The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1846-04-14 00:00:00

LOSS OF THE COLONIES OF ENGLAND

(Continuation of Mr. Buchanan s Letter, from page 2.)
Free trade in England in corn will not be the immense
practical advantage to the Western States that many sup-
pose ; but no commercial advantage whatever will induce
the Americans to adopt so suicidal a course as to hesitate
in their present excellenr policy of becoming independent
of foreigners in staple manufactures, so that we should he
glad if the present amount of our exports to the United
States is kept up, without expecting any increase.
Any man who has been among the immensely extended
factories of New England, as I have been, must hold this
opinion.
Far d:fferent is the staple, greatly increasing, and per-
manent Colonial demand, of which I shall now give some
particulars.
And that I may not be accused of selecting unfair data
with respect to the Cotton trade, I may remark, that of the
twat weight of yarn in manufactured cotton goods ex-
ported in 1815, viz., 202,350,687 lbs., the two leading
staples—" plain calicoes," and " calicoes printed and
dyed"—referred to below, made up (according to the
estimate of Mr. Burn, in his Commercial Glance for the
past year, whose general correctness will not be doubted) is
194,080,491) lbs., leasing only 8,280,195 lbs., to be other-
wise accounted for, as entering into the production of the
finer and miscellaneous fabrics, of which, however, the
col inies take a fair and yearly-increasing share. Toe
total value of manufactured cotton goods exported in
1845, not including cotton yarn and thread, is estimated
by the same authority at £l5 282,447. Of this amount,
the value of the undermentioned staples makes up
£l3 576,279. The fallacy of quoting, in such an inquiry
as this, merely gross quantities, irrespective cf the sort of
goods exported, is e,emplified by the fact that, of the
other great branch of our cotton exports for 1845—the
trade in yarns—amounting in weight to 131,937,935 los.,
and in value to only £6.596,897—an article upon which
the least amount of industry is employed, and which is,
consequently, least profitable to us as a nation, nearly
two-ti.irds, or upwards of 90,000,100 lbs. went to those
corn-growing countries of the continent, whose almost
worthless commerce with us, we are thus, by our mea-
sures, preferring to the voluable trade of finiehed goods,
of which labour eci Vac gre,ei cmgponcni part provided by
our own colonies and the borne trade. By a reference
then to Burn's Commercial Glance, for the past year, I
find the following to have been the exports of the two
leading articles of the cotton rnanu'actures :—" Plain Ca-
licoes," and " Printed and El ed Calicoes," in 1811 and
1845, respectively, to the undernuted colonial markets.
I should remark that I include China, although not strictly
a colonial market, partly from its intimate connexion ait h
oor East India trade, and the influence which our East
possessions afford us in maintaining our relations Kith
that country ; but chiefly from the fact of the returns fur
1841 including the exports to both markets.

EXPORTS OF COTTON G 000.4 TO THE COLONIES.
' Calicoes, Printed
Calicoes. Plain. and Dyed.
1841. 1842. 1841. 1845.
Yards. Yazd:. Yards. Yards.
BritishWesi 9,831.280, 16 987,145 9 774590 50,729,641
British N.Americl 7.757,332, 11.280,556 10,703.1 5 13.362.173
Cape of G. Hope . 2,0 8,352! 3.394,241 1,9,4,2391 3,520,3 2
India } 'tes, 56
113,462 664 ' 540 756! 2
2.53.5,413
China
' 10.,60,490 2
,575 -" 2.535,4133
New Holland.... 985 8•23 I
3,901,6 A 997,092 3,850.1,91
T0ta1...... 134,015,431 3 9.36 ~50f 41 920.222 70,081.555
The totil exports of " Calicoes, plain," to all countries,
in the two years. Mr. Born sets down as follows:

The total exports of " Calicoes, plain," to at/ .
in the two years, Mr. Born sets down as follows:
Total " Calicoes Plaiu" to all 1841. 1345.
Countries .
To Colonies as above 134 45,431 ~ sug 36 ',506 „

Balance Exports to other
Countries

23'4,901,021

3'3 773.139 „

Titus, in 1841, our ctlonial trade, in this staple article
of the cotton manufacture, was to our trade with the rest
of the world as 134 to 232 millions of yards, or a fraction
.bove one-half.: In 1815, however, the former was to the
latter as 31)9 to 303 millions, the colonies having thus
b come greater consumers than the whole of cur other
markets _

In the article of dyed and printed calicoes, the propor-
ions son(' thus :

" Dyed and Printed Ca- 1811. 1845.
lieoes" to all Countries ....278 748 275 yds. 310,8,.0f 97 yds.
Ditt,, to Col( tues as 920 222 „ yiy 81,558 ~

Balance Exports to other
Countries
Thus, in 1841, the proportion of the colonial cont•ump-
Lion of his moot important class of manufacturrd fabrics,
to the con,.uniption of the rest of the world, was as 45 to
232 mil!i,ins, or short of one-fi th; whi!st in 1845, the
proportion was as 70 to 240 millions, or upwards of two-
sevenths.

1 now subjoin the following comparisons, my purpose
being to show-
-Ist, That the trade of our present colonies, through
the neglect of the Government and otherwise, is yet only
in its infancy, and that it is therefore unfair to judge of• it
by the PAST.
2d, Tim, while such trades ai that to the United States
are taking (and must necessarily from the increase of their
own manufacturing ability take), every yeti-, fewer and
fewer staple goods, there is, in the face of every draw.
back, a MIGHTILY INCREASING DEMAND FROM THE
COLONIES.