Full text of The Merchants' Magazine and Commercial Review : March 1843, Vol. VIII, No. III

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HUNTS

MERCHANTS’ MAGAZINE.
M A R C H ,

A

rt.

1843.

I.— C H IN A A N D T H E CH IN E SE P E A C E .

T h e success which has met the British arms in China, was such as
might have been expected in a collision between the rude force o f Tartar
militia, and the disciplined strength o f English troops. Had the battle been
fought face to face from the beginning, had not the arts o f the Chinese
commissioners delayed an appeal to arms in almost every case where such
an appeal was proffered, the English flag, a year ago, would have been
planted on the imperial palace at Pekin. The struggle has at length taken
place ; the second city in the empire has surrendered to a European cap­
tain ; the complex devices o f the celestial government have been torn asun­
der by the feet o f the invader, and the integrity o f China as an empire has
been destroyed. That the war which has led to her humiliation was both
unjust and unchristian, it has been within our power to exhibit more than
once in this Magazine. China has as perfect a right to regulate the char­
acter o f her imports, as either o f the countries with whom she trades; and
we can imagine no more glaring violation o f the law o f nations, than the
successful attempt which has been made to cram down her throat, by force,
an article which she had deliberately refused to receive. Undoubtedly,
the bearing o f the Chinese government was preposterous, and the aspect
o f Chifiese institutions, to a stranger, ludicrous in the extreme ; but we can­
not discover in what way the conceit and ignorance o f the Chinese author­
ities can be considered as sufficient to justify the summary remedies which
have been adopted. Neither the inequality o f the imperial tariff, nor the
arrogance o f the imperial manners, were legitimate causes o f invasion;
and however beneficial in its remote consequences the unsealing o f the
Chinese ports may be, we cannot but regret that it should have been con ­
ceived in crime and consummated in violence.
It will be difficult, after a full view o f the outrages which signalized the
opening o f the contest, to understand the reason o f the subsequent moder­
ation o f the conqueror. In a war undertaken in defiance o f the sanctions
o f Christendom, we supposed that the invader would have carried into ef­
fect, in the management o f the campaign, those principles which had guidVOL. V III.— n o i n .
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China and the Chinese Peace.

ed him in its conception ; and w e looked upon the bulletins which were
brought by the overland mail with great suspicion, as the softened apolo­
gies for outrages which, in their naked enormity, were to be concealed
from the European eye. W hat are the motives which have led to the
forbearance o f the British government, we do not pretend to determine. It
may have been that, successful as was the attack when made on the outer
rind o f the empire, the great density o f the interior population, and the
gradual improvement in their military outfit, were such as to make the pro­
priety o f a central invasion problem atical; or it may have been, as is more
probably the case, that the invader imagined his purposes would be more
easily gained by the subtle though potent advances o f European civilization,
than by the continued efforts o f an army which could only be reinforced
at protracted intervals, but which was liable at any moment to be cut o ff
and destroyed. O f the bearings o f the peace which has been effected,
we shall speak at the close o f this article. The present year is the pivot
on which the destiny o f China must turn ; and when we reflect on the enor­
mous interests that are dependant upon the issue, we will find our attention
provoked to its grave and careful consideration. A n empire whose his­
tory goes back centuries behind the Christian era, whose population ex­
ceeds three hundred and fifty millions, whose agricultural resources are
richer than those o f all Europe together, whose variations o f climate are
greater than those o f the United States, is tottering on its foundations ; and
on its fate must rest, not only the interests o f its immediate dependants,
but the interests o f civilization and the interests o f Christendom.
W e propose at present, under the general design o f considering the bear­
ing o f the British ascendancy in China, to examine, in the first place, the
history o f the steps by which European nations obtained a footing upon
her shores ; secondly, the resources which were thus exhibited ; and last­
ly, the influence o f the contest, which has just concluded, on her future
prospects.
There is very little difference discernible in the delineation which is
given by Marco Polo o f the manners o f the Chinese, and the accounts
which we have received from later travellers. It is true, that when the
Genoese pioneer endeavored to draw on his imagination to supply the va­
cancy which was created by the sudden determination o f his travels, he
fell into absurdities which, though now they are easily to be distinguished
in the tissue o f his narration, seemed, then, to give it greater completeness
and probability.
It was through a fiction which was thus introduced that
the emperor, called Prester John, who was supposed to be descended from
John the Baptist, became an object o f so great interest in the court o f
Rom e as to lead to the formation o f missions for his edification, whose
ultimate result was the opening o f the eastern trade. The expectation o f
finding, in the depths o f Chinese Tartary, a Christian monarch, who united
in his person the functions o f prophet, o f priest, and o f k in g ; who was en­
dowed with immortality in possession on earth, and yet was to be reward­
ed with immortality in remainder in heaven ; whose kingdom was senti­
nelled by swords o f flame, which warded o ff the approach o f the wicked,
but who changed into angels o f invitation when they were approached by
the steps o f the believer ; contained in it no absurdity to the mind o f one
who could realize the apotheosis o f a pope, or the omnipotence o f a relic.
The Portuguese capture o f M alacca in 1511, however, led to an entry into
China, which formally dispelled the mysterious conviction o f the eastern




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207

travellers, which had raised the empire to the honors o f sanctity. Peris
d’ Andrade, to whom belongs the credit o f first having carried a European
vessel to the harbors o f the east o f Asia, set sail from Lisbon on the 12th
o f August, 1516, and a year afterwards anchored, to the great consterna­
tion o f the neighboring junks, in the centre o f the roads o f Canton. Un­
fortunately, however, the interpreter whom he had brought with him from
Macao, had either been bribed by the Chinese authorities, or had been
stunned by their splendor into a downright neglect o f his official charac­
ter ; so that he took upon himself, in conducting the correspondence with
the mandarins, to alter essentially the contents o f the letters he translated.
Their complexion was originally tinged with the usual coloring o f Euro­
pean etiquette ; but, by the time they reached their ultimate destination,
they had become so painted and bedaubed by the intervening authorities,
that they were only fit to be placed in the high-colored heraldry o f the
Chinese king. Indeed, the petition for the opening o f an equal trade was
made, in its amended form, simply a medium for the conveyance, by the
king o f the Franks, o f his deep respect and unalterable allegiance to the
son o f heaven and lord o f the earth ; at whose footstool it would be the
highest gratification o f the first-mentioned potentate to abase himself, in
order to perform the ko-ton. The emperor graciously acceded to the re­
quest that the homage should be offered by p rox y ; but when d’ Andrade had
finished the evolution that represented the vassalage o f the Portuguese
king, he was surprised to find that he was dismissed without further nego­
tiation, and that the extension o f trade had been entirely swallowed up in
the performance o f the obeisance. Dissatisfied with the extent o f the con­
cession, he ventured to remonstrate with his sudden dismissal by the co u rt;
when to his surprise, and, indeed, to the utter defiance o f all diplomatic
usage, he was thrown at once into prison, where he afterwards died. The
rupture which took place in consequence between the two countries, was
sufficient to cut off" the Portuguese for a time from any participation in the
trade which it had become the common object o f Europe to obtain.
The taste o f the Chinese, however, was at direct variance with the bull
o f the pope, as to the disposal o f the eastern com m erce. B y the decision
o f the latter authority, the dominion o f the seas was divided into two
great portions, o f which the Spaniards were to possess all they could dis­
cover by sailing westward, and the Portuguese whatever fell to their share
in sailing east. It seems never to have entered into the head o f the holy
see, from the imperfect knowledge which it possessed o f the figure o f the
earth, that there might possibly be a spot where the two nations would un­
expectedly meet, after having respectively embraced the hemispheres al­
lotted to them. But when Magellan had penetrated, in 1520, through the
strait which now bears his name, and when, forty years after, the viceroy
o f the western seas had formally taken possession o f a barren island on
the Chinese coast, it was found that the two powers had again com e to­
gether ; and the very privileges which the Portuguese had claimed by their
sailing-eastward discoveries, were equally due to the Spaniards for those
which had been achieved in the contrary direction. The Philippine islands,
as they were afterwards called from the prince royal, were immediately
seized as a station for the Spanish merchant ships to recruit at, after their
long and arduous voyage across the P acific; and through the powerful in­
fluence o f the priests who had accompanied the exploring squadron, a
cluster o f monasteries was founded o f the respective orders o f Augustine,




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China and ihe Chinese Peace.

o f Francis, and o f Dominic. F or a long time, the exertions o f the mis­
sionaries were confined within the narrow limits o f the Philippines ;
but at last, after a number o f fruitless endeavors, a party o f Augustin
friars obtained from a Chinese merchant, who was trading at the islands,
the promise that he would, on his next -voyage, land them safely, though
secretly, on the neighboring continent. For years they had waited anx­
iously on a barren island for an opportunity for that glorious dilemma o f
triumph or o f martyrdom, which their unconquerable spirits had laid be­
fore them, and at last the moment o f trial was arrived ; and on the 12th
o f June, 1575, after having celebrated high mass with all the pomp which
their moderate opportunities would allow, a mission, consisting o f two
monks o f the order o f St. Augustin, and two o f the officers o f the Spanish
fleet, set sail for China. It was not until after a heavy storm, in which
the Chinese soldiers shut themselves up in the cabin with their idols and
charms, leaving the whole management o f the ship on the Christian trav­
ellers, that they arrived safely at the port o f Tansuro, in Fo-kien. It was
remarkable, as the first attempt to spread the doctrines o f Christianity
among the inhabitants o f the celestial empire. But the fiery zeal o f the
Augustins would soon have been overwhelmed by the persecution o f the
domestic authorities, and, what was still worse, by the ridiculous position
in which they were constantly placed by the gross ignorance o f the Chi­
nese, and their own destitution o f the means o f undeceiving them, which a
thorough acquaintance with the vernacular could alone have afforded, had
they not been soon reinforced by a body o f Franciscan monks to the number
o f fourteen, who entered upon their mission with a zeal even surpassing that
o f their predecessors. Positive refusal was given to their request, made
to the Chinese authorities, for permission to land. A t length, having been
beaten about the coast by a severe storm, such as often visits, in the fall o f
the year, that exposed coast, without a pilot, and even without the ordinary
complement o f seamen, they were thrown at the mouth o f a large river,
after having, by almost a miracle, escaped a fleet o f native men-of-war
which were there at their moorings. A t their approach the multitudes,
who at first had crowded on the shore, fled precipitately; and they found,
what, indeed, must have been by no means congenial to their intended en­
terprise, that they were treated as wild beasts by the nation they were sent
to proselytize. A t length, however, they retreated to the ship, where a
native messenger appeared before long bearing a great red banner, on
which was written a polite permission to the “ evil-minded” foreigners to
touch, with their lips, the ground o f the celestial empire. Taking advan­
tage o f the unexpected condescension, they preferred a petition to the do­
mestic authorities for leave to preach their doctrines to the people, e x ­
plaining, at great length, the benevolent and disinterested purposes o f their
mission. But, fortunately for their safety, their interpreter, who was se­
cretly disposed towards the Christian cause, thought fit to give quite a dif­
ferent turn to their petition, and represented that they were holy men like
the Benses, (who fill the place o f eleemosynary priests,) who, having been
turned aside by a tempest on a voyage to the Philippine islands, had ta­
ken refuge on shore rather for the purpose of avoiding shipwreck, than for
the sake o f curiosity or religious enterprise. T he mandarin was a little
staggered in his credulity by the sight o f the missals and crosses which
formed the chief baggage o f the priests, and asked the interpreter “ how
it was that they preserved such useless furniture in the stress o f so violent




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209

a tempest V ’ The answer was, “ that these were the objects that the holy
men esteemed above all others, and that they would rather have met death
in its most fearful form than to have parted with their relics.” The men­
dicant habits o f the friars innocently kept up the delusion which their in­
terpreter had began ; and as beggary was then very much in vogue with
the Benses, who were obliged to betake themselves to that resource from
not only a lack o f other support, but from a deficiency in other amuse­
ments, it took a great deal to persuade the Chinese that the Catholic priests
w ere not actually the followers o f F o. Nothing could exceed the magnifi­
cence with which they were received by the viceroy, who was determin­
ed that they should carry with them to their unknown land an adequate
idea o f celestial greatness. H e was seated in full state; and opposite to
him, on a huge canopy, was painted a dragon o f the most belligerent as­
pect, having eyes representing respectively the sun and moon, and a tail
which was a cylinder o f stars. Fifty notaries, who had been convicted o f
misdemeanors got up for the purpose, were publicly bastinadoed while the
audience continued; very much in the same way as a drove o f chickens
are brought to the inn-door block, on the sudden arrival o f a party o f hun­
gry travellers. The missionaries were by no means gratified by the in­
tended compliment, and might themselves have been subjected to the same
discipline, had not their prudent interpreter again interfered, by attributing
their horror-stricken exclamations to the expression o f extreme admira­
tion. But, unfortunately, the tale o f the shipwreck began to lose its credi­
bility ; and it becam e a matter o f inquiry among the authorities why their
guests, who had only been induced to land from the violence o f a storm,
should express no desire to return. But com ing home was by no means
the object o f the missionaries. T h ey supposed that their cordial reception
was the result o f an anxious desire, on the part o f the Chinese, to be ac­
quainted with the mysteries o f relig ion ; and though they could scarcely
admire the social bearing o f their new converts, they thought that its de­
ficiency only was a stronger reason for their edification.
A t length, how­
ever, as they became more acquainted with the language, they learnt the
device o f their interpreter, and found out that the favor which they had
acknowledged with so much gratitude was, not to preach the gospel in the
land, but to leave it immediately. They w ere at length huddled on board
their ship, cooped up under the care o f a Chinese troop, and sent back to
the Philippines with hearts broken down by the failure o f their enterprise,
and heads bewildered as to the cause o f it.
But the success which the unyielding zeal o f the Franciscans and D o ­
minicans in vain had wooed, was won by the more ductile courtship o f the
Jesuits. W e cannot but respect the boundless enterprise, and the self-de­
nying piety which formed the leading characteristics o f those extraordinary
men. Worldliness o f spirit, it was said, was their vice ; but it was world­
liness o f spirit alone— in that moderate sense o f the term which implies
an adaptation to the character o f others for the purpose o f commanding
their attachment— that could have carried St. Francis Xavier and his dis­
ciples through the vast enterprise to which they were wedded. Others o f
the religionists o f those days were suspected o f sensual ex cess; but not a
shadow darkened the character o f the Jesuits. W e cannot but mourn that
the secular ambition o f the Romish See should ever have mingled in the
purer flame o f their devotion; it too often rendered their plans o f conver­
sion incomprehensible, and, indeed, unattainable to the mind o f the nation
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China and the Chinese P eace.

whom they were laboring to persuade. W h y should the emperor acknow­
ledge his inferiority to a foreign priest ? W as it a preliminary to his ac­
knowledgment o f the true God ? But, with their characteristic caution,
the Jesuits omitted at first to hold out the scarlet cloth, which would only
have maddened their antagonist in the spiritual contest which was to end
in his subjection.
T h ey knew that i f he was passed under the yoke, it
must be by soothing him into complaisance, and not by inspiring him with
jealousy. They, therefore, dealt at first only with the great and evident
spiritualities o f religion ; and proclaiming, by their enthusiastic eloquence
and spotless lives, those great truths which are but whispered by nature
herself, they spread in the humble chapels o f that distant country, a faith
far purer than that which is chanted in the splendid cathedrals o f Rom e.
N or must we omit to notice what became a principal ingredient in the
success o f the Jesuits. Th ey carried with them a thorough acquaintance
with astronomy and the natural sciences, and thus succeeded in adding to
the respect which is always paid to men o f piety, the awe which is natu­
rally given to men o f genius. The same strange influence, like that o f
the full moon on the troubled tide, which Columbus held over the Indians
o f Hispaniola, the missionaries exerted upon the people whom they had
com e to convert. It is true that the Chinese had been acquainted, long
before the Europeans, with those great discoveries which, in their extend­
ed form, have become the greatest source o f our civilization— the printingpress, the compass, the circulation o f blood, and gunpowder— but they
were acquainted with them in a very imperfect degree ; and, after the first
shock o f discovery, stood still with amazement at the improvement they
had achieved. Thus, though they calculated eclipses with astonishing
accuracy and foresight, and erected in the capital an observatory, on the
top o f which were roosted a swarm o f astronomers royal, who were
obliged to report every change which took place among the heavenly bo­
dies, from the travels o f a comet to the twinkling o f a star, they persisted
in believing that the earth was a vast plain ; that the heavens were an arch
above i t ; that at night the sun nestled in a great cradle on one side, where
it refreshed itself and combed its beams into a proper refulgence for the
next day’s la bor; and that, finally, his tesselated appearance in an eclipse
was caused by an irregular performance o f that necessary exercise o f
cleanliness. But when the Jesuit philosophers, in a few words, opened to
them those discoveries which it had been the labor o f ages to perfect, the
astronomers, in a flash, realized their truth; and if we may believe the
historian o f the mission, exclaimed : “ W ell may you call us Tartars and
barbarians; for where you begin, did we e n d !”
A fortunate incident at court raised, to a great degree, the influence o f
the Jesuits in the place where it is always the most efficient— in the nur­
sery o f princes. The royal calendar had, for a long time, formed the uni­
versal conscience-keeper o f the empire ; for it not only fixed the fast-days
and market-days, the feast-days and gaol-deliveries, but it proceeded into
the smallest trifles o f domestic life, and all China watered its cattle or cut
its hair at the same identical moment. O f course, any disarrangement in
the scale which regulated so complex a system, must have led to extraor­
dinary confusion. Unfortunately, a slight error had grown upon the face
o f the calendar, and, like all other such slight errors, it grew before long
into the most dropsical greatness, so that it began to be feared that it could
not be tapped without the destruction o f the whole econom y. General




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211

councils were called ineffectually, and the royal astronomers were several
times bastinadoed without being able to effect a cure ; while, during their
deliberations, the error had been swelling till the seasons had become
nearly reversed, and the laborer was obliged to go to harvest in the mid­
dle o f winter, so that the tea-crops rapidly diminished under the unusual
regimen to which they were subjected. A t length the emperor had re­
course to the Jesuits, who w ere then in anything but favor ; and Father
Verbiest, who was the most learned o f the number, was obliged to inform
him that, to set matters right, a whole month would be obliged to be omit­
ted in the ensuing year. A council o f state was immediately called, to
inquire whether it would not be better to let the disease ripen to an explo­
sion, than to submit to the humiliation o f its being cured by the superior
knowledge o f foreigners. A t length, however, prudence prevailed over
pride ; and all China w as set a month back in its career, very much to the
wonder o f the lower classes, who could not conceive how the imperial de­
cree could effect so great an alteration in the seasons.
It is said that the
governor o f Ning-ku-fou came near conversion ; and L e Compte relates,
with much complaisance, that he came in state to the Catholic chapel to
make prayers for rain, but having afterwards requested them to postpone
the ceremony for one day, so that he might try first the efficacy o f a drag­
on o f great celebrity, who had been lately deified, the father took occasion
to remonstrate with him on the idolatry o f the last proceeding, and, as they
thought, succeeded in instilling in his mind some notions o f the true faith.
So great was the honor with which they were at that time received, that
they w ere escorted from Hang-tcheou-fou to the court, each o f them perch­
ed, to an unusual height, on men-carried sedan ch a irs; while around
them was a full band o f fifes and kettledrums, and before them a great
red standard, on which was printed, in huge green letters, “ D octors o f the
Heavenly Law, sent for to Court.” W e must do the missionaries the justice
to say, that they very reluctantly acquiesced in an exhibition so contrary
to their policy and principles.
It is said that, in 1736, when K ien-Ling ascended the throne, the num­
ber o f Christians in the empire amounted to 200,000 ; but the better feel­
ings o f that humane prince were overcome by the jealous counsels o f the
mandarins, and a general destruction o f the churches ensued soon after,
accompanied with a severe persecution o f the converts. But numbers sur­
vived the ord ea l; and travellers still relate that, in the most distant c o r­
ners, in the shadiest nooks o f the great empire, the rites o f the Jesuits are
still performed, in all the purity in which they were first opened to the
people.
It is not to be supposed, when the principal maritime nations o f Europe
. were watching warily at Canton for a chance to pounce on Chinese com ­
merce, that their high mightinesses o f the states o f Holland should be
backward in the game. But, owing to the misunderstanding which had for
some time existed between themselves and their late sovereign, the king
o f Spain, both Spanish and Portuguese combined to represent them at the
court o f China as rebels and apostates, and as men who, having been driven
from their country, had become the water-rats o f the ocean, and were
seeking to undermine the foundations o f any land on which they could
secure a foothold.
At last, having obtained a settlement at Canton, a
Dutch embassy was sent to request personally the privilege o f free trade ;
but the lofty spirit o f Chinese prerogative revolted at any concessions to




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China and the Chinese P eace.

traitors and apostates. T h ey were admitted to the court, but were obliged
to pass through a series o f humiliations which were more mortifying than
even the abrupt dismission with which their mission terminated. It is singular, that the trifling cerem ony o f the ko-ton should be the rock on which
so many embassies have split. It consists in nine distinct prostra­
tions before the imperial presence, each o f which is accompanied with a
severe blow on the head, which announces the fact o f the forehead having
reached the ground. The Spaniards had refused, the Jesuits evaded, the
more degraded parts o f the cerem ony ; but their Dutch excellencies, not
being particular as to what were the means by which they achieved the
object o f their mission, went through it with the most complete precision
every time it was insisted upon by the mandarin on guard. But the se­
verity o f the exercise was aggravated by the frequency o f its repetition ;
and the whole embassy was obliged to go through with the ko-ton more
than twenty times a day, not only to the emperor himself, but to the chair
on which he had been sitting, or the spoon with which he fed.
Such evo­
lutions could have been by no means congenial to their portly habits and
sedate dem eanor; and, indeed, the ludicrous postures in which they were
constantly revolving, is said to have been a principal cause o f the little
respect with which they were treated by the imperial court. A t length,
after an arduous campaign o f three months, the embassy was forced to
leave the scene o f action without having succeeded in a single object o f
their enterprise.
T h e character o f the intercourse which passed between Great Britain
and China, was far more reputable to both countries than that between the
Dutch ambassadors and the celestial court. A t the commencement o f the
18th century, the British trade at Canton had become more considerable
than that o f the nations who had before outbid it.
The negotiations which
w ere necessary to its management were conducted, on the one side, by
the H ong merchants, and on the other, by the East India Company, with­
out the imaginary rights o f their respective monarchs being in the slight­
est degree involved. But in the latter part o f the century, the vast tri­
umphs o f the East India Company attracted the attention o f the English
court, and the ministry became alarmed at the splendid conquests which
had been achieved by a board o f merchants, who, a few years before, had
needed their utmost protection to save them from the attacks o f wandering
Tartar tribes. From the desk o f a narrow trading-house in Calcutta, there
rose Clive, “ that heaven-born general,” as he was called by the Earl o f
Chatham ; who, after a single campaign, had overrun the Presidency o f
Bengal, had sacked the temple o f Delhi, and placed under the shadow o f
the British flag the whole o f Asia, from the frozen mountains o f Indepen­
dent Tartary, to the golden fields o f the Carnatic. It was the spirit o f
jealousy towards such great encroachments that prompted the successive East
India bills o f two administrations, and led W arren Hastings through the
tortures o f a ten years trial to the doubtful victory o f a tardy acquittal.
Mr. Pitt, with that sleepless anxiety which saddened the last year’s o f his
administration, had for some time been directing his attention to the pros­
pect o f the establishment o f a national trade with China, as distinguished
from that which had then been engrossed by the East India Company,
F or this purpose he carried through a measure for the appointment o f an
embassy, who should be armed with all the inducements which might sway
the mind o f an eastern monarch, and turn it from a strict adherence to an




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213

ancient and favorite policy. The consent o f the East India Company was
reluctantly y ielded; and on the 20th o f June, 1793, Lord Macartney, ac­
companied by Sir George Staunton, whose great oriental acquirements had
already become famous, arrived in sight o f the islands o f the Grand Ladrone. The minute accounts which were afterwards given o f the journey
o f the embassy through the provinces to the capital, differs very little from
that which had been before published by the secretaries o f the Spanish
and Dutch embassies. The same route was travelled through by both,
because the government did not choose they should travel by any other ;
and in it they were met with the same curiosity, and subjected to the same
inconveniences. But when they arrived at Pekin, a fresh scene opened
to the English minister, more gratifying than that which had been previous­
ly afforded to any European nation. The streets through which they had
to pass were illuminated in the most showy manner, and the people seem­
ed to have been let loose in a mass, as i f for some great h olid a y ; for
while, on the one side, was performing all the gay pageantry which marks
a Roman carnival, on the other, the most solemn and courtly processions
were passing, in the elephantine grandeur o f eastern etiquette. Showkeepers, jugglers, and strolling playactors, were masquerading through
the streets like the harlequins o f some vast fa ir ; and cajoled the crowds
around them by a fanciful description o f the most interesting events o f the
day, enlivened, o f course, with spicy allusions to the extraordinary quali­
ties o f the new embassy. The presents which the strangers brought with
them, were run over by one o f the actors with all the extravagant vivacity
o f a London auctioneer; and Sir George Staunton was surprised to hear,
that among them was included an elephant not larger than a monkey, a
dwarf who was encased alive in a sundial, and a cock which fed on char­
coal. W hat contributed most to the mortification o f the mission was, that
before them was carried a gaudy standard, which informed the people that
those behind were “ Ambassadors, bearing tribute from the king o f E n g­
land.”
T h ey were obliged to pretend that they either did not see or did
not understand i t ; but when it was peremptorily demanded o f them that,
on admission to the imperial presence, they should perform the ko-ton,
there was no longer any room for evasion. Lord Macartney, though he
had authority from his sovereign to go through the degrading cerem ony,
if absolutely necessary to the purposes o f the embassy, was naturally un­
willing to subject himself to what appeared, in the eyes o f a European, a
personal indignity, and proposed, by way o f at least equalizing the hom­
age, that a portrait o f George III. should be placed before a Chinese no­
bleman o f the highest rank, who should perform before it the same obei­
sance as the English minister was to pay to the imperial person. The
proposition, strangely enough, hitched in for a time with Chinese views o f
etiquette; but after a solemn debate o f nearly a week, it was determined
that the ko-ton was too venerable and important a ceremony to be so light­
ly treated. Fortunately, however, for the prospects o f the embassy, as
w ell as for the feelings o f its head, the emperor was at that time spending
the summer months in his country-seat on the borders o f Chinese Tartary ;
and as it was there that the audience was to take place, hopes were given
out that, in the ease o f the rural retirement, the whole ceremonial might
not be insisted on.
A t length, however, after a long and interesting journey from Pekin to
Zhepol, in which the travellers passed through one o f those great canals




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China and the Chinese P eace.

which serve as arteries to the empire, they reached the celebrated wall o f
China, which for years had withstood, by its lofty masonry, the terrible
inroads o f the Tartars. It was soon after, having penetrated through a
country whose wild and romantic scenery no Englishman had ever before
witnessed, that Lord Macartney had the satisfaction o f an audience with
his imperial majesty, accompanied with that decent respect which one
sovereign should accord to the representative o f another. Lon g before
sunrise on the day o f reception, the princes o f blood and the mandarins o f
rank were crowded together about the garden where the audience was to
be given ; and about dawn, the chanting o f the minstrels, and the beating
o f the drums, announced the approach o f the celestial emperor. If he pos­
sessed anything like modesty, he would have blushed at the encomiums
which he paid to be showered upon h im ; which proclaimed not only that
he was the child o f the sun and the father o f the earth, but arrogated to
him all the grandeur o f omnipotence, and all the perfection o f wisdom.
H e was dressed in a plain sea-green silk, with a velvet hood, plaided like
the bonnet o f a Highlander ; while a large pearl on its front, was his only
ornament. Lord Macartney, in consequence o f an intimation that his
close-bodied coat would seem indecorous in the presence o f Chinese ma­
jesty, threw over it the embroidered ribbon and gown o f the Order o f B ath ;
while Sir George Staunton appeared in the scarlet robes which are worn
by an Oxford D octor o f Laws. The ko-ton having been tacitly dispensed
with, they w ere received by the gracious silence which the ignorance o f
each other’s languages imposed on the two principal actors in the scene ;
and after a bow on one side, and a semi-prostration on the other, the long
hoped for audience terminated.
It would not be easy for us to detail the splendid pageantry which was
displayed before the eyes o f the English minister. After having been led
through all the sights which the politeness o f the Chinese court could dress
up for his edification, and after having given up the expensive presents he
carried with him, with the satisfaction o f knowing that they were called
humble tribute, Lord Macartney was dismissed with the information that
his master should think himself sufficiently gratified by the remembrances
o f the emperor, without expecting to obtain from him a relaxation, in any
degree, o f the articles which, for ages, had governed the trade o f the realm.
T h e English ministry, after another still more ineffectual experiment un­
der the auspices o f Lord Amherst, were obliged to give up, for a time, all
hopes o f a solid treaty with so bigoted and stubborn a governm ent; and
the East India Company was satisfied with the undisturbed monopoly it
had acquired o f all the privileges which had as yet been conceded.
W e have entered thus fully on the first missions and embassies to China,
because, from their researches, almost everything that we know o f the in­
ternal character o f the Chinese has been drawn. L ord Amherst’s mis­
sion, in 1816, was so unsuccessful and so speedily terminated, that its in­
quiries were but partial and im perfect; but from the combined evidence
o f the earlier travellers and missionaries, we can gather a distinct idea o f
the character o f China and its inhabitants. The density o f the population
was the point to which their attention was first attracted, and it was such
as invariably surpassed all estimates that had previously been conceived.
Lord Macartney, from official statements given in to him by one o f the
ch ief mandarins, rated it as high as 330,000,000, and a recent census had
added to it 30,000,000 more. Even taking the lowest estimate which can




China and the Chinese P eace.

215

now be made, when we consider the results o f the labors o f the latest mis­
sionaries, we cannot reduce it to less than 300,000,000. Such an estimate
will give about 180 persons to a square mile, and three and a half acres
to each person. The State o f Connecticut, which, perhaps, may be taken
as a fair specimen o f a well-settled and peaceably-governed country, con ­
tained, according to the census o f 1830, a population o f 297,650 persons
to an area o f 4,704 square miles, or about sixty-two to the square mile.
But it must be remembered that, in China, there are great plains rendered
incapable o f cultivation by their sand and want o f irrigation, as well as
whole regions so mountainous, that even the deer and the chamois cannot
draw from them their subsistence ; which throws a still greater ratio o f
population in the parts that are susceptible o f habitation. The prominent
feature, indeed, in the general character o f China is, the extraordinary
density o f its inhabitants in the cultivated parts. Consequently, the habits
which accompany a crowded population have grow n with the Chinese into
laws, from which they know no departure ; and the eating o f flesh, to any
extent, is already judged as sacrilegious as an insult to a parent, or the
pillage o f a church. Perhaps the doctrine o f transmigration, to which we
shall presently advert, was a wise invention o f the lawgiver to check the
consumption o f animal food. T h e extreme division o f trade which is ne­
cessary wherever there is a glut o f labor, together with an increased de­
mand for manufactures, has grown even into a vice ; and the missionaries
often remarked a variety o f signs, denoting each an absurdly unimportant
employment. But no matter how trifling an employment may be, whether
it be restricted to the periodical cropping o f a cat’ s ears, or the professional
flattery o f a mandarin, it is pursued with earnest fidelity from father to
son, till it becomes a freehold inheritance in the family. E ven if the heir
o f the shoemaker is an idiot or a spendthrift, he is still required to make
shoes under pain o f social excommunication. It is for this reason, proba­
bly, that a moderate acquaintance has been made with each particular art,
but that no great improvement was effected in any one o f them.
The use o f the printing-press, the composition o f gunpowder, the quali­
ties o f the compass, were known in China long before they were thought
o f anywhere e ls e ; but have none o f them been pushed to the extent o f
which they were susceptible, or which they received in the first half cen ­
tury from their discovery in Europe.
The great achievements o f China
have all been in the line o f some particular trade which requires labor but
not genius : thus, the canals were dug by day-laborers, and the great wall
built by half-pay soldiers; but for any such employment as the construc­
tion o f a steam engine or the model o f a ship o f war, artists could never
have been found.
The state o f cultivation to which the whole country has
been reduced by such patient and well-ordered labor, far surpasses, in its
beauty and its completeness, that o f any other nation.
The national pe­
culiarities o f China were never adapted to a thick-settled people, however
well their removal may have given employment to the laboring classes.
Even the most fertile and luxuriant provinces are girted and cut up by
lofty hills. Between Kiang-nan and Hon-quang, which are considered the
very pride o f the empire, there is a chain o f bleak and snow-covered moun­
tains, which cut up the internal communications, and render barren a large
portion o f the land. But the roughness o f the soil, and the inclem ency o f
the climate, which, to another people, would have formed an insuperable
obstacle to their cultivation, have only whetted the appetite o f the Chinese




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China and the Chinese Peace.

for their entire subjugation. The building materials for the great cities,
with which the empire abounds, are dragged from the mountains that tra­
verse i t ; and the luxuriant forests that clothe their sides, are torn down to
prepare the necessary fuel and wood-work.
It is very fortunate indeed,
for the purposes o f the empire, that their forests have not been more ac­
cessible, for they would then have undergone the same waste as has been
suffered by our western woods.
The immense plain that is spread over the surface o f the country,
stretching from north to south for an area o f 250,000 square miles, is the
centre o f the trade and the manufactures o f the empire. W atered by two
great rivers, superior by far in their grandeur to those o f the European
continent, and only rivalled by the majestic streams o f Am erica, and in­
tersected by numberless canals, which the labor o f ages has constructed,
it combines in itself the climates o f all zones ; and is covered at one ex­
tremity by the rich luxuriance o f rice and the sugar-cane, while, on the
other, it is fringed by the stunted pine, and the coarse grain o f the Arctics.
T h e sloping hills, by which it is undulated, are covered by waving fields
o f t e a ; while their sides and valleys are painted with pagodas and arches
o f that fantastic structure which, to a Chinese taste, constitutes the true
sublime. W e do not wonder that, with a country unequalled in its natural
beauty and its consummate culture, with a people o f untiring industry and
astonishing extent, and 'with a political system o f the most extraordinary
dimensions and power, China should be looked upon, independently o f the
transient attention which the relations o f the times may call forth, with an
interest commensurate with the obscurity which so long hung around her.
T h e religious observances o f the Chinese formed the point to which
the attention o f the missionaries was first directed. Could the mythology,
which w as at first professed by the mass o f the people, have been docked
o f the absurd consequences which the doctrine o f transmigration entailed
upon it, it would have presented a scheme but little at variance with that
o f the first truths o f natural religion. Confucius and Mencius both taught
the existence o f a Deity, and o f a special"providence; and though they
were not clear in stating whether the soul, after its decease, re-entered ex ­
istence in another form, or resolved itself into the elements from which it
came, yet they united in teaching its immortal grandeur, and its future ac­
countability. The Deity, though it was worshipped under very different
forms, each o f which sometimes went no farther than to embrace a dis­
tinct attribute, was still looked up to as one, and as supreme.
Thus it is
said, in a work lately translated by Dr. M orrison :—
“ H ow great is the supreme T ao !
N ot made, yet still existing;
T he end o f creatures, and annihilation, and the beginning ;
Before the earth and before the heavens
Light and glory unite around him,
Continuing for eternal ages and through the great chaos.
In the east he taught our father Confucius,
In the west he directed the immortal Kin-sien.
A n hundred kings have kept his laws ;
T he holy, perfect men, have received his instructions,—
T he first o f all religions,
Marvellous it is, passing marvellous !”

But Tchu-ki, who seems to have been the infidel philosopher o f China,
took the part which his brethren o f all countries have delighted in filling,




China and the Chinese P eace.

217

o f an absolute, sneering sceptic. Tchu-hi disbelieved everything, even
the existence o f his own body, though, as it was shrewdly remarked, the
peculiar tenderness with which he treated it, would have done honor to a
contrary persuasion. Finding that the lower classes would worship some­
thing, and not wishing them to worship the Deity, o f whose existence he
had said there was little evidence, he taught them, with admirable consis­
tency, to adore the divinity o f the old philosophers, o f whose existence
there was less evidence still. It is said that, under the new econom y, 1,500
temples were erected to Confucius in one year, in which there was an an­
nual sacrifice o f 6 bullocks, 27,000 pigs, 58,000 sheep, and 27,000 rabbits.
T h e higher objects o f adoration, the sun, moon, and stars, were monopo­
lized by the emperors and the blood-royal; and it was made high treason
for the lower classes to offer homage to what were deemed the aristocracy
o f the gods.
It would not be worth while for us to review the variety o f sects, which
at different times acquired a transient popularity. T h ey still, for the most
part, remain in the region in which they first took r o o t; but their cerem o­
nies are so trifling, and their doctrines so absurd, that they can be but o f
little interest to any one but the missionary or the historian. O f all oth­
ers, the priests o f F o seem to have started the most rational belief, and to
have pursued it with the most success. Their religion is spread over all
Eastern Asia, having becom e the established faith in Tartary, in Thibet,
and in the less civilized parts o f the oriental peninsula. The similarity
between the Senses, or priests o f Fo, and the Catholic friars, we have al­
ready mentioned, as far as it extends to the mendicant habits which both
assumed ; and a learned, though prejudiced historian has stated, that the
resemblance continues in those very features which the Protestants reject
as unscriptural in the Romish b elief; namely, the burning o f incense,
the sanctification o f celibate, and the adoration o f a Madonna, or universal
mother. W e cannot but respect the ethical maxims o f the F o belief, even
though they are coupled with such absurdities as the worship o f idols, ancl
the transmigration o f the soul. Its disciples are pledged to abstain from
meat and from wine, and to avoid most scrupulously theft, impurity, and
falsehood ; but the continual inculcation o f the doctrine o f transmigration,
which, indeed, is intended to give the same sanction as a future state o f
rewards and punishments affords, carries the Benses into errors whose ex­
posure nothing but the utmost ingenuity o f the priest, or the utmost stupid­
ity o f the disciple, can prevent. F o himself is said to have been fortified,
before he gathered experience enough to develop his grand discovery to
the world, by no less than eight hundred metamorphoses; having waited
till he had gone through every living thing imaginable, before he could
think that his experience was perfect. The result was, that he went
through not only the actual, but the mythological creation ; so that he as­
sumed, successively, the forms o f elephants and o f scorpions, o f sea-mon­
sters and o f unicorns. The fear o f being translated, after death, into some
degraded shape, operates very often to inspire the mind with the most ab­
ject despondency, or the most insane superstition. One o f the mandarins,
who was told that, in consequence o f the good feeding he had undergone
in this life, and the many things that he had enjoyed, he was to becom e a
cart-horse after his death, and was to be occupied in travelling through the
provincial roads on those toilsome expeditions to which animal labor is
there devoted, came to the missionaries in a very abject state o f mind, beV O L. V III.— NO. III.
18




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China and the Chinese Peace.

ing continually afflicted with the nightmare in its most odious form, and
being, even in the day time, pursued by imaginary cracks o f the whip and
spurrings, which the thoughts o f his future destiny inflicted upon him. N o
hopes were given to him by the Bcnses o f any change in his ultimate con ­
dition ; and the only consolation given him was, that if he ran well and
consumed little provender, he might afterwards find a berth in a more ex­
alted station. T h e missionaries reasoned with him on the absurdity o f
such a b elief; and though, perhaps, he would not ordinarily have listened
to their counsels, he thought that, under such circumstances, it would be
decidedly preferable to be a Christian than a beast.
The entire arrangement o f transmigration, it seems, is thrown into the
hands o f the god Yen-vang, whose province it is to regulate the time o f
the metamorphoses, and to decide their character. The day-books and
journals o f his department, are said to be o f a very complicated character ;
for the reason that, not only are the names o f all mankind noted down in
it with their past history and intended destination, but every living crea ­
ture is necessarily honored with particular attention. W henever a trans­
migration is to take place, the god dashes the name o f the object o f it with
a pen, and regulates its next destination. Unfortunately, however, a page
had dropped out, which contained the name o f a mandarin named Pung,
who, having obtained a very desirable residence in this life, evinced no
desire to quit it for another. The consequence o f the omission was, that
Pung’s wishes were gratified ; and to the surprise o f himself and every,
body else, continued to live for eight hundred years in peace and plenty,
having survived a series o f seventy-two wives. The seventy-second, how­
ever, the chronicle goes on to state, being imbued with a great deal more
shrewdness than Chinese women generally possess, was led to pursue the
subject, in her subsequent migrations, to an extent which would have been
by no means pleasing to Pung, could he have been aware o f it. A t length,
having come in contact, in a large pond, with Pung’s grandfather, who
also happened at that time to be a fish, she succeeded in worming out o f
him the secret o f her late husband’s extraordinary longevity. The story
having once got afloat, was noised abroad through all creation ; and the
inevitable consequence was that it came to the ears o f Yen-vang, who, at
a single stroke, degraded the unlucky Pung to the other extreme o f the
animated scale.
W e do not wonder that a system whose consequences are so absurd,
and whose mythology so incredible, should be easily shaken o ff by its pros­
elytes. W e have already referred to the enthusiastic and successful ef­
forts o f the Jesuits in christianizing China.
In 1795 was formed the
London Missionary Society, who soon after selected, as the principal o f
their mission, the R ev. Robert Morrison, whose heroic labors in the cause
o f truth and humanity demand from us a far higher tribute than this pass­
ing notice. His name should rank among those o f the greatest and purest
benefactors o f our race. In devoting himself to what was the primary ob­
je c t o f his mission, the translation o f the Scriptures into Chinese, he sacri­
ficed every comfort and every convenience; locking himself up for years
with the interpreters, through whose, help alone he could master their lan­
guage, and applying the whole energies o f his mind to the acquisition o f
the task before him. W e shall afterwards speak o f the difficulty attending
the study o f Chinese. D r. Morrison succeeded, after having spent the
bloom o f his mission and the summer o f his life in the task, in the transla­




China and the Chinese P eace.

210

tion o f the N ew Testament into the vernacular, and the construction, on a
comprehensive scale, o f a Chinese and English Dictionary. W e need not
enlarge on the importance o f such achievements. Though less showy than
the miracles performed by Xavier, or less specious than the influence ac­
quired by his disciples, they hastened the foundation for what, we trust,
will be a general and permanent diffusion o f the true religion over Eastern
Asia. There are now educating in the mission established by D r. M or­
rison, with the assistance o f D r. Milne, upwards o f thirty Chinese, who
have exhibited, by their consistent conduct, the sincerity o f their conver­
sion, and, by their ready acquirement, the strength o f their understanding.
T h e result has been, as might naturally have been expected, that by the
operation o f the Scriptures, and the steady exertions o f the native preach­
ers, the gospel has been widely and effectually spread in every point where,
through its limited means, it has been allowed to operate.
W e do not know a people on whose moral character a great and simul­
taneous effort could be so successful as the Chinese. I f once Christianity
could be brought home to them in its strength and unity, it would regulate
itself like electricity over the whole surface, and conduct to each a portion
o f its power.
The collection o f men into clubs and cliques, into Odd
Fellow s’ halls and humane preventive societies, or even into the larger
classes o f religious sects or political combinations, which are so numerous
in Europe and Am erica, is nowhere to be found in the Chinese empire.
The ties o f domestic society are the only ones in force. T here are no
banking monopolies, or municipal corporations; and every one is left to
lift himself out o f the ditch into which his awkwardness has thrown him,
without the guaranteed assistance o f his neighbor. The absence o f such
general connexions, as it tends to narrow the circle o f intelligence and the
means o f happiness, would cause the people to seize with avidity upon a
system which would afford the benefits o f an intimate and extended con­
versation. Man’ s natural fondness for society, cannot wholly be spent on
the domestic hearth. A s he grows more intelligent, his sympathies ad­
vance ; and he learns that corporate action is the only means o f effecting
them. N o one, individually, can set about to convert a heathen nation,
without being entrapped very much in the same manner as the Quaker
was whom we have already mentioned, and who went to persuade the
pope. But, through the medium o f a widely organized society, the most
trifling contribution will reach its destiny ; and, like the slightest pressure
when applied to the water at one end o f an equal stream, will raise the
level at the opposite extremity. It must be confessed that the first feature
o f Christianity, its brotherly love and charity, does not make it acceptable
to his celestial majesty individually ; but it must be remembered, that the
edification o f that potentate would be one o f the necessary results o f the
spread o f Christianity; and as it would involve also his depreciation to
the rank o f a man from that o f a deity, he would naturally be averse to the
change.
The patriarchal spirit which characterises the Chinese government, and
the constant assimilation o f the relations between emperor and subject to
those o f father and child, must essentially contribute to check the advance
o f China to a point o f civilization equal to that o f her sister nations. The
extreme respect which is paid to the parent by the child, is undoubtedly a
beautiful trait in the system ; but it must be remembered, that it is accom ­
panied with great neglect o f the child by the parent, and a still greater




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China and the Chinese P eace.

abuse o f the relations o f husband and wife. Confucius expresses a very
low opinion o f the female s e x ; and the extent to which his views have
been carried, can be judged o f by the fact o f the degradation in which they
are held till an advanced period o f their lives. The hero o f a popular
novel, which, in its preface, pretends to the exclusive patronage o f the la­
dies, expresses an opinion in which the author concurs with him, that ten
daughters are not equal to one son. Finding the restraints o f prose un­
equal to the task o f describing the contrast, he says :—
“ W hen a son is bom
H e sleeps in a bed,
He is clothed in robes,
H e plays with gems,
His cry is princely loud ;
But when a daughter is bom ,
She sleeps on the ground,
She is clothed with a wrapper,
She plays with a tile,
She is incapable either o f evil or good,—
It is hers only to think o f preparing wine or food,
A nd not o f giving any occasion o f grief to her parents.” *

The compression o f the feet, which so often produces the most serious
lameness, causing its victims to hobble about in a very unseemly manner,
has been often, though we think incorrectly, attributed to the desire o f the
men to check that propensity for gadding about, which Chinese women,
like all others, are said to be addicted. W e have seen an extract from a
novel, called the “ Fortunate Marriage,” whose plot, by the way, is not o f
the most probable character, in which the heroine is extolled for the small­
ness o f her feet, which were little more than stumps ; while her whole fig­
ure is compared to a web o f the finest silk, her waist being “ like a thread
in fineness, ready to burst.”
T o do the Chinese justice, however, they are
not near so deformed as they would lead us to believe from their cups and
saucers. But even deformity o f the most extreme degree, is not so disa­
greeable to a Chinese wife-seeker, as coquetry or literary pretensions.
“ W hat a fine hope for a fam ily,” sarcastically observes an eminent mo­
ralist, “ is a maiden with lips o f carmine, and cheeks o f paint! The more
she strives to make herself an idol, the less she will be worshipped. If
she laughs before speaking, walks languishingly, and gives herself affected
airs, she is only fit for the theatre.” Indeed, as the principal object o f the
lower classes in seeking the assistance o f a wife is that which actuates
the North Am erican Indians, any other qualities but those o f actual ser­
vice are very much overlooked. A Chinese exquisite, in one o f the plays,
com es on the stage with a long song on the fickleness and frailty o f the
sex, in the course o f which he says :—
“ A clever beauty shall be hated
A s if she were an owl by me,
F or by her tongue and face she’s fated
T o be a source o f m isery:
May heaven grant I may be mated
T o little-footed modesty.”

W e regret that the limits o f the present paper will not allow us to enter
upon the nature o f Chinese literature. Its influence may be said to be the




Morrison’s Dictionary, vol. I., p. 601.

China and the Chinese P eace.

221

master-spirit that moulds the character o f the em p ire; and though the re­
searches which have as yet been extended by the indefatigable labors o f
D rs. Morrison and Marshmaw give but an imperfect glimpse o f its extent,
we can still see enough to estimate its high interest and importance. W e
must turn to what is our ultimate object in the remarks we have been mak­
ing, and which we stated at the commencement to be the point to which
our observations should centre. W e have endeavored to point out the sin­
gular position in which China is placed as a nation, which, after having
for centuries stood before all others in the ranks o f civilization, has been
gradually distanced, till she stands on the verge o f the procession. W e
shall now examine briefly the causes which seem destined rudely to force
her from her position, and by a single blow to throw confusion on the ven­
erable policy which it has cost her ages to cement, and which nothing but
the gentle influence o f Christian charity, and the enlightened intercourse
o f equal trade, can serve to ameliorate or reform.
A s soon as the market for Chinese productions was partially opened,
the port o f Canton was thronged with merchants o f different nations, whose
ch ief object was to outbid each other in the possession o f the new traffic.
The density o f the native population, the fertility o f the soil, and the cheap­
ness o f labor, increased, to a surprising extent, the quantity o f productions,
and combined to create a capacity for trade before unrivalled. W e shall
glance successively at the various articles both o f exportation and o f im ­
portation, and at the degree they each o f them have taken possession o f
the market.
T h e principal staple o f Chinese trade, and that over which it has obtain­
ed a successful monopoly, is tea. W e believe that it was Sir Walter Scott,
who told a story a little while before his death, to the effect that there were
people then living who could recollect how the Lady Pumphraston, to
whom a pound o f fine green tea had been sent as a rare and valuable pres­
ent, boiled the same, and served it up with melted butter, as a condiment
to a stewed rump o f b e e f; protesting, however, that no cooking could make
the foreign greens tender. But, on the other hand, the consumption must
in a few years have wonderfully increased ; for we find that D r. Johnson,
only a little while afterwards, exhausted the patience o f his blind house­
keeper, by his frequent demands for the replenishment o f his cup. The
popular attention was no sooner directed to the new luxury, than it grew
rapidly into favor ; and in a very short time the East India Company found
that tea was the most profitable part o f its traffic. In 1720, the amount
exported by the company did not exceed 50,000 lb s .; but in the course o f
a century, before the trade was thrown open to private enterprise, it was
over 30,000,000 lbs. Indeed, it is stated by a writer in Mr. Murray’ s late
History o f China, that the general exports o f tea from the port o f Canton
at that date, (18 36 ,) when the trade was at its flood, could not amount to
less than 50,000,000 lb s .; being an increase o f two-thirds in little more
than thirty years. O f that amount the United States, though on account
o f the recent opening o f the British market their carrying-trade was much
diminished, exported upwards o f 12,000,000 lbs. T h e total value, at prime
cost, o f the 50,000,000 lbs. which were exported by the respective nations,
can be estimated at $10,000,000.
Raw silk, as an article o f exportation, ranks next to tea in value and
amount. Even from the fabled days o f the Y ellow Emperor, whose eyes
were diamonds, and whose back was in a continual flutter with wings, silk
18*




222

China and the Chinese P eace.

has formed the general article o f d ress; and even its most costly form
takes the same place with the people as cotton and wool with us. A t first,
therefore, after the opening o f a trade with China, silk formed the princi­
pal article o f trade ; and before long, what had been before an article o f
the rarest luxury, becam e a commodity o f general use. In the fifteen
years ending in 1 8 2 3 -4 , the average exports o f the East India Company
reached 94,000 lbs., though in the last year they fell short o f 80,000 lbs.
But in 1824, after the repeal o f its monopoly o f Chinese trade, the quan­
tity o f silk exported increased with amazing rapidity, when we consider
that the article was already produced in the south o f France, and that its
use was in some measure superseded by the glut o f cotton from the south­
ern states.
In 1834, the amount o f raw silk exported was equal to
1,322,666 lb s .; being an increase on the former date o f between sixteen
and seventeen fold.
It will be seen that the consumption o f the two staple commodities o f
China has risen prodigiously in the last half century. Such, it is true,
has not been the case with porcelain, which was at first the principal ar­
ticle o f trade, or with bullion, which, at one time, the East India Company
attempted to draw into the m arket; but when we remember that there
are very few British productions which were adapted to Chinese consump­
tion, it is evident that the balance o f trade must have been very much
against Great Britain. The natural question that arose was, how could it
be restored ? The demand for Chinese manufactures and products still
continued unabated, indeed, it even increased upon gratification; but it
was obvious it could not be satisfied without some corresponding supply
for which it could be exchanged. Cotton, in the raw form, could be brought
cheaper from the Am erican states; and though cotton was manufactured
cheaper in the British market, yet still, even in its manufactured shape, it
was not able to supplant the use o f silk. The spices which were carried
from Calcutta, and from the company’ s possessions in British India, were
too limited in importance to weigh much in the sc a le ; and besides, the
taste which at first made them acceptable in China, was dying away. It
is true that rice might have been profitably introduced into the com m erce,
but it was liable to greater objections than those that bore against raw
co tto n ; it could not only have been brought cheaper from other countries,
but it could have been produced cheaper at home. The great scarcity o f
provisions, also, which should induce the emperor to throw o ff the duties on
all vessels laden with rice, was felt in such a degree on the Asiatic penin­
sula, as to render it impossible for the com pany to drain from thence any
considerable amount. It was then, at a time o f almost desperation, when
the company was willing to seize upon any plank which could save their
com m erce from extinction, that the increasing taste for opium was sug­
gested by one o f its officers as likely to form, by proper nursing, a promi­
nent article o f trade.
In an article in a preceding number, we expressed the opinion that in
India itself, the East India Company found it necessary to create some
new article o f export, that might meet the demands which they constantly
brought forward. The colonial dependence o f the Asiatic peninsula placed
it annually in debt to Great Britain not only for the amount o f the salaries
o f sinecure offices, whose holders resided in the mother country, but on
account o f the immense exportation o f property which took place by the
return home o f merchants, who were anxious to enjoy, in England, the for­




223

China and the Chinese P eace.

tunes they had made in India. H ow was the debt to be paid ? The old
articles o f com m erce, which made the India trade once so lucrative, and
which gave so great a profit to the merchant, had diminished in their qual­
ity and their value. The looms o f the D eccan were silent, and the ex­
portation o f spices was failing. It becam e necessary to discover some
new mine, which could supply the place o f those which were exhausted.
It was then that the speculative advisers o f the company suggested that
the opium plant, which was produced in India with such facility, might
be turned to account, not only in paying the salaries o f the company’s ser­
vants, but in forming a profitable item, on the British side, o f the trade with
China.
Before the year 1796, opium had been regarded as a medicine, and as
such, and purely for medicinal purposes, had been admitted into the king­
dom to the amount o f 300 chests annually, upon the payment o f a trifling
duty. But through the means o f some extraordinary influence, (w e hope
no greater than is usually employed by merchants to dispose o f their goods,)
the demand for it suddenly increased, until it reached the amount o f 20,000
chests annually. In 1796, on the first opening o f the trade, the emperor
o f China issued his proclamation for its prevention, which dealt out the se­
verest penalties against the infraction o f the em b a rg o; but the evil had
extended too far to be checked, except by the most radical opposition. The
East India Company had planted a province in India with the poppy, and
its crimson flowers were twice a year mowed down for the gratification o f
Chinese sensuality. Smuggling was carried on to an extent before un­
thought of, in a country whose duties had been peacefully and completely
collected. The following statement exhibits the amount thus entered, at
different periods within twenty years :—
1816....................................
1 8 20....................................
1 8 3 0 ...................................
1 8 3 6 ...................................

Cheats.

Value.

3,210
4,770
18,760
27,111

$3,657,000
8,400,800
12,900,031
17,904,248

Mr. Medhurst estimates the amount imported in 1837 to be upwards o f
34,000 chests; and from the quantity in port at the time o f the surrender
o f 1839, the importations o f that year have been rated at 6,000 chests more.
T o one who casually glances over the preceding statement, it may seem
o f little importance whether the Chinese smuggle 50 or 100,000 chests o f
opium yearly. But when the horrid consequences that it entails from
generation to generation are remembered— when it is found, according to
a received calculation, that, at an average o f twenty grains a day, which
is the quantity generally taken, the amount which has o f late been annual­
ly imported, is sufficient to demoralize and ruin upwards o f 6,000,000 o f
people— that the trade is still increasing, and that, at the rapid stalks which
it takes, it will soon spread like the blast o f a plague over that ancient and
noble empire— that it is more fearful than the plague, for it destroys the
soul— that it is more desolating than war, for it spares no condition— that,
unless checked, it will in a few years sweep o ff the fruits from the harvest
and the laborer from the loom, and thus touch us in a point on which, if
all others be callous, we will be sure to fe e l; the question narrows down
from its grand but distant importance, and com es home to us with a force
which even the meanest selfishness will be sure to feel. The deadly in­




224

China and the Chinese Peace.

fluence o f opium is no romance. W e give a few extracts from the opin­
ions o f some o f the most disinterested observers, which Mr. Thelwall, in
his honest zeal in this great cause, has collected togeth er:—
“ The debility, both moral and physical, attendant on the excitement, (o f opium,) is
terrible ; the appetite is soon destroyed, every fibre in the body trembles, the nerves o f
the neck, become affected, and the muscles get rigid : but still they cannot abandon tho
custom ; they are miserable till the hour arrives for taking their daily dose.” — Madden's
Travels, Vol.
p. 25.
“ He who begins taking opium habitually at twenty, must scarcely expect to live long­
er than the age o f thirty, or from that age to thirty-six: the latter is, for the most part,
the utmost age they attain. But no consideration, neither the certainty o f premature
death, nor the infirmities by which it must be preceded,'can correct a theriaki, (opiumeater ;) he answers madly to any one who would warn him o f his danger, that his hap­
piness is inconceivable when he has taken his opium-pill. I f he be asked to define this
supernatural happiness,he answers that it is impossible to account for it; that the pleas­
ure cannot be defined. Always beside themselves, the tlieriakis are incapable o f w ork;
they seem no more to belong to society. Toward the end o f their career they, however,
experience violent pains, nor can their paregoric in any way relieve their sufferings: be­
com e hideous to behold, deprived o f their teeth, their eyes sunk in their heads in a con­
stant tremor, they cease to live, long before they cease to exist."— Pouqueville's Trav­
els, p. 297.
“ Frightful dreams usurp their place, till at last the person (opium-eater) becomes the
victim o f an almost perpetual misery. Nor is this confined to the mind alone, for the
body suffers in an equal degree. Emaciation, loss o f appetite, sickness, vomiting, and a
total disorganization o f the digestive functions, as well as o f the mental powers, are sure
to ensue, and never fail to terminate in death, if the habit is continued.” — Macnish’s
Anatomy o f Drunkenness, p. 51.
“ There is but one point o f difference between the intoxication o f ardent spirits and
that o f opium deserving o f particular attention here; and that is, the tenfold force with
which every argument against the former applies to the latter. There is no slavery on
earth to name with the bondage into which opium casts its victim. There is scarcely
one known instance o f escape from its toils, when once they have fairly enveloped him.
“ The crime is murder, and the law o f God says, thou shalt not kill."— Archdeacon
Dealtry's Remarks on the Opium Trade.

W e do not know a more touching representation o f the disastrous effects
o f opium, than a series o f prints which have lately been sent out from Chi­
na. T h ey are the work o f a native artist, and their uncouth and gaudy
coloring conveys a far stronger moral than the grandest designs o f art on
the altar o f a European cathedral. The first o f them represents the opiumsmoker in the bloom o f his youth and the spring o f his expectations, having
just been left, like the young man in Hogarth’s R ake’s Progress, in the
possession o f an ample fortune, and in a position o f high rank. H e is seen,
before long, reclining on a gorgeous sofa, with all the luxuries o f the east
crowded around him, his books and papers thrown aside ; while in his hand
is seen the richly ornamented opium-pipe, winding, like a poisonous snake,
its speckled folds around him. But soon his gold vanishes, and his pipes
increase ; he becomes the prey, not only o f the harpies around him, but o f
the awful disease which his own indulgence has provoked ; and at last is
painted in a clum sy bamboo chair, contenting himself with the most loath­
some dregs o f the poison, his eyes staring around him in all the selfishness
o f entire idiocy, while his wife and children are by his side, snatching the
last light o f a weary day in winding the balls o f silk, which now form the
only means for their support and his indulgence.
It is reported that, during the negotiations which preceded the Nankin
treaty, the Chinese entreated Sir Henry Pottinger to guarantee, on the part
o f the British government, the future non-importation o f opium. That




China and the Chinese P eace.

225

such a stipulation was not introduced into the treaty, was probably owing
to the preponderating influence belonging to the mercantile interests at
Canton; and perhaps, when we reflect that the great enlargement o f the
catalogue o f imports will make the importation o f opium every day less
beneficial to the foreign trader, and when w e consider that to the Chinese
government itself most properly belongs the obligation o f enforcing its own
revenue laws, we may be willing to acquiesce in the justice o f a determi­
nation which was perhaps inevitable. That the opium-traders will receive
no future protection from the British government, we are inclined to be­
lieve ; and, indeed, the great augmentation o f the demand for articles
purely o f British origin, will go a great w ay to thrust opium from the field.
The British trade, and, in fact, the trade o f the whole civilized world,
down to the period o f the Nankin treaty, was limited to one port and one
province, containing but 8,000,000 o f people. T h e province thus open
was not only not central, but was most studiously and successfully disconnectedwith the remainder o f the empire. N o roads o f suitable magnitude
traversed the country, no canals dissected i t ; and the old and magnificent
arteries which had once run through the whole system in common, were
blocked up and choked, when they reached the confines o f that district
which was infected by the breath o f strangers. T h e direct trade o f Great
Britain is now extended to five ports and five provinces, with upwards o f
70,000,000 o f inhabitants, and with a country in which the most rich and
useful o f the Chinese staples are luxuriously indigenous. T h e depots o f
the great canal are to be thrown open to the enterprise o f the foreign m er­
chant. The great navigable river o f China, which, while the central posi­
tion o f its mouth affords a most convenient port for general access, by the
remarkable irregularity o f its channel it gives an inlet to the most popu­
lous regions, is unlocked to shipping which once never found rest on its
waters. Consuls are to be stationed at each o f the open ports ; and the
celestial government is pledged to promulgate a fixed and permanent tariff,
which, be its prohibitions as offensive as those o f its European rivals, will
lift from foreign traders the load which was formerly imposed by the ter­
rible uncertainty o f the reception with which they were to meet. The
cession to Great Britain o f the sovereignty o f Hong-kong, in the estuary
o f the Canton river, will be the key to a com m erce both rich and various.
Opened to all the world, as we understand it will be by its present owners,
we have no doubt it will be the rallying point for the energies o f Christen­
dom ; and before many years are past, we trust that that little spot o f
land, which in former days was so great a drawback to the European tra­
der, will be the seat from whence will be disseminated a knowledge o f free
civilization, and, what is o f still higher importance, o f Protestant Chris­
tianity.
Such are the mere territorial cessions which the treaty has produced ;
and, great as they are, far greater will prove in the end the reproductive
influence which the unclosing o f the imperial gates will create. From one
branch alone o f science, in that o f practical engineering, we cannot com ­
pute the grandeur o f the benefits which will arise. H ow infinitely bene­
ficial, to take a single illustration, will be the application o f European sci­
ence to the juncture o f the grand canal with the Y ellow river, and to the
improving o f the channel o f the latter 1 The vast quantities o f mud that
are carried down by the waters of? the Hoangho, have formed so great de­
positions at its embrochure as to threaten in a few years the entire obstruc­




226

China and the Chinese P eace.

tion o f its mouth ; while the great inundations which the unequal tides and
the uneven channel o f the river create, render desolate some o f the most
beautiful plains o f the empire. “ So incurable,” we quote from a late
writer, “ have been the destructive sallies o f this great stream, and so use­
less is it (from its violence) for the purpose o f internal intercourse, that it
well deserves the name o f China’s Sorrow.”
Over a stream so vehement,
as at many periods to be uncrossable except by the stoutest ships, it be­
com es necessary for the aqueduct o f the grand canal to pass ; and though
a sum o f money almost beyond imagination has been spent in the work,
it is still incomplete and inefficient. The whole transports o f the southern
provinces are liable to be cut o ff by the rise o f the river. The beautiful
vallies around its banks are incapable o f cultivation, from the frequent in­
undations to which it is subjected. F or centuries, the annual labor o f more
than 200,000 workmen have been directed to the remedy o f the disasters
thus created ; but the obstructions still increase. “ Could the science o f
a Brunei,” remarks Mr. Davis, “ be admitted to operate on these two great
sources o f trouble and expense to the Chinese empire, (the Y ellow river
and the canal,) a benefit might be conferred that would more than compen­
sate for all the evil that we have inflicted with our opium and our guns.
There exists nowhere a finer field for the exercise o f engineering ability.
T o the imperfect knowledge which the Chinese possess o f hydrostatics and
geom etry, must be attributed the perpetually recurring inundations which
devastate the southern parts o f Shantung and the north o f Keanguan.”
T h e city o f H oae-gan-Foo, one o f the most respectable in the empire, to­
gether with the fertile district surrounding it, has been destroyed by the
overpouring o f the river ; and we can fully agree with the opinion o f the
writer we have just quoted, that the improvements o f a few intelligent en­
gineers would do more to spread the blessings o f the gospel among the
Chinese, than the whole o f the abstracted victories o f the British army.
It is not with the physical resources alone o f the celestial empire that
the lessons o f civilization will be important. The moral power o f the peo­
ple will be raised as their clothes become more numerous, and their food
m ore palatable. Never yet has there been a nation which has been hon­
est and enlightened in the mass, when its under-strata were half fed and
half clothed. Great labor will be saved in one quarter by the introduction
o f m achinery; and an equal amount o f labor, therefore, w ill be at hand
to assist in another, in the increased production o f the great Chinese sta­
ples. The silk-weaver will receive the comforts o f the distant west, in
exchange for the once needless exuberance o f his own daily labor. The
resources o f the empire will multiply to an extent which will vastly in­
crease its com m erce; and we believe that, if the conquerors take that
course, from which nothing but the wildest ambition could induce them to
deviate, the Chinese trade will be the means o f relieving both Great Bri­
tain and the United States from the temporary prostration o f their com ­
m ercial interests.




L ife Insurance in the United Slates.

227

A r t . II.— L IF E IN S U R A N C E IN T H E U N IT E D S T A T E S .
HUMBER II.

ORGANIZATION AND PRACTICE OF EXISTING LIFE INSURANCE COMPANIES.

W e next turn to the organization and practice o f existing life insurance
companies, so far as we have the means at hand to do it just at present.
Mr. Babbage gives a very full account o f the societies in England, as they
are set forth in their proposals; many o f those proposals we have now
by us. The reader will be struck at the ingenuity o f means contrived by
different offices to get at the same ends : security, profit, cheapness, and
popularity.
Marine insurance in England has been generally carried on by private
underwriters; there being only a few chartered offices in England, and
the four oldest do a great proportion o f the business. The fire and life
insurance societies were joint stock companies ; some o f the fire are call­
ed contribution societies. The Milanese Vitaligij, are similar contracts
for life insurance; and the mutual offices, o f which kind was the first life
office in the island, seem to be much in vogue, though less so than the
mixed, a species combining the two others. Just such have been the
phases o f the matter in the United States.
W e are not aware that there any longer exists in the United States the
practice o f private underwriting ; while, within a few years, the practice
o f mutual insurance seems to threaten to drive all other methods out o f the
field. Life insurance companies are, in their organization, divided into
three classes, having their characteristic differences in the manner in
which they provide security for the payment o f losses, and in the pecuni­
ary advantages which they offer to those who are connected with them.
T h e first class are common joint stock companies, who undertake to pay
sums certain upon the death o f individuals insuring with them ; the profits
made by such companies being wholly divided among the proprietors o f
the capital stock. These may he termed proprietary companies. The
peculiar advantages o f this class are, the security o f the subscribed and
actually paid capital, and the private wealth o f the individual partners, who
are known, and in England are, except in the chartered companies, per­
sonally liable for the contracts o f the company. This personal liability
depends, in the United States, upon its limitation by the respective state
legislatures. But in these companies, either from a too zealous wish for
individual gain, or to provide for the safety o f the capital, the premiums
are sometimes thought to be too h igh ; the assured have no control over
them, and no compensating advantage accruing from their original excess.
These proprietary companies have been very popular in England, because
the people thought them more secure, and were not aware o f the peculiar
constitution and practice o f the other classes o f societies. Safety is the
grand desideratum, and that must depend on the accuracy o f tabular obser­
vations and calculations : the science o f the actuary to apply the principles
to practice, and the prudence and care o f directors in making investments
from which the funds to meet the expenses and losses shall be forthcom ­
ing. Having settled the safety o f any particular office— and without set­
tling that first, one would be a fool to enter on a contract which takes from
him a large present sum, or annual payments through probably thirty, per­




228

L ife Insurance in the United States.

haps seventy years, and through all chances, civil, political, and physical,
before its consummation in his favor— having settled the question o f safe­
ty, it is time to look at other points o f popularity and desert in other kinds,
which seem to be so much greater in them than in proprietary offices that
it is thought the latter will dwindle before the favor that has been received
by the mixed and mutual companies.
T h e second class o f societies, which may be termed the mixed, are also
joint stock companies, with proprietary bodies ; but, instead o f contracting
to pay fixed sums at the termination o f the life insured, they, first paying
the stockholders simple annual interest, and setting aside a contingent
fund, divide the balance o f their net profits among those who have taken
out policies for life at their office. T h e subscribing shareholders supply
a capital, and take upon themselves the risk o f lo s s ; and then divide a
certain proportion, generally, as we stated before, two-thirds, among the
assured. This interposition before the policy holders, so far as the capi­
tal goes, affords the same security and safety that is provided in the first
class, or proprietary societies. In an examination o f the comparative mer­
its o f this second class, it is obvious that the great question still is, its se­
curity. The direct interest o f the stockholders, and their responsibility,
extending in England, and it may be here, according to our state statutes,
to each individual, even beyond the amount o f his shares, will cause them
to watch well after the m anagem ent; and the assured cannot suffer loss
except over the loss o f the stockholder. The assured, however, with such
a mixed company, becomes liable as a partner to all contracts, he having
a share o f the profits. On the other hand, there is the advantage o f a par­
ticipation o f profits, without investment o f capital; depending for its de­
gree in this class, also, on security, or the ability and honesty o f the man­
agement o f the affairs o f the society. Some o f these companies have a
clause in their policies, limiting the responsibility o f the individual mem­
bers to their respective shares; this has been doubted to be good in law,
but o f course could be adjusted by direct legislation.
W ith the third class o f life insurance societies, called the mutual, our
community may be said to be somewhat acquainted, by means o f mutual
fire and marine insurance companies. In this class, the whole o f the pro­
fits, after deducting expenses and a proportion to accumulate a guarantee
fund, are divided among those who are holders o f policies for life. E very
one insured is, during the existence o f his policy, a partner in the concern,
and is mutually the insurer as well as the insured. This makes every
policy holder in such an office interested in its smallest results, and jeal­
ously careful o f the administration o f its affairs, as affecting, not only his
security, but his liability.
In short, good conduct is the Shibboleth o f choice in this, as in the
other classes. “ A s it would be absolute folly to effect'insurances with a
mutual insurance company, unless there were a complete conviction that
respectability, and scientific knowledge, and sound discretion, characteriz­
ed the parties in whose hands the management was placed ; so it would
be equally ridiculous to effect insurances with a mixed proprietary com ­
pany, which was not distinguished, to the fullest degree, by the same
qualities.”
Security being equal, then, it seems to us that the greatest advantages,
and the fullest ingredients o f popularity and o f usefulness, are offered by
mutual societies.




L ife Insurance in the United States.

229

T h e main inducements held out by the mixed and the mutual societies,
are the division o f the profits. The way in which this division is actually
effected, is as various almost as the societies are numerous. There are
two general methods that have been adopted, which are the following :—
A t stated periods an investigation takes place, a balance sheet is made, and
the proportion o f the profits to be divided among the holders o f policies for
life, are apportioned to the individuals, either by addition to the amount,
which they insured originally and upon which they paid their premium,
and which they are to receive when the policy falls in ; or, their propor­
tion is applied under known rules, to diminishing the annual premiums that
they are to pay in future. T h e details o f these two methods are, as we
have said, very various. T h e societies differ very much in the periods at
which the stated dividends are declared. After the first from their estab­
lishment, which is so ordered as to give time for the society to get under
w ay, they vary from five to seven, and ten years. Five would be most
advantageous, no doubt, if always consistent with safety ; but, as it is gen­
erally a cy cle o f the old magic number o f seven years, that includes the
mercantile ups and downs o f the Unitad States, it would be better in this
country, perhaps, to select that number. This would give the policies a
better marketable v a lu e; for, as the matter is now understood, especially
in England, they are commodities like bank or railroad stock, or any oth­
er articles o f sale and traffic.
F or a more full understanding o f our subject, we give some o f the rules
o f division in the English companies. The Alliance Office requires, that
life policy holders shall have paid five successive annual premiums. It
may be proper to remark, that the dividends are always confined to insur­
ers for a whole life, which is an inducement for such policies, and such
actually form by far the greatest proportion o f the contracts made. The
“ L aw L ife,” requires three annual payments to entitle to a dividend.
One society limits dividends to holders o f whole life policies, o f £ 1 0 0 and
upwards. Another requires that it shall be one o f the five thousand poli­
cies o f oldest date in the office, and shall have paid six successive annual
premiums to be entitled to a dividend. T h e general proportion o f the
profits so divided, is two-thirds ; but some divide three-fourths, others all,
after a moderate deduction for guarantee and expenses o f management.
Another, after a deduction like the last, divides equally between stockhold­
ers and assured. Another, takes one-fifth for a guarantee before division.
T h e “ R ock ,” sets aside £ 5 ,0 0 0 first, then divides the remainder o f the
net profits into three parts: one to be added to the capital, as proprietor’s
fund, and the other two-thirds to be divided, as stated in the contract poli­
cy, when made. Another, divides two-sixths among the policy holders ;
and another, intending to return to the stockholders the sum subscribed,
together with one hundred per cent additional, sets aside one-tenth o f the
profits for this purpose, and divides the remaining nine-tenths between the
assured and the shareholder, in the proportion o f eight to the former, and
one to the latter. W hile another office makes a positive addition o f ten
per cent, every tenth year, to all sums insured for a single life ; and still
another, the Mutual L ife Insurance Company, London, established in 1824,
adds to each policy as it falls in, not waiting for any fixed periods o f divi­
dends, its full proportionate share o f these accumulated profits ; and is,
therefore, equally advantageous to old and new members.
T h e advantage o f reducing succeeding premiums, which is the other
von. v m .— no . h i .
19




380

L ife Insurance in the United States.

mode o f sharing the profits, may he sometimes greater than that o f adding
to the amount o f the policy when it falls in. F or instance, when an an­
nual payment becomes onerous or inconvenient, or when a debtor insures
another’s life, and wishes, o f course, to secure himself at as cheap a rate
as possible, and with the least outlay. Some offices combine the advan­
tages o f both methods, by making the addition to the policy at the stated
dividend year, and thereafter applying the interest o f the amount so added,
to reducing the succeeding annual premiums ; while another office stipu­
lates that the additions shall be payable, without interest, at the time the
policy falls in. In some societies, it is optional with the insured, to have
the dividends applied as an addition to the policy, or to reduce the future
premiums. In some, this option is confined to those insuring for their own
lives, and in some, it must be declared at the making o f the p o lic y ; in
others, within three calendar months after the declaration o f the dividend.
This great variety, is a consequence o f the struggle for popularity o f
com petition; but, fortunately, it also embraces points o f advantage to the
insurers, adapted to their various circumstances and situations. He who
would profit by such useful and philanthropical institutions, should remem­
ber that their very essence is cau tion ; and the peculiarity o f their use is,
suffering a small actual payment, to avoid a greater contingent one. H e
should, therefore, look at what he w ill save from risk, not only at what he
p a y s ; and should not be misled to overlook safety, in the unwise wish to
g et a cheap premium.
N or is there less variety in the conditions o f the policies o f the different
societies, and in the risks that they take. The premiums have been gen­
erally much reduced, and sometimes they even receive them quarterly.
T h e same spirit o f competition has been at work here ; and has excited,
not without reason, some fears that it will, in its results, trench upon the
grand principle itself o f life insurance— security. Some o f the English
offices require entrance money, or a payment o f some per centage at the
time o f taking out the first policy. T h ey also require personal appearance
before the officer o f the society. Both these have been in some offices
dispensed with ; the latter, upon a commutation for a non-appearance fine.
Almost all offices allow commissions to those who bring custom to the
office, and even extra commission is allowed to country solicitors who do
go. Some companies have a regulation which requires the stockholders
to effect assurance at their respective offices, not only under the proviso
that they are inclined to effect them anywhere, but absolutely in propor­
tion to their respective shares, and this, either by themselves or others;
which requisition also becomes active upon every successive transfer o f
shares, and thus ensures considerable accession o f business.
T h e directors o f some offices are authorized to advance money to the
members, on the security o f their policies. There has also been an in­
creased laxity in the selection o f lives. Formerly, it was under this cate­
g o r y : “ Those lives, only, o f individuals who appear in full health and
v igor.”
This has now been changed for the following : “ That all lives
shall be accepted, where no positive disease has been m a n i f e s t e d a n d
other offices almost advertise to ensure a whole hospital upon a consid­
eration. T h e consequence is, that though a man’s life insurance may be
rejected at one office, he can find some other at which he can obtain a
contract. Th ey have also made a like extension o f the latitudes, climates,
and voyages, into which the insured may go without vitiating his contract,




L ife Insurance in the United States.

231

and even o f the deadly professions he may fo llo w ; and have actually
adopted, with its comprehensive risks, the technical phrase “ whole world
policies.”
The extremes o f these circumstances are, o f course, still met
b y additional premiums and special contracts; but the general tendency
has been, to increase the facilities o f life insurance. T h e profits which
are an inducement to stockholders, and which form a large ingredient in
the security o f all offices, vary very much from twelve to seventeen, and
thirty-nine.
The able writer whom we last quoted, thus characterizes the state o f
life insurance in England, in 1827 : “ In regard to the different establish­
ments, it is impossible not to see that there is the greatest difference ; as
to the ability displayed in their management, much diversity; as to their
principles in the acceptance o f risks, the utmost inconsistency; as to the
rates o f premium, some charging little more than one-half o f what is
charged by others ; as to the proportion the expenses bear to the amount
o f business effected, an incalculable difference.” But we have said suffi­
cient for our purpose, to sketch the various aspects which our subject
presents ; to serve as hints for caution as well as selection, in the practice
and organization o f life insurances in the United States.
W e proceed to mention some o f the details o f the organization and prac­
tice on the above points, adopted in the offices already existing with u s ;
which will show how they have aimed to attain the ends o f security and
profit.
The usual organization is, a board o f directors, a president, several vice
presidents, an actuary, and a secretary. The Massachusetts L ife Insur­
ance and Trust Company, which is o f the proprietary class, transacts its
business under the following rules and regulations: “ E very person de­
sirous o f making insurance on his own life, or upon the life o f any other
person, or who wishes to contract for reversionary payments on annuities,
must sign a declaration by himself or agent, according to a printed form
to be furnished by the company, setting forth the age, occupation, place o f
birth, state o f health, and other circumstances attending the life or lives in­
sured, or the life upon the failure o f which the reversionary payment o f
the annuity is to com m ence. The company may also require a certificate
o f the health o f a person, from a physician o f established reputation. A n
application for an annuity on a life, must state the age o f the party to whom
it is granted. A n y misrepresentation in these declarations, vitiates the
contracts.
“ Policies o f insurance and reversionary contracts are void, i f the person
whose life is insured shall die upon the seas, or upon any o f the great
lakes, or shall, without the consent o f the company, previously obtained
and endorsed upon his policy, pass beyond the settled limits o f the United
States, excepting into the settled limits o f the British provinces o f the two
Canadas, N ova Scotia, or N ew B runsw ick; or shall, without such pre­
vious consent thus endorsed, visit those parts o f the United States which
lie south o f the southern boundaries o f the States o f Virginia and Kentucky ;
or shall, without such previous consent thus endorsed, enter into any mili­
tary or naval service whatsoever, the militia not in actual service except­
ed ; or in case he shall die by his own hands in, or in consequence of, a
duel, or by the hands o f justice, or in the known violation o f any law o f
these states, or o f the United States, or o f the said provinces.”
This last
provision is rather vague. “ A person must have an interest in the life




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L ife Insurance in the United States.

he insures, if it be not his own life. N o policy takes effect until the first
premium shall be paid, and the annual premiums must be paid the day
they fall due, otherwise the policy expires; but it may be revived at any
time within fifteen days, the person on whose life the assurance was made
being then alive and in good health, by the payment o f said premium, to­
gether with an additional sum o f ten per cent upon such premium. A ll
claims will be settled within sixty days after notice, and satisfactory proof
o f the claim shall be made. Annuities must be demanded by the annui­
tant in person, or satisfactory proof must be given that the annuitant is still
alive. A charge o f one dollar is made for each policy o f a common form ;
but where a special contract is required, the expense o f drafting it must be
borne by the assured. The company reserves to itself the right o f making
any alterations, which the particular circumstances o f applicants may, in
their opinion, render expedient. Insurances for one year may, or may not,
be renewed at the pleasure o f the com pany.”
Their refusal may be ob­
viated by insurance for seven years, or for life.
ANNUITIES.

“ The company will grant annuities during the continuance o f any given
life or lives, and make the payments either quarterly, half yearly, or an­
nually, as shall be agreed upon. The payments may commence imme­
diately, or be deferred for any given time. There are two methods o f
making these contracts, upon principles which differ essentially from each
other. In the one, a moderate rate o f interest is allowed upon the capital
paid (either in money or stocks) for the annuity, and, at the expiration o f
the life, the whole o f that capital is paid back (within sixty days from its
falling in, and in the stock or property at fair valuation that the company
has then on hand ; the same is done in an endowment in trust) to the heirs
o f the annuitant, or to any person legally authorized to receive it. This
contract may, for the sake o f distinction, be called an annuity in trust.”
(It is a sort o f savings’ bank; the smallest sum so received is $500, and
for any sum less than $2,000, the interest is payable only annually ; over
that, they may purchase it in semi-annual or quarterly payments.) “ In
the other case, a large interest is allowed during the life o f the party, and,
at his death, the capital becomes the property o f the company. A con­
tract o f this kind, is generally called an annuity on a life.
“ In the preceding proposals, the com pany,” say they, “ have offered
as favorable terms to the applicants as they could, consistently with the
safety o f the property entrusted to their care, which object has been con­
stantly kept in view .”
(In trusts, they charge for management one-half o f
one per cent per annum, on ly.) “ The annual return made to the governor
and council, which, without expressing the particular sums deposited by
individuals, will contain a schedule o f the amount o f the capital stock and
all the property in possession o f the company, with the manner o f its in­
vestment, w ill always be open to the inspection o f any person transacting
business with the com pany.” The legislature direct the kind o f property,
in general, in which investments shall be made by the com p a n y ; which
is to consist in United States funded debt, or Massachusetts State stock,
the stocks o f incorporated banks in that commonwealth, ground rents or
mortgages, and notes secured by mortgages. The above are, generally,
the regulations o f all our Am erican life offices.
T h e Girard Life Assurance, Annuity, and Trust Company o f Philadel-




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233

phi a, which is o f the mixed class, has similar rules and regulations, and
profess to make insurance on the life o f “ a healthy person not engaged
in any hazardous occupation, and residing within the settled limits o f the
United States, north o f the southern boundary o f Virginia and Kentucky,
or within the settled limits o f the two Canadas, N ova Scotia, or New
Brunswick.”
T h ey state, in their printed proposals, that it is their object
to offer to the public the following advantages :—
1. Assurers for life to participate in the incom e.
2. A moderate scale o f premiums.
3. Increased facilities for effecting assurances.
4. A n ample capital, this being a mixed company, and, in 1837, the
only one in the United States o f that kind, paid in for the security o f the
assured.
5. Prompt settlement o f claims, without dispute or litigation.
6. Repurchase o f policies, in certain cases.
7. Payments o f premiums, received either in the whole sum, or in small­
er weekly or monthly amounts.
8. The reception and management o f trusts.
“ The improvements which experience has introduced into the business
o f life insurance and trusts in England, will he adopted by the company.
The incom e o f the company will be apportioned between the stockholders
and the assured for life.”
It does not mention the rates, but we presume
the usual English apportionment o f one-third to the former, and two-thirds
o f the net profits to the latter.
“ The rates o f insurance, annuities, and endowments, will be as low as
the most modern experience will warrant, with a due regard to the safety
o f the insured.”
In France, the insurance is about the same as in England, though lives
are shorter in the former country. In the Netherlands and Denmark,
the premiums are higher than in England. B y the table it will be seen,
at a few specified ages, how the premiums, both o f the Girard Insurance
Company and the Massachusetts Hospital Insurance Company, compare
with the English.
The Legislature o f Pennsylvania, with a provident foresight, required
the whole capital o f this company to be paid in within two years from
the date o f its incorporation, and has authorized investigations by the
courts into the state o f its affairs ; affording, i f properly carried out, the
most ample security to all who do business with the office. The mana­
gers, for the still greater security o f all interested, have, for the present,
limited the amount o f policies to be granted in each case. N o person
can be elected manager who is not himself assured to a specified
am ount; nor can a person be a manager, unless he be a holder, in his
own right, o f at least one hundred shares o f stock. N o manager can
borrow money o f the com pa n y; which, in these days o f logrolling and
money nepotism in this republic, will perhaps be considered a transcend­
ent item o f security and safety. The company pays one-fifth the amount
insured immediately, on satisfactory proof o f the death o f the assured ; and
the remainder o f the claim within the period o f sixty days.
Their charter authorizes them to receive and manage estates and
trusts o f every description, that may be committed to their charge, whe­
ther by courts o f justice, individuals, or corporate bodies.
T h ey are
authorized to become guardians o f the estates o f minors and lunatics and
19*




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L ife Insurance in the United States.

trustees, under wills. From the moment a trust is accepted, the company
becom es responsible for the safety o f it, and the whole capital o f the com ­
pany is pledged for its repayment, with the proceeds or interest that may
have been stipulated; and the by-laws and regulations o f the managers
are framed with a view to enforce that security. Th ey also receive
money in small or large sums in deposit, to remain one, three, six, or
twelve months, or for a longer period, and subject to withdrawal at a short
notice, on which interest will be paid ; thus becoming a savings bank,
as well as a bank o f deposit. In the reception and execution o f these va­
rious trusts, the company, say they, having due regard to the security o f
the institution and the safe investment o f its funds, will make the most
liberal arrangements, as to the allowance o f interest and charge o f com ­
missions, that the circumstances o f each particular case may warrant.
Having given the organization o f a Proprietary L ife Insurance Com­
pany, in the Massachusetts Hospital L ife Insurance Company, and o f a
mixed company, in the Girard Life Assurance and Trust Company, we
give below the organization o f a Mutual Life Insurance Company, under
that name in N ew -York, incorporated 12th April, 1842, and expecting to
go into operation by the 1st o f January, 1843, when the amount o f
$1,000,000 will be applied to be insured, they having, at this period, the
sum o f between $700,000 and $800,000 already entered on their books in
the short space o f eight months. The act makes those asking for it, and
all other persons who may hereafter associate with them, in the manner
hereinafter prescribed, a body politic and corporate, by the name o f the
Mutual Life Insurance Company o f N ew Y ork. In addition to the gene­
ral powers and privileges o f corporations, as the same are declared by
the third title o f the eighteenth chapter o f the first part o f the Revised
Statutes, the corporation hereby enacted shall have the power to insure
their respective lives, and to make all and every insurance appertaining
to, or connected with, life risks, and to grant and purchase annuities. A ll
persons who shall hereafter insure with the said corporation, and also
their heirs, executors, administrators, and assigns, continuing to be insured
in said corporation, as hereinafter provided, shall thereby become mem­
bers thereof during the period they shall remain insured by said corpora­
tion, and no longer. The board o f trustees shall consist o f thirty-six per­
sons. T h ey shall, at their first meeting, divide themselves by lot into four
classes, o f nine each ; the terms o f each expiring successively, in one,
two, three, and four years, so as always to have experienced men. Th ey
are re-eligible. The seats o f these classes shall be supplied by the members o f this corporation by a plurality o f votes ; an insurance o f $1,000,
at least, entitling a member to a vote.
E very person who shall become a member o f this corporation by effect­
ing assurance therein, shall, the first time he effects insurance, and before
he receives his policy, pay the rates that shall be fixed upon and deter­
mined by the trustees ; and no premium, so paid, shall be withdrawn from
said company, except as hereinafter provided, but shall be liable to all
the losses and expenses incurred by this company during the continuance
o f its charter. The whole o f the premiums received for insurance by
said corporation, except as provided for in the following sections, shall be
invested in bond and mortgages, or unincumbered real estate within the
State o f N ew Y o r k ; the real property to secure such investment o f capi­
tal shall, in every case, be worth twice the amount loaned thereon. In




L ife Insurance in the United States.

235

order to avoid a great land monopoly, all real estate as shall not be neces­
sary for the accommodation o f the company in the convenient transaction
o f its business, shall be sold and disposed o f within six years from the
time they acquire a title to the same. A certain portion o f the premiums,
not to exceed one-half, may be invested in public stocks o f the United
States, or o f this state, or o f any incorporated city in this state— N ew
Y ork . Suits at law may be maintained by said corporation against any
o f its members, for any cause relating to the business o f said corporation ;
also, suits at law may be prosecuted and maintained by any member
against said corporation, for losses by death, if payment is withheld more
than three months after the com pany is duly notified o f such losses.
T h e officers o f said company, at the expiration o f five years from the
time that the first policy shall have been issued and bear date, and within
thirty day^hereafter, and during the first thirty days o f every subsequent
period o f five years, shall cause a balance to be struck o f the affairs o f the
company, in which they shall charge each member with a proportionate
share o f the losses and expenses o f said company, according to the
original amount o f premium paid by him, but in no case to exceed the
amount o f the premium. Each member shall be credited with the amount
o f said premium, and also with an equal share o f the profits o f the said
company, derived from investments and earnings in proportion to said
am ount; and in case o f the death o f any member o f said company, the
amount standing to his credit at the last preceding striking o f balance as
aforesaid, together with the proportion which shall be found to belong to
him at the next subsequent striking o f said balance, shall be paid over to
his legal representatives or assigns, within three months after the said
last mentioned balance shall be struck. A n y member o f the company,
who would be entitled to share in the profits, who shall have omitted to
pay any premium, or any periodical payment due from him to the com ­
pany, may be prohibited by the trustees from sharing in the profits o f the
com p a n y ; and all such previous payments made by him, shall go to the
benefit o f the company. A provision is made for an ample public state­
ment o f the details o f business, losses, profits, investments, & c. N o
policy shall be issued by said company until application shall be made for
insurance, in the aggregate, for #500,000 at lea st; and the trustees shall
have the right to purchase, for the benefit o f the company, all policies o f
insurance, or other obligations issued by the company. This company
has, as we stated, thought fit to transcend the last requirements o f the act
o f incorporation, and not to go into operation until there be application
for #1,000,000 o f life insurance. That they have so nearly filled it up
in so short a time, shows a cheering appreciation o f the benefits o f life
insurance in the United States ; and that this postponement o f operations
until the amount is subscribed is an ample guarantee o f safety, may be
readily and fully understood by an illustration from practice.
The R ock L ife Insurance Company, England, paid in losses, in twen­
ty-five years, #1,796,000, or #71,000 dollars a y e a r ; it had, in 1840,
existing policies to the amount o f #28,385,000, which would make the
losses about
o f the existing policies in a year. On #1,000,000 worth
o f policies, the loss, then, would be annually about #3 ,000 . N ow , the
amount o f income from #1,000,000 worth o f policies, if the ages o f the
lives insured averaged 40, would be #20,000 a year : if the ages average
35, the sum would be #18,000, about six times the average losses. Again,




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L ife Insurance in the United States.

the amount o f annual income in 1840, o f the R ock Company, was $791,000,
and the above average annual loss would be about T’T o f that sum ;
which would make the calculation o f safety, upon the receipt o f premiums
upon $1,000,000, still more favorable. Here we may see, at once, the
practice o f mutual life insurance offices, their peculiarities, and how they
fulfil the grand requisites o f security and advantage.
It will be seen by the above that it is as Chancellor Kent states: “ The
terms and conditions o f the English policies are more relaxed now than
form erly ; but this is not the case with the Am erican policies on lives.”
Even the old law requirement o f an interest in the life assured, which is
in full force here, and fortified by the English A ct o f 14 G eorge III., is
now hardly looked to in some offices in England, as appears from their
printed proposals. The statutes o f Massachusetts make no provisions for
life insurance companies by title, unless in case there is a n y ^ a n t o f pro­
visions in their charter, which ought to set out especially their powers and
liabilities. The first section o f chapter thirty-seven o f Massachusetts
Revised Statutes, headed, like the Code o f France, with the broad title “ Insu­
rance Companies,” has this enactm ent: “ A ll insurance companies that
have been, or that shall hereafter be incorporated in this commonwealth,
may exercise the powers, and be subject to the duties and liabilities, con ­
tained in this chapter, so far as may be consistent with the provisions o f
their respective charters.”
Section fortieth, o f this thirty-seventh chapter,
contains provisions concerning the exercise o f foreign agencies for insu­
rances, still under that broad title ; upon this we have cursorily remarked
before. T h e above chapter refers to chapter forty-fourth, which contains
general statutory provisions concerning corporations.
April 1st, A . D. 1840, The People o f the State o f N ew Y ork, repre­
sented in Senate and Assembly, did enact as follows :— Section 1st. It shall
be lawful for any married woman, by herself and in her name, or in the
name o f any third person, with his assent, as her trustee, to cause to be
insured, for her sole use, the life o f her husband for any definite period, or
for the term o f his natural life ; and in case o f her surviving her husband,
the sum or net amount o f the insurance becoming due and payable by the
terms o f the insurance, shall be payable to her, to and for her own use, free
from the claims o f the representatives o f her husband, or o f any o f his
creditors; but such exemption shall not apply where the amount o f premium
annually paid shall exceed $300.
Section 2d. In case o f the death o f the wife before the decease o f her
husband, the amount o f the insurance may be made payable, after her death,
to her children for their use, and to their guardian, i f under age.
Having explained, somewhat at length, the history and the principles o f
life insurance and annuities, we proceed with pleasure to that application
o f those principles which so ameliorates the anxious and severe in man’ s
destiny. Those applications, with their corresponding advantages, are as
various and numerous as the fluctuations o f unstable fortune— meet them
at every turn, and baffle them in every shape. W e would press this mat­
ter upon our people.
A hasty compilation, only, can be given o f the proposals o f some o f the
offices for life insurance in the United States. Most o f the offices propose
that they, in similar language to the Massachusetts Hospital Life Insurance
Company, will enter into various contracts, so as to accommodate persons
in almost every age and situation in life. A n insurance may be made for




L ife Insurance in the United States.

237

one year, for several years, or for the whole life. It may be made on one
life, on two, or on more liv es; to com m ence immediately, or at a future
day. The company will grant annuities upon two or more lives, in all the
various forms o f which they are susceptible ; as, for example, on the joint
continuance o f the lives, (that is, an annuity which is to cease when any
one o f the lives fails,) on the longest o f the lives, on one life after the
death o f another; as, for a wife after the death o f her husband, or a child
after the death o f his father. Comfort and security, and consequent pro­
longation o f life, arise from annuities. W e do not believe in the objection
sometimes made to them, that they deaden enterprise, sink capital; it is
only charging the person who uses it, and makes its owner a mere con­
sumer ; because annuities are either a resort where security is worth
more than enterprise, or a refuge when enterprise has won a rest from his
labors, and age and infirmity has made them too hazardous or unproductive.
F o r persons o f moderate property, and for the rich, the annuities and
endowments in trust afford the means o f making provision for widows and
children, and securing the capital in a manner which no other institution
has done. The contracts for these annual future payments may be pur­
chased by a large sum down, or by instalments, and will make provision
for a period o f life when physical exertion and energy are expected to
cease ; letting persons in youth or middle age, provide for old age. But,
excepting for some purpose o f family convenience, few young men will
purchase an annuity, because a reasonable compensation to the office, and
the security o f all parties, require that the annuity should be calculated,
taking into account the changes o f life, at a much lower rate than legal in­
terest, up to forty or fifty years o f age. A t sixty years o f age, some offices
allow an annuity o f nine and thirty-five hundredth (9 TW ) per cent per
annum ; at seventy years o f age, twelve and sixty-six hundredths (1 2 .6 6 ) ;
at seventy-four, thirteen and thirty-three hundredths (1 3 .3 3 ) per cent per
annum.
B y annuities, a person advanced in age, who has a property not suffi­
cient without his personal exertions, which have been or must soon be
intermitted, to support him, may purchase with his property, o f the office,
a competent annual support. So, too, the income o f a relative or depend­
ant may be increased at a future period ; or an estate may, by an imme­
diate payment o f a certain sum, be exonerated from a dower charge, or
any other annual incumbrance. A wife can thus, also, gain an equivalent
for the surrender o f her dower. These annuities may be im m e d ia te deferred, to com m ence after a fixed period— or reversionary, to com m ence
after the death o f some specified person.
T h e most general use o f life insurance is, by persons living on an in­
com e— to secure to a family, by its means, a comfortable support after the
death o f its head or parent. This may be accomplished by the payment,
annually, o f such portion merely o f that incom e as can be spared. H ow
long time would it be before that little sum, laid by, would accumulate to
anything like a moderate support for one’ s family at his death ? One
might well be discouraged when he thinks o f its slow n ess; and should he
die prematurely, he leaves them to want. T o such a person a life insu­
rance office becomes a savings bank, peculiarly adapted to his case ; be­
cause he may deposit small sums with the company, and convert them into
a life insurance. In this manner, an insurance that would cost but little
econom y in expenses, or retrenchment o f some unnecessary luxuries,




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L ife Insurance in the United States.

would oftentimes place a family in comfortable circumstances, that would,
without such prudent management, have been left in w retchedness; and
while his industry is providing for the support o f those he loves, his small
surplus gains are effectually guarding them against poverty in the hour o f
distress.
W hat greater obligation can exist for a husband or parent, than to make
provision for the comfortable support o f a wife or children, who are de­
pendant upon his earnings for subsistence, to take effect at the very time
they may most need such assistance— namely, at the period o f his death ?
If an individual has a debt hanging over him, and fears, should he die,
his family may be injured by the forced payment o f it, he can provide
against such a calamity by insuring his life for an equal amount.
A person commencing business may, by an insurance, add to his credit
am ong those with whom he deals, and would add to it, and could even
borrow m oney upon it sometimes from the office itself; were it under­
stood that, in case o f his death, there were means provided for quickly
settling his debts.
A. man receives a comfortable maintenance from the estate o f his w ife ;
should he die, her estate would pass into other hands, and her support be
gone. B y insuring her life he saves the. amount, and he is secure in any
event.
In our enterprising country, where capital is wanting, and credit on en­
dorsed security is among the means to supply the w ant; where purchases
o f land, as well as merchandise, are made on borrowed m o n e y ; how
anxious are they who, dependant on endorsers, perhaps themselves mutual
endorsers, see the safety o f their friends, their estates, and the support o f
their families, all at hazard, should death suddenly overtake-them. A life
insurance, to the amount o f their borrowed money or endorsed credit, re­
lieves them from uncertainty, their endorsers from peril, their estates from
sacrifice, and their families from ruin.
A creditor anxious about the safety o f his debt, in case his debtor should
die, may relieve himself by insuring that debtor’ s life, to the necessary
am ount; or friends, who wish to lend to a man o f skill, industry, and integ­
rity, may defy the chances o f fate, which alone they believe constitutes
their risk, by insuring their loan upon his life.
The smallest sum may be secured b y insurance, and at a trifling outlay.
T h e able, the emulous, the ambitious, the cautious, are desirous o f enter­
ing upon a hazardous enterprise : they see in it a fair prospect o f improv­
ing their circumstances, but it requires their personal skill and attention.
T h ey fear, should they die, their families will not be able successfully to
conclude i t : by a life insurance they put themselves at ease, for a slight
expense. H e who has a wife, an aged parent, an infant child, an infirm
friend, an old domestic, depending on him for support, may pay a little
sum year by year for the insurance o f his own life, and secure them from
want after his hand shall no longer move to sustain them.
A public-spirited individual, or a charitable, would aid, by a legacy, a
school, a college, a literary society, or a charitable institution. His pre­
sent means do not enable him to do so, to the extent o f his wishes. They
m ay be accomplished by an annual sum paid for an insurance, to the
amount he wishes to leave to the favored object. W hat better way than
this to do good and find it fame, with or without a wish so to find it ?
H ow many worthy, pious, but poor clergym en, might be relieved from




L ife Insurance in the United States.

239

anxious care, relative to their families, would their congregations unite
and raise a small annual sum for the insurance o f their liv e s; unfelt, like
the gentle rain, but in its results. This seems, indeed, to address itself to
the religious o f N ew England, imbued as they still are, not only with the
atmosphere o f churches, but also with much o f that personal respect and
kindness towards their respective pastors which descend from their ances­
tors, who founded these ecclesiastical colonies, took the Bible for their
constitution— christo et ecclesia, for their motto in civil and worldly matters,
as well as in literature and religion ; and made their pastors their judges
in the laud, like the ancient people o f God their umpires and their spi­
ritual guardians. Really, upon reflection, we wonder that there is a con ­
gregation or church in the land, that has not its beloved pastor’s life insured
for his fa m ily : he is not in every case, surely, too far removed from the
K scrip, and take no heed o f what y e shall eat and what ye shall wear,”
o f the primitive apostles. The preachers o f eternity should be separated
from the anxieties o f time.
It may be assumed, then, that nearly every person, and all persons in
general society, have an inducement to embrace the benefits o f life insu­
rance ; as almost all have a wife, children, or friends, whose support de­
pends chiefly on their own lives ; or whose own future support, or some
portion o f their property or pecuniary interests, is dependant on the lives
o f others. It were sooner told where life insurance is not useful, than
where it is. It concerns the poor as well as the r ic h ; it enables men in
the church, the law, or in office, farmers, mechanics, medical men, trades­
men, annuitants, landholders, tenants for life, tenants o f mortgaged or por­
tion encumbered estates, creditors, and all who have advanced capital for
education, apprenticeship, or business, debtors, philanthropists, men in the
navy or the army, to make, cheaply and certainly, ample provisions for the
time when their personal exertions must cease, and death stop their indus­
try, payments, and accumulation. It renders contingent property nearly
equal, in point o f security, with absolute property; and affords scope and
means alike for justice, benevolence, and piety.
Remember, too, (w e would that we could speak in tones loud enough to
be heard by the active conviction o f all, o f every parent, son, husband, or
friend, or man that has not money enough laid up for all the comfort or
honesty he would leave behind him in death,) that these varied and vast
advantages are offered for petty sums, and they even decrease by the
profits o f a mixed or mutual office, which would not be missed in a year’ s
expenditure ; for the very pocket-money o f a hundred expenses, whose
payments and purchases are alike forgotten in the moment. Rem ember,
further, that should the continuance o f this little annual payment becom e
at any time burdensome or inconvenient, the policy can be sold to him
who can pay it, and who wishes the advantage o f an established contract
with its accumulated profits ; or the life insurance office itself will receive
the surrender o f the policy, and return what has been paid, deducting for
care and trouble. The office fairly calculates what is the value o f the
risk it has run, and gives back to the insured all he has paid over this sum,
which went to make up the consideration for the risk to be run in future ;
and he pays only for the credit, the comfort, and the feeling o f security
and ease, o f previous years.
There are, too, contracts o f survivorship; insurances made upon two
or more lives, an amount to be paid upon the contingency o f one dying




Progress o f Population and W ealth in the

240

before the other ; and insurances upon joint lives, the amounts to be paid
at the death o f either o f the persons. Contracts for 4eposits, endowments,
and trusts, whether for a marriage settlement, provision for children, or
guardianship, at simple or compound interest, do not need any explana­
tion ; suffice it to say, that life insurance companies, in practice, will carry
out their proposals o f bargaining “ wherein the contingency o f life or
death is concerned, and their payments are made fully and fairly upon legal
proof o f life or death, as the contract may b e.”
Setting out, then, after our exposition, with, we trust, the fair postulate
that life insurance is advantageous, safe, and patriotic, may we not assert,
that it is peculiarly suited to the United States ? W e boast our wisdom
and caution, and vaunt our benevolence and philanthropy. W here is there
a better field, and where can there be a better appreciation o f the object
o f insurance— pecuniary independence from the risk o f death— than where
life is unremittingly devoted to that end? W e have not so many salary
men, as in England, to lay by out o f their annual in com es; but we have a
universal credit, used by youth and age, by every occupation and by every
trade. W e have scanty capital, statutes o f distribution; early marriages
and large families, whose only hope, we had almost said, among the exer­
tions and exposures to which they give rise, can be had in the econom ical
reservations from daily expenditures, that are hoarded in life insurances.
These considerations, and the shrewd caution o f our race, all seem to call
upon every individual to avail himself o f its advantages, to encourage the
institution o f offices, and to point to the United States as the very home o f
life insurance.
Its principles find genial elements o f safety and success in the great va­
riety o f investing capital that is offered in our stirring communities, and in
the higher rates o f interest which obtain here. A lso, the very times stretch
out their hands for aid, amid the wild disruption o f other corporations ; the
crashing o f speculating money institutions; the failing o f all the sources to
which the widow, the orphan, the creditor, the endorser, looked for future
payment and needful support : amid all the gloom o f distrust in trade and
finance, amid the depression and barrenness o f all small means o f fortune­
making, this mode alone o f saving a fortune, seems peculiarly to approve
itself to our citizens and country, as the only ark o f posthumous security.

A

rt.

III.— P R O G R E SS OF P O P U L A T IO N A N D W E A L T H I N T H E U N IT E D
S T A T E S , IN F I F T Y Y E A R S .
AS EXHIBITED B Y THE DECENNIAL CENSUS TAKEN IN THAT PERIOD.

C H A P T E R X I.
THE PAST NATURAL INCREASE OF THE POPULATION, WHITE AND COLORED.

L e t u s now direct our inquiries to the natural increase o f our numbers,
independent o f all accessions from abroad. N o fact disclosed by the cen ­
sus is o f equal importance to this in the eyes o f the statesman and politi­
cal econom ist; since, in an underpeopled country like the United States,
such increase is the surest index o f the nation’s present abundance and
comfort, as w ell as o f its future strength and resources.




241

United Slates, in Fifty Years.

I. The natural increase o f the white population.
I f we deduct from the whole increase o f this class at each census, the num­
ber gained by immigration, beyond the number o f our own emigrants, dur­
ing the preceding ten years, the result would o f course give us the precise
amount o f the increase from natural multiplication. The following state­
ment shows the result o f such deduction, according to the estimates o f im­
migration made in the preceding chapter :—
From 1790 to 1800, the increase o f the whites w as. .3 5 .7 per cent.
Deduct the number immigrating, 58,000, equal t o . . 1.8
“
------- 33.9 per cent.
From 1800 to 1810, the increase w as..............................36.2
Deduct, 1. The whites acquired with Louisiana,
51,000,* equal to.................................1.2
2. The number immigrating, equal t o . . 1.9
----- 3.1
------- 33.1
“
From 1810 to 1820, the increase w as..............................34.3
Deduct the number immigrating, 132,400, equal t o . . 2.2
------- 32.1
“
From 1820 to 1830, the increase w as..............................33.8
Deduct the number immigrating, 231,000, equal t o . . 2.9
------- 30.9
“
From 1830 to 1840, the increase w as..............................34.7
Deduct the number immigrating, 540,000, equal t o . . 5.1
------- 29.6
“
A ccordin g to which computation the actual and natural increase, in
each decennial term, may be thus compared :—
P e r cent.

Actual increase........... 35.7
Natural increase.........33.9

P er cent.

P er cent.

P er cent.

36.2
33.1

34.3
32.1

33.8
30.9

P er cent.

34.7
29.6

Thus showing, in the rate o f decennial natural increase, a diminution o f
4.3 per cent during 40 years, or an average o f about 1 per cent for each
term o f 10 years.
It will be perceived that this diminution o f ratio is not uniform, but that
it increases progressively, and with a regularity which is remarkable, and
which gives some assurance that the estimates made o f the numbers ac­
quired by immigration are not wide o f the truth. The differences o f ratio
are in the following series : 8, 10, 12, 13.
Let us now see how far this decline in the rate o f natural increase de­
rives confirmation from the census itself. If there be such a diminution
* I have ventured to put down the whole number o f whites returned in 1810 for Lou­
isiana and Missouri, (then called the territories o f N ew Orleans and Louisiana,) as an ac­
cession to the population since 1800, though doubtless a part o f them had migrated from
other states. N o deduction was made on this account, partly because other citizens
were acquired by the purchase, who were not comprehended in the returns for those ter­
ritories, and partly because the estimate o f the immigration between 1800 and 1810 is
probably too low. Dr. Seybert, on whose authority I have stated the immigration from
1790 to 1810, at only 120,000, estimates the whole gain from immigrants and their in­
crease at 180,000 ; whereas the estimate made in the preceding chapter would not reck­
on it at more than 160,000, viz : 58,000 + 82,000 + the increase o f 58,000 for 10 years,
which could not exceed 20,000. He has thus probably more than corrected the error of
underrating the number o f immigrants by too high an estimate o f their increase.
V OL. V III.---- NO III.




20

242

Progress o f Population and Wealth in the

o f ratio, it will be manifested by the decreasing proportion o f children un­
der 10 years o f age, since, at each census, they constitute all o f the popu­
lation tfrho have been born since the preceding census.
From 1800 to 1840, the number o f white females and o f children under
10, and their proportions to each other, were as follows :—
1800.
1810.
1820.
1830.
1840.
2,100,068 2,874,433 3,871,647 5,171,115 6,939,842
N o. o f females,
N o. o f children >
1,489,315 2,016,479 2,625,790 3,427,730 4,485,130
under 10, )
70.15
67.82
66.29
64.63
Prop, o f children, p. ct., 70.92
Thus showing a gradual decrease in the proportion o f children during
forty years o f 6.29 per c e n t; which, allowing for the ordinary difference
between the number o f males and females, is equivalent to something
more than three per cent o f the whole population. So, if the children
under 10, be compared with the females o f the preceding census, we see
a correspondent diminution o f ratio, viz :—
1790.
1800.
1810.
1820.
1830.
N o. o f females,
1,556,839 2,100,068 2,874,433 3,871,647 5,171,115
N o. o f children 1
at the succeed- > 1,489,315 2,016,479 2,625,790 3,427,730 4,485,130
ing census,. . )
96.02
91.35
88.53
86.73
Prop, o f children, .c t ., 95.66
But these proportions are also affected by immigration. In the first
case, in which the comparison is made between the children and the females o f the same census, the proportion o f children is lessened by reason
o f the greater proportion o f adults in the immigrating class than in the
whole population. But in the last case, in which the children o f the suc­
ceeding census are compared with the females o f the preceding, the pro­
portion o f children is increased by immigration.
T h e first source o f error is, however, inconsiderable. The increase o f
immigrants in ten years, we have seen, may be estimated at twenty per
cent o f the whole num ber; and to such increase we must add the portion
o f immigrant children under 10 at the time the census is taken. N ow , if
we suppose the females to constitute one-third o f those who migrate hither,
and the children one-sixth, (as seemed to be the proportion in Canada,)
and if w e further suppose that, one-tenth o f those children who arrive in
the first year o f the decennial term would be under 10 years o f age at the
succeeding census, two-tenths o f those who arrive in the second year, three
in the third, and so on throughout the term, we shall find, after making a
fair deduction for the intervening deaths, that the proportion o f children
to females in such immigrants will be little inferior to the proportion in the
indigenous population. L et us, however, assume it to be three per cent
less, or 30 per cent on the whole number o f immigrants and their increase,
and to adapt our estimates to this supposition, we must in the first compari­
son add three per cent o f the whole number o f immigrants to compensate
for the excess o f adults, and in the second comparison deduct thirty per
cent to correct the excess o f children gained by immigration. W ith these
corrections the proportion o f children will be as follow s:—




United States, in F ifty Years.

243

First, when the children are compared with the females o f the same
census.
1800.
N o. o f children >
under 10, $
Add 3 p. ct. on ')
the N o. immi- I
grants in each j
decennial term j
T o t a l,.. .

1810.

1820.

1830.

1840.

1,490,315 2,016,479 2,625,790 3,427,730 4,485,130

1,640

2,460

3,972

6,930

16,200

1,490,955 2,018,939 2,629,762 3,427,730 4,323,200
i. ct.,
71
70.23
67.92
66.55
64.87
the children are compared with the females <af the pre-

ceding census.
N o. o f children )
under 10, $
Deduct 30 per")
ct. o f the immi- (
grants in each j
term ,..............

1,489,315 2,016,479 2,625,790 3,427,730 4,485,200

16,400

42,483

39,720

69,300

162,000

J

1,472,915 1,973,996 2,586,070 3,358,430 4,323,200
i.c t., 94.61
94
89.97
86.75
83.60
It thus appears that the addition o f 3 per cent on the number o f im ­
migrants in the first comparison, reduces the decrease in forty years only
from 6.29 to 6.13 per cent o f the females, though the addition o f 30 per
cent in the second, augments the decrease from 8.93 to 11.01 per cent o f
the females at the preceding census; which corresponds more nearly with
the estimate first made.
W e arrive at a similar result i f we make the more limited, but perhaps
m ore satisfactory comparison o f the children under 10 with the females be­
tween the child-bearing ages o f 16 and 45, in 1800, 1810, and 1820, when
their number was ascertained by the census. That class o f females amount­
ed in those years, respectively, to 813,193, 1,106,212, and 1,517,971.
W h en compared with the children under 10 in the same year—
The proportion o f children in 1800, is 183.1 per cent
“
“
“
“
1810, is 182.3
“
“
“
“
“
1820, is 173.2
“
Showing a decrease in the proportion o f children, o f nearly ten per
cent o f this class o f females in twenty y e a r s ; and thus, by whatever test
we compare the rate o f natural increase, as exhibited by the different enu­
merations, we have the same evidence o f a continual diminution o f such
increase.
Let us now compare the rates o f diminution o f decennial increase which
these tests severally indicate, estimating the females at forty-nine per cent
o f the whole population ; those o f the preceding census, at one-third less,
or thirty-two per c e n t; and those between 16 and 45, at nineteen per cent.
W hen reduced to the same standard, the foregoing comparative estimates
exhibit the following rates o f diminution o f increase in the whole popula­
tion from 1800 to 1840 :—




244

Prograss o f Population and Wealth in the
Decrease o f ratio
in 40 years.

1. W here the whole population at each

Decrease o f ratio
in 10 years.

4.3 p. C t . = l p.
census is compared, after deducting |
for immigration,.................................
2. W here the children under 10 are
“ = 0 .7 5
compared with the females o f the £ 6 .1 3 = 3 .
same census,.....................................
3. W h ere the children under 10 are
“
= 0 .8 9
compared with the females o f the > 1 1 .0 2 = 3 .5
preceding census,............................
Decrease in 20 years.
4. W h ere the children under 10 are
“
= 0 .9 4
9. 9 = 1 .8 8
compared with the females between .
16 and 4 5 ,..........................................

ct.

“

“

“

The average o f these rates o f diminution is very nearly nine-tenths o f
one per cent for ten years, and this is probably somewhat beyond the truth;
first, because in the second comparison, which makes the lowest estimate,
there seems to be fewer sources o f error than in the rest; and secondly,
because a moderate addition to the supposed number o f emigrants in the
first decennial term would approximate the first comparison, which makes
the highest estimate, to the other three ; and there is more than one reason
for believing that Dr. Seybert’s estimate o f the immigration, which has
been here adopted, is too low. W e may, then, on the whole, conclude
that the rate o f increase o f the white population has diminished, on an
average, between one, and three-fourths o f one per cent, in ten years, and
that the diminution has been in a slightly increasing ratio.
II. The natural increase o f the colored population.
In the preceding chapter it was assumed that the natural increase o f the
colored race in the United States was uniform, and that it was 32.2 per
cent in ten years, which was their rate o f increase between 1790 and 1800,
when it was supposed the number brought into the country equalled those
who went out o f it. But we have no proof that the slaves imported into
South Carolina and Georgia, (the only states which then received them
from abroad,) were equal to those who escaped to other countries, togeth­
er with the free colored persons who emigrated ; and if they were inferior
in number, the supposed rate o f increase would be too low. It certainly
seems improbable, at the first view, that the natural increase o f the whites
should have exceeded that o f the colored race 1.7 per cent in ten years,
as has been supposed in the preceding estimates ; and it is very possible
that the one is somewhat too high, and the other too low.
The uniformity o f increase in this part o f our population was presumed,
because the same circumstances which tend to check multiplication with
the whites have no existence with the colored race— certainly not with the
slaves, who now constitute more than six-sevenths o f the whole, and, in
1790, constituted more than eleven-twelfths. N or are they likely to exist
to the same extent in the free colored class as with the whites, since the
diminution o f increase with these may be occasioned principally by the
delay o f marriage in the richer classes o f society, which cause might not
extend to the poorer, who now find it as easy to obtain the necessaries o f
life, and even its substantial comforts, as ever. N o deduction was there­
fore made on account o f the free colored class.




United States, in Fifty Years.

245

The census, unfortunately, affords us not the same means o f ascertain,
ing the natural increase o f the colored population as o f that o f the whites,
it not having distinguished the ages o f colored persons before 1820 ; it
having also adopted one distribution then, and a different one in the two
subsequent enumerations. T o these last, therefore, our inquiries w ill be
limited.
A s emancipation seems not to have varied much in the two last decen­
nial terms, we will investigate the natural increase o f the two classes o f
the colored race separately, beginning with the slaves.
I f the increase o f slaves, from 1830 to 1840, had been proportionally as
great as it was from 1820 to 1830, the number at the last census would
have been 2,615,000, instead o f 2,487,000 ; thus showing a deficiency o f
128,000. How is so great a deficiency to be explained, without supposing
a decline in the rate o f increase ? The follow ing circumstances obviously
contributed to lessen the number o f slaves in 1840.
1. The emigration to Texas, which may account, perhaps, for half the
deficiency or more.
2. The increase o f runaway slaves. It is a fact o f general notoriety,
that the number o f those who have taken refuge in Canada or the northern
states, has greatly increased within the last two years.
3. The extraordinary mortality which prevailed in Mississippi, Louisiana, and South Alabama, in the first year o f the term, among the slaves,
and especially that large portion o f them who had been transported from
the more northern slave-holding states. The census shows the unwonted
extent o f such transportation. In the three states o f Alabama, Mississippi,
and Louisiana, the slaves, which in 1830 were 292,796, in 1840 amounted
to 617,195, thus showing an excess o f 230,000, after allowing for the de­
cennial in,crease 32.2 per c e n t ; whilst, on the other hand, Maryland, V ir­
ginia, and the Carolinas, had a smaller number o f slaves in 1830 than in
1840, by 21,000, though their natural increase, at the same rate o f 32.2
per cent, would have amounted to 334,000. So great a number as these
facts imply, transported from a more, to a less salubrious climate, and often
subjected to new habits o f life and new modes o f treatment, necessarily
supposes a great increase o f mortality, without the aid o f cholera and oth­
er epidemics, which, however, did their part also in the waste o f life.
4. The slower rate o f natural increase in most o f the southwestern
states. Although the slaves may have, as we have supposed, the same
ratio o f increase in the same state, they may have very different ratios in
different states, according to diversities o f climate, occupation, and treat­
ment ; and the census shows that the states to which so many slaves were
carried between 1830 and 1840, for the culture o f cotton, are much less
favorable to the natural multiplication o f that class, or, at least, have hith­
erto been so, than are the states from which they were transported, as
may be thus seen :—
In 1840, the total number o f slaves, and that o f the slave children un­
der 10, were respectively as follows :—
In Alabama, whole N o. slaves, 253,532— N o. children under 10, 87,430
In Mississippi,
“
“
195,211
“
“
“
63,708
In Louisiana,
“
“
45,861
168,452
“
«
«
In Florida,
“
“
8,036
25,717
“
“
“
T ota l,................... . .642,912
20*




205,035

246

Progress o f Population and Wealth in the

If, on the whole number o f slaves, 642,912, w e take 34.9 per cent as
the proportion o f children under 10, (which was the proportion throughout
the Union in 1830,) it will give 224,376 for the number o f children in
1840, which is 19,341 more than the number returned by the census. It
may be supposed by some that, inasmuch as these states received large
importations o f slaves from other states, o f whom there was an over pro­
portion o f adults, a part, if not the whole o f the deficiency here mentioned,
may be referred to such importations, and that it would be compensated
by an excess o f children in the slave-exporting states. But we perceive
no such disproportion o f adults in the case o f slaves transferred from state
to state, as exists in the case o f emigrants from foreign countries. W h en
the slave-holder migrates to the south, none o f his slaves are too young to
be taken with him, and it is the aged only, who are left behind. Even
the slave-dealers, although they confine their odious traffic chiefly to adults,
confine it also to those who are young and healthy, and whose increase,
consequently, or the loss o f it, in a few years corrects, and more than
corrects, the slight temporary change in the proportion between children
and females, which their removal occasioned both in the state they had
left and in the state they were carried to. W e accordingly find, that V ir­
ginia exhibits no excess o f slave children, in consequence o f the 180,000
slaves which the census shows she had lost between 1830 and 1840. On
the contrary, the number had undergone a sensible decrease (from 35.6
to 33.9) in that time ; and North Carolina, which had parted with a small­
er proportion o f slaves in the same time, (about 80,000,) exhibits also a de­
crease, and a correspondent decrease in the proportion o f children, that is,
from 37. to 36.2 per c e n t ; all o f which seems to show that the transpor­
tation o f slaves from state to state, by settlers and slave-dealers, tends
rather to raise than to lower the proportion o f children in the importing
state.
Though we have no data for estimating the other causes o f diminution
with even an approach to accuracy, we must admit that their combined
force does not seem insufficient to account for the large deficiency (128,000)
shown by the census o f 1840 ; and no one well acquainted with the con ­
dition o f slavery in the United States, will assent to the fact o f a falling off
in the natural increase o f the slaves, farther than to the qualified extent
that has been mentioned, without the most indubitable evidence. This
natural increase probably exceeded 32 per cent in ten years, during the
three first terms, and was certainly below 33 per cent. The subsequent
diminution, in consequence o f the great movement o f the slave population
to the south, when cotton bore a high price and money was redundant, has
scarcely been more than from one to two per cent o f the whole slave popu­
lation, so as to make the average decennial increase in fifty years, not
widely different from the 32.2 per cent supposed.
The natural increase o f the free colored population is the more difficult
to estimate on account o f emancipation, which we have no means o f as­
certaining, and which, while it but slightly diminishes the rate o f increase
o f slaves, greatly augments that o f the free colored class.
Thus, the de­
cennial increase o f this class has varied from 82.3 to 20.9 per cent, though
that o f the slaves has ranged only from 33.4 to 23.8 per cent. The cen­
sus, nevertheless, affords persuasive evidence that the natural increase o f
the free portion o f the colored population is less than that o f the slaves.
The number o f the former in 182-0, was 238,197, and in 1840, 386,348,




United States, in F ifty Years.

247

showing an increase in 20 years, o f 62.2 per c e n t ; and the slaves in the
same time, showed an increase o f 61.1, although the number o f slaves
emancipated in N ew Y ork and N ew Jersey,* were probably more than
15,000 ; and which, consequently, made an accession o f near six per cent
to the free colored in 1820. Making, then, but a moderate allowance for
their gain from this source, the increase o f the slaves shown by the cen­
sus will considerably exceed that o f the free colored. It is true, that whilst
this class gained largely by emancipation, it is known also to have lost
largely by emigration, especially in the last decennial term ; but such emi­
gration is not likely to have much exceeded the diminution o f slaves from
similar pauses, and certainly not enough to balance the gain from eman­
cipation.
But further : the proportion o f children under 10 in this class, thus com pares with that o f the other two classes in 1830 and 1840, v i z :—
P e r cent.

P e r cent.

P er cent.

W h ite s ,.. . . in 1 8 3 0 ... .32.54— In 1 8 4 0 ,... .31.61— D iffe re n c e .. . .0.93
“
____ 34.90
“
....3 3 .9 4
“
____ 0.96
Slaves,.........
Free colored,
“
....3 0 .0 4
“
....2 8 .8 8
“
....1 .1 2
B y which it appears that the proportion o f free colored children under
10 was, at both enumerations, more than two per cent less than that o f the
whites, and more than four per cent less than that o f the slaves. N ow
we cannot refer this inferiority to emigration, which, so far as it has any
effect, tends to increase the proportion o f children ; and whether we refer
the whole or a part o f it to emancipation, (which, by adding only adults to
the class, unquestionably diminishes the proportion o f children,) an in­
feriority in the rate o f increase is the necessary resu lt: i f we refer the
whole, then we suppose such an accession from this source that, when de­
ducted from the total number o f the class, the remainder would prove a
slower rate o f increase than the census exhibits in the slaves, and, perhaps,
in the w hites; and if we refer only a part o f the difference o f proportion
to emancipation, then the other part o f it directly indicates a smaller de­
cennial increase.
In the cities and towns, to which most o f the free persons o f color resort,
we find much reason for believing that their natural increase is slower
than that o f the slaves or the whites. T h ey are, taken as a class, poor,
improvident, immoral, and consequently, little likely to rear large families.
The licentiousness, too, which characterizes many o f the young females
o f this class, consigns a large portion o f them either to unfruitfulness or a
premature grave. In N ew Y ork, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, they o c ­
cupy much more than their proportion o f the pauper list. These facts
are not inconsistent with the supposed greater longevity o f this cla s s; for
the rate o f its natural increase depends upon the greater number, and its
character for longevity on a few.
in comparing the proportion o f children under 10, in 1830 and 1840,
we find the falling off to be greater in this class than the other classes ;
and if we cannot refer it to an increase o f emancipation in the last decen­
nial term, o f which we have no evidence, it seems to indicate a small
diminution in the rate o f increase.
* In 1820, the number o f slaves in those states was 17,645, and in 1830, it was re­
duced to 2,329. It may be presumed that the whole, or nearly the whole o f the diflerence, was the effect o f emancipation in the intervening ten years.




248

,

Progress o f Population and W ealth fyc.

Let us now compare the increase o f the white and colored population,
in fifty years, supposing the former not to have gained, and the latter not
to have lost hy migration.
In 1790, the white population w as.............. _.................................
Increase in 10 years, exclusive o f immigration, 33.9 p. cent

3,172,464
1,075,465

In 1800,......................... .......................................................................
Increase in 10 years, 33.1 per cent..........................................

4,247,929
1,406,064

In 1810,.................................................................................................
Increase in 10 years, 32.1 per cent..........................................

5,653,993
1,814,932

In 18 20 ,.................................................... ..........................................
Increase in 10 years, 30.9 per cen t..........................................

7,468,925
2,307,897

In 1 8 3 0 ,.................................................................................................
Increase in 10 years, 29.6 per cen t..........................................

9,776,822
2,929,136

In 18 40 ,.................................................................................................

12,705,958

W h ich shows an increase in fifty years, or rather in forty-nine years
and ten months, in the proportion o f 100 to 400.4
In 1790, the whole colored population w as...................................
Increase in 10 years, 32.2 per cent............................................

757,363
244,073

In 1800,...................................................................................................
Increase in 10 years, 32.2 per cent............................................

1,001,436
322,462

In 1810,...................................................................................................
Increase in 10 years, 32.2 per cent............................................

1,323,898
426,295

In 18 20 ,...................................................................................................
Increase in 10 years, 32.2 per cent............................................

1,750,193
563,562

In 18 30 ,................................................................................................... 2,313,755
Increase in 10 years, 32.2 per cen t............................................
745,029
In 1840,................................................................................................... 3,058,784
W hich shows an increase, in the same period, in the proportion o f 100
to 403.9 per cent, or three and a half per cent more than that o f the white
population.
It may seem improbable, at the first view, that the natural increase o f
the white population was greater than that o f the colored in the two first
decennial terms, as we have supposed i t ; and altogether inconsistent with
that greater exemption from all the ordinary restraints on marriage, which
keeps the increase o f this race nearly uniform. It ha3 been already stated,
that the difference between them in 1800 and 1810, may have been over­
rated, and that we should, perhaps, be nearer the truth, to lower the in­
crease o f the whites by a higher estimate o f the immigration, and to make
a small addition to the increase o f the colored population in the first de­
cennial terms. But we must not allow too much to the considerations that




249

British E ast India and China Trade.

have been mentioned ; for it must be remembered that, in the first decen­
nial terms, most o f the slaves lived in the more insalubrious portions o f the
southern states, whilst most o f the whites occupied much more healthy re­
gions. Besides, if a greater proportion o f the colored females are mothers,
und mothers at an earlier age, they probably do not rear such large fami­
lies, and a greater number o f their offspring die from disease and fieglect.
It is known that, while the slaves have a greater proportion o f children
under 10 than the whites,* they are also subject to greater mortality in
after life, and, perhaps, the last may balance or nearly balance the first.
These, and other questions connected with the progress o f our population,
can be accurately solved only after fuller and more frequent statistical de­
tails than w e now possess. F or the present, when so much rests on con ­
jecture, we must be content with approximations.

A r t . IV .— B R IT IS H E A S T IN D IA A N D C H IN A T R A D E .

T h e close o f the China war, resulting in the opening o f five large ports
to the enterprise o f the English merchants, has been, in England, the cause
o f great rejoicing, and o f an increased buoyancy in the markets, arising
from the anticipations o f a largely increased trade between England anc
that country, growing out o f an increased consumption o f British manufac
tures by the Chinese. These anticipations are, however, it appears to its,
not based upon any reasonable ground. On the contrary, if we recur to
the causes o f the war, we shall find that it grew out o f the fact that China
had not the means o f paying for that which they had already purchased.
T o understand the nature o f the trade, we may take the following table
o f the leading features o f the trade in British bottoms at Canton, for the
year ending June 30, 1838 :—
The total value o f imports in British bottoms, during the above period, was 24,785,462
Spanish dollars—
O f which the article o f opium amounted to..................................................
$13,344,030
T he value o f raw cotton from Bengal, Madras, and Bombay....................
6,563,124
Gold and silver, only..........................................................................................
751,435
T he balance being made up in British manufactures, and the produce
from the several presidencies in India and the British settlements in
the Straits o f Malacca.....................................................................................
3,899,873
T otal,.....................................................................................
The exports during the same time amounted t o ...............................

$24,785,462
22,004,700

Being a balance o f trade against the Chinese o f .............................

$2,780,762

A considerable part o f which was probably due by the Hong, or security
merchants, against whom the British merchants have extensive claims.

* It must, however, be remembered, that a part o f the excess must be referred to
emancipation, which, by being confined to adults, enhances the proportion o f children.
But the precise extent o f this disturbing influence we have no means o f ascertaining.




250

British East India and China Trade.

T he value o f raw silk w as..................................................................................
“
"
tea, o f all sorts...............................................................................
“
“
gold, sycee silver, and dollars..................................................
“
“
alum..................................................................................................
“
“
beads.................................................................................................
Sundries, viz :—
Camphor, arsenic, cassia, China ware, nankeens, paper, rhubarb, silk
piece goods, sugar, sugar-candy, vermilion, and various other articles...
Charges on vessels.................................................................................................
T o ta l,.................

$1,986,528
9,561,576
8,974,776
61,615
27,028

943,177
450,000
$22,004,700

N ow it must be observed, that o f the produce forming a part o f the im ­
ports into China, and collected at the settlements in the Straits o f Malac­
ca, v i z :—
Betel nut, in value..................................................................................................
Bird’s-nests................................................................................................................
Camphor...................................................................................................................
Elephants’ teeth........................................................................................
Fish maws................................................................................................................
Pepper........................................................................................................................
R attans.....................................................................................................................
R ice ............................................................................................................................
Sharks’ fins...............................................................................................................

$90,923
22,163
14,004
74,275
118,300
62,7T5
25,578
75,211
67,264

et ccetera ; a considerable portion, perhaps, was originally obtained in bar­
ter for opium, sold either at Singapore and Penang, or at the ports in Su­
matra, the Malay peninsula, & c ., where the articles are produced.
The total value o f British manufactures o f all sorts, in wool, cotton,
metals, & c ., appears to be only 2,493,630 Spanish dollars !
In relation to the claims o f the British merchants upon the H ong or se­
curity merchants, it is generally known that the Chinese government pre­
scribes to the foreign merchants to confine at Canton, their dealings solely
to twelve or thirteen security or H ong merchants. In their collective ca­
pacity, they were com m only called the Co-H ong. T h ey have all a nom­
inal rank under their own government, and they are the actual police magis­
trates over the foreigners, and have been so styled in some o f the orders o f
government, and in this capacity they are held amenable for the conduct
o f the foreigners. In their mercantile capacity, they trade separately;
but they are made mutually responsible, by their own government, for the
debts which each may incur, either with their government for duties, or
with foreigners in prosecution o f their trade. Under the latter condition
they are at this moment indebted several millions o f dollars to the foreign­
ers, chiefly British, who have repeatedly demanded payment o f their
claims, and have frequently petitioned the local government o f Canton
concerning them. O f late years, the free trade has, in some degree, de­
prived the claimants o f the means they before possessed to recover their
claims, and has altered the means o f the H ong merchants to discharge
them. The situation o f the H ong merchants formerly, and the exactions
which they suffered from their own government, generally resulted in their
failure. In 1779, the amount due English merchants by six Hongs, un­
der 208 bonds, was $ 3 ,8 0 2 ,5 8 7 ; and by shopkeepers, under 41 bonds,
$494,063 ; making $4,296,650. T h e present debt has been recently es­
timated as follow s:—




351

British East India and China Trade.
D ebts

of the

H ons M erchants .

Foreign.
Duties.
Total.
Hingtae debts,.............................................................. $2,261,439
$100,000 $2,361,439
1,000,000
240,000 1,240,000
Kinqua debts, estimated a t .......................................
Fatqua debts, 300,000 I. E., equivalent to..................................
418,000
418,000
T he Thibet war 600,000 tales, equivalent to....................................................
830,000
Three years quota for Ginseng, T s. 30,000............
............
............
40,000
T otal,..................................................

$3,261,439

$758,000 $4,889,439

These debts, almost necessarily, were the result o f the condition o f the
ordering trade. The circumstances o f the free trader appear equally to
have injured the Chinese merchants, and to have involved them in losses
which have reflected upon the British merchants in the shape o f the debts
here stated.
Independently o f this, however, the great turning point o f the trade has
been opium ; o f which article, $13,000,000 to $16,000,000 worth were
sent into China, for two-thirds o f which specie was withdrawn. In or­
der to observe what the state o f the old trade with China really was, we
may recur to the following table o f the imports into Canton, from E n g ­
land and its possessions:—
I mports

Year.

into

C anton

Manufac. Cot.wo'l.
Dollars.

1821........... 8,024,606
1822,
. 5,165,897
1823,
. 2,919,739
1824
. 5,959,089
1825
. 5,310,013
1826,
. 5,597,579
1827,
. 5,323,869
18 28,
. 8,323,517
1829,
. 4,800,348
1830,
. 4,381,991
1831........... 4,110,441
1832,
. 4,348,448
1833,
. 4,644,711
1834,
. 4,820,453

Peculs.*

from

E ngland

and its

P ossessions.

Value.

Opium.

Dollars.

Chests.

Dollars.

Dollars.

Dollars.

3,337
2,774
5.968
5,930
7,170
11,050
9.969
10,271
11,409
15,643
17,791
13,946
18,579
17,613

6,486,000
4,166,250
9,399,000
7,288,600
5,515,000
9,782,500
9,269,826
11,243,496
10,908,852
13,468,924
12,222,525
11,304,018
12,185,100
11,618,716

17,750,537
14,336,579
15,300,121
17,328,064
15,995,799
21,427,697
21,801,240
19,906,023
21,573,355
22,926,427
21,950,530
20,540,241
22,302,386
23,165,909

9,725,931
9,170,982
12,380,383
11,368,975
10,685,786
15,830,118
16,477,371
16,582,506
16,773,007
18,544,436
17,840,089
16,231,793
17,657,675
18,345,456

193,850 3,239,931
390,456 5,004,432
225,448 2,981,383
254,543 4,080,375
297,483 5,174,786
368,521 6,047,618
475,783 7,207,545
411,127 5,329,011
494,955 5,864,155
376,005 5,075,512
498,197 5,617,564
443,180 4,927,775
427,050 5,472,575
442,639 6,726,740

Value.

Total.

Cot. <$• Op.

This table presents the fact, that during sixteen years o f trade, during
which the British imports into China doubled in value, the proportion o f
British manufactures embraced in that aggregate decreased fifty per c e n t ;
giving evidence o f the fact, that the Chinese people produce nothing but
tea and silks, to give in exchange for that which they purchase ; conse­
quently, the drain o f specie swelled with the consumption o f opium to near
$16,000,000 per annum. The great objection which the Chinese govern­
ment had to the opium trade, was the drain o f specie which it caused. It
does not yet appear that that trade is to cease ; and if it should, the intro­
duction and sale o f British goods to an extent which would supply its place,
and restore the trade to the position it occupied before the rupture, must
be o f very slow growth. The following is a table o f the exports from
Great Britain to China, up to November, 1842 :—




* T he pecul is 133 J pounds.

352

British East India and China Trade.
E xports

of

B ritish

and

I rish P roduce

to

1814 .

1816.

1818.

842,852

1,326,388

1,204,356

C hina

from

G re at B rit a in .

1840.

1841.
Articles.
1841.
Cotton g ’ds, yds, 6,381,018 12,819,530 22,133,621 13,478,478 20,130,240 17,160,280
519,098
159,395
370,175
“
“ val. £
238,271
415,230
390,240
952,440 3,158,870 3,851,365 1,774,350 3,829,500 4,392,296
••
yarn, lbs.
212,933
217,047
56,839
“
“ val. £
88,748
216,240
281,138
1,124
1,087
1,128
1,340
2,232
Iron & steel, tons
2,210
11,714
9,937
9,839
11,771
19,730
“
“ val. £
19,980
36,970
90,349
1,388
55,745
L inen,......... yds.
2,769
60
3,927
2,539
“
......val. £
212,926
183,152
139,336
73,768
31,997
W oollens, ...pcs.
43,997
657,363
582,216
407,568
162,666
“
val. £
171,435
46,679
34,473
20,203
Oth’r art’s, val. £
Total,......£

I mtorts

Articles.

of

L eadinc A

1814 .

rticles from

1816.

C hina

1818.

524,198
into

691,358

651,200

G re at B rit a in .

1840.

1841.

1848.

110,697
74,883
44,142
24j000
11 >00
59,038
2,700
Cottons,...... pcs.
44,028
55,811
56,717
15,986
R hubarb,.... lbs.
582,834
1,277,251
702,677
247,755
Raw silk,... .lbs.
4,737
9,184
25,469
5,695
Silks,............pcs.
T e a ..............lbs. 32,029,052 48,520,508 38,988,572 22,576,405

The consumption o f these articles o f export to China, must be immense­
ly increased to counterbalance the weight o f the opium in the trade, which,
i f entirely suppressed, would occasion a loss o f $15,000,000 to $16,000,000
per annum, as regards the direct trade to China, besides several millions
more, for which produce is obtained in the Archipelago. The demand for
British manufactures in China has hitherto been really trifling, consider­
ing the extent o f the population and the comparative magnitude o f the oth­
er branches o f com m erce; and as they are an ingenious manufacturing
nation, any very considerable extension o f the sale o f British goods may,
perhaps, not be effected for some time to com e. It should be borne in
mind by those who are so sanguine as to a vast demand for British manu­
factures at the northern ports, (said to be thrown open to ships,) that
their own junks have been in the habit o f resorting, for many years past,
to the British and Dutch settlements at the entrance o f the China sea, con­
veying their produce there, and bringing back such articles as were re­
quired ; and they have not unfrequently purchased their British manufac­
tures at less than the prime cost in England, such has been the glut at
times. It will be useful to those who have not been engaged in the trade
to China to keep these facts in view, should they be tempted, by the ru­
mored opening o f the northern ports, to embark in what may appear a
tempting speculation.
Bearing in mind the difficulties and embarrassments in the money mar­
ket o f England with respect to the drain o f bullion for this country and
elsewhere, some idea may be formed o f what would have been the effect,
if, instead o f drawing annually $10,000,000 from China, as much had
been required to be sent for the purchase o f tea. This has been the case
with the United States, whose exports to China have been as follows :—




253

British East India and China Trade.
E xpor ts

of

Year.
1821,....... ..
1822,.......
1823,.......
1824,.......
1825,.......
1826,.......
1827,.......
1828,.......
1829,.......
1830,.......
1831,.......

S pecie,

and the

Specie.
$3,391,487
5,075,012
3,584,182
4,463,852
4,523,075
1,651,595
2,513,318
454,500
601,593
367,024

T

otal

E xports

Total E xp.
$4,290,560
5,935,368
4,636,061
5,301,171
5,570,515
2,566,644
3,848,135
1,482,802
1,354,862
742,193
1,290,835

to

C anton ,

Fear.
1832,........
1833,.........
1834,.........
1835,........
1836,........
1837,.........
1838,.........
1839,........
1840,........
1841,........

from the

U nited S tates . '

Specie.
$452,119
290,450
378,930
1,390,832
413,661
155,100
728,661
987,473
477,003
426,592

Total E xp.
$1,260,522
1,433,759
1,010,483
1,868,580
1,194,264
630,591
1,516,602
1,533,601
1,009,966
1,200,816

O f late years, the export o f lead from the United States has largely in­
creased, and reached, in 1841, 1,510,136 pounds, with the prospect o f a
great increase. The export o f specie direct from the United States, has
o f late years decreased, in consequence o f the use o f drawn bills on L on ­
don, which were equivalent to specie, inasmuch as they reduced the quan­
tity o f specie to be sent from China to the British possessions. From
these statements, it appears that the United States and Great Britain have
purchased o f China, independent o f opium, annually, about $8,000,000
worth more goods than the Chinese have purchased in return. This
$8,000,000 has been paid to, and an additional 8 to $9,000,000 extracted
from China, in specie, by the sale o f opium, which has grown to be the
most valuable staple o f the British East India possessions. H ence, if the
Chinese ports are opened to traders, and the opium trade suppressed, it
would appear that the sales o f British goods must be increased, to the ex­
tent o f $8,000,000, to prevent a drain o f specie from the British possessions.
O f all nations on the face o f the earth, the Chinese are the most back­
ward in adopting the fashions and habits o f foreigners. T h ey are indus­
trious, emulative, and ingenious. Their manufacturing skill and expe­
rience are unsurpassed. H ence, i f the trade becomes extended, it is
likely to flow mostly into a demand for raw material. Cotton piece goods
and long cloths may be supplied, to some extent, from N ew England.
It is with British India that the greatest results are likely to grow out o f
the new treaty. The following is the area and population o f British India:—
B ritish T e r r it o r y .

Bengal Presidency,.......................................................................
Madras
“
Bombay
“
Territories in the Deccan, & c., acquired since 1815, and
since mostly attached to the Bombay Presidency,.............
Total British Territories,...........................................

Brit. sq. ms.

Population.

328,000
154,000
11,000

57,500,000
15,000,000
2,500,000

60,000

8,000,000

553,000

83,000,000

The amount o f maritime trade connected with British India, is as fol­
lows :—
Total exports o f merchandise and treasure from Bengal, Madras, and
Bombay, to Great Britain, Continental Europe, North and South Amer­
ica, annually,...................................................................................................
Total imports to Bengal, Madras, and Bombay, from Great Britain, Con­
tinental Europe, North and South America, annual average,................
Maritime trade o f India with China, Birmah, Siam, Eastern Islands, Per­
sia, Arabia, Australasia, & c., annual average,..........................................
Maritime trade o f Singapore and China,.......................................................
Total Annual T rade,................ ........................................................
V O L. V III.— NO. III.




21

£12,000,000
8,000,000
4,000,000
6,000,000
£30,000,000

254

British East India and China Trade.

T h e exports from England to India are annually about £5 ,000 ,0 00 .
T h e return trade consists o f articles o f prime necessity. The valley o f
the Ganges is capable o f producing sugar sufficient to supply the world.
One half o f the consumption o f sugar in Great Britain is now derived from
India. The value o f sugar imported into England from Calcutta, in 1638,
was £ 6 0 0 ,0 0 0 . In 1841, it increased to £1 ,640 ,0 00 . The improved
mode o f cultivating the cane now adopted in Bengal, added to machinery,
will enable India to augment the production o f sugar to almost any extent.
About six million pounds o f indigo, valued at £2 ,0 0 0 ,0 0 0 sterling, are an­
nually imported into England from British India. Cotton wool is also
yearly augmenting, and sheep’s wool is now exported from India to E n g­
land to the extent o f about three millions pounds weight. O f pepper, the
exports are five million pounds ; o f rice, the export from Calcutta alone, to
England, is about twenty thousand tons. A profitable trade is now arising
in the export o f wheat from India to E n g lan d ; and the cargoes which
have arrived at Liverpool, have been valued at sixty shillings to sixty-four
shillings per quarter. The export o f untanned hides from Indir# to
England now amount to more than 50,000 cw t. ; o f linseed, to
20,000 bushels; o f castor oil, to more than 1,000,000 pounds weight.
The value o f the raw silk exported from Calcutta alone, in 1841 and 1842,
was £8 50 ,0 00 . O f saltpetre, the value in the same year was £ 2 3 0 ,0 0 0 .
It would be unnecessary to enumerate various other articles— such as
coffee, rum, tea, dyes, drugs, timber, & c . ; but it is worthy o f remark, that
British India is now commencing to supply England with three articles,
for which she pays Russia annually more than five millions sterlin g; the
greater part in the precious metals. These articles are : Tallow , 51,938
tons, at £ 4 0 a ton, equal to £ 2 ,077 ,5 20 ; flax, 54,478 tons, at £ 4 0 a ton,
equal to £ 2 ,1 7 9 ,1 2 0 ; hemp, 29,059 tons, at £ 3 5 per ton, equal to
£1 ,017,065— total amount, £ 5 ,2 7 3 ,7 0 5 .
In order to enter more particularly into the trade o f India, we will take the
following official tables o f the trade o f the largest presidency, B en g a l:—
T

r ad e of

B

engal.

IMPORT TRADE.

Places.

1841- 2 .
Rupees.

United Kingdom,...
3,30,69,120
22,42,864
France,....................
30,029
Foreign Europe,....
17,24,453
Coromandel Coast,.
73,049
Ceylon,....................
14,34,739
Malabar Coast,......
Maldives & Laccadi’s
1,48,740
7,95,381
Arab. &. Pers. Gulf,
61,02,418
China,......................
34,47,851
Singapore,...............
8,63,543
Penang & Malacca,
86,577
Java and Sumatra,.
3,634
11,677
N ew Zealand,.........
N ew Holland,.........
44,898
18,44,465
Pegu,.......................
94,846
Mauritius,...............
3,51,832
Bourbon,.................
74,402
Cape o f Good Hope,
18,52,204
North A m erica,....
Demarara,...............
Rupees,...........




5,42,96,722

EXPORT TRADE.

1841- 2 . 1840- 1.

P. c’tage. P. c’tage.
60.8
65.7
4.2
3.2
0.6
0.1
3.2
2.7
0.2
0.3
2.7
3.4
0.3
0.3
1.5
1.6
11.2
8.6
6.2
5.6
1.6
1.81
0.2
0.21
0.05
0.0
0.01
0.1
0.04
2.4
2.7
0.2
0.5
0.6
0.6
0.1
0.05
2.9
3.4
100.

100.

1841- 2 .
Rupees.

4,74,69,337
65,01,180
1,00,816
8,22,155
2,49,090
30,57,326
58,030
18,68,396
99,21,286
57,54,189
4,91,020
1,19,824

1841- 2 . 1840- 1.

P. c’tage. P. c’tage.
56.5
60.6
7.8
5.4
0.1
0.2

1.0

1.0

0.3
3.6

0.2
2.4

0.1

1.0

2.2
11.8
6.8
0.6

0.1

1.7
7.4
9.6
0.7
0.3

1,24,775

0.2

0.7

18,61,501
19,17,529
• 5,37,570
1,57,649
29,88,582
40,337

2.2
2.2
0.6
0.2
3.6

2.7
3.1
0.6
0.3
2.9

8,39,40,592

0.1
100.

0.1
100.

255

British East India and China Trade.
The aggregate trade for the last six years, has been as follows :—
Years.
18 3618371838-

Imports.

Exports.

Rupees.

R upees.

Oust. dut.lYears.

Imports.

R upees.

Rupees.

Exports. Oust. dut.
Rupees.

Rupees.

7, 3,72,65,602 6,70,77,409 ............ 1839-40, 5,06,59,181 7,04,06,119 40,68,391
8, 4,06,99,504 6,50,45,959 32,52,570 1840-41, 5,86,77,671 8,36,93,298 49,55,755
9, 4,14,05,700 6,48,00,805 30,10,12l|l841-42, 5,42,96,722 8,39,40,592 51,23,786

The net decrease in the value o f all merchandise imported and ex­
ported, compared with last year, is as 41, 33, 655, the deficiency in the trade
with Great Britain being 87, 86, 8 9 2 ; but in consequence o f an increase
with other places, the general deficiency is reduced to forty-one lacs.
(T h e lac is 100,000 rupees, or £ 1 0 ,0 0 0 .) The trade with Great Britain, o f
course, continues to be the first in importance, exceeding in value that with
all other parts o f the world. The decrease in the last year may be ac­
counted for by the perhaps too rapid annual ratio at which it has been in­
creasing for some time past. Thus, in 1837-38 it was, compared with
the entire trade o f the port, as 46 to 100 ; in 1838 -39, as 49 to 1 0 0 ; in
1 8 89 -40, as 58 to 100 ; in 1 8 40 -41, as 63 to 100 ; in the present year it
has receded to the ratio o f 58 to 100. The following exhibits the course
o f the trade in round numbers, for the last four y e a rs:—
Imports.

Years.

R upees.

183839,.
1839- 40,.

2.14.54.000
2.92.73.000

Exports.

Years.

Imports.
R upees.

Rupees.

1840- 41,.
1841- 42,.

3.85.73.000
3.30.69.000

5,07,72,000
4,74,69,000

R upees.

3,04,61,000
4,09,66,000

Exports.

O f these we subjoin the value, in round numbers, o f the principal com po­
nent items, namely, all those above two lacs o f rupees. W e begin with
th e im p o rts :—
Articles.
Cotton Piece G oods,...................... .......
Cotton Tw ist,.................................. ........
C opper,............................................. ........
W oollen s,......................................... .......
Iron ,.................................................. ........
Haberdashery,.................................
W in e s,.............................................. .......
A le and Beer,................................... ........
H ardw are,.......................................
Ironmongery and Machinery,...... .......
Spirits,............................................... .......
Spelter,............................................. ........
Plate and W atches,......................... ........
Stationery,........................................ ........
Provisions and Oilman’s,............... ........
B ooks,............................................... .......
Bottles,.............................................. ........
Glass W are,..................................... .......
Treasure,.......................................... ........

1839-40.
Rupees.
96,00,000
57,00,000
17,00,000
9,00,000
8,00,000
5,60,000
4,20,000
2,95,000
3,28,000
1,18,000
1,56,000
3,57,000
2,82,000
3,00,000
2,33,000
1,50,000
1,44,000
33,11,000

1840-41.
Rupees.
1,38,00,000
78,00,000
20,00,000
17,00,000
17,00,000
10,00,000
10,00,000
6,17,000
5,00,000
4,90,000
4,80,000
3,88,000
3,64,000
3,50,000
3,28,000
2,72,000
2,46,000
2,48,000
8,15,000

1841-42.
Rupees.
1,20,98,000
54,82,000
20,00,000
14,00,000
15,00,000
10,00,001
12,00,000
6,00,000
4,00,000
8,00,000
4,00,000
2,00,000
3,00,000
3,50,000
3,50,000
2,50,000
2,90,000
4,30,000
None.

P u r s u in g a sim ila r c o u r s e w ith the e x p o r ts , w e find that th e a r t ic le s the
v a lu e o f w h ic h e x c e e d s tw o la c s o f ru p e e s, a r e t h e s e :—
1889-40.
Articles.
In d ig o ,.............................................. .......
Sugar,................................................ ........
R aw Silk,.......................................... ........
Silk Piece Goods,............................ ........
Saltpetre,........... ............................... ........
Hides and Skins,............................ .......




R upees.

1,67,00,000
65,00,000
72,00,000
35,00,000
13,00,000
8,00,000

1S40-41.

1841-42.

Rupees.

R upees.

1,65,00,000
1,60,00,000
69,00,000
27,00,000
18,00,000
15,00,000

1,66,00,000
1,33,00,000
76,00,000
21,00,000
20,00,000
18,00,000

✓

256

British East India and China Trade.

Articles.

1839- 40 .

1840- 41 ,

1841- 41 .

Rupees.

Rupees.

Rupees.

Bengal Rum,....................................................
R ice ,..................................................................
Shellac...............................................................
Lac Dye,...........................................................
L inseed,...........................................................
R aw Cotton......................................................

2,54,000
8,00,000
7,60,000
4,00,000
2,50,000
2,36,000

9,30,000
9,00,000
7,15,000
3,50,000
1,80,000
14,000

5,20,000
11,00,000
3,37,000
3,04,000
70,000
46,000

The trade with China ranks next in importance, and is equal to 160
lacs, or £ 1 ,600 ,0 00 per annum, and is gradually recovering its ground,
although it exhibits a considerable falling o ff from former years. The
ratio it bore to the whole trade o f Bengal, in the last five years, was as
24, 21, 5, 8, and 11, respectively, to 100. Including the trade to Singa­
pore and Manilla, the ratio this combined traffic bears to the general trade
o f Bengal, in the last five years, is as 80, 26, 13, 16, and 18, to 100.
Cotton and opium are the ch ief articles o f export, and form the pivot on
which the whole trade o f England, India, and the United States, turns.
The exports o f opium from Bengal to China, and the imports o f treasure,
are as follows :—
E xports

of

O pium

to

C hina

1818- 19.
Chests.

T o China,.........................................
T o Singapore,..................................

and

S ingapore .

1819- 40 .
Chests.

1840- 41 .
Chests.

1841- 2 .
Chests.

14,642
2,835

4,780
13,169

5,852
10,822

11,378
7,032

Total chests,.......................
17,477
Value in rupees,.............................. ...1,40,17,000
Average price per comp, rupees,.
800

17,949
76,08,000
420

16,674
1,09,53,000
657

18,410
1,34,86,191
730

I mports

of

T reasure

from

C hina

and

S ingapore .

1818- 19.

1819- 40 .

1840- 41.

Rupees.

Rupees.

Rupees.

Rupees.

15,37,783

21,92,395
20,25,033

38,72,878
18,81,028

53,69,686
19,65,113

Total rupees,....................... ... 91,61,875

41,57,428

57,53,901

73,34,799

China,...............................................
Singapore,........................................ ...

1841- 2 .

This table shows the fact that there was imported from China into Ben­
gal, in five years, 190 lacs o f rupees o f treasure, dollars, and sycee silver,
equal to £1 ,900 ,0 00 , or £4 7 5 ,0 0 0 per annum, equal to $2,375,000, in
payment for cotton and opium. This was the case when the severest re­
strictions were laid upon that trade.
It appears, then, in reviewing the whole trade, that the business o f China,
i f it increases under the new regulations, is likely to enhance the demand
for India opium and cotton, perhaps to the whole to which the latter can
be supplied ; and if the consumption o f British goods keeps pace with that
increased demand, it is more than can reasonably be expected. The Rus­
sians have had a monopoly o f the inland barter trade with China, but the
total value o f wares exchanged for teas, at the great fair o f Kiachta, sel­
dom exceeds 7,000,000 rubles, or £350 ,0 00 sterling ; affording an instance
o f the backwardness o f the Chinese to depart from their old customs.
T h e ground-work o f an extended trade with China, has first to be en­
larged by moral influences. I f it is attempted to drive trade with a people
by increasing the drain o f precious metals, which they before felt the in­
convenience of, it must inevitably produce mischief. The exports o f
China are mostly agricultural, and their production in increased quantities




The Grounds o f Protection.

257

is a work o f time and labor. In England, by the application o f money
and machinery, exports may be multiplied indefinitely; not so in an agri­
cultural country. I f sales to them are forced beyond their means, the
operation is to drain them o f their specie, and thereby cripple their future
means o f production; and they become impoverished by the double pro­
cess o f extravagance, and want o f means to prosecute industry.

A rt . V .— T H E GROU N DS OF P R O T E C T IO N .
[A series o f oral debates, on the most important topics which divide the community,
has been arranged to take place at the Tabernacle in N ew Y ork on successive Friday
evenings.

The second question to be debated was, “ T he Policy o f Protecting Industry

b y a Tariff;” — H orace G reeley and J oseph B lu n t , Esqs., in the affirmative; P arke
G odwin and S amuel J. T ilden , Esqs., in the negative. The subject o f the debate
opened on Friday evening, February 10, is one o f great interest to the nation and the

world, and falling so legitimately within the province o f this Magazine, that we have
concluded to publish entire the remarks o f Mr. Greeley, and hope to obtain, for a future
number, the arguments o f the gentlemen on the opposite side o f the question. W e would
here, however, take occasion to repeat, once for all, that whatever may be our individual
opinions touching the free trade or protective policy, our pages will ever be open to
their fr e e and fa ir discussion; and that we do not hold ourselves responsible for the
views advanced by any writer whose name may appear in our table o f contents.]
P o l i t i c a l E c o n o m y is one o f the latest born o f the sciences.
The very
fact that we meet here this evening, to discuss a question so fundamental
as this, proves it to be yet in comparative infancy. The sole favor I shall
ask o f my opponents, therefore, is, that they will not waste their efforts
and your time in attacking positions that we do not maintain, and hewing
down straw giants o f their own manufacture ; but meet directly the argu­
ments which I shall advance, and which, for the sake o f simplicity and
clearness, I will proceed to put before you in the form o f propositions and
their illustrations, as follows :—
P r o p o s i t i o n I.— A n a t i o n w h i c h w o u l d b e p r o s p e r o u s , m u s t p r o s e ­
cu te

VARIOUS BRANCHES OF INDUSTRY, AND SUPPLY ITS V ITAL W ANTS MAIN­

LY BY THE LABOR OF ITS OW N HANDS.

Cast your eyes where you will over the face o f the earth— trace back
the history o f men and o f nations to the earliest recorded periods, and I
think you will find this rule uniformly prevailing: that the nation
which is eminently an agricultural or a grain-exporting nation, which de­
pends mainly or principally on other nations for its regular supplies o f
manufactured fabrics, has been comparatively a poor nation, and ultimately
a dependant nation. I do not say that this is the instant result o f the
policy o f exchanging the rude staples o f agriculture for the more deli­
cate fabrics o f art, but I maintain that it is the inevitable tendency. The
agricultural nation falls in debt, becomes impoverished, and ultimately
subject. The palaces o f “ merchant princes” may emblazon its harbors
and overshadow its navigable waters; there m aybe a mighty Alexandria,
but a miserable Egypt behind i t ; a flourishing Odessa or Dantzic, but
backed by a rude and thinly peopled southern Russia or Poland. The e x ­




258

The Grounds o f Protection.

changers may flourish and roll in luxury, but the producers famish and
die. Indeed, few old and civilized countries become largely exporters o f
grain until they have lost, or by corruption are prepared to surrender, their
independence ; and these often present the spectacle o f the laborer starv­
ing on the fields he has tilled, in the midst o f their fertility and promise.
These appearances rest upon, and indicate a law, which I shall endeavor
hereafter to explain. I pass now to my
P r o p o s i t i o n II.— T h e r e i s a n a t u r a l t e n d e n c y i n a c o m p a r a t i v e l y
NEW COUNTRY TO BECOME AND CONTINUE AN EXPORTER OF GRAIN AND OTHER
RUDE STAPLES, AND AN IMPORTER OF MANUFACTURES.

I think I hardly need waste time in demonstrating this proposition, since
it is illustrated and confirmed by universal experience, and rests on obvious
laws. The new country has abundant and fertile soil, and produces grain
with remarkable facility ; also meats, timber, ashes, and most rude and
bulky articles. Labor is there in demand, being required to clear, to build,
and open roads, & c ., and the laborers are comparatively fe w ; while in
older countries labor is abundant and cheap, as well as capital, machinery,
and all the means o f the cheap production o f manufactured fabrics. I
surely need not waste words to show that, in the absence o f any counter­
acting policy, the new country will import, and continue to import, largely
o f the fabrics o f older countries, and to pay for them, so far as she may,
with her agricultural staples. I will endeavor to show hereafter, that she
will continue to do this long after she has attained a condition to manufac­
ture them as cheaply for herself, even regarding the money cost alone.
But that does not com e under the present head. The whole history o f our
country, and especially from 1782 to 1790, when we had no tariff and
scarcely any paper money, proves that, whatever may be the currency or
the internal condition o f the new country, it will continue to draw its chief
supplies o f fabrics from the old— large or small, according to its measure
o f ability to pay or obtain credit for them— but still, putting duties on im­
ports out o f the question, it will continue to buy its manufactures abroad,
whether in prosperity or adversity, inflation or depression.
I now advance to my
P r o p o s i t i o n III.— I t i s i n j u r i o u s t o t h e n e w c o u n t r y t h u s t o c o n ­
t in u e

DEPENDANT FOR ITS SUPPLIES OF CLOTHING AND MANUFACTURED FAB­

RICS, ON THE OLD.

A s this is the point on which the doctrines o f protection first com e di­
rectly in collision with those o f free trade, I will treat it more deliberately,
and endeavor to illustrate and demonstrate it.
I presume I need not waste time in proving that the ruling price o f grain
(as also o f manufactures) in a region whence it is considerably exported,
w ill be its price at the point to which it is exported, less the cost o f such
transportation. F o r instance : the cost o f transporting grain hither from
large grain-growing sections o f Illinois, last fall, was sixty cents; and,
N ew Y ork being their most available market, and the price here ninety
cents, the market there at once settled at thirty cents. A s this adjustment
o f prices rests on a law, obvious, immutable as gravitation, I presume I
need not waste words in establishing it.
I proceed, then, to my next point. The average price o f wheat through­
out the world, is something less than one dollar per bushel— higher, where
the consumption largely exceeds the adjacent production ; lower, where the
production largely exceeds the immediate consumption. I put out o f view,




The Grounds o f Protection.

259

in this statement, the inequalities created by tariffs, as I choose at this point
to argue the question on the basis o f universal free trade, which o f course
is the basis most favorable to my opponents. I say, then, if all tariffs
were abolished to-morrow, the price o f wheat in England, that being the
most considerable ultimate market o f surpluses, and the chief supplier o f
our manufactures, would govern the price in this country, while it would
be itself governed by the price at which that staple could be procured in
sufficiency from other grain-growing regions. N ow , southern Russia and
central Poland produce wheat for exportation at thirty to fifty cents per
bushel; but the price is increased by the cost o f transportation, so that, at
Dantzic, it averages some ninety, and at Odessa, some eighty cents per
bushel. The cost o f importation to England from these ports being ten
and fifteen cents respectively, the actual cost o f the article in England, all
charges paid, and allowing for a small increase o f price consequent on the
increased demand, would not, in the absence o f all tariffs whatever, exceed
one dollar and ten cents per bushel; and this must be the average price at
which we must sell it in England, in order to buy there the great bulk o f
our manufactures. I think no man will dispute, or materially vary this cal­
culation. Neither can any reflecting man seriously contend that we could
purchase forty or fifty millions more o f foreign manufactures per annum,
and pay for them in additional products o f our own slave labor, in cotton
and tobacco. The consumption o f these articles is now pressed to its ut­
most limit— that o f cotton especially is borne down by the immense weight
o f the crops annually thrown upon it, and almost constantly on the verge
o f a glut. I f we are to buy our manufactures principally from Europe,
w e must pay for the additional amount mainly in the products o f northern
agricultural industry— that is universally agreed on. The point to be deter­
mined is, whether we could obtain them abroad cheaper— really and posi­
tively cheaper— all tariffs being abrogated, than under an efficient system
o f protection.
L et us closely scan this question. Illinois and Indiana, natural grain­
growing states, need cloths ; and in the absence o f all tariffs, these can
be transported to them from England for two to four— say three— per cent
on their value. It follows, then, that in order to undersell any Am erican
competition, the British manufacturer need only put his cloths at his factory
five per cent below the wholesale price o f such cloths in Illinois, in order
to command the Am erican market. That is, allowing a fair broadcloth to
be manufactured in or near Illinois, for three dollars and a quarter per yard,
cash price, in the face o f the British rivalry, and paying Am erican prices
for material and la b o r ; then the British manufacturer has only to make
that same cloth at three dollars per yard in Leeds or Huddersfield, and
he can decidedly undersell his American rival, and drive him out o f the
market. Mind, I do not say that he would supply the Illinois market at
that price after the American rivalry had been crushed : I know he would
n ot; but so long as any serious effort to build up or sustain manufactures in
this country existed, the large and strong European establishments would
struggle for the additional market which our growing and plenteous coun­
try so invitingly proffers. It is well known that, in 1 8 15 -16, after the
close o f the last war, British manufactures were offered for sale in our
chief markets at the rate o f “ pound f o r pound
that is, the goods o f which
the first cost to the manufacturer was $4 44, were offered in Boston mar­
ket at $3 33, duty paid. This was not sacrifice— it was dictated by a




260

The Grounds o f Protection.

profound forecast. W e ll did the foreign fabricators know that their selfinterest dictated the utter overthrow, at whatever cost, o f the young rivals
which the war had built up in this country, and which our government and
majority o f the people had blindly or indolently abandoned to their fate.
W illiam Cobbett, the celebrated radical, but with a sturdy English heart,
boasted, upon his first return to England, that he had been actively en­
gaged here in promoting the interests o f his country, by compassing the
destruction o f Am erican manufactories, in various ways, which he speci­
fies— “ sometimes,” says he, “ by fir e .” W e all know that great sacrifices
are often submitted to by a rich and long-established stage-owner, steam­
boat proprietor, or whatever, to break down a young and comparatively
penniless rival. So in a thousand instances, especially in a rivalry for so
large a prize as the market for manufactures, o f a great and growing na­
tion. But I here put aside all calculations o f temporary sacrifice ; 1 sup­
pose merely that the foreign manufacturers w ill supply our grain-growing
states with cloths at a living price, so long as they encounter Am erican
rivalry ; and I say it is perfectly obvious, that i f it cost three dollars and
a quarter a yard to make a fair broadcloth, in or near Illinois, in the in­
fancy o f our arts, and a like article could be made in Europe for three
dollars, then the utter destruction o f the Am erican manufacture is inevi­
table. The foreign drives it out o f the market, and its maker into bank­
ruptcy ; and now our farmers, in procuring their cloths, “ buy where they
can buy cheapest,” which is the first commandment o f “ free trade,”
and get their cloth o f England at three dollars a yard. I maintain that
this would not last a year after the Am erican factories had been silenced ;
that now the British operator would begin to think o f profits, as well as
bare cost for his cloths, and to adjust his prices so as to recover what it
had cost him to put down the dangerous competition. But let this pass
for the present, and say the foreign cloth is sold to Illinois for three dollars
per yard. W e have yet to ascertain how much she has gained or lost by
the operation.
This, says free trade, is very plain and easy. The four simple rules
o f arithmetic suffice to measure it. She has bought say a million yards
o f foreign cloth for three dollars, where she formerly paid three and a
quarter for Am erican, making a clear saving o f a quarter o f a million o f
dollars.
But not so fast; we have omitted one important element o f the calcu­
lation. W e have yet to see what effect the purchase o f her cloth in E u ­
rope, as contrasted with its manufacture at home, will have on the price
o f her agricultural staples. W e have seen already that, in case she is
forced to sell a portion o f her surplus products in Europe, the price o f that
surplus must be the price which can be procured for it in England, less
the cost o f carrying it there. In other words, the average price in E n g ­
land being one dollar and ten cents, and the average cost o f bringing it to
N ew Y ork being at least fifty cents, and then o f transporting it to E n g­
land at least twenty-five more, the net proceeds to Illinois cannot be more
than thirty-five cents per bushel. I need not more than state so obvious
a truth, as that the price at which the surplus can be sold, governs the price
o f the whole c r o p ; nor indeed, if it were possible to deny this, would it at
all affect the argument. The real question to be determined is, not
whether the Am erican or British manufacturers will furnish the most cloth
for the least cash, but which will supply the requisite quantity o f cloth for




The Grounds o f Protection.

261

the least grain in Illinois. N ow we have seen already, that the price o f
grain at any point where it is readily and largely produced, is governed
by its nearness to, or remoteness from the market, to which its surplus
tends, and the least favorable market in which any portion o f it must be
sold. F or instance: if Illinois produces a surplus o f five millions o f bush­
els o f grain, and can sell one million o f bushels in N ew Y ork, and two
millions in N ew England, and another million in the W est Indies, and for
the fifth million is compelled to seek a market in England, and, that being
the remotest point at which she sells, and the point most exposed to disad­
vantageous competition, is naturally her poorest market, that farthest, and
lowest market to which she sends her surplus will govern, to a great ex­
tent, if not absolutely, the price she receives for the whole surplus. But,
on the other hand, let her cloth, her wares, be manufactured in her midst,
or on the junctions and waterfalls in her vicinity, thus affording an imme­
diate market for her grain, and now the average price o f it rises, by an ir­
resistible law, nearly or quite to the average o f the world. Assum ing that
average to be one dollar, the price in Illinois, making allowance for the
fertility and cheapness o f her soil, could not fall below an average o f seventy-five cents. Indeed, the experience o f the periods when her consump­
tion o f grain has been equal to her production, as well as that o f other sec­
tions where the same has been the case, proves conclusively that the aver­
age price o f her wheat would exceed that sum.
W e are now ready to calculate the profit and loss. Illinois, under free
trade, with her “ workshops in Europe,” will buy her cloth twenty-five
cents per yard, or seven per cent cheaper, and thus make a nominal sav-’
ing o f two hundred and fifty thousand dollars on her year’s supply ; but
she thereby compels herself to pay for it in wheat at thirty-five instead o f
seventy-five cents per bushel, or to give over nine and one-third bushels o f
wheat for every yard under free trade, instead o f f o u r and a third un.
der a system o f home production. In other words, while she is making
a quarter o f a million dollars by buying her cloth “ where she can buy
cheapest,” she is losing nearly two millions o f dollars on the net product
o f her grain. The striking a balance between her profit and loss is cer­
tainly not a difficult, but rather an unpromising operation.
Or, let us state the result in another form . She can buy her cloth a lit­
tle cheaper in England, labor being there lower, and machinery more per­
fect, and capital more abundant; but in order to pay for it, she must not
merely sell her own products at a correspondingly low price, but enough
lower to overcom e the cost o f transporting them from Illinois to England.
She will give the clothmaker in England less grain for his cloth than she
would give to the man who made it in her m idst; but for every bushel
she sends him in payment for his fabric, she must give two to the wagon­
er, boatman, shipper, and factor, who transport it there. O f the whole
product o f her industry, two-thirds is tolled out by carriers and bored out
by inspectors, until but a beggarly remnant is left to the fabricator o f her
goods.
And here, I trust, I have made obvious to you the law which dooms an
agricultural country to inevitable and ruinous disadvantage in exchanging
its staples for manufactures, and involves it in perpetual and increasing
debt and dependence. T he fa c t I early alluded to ; is not the reason now
apparent ? It is not that agricultural communities are more extravagant,
or less industrious than those in which manufactures or com m erce pre­




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The Grounds o f Protection.

ponderates. It is because there is an inevitable disadvantage to agricul­
ture in the very nature o f all distant exchanges. Its products are far more
perishable than any oth er; they cannot so well await a future demand ;
but in their excessive bulk and density is the great evil. W e have seen
that, while the English manufacturer can send his fabrics to Illinois for
less than five per cent on their first cost, the Illinois farmer must pay two
hundred per cent on his grain for its exportation to English consumers.
In other words, while the English manufacturer need only produce his
goods five per cent below the Am erican, to drive the latter out o f the Illi­
nois market, the Illinoian must produce wheat for one-third o f its English
price, in order to compete with the English and Polish grain-grower in
Birmingham and Sheffield.
And here is the answer to that scintillation o f “ free trade” wisdom,
which flashes out in wonder that manufactures are eternally and especially
in want o f protection, while agriculture and com m erce need none. The
assumption is false in any sen se; our com m erce and navigation cannot
live without protection; never did live so ; but let that pass. It is the
interest o f the whole country which demands that that portion o f its indus­
try which is most exposed to ruinous foreign rivalry, should be cherished
and sustained. The wheat-grower is protected by ocean and land ; by
the fact, that no foreign article can be introduced to rival his, except at a
cost for transportation o f some thirty to one hundred per cent on its value ;
while our manufactures can be inundated by foreign competition at a cost
o f some two to ten per cent. It is the grain-grower, the cattle-raiser, who
is protected by a duty on foreign manufactures, quite as much as the spin­
ner or shoemaker. H e who talks o f manufactures being protected, and no­
thing else, might just as sensibly complain that we fortify Boston and N ew
Y ork, and not Pittsburgh or Cincinnati.
Again, you see here our answer to those philosophers who modestly tell
us that their views are liberal and enlightened, while ours are benighted,
selfish, and unchristian. T h ey tell us that the foreign factory-laborer is
anxious to exchange with us the fruits o f his labor ; that he asks us to give
him o f our surplus grain for the cloth that he is ready to make cheaper
than we can now get it, while we have a superabundance o f bread. N ow ,
putting for the present out o f the question the fact, that though our tariff
were abolished, his would rem ain; that neither England, France, nor any
great manufacturing country would receive our grain untaxed, though we
offered so to take their goods— especially the fact that they never did so
take o f us while we were freely taking o f them— we say to them, “ Sirs,
we are willing to take cloth o f you for grain ; but why prefer to trade at
a ruinous disadvantage to both ? W h y should there be half the diameter
o f the earth between him who makes coats and him who makes bread, the
one for the other ? W e are willing to give you bread for cloth es; but we
are not willing to pay two-thirds o f our bread as the cost o f transporting
the other third to you, because we sincerely believe it needless, and greatly
to our disadvantage. W e are willing to work for, and buy o f you, but not
to support the useless and crippling activity o f a falsely directed com m erce:
not to contribute by our sweat to the luxury o f your nobles, the power o f
your kings. But com e to us, you who are honest, peaceable, and indus­
trious ; bring here your machinery, or, if that is not yours, bring hither
your sinews, and we will aid you to reproduce the implements o f your
skill. W e will give you more bread for your cloth here, than you can




The Grounds o f Protection.

263

possibly earn for it where you are, if you will but com e among us and aid us
to sustain the policy that secures steady employment and a fair reward to
home industry. W e will no longer aid to prolong your existence in a state
o f semi-starvation, where you are ; but we are ready to share with you our
plenty and our freedom here.”
Such is the answer which the friends o f
protection make to the demand and the imputation : judge ye whether our
policy be indeed selfish, unchristian, and insane.
I proceed now to set forth my
P r o p o s i t i o n IV .— T h a t e q u i l i b r i u m b e t w e e n a g r i c u l t u r e , m a n u ­
factu res,

AND COMMERCE, WHICH W E DESIRE, CAN ONLY BE MAINTAINED

BY MEANS OF PROTECTIVE DUTIES.

Y ou will have seen that the object we seek is not to make our country
a manufacturer for other nations, like Britain, but for herself— not to make
her the baker, and brewer, and tailor, o f other people, but o f her own
household. W e want a proportioned, not a one-sided national industry.
I f I understand, at all, the first rudiments o f national econom y, it is best
for each and all nations that each should mainly fabricate for itself, freely
purchasing o f others all such staples as its own soil or climate prove con ­
genial to. W e understand and appreciate, quite as well as our opponents,
the im policy o f attempting to grow coffee in Greenland, or glaciers in
Malabar— to extract blood from a turnip, or sunbeams from cucumbers.
A great deal o f wit has been expended on our stupidity, by our leather­
brained adversaries ; but it has been quite thrown away, except as it has
excited the hollow laughter o f the ignorant, as well as thoughtless. A ll
this, however sharply hurled, falls wide o f our true position. T o all the
fine words we hear about “ the impossibility o f counteracting the laws o f
nature,” “ trade regulating itself,” & c ., & c ., we bow with due deference,
and wait for the sage to resume his argument. W hat we do affirm is th is:
that it is best for every nation to make at home all those articles o f its own
consumption, that can just as well— that is, with nearly or quite as little
labor— be made there as anywhere else. W e say it is not wise, it is not
well, to send to France for boots, to Germany for hose, to England for
knives and forks, and so on, because the real cost o f them would be less—
even though the nominal price should be slightly more— if w e made them
in our own country, and the facility o f paying for them would be much
greater. W e do not object to the occasional importation o f choice articles,
to operate as specimens and incentives to our own artisans, to improve
the quality and finish o f their workmanship— where the home competi­
tion does not avail to bring the process to its perfection, as it oftener will.
In such cases, the rich and luxurious will usually be the buyers o f these
choice articles, and can afford to pay a good duty. There are gentlemen
o f extra polish in our cities and towns, who think no coat good enough for
them which is not woven in an English loom— no boot adequately transpa­
rent, which has not been fashioned by a Parisian master. I quarrel not
with their taste: I only say that, since the government must have revenue,
and the Am erican artisan should have protection, I am glad it is so fixed
that these gentlemen shall contribute handsomely to the former, and gratify
their aspirations with the least possible detriment to the latter. It does
not invalidate the fact or the efficiency o f protection, that foreign com pe­
tition with American workmanship is not entirely shut out. It is the gene­
ral result which is important, and not the exception. N ow , he who can
seriously contend, as some have seemed to do, that protective duties do




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The Grounds o f Protection.

not aid and extend the domestic production o f the articles so protected,
might as well undertake to argue the sun out o f the heavens at mid-day.
A ll experience, all common sense, condemns him. D o we not know that
our manufactures first shot up under the stringent protection o f the embar­
go and war ? that they withered and crumbled under the comparative
free trade o f the few succeeding years ? that they were revived and
extended by the tariffs o f 1824 and 1828 ? D o we not know that G er­
many, crippled by British policy, which inundated her with goods, yet ex­
cluded her grain and timber, was driven, years since, to the establishment
o f her “ Z oll Verrein,” or T ariff Union— a measure o f careful and strin­
gent protection, under which manufactures have grown up and flourished
through all her many states? She has adhered steadily, firmly, to her
protective policy, while we have faltered and oscillated; and what is the
result ? She has created and established her manufactures, and in doing
so has vastly increased her wealth, and augmented the reward o f her indus­
try. H er public sentiment, as expressed throughout its thousand channels,
is almost unanimous in favor o f the protective p o lic y ; and now, when
England, finding at length that her cupidity has over-reached itself— that
she cannot supply the Germans with clothes, yet refuse to buy their bread—
talks o f relaxing her corn-laws, in order to coax back her ancient and profit­
able customer, the answer is, “ N o ! it is now too late. W e have built up
home manufactures in repelling your rapacity— we cannot destroy them at
your caprice. W hat guaranty have we that, should we accede to your
terms, you would not return again to your policy o f taking all and giving
none, as soon as our factories had crumbled into ruin ? Beside, we have
found that we can make cheaper— really cheaper— than we were ever able
to buy— can pay better wages to . our laborers, and secure a better and
steadier market for our products. W e are content to abide in the position
to which you have driven us. Pass on !”
But this is not the sentiment o f Germany alone. A ll Europe acts on
the principle o f self-protection, because all Europe sees its benefits. The
British journals complain that, though they have made a show o f relaxing
their own tariff, and their Premier has made a free trade speech in
Parliament, the chaff has caught no birds ; but six hostile tariffs, all pro­
tective in their character and all aimed at the supremaiy o f British man­
ufactures, were enacted wifhin the year 1842. And thus, while school­
men plausibly talk o f the adoption and spread o f free trade principles,
and their rapid advances to speedy ascendancy, the practical man knows
that the truth is otherwise, and that many years must elapse before the
great Colossus o f manufacturing monopoly will find another Portugal to
drain o f her life-blood, under the delusive pretence o f a com m ercial reci­
procity. And while Britain continues to pour forth her specious treatises
on political econom y, proving protection a mistake and an impossibility,
her parliamentary reports and speeches in praises o f free trade, the
shrewd statesmen o f other nations humor the joke with all possible grav­
ity, and pass it on to the next neighbor; yet all the time take care o f
their own interests, just as though Adam Smith had never speculated, or
Peel soberly expatiated, on the blessings o f free trade, looking round o c ­
casionally with a curious interest to see whether anybody was taken in by it.
I have partly anticipated, yet I will state distinctly my
P r o p o s i t i o n V .— P r o t e c t i o n i s n e c e s s a r y a n d p r o p e r t o s u s t a i n , a s
W E LL AS TO CREATE, A BENEFICENT ADJUSTMENT OF OUR NATIONAL INDUSTRY.




The Grounds o f Protection.

265

“ W h y can’t our manufactures go alon e?” petulantly asks a free
trader; “ they have been protected long enough. Th ey ought not to
need it any m ore.”
T o this I answer, that i f manufactures were pro­
tected as a matter o f special bounty or favor to the manufacturers, a
single day were too long. I would not consent that they should be sus­
tained one day longer than the interests o f the whole country required.
But if I have been successful in making m yself understood, I think you
have already seen that not for the sake o f manufactures, but for the sake
o f all productive labor, should protection be afforded. If I have been in­
telligible, you will have seen that the purpose and essence o f protection
is l a b o r - s a v i n g — the making two blades o f grass grow instead o f one.
It does this by “ planting the manufacturer as nearly as may be by the side
o f the farmer,” as Mr. Jefferson expressed it, “ and thereby securing to
the latter a market, for which he had looked to Europe in vain.”
N ow ,
the market o f the latter is certain as the recurrence o f appetite ; but that
is not all. The farmer and the manufacturer being virtually neighbors,
will interchange their productions directly, or with but one intermediate ;
instead o ffe n d in g them reciprocally across half a continent and a broad
ocean, through the hands o f many holders, until the toll taken out by one
after another has exceeded what remains o f the grist. “ Dear-bought and
far-fetched” is a dry old maxim, containing more essential truth than
many a chapter by a modern professor o f political econom y. Under the
protective policy, instead o f having one thousand men making cloth on
one continent, and an equal number raising grain on another, with three
thousand factitiously employed in transporting and interchanging these
products, we have over two thousand producers o f grain and as many o f
cloth, leaving far too little employment for one thousand in making the ex ­
changes between them. This consequence is inevitable; although the
production on either side is not confined to the very choicest locations,
the total product o f their labor is twice as much as formerly. In other
words, there is a double quantity o f food, clothing, and all the necessaries
and comforts o f life, to be shared among the producers o f wealth, simply
from the diminution o f the number o f reon-producers. If all the men now
enrolled in armies and navies were advantageously employed in productive
labor, there would doubtless be a larger dividend o f comforts and necessa­
ries o f life for all, because more to be divided than now, and no more to re­
ceive i t : just so in the case before us. Every thousand persons employed
on needless transpoitation and factitious com m erce, are so many subtracted
from the great body o f producers, from the proceeds o f whose labor all
must be subsisted. The dividend for each must, o f course, be governed by
the magnitude o f the quotient.
But if this be so advantageous, it is queried, why is any legislation ne­
cessary ? W h y would not all voluntarily see and embrace it ? I answer,
because the apparent individual advantage is often to be pursued by a course
directly adverse to the general welfare. W e know that free trade asserts
the contrary o f this, maintaining that if every man pursues that course
most conducive to his individual interest, the general good will thereby
be most certainly and signally promoted. But to say nothing o f the
glaring exceptions to this law which crowd our statute books, with in­
junctions and penalties, we are every where met with pointed contradictions
o f its assumption, which hallows and blesses the pursuits o f the gambler,
distiller, and the libertine, making the usurer a saint, and the swindler a
V OL. V III.— NO. III.




22

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The Grounds o f Protection.

hero. Adam Smith, himself, admits that there are avocations which en­
rich the individual, but impoverish the community. So in the case before
us. A . B . is a farmer o f Illinois, and has much grain to sell or exchange
for goods. But while it is demonstrable, that if all the manufactures con­
sumed in Illinois were produced there, the price o f grain must rise nearly
to the average o f the world, it is equally certain that A . B .’ s single act, in
buying and consuming Am erican cloth, will not raise the price o f grain
generally, nor o f his grain. It will not perceptibly affect the price o f
grain at all. A solemn compact o f the whole community, to use only
A m erican fabrics, would have some e ffe ct; but this could never be estab­
lished, or never enforced. A few free traders standing out, selling their
grain at any advance which might accrue, and “ buying where they could
buy the cheapest,” would induce one after another to look out for number
one, and let the public interests take care o f themselves; and the whole
com pact would fall to pieces like a rope o f sand. Many a one would say,
“ W h y should I aid to keep up the price o f produce ? I am only a con­
sumer o f it” — not realizing or caring for the interest o f the community,
even though it less palpably involved his own, and that would be an end.
Granted, that it is desirable to encourage and prefer home production and
manufacture ; a tariff is the obvious way and the only way in which it
can be effectively and certainly accomplished.
But why is a tariff necessary after manufactures are once established ?
“ Y ou say,” says a freetrader, “ that you can manufacture cheaper, if
protected, than we can buy abroad ; then why not do it without protection,
save all trouble ?”
L et me answer this c a v il:—
I will suppose the manufactures o f this country amount to one hundred
millions o f dollars per annum, and those o f Great Britian to three hun­
dred millions. Let us suppose, also, that under an efficient protective
tariff, ours are produced five per cent cheaper than those o f England,
and that our own markets are supplied entirely from the home product.
But at the end o f this year, 1842, we, concluding that our manufactures
have been protected long enough, and ought now to go alone, repeal abso­
lutely our tariff, and commit our great interests to the guidance o f “ free
trade.”
W e ll: at this very time, the British manufacturers, on making
up their account and review o f their year’ s business, find that they have
manufactured goods costing them three hundred millions, as aforesaid, and
have sold to just about that am ount; leaving a residue or surplus on hand,
o f fifteen or twenty millions worth. These are to be sold, and their net
proceeds will constitute the interest on their capital, and the profit on
their year’s business. But where shall they be sold ? I f crowded on the
home, or their established foreign markets, they will glut and depress
those markets, causing a general decline o f prices, and a heavy loss, not
m erely on this quantity o f goods, but on the whole o f their next year’s
business. T h ey know better than to do any such thing. Instead o f it,
they say, “ Here is the American market just thrown open to us, by a re­
peal o f their tariff; let us send thither our surplus, and sell it for what it
will fetch.”
T h ey ship it over accordingly, and in two or three weeks it
is rattling o ff through our auction stores, at prices, first five, then ten,
fifteen, twenty, and down to thirty per cent, below our previous rates.
Every jobber and dealer is tickled with the idea o f buying goods o f novel
patterns, so wonderfully cheap, and the sale proceeds briskly, though at
constantly declining prices, till the whole stock is disposed of, and our
market is gorged to repletion.




The Grounds o f Protection.

267

N ow , the British manufacturers may not have received for the whole
twenty millions worth o f goods, over fourteen or fifteen m illion s; but
what o f it 1 W hatever it may be, is clear profit on their year’s business,
in cash, or its full equivalent. A ll their established markets are kept clear
and e a g e r ; and they can now go on vigorously and profitably with the
business o f the new year. But m ore: they have crippled an active and
growing riv a l; they have breached a new market, which shall ere long
be theirs also. Let us look at this side o f the question:—
The Am erican manufacturers have also a stock o f goods on hand, and
they com e into our market to dispose o f them. But they suddenly find
that market forestalled and depressed by rival fabrics o f attractive novelty,
and selling in profusion at prices which rapidly run down to twenty-five
per cent below cost. W hat are they to do ? T h ey cannot force sales at
any price not utterly ruinous; there is no demand, at any rate. They
cannot retaliate upon England the mischief they must suffer; her tariff
forbids; and the other markets o f the world are fully supplied, and will
bear but a limited pressure. The foreign influx has created a scarcity o f
money, as well as a plethora o f goods. Specie has been largely exported
in payment, which has com pelled the banks to contract, and deny loa n s;
still, their obligations must be met. I f they cannot make sales, the sheriff
will, and he must. It is not merely their surplus, but their whole product,
and their property, which has been depreciated, and made unavailable at
a blow. The end is easily foreseen : the manufacturers become bankrupt,
and are broken up ; their works are brought to a dead stand; the labor­
ers therein, after spending months in constrained idleness, are driven by
famine into the western wilderness, or into less productive or less conge­
nial avocations. The acquired skill and dexterity, as well as a portion o f
their time, are a dead loss to themselves and the com m unity; and we
commence the slow and toilsome process o f rebuilding and re-arranging
our industry, on the one-sided or agricultural basis. Such is the process
which we have undergone twice already. H ow many repetitions shall
satisfy us ?
N ow , will any man gravely argue that we have made F IV E or S IX
M IL L IO N S , by this cheap purchase o f British goods— by “ buying where
w e could buy cheapest ?”
W ill he not see that though the price was low,
the cost is very great? But the apparent saving is doubly deceptive ; for
the British manufacturers, having utterly crushed their American rivals,
b y one or two operations o f this kind, soon find here a market, not for a
beggarly surplus o f fifteen or twenty millions, but] they have now a de­
mand for the amount o f our whole consumption, which, making allowance
for our diminished ability to pay, would probably still reach fifty millions
per annum. This increased demand would soon produce activity and
buoyancy in the general m arket; and now the foreign manufacturers
would say, in their consultations, “ W e have sold some millions worth o f
goods to Am erica, for less than cost, in order to obtain control o f that
m arket; now we have it, and must retrieve our losses — and they would
retrieve them, with interest. T h ey would have a perfect right to do so.
I hope no man has understood me as implying any infringements o f the
dictates o f honesty, on their part, still less o f the laws o f trade. Th ey
have a perfect right to sell goods in our markets, on such terms as we pre­
scribe, and they choose to afford; it is we, who set up our own vital inte­
rests to be bowled down by their rivalry, who are alone to be blamed.




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The Grounds o f Protection.

W h o does not see that this sending out our great industrial interests un­
armed and unshielded, to battle against the mail-clad legions opposed to
them in the arena o f trade, is to insure their destruction ? It were just as
wise to say that, because our people are brave, therefore they shall repel
any invader without fire-arms, as to say that the restrictions o f other na­
tions ought not to be opposed by us because our artisans are skilful and
our manufactures have made great advances.
The very fact that our
manufactures are greatly extended and improved, is the strong reason why
they should not be exposed to destruction. I f they were o f no amount or
value, their loss would be less disastrous; but now the five or six millions
w e should make on the cheaper importation o f goods, would cost us one
hundred millions in the destruction o f manufacturing property alone.
Y et this is but an item o f our damage. The manufacturing classes feel
the first effect o f the blow, but it would paralyze every muscle o f society.
One hundred thousand artisans and laborers discharged from our ruined
factories, after being some time out o f employment at a waste o f millions
o f the national wealth, are at last driven by famine to engage in other
avocations, o f course with inferior skill and at an inferior price. The far­
mer, gardener, grocer, lose them as customers to meet them as rivals.
Th ey crowd the labor-market o f those branches o f industry which we are
still permitted to pursue, just at the time when the demand for their pro­
ducts has fallen off, and the price is rapidly declining. The result is just
what we have seen in a former instance : all that any man may make by
buying foreign goods cheap, he loses ten times over by the decline o f his
own property, product, or la b or; while to nine-tenths o f the whole people,
the result is unmixed calamity. The disastrous consequences to a nation
o f the mere derangement and paralysis o f its industry, which must follow
the breaking down o f any one o f its great producing interests, have never
yet been sufficiently estimated. F ree trade, indeed, assures us, that
every person, thrown out o f employment in one place or capacity, has
only to choose another ; but almost every working man knows from ex­
perience that such is not the fact— that the loss o f a situation through the
failure o f his business, is oftener a sore calamity. I know a worthy citizen
who spent six years in learning the trade o f a hatter, which he had just
perfected, in 1798, when an immense importation o f foreign hats utterly
paralyzed the manufacture in this country. H e travelled, and sought for
months, but could find no employment at any price ; and at last gave up
the pursuit, found work in some other capacity, and has never made a hat
since. H e now lives comfortably, for he is industrious and fru g a l; but
the six years he gave to learn his trade, were utterly lost to h im ; lost for
the want o f adequate and steady protection to home industry. I insist
that the government has failed o f discharging its proper and rightful duty
to that citizen, and to thousands and tens o f thousands who have suffered
from like causes. I insist that, if the government had permitted without
complaint, a foreign force to land upon our shores and plunder that man’s
house o f the savings o f six years’ faithful industry, the neglect o f duty
would not have been more flagrant. And I firmly believe, that the people
o f this country are one thousand millions o f dollars poorer at this moment
than they would have been had their entire productive industry been stead­
ily protected, on the principles I have laid down, from the formation o f the
government till now. The steadiness o f employment and o f recompense,
thus secured, the comparative absence o f constrained idleness, and the




The Grounds o f Protection.

269

more efficient application o f the labor actually performed, would have
vastly increased the product, would have improved and beautified the whole
face o f the cou n try ; and the moral and intellectual advantages thence
accruing, would alone have been inestimable.
A. season o f suspension o f
labor in a community, is always one o f aggravated dissipation, drunken,
ness, and crime.
But let me more clearly illustrate the effect o f foreign competition in
raising prices to the consumer. T o do this, I will take my own calling
for an example, because I understand that b est; though any o f you can
apply the principle to that with which he may be better acquainted. I am
a publisher o f newspapers, and suppose I afford them at a cheap rate. But
the ability to maintain that cheapness is based on the fact that I can cer­
tainly sell a large edition daily, so that no part o f that edition shall remain
a dead loss on my hands. But if there were an active and formidable foreign competition in newspapers— if the edition which I printed during the
night were frequently rendered unsaleable by the arrival o f a foreign ship
freighted with newspapers early in the morning, the present rates could
not be continued ; the price must be increased, or the quality must decline.
I presume this holds equally good o f calicoes, glass, and penknives, as o f
newspapers, though it may be somewhat modified by the nature o f the ar­
ticle to which it is applied. That it does hold true o f sheetings, nails, and
thousands o f articles, is abundantly notorious. I have not burthened you
with statistics; you know they are the reliance, the stronghold o f the cause
o f protection, and that we can produce them by acres. M y aim has been
to exhibit not mere collections o f facts, however pertinent and forcible,
but the laws on which those facts are based— not the immediate manifes­
tation, but the ever-living necessity from which it springs. The contem­
plation o f those laws assures me that those articles which are supplied to
us by home production alone, are relatively cheaper than those which are
rivalled and competed with from abroad. And I am equally confident, that
the shutting out o f foreign competition from our markets for other articles
o f general necessity and liberal consumption, which can be made with as
little labor here as anywhere, would be follow ed by a corresponding result,
— a reduction o f the cost to the consumer, at the same time with increased
employment and reward to our producing classes.
But, Mr. President, were this only on one side true, were it certain that
the price o f the home product would be permanently higher than that o f
the foreign, I should still insist on efficient protection, and for reasons I
have sufficiently shown. Grant that a British cloth costs but three dollars
per yard, and a corresponding American fabric four dollars, I still hold
that the latter would be decidedly cheaper. The fuel, timber, fruits, vege­
tables, & c ., & c ., which make up so large a share o f the cost o f the home
product, would be rendered comparatively valueless by having our workshops
in Europe. I look not so much to the nominal price, as to the comparative
facility o f paym ent; and where cheapness is only to be attained by a de.
pression o f the wages o f labor to the neighborhood o f the European stand­
ard, I prefer that it should be dispensed with. One thing must answer to
another ; and I hold that the farmer o f this country can better afford, as a
matter o f pecuniary advantage, to pay a good price for manufactured arti­
cles, than to obtain them lower through the depression and inadequacy o f
the wages o f the artisan and laborer.
Y ou will understand me, then, to be utterly hostile to that idol o f free
22*




270

The Grounds o f Prolection.

trade worship, known as free or unrestricted competition. T h e sands o f
my hour are exhausted, and I cannot ask time to examine this topic more
c lo s e ly ; yet I am confident I could show that this free competition is a
most delusive and dangerous element o f political econom y. Bear with
a brief illustration. A t this moment, com m on shirts are made in London
at the incredibly low price o f three cents per pair. Should we admit these
articles free o f duty, and buy them, because they are so cheap? Free
trade says yes ; but I say no ! Sound policy, as well as humanity, forbids
it. By admitting them, we simply reduce a large, and worthy, and suffer­
ing class o f our population from the ability they now possess o f procuring
a bare subsistence by their labor, to unavoidable destitution and pauper­
ism. T h ey must now subsist upon the charity o f relatives or o f the com ­
munity, unless we are ready to adopt the demoniac doctrine o f the free
trade philosopher, Malthus, that the dependant poor ought to be rigorously
starved to death. Then, what have we gained by getting these articles so
exorbitantly cheap, or, rather, what have we not lost? T h e labor which
form erly produced them, is mainly struck out o f existence; tire poor wid­
ows and seamstresses among us must still have a subsistence, and the
imported garments must be paid for. W h ere is our speculation ? But
even this is not the worst feature o f the case. The labor which we have
here thrown out o f employment by the cheap importation o f this article,
is now ready to be employed again at any price ; if not one that will af­
ford bread and straw, then it must accept one that will procure potatoes
and rubbish; and with the product, some free trader proceeds to break
down the price, and destroy the reward o f similar labor in some other por­
tion o f the earth. A nd thus, each depression o f wages produces another,
and that a third, and so on, making the circuit o f the globe ; the aggra­
vated necessities o f the poor, acting and reacting upon each other, in­
creasing the omnipotence o f capital, and deepening the dependence o f la­
bor, swelling and pampering a bloated and factitious com m erce, grinding
down and grinding down the destitute, until Malthus’s remedy for poverty
shall become a grateful sp ecific; and amid the splendors and luxuries o f
an all-devouring commercial feudality, the squalid and famished millions,
its dependants and victims, shall welcom e death, as a deliverer from their
miseries and their despair.
I wish time permitted me to give a hasty glance over the doctrines and
teachings o f the free trade sophists, who esteem themselves the political
economists, christen their own views liberal and enlightened, and compla­
cently put ours aside as benighted and barbarous. I should delight to show
you how they mingle subtle fallacy with obvious truth; how they reason
acutely from assumed premises, which, being mistaken or incomplete, lead
to false and often absurd conclusions ; how they contradict and confound
each other, and often, from Adam Smith, their patriarch, down to M ’Culloch and Ricardo, either make admissions which undermine their whole
fabric, or confess themselves ignorant or in the dark, on points the most
vital to a correct understanding o f the great subject which they profess to
have reduced to a science. Even Adam Sm;th himself, expressly approves
and justifies the British Navigation A ct, tne most aggressively protective
measure ever enacted— a measure, which, not being understood and sea­
sonably counteracted by other nations, changed for centuries the destinies
o f the world— which silently sapped and overthrew the commercial and
political greatness o f Holland— which silenced the thunder o f V an T rom p ,
and swept the broom from his mast head.




Choice o f a Store.

271

Bat I must not detain you longer. I do not ask you to judge o f this
matter by authority, but from facts which com e home to your reason and
your daily experience. T h ere is not an observing and strong-minded me­
chanic in our city, who could not set any one o f these doctors o f the law
right on essential points. I beg you to consider how few great practical
statesmen they have ever been able to win to their standard. I might al­
most say, n on e; for Huskisson was but a nominal disciple, and expressly
contravened their whole system upon an attempt to apply it to the Corn
L a w s ; and Calhoun is but a free trader by location and personal disap­
pointments, and has never yet answered his own powerful arguments in
behalf o f protection. On the other hand, we point you the long array of
mighty names which haveillustrated the annals o f statesmanship in modern
tim es; to Chatham, W illiam Pitt, and the great Frederick o f Prussia; to
the whole array o f memorable French statesmen, and Napoleon, the mon­
arch o f them a l l; to our own W a s h i n g t o n , H a m i l t o n , J e f f e k s o n , and
M a d i s o n ; to N ew Y ork ’ s two C l i n t o n s , and T o m p k i n s , to say nothing o f
the eagle-eyed and genial-hearted l i v i n g master-spirit o f our time. The
opinions and the arguments o f all these are on r e co r d ; it is by hearken­
ing to, and heeding their counsels,.that we shall be enabled to walk in the
light o f experience, and look forward to a glorious national destiny. M y
friends ! I dare not detain you longer. I commit to you the cause o f our
nation’s independence, o f her stability, and prosperity. Guard it wisely
and shield it w e ll; for it involves your own happiness and the enduring
welfare o f your countrymen.

CHOICE OF A S T O R E .
I t is essential to the success o f a retail tradesman, to establish himself

in some leading thoroughfare. A store with a spacious double window is
very desirable, if it can be obtained, as it admits o f variety and display. In
selecting a house, always bear in mind that “ a rolling stone gathers no
moss.”
Hundreds o f tradesmen have been wrecked upon the postulate,
“ this will do for t h e p r e s e n t . ”
The “ present” is always the golden
moment o f your life. Clutch it with a firm grasp. F ix upon premises in
which you may stay as long as you live. R ecollect there is much truth
in the assertion, that “ three removes are as bad as a fire.”
Plaving obtained the store you want, do not put an article into it, until you
have secured a lease o f it. N o one should be a tenant at will. I f by care
and attention to business, you make a stand more valuable than before, it
will be the “ w ill” o f the landlord that you turn out— and unless y o u are
pretty certain o f doing this, you can have no object in taking a store at all.
Steady improvement in a retail business is invariably local. H e who employs
years o f his time in forming and consolidating a valuable connexion, would
be esteemed a madman to remove from the situation which gave birth to it to
another where it would be lost; and yet the non-possession o f a lease o f the
place you occupy, will very frequently accomplish the same end. In a word,
if your business depends upon customers, get them and keep them by staying
where you are. D o not listen to the advice which certain officious friends
and foolish people are continually in the habit o f offering without considera­
tion. “ Don’ t hamper yourself with a lease,” say th ey ; which, being inter­
preted into anything intelligible, means— “ D on’ t secure the only means o f
security.”
A lease to a tradesman, is what an anchor is to a ship— the
only hold fa s t to be relied on.




Monthly Commercial Chronicle.

272

MONT HL Y
T

he

C OMMER CI A L

CHRONI CLE.

month which has elapsed since the date o f our last report, has been one o f the

most inert o f the year, in a commercial point o f view.

M oney, for a long time, has been

accumulating in the hands o f capitalists and the banks, and the events o f the last six
months have operated with great force in preventing it from seeking the usual channels
o f investment. This has at last produced an unhealthy rise in stock, by reason o f the
imperative necessity for finding some employment for money. T he balance o f the
United States loan, amounting to about $3,500,000, was taken early in the month at
par by a number o f American houses, and is now held at 104, with sales. T he Massa­
chusetts 5 per cent stock o f $500,000, was taken at 86 40-100 by John Jacob Astor,
Esq.

T he banks lend freely at high rates on these stocks, as well as those o f this state ;

a circumstance which has enabled operators with but little means to operate largely, and
therefore to run prices up. T he commerce o f the country has always been conducted
upon credit operations, and peculiarly so within the last ten years, when the paper sys­
tem, not only in this country but in Europe, has been pushed to an extraordinary ex­
tent.

T he basis o f all credit, is confidence in the security o f the operation; that con.

fidenee is placed in the ability o f the debtor to pay, in his sense o f the moral obligation
— in that high commercial sense o f honor which leads the merchant to dread discredit
above all other things; and, finally, in the protection afforded by the laws o f the country.
A ll these existed in their full force prior to 1836, because money was continually in­
creasing in abundance, markets consequently rising, and the mere purchase and con­
tinued possession o f property enabled the buyer to pay, and the preservation o f his credit
was the only road to further operations.

M oney, for a length o f time, had been so cheap

as to make usury laws nom inal; and business-men would regard with great distrust one
who should plead usury to avoid a just debt. T he advancing inflation finally broke by
its own weight— more debts by far had been contracted than could be paid. It is idle
to ascribe the explosion to the measures o f any one man, or set o f men. It grew inev­
itably out o f a combination o f circumstances embracing the commercial world.

Credit

had enabled consumption to outrun production, and the result was national poverty. T he
banks, which were the instruments o f the credit movements, first failed on the 11th M ay,
1837. T he consequences involved in their failure, gave the first blow to commercial
credit.

T he suspension o f the banks was first tolerated and legalized as a matter o f stern

necessity, which necessity continued in N ew Y ork and N ew England for the space o f
one year, when the banks o f those sections again resumed their payments.

In all other

sections suspension was continued, not as matter o f necessity, but o f expediency and
convenience.

This was the fatal step.

It was done ostensibly to “ relieve” the people.

T he banks set the example o f breaking through the moral obligation o f indebtedness by
refusing to pay their debts, and the legislatures sanctioned it.

From this the transition

was easy to a suspension o f bank debtors, particularly where, as in Alabama, the state
is the creditor in the form o f the bank.

Debts were accordingly extended several years,

and money borrowed to lend embarrassed debtors.
ors from individual creditors.

T he next step was, to protect debt­

The usury laws were taken advantage o f unblushingly.

Many o f the states passed “ stay and valuation laws,” which deprived the creditor o f the
power, under state laws, o f collecting his claim. T he next movement was, to scrutinize
the manner in which state debts had been contracted, and repudiation, to avoid taxa­
tion, was the result.

T he clamor for “ relief” at this time became great and universal,

and the federal administration was changed under the promise o f a bankrupt law, to
absolve individuals from their debts; o f a distribution o f the public lands, to relieve the
states; o f a national bank, to afford supposed relief to trade generally; and o f a high




273

Monthly Commercial Chronicle.
tariff, to relieve manufactures.

The bankrupt law passed, and thirty thousand individ­

uals, with aggregate debts estimated at $200,000,000, or about $7,000 each, were ex­
onerated from their liabilities. T he distribution law was repealed, because the threat­
ened bankruptcy o f the federal government required it. In the meantime, the progress
o f events had developed such facts in relation to banks, as to prevent the possibility o f
a new one being established.

Thus, one by one, all those moral and legal obligations

which form the basis o f credit, have been swept away.

A merchant cannot trust a west­

ern dealer, because the state laws give him no protection. T he capitalist cannot repose
confidence in banks, because monthly and weekly, for the last three years, explosions
have taken place developing fraud and mismanagement o f the most astounding nature.
Upwards o f sixty banks have failed, sinking $132,363,800 o f capital.

H e cannot trust

states, because the same principle which induce the passage o f stay laws, dispose the
people to resist taxation.

Investments in property, real and personal, have been danger­

ous, because the increasing discredit, the contraction o f the currency attending the fail­
ure o f the banks, has caused prices continually to recede, and in falling markets no one
is prone to operate. T he stocks o f the federal government have been avoided, because,
with a deficient revenue and a large debt for a time o f peace, the issue o f $200,000,000
stock have been urged; also more borrowing, in the shape o f paper money, by an ex­
chequer.
der.

In such a state o f affairs, money inevitably accumulated on the Atlantic bor­

Every avenue for its employment had been closed— even the demand from the

importers o f foreign goods was destroyed by the prohibitive tariff. This combination o f
circumstances caused the rates o f foreign bills to fall so low, as to afford a margin for
their purchase by the banks, in order to import specie. T he rates on England and France
have been as follows, from July to February, this year and last:—
R ates

of

E xchange ,

from

J u ly

to

F eb r u a r y ,

in the

1 8 4 1 -2 .
Month.
July,.................................
August..............................
September,......................
O ctober,..........................
N ovem ber,......................
Decem ber,......................
January,...........................
February,.........................

Sterling.
8# a 8|
8|a
9
9J a 9 }
9| a 104
10 a 104
8| a 9 }
8
a 8J
8
a 84

Francs.
5.27
a 5.28
5.25
a 5.27
5.18
a 5.20
5.174 « 5.18
5.20 a 5.21
5.25
a 5.26
5.28
a 5.30
5.27
a 5.28

N ew Y

ork

M a r ke t .

1842—3.
Sterling.
6 a 6J
6 a 64
8$ a 8 }
6* a 6|
6 a GJ
5| a 6$
54 a 5|
54 a 5|

Francs.
5.42 a 5.45
5.42 a 5.41
5.30 a 5.31
5.35 a 5.36
5.40 a 5.42
5.43 a 5.45
5.45 a ....
5.45 a 5.47

A t these rates the flow o f specie has been great and continued, and has filled the vaults
o f the banks to an extraordinary extent, and many millions more are on the way. These
rales are chiefly remarkable in connection with the official returns o f imports for the past
two years, as follows :—
Imports 1841,.
“
1842,.
Decrease,..................

1st Quarter.
36,243,330
32,931,955

2 d Quarter.
31,484,418
26,111,101

3d Quarter.
37,518,028
17,197,898

3,311,375

5,373,317

20,320,130

4 th Quarter.
23,116,375

10, 000,000
13,116,375

The imports o f 1841 were large, and, it appears from the exchange table, so large as
to raise the rates to the specie point in November, and induce some considerable exports
o f the precious metals.

During the first six months o f 1842 the imports were to a fair

extent, but the balance o f exchange remained in favor o f the United States; and in July,
when the compromise act expired, the exchanges were 3 per cent under par, showing
that the trade had been healthy, and had induced exports more than sufficient to pay for
the imported goods.

In the last six months o f 1842, a sudden falling off in imports took

place under the cash duties, and, o f course, a corresponding falling off in exports.

It

appears, then, that, simultaneous with the enforcement o f cash duties, a great reduction




274

Monthly Commercial Chronicle.

in imports took place, attended by a heavy fall in the exchanges, producing an import o f
specie.

It has been alleged that the restriction in foreign commerce was not the result

o f the tariff, because the prices o f imported goods in this market fell as low as those o f
domestic origin. W e apprehend, however, that this is an indication that the evil effects
o f a high tariff are not confined to the fewr millions o f goods excluded from our markets,
but that it paralyzes the whole trade o f the country, internal as well as external, inas­
much as that all trade between nations is necessarily an interchange of commodities.
T he commodities exported are always the surplus productions o f each country, and the
export o f that surplus is necessary to the maintenance o f a fair money-value o f the re­
mainder.

T he imports into the United States for 1842 declined $28,000,000, and the

exports declined $17,000,000.

A large surplus o f many productions was thus retained

in the country, because the customary articles o f exchange were excluded by an arbi­
trary tariff. It is a well-known fact in political economy, that a small surplus retained
upon the market sinks the money-value o f the whole quantity to an extent exceeding
many times the value o f that surplus.

It was upon this well-understood principle, that

the Dutch East India Company formerly consumed a supposed surplus o f spices, in order
to maintain the money-value o f the whole crop.

It is well known how small a deficiency

in production will cause an immense rise in prices, as seen in the price o f corn in Eng­
land ; and in the reverse, to what extent a small surplus, retained upon the markets, will
sink money-prices relatively with other values. Mr. Gregory King, in his computation
o f the land product o f England, states that a deficiency in the harvest may raise the price
o f com in the following proportions:—
A defect o f. ...............1 tenth..........
it
........ 8
“
........2 44 ..........
it
II
........3 “ ..........
........ 16
“
it
II
........28
“
........ 4 44 ...........
it
It
........ 4 5
“
........5 “ ...........
Taking the mean price at 50s., 1,000 quarters o f corn will sell, in an average harvest,
at £ 2 ,5 0 0 ; and, with a deficiency o f one-half, will command £6,875. The production
o f a surplus, w’ill reduce prices in a similar ratio. This matter is made evident in the
history o f the flour-trade in this country, as comprised in the following table o f the ex­
port o f flour from the United States, with the average price, from 1795 to 1843:—
E xpor ts

Year.
1795,........
1796,.......
1797,........
1798,........
1799,
1800,
1801,........
1802,........
1803,........
1804,........
1805,........
1806,........
1807,
1808,
1809,........
1810,........
1811,.......
1812,........
1813,........
1814,........
1815,........
1816,........
1817.........
1818,........

of

F lour

from the

Flour.
Barrels.
687,369
725,194
515,633
567,558
....................
519,265
....................
653,052
1,102,444
1,156,248
1,311,853
810,808
777,513
782,724
....................
1,249,819
....................
263,813
846,247
798,436
1,445,012
1,443,492
1,260,942
193,274
862,739
729,053
1,479,198
1,157,697




U nited S ta te s ,

P rice—
Per barrel.
$ 1 2 00
16 00
10 00
7 00
10 00
10 00
13 00
9 00
7 00
7 75
13 00
7 50
8 25
6 00
7 50
8 25
10 50
10 75
13 00
14 50
9 25
7 37
14 75
10 25

and

P rice ,

Year.
1819,.......
1820,........
1821,........
1822,........
1823,........
1824,........
1825,........
1826.........
1827,........
1828,........
1829,........
1830,........
1831,........
1832,.......
1833,........
1834.........
1835,........
1836.........
1837,........
1838,........
1839,........
1840,........
1841.........
1842,........

from

1795

Flour.
Barrels.
750,660
1,177,036
1,056,119
877,867
756,702
996,792
857,820
868,696
837,385
860,809
1,227,434
1,806,529
864,919
955,768
835,352
955,768
779,396
505,400
318,719
448,161
923,121
1,897,501
1,032,011

to

1843.
P rice—
Per barrel.
$ 8 00
5 37
4 25
7 00
7 75
6 62
5 37
5 25
8 00
5 50
5 00
7 25
5 62
5 87
5 50
5 50
9 00
7 50
10 25
9 50
6 75
5 00
6 50
4 50

Monthly Commercial Chronicle.

275

From these tables it appears that, during the period 1795 to 1810, which embraced the
European wars, and when the population o f the United States averaged 5,000,000, the
exports o f flour averaged nearly 1,000,000 barrels per annum, at near $ 1 0 00 per barrel, or an export o f one barrel to every five inhabitants.

During the non-intercourse,

from 1807 to 1811, the price fell very lo w ; and in 1812 the export was resumed, and
was so large that the rates again rose very high, so high as to check the export. Under
the high successive tariffs o f 1824-28-33, the export o f flour declined, and with that
decline prices fe ll; until after 1834, when debt and state stocks were exported in return
for foreign goods, instead o f the legitimate export o f produce, and the rage for specula­
tion, by checking agriculture, produced actual scarcity, which again brought up prices.
T h e revulsion drove people to work, and the large crops o f 1839, assisted by a scarcity
in England, caused a great export, which, with the 1,000,000 barrels sent forward in
1841, raised the value o f the whole crop $ 1 50 per barrel, or 25 per cent, in that year.
T he surplus o f those two years may be estimated at 2,500,000 barrels. According to
the census, there were produced in 1839, in round numbers, 8,000,000 barrels o f flour,
and the product o f 1840 was estimated at 12,000,000 barrels, worth $60,000,000. T he
export o f one-sixth part, or 2,000,000 barrels, raised the price to $ 6 50 in 1841, or the
value o f the crop to $78,000,000; making a difference, in favor o f the farmer, equal to
$18,000,000, or 30 per cent. This principle applies to all the productions o f the coun­
try ; and its effects may be estimated in the following table, which gives the value o f
productions in the United States for 1839, according to the census, and an estimate for
1843, based upon that return:—
A

nnual

P roductions

of the

U nited S tates .

1819.

1840.

$379,158,000
16.855.300
2,079,200
643,970,500
23.167.300
10.928.300

$12,532,556
5,223,085
92,525,339
316,284
3,198,370

$417,073,800
18,540,830
2,287,120
700,367,550
25,484,030
12,221,130

$1,076,158,600

$113,895,634

$1,175,974,460

1841.

Export.

Manufactures,.
F orest,............
Horticulture,..
Agriculture, ...
M ines,.............
Fisheries,.......
Total,

Deducting from the aggregate the value o f the manufactures, we have, as the value of
agricultural products, $758,900,660, which, as prices now stand, afford no profits to the
producers. T he outlay o f capital has been equal to the value o f the articles produced.
There is a large surplus quantity on all the markets.

I f that surplus is removed by en­

couraging its exchange for foreign products, the money-value o f the whole mass might
be raised perhaps 20 per cent. This would place at the disposal o f the agriculturalists
means equal to $151,780,132, to be expended in the purchase o f foreign and domestic
manufactures, which would create a demand for them, and raise their prices proportionably.

T he operation o f the tariff, by excluding goods to the extent o f $30,000,000 in

six months, sent here to purchase the surplus, prevents it from going abroad, and there­
fore depresses the value o f the whole so far as to deprive producers o f any means o f
purchasing. Flour, in N ew Y ork, sells at $ 4 50, and in the western states, at $ 2 50.
These rates yield no profit whatever. The exports from Cleveland are equal to 700,000
barrels. I f a foreign demand on the seaboard were to raise prices to $ 6 00, a profit o f
$ 1 00 per barrel on the Cleveland exports might be obtained, yielding $700,000 to the
producers, which would be expended in the purchase o f domestic goods, beyond what is
now the case.

T he fact o f so large a surplus being upon the market, is not alone evi­

dent in the low state o f the prices, which, as before stated, is in some degree accounted
for by the comparative scarcity o f money, but is discernible in the constantly increas­




276

Monthly Commercial Chronicle

.

ing volumes o f all descriptions o f produce, which are annually poured forth on all the
great avenues o f internal trade. These are distinguishable in the following table o f the
produce discharged from the Ohio canal, at Cleveland, for a series o f years, and the tolls
o f the Miami and Ohio canals ; also, o f the N ew Y ork canals ; and a table, for the same
period, showing the cotton crop o f the United States, the supply o f coal from Pennsyl­
vania, and the receipts o f several articles o f western produce at N ew Orleans:—
P roduce

O hio C a n a l , a t C leveland , and
O hio , M iam i , and N ew Y ork C an als .

discharged from the

Year.

Flour.

Wheat.

Fork.

Coal.

Barrels.

Bushels.

Barrels.

Bushels.

1833,......
1834,...... .
1835,...... .
1836,...... .
1837,...... .
1838,...... .
1839,...... .
1840,....... .
1841,....... .
1842,....... .

98,302
105,326
132,319
167,431
203,691
287,465
264,887
505,461
441,425
492,711

C otton C rop

of the

386,760
333,868
387,232
463,821
549,141
1,229,012
1,515,820
2,155,407
1,564,421
1,311,665

Pennsylv.
Year.

Coal.
Tons.

1833,
1834,
1835,
1836,
1837,
1838,
1839,
1840,
1841,
1842,

..........
487,748
..........
376,636
..........
560,758
..........
682,428
..........
881,476
..........
739,293
...........
819,327
..........
865,414
..........
958,899
........... 1,108,001

Tolls.

of

T obacco

Bales.

1,070,000
1,705,394
1,954,328
1,360,725
1,422,930
1,801,497
1,360,532
2,177,835
1,634,945
1,635,301

New York.

Tolls.

Tolls.

$50,470
50,040
51,917
51,116
62,833
77,863
78,601
70,321
72,612
71,500

$1,463,820
1,341,329
1,548,986
1,614,336
1,292,627
1,590,911
1,616,382
1,775,747
2,034,882
1,800,000
P roduce,

at

Orle an s .

Pork.

Flour.

Lard.

Lead.

Uogshds. Barrels. Barrels.

Barrels.

Kegs.

Figs.

20,776
23,065
34,656
43,913
28,222
37,588
28,036
43,737
53,148
67,193

B eef.

olls of the

and other

receipts a t n e w

Cot. crop. Tobac.

T

Ohio canal. Miami.

22,758
49,131 $136,555
33,884
95,634
164,488
19,814
50,473
185,684
13,572
84,124
211,823
42,057 183,484
293,428
39,055
73,292
382,135
30,717 134,881
423,599
23,017 172,206
452,122
29,797 478,370
416,202
52,272 466,844
387,442

U nited S tate s , and receipts
N e w O rleans .

the

5,331
5,401
10,118
9,618
9,859
6,153
10,777
10,843
33,262
17,455

59,241
91,998
92,172
79,505
115,580
139,463
166,071
120,908
216,974
244,974

233,742
345,831
286,534
287,232
253,500
320,208
434,984
482,523
496,194
439,688

128,019 163,393
192,565 203,999
239,552 225,386
188,739 313,705
203,825 260,223
224,388 294,448
218,387 309,528
177,303 307,397
311,710 434,467
366,694 472,556

A ll these articles present the same result, v iz: an immense increase in agricultural
wealth o f all descriptions, in all sections o f the country. More particularly is it observ­
able since the explosion o f banking speculation, in 1836-7, multiplied the number o f
producers, and diminished the ability o f speculators and bank customers to obtain the
products o f industry without an equivalent. The agricultural products, and the neces­
saries o f life generally, have augmented, in the ten years embraced in the table, over
100 per cent, while the gross population increased in the same ratio 40 per cent o n ly ;
and the import o f foreign goods, for the last three years o f the term, exceeded those o f
the first three years but 11 per cent, while the exports, exclusive o f cotton, scarcely in­
creased at all. Under such circumstances, how can it be otherwise than that the prices
are ruinously low ? They can be permanently raised, only by largely extending the
foreign outlet for the surplus. T he idea that great and permanent good can result from
forcing people, by legislative enactments, to abandon farming and become manufactur­
ers, is in the highest degree chimerical. In 1840, according to the census, the value of
all articles manufactured in the United States was .$379,000,000; and the estimated
value o f goods made and consumed in families, mostly o f wool and flax, was $29,023,380.
T he value o f the same description o f goods imported in that year, was $45,000,000, or
10 per cent only o f the whole quantity consumed in the United States; consequently, if
all foreign intercourse was cut off, and the whole quantity made in the United States,
the employment given to manufacturers would be but little increased, and nothing be­
yond what the increased speed and industry o f those now engaged in it would compen­
sate. The revenues o f the federal government, and the welfare o f the whole country,
imperatively call for the exercise o f every possible means to extend the foreign markets
for agricultural productions, as well to make the vent keep pace with the swelling pro­
ducts, as to foster and maintain the mercantile marine.




Commercial Tables

COMMERCIAL

.

277

TABLES.

IN T E R E S T T A B L E A T S E V E N P E R C E N T P E R A N N U M OF TPIREE
H U N D R E D A N D S I X T Y -F I V E D A Y S .
E x p l a n a t io n — T he first column in each monthly division represents the days o f the

m onth; the second, the days since the beginning o f the year; and the third, the loga­
rithm corresponding with the latter.

T he use o f these tables is— First, T o find the

number o f days from any period to another, and to find when a note will fall due.
Example : A note drawn on the 14th April, at 90 days’ date.

This being the 104th

day o f the year, adding 90 days to it, the note will become due on the 194th day o f
the year, or the 13-16th July.

T he second use is, for computing interest at the rate

o f 7 per cent, by multiplying the principal with the logarithm corresponding to the
number o f days for which interest is to be taken.
163 days.

E xam ple: Interest on $8 87 for

It will be found that the logarithm for the 163d day o f the year is 3126,

which, multiplied by 887, produces 27.72762, from which the five last figures must be
cut, making the interest $ 2 7 73.
I nterest T

JANUARY.

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31

19
38
58
77
96
115
134
153
173
192
211
230
249
268
288
307
326
345
364
384
403
422
441
460
479
499
518
537
556
575
595

11

12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31

Year.

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28

32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59

614
633
652
671
690
710
729
748
767
786
805
825
844
863
8'2
901
921
940
959
978
997
1016
1036
1055
1074
1093
1112
1132

V O L. V III.— NO. Ill,




days .

APRIL.

MARCH.

Month.

DAY OF THE

365

per cent per annum of

Loga’ in.

Year.

Loga’m.

1
2
3
4
5
(5
7
8
9
10

7

FEBRUARY.

DAY OF THE

Month.

able a t

DAY OF THE

DAY OF THE
a

Month. 1Year.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
. 15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22’
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31

23

60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90

1151
1170
1189
1208
1227
1247
1266
1285
1304
1323
1342
1362
1381
1400
1419
1438
14.58
1477
1496
1515
1534
1553
1573
1592
1611
1630
1649
1668
1688
1707
1726

s
'a

to

SD

o

j
'
;
:

Month.

Year.

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
.8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
*•

91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
in
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120

o
•J

1745
1764
1 1784
1803
1822
1841
1860
1879
1899
1918
1937
1956
1975
1995
2014
2033
2052
2071
2090
2110
2129
2148
2167
2186
2206
2225
2244
2263
2282
2301

278

Commercial Tables.
I nterest T ab le

at

MAY.

1
2

3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12

13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22

23
24
25
2G
27
28
29
30
31

Year.
121

155
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151

2321
2340
2359
2378
2397
24 J6
2436
2455
2474
2493
2512
2532
2551
2570
2589
2608
2627
2647
2666
2685
2704
2723
2742
2762
2781
2800
2819
2838
2858
2877
2896

Month. Year.
1
o
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

»

11

f

IS!

;

13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30

I nterest T able

at

DAY OF THE

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30

244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273

7

2915
2934
2953
2973
2992
3011
3030
3C49
3068
3088
3107
3126
3145
3164
3184
3203
3222
3241
3260
3279
3299
3318
3337
3356
3375
3395
3414
3433
3452
3471

4679
4699
4718
4737
4756
4775
4795
4814
4833
4852
4871
4890
4910
4929
4948
4967
4986
5005
5025
5044
5063
5082
5101
5121
5140
5159
5178
5197
5216
5236




Month.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31

1
2

3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12

13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31

182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
2(,2
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
365

o

A

DAY OF THE

1
o
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30

305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334

1
2

3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

11
12
13

14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22

23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31

days —

213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243

4085
4104
4123
4142
4162
4181
4200
4219
4238
4258
4277
4296
4315
4334
4353
4373
4392
4411
4430
4449
4468
4488
4507
4526
4545
4564
4584
4603
4622
4641
4660

Continued.
DECEMBER.

C.

DAY OF THE

Month. Year.

Month. Year.
5255
5274
5293
5312
5332
5351
5370
5389
5408
5427
5447
5466
5485
5504
5523
5542
5562
5581
5600
5619
5638
5658
5677
5696
5715
5734
5753
5773
5792
5811
5830

o
J

Month. Year.

3490
3510
3529
3548
3567
3586
3605
3625
3644
3663
3682
3701
3721
3740
3759
3778
3797
3816
3836
3855
3874
3893
3912
3932
3951
3970
3989
4008
4027
4047
4066

NOVEMBER.

Year.
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304

DAY OF THE

Month. Year.

per cent per annum of

DAY OF THE

o
J

Continued.
AUGUST.

DAY OF THE

o
•J

OCTOBER.

SEPTEMBER.

Month. Year.

152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181

days —

JULY.

DAY OF THE

O

a

365

per cent per annum of

JUNE.

DAY OF THE

Month

7

5849
5868
5888
5907
5926
5945
5964
5984
6003
6022
6041
6060
6079
6099
6118
6137
6156
6175
6195
6214
6233
6252
6271
6290
6310
6329
6348
6367
6386
6405

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31

335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365

O

J

6425
6444
6463
6482
6501
6521
6540
6559
6578
6597
6616
6636
6655
6674
6693
6712
6732
6751
6770
6789
6808
6827
6847
6866
6885
6904
6923
6942
6962
6981
7000

279

Commercial Statistics.

C OMMER CI A L

STATISTICS.

COM M E R C E OF BO STO N — FO REIGN A N D D O M E STIC IM P O R T S .
I mports

at

B oston

C oal .

Philadelphia,..................
Rondout,..........................
Kingston,.........................
Havre-de-Grace,...........
Other places,..................

during the

Y

Tons.
Bush.
76,604
........
8,917
........
........
2,485
1,561
........
709 121,800

T otal,................ 90,276 121,800
In 1841....................... 110,932 124,041
1840,.....................
73,847
92,370
Tons.
Chald.
Liverpool,.......................
2,070
........
Newcastle,......................
7,518
1,288
690
........
H ull,................................
666
........
70
........
London,..........................
........
17,172
Other places,..................
T otal,................
In 1841,.....................
1840,.....................

11,014
12,754
9,110

C offee .

H olland,........................... ...........
...........
...........
H ayti,................................ ...........
St. Thom as,.................... ..........
Cuba,................................. ..........
Porto R ic o ,...................... ..........
Porto Cabello,................. ..........
Manilla,............................ ...........
Brazil,................................
..........

18,460
27,187
25,753

Pounds.
254,060
2,930,727
' 47A18
6,157,100
151,498
2,153,578
345,043
2,652,370
271,566
13,350

T ota l,.................. .......... 18,608,640
Same period for 1841, .......... 12,245,390
C otton .

N ew Orleans,.................. ...........
M obile,............................ ............
Charleston,...................... ..........
Savannah,........................ ............
Florida,............................. ............
Other p laces,.................. ............
T ota l,.................. ............
In 1841........................ ...........
1840,.......................
1839........................ ...........
F lour .

N ew Y o rk ,...................... ............
A lban y,............................
W estern Railroad,........ ...........
T o ta l,................ ............




Bales.
56,343
19,204
19,586
11,334
11,201
2,002
119,670
131,860
94,361
Barrels
140,739
100,000
330,987

ea r ending

31 st D ecember , 1842.

N ew Orleans,.................
Fredericksburg,.............
Georgetow n,....................
Alexandria,.....................
R ichm ond,......................
Other Ports in Virginia,.
Philadelphia,...................
Baltimore,.........................
Other places,.................

Barrels.
96,833
36,574
11,509
11,509
8,014
3,895
53,481
46,744
3,092

T otal,....................
In 1841,.......................
1840,.......................
1839,........................

609,460
574,233
619,261
451,667

F lour — Continued.

G ra in .

N ew Orleans,....bush.
North Carolina,...........
Fredericksburg,.........
Norfolk,........................
Rappahannock,...........
Other Ports in Virginia,
Alexandria &, Georgetown,.........................
Baltimore,....................
Other Ports in Mary.
lan d,.........................
Philadelphia,...............
Ports in Delaw are,....
Ports in New Jersey,.
N ew Y o r k ,.................
A lbany,........................
Other Ports in N ew
Y ork.........................
Ports in Connecticut,.
Ports in Massachusetts
Ports in Maine,...........
Ports in Nova Scotia,.

Corn.
466,566
50,268
98,046
83,861
59,180
50,367

Oats.
12,559

24,161
324,482

500
38,254

3,700
343,715
85,263
55,837
167,222
14,690

800
92,072
45,289
36,183
94,381
49,172

4,615

600

3,200

600
15,775
5,666

1,623

T otal,........bush. 1,835,163 393,474
There were also received from N ew Y ork
38,416 bushels rye, and 77,523 bushels
shorts.
Tot. bush.—
In 1841,.........
1840,.........
1839,.........
1838,.........
1837,.........

Corn.
2,044,129
1,868,431
1,607,492
1,574,038
1,725,436

Oats.
Rye.
356,502 34,128
437,948 48,026
439,141 48,624
443,657 102,473
405,173 86,391

H ides.

Buenos Ayres and Montevideo,
Rio Grande,..................................
Pernambuco,................................
Para,...............................................

Number.
138,260
23,235
14,013
9,968

280

Commercial Statistics.
C ommerce

of

B oston— F oreign

H ides— Continued.

and

Number.
13,318
4,721
6,459
9,767
21,398
7,178
17,970
78,948

T ru xillo,........................................
St. Domingo,................................
Porto Cabello and Laguayra,...
N ew South W ales,......................
Valparaiso and Chili,..................
Curacoa,........................................
Other places,................................
Coastwise,.....................................

Total,.................................
340,235
Calcutta Cow & Buffalo,............bales 4,235
In 1841,.................
432,481 “
396
1840,.................
205,909 “ 3,552
M olasses.

Foreign,................
Coastwise,............

Hhds.
53,772
7,541

Trcs. B its.
2,580 1,582
205 2,298

T otal,......
61,313 2,785 3,880
In 18 41,.................. hhds # trcs. 73,991
1840,......................................... 78,062
N a v a l S tores .
Turp.
4Vashington,N.C.,...MZs. 16,049
Wilmington, “ ............
900
Newbern,
“
............
460
Other Ports in N . C .,........ 2,201
Norfolk,...........................................
Other places,...................................

Tar.
3,491
3,065
694
978
1,909
774

T o ta l,........... Ibis. 19,610
In 1841,.......................... 28,078
1840........................... 26,740

10,911
17,899
12,197

D omestic I mports— Continued.
S pir its .

1842— Foreign,..
. ...
1841—
“
. ...
1840—
“
....
1839—
“
. ...
Deficiency compared with
1839,................. 2,553

Exported 1842, F oreig n ,.
“
“
Domestic,
“
1841, F oreign ,.
“
“
Domestic,
Falling off in the traffic
during the past year,...

P kgs. N et gals.
2,692 205,641
4,143 323,019
4,282 413,054
5,245 431,438
225,797
P k g s. Gallons.
122
7,737
8,899 447,352
4,143 323,019
11,461 626,498
6,583 494,428

S ugars .
Pounds.
1842— B ro w n ,........................... 29,541,675
“
W hite,............................ 8,695,237
1841— Brown,............................ 31,990,342
“
W hite,............................ 11,252,061
1840— B ro w n ,.......................... 29,978,674
“
W hite,............................ 9,704,821
Short imp. comp, with 1841:—
Brown................................ 2,448,667
W hite,............................... 2,256,824

W ines.
P k g s. Gallons.
1842.................................. 6,540 187,614*
1841,................................ 19,677 553,724
1840,................................ 12,460 374,476
Falling o ff in imports this
year comp, with 1841, 13,137 366,110

B O ST O N C A T T L E M A R K E T .
1842 :—
Number.
Value.
B eef Cattle,..........
32,070
$ 1,246,940
17,126
256,890
Stores,...................
Sheep,.................... 106,655
124,986
Sw ine,......................
39,935
109,924
B righton M a r ke t

for

Sales estimated at........

$1,741,740

1841,—
B eef Cattle, 36,607 I Sheep,..... 124,172
Stores,....... 18,794 |S w in e,.... 31,872
Sales estimated at $2,400,881.
1840,—
Beef Cattle, 34,160 I Sheep,......... 128,650
Stores,........ 12,736 | S w in e,........
32,350
Sales estimated at $1,990,577.

IM P O R T S A N D E X P O R T S OF T H E U N IT E D S T A T E S D U R IN G 1842.
A statement exhibiting the Value o f Imports and E xports during the year ending on
the 30th o f September, 1842.
I mports — Value o f merchandise free o f duty,..........................................

“

“

paying duty,..........................................

$29,956,696
69,400,633
$99,357,329

Total imports,.
E xports — O f foreign merchandise, v iz :

Value free o f duty,.........................................
“
paying duty,..........................................

$6,733,117
4,825,764

O f domestic produce,.........................
Total exports,................. .......

$11,558,881
92,559,088
$104,117,969

N ote.— T he value o f imports and exports for the quarter ending 30th September, is
partly on estimate.




Commercial Statistics.

281

E X P O R T S OF SU G A R A N D COFFEE F R O M H A V A N A A N D M A T A N Z A S .
SUGAR IN BOXES.

From , H a v a n a .

ARROBES OF COFFEE.

F ro m M a ta n za s.

1842.

1841.

1842.

1841.

Boxes.

B oxes.

B oxes.

England,......
15,785
Cowes and a
Market,...... 109,888
Russia,......... 24,403
Sweden and
Denmark,..
1,205
Hamburg,.... 49,395
15,067
Bremen,.......
11,804
H olland,......
Belgium,...... 22,135
Havre & Bor3,349
deaux,.........
Marseilles,... 21,233
Spain,............ 76,825
7,358
Italy,.............
N ew Y ork,.. 22,982
13,572
Boston,.........
2,030
Charleston,..
3,858
N ew Orleans,
102
M obile,.........
Other ports o f
8,583
the U. States
5,891
Various,........

17,343

COUNTRIES.

F rom H avana.

F r o m M a ta n z a s .

1842.

1841.

B oxes.

A rrobes.

A rrobes.

A rrobes.

A rrobes.

1,535

2,974

60,074

13,031

6

120

90,332
52,585

67,079
39,235

31,621
57,132

2,941
4,424

16,516
551

1,651
3,274

90

2,620
34,957
11,147
15,397
15,992

40,348
10,570
3,564

33,626
6,213
6,154
7,702

90,964
56,238
8,144
1,355

29,626
45,488
30
976

2,318
1,937

471
12,638

123,273 75,585
213,903 97,816
50,789 23,841
56,102 17,334
23,656
4,268
27,762
2,418
8,475 15,121
185,674 272,102
48,849 65,691

3,831
14,107
26,513
22,203
22,430
22,712
23,180

2 ,2 2 2
12,532
86,261
6,254
37,616
23,074
1,765
12,076
138

1,138
10,290
21,498
10,870
14,894
20,182
7,193

7,667
4,486

8,324
4,046

1,012
10,603
29,500
6,347
14,447
24,883
7,824
2,510
260
12,407
6,752

40,364
10,500

1842.

40,215
4,879

1841.

9,158
9,484
1,374
3,516
2,292
16,419
31,496
10,608

12,469
4,742

4,905
5,628

Total,........ 415,465 434,464 260,766 261,967 1,013,783 725,488 161,373 108,199

IM P O R T S OF JE R K E D B EEF IN T O H A V A N A IN 1842

1848.
Q u in ta ls .

January,................
F ebruary,.............
March,...................
April,.....................
M a y ,......................
June,......................
J u ly .......................
August,..................
Septem ber,...........
October,.................
N ovem ber,...........
December,.............
Total— Havana,...
Matanzas,.

'

18,060
57,870
14,450
17,890
30,060
43,045
18,300
16,600
2,900
13,800
29,750
5,300
268,025
61.300

and

1841.

1841.

S a les —■rials.
51 a 74
54 a S i
64 a
74 a 74
6 a
64
5* a 6|
64 a 10
64 a 11
104 a
94 a 10
74 a 10 1.16
B| a

s§

Q u in ta ls.

25,546
5,700
24,100
24,978
35,245
50,804
13,960
10,600
12,200
33,293
23,875
39,790

S a le s -—ria ls.
10
a 1 04
104 a m s
1 04 a 124
84 a
94 a
94
84 a
9|
94 a
94 a 10
8 a 9
7 a
7 a 9
6 a 74

n

n

300,091
5f a

94

IM P O R T S A N D E X P O R T S OF T H E B A H A M A S F O R 1839, 1840,
IMPORTS.

C o u n tr ie s .

1819.

1810.

1819.

1840.

£22,498 £36,712
7,062
8,228
2,274
2,935
53,437
26,717
13,233
13,108

o
or-

£98,504

00

Total,.......................... £147,100 £157,326 £107,322




1841.

EXPORTS.

1841.

Great Britain,..................... £30,40 4 £49,690 £30,510
16,426
W est Indies,......................
16,069
8,847
1,576
6,677
North American colonies,
1,990
66,825
55,783
43,478
United States,....................
28,750
32,226
22,497
Other foreign States,.........

23*

and

1841.
£29,900
3,315
2,006
12,529
17,033
£64,783

Commercial Statistics.

282

IL L IN O IS — T H E L E A D T R A D E .
A friend and merchant o f Galena, himself extensively engaged in the trade, has fur­
nished the editors o f the St. Louis Republican with the following statement o f the export
o f lead from Galena and the upper lead mines, and o f the navigation o f the upper rivers.
T he source from whence these statistics com e, gives ample assurance that they may be
relied upon as entirely correct:—
S ta te m e n t o f L e a d s h ip p e d f r o m G a le n a , I I I ., in c lu d i n g D u b u q u e a n d a ll o th e r p o in ts
o n th e U p p e r M is s is s ip p i, f o r th e y e a r s 1841 a n d 1842.

1811.

1842.

M a rch ,...................... pigs
A pril,................................
M ay,..................................
Ju ne,................................
Ju ly,..................................
August,............................
September,.......................
O ctober,...........................
N ovem ber,......................

4,080
91,296
91,233
57,110
58,820
37,257
16,092
46,286
50,640

80,123
65,060
46,515
37,959
54,436
43,250
39,081
54,941
26,472

T o t a l,..................
Shipped by lakes,...........
884 boxes bar lead,........
2614 kegs shot,...............
Small bar lead,................

452,814

447,859
25,000

Grand T otal,........

463,404

Short o f 1841. Over 1841
........
76,043
26,216
........
44,718
........
........
19,151
4,381
........
........
5,993
........
22,989
........
7,345
24,168
........

2,750
7,840
840
473,699

Estimated value, in 1841, of—
452,814 pigs o f 70 pounds is 31,693,980 pounds— at 3 cents, is.................. $950,939 40
2,750 “
small bar is.......
192,300
“
at 34
“
6,637 50
7,840 “
in shot, is...........
548,800
“
at 44
“
24,696 00
463,404

“

32,435,080

“

$982,272 90

Estimated value, in 1842, o f—
447,830 pigs o f 70 pounds is 31,330,130 pounds— at $ 2 374, is....................$744,595 58
840 “
small bar is
58,800 “
at 3 cents, is...................
1,764 00
448,670

“

31,388,930

“

$746,359 58

In 1841, the number o f arrivals o f steamboats at this place was one hundred and for­
ty-seven— this does not include any arrival from above.

One hundred and fifty keel and

flat-boats, loaded with lead, were towed by steamboats, owing to the low stage o f water
on the Rapids, each taking 1,500 pigs— 225,500 pigs transported by towing— being onehalf o f the whole quantity shipped; and a large part, say one-third, o f that in steam­
boats, is lighted over the lower Rapids.

W ith the up freights the same thing occurs, and

I think to the same extent, but which is attended with more risk and damage, owing to
the perishable nature o f many articles thus transported.
In 1842, the number o f arrivals as above was one hundred and ninety-one, o f which
one-half went above this place. Number o f keel and flat-boats towed was one hundred
and sixty, transporting 240,000 pigs o f lead.




Commercial Regulations.

COMMERCIAL

283

REGULATIONS.

P O R T C H A R G E S IN G R E A T B R IT A IN .
Vessels o f the United States, and o f all nations having treaties o f reciprocity with
Great Britain, are placed on the same footing, in respect to port charges, & c., as nation­
al vessels.

Vessels o f nations with whom such treaties do not exist, are subjected to a

discriminating duty.
A L ist

of

C harges

paid in

L iverpool

b y one of the

N ew Y

ork

Boat and men, dockin g,..........................................................................
Boat and men, undocking,......................................................................
Inward pilotage,........................................................................................
D ockage,.....................................................................................................
Outward pilotage.......................................................................................
Light-house dues, in and out,..................................................................
P ort C harges

in

H u ll ,

P acket S hips .

17s.
17s.
9s.
Is.
4s.

6d.
6d.
perfoot.
7id . per ton.
Gd. per foot.
VI\d. per ton.

and other dues.

T he amount and character o f the port charges levied at Hull, on British as well as on
the United States ships, are as follow :—
Dock dues, under the dock act, due to the Dock Company for the use o f the docks,
Is. 9 d. per register ton.
L ights on the British coasts, due to the several proprietors, and collected at Hull, on
ships arriving from the United States— if they come south, about 9|d. per register ton ;
i f they com e north, about 6 j d. per register ton.
N . B.— I f the vessel be under 300 tons burden, Ramsgate has 2 d. per to n ; but if
above 300 tons, Ramsgate has only id . per ton.
Dover receives, in the former case, 1 id . per ton, but takes nothing in the latter case.
Trinity House.— Dues to the corporation o f the Hull Trinity House, under its several
charters and acts o f Parliament, v iz :—
Buoyage for a 300-ton ship, 16s. 6d.
N. B.— Gd. more for every 10 tons above that burden; 6d. less for every 10 tons under
that burden.
P rim age.— T he charge for this depends upon the nature o f the cargo.

It is levied on

the ship, but in some instances it can be recovered by the captain from the receivers o f
the cargo, owing to a local custom at the port o f Hull.

Cotton w ool pays primage to

the Trinity House, on importation, 9d. per to n ; tar and turpentine, l j d . per barrel;
grain, Gd. per last o f 10 imperial quarters.
P ilotage due the commissioners o f Humber pilots under act o f Parliament:—
Inwards.— From a certain “ bearing” at sea, 5s. per foot.
From another certain “ bearing” at sea, is . per foot.
From the mouth o f the Humber, 3s. Gd. per foot.
From the intervening distances between the mouth o f the Humber and the port o f Hull,
Is. Gd. to 2s. Gd. per foot.
Outwards.— Clear o f the floating light at the mouth o f the Humber, if with goods,
4s. per fo o t; if in ballast, 2s. 8d. per foot.
T he pilot commissioners claim, also, berthage (if incurred) on ships drawing 13 feet
and upwards, 9s. per ship ; drawing 10 and not exceeding 13 feet, 7s. per ship; draw­
ing under 10 feet, 4s. per ship.
Detention on board ships performing quarantine, 5s. per diem ; alien ships, 7s. per diem.




284

Commercial Regulations.

Attendance on board vessels at anchor in any o f the roadsteads o f the Humber, 5s. per
diem o f 24 hours.
N . B.— A part o f a day’s attendance the same as for a whole day.
Corporation dues to the Hull corporation on sh ip s:—
Anchorage, if under 150 and not 200 tons,..........................................
“
if 200 tons and upwards,....................................................
Jettage, inwards, if under 150 and not 200 ton s,..............................
“
“
“
200
“
250 “
...............................
“
«
“
250
“
300 “
...............................
“
“
if 300 tons and upwards,...........................................
“
outwards, i f under 150and not 200 tons,................................
“
“
“
200
“
250 “ ...............................
“
“
“
250
“
300 “ ...............................
“
“
if 300 tons and upwards,...........................................

2 s .;
aliens, 2s.
2s. 6 d .;
“
3s.
4s. 6d. ;
“
17*.
5 s .; i
6 s .; \
20s.
7 s .; S
4 s .;
5s.
5 s .; 1
7s.
6 s .; $
6s. 6d.

On goods.— Tar and turpentine, id . per barrel; tobacco, 3d. per hogshead; corn,
(grain,) Id. per quarter.
P ort C harges

on

A

merican

V essels

and th eir

C argoes

at

G lasgow .

Inwards.— River and harbor dues,................................... Id . per ton, register'l p . . ,
Light-house dues, if by South ch a n n el,....10jd.
“
“
! " rl 181
“
“
“
North
“
.... 4|d.
“
“
j-measure“
“
J ment'
Pilotage to G reenock,................................... IJd.
Pilotage from Greenock to Glasgow— vessels not exceeding 6 feet draught o f water,
18s., and 5s. for every foot additional; i f towed, one-third less.
T ow ing vessels from Greenock by steamboats, (almost indispensable)—
W hen not exceeding 9J feet, pay.
“
“
«
10i “
“

“

“

W hen exceeding

11J

11

- ........ io d ! Per “ n> r* f i8ter] British
1 1 ^*
tt
u
> measure-

“

md.

“

•• ** j ment-

Documents required on entry— register and list o f crew.
Custom-house fees— none.
Cargoes.— River dues on every article, id . per ton weight, except grain, meal, and
flour, which pay Is. per ton w eight; bar, sheet, rod, and pig iron, which pay 7d. per ton
w eight; coals, bricks, & c., which pay 2d. per ton weight.
Shed dues.— Hogsheads tobacco,...... 2d.
“
bark,........... 1}d .
Bales cotton,.................. l j d .
“ goods,.................... 1id .

I Tons pig iron,........................................ l j d .
| “ bleaching powder,..................... l|d.
1 Barrels flour,.......................................... Id.
| “
tar and pitch,........................... Id .

Boxes, trusses, & c., o f drygoods, l i d . each.
T he charges outward same as inward.
P ort C harges

on

A merican V essels

and th eir

C argoes

at

Inwards.— Harbor dues...................................................... 8d. per ton,
Light-house dues, if by South channel,
10 jd .
“
“
“
“
North
“
.... 4 id .
“
P olice,............................................................... Jd.
“
Anchorage,....................................................... id .
“
Pilotage,........................................................... l| d.
“
.— Hogsheads tobacco, ... . ... 4d.
“
bark,.......... .... 4d.
Bales cotton,................ .... 1 id.
“
goods,................. ... 1 id.
Boxes goods,................. ... l i d .

G reenock .

register'
“
British
“
►
measure­
“
ment.
“
“

Tons pig iron,....................
Casks bleaching powder,..
Barrels tar and pitch,.......
“
flour,.......................
Tons coals,.........................

..........

3d.

........

2d .

.........

........

\d.

2d .

........... 1 i d

.

T he charges outward the same as inward, unless vessels sailing in ballast, in which
case one-half harbor dues only is charged.




283

Commercial Regulations.
P ort C harges

on

A

merican

V essels

at

L eith .

Dock dues,......................................................................................................... Is. Ad. per ton.
Harbor dues,......................................................................................................
1 ^d.
“
Being............................................................................ Is. 5%d.
P ort C harges

on

A

merican

V essels

and their

C argoes

at

“

P ort G lasgow .

I n w a r d s . — Harbor dues,............

Light-house dues, if by South channel, — 10 Jd.
“
“
U
H
it
North
“
.... 4id .
................ 2 * d.
Pilotage,......................
C a r g o e s . — Hogsheads tobacco,.. ........ 2d.
Casks bleaching powder,.......... ........
“
bark,....... ....... id .
Bales cotton,................................ .........
T ons pig iron,............ ....... 2d.
“
and boxes,........................ ........
“
co a ls,................ ........id .
Barrels tar and pitch,................. ......

id .
Id.
id .
id .

The charges outward the same as inward, unless vessels sailing in ballast, in which
case only half harbor dues are charged.
River dues upon cargoes inwards are payable by the consignee.
River dues upon cargoes outwards are payable by the shippers.

PO RT CHARGES A T T H E BAH AM AS.
N assau .

The imports from the United States into Nassau consist chiefly o f wrecked goods,
more than one-half the exports being the same goods sold in bond and transhipped.
P ort Charges.— T he tonnage duty is 3d. per ton. British vessels pay this under the
new act for the admeasurement o f shipping, while vessels o f the United States pay upon
their registered tonnage, being a difference o f 18 or 20 per cent against the latter.
Fees for bonds, about.....................................................................................................
Governor’s secretary and pass......................................................................................

$ 4 25
1 17

Pilotage and harbor master’s fees depend on the draught o f water.
T

urk ’ s

I sland .

T he export duties are collected under colonial acts, and are chiefly a duty on salt o f
$ 1 00 per 96 bushels.
P ort Charges:—
Secretary’s fee,.................................................................................................................
Fee o f the receiver o f colonial duties, (and $ 1 00 additional if beyond office
hours,)............................................................. ............................................................
Light duty, per ton,........................................................................................................

$ 5 25
1 62
6

Pilotage from $ 4 00 to $ 2 6 00, according to draught o f water.
C ommercial R egulations

of the

I sland

of

B arbadoes.

N o. 1.— Captain to deliver all letters (those for consignees alone excepted) to the post
office, on his arrival, where he is to obtain the postmaster’s receipt therefor.
N o. 2.— Proceed to the custom-house, deliver post office receipt, and there fill up two
“ contents inwards,” (blanks being furnished by the custom-house,) placing such part o f
the cargo as may be intended for another market last in the detail— such part as may be
intended for sale, and any remainder in doubt, whether for sale here or in another mar­
ket, to be separately stated.
T he remaining regulations comprise the observance o f the harbor master’s rules, and
the payment o f imperial and colonial duties on all goods subject thereto, not being bonded.
T he colonial import duties bill, passed on the 24th o f December last, materially re-




286

Commercial Regulations

.

duces the same on a majority o f the articles subject to specific duties, and raises it from
one to three per cent on goods subject to ad valorem rates.

It is to be noted that all

articles required for use or consumption on plantations, when subject to specific duty,
will be found to have been rated at much lower duties (when tried by the ad valorem
standard) than articles not required for the use o f estates, v iz :—
1,000
1,000
1,000
1,000
56
1
1
65

staves..................................
tiles....................................
fire bricks..........................
feet pitch pine...................
pounds tallow candles....
quintal dry fish.................
bushel o f salt...................
pounds lard, (American).

44
44
44
41
44
44
44

$30
$40
#64
$46
$9
$3

00
00
00
00
00
00
25
$ 7 00

pay
“
“
“
“
“
“
“

50 cents, or
44
77

31
13
4
31

“
44
44
44

1$ ad valorem.
44
1.92
44
1 1.5
44
l!
44

34

44

44
16
44

44
44

N o colonial duties were levied in this island prior to the 24th o f December, 1840.
Goods being the produce or manufacture o f the United Kingdom o f Great Britain and
Ireland, or o f British colonial possessions exempt from Crown duties, pay only under the
Barbadoes tariff, and precisely the same as foreign goods are rated.
Vessels o f the United States are permitted to export, without any restriction or limit,
coin and manufactured goods duty free.
T he export duties are paid by the planters.
P ort Charges on Vessels o f the United States and National Vessels.
Harbor master’s fe e ,.......................................................................................................
Quarantine officer’s fe e ,...........................................................................................
Island treasurer’s fee,......................................................................................................
Island secretary’s f e e ,...................................................................................................
Bill o f health, when wanted,........................................................................................
Consul’s fee, on deposite and delivery o f papers,...............................................
T otal,.........................................................................................
Tonnage duty, 69£ cents per ton.
ton.

$2
1
2
3
1
4

00
00
00
00
00
00

$ 1 3 00

Ballast, if wanted, from 90 cents to $ 1 00 per

Lighterage o f cargo, 3 cents per barrel o f bulk.
T rinidad .

T he commercial regulations o f this island are similar to those o f other British colonies.
T he imports from the United States consist chiefly o f provisions.

Formerly not much

produce o f any description was exported, but latterly a trade has been opened in asphaltum. This substance is found in great quantities in the island, and promises a valuable
export trade.
T he import and export duties are 3£ per cent on colonial value.
P ort Charges— tonnage.
On all vessels entering and clearing in ballast, Gd. currency per ton.
under 25 tons, 6c?. currency per ton.

On all vessels

On all vessels over 25 and not exceeding 50 tons,

for the first two voyages during the year, one shilling sterling per ton, and for succeeding
voyages, 6d. currency per ton.
ton for every voyage.

On all vessels exceeding 50 tons, Is. 6c?. sterling per

B ritish G uiana — P ort C harges .

Beacon light and tonnage duty o f 40 cents per ton, upon vessels above seventy tons,
and assessed at 10 cents per ton on all others, and an additional duty o f seven dollars
on every merchant vessel entering the ports o f British Guiana, whether from the mother
country or elsewhere; in consideration o f which, seamen belonging to any vessel paying
such duty, in case o f sickness, are admitted to the hospital free o f charge.




Commercial Regulations.

287

C O M M E R C IA L R E G U L A T IO N S OF T H E IS L A N D O F S T . H E L E N A .
This island is o f great importance to the commercial world, situated as it is in the
middle o f the Atlantic ocean, as a refuge in case o f distress, and as affording needful
supplies o f provisions.
Vessels o f the United States are allowed to touch at this island only for refreshments,
and not for commerce. By the terms o f the treaty between the two nations, ratified
December 22, 1815, and an order in council o f July 11, 1839, no goods shall be import,
ed into, nor shall any goods be exported from, the island o f St. Helena, from or to any
place other than the United Kingdom, or some other British possessions.
However, vessels o f the United States are permitted, by authority o f the Commission­
ers o f Customs in England, to import goods, only o f the growth, produce, or manufac­
ture o f the United States, at a duty o f six per cent ad valorem.
T he Hanseatic cities are allowed certain privileges not accorded to other nations.
Vessels o f Holland are not permitted to import the goods o f that country, or o f any
other; hence, they are always obliged to draw bills in payment o f supplies.
Vessels o f the United States being disallowed the entry o f goods not o f the growth,
produce, or manufacture o f the United States, the prohibition operates with peculiar rigor
against whaling vessels calling for provisions, water, & c., after long and tedious voyages,
their crews oftentimes suffering from privations and disease.
These vessels would, in payment, prefer to part with oil, the produce o f the seas, to
drawing bills at a discount, this being the only commodity they have to sell, and one
which the inhabitants would most gladly buy, since British whalers are forbid by their
owners from disposing o f oil on any account, and the island in consequence suffers much
from the want o f the article.
Other vessels o f the United States, homeward bound from beyond the Cape o f Good
H o p e and other places, suffer similar disadvantages, and would be benefited by the priv­
ilege o f selling goods not the produce o f the United States.
Public vessels o f all nations are exempt only from the port charges for water, boat
hire, use o f the cranes, clearance fee, and fee for time call.
Goods can be landed and reshipped on payment o f wharfage, & c . ; if from United
States vessels, such goods must be bona fide the growth, produce, or manufacture o f the
United States.
C O M M E R C IA L R E G U L A T IO N S A T C A P E T O W N , C A P E OF GOOD HOPE.
The trade o f this colony is regulated by Her Majesty’s orders in council, dated 22d
February, 1832, and 11th March, 1842.
There are no local import duties whatever.
T he port charges are the same on British and all other vessels, v iz : on vessels enter­
ing for refreshments, 2\d. per register ton.
doubled, viz : 4 ^d.

I f the vessel trades at all, this charge is

Staves, which are the principal article o f import from the United States, are free.
This port is much frequented by merchant vessels o f the United States, which put in
for supplies on the outward or homeward India voyage.

Whaling vessels o f the United

States, engaged in fishing in the neighboring seas, find this port a convenient position
from whence to obtain refreshments.
As in the other British colonies, oil o f foreign fishery is prohibited, and their payments
for supplies must be made in drafts at a discount.
is prohibited, cannot be landed for transhipment.

A ll goods, the importation o f which

It has been suggested, that if an exception to this regulation could be obtained in re­
gard to oil, the whaling interest o f the United States would receive important benefit




288

Commercial Regulations

.

therefrom; many vessels which are unsuccessful in filling up in one season, are now
obliged to retain their oil on board until the next, to the manifest disadvantage o f the
owners.

Possessed o f the privilege o f transhipment, the portion collected in the first

season might be landed in bond, and transhipped to Europe or America, while the vessel
could refit for another voyage.
The leakage during the intervening period o f 12 months on board, would be more
than an equivalent for the freight home or to a m arket; and the owners would be ena­
bled to put their capital in employ 12 months sooner than they now can, under the pres­
ent restrictions.

FRANCE.
Laws and Regulations,

o f the French Douanes, or Customs.

VERIFICATION OF GOODS.

T he verification o f goods and merchandise shall be made either at the custom-houses,
or at some other convenient place named for the convenience o f trade, or upon the va­
rious quays, but not in private warehouses.
T he examination o f goods shall take place in the presence o f the parties declaring the
nature, & c., o f the goods. I f the latter refuse to be present, the customs are authorized
to warehouse the merchandise, and treat the same as goods abandoned by the proprietors.
A ll expenses o f packing, repacking, weighing, & c., are at the charge o f the owners.
If the customs officers see fit, they may dispense with the examination o f goods, on
being satisfied with the declaration o f the consignee.
Those making declarations found to be inaccurate or falsified, are subject, according
to the circumstances o f the case, to the penalties hereafter enumerated.
False declarations are only punishable when loss would arise to the treasury in con­
sequence.
PAYMENT OF DUTIES.

T he duties are paid on the actual quantities, & e., o f merchandise; they shall be liqui­
dated either in ready money, or upon undoubted securities, (effets de credit,) and in no
other manner.
I f paid in the first way, the party paying the same shall be entitled to a discount cal­
culated for four months at the rate o f four per cent per annum. But in order that the
parties may be qualified to enjoy the above discount, it is requisite that the amount o f
payment should exceed 600 francs. In order, however, to make up the latter sum, it is
allowable to add together the payments arising from several declarations, provided they
are all made on the same day.
In the second instance, the receiver o f the customs has a right to deduct one-third per
cent upon the amount for which he gives credit.
N o credit can be given, except—
1. Unless the duties paid are the result o f declarations made on the same day, and shall
amount to upwards o f 600 francs.
2. That persons seeking such credit shall be duly accepted by the receiver o f the cus­
toms, who shall be responsible to the treasury for their paying these duties.
3. That these securities be guarantied to the satisfaction o f the receiver.
4. That no one security (effet de credit) shall exceed 10,000 francs, and shall be on
stamped paper, endorsed by one or more known solvent persons.
5. T he duration o f these credits are fixed for salt at six months, and for all other
merchandise at four months.
RETURN OF DUTIES IMPROPERLY LEVIED.

If any duty may have been irregularly or improperly levied, the custom-house to which
a certificate o f such improper payment should be transmitted shall take care to endorse
upon the same a fresh and exact account o f the exact amount, and then forward it to the
director o f the administration o f the customs at Paris, to obtain authority for returning
the sum over-entered.
Exempt from certificate o f origin: coal, emery, (not prepared,) sulphate o f magnesia
and o f potasse, zinc, litharge, soda, raw lead, chromate o f potasse, cast iron in pigs, linen
or hemp yarn and woven linen, checked or striped linen, mill and grindstones, bar iron
and steel, iron cables and anchors, machines, sewing needles, beer, bricks, tools o f iron,




Commercial Regulations.

289

steel, or brass; rum, arrack and tafia; whalebone; sulphuric, arsenic, citric, benzoic,
oxalic, and boracic acids; shoe-blacking, printing ink, lampblack, native mineral called
g r a n t; cotton twist o f N o. 143 and upwards, raw undyed foulards, raw silk, pipe clay,
animal charcoal, and Cashmere shawls.
THE IMPORTATION INTO FRANCE FOR CONSUMPTION IS PROHIBITED:—

1. O f all goods, wares, and merchandises, the produce o f Europe, imported by British
vessels’ from any port o f Europe, except British ports.
2. The produce o f Europe, Asia, and Africa, imported into England, or into British
possessions in Europe, by the ships o f any nation.
3. The produce o f Asia, Africa, and America, imported by British ships from any
port. Raw silk, foulards o f India, rum, arrack, tafia, and Cashmere shawls, not o f Eu­
ropean manufacture, are excepted.
The following articles are exempt from the lead stamps (plombage) when carried
coastwise, re-exported, or changed from one entrepot to another, v iz :—
A cid, citric, crystallized or concentrated above 35 degrees; benzoic, nitric, muriatic,
nitro-muriatic, phosphoric, tartaric, and oxalic acids.
Bismuth, bituminous asphalte, barks for tanning.
Copper ore, rods, bars, plates, and w ire ; cordage, sails, cables and anchors, carpets,
coaches and carriages, canes and reeds, charcoal, firewood, furniture, and wood o f all
kinds; fruits for the table, fruits preserved, furniture which has been used, fish.
Grindstones and millstones, gunpowder, grease and animal oils, honey.
Iron, lead, tin, and zinc, not manufactured otherwise than rolled or hammered, or in
bars, rods, or plates.
Manufactures (common) o f wood, madder, mushrooms, marble slabs, molasses, meats,
fresh and salt.
Oils o f olive, and oleaginous seeds andjiuts.
Sirups, truffles.
Skins and raw hides, dry or wet.
Slates and tiles, salt.
W ax, raw, not bleached.
CUSTOMS, WAREHOUSING DUTIES,

(Droit de magasinage pour depot en douane.)
Goods not reclaimed by the proprietors, and goods, & c .,.............................
National merchandise re-exported,....................................................................

1 per cent.
4
“

STAMP DUTIES.

Ships’ manifests on entering or departing,....................................................... free.
Acquits a cautions, (bonds,) each...................................................................... 75 centimes.
Pass, 5 centim es; quittances (or receipts) for duties, each for 10 francs
and under, 5 centimes, and above 10 francs, 25 centimes.
Permits for shipments, (French vessels,).......................................................... 50 centimes.
“
“
(foreign vessels,).......................................................... 1 franc.
Leading charges (droit de plombage) 56 centimes for one lead, and 25 for each above one.
TONNAGE AND PORT CHARGES.

French vessels,—
Arriving from all foreign ports except British,................................................ free.
Coasting trade, per ton,....................................................................................... 22J centimes.
From French colonies, per ton,......................................................................... 15
“
From British ports, per to n ,................................................................................ 1 franc.
Foreign ships,—
Without distinction, per ton,............................................................................. 3 frs. 75 cts.
Except Spanish from the coast o f Spain, the same duty as French coast­
ers, v iz :............................................................................................................... 22J centimes.
Spanish from foreign ports,................................................................................. free.
Venezuelan and Granada vessels,..................................................................... free.
British from British ports, per ton,..................................................................... 1 franc.
Smugglers, per ton,............................................................................................... 1 fr. 25 cts.
American and Mexican, per t o n ,..................................................................... 5 francs.
Foreign vessels entering by stress o f weather, or distress, excepting Nea­
politans, Swedes, Tartars, and N orwegians,.............................................. free.
V O L . V III.— NO. III.




24

Statistics o f Population.

290

STATI STI CS

OF P OP UL AT I ON.

T A B L E OF L U N A C Y IN T H E U N IT E D S T A T E S .
The following table is designed to illustrate the practical use to be made o f the inter,
esting statistics o f the United States, published in a former number o f the Merchants’
Magazine.

Similar tables may be arranged o f other matters embraced in various statis.

tics collected in the census o f 1840 :—
STATES.

White pop.

Maine,...............
N . Hampshire,.
Massachusetts,.
Rhode Island,..
Connecticut,....
Vermont,...........
N ew Y ork ,......
N ew Jersey,....
Pennsylvania,..
Delaware,.........
Maryland,.........
Virginia,............
North Carolina,
South Carolina,
Georgia,............
A labam a,..........
Mississippi,......
Louisiana,.........
T enn essee,......
Kentucky,.........
O hio,..................
Indiana,............
Illinois,..............
Missouri,...........
Arkansas,.........
M ichigan,.........
Florida,.............
W isconsin,........
Iow a,.................
D. o f Columbia,

500,438
284,036
729,030
105,593
301,856
291,218
2,378,890
351,988
1,676,115
58,561
317,717
740,968
484,870
259,084
408,229
335,185
179,074
148,457
640,627
590,293
1,502,122
678,698
472,254
323,888
77,174
211,560
27,943
30,749
42,924
30,657

T otal,........

14,189,218

Lunatics. Ratio 1 to
537
931
486
584
1,071
680
203
520
498
604
398
759
2,146
1,108
369
951
1,946
861
52
1,126
387
820
1,048
707
580
836
376
681
294
. 1,388
232
1,444
116
1,543
2,699
55
699
916
742
795
1,257
1,195
1,393
487
2,212
213
1,623
202
45
1,715
39
5,424
2,794
10
3,843
8
7
6,132
14
2,189
14,508

T he uniformity o f ratio is remarkable.

978

Colored pop.

635
290
4,015
1,830
4,261
366
26,222
10,938
25,166
10,899
122,342
475,011
256,322
331,450
282,323
254,541
195,862
181,428
185,790
185,814
8,605
3,437
2,053
58,426
20,151
314
26,135
95
105
9,602
2,686,891

Lunatics. Ratio 1 to

94
19

3
4
7

6.7
15
20
140.7
96.8
28
135
136
134
389
867
1,237
1,159
2,419
2,106
2,036
2,388
4,031
1,222
1,032
52
458
26
859
959
12
2,178
32
26
1,371

2,926

928

200

13
44
13
194
73
187
28
141
384
221
137
134
125
82
45
152
180
165
75
79
68
21
26
12

Excepting Vermont and N ew Hampshire, the

N ew England states present the greatest; then, excepting Kentucky, follow some o f the
older settled atlantic states.

Looking at the new states and territories, we find a great

diminution o f the ratio. Some states, early settled but lately increased in population,
present a similar diminution— witness Georgia, Louisiana, and Florida. How far the
climate may affect the result o f these calculations, we are unable to determine.

Except,

ing South Carolina, Virginia, Kentucky, Maryland, and North Carolina, the ratio o f lu.
nacy is less than in the free states, and in these it is less than in the N ew England states,
except Vermont.

Computing the ratio in all the free and slave states respectively, it is

found to be, in the former, 1 to 995.5, and in the latter, 1 to 318.6— the free states in the
west turning the scale.

In respect to the colored population, slavery appears to be still

more favorable ; for while, in the free states, the ratio is 1 to 75.4, in the slave states it
is 1 to 1,437.

Probably, if we had taken only the slaves into the amount in the latter

states, the ratio would have been still less.

In the state o f Maine, the ratio is as high as

1 to 6 .7 ; while in Louisiana, it is down to 1 to 4,031.




291

Statistics o f Population.
IN C R E A S E OF P O P U L A T IO N OF N E W Y O R K C IT Y .

T he N ew Y ork Journal o f Commerce gives us some interesting facts on this subject.
It says there is scarcely another instance on record o f a city having increased so rapidly
in population, and for so long a period, as has the city o f N ew Y ork.

T he ratio o f in­

crease is much larger than in the country at large, as will appear from the following
statement:—
Population o f N ew York—
In 1800............................................
1810,...........................................
1820,...........................................
1830,...........................................
1840,...........................................
T he average rate o f increase in

Population o f the United States—
In 1800....................................... 5,305,925
60,489
1810,...................................... 7,239,814
96,373
1820,...................................... 9,638,131
123,706
1830,...................................... 12,866,920
203,207
1840,...................................... 17,062,566
312,710
the city o f N ew Y ork, is a trifle over 51 per cent for

every period o f ten years since 1800, while that o f the country at large is a little short
o f 34 per cent.
T he city has increased in a much greater ratio since 1820 than it had done previous­
ly.

It will be found on trial, that for each o f the two periods subsequent to that date,

its increase has been at the rate o f 62 per c e n t; while in the United States, for the same
time, the increase has been at the rate o f only 33 per cent for each period.

Should the

city continue to increase at the rate o f 51 per cent, for every period o f ten years, during
the remainder o f the 19th century, its population, on the return o f each decade, would
be as follows :—
In
In 1850.........................................
472,192
1860,........................................
713,000
1870,........................................ 1,073,643
Should the United States increase, in future, in

1880,....................................... 1,625,730
1890,....................................... 2,454,852
1900......................................... 3,706,806
the rate that they have followed since

1800, they will have attained a population o f at least 52,000,000 in 1880, and of
92,000,000 in 1900.
T H E P O P U L A T IO N OF F R A N C E .
T he following is a statistical and official table o f the population o f France since the
year 1700:—
1700,..........................................
1762,..........................................
1784...........................................
1789,..........................................
1802,..........................................
1806,..........................................

19,669,329
21,769,163
24,800,000
25,065,883
27,349,003
29,107,425

1820,..........................................
1826,..........................................
1831,..........................................
1836,..........................................
1842,..........................................

30,461,875
31,858,937
32,569,223
33,540,910
34,194,875

T he population o f Paris, according to the census o f 1841, amounts to 912,330; and,
i f the troops o f the garrison and strangers are added, to 1,035,000.
M A R R IE D W O M E N IN P A R IS .
T he following statistics o f the 121,525 women married in Paris in the course o f the
last eighteen years, is given by one o f the French journals as having been verified by the
registers o f the E tat C ivil:— Between 12 and 15 years old, there were 8 1 4 ; at 16 years,
1,920 ; at 17 years, 3,959 ; at 18 years, 5,8 16; at 19 years, 6,957; at 21 years, 8,047 ;
at 22 or 23, between 7,000 and 8,000 ; at 24 or 25, upwards o f 6,000 ; but at 26, 27,
and 28, there scarcely exceed 5,000. This decreasing progression goes on, so that, up
to 31 years, there were only 3,6 51; thence to 41 years, 1,798; at 42 years, 1,015; at
40 years, 5 8 6 ; at 56 years, 22 6; at 60 years, 126 ; and, during the eighteen years, there
were 578 marriages o f women aged 61 years and upwards.

Another account shows

that, out o f 1,000,000 married in Paris, 521,653, being more than one-half, were married
before the commencement o f their 20th year.




I

292

Railroad and Canal Statistics.

RAI LROAD

AND CANAL

STATI STI CS.

P E N N S Y L V A N IA R A I L W A Y A N D M O T IV E P O W E R T O L L S D U R IN G
1841

and

1842.

1841.

1842.

Railway.

Mot. Power.

Railway.

Mot. Power.

Philadelphia,.....................
P aoli,...................................
Parkesburg,.......................
Downington,.....................
Lancaster,..........................
Columbia,..........................
Hollidaysburg,..................
Johnstown,.........................
Schuylkill Viaduct,..........

§112,416
3,244
12,293
2,812
25,186
59,396
37,538
22,396
483

§101,541
1,672
13,115
3,050
27,691
68,837
43,732
39,993

§85,703
4,755
9,733
1,915
15,053
55,329
23,755
22,511
397

§85,910
2,567
11,144
2,193
17,519
65,237
36,691
41,279

T ota l,.........................
Canal tolls,.........................

§275,767

§299,634
522,687

§219,175

§262,544
458,493

PLACES.

R ecapitulation .

1842.

1841.
275,767
299,634

Canal tolls,............................ ..
Railway,................................
Motive p ow er,......................

§458,493
219,175
262,544

T otal,............................ .. §1,097,489
Drawbacks,..........................
17,593

T ota l,.............................. ..
Drawbacks,..........................

§940,213
19,714

N et receipts,......................... ... §1,079,896

Net receipts,......................... ..

§920,499

Canal tolls,............................
Railway,................................
Motive pow er,......................

C A N A L T O L L S OF P E N N S Y L V A N IA .
T he following is a comparative table o f the receipts o f canal tolls —

1841.

1842.

Easton,....................... . §46 ,625 §75,432
N ew H ope,..............
4,695
2,254
Bristol,....................... .
14,331
10,775
Columbia,.................. .
69,717
99,871
Portsmouth,............. .
8 ,2 2 0
18,246
Harrisburg,.............. .
26,849
20,778
Newport,...................
3,730
5,933
Lewistown,................ .
10,631
14,357
6,709
Huntingdon,..............
6,460
Hollidaysburg,.......... .
64,600
68,436
67,601
37,607
Blairsville,.................
L 777
2 'l9 4
2,696
Freeport,...................
3,432
42,336
42,465
Alleghanytown,........
Beaver,.......................
3,653
3,957
9 407
314.
308
Liverpool,................. .
11,105
30,929
6,925
Northumberland,...... .




1841.
Williamsport,.............
Dunnstown,................
W ilkesbarre,..............
B erw ick,.....................
Columbia outlet lock,.
Portsm’ th outlet lock,
Portsm’ th bridge, Swatara,..........................
Bridge at Duncan’s isl.
Aqueduct at Duncan’s
Aqueduct at Kiskiminitas............................
Aqueduct at Pittsburg,
Junction,......................

1842.

8,068
11,762
8,446
15,906
8,357
909

20,117
5,097
9,517
10,194
24,260
7,431

620
3,070

1,533
525

50

1,847

353
969
2,194

53
228
673

T otal,.................. §522,087 §458,493

Railroad and Canal Statistics.

293

C A N A L T O L L S OF N E W Y O R K .
Amount received fo r Tolls, on all the Canals o f the State o f New York, during the
second week in September, first three weeks in October, last week in October, first
week in November, and the Total to the 1th o f November, 1842.
Second week First 2 weeks Third week
in October.
Year.
in September.
in October.
1835.. . $ 5 2 ,6 4 6 61 $ 1 1 8 ,6 7 7 31 $ 5 7 ,3 4 9 46
115,051 52
1 83 6 .. . 54,191 46
59,479 00
107,653 11
59,563 88
1 83 7 .. . 40,733 22
1838.. . 49,162 38
129,693 76
75,579 34
1 83 9 .. . 49,580 23
121,255 18
73,308 71
1840.. . 59,571 36
154,675 60
90,642 33
1841.. . 66,048 86
95,812 39
149,518 26
1 84 2 .. . 52,1 04 89
155,061 45
97,060 90

Last week
in October.

First week
in November.

Total to
7th November.

$84,237 84 $59,916 85 $1,415,383 58
88,153 75
60,294 61
1,491,421 83
71,469 90
66,669 19
1,138,790 69
101,390 32
74,589 96
1,464,762 76
89,113 92
64,335 50
1,476,052 58
99,927 66
82,059 76
1,612,586 28
114,661 74
82,239 77
1,874,725 29
102,85513
73,768 52
1,599,294 01

Excess o f 1841 over 1842, for the second week in September, $13,943 97. Excess
o f 1841 over 1842, to 14th September, $243,822 53. T he increase this year, as com­
pared with the last, is, for the first two weeks in October, $5,543 1 9 ; while the total
falling off to the 14th October, is $256,401 92.
There is an increase this year o f $1,248 51, for the third week in October, over the
corresponding week in last year; while the total falling off to the 22d October, is
$255,153 42. T he above is the largest amount ever received in the third week in
October.
T he falling o ff this year, as compared with the last, is in the last week in October,
$11,806 6 1 ; and the tgtal falling off to the 1st o f November, is $266,960 03.
T he falling off this year, as compared with the last, is in the first week in November,
$8,471 25 ; and the total falling o ff to the 7th o f November, is $275,431 28.

L E N G T H OF R A I L W A Y S F R O M BOSTON .
Table, showing the lengths o f Railways radiating from , and in connection with, the
city o f Boston.
From Boston, via Albany, to Buffalo,..................................................................
“
“
Portsmouth, to Portland, Maine,...........................................
“
“
Lowell, Nashua, and Concord,..............................................
“
“ to Providence, Rhode Island,.......................................................
From Providence to Stonington,............................................................................
Branch from Andover to Haverhill,.....................................................................
Dedham Branch,.......................................................................................................
Taunton Branch, and extension to N ew Bedford,.............................................
Bedford and Fall R iver,..........................................................................................
Norwich and W orcester,........................................................................................
N ew Haven to Hartford, 36, and extension to Springfield 24 miles, not
completed,..............................................................................................................
W est Stoekbridge to Bridgeport,..........................................................................
W est Stoekbridge to Hudson,...............................................................................
T roy and Schenectady,..........................................................................................
Troy to Ballston,......................................................................................................
Schenectady and Saratoga,.....................................................................................
Lockport, Niagara Falls, and Buffalo,................................................................
Total number o f Miles,




24

*

518 miles.
44
104
u
62
44
41
<t
47
254 (4
2

44

35
13
584

44

60
98
33

44

44
44
44

22
20
214

44

43

44

1,2034

44
44

i

294

Mercantile Miscellanies.

MERCANTILE

MISCELLANIES.

M O R A L IT Y OF IN S O L V E N C Y .
W hy is a man obliged to pay his debts ? It is to be hoped that but few persons will
reply, “ Because the law compels him.” W hy then ? Because the moral law requires
it.

That this is the primary ground o f the obligation, is evident; otherwise the payment

o f any debt which a corrupt legislature chose to cancel, would cease to be obligatory
upon the debtor.
A man becomes insolvent, and is made a bankrupt; pays his creditors ten shillings
instead o f twenty, and is discharged.

T he bankrupt receives a large legacy, or engages

in business and acquires property. Being, then, able to pay the remainder o f his debts,
does the legal discharge exempt him from the obligation to pay them ? N o ; and for
this reason: that the legal discharge was not a moral discharge.
not founded primarily on the law.

The duty to pay was

It would be preposterous to say that creditors relin­

quish their claims voluntarily. It might as reasonably be said that a man parts with a
limb voluntarily, because, having incurably lacerated it, he Submits to an amputation.
It should be remembered, too, that the relinquishment o f half the demand is occasioned
by the debtor himself; and it seems very manifest that when a man, by his own act,
deprives another o f his property, he cannot allege the consequences o f that act as a jus­
tification o f withholding it after restoration is in his power. In all cases, the reasoning
that applies to the debt, applies also to the interest that accrues upon i t ; although, with
respect to the acceptance o f both, the creditors should exercised considerate discretion.
A man who has failed o f paying his debts, ought always to live with frugality, and care­
fully to economise such money as he gains. H e should reflect that he is the trustee for
his creditors, and that all the needless money that he expends is not his, but theirs.

The

loss o f property which the trading part o f a commercial community sustains by insolven­
cy, is great enough to constitute a considerable national evil. T he fraud, too, that is
practised under cover o f insolvency, is doubtless the most extensive o f all species o f
private robbing. T he profligacy o f some o f these cases is well known to be extreme.
He who is a bankrupt to-day, riots in luxury to-morrow ; bows to the creditors whose
money he is spending, and exults in the impunity o f his wickedness.

O f such conduct

we should not think or speak but with detestation. There is a wickedness in some
bankruptcies to which the guilt o f ordinary robbers approaches but at a distance. Hap­
py, if such wickedness could not be practised with legal impunity !

Happy, if public

opinion supplied the deficiency o f the law, and held the iniquity in rightful abhorrence !
I f such conduct were held to be o f the same character as theft, probably a more power­
ful motive to avoid insolvency would be established than any which now exists.

I f it

be urged that such odium would be too severe upon the insolvent, answer, that the evil
would be much less extensive than is imagined. T he calamity being foreseen, would
prevent men from becoming insolvent; and it is certain that the majority might have
avoided insolvency by sufficient care.— Pymond’s Essays on the Principles o f Morality.

IN S U R A N C E IN M A SS A C H U S E T T S .
Mr. Bigelow, the Secretary o f the State o f Massachusetts, has prepared an abstract o f
the returns o f insurance companies in that commonwealth, as we learn from the Daily
Advertiser, for the year ending 1st December, 1842.

The number o f companies in Bos­

ton is twenty-one, having an aggregate capital amounting to $5,675,000, o f which the




295

Mercantile Miscellanies.

amount o f $287,225 is invested in United States stocks and Treasury n otes; $3,579,438
in stocks o f Massachusetts banks; $44,980 in state stock s; $216,463 in loans on bot­
tomry and respondentia; $1,383,512 in real estate and mortgages; $875,065 loans on
personal security and collateral.

Cash on hand, $2 07 ,4 0 9 ; reserved fund, $695,703.

T he amount o f premium notes, $1,324,707 ; amount o f marine risks, $3 2,091,673; fire
risks, $4,665,789; amount o f fire losses paid the last year, $1 17,1 40; amount o f ma­
rine losses paid in the same period, $875,613.

T he average o f dividends paid the last

five years, by the Merchants’ Company, was 23 3-10 per ce n t; by the Manufacturers’ ,
19 3-5 per ce n t; by the Tremont, 13 89.100 per c e n t; by the Neptune, 13 per c e n t;
by four other companies, 10 per cent and o v e r; by six companies, 6 per cent or over,
and less than 1 0 ; and by seven companies, 3 per cent and under 6. T he amount of
fire risks is less by $5,000,000, and o f marine risks by $8,000,000, than was exhibited
by the return o f last year.

This is attributed, by the Secretary o f State, to the recent

establishment o f a class o f Mutual companies, without a specific amount o f capital paid
in, which transact business on an extensive scale.
Besides the foregoing tw'enty-one companies, there are seventeen insurance companies
in Massachusetts, out o f Boston, (besides one which made no return,! o f which three are
in Salem and five in New^Bedford, possessing an aggregate capital o f $1,495,000.
capital is invested, chiefly, in bank stocks.

This

The amount o f fire risks taken by these

companies is small, amounting to only $317,810, and this mostly taken by one compa­
ny. The amount o f marine risks is $11,146,096, and o f premium notes $699,416. The
average o f dividends, for the last five years, varies from 3 to 30 per cent.
The whole amount o f insurance capital in the thirty-eight companies is $7,170,000,
o f which $294,225 is invested in United States stocks and Treasury notes, $4,708,418
in bank stocks, $238,817 in railroad stocks, and the rest in real estate, mortgages, and
various other modes. T he amount o f marine risks is $43,237,769, and o f fire risks
$4 6,9 2 3 ,5 9 9 ; total, $90,161,368.

E N G L IS H D U T IE S ON T H E PRODU CE OF C H IN A .
A friend o f China and Hong Kong, says:— A s our merchants complain, and with jus­
tice, o f the very heavy, and lately augmented imposts levied by the Chinese on British
imports, we have taken the trouble to refer per contra to the amount o f duties levied on
Chinese exports, and we find that the present duties in England on the following China
products (at the current cost prices) will amount to, on—
A lum ,........... from
Cam phor,.... “
Cassia,......... “
China root,.. “
China ware,. “
Cubebs,........ “
Ginger,......... “

120
20
75
200
20
100
50

to
“
“
“
“
“
“

160 per cent
It
30
tt
120
it
300
It
50
tt
150
It
70

Glass beads, from 60 to
Hartall,......
20
20
Lead, white,
Silk g ood s,.
30
Sugar,...
275
j 50
T e a ,.......
Aver.

100 per cent.
It
30
«(
30
tt
60
it
300
250
175 i "

Viciously bad as we acknowledge the Chinese mode o f assessing duties to be, it has yet
to be proved whether it be more opposed to the true principles o f political and social
economy than our own.
The larger our ability to take the products o f China, the larger will be the capability
o f the Chinese to buy our manufactures.

I f it be an object to give employment to our

starving population at home, no better plan could be devised than to equalize the tea
duties, and admit the sugars o f China as those o f India, at the low duty.

W ere not

China sugars, in effect, prohibited in England, we are assured they would be largely sent
as returns for cotton manufactures.




In several o f the northern ports they could be

296

Mercantile Miscellanies.

cheaply and abundantly supplied as returns, but our merchants are debarred from taking
them, and hence the Chinese there cannot becom e purchasers; and what would be an
important outlet for our manufactures, is effectually closed by our suicidal policy.

W E S T E R N L A R D OIL.
W e learn, from western papers, that lard oil will consume the immense amount o f
pork the Great W est is bound to furnish. W e are not to judge o f the quality o f oil from
lard by the imperfect specimens produced at the new manufactories being established in
various parts o f the west— their machinery is new, and the operators have not had suffi­
cient experience.

W e should judge from the accounts where the manufacture has been

prosecuted sufficiently long to acquire a knowdedge o f the art.
T o ascertain the price at which it can be afforded, we have been making some inqui.
ries, and the following is the result:— In a hog weighing two hundred, his hams and
shoulders will make about one-fourth o f his weight, which are worth as much per pound
as is paid for the whole hog. This leaves one hundred and fifty pounds, which, on the
average, will render eighty pounds o f lard.

Call the expense o f rendering, 30 cents,

and the pork $ 3 00 per cwt., would make lard 6 cents per pound. A gallon o f lard
will weigh about eight pounds, and as the stearine, the residuum after the oil is extract­
ed, is worth more per pound than the oil, it is safe to estimate a gallon o f oil at 48 cents,
and add 12 cents for manufacturing and wastage, makes the cost 60 cents.

L O N D O N H A L L OF C O M M ERCE.
This is a large and convenient building, recently opened in Threadneedle-street.

It

was erected by the money and influence o f one man— M r . M o xh a y . His design is, to
furnish increased facilities for the commerce o f London and the United Kingdom, and,
through them, o f our own and other countries.

Arrangements are made in its manage­

ment for giving the earliest information to the commercial interest o f the arrival o f ship­
ping. It will contain a complete registration o f every vessel entering and leaving the
port o f London and the other British ports, and also a similar registry for the ports o f
foreign countries. Prices current, and every species o f intelligence relating to commerce,
whether in newspapers or proclamations, will be found conveniently arranged within its
walls.

A telegraph will communicate news in four minutes from the Downs.

o f the edifice is estimated at £60,000.

T he cost

It will doubtless exert a favorable influence on

the pecuniary interest o f commerce throughout the world.

C A S H BU SIN ESS.
In giving credit, there should be caution without mistrust; and when debts are con­
tracted with parties that become embarrassed in their circumstances, it is often o f great
importance for the creditor to be indulgent without negligence, and firm without rigor.
W hen a tradesman is in the habit o f giving credit to any extent, and his capital is lim­
ited, it follows, o f necessity, that he must also take credit himself.
o f the system.
t

Here we see the evil

T o preserve his ow n character he must, o f course, make good his pay-

ments on the very day whereon they becom e d u e; whereas, his customers only pay their
debts when it suits them, and very frequently not at a ll! It is not my intention to go
fully into the question o f the pernicious system o f credit, seeing that, in some cases, it
must be g iv en ; but I warn all tradesmen from trusting any but those whom they know
to be respectable and honorable people.

A man who does “ a cash” business to the

amount o f $ 5 0 0 per annum, is doing better than he who sells on credit $5,000 at the
risk o f losing one half o f the amount by bad debts.




The Book Trade.

THE

BOOK

297

TRADE.

1 .— The Twenty-second Annual Report o f the Board o f Directors o f the Mercantile
Library Association. C linton H a l l , N ew Y ork. January, 1843. 8vo. pp. 19.
T he report o f this excellent institution, for the past year, is a well-written, business­
like paper; and, although representing it as sharing in the effects o f the commercial de­
pression o f N ew Y ork, still as going forward “ successfully in ministering to those higher
wants o f mental life,” which has imparted to its friends the utmost satisfaction and de­
light.

In making the statistical and other statements, the Board o f Directors seem to be

guided by the simplicity o f facts; avoiding assertions which might in any way overrate
its numerical or moral degree o f strength, operations, or progress.

The number o f mem­

bers, as stated in the previous report, was three thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight;
deducting from which the subscriptions closed, which expired in 1841 and 1842, three
hundred and fifty-two, and the withdrawals in 1842, and add the new subscriptions of
the past year, and we find the actual number o f members on the 1st o f January, 1843,
to be three thousand three hundred and seventy-two.

O f these, two thousand eight hun­

dred and eighty-four pay annually two dollars, and forty, five dollars.

T he stockholders

o f Clinton Hall and honorary members number, in all, four hundred and forty-two.
T he receipts for the year ending December 31, 1842, have been $6,139 90, and the
expenditures $5,784 35. Notwithstanding a decrease in the number o f members, the
institution has been enabled to apply to the increase and preservation o f the library up­
wards o f $ 3,000, after meeting current expenses, and leaving a balance o f $355.

T he

institution is entirely out o f debt. “ T he system o f cash dealings,” says the Report,
“ gives it a vantage ground which cannot be too strictly kept in all its financial business.”
T he number o f volumes in the library, as stated in the last annual report, was 23,432;
to which have been since added by purchase 1,185, and by donation 67, making a total
at the present time o f 24,684. T he character o f Mr. Edward Cahoone, the late excel­
lent librarian o f the institution, is referred to in the report in appropriate terms. T he
lectures now in course o f delivery at the Tabernacle do not, it appears from the report,
secure that favor and attendance which their excellence and the selection o f a more com­
modious and central room had promised, (the number o f subscribers being less than that
to the previous course,) yet the board entertain no doubt o f the policy and necessity o f
the change o f p la ce ; “ and the conviction is established, that a course o f equal merit,
delivered in Clinton Hall upon equitable principles o f admittance, would not have af­
forded a revenue sufficient to defray the expense.”

W e give the closing paragraphs o f

the report, as expressive of the views and feelings o f the retiring Board, who appear to
have discharged the various trusts reposed in them by the Association with industry, zeal,
and integrity:—
“ T he Board now surrenders into your hands, gentlemen o f the Association, the trusts
confided to it, with a consciousness o f their great value, and o f the necessity o f their
jealous guardianship, and with the earnest hope that they may be committed in all se­
riousness to its successors ; and that among the future fruits o f an Association o f such
worth as ours, a more sober discrimination may supply the place o f that turbulent spirit
o f party strife which has abounded in the popular elections o f our country, and infected
our own choice o f officers. Indeed, the prevalence o f this spirit has suggested doubts,
in the minds o f the thoughtful and judicious, o f the soundness o f the paramount influ­
ences o f our institution.
“ But it should be our highest pleasure to express the conviction that our Association
is accomplishing its true office by its increased capacity to minister to the intellectual
wants o f its members, and, by its silent but efficient agency, to elevate and dignify the
life and character o f our clerics; for it is mainly through the reinforcement o f their cul­




298

The Book Trade.

tivation that the moral, intellectual, and social character o f the merchant is to be purified
and sustained.
“ By the means and appliances here presented, the mental privations o f clerks may be
relieved at a cost hardly appreciable, and the evils incident to the allurements o f a crowd­
ed city life, the engrossing demands o f business, the formality and unconcern o f com ­
mercial relations, and the absence o f salutary restraints, may find their readiest prevent­
ives and most sufficing remedies.
“ Y et, beneficent as are the ministrations o f our institution, accessible as are her stores
o f knowledge, and inexhaustible as are her treasures, to the indolent or the inactive they
are as if they were not. They demand more than a passive regard, and, to those who
have not learned the lesson o f self-helpfulness and the need o f self-culture, no wisdom
o f legislation can supply the want o f adequate motives and genuine impulses. W e
should be urged, therefore, to a more active individual interest in our institution, and
studious improvement o f the accumulated facilities it so liberally affords.
“ In conclusion, the Board would present prominently to the consideration o f the mer­
chant, the fact o f the practical effectiveness o f knowledge, and the daily business need
o f mental discipline and cultivation, o f faithfulness and integrity, as demanding for this
Association, even upon the score o f common policy, his more cheering countenance—
his more cordial favor and support.”
2.— Twentieth Annual Report o f the Mercantile Library Company o f Philadelphia.
January, 1843. Philadelphia: 8vo. pp. 16.
T he report o f this respectable institution, now before us, presents but few statistical
facts touching its present condition. The receipts o f the company during the last year,
including a balance o f $5 77 49, amount to $3,764 99, and the aggregate expenditures
to $3 38 28, leaving the society out o f debt, and with a balance o f $4 26 71. The fol­
lowing passages from the report, relative to its origin, objects, & c., is all that we can
find space for in the present num ber:—
“ In referring to its origin, we cannot withhold an expression o f our sense o f the wis­
dom and benevolence o f those who erected, and upheld in the feebleness o f its infancy,
this admirable scheme o f social improvement. It was a discerning and judicious philan­
thropy by which the establishment o f a Mercantile Library Company was prompted. It
recognized the importance o f ‘ that knowledge which conduces alike to the prosperity
o f communities and in d iv id u a lsa n d conscious that the pleasures o f sense are not wor­
thy o f the name o f happiness, it designed to furnish the young with substitutes for these
in the charms o f mental exertion, and the pursuit o f knowledge.
“ A lo o f from the disturbing influences o f political controversy, its aim was not to sound
the praises, or to extend the fame o f successful ambition; and not assuming as its office
the dissemination o f tenets o f dogmatic theology, or the reformation o f particular vices,
or the condemnation o f any employment or amusement, it announced as its great end,
the introduction o f its members to an acquaintance with general knowledge. Believing
that happiness and usefulness in life depend greatly on the cultivation o f moral and in­
tellectual worth, and regarding ignorance as the frequent cause o f vice, and companion
o f wretchedness, it proposed to assist in the acquisition o f knowledge as a protection o f
innocence, and as a means o f happiness.
“ A great object o f the formation o f this Library Company, was the elevation o f the
standard o f mercantile character; its design was to furnish the young men o f business
not only with innocent amusement, but to supply them with motives to intellectual exer­
tion, and moral improvement; to impress them with a sense o f their opportunities and
their responsibilities; and that, in seeking to be successful merchants, they ought also to
be men— men, with views o f duty beyond the limits o f their business, and that the basis
o f the mercantile character ought to be the manly character.”
“ Our institution has still the same generous designs which marked its origin; it is now
in an attitude which has secured the respect o f the public, and is in possession of aug­
mented strength for increased usefulness. The good it has done is a pledge that it will
continue the application o f its means to those coming within the sphere o f its operations,
and the present is an important time for the diffusion o f the wholesome influences o f this
and similar institutions, for we appear to stand in these days at an eventful period in the
history o f man. The earnest and enthusiastic spirit o f our time has quickened and ex­
cited public sentiment, until it has arisen from the slumber o f centuries like the ocean
from the calm which precedes its storm ; and the welfare o f society in the issues o f the
present, will greatly depend on the proper culture and wise direction o f the public mind.




The Book Trade.

299

T he trading classes are not exempt from the operation o f this active principle ; and if a
wise direction be given to its tendencies to intellectual activity, they have nothing to fear
from its consequences.
“ Our merchants will not be less men o f business, if they become more men o f read­
ing and thought; the pursuit o f trade will not be less successful or honorable, if it is con­
sidered not only as an affair o f barter, but as a subject o f importance in its relations to
government, and as an element o f social improvement.
“ It has been a frequent observation o f late, that the disorders and depression which
have restrained the action o f commerce, impaired the fortunes of many, and almost par­
alyzed the energies o f men o f business, have also impressed the minds of some with the
lesson, that the slow but sure avails o f persevering industry is a more certain means for
the attainment o f character and competency than the fruits o f the insanity o f speculation,
which would drive to opulence with railroad velocity, and, with its rapid alternatives o f
gain and loss, leave its votaries incapable o f exerting the power o f self-culture. The
delusion o f speculation has departed, but the present repose o f the elements of business
activity cannot always continue. T he dormant spirit o f commercial enterprise will re­
vive, trade will again attract to its pursuit the energies o f men ; and the experience of
the past will be useless, unless its warnings be transplanted to the future.”
3.

— The American in E gypt, with Rambles through Arabia Petrcea and the H oly Land
during the years 1839 and 1840. By J ames E w in g C ooley . Illustrated with one
hundred Plates. N ew Y o r k : D. Appleton & Co.

The attack made upon this interesting work o f our friend and countryman,-Mr. C oo­
ley, by a Mr. Gliddon, an Englishman, unjust and personal as it was, seems to have pro­
duced an effect quite the reverse o f what the writer o f the article, purporting to be a
review, intended, if we may judge from the fact that the first edition, large we believe,
has for some time been exhausted, and a new and cheaper one, in the popular form o f
parts, now called for. T he first number us before is, and embraces 76 pages o f the work,
with all the illustrations, equal to the former edition, which we took occasion at the time
to notice in terms o f high, but, we believe, just commendation.
in six parts, at 25 cents each.
4.

It is to be completed

— L . S. D., or Accounts o f Irish Heirs.

Furnished to the public monthly, by S amuel
T he Figures by the Author. 8vo., in
New Y o r k : D. Appleton & Co. Philadelphia: G eo.S . Appleton.

L over , Accountant for Irish Inheritances.

Nos. o f 12 pages.

T he American publishers have issued the two first parts o f this amusing work, by the
author o f “ Handy Andy.” T he mere announcement o f the fact will be all that his
numerous admirers require to induce them to read and laugh.

Each number is illus­

trated by one o f Lover’s comic illustrations on copper.
5.

— Masterman R ea d y ; or, The W reck o f the Pacific. Written for Y oung People.
By C aetain M a r r y at . Third Series. N ew Y o r k : D. Appleton & Co.

Captain Marryat’s success in the juvenile department o f literature is equal, at least, to
that acquired among general readers by his “ Jacob Faithful,” “ Peter Simple,” & c.
T he former parts o f the present work have been favorably received by the “ people and
their children,” for whom the whole series appear to be so admirably adapted.

W hat­

ever opinion may be entertained in this country o f the foibles or faults o f Captain M .,
we can assure the public that the present volumes are, so far as we are capable o f esti­
mating them, perfectly moral and unexceptionable in design and influence.
6.

— The L ast o f the Barons.
Y o r k : Harper & Brothers.

By Sir E. L. B u l w e r .

Three editions o f this novel have already been published.

1 vol.

8vo. pp. 227.

N ew

T he present is the hand­

somest, and best for the eyes o f the reader, the type being clear and distinct.

It forms

the 13th number o f the Harpers “ Library o f Popular Novels.” T he English edition, in
three volumes, is here given in one, without abridgement, at 25 cents. W e have not
read it, but those who have, pronounce it one o f the author’s best efforts.

The plot is

laid in the times o f Richard the Third, who figures largely in the dramatis personae.




The Book Trade.

300
7.

— The Bible in Spain; or the Journeys, Adventures, and Imprisonments o f an E n g ­
lishman, in an attempt to circulate the Scriptures in the Peninsula. By G eorge
B o rro w , author o f “ T he Gipsies in Spain.”
8vo. pp. 232. N ew Y o r k : Saxton &.
Miles.
This somewhat remarkable and highly interesting work, consists o f a narrative o f what

occurred to Mr. Barrow during a residence in that country, to which he was sent by the
British Bible Society, as its agent, for the purpose o f printing and translating the Scrip­
tures. It comprehends, however, certain journeys and adventures in Portugal, and leaves
him at last “ in the land o f Corahai,” to which region, after having undergone consider­
able buffeting in Spain, he found it expedient to retire for a season.

Various books have

been published about Spain, but the present is, we believe, the only one in existence
which treats o f missionary labor in that country. Many things, however, will be found
in this volume which have little connection with religion or religious enterprise. T he
author appears, from first to last, adrift in Spain, the land o f old renown, the land o f
wonder and mystery, with better opportunities o f becoming acquainted with its strange
secrets and peculiarities, than perhaps ever yet were afforded to a foreigner; and if, as
in many instances, he has introduced scenes and characters unprecedented in a work o f
this description, it may be accounted for in the fact that he was, unavoidably, so mixed
up with such, that he would scarcely have given a faithful narrative o f what befel him,
had he not brought them forward in the manner which he has done in the present work.
8.

— Tales and Sketches. Translated from the Italian, French, and German.
G reene . B oston: C. C. Little & James Brown. 1843.

By N a ­

than iel

This little volume contains eleven tales and sketches, translated at different times for
different periodicals, now, for the first time, presented in a collective form. Mr. Greene,
the translator, undertook the study o f the several languages from which these tales are
taken after he had arrived at manhood, and while filling an important office under the
government.

T he volume affords a lesson o f encouragement to those whose culture in

early fife, from whatever cause, may have been suffered to pass without application or
progress in useful or ornamental education.

T he subjects are selected with taste, and

the translations appear to be made with elegance, and a true appreciation o f the spirit
o f the original writers.
9.

— The A g e o f Gold, and other Poems.

By G eo . L u n t .

B oston: W m . D. Ticknor.

There is a vast difference between the Golden A ge and the A ge o f G o ld : the first is
truly poetic, the latter excessively prosaic; and it still remains so even when, being trans­
formed into history, it appears in the gorgeous dress bought in the shop o f Metaphor,
Rhyme, & Co.
ones.

Am ong the “ other Poems” in this little volume, are some very pretty

N o American, who has ever leaned against the trunk o f Washington’s Elm, in

Cambridge, can read this martial-patriotic strain without feeling a thrill shoot through the
heart. T he same might be said o f the battle o f Lutzen, if the slain hero had been our
countryman. Mr. Lunt has evidently both lived and loved.
10. — The P erils o f P aul P ercival; or, The Young Adventurer.
A . M . B oston: Saxton & Pierce. 1843.

By the Rev. J. Y

oung,

O f the interest which attaches to tales o f adventures, in the minds o f young people
especially, the author o f this tale seems fully aware; and when such narratives are not
the mere creation o f fancy, but, like this, are founded on facts, they may be rendered
useful as well as entertaining.

It contains sufficient entertainment to gratify the tastes

o f the young for the wonderful, while it inculcates lessons o f improvement for the under­
standing and the heart.
tLF Several valuable papers, prepared for the present number o f the Merchants’ M ag­
azine, are unavoidably omitted. T he remarks o f P arke G odwin , Esq., in reply to the
article o f Mr. Greeley, on the Grounds o f Protection, which were made in the debate
on the Tariff, at the Tabernacle, will appear in the April number.