par-
ties of every description made application to us for assist-
ance, with the observation, We do not want notes, but
give us confidence.' They said, Anything you do will
give us confidence ; say you will stand by us, and we shall
have all that we want; do anything, in short, that will
give us confidence. If se think we can get bank-notes,
we shall not want them. (A laugh.) Charge us any rate
of interest you please.' (No, no.) I beg pardon of the
bon. gentleman who cries 'No ;' but I may be permitted
to know what was said to me. (Hear, hear.) The con-
stant application made to us was, Let us have notes
issuable by the bank ; charge us what rate of interest you
please, 10 or 12 per cent. ; we do not want them, only let
us know that we can have them, and we shall then have
sufficient resources of our own to go on with.' ".

We need not remind the enlightened commercial
community of this town, that at the time that
these entreaties were urged " the panic" had not
at all " ceased," but was at its height. All that
was required, however, by the deputation, was an
assurance, by some overt act, that the stringency
of the act of 1844 was not to be insisted upon, and
the credit of the Bank of England perilled. They
said that any demonstration, convincing to the
commercial world of the fact that money could be
had at some price, would be sufficient to restore
confidence ; and that, with such demonstration, the
funds of the bank would not need to be further
drawn upon. That the deputations were right, and
the Government wrong in so pertinaciously refusing
to interfere until the last hour, is proved by the
fact that the prophecy of the former has been
strictly verified.
Another conviction forced upon us by a perusal
of this debate, is the fact that a change is inevitable
in the constitution of the Bank of England. The
blame of every commercial convulsion which has
befallen us since the act of 1819, has been visited
by our currency doctors upon the unfortunate bank
directors. They have not put on the screw suffix
ciently early, or they have driven it home too
rapidly. They have omitted to take this warning,
or neglected to take that precaution. There may
be, and there are, grounds for the belief that the
Bank of England is not the best possibly consti-
tuted body to have the care of the national credit.
Its proprietary and directors have interests of their
own to advance ; dividends to create ; and, whilst
keeping strictly within the letter of their charter,
may occasionally be forgetful of what Sir Robert
Peel terms the " moral restraint," imposed upon
them by the act of 1844. But, whilst accusing the
bank of such misconduct—of unduly expanding
the credit of the commercial community at one
period, and oppressively contracting it at another;
of encouraging railway and other speculations at a
time of apparent excess of the country's capital,
and depressing it as soon as the tide appeared to
be on the return—has the legislature, or Sir Robert
Peel himself, perfectly clean hands ? We think
not. We remember something of the mass of
railway bills, whose passing the former encouraged.
We remember a certain episode in the life of 'the
Right Honorable Baronet, in which he figured as
something between an amateur " navvy" and a
stone-mason. At this period we heard not even a
hint of the " moral restraint" imposed upon the
Bank of England, or of its having been exceeded
by that body. We heard, something, however, of
the advantages of " direct railways, and the saving
of distances, and expense of locomotion." Possi-
bly, in those halcyon days of speculation, the pro-
ductiveness of the revenue, increased by railroad
formation, was an object to be desired. Possibly,
with a stimulated commerce, and the industry of
the country fully employed, the blister of an Income
Tax was more cheerfully submitted to. It is not
quite fair, however, for those who have built up a
political reputation, such as it is, upon the factitious
prosperity thus produced, to turn against and revile
the authors of their own success.

One piece of information which the country has
derived from Government during this debate will
not be viewed as very consolatory. No immediate
measure is to be proposed to Parliament, the posi-
tion of the bank, we are told by the Chancellor of
the Exchequer, " being such that," he believes,
" no person can entertain the slightest apprehension
of its meeting all the demands made upon it."
The same sagacious authority considers, moreover,
that the pressure amongst commercial men is ra-
pidly subsiding. Orders are pouring into the
country which will speedily set our working classes
in active employment ; and, although a few com-
mercial failures are occurring, and more may be
anticipated, they are not of the character of the
calamity which his recent letter to the bank direc-
tors, he says, " prevented"—viz., " a general and
contemporaneous failure," or, in plainer language,
a national bankruptcy and convulsion ! How the
good easy people of England will be enabled to
breathe in comfort with the knowledge before them,
that on the 25th of October last they were on the
very verge of being blown up, and were only saved
from such a catastrophe by the timely despatch of
a letter from Downing-street, signed " John Rus-
sell," and "Chas. Wood"—how they can sleep in
their beds for a year or two to come, with the con-
sciousness that the same fearful magazine may at
any moment explode beneath them—we are at a loss
to imagine. But, if the Chancellor of the Exche-
quer flatters himself with the idea that the corn-
mercial community of this country will be satisfied
to embark once more in extensive operations ; that
manufacturing industry will again put forth its
energies ; that capital will be embarked to the ex-
tent required to employ, to feed and to clothe the
people, whilst an engine exists with all its destruc-
tive tendencies unmitigated—an engine which has
proved itself capable of striking to the earth one
of the most extensive commercial fabrics which the
world has ever seen erected in any country—an
engine which has swept away, in a week, the accu-
mulated fruits of years of toil and thought, and
beneath whose operation the millionaire of to-day
may to-morrow morning rise a degraded and dis-
graced man—he assumes that either that commu-
nity has lost its reason, or that the voice of public
opinion, which has already loudly condemned
him-
self and his theories, can be hushed to a whisper
at the bidding of an infant.
Sir Charles Wood, and those who co-operate
with him upon this question, overrate their power
of hoodwinking and deluding a thinking and intel-
ligent people. They are mistaken both as to the
present extent of improved feeling amongst the
commercial classes, and the prospective improve-
ment to be hoped for. Let them mingle a little in
the commercial world —not amongst leviathan
houses who are congratulating themselves upon
their narrow escape from the Gazette ; not amongst
bank directors just relieved from the fear of a run
for gold, or for deposits ; but amongst those classes
by whom the wheels of the national industry are
put in motion—and he will be taught a different
lesson. He will learn that the commercial traveller
returns home barren of orders, and with his ac-
counts but half collected ; that everywhere restricted
operations, both of commerce and of industry, are
either in course of adoption or are contemplated.
Englishmen are of a speculative and sanguine dis-
position ; prone to take warnings, and to receive
instruction too late ; but in great emergencies, at
least, they are capable of being startled into the
exercise of prudence and of common sense. They
have just been so startled. They have just been
told that they have been trusting to a machine
which, in the hands of a Whig Ministry, led them
to within twenty-four hours of a dismemberment
of the entire social fabric.

OUR remarks last week upon the sweeping
charge of reckless and dishonest trading, levelled
by the Manchester Guardian against the large East
India firms which have been prostrated during the
last two months, have drawn from that paper what
its editor, no doubt, considers to be a satisfactory
rejoinder. We urged, in behalf of the houses in
question, the fact that the export and import trade
of the country is to a great extent carried on
through the medium of bills ; and that, with re-
spect to our most distant markets especially, it had
always been the practice to make those bills at
such dates as would, to a great extent, relieve the
merchant from the inconvenience caused by the
long period which must intervene between the
time of shipment of his goods, or produce, and
the receipt of the remittance in cash. Hence, we
contended that it was unjust to direct against one
body of merchants a censure, on account of their
adoption of a practice which was general; and the
more so inasmuch as their ruin was clearly trace-
able to the effects of our interference, unforeseen
by them, with the products of the markets to which
they traded, aided by the operation of an unsound
system of currency.
Our contemporary finds it convenient to omit
all notice of the first item of our plea of injustice
to the firms in question—viz., the fact that the

practice complained of was not peculiar to the'
East India trade. 'We presume, therefore, he
admits that our trade with other distant markets
is, to a greater or less extent, managed by an
exchange of bills between the foreigner and the
British merchant. We are all guilty, if any guilt
there be, of adOpting this vicious principle. Of
course, such being admitted, any charge against the
East India merchants in particular is unjust.
They have sinned only in being more unfortunate
than others in their extended operations, or in not
perceiving the power of that great monetary engine,
whose screw has proved itself strong enough to
destroy with a few resolutions the best-devised and
soundest commercial undertakings.
With respect to the second item which we
pleaded,—the fact that the East India trade had
been peculiarly affected by the recent alterations in
our fiscal and commercial policy,—the Guardian
also admits in great part its truth, although he
does not seem inclined to give the unfortunate
body in question the full advantage of it, but rather
prefers attempting to convict us of error in some
points of detail. We give him the benefit of
quoting this part of his article, upon which we
shall offer only a brief reply :
"We shall be obliged to the Standard to inform us what
are the ' many most, important staples' of India which
our free-trade policy has prohibited. There is nothing of
the slightest consequence, except sugar, in which recent
legislation has made any change; and the reduction in
price, instead of being confined to sugar, extends to indigo,
silk, and cotton, the other principal staples of the Indian
peninsula, with respect to which ' our free-trade policy'
has bad nothing to do of late. But we deny altogether
that any such profits have been regularly gained by those
returns in produce, of which the Liverpool Standard
speaks. We know, perfectly well, that several houses in
this district, heretofore largely engaged in the trade, un-
derstanding it thoroughly, and possessing capital which
enabled them to wait for their returns, without obtaining
advances, have found it invariably unprofitable, and have
withdrawn their capital from it, not choosing to compete
with parties who evidently had some other object in the
purchase and shipment of goods than that of reaping a
genuine mercantile profit from their operations. There
is no doubt that the great decline in the price of sugar,
not merely in England, but throughout Europe, has
greatly increased the losses arising from the reckless
system of commerce which has been carried on; that the
fall of many houses has been accelerated by the general
monetary pressure under which the country is labouring ;
but the trade was previously cankered to the core ; and
sooner or later, the unsoundness would have manifested
itself in facts such as recent failures have disclosed."

We are, of course, perfectly aware of the fact, of
which the Guardian reminds us, that, directly, our
free trade policy has not "of late," had much to
do with "indigo, silk, and cotton, the other prin-
cipal staples of the Indian peninsula." We have
not, as with respect to the Indian sugar cultivator,
been sacrificing the Indian silk, cotton, and indigo
grower by legislative action. But if our free trade
policy, combined with a vicious system of currency,
has had nothing to do with the cessation of the
mills of Manchester and of Leeds ; if it has had
nothing to do with that limitation of our produc-
tion of those fabrics of which silk, cotton, and in-
digo are either the staples or components, we
should be obliged if the Guardian would tell us
what has. These two potent causes together are
depreciating in our markets the price, not only of
the produce of the East Indies, but of every other
country. They have lowered the saleable value of
every description of property, fixed or unfixed.
They have raised the value of money until it is be-
yond the reach of every man who seeks to carry on
a legitimate business, and to derive a fair remuner-
ation for the exercise of his enterprise or his indus-
try. We repeat that these causes fully explain the
fact on which the Guardian grounds his charge
against the East Indian merchants, that produce
has been of late quoted as bought in the markets
of the Indian peninsula at prices below the rates
which could be procured for it in Great Britain ;
and renders it quite unnecessary to assume that
those merchants have been buying only to raise
money by hypothecating their cargoes. Besides,
we would remind the Guardian that in every period
of mercantile transition, temporary absence of pro-
fits upon the most legitimate transactions must
unavoidably occur. We have never heard it urged
against the Manchester millowners that for the last
nine months they have been working their mills at
a weekly sacrifice of capital.
In reply to our remarks that we were unable to
see how any large amount of foreign commerce
could be conducted without drafts between the ex-
porter and importer, and the use, in some cases,
of long dated paper, our contemporary says :--
" It seems to us that there is another mode, far safer-
and more satisfactory, and more likely to yield a profitable
result to the merchant and to the country at large,—
namely, to conduct the business, as it was generally con-
ducted a few years ago, by the employment of an adequate
capital."

We are not quite aware what he means here.
There are few of the unfortunate houses which he
maligns, in whose business an ample capital was
not embarked, and up to within the last year or
two readily available. How such capital has been
swept away may be accounted for on grounds very
little creditable to the sagacity of the party of which
the Guardian is a leading organ. We shall see
whether those parties in his own locality, who
"have found the trade with india invariably unpro-
fitable and have gradually withdrawn their capital
from it," will try their fortune again, or if they do
so, can conduct the necessarily extended operations
required in such a trade without discounts at a
reasonable rate.

COLLEGIATE INSTITUTION.—The Rev. V. W. Ryan,
M.A., Magdalene-hall, Oxford, has been appointed to the
office of Vice-Principal of the Collegiate Schools, vacated
by the death of the late Mr. De Butts.
ST. JOHN'S CHURCH SCHOOLS.—On Sunday last, at
St. John's Church, after sermons by the Rev. Dr.
M`Neile and the Rev. W. M. Falloon, the handsome sum
of £49 2s. 4id. was collected in aid of the schools in con-
nection with the church.

THE SEVEN CHURCHES OF ASIA.—We see by the
placards, that the Rev. D. Meredith, from Yorkshire, is
to preach in English, at St. David's Church, this evening,
and some very interesting information is expected
rdeusrpiencgtihnigs
ltahteesreescihduernccheeast,
Sams
ytriray.
i were visited by him,
DEATH FROM APOPLEXY.—An inquest was held yes-
terday
complained of his head, but appeared to recover.
bodyifodthgeedin Qoufee.lno-hs ntreJeot nasnodn ,haadg eodc
c4.o_
years. onri e
evei
aewsedo
On Saturday night, however, he was found insensible in
his room, and died soon after. Verdict, on the evidence
of Mr. P. Kelly, surgeon, " Death from apoplexy."
THEFT OF IRON.—A man named William Kelly was
yesterday charged before Mr. Rushton with stealing from
the yard of Messrs. Lomax, in Paradise-street, a piece of
iron weighing about 1001 t, and worth about 20s. The
prisoner was seen in the yard on Saturday night, soon
after five o'clock ; and a constable being sent for, he was
apprehended on coming out from the gste with the article
in question. He was committed lb. trial at the sessions.

A CHILD BURNT TO DEATH.—On Friday night a
woman named M`Dermott, placed her female infant near
to her in front of the bed, leaving a candle burning on
the floor, about a foot distant. The woman, who had
fallen asleep, awoke in about half-an-hour, and found
the deceased's clothes in flames, which she extinguished,
but the sufferer was so much injured that she died on
Sunday night. Verdict, at the inquest yesterday, " Died
from burning, but how caused no evidence."
THE WEATHER.—The weather during the week now
ended, has on the whole been wet, and occasionally
stormy. Thursday was an exception. On Friday it was
raining until towards evening. Saturday was stormy, with
showers, and at night there was an extraordinary fall of
rain, in a brief space of time, accompanied by hail and
wind. The night being dark, the market people who
could not leave town early, were sorely beset in returning
to their country domiciles. Many of the low lands in the
country districts in Lancashire and Cheshire are partly
under water. On Sunday we had also squalls, with hail
and rain. Yesterday was rather more moderate. The
probability is that, after such heavy downfalls, the atmos-
phere will clear up, and we shall have frost, which would
now be more acceptable and wholesome than such a suc-
cession of cold winds and rains. The prevailing winds, for
some days have been from the S.W. quarter. Yesterday
the barometer fell slowly from 29° 421, on the previous
day to 28° 20', being the lowest at which we have seen it
for some time. The gradual fall is not, however, indi-
cative of a gale.
SOUTHERN AND TOXTETH HOSPITAL.—The annual
sermon on behalf of this excellent charity was preached
on Sunday, at St. Barnabas's Church, Parliament-
street, by the Rev. T. Nolan, A.M., incumbent, who is
the honorary chaplain to the institution. Pursuant to
custom, most honoured in the observance, the Mayor,
accompanied by Mr. Alderman Chilton, Mr. Councillor
Mann, Mr. Councillor Royden, Mr. Councillor R. L.
Jones, and other members of the Corporation attended
the church, and lent the influence of their presence, and
something more substantial, to render the occasion valua-
ble and effective. The friends of the institution assembled
abont half-past ten o'clock, at the school-room in Flint-
St., where the committee were joined by his worship and
the councillors, and proceeded in procession to the church,
which was filled by a highly respectable and attentive con-
gregation. The service commenced at eleven o'clock, at
which hour we understand that the morning service will
hereafter begin, being more convenient to the congrega-
tion, and not making any material difference in consequ-
ence of the alteration of the time through the country.
After an excellent discourse, characterised by Mr. Nolan's
usual piety and ability, a collection was made, and the
handsome sum of £7O was realised. Not a week elapses
that we have not to record some instance of the usefulness
of this charity, and we learn, therefore, with regret that,
at the last annual meeting, a sum of £4OO was shown to
be due to the treasurer. There could not be a more worthy
channel for benevolence.