GLASGOW.

Southland Times, Volume 2, Issue 67, 26 June 1863, Page 2

GLASGOW.

April 18, mthey After a winter long to be remetM? 1 . ■f " for the gloomy apprehension whfp?' 1 * 1 * 1 darkened it, signs of improvement*?^? trade and commerce of the " old cowt begin to be recognisable. The finag^Lfc statement made by the Chancellor ofnTe 1 Exchequer on the evening of Tht/ W 6ul last, has been so much more sati^for .1 than was expected that hope is held* .©earl the storm being weathered more tl were than was antipcipated. Details Ito.gi Budget prove that the revenue hal^ nu^ fered in no degree commensurate wil^y paralysis of our transatlantic coml *P a< s and with which unforeseen result coral comforting assurance that the district* 1 , _ . , .' ' .■ ¥ &na of our commercial enterprise w "■' founded on a wider and moresecure "«j than when directed in one mighty cb c Um , towards the United States. To a worl extent our Glasgow shippers are Bupp hav< foreign consumers with manufai thei which the Americans either shared ii irisk profits of or wholly monopolized; cv which result of the American conflict Ii ?. ltui served to modify the hostility enterl f C( towards ourselves by our American co exa] To shake the confidence, felt on Egj favorable appearances, it is known Wer traders, disappointed at the dimuniti . «j their American orders, and necessi ?° n to keep up the appearance of doing »> ee ness have been shipping recklessly tol wor niul markets. Already we have a<B 12C of a coming "glut" at MelbourneE last other Australian ports will no doumfofa charing an equal amount of patronagffVpc ., speculators who must realize the ■-_ they come into possession of. Alt» n both the diggers of Victoria and Otag<» ™ a be thankful for the accident which I An: plies them with their requirmentl cea "sacrifice"prices,ifc is felt that further! this mercial troubles are in store for us as era as our colonial shippers find diffipul i™meeting their financial liabilities:"* W^ belief expressed in Mr Gladstone's Bu ■ speech that the Commercial Treaty °t Q France has in a great measure tende obi carry us easily through the present cl tai; adds another testimony to the sagaciti w0 Mr Cobden. whose broad and sound « --imercia! views find such recognition J ■ .. among his political antagonists, that tl < begin to be shamed into silence. Furl Ayo experience is needed to show what an I me versal adoption of Free Trade principle! ser i continental nations may do for comma j s i generally ; but no doubt remains that! wn ciai branches of our manufactures ba -^ to find a new stimulus through the grl „,, ing interchange of commodities \| . France. Such is the opinion recei * in stated to me by a gentlemen who del taken an active part in carrying- out ofl Cobdens views ; although he, at the ss on time, expressed a conviction founded < Ba ( personal knowledge of the state of ti £ in Paris, that the expectation of Mr ( „ den and his friends Ims not been for D ' present realized. The fact that steaii °* are building on the Clyde to open i of new and direct line from Glasgow th French-ports shows that ourcity intend! we participate in the commercial blessings -wlf old-fashioned protectionists believed involi our national ruin. While commercial dii eß ' ters have been spreading distress thro* pr the length and breadth of the land, I co Gladstone made reference on Monday evl fl j. ing to another affliction which has if , poverished the country. The Chancel c * stated that the value of the crops and stl th throughout thecountiy in 1862-3 is esfcimal »a at £27,327,000, while in 1860-1 the value j D( given at £39,437,000, showing a decreasi about £12,000,000, and which amount ra v j have been nearly expended in the purcli 6' of foreign supplies to supplement our <f ci scanty crops. Besides the actual loss of I ™ amount, we have to remember that the dill K sion of this immense sum from the purcli of luxuries and such manufactures as woj ti stimulate both home and foreign industrl d : must have considerably affected the revea c , leturns, as stated in the Chancellor's flnl ' cial review. Tha remarkable depreciatl ' in the harvests of the last three seaeci tl mainly occasioned by great irregularitiel jreather, has told heavily upon agriculture o and in the spring letting of parks aroi Glasgow, a decline in rents has this sea been generally observed. The unseasona ■ weather of last autumn prevented mi i farmers from securing sufficient crops o cover their rent, and among the cottar-tena of the West Highlands such general disti is felt that subscriptions are being gathe T for the. relief of the impoverished; populaM^ In emigration, bodies of these poor peMJI will alone find permanent relieSTj but it is towards the wreck I;. Highland clans settled in Canada, rather thjf to our Eastern colonies, that the HighlaiK 1 emigrant's heart yearns. In any ordinaJj.l season, the hardships inflicted by the adve*\j weather -of the last three summers vwou»> have procured for the agricultural popiii | J tion a warm sympathy with-their miafoi fj tunes; but the. heavier losses sustained! |i the factory population has coneentw public benevolence towards tbe feli^ of pi class of sufferers. ; The gigantic>character( ;§ the calamity which has fallen upon our \U #1 employed cotton operatives indeed exhaus the voluntary contributions of. our. ow wealthy city, arid it is obvious that son "< better device than eleemosynary aid mv be applied to save from further dero< >' ralisation the crowd 'of working peop! 5 who are still in want- of ,lire*< * The unemployed, of thia 1 " city'" f& * thatany fate would be preferable to an- in 7j possible existence upon a relief allowance, i some inatancoa limited to Is 3d per head p< j }-

*eei/ia the more intelligent among them crave' lit they may. lie aent out to any of the colomfjri : which they could findwofk Nova .. Scotialand Queensland are the favorite homes p .which the .poor men wistfully look ; but Kent accounts from Queensland have ' eotnewat shaken confidence in the capabilites 1 of tbj coleny. Its hot climate is objected to a^fcuitable for .European laborers, and as : etockffarmihg ;is the^ bhief .outlet for ' . emiglita, bur idle weavers who have "never ; ' crosaf a horse's back in their life, reason- \ y^of^ftubt if they will be much in* request ' 'liit raised; bullocks at a speed which * . wbuSbring them' in winners at a Houston Bteeffii chase. Those possessed of means ' eofflifoV naturally turn their attention to Ne^Zealand;but it is remarkable that ybujlolony has never, been regarded as a sbrt%f colonial dust-hole, into which our U6ej«s population might be advantageously. v sag*' As facilities for emigration to New Zea»id become developed, this feeling may ■vye'^ff i but in the meantime you are pretty B«ularom an avalanche of helpless and pfc||iy-Etricken people. - The spirit with '*' vrfHa/the packet-line recently organised bi||een the Clyde and Otago has been i ipported has encouraged the owners of the differ ship Green Jacket to partially lo»d hiri&fc Leith for New Zealand, with the objsit of establishing a-direct communication betleen the east coast of Scotland and your fay*ed colony. Such rivalry will, no doubt, recnve a new stimulus as soon as the success ofjjthe Otago goldfields is satisfactorily ascertained ; but the progress of shipping : acwtmmodation must still limit the departure \ off,; passengers to your ports to such as have ' tfcjj| means to meet a comparatively expensive voyage. While you are safe from contact •vrjtiOb. the mass of poverty which overwhelms ' uswe are glad to find that you do not forget the claims of the distressed .operatives, whom yoo, must still recognise as fellow-"country- '. tuea." The Glasgow Operatives Relief Com- < nfittee, at a meeting held last Thursday, ' thankfully acknowledged a remittance of ' J6150 towards the fund from sympathisers in Dunedin — an example which the good people : oflnvercargill ought to take " a note of." TJte sum of £33,771 has been already placed ; 'as/the disposal of the Committee, but a much larger amount will be needed to tide through the crisis ; the extent and nature of the difficulties which surround the Glasgow ; Qommittee being greatly aggravated by demands for assistance from the idle weavers of: Lanark, Paisley, Strathaven and Lochwinnoch, and other surrounding town*. While the distress in this neighborhood continaes great, the cloud which has fallen upon Lancashire does not show signs of clearing Away. Statistics show some diminution of faie 1 numbers on the relief-roll, but the ' utterly prostrate condition of the vast operative population of the factory towns assumes each an unmanageable aspect, that Mr Ferrand, a conservative but philanthropic member of the House of Commons, has inamed the 27th inst. for urging upon the ; .Government the necessity of alleviating the existing distress by some immediate and 'decisive measure of relief. Mr Ferrand but recently met a large deputation from the unemployed of Lancashire in Manchester, and after holding a convention, dined the whole company, numbenng some thirty persons, at his own expense. The premier, on his recent visit to Glasgow, received a deputation from the unemployed of this city, but accorded theraamuchless hospitable reception than Mr Ferrand— a mistake on the part of Lord Palmerston and the local coterie who advised him, which some friendly remembrancer on the Opposition benebfs, may make a trouble- ; reference to. An ugly feature connected NKath the hunger and cold suffered by tho poor tbjroughout the country is the prevalence of typhus f evi'er in Glasgow, London, and various of the LanI cUshire towns. In the metropolis the returns of r-^iis epidemic aro alarming, and Glasgow has been visited by no similar scourge for the last ten years. The fever wards of our recently extended infirmary nre crowded with lover cases, and the City Poorhousc is having its hospital space increased bj fever wards to accommodate sixty patients. "^TVhile dwelling upon tho dark side of the picture, it is impossible .to overlook the composure with which our working men regard the continuance of the American strife— held to be, of course theprime cause of the existing depression. Impressed with a conviction, which the more recent policy of President Lincoln confirms, that the struggle is inextricably mixed up with the emancipation of thf, blacks. Our hungry artisans are almost unoninlous in their approval of whatever will shake tM) strength of a " slaveholding" confederacy, and hire recently given some rather enthusiastic / ■ Sessions to their opinions. On the evening of ■ Ssday last a meeting was held in the Glasgow M Ados Hall to hear a lecture and discussion upon ■ policy, and at which strong Northern ■ *pathies were "expressed. Mr Smeal, Mr Paton, m | a fair array of local emancipationists were ■ lent; and Councillor Moir, of the Gallowgate, M 4ly amused and partly disgusted the audience ■ a fiery oration, in which he declared he should M i shed a single tear although the slaveholders M\e> massdered en masse by their black " chatr| i." While referring to the interest taken in r] lerican affairs by tho Scottish public, I may ' [■ ation that considerable bad feeling has been < I Ted up among local partisans by the escape of l M ew Confederate privateer, named the Virginia, 'fl n the Clyde. This vessel, reported to be ex- ; U M iD g l y Bwn?t nnd ver y stron S' is a beautifully , M delled long. low, and sharp screw steamer, which $M been constructed by the Dennys, of DumbariW> ostensibly for the Emperor of China, but • m lly for the Confederate Government. The , ■ mays deny complicity in any conspiracy to viomte the Queen'B proclamation ; but it has been BTed if they believed that the American gentle- ( B*i, with a strong Charleston accent, who superiMXjded the building of the vessel, was really ] {■A mperial mandarin, or if the young American i sflKi -who named the privateer looks like 1 '^ lestial" inmate cf the Pekin summer palace•■l iestenmerß appear destined to create a consi- < | I ble figure in the Confederate annals. The , | : of Clyde passenger boats now running the f I 1 tade with perfect impunity, must besides give . f reputation for speed to Clyde builders which iust attract customers from every quarter. The fid Arran boat, the Hero, has run the blockade 1 frith over one thousand bales of cotton, and has tiade a splendid run home for repairs. Tho Nep- 1 line, a very fleet boat, recently on the Rothe- ] Ivy passage, has been chased by Federal cruisers i I-ith about the same success as an elephant might £ fchieve in pursuit of an antelope. j I Partly owing to commissions for " the Emperor j If China," and partly owing to the improving leputation of the Clyde for first-class vessels, tot extraordinary energy is observable among the Jlyde builders, who are further promised some ' Wbvemment patronage in return for the loyal i • frntion pain to Lord Palmerston in his recent £ lirvcy of the Clyde building yards. The success < Ihich has attended the construction of turretted 1 Monitors pmploycd in the Federal navy has led to -, L», belief that ft similar olass of vessels will be ] for the defence of our own harbors, Bkfor the building of which the Clyde preA \ facilities nowhere surpassed. For the VA \;ion of your own distant harbors, no 1 device could be iallen upon than l Mj^Ht movable forts. The sad fate of the Orpheus < likely to scare away adventurous men- 1 ffwar from your coasts, until some reliable sur- i ■y of your harbors has. been completed. - The { ■cident which, befel this magnificent ship has s leated considerable comment upon the remis con- ' tct of our admiralty officials, for not supplying ( . le latest charts; but the blame which has fallen lon them, threatens to be removed to the . I Mers of a New Zealand harbor Su- j : I lendent, whose carelesness has been illus- ' I I, by en anecdote given in the ' r I Kindence .of a Glasgow paper, to the effect £ : I \ attempting to find the ) ocation of a sunken c .1 /eported by a vessel which had struck on it, t j j\uscated official had failed through benduig the I \ Aon the wrong end of the sounding line. ] I yv touching the dangers of your coast ? f ■ I may refer to the exceeding pau- | f the information winch reaches us regard- . \ c geographical and scenic features of your - • Ddean Eden.' Newspaper correspondents j . M «i • resolved on giving a rose-water hue to all ea* flfr write conceiaiiug the Fnrndise they have been f^ traDsported- to, while; ojv-the contrary, private 'jjUfitera gyre most forbiddablo accounts of tHo 1 ~ , jSiuthern- Brijtßin. ♦" -y r r ? "; i pt >' *~ " " v ' j -' '■ - I ' {To be continued.) i 1 - ' ' ■■)