The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1864-11-26
The CommePeial COnvulsion q
Englond.

the case OF COg1000 4S an llluStrAtlOn OF
our views. In point of fact, England is in
sien, and Uc are not. In point Of fact, al
30, England has gold currency standard,
and sce haze not. In point Of fact, English
commerce has been immensely extended
II half dozen years, and oars u ssOt.-l
Now, here are three positive, existant
facts, which completely upset al. the pop
ular theories about free trade, gold cur
rency, commercial prosperity, &C., which
have been instilled into British and Amer
lean commercial politics for the last thirty |
years. We knew they were not founded
in sound principles Of political economy
but what Of that? The commerce of the
world has its fashions, quite as much AZ
the ladies in dress. It would have been
IN vain 10 tell the merchants and bankers
OF Venice and Genoa that their system was
false, and that their proud empire Of COM
merce was Fastening to decay, and would
decline till the owls and bats lodged in the
imperial palace of their Doges. We cam
not convince men who find . present inter.
est in certain theories, that they are wrong
and must ultimately fail. But here we are
lin the case of Englaud-arrived at GER
tain hard facts. They can neither be COM
batted nor put aside. They are as hard as
the Alpine rocks, and must be clambered
over, by the theorist, as they best CAM
England boasts of the most solid currency.
1ae1 OAAci3! 1ePoItS nave Just stated tnat
she never had SO great commercial pros
perity her statesmen have looked proud
~ down upon ours in matters of finance,
and looked upon her own castled magnif-
cence with exultation, while they laughed
at our financial schemes and predicted the
downfall OF our system. But here are the
FACTS. The British commercial system
presents q scene Of ruin, not in the failure
OF few commercial firms, but in the vast
fabric of fictitious commerce on which
they rest. The basis is an artificial sys-
tenn which IL liable to tumble down at any
moment. It is in vain to say that the
American system will tumble down also,
and we shall have a great crash some time.
Nobody knows that. The present we do
know the future is very uncertain. It will
depend on events which have not yet hap
pened, whether we shall have a CONNER
cial crash.
If the Government is prudent and Just
there is no need Of any commercial crisis
at all. But we shall not anticipate events.
Let us take these British facts and review
them for our own instruction. There is
great deal in them worth looking at.
In the first place, did the failure Of the
American cotton trade produce the English
convulsion? It probably had partial ef-
feet, but only to . partial extent. The first
effect Of the failures of the American cotton
supply was on the industry Of England, and
S00, 600 operatives were thrown out Of en-
plOynent in Lancashire and the adjoining
counties. They represented probably from
two to three millions OF people. This was
tremendous blow. But the British people,
and manufacturers deserved it, aud last
year two thirds Of the operatives had re-
joined the work, and so far as the industry
Of England was affected, she had entirely
recovered from the shock. But there was
another mode in which the loss Of Ameri-
can cotton did not effect her severely. This
was the substitution Of India cotton for
America. England had paid the United
States for cotton almost entirely in her o,cn
dnrfactures Of cotton. woolen and iron.
But large part Of what she paid India for
cotton she had to pay in gold. The differ.
ence in these modes Of payments is very
great. England engaged in vast trafic
with China, India ana Egypt; had at all
times great deal more gold to export than
she received from Australia, and for this
additional supply she must be indebted to
her trade with Europe, and America
When she must add to this a largely in
creased quantity of India cotton it is evid-
ent that the danger Of q commercial disast-
er was very great. Beyond this temporary
loss of labor, and this increased export Of
gold, the loss of our cotton trade has not
seriously affected England. But when we
look into her commercial tables, we see at
once that her whole commercial system is
bloated far beyond any substantial basis.
To illustrated this, we will take the facts
of commercial statistics, in such form that
any one can understand them.
!. In regard to the trade with India:
1854. 1862.
Imports from India se5, ,0oo, 600 sle5, ,ooO, GOO
Exports to India. S5,OOO,00O
the last mentioned exports, makingit $l27,.
O00, 600. for what it calls Indian values.-
Allowing that, England has sixty-seven
millions of dollars to pay India in gold per
annum. Here we find two startling facts
that the commerce with India had increased
threefold, and that one third the vulue OF
imports had to be paid in gold.
9. Letus now look to the aggregate COM
morce. 1859. 1852
Exports ............... COS, 100000 sss'ooo.oOO
Bullion exported 9s,0OO,OOO i46.OOO, 900
The excess of bullion in 1862 was but
tarenty millions in excess of the aggregate.
But we have here the extraordinary fact
that the totality Of British commerce has
increased fOMr hundred and tavcnty millions
in only four gears. Can this be real? When
we consider that the industry Of the Brit
ish nation Is merely stationary we see there
could be no solid basis for this immense in !
crease Of trade. When we heard the Lon |
don Times and British statesmen assert |
that notwithstanding the loss Of large
part Of the American trade, yet their ag-
gregate commerce had greatly increased,
and was never SO prosperous, we could not
understand how that could be consistently |
with safety and permanence. We see now
how it was, and if the commercial crisis in
England should be temporary and indeci- !
sive, we know in advance that there will
be one in the future far more momentous. |
For this vast extension OF British COM
merce there are reasons without supposing
any change in the British. One, we have
given in the necessary extension Of COM
merce with India; another great one is the
opening of China to European trade, which
encouraged speculations in the Eastern
commerce; another was the transfer Of |
large part ofthe carrying trade from Amer
ican to British bottoms and another is theA
large amount Of speculation in blockaAe
running. The last has proved profitable to
nobody but the rebels. They have got