by patent metallic bands, transport it to the coast, and there sell it by sample at public auction. The promoters of the company deprecate interfering with the functions of either the grower or the exporting merchant, but claim to stimulate the production of cotton by aiding the operations of both; of the grower by giving him a ready buyer on the spot, and enabling him to free himself from the usurious middleman, who at present buys his cotton; and of the merchant, by supplying the market with well-packed cotton of uniform quality, on the sample of which, exhibited in his offices, he could buy as confidently as is done on samples in the Liverpool market. It is assumed that as the European agents of the company would exercise discrimination in the selection of cotton, the growth of better qualities would be thereby encouraged, but in respect to the complaints of its generally inferior quality, it was explained that this was not owing so much to the accident of growth as to the deterioration and adulteration to which the cotton is subjected in its passage the present course of business from the hands of the grower to the exporting merchant. It is thought that many kinds of East India cotton would be made worth d. to d. per pound more in the Liverpool market through the operations proposed for this company.

in

STOCKS OF COTTON IN LIVERPOOL EACH MONTH DURING THE YEARS 1860 AND 1861. Stock of American

Total, 1860.

Cotton in 1861. Other Cotton.

Total, 1861.

A very novel and unprecedented event has just taken place at Liverpool. At that port no less than 15,000 bales of Surat cotton were last week exported to New-York-a proof that the "cotton famine" has already affected seriously the New-England States.

A few days since we had a stock of 950,000 bales, of which 680,000 bales were American. Then we had 300,000 bales of East India cotton at sea on the way here; in addition to which we may calculate on receiving 200,000 bales from there before the 1st of January, 1862. Some well-informed persons think it will be considerably more. Of Egyptian, Brazil and other cottons we received last year, from now till the end of the year, 70,000 bales; and under the stimulus of high prices I feel justified in assuming an import of 100,000 bales by the 1st of January, 1862. This would make our total supply up to the 31st of December next, 1,550,000 bales, from which deduct export, same as last year, 200,000 bales, leaves a supply available for home use of 1,400,000.

By the Bombay Exchange Price Current of July 27th last, it appears that the shipments of cotton to Great Britain are still progressive. For the first six months of 1861 the shipments of cotton from Bombay to Great Britain were 626,759 bales. For same months in 1860, 299,571

bales. The whole shipments of cotton from Bombay to Europe, from January 1, 1861, to July 23d, 1861, were 744,000 bales. In addition to this, it is computed that there were then at Bombay, in 22 ships loading, at least 44,000 bales, and 30,000 more ready for shipment. The aggregate for the first seven months of 1861 is 818,000 bales. The shipments to China had fallen off some thirty thousand bales. The new crop begins to appear in October, and has been stimulated by high prices.

Apropos to this vexed question, it will not be amiss to give you the significant remarks of a cotemporary, the London Shipping Gazette:

"We and our neighbors across the channel may suffer serious inconvenience from a short supply of cotton-a species of inconvenience which is in store for the mill-owners of Massachusetts as well as of Manchesterbut we are not going to add to the difficulty by involving ourselves in a naval war with the Northern States—a war in which it is very doubtful that we should have the co-operation of France. The present conflict in America will not be without its influence upon the future destinies of this country and of France, if it is learnt to distrust for the future the American source of the cotton supply, and to look to other regions for that which we have been accustomed to derive almost exclusively from the Southern States."

And the Times states that the wise policy of working short time as a precaution against the contingencies of the cotton supply, and of the glutted state of distant markets for manufactured goods, continues to make progress. According to the Manchester Guardian of this week, several spinning and weaving establishments at Staley bridge, Oldham, Preston, Blackburn, Burnley and Clitheroe, have limited their operations to four days a week.

Fires of late have been frightfully on the increase, and the rates of premium have been largely and suddenly advanced; let these heavy losses go on in the same ratio, and our underwriters urge that it will not be a question of merely raising the premium, but of whether certain descriptions of property will be insurable at all. What is wanted is a stringent building act, something like that which has made Liverpool what it is. Since that act (which unfortunately is only local) has come into operation there, about 900 warehouses have received certificates of having adopted the improvements required by it, and the result is, that the premium of insurance on these very premises has fallen from 35s. per cent. to 6s.

That fire insurance ought largely to increase there can be no doubt, and that it would largely increase were the enormous government duty to be entirely abolished, our companies believe, although on this subject there are differences of opinion, as will be seen by the following extract from the recent report of the Commissioners of Inland Revenue:

"The steady increase of the fire insurance duty is worthy of notice. It is very striking when viewed as representing the value of the property insured in the form of the following account:

The British government have for many years promoted commercial intercourse with foreign countries by means of extensive and liberal mail arrangements. It is now officially announced, that, with a view of affording to the public more frequent opportunities than at present exist for forwarding letters to Bermuda, it is intended in future to despatch a mail for Bermuda by each of the CUNARD packets proceeding to New-York. These extra mails will be conveyed from New-York to Bermuda by means of private ships, as opportunities offer. The postage upon letters forwarded by this route will be 9d. for a letter not exceeding half an ounce in weight, 1s. 6d. for a letter above half an ounce and not exceeding one ounce, 3s. for a letter above one ounce and not exceeding two ounces, and so on for heavier letters. This postage must be paid in advance, or the letters will be liable to an extra charge on delivery. Upon newspapers a postage of 1d. each must be prepaid. A like sum of 1d. will be collected on their delivery, to cover the United States' transit rate of postage.

The beneficial effects of extensive mail facilities by sea are every year more fully demonstrated, with the immense advantages to commerce from judicious government aid. The CUNARD Company are at present engaged in reorganizing their steam fleet, by the sale of some of their steam vessels and the construction of more powerful ones, furnished with all the modern improvements. A short time since the ETNA was sold to the Inman Company, and we have now to record the sale of the JURA to the Montreal Ocean Steamship Company, for the Canadian mail service. The JURA is a fine screw steamer, of about 2,200 tons and 400 horse-power, and did good service as a transport during the Crimean war. In the course of two or three months the CUNARD Company will have two new steamers completed, from the workshop of Messrs. ROBERT NAPIER & SON, which will probably be the finest specimens of their respective classes in existence. One is the SCOTIA, a paddle steamer, about 700 tons larger than the PERSIA, and the other the CHINA, Screw steamer. Both vessels are intended for the mail service between Liverpool and New-York.

The report of the select committee, appointed to consider the circumstances which induced the government to abrogate the Galway postal contract, has been laid before the House of Commons. The committee express their approval of the conduct of the Postmaster-General, but urge that, as the Atlantic Steamship Company will shortly be in possession of an efficient fleet of ships, they deserve the favorable consideration of the government, should it be deemed advisable to re-establish a postal service from Ireland to America.

Steamship-building on the Clyde is more active than before reported. Messrs. SCOTT & Co. have launched a screw, of 580 tons, named the LOUIS NAPOLEON, which is now being fitted with engines of 130 horsepower by the Greenock Foundry Company. She is built for a Marseilles firm, and is a sister ship to the COMTE BACCIOCHI and the ROI JEROME, constructed last year by the same builders for the same parties. Messrs. TOD & MACGREGOR, of Patrick, who recently launched a screw of 419 tons, have almost completed a similar steamer for the same parties, and they have an order for a third steamer for the same trade. The hopes of increased commercial intercourse with France, in consequence of the recent treaty, have induced the establishment of a new line of screw steamers, to run from Havre and Bordeaux to the Clyde. The steamers will leave every fortnight.

THE BOOK TRADE.

1. Hopes and Fears; or, Scenes from the Life of a Spinster. By the author of "The Heir of Redclyffe," &c. New-York: D. APPLETON & Co.

This last book of Miss YONGE's we consider decidedly unsuccessful. A religious novel which leaves an anti-religious impression, is a failure as a literary production and an offence to every thoughtful reader. The authoress has put cleverness at a discount, but has labelled dullness "Piety," and commands us to like it.

If we were as good as some of her model blockheads, we should be able to love the odious creature, just for being told so; not having arrived at that advanced stage of Christian culture, we only shake our heads at it, and ponder upon the confidential remark of a pert little friend, "I suppose sister MAG's a Christian, but she's so uglygood, I had as lief she wasn't." All the characters in this story are divided into the good and the bad-the sheep and the goats-with a strong fence of religious reserve between them. The goats are dancing, prancing, frisky little creatures; full of life and fun; always peeping through the fence; quite inclined to good-fellowship, and ready to jump over or creep under, upon the least encouragement. But the sheep stand in serried file, prepared to butt to the earth the first unwary victim who dares to invade the sanctity of their side, and they never stop crying, "Go away! go away! we are saints and you are sinners! go away! and don't blat through the bars, you disturb our meditations."

We like the goats, but the sheep bore us villainously, and, if we may be allowed to borrow our young friend's phraseology, we should characterize them thus: ROBERT, ugly-good; PHOEBE, stupid-good; PENDERGRAST, silly-good, and SPINSTER, sentimentalgood. The only one that is pleasant-good is HUMPHREY, and he, to prevent us from attaching ourselves to goodness in any form, is extricated from his mortal coil in an early chapter. Every one of them seems to be perfectly satisfied with his own spiritual condition; they have fortunes left them, and become popular in society and successful in love. As for the goats, poor wretches! they have a pitiful time enough; sickness, poverty, and banishment, the loss of friends and lovers, personal disfigurement and mental deterioration, are a few of the little casualties which befal them. From such premises we necessarily draw the conclusions that good people are dull, that wicked people are clever, and that the moral accounts of both are settled up each new year's, like a butcher's bill, and the proper recompense put into execution immediately thereafter. But we do not believe this, because it is directly opposed to our own experience, which, if not large, has yet been decided.

The wickedest people we know are those with the feeblest minds; the best people we know are those with the noblest intellects and deepest culture; and as for every one's getting what they deserve in this world, the simplest child knows better.

Neither do we think that Miss YONGE meant to teach such a lesson; the tenor of her former books is enough to indicate the opinions she holds; it is only her strong desire to make goodness attractive and evil repellant that has beguiled her into coaxing and scaring, and caused her to forget that such weak allies, "make truth suspected."

2. The Silent Woman. By the author of "King's Cope," &c. Boston: T. O. H. P. BURNHAM, New-York: SHELDON & Co.

The author of this novel shows far more talent than industry; the plot is passably good, the conception of one of the characters, (that of LENA,) is very charming, the conversations are sprightly, even brilliant at times, but the construction of the book is extremely negligent. The title has no apparent connection with the story, nor the majority of the mottoes with the contents of the chapters. The changes of time and place are made with ludicrous abruptness; for example, persons on the lawn are presently said to leave the room; people at supper suddenly begin to comment on the dullness of the morning; and a lady and gentleman in a drawing-room enter at once into a discussion about an equestrian upon the road in advance of them.

There is not a shred of deep feeling in the book, of any kind; not for want of occasion, truly, for there are two deaths in the first chapter, and half a dozen more before you arrive at the last; but then, as the author very aptly remarks, there is no use in describing this sort of thing, for those who have been through with it know, ah! too well, what it is, and to those who have not, words are a blank. It is no doubt a charity to spare the uninitiated, yet we cannot suppress the surmise that it may also have been a personal accommodation to the writer. It is a pity that one who can so well entertain his readers by his vivacity and wit, should be so very heedless; for the cleverness which he perhaps supposed would atone for all deficiencies, is, to a great extent, neutralized by his own indolence.

3. An Abstract of the Returns made to the Lords of the Committee of Privy Council for Trade, of Wrecks and Casualties which occurred on and near the coasts of the United Kingdom, from the 1st January to the 31st December, 1860, with a statement of the number of lives lost and saved; of the amounts granted out of the Mercantile Marine Fund as rewards for the salvage of life, for contributions towards the maintenance of life-boats, and for expenses in connection with the Mortar and Rocket Apparatus for saving life, during the same period; and a precis of the special inquiries instituted into the causes of such wrecks and casualties, by order of the Board of Trade, with charts.

This is an annual official report of great value. The wreck chart accompanying the report shows the locality of every casualty (including collisions) attended with loss of life, distinguishing the number of lives lost, and the direction of the wind in each case; showing also the present life-boat and rocket and mortar stations on the whole coast. That portion of the Irish channel approaching Liverpool indicates the largest number of losses. The approaches to the Thames, to the Bristol channel and to the river Thames are also prolific in heavy marine losses. In addition to the marine statistics of the year 1860, this Parliamentary document shows the comparative losses, partial losses, collisions, loss of life, insurance, for each year, 1852-1860, with a mass of valuable details. Some attempts have been made, in New-York, to prepare marine statistics of a similar character for the United States, but the efforts were not seconded by government or individual companies. The Treasury Department could, with advantage, prepare such statistics as a branch of commercial information. In the absence of governmental support the State of NewYork might inaugurate a system of commercial and marine statistics; and the marine insurance companies of this city would derive much advantage from such information after a series of years.

4. Explorations and Adventures in Equatorial Africa; with accounts of the manners and customs of the people, and of the chase of the gorilla, the crocodile, leopard, elephant, hippopotamus and other animals. By PAUL B. DU CHAILLU, corresponding member of the American Ethnological Society; of the Geographical and Statistical Society of New-York, and of the Boston Society of Natural History. With numerous illustrations. New-York: HARPER & BROTHERS. 1861.

M. CHAILLU exhibited the curious collection of natural history specimens exhibited about a year ago in this country. The wonderful stuffed specimens of the giant ape, the gorilla, whose very existence had almost been deemed a fable, and the curious kaloo kamba, the great ape that so imitates humanity in its habits, besides numerous other specimens of birds and beasts entirely unknown to naturalists, were trophies of the adventurous Frenchman's zeal, courage and perseverance. DU CHAILLU's explorations were made in a different direction from those of other African travellers, and his adventures are of the most interesting and exciting character. We have prepared for this number some curious extracts from this work in reference to the trade and commerce of Africa. (pp. 369-373.)

5. Tom Brown at Oxford. A sequel to "School Days of Rugby." Part 2. Boston: TICKNOR & FIELDS.

This excellent story gives a most faithful picture of English University life, and is told in a familiar, easy and natural style, and describes the career of hundreds of young Englishmen of the present day in the story of Toм BROWN and his fellow students. As a graphic description of English life, it is most excellent; and as a story quite interesting. The reader is pleased to learn that Tom at last, after many tribulations, is happily married to his true love, MARY PORTER.