K. Marx. The State of British Commerce
London, June 8, 1858
The trade and navigation tables just published by the British Board of Trade (1) comprise an account of the declared value of the exports of the United Kingdom in the three months ending 31st March, 1858, compared with the corresponding period of the year 1857; an account of the number and tunnage of vessels entered inward and cleared outward, with cargoes, in the four months ending 30th April, 1858, compared with the corresponding period of the years 1856 and 1857; and, lastly, an account of the principal exports and imports for the four months ending 30th April, 1858. The amount of the exports for the month of April, 1858, is £9,451,000, against £9,965,000 in 1857, and £9,424,000 in 1856,(2) while for the four months there is a reduction of nearly £6,000,000 in the year 1858. Accordingly the British exports of the month of April, 1858, would appear not only to have risen above the level of 1856, but closely to approach that reached in 1857, some months prior to the commercial explosion in the United States. Hence it might be inferred that the last traces of the crisis are rapidly disappearing, and that British commerce, at least, is again entering a new epoch of expansion. Such a conclusion, however, would be altogether erroneous. In the first place, it must be considered that the official statistics, as far as they relate to declared value, do not show the actual returns, but the returns as anticipated by the exporters. Moreover, a closer examination of the tables of exports proves that the apparent recovery of British commerce is mainly due to an over-importation of East India, which must lead to a violent contraction of that market. Already we read in the last commercial circular of Messrs. George Frazer 8c Company:
"The later advices from the East show symptoms of reaction from the extraordinary high range of prices which have been current in Bombay and in Calcutta during the period when supplies there were so short. A not inconsiderable decline has already been submitted to upon the arrival out of cargoes which were shipped not later than December. The supplies since then have been to both markets most liberal, if not excessive; and it seems very probable, therefore, that for some time to come we must look for less support to prices from the great activity of the Eastern demand than has been so far experienced since the beginning of January."
Beside India, those European and other countries which till now had not been reached by the effects of the commercial crisis, have been blocked up by British merchandise, not in consequence of increased demand, but by way of experiment. The countries thus blessed were Belgium, Spain and its dependencies, some Italian States — principally the Two Sicilies — Egypt, Mexico, Central America, Peru, China, and some minor markets. At the very time when the most disastrous news was arriving from Brazil and put a check upon the aggregate export to that country, some branches of British industry, compelled to find an outlet for their exuberant produce, did not only not curtail, but actually augment their shipments for that market. Thus, during the month of April, linens, earthenware and porcelain, destined for Brazil, were increasing in quantity as well as declared value. Nobody can consider this bona fide exports. The same remark holds true with respect to Australia, which had acted as so elastic a center of absorption during the first months of the crisis. Australia was then and is still overstocked; a sudden reaction took place; the aggregate exports thither were diminished, but again some branches of British industry, instead of contracting, have actually expanded — speculatively, of course — their supplies in spite of the warnings of all the Australian local papers. The export tables of the month of April, therefore, must be considered not as the bona fide standard of the recovery of British industry, but as mere feelers thrown out in order to ascertain what pressure the markets of the world are again able to bear. The following table contains an account of the declared value of the British and Irish exports in the three months ending 31st of March, 1858, compared with the corresponding period of the year 1857:
Foreign Countries to
Russia, Northern Ports Russia, Southern Ports Sweden
Norway Denmark Prussia Mecklenburg Hanover Oldenburg Hanse Towns Holland Belgium France Portugal proper Azores Madeira Spain Canary Islands Sardinia Tuscany Papal States Two Sicilies Austrian Territories Greece Turkey Wallachia and Moldavia Syria and Palestine Egypt (ports on the Mediterranean) Tunis Algeria Morocco Western Coast of Africa (foreign) Eastern Coast of Africa African Ports on the Red Sea Cape Verde Islands Java
which Exported.*
1857.
£3,015
72,777 48,007
30,217 92,046 133,000
9,502 288,648
3,520 2,318,260
1,305,606
515,175 1,631,672
380,160
10,793
9,955 496,788
18,817 290,131
189,534
69,953 284,045 253,042
40,860 969,288
111,052 199,070
449,497
865
4,790 55,826
235,527
301 1,130 2,419 234,071
1858.
£8,853
42,493
3,717 5,911 40,148 78,917
3,099 236,669
1,957 1,645,419
975,428 546,033 1,035,096
356,178
12,581 16,245 584,287
8,475 293,138 257,508
123,059 375,177 323,086
69,570 821,204
98,135 81,874
483,516
2,323 4,831 37,206
196,484
1,927
567 3,965 149,493 1857 1858
Philippine Islands 144,992 212,942 China (exclusive of Hong Kong)... 290,441 389,647 South Sea Islands ... 585 Foreign West Indies 620,022 521,435 United States (Ports on the Atlantic) 6,231,501 2,565,566 California \... 50,219 94,147 Mexico 112,277 151,890 Central America 22,453 46,201 New Granada 88,502 117,411 Venezuela 105,417 62,685 Ecuador 2,099 Brazil 1,292,325 826,583 Uruguay 145,481 177,281 Buenos Ayres 285,187 279,913 Chili 336,309 270,176 Peru 209,889 299,725
Total to foreign countries £20,636,473 £14,940,756
British Possessions.
Channel Islands £136,071 £120,431 Gibraltar 152,926 210,575 Malta 116,821 131,238 Ionian Islands 66,148 52,849 West Coast of Africa (British) 135,452 62,343 Cape of Good Hope 442,796 403,579 Natal 26,605 23,106 Ascension 3,832 2,308 St. Helena 3,837 8,416 Mauritius 142,303 164,042 Aden 11,263 11,996 British Territories in the East Indies (exclusive of Singapore and Ceylon) 2,822,009 3,502,664 Singapore 101,535 308,545 Ceylon 98,817 153,090 Hong Kong 133,743 242,757 West Australia 15,515 13,813 South Australia 180,123 249,162 New South Wales 706,337 682,265 1857. 1858.
Victoria £1,427,248 £1,056,537 Tasmania 67,550 82,942 New Zealand 96,893 93,768 British North American Colonies.. 818,560 439,433 British West India Islands 334,024 426,421 British Guiana 122,249 95,385 Honduras (British Settlements) 28,363 31,869
Total to British Possessions £8,191,020 £8,569,534
Total to Foreign Countries and
British Possessions 28,827,493 23,510,290
The Economist thinks that, from an accurate analysis of these figures,
"the curious fact is disclosed that the entire decrease has taken place in the British trade to foreign countries as contrasted with the colonial possessions."(3)
In fact, the above tables may be condensed as follows:
Exports for three months.
1857. 1858.
To foreign countries £20,636,473 £14,940,756 To British possessions 8,191,020 8,569,534
Total £28,827,493 £23,510,290
Yet the conclusion arrived at by The Economist seems a fallacy. According to the condensed statement there would appear to have taken place a reduction in the trade to foreign countries to the amount of £5,695,717, simultaneously with an increase of £378,514 in the colonial trade. However, if we deduct the increase in the trade of British smuggling places such as Gibraltar, Malta, Hong Kong, and of mere depots for foreign countries, such as Singapore, a decrease in the aggregate colonial trade becomes evident; and if we deduct India, the decrease appears very considerable. Of the decrease in the trade to foreign countries, the main percentage falls upon the following countries:
1857. 1858.
United States £6,231,501 £2,565,566 Brazil 1,292,325 826,583 Hanse Towns 2,318,260 1,645,410 France 1,631,672 1,035,096 Holland 1,305,606 975,428
The accounts relating to navigation show a slight increase in the number as well as tunnage of the British vessels entered inward, but a decrease in the number and tunnage of the vessels cleared outward. Of foreign countries, the navigation of the United States continues to maintain the first rank. The following figures show the movement of their vessels to and from the British ports:
Entered Inward.
1856. 1857. 1858.
Ships. Tunnage. Ships. Tunnage. Ships. Tunnage.
United States... 382 383,255 367 366,407 366 366,650
Cleared Outward.
United
States... 414 395,102 440 427,221 343 321,015
According to the same accounts, Norway, Denmark and Russia seem the countries upon whose navigation the commercial crisis told with the most disastrous effect.