The full text on this page is automatically extracted from the file linked above and may contain errors and inconsistencies.
H U N T ’S M E R C H A N T S ’ M A G A Z IN E . FEBRUARY, 1841. A r t . I.— A M ERICAN STEA M N A V IG A T IO N . T he growing importance o f navigation by steam in this country, and the direct bearing which it exercises upon the various interests o f our com m erce, induce us to devote the present paper to a consideration o f the progress and influence o f this newly discovered power. In accord, ance with that plan, w e shall trace the origin o f the invention from its first dawning to its full development, and attempt to sketch the physical and moral consequences that it will produce upon the nation. In exact proportion to the extension o f political freedom and the diffu. sio» of popular intelligence, has been the advance o f invention in the useful arts, or those arts which are calculated to bestow practical benefits upon the great bulk of men. As political power has been diffused among, the great mass of men, the human mind has been directed to those inven tions that were calculated to confer solid benefits upon the mass. Among: the most important o f these useful inventions is the discovery o f the ma riner’s compass, the arts o f printing and cotton spinning, and last o f allf the science of navigation by steam, everywhere displaying its triumphs upon the rivers, the lakes, and the oceans of the world, the crowning vic tory o f the mechanical philosophy o f this nineteenth century. It was in this country that the genius which perfected this discovery first burst forth into full strength. By the generous and then judicious legislation o f the state of New York, that genius was fostered until it brought forth the discovery in its full practical success. It was from the crowded shores o f its metropolis that the first successful steamboat was launched, and around the cultivated fields and picturesque hills and blue headlands and bays and islands of this port, that its fabrics first played. It was upon the rivers o f this state, and the lakes that wash its further most shores, that the most elegant models o f steamships have been con structed, and here it has performed its most glorious triumphs. T o the state o f New York, with one side resting on the sea and the other upon the great lakes, with Niagara thundering upon its western boundaries, and its eastern sea-coast serenaded by the roar o f the ocean j this empire VOL. iv.—N O . II. 14 106 American Steam Navigation. within itself, combining agricultural and commercial advantages in a re markable degree, with a population for the most part sprung from the New England hive, moulded, in due proportions, with other elements,— a population distinguished for its enterprise, liberality, and perseverance to New York, holding in its right hand the trident o f the waters, and in the left the plough o f the western prairies, belongs the fitting credit of first setting afloat this power— the crowning glory o f its commercial victories. Our broad and fertile empire is enriched by channels o f commerce, that intersect the territory and surround its coast. The eastern sea-board, from Maine to the capes o f Florida, embracing numerous productive states, is washed by the waves o f the Atlantic, and this line o f coast is indented at frequent points with convenient and safe harbors, for shipping from every foreign port. The rivers rising east o f the Alleghany Moun tains, constituting about one hundred in number, course nearly the whole extent o f our Atlantic states, and are, in a great measure, navigable. In New England we find the Penobscot, the Kennebeck, the Merrimack, the Connecticut, and the Thames, winding through a very extensive tract o f country, and furnishing avenues for commerce from a convenient distance in the interior to their outlets upon the sea. Advancing from that section o f the country to New York, we meet the Hudson, taking its rise in the neighborhood o f Lake Champlain, and flowing for the distance o f two hundred and fifty miles in nearly a straight line, through rich plain and cloud-crowned highland, along village and through valley, adorned with the beauties of nature and art, from whose borders the blue mountains swell and sweep away like the most gorgeous creations o f the pencil, bearing the tide of a fruitful commerce through a channel o f one hundred and fifty miles, from the political capital of this great state to the broad bay that expands before us. The Delaware soon meets our view, a river navigable for steam-vessels o f the largest class to Philadelphia, and thence to Trenton. The Patapsco is now reached, which flows to the port o f Baltimore. The Potomac, springing from the Alleghany Mountains, and broadening to an extent o f seven and a half miles at its entrance into the Chesapeake Bay, itself an inland sea, is ploughed by ships o f the largest class to the city o f Washington, a point about one hundred and three miles from its mouth. The Rappahannock, the York, the James, the Ro anoke, the Pamlico, the Ashley and Cooper, the Savannah, the Apalachi cola, and the Mobile, each affording channels for steam navigation, water the most fertile portions o f the south. W e proceed to the western border o f our state, and a chain of inland seas, the largest upon the earth, spreads itself out for thousands o f miles, through luxuriant forests, from the shores o f New York, beyond Mackinaw, to the granite-bound cliffs o f Lake Su perior. Starting from Pittsbui-g, at the base o f the Alleghany Mountains, we sail along the Ohio, in a course o f nine hundred and forty-five miles, where its flood mingles with the Mississippi, and here the father o f waters is unfolded in all its grandeur. Stretching from New Orleans to St. Louis, a distance o f nearly twelve hundred miles, it is met by the Mis souri, that opens an uninterrupted navigation for two thousand five hun dred and thirty-two miles, from its mouth to the falls which obstruct it. Besides this grand tributary, the Mississippi receives the Illinois, the Red River, the Arkansas, the White River, and numerous other navigable streams that have not been described, and which wind far away into the American Steam Navigation. 107 interior, furnishing safe channels for the transportation o f its products. These are some of the most important commercial arteries o f this vast empire— the field upon which the steam navigation o f the country is destined to a ct! The expansive power o f steam was early ascertained. Hero, o f Alex andria, an individual who, in the reign o f Ptolemy Philadelphus, was dis tinguished for his scientific attainments, describes, in a work entitled Spiritalia, a machine which he had invented long before the Christian era, for the purpose o f ejecting boiling water from a globe through a pipe, by this power. That instrument, however, appears not to have been applied to any beneficial purpose, but was used for mere amusing experiments, and it is a somewhat remarkable fact, that the philosopher attributes to the agency of steam the mysterious music which is said to have broken forth every day from the statue of Memnon, at the rising o f the sun. In the royal archives of the city o f Salamanca, a record is alleged to have been lately discovered, purporting to be an account o f a vessel which was propelled by steam in the port o f Barcelona, during the year 1543, under the auspices of Blasco de Garay, an "officer in the service o f the Emperor Charles. W e are informed that the engine consisted o f a large tank o f boiling water, acting upon moveable wheels on each side o f the vessel, and that its action was witnessed by a large concourse o f spectators, but that the obtuseness of that age gave no encouragement to the invention, and the machine was broken up. A statement founded upon an unau thenticated record should, we conceive, be received with scrupulous dis trust ; but if its truth is established, it exhibits the first recorded account o f navigation by steam. Cardan and Mathesius, two mechanical philosophers, who flourished about the year 1571, appear also to have been acquainted with the power o f steam. The former has given us ample evidence that he possessed a shadowy conviction that this agent might be applied to a machine somewhat similar to a modern steam-engine, while the latter hasshown to us that he was acquainted with the fact that its condensation would produce a vacuum. At this early period the turnspit dog, which is known to have been formerly employed in the culinary department o f our own country, had been invented, and it was at that time proposed to sub stitute for its use the whirling eolipile, an instrument formed for the pur pose o f exciting the force o f combustion. Baptista Porta, a Neapolitan, who attracted some attention at the close o f the sixteenth century, and De Causas, devoted their attention to the same object, and invented instru ments for the raising o f boiling water by steam, which were well known in their own day. Thus far the power o f steam was exclusively employed for the purpose o f lifting water, and continued so to be used until the time o f Brancas. This man, an Italian by birth, first proposed to direct the blast issuing from the pipe o f the eolipile upon the leaves o f a wheel, which might produce a rotary motion, and thus move machinery; and in this sug gestion we discern the germ o f that locomotive power which is now pro ducing such important revolutions in mind and matter. The suggestion o f Brancas was, however, improved by Bishop Wilkins, and Kircher, who proposed to apply two eolipiles to the same design; and we are now led to a consideration of the mechanical labors of the Marquis o f Worcester. The English claim for that nobleman the merit o f having first applied the power o f steam to useful purposes, and allege that all the plans afterwards 108 American Steam Navigation. successively adopted for the practical application o f this agent to bene ficial objects, were derived from Iris inventive genius. That Worcester, endowed with a distinguished genius for mechanical philosophy, did make valuable experiments with this agent in its direction to hydraulic purposes, and actually formed in his mind the airy outline o f a steam-engine, if he did not construct the machine, it is difficult to deny. In a manuscript journal of the Grand Duke o f Tuscany, Cosmo de Medicis, who, in 1656, journeyed through a part of England, the following remarks may be found :— “ His highness,” says the duke, “ that he might not use the day uselessly, went again after dinner to the other side of the city, extending his excursions as far as Vauxhall, beyond the palace o f the Archbishop o f Canterbury, to see an hydraulic machine, invented by my Lord Somer set, the Marquis o f Worcester. It raises water more than forty geomet rical feet, by the power o f one man only, and in a very short space o f time will draw up four vessels o f water through a tube or channel not more than a span in width.” A project for the construction o f some sort o f a steam-engine appears to have been struggling in his mind long before his death, although the particular form o f the machine cannot now be clearly ascertained. Alluding to this machine, he says, “ By this I can make a vessel o f as great burden as the river can bear, to go against the stream, and this engine is applicable to any vessel or boat whatsoever, without being therefore made on purpose, and worketh these effects. It roweth, it draweth, it driveth, if need bo, to pass London Bridge against the stream, at low water.” Although Denys Papin, a French protestant, had invented the safety valve as early as 1680, the power o f steam was not applied to any very advantageous result until the time of Savary. Early employed in the mines o f Cornwall, and aware o f the great expense required to keep them free from water, this person, chancing to he at a tavern in London, and throwing into the fire a Florence flask containing a small quantity o f wine, per ceived the wine to boil, and vapor issuing from the neck, while the inte rior became transparent. Seizing the flask, and plunging the end into a basin o f water, a vacuum having been formed by the condensation o f the steam, the water rushed in to occupy the vacant space.* The principle discovered by this experiment was immediately applied to the raising o f water from the mines; and the labor o f animals was thus superseded. The inventor, it appears, even proposed to apply the water used in his vessel to the turning o f the water-wheel. W e pass over the improvements made in the application o f the steam power by Newcomen and Cawley, and the gradual and solid labors o f James Watt, who brought the steamengine to great perfection, producing in it, as he first did, a sufficient power for the navigation o f a ship. Nor is it designed here to describe the labors o f Genevoix and the Comte de Auxiron, who made several at tempts, the former in 1759, and the latter in 1774, to apply the power o f steam to vessels without success. These enterprises were succeeded, in 1775, by similar efforts of the elder Perrier, who was afterwards instru mental in introducing steam-engines into France. A claim has been set up in England to support the patent o f Jonathan Hull for the application o f steam to navigation, on the ground o f a patent which was granted to him in 1736. This claim is found to be entirely * See Ilod gc, on the steam-engine, a new work, now in the press of D. Appleton & Co American Steam Navigation. 109 without foundation, the steam-engine at that period not having arrived to sufficient perfection to be used as a motive power. A steamboat is said also to have been constructed upon the Thames, by Prince Rupert, the action o f which, we are informed, was probably witnessed by Papin, Savary, and W orcester ; and as early as 1781 a steam-vessel, one hundred and fifty feet long, was launched upon the Saone, preparatory experiments having been made during the three years previous at Baume les Dames. The performance o f that boat was, however, so successful, that it received a favorable report from the French Academy o f Sciences. Down to this period the application o f steam to vessels was merely experimental, no signal success having been obtained ; and from that time we are to look to this country for the full development of that mighty power. Down to the year 1783, the steam-engine, gradually improved by the inventive genius o f successive machinists, had been applied with success to other objects than navigation, but was not used as a locomotive power with any considerable advantage. During that year Mr. James Rumsey, o f Berkeley county, Virginia, and John Fitch, a watchmaker, o f Philadel phia, directed their efforts to the application o f steam to the purposes o f navigation. These efforts were successful in enabling them to construct steamboats, patents o f which were exhibited during the succeeding year to General Washington. Mr. Rumsey first perfected his plan to a con dition for exhibition, while Fitch was successful in applying his power to practical purposes, by first launching a steamboat upon the waters o f the Delaware. The boat employed by Mr. Fitch was propelled through the water by a system o f paddles at the rate o f about four miles an hour, and he soon adopted the precaution to send to Watt and Bolton a plan o f his apparatus, for the purpose o f obtaining an English patent from London. Rumsey, who in 1786 was successful in floating his boat upon the Poto mac, used a pump that drew in water at the bow and forced it out at the stern ; a system o f propulsion which at any time must have failed. Nor were the public unwilling to discountenance the genius and enterprise o f Fitch ; for, on the 19th o f March, 1787, an act was passed by the legis lature o f New York, granting to John Fitch the sole and exclusive right o f making and using every kind o f boat or vessel impelled by steam, in all creeks, rivers, bays, and waters, within the territory and jurisdiction o f New York, for fourteen years. While such efforts were made in this country, a portion o f the scientific genius o f Europe was devoted to the same subject. Miller, o f Dalswinton, in Scotland, having substituted for paddles a triple vessel impelled by wheels, soon found that the application o f human labor to turn the crank was insufficient for the propulsion o f his vehicle ; and profiting by the suggestion o f a friend, he applied the steamengine to that purpose, and was successful in propelling a boat at consid erable speed upon the Forth and Clyde canal. Symington, a former en gineer o f Miller o f Dalswinton, directed his talents to the same object, not only upon the rivers, but the sea, and made successful experiments upon the Forth and Clyde canals, with a similar boat. Nor would we pass over the claims o f Oliver Evans, early an apprentice to a wheelwright. In 1786, this individual petitioned the legislature o f Pennsylvania to grant him the exclusive right to use “ steam-wagons” in that state, and in the succeeding year obtained from the legislature of Maryland a patent, giv ing to him the right o f making and using steam-wagons for the period o f fourteen years. Nor would we abate from him any portion o f the just 110 American Steam Navigation. fame that is his due, for having, in the year 1801, constructed a dredging machine for the corporation o f Philadelphia, weighing forty-two thousand pounds, which was conveyed the distance o f a mile and a half to the river by the power o f a steam-engine, launched and propelled by its own paddlewheel in the stern, driven down the Schuylkill to the Delaware, and up the Delaware to the city o f Philadelphia, and back, in the presence of a crowd of witnesses. Steam navigation, as afterwards applied, had not as yet been discovered. Contemporaneous efforts, as we have seen, had been made in this country and Europe, directed to the same subject. Meanwhile other efforts were in progress, within the country, for the advancement o f navigation by steam. Mr. John Stevens, o f Hoboken, a gentleman whose name stands conspicuous in the history o f steam naviga tion, and to whom, with his son, we are indebted for the most beautiful models that float upon our waters, had as early as 1791 commenced his experiments in the cause, quietly toiling, through his agents, in his workshops, situated upon his patrimonial estate at Hoboken, and had also struck out new light upon the subject which was the engrossing topic o f thought among the prominent mechanical philosophers o f that day. Associated with Mr. Robert R. Livingston, a former eminent chancellor o f the state o f New York, Nesbitt, a native o f England, and Brunei, now well known as the engineer o f the tunnel upon the Thames, they had ap plied their powers to this project with great zeal, and in furtherance of their plan succeeded, in 1797, in constructing a boat upon the Hudson. Impressed with the conviction that navigation by steam was practicable, and would be successfully introduced upon the waters o f this country, and in order to enable those who were advancing in the labor to reap the benefit if their experiment was successful, Mr. Livingston procured to be passed, by the legislature o f New York, an act, bearing date the 27th o f March, 1798, on the suggestion that John Fitch, the original patentee, was dead, or had withdrawn from the state; which act, on tbe statement made by him that he possessed a mode o f applying the steam-engine to propel a boat upon new and advantageous principles, gave him the right o f the exclusive navigation o f the waters o f New York by steam for twenty years, on the condition that he should produce a boat, within the period o f one year, that could be propelled at the rate o f three miles per hour ; but this he failed in doing, and the grant was accordingly made o f no effect. Two years afterwards, Mr. Livingston and Mr. Stevens, aided by Mr. Roose velt, entered upon renewed efforts to effectuate the same object; the in strument o f propulsion being a system o f paddles that were set in motion like a horizontal chain-pump. Their experiments were, however, attend ed with but poor success ; their joint efforts being soon determined by the appointment o f Chancellor Livingston to represent our government at the court o f France. Yet neither Mr. Livingston or his coadjutor were dis couraged. They both still toiled on, the one in Paris and the other in Hoboken, to advance the great work. During this period, there arose upon the horizon a name that will be forever identified with the progress o f steam navigation throughout the world. Born in the interior o f the state o f Pennsylvania, when that por tion o f the state was a silent wilderness, humble in his origin, if lowliness is the part o f obscurity and indigence, with a genius for drawing and painting early developed, by the exercise of which he had procured for himself, in the city o f Philadelphia, the means o f subsistence, purchased a American Steam Navigation. Ill farm and settled upon it with filial affection his aged mother, before he had attained his majority, we find Robert Fulton, in the year 1786, embarked for England, and living in the family o f Benjamin West, the painter ; un der whose auspices he practised his favorite art, and at the same time en gaged in a correspondence with the Earl of Stanhope. Dividing his time between the labors o f the pencil and projects directed to the purposes o f internal improvement, upon which subject he published a treatise in the city o f London, we find Mr. Fulton, inspired by ambition, casting about for chances to display his undoubted talents. From the house o f Mr. West, Fulton removed to that o f Joel Barlow, and pursued the studies seemingly the best fitted to his views, under the auspices o f that distinguished man. At this period his mind appears to have been especially directed to the subject o f steam navigation ; and having succeeded in performing several ingenious experiments, the principal o f which was the invention o f a sub marine boat and bombs, afterwards named torpedoes, by which, in 1801, he blew into fragments a small shallop which was anchored in the harbor o f Brest, in the presence o f a commission ordered by Napoleon, he for tunately here met Mr. Livingston, the American minister. The communion o f minds so congenial soon ripened into friendship. Being both interested in the same object, the one distinguished for his science and accomplishments, and the other for his practical and experi mental sense, they were soon determined to co-operate in advancing the progress of the cause which was so deeply moving the minds o f men. By mutual counsel and joint effort, a steamboat was launched upon the Seine during the spring o f 1803, in the presence o f numerous spectators, and performed so well that they were encouraged to persevere. It had long been the opinion o f Mr. Fulton, an opinion based upon a series o f philosophical inductions, and originally expressed to the Earl o f Stanhope, that wheels with paddles, or floats, were the proper instruments for the propulsion of steamships, and that opinion was confirmed by the ex periment that had then been successfully performed on the Seine. More vigorous measures were soon adopted, both by Mr. Livingston and Mr. Fulton, for the prosecution of their joint plan, and it was determined to transfer the field o f their experiments from France to the United States. An engine was accordingly procured to be made from the workshops of Messrs. Watt & Bolton, near Birmingham. By the influence o f Mr. Livingston, a new act, granting to himself and Mr. Fulton the right o f the exclusive navigation o f the waters of New York, by steamboats, for the period o f twenty years, was procured to be passed; and in the spring of 1807, a steamboat called the Clermont was launched from the shipyard of Mr. Charles Brown, and moved by her machinery to the Jersey shore. On the day appointed for her departure, a crowd collected to witness what most men believed would, at that time, result in a useless experi ment. As the boat moved slowly from the bank, the more amiable part o f the spectators merely shrugged their shoulders in distrust, while the rest cast out their sarcastic remarks lavishly upon the enterprise; and it was not until they had learned that the boat had sailed along the Hudson to the white spires o f Albany, at the rate o f five miles an hour, that their jests were changed to acclaiming shouts of exultation. Meantime, the elder Stevens, who had been early associated with Mr. Livingston in the same object, aided by his son, had nearly perfected a steamboat; and, but a fortnight after the trip o f Fulton, having been shut out from the 112 American Steam Navigation. waters o f New York by the exclusive grant to Livingston and Fulton, succeeded in propelling a steamboat around the coast to the Delaware, and was accordingly the first to adventure upon the ocean with a steam vessel. Whatever might have been the value o f other experiments in steam enginery, and they were o f great importance as facilitating the grand re sult, it is clearly by Fulton that the power o f steam was first applied to the practical purposes o f navigation, and in that form which is now prin cipally used for the propulsion o f ships. In measuring the amount of cre dit due to him for this discovery and successful experiment, we are to con sider, not what others might have done, but what he did. Rumsey, Mil ler, Worcester, and Watt,— Fitch, Stevens, and Evans,— might, with the proper appliances and means, have performed successfully the same ex periment. But the probable result o f their efforts is left to mere conjec ture. It was reserved for Fulton to demonstrate the power by a practical experiment, and in accordance with this experiment, to establish the first line o f steamboats upon the Hudson. And what was the condition of the country at that time ? It was just in that position that it required precisely such an agent for its commerce as that o f steam. Broad in territorial extent, peopled by colonies widely separated, and each possessing distinct sectional principles and opinions, and wdth unmeasured tracts o f land in the interior o f exhaustless fertility, inviting the labors o f the plough,— the agency o f such a power as that of steam navigation was requisite to connect its remote parts by a mutual intercourse ; to afford markets for the fruits of agricultural enterprise ; and thus to advance colonization and production. Our Atlantic sea-board was at that time but poorly provided with the capricious vehicles o f a limited commerce, worked entirely by sails. The rivers that watered the interior o f the country were ploughed only here and there by a strag gling. sloop or shallop, that was dependent upon the state of the winds and the tides ; and their banks presented a few scattering settlements that were then more estranged from each other on account o f the limited means o f intercommunication. At the west, from the city o f Buffalo to the banks o f the Missouri, there was stretched out a vast and silent wil derness, burdened with the luxuriance o f exhaustless but undeveloped re sources, whose twilight gloom was broken only at wide intervals by the curling smoke of the log house or the light o f the Indian camp-fire. The fresh tracks of the buffalo were yet seen upon the prairies of Illinois, and the deer, undisturbed by man, cropped the green herbage that was scat tered in lavish profusion upon its waving solitudes. The inland seas o f the northwest were scarcely ruffled by the keels o f commerce. The pirogue or canoe o f the French fur-trader, and the bark o f the Indian, as he paddled through the glassy waters around their headlands, and the frail shallop which sometimes struggled onward through the forest upon its yet lonely course, were the only vehicles that divided their waves. The navigation o f the Ohio and the Mississippi was, if possible, in a less ad vanced condition. A few feeble settlements had been made in what now constitutes the great state o f Ohio. Four keel-boats, each o f twenty tons, and occupying one month in going and returning, performed all the car rying trade between Cincinnati and Pittsburg. Although, at different points above New Orleans, the sycamores and magnolias had been cleared away for the sugar or the cotton plantation, the main portion o f that fertile American Steam Navigation. 113 alluvion was a trackless forest. The keels and flat-boats used for the com merce of that river were re’quired to be propelled by poles, or dragged by ropes through the tangled undergrowth and miry swamps which border it, tracts inhabited only by the snake and the alligator; and four months were frequently required to make the journey against the current between Pitts burg and New Orleans. The flat-boats that were used for the transportation o f emigrants and their merchandise from Pittsburg to New Orleans, often occupied a month in passing down to the latter place, and seldom returned. In order to judge o f the luxurious modes o f communication that then pre vailed, and so strongly contrasted with the palaces which now float by hundreds upon the western lakes and rivers, we quote the following ad vertisement relating to the four keel-boats which plied, in 1794, between Cincinnati and Pittsburg. “ No danger need be apprehended from the enemy,” says the Centinel o f the Northwestern Territory, of January 11th, 1794, “ as every person on board will be under cover, made proof against rifle or musket balls, and convenient portholes for firing out of.” A suf ficient inducement was thought to be furnished for travel by the provision o f bullet-proof walls, and convenient portholes, for firing at those Indians who might attack the boat or be seen upon the bank. Such was the con dition o f the navigation o f the country when Fulton first launched his steam-vessel upon the Hudson ! W e recur to Fulton, with his first steamboat, and relate the history of his voyage, in the words o f the projector. “ I left New York,” says Fulton, “ on Monday, at one o ’clock, and arrived at Clermont, the seat of Chancellor Livingston, at one o ’clock on Tuesday: time, twenty-four hours; distance, one hundred and ten miles. On Wednesday, I departed from the chancellor’s at nine in the morning, and arrived at Albany at five in the afternoon: distance, forty miles; time, eight hours. The sum is one hundred and fifty miles, in thirty-two hours ; equal to near five miles an hour. On Tuesday, at nine o ’clock in the morning, I left A l bany, and arrived at the chancellor’s at six in the evening. I started from thence at seven, and arrived in New York at four in the afternoon : time, thirty hours ; space run through, one hundred and fifty miles,— equal to five miles an hour. Throughout my whole way, both going and re turning, the wind was ahead; no advantage could be derived from my sails; the whole, therefore, has been performed by the power o f the steamengine. The power o f propelling boats by steam is now fully proved. The morning I left New York there were not, perhaps, thirty persons in the city who believed that the boat would ever move one mile an hour, or be o f the least utility ; and while we were putting off from the wharf, which was crowded with spectators, I heard a number o f sarcastic re marks. Having employed much time, money, and zeal, in accomplishing this work, it gives me, as it will give you, great pleasure to see it fully answer my expectations. It will give a cheap and quick conveyance to the merchandise on the Mississippi, Missouri, and other great rivers, which are now laying open their treasures to the enterprise of our countrymen. Although the prospect o f personal emolument has been some inducement to me, yet I feel infinitely more pleasure in reflecting on the immense advantage that my country will derive from the invention.” * Soon after this event, the Clermont plied as a regular boat between * See Life o f Robert Fulton, by Cadwallader D. Colden. VOL. IV.----NO. I. . 15 114 American Steam Navigation. New York and Albany. But notwithstanding the immense advantage derived to the public from the invention of Fulton, his path was over shadowed with clouds and darkness. The new boat was deemed an in terloper, and came into competition with established lines o f packets. Its rivals supposed that the introduction o f the newly-discovered agent would break up the sloops worked by sails which had hitherto performed the carrying trade upon that river. Intentional collisions between the sail and steam boats, plying between the two ports, were not unfrequent. In 1809, Mr. Fulton took out the first patent for his invention; and, although during the previous year a law had been passed by the legislature o f New York, extending to Mr. Livingston and Mr. Fulton the privilege that had been previously granted, namely, enlarging the term of the grant to a period of five years for every boat they should successfully establish, provided that the duration o f the grant should not exceed thirty years from the passage of the law, the grantees continued to meet with so much op position, that a supplementary act was passed, granting to them summary remedies against those whom they claimed were infringing upon their vested rights. A particular account o f that complex series o f litigation which grew out o f the establishment o f Fulton’s line would he tedious. A company was formed in Albany, and through their agency a rival line was run upon the Hudson, on the ground o f the unconstitutionality o f the grant to Livingston and Fulton, giving to them the exclusive right of nav igating by steam the waters o f New York. The grantees, Messrs. Liv ingston and Fulton, believing that their grant was legal and valid, soon made application to the Circuit Court o f the United States for an injunction to prevent the infringement o f the right vested in them by the law ; but the court said they had no jurisdiction o f the case. Resort was now had to the Court of Chancery o f the state, (Mr. Lansing presiding,) and the prayer o f the petitioners was refused on the ground o f the invalidity o f the state grant. An appeal was then taken to the Court of Errors o f this state, comprised, when sitting on an appeal in chancery, o f the senate o f the state and five judges of the Supreme Court. That appeal was enforced by the fervid and feeling eloquence o f a man well known throughout this state— Cast off like-a vigorous tree from the Emerald Isle, scorched by the thunderbolt of political proscription, and transplanted to this land o f freedom, where its verdant branches shot forth with luxuriant growth and abundant fruit; a man whose bright career exhibits a splendid commenta ry, not only upon his own patriotism in behalf o f an oppressed country, but upon the generous sympathy o f our own, the asylum o f the unfortu nate ; a man whose intellectual efforts were the pure emanations o f a mighty, ardent, and upright soul;— Thomas Addis Emmet, whose melan choly countenance now looks forth in marble, like the embodied spirit of his down-trodden land, from our halls o f justice, which he illuminated by his genius, and from the garden o f St. Paul’s church, upon the thronging multitudes o f the city whose adopted son he was. By the agency o f this gentleman, together with others o f equal talents, the decision o f the chan cellor was reversed, and a perpetual injunction, backed by a popular sen timent, that is always disposed to give solid merit its due reward, was granted. A compromise was however soon effected between the antago nist parties, that prevented any further agitation of the question until the year 1814. At this period, individuals in the neighboring states o f Connecticut and American Steam Navigation. 115 New Jersey, feeling themselves aggrieved by the legislation o f New York excluding their vessels from its waters, procured to be passed retaliatory acts prohibiting the steam-vessels o f New York from the navigation o f their own territories; and among the most conspicuous o f these was Colonel Aaron Ogden, then governor o f the state last named. In his me morial, presented to the legislature o f New-York in 1814, he claimed that he was the proprietor o f an “ ancient and accustomed ferry” between Elizabethtown Point and this city, upon which the establishment o f a line o f steamboats would tend greatly to the public accommodation; and that he possessed the clear right to propel steam-vessels to this port, under a patent and coasting license from the United States, and also as the repre sentative of John Fitch, and the assignee o f all rights claimed by him un der the state grant made to Fitch, and the patent issued out to him by the United States, as the inventor o f navigation by steam. The memorial was submitted to a select committee o f the assembly, o f which Mr. William Duer, now the president o f Columbia College, was the chairman. Nu merous witnesses were examined in order to the establishment o f the facts of the case. After due deliberation, the committee in effect declared by their report that the steamboats constructed by Messrs. Livingston and Fulton had been formerly patented to John F itch; that Fitch or his as signee had the right to the use o f his invention during the term o f his patent, and that the use then fell to the public ; and that the exclusive legislation of the state of New York in favor of Messrs. Livingston and Fulton was unconstitutional and oppressive. The senate o f this state, however, rejected the bill, and Mr. Ogden then appealed to the legislature of New Jersey. But he was here met by his former opponents, and ulti mately defeated ; for they procured to be passed, in the legislature o f that state, an act repealing its own former retaliatory measures excluding the steamboats o f New-York from the waters o f the former state. Another compromise was, however, soon effected between the state grantees o f New York, which for a time prevented any further litigation. Meanwhile Mr. Fulton, performing experiments with the paddle-wheels, labored on in the great work. During the first year o f his successful ex periment, two boats, the Raritan and the Car o f Neptune, were launched ; a line o f steam ferry-boats was set afloat by him upon the Hudson, in 1811 and 1812, and a ferry was run by steam also, established regularly between New York and Brooklyn. It had long been a part o f the plan of Mr. Fulton to extend his newly discovered means o f communication upon the great waters o f the west. With that object, he proceeded at this time across the Alleghany Moun tains to Pittsburgh, for the purpose o f superintending the construction o f a steamboat at that place, and with a mind teeming with the brilliant pros pects that were then opening before him. A well-authenticated anecdote connected with his journey has come down to us, which may, perhaps, bear repetition. Being in a stage-coach, lumbering around the declivities o f those mountains, and becoming somewhat familiar with his fellow-passen gers during a journey o f several days, he was naturally led to dwell upon his newly discovered agent, and the various modes of its application. In return he was met by the jests o f his companions, who, as often as any apparently impossible project was discussed, inquired if he could do this or that by steam. “ The day will come,” says Fulton, “ I may not live to see it, but some o f you who are younger probably will, when carriages 116 American Steam Navigation. will be drawn over these mountains by steam-engines, at a rate more rapid than that of a stage-coach upon the smoothest turnpike.” How this prediction will be verified, let the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad answer. In the year 1811, the first essay in western steamboat navigation was made by Mr. Fulton in the launching o f the Orleans at Pittsburgh, from which time the navigation by steam upon the western waters so rapidly aug mented, that, as we are shown by well-established documents, from the year 1814 to 1835, five hundred and eighty-eight steamships were built upon these livers.* Numerous steamboat companies were formed, and steamboats constructed, both at the east and west, through his agency, and a line was run by him to the city of Providence; during the fall o f a previous year, upon one o f those mild autumnal mornings peculiar to our climate, when the heavens and the earth seem to be tinged with a hue of gold, his last labor was performed, by launching from the shipyard of Messrs. Adam and Noah Brown, the first American steam-frigate o f war, named the First Fulton, designed as a protection to our coast in the hos tilities then pending between this country and England, amid crowds o f ac claiming spectators who blackened the surrounding heights, while nume rous steamers and naval ships that played in the bay waved their banners and poured their music upon the air, and the cannon from the Battery thundered their last peals to the star of Fulton, that was soon to sink be low the horizon forever. Fulton’s career was drawing to a close. Suffering under disease while engaged in giving directions to his workmen, who were employed in building his new steam-frigate, he brought on a relapse o f his malady, which increased until the 15th day o f February, 1815, when his mortal life ceased, and his soul returned to him who gave it. The body, enclosed in a leaden coffin and followed by the officers of the national and state governments, was borne from his residence, in No. 1 State street, to the Trinity church, while minute-guns were fired from the steam-frigate, the work of his mind, which were answered from the Battery. The state legislature, when information of his death reached them, voted to wear the badges of mourning in respect to the event. His remains were deposited in the Livingston vault. Encumbered with a load o f debt that had been accumulated by his ambitious labors in the cause to which he had devoted his life, he left his children a heritage of poverty. But, though dead, his memory will be had in eternal remembrance. No star o f honor blazed upon his breast, and no column standing above his grave records to him a nation’s gratitude. But he displays a brighter badge, a more enduring monument; for the muffled music o f the paddle-wheel, as it dashes through the waves, and the groaning of the steam-engine, as its fabrics plough the waters o f the world, will sound a sublime and everlasting requiem to his memory. The practical value o f navigation by steam was now fully established, * See Hall’s Statistics o f the W est.— A late number o f the Pittsburgh Morning Her ald gives the names o f 437 steamboats navigating the western and southwestern waters, tonnage as follow s: From 30 to 168 tons,........ .......... 78 too to 200 “ ......... ..........212 200 to 300 “ ......... .......... 105 300 to 400 “ ......... .......... 24 From 400 to 500 tons,.......... 500 to 600 “ ........... 600 to 700 “ ........... 785 tons,....................... ...........8 ...........5 ............4 ........... 1 American Steam Navigation. 117 and measures were soon adopted to introduce the power upon the most important avenues o f commerce, both in this country and Europe. Mr. John Stevens o f Hoboken, as we have already seen, had adventured upon the sea with a steamboat as early as 1807, in his first voyage from New York to Philadelphia, around the coast; and Fulton himself had pi armed a vessel that was destined for the Baltic, and that afterwards plied between New York and Newport. The first regular steamship in Great Britain was built by Bell, upon the Clyde, in 1812, that afterwards regularly plied between Glasgow and Liverpool. Five years afterwards the Savannah crossed the Atlantic from this country in twenty-six days, and passed up to St. Petersburgh; and during the following year the trappers o f Lake Huron were startled with the sight o f a steamship, called the Walk-in-theWater, propelled without sails, and by an unknown power, which in 1818 advanced across Lake Erie to the island o f Mackinaw; while at the same time a steam-packet commenced running between the ports o f New York, Charleston, Cuba, and New Orleans. Separate lines o f steam ships were also established between the principal ports o f England, and the most important commercial marts upon the great navigable waters o f Europe. In 1825, the first voyage was performed from Falmouth to Calcutta by the steamship Enterprise. Steam communication was also soon introduced between the several points of the British islands and the continent, and vessels worked by the engine plied to Hamburgh and Rot terdam, Antwerp and Calais, Havre and Lisbon, Gibraltar, Malta, and Corfu, with as much confidence as if their paddle-wheels were swift race horses, and the widest waters solid and level plains. But steam navigation was again the cause o f vexatious litigation. During the year 1824, the question respecting the constitutionality o f the legislative act o f New York, granting to Messrs. Livingston and Fulton the exclusive right o f navigating its waters, was again revived. Mr. Thomas Gibbons, who had emigrated from Georgia, and possessed o f an ample fortune which he had acquired by the legal profession, having re moved to Elizabethtown, in New Jersey, invested a portion o f his wealth in the purchase o f a ferry between Elizabethtown Point and the port o f New York. Confident in the opinion which, as a lawyer, he had formed, that the grant to which allusion has been made was unconstitutional, and backed by analogous decisions that had then recently issued from the bench, as well as by the opinions o f able lawyers, he determined, if neces sary, to embark in a course o f litigation, for the purpose o f testing his claim to the right o f navigating these waters; and, providing himself with patents and coasting licenses, he immediately proceeded to the New York harbor. At this time, his competitor was Mr. Ogden, to whom reference has been made, who, on the compromise foi'med by him with the original state grantees, had for a long time run “ his ancient and ac customed ferry,” from a point near the rival establishment o f Mr. Gibbons. This gentleman, conceiving that the act o f Mr. Gibbons, in running his steamboat upon his own track, was an infringement o f his own right, ob tained an injunction against the enterprise o f Mr. Gibbons, which, upon appeal to the Court o f Errors, was confirmed, on the ground that no col lision was presented in that case between the national law and the act o f this state. An appeal was accordingly taken hy Mr. Gibbons to the Supreme Court o f the United States. On the trial o f this case before the Supreme Court, the most distin 118 American Steam Navigation. guished legal talents o f the country were employed. The powerful logic o f Mr. Webster, and the graceful mind o f Mr. Wirt, then the Attorneygeneral o f the United States, put forth their whole strength in behalf of the appellant, Mr. Gibbons; and they were met by the solid judgment o f Mr. Oakley, and the fervid eloquence of Thomas Addis Emmet, who had before given his best efforts to the cause o f his former friend, Fulton. A question o f so much importance, involving, as it did, the construction o f h vital principle o f the constitution, and the navigation o f the waters o f one o f our largest states by so important an agent as that o f steam, could not but excite the deepest interest throughout the country; and every point was discussed with all the passionate appeal and cogent reasoning that could be marshalled by the ablest counsel. In enlarging upon the constitution ality o f the laws passed by the legislature, Mr. Emmet remarked:— “ There are circumstances connected with those laws, sufficient to make any tribunal require the strongest arguments before it adjudged them in valid. The state o f New York, by a patient and forbearing patronage of ten years, to Livingston and Fulton, by the tempting inducement o f its proffered reward, and by the subsequent liberality o f its contract, has called into existence the noblest and most useful improvement o f the present day. Genius had contended with its inherent difficulties for generations before; and if some had nearly reached, or some even touched the goal, they sunk exhausted, and the result o f their efforts perished in reality and almost in name. Such would probably have been the end of Fulton’s labors; and neither the wealth and talents o f his associate, nor the re sources of his own great mind would have saved him from the fate of others, if he had not been sustained for years by the wise and considerate en couragement o f the state o f New York. She has brought into noonday splendor an invaluable improvement to the intercourse and consequent happiness o f man, which, without her aid, would, perhaps, have scarcely dawned upon our grandchildren. She has not only rendered this service to her own citizens, but the benefits o f her policy have spread themselves over the whole union. Where can you turn your eyes, and where can you travel, without having your eyes delighted, and some part o f the fatigues of your journey relieved, by the presence o f a steamboat 1 The Ohio and Mississippi she has converted into rapid channels for communi cating wealth, comfort, and enjoyments, from their mouths to their head waters. And the happy and reflecting inhabitants of the states they wash may well ask themselves, whether, next to the constitutions under which they live, there be a single blessing they enjoy from the art and labor o f man, greater than what they have derived from the patronage o f the state o f New York to Robert Fulton. But the mighty benefits that have re sulted from those laws are not circumscribed even by the vast extent of our union; New York may raise her head, she may proudly raise her head, and cast her eyes over the whole civilized w orld; she there may see its countless waters bearing on their surface countless offsprings o f her munificence and wisdom.” * Mr. Webster, on the other hand, maintained, among other points, that the power o f congress to regulate commerce, upon the facts arising on that appeal, was clear and direct; and that, in consequence, the act o f the legislature o f New York, shutting out a certain species of commerce from * See Gibbons vs. Ogden, 9 W heaton’s Reports, pp. 157, 158. American Steam Navigation. 119 its waters,' usurped the right o f regulating commerce, belonging to the general government, and came in direct conflict with the laws of the United States. Judgment was thus obtained for Mr. Gibbons, and the waters of New York were thenceforward freely opened to steam naviga tion from the different states, which gradually spread itself out, through the principal commercial arteries o f the country. It may be mentioned, as a somewhat singular circumstance connected with Mr. Gibbons, that on his death, he devised a certain portion o f his estate to be used in run ning opposing lines o f steamboats from the waters o f this state, which has since been faithfully employed in that work, to the absolute horror o f all regular liners, who involuntarily button their pockets when they hear the name of Mr. Gibbons, or that o f his devisee, Mr. Vanderbilt, pronounced.* W e have thus sketched the progress o f steam navigation from its first introduction into this country,,in 1807, and gradually scattering its ships upon our own waters, as well as upon the British seas, which, in 1839, floated eight hundred and forty vessels belonging to England alone. France, although somewhat backward in this enterprise, having introduced successfully the navigation by steam into that empire, as late as the year 1826, increased its steam tonnage to such an amount that, in 1838, it owned one hundred and sixty steamboats, belonging to individuals, besides thirty-eight which were employed by that government, j- Yet, notwith standing the voyage o f the boat o f Mr. Stevens around the coast, in 1807, and that o f the Savannah across the ocean, in 1817, the regular and sys tematic navigation o f the ocean was deemed, at best, a doubtful experi ment. Even scientific mechanical philosophers, as late as the year 1838, strove to demonstrate the entire impracticability o f the project. The crowning triumph o f steam was yet to be accomplished. On a vernal morning in the month o f April, the Sirius left a British port, and was steered straight across the Atlantic, that steam has contracted to the di mensions o f a mill-pond. Fifteen days afterwards, wreaths o f curling smoke were perceived moving along the sky above the Narrows, and pass ing up the bay, were found to proceed from that steamer, bringing fresh news from London. The Great Western, the Royal William, the Liver pool, and the British Queen, followed close upon its track. On the fourth of July, 1839, (a fitting day,) a contract was signed between Mr. Bamucl Cunard and the British admiralty, for the transit o f letters from Liverpool to Halifax, and a short time afterwards, the Unicorn, succeeded by the Britannia, the Caledonia, the Acadia, and the Columbia, sailed into the port o f Boston, bringing tidings that the ocean thenceforward was to be a short mail-road. Whereupon, the Royal Steam Navigation Company o f Great Britain commenced the hewing of the timbers for a line o f steamships for New Orleans, Mexico, and a part o f the South American coast; and our American ship-builders, having completed a steamship for his majesty the Emperor o f Russia, and another for the Spanish government, are preparing to lay the keels o f four steam-vessels, each to be o f two thousand tons * See an able article on this subject, in the seventh number o f the N ew Y ork R e v iew ; also, W heaton’s Reports, where the case m aybe found at length ; and Webster’s Speeches and Forensic Arguments, which contains his effort upon the case o f Gibbons vs. Ogden. t For these foreign statistics we are indebted to the Report o f Count Daru to the French Chamber o f Deputies, relating to the establishment o f steam-packets between France and America. 120 American Steam Navigation. burden, and only eight hundred horse power, two hundred greater than the President. Kindled by the enterprises o f other nations, the slowmoving French, in the cause o f internal improvement, began to bestir themselves, and will soon have a line o f steam-packets between New Y ork and Havre. Steam had conquered the ocean. It was thenceforward to be a ferry ; not “ the ancient and accustomed ferry” o f the respected Governor Ogden, between Elizabethtown Point and New York, but the modern and accustomed ferry between New York and London! W e now arrive to the consideration of the present condition o f steam navigation in the United States. What is _this condition ? Taking o o our stand upon the New York dock, and looking abroad upon those ships which border it, like flying monsters o f oak that have folded their canvass wings and now lie chained to the wharves, as racehorses to the manger when their race is run, we perceive scattered among the thicket o f masts numerous strange craft, without spars or sails, that appear like piratical new-comers, more fanciful in color and more fragile in form than the black and solid vessels that surround them. Resting a little, we notice a column o f white vapor ascending from the pipe in the centre; the frame o f the hulk appears to groan and struggle as if with ambition or agon y; the pendulums suspended from the iron beam in the centre are perceived to sw ing; the steam is up, and the boat rushes off through Long Island Sound, the Hudson, or to the Jersey shore. Still we linger, and another and a more imposing sight presents itself. Casting our view down the bay, towards the Battery, our attention is arrested by a vapory cloud that moves along the horizon; it nears, and as it grows upon our sight, and passes by the numerous steamboats, and the canvass o f vessels o f all sizes which play in the harbor or advance to the offing, appearing in size like cockle-shells when contrasted with its enormous bulk, we perceive that it is a steamship, rigged like a schooner, with a hull as black as night; a column o f thick smoke boiling up from its low pipe— dark, frowning, begrimmed with soot— unearthly, wild, murky, threatening, as if it had just wrestled with a storm upon the Stygian gulf—with little to relieve the Cimmerian blackness but the white foam o f its paddle-wheels, and the red flag o f England which floats above its stern— moving along with a heart that is a blazing furnace o f fire, and with iron muscles that possess the power o f six hundred horses. What is this ? It is the President, fifteen days from Liverpool, bringing fresh merchandise and news to this repub lic, and passing up quietly to take her place in the docks. W o change the scene, and transport ourselves to one o f the blue peaks of the High lands, and from that eminence look down upon the silver Hudson, as it winds its way through valley and mountain, as far as the eye can reach, like an enchanted stream. What are those vehicles that are constantly' passing before us with a cloud o f smoke by day and a pillar o f fire by night issuing from their smoke-pipes, as they glide along their dazzling tracks with the speed o f the sunbeam ? They are floating hotels, the swiftest in the world, with the banner o f the republic waving at their mast head— steamboats, the carrier-pigeons o f commerce, on their way from the commercial mart o f the nation to the political capital o f the state. W e advance further, to the borders o f those inland seas that water the forests o f the northwest, and looking out at midnight, our attention is arrested by numerous fiery bodies which seem as meteors. A s they approach, we per ceive that they are not like the baleful comet, American Steam Navigation. 121 “ T hat fires the length o f Ophiuchus huge In the A rctic sky, and from his horrid hair Shakes pestilence and war,” but smoke and sparks streaming from the chimneys o f numerous steamers passing and repassing to and from the west, advancing with emigrants and their merchandise, who are about to turn up the rich mould o f the prairies, or returning from the west with loads o f wheat and flour, the product of that soil, for the markets of New York. Or let us ascend the fruitful Mississippi, and take a long view o f its brimming flood, and we perceive its sky blackened here and there by clouds of ascending smoke. They issue from the hundreds o f splendid though unsafe high-pressure boats of that riyer, rushing down from St. Louis or Cincinnati to New Orleans, with machinery, emigrants, and agricultural products, with barrels o f sugar, casks of tobacco, or bales of cotton, produced by the plantations upon its shores, and which are to be consumed in this country, or to be shipped abroad to return in harvests o f gold. Look at the price current of New Orleans, and mark those long columns that denote the receipts o f pro-_ duce from the interior. Their sentences commence with the words “ per steamer.” What is the cause o f all this? Steam! It has made safe tracks across the ocean, from Liverpool to Boston, from New York to Liverpool and London. It has ploughed its furrows around the coast, from the great commercial mart o f the country to Charleston, Cuba, and New Orleans, and has established regular packets upon that track. It has pro duced rapid and elegant navigation around the republic and through it. The little steamboat that rides upon the village stream like a sea-gull, has connected that stream with the lakes ; the large steamships are about to connect the lakes with the ocean. Wherever there is a sufficient depth o f water to float its fabrics, there its banners wave. Its vessels crowd the docks o f New York and Baltimore, Buffalo and Detroit, Pittsburg and Cincinnati, Louisville, St. Louis, and New Orleans, as well as our other principal ports, both at the east and the west. With the arch fiend in Milton, the traveller can truly say, “ W hich way I fly is steam— myself am steam.” It appears by an official report made to congress by the secretary o f the treasury, on the 13th day o f December, 1838, that from 1808 to 1839 there had been built in the United States thirteen hundred steamboats, o f which number eight hundred are now capable o f doing valuable service. It is also computed in this document that four hundred were running on the western and southwestern waters, at that date, and that seventy boats plied upon the northwestern lakes. O f these boats some o f the most splendid ply from the port o f New York, as well as upon the lakes and the Mississippi. It is somewhat extraordinary, considering the long line o f our coast, and its exposed position, that the government has not constructed for its own use steamships of war. But the frontier coast is not alone exposed. W e have, in the heart o f our territory, a series o f inland seas, washing an ex tensive portion o f our domain, and itself constituting a boundary o f the United States, which separates us but a short distance from the colonies o f a foreign power, and upon which, should a war break out, (a calamity that we trust may be averted,) the nation that should employ the steamengine would possess a manifest advantage over the one that did not use it. von. iv.— n o . ii. 16 122 American Steam Navigation. The first steamship o f war, called the Fulton, was constructed as early as 1815, by Fulton himself, and lost by accident in 1829. One other only was constructed in 1838, a war steamer called the Fulton, that may fre quently be seen at anchor in the New York harbor ; besides one named the Missouri, recently launched at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and another that is now upon the stocks in Philadelphia. Recent measures have been adopted by Congress, in consequence o f the increase o f steam navigation, and the multiplication o f destructive acci dents by its agency, to diminish, if not entirely to prevent them, by na tional legislation. In December, of 1838, the Secretary o f the Treasury communicated to congress a letter, accompanying a voluminous document embracing the prominent statistical facts connected with steam navigation, and also reports o f the accidents by steamboats, and the causes o f those accidents that had occurred in different parts o f the country. During the last session of congress, Mr. Ruggles, from the committee on commerce, submitted a report upon the resolution o f the senate, instructing them to inquire whether the law then in existence did not require amendment; and, in accordance therewith, reported a bill for the amendment o f the existing law, requiring a particular inspection of the boilers of steamboats, in order to increase the safety o f passengers.* W e trust that thorough measures will be adopted, if possible, to prevent the disasters of this charac ter which are coming to our ears almost on the arrival o f every mail. The bill to which we allude must effectuate that object most successfully, and will probably pass into a law before our remarks go through the press. The actual condition of steam navigation in this country is a matter o f very great interest to the people, inasmuch as it exhibits the rapid progress o f this branch o f commercial enterprise within the United States. W e are enabled, by the report o f the Secretary o f the Treasury, made in De cember, 1838, to which we have referred, for an authentic statement o f the number o f steamboats in the different parts o f the United States, so far as returned, and their tonnage, down to the date o f the report, which we here subjoin, as this report is the latest that has been made, and serves to give particular information on the matter. S T E A M B O A T S IN E A C H S T A T E . Statement o f the number o f steamboats, and o f the tonnage o f the same, in each state, so fa r as returns have been received, in December, 1838 ; and statement o f the amount' o f tonnage o f steam-vessels in each state, on the 30th o f September, 1837, according to the annual statement o f the commerce and navigation o f the United States, fo r the year ending September 30, 1837, and o f the number built in 1837. Returns to December, Sept. Number 1838. Return, 30, 1837. o f steam vessels built in No. o f vessels. Maine - - New Hampshire Vermont- - Massachusetts Rhode Island Connecticut - - - 8 1 4 12 2 19 Tonnage. 1,609 215 903 1,443 698 4,103 Tonnage. 171 965 2,641 * See Mr. Ruggles’ Report to the Senate, March 2, 1840. 1837. i i i 123 American Steam Navigation. S teamboats in each S ta t e .— Continued. Returns to December , Number 1838. Return , Sept. o f steam 30, 1837. vessels built in No. o f vessels. Tonnage. Tonnage. 1837. 16 New York - - New Jersey - Pennsylvania* - Delaware . . . Maryland - - District o f Columbia Virginia - - - North Carolina - South Carolina - Georgia . . . Florida . . . Alabama - - - ^Mississippi. . . *Arkansas - - Louisiana . . . ^Tennessee - - •(•Illinois - - - f Indiana. . . Kentucky - - *Iowa - - - JWisconsin - - Missouri - - - Ohio - - - - Michigan - - Navy Department War Department Engineer Department 140 21 1.34 3 19 5 16 11 22 29 17 18 29,708 3,757 18,243 494 6,800 801 1,970 2,014 4,794 4,273 1,974 2,703 24,431 444 19,331 373 7,135 1,477 1,667 521 4,715 4,521 1,194 4,396 30 4,986 54,421 5,193 41 8,356 1,714 42 79 13 1 4 9 7,967 15,396 2,611 900 3,668 12,375 2,193 42 1 Total ascertained 700 126,673 153,660 134 48 4 1 1 5 2 9 2 In 58 o f the above boats, the tonnage not being returned, is estimated at 10,800 tons more— making an aggregate o f 337,473 tons in the ascertained boats. What, then, is the influence which steam navigation has produced, and is producing upon the country ? The position, it is thought, may be safely maintained, that it has effected a more powerful, physical, and moral revo lution, upon this republic, than any agency that has been devised, or could be devised, within .the present knowledge o f man. In order to ascertain this fact, it will be only necessary to look back at the condition o f the country before this agent was introduced, and when the vessels worked by sails were the only vehicles o f commerce. What would now have been the extent o f colonization in this broad empire had we been shut out from its benefits ? W e have already seen that, previous to the year 1811, the great navigable waters of the interior were destitute o f safe and rapid means o f in * N o returns. t N o returns from these stales, except in part with Missouri and Kentucky. \ N o returns from W isconsin, except in part witli Michigan. 124 American Steam Navigation. telecommunication. The few feeble colonies that had penetrated the for ests of the Muskingum, the Ohio, and the Detroit, were in effect cut off from the rest o f the w orld; and even at a later period, the eloquent geo grapher o f the western valley, Mr. Timothy Flint, could creep up the Mississippi in his boat only by grasping the reeds that bordered its banks. What motive was held out for the cultivation o f lands, however fertile, when the producer was deprived o f a market 1 What other agent upon the face o f the earth, but steam, could stem the current o f that flood, and provide convenient access to the plantations scattered along its winding shores ? What motive would have been presented for ages for the colo nization o f the wilderness around the lakes, were the western waters traversed only by the canoe or pirogue of the Indian and fur-trader, or the straggling shallop, cast about by storms, which occasionally made a soli tary voyage to the western ports ? Where now would have been Buffalo and Cleveland, Cincinnati, Louisville, and St. Louis, had not steam navigation made them entrepots o f trade and commerce ? How many emigrants would have left their peaceful hearthstones at the east, and have ventured into an unbroken wilderness, removed from the uncer tain and inconvenient means of navigation, by months o f travel from the firesides they had left ? How many golden wheat-fields in that region would have waved with yellow harvests, were the western husbandman deprived o f eastern intercourse and an eastern market ? Steam naviga tion colonized the w est! It furnished a motive for settlement and pro duction by the hands o f eastern men, because it brought the western ter ritory nearer to the east by nine tenths o f the distance. It opened new channels o f intercommunication, and new markets for its products. A journey from the western borders o f New York to Detroit, requires but a little more than two days. Steam palaces float by scores upon almost every point o f the western waters. The western farmer can receive his friend, and ship his wheat and cotton and sugar and corn, by steamers, almost within stones-throw of his granary. Steam is crowding our east ern cities with western flour and western merchants, and lading the west ern steamboats with eastern emigrants and eastern merchandise. It has advanced the career o f national colonization and national production, at least a century! Whatever o f general benefit is derived from commerce will be enhanced by steam navigation, because steam navigation is the most important agent o f commerce. Whatever o f intelligence is produced by a free and liberal intercourse between foreign or domestic states; whatever o f wealth is furnished by production, and the mutual interchange o f agricultural pro ducts, between different portions o f the same country; whatever o f re finement it gives to the taste, or liberality to the mind, or comfort to the physical man, will be augmented by the agency of steam. Does the scholar desire to obtain a valuable work or a newspaper from a distant point ? steam will print it, and transport it to his door, wet from the press. Does the gentleman o f leisure wish to obtain the latest fashion from the London tailor, of Bond street ? steam will not only give him the desired in formation with the speed o f an antelope, but weave the cloth, and send it to him with due despatch. Do the ladies choose to drain the already col lapsed pockets o f their Cassius-like husbands, by the procuration o f gauze veils or shawls from the looms o f France ? steam will comply with their request, as the Scotchman says, “ for a consideration.” American Steam Navigation. 125 As regards the consequences that will be derived from the establish ment of ocean navigation by steam, from the different ports o f Europe to this country, it is obvious that such communication must open to us new sources of wealth and national enlightenment. Recent indications have manifested themselves on the part o f the English government towards us, which clearly show that their policy respecting this republic is undergoing a thorough change. They have seen a people sprung from their own soil, subduing a wilderness; at first feeble colonies, but now grown to a mighty empire, proud of our government and confident of our power, and second to them only in commercial strength. It is natural for that monarchy, which has heretofore held the world tributary to her mercantile enterprise, to strive to form an amicable intercourse with this nation, that has long furnished the most valuable market for her products, and which one o f her own earls, Lord Chatham, once truly declared upon the floor o f the British parliament, even before we had established our independence, could not be conquered. For she has tried twice to subdue us, and has failed. The bitter spirit that was formerly manifested towards this country is ob viously softened. The two nations have forgotten their old blows. The leading organ of the crown, the London Quarterly Review, contains at present but little biting sarcasm o f our social habits and institutions, or those jeers that once asked “ W ho reads an American book V’ but now, in fact, reviews these books, declaring the “ History o f Ferdinand and Isa bella, the Catholic,” a work written by one o f our own countrymen, equal to any effort o f a similar kind that has appeared within the present age, and even admits into the columns o f that journal the papers o f regular con tributors from this side of the water. The statue o f our own Washington adorns the prow of its largest steamship, and the portraits o f the successive presidents of our republic grace the walls o f its saloon. The heraldic arms of England and America, the eagle and the lion, are intermingled in fraternal union upon the shields of the two nations that are wrought in gilded carving upon its stern, while the stars and stripes o f our national flag are advanced at its masthead on its entrance into our port. Are not these facts the harbinger of a more prosperous intercourse between the two nations ? Should it not lead to that improved and reciprocal policy on the part of both by which a mutual benefit may be produced— to Eng land by the abolition o f the corn laws, and the introduction into that em pire of our agricultural products, and to the United States by the free im- portation into their own country, from her workshops, o f a portion o f her manufactured goods, without injury to our own manufactures 1 It is not proposed here to discuss the influence o f the steam war-ships that are gradually introducing themselves among the naval armaments o f the prominent maritime powers o f Europe, and which must prove the most formidable weapons o f coast defence, and ultimately prove heralds o f peace, by augmenting the destructive powers o f men to an extent at which humanity grows pale. Nor will the causes o f the difference pre sented between the light and comparatively fragile steamboats o f our em pire, constructed only to ply upon the smoother waters o f this country, and those solid and black steamships built to encounter the rough storms o f the sea, which rush into our ports from the ocean as regularly as clockwork, be particularly described. Our time is to come, to float models o f this sort, equal, at least, to any ships that navigate the ocean ; for in naval archi tecture we have never been exceeded. 126 American Steam Navigation. The practical tendencies o f the present age are nowhere more promi nently exhibited than in the arts that have been applied to commerce by the agency o f steam. If the past has been more distinguished in those refined arts that minister to the taste alone, without reference to the useful, and mere artists are too often left to starve, modern times have brought the fine to the aid o f the useful arts. If the ancients possessed their statues, and temples, and amphora, and pyramids, it can scarcely be denied that some of their noblest conceptions were derived from the use ful arts. Virgil, the bard of Mantua, who flourished before the birth o f Christ, it is well known, has in his poem of the Eneid led us into the rock-bound and murky workshop of the one-eyed and fabulous giants called the Cyclops, who, near the Sicilian coast, forged the thunderbolts of Ju piter, and wrought the celestial armory o f the gods. The poet shows to us these workmen hammering out the arms that Venus ordered to be wrought by them for iEneas, her warrior son. The entrance into that ancient cave may give us some idea o f the blacksmiths o f the mythology, and we furnish this admission by the translation of Dryden, which is so beautiful that we scarcely regret that it is so long. “ Sacred to Vulcan’s name, an isle there lay, Between Sicilia’s coasts and Lipara, Raised high on smoking rocks, and deep below, In hollow caves, the fires o f -Etna glow. The Cyclops here their heavy hammers deal; Loud strokes and hissings o f tormented steel Are heard around ; the boiling waters roar, And smoky flames through fuming tunnels soar. Hither the father of the fire by night Through the brown air precipitates his flight; On their eternal anvils here he found The brethren beating, and the. blows go round. A load o f pointless thunder now there lies Before their hands, to ripen for the skies. These darts for angry Jove they daily cast, Consumed on mortals, with prodigious waste. Three rays of writhen rain, o f fire three more, O f winged southern winds, and cloudy store, As many parts the dreadful mixture frames, And fears are added, and avenging flames. Inferior ministers for Mars repair His broken axletrees and blunted war, And send him forth again with furbished arms, To wake the lazy war with trumpets’ loud alarms ; The rest refresh the scaly snakes that fold The shield of Pallas, and renew their gold. Full on the crest the Gorgon’s head they place, With eyes that roll in death, and with distorted face. ‘ My sons,’ said Vulcan, ‘ set your tasks aside ; Your strength and master-skill must now be tried: Arms for a hero forge; arms that require Your force, your speed, and all your forming fire.’ He said : they set their former work aside, And their new toils with eager haste divide. A flood o f molten silver, brass, and gold, And deadly steel, in the large furnace rolled ; O f this their artful hands a shield prepare, American Steam Navigation. 127 Alone sufficient to sustain the w ar; Seven orbs within*a spacious round they close, One stirs the fire, and one the bellows blows. The hissing steel is in the smithy drowned, The grot with beaten anvils groans around. By turns their arms advance in equal time, By turns their hands descend, and hammers chime; They turn the glowing mass with crooked tongs, The fiery work proceeds with rustic songs.” Although the science o f our own day has not succeeded in forging the bolts of Jove, it has, by the discovery o f Franklin, drawn them harmless from the sky. If modern art seeks not to perfect the axletrees o f Mars, it has finished other axletrees which run along our railroad tracks with greater speed than those fabulous chariots o f antiquity. If it has not em bossed upon the shields of our warriors the Roman triumphs of the race o f Julian, its patriotism has impressed upon the soil in our public works, and the present political condition o f our people, as enduring a record. If it does not work in Cyclopean caverns, and form the celestial armory of the gods, it has moulded the wheels and ponderous beams o f the steamengine, that have conquered the ocean and the land by the clockwork of machinery. If it does not renew the golden scales o f the snake that writhed upon the shield o f Pallas, it has decorated the gilded and floating halls of our steamships with rich painting, repeated their carved oak, their embroidered carpets, and their tapestry in the reflected light o f the mirror, and adorned them with all the appliances o f a palace. It is this applica tion o f the fine to the useful arts that constitutes a marked feature o f the present age. W e have divested Vulcan, the blacksmith o f the mythology, who has come down to us as the personified type o f mechanical labor, o f his most odious features. W e have left in his hand his own sledge hammer, and added to it the compass and the broadaxe. In the other we have placed the painter’s pallet and the chisel o f the sculptor. W e have enrobed his form with a garment, woven from modern looms, more beautiful than the Tyrian purple, and garlanded his brow with a gorgeous crown that we have gathered from the wheat-sheaf. If such have been the results o f steam navigation in advancing coloni zation and production, within a period of only thirty-three years, since Fulton first launched his steamboat upon the Hudson, what are the natu ral and necessary consequences that will be produced upon the country by this agent within the next half-century ? Although parties and sects will continue to disagree, steam will so concentrate the opinions o f the remotest portions of the republic, and so illuminate the mind, that it will be brought into general unison and co-operation. By multiplying the means o f national intercourse, it will strengthen the bonds o f national amity; for the lines o f our steamships, running from state to state, will be like so many chains o f adamant to bind them together. It will carry out the doctrines of our glorious constitution. It will be the messenger o f the press in distributing its productions far and wide, productions that are even now, in their number, poured down upon the national mind like the paper snow-storm o f a theatre. It will multiply the comforts o f life in innumerable forms, as they have already been multiplied by this agency, to an unmeasured extent. By opening new channels o f commu nication into the interior, it will lay open the vast agricultural resources 128 American Steam Navigation. o f the country, and transport them to their best markets, both at home and abroad. What man who has occasion to travel any considerable distance from his own door does not now feel its influence upon his own personal comfort ? It will work out even greater convenience by its con stantly progressive improvement, so that to journey from the orange groves o f Florida to the pine forests o f Maine, from the port of N ew York to the Falls o f St. Anthony, will be as easy as to repose in a par lor upon a silken ottoman. It will stretch along the thousand hills and valleys o f the west the rejoicing harvests o f autumn, and enliven them with myriads of bleating flocks and herds. It will crowd our coasts with a hundred cities, and people our shores with foreign immigrants. It will bring Philadelphia, and other interior ports, to the very shores o f the sea, and crowd their harbors with commerce. It will give to the republic one national heart, and one national mind. The southern planter, who now reposed in patriarchal simplicity amid his cotton and rice fields, will be kindled with new energy, as the steamboat or steam-car rushes by his door. The trapper of the northwest will have left his canoe, and turn from the pursuit o f the hunter to that o f an agriculturist, shipping his wheat to the market in a steamship. W ho doubts that steamboats may at some future time ply upon our canals, or that the Archimedian screw may supply the place o f paddle-wheels, and double their speed ? But steam navigation will not only produce marked improvements upon the physical condition o f our interior; it will throw us more directly upon the great highway o f the world, for a journey across the ocean has now got to be a matter o f but little moment, and will bring us nearer to the in teresting associations which for ages have been clustering upon the do main across the water whence we sprang. By casting us into more di rect contact with other nations, it will liberalize our minds, and while we survey the political miseries o f foreign governments, we shall be induced tooling more strongly to our own constitution, and love our country more. It will increase the throbbing of the national heart, as new and exciting scenes break in upon us, and induce the workings of that national thought, which, like the swelling and heaving of the ocean, conduces to purity and vigor. It will be the handmaid o f civilization, the agent of that commerce which ransacks all the treasures o f the sea and of the land, and pours them in exhaustless profusion into the broad lap o f nations. It will con solidate the union of this vast empire, now the only just government upon the earth, whose liberty and law, the spontaneous will of the people, in vigorate all, as the all-pervading air. Steam navigation is republican. It opens its ample halls to all, where they may in common discuss tfie affairs o f state, as they move along upon its vapory wings. It multiplies a thousand fold the power of the individual man. It augments his strength to that o f the Macedonian phalanx. Steam cares not for bad roads and adverse breezes. Formerly the mariner, before he sailed from the port, deemed it a matter o f prudence to watch the heavens and take due heed o f the winds. Now he oils the machinery o f his en gine, and advances into the sea, bidding defiance to the wildest storms that plough up the billows of the mid-ocean. Before its introduction into this country, three days were the shortest period generally occupied in a journey from New York to Boston, even if the traveller was enabled to reach the latter port within twice that time, by reason o f bad roads and head winds. The cost o f the journey was seldom less than twelve dollars. American Steam Navigation. 129 Now, the same distance may be made with precision in fourteen hours, and for the petty sum of five dollars. Thus, in a single passage between the two places, more than half o f the time and more than half o f the money are saved. The conveniences for travel are so rapidly improving, that a party o f pleasure to Prairie du Chien or Fond du Lac will in a few years be as common as a journey to Saratoga or Niagara is now. Steam navigation will soon have its ships, o f peace and o f war, prowling around our coasts, and advancing into every inlet and bay where a freight can be taken in and a cargo landed. Connected, as it soon must be, with the numerous railroads that intersect the country, it will quicken into greater activity the enterprise o f every village within our borders ; so that the nation will be, in its impulses and energies, as one great metropolis. But our steamships will not only float upon every shore, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, the agent o f commerce, the producer, the civilizer, the en lightener, the peace-maker o f the nation; they will be instrumental in diffusing abroad the light o f our free constitution, that light which is now glowing in mild glory before the eyes o f oppressed nations throughout the earth, like the star that beamed above the fields o f Judea, the herald o f justice and o f peace. A rt. II.— COMMERCE A N D COM M ERCIAL C H A R A C T E R .* T he interest I take in the Mercantile Library Association, and the pride I feel in having assisted in its planting, and contributed in some small de gree to its growth, have accustomed me to respond with pleasure to every call which it makes upon me, and to contribute my humble efforts to pro mote its laudable objects. In this spirit I appear before you on this occasion, not as a contributor to the intellectual fund on which its members are about to draw, but in the less pretending character o f a porter, whose duty it is to open the door of the temple, and disclose the fair vista in which may be seen, as in some fairy palace, the flowing streams o f useful knowledge, illumined by liter ary gems o f goodly lustre ; and where the flowers o f fancy and the fruits of experience unfold and ripen, to be gathered by the hand o f youthful emulation. In this humble capacity I am content to remain in the vesti bule, until, with you, I am permitted to partake o f the banquet provided within. Gentlemen o f the Mercantile Library Association :— It is a pleasing and not unprofitable task, on occasions like the present, to look back to the origin o f your institution ; to revert to some o f the circumstances which have marked its progress; to exult in its present condition; and to indulge in hopes o f its future prosperity : these topics, though they may want the charm o f novelty, are interesting, and afford encouragement to your future efforts to promote the success o f your un dertaking. It is now twenty years since a few young men, merchants’ clerks, hav* A n address made before the Mercantile Library Association, as an introductory to their course o f lectures, December 7, 1840, by P hilip H one, Esq., now first published in the Merchants’ Magazine, by request o f the hoard o f directors. VOL. IV.— NO. II. 17 130 Commerce and Commercial Character. ing come to the delightful conviction that “ wisdom’s ways are ways o f pleasantness,” first sowed the seeds from which sprung this wide-spread ing, healthy, and productive “ tree o f k n o w l e d g e f r o m an obscure apart ment in Gold street, a small streamlet modestly stole forth, which, irri gating and fertilizing in its course the channel through which it passed, and receiving supplies on all sides from the tributary streams o f public favor and private benefaction, increased, until it has become a mighty river, giving power to, and rendering practical the theories o f science, and conveying upon its bosom the rich merchandise o f knowledge. The nu cleus o f the library, consisting of a collection of books, less in number than the stock in trade o f the itinerant bookseller who has his stand at the corners o f our streets, has increased to twenty-three thousand volumes, o f which number three hundred are issued daily ; and the little band o f a dozen associates now numbers five thousand, o f whom, as nearly as can be calculated, about four thousand are regularly paying members. For the character o f the works contained in the library, I take pleasure in referring to the learned and elaborate Catalogue Raisonnee and Index, compiled by Mr. Edward C. Johnston and Mr. Thomas Delf, under the judicious superintendence o f the board o f directors. Nor can 1 withhold my humble praise from the valuable little volume, entitled “ A Course o f Reading,” recently compiled for the use of the members, by my venerated friend, Chancellor Kent, in which that eminent jurist has characteristically contributed from the stores o f his diversified learning, to direct the steps o f the youthful traveller in the paths o f knowledge. Within the last three years, classes have been formed under the control and care o f the institution, for the study of the modem languages, elocu tion, mathematics, book-keeping, penmanship, drawing, chemistry, natu ral philosophy, and astronomy, from which many o f the members derive great advantage ; and, in some branches, (particularly the modern lan guages, writing, and drawing,) even those who may have had the ad vantages o f a classical education, do not find their time unprofitahly employed. T o the liberality o f the trustees of Columbia College, your association and that of Clinton Hall are each indebted for the valuable privilege of a gratuitous nomination to two scholarships in their highly-respected insti tution. On the 21st of February, 1828, a meeting o f merchants and others was held at Masonic Hall, o f which my respected predecessor in the office of President o f the Board o f Trustees o f Clinton Hall, the late William W . W oolsey, was President, and J.onathan D. Steele, Secretary. This meeting was convened for the purpose o f expressing the sense o f the citizens o f New York generally, on the occasion of the death o f Governor De Witt Clinton, which melancholy event had occurred on the eleventh day o f that month. At this meeting, at which I had the honor o f assisting, and offering the resolutions which were adopted, a plan was proposed “ for permanently assisting the Mercantile Library, by erecting a building to be styled ‘ Clinton Hall,’ in honor o f our late illustrious chief-magistrate, who pre sented the first volume to the library.” The attention o f the merchants had been for some time previously di rected to the infant institution, which had found favor in their e y e s; and they embraced with avidity the opportunity then offered, combining two leading motives o f mercantile action, prudence and liberality, by assisting Commerce and Commercial Character. 131 those who had shown the disposition and ability to assist themselves; while at the same time, an occasion was offered to express their respect for the memory o f the merchant’ s friend and the city’s benefactor. The impulse thus given was crowned with success. Three hundred shares, o f $100 each, were subscribed, and a board o f trustees elected, whose first duties were to purchase the ground, and commence the erec tion of the edifice. The following list o f the names of original subscri bers, o f two shares and upwards, is presented at this time, not with the expectation that this public record o f their liberality may meet their ap probation, but to bring to the members o f the Mercantile Library Asso ciation a recollection o f their early friends. John Jacob Astor, and Arthur Tappan & Co., each subscribed ten shares; Peter Remsen, John Hone & sons, and John Haggerty, each five shares ; John W . Leavitt, four shares ; David Austin, Thomas Brooks, William W . Woolsey, Ogden, Ferguson & Co., and Samuel Whittemore, each three shares; and Richard Varick, John Lamb, Otis Loomer, Ben edict & Oakley, N . L . & G. Griswold, Hamilton, Donaldson & Co., Reed, Hemstead, & Sturges, and Sands, Spooner, & Co., each two shares. Others also are entitled to the gratitude o f the institution, whose subscrip tions of one share each were equally liberal in proportion to their means ; and praise is due to all, when the circumstance is considered, that no ex pectation of pecuniary returns could possibly be entertained. The trustees having purchased an eligible site, and plans being agreed upon, and the contracts made, the corner-stone of the substantial and com modious edifice in which I have now the honor to address you, was laid with suitable ceremonies, on the 20th o f July, 1829 ; Isaac Carow, Esq., vice-president of the chamber o f commerce, officiating on the occasion. The building was completed with reasonable despatch, and on the 2d of November, 1830, it was dedicated to the use o f the association, and the library removed from its humble place o f sojournment to permanent apartments, more commensurate with the state o f prosperity to which it had already arrived, and its future hopes, which have been so signally realized. In the prosecution o f this work, all the trustees assume to have done their duty, but it would be unfair to deny, that to Mr. John W . Leavitt, one o f our number, the credit is most especially due. With the same zeal and perseverance which prompted him to take the most active part in establishing the institution and raising the necessary funds, he assisted in preparing the plans and making the contracts, and his vigilant superin tendence marked every step o f its progress to the final completion. The funds raised by subscription were known to be inadequate to pay for the ground and building, and a debt was contracted, amounting origi nally to twenty-two thousand dollars. The trustees expected to discharge this debt in a few years out o f the rents o f such parts as were not required for the use o f the library. The progress o f liquidation has been more tardy than they anticipated, owing to the rapid increase of the library, its consequent demands for extended accommodations, which diminished the rents, and the expensive alterations to adapt them to its use. O f this debt twelve thousand dollars remains unpaid, which balance will be gradually reduced, until, in a few years, the period will have arrived, when, by the articles o f association, no use will remain for the surplus revenue over the expenses but its appropriation to the increase of the library. And 132 Commerce, and Commercial Character. from thenceforth, if the same spirit continues to be manifested by its members, it will not bo extravagant to predict that it will soon become the most extensive and valuable public library in the United States. I am not without apprehension that this brief statement o f the aifairs o f the association, and its connection with that over which I have the honor to preside, may have been deficient in interest with some present, who have no immediate concern in either o f the institutions alluded to, and especially that part o f my audience whose approving smiles are grateful to my judgment now, as they were formerly to my vanity ; but knowing, as I do, the tender relations in which many of them stand to the associates, I forbear to make an-apology. There are, I trust, mothers here, watch ing with tender solicitude the blossoms o f hope ; sisters exulting with af fectionate pride in the prospect o f a future harvest o f honorable distinc tion ; and it does not require much penetration to discover that here also are those who fondly anticipate the time when youthful vows shall be re deemed with mercantile good faith and honor. Commerce is a subject much treated upon, hut not exhausted; followed by many, but appreciated by few, we are too apt to regard it only as the means o f acquiring wealth, not as a profession tending to improve the mind, refine the imagination, and enlarge the heart o f its follower. It has ever been the policy o f wise and liberal governments to foster and protect the great interests o f trade ; and in no country is the wisdom of this policy more apparent, and its obligations more imperative than in ours. Our form o f government, and the popular character o f our political institutions, derive strength from the inseparable connection between the interests o f the merchant and a just and enlightened administration o f the law s.. The geographical position o f the country, which seems to point out the advantages o f foreign intercourse, without the dangers o f entan gling alliances; the habits o f our people, ingenious, speculative and ar dent, fertile in resources, and prompt in adaptation; the inseparable union and mutual reliance which exists in a pre-eminent degree between this arm o f national strength and the other great interests o f the community, agriculture and manufactures ; all tend to prove the wisdom as well as the justice o f that sound political maxim, that government is bound to protect the merchant in return for the support it derives from him. In vain shall the husbandman come “ seeking fruit upon his fig-tree” unless he “ dig around it and dung it.” And above all, wo to our rulers, (if any such shall hereafter arise among us,) and deeply will their course be depreca ted, who shall not only disregard this sacred obligation, hut embarrass the operations of commerce, dry up its fountains, or obstruct its streams. The first indication o f a tendency to arbitrary power in rulers, is a neglect o f the just claims of the merchant to the paternal care and protection o f the government; and the first blow o f tyranny has always been aimed at his independence and prosperity. Let us fervently pray, then, that such a blight may never fall upon our beloved country. Commerce affords the readiest and most natural resource of the govern ment in times of emergency. The merchant, from the nature o f his busi ness, is nearer at hand, and more reliable on such occasions, than the landed proprietor. The frequent and quick returns o f his capital, furnishes the former at times with unemployed funds, (the want o f employment, perhaps, arising from the very case which creates a necessity for the sup ply.) These funds he can advantageously invest in government securi Commerce and Commercial Character. 133 ties, with a certainty o f withdrawing them whenever his occasions may require it, proportioned to his confidence in the good faith o f the borrow ers, and their wisdom in the management of public affairs ; while the dif ficulty and uncertainty o f converting real estate into available funds, (in creased by the same cause to which I have alluded,) deprives the latter of the ability to evince his patriotism by assisting to keep in motion the political machinery o f the state. When Napoleon applied to England the contemptuous epithet o f “ a nation o f shopkeepers,” he paid her a higher compliment than he intended; it was an unintentional tribute to the power she had acquired by trade ; an extorted homage to that commercial policy by which her merchants had become the arbiters o f Europe ; o f those elements o f strength which the shopkeepers o f the Royal Exchange, and Threadneedle street, had furnished to her rulers, by which she alone was enabled to prescribe boun daries to the ambition of the great Captain, and say to the mighty wave of Gallic usurpation, “ Thus far shalt thou go, and no farther.” Military prowess was held in check by mercantile combinations, and the shop keeper proved an overmatch for the warrior. Trade, by giving employment to labor, diffuses a widely-spread bless ing over the land, and enriches the community by that which makes it rich. This is the true beneficence o f trade. The landed proprietor, in countries where commerce does not exist, if his heart be open as his landsare productive, and his coffers full, (which, unhappily, is not always the case,) may dispense his benevolence among his poorer neighbors; and occasionally we find in that respectable class, those whose exalted privi lege it is to be “ a father to the fatherless,” and to “ cause the widow’sheart to sing with joy but if this benevolence be not grudgingly bestow ed, it is at least subject to his will, and governed by his caprice ; and the gratitude o f the recipient is purchased at the expense o f that noble inde pendence which constitutes the glory and true equality o f human nature.The benefits diffused among the laboring classes by the enterprising mer chant, are equally felt as the uncertain bounty of the rich proprietor, and they involve no sacrifice o f independence, no consciousness o f inferiority,, they “ Drop as the gentle rain from heaven Upon the place beneath,” — to be returned in the fruitful harvest o f well-earned thrift. In the one' case an obligation is created; in the other, the receiver is placed above the necessity or obligation o f bounty. The acquisition o f wealth may arise from adventitious circumstances; from the successful labors o f progenitors ; or from a rise o f property which the possessor has had no agency in producing, and from which nosuperiority can rightly be claimed, except so far as it better enables him to “ do good and distribute,” to promote the objects o f charity, beneficence, and public spirit, and to furnish honest employment to those whose labor and skill offer a fair equivalent to his wealth ; and the very nature o f trade, its pursuits and employments, its necessities, and its immediate in tercourse with those objects which look up to and rely upon its counten ance and support, afford the most frequent opportunities, and give the largest scope to the indulgence o f those propensities from which human nature derives its highest patent o f nobility. In nothing is the beneficial influence o f trade more sensibly felt, and 134 Commerce and Commercial Character. more widely extended, than in the employment it gives to poor, but honest industry, and the consequent increase o f its compensation. The opinions o f Adam Smith, the practical and philosophical political economist, on the subject of high wages, are worth infinitely more than certain others, which may be better adapted to subserve a local and transient object. The true doctrine on this subject is contained in the following extract from the “ Wealth o f Nations :” — “ The wages o f labor are the encouragement of industry, which, like every other human quality, improves in proportion to the encouragement it receives. A plentiful subsistence increases the bodily strength o f the laborer; and the comfortable hope o f bettering his condition, and of end ing his days, perhaps, in ease and plenty, animates him to exert that strength to the utmost: where wages are high, accordingly, we shall al ways find the workmen more active, diligent, and expeditious than where they are low.” Another writer observes, with equal sagacity, “ As trade has increased, the miseries o f the people have abated; the poor being employed by manufacture, by navigation, and the ordinary labors which trade furnishes for their hands, they have accordingly lived better, their poverty has been less, and they have been able to feed, who before might be said only to starve. And in those countries ’tis observable that where trade is most effectually extended, and has the greatest influence, there the poor live best, their wages are highest; and where wages are highest, the con sumption o f provisions increases most; where the consumption o f provisions is most increased, the rate o f provisions is highest; and where provisions are dearest, the rents o f lands are advanced most.” * The same author illustrates his doctrine by the following example o f the miserable effect o f labor inadequately compensated: “ W e are told that in Russia and Muscovy, when for want o f commerce labor was not assisted by art, they had no other way to cut out a large plank but by felling a great tree, and then with a multitude o f hands and axes hew away all the sides o f the timber, till they reduced the middle to one large plank ; and that yet, when it was done, they would sell this plank as cheap as the Swedes or Prussians did the like, who cut three or four or more planks o f the like size from one tree, by the help of saws and saw mills. The consequence must be that the miserable Russian labored ten times as much as the other did for the same money.” In no country are the fatal effects of low wages so apparent, and the miserable condition o f the mass o f the people so calculated to call forth the sympathy of the philanthropist, as in China, where the policy o f arbi trary power has ever been exerted in the restriction of trade and the dis couragement of commerce. In this degraded country, where the womendo the labor o f horses, and men, enervated from the want o f proper food to sustain nature, perish under the lash of their taskmasters, millions of human beings, occupying a rank in the scale o f creation inferior to that o f the household animals in more favored countries, drag out a wretched existence upon a daily pittance o f about five cents; and so hopeless is their condition, that the despairing mother not unfrequently perpetrates the dreadful crime o f infanticide, to save her offspring from the misery o f protracted existence. Defoe’s English Commerce. Commerce and Commercial Character. 135 W e do not, however, require those extreme cases to illustrate a doc trine so obvious to experience and philosophy, that the high price o f la bor conduces to the glory of a nation, and the prosperity o f its people. It should undoubtedly be graduated by the price o f commodities, and the products of the earth should bear an equitable proportion to the cost o f production ; but in the business o f life, as well in the graduation o f value as in the endowments of the mind and the exercise o f the moral faculties, it is the interest o f all classes o f the community that we should level up wards, and elevate as high as possible the rateable standard. Commerce has in all ages been the great promoter and supporter o f civil and religious freedom. She lives only in the atmosphere o f liberty, and pines away under the restraints o f superstition, fanaticism, or tyran ny. The principles which regulate her action must he free as the air which fills her sails, and true as the compass which directs her course. Enterprise and sagacity “ marshal her the way which she should go.” Prudence and foresight sustain her in her course, and knowledge and re finement follow in her path. The light which she has shed upon the world has tended greatly to dispel the mists o f ignorance, and to illumine the page in which man may read the story o f his natural rights, and learn his true position in the scale o f humanity. She brings home with the natu ral riches and productions o f other countries the results of their discoveries, and the benefits o f their experience. The blessings o f rational religion, ' and the maxims of free government, are endeared to us by contrast, or en forced by example ; and we may reasonably hope that there is nothing in human nature so perverse as to prevent us from growing better as we grow wiser. The enlightened policy o f Great Britain, which leads her government to encourage commerce, and protects those who turn her iron into silver, her coal into diamonds, and who realize the fable o f the argonauts, not by going in search o f a golden fleece, but by the more profitable trans mutation o f her own, has in all ages o f her history resulted from the free exercise o f liberal opinions, and a just administration of laws framed to guard the essential rights o f the people ; and experience happily comes in aid o f reason in enforcing this wise and liberal policy upon her rulers, by showing the disastrous consequences attending every departure from it,. The resistance o f John Hampden to the payment o f a tax o f only twenty shillings, unjustly imposed under the name o f ship-money, led the way to revolution and regicide ; and the arbitrary enactment o f a colonial port bill, and a degrading distinction between her children abroad and at home, wrested from Britain the brightest jewel in her crown. Spain presents a striking instance o f the incompatibility o f the exercise of arbitrary power with the wholesome operations o f trade, and the dele terious effects o f religious intolerance upon the enterprise and ingenuity of mankind. She was prevented by those bad influences from availing herself o f the advantages o f the discovery o f America. The influence o f her lovely queen, the “ bright particular star” which pointed the way of Columbus to this western world, and irradiated his path on the un known waters of the great deep, was insufficient to remove the deeplaid foundations of political error, or counteract the blighting effects o f religious superstition; and history gives us too much reason to believe that even the noble mind o f the illustrious Isabella was prone to regard with unmerited favor the erroneous maxims of state and church govern 136 Commerce and Commercial Character. ment, which until her time no arm had been found strong enough, no heart pure enough, no head sound enough, successfully to resist, if she had been so minded. Spain ought to have been, but was not, a commer cial nation; and it was eloquently said o f her by a learned ecclesiastic,* whose essay on commerce proves him to have been as well acquainted with that subject as with those more immediately connected with his sa cred vocation, “ Spain was never in possession o f those advantages which spring from a steady and permanent commerce. Instead o f establishing a regular system o f trade, she grasped at the power and revenue o f sove reignty ; instead o f encouraging domestic industry, she drained her blood and wasted her vigor in the working o f foreign mines ; instead o f giving security to property, she shackled the exertions o f useful labor by harsh and ill-judged restraints.” Another example o f the injurious effects o f arbitrary laws and bad gov ernment upon the salutary operations o f trade, may be found in the his tory o f Portugal, where the spirit o f commercial enterprise sprung up, and simultaneously mingling its brightness for a short space with that o f its neighboring kingdom o f Spain, seemed about to reveal the beauty o f truth, and expose the deformity o f superstition; but, alas for humanity ! the world’s vision was not prepared to receive the light o f liberal opinions, and the sacred flame was transient as it was brilliant. The bright visions o f extended empire and commercial greatness which were presented to the Portuguese by the noble enterprises o f Prince Hen ry, the royal merchant o f Portugal, the discovery o f a new passage to India by the undaunted navigator Vasco de Gama, and the military prowess and benignant rule of the illustrious Albuquerque, were in a few years dissipated by the rapacity o f the government of the mother coun try, and the barbarous policy o f the delegated depositaries o f power with in their newly acquired possessions. The hideous spirit o f the Cape o f Tempests, “ called from the vasty deep” by the sublime imagination o f the immortal poet o f the Lusiad, seems to have been endued with a foreknowledge o f the fatal influence to be exerted, ere a generation had passed, by the bad passions and cor rupt institutions o f man, to counteract the beneficial effects of this glorious enterprise. “ His red eyes glowing from their dusky caves, Shot livid fires,” not in angry repulsion o f the adventurous mariner, who sought to estab lish his country’s glory, and the benignant reign o f commerce and civil ization in unknown lands ; but o f his successors, the ruthless minion o f power, whose steps would be marked by blood and rapine, and the un relenting Jesuit, preparing already to enforce by chains and racks the mild doctrines o f “ peace on earth and good will to men,” and to plant the cross o f a blessed Redeemer within the gloomy walls o f an eastern inquisition. It is grateful to pass from those dark pages o f commercial history, which have been cited to prove that where freedom dwells is alone the country o f commerce, and to turn to the bright examples o f nations and communities, who, under the operations of just laws and free institutions, have cultivated trade as a liberal and honorable profession, promoting that Bishop o f Down and Connor. Commerce and Commercial Character. 137 intercourse between the people o f distant countries which destroys preju dice, improves the mind, refines the habits, and softens the disposition, while it supplies the wants, increases the comforts, and extends the enjoy ments o f mankind. The most splendid instance o f commercial greatness, is that which has been so frequently cited to illustrate the interesting subject in which we are at present engaged ; the rise and glory of the Florentine republic, under her illustrious rulers, o f whom it was said by their accomplished biographer,* himself a merchant, a scholar, and a man o f taste, that “ the true source of the wealth of the Medici was their superior talents and application to commerce.” Cosmo de Medicis and his grandson, “ the magnificent Lorenzo,” were practical and operative merchants, who, by combining personal enterprise with the most exalted patriotism, and a love of trade with a devotion to science and literature, raised the city o f Florence to an unexampled height of glory, and made themselves the first citizens o f the world. The high character of Lorenzo, as a statesman and man o f letters, was the means o f obtaining from other countries privileges and advantages which rendered Florence the envy o f the civilized world. “ The glory o f the republic,” his biographer observes, “ appeared at a distance to be concentred in himself.” He appears to have arrived at proficiency in every thing he undertook, and his individual success was made subser vient to his country’s good, his private gains being devoted to the defence of the state and the preservation o f its honor. Literature, science, and the arts, flourished side by side with commerce, under the auspices of this family of merchants. The Medicean Library, founded by Cosmo, and supported by his grandson, still exists in Florence, presenting, in the words o f Mr. Roscoe, “ the noblest monument o f their glory, the most authentic depository o f their fame.” Historians, poets, and philosophers, have combined to swell the notes of praise in honor of the merchant to whom posterity has awarded the title of “ magnificent.” Voltaire describes him in the following strain o f rhapsody. “ What a curious sight it is to see the same person with one hand sell the commodi ties of the Levant, and with the other support the burden o f a state, main taining factors, and receiving ambassadors, making war and peace, opposing the pope, and giving his advice and mediation to the princes of his time, cultivating and encouraging learning, exhibiting shows to the people, and giving an asylum to the learned Greeks that fled from Constan tinople ! Such was Lorenzo de M edicis; and when to these particular distinctions, the glorious names o f the father o f his country, and the media tor o f Italy are appended, who seems more entitled to the notice and ad miration of posterity than this illustrious citizen o f Florence ?” The death of this great man, whose splendid career terminated at the early age of forty-four years, called forth from his townsman and con temporary, the wise but profligate Machiavelli, the following eulogium. “ No man ever died in Florence, or in the whole extent o f Italy, with a higher reputation, or more lamented by his country. Not only his fellow-citizens, but all the princes in Italy were so sensibly affected by his death, that there was not one o f them who did not send ambassadors to * Boscoe. VOL. iv.—NO. II. 18 138 Commerce and Commercial Character. Florence, to testify their grief, and to condole with the republic upon so great a loss.” Where, it may be asked, can more splendid examples be found o f the beneficial effects o f commerce upon the character and the destiny o f a community than in this commercial city, or the height to which man is capable of elevating his nature, than in these portraits o f her distinguished disciple ? The natural effects o f industry, perseverance, and frugality in the operations of trade, have been in no part of the world more clearly exem plified than in Holland, where commerce rose above the deficiencies o f soil and the disadvantages o f climate, and by the greatness o f her trade she became so powerful that her navies swept the ocean, and she came near to teach Europe, on some occasions, from the recesses o f her marshes, the maxim of the accomplished Sir Walter Raleigh, the sailor courtier— “ Whoever commands the sea, commands the trade, whoever commands the trade of the world, commands the riches o f the world, and consequent ly the world itself.” The learned author o f the introduction to the translation of the Lusiad, in accounting for the decay of the commerce of Portugal, and the failure o f success in carrying out the great plans which originated with Prince Henry, and were so gloriously accomplished by Yasco de Gama, places the policy o f that kingdom in the following disadvantageous contrast to Holland. “ The great population o f Holland arises.from its naval trade, and had the science of commerce been as well understood at the Court of Lisbon as at Amsterdam, Portugal, a much finer country, had soon be come more populous and every way more flourishing than Holland now is.” De Foe, in his excellent old-fashioned treatise “ On the Commerce of England,” cites the Dutch as the most striking instance, at the time he wrote, o f national and individual prosperity resulting from the operations o f commerce, and her handmaids, Industry, Prudence, and Economy. He says, “ The Dutch must be understood to be, as they really are, the car riers of the world, the middle persons in trade, the factors and brokers of Europe ; they buy to sell again, take in to send out, and the greatest part o f their vast commerce consists in being supplied from all parts o f the world, that they may supply all the world again. Thus they supply some nations with corn, others with ships, or naval stores for ships, others with arms and ammunitions o f all kinds, such as powder, shot, shells, lead, iron, copper, cannon, mortars, & c .; others with fish, others with woollen manufactures, and the like ; and yet they have neither corn, hemp, tar, timber, lead, iron, arms, ammunition, woollen manufacture, or fish o f their own growth, the product of their own land or seas, or labor o f their own people, other than as navigators and seamen, to fetch, find, and carry them. The commerce of England is a subject with which my hearers are too well acquainted to permit my dilating upon it on this occasion. Her maxims o f trade are ours; we have profited by her wisdom, and taken heed from her errors ; she has taught us to find the road to national pros perity by protecting trade, and encouraging manufactures ; and she has placed before us, in honorable relief, as an example for the imitation o f our young men, the exalted character o f an English merchant. But in making up our catalogue of the landmarks of commerce, I would briefly notice one, which, until within half a century, has always been one o f the Commerce and Commercial Character. 139 most important marts o f England. I allude to the port o f Bristol; and the few details 1 propose to give will derive an increased interest from the fact o f a recent revival o f commercial spirit in that city, by the estab lishment of the noble line of steam-packets to New York, o f which the favorite Great Western was the fortunate pioneer. It is a curious fact in the history o f the commercial world, that at a pe riod subsequent to the separation o f the United States from Great Britain, our commercial relations with Bristol were greater than those with Liver pool. I can myself remember when we had more vessels to the former than the latter port; not many certainly from either, but in those days Bristol was an important port and place o f business, and Liverpool was little more than a fishing town. The decay of the one and the rise o f the other may be accounted for from the greater facility o f communication enjoyed by the latter with Manchester, and the other manufacturing towns of the kingdom, and perhaps by a little stronger infusion o f Yankee enter prise in the character of her people. But the first is, in my judgment, balanced by the superiority o f the maritime position o f Bristol over that of Liverpool; and the second may be overcome by a judicious importa tion o f some o f the members o f the Mercantile Library Association. The commerce of Bristol, in the reign o f Edward the Third, was nearly equal to that of London, for we find that on a requisition being made upon the different sea-ports o f England, to furnish ships for the aid o f the royal navy, in the siege o f Calais, undertaken by the Black Prince, the quota of Bristol amounted to twenty-two ships, navigated by 608 mariners, while that of London was twenty-five ships and 662 mariners; and the records o f that ancient city inform us, that in the year 1466, one o f her merchants, named William Cannyngs, then mayor of Bristol, owned ten ships of an aggregate burden o f 2853 tons, and employed 800 men for the space o f eight years. Some idea may be formed o f the wealth and munificence o f this great merchant, from the fact o f his being the founder o f the splendid church of St. Mary’s Redcliffe, the proudest architectural ornament o f Bristol. He is styled by Henry the Sixth, in a recommendatory letter written to the magistrates of Dantzic, his “ beloved, eminent merchant o f Bristol and he deserves to be ranked in history as the rival, as he was the con temporary, o f the magnificent merchant o f Florence. The expedition of Sebastian Cabot, in which the northern part o f the continent of America was discovered, was fitted out by the private means of the merchants of Bristol; and her commercial eminence and the loy alty of her inhabitants are further testified by the fact that she furnished Elizabeth with four ships o f war, to aid in swelling the triumph o f her arms over the invincible armada o f Spain. The overthrow of the trade o f Venice, the source o f her wealth and the foundation o f her power, was occasioned by the great commercial con federacy called the Hanseatic League, and her monopolies were broken up by the discovery o f a passage to India by the Cape o f Good Hope. Before the period o f her decadence, her merchants were princes— now her princes are paupers. As no country has cultivated more successfully than ours the science o f commerce, so none furnishes prouder examples o f its beneficial results. Its benign influence invigorates every department o f industry, and en riches every corner of our wide-spread land; it causes “ the desert places to 140 Commerce and, Commercial Character. blossom as the rose,” and invites our rivers to pour into her lap the products o f agriculture and the improvements o f the mechanic arts. Every great city acknowledges its obligation to trade, and every hamlet ascribes to it a large proportion o f its comforts ; but I trust I shall be excused in alluding in a particular manner to a sea-port town of Massachusetts, which I have recently visited for the first time. I desire to express my admiration of the beautiful town o f New Bedford, and my gratitude for the hospitality o f its inhabitants; in which tribute, inadequate as it is, my friends on that ocean isle called Nantucket, around the corner from “ Cape Cod,” and next door to “ the Vineyard,” must kindly consent to participate. New Bedford is the most striking instance in our country, and perhaps in any, o f successful commercial enterprise. She dates no further back than the era of the revolution; she has been devoted to but one branch of foreign commerce : the leviathan of the deep has been her sole aim and object, and the sperm whale and the right whale the only variety of her pursuit. Yet so well has this pursuit been followed, and so ably and effectually have her hardy sons labored in their vocation, that she num bers at present 13,000 inhabitants, exclusive o f 4,000 the population of Fairhaven, over the way ; two hundred and eighty vessels belong to the port, and her registered tonnage ranks third in the United States; her splendid edifices dedicated to the worship o f Jehovah, and to secular ob jects, attest the public spirit o f her citizens, while the superior style of their private dwellings and grounds prove that taste and refinement are not incompatible with the pursuits of trade and the habits o f industry; and the visiter among them must indeed be fastidious if he finds not oc casion to praise the hospitality which sheds a light upon the path o f his sojourning, or the destitute wayfarer to return thanks for the oil o f com fort which they are ever ready to pour into his wounds. But where shall we look for a nobler example o f the beneficial influence o f foreign and domestic commerce than in our own beloved city ? Although from causes, the recapitulation of which would be unsuitable to the pres ent occasion, and about which some difference of opinion may possibly exist, her star shines not as brightly as it was wont, she possesses within herself a recuperative principle which will not fail, in due time, to restore her natural, vigorous, and healthful tone ; and if, as is alleged by some, the recent embarrassments o f her trade and the reverse o f fortune which many o f her merchants have experienced, are to be attributed to an over weening spirit o f speculation, and the desire to do too much has led to an indiscreet extension of confidence; let us hope that the lessons o f expe rience may not be lost upon us, that when the “ golden days o f commer cial prosperity” shall return, they may not bring with them the alloy o f improvidence and mismanagement. The merchants o f New York, embracing as well such as buy and sell at home, as those “ who go down to the sea in ships,” upright and intelli gent as they generally are, are undeniably prone to what is understood by the term overtrading ; unlike the same class o f persons in Europe, who plod on, generation after generation, in the same track, pursuing the same line o f business, occupying the same premises, knowing no change but the succession o f son to sire, and content with the steady accumulation o f the small but regular profits of trade, we are too apt to be swept away by the current of success into the ocean o f speculation. The desire to get rich fast, makes us disregard the means o f doing it safely; and habits Commerce and Commercial Character. 141 o f extravagance are induced by the visionary calculations o f prospective wealth; but the city of New York is above all others the offspring of commerce ; to the enterprise, ability, and liberality o f her merchants, she owes her present commanding position. Queen o f the western world, her throne is established upon the pillars of trade, and mercantile honor is the jewel o f her diadem. Her rapid rise and present condition may be cited to prove the truth o f the axiom laid down by an author whom I have before quoted :* “ In a word, it appears by innumerable examples that trade is the life of the world’s prosperity, and all the wealth that has been extraordinary, whether of nations or cities, has been raised by it.” It is amusing to look back upon the state o f the trade o f New York, and the modes o f conducting business within a brief period o f less than fifty years, and contrast them with the present condition o f things. 1 have no ambition to claim your respect or reverence as a sage o f antiquity. On the contrary, I fear I may have given you occasion this evening to re mark that I am young enough to learn a great deal; but my connection with business commenced so early in life, that I can describe these mat ters with tolerable accuracy. I was a lad in the retail drygoods store (shop we called it then) o f my brother, in William street. Goods were imported principally from London. The ships (only two or three in number) made two voyages a year ; and when they arrived, and the pack ages were opened in the warehouses o f Mr. Waddington, Rowlett & Corp, or Douglas & Shaw, notice was sent to the shopkeepers, who went down to Pearl street, and each selecting the articles he wanted, the whole importation was bought up ; and a bill o f five hundred dollars would have brought down upon the purchaser the jealousy o f his neighbors, and oc casioned serious alarm to the importer. It is a fact difficult to realize, that at the time I am speaking of, French drygoods were unknown in New York. I distinctly recollect the first package o f French kid gloves, and for several years after the peace, Eng lish lutestrings were the only silks in use. The ladies will find it diffi cult to imagine such a state o f destitution, and may, perhaps, thank their stars that they were not born in so dark an age, when the possession o f a silk gown was a luxury that few arrived at, and its advent in the family an event of sufficient importance to be chronicled with the birth of a child, or the setting out o f a husband on a voyage to Albany. Those were the days o f frugality and carefulness; and as we are now in a gossiping humor, I will relate an anecdote to prove it. A relation of mine, a merchant in the Dutch trade, who had then been a resident of New Y ork fifteen or twenty years, had in his possession a silk umbrella of uncommonly large proportions, which attracted the notice o f a friend in company, who said to him in jest, “ I should not be surprised to hear that you had brought out that umbrella with you from Holland.” “ You have guessed right,” he replied ; “ 1 did bring it when I came to this country, and have had it in constant use ever since; but I sent it once du ring the time to Holland to be newly covered.” Now this gentleman was liberal and charitable, but he took good care o f his umbrella, and died worth a million of dollars. In the days o f which we have been speaking, there was but one bank in the city, the Bank of New York, in Pearl street, then Hanover Square, * Defoe. 142 Commerce and Commercial Character. o f which Mr. William Seton was cashier, and Mr. Charles Wilkes first teller. Those were the blessed days of specie currency; and if you will indulge me, and laugh with me instead of frowning at me, I will describe how pleasantly it worked. The few notes which were given out by the merchants and shopkeepers (and the sequel will show how few they must have been) were collected o f course through the bank. Michael Boyle, the runner, (how delightfully do his jocund laugh and pleasant counte nance mix up with the recollections of my early years !) called, several days before the time, with a notice that the note would be due on such a day, and payment expected three days thereafter. When the day arrived, the same person called again with a canvass bag, counted the money in half-dollars, quarters, and sixpences, (those abominable disturbers o f the people’s peace, bank notes, were scarcely known in those days,) carried it to the bank, and then sallied out to another debtor ; and so all the notes were collected in this great commercial city, and in such a circumscribed circle did its operations revolve. W ell do I remember Michael Boyle, running around from Pearl street to Maiden Lane, Broadway, and W il liam street, (the business limits o f which district, happily for him, did not extend north o f the present Fulton street,) panting under the load o f a bag o f silver, a sort o f locomotive sub-treasurer, or the embodiment o f a specie circular. But where would New York have been if the channels o f its trade had remained so circumscribed— the bounds o f its enterprise so contracted ? Economy and prudence are virtues worthy' o f all praise in individuals, and carefulness is the pilot to preserve us from the dangers which beset the voyage o f human life ; bat the prosperity of commerce springs from individual enterprise, and public spirit keeps pace with the success o f pri vate undertakings. The spirit o f trade has infused itself into all our in stitutions, given activity to every branch o f industry, developed our re sources and improved our advantages, bound our citizens together in a mutual intercourse o f good offices, made available the gifts of nature, found employment for the artisan, and rewarded the labors o f the man of science. These are the blessings o f trade, and abundantly has New York partici pated in them. What though she has experienced a momentary check, she must resume the noble impulse which has hitherto sustained and car ried her forward. Without commerce, and the generous confidence on which credit is founded, where would now have been the religious, chari table, and scientific establishments with which our city abounds; where her seminaries of education, public and private, and where the noble in stitution in whose service we are now engaged, and whose present condi tion and future prospects cause the hearts of its founders and early friends to swell with pride and exultation 1 In vain should we now look for long vistas o f elegant private dwellings, the abodes of taste and refinement, and public squares rivalling in magnificence those of the great cities o f Europe, in a portion o f the city which, within the recollection of some o f our citizens, was almost a day’s journey from home ; the shouts o f wel come would not resound from our wharves at the almost daily arrival from foreign ports o f our unrivalled line o f packets ; and those splendid travel lers on the great deep, evincing, under the influence o f British skill and enterprise, the successful application of a new element to the purposes o f commerce and national intercourse, would have been strangers to our shores ; and massy columns and porticoes o f granite and marble, rivalling Commerce and Commercial Character. 143 in their classical proportions the architecture of ancient Greece and Rome, would not be seen to mark the place “ where merchants do congregate,” and the natural connection between government and commerce.* Then let us fervently pray that no mistaken notions o f national policy, no circumscribed views o f political results, no temporary expedients for local effect, may ever interpose to impede the onward progress of our city ; and let us all, (and you, young men, in an especial manner, who are pre paring to take the places which we o f more mature age are about to va cate,) charge ourselves with the sacred duty of keeping pure in its foun tains this heart’s-blood which circulates through the veins o f the body politic, and never to let its streams be polluted by fraud or false dealing; and, above all, let us exercise over the rulers of our country, in all future time, our constitutional right to demand for commerce the protection and support o f the civil government. But I must leave the general treatment o f this exciting subject to abler and more experienced hands ; and, in conclusion, touch briefly upon that branch of it to which I intended more particularly to call your attention. Otherwise, I may overstep my porter’s bounds, and intrude too far into the company o f my betters. Trade, as we have seen, is the true wealth o f nations, the support o f government, the source o f social improvement, and the promoter of indi vidual prosperity; but on the preservation o f a high tone o f mercantile character, depends in a great measure its ability to exercise these bene * Since preparing this address, I have witnessed an exhibition which enables me to carry out still farther the contrast I have attempted to describe, between N ew York in the olden time, and her present commanding position, and to indulge in cheering antici pations o f the glorious results o f the commercial spirit and mechanical genius of her citizens. The event to which I allude, was the launch o f the splendid steamship Kamschatka, built by New Y ork architects, under the superintendence o f N ew Y ork merchants, by order and for the use o f the emperor o f Russia. I have always thought the launch o f a fine ship an interesting and beautiful sight, but this was peculiarly calculated to awaken the most pleasing reflections. W hat a subject o f exultation is it that we, the people o f a country comparatively in its infancy, should already have acquired so much proficiency in the mechanic arts as to be employed to build ships for the great powers o f old Europe ! A nd what a striking illustration of the beneficial influence o f commercial enterprise and mechanical ingenuity upon the destiny o f the commonwealth, when we see the iron o f Russia transformed into steamengines, bolts, and chains, and her hemp stretched out into cables and cordage, and re sold to her, enhanced tenfold in value by American skill and labor ! I consider this the commencement o f a new era in the commercial history o f the United States, fraught with good to all concerned. This noble vessel will probably cost three or four hundred thousand dollars. T he science and skill o f the architect will be suitably compensated, the intelligent merchants will receive their well-earned commissions, and a hundred worthy artisans will have supported their families during the w inter; whilst, on the other hand, the autocrat will, it is hoped, consider his roubles so well laid out in the purchase o f this beautiful specimen o f naval architecture, as to be induced to trade with us again. W hat think you, my friends, o f this picture, compared with that which I have been sketching, o f the times when we sent our umbrellas to Europe to be repaired ? 144 ‘ Commerce and Commercial Character. ficial influences. The character o f a community essentially mercantile, such as ours, is deeply involved in that of the men who carry on its busi ness. Mercantile probity naturally becomes the standard of its morality, and fair dealing the criterion of its claim to distinction. Where the mer chant is respected by the other leading interests o f society, he will inev itably rise to influence proportioned to the extent o f his dealings; but to secure that respect, honor and good faith must characterize his conduct, and veracity and punctuality guaranty his engagements. The attributes o f an accomplished merchant are— 1. A deep and practical sense of the obligations of religion and moral ity, leading to upright and candid dealing. It is a mistaken notion that success in trade is ever to be acquired by artifice and finesse. The ex perience o f every person proves, that in the affairs of this world, (without reference to that higher accountability to the Being who “ searches the heart of man,” and is o f “ too pure eyes to behold iniquity,” ) whatever transitory benefit may be derived from such practices, in the end it will always be found that “ honesty is the best policy.” Truth is never to be departed from ; no possible advantage can be gained by falsehood in the transaction o f business, commensurate in any degree with that o f an established character for veracity, which is endan gered by the chance o f detection. A reputation for veracity, like the pol ished mirror, must know no flaw,— once cracked, its value is departed, and men cease to confide in the images it reflects. There is an anecdote, trite, perhaps, and which some o f you may have heard before, which I am nevertheless tempted to repeat, because it illustrates so happily this sentiment, and proves the homage which vice is sometimes constrained to pay to virtue. A celebrated gambler o f great address, but notorious bad character, meeting with a gentleman o f the highest reputation for honor and veracity, one o f that exalted class whose “ word is as good as their bond,” observed to him, “ Sir, 1 would give ten thousand pounds for your good name.” “ W hy so ?” demanded the surprised gentleman. “ Because,” replied the gambler, “ I could make twenty thousand out o f it.” 2. Punctuality, and a strict observance o f engagements. W e are more inclined to place confidence in a man o f small means, who never makes an engagement beyond his ability to fulfil, and is not willing to risk his credit by a want o f punctuality, than in one who makes his possession of wealth an excuse for a culpable negligence, the effect o f which may be to deprive ourselves of the ability to be punctual. 3. Prudence and foresight in the arrangement o f business, and a ju dicious employment o f time. It was a wise rule o f conduct laid down by the great Florentine shopkeeper in his advice to his son, by which, it would appear, he had been in the practice o f governing himself, to “ de liberate every evening on what you have to perform the following day.” 4. Economy in the habits o f living. This is a virtue not by any means inconsistent with the obligations o f benevolence and public spirit; but on the contrary, a reasonable denial o f indulgence in extravagant expenses improves the ability to meet the demands of this nature incidental to the station which we maintain in society. I have had some experience in the unthankful office o f soliciting bene factions for public objects, and that experience has taught me, that with a few honorable exceptions, the rich men, and those whose style of living Commerce and Commercial Character. 145 is most expensive, do not contribute with the greatest liberality to such objects. The large and respectable class o f merchants known as drygoods jobbers, occupying a middle station between the importer and the retailer, have always contributed more, in proportion to their means, than the men of large fortunes and expensive establishments; and let it be published in letters of gold, that a late noble benefaction of ten thousand dollars towards finishing the Bunker Hill Monument, was made by Amos Lawrence, late a drygoods merchant of Boston, and at present a cloth manufacturer of Lowell,— a member o f a family, which, for business hab its, liberality, and patriotism, may not unaptly be styled the Medici of Boston. 5. A love of literature, ardor in the pursuit of knowledge, and a taste for the fine arts. These accomplishments, which may be classed among the virtues as well as the ornaments of social life, are indispensable in the formation of such a character as we are describing. The obligation of a merchant of the present day to possess and to practise them is greatly increased by the ease with which they may be acquired. No longer con fined to a favored few, they are within the reach of the young men of every rank in life. Schools, libraries, and cabinets o f the arts open wide their doors to the youthful aspirant after knowledge and correct taste ; and he is invited at all times to partake within these walls of an intellec tual banquet richer than that which was spread “ For Persia won, B y Philip’s warlike son.” It is not presumed that every person engaged in trade should be an author, a philosopher, or a connoisseur ; but in this enlightened age, none will be excused for ignorance which themselves have the means of avoiding. Finally, every merchant should be a gentleman, in the strictest sense of the term. I am aware, my friends, that it is not at present the most popular term, and in using it I may possibly expose myself to misrepre sentation ; but rightly understood, the attributes of a gentleman cannot fail to command the respect of all classes o f mankind; they soften the asperities and sweeten the intercourse of society. By a gentleman I do not mean the man who founds his pretensions upon the accidental gifts o f fortune, or claims exclusive deference from any peculiar position in so ciety ; the poor man, and he of humble birth, has an equal claim to as pire to the title with the richest and the proudest, and frequently shows a better right to it. The character o f a gentleman embraces all the qualities which have been already enumerated; in addition to which, he is kind and courteous in his intercourse with others, conferring favors in such a way as not to destroy their effect by enhancing their value and humbling the recipient, or softening their refusal by satisfactory reasons and well-timed regrets. I have known an enemy made by the ungracious granting o f a request, while a friend has been secured by its kind and reasonable denial. This is called politeness, a very convenient kind of small change, better adapted to the ordinary uses o f society than a mass o f unrefined gold, or an unpolished diamond. A gentleman never does any thing which he can by possibility be ashamed of. While he is tenacious o f his own rights, and ever ready to VOL. iv.— NO. II. 19 Governviental History o f the United States. 146 defend them, he is scrupulously careful not to infringe upon the rights of others; possessing a delicate sense of honor, upright in his dealings and correct in his deportment, he seldom fails to obtain the respect and con fidence of his fellow men, and his example and counsel are often relied upon as the guide of their conduct, and the arbiter o f their differences. Such, my young friends, is the character, and such are the attributes of a merchant; they are all within your reach ; the benefits of early edu cation you hate already received: the seed is sown; see that it prove not to be “ by the wayside,” or “ on stony ground,” and that “ thorns spring not up and choke it.” You have within these walls a fertile field, and fit implements for its successful cultivation, and yours will be the blame if it produce not “ fruit, thirty, sixty, or an hundred fold.” I cannot close this address better than by repeating the words o f the annual report of the trustees of Clinton Hall, presented last year, in which the Mercantile Library Association is designated as— “ An institution destined, as we have reason from present appearances to predict, to elevate the mercantile character of our city, by uniting in a happy union the refinement o f literary taste with the spirit o f trade, and to enrol among the proudest distinctions o f society, the honored name o f a New York merchant.” A rt. III.— G O V E R N M E N T A L H ISTORY OF T H E UN ITED STATES. FR O M TH E E A R L IE S T SE TTL EM E N T TO TH E A D O PTIO N OF THE CO N STITU TIO N . P A R T FOURTH. * T h e declaration o f their independence produced a new era in the gov ernmental history o f the American colonies. Having assumed a separate and equal station among the nations o f the earth, by proclaiming that they “ were, and of right ought to be, free and independent states ; that they were absolved from all allegiance to the British crown, and that all politi cal connection between them and the state of Great Britain was, and ought to be totally dissolved; and that, as free and independent states, they had power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which independent states may o f right d o ;” the necessity was originated for the adoption o f some new measures,, as well to establish and define their relations with each other, as to regu late their intercourse with foreign powers. The bond of union which had hitherto connected them was inadequate, in its nature and provisions, to their present circumstances, as in its formation they had not contempla ted a separation o f themselves from all dependence on the British crown. The frame of government under which they had been associated, though not perhaps in its motives and designs, was in its spirit and its tendencies of a revolutionary character, and has well been denominated a “ revolution ary government.” It might have availed for all the purposes o f resisting Continued from part 3d, in the number for December, 1840. Governmental History o f the United Stales. 147 the aggressions and staying the oppressions of the parent state, while the nature and extent of that resistance seemed limited or defined by the re spected sense of allegiance. But when that sense was itself eradicated, when they had brought themselves to feel that they were no longer an infant community, that they had attained to the full stature and the strength of a gigantic nation, they felt also that other and far higher interests depend ed on the issue o f achieving and sustaining their independence. They felt that whatever the force of arms and the indignant resistance of a peo ple resolved on independence might accomplish, the security of the posi tion which they had taken before the world depended more on a wellinstituted and wisely-adapted frame o f government. Accordingly, on the 11th o f June, 1776, the congress passed a resolution appointing “ a com mittee to prepare and digest the form o f a confederation to be entered into between these colonies.” The committee appointed in pursuance o f this resolution, presented a draft of articles on the 12th o f July following. After a variety of debate on their provisions and adaptation, congress, in committee of the whole, reported a new draft, and ordered the same to be printed for the use of the members, (August 20th, 1776.) The subject continued to be agitated, till, on the 15th of November, 1777, it was re ported with sundry amendments, and adopted by the congress. Imme diately on its adoption, a committee was appointed to draft a circular to be sent to each o f the states, requesting them to authorize their delegates in congress to subscribe the same in behalf o f their respective states. This request did not meet with a ready or easy compliance on the part of the states. Many objections were made, and many amendments suggest ed by each to the articles proposed. The difficulty or inexpediency of sending them back again to all o f the states thus amended for their con currence, prevented congress from regarding any of the amendments sug gested, and a copy was ordered to be engrossed for ratification, (June 26, 1778,) which was ratified the same year by all the states except Dela ware and Maryland. The former did not accede to the union till 1779, the latter in the year 1781, when its final ratification was announced by congress, and received with demonstrations o f joy throughout the Union. It were tedious, perhaps useless, to enter into a detail of all or even the principal part of the objections which were made by the respective states to the ratification o f these articles, or to note the various causes of delay which preceded its final adoption. The question, however, which more than any other hindered its success, and gave rise to serious and alarming controversy, respected the boundaries o f the several states, and the dispo sition o f the lands held by the crown within the reputed limits o f each. Those boundaries, according to the provisions o f the charter or patent under which the several colonies were erected, were limited “ by the South Sea,” or extended indefinitely towards the western wilderness. The larger states claimed exclusive title to all the lands within their terri torial limits ; while, on the other hand, it was contended that all such lands, within whichever of the states, as were unsettled at the commencement of the war, and belonged to Great Britain, should be deemed common property, subject to the disposal o f congress for the general good. Amid such a conflict of claims and interests, of opinions and passions, it was difficult to fix upon any regulation which would give satisfaction to all the parties interested. The subject was regarded as one o f vast im 148 Governmental History o f the United States. portance, and seemed alone destined to prevent a union under the confederacy, and when, or how, or where it might have terminated, it were difficult to divine ; but in February, 1780, New York passed an act authorizing a surrender to congress o f part of the western territory claim ed by her, “ for the use and benefit o f such states as should become mem bers of the federal alliance.” Congress took occasion from this magnani mous example, to appeal to the other states for a similar cession o f their western domains, at the same time urging upon them how indispensably necessary it was to establish the federal union on a fixed and permanent basis, and on principles acceptable to all its respective members, how essential to public credit and confidence, to the support o f their army, to the vigor o f their councils, the success o f their measures, to tranquillity at home, and their reputation abroad, to their very existence as a free, sovereign, and independent people. The example o f New York was followed by Virginia, and afterwards by South Carolina, Georgia, Massa chusetts, and Connecticut, and thus was lulled this fearful source o f con troversy. The compact under which the colonies now became united as indepen dent states, was called Articles o f confederation and perpetual union be tween the states o f New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Penn sylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. The style o f the confederation was, T H E U N ITED S T A T E S OF AM ERICA. It was then declared that all sovereignty, freedom, and independence, with every power, jurisdiction, and right, which was not by these articles expressly delegated to the United States in congress assembled, was reserved in and retained by the states, which thereby entered into a mutual league o f amity for their common defence, for the security o f their liberties, and their reciprocal and general wel fare, and bound themselves severally to assist each other against all force offered to, or attacks made upon them, or any of them, on account o f re ligion, sovereignty, trade, or any other pretences whatever. It was fur ther declared, that the free inhabitants of the several states, except paupers, vagabonds, and fugitives from justice, should be entitled to all privileges and immunities of free citizens in the several states ; that the people o f each state should have free ingress and egress to and from any other state, and enjoy therein all the privileges of trade and commerce, subject to the same duties, impositions, and restrictions, as were imposed on the inhabitants thereof respectively, provided that such restrictions should not prevent the removal o f property imported into any state to any other state, o f which the owner was an inhabitant; and that no imposition, duties, or restriction, should be laid by any state on the property o f the United States, or either of them; that fugitives from justice, found in any part o f the United States, should be delivered up to the state having juris diction o f the offence committed, on demand o f the executive power o f such state; and that full faith and credit should be given in each o f the United States, to the records, acts, and judicial proceedings o f the courts and magistrates o f every other state. The general government, it was further provided, should consist o f a congress o f delegates annually appointed, in such manner as the legisla ture o f each state should direct, to meet on the first Monday o f Novem ber in every year, reserving in each state a power to recall its delegates, Governmental History o f the United Stales. 149 or any of them, at any time within the year, and to send others in their stead for the remainder o f the year ; that no state should be represented in congress by less than two or more than seven members, and that no person could be a delegate for more than three in any term o f six years, nor hold any office under the United States, for which he or any other for his benefit received any salary, fees, or emolument o f any kind, while such person was a delegate; that each state should maintain its own delegates in a meeting o f the states, and while acting as a member o f the committee o f the states; that each state should have one vote in deter mining questions which came before the United States in congress as sembled ; that freedom o f speech in debate in congress should not be ques tioned or impeached in any court or place out o f congress ; and that the members should be privileged from arrest and imprisonment while going to, or returning from, or attending at congress, except for treason, felony, or breach o f the peace. It was further provided, that no state, without the consent o f the United States in congress assembled, should send an embassy to, or receive any embassy from, or enter into any conference, agreement, alliance, or treaty, with any king, or prince, or state ; and that no person holding any office o f profit or trust under the United States, or any o f them, should accept of any present, emolument, office, or title, o f any kind whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign state ; and that neither congress, or any state, should grant any title o f nobility ; that no two or more states should form any treaty, confederation, or alliance whatever between them, without the consent o f congress, specifying accurately the purposes for which thesame was entered into, and its continuance ; that no state should lay any imposts or duties, interfering with stipulations or treaties entered into by the United States in congress assembled, with any king, prince, or state, in pursuance o f any treaties then already proposed by congress to the courts of France and Spain. That no vessels o f war should be kept up in time o f peace by any state, except such number as congress should deem necessary for the defence o f such state, or its trade. That no body o f forces should be kept up by any state in time o f peace, except such number as congress should deem requisite to garrison the posts necessary for the defence o f each state ; provided, that every state should always keep up a well-regulated and disciplined militia, sufficiently armed and equipped, and provide and constantly have ready for use, in public stores, a due number o f field-pieces and tents, and a proper quantity o f arms, ammunition, and camp equipage. That no state, unless actually invaded by enemies, or threatened with instant invasion by the Indians, should en gage in any war without the consent o f congress, nor grant commissions to any ships or vessels o f war, nor letters of marque and reprisal, except after a declaration o f war by congress, and then only against the kingdom or state, and the subjects thereof, against which war was declared, and under such regulations as congress should establish; unless such state should be infested with pirates, in which case vessels o f war might be fitted out, and kept up so long as the danger should continue, or till congress should otherwise determine. That when land forces were raised for the common defence by any state, all officers under the rank o f colonel should be appointed by its legislature, or in such manner as it should direct. That all charges o f war and expenses o f the general government, which were allowed by congress, should be defrayed out o f a common treasury, 150 Governmental History o f the United States. supplied by the several states in proportion to the value of all land within each state, granted to or surveyed for any person, according as the same should be estimated under the direction or appointment o f congress ; the taxes necessary to pay that proportion to be laid and levied by the au thority and direction o f the legislatures o f the several stales, within a time agreed by congress. It was also further provided that the Congress o f the United States should have the sole and exclusive right and power of determining on peace and war, with the exceptions already mentioned, o f sending and receiving ambassadors, entering into treaties and alliances, provided that no treaty o f commerce should be made whereby the legislative powers o f the respective states should be restrained from imposing such imposts and duties on foreigners as their own people were subjected to ; or from pro hibiting the importation or exportation o f any species o f goods or com modities whatsoever; o f establishing rules for deciding the legality of all captures on land or water, and as to the division and appropriation o f prizes taken by the land or naval forces of the United States ; o f granting letters of marque and reprisal in times o f peace; appointing courts for the trial o f piracies and felonies committed on the high seas; and estab lishing courts for hearing and determining, finally, appeals in all cases o f capture, provided that no member o f congress shall be appointed a judge of any o f the said courts. Congress was also invested with authority to hear and determine in the last resort, on appeal, all disputes and differ ences then subsisting, or that might thereafter arise between two or more states, concerning boundary, jurisdiction, or any other cause whatever. And all claims under different grants from two or more states, originating antecedent to the adjustment of the jurisdiction o f those states, were to be finally determined by congress, on the petition of either party, and the mode o f exercising such authority was prescribed. Congress was further invested with the sole and exclusive right and power o f regulating the alloy and value of coin, struck either by their own authority or by that o f the respective states ; to fix the standard o f weights and measures throughout the United States, provided that the legislative right of any state within its own limits was not infringed or violated ; to establish and regulate post-offices from one state to another throughout the Union, and to exact postage for defraying the expenses o f the same; to appoint all officers in the land forces of the United States, excepting regi mental officers; to appoint all naval officers, and to commission all offi cers whatsoever in the service o f the United States, and to make rules for their government and regulation, and to direct their operations. Provision was made giving authority to congress to appoint a COM M IT T E E OF T H E S T A T E S , to sit during its recess, to consist o f one delegate from each state, and to appoint such other committees and civil officers as were deemed necessary for managing the general affairs o f the Union, under its direction ; to appoint one o f their number to preside, provided that no person should be allowed to serve as president more than one year in any term of three years ; to ascertain the sums necessary for the service o f the United States, and to appropriate and apply the same towards defraying the public expenses ; to borrow money or emit bills o f credit on the United States, transmitting half-yearly to each state an ac count of the moneys so borrowed or emitted; to build and equip a n avy; to determine the number o f land forces, and to make requisitions for its Governmental History o f the United States. 151 quota on each state, in proportion to the number o f its white inhabitants j which were then to he raised, clothed, armed, and equipped, by the state, at the expense o f the United States. All these powers o f congress were made subject to the restriction that nine states should consent to any measure involving their exercise ; nor could any other question, except for adjourning from day to day, be de termined, unless by the votes o f a majority o f the United States in con gress assembled. The remaining articles provided for the adjournment and place o f meeting o f the congress, and the regulation o f their proceed ings while in session. The Committee o f the States, or any nine of them, were authorized to execute, in the recess o f congress, such o f the powers of congress as congress with the consent o f nine states should from time to time think expedient to vest them with; provided that no power should be delegated to the said committee, for the exercise of which the voice o f nine states in the congress o f the United States assembled was requisite. Provision was also made for the admission of Canada into the Union ; for the assumption o f the bills o f credit emitted, moneys borrowed, and debts contracted, by or under the authority o f congress, befoi’e the assem bling o f the United States in pursuance o f these articles o f confederation, pledging the public faith for the payment of the same. Finally, it was declared that every state should abide by the determination o f the United / States in congress assembled in all questions which by the confederation were submitted to them. That the articles under which they had united as a nation, should be inviolably observed by every state ; that the Union should be perpetual, and that no alteration should thereafter be made in any o f these articles o f confederation, unless with the assent o f a con gress of the United States, afterwards confirmed by the legislature of every state. Such were substantially the provisions embraced in the articles under which the several colonies had confederated with each other as i n d e p e n dent states. It is easy for us to discover their most exceptionable fea tures, comparing them as we can with the lessons o f experience, and the more successful operation o f the present constitution. Yet when we think o f the difficulties which were encountered in their formation— when we consider how few were the sources from whence light could be derived to illumine their counsels, we wonder rather at the wisdom o f those who framed them. The peculiar circumstances under which a frame o f gov ernment was called for, the oppressions and grievances which they had sustained and were still smarting under, from the arbitrary legislation o f the parliament of England, rendered the colonies extremely jealous o f any authority erected whose powers should in any degree control or restrain their own legislation. The delegates o f the nation, therefore, found themselves in a situation at once new and peculiar. They could look on the history o f other republics as beacons to warm, not as lights to guide. The one for which they were called upon to legislate, was without its precedent or its parallel in the world’s history. The states had under stood the benefits o f union only as colonies, and with reference to re straining the arbitrary exercise o f a power to which they acknowledged and confessed all due allegiance, and from which they had had no dispo sition to alienate themselves. But now that they had severed the tie of political relationship with the parent country, they were extremely cau 152 Governmental History o f the United States. tious with what attributes they should clothe a national administration. These reflections introduce us at once to the main defects o f the confedration. It will be observed as the most pernicious o f all its provisions, that in the s t a t e s was reserved the right o f carrying out the decrees o f the federal council, and executing them on their respective inhabitants; while it was utterly impossible to invest congress with any power to enforce the s t a t e s themselves to a compliance with its measures. It seems to us that this evil might have been avoided, had the question not been, what powers shall the stales yield up to congress ? but, on whom shall fa ll that superin tending authority, which hut lately was admitted to reside in the crown and parliament ? The object desired was to erect a government to be invested with those very attributes o f sovereignty, subject only to such restrictions as might arise from the peculiar relations o f the parties to the compact. Had the colonies been wholly independent o f each other when they pro claimed their independence o f Great Britain, the sovereignty exercised over each by the parent state, would undoubtedly have reverted to each o f them respectively. But the very circumstances under which their in dependence was declared, had originated and established ties o f political relationship and mutual dependence between them, which could not there after with reason or propriety be called in question. They had pro claimed themselves collectively an independent nation. It was essential to their existence as such, that they should continue united, and that they should erect a national government; and it was equally essential that that government should possess all the attributes of sovereignty. Consequen tial to their union and this necessity, was produced the singular anomaly of the constituent parts o f a nation brought into competition with the na tion itself for these abeyant powers o f sovereignty. It was this very ground o f controversy which poisoned the provisions o f the confederation, and rendered it wholly incompetent to the ends and the uses it was in tended to accomplish. It was the reservation o f those powers in the states, which should have been admitted to belong to the g e n e r a l g o v e r n m e n t , which rendered it a lifeless instrument. It was like the spirit breathing in a paralyzed and helpless frame. The essentials which might constitute a being were there, but the power which made them available or useful was taken away. The political sovereignty o f the general gov ernment was acknowledged, and a supremacy o f power establishing its existence as an independent nation was admitted ; while the states claimed for themselves the very powers which were a component part o f the at tributes of sovereignty. Hence the powers confided to congress were merely declaratory. It was simply a legislative administration. It could not carry into effective operation any measure it might deem necessary for the general good. It must resort to the states respectively for their approbation o f its measures. Independent o f a concurrent action of the state legislatures, which were liable to be biased by a variable and chang ing policy, it could not exercise any executive powers. Indeed, it was a government whose executive powers were vested in thirteen independent sovereignties, with whom a variety o f feelings, o f local interests, and sec tional jealousy, might operate to produce hostility to its measures. T o adopt and to recommend was indeed a power confided to the congress, but it availed nothing where there was so much and so many considerations to justify a non-compliance, and create a difference o f opinion even on the part o f those to whom it must look for life and efficiency to its own de Governmental History o f the United States. 153 liberations. Such differences o f opinion might and did exist in perfect consistency with the purest patriotism and the best intentions in the several states. Each yielding to the persuasions o f immediate and local interests, might, naturally enough, feel itself justified in disregarding the enactments o f the general government. Thus congress was reduced to the mere pa geantry o f power. It might pass laws, but could not enforce their ob servance by penalties o f any kind. N o express authority was conferred to compel obedience to its mandates, nor could such power be implied, for each state claimed “ every power, right, and jurisdiction not expressly delegated to congress.” The necessary consequence was that its enact ments were a nullity, alike disregarded by the states, and set at defiance by individuals. Each and every one complied or refused compliance, as interest or feeling prompted, and no transgressor could apprehend any dangerous or fearful consequences from a body whose power was vox et preterea nihil. In providing a revenue to meet the current expenses o f the general government, congress were also powerless. They could ascertain the sums necessary to be raised for the purpose, and allot to each ptate its proportion ; but the power to levy and collect it was expressly reserved in the states; and surely we need not say how precarious was its forth coming, if, forsooth, it came at all. It is impossible for us, at this day, to calculate all the mischiefs resulting from such a system in time o f war. T o know them in all their full and felt reality, we must make ourselves familiar with all the scenes o f the revolution. Had not the congress re sorted to foreign loans, that revolution might, perhaps, never have been accomplished. “ The principal powers o f the general government,” says an eminent jurist, “ respected the operations of war, and would be dormant in time of peace. In short, congress in peace was possessed o f but a delusive and shadowy sovereignty, with little more than the empty pageantry o f office. They were, indeed, clothed with the power o f sending and receiving am bassadors, and entering into treaties and alliances; o f appointing courts for the trial o f felonies and piracies on the high seas, and o f regulating the public co in ; o f fixing the standard o f weights and measures; o f regu lating post-offices ; o f borrowing money, and emitting bills on the credit o f the United States; o f ascertaining and appropriating the sums neces sary for defraying the public expenses ; and o f disposing o f the western territory: and most o f these powers required the assent o f nine states. But they possessed not the power to raise any revenue ; to levy any ta x; to enforce any law ; to secure any right; to regulate any trade ; or even the poor prerogative o f commanding means to pay its own ministers at a foreign court. They could contract debts, but were without means to discharge them. They could pledge the public faith, but they were in capable o f redeeming it. They could enter into treaties, but every state in the Union could disobey them with impunity. They could institute epurts for piracies and felonies on the high seas, but they had no means to pay either the judges or the jurors. In a word, all powers which did not execute themselves were at the mercy o f the states, and might be trampled on at will and with impunity. In .the more summary and ex pressive language of Governor Jay, ‘ they may declare every thing, and do nothing.’ ” “ The United Slates,” says the Federalist, “ have an indefinite discrev o l . tv.— N O. II. 20 154 Governmental History o f the United Slates. tion to make requisitions for men and money, but they have no authority to raise either by regulations extending to the individuals o f America. The consequence o f this is, that though in theory their resolutions con cerning these objects are laws, constitutionally binding on the members o f the Union, yet in practice they are mere recommendations, which the states may observe or disregard, at their option.” And again, says the same writer, “ The concurrence o f thirteen distinct sovereignties is re quisite, under the confederation, to the complete execution o f every im portant measure which proceeds from the U nion; and congress at this time scarcely possesses the means o f keeping up the forms o f the admin istration till the states can have time to agree upon a more substantial substitute for the present shadow o f a federal government.” “ A government,” says an eminent American biographer, on surveying this period o f our governmental history, “ authorized to declare war, but relying on independent states for the means o f prosecuting i t ; capable o f contracting debts, and o f pledging the public faith for their payment, but depending upon thirteen distinct sovereignties for the preservation o f that faith; could only be saved from ignominy and contempt by finding those sovereignties administered by men exempt from the passions inci dent to human nature.” These quotations, while they portray the radical errors existing in the confederation, serve also to illustrate the causes which made that system of government such as it was, and rendered it so feeble and so defective. It was the controversy, as we have before remarked, which their peculiar position at the declaration o f their independence, originated between the several colonies and the general government sought to be established, as to the powers o f sovereignty. The states claiming for themselves those prerogatives, and aiming to restrict the powers o f congress, a government was erected whose administration was dependent on the will and delibera tions o f thirteen independent legislative bodies. Such a government, if we could suppose it to operate at all, must necessarily experience great embarrassment in its operations. Even if we could suppose a united as sent o f all the states to its measures; that they were all ready to assist in executing them; it must be long before the ordinary forms o f their legislation could bring to its aid the most needful requisitions; and promptitude, especially under the then circumstances o f the nation, was necessary to the successful termination o f its measures. Yet how was it possible, in the natural course o f things, where so much occasion existed for diversity o f opinion, where these several bodies were liable to be swayed each by its respective sectional interests, and by political rivalry, that unanimity could prevail, or the government so dependent be pre served ? Experience had proved its utter insufficiency during the w a r; and after peace had been proclaimed and established, after the perplexi ties, anxieties, and sense o f mutual dependence, incident to the war, were allayed ; after the chief object o f their union had been accomplished, and the power o f the crown was wholly exterminated, the states were ready with plausible reasons for avoiding the requisitions of congress. The ac cumulating difficulties originating under such a system o f administration, and the consequently increasing embarrassments o f the national govern ment, left scarcely a vestige o f hope that the union could be preserved. The treasury, which was never full, was now entirely exhausted; and the responsibilities o f the general government were constantly multiplying, Governmental History o f the United States. 155 while the public faith was gone o f a nation burdened with a debt o f $42,000,000, which consisted o f loans obtained from Holland and France, and the remainder from our own citizens, who had also perilled their lives and nobly fought in the struggle for independence. Yet few seem to have been moved by these alarming symptoms o f ruin and decay which were developing around them. The earliest legislative suggestion which was made o f the inefficiency o f the confederation as an instrument o f government, came from the legislature o f New York, in July, 1782, by concurrent resolutions, which were introduced into the senate by General Schuyler. They declared that the radical source o f most of our embar rassments was the want o f sufficient power in congress; that the con federation was defective in several essential points, particularly in not vesting the federal government, either with a power o f providing a reve nue for itself, or with ascertained and productive funds; that its defects could not be repaired, nor the powers o f congress extended by partial de liberations o f the states separately, and that it was advisable to propose to congress to recommend, and to each state to adopt, the measure o f assembling a general convention o f the states, specially authorized to re vise and amend the confederation. This was followed by a resolution in congress, passed in February, 1783, “ that the establishment o f permanent and adequate funds throughout the United States was indispensable to do justice to the public creditors.” Subsequently to this, resolutions were passed, asking from the states power for congress to levy certain specified duties on various articles o f importation. It was proposed that these should continue for twenty-five years, and the revenue therefrom be ap plied solely to the payment o f the principal and interest o f the public debt. The collectors were to be appointed by the states, removable by congress. It was at the same time further proposed that other requisitions might be laid on the states, to establish a revenue for other purposes, according to a fixed quota, and that this system should go into operation on the consent of all the states. The measures proposed were urged upon the several states by the most forcible, eloquent, and patriotic appeals from the most distinguished statesmen o f that day, and were made the special subject of commendation in circulars addressed by Washington to the governors o f the several states, as he was about to resign his public command, and as his farewell advice to his countrymen. “ Unless,” he says, “ the states will suffer congress to exercise those prerogatives which they are undoubt edly vested with by the constitution, every thing must very rapidly tend to anarchy and confusion. It is indispensable to the happiness o f the individual states that there should be lodged somewhere a supreme power to regulate and govern the general concerns of the confederated republic, without which the Union cannot be o f long duration. There must be a faithful and pointed compliance on the part o f every state with the late proposals and demands of congress, or the most fatal consequences will ensue. Whatever measures have a tendency to dissolve the Union, or contribute to violate or lessen the sovereign authority, ought to be con sidered hostile to the liberty and independence o f America, and the au thors o f them treated accordingly. And lastly, unless we can be enabled, by the concurrence o f the states, to participate o f the fruits of the revo lution, and enjoy the essential benefits of civil society, under a form of government so free and uncorrupted, so happily guarded against the dan ger of oppression, as has been devised by the articles of confederation, it 156 Governmental History o f the United Stales. will be a subject o f regret that so much blood and so much treasure have been lavished to no purpose, that so many sufferings have been encoun tered without compensation, and that so many sacrifices have been made in vain.” A compliance with these prudent and wise counsels seemed, however, to be impossible under the existing state o f popular feeling. The several states still continued to retain their early prejudices against national sovereignty, and were reluctant to surrender up to congress the preroga tives necessary to give duration, stability, and efficiency to the Federal Government. Here we cannot help observing the influence of that same mysterious agency whose superintending control is so apparent in all their early history. It was important that they should be made to feel more deeply than their experience hitherto had taught them, the benefits and the ne cessity o f their union. It was essential in order to give permanency and durability to the frame o f government which was thereafter to be estab lished, that their experience should be such as would carry a lesson o f instruction to all generations o f their descendants ; and it would be well for those, if any such there are, who have taught themselves to estimate lightly the untold benefits and blessings o f the union, to review attentively this portion of our history. Its record is graphically written in an appeal made by congress to the states in February, 1786. The report adopted on that occasion says : “ In the course o f this inquiry it most clearly ap pears that the requisitions of congress for eight years past, have been so irregular in their operation, so uncertain in their collection, and so evi dently unproductive, that a reliance on them in future as a source from whence moneys are to be drawn to discharge the engagements of the confederation, definite as they are in time and amount, would be no less dishonorable to the understandings o f those who entertained such confi dence, than it would be dangerous to the welfare and peace of the Union. It has therefore become the duty o f congress to declare, most explicitly, that the crisis has arrived when the people o f these United States, by whose will and for whose benefits the federal government was instituted, must decide whether they will support their rank as a nation, by maintain ing the public faith at home or abroad, or whether for want o f a timely exertion in establishing a general revenue, and thereby giving strength to the confederacy, they will hazard, not only the existence o f the Union, but o f those great and invaluable privileges for which they have so ardu ously and so honorably contended.” This appeal seems to have met with a commendable response by most o f the states, yet the measures recommended in the report, and sought to be adopted, were opposed and lost by the single vote o f New York. The vote o f New York on this occasion has been censured, yet we think unjustly. It was probably influenced by the consideration that it was impossible, under the existing confederation, to accomplish the ends aimed at by congress. In order to secure the benefits o f a happy and lasting union, a total remodelling o f the whole fabric o f government seemed absolutely necessary. The existing one had been found wholly inadequate to the relations and exigencies o f the nation, and its continu ance ceased to be desired even by the warmest advocates o f union.” Both parties,” says an able commentator on the present constitution, “ felt that the confederation had at last totally failed as an instrument o f government; that its glory was departed, and its days o f labor done; that it stood the Governmental History o f the United States. 157 shadow of a mighty name ; that it was seen only as a decayed monument o f the past, incapable o f any enduring record ; that the steps o f its decline were numbered and finished; and that it was now pausing before that common sepulchre of the dead, whose inscription is nulla vestigia retrorsum.” In enumerating the errors o f the confederation, we have neglected (and it may be proper here) to observe that there was no power in the con gress to regulate foreign or domestic commerce. The absence o f any national provisions on the subject was a source o f great embarrassment in the commercial intercourse o f the several states, and operated disadvantageously on their foreign trade. An effort was made by the state of Virginia to remedy this defect in a proposition for a convention o f dele gates for that purpose. The proposal was responded to by several o f the other states, and five o f them sent delegates to a convention held at An napolis in September, 1786. This assembly, though deeply sensible that the national government was lamentably defective, did not feel themselves competent to undertake any alteration o f its provisions. Yet they concurred in a suggestion to congress for a general convention, which should take into consideration the condition o f the general government, and make such provisions or alterations as might render it adequate to the exigen cies o f the Union. Encouraged by this application, (on the 27th o f Feb ruary, 1787,) congress ventured to pass a resolution recommending a convention o f delegates from all the states to be holden at Philadelphia, “ for the purpose o f revising the articles o f confederation, and reporting to congress and the several legislatures such alterations and provisions therein, as shall, when agreed to in congress and confirmed by the states, render the Federal constitution adequate to the emergencies o f government, and the preservation o f the Union.” This was a highly important, a critical era in our governmental history. The peculiar circumstances, o f our situation impressed on the minds o f all the serious and reflecting, the lovers of liberty and of the human race, the necessity of a more perfect and permanent union between the states. And although some of them regarded it as an unimportant matter, and met this proposal with violent opposition, they could not feel that it was even with them an indifferent alternative. It was a choice between po litical existence and political death— whether they should be lost in anarchy and confusion, or live as free, sovereign, and independent com munities. It was necessary to their preservation not only from the ac cumulated resentment o f the foe they had just subdued, but also from the strife of rivalry, the animosities and jealousies which might spring up among themselves. Where or how could they promise themselves safety or continuance as separated sovereignties ? W ho could assure them that the lion, robbed o f her whelps and driven from her den, would not return, and with redoubled fury, upon them ? What security was there that one might not fall under the domination of a neighboring province, the larger states crush the smaller, and a scene o f strife, dissension, and bloodshed overspread the land ? These were momentous considerations. They involved not only the peace and prosperity o f the states, but the more vital interests o f the whole American people. The question was one full of awful and thrilling importance. Should they reap for themselves, and transmit to posterity the invaluable benefits o f a revolution, the achieve ment o f which had filled the whole civilized world with amazement, or 158 Governmental History o f the United States. lose them all by an inglorious hostility towards each other ? The crisis they were approaching demonstrated to them the wisdom o f the recom mendation made by the congress, and a convention o f delegates from all the states was appointed “ to assemble at Philadelphia in May” — (1787.) The delegates, except from Rhode Island, assembled to this convention at the time and place appointed ; and although they were strongly im pressed with the necessity and importance o f a union o f feeling, of in terest, and of affection between the several states, they contended with no ordinary difficulties in the way of securing so desirable a result. Theirs was indeed no ordinary undertaking. The history o f the world had pre sented no similar scene. Before them they beheld a great and growing people. In the vista o f the future they saw a still greater and more ex tended nation. For these they were to provide, for these they were to legislate. For these they were called upon, in circumstances o f solemn responsibility, to frame a fabric o f government. It must meet the difficul ties and embarrassments o f the present, and provide for the wants and the changes o f the future. In the allotment and distribution o f powers, they must calculate with a nice discrimination their practical operation. They must foresee the occasion and the necessity for limitations and restric tions. They must be careful not to give too much; they must be equally cautious lest they confer too little. W e cannot forbear pausing one moment to look in upon that grave assembly. They seem to feel as if the destinies o f the world were in trusted to their care. On every brow, in every countenance, is legibly traced the solemnity, the wisdom, the purity, the deep discernment, and far-seeing political sagacity, o f men whose minds are swayed by purer, nobler, prouder, worthier purposes than ever hallowed the council cham bers o f Greece or o f Rome. W e admire the schemes which held to gether those early republics. W e venerate the sages and the heroes of Athens, of Sparta, and o f R om e; but we admire still more our own politi cal fabric. W e venerate with a holier enthusiasm the sages, the heroes, and the patriots, o f our own native land; and we religiously believe that the eye o f the Omniscient never rested with as intense an interest on any other assembly o f men gathered for merely political purposes. On the seventeenth of June, (1787,) after mature and tranquil delibe ration, they reported to congress a draft o f the present constitution, at the same time recommending that it should be submitted to a convention o f delegates in each state, chosen by and from among the people thereof, for ratification. For several months it underwent a critical examination. Its several articles were carefully canvassed by all the members o f the Union, and the whole people o f America were made familiar with its pro visions. Their judgment upon it was that it was adequate to the exigen cies of the nation, and was well adapted to secure, through all time, to all coming generations, the blessings o f civil and religious liberty. Having received the sanction of the requisite number o f the states, a government was duly organized and put in operation under it on the fourth of March, (1789.) In June, 1790, it had received the ratification o f all o f the states by their respective conventions. Thus have we endeavored to trace the governmental history o f our country, from the earliest settlement made on its shores, down to the time o f adopting the present constitution. The task has been to us an inter esting and instructive, rather than a laborious one ; and we can only hope Origin and Nature o f Fire Insurance. 159 that it may be equally so with those who may deem it worthy a perusal. O f that constitution it is not our purpose now to speak. It is before us. W e see and feel the benefits o f its benign operation. For more than fifty years have these United States and this great people been fostered under its provisions. Their prosperity, happiness, and tranquillity are the proudest comment on its adaptation to their necessities and relations. Its peace-producing influences are radiating over the world, illustrating to admiring millions the happy tendencies o f republican institutions in ameliorating the condition o f mankind. Liberty enshrines it in her tem ple as the most cherished monument o f her triumphs, while she exultingly invites the oppressed and suffering o f every kindred, and tongue, and peo ple, and nation, to rest under its protection. ESTO PE R PE TU A . A rt. IV .— ORIGIN A N D N A T U R E OF FIR E IN SURANCE. CH A PTE R I . Origin o f Insurance— its utility— considered as a wager. M a n y old writers have endeavored to discover to whom belonged the honor o f inventing insurance, yet none have ever traced it successfully; the principle upon which it is founded is common to other branches of business, and was early applied to this. Some have imputed the discov ery to the Roman emperor Claudius Csesar ; others to the Rhodians ; and Mons. Savary, in his Dictionnaire de Commerce, to the Jews, in the year 1182. It seems, however, to have been introduced into England many ages since, together with its “ twin-brother, exchanges,” by some Italians from Lombardy; this opinion gains probability from the fact that it was long the custom to insert this clause into English policies, “ this writing or policy of assurance shall be o f as much force and effect as any writing heretofore made in Lombard street,” & c .; “ the place where these Ital ians are known to have taken up their residence, and carried on their trade.” (Park on Insurance.) Marine insurance is o f greater antiquity than that o f fire ; the great utility of the former seems to have suggested the practice of the latter business. It appears that the first underwriters were individuals doing business on their own account, and not in a corporate capacity; and con sequently, many frauds were practised upon the insured by irresponsible persons, who received large sums as premiums, by representing them selves to be possessed o f means sufficient to discharge any claims upon them for losses which might arise. This evil grew to such a magnitude, that the legislature interfered to protect a business which thay saw was intimately connected with the welfare o f the country, in respect to the extension o f its commerce. Accordingly, in an act incorporating the first insurance companies in England, passed in the year 1720, in the reign o f George I., the preamble sets forth at length the above reasons. The companies incorporated by this act were the Royal Exchange Assurance, and the London Assurance, with perpetual succession, subject to redemp. tion, or power of revocation, for the insurance o f ships, goods, and mer. chandises, at sea, or going to sea, and for lending money on bottomry. 160 Origin and Nature o f Fire Insurance. Since this time companies have multiplied in numbers and variety, so that insurance can not only be effected on ships and merchandise, but upon almost every variety o f interest, and upon lives. The utility of this description of business is now abundantly confirmed. “ T o enter upon a detail o f the various advantages which mankind have derived from this species o f contract, would be a waste of time ; because they are obvious to every understanding; ” the great help which it affords to individuals who conduct business on their own account, by dividing the loss in case o f a fire, or shipwreck, among many persons, is sufficiently demonstrated by experience. The benefit rendered by it to commerce was well understood, even in early times, as may be seen by the following extract from a preamble to an act o f parliament, passed in the 43d year of the reign o f Queen Elizabeth. “ By means o f which policies of assurance, it cometh to pass, upon the loss or perishing o f any ship, there followeth not the undoing o f any man, but the loss lighteth rather easily upon many, than heavy upon few, and rather upon them that adventure not, than upon those that do adventure ; whereby all merchants, especially those o f the younger sort, are allowed to adventure more willingly and more freely.” The benefit marine insurance renders to trade and commerce, by protect ing the merchant when his property is on the water, will, with equal force, apply to fire insurance upon the land. “ It gives also greater security to the fortunes o f private people, and by dividing among many that loss which would ruin an individual, makes it fall light and easy upon the whole so ciety.” (Park on Insurance.) Insurance, in its early history, is known to have become a prevalent and pernicious mode o f gaming; this arose from persons effecting in surance upon property in which they had no interest; but this was soon prevented by statute, 14 Geo. III. c. 18, which provides, that no insurance shall be made on lives, or on any other event, wherein the party insured hath no interest; that in all policies the name of such interested party shall be inserted ; and nothing more shall be recovered thereon than the amount o f the interest of the insured. This does not, however, extend to marine insurances, which were provided for by a prior law o f their own. (Black. Com., book II., 460.) No insurance against fire upon property in which the insured has no interest, can be effected in this country ; the custom be ing to insure A against loss or damage on his property; if he never owned it, or disposes o f his interest previous to a loss or damage, he clearly cannot recover, for he cannot be said to have sustained an injury. Every objection to this branch of business is therefore removed; nei ther can any possibly urge a valid reason against it simply because the contract partakes of the character o f a wager. Insurance is, in reality, nothing more than a wager, for the underwriter who insures at one per cent, receives one dollar to return one hundred upon the contingency of a certain event; and it is precisely the same in its operation as if he had bet a wager o f ninety-nine dollars to one that the property does not burn, or that a certain event does not happen. (Notes on Black. Com., II., 459.) But, in a moral point o f view, it should be considered entirely different. The character o f an act is determined by its spirit, intention, and conse quences. An individual that insures a bona fide interest, does it with a different intention than he who obtains a policy upon property in which he has no interest; for the latter hopes to make a gain, the former to protect himself from loss; and in the event o f a fire, one gains in propor- Origin and Nature o f Fire Insurance. 161 tion to the amount insured and the extent o f the fire, the other is saved from loss in the same proportion. C H A P T E R II. Insurance companies considered as corporations— the advantages o f incor poration, with the powers, rights, capacities, and incapacities incident thereto— their general privileges and disabilities— the different kinds o f fire companies, as they exist in New York City, and the general enact ments in their creation and regulation. Most if not all companies for fire insurance are now incorporated by the legislature ; for it has been found necessary and advantageous to the public, as well as to the individuals composing such company or associa tion, to secure a kind o f legal immortality, in order to preserve entire and forever those rights and immunities, which, if they were granted to indi viduals in their individual capacity, would upon their death be utterly Idst and extinct; as well as several other important incidents which are tacitly annexed to a corporation, of course. W e shall therefore, in order the better to understand the nature o f insurance companies considered as cor porations, proceed to show what is the nature o f corporations in general. Blackstone’s Com., book I, chap. 18, gives the following as the powers, rights, capacities and incapacities, which are incident to a corporation : 1st, T o have perpetual succession, (or a definite time determined by the legislature.) This is the very end o f its incorporation ; for there cannot be a succession forever without an incorporation, and therefore all aggre gate corporations (or those composed o f a number o f individuals united into one society) have a power, necessarily implied, o f electing members in the room of such as go off. 2d, T o sue or be sued, implead or be 'impleaded, grant or receive, by its corporate name, and do all other acts as natural persons may. 3d, T o purchase lands and hold them, for the benefit of themselves or their successors, (corporations in the state o f New York are not allowed to hold-land, except such as is necessary for the transaction o f their business,) which, too, are consequential to the for mer. 4th, T o have a common seal; for a corporation, being an invisible body, cannot manifest its intentions by any personal act or oral discourse; it acts and speaks, therefore, only by its common seal. For though the particular members may express their private consents to any act by words, or by signing their names, yet this does not bind the corporation; it is by fixing o f the seal, and that only, which unites the different assents of the individuals who compose the community, and make one joint assent of the whole.* 5th, T o make by-laws or private statutes, for the better government o f the corporation, which are binding upon themselves, unless contrary to the laws o f the land, and then they are void. This is also included by law in the very act o f incorporation; for as a natural reason is given to the natural body for the governing it, so by-laws or statutes are a sort o f political reason to govern the body politic. There are also certain privileges and disabilities attending an aggre * There is an exception to this in the case o f policies o f insurance, for it is generally declared by the charter that “ the signatures o f the president and secretary shall be binding and obligatory upon the company, in like manner and with like force as if under the seal o f the said corporation.” V O L . I V . — N O . I I. 21 162 Origin and Nature o f Fire Insurance. gate corporation. It must always appear by attorney; for it cannot ap pear in person, being, as Sir Edward Coke says, (10 Rep. 32,) invisible, and existing only in indentment and consideration of law. It can neither maintain or be made defendant to an action of battery, or such like per sonal injuries. It cannot commit treason, or felony, or other crime, in its corporate capacity. It cannot be executor or administrator, or per form any personal duties. It cannot be seized o f lands to the use of another, neither can it be committed to prison, or outlawed. The reason for all which is, that it has not a corporal existence, which would he es sential in order that it be liable in like manner with an individual. In England, where the ecclesiastical courts exercise powers and jurisdictions peculiar to the laws o f that country, a corporation is exempted from excommunication ; “ for it has no soul,” as is gravely observed by Sir Ed ward Coke. (10 Rep. 32.) A corporation may be dissolved by act o f legislature, by surrender o f its franchises, by forfeiture o f its charter through the abuse o f some of its privileges, or the commission of illegal acts, or through the omission of others which are obligatory upon it. Its debts, to or from it, in case of its dissolution, do not survive to the individuals composing it, so that they may be benefited by, or held responsible for them, in their individual capacity. Thus much has been said respecting the general nature o f corporations as is deemed necessary to our subject. W e shall next consider the dif ferent kinds o f fire companies as they exist in the city of New Y o rk ; and all subsequent remarks will have this local reference. They are o f two sorts : first, those that have a fixed capital determined by the legislature, and divided into a certain number of shares, which must be subscribed for and paid in, and secured according to the provisions o f the charter. The number of directors is also fixed, from among whom one is selected to act as president. The directors are annually chosen by the stock holders for one year, and in case of death or resignation others may be appointed as may be provided for by the by-laws. A company is not al lowed to commence the business of insuring until the whole of the capital stock shall have been paid in and secured, and an affidavit of that fact been made by the president and secretary, and filed in the clerk’s office. The whole assets o f the company are liable for losses, so that in the event o f a large loss, the stockholders forfeit all the'ir interest before the insured is affected. Dividends are made out o f the surplus profits arising from the interest on the capital, and from the receipt o f premiums, after all losses, debts, and expenses are paid, provided the capital is unimpaired; but no dividend can be made while the capital stock is impaired, or until such deficiency or loss o f capital is made good. Charters which have been obtained in the state o f New York, since the year 1830, usually have a clause inserted in them, that they “ shall pos sess the general powers, and be subject to the provisions o f the eighteenth chapter o f the first part o f the Revised Statutes, so far as the same are applicable and have not been repealed.” The second class o f insurance companies are those which are denomi nated mutual companies. In these every insurer becomes a stockholder during the period for which he shall remain insured, and in amount, in proportion to the premium which he pays into the company; and for this amount he is liable in case o f a loss. The capital is not fixed or deter Origin and Nature o f Fire Insurance. 163 mined as in the case of the former companies, .but is in proportion to the amount of premiums on hand, which constitute the capital stock. The profit or dividend is paid to the insurers or stockholders, in proportion to the amount o f money paid in by them for premiums, in the same manner as shareholders in other companies. A president and board o f trustees are elected in like manner, and for the performance of like duties, as the president and directors of those companies that are not mutual. There is a clause generally inserted in their charters that no policy shall be issued until application for insurance shall have been made to a certain amount, so that they may be provided for a loss at their commencement, if any should happen to be sustained. chapter in . O f the policy— insurance, how effected— what covered by the policy— na ture o f the contract— how insured forfeits his right to recovei— notice to be given o f other insurance—policy, how assigned and transferred. “ Policy is the name given to the instrument by which the contract of indemnity is effected between the insurer and the insured ; and it is not, like most contracts, signed by both parties, but only by the insurer, who on that account, it is supposed, is denominated an underwriter. Notwith standing this, there are certain conditions, o f which we shall hereafter have occasion to speak, to be performed as well by the person not sub scribing, as by the underwriter, otherwise the policy will be void.” (Park on Insurance, c. 1.) A proper representation o f the character and situation o f the property sought to be insured, and of all the circumstances which would in any way affect its risk, or personal inspection by the insurer or his agent, which is the usual way when convenient, is necessary to determine the rate of premium. This paid, and the policy received, the property is in sured to the amount agreed upon and specified in the policy.* It should be remembered that no property is covered by the policy except that owned by the insured; hence goods stored, or held in trust, or on com mission, must be insured as such. If different kinds o f property are in tended to be included in one policy, they must be designated with reason able particularity, for the fixtures of a store would not be included if merchandise or stock only were mentioned ; and so o f similar cases. Insurance o f this sort is a contract by which the insurer, in considera tion of the premium which he receives, undertakes to indemnify the in * It is a custom among the companies to insure before the policy is made out, or even the premium paid. The correctness o f this manner o f doing business is very much questioned, however convenient it may sometimes b e ; no doubt, when the contract is in good faith, and a loss should under such circumstances be sustained, it would be paid by honorable m en; but if the insurers should fall back upon their legal rights, the in sured would not be able to recover, if the premium had not been paid. This is un doubtedly so ; for the claimant could only plead a verbal promise, without consideration ; but if he had paid the premium, although the policy had not been delivered, a court of equity would compel the insurer to deliver a policy, although the property might then be destroyed; and upon the policy so obtained, through the intervention o f a court of equity, an action might be sustained in a court o f la w ; at least this is the opinion of those legal gentlemen who have been consulted upon this point. 164 Origin and Nature o f Fire Insurance. sured against all losses which he may sustain in the property insured, by means o f fire, within the time limited in the policy. The following ex ceptions, however, are usually made in the policy : “ except those which may happen by means o f any invasion, insurrection, riot, or civil commo tion, or any military or usurped pow er;5’ and in some cases by lightning. W e are, therefore, next to consider upon what Occasions the insured annuls his policy, and is prevented from recovering in case o f a loss. The contract may be void from the beginning, if the knowledge of any fact is withheld which might prevent the insurers from taking the risk, or o f charging a higher rate o f premium. “ In every contract between man and man, openness and sincerity are indispensably necessary to give it its due operation; because, fraud and cunning once introduced, suspicion soon follows, and all confidence and good faith are at an end. No con tract can be good, unless it be equal; that is, neither side must have an advantage by any means o f which the other is not aware. This being admitted o f contracts in general, it holds with double force in those o f in surance, because the underwriter computes entirely* from the account given by the person insured, and therefore it is absolutely necessary to the justness and validity o f the contract, that this account be exact and complete. Accordingly the learned judges o f our courts o f law, feeling that the very essence o f insurance consists in a rigid attention to the purest good faith and the strictest integrity, have constantly held that it is vacated and annulled by any the least shadow o f fraud or undue conceal ment.” (Park on Insurance, c. 10.) There are several ways also by which the insured may forfeit his right to recover for a loss, between the time o f the date o f the policy and its termination. As it would be impossible to mention all the circumstances which would have this effect, it may be considered as a general rule, that whatever tends to increase the risk o f the subject insured, should be made known to the insurer, and his consent endorsed upon the policy; as, if A has his building insured, privileged for the storing o f tea, and afterwards, without obtaining the consent o f the insurer, uses the building for a more hazardous business, such as drugs, the policy would be void. Notice must also be given o f all previous insurance which may be bind ing at the date o f the policy, and o f any subsequent insurance which may be obtained upon the property, that a memorandum o f it be endorsed upon the policy, or otherwise acknowledged in writing. An omission to do this would be a bar to recovery ; this condition being always inserted in the policy, forms a part o f the contract. The necessity for this will be seen if we consider the temptation for persons to fire their property, if allowed to procure insurance beyond its value. Policies o f insurance are not, in their nature, assignable; the contract being to indemnify the person named in the policy against loss, o f course the insured would not be allowed to elect another to stand in his place and stead, without the permission o f the insurer ; and as the contract is in writing, therefore the assignment or permission must also be in writing. A departure from this rule would work hard against the insurer, for, doubtless, in many cases, he is governed in taking the risk and fixing the rate of premium in a great measure by the character o f the insured; and * This expression should be limited, it being customary for the insurer to examine for himself, personally, or by his agent. Annual Report o f the Mercantile Library Association. 165 if assignments were allowed without the insurer’s permission, he might, by such assignment, be placed in a much worse condition than he was in by the original contract. This should not, however, be construed to af fect the interest o f the insured’s executors, administrators, and assigns, who stand in his place without the necessity of an assignment. Insurance may also he transferred from one building or property to an other, in case of a removal, & c., with the consent o f the insured, such transfer being endorsed on the policy. The insurer has his election to assign or transfer, or not, and in case o f a refusal, a rateable proportion o f the premium on the risk for the unexpired time will be refunded, and the policy cancelled. A rt. V .— A N N U A L R E P O R T OF T H E M E R C A N TIL E L IB R A R Y ASSOCIATION. T h e Twentieth Annual Report o f the Board o f Directors o f the Mer cantile Library Association o f New York, which we here subjoin, will be found a clear and interesting document, not only to members o f the asso ciation, but to all who take an interest in the cause o f intellectual im provement. It enters into a view of the condition of this noble monument o f mercantile liberality, and proposes judicious plans for the increase o f its prosperity. The advantages o f the organization of similar associations in the commercial cities of our country, must be obvious to those who know the amount o f moral and intellectual good that has been accom plished by this body, and we are glad to perceive that the young men o f the neighboring cities are awakening to the importance o f the subject.. The institution is under obligations to the officers o f the past year for the faithful performance o f their duties; and we doubt not that those whohave been connected with the direction o f its affairs, receive full compen sation for their services in the cordial thanks o f its members. Mr. Silliman has presided with dignity, and the report from his pen is in keeping with his well-sustained character, as president o f this flourishing asso ciation. Gentlemen of the Association— A n o t h e r year rolling onwards since our last annual meeting, is numbered with the past, and those to whom you then intrusted the interests of this in stitution, now stand before you to render an account of their stewardship. The earlier part of that year, like several of its predecessors, dark and gloomy to the whole country, has been peculiarly so to the mercantile community. The honest merchant, struggling to meet his engagements and sustain his com mercial reputation, has been in many, too many instances, compelled to fold his hands in despair, as his means have sunk and disappeared in the ruins o f a prostrate and helpless currency : property upon which he had based his con tracts, fading from his view like the mirage of the desert, on his attempt to realize it; or, like the coin which the evil one is said to barter for men’s souls, turning in his hands to worthless dross and stones of state. The merchants, < in the last several years, have passed through a fierce ordeal of toil, of trouble and disappointment, that in the annals o f the commerce of this country is un paralleled. Happily, gentlemen, the clouds are rolling from the horizon; the sun again 166 Annual Report o f the Mercantile Library Association. appears in the distance, and those stout hearts and enterprising spirits have yet before them release from existing embarrassments, and the prospect of future prosperity. The Mercantile Library Association has felt in some measure, as of necessity it must, a check in the influence of these times. Large numbers of clerks have been obliged, from stagnation in business, to re linquish their situations, while curtailment of means and absence from the city have induced many, it is supposed, to temporarily withdraw from the Asso ciation ; fewer, however, than might, under the circumstances, have been natu rally expected. L i b r a r y .—There have been added to the library, during the current year, 501 members. Withdrawn during the same period, 501 members. Which will leave the total number of members precisely the same as at the date of the last annual report. The number of members represented by the last annual report was 5,301 A large number of inactive and merely nominal accounts have been hitherto represented as existing, from the inability of the board of direc tion to close them, no provision to that effect having existed in the constitution; but under “ Article 7” of the amended constitution, this board have closed all that have not been used for a period of two years and more, amounting t o 1,715 Which will leave a total of members, on the 1st of January, 1841, - 3,586 Of these there are members paying annually, at the rate of $2, “ “ “ “ f5 , Stockholders of Clinton Hall Association, Honorary members, - - - - - - - 3,090 62 292 142 3,586 The number of volumes contained in the library at the date of the last annual report, was 21,906 To which, during the current year, have been added by purchase, 1 210 vols. / 390 “ “ “ by donation, 180 “ } Making the total number o f volumes in the library at the present time, 22,296 The Reading Rooms are supplied with 62 foreign periodical publications, 43 American, and 10 newspapers; making a total of 115 periodical publications. There are also on hand about 800 copies of the Catalogue unbound, and 80 copies bound. The library is in good condition, with the exception of a number of volumes which require binding. This evil, which want of funds has prevented the board from having remedied, will, it is presumed, soon be rectified by their successors. The board regret that they are compelled to call the attention of the members to the very improper habit of disfiguring the books by comments, which are for the most part frivolous and uncalled for. This custom, the propriety of which in a private library is very questionable, is in the highest degree improper in one that is public. T r e a s u r y . —From over-estimate of the income of the year 1839, the pur chases of that year exceeded its receipts, and it was deemed expedient by this board to refrain from other than the necessary current expenditures until all the debts of the institution were liquidated. That resolution has been sternly adhered to, and indeed could be, with the more propriety, from the fact that the larger part of the debt was incurred for works of sterling merit and value; considerable in number, of beautiful editions, and in the selection of which great judgment and information were exhibited. Annual Report o f the Mercantile Library Association. 167 The amount of claims handed over to .this board for liquidation on their ac cession, January 18, 1840, was, for sundry bills for books, - $1,504 82 Printing, and printing C a ta logu e,............................................. 382 00 Gas and fix tu re s,....................................................................... 420 79 B i n d i n g , .......................................................................................411 43 Advertising, & c . , ...................................................................... 179 98 P eriodicals,............................................ 107 18 In s u r a n c e ,...................................................................... 200 00 Carpenter’s work, 179 70 Expenses of election, 30 00 $3,415 90 From which is to be deducted the balance in the treasury, per trea surer’s report, January 1, 1840, $483 92 Income of the Association from Jan. 1st to 18th, 1840, 444 00 927 92 $2,487 98 To which is to be added, the deficiency in the receipts of the second course of lectures, withdrawn from the fund of $1,009 41, re ceived by the board of 1838, and loaned to the library by the board of 1839, amounting t o .................................... ........ Making a total of - - - - - - - - - 618 05 $3,106 03 The board had indulged the hope that they should be able to present the in stitution, at this meeting, to the members free from debt, but in this they havh been disappointed. It will bg observed by the treasurer’s report, hereto annexed, that the whole income of the association, with the exception of a small amount expended for books in the early part of the year, has been absorbed by the very heavy current expenses, added to the unliquidated claims above-mentioned. It is presumed that a rigid supervision of some of these expenses, particularly the items of gas, periodicals, and insurance, may lead to the propriety of their curtailment. The total amount of claims against the institution, (with the exception of some trifling charge for interest, which could not be ascertained,) upon the 1st of January instant, was $984 35, being for the following bills : For b o o k s ,................................................................................ $398 27 Gas and fixtures,........................................................................ 356 10 Carpenter’s work, . . . . . . . . 213 60' .................................... ........ 16 38 Advertising, $984 35 , It is proper to observe that the insurance for the present year, amounting to $300, was paid prior to the 1st instant, and that about $300 of the above claims will probably be paid from the income of the present month. To meet the more pressing demands which presented themselves upon the accession of the present board, a loan of sixteen hundred dollars was obtained from the Merchants’ Bank, which was paid in instalments, and extinguished in the month of No vember last. L e c t u r e s .—In forming the class of lectures that is now in progress of de livery before you, it was deemed expedient that they should be of varied, as well of an interesting and instructive character. The crowded state of the lectureroom in previous years had induced the late board to endeavor to obviate the difficulty by delivering two separate and distinct courses. The first of these courses was successful, and met its expenditures, but it was evident from the commencement of the second, that that would fall very far short in its receipts. It was considered, however, that engagements made with the gentlemen that, were to lecture in the course, many of whom were strangers, should for the 168 Annual Report o f the Mercantile Library Association. honor of the institution be carried through, and upon closing the accounts of the two courses, an excess of expenditures over the receipts appeared, amounting to $618 5. The surplus money received from lectures in 1838, was loaned to the library by the board of that year, to meet such future contingency, amount ing to $1,009 41. This fund was accordingly called upon, and as it had been in the year 1839 invested in books, the regular means of the library were with drawn on the requisition to the amount of the deficiency. As it was the wish of this board to repay as far as possible the amount thus withdrawn, to the library, and as the current expenses of a course of lectures are heavy in the items of advertising, &c., it was determined that the course should be formed at as moderate expenditure as was practicable, and they have been accordingly indebted to several of the gentlemen whose names are in the list for their gratuitous services. It is with much disappointment that they are compelled to state that the course has not met with sufficient support from the members to enable them to fulfil the intention to the extent of their expectation, but they have been ena bled to vote $200, a donation from its receipts to the library, under similar re strictions to those of the board of 1838. The sum has been accordingly repaid to the fund, and expended in liquidating the claims against the institution. C l a s s e s .—The board have endeavored to make the classes (next to the library itself the most important feature in the institution) as extended, general, and useful as possible. In addition to the subjects heretofore embraced under this head, they engaged teachers provisionally, to take the charge of classes in the German and Italian languages, and in mathematics, astronomy, and natural history, provided the members should come forward in sufficient numbers to authorize their organization. The classes that were formed were, one class in penmanship, one in mathe matics, one in bookkeeping, three in the French language, and one in the Spanish. The members of the institution cannot too highly value the advantages which this system affords them, embracing, as it does, almost a collegiate course of in struction at a trivial expense. G a l l e r y o e A r t s .—The extension of the classes rendering it necessary that additional rooms should be obtained for their accommodation, application was made to the Clinton Hall Association, who, with their characteristic liberality, immediately presented the smaller Exhibition Gallery (heretofore leased to the National Academy of Design) to the association for their use. The walls of this room court decoration, and the board availing themselves of the opportunity, have used their exertions to form the foundation of a gallery of the fine arts to be attached to the institution. The want of a permanent gallery has long been felt in this city, and it is be lieved that by suitable effort, one can be formed by donation, which, in the course of time, will not only add greatly to the attractions of this institution, but go far to supply that deficiency. As it is not probable that the paintings will be removed for a long series of years, donations may reasonably be ex pected from artists, from persons leaving the country, and from our own liberal merchants and members who may have specimens of the arts in their pos session. It is important that a taste for the fine arts should be implanted and fostered in our members, as they, in a few short years, will be the wealthy merchants to whom those arts must look for support and encouragement. Its growth of course must be slow and gradual; but we can give as an example of its prac ticability, the beautiful Gallery of the Afheneum at Boston, and the beginning, increase, and present condition of our own library. To render it more immediately attractive, works of art might be received on loan from individuals who would place their property in our possession for safe-keeping, without rendering us accountable for other than prudence in the care of it. The fine arts are almost the necessary companions of literature, and their Annual Report o f the Mercantile Library Association. 169 cultivation in this instance cannot in the most remote degree interfere with the increase of the library, as the funds of the institution, by our contract with the Qlinton Hall Association, cannot be withdrawn from their legitimate channel; on the contrary, it is believed that additional attraction, thrown around the institution, will cause a greater accession of members, and further its use fulness. The board are of opinion that this design, steadily pursued by the Association, will assuredly result in success, and they respectfully recommend it to the at tention of their successors. In furtherance of the design, they have received and acknowledged the following donations as a basis of the gallery. P aintings .—Ruins in Italy—by Kobbell; presented by P. R. Brinkerhoff, Esq. Herodias, with the Head of John the Baptist; presented by Thomas E. Da vis, Esq. Beatrice Cenci led to execution in Rome, A. D. 1699 ; presented by Elisha Whittelsey, Esq. Portrait of a Gentleman of the 17th Century; presented by Charles Hoyt, Esq. Mill and Waterfalls—by Bennett; presented by William Brenton Boggs, Esq. City of Washington—by Cook; presented by Russell H. Nevins, Esq. A Head—by Copely; presented by William Wood, Esq. Monk at Study ; presented by H. H. Elliott, Esq. Earl of Dartmouth; presented by William Wood, Esq. The Madonna and Child of Murillo, and a Dutch Kitchen—loaned by Francis Olmstead, Esq. E ngravings .—The Gallerie du Palais Royal— 355 Plates; 3 vols., royal folio—presented by Charles Hoyt, Esq. Boy dell’s Shakspeare Gallery— 100 Plates ; 1 vol., elephant folio—presented by A. E. Silliman, Esq. S t a tu ar y .—Colossal Statue of the Minerva Medica ; presented by the Fel lows and Council of the National Academy of Design. Bust of Franklin, in marble, executed by a young American artist; presented by H. H. Elliott, G. H. Coster, Edward Prime, and Samuel Ward, Esqs. Group of the Graces ; presented by A. E. Silliman, Esq. These works, at present adorning the walls of the library and reading-rooms, can be placed in the Exhibition Gallery when their number increases sufficiently to make it convenient to remove them. M useum and C abinet .—The Museum and Cabinet, in the arranging of which the Association has been heretofore indebted to the kind attention of Mr. John H. Redfield, but which is now under the supervision of Mr. Charles M. Wheatly, has been increased by various acquisitions in minerals, shells, and natural curi osities ; and the same facilities that point out the practicability o f forming a Gallery of the Fine Arts, demonstrate the propriety.of prosecuting with dili gence this plan, for which the foundation is already laid. Our members are, by profession, many of them, wanderers upon the earth. From the gay whirl of France, and the classic ruins of Italy, to the “ continuous woods where rolls the mighty Oregon,” there is no spot that will not be marked by their footsteps. From the icy ocean of the north to the sultry calm o f the tropics, there is no sea where they will not be borne by the broad canvass of our merchantmen. In China, in Arabia, in the Indies, in South America, our fellow-members even now are found ; and where can the curiosities of those countries be more natu rally placed by them on their return than in the halls of their own Association 1 The facilities which are extended to the institution for this object, are, we think, ' unparalleled, and, as was said with regard to the gallery, its promotion can in no way interfere with the increase of the library, which will follow the silent and even tenor of its way. For its practicability we have before us the exam ples of the noble India Museum at Salem, and those of some of our other At lantic cities. The board acknowledge donations from the following gentlemen: VOL. IV.— NO. ii . 22 170 Annual Report o f the Mercantile Library Association. George D. Baldwin, C. C. Iloffman, S. A. Griffon, E. C. Bramhall, John N. Ben ners, G. A. Brett, I. A. Lintner, H. L. Goodwin, P. A. Hawes, C. M. Wheatly, A. B. Leeds, Samuel Sloane, A. B. Sands, Rev. Charles Fox, Lafayette Bailey, John Blunt, Thomas King, Mr. Fowler, and Mr. Marshall. H o n o r a r y M e m b e r s .—During the last year, several literary gentlemen have been made honorary members of the Association, among whom is numbered Seyd bin Calfaun, an accomplished and educated officer in the navy of the Sul tan of Muscat. It was represented to the board, by one of our members lately resident at Muscat, as well as by other gentlemen who had been in Arabia, that he was a man of superior intelligence and information ; and it was deemed expedient, on the suggestion and recommendation of those gentlemen, (as not only gratifying to him, but likely to promote the interests of our members hereafter resident in that country,) to confer the compliment of a membership upon him. This was done, and his certificate, with a handsomely bound copy of the Catalogue, his name inscribed thereon, and the different annual reports, accompanied by a let ter from the corresponding secretary, stating the progress and object of the in stitution, forwarded to Arabia by the sultan’s corvette, which sailed from here in the month of August last. In connection with this subject, the board, for a moment, beg leave to call the attention of their fellow-members to the slow and silent efforts of the great east to rise from its sepulchre, and the manifestation of the agency and power of an overruling Providence in directing its efforts. The same Almighty hand is visible in the rise and in the fall of nations. Their principle of life, how long soever smothered, though lying dormant for centuries, still at the appointed time revives, and they arise and fulfil the circle of their destiny. Egypt, dead, degraded, under the guidance and lash of a bloody despotism, is awakening to arts, to agriculture, to intelligence; and her coming genera tions, benefited and enlightened by the education thus blindly forced upon them, will rise in their might, throw off the yoke of servitude, plant their banners upon the everlasting pyramids, and again place her among the nations of the earth. India— with her millions bowed down by the most absurd institutions of man, divided into castes, starving by thousands upon the richest soil of the earth’s surface, not knowing liberty and independence even by name—under the stern rule of her conqueror, the Anglo-Saxon, has slowly pouring into her arteries the religion, the education, and the power, which will again arouse her to life; and not improbably in future ages, the Anglo-Indian empire may look down almost in ignorance of the existence of the little island that now so haughtily wields her destiny—insignificant in extent, but the mother of mighty nations. The Turk, holding his European empire merely by sufferance of antagonist interests, province after province swept from him by encroaching powers, will ere long find his foothold crumble beneath him; the hand of the “ yellow haired” Russian will plant the cross again over the crescent in the city of the Constantines; the mild and enlightening influence of Christianity will dispel the gloomy and chilling mists of fatalism, and religion, order, and humanity resume their reign in that beautiful land, torn from its effeminate possessors by the great and self-deluded Mahomet. And, if it is apparent that the work of re generation is going on in these long-seeming dead and stagnant empires, may not Arabia, the sunny Arabia, once the seat of the Caliphs, the mother of medi cine, the inventor of figures, the home of the arts and sciences, again take her place among the sister nations ? Europe and America repaying their obligations to her by returning those arts more refined, those sciences more expanded. C o u r t e s i e s .—An invitation was extended in the early part of the year to the officers of the army and navy upon this station to make use of the library Annual Report o f the Mercantile Library Association. 171 as a place of reference. Most of these gentlemen are men of literary taste, many of them of study and research; and as in their changing course of life, it is not practicable to have private libraries around them, it was considered that it would not alone be an act of courtesy, but of substantial utility to those gentlemen to have the volumes of our library open to their examination. The invitations were acknowledged and accepted by the respective commanding officers upon the station, and the rooms of the Association have been visited by many of our military and naval gentlemen, in accordance with the tenor of the invitations. The board also call the attention of the members to the con tinued courtesy and civility extended to the Association by the National Acade my of Design, a beautiful token o f whose liberality now adorns the rooms of the library. They request in their letter accompanying the statue “ your ac ceptance of it as a slight, but inadequate proof of the friendly feeling which exists in the Academy toward the Mercantile Library Association—a feeling engendered by years of harmonious intercourse beneath the same roof.” C h a n c e l l o r K e n t ’ s S e l e c t C a t a l o g u e .— Deeply impressed with the necessity that a selection of works in literature should be recommended to the attention of the members of the Association, by an authority which should insure respect and attention, the board addressed a letter to the Hon. James Kent, requesting him to favor them, at some hour of leisure, with a selection of such character as he might deem proper and judicious for their use. It affords them great pleasure to state, that that eminent jurist and accom plished scholar, at much expense of time and labor, drew up a select catalogue of works, in various branches of literature, enriched with his own critiques and remarks, and presented it, free of expense, to the association. They have caused it to be printed, taking out the copyright in the name of the association; and they avail themselves of this opportunity to make their public acknow ledgments to Chancellor Kent, for his kindness in affording to them, in the serene and tranquil evening of a life honored and respected by his fellow-men, a work required not only by the members of this Association, but by a large portion of the community. T h e M e r c h a n t s ’ M a g a z i n e .—The magazine of Mr. Hunt, which is germane to our institution, although not connected with it, is flourishing under a large and still increasing patronage, which its merits richly deserve ; and the Asso ciation are under obligations to that gentleman, not only for the warm interest that his pages evince in their welfare, but for the insertion of acknowledgments for donations, and other notices relative to the institution. ScHOLARSHip.-^One o f the scholarships in Columbia College, to which the association is entitled, having become vacant, it was granted to Mr. Charles Reynolds, who was provided with suitable recommendations, in the view o f the board, to entitle him to the appointment. C l i n t o n H a l l A s s o c i a t i o n . —The board deem it almost unnecessary to state, that in their relations with the Clinton Hall Association, they have met with the same kindness, liberality, and courtesy, that have uniformly characterized their intercourse with the Association. C o n s t i t u t i o n .—The amended constitution, which was under consideration at the last annual meeting, was passed after much examination, and went into effect upon the 18th of March last, no material features having been changed therein. A u d u b o n ’ s B i r d s o f A m e r i c a .—An effort was made in the early part of the year, to obtain for the Association the great work of Audubon on the Birds of America, and a subscription commenced for that purpose, limiting the amount 172 Annual Report o f the Mercantile Library Association. to fifty cents for each subscriber; but, owing to the pressure of the times, it was unsuccessful, and remained stationary at the sum of $125.* The fact is as humiliating as true, that this magnificent work, the product of a life of hardship, one of the noblest literary productions on record, and that, too, of an American! is not to be found in a single public library in this city. [The library of Columbia College has one copy, which, however, cannot be considered open to the public.] Philadelphia, Boston, and Albany have copies in their libraries, but this opu lent city has none! W e cannot, while perusing the letter-press of the work upon our shelves, but admire the enthusiasm of that noble old man, its author; for whether floating in his canoe upon the silvery lagoons of Florida, watching the flamingo wading upon its shores, or hidden in the rocky gorge of the Alleghanies, he scans the fierce eagle upon the summit of some blasted pine; whether roaming over the boundless prairies, with the wild grouse and moorfowl springing up at his footsteps ; or climbing the slippery cliffs of Labrador, its millions of sea birds alone relieving the awful silence and solitude around him, we recognise the devoted student o f nature. Even now, with the snow of seventy winters lying upon his venerable locks, we see him shoulder his rifle, leave the refinements of society, and, confiding in a superior power, plunge again into the dark forest, again to continue his researches. W e cannot recompense this man, for the student of nature requires, and can receive, no greater recompense than the beautiful pictures that she lays before her votaries ; but when, instead of selfishly retaining them within himself, he labors to place those pictures before his fellow-men, it is certainly becoming that they should render their assistance to him to effect the object; and well may he be disheartened if the generous impulse of the youthful spirits of this association looks coldly and indifferently upon his efforts. The amount of funds subscribed will be paid into the hands of the next treasurer, and it is hoped that a renewed effort will place the work in the possession of the Mer cantile Library Association. C o n c l u s i o n .—In concluding their report, the board of directors feel autho rized to congratulate the members upon the present state of the institution, and they request leave to impress upon them the importance of caution in any plans of improvement that may tend to divert the funds of the library from their legi timate channel. In their opinion, any plan which should divert them from that channel, would be hazardous, if not injurious, to its interests. They would recommend the cultivation, with zeal and assiduity, of the collateral branches— of the lectures, the classes, the cabinet, and gallery, and any other projects which may be consonant to the tastes of the members; but, no farther than their respective incomes will warrant. If required, those incomes will fully insure their support; if not, their continuance cannot be considered desirable. Under the efficient, enterprising, and zealous boards of direction of the last several years, the interests of the institution have advanced with rapid strides, and although its course has been temporarily retarded more lately by the gen eral embarrassment which has affected the business affairs of the country, the board see no cause, under the brightening prospects of our mercantile commu nity, and of consequence those of our members, that with prudence in its man agement, will prevent the institution, with a rapidly increasing income, from taking at an early period the lead, in magnitude and usefulness, of any library in the United States. * P hilip H one , Esq., rose and stated to the meeting, after the conclusion of the report, that he was authorized by the trustees o f the Clinton Hall Association, (a majority be ing present,) to say that whenever the subscription was made up within the sum o f .$100, that association would complete it. A sufficient amount has been since sub scribed by the members, to secure its possession to the library. Mercantile Law Department. 173 MERCANTILE LAW DEP AR TME NT. REPORTS, DECISIONS &c. CHARTER MORTGAGES— DECISION OF THE COURT OF ERRORS— IMPRISONMENT FOR DEBT. CHARTER MORTGAGES. following decision, lately made in the Court of Errors o f the state of New York on an important point, is abridged from a report of the case in the New York American, and will be read with interest. Court of Errors—Smith and Hoe vs. Jacob Acker. This was an action brought to recover from the defendant, who is sheriff of New York, a print ing press and other moveables, mortgaged to the plaintiffs by one Bell, and levied upon by him under an execution as the property of said Bell. Bell is a printer, and the plaintiffs manufacturers of printing presses, and supplied Bell with his presses and other printing materials, for which he was indebted to them on the 26th of March, 1837, in the sum of 10,000 dollars; to secure the payment of which, he on that day executed a mortgage to them on the said press and other moveable property. The mortgage was duly filed in the office of the register of New York, according to the statute, on the 28th of March, 1837. The said printing press and property mortgaged remained in the possession and use of Bell, the mortgagor. On the 20th of January, 1838, the sheriff seized the said property by virtue of an execution, although he had notice of the existence of the plaintiffs’ mortgage. At the trial below, the plaintiffs offered to prove that the mortgage was made for a full and valuable consideration, and for the purchase money; and that Bell, the mortgagor, was a printer, and required the use of the mortgaged pro perty as a means of paying said debts and his other creditors ; and that said mortgaged property could not have been sold at any time from the execution of the mortgage to the seizure by the sheriff without hazard of great loss to the plaintiffs, and injury to Bell. They also proved the filing of the mortgage according to the statute. The judge, in the court below, decided that the plaintiffs could not recover, because the mortgage was fraudulent, being unaccompanied by possession, or a sufficient reason in law for not taking possession—and ordered a nonsuit. The Supreme Court, in affirming this decision, gave no other reason than referring to the case of Bissell vs. Hopkins, and other decisions of their own court, in cases of personal mortgages and sales, or assignments unaccompanied by possession. Mr. Attorney-general Hall, on the part of the plaintiffs, argued that the ques tion of fraud was made by the statute a question of fact—that the court could exclude no testimony which went to show that the transaction was in “ good faith”— and that the court could not judge as a question of law of the suffi ciency of such evidence, upon which the statute itself forms the issue. He further stated the history of the law, and commented upon its reasons of public policy as applied to the present case. Mr. Mott, for the defendant, relied upon the repeated decisions of the Su preme Court, and the general policy of the law to prevent false credits. When the cause came up for decision, the chancellor declined giving any decision on the merits of the question, because he considered the case disposed of by the statute authorizing a levy on the equity of redemption of personal property. He also intimated that the mortgage was not or might not be valid, in consequence of an interval of two days between its execution and filing. Senators Paige and Wager supported the views of the chancellor in this particular case, though the latter dissented from the doctrine of the Supreme Court as to personal mortgages. T he 174 Mercantile Law Department. Mr. Verplanck said, that as it appeared from the record that the sheriff had not levied upon the equity, but upon the property itself as Bell’s, and aad so given notice on the trial, he had waived that right: he was clear the inter val between the execution and filing of the mortgage, did not render it void in itself, but merely inoperative, as to any right of creditors attaching before the filing, which did not apply to this case, He did not deny, and perhaps some decisions cited by the chancellor went upon the ground, the circumstances of a mortgage on personal property being long dormant before it was filed, might be presumptive evidence of collusion to a jury or court of equity. On the gen eral question, Mr. Verplanck said, he referred in substance to his own opinion in this court, in 30th Wendell, Stoddard vs. Butler, as applicable alike to as signments and to chattel mortgages. He said that when there was proof of a fair consideration for the sale or mortgage, actually paid, reasonable publicity, or in case of sale, of filing the mortgage, which was suqh publicity in that case, and probable reasons for leaving the property in the hands of the mort gagor, such as honest men might ordinarily act from, whether of family kind ness, or prudence and friendship in business; this made out sufficient evidence for a j,ury to judge whether the presumption of fraud was repelled. Mr. Verplanck said the intent and operation of law was not to make leaving possession with the mortgagor or vendee, conclusive evidence of fraud, but to throw the burden of proof of there being no intention of fraud on the party claiming under the mortgage or assignment. The lieutenant-governor and senators Talmadge, Hopkins, Edwards, May nard, and Furman, delivered opinions in which they expressed views concur, ring with those of Mr. Verplanck. The judgment o f the Supreme Court was reversed—22 to 4. This decision is one of great importance, entering as it does into every branch of business which the open question has kept in an uneasy and doubtful con dition, in relation to assignments, mortgages, &c., of personal property, and the winding up of large concerns under assignments. IMPRISONMENT FOR DEBT. It will be perceived by the following act that the legislature of New Hamp shire have abolished imprisonment for debt upon all contracts made after the 1st of March next. W e are rejoiced to see even this first step taken. But why not abolish imprisonment for debt entirely 1 Why allow it a lingering death, show ing its hideous form, writhing convulsively in its agonies for five or six years, until, perhaps, the statute of limitations shall have released its victims from its grasp '! It cannot be for a moment supposed that the right of imprisonment forms any part of the contract. In states where the statute declares that no man shall be arrested on a civil contract, ft may well be contended that upon contracts made in such states, the right of arrest is taken away even in states where arrest is allowed. But we are yet to learn that the right of arrest upon a civil contract is such a right that it may not be swept away by the legislature . like chaff. Such has always been the opinion, and the legislative course in New York. This whole subject is undergoing a winnowing process in the United States, and usages which have been practised for ages will no longer be tolerated by an enlightened public opinion. Our people are becoming con vinced of the truth of the Indian’s simple remark, when shown a debtors’ prison, “ Indian can catch no skins there !” They are becoming satisfied that a prison is not the place for a poor debtor to retrieve his fortune. Punish for fraud, and for crime; but let misfortune go free, and “ the blessing of those who are ready to perish” will follow you. “ Section 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened, That no person shall be arrested, held to bail, or im prisoned on any mesne process or execution founded upon any contract or debt which shall accrue or be made from and after the first day of March next.. “ Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That all acts and parts of acts incon sistent with the provisions of this act, |e and the same are hereby repealed.”' The Book Trade. 175 T H E BOOK TRADE, 1. Applications of the Science of Mechanics to practical purposes. By J a m e s R e n w i c k , LL. D., Professor of Natural and Experimental Philosophy and Chem istry in Columbia College. New York: Harper & Brothers. 18mo. It is a frequent and true remark, that our own age, whatever may be its de ficiencies in other respects, is distinguished for its practical character. That fact is striking in the application of the principles of science to useful objects by the preparation of books. In the work of Enfield upon natural philosophy, now we believe used as a text-book.in our colleges, we have a valuable, though in many respects theoretic, treatise upon the various mechanical powers, but they are not applied to the subjects that we constantly see in operation around us. Hence we are enabled, through that work, to become acquainted only with the elements of the science. The volume before us is of a more practical char acter. It traces not only the general principles o f the sciences, but their appli cation to the numerous mechanical enterprises of the day. W e here have not only a description of the various machines now in use, but the action of the screw, the lever, the wedge, the spring, and other instruments, as they are ap plied to useful purposes, such as mining, lifting, navigation, railroads, and the different species of manufactures. W e hail the period when the education o f our students, while adorned with all the graces of classical literature, shall be also imbued with a more practical spirit; for we shall then have more of such men as Nott, and Olmsted, and Pierpont, than we now have. The present volume is a very comprehensive compendium, and is appropriately illustrated by plates, that render the matter perfectly intelligible. It may be studied by all with great advantage. 2. Political Economy: its objects, rules, and principles, considered with reference to the condition of the American People. With a summary for the use of Stu dents. By A. P o t t e r , D. D., Professor o f Moral Philosophy in Union Col lege. New York: Harper & Brothers. 18mo. pp. 318. 1840. Professor Potter has been long known as an able and eloquent clergyman o f the Episcopal Church, and a professor in Union College. He has, in this vol ume, judiciously devoted a portion of his time to the compilation of a work on the long-canvassed subject of political economy. His aim has been to compress the most prominent principles of that science that are adapted to the position of our own country into the smallest compass, suited to popular use and the studies of our seminaries; leaving out of view the various discussions upon disputed points, which abound in the larger works upon the same subject In this task he has succeeded. Little that is new or strange can here be found, for it was his design only to spread out the more obvious elements o f the sys tem in a clear and comprehensive form. But the system is so amply un folded, that little is left to the learner to be descried, although a considerable portion is copied from another work, which the author acknowledges in his preface. W e like to see such men employing their time and talents in the dis semination of popular intelligence; for such books, compiled in a cheap form, cast broad gleams of light where more expensive works cannot enter, and they are peculiarly adapted to the cast of our free institutions. 3. The Life of John Wickliffe, D. D. By M a r g a r e t C o x e . Columbus: Isaac N. Whiting. New York: C. Henry. 16mo. pp. 272. 1840. This interesting biography presents us a satisfactory account of this stern and distinguished reformer. Without attempting a vivid sketch of the times in which he lived, it still gives the current of facts in a plain style, with such comments as seemed justified by the si^iject 176 The Book Trade. The Airs of Palestine, and other Poems. By J o h n P i e r p o n t . Boston: James Munro & Co. 18mo. 1840. Of the principal poem in this collection, it were superfluous to speak. Nearly a whole generation, upon both sides of the Atlantic, have given to it consenting praise. Though not wonderful for originality, sublimity, or power of excite ment, and laying itself open to the charge of monotony, it yet breathefe the air o f the Hebrew land; it evinces a mind rich in sacred lore, and a poetical spirit bathed in Hermon’s dews. But this exquisite contribution to our sacred poetry is a small part of this volume. This book will go to posterity a graceful monu ment of the spirit of the age. Upon its face stands forth in letters that no time can obscure, the fearless and wide-spread philanthropy of its author. The reader of another century will catch no small insight into the quick-beating heart of our day in those stirring and eloquent dedication, ordination, charity, emancipation, temperance, and anniversary odes. And we are not willing to believe that even the bitterest prejudice against the writer’s opinions or con duct, can prevent many of these spirited and matchless effusions of the lyric muse from passing into the common stock of the religious and philanthropic community, and becoming the chosen, deathless breathing of the general heart. The peculiarity of this volume is its variety. While some of the pieces are manifestly made, as he says, “ to order,” and therefore will be wanted over and over again, as similar occasions occur, many of them are written with the poet’s true inspiration, with a depth of tone and energy o f utterance that can not be mistaken. While some are admirable for classic finish, others again grate upon the ear, and astonish us that a man so susceptible of the richest music of verse, should imagine himself pleased with the filing of a handsaw. But his preface disarms all criticism; and there are pieces in this volume— “ My Grave,” “ The Exile at Rest,” “ Passing Away,” and the like, which soar above all praise. The pieces connected with the mechanical arts are especially happy. 4. 5. The Heart’s Ease, or a Remedy against all Troubles. With a consolatory Discourse, particularly directed to those who have lost their friends and dear rela. turns. By S i m o n P a t r i c k , D. I). New York: D. Appleton & Co. 18mo. pp. 320. 1841. Rev. Simon Patrick, once Bishop of Chichester, is well known to those who are versed in episcopal theology. A firm supporter of the cause of protestanism against formidable opposition during the reign of James II., learned and industrious, and pure-hearted, he long lived a fair pillar of the Church of Eng land. The reflections with which the work abounds are eminently consolatory, and are conveyed in so clear and beautiful a style, that the feeling which breathes through all its parts, impresses the soul with increased influence. W e ought not here to refrain from alluding to the extreme beauty of the mechani cal execution of this work. It is published in a style hardly exceeded by the most elegant productions of the English press, and we learn that the publish ers are designing to put forth the works of many of the old standard English theological writers in the same beautiful form. Such works will be valuable accessions to our stock of adopted literature. 6. A Treatise on determining the strength of distilled Spirits: with concise Rules in Gauging, Ape. B y H u g h B r a d l e y , inspector of distilled spirits in t h e city of New York. New York : George F. Nesbitt. 1841. This book is designed for the use of distillers, gaugers, grocers, &c., and will also be found serviceable to all others engaged in the traffic of spirits. The manner of treating the subject appears to be as judicious as could be expected under the present imperfect system of proving liquors. W e fully concur with the writer in his remarks on the proof of spirits, and think it is high time our government should adopt some more general and equitable mode than the one in present use, for regulating this branch of commerce. The Book Trade. 177 7. First principles of Chemistry: being a familiar introduction to the study of that science. For the use of Schools, Academies, and the lower classes of Colleges. By J a m e s R e n w i c k , LL. D., Professor of Natural and Experimental Philoso phy and Chemistry in Columbia College. New York: Harper & Brothers. 12mo. pp. 410. Professor Renwick is well known to the country by his recent work on the steam-engine. The present volume is a very valuable treatise on the science of chemistry, especially adapted to popular use. W e know of no work, indeed, that is its superior in conveying a thorough knowledge of its principles. Al most every page is embellished by engravings which illustrate these principles as we go along, so that we have in them combined the advantages of the lec ture-room and the laboratory. The practical importance of this science, running into so many forms of business relating to commerce, agriculture, and manu factures, render this work of the utmost value. We can conscientiously com mend it as the most satisfactory compendium upon the subject that has yet come within our knowledge. 8. The Life and Writings of Samuel Johnson, LL. D. Selected and arranged by Rev. W i l l i a m P. P a g e . In two volumes. New York: Harper & Bro thers. 16mo. pp. 322—323. These volumes, comprising the 109th and 110th of Harper’s Family Library, embrace a considerable portion of the essays of this literary autocrat and despotic lexicographer, besides a biographical notice of his life. It seemed highly important that the publishers should incorporate into their series a por tion of the intellectual efforts of a man who has filled so large and so honorable a space in English literature, and this they have done with full success. We have here compressed into two small volumes, the most brilliant productions of his powerful mind, with the facts connected with his life, that are of the greatest interest, together with a judicious commentary upon his peculiar genius. The work is prefaced by an engraved portrait, that serves to add to its solid value. 9. The Life of Oliver Goldsmith: with selections from his writings. By W a s h in g t o n I r v in g . In two volumes. Harper’s Family Library. New York: Harper & Brothers, pp. 323—313. 1840. The publishers have exercised a sound judgment in embodying this work in their family library. We need hardly say that they have made the best selec tion in the compiler, Mr. Washington Irving. W e are here presented not only a beautiful and clear biographical account of that eccentric and charming au thor, but some of his choicest productions in a form accessible to all. The pub lishers, in the extensive machinery o f their establishment, possess great facili ties for the circulation of literature and knowledge, and we perceive that they are gathering into their granary the choicest treasures of all countries and all ages, where they may dispose of them at a price adapted to the limited means of the great bulk of our reading population. Their series could hardly have been made perfect, without the life and writings of our favorite Goldsmith. 10. The History of England, from the earliestperiod to 1839. By T h o m a s K e i g h t ley. With notes by the American editor. Harper’s Family Library. New York : Harper & Brothers. 5 vols. 18mo. pp. 322—323—328—317—344. In a former number of this Magazine, we noticed the appearance of an edition of this work in two large octavo volumes. The edition before us is compressed into a convenient and economical form, and is made more valuable by the ad dition of a copious index, not found in the larger volumes. The publishers have done well in embodying this history in their Family Library, and thus giving it a more extensive and popular circulation. V O L . iv.— N O . 11. 23 178 The Book Trade. 11. Distinguished Men of Modern Times. In two volumes. Harper’s Family Library. New York: Harper & Brothers, pp. 324—324. 1840. These comprehensive volumes give us, in a clear and succinct form, the prominent facts connected with the lives of eminent men who have figured in Europe. Although the work is comprised of a selection from a more extensive series, published by the British Society for the Diffusion of Knowledge, that first appeared in the British Gallery of Portraits, this selection is judicious. Biographical sketches of distinguished Americans have been omitted, as the publishers have an American work upon that subject in preparation. The dis tinguished lights of past times here flit before us, and we perceive the causes which bore upon them and contributed to form their character, as well as the gradual development of their minds to the full vigor of matured strength. 12. The Book of Jaslier. Referred to in Joshua and Samuel: faithfully transla ted from the original Hebrew into English. New York: published by M. M. Noah, and A. J. Gould. 8vo. pp. 267. This singular work, the subject of much controversial discussion, professes to be the identical volume referred to in the Bible. In Joshua, x. 13, it is asked, “ Is not this written in the book of Jasherl” Without attempting to decide the merits of the question, we yet have the testimony of several Hebrew schol ars of high reputation, that it is a faithful and elegant translation of the Rabbinnical Hebrew, with much of the Bible idiom. But whether it is in fact genuine or not, it must be admitted that it is a singular work, to be regarded among the “ Curiosities of Literature.” 13. American Melodies: containing a single selection from the productions of two hundred writers. Compiled by G e o r g e P. M o r r i s . With illustrations de signed and engraved by L. P. Clover, ir. New York: Linen & Fennel. 18mo. pp. 286. This is an interesting compilation. Although the selections are made from the lighter efforts of American poetry, they are in the main judicious, and carry out the objects that are designed by the publication. It presents, of course, a great variety of topic as well as of talent, and we perceive scattered through the work, very many brilliant gems. In keeping with its literary value, is its mechanical execution. 14. Hope on, Hope Ever. A Tale. By M ary H o w e t t . Boston: James Munro & Co. 16mo. pp. 225. 1840. 1 5 . Strive and Thrive. A Tale. By M a r y H o w e t t . Boston: James Munro & Co. 16mo. pp. 175. 1840. 16. Sowing and Reaping, or, What will come of it By M a r t H o w e t t . Bos ton : James Munro & Co. 16mo. pp. 216. 1840. These three neat little volumes, from the pen of a very popular writer, ex hibit important truths and maxims in the familiar and beautiful form of tales. The style of the narration is chaste and graphic, presenting much of the fasci nation of romance, and also those facts and illustrations which are true to nature. 17. Constance, or the Merchant’ s Daughter. A Tale of our own times. New York: Gould, Newman, and Saxton, pp. 160. 1841. The little volume whose title we have here quoted, is a tale that will be in teresting to the children of our merchants; its scene being laid in those facts that naturally spring from mercantile habitudes. As such we commend it to that class of readers. Anecdotes o f Commerce. 179 A N E C D O T E S OF C O M M E R C E . COMMERCIAL INTEGRITY. The Spanish galleons destined to supply Terra Firma, and the kingdoms o f Peru and Chili, with almost every article of necessary consumption, used to touch first at Carthagena, and then at Porto Bello. In the latter place a fair was opened; the wealth o f America was exchanged for the manufactures of Europe; and during its prescribed term of forty days, the richest traffic on the face of the earth was begun and finished with unbounded confidence, and the utmost simplicity of transaction. No bale o f goods 'was ever opened, no chest of treasure examined; both were received on the credit of the persons to whom they belonged; and only one instance of fraud is recorded, during the long period in which trade was carried on with this liberal confidence. All the coined silver which was brought from Peru to Porto Bello, in the year 1654, was found to be adulterated, and to be mingled with a fifth part of base metal. The Spanish merchants, with their usual integrity, sustained the whole loss, and indemnified the foreigners by whom they were employed. The fraud was detected, and the treasurer of the revenue in Peru, the author of it, was publicly burnt. MAKING CONDITIONS. During the reign of James the First a great dearth of corn happened, which obliged his majesty to send for the Eastland Company. He told them, that to obviate the present scarcity, they must load their homeward-bound ships with corn; which they promised to do, and so retired. One of the lords of the. council said to the king, that such a promise signified little, unless they agreed at what price it should be sold; on which they were all called back, and ac quainted that the king desired a more explicit answer. The deputy replied, “ Sir, we will freight and buy our corn as cheap as we can, and sell it here as we can afford it; but to be confined to any certain price, we cannot.” Being pressed for a more distinct answer, the deputy, who was a great fox-hunter, said to the king, “ Sir, your majesty is a lover of the noble sport of hunting; so am I, and I keep a few dogs ; but if my dogs do not love the sport as well as me, I might as well hunt with hogs as with dogs.” The king replied, “ Say no more, man, thou art in the right; go and do as well as you can, but be sure you bring the corn.” EXCLUSION OF THE INQUISITION FROM ANTWERP. So great was the influence of English merchant adventurers in 1550, that when the emperor Charles the Fifth was anxious to have the inquisition in troduced into Antwerp, the citizens had no other means for effectually influ encing the emperor against the measure, but to tell him, that the English mer chants would certainly leave the country, if he brought the inquisition there. This threat was effectual, for the emperor, on a strict inquiry, found that the Eng lish merchants maintained or employed at least 20,000 persons in the city o f Antwerp alone, besides 30,000 more in other parts of the Netherlands. CURIOUS MODE OF BARTER. At Temenhint, in Northern Africa, the inhabitants have a curious mode o f barter. The person who has any goods to sell, mentions what he wishes in exchange for certain commodities, whether oil, liquid, butter, or shahm, which is a kind of salted fat, much resembling bad tallow in taste and smell. If li quids, he pours water into a pot, in proportion to the quantity of oil or butter he requires; if solids, he brings a stone of the size of the shahm, or other article demanded. The buyer pours out water, or sends for smaller stones, until he thinks a fair equivalent is offered. The quantities then agreed for are made up to the size of the stone or the depth of the water. 180 Mercantile Miscellanies. M ERCANTILE M ISCELLANIES. A N A T T E M P T T O D E F R A U D IN S U R E R S . A deeper laid or more ingenious attempt to defraud underwriters, than that con tained in the following communication from a highly respectable merchant of Boston, has never come to our knowledge. The facts here disclosed may be implicitly relied upon, as they wTere derived from Messrs. B. A . & Co., the firm innocently connected with the transaction. To the Editor o f the Merchants’ Magazine :— Solon, the Athenian legislator, would not enrol parricide in his catalogue of crimes, because so unnatural and so impossible to take place ; and because, to name it, would imply that such a one was possible. So it is said, that to publish crimes o f great enor mity, committed with much ingenuity, would be instructing others in the commission o f the same, or to make some improvement in iniquitous devices. It is certain that this principle, co-operating with experience, in the management o f penitentiaries, has brought the public mind to condemn social and adopt solitary imprisonment. It was found that the prisoners communicated to each other all their villanous skill, and even plotted deeds o f daring and o f revenge, to be committed on their liberation. Practice, however, has not conformed to this principle. Dramatists and novel writers have exhibited crimes that never did take place, and such as could hardly be said to be possible. Newspapers, too, seem to publish crimes with less fastidiousness than formerly, believ ing, with a well-known poet, that vice, to be hated, needs but be seen. However, let the question o f suppression and publication o f crime be decided by philosophers and moralists. I waive the decision now, persuaded that in the publication o f the case which I am about to introduce, the public good preponderates. Knowledge is the breastplate o f defence. Underwriters may have been often defrauded, but, perhaps, never where there was so m uch forgery and deliberate arrangement. T he extensive commission house o f B. A . & Co., in Boston, had been in correspond e n c e with and had done some business for a person in the island of Cuba. T o their knowledge, this person never visited Boston more than once, and then only a few hours, and if he had, they think he might not have been recognised. It seems, however, by ,the sequel o f this narrative, that the youngest partner did recognise him. It is now recollected by them that he never drew for the proceeds of sales, but always ordered them remitted to different places in the United States, so as to avoid any occasion for his signature on drafts. A ll his proceedings appeared to be marked with the most per fect mercantile accuracy. In the year 1838, he addressed this house in Boston, re questing them to effect insurance on a cargo to the amount of $19,000, on board Span ish brig Diana, bound from Trinidad de Cuba to Boston. Soon after having effected the insurance, B. A . & Co. received numerous papers proving a total loss; such as American consuls’ certificates, protest o f the master and crew, invoice, bill o f lading, and, indeed, every paper that could be thought of, to substantiate the answer to every possible question. T hey were prepared with such precision and skill, there was no room for doubt or cavil from insurers. T he claim was admitted, and, according to the policy, was to be paid in sixty d a y s; and by his request, B. A . &. Co. remitted him, in advance, $6,000. In the protest, it was stated, that soon after leaving Trinidad, the Diana encountered a violent gale, during which she lost her foremast, and being subsequently run into by another vessel, was thrown on her beam-ends, and completely w aterlogged; and the hatches having bursted open, the cargo, in a great measure, was washed out. T he cap tain and crew were taken o ff by a British schooner, and carried into Kingston, Jamaica. Mercantile Miscellanies. 181 The evidence forwarded to prove the loss were, a document purporting to be the copy of a protest sworn to by the captain and several o f the crew o f the Diana, and attested by the captain and crew o f the British schooner, called the Racer, before W . H. Harrison, U. S. Vice-consul at Kingston; and copy o f a certificate purporting to have been signed by Thomas R. Gray, U. S. Consul at Trinidad, that the protest, & c., were true copies o f ori ginals. T o the whole was attached a paper signed by N. P. Trist, U. S. Consul at Trinidad. Soon after this loss was known in Boston, another house, S. B. & Co., one o f whom happened to be a director in the company where the insurance was effected, in a letter to a correspondent in Trinidad, either by accident or design, mentioned the loss o f this brig. T he reply was that no such vessel had sailed from thencfc, nor was any such one known there, neither was there any merchant o f the name o f the one who appeared as shipper o f the cargo. This was made known to the parties concerned, and the con sequence was, the insurers refused to pay any part o f the pretended loss. T he situation of B. A . & Co. thus became perplexing, they being in a fair way o f losing the money advanced. The residence o f the projector o f this villanous scheme was not known, and possibly he might never be heard from again. Fortunately, in this dilemma and at this juncture, they received a letter from him requesting the balance o f the loss to be remitted to him, at the postoflice in Baltimore. T he crisis had now arrived when, to extricate themselves, energy, discretion, despatch, and considerable stratagem were necessary. They could not send the money, nor could they write in any manner without exciting his guilty fears, and then he might elude their grasp, as fast as wind and steam could carry him. T he mode o f proceeding was soon arranged, and turned out to have been well projected and admirably well executed. In order to be at the postoffice as soon as the expected letter might be inquired for, B. junior, o f this firm, hastily departed, arrived at Baltimore, armed himself with the authority o f the state, and stationed several police officers in the postoffice, in such a manner as to hear and see whoever might call for it. T w o days they all waited and w atched; and the officers had becom e so much discouraged and displeased with the job, that it required much persuasion to keep them at their post. Fortunately, the young gentleman persevered, they did not desert him, and on the evening o f the third day, a messenger appeared, inquired for a letter, and departed. According to the con certed arrangement, the officers, with Mr. B., followed him to a house in the suburbs of the city, apparently not a resort o f respectable foreign merchants. Mr. B. then changed his dress, to conform in some degree to the place, and to disguise himself so as not to be recognised by the supposed culprit, should he happen to be there, they having, as before mentioned, seen each other in Boston. T he agreement with the officers was, that after he had mixed with the company and was sure he had found the right man, he was to make the signal, and they to advance and arrest him. His presence o f mind did not forsake him as the critical moment approached. He soon fixed his eye on one, who, as he thought, was the person o f whom he was in pursuit. H e moderately approached him, so as to excite no attention, and was soon fortunate enough to be beside him, under the portico o f the house, in full view of the officers. Entering into conversation with him, he addressed him by the name o f Gassiot, to which he responded. His identity having thus become certain, the signal was made, and he immediately arrested. H e took all this with as much composure as could be expected; and finding himself in the toils, and after lodging in jail one night, not a lit tle unexpectedly to Mr. B., he refunded the money due B. A . & Go., in the old United States Bank bills. He made strong protestations o f innocence, and promised shortly to be in Boston, and dissipate all suspicions against him. H e has done nothing further towards redeeming this pledge than to write Messrs. B. A . & Co., from the island o f Cuba, that it was still his intention to do it. 182 Mercantile Miscellanies. In course o f inquiries respecting Mr. Gassiot among merchants at Baltimore, it was found that a loss amounting to $15,000 had been collected for him the year before, from insurance companies in that c ity ; and, on perusal o f the documents substantiating the loss, they were found to be almost verbatim copies o f those respecting the Boston loss. T he name o f the vessel stated as bound to Baltimore was the Teneriffe, and the shipper o f the cargo at Trinidad also bore another name. T he Baltimore underwriters, being put upon the scent, were enabled to recover a part o f their claim in cash, and security for the balance. H e soon left the city, and it is understood that the security proved o f no value. h . g. N E W Y O R K M E R C A N T IL E L IB R A R Y A S S O C IA T IO N . T he twentieth annual meeting o f the members o f the “ Mercantile Library Associa tion” was held at Clinton Hall, on Tuesday evening, 12th January, 1841. T he meeting having been called to order by the president, Philip Hone, Esq., was called to the chair. T he minutes o f the last meeting were read and approved. T he treasurer read his annual report o f the receipts and expenditures for the past year, which was, on motion, accepted. T he president read the “ Twentieth Annual Report,” which was, on motion o f • Charles Rolfe, Esq., unanimously adopted, and ordered to be printed. After some pertinent remarks by Charles Rolfe, Esq., it was, on motion— Resolved, That all the members o f this association be a committee to raise the neces sary amount to purchase a copy o f “ Audubon’s Ornithology.” On motion o f Edmund Coffin, Esq.,— Resolved, That it is expedient to celebrate annually, in an appropriate manner, the anniversary o f the establishment o f the Mercantile Library Association of the city of N ew York. Resolved, That the board o f directors for the ensuing year be authorized and directed to make the necessary arrangements to effect this purpose. On motion o f the president— Resolved, That the thanks o f this meeting be, and are hereby tendered to Philip Hone, Esq., for his courtesy and kindness in presiding at the meeting this evening. On motion o f Nicholas Carroll, Esq.,— Resolved, That the thanks o f this meeting be tendered to Augustus E . Silliman Esq., for his very able annual report, presented to the meeting this evening. On motion o f George C. Baker, Esq.,— Resolved, That the thanks o f this meeting be tendered to the “ Trustees o f Clinton Hall Association,” for their attendance this evening. On motion o f W . H . Stone,— Resolved, That the thanks o f this meeting be, and are hereby tendered to the Trus tees o f Clinton Hall Association, for their liberal offer to contribute one hundred dollars towards the purchase o f a copy o f “ Audubon’s Ornithology,” provided the required sum to within that amount be raised. T he meeting was addressed, in the course o f the evening, by Messrs. Philip Hone, Charles Rolfe, Edmund Coffin, and E . R. Tremain. On motion, adjourned. P H IL IP H O N E , Chairman. L ew is M cM ullen , Recording Secretary. 183 Statistics n f Population. S T A T I S T I C S OF P O P U L A T I O N , C E N S U S O F C O N N E C T IC U T , 1830-1840. A n official statement o f the population o f each town and county in the State o f Con necticut in 1840, as compared with 1830. H A R T F O R 3 COUN TY. 1840. 9,468 ! 3,325 1,001 2,109 1,202 3,411 1,736 2,389 3,600 2,648 2,041 Glastenbury,............. ... 3,077 Towns. Hartford city,........... ... T ow n except city,... ... A v on ,........................ ... Bristol,...................... ... Burlington, .............. ... Berlin, ........................ ... Canton,....................... ... East Hartford,........... ... East W indsor,.......... ... Enfield,....................... ... 1830. 9,789 1,025 1,707 1,301 3,037 1,437 2,237 3,536 2,129 1,901 2,980 Towns. Granby, ..................... Hartland,..................... Manchester,................ M arlborough,.............. Southington,............... S uffield,...................... Sim sbury,................... W in d sor,..................... Bloomfield, ................. W ethersfield,.............. 1840. . 2,609 . 1,060 . . . . . . . 713 1,887 2,669 1,896 2,283 985 3,824 T otal,..................... .55,628 1830. 2,733 1,221 1,576 704 1,844 2,690 2,221 3,220 3,853 51,141 N E W HAVEN COUN TY. New Haven city,*.... ...12,960 787 Fair H aven ,............. ... 643 l Westville,.................. ... Bradford,.................... ... 1,323 North Bradford,........ ... 1,016 Cheshire,..................... ... 1,529 Derby,......................... ... 2,852 East Haven,.............. ... 1,382 Guilford,...................... ... 2,412 Hamden,..................... ... 1,797 Milford,....................... ... 2,455 . 1,880 Madison,..................... ... 1,815 Middlebury,................. 10,678 North lla v e n ,............. Orange,........................ Oxford,......................... 2,332 P rospect,..................... 1,780 Southbury,.................. 2,253 Wallingford,................ 1,229 Woodbridge,................ 2,344 Bethany,...................... 1,666 Waterbury,.................. 2,256 W olcott,....................... 1,708 1,809 Total,..................... . . . . . . 761 1,349 1,329 1,625 548 1,542 . 928 . 1,171 . 3,668 . 633 .48,690 816 1,282 1,341 1,763 651 1,557 2,418 2,052 3,070 843 43,848 N E W LONDON COUN TY. New L o n d o n ,........... ... Norwich c it y ,........... ... Town except city,.... ... Bozrah,....................... ... Colchester,................. ... Franklin,.................... ... G roton,....................... ... L ed y a rd ,.................... ... 5,528 4,200 3,039 1,063 2,101 1,000 2,963 1,871 2 166 L y m e ,......................... ... 2,854 East L y m e ,............... ... 1,439 4,356 5,179 1,079 2,073 1,194 4,805 Lisbon,......................... Lebanon,...................... Montville,.................... North Stonington,....... Preston,........................ Stonington,.................. Salem, ......................... W aterford,................... . . . . . . . . 1,052 2,194 1,990 2,270 1,727 3,898 815 2,331 1,166 2,555 1,972 2,840 1,935 3,401 959 2,477 T otal,..................... ..44,501 42,295 2,212 4,092 F A IR F IE L D COUN TY. Bridgeport city.......... ... T ow n except city,.... ... Fairfield,.................... ... Westport,................... Brookfield,.................. Darien,........................ ... Danbury,.................... ... Greenwich,................. Huntington,............... ... M onroe,...................... 3,294 1,276 3,654 1,080 4,503 1,328 3 859 Newton,...................... ... 3,199 N ew Fairfield,............. New Canaan,.............. R ed d in g,..................... 4,226 R idgefield,.................. 1,255 Stamford,..................... 1,212 Sherman,..................... 4,311 Stratford,..................... 3,801 Trumbull, ................... 1,371 W e sto n ,...................... 1,522 W ilton,......................... 3,702 3,096 T otal,..................... 2,800 . . . . . . . . . . 956 2,218 1,675 2,467 3,516 938 1,808 1,205 2,560 2,056 939 1,830 1,686 2,305 3,707 947 • 1,814 2,242 2,997 2,097 .49,926 46,950 * New Haven city, Fair Haven, and Westville, are all comprised in the town o f N ew Haven. 184 Statistics o f Population. L IT C H F IE L D COUN TY. Litchfield,..,............. Barkhamstead,....... ...... B eth lem ,................. ...... Cornwall,................. .... Canaan,................... ...... C olebrook,.............. . ... G oshen,................... Harwinton,.............. .... Kent,........................ ...... Norfolk, .................. New Hartford,........ . ... New M ilford,.......... .... 1,573 776 1,703 2,166 1,234 1,201 1,759 1,708 3,974 4,456 Plymouth,............ 1,715 Roxbury,.............. 906 Salisbury,............. 1,714 Sharon,................ 2,301 Torrington,.......... 1,332 Winchester,.......... 1,734 W oodbu ry,.......... 1,516 W arren,................ 2,001 Washington,........ 1,485 W atertow n,........ 1,766 3,979 T otal,.............. 2,064 ......... ........ ......... ......... ........ ......... ......... ......... ......... 1,122 971 2,551 2,407 1,707 1,666 1,947 873 1,622 1,442 2,580 2,615 1,651 1,766 2,045 986 1,621 1,500 .........40,445 42,855 M ID D L E S E X C O U N TY. Middletown city,........... 3,511 ) T ow n except city,......... 3,699 $ Chatham,........................ 3,413 Durham ,.......................... 1,095 East Haddam,................ 2,620 Haddam ,............................2,598 6,892 3,646 1,116 2,664 3,025 1,130 1,239 3,417 974 1,182 Killingworth,. Clinton,......... Saybrook,...... Chester,......... Westbrook, .. Total,.. I 2,484 5,018 .24,878 24,845 Sterling,..... Thompson, Voluntown,. W indham ,.. Woodstock, 1,099 3,535 1,186 3,382 3,054 1,240 3,380 1,304 2,812 2,917 T otal,... .28,071 27,077 1,621 1,566 667 1,435 1,268 1,429 1,698 711 1,164 1,305 T otal,........... ............17,992 18,770 W IN D H A M CO U N TY . Brooklyn,......................... Ashford............................ Canterbury,.................... Chaplain,......................... H a m p ton ,....................... Killingly,......................... Plainfield,........................ Pomfret,........................... 1,478 2,651 1,786 794 1,166 3,685 2,384 1,868 B olton ,............................. Columbia.......................... Coventry,......................... Ellington,........................ Hebron,............................ Mansfield,........................ Stafford,................. ......... 743 842 2,017 1,356 1,732 2,276 2,469 1,451 2,661 1,880 807 1,101 3,257 2,289 1,978 T O L L A N D C O U N TY. 744 962 2,119 1,455 1,937 2,661 2,515 Somers,...................... Tolland,........................... Union,.............................. V ern on ,........................... Willington, .................... R E C A P IT U L A T IO N . 1830. Counties. Counties. 1840. 51,141 Middlesex,......... H artford,............... ...... 55,628 43,848 W indham ,........ New Haven,.......... ...... 48,690 42,295 Tolland,............. New London,........ ...... 44,501 46,950 Fairfield,................ ...... 49,926 42,855 T otal,............. Litchfield,.............. ...... 40,445 Nett gain in the state in ten years, 12,420. 1840. ......... 24,878 ......... 28,071 ......... 17,992 1830. 24,845 27,077 18,700 .........310,131 297,711 C E N SU S O F M A R Y L A N D , 1830-1840. A n official statement o f the number o f inhabitants in each o f the counties o f the State o f Maryland, and the city o f Baltimore, according to the late census, as compared with that fo r 1830. 1830. 1830. 1840. 1840. 15,432 10,609 Cecil,..................... ...... 17,362 Allegany,................ ... 15,704 Kent,..................... ...... 10,840 10,501 25,268 Washington,........... ... 28,862 9,070 45,789 Caroline, ............. ...... 7,868 Frederick,............... ... 34,983 12,947 N ew co. T a lb o t,................. ...... 12,103 Carroll,.................... ... 17,245 14,397 40,320 Queen A nn’s,...... ...... 12,525 Baltimore,............... ... 32,067 20,166 16,319 Somerset,.............. ...... 19,504 Harford,.................. ... 16,901 18,686 Montgomery, ....... ... 14,659 19,816 Dorchester,........... ...... 18,809 18,273 20,474 W orcester,............ ...... 18,253 Prince George’s,... ... 19,483 80,620 13,459 Baltimore city,.... ...... 102,513 St. Mary’s,............. ... 13,244 8,900 Calvert,................... ... 9,095 447,040 17,769 T otal,............... Charles,................... ... 16,012 28,295 Anne Arundel,....... ... 29,535 iss Insurance . INSURANCE. C lasses of H azards and R ates of P remiums for C ity of N e w Y ork , as adopted by fir e , in the insurance against loss o r damage by the N ew Y ork I nsurance C om panies . ru les . 1. W hen two buildings, having no interior communication, are offered for insurance, a specific sum must be insured on each, and in like manner on property in each ;— but two buildings, having interior communication, and occupied hy the same person, may be considered as one building. 2. W hen a building, or two or more buildings communicating are occupied by two or more tenants, either o f whom requires the hazardous or extra-hazardous privilege, the other tenants, as well as each o f the buildings, shall be subject to the same charge. 3. W hen two buildings adjoining, with separate walls through the roof, communicate by doors or other openings, five cents additional premium to be charged on such and their contents, if occupied by more than one tenant. Note.— N o charge to be made for want o f coping on a separating wall on which the charge is made for communication. 4. Policies may be once renewed for the ratio o f the premium required for the period of time for which the policy was originally made. 5. Policies, with the consent o f the company, may be assigned, or may be transferred from one building to another, the difference in the risk, if any, being paid. 6. A policy may be cancelled by retaining the short rate for the time expired, but in no case for less than one month, and the premium for unexpircd time allowed in a new insurance, or refunded. 7. Carpenters’ risks for fifteen days, may be granted once during the existence o f the same policy, g ra tis; but if granted for more than fifteen days, and less than a yedr, to be charged according to the scale for short insurances. 8. N o premium for less than one month shall in any case be charged, excepting for carpenters’ risk, which may be taken for fifteen days at half the premium for one month. classes of buildings , and rates of annual premiums , in th e CITY OF NEW YORK. The rates affixed to the several classes, are the premiums on buildings when oceupied for purposes not hazardous, or containing merchandise, or other property, not hazardous. W hen otherwise occupied, the following additional premiums are charged on the build ings, as well as on merchandise and other property therein: Cents. Hazardous occu pancy,......................................................................... Extra hazardous “ Specially hazardous, the premium that may be agreed on in each case, not less than Merchandise, not hazardous, is charged in addition to the rate of the building con taining it,........................................................................................................................... 10 25 50 5 Merchandise, and other articles, denominated hazardous or extra hazardous, and to which a star (*) is prefixed in the classes o f hazards and minimum rates, (such as pa per in reams, books, stationery, watches, jewelry, & c.,) are deemed not to affect the buildings in which they are contained, or other property therein.— T he additional pre mium on those articles being charged, because o f their peculiar liability to damage and loss. * D W E L L IN G H OUSES. 1st Class— Buildings o f brick or stone, roof o f tile, slate, or metal, gable walls above the roof, and coped,................................................................................per $100 30 I f gable or party walls below the roof,.................................................................... 35 2d.— Buildings o f brick or stone, roof, tile, slate, or metal, and part wood,................ 45 3d.— Buildings o f brick or stone, roof, w ood,................................................................... 50 4th.— Buildings o f wood, with brick front, and filled in with brick tothe p ea k ,.... 65 5th.— Buildings o f wood, with brick front, filled in to the plate,................................. 75 Or buildings o f wood, filled in to the peak,............................................................ 75 Or buildings o f wood, adjoining brick walls on each side,...........,...................... 75 6th.— Buildings o f wood, with hollow walls, and brick front,...................................... 85 Or buildings o f wood, filled in to the plate,........................................................... 85 Or buildings o f wood, adjoining a brick wall on each side,................................ 85 V O L . I V .— N O. II. 24 Insurance. 186 7th.— Buildings o f wood, with hollow walls, fronting on the street,............................ 90 Or buildings o f wood in the rear,............................................................................. 115 Note.— Buildings which partake o f two or more classes, to be charged a fa ir propor tionate price. W A R E H O U S E S AND S T O R E S, . , Cents. O f the following description, will be insured, per $100, a t.......................................... 30 Situated— in streets not less than 50 feet wide. Height— not exceeding 40 feet. Walls— brick or stone, independent, and 12 inches or more in thickness. Or party walls, 16 inches to the garret floor. Or party walls, 12 inches to the garret floor, with projections. T he gable or party walls in each case carried above the roof, and coped. N o openings in the gable walls, excepting on the comer o f a street. R oof— tile, slate, metal, or cement. Gutters— brick, stone, or metal. W indow shutters— solid iron, excepting the lower story fronting the street. N o dormar windows, unless with iron shutters, the sides and roof o f fire proof materials. N o sky-lights, exceeding 10 square feet. Additional Charges fo r variations from the foregoing description. v/enui. Street— less than fifty feet wide, for each foot less,........................................................... Height— more than 40 feet from the sidewalk to the eave o f the roof, for the excess, per foot,.................................................................................................................. Note.— T he highest part o f the front in all cases to be measured, and when front ing on two streets, the lowest front to be taken. In measuring the height o f build ings, or the width o f streets, the odd inches are not to be taken into the account. W alls— 12 inch party walls to the garret floor, without projections, for each wall,... Note.— This charge not to be made on buildings less than 4 stories high 1 2 6 Gable or party walls— not above the roof, for each wall,............................... —............... 3 R oof— tile, slate, or metal, and a part w ood,....................................................................... 6 A ll wood,....................................................~.................................................................. 15 Shutters— not o f solid iron, for each w all,.......................................................................... 5 Excepting the lower story fronting the street, and excepting one o f the walls at the corner o f a street, if the other be charged. Gutters— not o f brick, stone, or metal, front and rear, for each,.................................... 5 Corner buildings to be charged for only one front. Dormar windows— without iron shutters, or without the sides and roof of fire-proof materials,......................................................................................................................... 5 Sky-lights— exceeding 10 square feet,.................................................................................... 5 Note.— W hen the premises are occupied by one tenant only, 5 cents per $100 are to be deducted from the rate o f premium. T he separate use o f fire or lights to constitute two tenants. W hen the rate o f a building exceeds 100 cents, (exclusive o f the charge for occu pancy,) the excess to be discretionary. C L A S SE S O F H A Z A R D S . Not hazardous.— Goods not hazardous are to be insured at 5 cents per $1 00 in addi tion to the rate o f the building in which they are contained; including coffee, flour, household furniture, indigo, linen, paints ground in oil, potash, rice, spices, sugars, teas, threshed grain, \vine in casks, and such articles as are usually kept in dry-goods stores. Hazardous.— T he following trades and occupations, goods, wares, and merchandise, are considered hazardous, and are charged 10 cents per $100, in addition to the rate of premium on the building, viz :— ^Basket-sellers; block and pump-makers; China or earthen or glass ware, or plate-glass in boxes, crates, or casks; cotton in bales; fire crackers and other fire w orks; fla x ; grocers with any hazardous articles; gun-smiths ; ^hardware and cutlery; hat-finishers ; hay pressed in bundles; hem p; liquor bottling cellars; ^looking-glasses in boxes; manilla grass; ^milliner’s sto ck ; o il; *paper hang ings ; *paper in ream s; pitch ; porter houses; rags in packages ; sailmakers ; saltpetre; segar-makers; spirituous liquors; sulphur ; tallow ; tar ; taverns; turpentine; victual- Insurance. 187 ling-shops; ^window-glass in boxes; wine dealers’ stock, not including wine in glass, unpacked ; *wine, in glass, in packages; *woodenware sellers. E xtra hazardous.— The following trades and occupations, goods, wares, and merchan. dise, are deemed extra hazardous, and will be charged 25 cents and upwards per $100, in addition to the rate o f premium on the building, v iz :— Acids, inflammable ; alcohol; apothecaries; basket-bleachers or m akers; blacksmiths; boat-builders; ^booksellers’ stock ; brass founders; brush-makers’ s to ck ; ^cabinet-makers’ s to ck ; carvers; China or earthen or glass ware, or looking-glasses unpacked, and buildings in which the same is packed or unpacked ; chocolate-makers; colormen’s s to ck ; ^confectioners’ stock ; coopers ; copperplate printers ; druggists ; ether ; fur dressers ; grate-makers; *jewellers’ stock ; lamp manufactories ; *lamp sellers’ stock ; lime unslaked ; liquor, in glass, unpacked. (Note.— T o subject the building and its contents to hazardous charge only.) Morocco manufacturers ; ^optical, mathematical, and musical instrument makers’ , and perfumers’ stock ; painters’ stock ; phosphorus ; *picturcs and prints; platers or plated ware manufactories ; plumbers and pewterers; *pocketbook-malters’ stock ; printers of newspapers or engravings; rag stores; ship chandlers; ^silversmiths’ or stationers’ stocks ; snuff-makers ; soap-makers ; spirits o f turpentine ; stove manufactories ; tin or sheet-iron workers; tobacco manufactories; *toy shop keepers’ stock ; type or stereo type founders ; turners ; upholstery manufacturers ; varnish ; ^watch-makers’ stock, and tools ; ^window or plate glass, unpacked ; wine, in glass, unpacked. Specially hazardous.— T he following are deemed specially hazardous, and will be charged, in addition to the rate o f the building, as per table o f minimum rates, viz :— Bakers ; bark-mills; bleaching works ; blind-makers ; bookbinders ; brewers ; brimstone works ; cabinet-makers ; carpenters ; chair-makers ; chemists ; coach-makers ; combmakers ; confectionary-makers; corn-kills; copper-smiths; cotton-mills ; cotton unpack ed ; distillers ; dyers ; firework-makers ; flax-mills ; frame-makers ; fringe-makers ; ful ling-mills ; gas-makers or sellers ; grist or flour mills ; gunpowder ; hat manufacturers; hay unpacked; houses building or repairing ; ink-makers; iron founders; ivory-black manufacturers ; lamp-black manufacturers ; livery stables ; lumber yards ; mahogany yards; malt-houses ; matches-makers ; metal-mills; musical instrument-makers ; oil boiling-houses ; oil-mills ; packing buildings and yards ; paper-mills ; perfumery-makers; planing or grooving m ills; pocketbook-makers ; powder-mills ; printers o f books and job bing ; rectifiers o f liquors; rope-makers ; sash-makers; saw-mills ; spirit-gas-makers or sellers; stables, (private;) steamboats; steam-engines in use ; sugar refiners; tallowmelters or chandlers ; tanners ; tar boiling-houses ; theatres and other places o f public exhibition ; timber yards ; turpentine distillers ; varnish-makers ; wool-mills ; and gen erally all mills and manufacturing establishments, and all trades and occupations re quiring the use o f fire heat, not before enumerated. Country Houses— Constructed o f brick, stone, or wood, detached from, and not en dangered by other buildings,.................................................. 60 cts. per $100, or upwards. I f roof o f slate or metal, 10 cents per $100 may be deducted. Bams and stables,................................................................ 85 “ “ Note.— W hen good and sufficient electric conductors are attached, ten cents per hun dred dollars may be deducted. M INIM UM R A T E S , For hazardous, extra hazardous, and specially hazardous risks, to he added to the rate o f the building. Note.— W hen goods, hazardous or extra hazardous, are stored in a building, or when a building is used for the purpose o f carrying on any trade or vocation, classed as haz ardous, extra hazardous, or specially hazardous, such building, as well as the goods contained therein, shall be charged with the additional premium to which such risks are subjected— excepting when a star (*) is prefixed, which is intended to denote that such goods only are to be charged,— but not the building, or other goods not hazardous therein. Acids— Nitric, Sulphuric, Muriatic, and other inflammable acids,............ A lc o h o l,................................................... Apothecaries or druggists,.................... Bakers,..................................................... Basket-makers,........................................ * Basket and woodenware sellers,......... Cents. Blacksmiths,.............................................. 25 Bleachers o f baskets or hats,.................. 25 2 5 Blind-makers,.......................................... 100 25 Block and pump-makers,...................... 10 50 Boat-builders,............................................. 25 25 Bookbinders,............................................... 50 10 ^Booksellers’ stock,.................................. 25 25 188 Insurance. terns. Brass-founders,.......................................... 25 Hemp and flax,.......................................... 10 Brush-makers,........................................... 25 Houses, building or repairing,................ 50 Cabinet-makers’ work-shops,................ 100 Ink-makers,...................................... 100, ^Cabinet-makers’ stock ,.......................... 25 Ivory-black manufactories,.................... 100 Carpenters’ shops,.................................. 100 ^Jewellers’ stock,....................................... 25 Carpenters’ risk on houses building or N ote.— I f contained in a substantial repairing,................................................. 50 iron safe, 15 cents less than it would N ote.— Fifteen days carpenters’ risk be if not contained in such safe : P romay be allowed without charge, dur vided it is not below the rate charge ing the existence o f the policy, or once able on the building containing it. in each year. Junk, or rag stores,................................. 25 Carvers,..................................................... 25 Lamp-black manufactories,.................... 100 Chair-makers’ work-shops,.................... 100 Lamp manufacturers,............................. 25 *Chinaware, unpacked,.......................... 25 *Lamp stocks,......................................... 25 Lime, unslaked,....................................... 25, Chinaware, buildings in which the same is packed or unpacked,............ 25 Liquor bottling cellars,.......................... 10 Chinaware, in crates, boxes, or casks, 10 Liquor, in glass, in packages,................ 10 Chocolate-makers,................................... 25 Liquor, in glass, unpacked,................... 25 Coach-makers,......................................... 100 N ote.— T o subject the building and Colormen’s stock,.................................... 25 its contents to the hazardous charge Comb-makers,.......................................... 50 only. Confectioners’ manufactory,................. 50 Livery stables,......................................... 100 ^Confectioners’ stock,............................. 25 * Looking-glasses, in packages,............. 10 C oopers;......... .......................................... 25 ^Looking-glasses, unpacked,................. 25 Coppersmiths,........................................... 25 Lumber yards,......................................... 100 Cotton, in bales,.................................. 10 Mahogany yards,..................................... 100 Cotton, unpacked,................................... 50 Manilla Grass, unpacked,...................... 10 Druggists,................................................. 25 Matches manufactories,......................... 100 layers,........................................................ 50 do. on sale,...................................... 25 ^Earthenware, unpacked,...................... 25 * Milliners’ stock,..................................... 10 M orocco manufactories,......................... 25 Earthenware, buildings in which the same is packed or unpacked,............ 25 ^Musical instrument sellers’ stock ,.... 25 Earthenware, in crates, boxes,or casks, 10 O i l ,............................................................ 10 E ther,........................................................ 25 ^Optical and mathematical instrument Fences, and privies o f wood,................ 100 sellers’ stock ,....................................... 25 Fire crackers, and other firework man Organ-makers,......................................... 100 ufactories,............................................. 100 Perfumery manufacturers,.................... 50 Fire crackers, and othfer fireworks, on Painters’ stock,........................................ 25 sa le ,...,.................................................. 10 Note.— Sign, ornamental, and por Flax and hem p,....................................... 10 trait painters, may be permitted with Founders,.................................................. 25 out additional charge, provided they Frame and sash-makers,........................ 100 do not keep more than one gallon of Fur dressers,............................................. 25 spirits o f turpentine, and three of oil. Furrier’s stock, unpacked,.................... 25 * Paper hangings,.................. - ................ 10 Gas manufactories,................................. 100 * Paper, in reams,..................................... 10 do. on sale,........................................... 25 * Perfumers’ stock ,.................................. 25 Glassware, building in which the same Phosphorus,.............................................. 25 is packed or unpacked,...................... 25 Pianoforte-makers,.................................. 100 Glassware, in packages,......................... 10 ^Pictures and prints,.............................. 25 *Glass, window or plate, in boxes,.... 10 P itch ,..................... 10 *Glass, window, unpacked,.................. 25 Platers and plated-ware manufactories, 25 ^Glassware, unpacked,.......................... 25 Plumbers and pewterers,........................ 25 Grate-makers,.......................................... 25 Pocketbook-makers,................................ 50 Grocers, with any hazardous articles,.. 10 *Pocketbook-makers’ stock,.................. 25 Gun-makers, or gunsmiths,.................. 10 Porter-houses,.......................................... 10 ^Hardware and cutlery,....................... 10 Printers o f newspapers and engravings, 25 (Anvils, anchors, chain cables, and do. o f books and jobbing,.........- . . 50 iron or steel in bars excepted.) Privies, and fences,and piazzas of wood, 100 Hat-finishers,........................................... 10 Rags, in packages,.................................. 10 Hats, grass, straw, or chip bleaching,. 25 Rag stores and junk dealers,................. 25 Hat manufacturers,............................ 50 Sailmakers,........................................... 10 H ay, pressed in bundles,........................ 10 Saltpetre,................................................... 10 Hay, unpacked,.................... ................. 50 Sash and frame-makers,........................ 100 189 Insurance. Cents. Segar-makers,.......................................... Ship-chandlers,........................................ Ships in port or cargoes,........................ Ships or other vessels, when building or repairing, or ship builders’ stock in the yard,.......................................... ^Silversmiths’ stock and tools,............. Snuff-makers,........................................... Soap-makers,........................................... Spirit-gas makers and sellers,................ Spirituous liquors,................................... Spirits o f turpentine,.............................. Stables, livery,........................................ Stables, private,....................................... ^Stationers’ stock ,................................... Stoneware, (see earthenware.) Stove manufacturers,.............................. Sugar refiners,.......................................... Sulphur,.................................................... Tallow-melters or chandlers,................ T allow ,...................................................... 10 x a x , ...................................................................................... x u 25 Taverns,.................................................... 10 65 Tin or sheet-iron workers,.................... £5 Tobacco manufacturers,......................... 25 ^Toy-shop-keepers’ stock,...................... 25 100 Turpentine,............................................... 10 25 Turners,.................................................... 25 25 Type founders,.......................................... 25 25 Upholstery manufacturers,.................... 25 100 Varnish,..................................................... 25 10 Victualling shops,................................... 10 25 * W atches in packages, as imported,... 10 100 ^Watchmakers’ stock and tools,......... 25 50 * W indow or plate glass, in boxes,........ 10 25 * W indow or plate glass, unpacked,.... 25 * Wine, in glass, in packages,.............. 10 25 *W ine, in glass, unpacked,.................. 25 100 W ine dealers’ stock, not including wine or liquor in glass,................................. 10 10 W ooden ware and basket sellers,.10 50 * 10 T he following deductions, on the amount < premiums, to be made on insurances effected for a longer period than one y e a r: For 2 years,........................ 3 per cent. For 5 years,........................ 10 per cent. “ 6 44 .............................................. 12 44 . 44 3 “ ......................... 6 “ 44 7 44 ......................... 1 year. •* 4 “ .................... 8 “ S T A T IS T IC S O F IN S U R A N C E IN M A S S A C H U S E T T S . Abstract o f the Annual Returns o f the several Insurance Companies in the Common wealth o f Massachusetts, showing the state o f said corporations on the first day o f December, 1840. Compiled from the Report o f the Secretary o f State. Names. A t Risk. At Risk. Marine. Fire. Capital. Average an. dividejids fo r Amount o f Amount o f 5 preceding Fire Losses Mar. Losses years, or since paid the last paid the last year. year. incorporated. B oston . American, . . . $300,000 $2,372,569 $2,641,832 10 pr. ct. $54,804 26 250,000 1,348,964 4 4-5 Atlantic, . . . A tla s ,.................... 135,000 233,550 120,420 4 3-5 “ Boston, . . . . 300,000 1,485,684 11 “ Boylfeton Fire & Ma. 300,000 233,946 1,622,174 7 863 09 Firemen’s, . . . 300,000 7,353,857 3 2-5 “ 32,928 90 Fishing, . . . . 100,000 482,469 3 Franklin, . . . 300,000 1,420,536 2,079,327 8 “ 53,592 88 H o p e ,................... 200,000 704,193 5 40-100 “ Manufacturers, . 300,000 2,024,440 11,182,011 12 2-5 “ 80,640 15 Mass. Fire & Marine 300,000 171,057 1,198,328 6 1-2 “ 50 00 Mercantile Marine, 300,000 1,868,240 4 “ Merchants’ , . . . 500,000 6,902,537 12,580,768 25 46-100 “ 81,101 72 National, . . . 500,000 4,275,807 6,907,912 9 2-5 “ 52,257 14 Neptune, . . . . 200,000 4,232,978 1,184,674 6 4-5 44 10,189 16 N. E. Marine, 300,000 1,564,781 6 “ Ocean, . . . . 200,000 2,098,777 1,340,640 12 4-5 “ 3,117 11 Suffolk, . . . . 225,000 886,852 8 1-5 Tremont, . . . . 200,000 2,528,007 1,297,886 10 “ 3,600 00 United States, 200,000 1,439,575 330,122 6 “ 2,000 00 Warren, . . . . 100,000 612,470 3 4-5 Washington, . . 200,000 1,391,305 10 1-5 “ Offices in Boston, 5,710,000 38,278,737 49,839,951 $70,650 25,995 38,431 79,318 2,902 88 90 38 26 92 47,061 67,523 34,032 27,781 3,982 51,688 147,889 138,638 110,511 90,237 228,278 27,016 97,878 67,588 48,329 36,106 38 19 41 69 82 63 90 51 00 90 50 00 77 00 05 96 375,144 41 1,441,844 05 190 Insurance. S T A T IS T IC S O F IN S U R A N C E IN M A S S A C H U S E T T S .— C ontinued . Capital. Names. Marine. Fire. Average an. dividends fo r Amount o f Amount o f 5 preceding hire Losses Mar. Losses years, or since paid the last paid the last year. year. incorporated. G lo u cester. Gloucester, . . . $50,000 $71,169 00 50,000 50,000 42,752 00 16,843 00 5 2-5 pr. ct. L yn n . Lynn Mec. F. & M. Union Fire & Mar. $66,250 17 1-5 18,900 2 2-5 $9,493 42 u u 3,456 47 171 28 “ ) 19,296 21 M arblehead. Marblehead Marine 100,000 314,640 00 9 50,000 224,229 00 48,460 6 N ew buryport. Essex Marine, . . Sale m . Essex, . . . . Oriental, . . . Salem Commercial, Union Marine, . . 100,000 200,000 200,000 100,000 653,664 686,115 780,542 289,900 00 00 00 00 for 20mths. S 265,500 6 18-100 “ “ 8 4-5 “ 8 4-5 “ 8 S p r in g f ie l d . Springfield Fire, . 100,000 1,759,535 13 1-5 u 10 4-5 (( 17 4-5 18 14 8-10 10 u ct “ “ F a ir h a v e n . F airhaven, . . . 100,000 716,076 00 N ew Bed fo rd . Bedford Commer. Mechanics, . . . Merchants, . . Pacific, . . . . 150,000 100,000 100,000 100,000 2,556,824 2,109,848 1,889,325 1,420,593 8,681 41 00 00 50 00 17,656 14,318 4,256 15,705 73 60 45 30 $6,170 00 8,964 30 25,775 34,292 39,337 4,894 00 68 02 71 Plym o uth . Old Colonv, . . 50,000 131,370 83 11,625 45 8 1-2 P r o v in c e t o w n . Fishing, . . . . Union, . . . . 40,000 50,000 26,781 00 22,181 OOi 5 « 75,000 400,287 00 8 “ 1,131 00 N an tucket. Commercial, . . 353 50 19 offices out Bost. 1,765,000 12,353,140 33: 2,158.645 22 “ in 6,170 00 219,409 53 . 7,475,000 50,631,877 3351,998,596 381,314 41 1,661,253 58 41 Total, . Amount o f insurance capital in Massachusetts,........................................... “ invested in U. S. Stock and Treasury Notes,................................ “ “ in Massachusetts Bank Stocks,........................................ “ “ in State Stock,...................................................................... u o f loans on bottomry and respondentia,........................................... “ invested in real estate,.......................................................... “ secured by mortgage on the same,.................................................... “ o f loans on collateral and personal security,.................................. “ o f loans on personal security only,................................................... “ o f cash on hand,................................................................................... “ reserved in contingent funds,............................................................. “ invested in railroad stock,................................................................... 44 o f losses ascertained and unpaid,...................................................... 44 o f estimated losses exclusive o f such as are returned as ascer tained and unpaid,........................................................................... 44 “ 7,475,000 5,000 4,937,301 118,107 276,520 661,549 962,657 905,241 189,639 199,184 583,168 150,585 153,156 00 00 75 50 31 99 13 42 38 91 43 08 04 261,685 00 o f premium notes on risks terminated,........................................... “ “ 44 not terminated,.................................... 747,571 14 1,723,246 00 Total amount o f premium notes,...................................................................... Amount o f notes considered bad or doubtful, not charged to profit and loss,............................................................................................................ 2,506,824 51 59,232 29 Nautical Intelligence . Amount o f “ of “ of “ of “ of “ of 191 marine risks,.....................................................................................$50,631,877 33 51,998,596 00 fire risks,........................................................ premium on fire risks undetermined,........................................... 349,339 39 capital stock pledged to the companies,...................................... 112,120 00 fire losses paid the last year,.......................................................... 381,314 41 marine losses paid the last year,................................................... 1,661,253 58 NAUTICAL INTELLIGENCE. H A R B O R R E G U L A T IO N S O F P O R T N A T A L . The London Journal o f Commerce, (one o f the most valuable journals on our foreign exchange list,) extracts from the Z uid Afrikaan o f August 7, such o f the instructions for the harbor-master at Port Natal, issued 6th o f February, 1840, as are important to captains o f vessels. Every vessel entering the harbor shall have to pay the sum o f forty rixds. for pilotage and anchorage. That the harbor-master shall act as pilot, and con duct vessels to a good anchorage, also render all possible assistance to them at their de parture, taking care that one vessel do not obstruct the anchorage o f another, and that no stones or filth be thrown on the beach opposite the anchorage. That the captain or his agent shall, as soon as possible, produce to the superintendent o f customs all ships’ papers, in order to report and enter the vessel; and the ship’s papers are to be returned to the captain, who, or his agent, is to bind himself in the sum o f three hundred rixdollars for the due observance o f the port regulation. N o goods, except passengers’ baggage, to be allowed to be landed before the vessel’s entry at the customhouse, which is to be done as soon as possible, or within twenty-four hours after arrival; and no pa pers shall be kept back, if demanded by the chief officer. That a permit is to be taken out by every consignee or shipper, for landing or shipping goods, and by the captain for taking in ship’s stores, and for which permit one rix-dollar shall be paid. That a duty of ten per cent, shall be levied on wine, beer, and spirituous liquors ; and on every other importation, three per cent, on the amount o f the invoice, freight and charges not included, and the duties to be paid before the landing o f the goods. That ammunition or uten sils o f war, wheat, and other grain, garden seeds, breeding cattle, salt, and flour, shall be permitted to be imported duty free. That no captain shall have the right to leave behind any o f his crew, without the permission o f the landdrost, nor take any one with him without the knowledge o f the harbor-master. That all weights and measures shall be Dutch, the liquid measure old English, and all solid measures Rhynland. That a building shall be provided as a government store,— one rix-dollar per week to be paid for each ton ; and persons storing more than five tons for a ..ong time, or for more than one month, shall pay one rix-dollar per month for each ton. T he captain or agent shall have to hand to the harbor-master, on his demanding the same, all private letters, who shall have to transmit them in his capacity as postmaster. A ny vessels entering the harbor, and having slaves on board, shall, together with the cargo, be confiscated, the slaves immediately be considered as free persons, and the captain and crew placed un der arrest, until such time as an opportunity shall offer to send them back to their place of residence. N E W L IG H T H O U S E A T S T O C K H O L M . T he following has been received at Lloyd’s from the Swedish and Norwegian Gen eral Consulate, dated London, Nov. 21, 1840: “ S ir ,— I have the honor to communicate to you, for the information o f mariners, the 192 Nautical Intelligence . following translation o f an ordinance issued by the Royal N avy Board, at Stockholm, on the 30th October, and to which I am free to request that you will give publicity. “ 1. That a new lighthouse o f stone has been erected on the Utklippon, situated in north latitude 55° 56', and in longitude 33° 50' E . from Faro, about 2 f German or geo graphical miles south from the castle o f Kungsholm, near Carlskrona, in which tower has been placed a revolving light, w hich gives three equal clear flames within a period o f six minutes, with equally long intervals o f darkness. T he height o f the tower is 32 feet above the rock, and the light 58 feet above the level o f the sea; consequently the latter ought, in clear weather, to be seen 2£ geographical miles distant or more from a vessel whose deck is ten feet above the water. “ 2. That, instead o f the former coal beacon at Landsort, outside the old entrance to Stockholm, a revolving light has been erected, consisting o f a triangle with three re flectors on each side, which, similar to the one at Utklippon, will give three strong flames, with equally long intervals o f darkness, within a period o f six minutes. The tower, which has been partially altered, is 64 feet high, and the light being 147 feet above the level o f the sea, ought, in clear weather, to be visible four geographical miles distant or more from a ship’s deck ten feet above the sea. “ T he above mentioned two lights will be exhibited on the 19th o f November, and continue at the same times o f the day and night as at other lighthouses in the kingdom. “ I have the honor to remain, sir, Y our most obedient servant, (Signed) “ C H A R L E S T O T T IE . “ T o W m . Dobson, Esq., Secretary, Lloyd’s, London.” S U N K E N R O C K S N E A R T H E A Z O R E IS L A N D S . T he following important information to mariners has appeared in the Lisbon Official G azett* :— M arine and C olon ial O ffice .— “ T he master o f the Brazilian brig Constante, which arrived in this port on the 18th ult., from Paraiba, having reported to the major-general o f the fleet, that he saw and approached closely two sunken rocks, the first o f which is situated in N . lat. 37° 56' 20", long. W . o f Greenwich 33° 4' 8 " ; and the second in N . lat. 38° 26' 44", long. W . 30° 25' 10", and neither o f which has ever been marked down in any chart o f the Azore Islands— the first being mentioned in Norie’s general chart as doubtful, and the second merely as having been seen by Captain Robson. Her majesty the Queen orders the said major-general to cause the first ship o f war proceed ing to those seas to examine and ascertain the exact position o f the said rocks, in order that the same may be made public. (Signed) “ C O N D E D O B O M F IN . “ Palace o f Necessidades, Oct. 12, 1840.” S IG N A L A T P O R T O S T E N D . T he following is a copy o f a circular received at Lloyd’s from Sir George H . Sey mour, the British Minister at the court o f Austria:— “ P ort of O stend .— Notice is hereby given to mariners, that from the 1st o f Novem ber, 1840, a bell recently placed near the tide light upon the battery o f the east pier head o f the harbor o f Ostend, will signalize in foggy weather the approach of the en trance o f this port as follows :— A s soon as there are four metres, forty centimetres (six teen feet o f Ostend) water on the bar at the entrance o f the harbor, the bell will be rung every quarter o f an hour, during five minutes, until the water has fallen to four metres, forty centimetres (sixteen feet o f Ostend.)— Brussels, Oct. 9.” 193 Commercial Statistics. COMMERCIAL STATISTICS, A N N U A L E X P O R T S A N D IM P O R T S F R O M 1791 T O 1840. A tabular statement, exhibiting the value o f imports and exports, excess o f imports over exports, and exports over imports, in each year from 1791 to 1840, from the report o f the Secretary o f the Treasury o f D ec. 9, 1840. Year. 1791 1792 1793 1794 1795 1796 1797 1798 1799 1800 1801 1802 1803 1804 1805 1806 1807 1808 1809 1810 1811 1812 1813 1814 1815 1816 1817 1818 1819 1820 1821 1822 1823 1824 1825 1826 1827 1828 1829 1830 1831 1832 1833 1834 1835 1836 1837 1838 1839 1840 Value o f imports. ' $52,000,000 31,500,000 31,100,000 34,600,000 69,756,263 81,436,164 75,379,406 68,551,700 79,068,148 91,252,768 111,363,511 76,333,333 64,666,665 85,000,000 120,000,000 129,000,000 138,000,000 56,990,000 59,400,000 85,400,000 53,400,000 77,030,000 22,005,000 12,965,000 113,041,274 147,103,000 99,250,000 121,750,000 87,125,000 74,450,000 62,585,724 83,241,541 77,579,267 80,549,007 96,340,075 84,974,477 79,484,068 88,509,824 74,492,527 70,876,920 103,191,124 101,029,266 108,118,311 126,521,332 149,895,742 189,980,035 140,989,217 113,717,404 162,092,132 104,805,891 V OL. IV .— NO. II. Value o f exports. $19,012,041 20,753,098 26,109,572 33,026,233 47,989,472 67,064,097 56,850,206 61,527,097 78,665,522 70,971,780 94,115,925 72,483,160 55,800,033 77,699,074 95,566,021 101,536,963 108,343,150 22,430,960 52,203,231 66,757,974 61,316,831 38,527,236 27,855,997 6,927,441 52,557,753 81,920,452 87,671,569 93,281,133 70,142,521 69,691,669 64,974,382 72,160,377 74,699,030 75,986,657 99,535,388 77,595,322 82,324,827 72,264,686 72,358,671 73,849,508 81,310,583 87,176,943 90,140,433 104,336,973 121,693,577 128,663,040 117,419,376 108,486,616 121,028,416 131,571,950 25 E x cess o f imports E xcess o f exports over exports. over imports. $32,987,959 10,746,902 4,990,428 1,573,767 21,766,796 14,372,067 18,529,200 7,024,603 402,626 280,988 17,247,586 3,850,173 8,866,633 7,300,926 24,433,975 27,463,037 29,656,850 34,559,040 7,196,769 18,642,026 .. . . . ...... . $7,916,831 38,502,764 5,850,997 6,037,559 60,483,521 65,182,548 11,578,431 28,468,867 16,982,479 4,758,331 2,388,658 11,081,260 2,880,237 4,562,350 3,195,313 7,379,155 2,840,759 16,245,138 2,133,856 2,972,588 21,880,541 13,852,323 17,977,878 22,184,359 28,202,165 61,316,995 23,560,801 5,230,788 41,063,716 26,766,059 Commercial Statistics. 194 E X P O R T S A N D IM P O R T S U N D E R E A C H P R E S ID E N C Y . A tabular vieio o f the value o f exports and imports during the administrations o f Mon roe, Adams, Jackson, and Van Buren, from 1821 to 1840, as appended to the report o f the Hon. Levi Woodbury, Secretary o f the Treasury, Dec. 9ih, 1840. V A LU E O F E X P O R T S . Years. 1821 1822 1823 ’ 1824 c* to 'b o u Domestic produce. Foreign produce, tyc Total. DOLLS. DOLLS. DOLLS. 43,671,894 49,874,079 47,155,408 50,649,500 21,302,488 22,286,202 27,543,622 25,337,157 64,974,382 72,160,281 74,699,030 75,986,657 Value o f imports. DOLLS. E xcess o f imports over exports. DOLLS. E xcess o f exports over imports. DOLLS. 62,585,724 83,241,541 11,081,260 2,880,237 77,579,267 4,562,350 80,549,007 2,388,658 191,350,881 96,469,469 287,820,350 303,955,539 18,523,847 2,388,658 66,944,745 53,055,710 58,921,691 50,669,669 32,590,643 99,535,388 96,340,075 24,539,612 77,595,322 84,974,477 7,379,155 23,403,136 82,324,827 79,484,068 21,595,017 72,264,686 88,509,824 16,245,138 \dams. G 1825 1826 1827 '1828 229,591,815 102,128,408 331,720,223 349,308,444 23,624,293 CO T“-t CO *G o to 1829 1830 1831 '1832 ci r i ©* to G O to 1833 1834 1835 '1836 ccJ «-s 53 G P5 G > 1837 1838 1839 '1840 55,700,193 59,462,029 61,277,057 63,137,470 16.658.478 14.387.479 20,033,526 24,039,473 2,133,856 72,358,671 74,492,527 73,849,508 70,876,920 81,310,583 103.191,124 21,880,541 87,176,943 101,029,266 13,852,323 37,866,720 239,576,749 75,118,956 314,695,705 349,589,837 70,317,698 81,024,162 101,189,082 106,916,680 19,822,735 90,140,433 108,118,311 17,977,878 23,312,811 104,336,973 126,521,332 22,184,359 20,504,495 121,693,577 149,895,742 28,202,165 21,746,360 128,663,040 189,980,035 61,316,995 359,447,622 85,386,401 444,834,023 574,515,420 129,681,397 95,564,414 96,033,821 103,533,891 113,762,617 21,854,962 12,452,795 17,494,525 17,809,333 408,894,743 69,611,615 478,506,358 521,595,604 117,419,376 108,486,616 121,028,416 131,571,950 140,980,177 23,560,801 5,230,788 113,717,404 162,092,132 41,063,716 104,805,891 69,855,305 3,195,313 2,840,759 6,036,072 2,972,588 2,972,588 26,766,059 26,766,059 Excess o f imports during Mr. Monroe’s 2d term, $16,135,189 ; Mr. Adams’ term, $17,588,221; General Jackson’s 1st term, $34,894,132 ; General Jackson’s 2d term, $129,681,397 ; Mr. Van Buren’s term, $16,323,187. F L O U R T R A D E O F B A L T IM O R E IN 1840. T he following is the amount o f flour inspected in Baltimore during the year 1840, as made up from the returns o f the inspections: Bbls. Howard street,................................................................................. 497,736 City mills,......................................................................................... 217,256 Susquehanna,................................................................................... 49,123 T otal,................................................................... 764,115 Half-bbls. 7,570 24,036 00 31,606 Besides the above, there were inspected during the year 1,196 hhds., 12,789 bbls., and 93 half-bbls. corn m eal; and 5,676 bbls. rye flour. Commercial Statistics. 195 W e subjoin the inspections o f flour for the preceding ten years : Half-bbls. Tot. in bbls Years. Bbls. Half-bbls. Tot. in bbls. Years. Bbls. 13,593 400,720 1830 597,804 1236 587,875 16,959 393,924 555,141 399,064 1831 1837 391,676 14,777 544,373 21,537 527,446 19,223 • 430,247 1832 17,544 1838 420,636 518,674 560,875 1839 19,786 1833 524,620 18,072 533,656 550,982 31,606 779,918 1834 480,733 17,264 489,365 1840 764,115 527,266 1835 516,600 21,833 C O M M E R C E O F A P A L A C H IC O L A . The Commercial Advertiser furnishes the following commercial statistics o f the city of Apalachicola. T he customhouse books previous to 1835 having been accidentally destroyed, the exports o f cotton up to that period are merely estimates, which are be lieved to be nearly or quite correct. Cotton shipped from Apalachicola. 1829. 1835 .................................. 32,684 bales. 800 bales. 1830. 1,200 “ 1836 ................................ 51,673 “ 1831. 2,400 “ 1837 ................................... 32,584 “ 1832. 5,500 “ 1838 ................................ 48,880 “ 1833. 1839 ............................... 34,935 “ 12,700 “ 1840 ............................... 72,232 “ 1834................................... 23,650 This is calculated up to the 1st o f October o f each year. T he disparity between ’ 36 and ’ 37, may be explained by remembering that it was in those years that the town of St. Joseph was originated, and took away some o f the crop from this place. In 1839 the crop was short, which accounts for the falling ofi* in the export. But taking all things into consideration, it displays an average prosperity, greater than any we have seen reported. W e are unable to ascertain the number o f vessels that cleared from this port previous to 1835, but the following table shows the clearances in the respective years m entioned: Number o f Clearances from this Port. Years. Schrs. Bri^s. Barques. Ships. 1835............ ............. 82 ............ ............. 49 ........... ............. 2 ............. ............ 13 1836............ ............. 99 ............ ............. 51 ........... ............. 11 ............. ............ 24 1837............ ............. 93 ............ ............. 68 ........... ............. 10 ............. ............ 16 1838............ ............. 102 ............. ............. 55 ........... ............. 8 ............. ............ 17 1839........... ............. 92 ............ ............. 37 ........... ............. 8 ............. ............ 17 1840............ ............. 84 ............ ............. 56 ........... ............. 12 ............. ............ 26 This is accounted for in all the years excepting 1840, up to the first o f January. IM P O R T S O F T E A IN T O T H E U N IT E D S T A T E S The following statement, derived from the Boston Courier, exhibits the amount of exports from Canton to the United States for the last seven years: 1840.................................. chests, 254,000 1836. chests, 215,000 1839.................................... “ 118,000 1835. “ 167,906 1838.................................... “ 183,220 1834. “ 223,914 1837............................ “ 197,804 In the exports for 1840, are included all the teas shipped for the United States previ ous to the blockade o f Canton river. O f the shipments o f 1839 and 1840, 4000 chests were lost in the ship Mandarin, and about 10,000 chests destroyed by fire in N ew York. The average supply o f the last two years, it will be seen by the above, falls short about 10 per cent, o f the average quantity received the preceding five years. A much larger quantity than usual has been exported, in consequence o f an advance having taken place much earlier in Europe than in this coun try; but this demand has now ceased. The present stock o f all kinds, including the cargoes o f vessels expected to arrive, is computed at about 78,000 chests. 196 Commercial Statistics. A R R IV A L S A T N E W Y O R K , 1840. A statement o f foreign arrivals at the port o f New York, prepared by M r. James Thorne, boarding.officer o f the United States Revenue Department, as published in the Shipping and Commercial List. FR O M FO R E IG N PO R TS . Steamers,.............................. S h ip s,.................................... Barques,............................... Brigs,..................................... Galliots,,............................... 15 Schooners, 521 Sloop,......... 229 776 7 . 404 1 Total,. .1953 O f which there were— Ships. Barques. A m erican,.........483 E nglish ,............ 11 B rem en ,............ 9 Swedish,............ 7 F re n ch ,............. 5 H am burg,......... 3 H utch................ Sicilian.............. Danish,............. Columbian,...... Austrian,........... 2 Sardinian,......... Norwegian....... Belgian.............. Neapolitan,...... Brazilian,......... 135 37 22 9 9 7 3 1 2 2 1 Brigs. Schrs. Ships. Barques. Brigs. 1 557 297 Spanish,............ 151 94 Arabian,............ 1 10 1 G enoese,........... 1 18 Lubec,............... 1 7 Venezuelian,.... 1 Haytien,............ 1 6 Prussian,........... 1 7 Portuguese,...... 1 6" 1 H anoverian,.... 6 1 Steam ers. Galliots. 3 American,........................ 2 English,......... .. ............... 1 1 B rem en,.......................... 1 Dutch,.............................. 5 Belgian,............................ 1 2 2 Spanish,............................ 1 Schrs. 1 1 S loop. 1 NU M BER O F F O R E IG N A R R IV A L S . In 1830. 1831 1832. 1833. 1834. 1835. 1510 1634 1808 1926 1932 2043 2292 2071 1790 2159 1953 In 1836. 1837. 1838. 1839. 1840. A R R IV A L S O F B R IT IS H V E S S E L S , (included in the above.) In 1830...................................................... 92 In 1836 1831 .......................................... 278 1837 1832 .......................................... 369 1838 1833 .......................................... 371 1839 1834 ......................................... 303 1840 287 NU M BER O F C O A S T W I E A R R IV A L S IN 1840. Ships. Barques. B rigs. Shi^s. Barques. Brigs. Schrs. Total. 241 230 337 307 Schrs. T o tal. January.... 2 35 100 150 D ecem ber,.. 17 5 52 201 275 February,. , i i 1 38 130 180 M arch ,..... ..29 6 53 246 334 T o ta l,.. 157 29 554 2921 3661 A pril,........ .. 8 2 37 288 335 M a y ,......... ..13 1 49 310 373 W hole number as above,.................... 3661 Ju ne,........ ..14 which, added to the foreig n ........... 1953 2 73 410 499 3 42 280 332 J u ly ,......... .. 7 A ug u st,.... .. 7 36 makes a total for the year o f ......... 5614 265 308 1 September, . 9 42 244 296 W hole number last year,.................... 6487 O ctober,. . .14 2 50 232 298 November, .15 Decrease,................................. 873 4 47 215 281 Note.— In the above, there are no sloops included, which, if added to the many schooners from Philadelphia and Virginia, with wood and coal, which are never board ed, (owing 4o the remoteness o f the points at which they come in,) would make the number much greater. i Com mercial Statistics. 1830........ 1831........ 1832........ 1833........ 1834........ 1835........ 197 NUMBER OF PASSENGERS ARRIVED. ............... 30,224 In 1836............... ...............31,779 1837............... ........ 51,975 ............... 48,589 1838.............. ...............41,752 1839............... ........ 48,152 ............... 48,110 1840............... ............... 35,503 M A S S A C H U S E T T S M A C K E R E L F IS H E R Y . A Table, exhibiting the number o f barrels o f mackerel inspected in the Commonwealth o f Massachusetts in each year, from 1831 to 1840. Nos. One. Two. Three. Nos. One. Two. Three. 1,619 Boston,.......... bbls. 2,987 3,087 H a rw ich ,......... 3 22 45 1,888 2 3 Gloucester,... 5,567 1,104 Beverly,. 2,903 1,109 Newburyport, 1,797 2,222 3,744 H ingham ,...... 1,164 19,479 11,296 20,217 1,092 Cohassett,...... 824 3,103 Dennis,........... 907 605 1,497 Total for 1840. 1,018 696 1,074 do Truro, ............ 1839. 73,018 Barnstable, ... 367 410 1,137 do 1838. 108,538 1,069 983 1,860 do W ellfleet,....... 1837. 138,157 285 229 Scituate,......... 548 do 1836. 176,931 Chatham,....... 116 do 27 7 1835. 194,450 172 Plymouth,...... 61 do 1834. 97 493 Yarm outh,.... 441 444 do 1833. Provincetown, 584 1832. 793 709 do 212,452 46 2 1831. 383,559 Salem ,............ do C A N A L S H IP M E N T S A T B U F F A L O . T he amount o f tolls on property shipped on the canal at Buffalo during the present year, is $410,888 55. The following are some o f the principal articles, compared with the three previous years: Year. 1837 1838 1839 1840 Flour, bbls. 126,808 277,620 288,165 639,633 Wheat, bush. 450,350 933,117 965,000 883,100 Pork, bbls. 24,414 15,717 23,667 18,435 Corn, bush. 94,490 34,198 52,728 47,885 Ashes, bbls. 7,705 8,237 10,898 9,008 B eef, bbls. 54 404 966 7,027 T O B A C C O T R A D E O F P H IL A D E L P H IA . Quantity o f Tobacco inspected at the Philadelphia City Warehouse in 1839 and 1840, 1839. 1840. Kentucky,............................................... ............................ hhds. 2,292 4,729 Virginia,.................................................. ........................... 233 478 O hio,........................................................ ........................... 33 17 Maryland,............................................... 8 Totals............................. ............................ 2,552 5,298- . S P E R M A N D W H A L E O IL . In the January number o f this magazine, we published tables exhibiting the quantity o f sperm oil imported into the United States in each year from 1815 to 1839, together with the average price per gallon; also the number o f vessels that arrived at each port in the United States, and the number o f barrels o f sperm and whale oils imported into different places in 1839. W e now proceed to give a statement o f the whale fishery for 1840, by which it will be seen that the arrivals o f sperm oil for 1840 exceeded those of 1939 by about 15,000 barrels, while the whale oil falls short about 20,000 barrels. 198 Commercial Statistics. It may be well to notice here, that the exports o f sperm oil to England this year have exceeded those o f any previous year, from 15 to 20,000 barrels having been exported, which would leave about the same quantity for home consumption in 1840 as we had in 1839. T he great and continuing decrease o f import (nearly two-thirds decrease within 20 years) into Great Britain, will hereafter exercise a greater influence on' our prices o f sperm oil, than we have heretofore felt, as the different manufacturers have greatly increased the use o f sperm o i l ; thus, in case o f an over-import into the States, and the prices are low, it will be taken for export. Arrivals o f Oil into the United States in 1840. Ships <£ Barks. Brigs. Schrs. N ew Bedford and Fairhaven,........................ Nantucket,......................................................... Sag Harbor,....................................................... N ew London and M ystic,.............................. S a le m ,................................................................ Boston, including ships o f Lynn, Newburyport, and Plymouth,.................................... New Vork, including places on N. River,... N ew p ort,............................................................ Falm outh,.......................................................... E dgartow n,........................................................ W estport,........................................................... W arren,.............................................................. Bristol,................................................................ Stonington,....................................................... Greenport,.......................................................... Bridgeport,.......................................................... Rochester,........................................................... Provincetown,................................................... W areham ,.......................................................... Other places,...................................................... 70 22 15 19 6 11 i 3 3 1 6 8 3 3 3 3 5 2 2 3 2 4 1 1 2 4 3 2 6 Total for 1840,......................................... do 1839,......................................... 175 193 42 31 3 2 2 1 1 6 3 Bhls. Sperm. Bhls. Whale. 63,465 43,330 2,730 5,145 4,330 75,411 2,275 27,320 38,320 8,120 6,420 4,600 4,850 3,150 3,380 2,255 2,110 2,035 1,200 410 590 1,395 1,950 1,080 2,020 8,600 11,600 200 1,300 2,300 25 10,285 1,225 0,450 2,790 2,910 30 1,500 2,780 156,445 203,441 141,564 223,523 IM P O R T D U T IE S O F G R E A T B R IT A IN . A late number o f the London Commercial List, contains a review o f the “ Report o f the Select Committee o f the House o f Commons, upon Import Duties.” The re port, which, it appears, is a volume o f over 300 pages, strongly recommends a change in customhouse legislation. It states that 1150 articles are subject to import duty, be sides articles unenumerated. The total amount o f revenue from these 1150, is ,£22,962,610, and out o f this amount nine articles alone produced in 1838, £18,575,071, and ten more produced £1,838,630; thus nineteen articles out of the 1150 produced £20,413,701, leaving 1131 articles, producing, for such a great number, the very insig nificant contribution to the revenue o f only £2,548,909 ! T he committee express a conviction that prohibitory duties are totally unproductive to the revenue, and operate as a very heavy tax upon the country at large. Protective duties they also consider as o f but little service to the parties professedly protected. ' T hey recommend that, as speedily as possible, the whole system o f different duties, and o f all restrictions, should be reconsidered; and that a change therein be effected, in such a manner that existing interests may suffer as little as possible in the transition to a more liberal and equitable state o f things. A persuasion is expressed that the difficulties o f modifying the discriminating duties Commercial Statistics. 199 which favor the introduction o f British colonial articles, would be very much abated if the colonies were themselves allowed the benefits o f the free trade with all the world. Am ong the witnesses examined before the committee was John M ’ Gregor, Esq., one of the Joint Secretaries o f the Board o f Trade. He stated that the ten leading articles, which produced £20,502,566 revenue in 1839, were— Sugar and molasses,............................................................................... £4,826,917 T ea............................................................................................................ 3,658,763 Spirits,.......................................................................... 2,615,413 W in e ,........................................................................................................ 1,849,308 T obacco,................................................................................................... 3,495,686 Coffee and cocoa,.................................................................................... 749,818 Fruits o f all kinds,.................................................................................. 462,002 Timber and dyewoods,........................................................................... 1,668,584 1,131,075 Corn, grain, meal and rice,.................................................................. Total,, £20,502,566 C A N A L C O M M E R C E O F OH IO. C ollector ’ s O ffice , ) C levelan d , (Ohio,) January 1st, 1841. ( O f property on which toll is charged by weight, there arrived at Cleveland, by way of the canal, during the past year,...........................................................pounds 280,233,820 During the year 1839, there arrived................................................ .......... 186,116,267 Being an increase o f.................................................................................................. 94,117,553 The following are the principal articles o f property that arrived at Cleveland, by way o f the canal, during the years 1839 and 1840:—■ 1839. 1840. Bushels W heat,....................................................................................... 1,520,477 2,151,450 do Corn,.......................................................................................... 64,825 72,842 do Oats,.......................................................................................... 15,901 22,881 do Mineral coal............................................................................. 140,042 167,045 Barrels Flour,......................................................................................... 266,337 504,900 do P o rk ,......................................................................................... 30,535 23,000 do W hiskey,................................................................................... 6,020 9,967 Pounds Butter,....................................................................................... 119,727 782,033 do Cheese,....................................................................................... 200 22,890 do L a rd ,.......................................................................... 869,805 513,452 683,499 do B a con ,...............................................'.....................................1,316,273 do Pig I r o n ,,................................................................................. 768,300 1,154,641 do Iron and N ails,........................................................................ 48,659 2,252,491 Ilhds. Tobacco,...................................................................................... 327 932 Pieces Staves and Heading,............................................................... 778,931 634,954 Cords W o o d ,.......................................................................................... 3,070} 2,8 0 9 } O f property on which toll is charged by weight, there were cleared at Cleveland, by the way o f the canal, during the past year,..,............................................ pounds 42,772,233 During the year 1839 there were cleared................................................... 64,342,361 Being a decrease o%...,.................................................................................... 21,570,128 T he following were the principal articles o f property that were cleared at Cleveland, by the way o f the canal, during the years 1839 and 1840:— 1839. 1840. Barrels Salt.... ..................................................................................... 110,447 76,729 do Lake Fish,............................................................................... 9,062 8,959 Pounds Merchandise,..........................................................................17,455,703 9,563,396 do Furniture,............................................................................. 1,623,155 1,215,167 do Gypsum.................................................................................. 2,631,730 1,770,016 Feet Lumber........................................................................................ 3,050,192 1,265,656 M . Shingles,......................................................................................... 2,216} 2,560} Pairs Millstones,.................................................................................. 30 21 D. H . B E A R D S L E Y , Collector. 200 Commercial Statistics. A M E R IC A N SO A P S, O IL , & c. J. S. Sleeper, Esq., the editor o f the Boston Mercantile Journal, has recently been led to investigate this rather important branch o f domestic business, to some extent. T he details furnished, are well worthy o f observation, and some among them o f perma nent record. It seems the quantity o f common washing soap manufactured in Boston and its vicinity, for exportation and domestic use, from the most correct data, is— O f yellow, o f different qualities, for shipping,.......................................lbs. 10,000,000 W hite, for do ....................................... 75,000 Y ellow and brown, for domestic use,....................................................... 1,500,000 W hite, for do ........................................................ 150,000 11,725,000 In the manufacture o f this quantity o f soap, there are made use of, 4,800,000 pounds o f tallow, o f different qualities; about 12,000 barrels o f rosin, and 12,000 casks of lime. A large quantity o f salt is also required. T he alkali is obtained from several sources. Large quantities o f barilla are imported from Teneriffe and the Straits. A n artificial barilla is made in the vicinity o f Boston, by the decomposition o f common salt, and re cently the market has been supplied with an excellent article prepared by the Tennants, o f Glasgow, called carbonate o f soda. A small quantity o f potash is used. A very considerable article o f alkali is the house ashes, carefully saved and collected by the soap-makers. This, it is rather notable, after being used, is shipped to N ew Y ork, and sold to the farmers on Long Island, who consider it indispensable in bringing their soil into cultivation. About 170,000 bushels are shipped annually for this use. Some o f the manufactories within a few years have made use o f whale oil, in various proportions, in their soap. This has injured the reputation o f Boston soap quite as much as the process adopted in ’92, in the manufacture o f the celebrated Portland soap. It will take some time to wash out this stain. A t that time, one man paid a verdict o f $1,500 for vending this mixture, and affirmed that he made money by it still. E X P O R T S F R O M R U S S IA T O T H E U N IT E D S T A T E S , 1840. T he following exports were made to the United States from Russia during the year 1840:— Bar iron,............... Sheet iron,............ Clean hemp,........ Outshot hemp,.. H alf clean hemp,. Cordage,............... Bristles,.............. . Feathers,............. .poods, 189,085 . “ 64,757 . “ 96,007 . “ 59,799 . “ 18,274 . “ 56,720 . “ 4,085 . “ 11,390 Sail cloth,................................. pieces, 41,082 Ravens d u ck ,............................ “ 33,947 Sheetings,................................... “ 24,258 H alf duck,................................... “ 1,627 Diapers,............................................. arsheens,3,237,298 Crash,........................................................ “ 952,200 Q u ills,....................................................... “ 14,935,000 T R A D E AN D TO LLS O F T H E N E W Y O R K CAN ALS. A Table, showing the amount o f tolls received on all the state canals o f New York, from the opening o f navigation to the first o f A u gu st, the first o f September, and to the close o f navigation, fo r each o f the last six y ea rs:— 1835, 1836, 1837, 1838, 1839, 1840, 1st A ugust 709,671 712,913 526,768 677,105 761,422 715,261 1st September. 863,981 925,060 649,163 844,275 913,322 912,475 To close o f navigation• 1,548,972 1,614,680 1,293,129 1,588,847 1,616,554 1,772,427
@FedFRASER