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THE NEWS BUDGET.

THE DISTRESS IN LANCASHIRE.

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THE DISTRESS IN LANCASHIRE. A correspondent of a morning contemporary states that the distress increases this is the only cry. Has it to go on for ever? The "good time coming" recedes. Is there no recuperative power in man or nature ? Has this great cotton panic to remain without a remedy ? There is a talk about" substitutes; bu", the main sub- ject-the very soul of the thing itself-a full supply of good cotton, seems to baffle and puzzle the whole confra- ternity of manufacturers. There are plenty of cotton- growing countries, and what i3 now wanted is cotton, not a substitute. The original fibre cannot be replaced; art cannot supply the place of nature. Theorists may endeavour to develop hypothetical panaceas; but cotton is king, and no alien plant can rule so practically or so comprehensively. The intentions of substitute pro- pounders are no doubt good and excellent; but they might as well attempt to change cod-liver oil into the nectar of the gods as transform grass and weed into cotton of the quality and quantity which the mills and the operatives of Lancashire require. It cannot be done, and the great substitute which was issued to the world from Manchester, a few days ago, is now losing its charm, and growing more inapplicable every day in the minds of merchants and cotton philosophers. To-day a new commercial bulletin has been published against it from Manchester, and next week perhaps twenty more will be announced. If the regions of cotton cultivation all over the world were completely exhausted, there might be some reason in a substitute, and some necessity, even though of an inferior character, for its adaptability and use. But the real fact is, there are plenty of places, even if America should never again afford a supply, where cotton could be cultivated, developed, and even rendered consummate in its growth, an adequate for all the requirements of the times. The manufacturers, however don't care about the matter particularly. It might be thought that, as their mills are stopped, as thousands of their operatives are in poverty, and as scores of thou- sands are dependent upon others forevery-dav bread, they would have a most particular and special interest in the formation and extensive development of new fields of cotton, and that every effort would now be made by them to re-establish the necessary supply of the raw material. They know that the American market is closed they are fully conscious of the numerous blemishes in the Surat cotton; they are convinced that a good supply can be obtained from many countries they see around on all hands, poverty and misery, as a consequence of a dearth in cotton and yet, with all these weighty facts before their eyes, they are moody, silent, easy, and amaz- ingly apathetic. It was all very well for the learned gentlemen who assembled in Manchester the other day to denounce the obstreperousness of the Indian Government relative to the cultivation of cotton in the empire of the East; but they ought to have gone further. That was not the only thing worthy of a severe denunciation. The ul sledge hammer of truth ought to have driven the nail down; and the world should have been told of this fact-tlat, if there was one thing more than another, more than even the stolid obtusity of our Eastern Government, which prevented the growth of cotton, it was the utter, complete, and incomprehensible indif- ference of the British manufacturers. The evil is not in the East, nor in the West; it is not in Governments nor in Kings. The world wants cotton-a cry, material though it be, is sent up to Heaven hourly for it. And yet it does not come. Why ? Because the gentlemen who propound the plans for its cultivation in foreign countries cannot get the support of the general body of manufacturers; because they can get no assurance that, if they expend large sums of money, which must necessarily be incurred in the opening up of new fields, they would receive the co-operation of millowners and because there is reason to suspect that, even if fresh lands were made available for an adequate cotton supply, the Lancashire cotton lords would, if there was a re- sumption of the American trade, fall back upon it, and leave everything else, and the promoters of every other scheme, in the lurch. There is one town in Lancashire which I know of, and many others ap- proximate it, where only two out of one hundred manu- facturers subscribe to the funds of a Cotton Supply Asso- ciation. Well may there be stagnation, and well may new fields be left undeveloped and uncared for. The manufacturers, as I said in one of my previous letters, don't care where they get their cotton from; indeed, their conduct, as a class, would lead one to infer that they don't care whether they get it at all. The times are bad, trade is stagnated, and people at a distance might suppose that the representatives of cottonocracy felt severely, as well as the operatives, the depression which crushes the land; but they don't. It is quite illusionary to suppose such a thing. They ride about in their carriages as usual; they assemble at their restaurants as of old; they dash about at Lancashire watering places; and they mix up with the gay world as if everything was going on gallantly, and as if the operative empire was in the greatest prosperity. This is no forced picture. It is a fact. I have seen it; I can see it anv day, in anv of the towns of North Lancashire. The truth is; they have made their fortunes, and they can afford to allow their mills to remain idle. This is the reason why they are so singularly apathetic, and this explains the secret of their utter deadness to new cotton-cultivating schemes. If such is not the case, why do they not bestir themselves ? If thev are not onulent, whv do they manifest such a marvellous amount of indifference with regard to foreign cotton-fields, which, if worked up, must ultimately, ac- cording to the most disinterested and irrefragable evidence, se exceedingly remunerative? The inference is plain. They are either immensely wealthy, and can do without them, or abominably apathetic, and care nothing about the question. If the manufacturers were placed in the position of the operatives for a few days, they would soon find out how much cotton is needed, and how essentially it is their duty, for the sake of those on whose toil they have reared the fabric cf their riches, to give an impetus to every plan likely to secure a full supoly of cotton, and with it the comfort and happiness of the people. This week, as was the case last, there is a great in- crease of the distress in Preston. The relief committee say, in their report just issued, that during the pa it week they have "distributed to the poor 18,587 loaves (3 lb. 10 oz. each), equal to 67.378 Ibs'; 12,210 quarts of soup; and 4,740 quarts of coffee. The recipients of re- iief have increased considerably.

Money Market.

The Corn Tradb.

ARRIVALS IN LONDON LAST WEEK.

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