London, 22 April 1852 

.. The chief industry, the cotton industry, is doing more 
splendidly than ever.* Despite the fact that the present cotton crop 
exceeds that of 1848/49 by 300,000 bales, cotton prices are rising 
both here and in America, so that American manufacturers have 
already bought 250,000 more bales than last year and manufactur- 
ers here are already beginning to maintain that even a crop of 3 
million bales would be insufficient for their needs. Up till now 
America has exported 174,000 bales more to England, 56,000 
more to France and 27,000 more to the rest of the Continent than 
she did last year (each season runs from | Sept. to 7 Apr.). On the 

4 Cf. this volume, pp. 82-83. 

one hand this prosperity explains how Louis Bonaparte can 
prepare at leisure for his bas-empire. The surplus of direct cotton 
imports into France between 1850 and 1852 now amounts to 
110,000 bales—302,000 against 192,000, i.e. more than 33%. On 
the other hand, it explains the flaccid condition of politics in this 
country. Given such prosperity, the Tories cannot, for their part, 
compete with the ‘blessings of Free Trade, even though they are at 
the helm, while the Free Travers for their part refrain from 
provoking political agitation because, so long as business is 
flourishing, the manufacturers do not want political upheavals and 
disturbances. The thriving state of the cotton industry is due 
chiefly to the Indian market, whence there has been good news 
for some time past—despite continuing colossal imports from 
England. This may be explained by the fact that in the territories 
most lately conquered by the English, Sind, the Punjab, etc., where 
native handicrafts have hitherto almost exclusively predominated, 
these are now finally being crushed by English competition. The 
last Indian crisis of 1847 and the concomitant sharp appreciation of 
English products in India may have contributed to this. This 
unexpected resilience of the Indian market, California, Australia, 
as well as the cheapness of most raw materials in the absence of 
any heavy speculation, give reason to suppose that the period of 
prosperity will be of exceptionally long duration. It may well be 
that the thing will last until the spring, etc., etc., etc...