The Economist Part 4

_We are much obliged to J. Livesay, of Preston, for his suggestion, which, however, if he compare the_ ECONOMIST _with other weekly papers he will perceive to be unnecessary. We presume we are indebted to Mr Livesay for copies forwarded of his excellent little paper the_ Struggle.

R.B., Bristol.--_From the great press of room last week we were obliged to omit everything that did not appear of very pressing haste. In the Preliminary Number we have used no statistics but such as we have derived from official sources, and we shall always be glad to give the authority on which any statistical statement is made. The statement of the quant.i.ty of sugar exported from Java and Madeira, page 10 of the Preliminary Number, will be found in Part VIII, 1838, page 408, of the_ Tables of Population, Revenue, Commerce, &c., _presented by the Board of Trade to both Houses of Parliament, from 1826 to 1837;--and the quant.i.ties, from 1837 to 1841, are derived from the Dutch official accounts._

H.H., S---- court, London.--_The returns showing the quant.i.ty of flax imported up to the 5th of August, viz., 774,659 cwts., are official, but do not distinguish the ports from which it was shipped. The latest year for which such distinction has been made to this time is for the year 1841; for which, or any preceding year back to 1832, we shall be glad to furnish the particulars: for example, in 1840 the imports of flax and tow were--from_

Cwts.

Russia 870,401 Denmark 1,094 Prussia 135,590 Germany 8,105 Holland 113,108 Belgium 80,748 France 43,295 Gibraltar 19 Italy and the Italian Islands 746 The Morea 3 Turkey 107 Egypt 12 United States 1 Guernsey, &c. 11 --------- Total - 1,253,240

C.D.F.----, near Rochdale.--_The question connected with the New Customs Amendment Bill has engaged our best attention, but its investigation has raised two or three very nice points of international law, on which we are now taking the best opinion which can be obtained, and before our next number we shall be able to give a reply as satisfactory as can possibly be obtained from any quarter on this important but very nice question. We have now before us the whole of the particulars of the treaties in question, but we wish to make our reply valuable by giving the best legal construction on some disputable points. This, however, is only another of those daily evidences which we have of the absurdity and inconvenience of a great commercial country like this attempting to regulate its laws and transactions by treaties, which, however convenient they may be when made, may, by the ordinary course of events, be rapidly changed._

POSTSCRIPT.

LONDON, _Sat.u.r.day Morning, September 16, 1843_.

STOCK EXCHANGE, HALF-PAST ELEVEN O'CLOCK.

There is little or no variation in English Stock: Mexican, which left off yesterday at 35-5/8 to 7/8, is now 33-3/4 to 34. Brazilian, which left at 73 to 75, is now 74 to 76. In other Foreign Stocks there is no alteration worth notice.

LIVERPOOL, FRIDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 15, 1843.

An active demand has been constantly kept up all the week, and a large business has been done daily. So far, however, it has been freely met by the holders; and the speculators and spinners have had an abundant choice of all qualities.

In American descriptions there is but little change in prices; the tendency, has been and still is in favour of holders; and it has been thought necessary to raise the quotations of "fair" Uplands and Mobile to 4-7/8d.; but there is so little actual change, that for the most part, the quotations remain as before. Brazils, Egyptian, and long stapled generally, have been more in demand, and may be considered 1/8d.

higher. Sea Islands also within the fortnight are 1/2d. higher, making an advance in the ordinary to fair qualities from the very lowest point of 1-1/2d. to 2d. per lb.

A considerable part of the speculative business of this week has been prompted by the accounts from the United States, brought by the _Hibernia_ and _Great Western_, the tenor of which is to confirm the previous impression as to short crops.

19,800 American, 100 Egyptian, and 300 Surat have been taken on speculation; and 1,000 American, 300 Pernam, and 200 Surat for export.

The following is the Statistical Review of our Cotton Market:--

Taken for Consumption: for Export:

from 1st Jan. to 15th Sept.

1842. 1843. 1842. 1843.

794,500 bales. 946,500 bls. 66,500 bls. 65,900 bls.

whole Import: 1842. 1843.

1,024,141 bls. 1,401,278 bls.

Computed Stock. Average weekly consumption.

15th Sept. 1st Jan. to 15th Sept.

1842. 1843. 1842. 1843.

593,000 bls. 834,000 bls. 21,556 bls. 25,689 bls.

For SUGAR there is rather more inquiry, at steady prices.--COFFEE; the sales of plantation trivial without change of price.--INDIGO, price firm at the advance of 3d. to 4d., established at public sale yesterday.--TEA; the market remains rather firm, and a moderate business has been done at previous rates. In other articles of produce a fair amount of business has been done, without any particular features to remark.

GRAIN.--There has been rather more demand for old WHEAT, and prices for this and all other articles in the trade are supported. Duty has been paid on nearly the whole of the bonded stock, and the rate is now on the advance.

The papers of this morning do not contain any intelligence of the slightest novelty or interest. Her Majesty and Prince Albert are enjoying themselves at Ostend in the society of their august relatives, the King and Queen of the Belgians. To-day (Sat.u.r.day) the Royal party go to Bruges; on Monday to Brussels; on Tuesday to Antwerp; and on Wednesday return to England.

Barcelona is still in a state of insurrection; and though Madrid is tranquil, the state of Spain, as the _Times_ remarks, is one of "simple confusion."

The Malta correspondent of the _Morning Chronicle_ says that a report had been current at Bombay that it was the intention to order the next steamer for the overland mail to keep her direct course, in spite of the monsoon. The monsoon had, no doubt, driven her back.

Wales continues in a distracted state, and acts of incendiarism are common. The extraordinary verdict given by the inquest jury on the body of the unfortunate old woman who was shot, is the subject of general remark, as strikingly evincing the terrorism which prevails. There is even talk of the necessity of putting the country under martial law!

The very remarkable meeting held by Messrs Cobden and Bright, at Oxford, on Wednesday last, is the theme of general conversation in society. It is, indeed, a very striking evidence of the progress of free-trade principles amongst the agriculturists.

The _Leeds Mercury_ of this morning, and other provincial organs of public opinion, in the great seats of our commerce and manufactures, all speak in cheerful terms of the decidly-improving prospects of trade.

THE LATEST FROM THE AMERICAN PRESS ON FREE TRADE--AUG. 24TH.

THE CORN-LAW CONTROVERSY.--A friend has placed in our hands numbers of the tracts which the corn-law reformers of England circulate among the people. They are about the size and length of the religious tracts of this country, and are put up in an envelope, which is stamped with neat and appropriate devices. These little publications comprise essays on all the topics involved in the corn-law controversy, sometimes in the form of dialogues, sometimes of tales, and sometimes of extracts from famous books and speeches. The arguments are arranged so as to be easily comprehended by the meanest capacities.

The friend to whom we are indebted for these is well informed on the subject, and says that a more advanced state of opinion prevails among the people of England, in relation to the operation of tariffs, than in this nation generally so much more enlightened. It is a singular spectacle which is thus presented to the eyes of the civilized world.

While the tendency of opinion, under an aristocratic monarchy, is towards the loosening of the restraints under which the labour of the people has long suffered, a large and powerful party in a nation, whose theory of government is nearly a century in advance of the world, is clamouring for their continuance and confirmation. Monarchical England is struggling to break the chains that an unwise legislation has forged for the limbs of its trade; but democratic America is urged to put on the fetters which older but less liberal nations are throwing off. The nations of Europe are seeking to extend their commercial relations, to expand the sphere of their mutual intercourse, to rivet the market for the various products of their soil and skill, while the "model republic"

of the new world is urged to stick to the silly and odious policy of a semi-barbarous age.

We look upon the attempt which is making in Great Britain to procure a revision of the tariff laws, as one of the most important political movements of the age. It is a reform that contemplates benefits, whose effects would not be confined to any single nation, or any period of time. Should it be successful, it would be the beginning of a grand and universal scheme of commercial emanc.i.p.ation. Let England--that nation so extensive in her relations, and so powerful in her influences--let England adopt a more liberal policy, and it would remove the only obstacles now in the way of a complete freedom of industry throughout the globe. It is the apparent unwillingness of nations to reciprocate the advantages of mutual trade, that has kept back this desirable reform so long. The standing argument of the friends of exclusiveness--their defence under all a.s.saults, their shelter in every emergency--has been that one nation cannot pursue a free system until all others do, or, in other words, that restriction is to be met by restriction. It is a flimsy pretence, but such as it is, has answered the purposes of those who have used it, for many centuries.

The practice of confining trade by the invisible, but potent chains of law, has been a curse wherever it has prevailed. In England, more dependent than other nations on the extent of its commercial intercourse, it may be said to have operated as a scourge. The most terrible inflictions of natural evil, storms, famine, and pestilence, have not produced an equal amount of suffering. Indeed, it has combined the characteristics of the worst of those evils. It has devastated, like the storm, the busy hives of industry; it has exhausted, like famine, the life and vital principle of trade; and, like the pestilence, it has "walked in the darkness and wasted at noon-day." When we read of thousands of miserable wretches, in all the cities and towns of a great nation, huddled together like so many swine in a pen; in rags, squalor, and want; without work, bread, or hope; dragging out from day to day, by begging, or the petty artifices of theft, an existence which is worthless and a burden; and when, at the same time, we see a system of laws, that has carefully drawn a band of iron around every mode of human exertion; which with lynx-eyed and omniscient vigilance, has dragged every product of industry from its retreat to become the subject of a tax, can we fail in ascribing the effect to its cause, or suppress the utterance of our indignation at a policy so heartless and destructive?

Yet, this is the very policy that a certain cla.s.s of politicians in this country would have us imitate. Misled by the selfish and paltry arguments of British statesmen, but unawed by the terrible experience of the British people, they would fasten upon us a system whose only recommendation, in its best form, is that it enriches a few, at the cost of the lives and happiness of many. They would a.s.sist a constrictor in wrapping his folds around us, until our industry shall be completely crushed.

ST OLAVE'S CHURCH.--The rebuilding of this church in the early part of the last century cost the parishioners a less sum than the organ. The old church having fallen down, the new one (that recently destroyed by fire) was erected by raising an annuity of 700_l_., and the granter died after receiving the first half year's payment of 350_l_. The organ was the most ancient instrument in the metropolis.

FREE-TRADE MOVEMENTS.

MESSRS COBDEN AND BRIGHT AT OXFORD.--IMPORTANT MEETING OF FREEHOLDERS AND FARMERS OF THAT COUNTY.