It is to this point--the _inevitable_ reaction of agricultural distress upon commercial prosperity and the general resources of the empire, that we anxiously wish to direct our readers' attention. The theory of the Manchester school is, "Give us a sufficient amount of imports, and the exports will take care of themselves." They care not how widely they may prostrate the industry of the country, so as they get a profitable trade to themselves. But the point they have now to consider, _Can they secure this profitable trade to themselves_, if the industrial resources of this country--in other words, their customers' means of paying for their goods--are daily declining? That our _imports_ are constantly increasing, is true: it is what the Protectionists always predicted would be the case. But that increase is no index to national prosperity: on the contrary, it is the forerunner of national distress, because it implies a progressive supplanting of our own industry by that of foreigners. The following extract from the Returns for January 1850, ending 5th February 1850, will show how largely the productions of foreign countries are trenching upon those of our own:-- Month ending 5th Feb. 1849. 1850. Silk, thrown, lbs. 13,847 71,600 Sheep Wool, 1,212,993 1,957,632 Gloves, pairs, 159,776 270,091 Silk Broad Stuffs, 13,036 22,124 ---- Ribbons, 8,946 13,768 Potatoes, cwt. 6,793 190,511 Bacon, do. 2,537 8,036 Beef, do. 4,611 6,939 Pork, do. 2,038 6,308 It is the same with nearly all the other articles. How our manufacturers and artisans are to go on, any more than our farmers, striving against this prodigious and rapid increase of foreign importations, it is for them to say; but probably experience will, ere long, enlighten their understandings on this subject. Indeed this inevitable reaction of domestic distress in trade, as well as agriculture, against the Free Trade System, has already set in. We make the following extracts from the Circular of Messrs T. & H. Littledale & Co. of Liverpool, perhaps the greatest brokers in the world, for Monday 4th March 1850:-- Import of Cotton. From Jan. 1 to From Jan. 1 to March 5, 1849. March 5, 1850. Bales, 328,523 267,666 Sales of do. 464,070 368,950 Home consumption, 305,040 207,960 Stock at this date, 384,230 518,170 Here is a decline from 3 to 2 in all branches of the cotton trade, since the two first months of last year, _except in stocks_, in which there is an increase from 4 to 5¼. We recommend this to the attention of the gentlemen in Manchester who introduced the Free Trade System. We shall not imitate their example by saying it is a "Cotton Lord Question," with which the public generally has no concern.