Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1863-08-07
THE NATION OF sIOpKEEpERs.

The most solennly Interesting day of the
! year in England is not the Queens birthday
nor the Gunpowdcr plot day; still less is it
Good Friday or Easter sunday.-is is the day
| when the Commissioners of customs publish
the account sales for the year. England can
then see at glance what stroke Of business
| she has done, and in what directions she is
most successfully pushing her wares. 1t is
from u deep contemplation of these returns
that British statesmen determine what course
of public policy the most elevated sense Of duty
will require Great Britain to pursue for tho
next twelve months; for We suppose the reader
knGws that the motives assigned fer every actof
that Government and people are always Of the
; lofiest and purcst order. Whether they are
to fight or remain ncu'ral whether they are
to use their moral influence against the Poles
or in favor Of tho Turks: whether they are
to smile upon au Italian kingdom, or to lrown
unon a Mexican empire all, all is done upon
principles of the stcrnest morality and virtue.
Well, it is ill these customs reports that the rrn
ciples are found and studied. These reports are
|.their Bible Creed and CatcchiSm and it is by
the reports of nert year that their Statesm"a's
conduct Of the sacred trust rcposcd in them
will be measured and judged They will be
asked. Have you invented good moral excuses
tJr keeping open such or such q roaring trade?
lIavcyou got up noble sentiments of the most
Christian sort to cover up our persistence in
this profitable wropg-to excuse onr evasion
of that dsagrecable duty? Appeal to the
Report to The Law and to the Testimony
By the column of figures ye shall be judged:
by the sum total yc shall stand or fall.
These Commissioners of Customs have Just
published their Report for. a year: and the
"Times" gives an abstract of it, with COM
ments which are thus presented by the
"Dispatch"-
"It appears that the total OF British and
Irish exports in 1850 were fl35, 100000 in
'Gl el25, 100000; in 'G2 Gl24, 100000. Thus
it appears that the entire decrease in the ex-
ports of last year was only onetenttf of that
which took place the year before, and this,
Notwithstanding the decrease in cotton goois
clone, amounted to .el0000,0 900, or about .fiffy
millions Of dollarsl The Times very truly
remarks n vast progress must have been
made in other branches Of our export trade to
fill up such chasm and bring up the grand to-
tai to within million of that for 1861 Itpro-
ceeds to say such progress has been realized
to an extent and in directions we should hardly
have anticipated. An advance of E2,OO0,00O
in woolen manufactures; of Gl,OO0,0Q0 in
iron and iron manufacturers; of Gl ,3O0, 900 in
r A.
ammunition, and of E400 900 in steam engines,
accounts for nearly f60O0.00O of this gain.
The destination of some of these commodities
will readily be guessed, and we are less sur
prised than the Commissioners to hear that
American orders upon British manufacturers
for 1862 exceeded those of 1851 by more than
c5,000,Q00. Having fallen from Ell ,j00,0 900
in 1860 to GQ,00O,000 in 1861, our exports to
America amounted in 1862 to upwards of Ell,-
100000. This, too, is in spite of the blockade,
and represents our commerce with the North
ern and Pacific ports alone Thus far the
Times five add to this the indirect trade
of the Confederate States, via the'West Indies,
and the blockade running routes, and, further,
the ships and munitions for them supplied
from English ports, and We have little doubt
that the aggregate export trade of Great
Britain with the North American States the
last year will be equal b, if not in excess OF
that of 1860"
The main inference from ali this is that
England isby no means impelled, by any fall
Ing oft of trade or employment, to take any
step towards terminating the war in America;
and as that war is serving herinterests in other
ways than by direct buying and selling, (name-
ly, developing the productive power of India,
and by taking the wind out of the sails of q
rival seafaring nation,) her statesmen will bs
justified in stimulating and keeping up that
war as long as possible, making use, however,
Of the finest moral phraseology all the while