A return has just been made, by order of parliament, which shews that
Liverpool is now the greatest port in the British Empire in the value of
its exports and the extent of its foreign commerce. Being the first port
in the British Empire, it is the first port in the world. New York is
the only place out of Great Britain which can at all compare with the
extent of its commerce. New York is the Liverpool of America, as
Liverpool is the New York of Europe. The trade of those two ports is
reciprocal. The raw produce of America, shipped in New York, forms the
mass of the imports of Liverpool; the manufactures of England, shipped
at Liverpool, form the mass of the imports of New York. The two ports
are, together, the gates or doors of entry between the Old World and the
New. On examining the return just made, it appears that the value of the
exports of Liverpool in the year 1850 amounted to nearly L.35,000,000
sterling (L.34,891,847), or considerably more than one-half of the total
value of the exports of the three kingdoms for that year. This wonderful
export-trade of Liverpool is partly the result of the great mineral
riches of Lancashire, Cheshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, and the
West Riding of Yorkshire; partly of the matchless ingenuity and untiring
industry of the population of those counties; partly of a multitude of
canals and railways, spreading from Liverpool to all parts of England
and the richest parts of Wales; partly to Liverpool being the commercial
centre of the three kingdoms; and partly to the fact that very nearly
L.12,000,000 have been expended in Liverpool, and more than L.12,000,000
in the river Mersey, in converting a stormy estuary and an unsafe
anchorage into the most perfect port ever formed by the skill of man. On
comparing the respective amounts of the tonnage of Liverpool and London,
it appears at first impossible to account for the fact that the shipping
of Liverpool is rather less than that of London, while its export-trade
is much more than twice as great. The explanation of this fact is, that
the vessels employed in carrying the million or million and a half of
tons of coal used in London, appear in the London return; while the
canal and river flats, to say nothing of the railway trains, employed in
carrying the million and a quarter of tons of coal used or employed in
Liverpool, do not. State the case fairly, and the maritime superiority
of Liverpool will be found to be as decided as is its commercial. We
ought also to add, that while the Custom-house returns for 1850 give
Liverpool only 3,262,253 tons of shipping, the payment of rates to the
Liverpool Dock Estate in the twelve months ending June 25, 1851, gives
3,737,666 tons, or nearly 500,000 tons more. Comparing the rate of
increase of the exports of Liverpool with that of other ports, it
appears that Liverpool is not only the first port in the kingdom, but
that it is becoming more decidedly the first every year. During the last
five years the increase of the exports of Liverpool has been from
26,000,000 to nearly 35,000,000, while that of London has been from
little less than 11,000,000 to rather more than 14,000,000. The exports
of Hull--which is undoubtedly the third port of the kingdom--though
still very large, have rather declined, having been L.10,875,870 in
1846, and not more than L.10,366,610 in 1850. The exports of Glasgow,
now the fourth port of the empire, shew a fair increase, from
L.3,024,343 to L.3,768,646. No other port now sends out exports of the
value of L.2,000,000 a year, though Southampton comes near to
L.2,000,000, and Cork passes L.1,000,000.--_Liverpool Times_.