Year: 1859

There is nothing which is, Just now, of more
Importance in its financial relations to the in
teress OF trade and commerce. than the position of
the Sugar Market. The highest price of this year
In New ork, was on or about the 1st of February


when fair refining grades were quoted at 715075S
cents per pound. They have since declined until
they are now quoted at 5259515c. This difference
Is enormous, and the losses thus sustained have
shaken public confidence everywhere, and derang-
ed the customary order of exchanges in the Havana
trade, to an almost unprecedented extent We
should not speak thus openly of these losses and of
the want OF confidence in the credit of those en-
gagged IN the business and known to be large holders
OF sugar, but for the cruel manner in which these
facts have already been published, and distorted.
rendering an increased publicity in a proper con-
nexon, an act of positive justice to those who have
been the greatest sufferers. Some of the papers
here have been daily harping upon the danger of
holding sugar paper" until every capitalist who
can be frightened into neglect of the signatures
he has heretofore found to be his safest investment


has been duly warned, and the time appears to be
favorable for a fair reaction. Thus far we cannot
learn that single acceptance given in this interest


has been dlshonored. One of our contemporaries
startled its readers day two SINCE bv the as
sertion that "the amount of Cuban acceptances
protested by every steamer is very large;" but
this statement seemed to have been made without
care, or In total msapprehension of the meaning
OF the terms employed. Some drafts have been
protested for non-acceptance, and have gone back
to the drawers; but there is a very important diff
ference between the refusal to become bound bv an
agreement, and violation of the agreement after
acceptance cautious merchant, in the highest
credit, may refuse to accept draft for variety
of reasons, either of which would fully iustifv his
act, but having once accepted it, a refusal to nan
becomes dishonor. The protest of a draft for non


acceptance, where both the drawer and drawee are
perfectly solvent, may imply some misunderstand-
ing between the parties, but does not necessarily
entail any loss on the holder;-the protest of an
acceptance implies the insolvency of the acceptor,
and Is altogether a different affair from the
former


The drafts referred to were part of them on firms
IN TINS city mot drawn in some cases against ship
ments OF sugar. and part of them bills drawn by
bank at Havana on a bank in London, and sent
via New York as remittance. In case, far
as we can learn. have any bills been dshonored af


ter acceptance and so far prompt payment of all
obligations can go, the credit OF the leading opera
tors has been fully maintained. We have refrain
ed from criticising the action of the large sugar
holders, deeming their burdens sufficiently heavy
| without any added weight of newspaper censure.
| Nor are we at all sure that they deserve any re-
| proof There have been some charges of exiting
! against few individuals, but on the whole, the
business appears to have been conducted as honora
| bly, as any class of mercantile transactions They
may have made mistake in holding their stocks
too long, but if the war, and its attendant financial
contraction, had not interfered at critical mo-
ment, large portion of the present serious los,
would probably have been averted although thu
falling OH In the Western consumption is undoubt
| edly the leading cause of the enormous decline
The trouble in Havana is greater than the difficult,
here: as, at latest advices, it was almost impossible
to negotiate any of the ordinary bills of exchange