Although the fact has been continually noticed, it is impossible
to reject from the present elements of political calculation the ac- tual-state of trade, external commerce, and money matters in this country. Notwithstanding the advance of military preparations to a point at which the declaration of war would be a form prac- tically superfluous for ordinary public purposes, the manufao- taring districts continue to exhibit very much the same general ac- tivity that they have so long enjoyed, and principally in those trades that have relations with Australia and America. This testimony from the manufacturing districts is only in continuation, so to speak, of the returns just issued by the Board of Trade ; which show an increase of exports during the past year just a little short of sixteen millions sterling as compared with the preceding year, that year itself having been a year. of increase. The imports bear a corresponding proportion ; and that general diffusion of the increase which has been so frequently remarked is observable over the whole surface, denoting the universally prosperous condition of the people. The share of free trade in producing that condition is now a commonplace ; but the degree to which that condition has contributed to the present unanimous good feeling, and to the snbstantial resources of the country, ought not to be for a moment forgotten. Besides the fact of this prosperity, its continuance also is a great fact; and the steadiness of the Public Funds, Consols ranging above 91, shows how, in the sensitive heart of the money world, the confidence in the future continuance of the same pros- perity is still unabated.
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