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THE BOMBAY CRISIS.

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THE BOMBAY CRISIS. Next to the United States themselves the hor- rors of the now terminated civil war have fallen most heavily on this country. In a slight degree France, it is tiue, has suffered from the suspension of cotton manufacturers, but certainly not to such a degree as this country. The cotton famine is • may we say over, and that commodity will very shortly glut our markets. The special relief con- tributed by all qua ters of the globe to the sud- denly pauperised Lancashire operatives has this week been finally discontinued. The dist ict fa- milia:ly cailed "cotton" has been improved in the interval by useful public works, and the health and physique of the population not less benefitted But even now we htve not yet known all the distress which may lairly be attri- buted to the Ame ican civil war; and what is worse, nations will, to some extent, share in the continuance of the pressure. Wlie ever climate promts d to (avoir the growtli 01 cotton, II e e capital has been embarked to foster its cultiva- tion Egypt has p,omised some, and India mo e, while even other districts have made a not un- successful attempt. Bom-ay alone has e lised during the last th, ee years as many millions by cottLn, and there the surrender of Ge ieral Lee has already caused a financial crash which it is feaiful to c mtemplate. We may indeed hope that the ruin is not so far spread as is described, but an unhealthy and feve ish speculation had taken so deep hold on the people that the reaction must be of unwonted p; opo tions. The rush ot trade whic cotton promised to our Bombay merchants fed them for the past th ee years with extravagant hop.. s, and even th ViO- yerr ot of the Presidency seems to have sha ed the p evaient opinio(i that good things were in sto e lot many years. The influx ol wealth ren- dered it imposs ble for pe sons with fixed incomes to live decently, and at the commencement of this year only famine and its atte dant hor ors seemed to threaten the island. Land for building purposes t ecame valuable—fetched indeed p ices almost unheard of in the Metropolis. In orde to keep pace with the demand, reckless schemes of reclamation were set a foot, and companies started to recover waste, indeed pestiferous t acts floated their shares at a premium only to see them run up to ten or fifteen times their nominal vaILe. One native house, that of the .Jejeeboys, is said to have doubled an eno mous capital by prudently reti ing from the speculative scramble in time, and oue ba..k is cu'ren'ly reported to have lent all its capital and all the deposits of its customers on land ce tificates, tow compa atively valueless. The few have I ealised more than ample fortunes, but the majo ity sire wo se than beggars. The next mail will probably b ing fu the i particulars of the Bombay panic, from wiikh we may be able to gather some idea of the extent of ruin. In the meantime Ave may offer two or th, ee iemarks to show that the disaster is not irremediable and need not be permanent. In the first place it cmnot be doubted that the trade in cotton must have done some real good. Three millions -f money cannot have found its way to Bombay without pioducing a healthy stimulus to t ade In the next pi ce there is no real ieagon for the discontinuance of cdtton cul- tivation because the markets of the Southern States are again open to the world. c have heard that some cotton grown in India has teen offered in tf lis country of a far bette, description than any grown in America, the fibre longer, stronger, and cleaner. And we do no doubt that what private enterprise has accomplished in one case on a small scale can be easi y done in a more extensive ma ner. The complaint has been that cleanliness has not been attended to, in a word that tIe picking has I cen defective, and the packing still worse, but we believe great 11 9 improvements have been al eady effected and that little was left to be desired. In the third place the transfer of money f om one hand to anothe is attended with no ieal loss, it remains in Bombay s; ill. The real trade too of Bombay cannot t e affected hy a speculative nutria, such .s it was befo e cotton claimed the attention of the merchants such it must be again, while the enter- prists of mechanical and engineering skill which have been commenced will not "nd cannot be wholly without effect. Admitting then to the fullest extent the fearful n,ture of the crisis which has befallen Bombay we are not di-posed to take so gloomy view of the matter as some of our contemporaries. Every cLud has a silver lining.

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