Current:

Leader (1850-1860), 1st January 1859, Edition 2 of 2, Page 23, 1858. —C OMMERCIAL IIISTOEY. We have els...

Page 23
Page 23
23 of 32

On this page

  • Text (7)
  • Transcript

    • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

      Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

      Ko. 458, Januaby 1,J.859.] T H_B_J^Ajd E...

      Ko . 458 , Januaby 1 , j . 859 . ] T H _ B _ J ^ AJD E _ B . __ 23

      Co Mm Irc I A L.

      CO MM IRC I A L .

      1858. —C Ommercial Iiistoey. We Have Els...

      1858 . —C OMMERCIAL IIISTOEY . We have elsewhere briefly referred to the chief political events of 1858 , and confining ourselves to commercial or social events we must at once notice that they have been uniformly quiet and progressive . The events which have convulsed Europe politically , endangered thrones , overthrown ministries , filled all thejournals with angry and controversial leaders , and altered the relations of Governments , have not ruffled commerce . Sometimes , as in 18 . 4 : 8 , when revolution paralysed it , and in 1854-55 , when war . diverted . it from its ordinary course , political events

      have a serious or disastrous cfl ' ect on social wellbeing ; but in contrast to those years 1858 . has seen commerce quietly but steadily progressive . The disease which smote it came in 1857 . At the beginning of the year it was suffering from a disaster peculiarly its own . At other epochs , as at 1793 , 1811-12 , 1822 , 1 S 2 G , & c , it could be fancied and said that a change from peace to war , or from war to peace , or a great change in commercial or money laws , had made commerce bankrupt . No such pretext conld be « rmd in 1 S 57 , further than 4 ; he general interference ot Governments with trade ,

      substituting at all times false rules for true ones , and the convulsion of that year was exclusively the consequence of the mismanagement of commercial men . They were in too great haste to get rich , took too much credit , traded beyond their means , got wildly excited by the gold discoveries and other means of great prosperity , indulged in vain dreams , 4 md entered into fruitless enterprises 1 hat ended in general failure . The . disgraceful conduct of bankers and banks and great merchants , of which so

      many instances have of late years been forced o " ¦ our notice , and which have been much discussed in 1858 , when the evil deeds of the Glasgow Western Bank were brought to light and the directors of the Royal British Bank were punished , were the conse-¦ quences of a general delirium which had come to an end before " 1858 began . Now , instead of emulating such proceedings the public bears against them an * emphatic testimony and warning , from that convulsion , 1858 at its commencement was sober , depressed , and sad .

      reached- two-and-a-half per . cent , at ' the , close of . the year . Now the Bank has 19 , 100 , 000 / . of bullion . Gradually ihe number of paupers diminished till it fell at the end of July as low as it was in 1857 . According to the latest monthly return it was in October 16 , S 05 less than the number at the same period in 1857 , or had decreased 2 . 03 per cent . Gradually both the import and the export trade increasedj till in the eleventh month of the year the value of the exports exceeded the value of the eleventh month of 1857 by 1 , 690 , 6211 ., though it fell short of the value in the same mouth of 1850 by 295 , 639 / . Considering how vast was the derangement—the value of our exports to the United States alone having fallen off in the first six months of the year from 11 , 722 , 952 / . in 1 S 57 to 5 , 939 , 921 / . in 185 S—remembering the great number of stoppages and bankruptcies which occurred at the close ¦ of 1 S 57 aud the beginning of 1858 , the country lias gone through one of the widest commercial convulsions ever known , and has received only slight wounds , which are already almost seared over . All the substantial interests of the community—its agriculture , its manufactures , its mining , with the single exception of its shipping , which cannot long continue to suffer as trade revives —are all in a sound and healthy condition . Food is cheap , and employment plentiful . The present revived prosperity , the former great expansion and sudden collapseof trade , are all plainly due to trade itself— -the Government has in no wise interfered with it . Thus pur free trade , imperfect though it be , has carried the nation with great success through as remarkable a series of changes , natural and political , as ever the world has seen in the short space of ten years ^ -includiiig the gold discoveries , the wonderful improvements in art and science , and the establishment of new Governments in Europe—and has also relieved the Government from all care on the subject and all odium and all discontent from public suffering . Good and evil are now seen by , the people to be the natural and necessary results of their own well-advised or ill-directed exertions . The prices of the funds and of some railways were at the beginning and end of the years as follows : Fir 3 t WeeK . Last Week . On opening . On shutting . Consols 95 J 9 . 8 Reduced 954 97 $ Exchequer Bills ... 3 s . to 7 s . p . m . 36 s . to 39 s .-p . in . Great Western 5 Cj 555 North-Western ... „ .... 98 j 9 o £ Brighton 107-109 113-114 Caledonian 855 88 Groat Northern 97-98 107-108 Securities of all kinds were higher priced at the close than at the beginning of the year , but had scarcely risen so much as might have been expected . The public , it may be inferred , had not much money to invest .

      The Bank of England was gradually increasing its resources—and the law which purports to regulate it , aud had been suspended to enable it to continue its operations , had again come into force , but the bullion in its coffers did not exeqed 11 , 500 , 000 / ., and its minimum rate of discount was 8 per cent . The money-market was in a condition stultifying for trade . In the last two months of 1857 the value of the exports had declined 4 , 800 , 000 / ., and in the first two months of 1858 3 , 800 , 000 * . The imports followed the same rule , and in the first four months of 1858 were upwards

      of 10 , 200 , 000 / . less than in the four months of 1857 . Pauperism , which at the close of 1657 had increased from 881 , 795 , the number of paupers in . England And Wales at the close of 1 S 5 C , to i ) 38 , 4 u 8 ,. continued to increase in , 1858 , and in the second week of March , the number was 1 , 003 , 204 :, ' an augmentation from the beginning of the year of O 4 , 73 C . The increase was chiefly m the manufacturing districts j in the metropolis there was a decrease throughout tho year . In Lancashire and 'Cheshire the increase in the early part of tho year , m compared to the same period of 1857 , was 50 percent . The partial suspension of exchango caused : suspension of work in our factories , and the people suffered , particularly in tho cotton districts , more

      umw at any period sinco 1 S-1 S . They bore tho re-Terso without a murmur , though it would have been more to their credit had they not been so cxtou-« vely jpauporised After a considerable period of prosperity . 6 oon , howovor , things began to mend . There was mo deOoionoy in breadstuff or in tho raw materials ; ofour fabrics j the harvest of 1 S 57 was oxcollont . Ahe old trade relations botweon England and other rtOiujtries wore roncwed as soon as thoir uoco ' unt s Cpald bo adjusted , and if they wore not nearly so extensive with America and somo other countries M m 1857 , they increased with India , Turkey , tyuasia , # c . Gradually tho Bank eoflbvs wore filled 'With gold , tho money market bocamo easier , and tho TOto of diftoouut was successively loworod till it

      We Cannot Hope For Any Further Official ...

      We cannot hope for any further official luforma tion of the state of trade for tho next six weeks , except that ^ y hich the numerous mercantile circulars , constituting a very peculiar and useful brauch of Htomturc , arid usually published at the close of every year , will supply , and therefore wo must refer to the accounts for tho oleventh month , the abstract of which we publish as descriptive of the trade at the end of the yoar . By that it will bo seen , and no substantial difference has occurred in December to alter tho relations further than to make them more fuvourablo , that our imports of cocoa , coffee , corn , and flour , cotton , guano , hair , hemp , metals , potatoes , rice , sugar—but not molasses—tar , tea , & c . have been creator than in 1857 . Our imports ,

      on tho contrary , of auimals , bristles , clocks , flax , hides , oils , provisions—oxoopt eggs—quioksilver , oil-seeds , silk , spirits , tallow , timber , wino , wool , & c , have been less than hi 3 S 57 . At the samo time tho prico goncrally of all commodities has falJon , which has botl \ ohooked , importation , and given a Smaller relative value to our imports . Accordingly , tho valuo of those in ton months , of which only wo havo yet tho returns , was 100 , 172 , 810 / ., as oompai-od to 123 , 131 , 231 / . in ton months of 1857 , a decline of U por oout . As tho oxooss of imports ovor oxports constitutes tho nation ' s gains , wo must

      remind our Teaders that the reduction m the quantities of our imports is not so great as the reduction in their value , and that the difference is further compensated by an import of the precious metals in eleven months of 9 , 916 , 815 / . above the exports . The trade of 1858 has not been either very great or very profitable , but it has recovered , and is now in a sound condition . . The chief elements of future . prosperity , however , are to be found in the quantities of food and raw material imported . We remark , therefore , with pleasure that , although our harvest was good , the wheat and flour imported in the eleven months of 1857 , compared with the imports of 1858 , were as follows : — 1857 . 1858 . Wheat qrs , 2 , 988 , 933 3 , 988 , 528 Flour . cwt . 1 , 702 , 358 3 , 652 , 725 All this is" for our own use . Of the raw materials of our manufacture , cotton , silk , and wool , considerable quantities are re-exported , and oui supplies , therefore , of these depend on the reexports . The imports and re-exports were as follows in the eleven months of IS 58 : — Cotton . Raw Silk . WooL - cwts . lbs . lbs . Imported 8 , 050 , 914 5 , 686 , 423 107 , 519 , 851 Re-exported .. 1 , 227 , 150 2 , 104 , 272 24 , 228 , 005

      Remains... 6,823,764 3,472,151 83,291,84...

      Remains ... 6 , 823 , 764 3 , 472 , 151 83 , 291 , 846 In eleven . months of 1857 the quantities of these articles retained for home consumption were respectively , 6 , 523 , 458 cwt . 7 , 969 , 392 lbs ., and 7 S , 049 , 943 lbs . ; so that our actual supplies of eotton and woolare in excess of 1857 , while our actual supply of silk is in great deficiency . In 1 S 57 , however , the importation of silk was 3 , 200 , 000 lbs . in excess of 1856 , and we therefore could in . . 185 S advantageously sell larger quantities to the other silk manufacturing countries of Europe and riot ourselves be in want .... Both wool and cotton have been proportionably more in demand than silk , and more accordingly has been retained . In all cases we believe that the demand and the price are the best and most certain regulators of supply , and we , therefore , like the men of Bradford , deprecate giving an artificial stimulus to the production of cotton , or any other commodity / when the production of wool , or something else , is equally requisite . In fact , products , in the long run , always pay for products , and it is impossiptafor one to be stimulated into excess without deranging , in some degree , the market for others . In the month of November , 1858 , the value of our exports exceeded the value in the same month , of 1 S 57 . The value in the two months and in the eleven months of the two years , was as follows : — VA . I . UE OF EXPORTS . In November . In Eleven Months . £ £ 1 ? 57 8 , 285 , 815 115 , 007 , 196 1858 9 , 976 , 436 106 , 555 , 562

      Difference 1,690,621 8,451,634 The Expor...

      Difference 1 , 690 , 621 8 , 451 , 634 The exports in tho month , therefore , were 1 , 690 , 621 / . more , and in the eleven months 8 , 451 , 63 U . less than in 1857 . We may anticipate that tho value of the exports in December , 1858 , will be some 1 , 500 , 000 / . } more than in December , 1857 , so that nt the end of the year our exports , as compared to last year , will show a reduction of some 7 , 000 , 000 / ., or about six per cent , as against 1857 , while they are now in value somewhat above the exports of 1856 . By the end of the year , th © value of tho exports of 1 S 56 and 185 S will oe about equal—say 115 , 000 , 000 / . —ft very large amount , and more thau double the average value of our exports prior to 1819 . In spite , then , of the great convulsion at tho end of last year , our trade in 1 S 58 has been tolerably extensive and prosperous , and tho olose of the year teems with promises of a groat and prosperous trade in the year now commenced .

      Tub Bank Ojt Turkey.—It Seem A By Tho Ad...

      Tub Bank ojt Turkey . —It seem a by tho advices , from Constantinople that tho Ottoman Government are fltill anxiously endeavouring to bring about a combination for tho establishment of this bank , and in doing ao to ropnir , if possible , tboir apparently unsatisfactory treatment of tho capitalists tvitU whom they wore lost in correspondence .

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 1, 1859, page 23, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_01011859/page/23/