British Commerce (August 1859)

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The British Board of Trade has just published returns of the exports for the first six months of the present year, while its table of the declared values of the imports embraces only the five months ending May 31. On comparing the corresponding periods of 1858 and 1859, it will be found that, with some small exceptions not worth mentioning, the British imports from the United States had generally decreased, in value at least, while the British exports to this country were increasing in quantity as well as in value. To illustrate this fact, we have extracted the following tabular statement from the official returns:

BRITISH EXPORTS TO THE UNITED STATES FOR THE SIX
MONTHS ENDING JUNE 30.

Articles.	Quantities.		Declared value.
	1858.	1859.	1858. £	1859. £
Cottons, yards	60,150,771	110,360,198	1,031,724	1,924,951
H'ware & Cut., cwts	35,349	78,432	242,914	534,107
Linens, yards	17,379,691	31,170,751	515,416	961,956
Iron, Pig, tuns	22,745	39,370	68,640	111,319
Bar, Bolt and Rod	21,463	56,026	175,944	457,384
Wrought	9,153	19,368	113,436	238,903
Sheet and nails, cwts	5,293	15,522	28,709	77,840
Lead, tuns	1,214	1,980	27,754	44,626
Oil (seed), gals	411,769	930,784	50,950	111,103
Silk manufactures, lbs	47,101	134,470	51,277	144,417
Woolen cloths, p'cs	76,311	81,686	273,409	421,006
Wool's, mix. st'fs, y's	13,897,331	30,893,901	562,749	1,188,859
Do., worsted st'fs, p's	185,129	489,171	229,981	758,914
Earth'ware & porce'n	-	-	168,927	279,407
H'dashery & millin'y	-	-	456,364	861,921
Tin plates	-	-	397,027	607,011

BRITISH IMPORTS FROM THE UNITED STATES FOR FIVE
MONTHS ENDING MAY 31.

Articles.	1858.	1859.
Wheat	£371,452	£7,013
Wheat and Corn Flour	693,847	14,666
Cotton (raw)	11,631,523	10,486,418

The returns of the British Exports show, generally, an increase not only on 1858, but also on 1857, as will be seen from the following statement:

BRITISH EXPORTS FOR THE SIX MONTHS ENDING JUNE 30.

Declared value.
1857.	1858.	1859.
£60,826,381	£53,467,804	£63,003,159

On closer examination, however, it becomes evident that not only the total increase in the value of the exports of 1859 over those of 1857 is due to the extension of the commerce with India, but that there would have been a falling off of more than £2,000,000 in the general British export trade of 1859—as compared with that of 1857—if India had not made up more than the deficit. On the market of the world, therefore, all traces of the crisis of 1857 have not yet altogether disappeared. The most important and surprising feature of the Board of Trade Returns is, undoubtedly, the rapid development of the British export trade to the East Indies. Let us first by official figures, illustrate the fact:

EXPORTS TO BRITISH EAST INDIES,
6 MONTHS ENDING JUNE 30.

	1856.	1857.	1858.	1859.
Beer and Ale	£210,431	£130,213	£474,438	£569,398
Cottons, Calicoes, &c	2,554,976	3,116,869	4,523,849	6,094,433
Cotton Yarn	579,807	540,576	967,332	1,280,435
Earthenware and Porcelain	30,374	23,521	43,975	43,195
Haberdashery and Millinery	39,854	70,502	77,319	105,723
Hardwares and Cutlery	84,758	101,083	139,813	153,423
Saddlery and Harness	12,339	15,587	35,947	19,498
Machinery—steam-engines	37,503	54,074	59,104	100,803
other sorts	156,028	313,461	170,959	179,255
Iron—bar, bolt, and rod (exclusive of railway iron)	506,201	228,838	166,321	172,725
Railway Iron	-	272,812	475,413	578,749
Iron—wrought (exclusive of railway iron)	266,355	217,484	192,711	242,213
Copper—unwrought	62,928	34,139	9,018	51,699
Sheets and Nails	144,218	228,325	318,381	205,213
Salt	23,995	31,119	21,849	4,468
Stationery	66,495	79,968	86,425	89,711
Woolen Cloths	96,045	166,509	202,076	174,826
Total	£4,872,307	£5,625,080	£7,964,930	£10,065,767

Recollecting the fact that for about 16 years—from 1840 to 1856—the British export trade to India was generally stationary, although there was sometimes a small rise beyond, sometimes a perceptible fall below the average figure of £8,000,000—one is rather startled to see this stationary trade doubled in the short interval of two years, and that sudden progress, too, taking place at the epoch of an atrocious servile war. The question whether this expansion of commerce is due to only temporary circumstances or to a bona fide development of Indian demand, derives its peculiar interest from the present conjuncture of Indian finances which forces the British Government to ask Parliament for leave to contract a new Indian loan in London, and which, simultaneously, induces even the London Times to moot the question whether, after all, England had not better confine herself to the three old provinces and restore the rest of the Peninsula to its native rulers.

With the scanty materials before us, it would be impossible to arrive at a categorical judgment as to the real character of the sudden expansion of the British export trade to India, but all the data known incline us to the opinion that transitory circumstances have, so to say, swelled that trade beyond its organic dimensions. In the first instance, we are unable to discover any peculiar movement in the British imports from India which might have led to the increase of exports to that country. There has been an increase in some articles, but it is almost balanced by a decrease in others; and, altogether, the vacillations of the Indian exports are too feeble to account one way or the other for the sudden changes in the imports thither. The civil war may, however, have helped the English to explore countries formerly little known, and the soldier may thus have cleared the way for the merchant. Besides, an excessive import and accumulation of silver has of late years been going on in India, and even the Hindoo, somewhat vivified by the scenes of excitement just passed through, may have encroached upon his hoarding mania, and, to some degree, taken to spending silver instead of burying it. Still, we are not warranted in laying too great stress upon such hypotheses, especially as, on the other side, the positive fact stares us in the face of an extraordinary Government expenditure to the annual amount of about £14,000,000. This state of things, while it sufficiently accounts for the sudden growth of the English export trade to India, can hardly be thought to prognosticate a long continuance of this new movement. The most lasting effect will probably be the complete destruction of Indian native industry, since, as the reader will have seen from the last tabular statement, the surplus of British exports to India is principally due to the intrusion of British cottons and cotton-yarns. Overtrading on the part of Manchester may, to some degree, also have contributed to swell the figures of the British export table.