Karl Marx

British Trade

Written around August 5, 1859.

From the English.

[New-York Daily Tribune, No. 5717, August 19, 1859, leading article]

The British Board of Trade has just published a statement of the exports for the first six months of this year, while its table of the declared values of imports covers only the five months up to May 31. On comparing the corresponding periods of 1858 and 1859, it will be seen that, with a few trifling exceptions not worth mentioning, British imports from the United States have generally declined, at least in value, while British exports to that country have increased both in quantity and in value. To illustrate this fact we have extracted the following tables from the official returns:

British Exports to the United States

in the six months ending June 30

Article | Quantity | Declared Value in £
---|---|---
1858 1858 | 1859
Cotton fabrics, yards | 60,150,771 | 110,360,198 | 1,031,724 | 1,924,951
Iron and steel wares, cwt. | 35,849 | 78,432 | 242,914 | 534,101
Linen, yards | 7,379,691 | 31,170,751 | 515,416 | 961,956
Pig iron, tons | 22,745 | 39,370 | 68,640 | 111,319
Ingots, bolts, bars | 21,463 | 56,026 | 175,944 | 457,384
Wrought iron | 9,153 | 19,368 | 113,436 | 238,903
Plates and nails, cwt. | 5,293 | 15,522 | 28,709 | 77,840
Lead, tons | 1,214 | 1,980 | 27,754 | 44,626
Oil (seed), gallons | 411,769 | 930,784 | 50,950 | 111,103
Silk manufactures, lbs | 47,101 | 134,470 | 51,277 | 144,413
Woollen cloth, pieces | 76,311 | 81,686 | 273,409 | 421,006
Woollen fabrics, various, yards | 13,897,331 | 30,893,901 | 562,749 | 1,183,859
do. Worsted goods, pieces | 185,129 | 489,171 | 229,981 | 758,914
Earthenware and porcelain | — | — | 168,927 | 279,407
Haberdashery and millinery | — | — | 456,364 | 861,921
Tin wares | — | — | 397,027 | 607,011

British Imports from the United States

in the five months ending May 31

Article 1859
---|---|---
Wheat | £371,452 | £7,013
Wheat and Indian corn meal | £693,847 | £14,666
Cotton (raw) | £11,631,523 | £10,486,418

The returns of British exports show in general an increase not only in comparison with 1858, but also in comparison with 1857, as will be seen from the following statement:

British Exports in the six months ending June 30

Declared Value

1857 1859
---|---|---
£60,826,381 | £53,467,804 | £63,003,159

On closer examination, however, it appears that not only is the total increase in the value of the exports of 1859 over those of 1857 due to the expansion of trade with India, but that the entire British export trade in 1859 — compared with 1857 — would have fallen off by more than £2,000,000 had not India more than made good the deficit. Consequently, all traces of the crisis of 1857 have not yet disappeared from the world market. The most important and surprising feature of the Board of Trade report is undoubtedly the rapid development of the British export trade to the East Indies. Let us first illustrate the fact by official figures:

Exports to British East India in the six months ending June 30

(in pounds sterling)

1856 1858 | 1859
---|---|---|---
Beer and ale | 210,431 | 130,213 | 474,438 | 569,398
Cotton fabrics, printed goods, etc. | 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
Iron and steel wares | 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 — Ingots, bolts, bars (except railway rails) | 506,201 | 228,838 | 166,321 | 172,725
Railway rails | — | 272,812 | 475,413 | 578,749
Wrought iron (except railway rails) | 266,355 | 217,484 | 192,711 | 242,213
Copper — unwrought | 62,928 | 34,139 | 9,018 | 51,690
Plates and nails | 144,218 | 228,325 | 318,301 | 203,213
Salt | 23,995 | 31,119 | 21,849 | 4,468
Stationery and paper wares | 60,495 | 79,968 | 88,425 | 89,711
Woollen cloth | 96,045 | 166,509 | 202,076 | 174,826
Total: | 4,872,307 | 5,625,080 | 7,966,930 | 10,065,767

Mindful of the fact that for about 16 years — from 1840 to 1856 — the British export trade to India was in general stationary, although there were occasional small rises above and at times perceptible falls below the average amount of £8,000,000, one is rather surprised that this stationary trade should have doubled in the short space of two years, and that this sudden increase should have taken place, moreover, during the period of a terrible uprising of the enslaved. The question whether this expansion of trade is due only to temporary circumstances or to a bona fide extension of Indian demand acquires a special interest from the present state of Indian finances, which compels the British Government to apply to Parliament for the authorisation of a new Indian loan in London, and which, at the same time, induces the London Times even to discuss the question whether, after all, it would not be better,

if England contented herself with the three old provinces and returned the other part of the peninsula to its native rulers.

The scanty materials before us render it impossible to arrive at a definitive judgement on the real character of the sudden expansion of the British export trade to India, but on the basis of all known facts we incline to the opinion that temporary circumstances have caused this trade to swell, so to speak, beyond its organic dimensions. In the first place, we cannot discover any particular upswing in British imports from India that could have led to the increase of exports to that country. There has, it is true, been an increase in some articles, but this is almost counterbalanced by a decline in others; and, taken all in all, the fluctuations in Indian exports are too slight to have caused, in any way, the sudden changes in India’s imports. The struggle against the insurgents may, however, have helped the English to explore provinces little known before, and the soldier may thus have paved the way for the merchant. Besides, there have been in recent years excessive imports and accumulation of silver in India, and even the Hindoo, somehow stirred by the excitements he has just passed through, may have repressed his passion for hoarding and to some extent taken to spending silver instead of burying it. We must not, however, attach too much weight to such hypotheses, since, on the other hand, the established fact of extraordinary government expenditure of about £14,000,000 a year is above all so obvious. This state of things, while amply explaining the sudden increase of English export trade to India, can hardly be considered as an augury of long continuance of this new movement. The most lasting effect will probably be the complete destruction of India’s native industry, since, as the reader will have seen from the last statistical statement, the increase of British exports to India is mainly owing to the intrusion of British cotton fabrics and cotton yarn. Excessive consignments of goods on the part of Manchester may, to a certain extent, also have helped to swell the figures of the British export statistics.