Full text of The Merchants' Magazine and Commercial Review : September 1840, Vol. III, No. III

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H U N T ’S

M ERCHANTS’ MAGAZINE.
SEPTEM BER,

1840.

A rt . I.—T H E AMERICAN FU R TRADE.
T he operations of the fur trade, which for more than two centuries has
been in existence in our western forests, and which is now acting within
the boundaries of the United States, are not generally known to the people
of the country. This is not strange, for it has achieved its demi-savage
triumphs in silence and solitude. Its theatre of action has been an un­
measured wilderness, stretching thousands of miles from Hudson’s Bay to
the mouth of the Mississippi, and from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the hanks
of the Pacific, remote from the central points of civilization. It has launch­
ed its fleets of canoes upon waters never before navigated by white men,
and waged its wars with wild beasts. It has coursed the tracks of streams
which had not before been crossed, penetrated the twilight of the most
dense forests, kindled its camp fires in the remotest Indian village, and fol­
lowed the track of the most distant Indian trail. It has skimmed the sur­
face of the largest lakes in the world with its light barks, followed the
meandering of the most obscure rivulet to find the dam of the beaver, and
traversed the ocean-like prairies of the west, for the herds of elks and buf­
faloes which made them their ranging grounds. It has carried its packs
of furs over rivers and through fens. It has scaled mountain heights cov­
ered with eternal snows, and grappled with their savage monarch, the
grisly bear, in his icy den. It has silently collected its cargoes of furs
and peltry into their respective places of shipment on the seaboard, and
transported them to foreign ports, adding vast sums to the amount of na.
tional wealth. Within our own territory its enterprises are probably des­
tined to exercise an important bearing upon our foreign relations, for they
involve nothing less than the territorial boundaries of the United States.
W e design in this paper to sketch an outline of its progress within our own
domain, as well as its general features in the northern part of our conti­
nent, it having been the grand commercial enterprise of the west when the
west was a mere wilderness.
It is well known, that during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the
principal monarchs of Europe sent out their shins to explore our coasts, for the
to l . h i .— no . h i .
24




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The American Fur Trade.

purpose of enlarging their dominions, and to acquire the mines of gold which
were supposed to abound in the soil. As early as 1534, Jacques Cartier
had been despatched by the French government for that object; and,
during the following year, we find his keels ploughing the Gulf of St.
Lawrence. Nearly a century afterwards, in 1603, M. Pontgrave, an in­
telligent partner in a house at St. Malo, in France, aided by M. Chatte,
the governor of Dieppe, had projected an expedition for the establishment
of colonies along the St. Lawrence, and the prosecution of the fur trade
upon the wide wilderness which was spread out around it. This company
was led by Samuel Champlain, a partner, and subsequently the governor
of Canada, who succeeded, in 1608, in founding the city of Quebec ; thus
planting the basis of French power in that part of the continent which con­
tinued to rule it for a century.
It was soon ascertained by the French colonists, who established them­
selves upon the St. Lawrence and the bordering lakes and streams, that no
gems and gold abounded in the soil, but that a mighty wilderness was
stretched around them, broken by vast lakes, and intersected by gigantic
arteries of navigation, and that it was filled with wild animals, whose furs
were of great value in the foreign markets. The facilities for this traffic,
held out by the western portion of the country, did not escape the keen
sight of the Cardinal de Richelieu, then in the full career of his glory, who,
in order to consolidate the operations of the French colonists, organized
in 1627 what was denominated the Company o f New France, a '•hartered
body comprised of one hundred members, and granted two ships of war by
the French crown. From that time the French colonies began to scatter
themselves along the great lakes and rivers of the west, and the most
effective operations of the fur trade were commenced.
The design of the French government, in sending out explorers, and
issuing exclusive charters at the west, was to found a permanent empire on
the soil. In accordance with that object, these charters were granted by
the crown to titled pets, who were the seigneurs of the country; and the
grantees transported from the unsettled population of the frontier towns of
the mother country from time to time into the French colonies a large
body of idle and somewhat thriftless men, who were ready to embark
in any enterprise by which there was a prospect of bettering their for­
tunes.
The peculiar system of the French fur trade was aided as much by the
character of the people as the spirit and policy of the French colonial gov­
ernment. The French colonists, who were scattered in their rude huts at
widely separated points from the St. Lawrence to the banks of the Mis­
souri, were calculated in a'high degree to advance its enterprise. They
consisted of three classes ; the seigneurs, who were deemed the patricians
of the country, and who held all its advantages by royal charters ; the cler­
gy, belonging to the Catholic church, who erected their crosses amid the
most distant Indian camps, and were important agents of the French gov­
ernment in gaining the friendship of the savages, and in keeping a super­
vision around the French posts; and the large body of vagrant Frenchmen,
who were fit subjects of the feudal system of the Coutume de Paris, or the
French colonial law, which acted upon them down to the year 1760, the
whole term of the French domination.
The system upon which the trade was conducted by the French, possessed certain peculiar and strongly-marked features. The French colo




The American Fur Trade.

187

nies, which first peopled the west, were mercantile colonies, and it was the
policy of the men who held the soil, to strive to secure the greatest amount
of temporary advantage from it, rather than to perpetuate the dominion of
the mother country to the territory. Accordingly, all their plans were
devoted to that object. Bodies of men were despatched, from time to time,
from the head-quarters of the French colonial government, Quebec and
Montreal, with implements of trade, to erect posts or factories upon the
borders of the lakes, that might furnish places of deposit for the peltries
collected, and serve as outposts for the protection of the extending jurisdic­
tion of the French power. Within the first fifty years after their coloniza­
tion, we find these factories extending from Quebec to the remotest shores
of Lake Superior, at Detroit, Mackinaw, Duquesne, Chicago, Green Bay,
St. Joseph, St. Marie, and St. Vincent. They consisted of clusters of rude
houses, erected in the woods, thatched with bark or straw, in the midst of
which settlement the jesuit missionary erected his chapel, that was surmounted by the cross. A rude fort, constructed from the means at hand,
often contained a small garrison of French soldiers, and of persons con­
nected with the fur trade. These settlements, however, were used mainly
as factories of the trade, where the furs were themselves deposited, and
which, at convenient times, were shipped to the Canadian ports.
The general course of the trade, as it operated through the lakes, was
uniform, conducted as it was upon a settled and well-digested plan. The
seigneurs, who, with the governor-general of Canada, were invested with
the sovereign power, subject to the cognizance of the king of France, were
oftentimes the partners of the company, and the mass of the traders were
but little better than their serfs. It was, in consequence, the studied policy
of these seigneurs to divert the enterprises of the great bulk of the traders
from the^pursuits of agriculture, and to direct them into the channels of
the fur trade, from which the greatest amount of temporary profit could be
reaped ; and husbandry was encouraged only so far as it was required to
furnish the means of subsistence.
The active agents of the French fur trade were the Coureurs des Bois,
or rangers of the woods, a body of men eminently fitted for the station
which they occupied. As a class, they were reckless and improvident;
accustomed to the hardships of the -forest, loving to roam the deepest wil­
derness, and to ply the paddle on the most solitary stream ; as fond of the
wild and wandering life of the woods as the mariner is of the ocean; and
not unlike mariners in their character, for the wilderness, to them, was
like the ocean, without inhabitants, save the wild beasts which they pur­
sued, or the savage tribes that were roaming, through it, or stationed in
their wigwams, which were thinly scattered through its broad domain, and
the scattered posts of the fur trade stood like lighthouses on its coast. Even
the dress of the Coureurs des Bois was demi-savage ; consisting of leggins,
moccasins, a capote or blanket coat, and a red sash twined around them
as a girdle, in which was stuck a steel scalping-knife. It was made their
duty to advance periodically through the great chain of the northwestern
lakes, which furnished the most convenient channels of navigation to the
interior posts, and thence through the forest streams to those points where
the Indians were in the habit of resorting; and when they had collected
their cargoes of furs and peltry, to return to Quebec and Montreal, sweep­
ing down through the clear waters of the lakes, from which named ports
they were shipped for France. The vehicles of the traffic were large




188

The American F ur Trade.

canoes of bark, sufficiently capacious to contain six men, and space for the
storage of the manufactured goods, which were transported into the inte.
rior for barter, as well as the furs received in exchange. The articles
used in the trade were generally imported from France, and were enclosed
in packages of convenient size. They consisted of cotton-cloths, blankets,
calicoes, guns, hatchets, and other kinds of hardware, cheap ornaments
suited to the taste of the Indians, as well as all articles required by the
wants of the savages. Thus provided, it was the custom of the fur traders
to advance into the Indian territory, and either hunt and trap, themselves,
or to exchange their goods with the Indians for the furs which were de­
posited in the hands of what were termed the “ Farmers of the Beaver
Skins,” who were probably nothing more than modern factors, and by
these they were shipped abroad.
The system of policy pursued in the French fur trade clearly exhibits
the feudal spirit of that period. The old French companies who had been
invested with broad charters from the French crown, constituting vast com­
mercial monopolies, lording it over the forest, did not, however, accom­
plish the objects which were designed by the parent government. Holding
the great bulk of the traders in an iron subjection, they grasped themselves
all the advantages which were secured by the traffic, so that the traders
were often willing to escape from the vassalage under which they labored,
and to wander away from the French posts, to take up a permanent resi­
dence in the camps of savages, to secure to themselves Indian wives or
concubines, and finally to incorporate themselves with the Indians.
In order to prevent the emigration of the traders from the posts, it was
soon found necessary to exercise a more rigid power over their operations.
Accordingly, it was ordained that no person should be permitted to trade
with the Indians without licenses from the French king, and a^l persons
who had not these licenses were prohibited from the going out of the
colony under the penalty of death. The ordinary price of these licenses,
according to La Hontan, was six hundred crowns, and they were purchased
from the governor-general of Canada by the merchants, and by them sold
out to the Coureurs des Bois or rangers, at an advance of about fifteen per
cent more than they could command in ready money at the colony. The
privileges granted in these licenses was the loading of two large canoes with
cargoes of manufactured goods, valued at about a thousand crowns, each
of which was manned by six men. On their voyages made through the
lakes annually, the ordinary profit was one hundred per cent, from which
the merchant took a thousand crowns for the prime cost of his exported
goods, six hundred crowns for his license, and forty per cent for bottomry,
so that there remained, from the two cargoes, only six hundred and eighty
crowns, which were divided among the twelve Coureurs des Bois. During
every year the traders would sweep down the lakes and streams from the
remotest banks of Lake Superior, through the Ottawas river, or across the
portage of Niagara Falls, with full freights, which were easily disposed of
at the principal marts of the trade, Quebec and Montreal.
The character of Quebec and Montreal, produced by the annual arrival
of the French ships with cargoes of European goods, destined for the fur
trade, and ready to receive in return their freights of furs which were ready
stored for shipment to France, was of a highly commercial cast. Society
in these prominent posts was polished and elegant; sailing, fishing, hunt­
ing, driving their carrioles upon the ice of the St. Lawrence in winter, or




The American Fur Trade.

189

their calashes in summer over the rich soil, were their principal amuse,
ments. The annual arrival of the French ships was anticipated with
eagerness, for they brought news from the mother country; and the French
colonists watched their white sails as they faded away upon the landscape,
bearing rich freights to a region which was their native land !
But the evil effects of the rigid policy that was pursued soon became
manifest, and almost every one was permitted to embark in the fur trade,
the system of granting licenses being abolished. The necessary conse­
quence was, that the foreign markets became glutted, and a higher price
was frequently paid for furs in our own country than they could command
in France. A marked improvidence also pervaded its management. The
French goods used in the trade were of much higher price than those of
the English, so that the profits became so small that many of the French
traders absconded to the English posts, and had permanent establishments
in the state of New York.
Who has not heard of the Canadian boat songs which have so often
awakened the solitude of the western waters, and made “ Uttawa’s tide”
almost as famous as the classic streams of Italy and Greece? We here
subjoin the two following original Canadian boat songs, which are now
timed by the Canadians with their paddles upon the northwestern lakes.
They were, probably, the model of those which Thomas Moore, the
British poet, has given us :—
1.
Tous les amants
Changent de maitresses,
Qu’ils changent qui voudront,
Pour moi je garde la mienne ;
Le bon vin m’endort,
L’amour me reveille.

Tons les printems,
T ant de nouvelle,
Tous les amants
Changent de m aitresses;
Le bon vin m’endort,
L ’amour me reveille.

2.
Dans mon chemin, j’ai rencontrd
Trois cavaliferes, bien montdes;
L’on, Ion, laridon daine,
Lon ton, laridon dai.

Trois cavalibres, bien montdes,
L’un S. cheval et l’autre a pied;
L ’on, Ion, laridon daine,
Lon ton, laridon dai.

The general course of the French fur trade cannot, perhaps, be more
appropriately described than in the words of the Baron La Hontan, who
was a resident of Montreal about the year 1685, and for some time the
French commandant of a post upon the river St. Clair.
“ Much about the same day,” says La Hontan, “ there arrived (at Montreal) twenty-five or thirty canoes belonging to the Coureurs des Bois,
being homeward bound for the great lakes, and laden with beaver skins.
The cargo of each canoe amounted to forty packs, and will fetch fifty
crowns at the farmers1 office. These canoes were followed by fifty more,
of the Ottawas and Hurons, who came down every year to the colony,
in order to make a better market than they can do in their own country
of Michilimackinac, which lies on the banks of the Lake of Hurons (Lake
Huron,) at the mouth of the Lake of the Illinese (Lake Michigan.) Their
way of trading is as follows. Upon their arrival, they encamp at the dis­
tance of five or six hundred paces from the town. The next day is spent
in ranging their canoes, unloading their goods, and pitching their tents,
which are made of birch bark. The next day they demand an audience
of the governor-general, which is granted them that same day in a public
place. Upon this occasion each nation makes a ring for itself. The sav­




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The American Fur Trade.

ages sit upon the ground, with their pipes in their mouths, and the governor
is seated in an arm chair; after which, there starts up an orator or speaker
from one of these nations, who makes an harangue, importing that his
brethren are come to visit the governor-general, and to renew with him
their wonted friendship ; that their chief view is to promote the interest of
the French, some of whom being unacquainted with the way of traffic, and
being too weak for the transporting of goods from the lakes, would be un­
able to deal in beaver skins, if his brethren did not come in person to deal
with them in their own colonies; that they know very well how acceptable
their arrival is to the inhabitants of Montreal, in regard of the advantage
they reap by i t ; that in regard the beaver skins are much valued in
France, and the French goods given in exchange are of an inconsiderable
value, they mean to give the French sufficient proof of their readiness to
furnish them with what they desire so earnestly. That by way of prepara­
tion for another year’s cargo, they are come to take in exchange fuzees,
powder and ball, in order to hunt great numbers of beavers, or to gall the
Iroquese, in case they offer to disturb the French settlements. And in
fine, that in confirmation of their words, they throw a porcelain collar with
some beaver skins to the governor-general, whose protection they lay
claim to, in case of any robbery or abuse committed upon them in the
town. The spokesman, having made an end of his speech, returns to his
place, and takes up his pipe, and the interpreter explains the substance of
the harangue to the governor, who commonly gives a very civil answer,
especially if the presents be valuable ; in consideration of which he like­
wise makes them a present of some trifling things. This done, the sav­
ages rise up and return to their huts, to make suitable preparations for
the ensuing truck.
“ The next day the savages make their slaves carry the skins to the
houses of the merchants, who bargain with them for such clothes as they
want. All the inhabitants of Montreal are allowed to traffic with them, in
any commodity but rum and brandy; these two being excepted, upon the
account that when the savages have got what they wanted, and have any
skins left, they drink to excess, and then kill their slaves, for when they
are in drink, they quarrel and fight, and if they were not held by those
who are sober, would certainly make havock one of another. However,
you must observe that none of them will touch either gold or silver.
“ As soon as the savages have made an end of their truck, they take
leave of the governor, and so return home by the river Ottawas. To
conclude, they did a great deal of good both to the poor and rich, for
you will readily apprehend that everybody turns merchant upon such
occasions.”
It would seem that even at this period, a jealousy existed on the part of
the French at the advance of the English, who, as early as 1686, had pene­
trated the forests as far as Michilimackinac in the prosecution of the fur
trade. In 1720, we find Charlevoix striving to argue down the objection
which had been urged to the increase of the settlement of Detroit, on ac­
count of its proximity to British influence. “ As for what has been said,”
says Charlevoix, “ that by making a settlement at the Narrows, we should
bring the fur trade too much within reach (of the English,) there is not a
man in Canada who does not agree that we can never succeed in prevent­
ing the Indians from carrying them their commodities, let them be settled
where they will, and with all the precautions we can possibly take, except




The American Fur Trade.

191

by causing them to find the same advantage in trading with us as in the
province of New York.”
Such as we have attempted to sketch them, were the prominent features
of the French fur trade, which exercised an undivided dominion over the
forests bordering the western waters, until the year 1760, the date of the
surrender of the country to England, and we pass to the operations of
other European powers in this region relating to the same traffic.
While the French traders were ransacking the forests bordering the great
lakes and the Mississippi, and storing with furs the warehouses of France,
a gigantic corporation belonging to a rival power, and now in existence,
had sprung up in the north—a power which is now grasping the entire do­
minion of the forest north of the American bounds from Hudson’s Bay to
the mouth of the Columbia, infringing upon our own territory, and exer­
cising an iron despotism over the large body of French Canadians, traders,
half-breeds, and Indians, who are in its employ and subject to its will. The
English, for a long period, had made extraordinary efforts to discover a
northern passage for ships between the Atlantic and Pacific ; and about the
commencement of the sixteenth century, Hudson and Baffin had explored
the two bays whose names they bear. It was believed that the communi­
cation could only be effected by one of the last named bays, and in order
to encourage the project of exploration, Charles II. granted to a society of
London merchants, denominated The Hudson's Bay Company, a charter in
1669,* upon the implied condition that they would strive to effectuate that
object. From this period, there sprang forward a monopoly not exceeded
in magnitude by any that has existed on this continent, which, at first con­
fining itself within the hyperborean regions of the north, and acting as a
rival of the French for nearly a century, has gradually extended itself
throughout the greater portion of the western territory, and without regard
to chartered rights, appears to be destined to swallow up all other com­
mercial enterprises within its reach. But we shall treat more particularly
of its spirit and policy as we proceed.
Thus the fur trade continued to advance through the great chain of the
lakes and the region of Hudson’s Bay, pouring its furs through their chan­
nels to the places of shipment, singing its boat songs, and strangely mingling
barbarism and civilization, until the power of France was swept from the
soil to give place to that of England. From the time of the surrender of
the western posts in 1760, down to the year 1766, the fur trade from Mon­
treal was in a great measure suspended. The furs which were collected
by the Indians from the borders of the lakes, were disposed of to the traders
of Hudson’s Bay, who now extended their posts towards the domain which
had formerly been occupied by France. But in 1766, a few Scotch mer­
chants from Upper Canada, finding the field unoccupied, soon established
a post and factory at Michilimackinac, the central point of the old French
fur trade ; and from this point, their operations soon spread out beyond the
borders of Lake Superior and the upper waters of the Mississippi, and north
to Lake Winnipeg, and the Saskatcheuine and Lake Athabasca. These
traders, however, regarded as they were with jealousy, coming in collision
with the traders of Hudson’s Bay, were uersecuted by that body, being
hunted from post to post.
* In our former article on the “ Progress of the Northwest,” we stated the date of
this charter to be 1668. It was granted the following year.




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The American Fur Trade.

During the same year, an important journey was performed by Jonathan
Carver, an adventurous explorer from Connecticut, who, in June of 1766,
started from Boston, and passing through the straits of Mackinaw and the
upper lakes, occupied the two succeeding years in investigating the country
west of the Mississippi. It was his grand design to ascertain the character
and the languages of the various Indian tribes which were scattered over its
surface, as well as the productions of the soil beyond the Mississippi, and
also to discover the breadth of the continent in its broadest part, from the
Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, between the 43d and the 46th degree of
northern latitude. His ultimate object also, was to propose to the govern­
ment the establishment of a post in that region, near the “ Strait of Anian,”
which he claimed would facilitate the discovery of a passage between Hud­
son’s Bay and the Pacific. This object, however, he could not effect; as
he was obliged to give up the project just as he had advanced to the St. Pe­
ter’s river. The journal of his travels was however published in London,
and was widely circulated, containing, as it did, interesting information relating to the topography of a country which had then been but partially ex­
plored, as well as facts relating to the Indian tribes that were found within
its forests.
The abundance of furs and peltries which were found to exist in the
northern part of our continent, soon gave rise to important foreign enter­
prises, and in 1784, preparations were made in several of the European na­
tions for the prosecution of the fur trade within its borders, especially between
the northwestern coast of America and China. At this period, the Russians
procured the greater part of their furs from the northern parts of their em­
pire, and transported them to China by land; while the markets of Great
Britain were supplied by the factories of Canada and Hudson’s Bay. China
had been long a valuable mart for furs, from the fact that they were highly
prized in that country, being required in the northern part of the empire,
as a defence against the cold, while throughout its whole extent they were
deemed a badge of rank and wealth, being used at Canton, which is under
the tropics, during the winter.
In the succeeding year, James Hanna, an Englishman, sailed from Can­
ton in April, for the prosecution of the fur trade, and during the August
following he arrived in Nootka Sound with the first brig that had ever ex­
plored the northwest coast of America. Here he exchanged his coarse
manufactures and old iron for a valuable cargo of furs, with which he re­
turned to the port of Canton. About the same period, an association of
merchants termed the “ King George’s Sound Company,” was formed in
London for the prosecution of the same trade on our western coast. The
plan of th .5 company was to collect furs on that part of our continent, and
to transport them to Canton, receiving their return cargo in tea, which, by
a special permission granted to them by the East India Company, they
were allowed to ship to London. For that object two ships were despatched
to the North Pacific. In the course of the two following years, two vessels
were sent out from Calcutta and Bombay, by the East India Company;
from Macao and Canton by the English and Portuguese; and from Ostei.a
under the flag of the Austrian East India Company. The French also, in
1790, despatched expeditions to the northwest coast, for the purpose of ob­
taining information respecting the fur trade. Nor was the Spanish govern­
ment far behind in the same enterprise. An agent was sent out by this na­
tion to California for the purpose of collecting furs for the market of Can­




The American Fur Trade.

193

ton, which he did. But the few inferior furs which he had accumulated,
hardly paid for the transportation, as the Canton market had been pre­
viously glutted. Meantime the Russians were gradually extending their
knowledge of the northwestern coast, and the Americans soon put in their
claims to the explorations of the same region. The Columbia, of two hun­
dred and twenty tons, and the Lady Washington, of ninety tons, under the
command of John Kendrick and Robert Gray, were fitted out by an associa­
tion of merchants in Boston, and being furnished with sea letters from the
general government, they sailed together on the 30th of September, 1787,
for the prosecution of the fur trade on the same coast.
During the year 1787, the Northwest Company was organized. This
company was established for the purpose of preventing the collisions which
had before occurred between individual traders of the lakes and those of the
Hudson’s Bay Company, as well as to systematize the fur trade, and to
balance the power of the last-named corporation. Its members were com­
prised of the principal merchants of Montreal, who had before been engaged
in the fur trade around the lakes. This company did not secure a charter,
but constituted themselves into a commercial partnership. It consisted of
shares unequally divided among individual stockholders, some of whom
were engaged in the importation of goods necessary to carry on the trade,
in the supply of capital, and in the exportation of the proceeds ; and others
who were employed in actual trade at the interior posts and among the In­
dians. The shares of this company were gradually increased as new appli­
cants for the stock appeared. The agents of the company went annually
to Detroit, Mackinaw, St. Mary, and the grand portage, where they re­
ceived their furs, and forwarded them to Montreal. The articles for the
'trade consisted of woollen and cotton goods, hardware, cutlery, and all those
ornaments which were required by the Indians, as well as in the market of
Montreal. These goods were annually shipped from London about the
first of May, made up into the proper kinds of clothing, and in the winter
they were bartered for furs and peltry, which during the next fall were
shipped to London. The food which they used was of a coarse kind.
The partners of the company, the interpreters, clerks, guides, and all in
office, were allowed a more palatable provision; but the canoe-men, or
voyagers, had nothing better than fat, and ground Indian corn boiled, which
they called “ hominee.”
The two companies thus embarked as rivals in the fur trade, were actua­
ted by the motives of rivals. The Hudson’s Bay Company, which had ex­
ercised a supreme dominion over the frozen wilderness of the north, and
had enthroned itself in solitary despotism at Rockfort, soon found a new
company advancing upon their domain, and the rivalry of the two companies soon gave rise to violent outbreaks, though they confined themselves
within different chartered limits. The Northwest Company stretched its
arms over the northwestern lakes, aided by Canadians, half-breeds,
voyagers, and Indians, as well as by Scotch agents, occupying the posts
which had formerly belonged to the French along the line of the Great
Lakes and the Mississippi; and in two years after its first establishment, it
had advanced its posts as far as Athabasca Lake, eight hundred miles be­
yond Lake Superior.
Whether the operations of the Northwest Company were in the main
profitable, is more than we can affirm, but the amount of furs and peltry
which they collected was considerable. The following table, exhibiting the
VOL r a . — NO. II
25




194

The American Fur Trade.

number of skins which were collected by this company during one year,
we derive from Sir Alexander Mackenzie, a partner in this association,
who published an account of the fur trade, and who was a prominent agent
in advancing its interests.
Product o f the Northwest Company, fo r one year previous to 1794.
106,000 beaver skins,
600 wolverine skins,
2,100 bear skins,
1,650 fisher skins,
1,500 fox skins,
100 racoon skins,
4.000 kit fox skins,
3,800 wolfskins,
4,600 otter skins,
700 elk skins,
16.000 musksquash skins,
750 deer skins,
32.000 martin skins,
1,200 dressed deer skins,
1,800 mink skins,
500 buffalo robes.
6.000 lynx skins,
Fort William, near the grand portage on the northwestern shore of Lake
Superior, was the place of annual junction, where the partners from the in­
terior met the leading directors from Montreal, to discuss the interests of
the trade. The directors from Montreal would at this time ascend the
rivers and lakes of the west in their large canoes, manned by Canadian
voyagers, and provided with all the means of good cheer, not excepting
the choicest wines. The place of assemblage was the grand council-house,
a large wooden building, which was decorated with all the implements of
baronial pomp, like a hall of the dark ages. The huge antlers of the elk,
which almost rivalled in size the branches of the trees, the bow, and the
painted war club, Indian ornaments of various kinds, richly sculptured
pipes wrought from the red stone of that region, or cut from the horns of
the deer, and ornamented with the plumes of birds, besides other trophies
of Indian hunting and warfare, as well as domestic utensils and buffalo robes,
carpeted the floor or adorned the walls of the hall. At this season a grand
dinner was usually provided, with all the luxuries which the forest could
furnish, or could be provided by the markets of Montreal. The partner of
the company, the French voyager, clothed with tinsel, and with the red
feather waving in his hat, the half-breed, the Highlander, and the Indian,
were there strangely mingled. At such seasons also, the forests echoed
the shouts of revelry, and the broad lakes were enlivened by the canoes of
the Indians and traders, who were permitted to make this their grand
holiday.
, Meantime, the Russian government was extending its establishments
along the western coasts of the continent. An association was formed
among the merchants of Eastern Siberia as early as 1785, for the purpose
of carrying on the fur trade upon the northern coast of the Pacific, which
received protection from the Empress Catherine. Her son and successor,
the Emperor Paul, was disposed, however, to subvert the association, on
account of the cruelty of its agents towards the natives. But he soon
changed his determination, and on the 8th of July, 1799, he granted to
the association a charter under the name of the Russian American Fur
Company, giving them an exclusive right to trade, for twenty years,
along a large portion of the coast. This privilege was confirmed by his
son and successor, the Emperor Alexander. The directors of this com­
pany had their residence at Tikutsk in Siberia, the grand depository of the
China trade. This was afterwards changed to St. Petersburgh, and was




The American Fur Trade.

195

placed under the general oversight of the imperial department of commerce.
The Russian fur trade, although more despotic than that of the French and
English, was nevertheless governed by the same general system of ma­
chinery ; and here was laid the foundation of that immense Russian trade
which was afterwards extended to the vast forests upon the northern shores
of the Pacific. At tins early period, numerous collisions sprang up between
the Russian and American fur traders, founded upon mercantile rivalry;
and, among other prominent charges made, it was complained that fire­
arms were furnished to the natives by the Americans. From this fact it
will be perceived that while the European fur companies were thus pushing
their enterpi-ises through the great arteries of western commerce, the
United States had not been idle. During the year 1791, no less than seven
vessels from this country arrived in the North Pacific, in search of furs;
and Captain Ingraham, having sailed from Boston in 1790, had discovered
the group of islands which is situated near the centre of the Pacific, and
called the Washington Islands.
Although Mackenzie had crossed the continent to the Pacific, in 1793, still
the vast domain remained unpeopled, and from the year 1796 to 1814 the
whole of the trade carried on between the coast of the Pacific and China was
performed in American vessels. Yet the Americans had no establishment
upon the western borders of the continent. The American vessels were
accustomed to sail from the United States or from Europe, to the North
Pacific, with cargoes of spirits, wine, sugar, tobacco, firearms, gunpowder,
iron, and coarse manufactures of various kinds, which were exchanged
with the natives or Russians, for furs upon the coast, or sometimes these
cargoes were obtained by hiring from the Russian agent hunters and fisher­
men, who would procure for their employers the cargoes which were de­
sired. These cargoes were then shipped to Canton, and bartered for teas,
porcelain, nankeens, and silks, which were themselves shipped to the mar­
kets of Europe or the United States; or if the ships were not able to col­
lect a sufficient cargo of furs, they were accustomed to take in freights of
sandal-wood, pearl-shells, and tortoise-shells, which might be easily pro­
cured at the Sandwich Islands, and which commanded a high price in the
markets of Canton.
In consequence of the signal success which had attended the operations
of the Northwest Company, a new company was formed for the prosecu­
tion of the fur trade, called the Mackinaw Company, from the fact that its
principal depot was on the island of Mackinaw ; and while the companies
of the Northwest and Hudson’s Bay adventured deeper into the forest, in
the regions of the north and the head waters of the Missouri, the Mackinaw
Company pushed its canoes through the streams of Iowa and Wisconsin.
It is well known that after the treaty of 1783, establishing the bound­
aries of the United States, the English refused to deliver up the western
posts, and it was their studied policy to excite the vengeance of the con­
federated Indian tribes in that region against the United States. By a
clause in Jay’s treaty, concluded in 1794, British traders were permitted
to enter the American territory, to carry on the fur trade. But a new as­
pect was soon given to affairs by the purchase of Louisiana, under treaty
bearing date April 30th, 1803, which not only gave to us the domain in­
cluded within its territorial boundaries, but also the right of navigating the
Mississippi, from the source to the sea. At this period, Mr. Jefferson, then
in the presidential chair, projected an expedition, to be undertaken by the




196

The American Fur Trade.

federal government, for a particular exploration of the country watered by
the Missouri, and westward to the Pacific, and commenced a series of efforts
which ended in the expedition of Lewis and Clarke. These adventurous
men proceeded up the Missouri towards the Rocky Mountains, partly by land
and partly by water, exploring the main stream to its source. Here they
prepared to cross the Rocky Mountains, in August of 1805, and having
accomplished their object, they reached the mouth of the Columbia on the
7th of November of the same year.
In consequence of this expedition of Lewis and Clarke, projects were
soon commenced also by the English, for the extension of their fur trade
west of the Rocky Mountains; and during the spring of 1806, Mr. Silas
Frazer, a partner of the Northwest Company, established a British trading
post on Frazer’s Lake, near the fifty-fourth parallel, at a point since called
New Caledonia.
While these foreign enterprises were advancing, the Americans were
not idle. At St. Louis an association was formed in 1808, called the Mis­
souri Company, which was projected by Manuel Lisa, an enterprising
Spaniard. Two years afterwards, a number of trading posts were established upon the Upper Missouri, and one beyond the Rocky Mountains, on
the Lewis river, by Mr. Henry, and also on the southern branch of the
Columbia. But the enmity of the savages within its range, and the diffi­
culty of obtaining regular supplies of food, obliged Mr. Henry to abandon
it in 1810.
The operations of the Northwest Company in confederating the numer­
ous savage tribes at the west, especially in the forests around the Missis­
sippi and the great lakes, induced the American government to send out
individual traders, to supply the wants of the Indians, and, if possible, to
link their feelings with the United States. These efforts produced, how­
ever, but little effect; and the profits of the fur trade induced a project of
great magnitude, as evincing the enterprise of its founder.
Meanwhile, the Russians were extending their establishments upon the
North Pacific coasts, as far as Guadalupe, or Norfolk Sound, and, as early
as 1806, they had made preparations to occupy the mouth of the Columbia
river. The Russian fur trade was conducted on a despotic plan. The
territory occupied by the Russian Fur Company was divided into districts,
and each district was placed under an overseer, aided by a small number
of Russians, who kept the natives in entire subjection to his will, and com­
pelled them to labor for him. The overseers were under the general
direction of an agent, one of whom resided in each group of settlements,
and all were subject to the will of a chief director, or governor-general,
who exercised over them an absolute power, although subject to certain
written regulations which were drawn up at St. Petersburgh. The great
body of the laborers in the Russian fur trade were employed principally as
mechanics, hunters, fishermen, or soldiers, and were constituted of a class
of vagabond Russians, pressed down by the most abject servitude, and in
such a state of want that, to them, the grave would almost have been a relief.
The furs collected were shipped to Petro-Pawlowsk and Oc.holsk, from which
points the goods required for the trade were transported, the remainder
being supplied from American vessels. The Russian government soon,
however, made important efforts to exclude these American vessels from
the Pacific, in order not only that they might monopolize the fur trade,
but also prevent the Americans from furnishing the Indians arms and am-




The American Fur Trade.

197

ammunition, which they had long done, to the great detriment of its in­
terests.
As early as 1800, the stock of the Russian Fur Company rapidly ad­
vanced, under the auspices of Alexander Baranoff, a bold, shrewd, ener­
getic, and heartless man, who, in measuring the interests of the trade,
regarded its profits as of greater value than right and humanity, the
souls and the bodies of m en; not remembering that before the bar of jus­
tice gold is but dross; that no liquid, even of molten diamonds, could there
wash out his crimes, and that those whom he had injured would stand up
against him as his accusers !
Mr. John Jacob Astor, a German by birth, who had emigrated from that
country in 1783, and, by engaging in the fur trade here, had laid the foun­
dation of a splendid fortune, knowing that it was the wish of the govern­
ment of the United States to divert the trade from the British to American
hands, undertook to accomplish this object with his own single arm. With
that view, he obtained, in 1809, a charter from the legislature of New York,
organizing the Pacific Fur Company, all the stock belonging to himself,
he being also the director of its operations. His design was to establish
posts on the coast of the Pacific, the Columbia and its branches, as well as
upon the head waters of the Missouri. These posts were to be supplied
with the necessary articles of trade, either by the way of the Missouri, or
from the principal factory at the mouth of the Columbia, which last-named
post was to be fed by ships annually sent out from the port of New York.
This principal depot at the mouth of the Columbia was to receive all the
furs and peltries collected at the other posts, and the ships sent out from
the last, after discharging their cargoes at this depot, were to be reladen
with furs, which were to be carried to Canton, and receive in return teas,
silks, and other Chinese productions, which were to be reshipped to New
York. In order to prevent difficulty, it was proposed to furnish from the
American ships to the Russians in that region, whatever of goods they
might require, for which furs were to be received in exchange, and for that
object a special agent was sent to St. Petersburgh, who succeeded in effect­
ing the negotiation. As Mr. Astor, by the scope of his mind, and the
weight of his character, had raised himself to high consideration with the
government, he received strong assurances of countenance from the cabinet
of Mr. Jefferson, and promises to support the enterprise in any proper way.
For the prosecution of this grand enterprise two expeditions were pro­
jected, one by sea and one by land. The former was directed to proceed
by sea from New York to the mouth of the Columbia, with the proper
stores and ammunition for the establishment of a fortified post at the mouth
of the Columbia ; and the other to advance by land, up the Missouri, and
across the Rocky Mountains to the same point, marking on their way the
proper places for the establishment of the interior posts.
For the execution of his plan Mr. Astor engaged, as partners, a number
of Scotchmen who had been employed in the Northwest Company, together
with Americans and Canadians, acquainted with the fur trade. The part­
ners were empowered to conduct the operations of the trade in the west,
receiving for their services one half of the profits, while Mr. Astor, who
was to remain in New York and superintend its operations, himself fur­
nishing the capital, was to retain the other half. In 1809, the ship Enter­
prise had been despatched to the North Pacific, to make inquiries from
the Russian settlements, and to clear the way for its future action.




198

The American Fur Trade.

In September, 1810, the ship Tonquin left the harbor of New York,
laden with the means for the establishment of the post at the mouth of the
Columbia, and arrived at that point in March of 1811. A site was selected
on the Columbia, about eight miles from the ocean, and named Astoria,
from the founder of the expedition, which point was designed as the basis
of the principal factory. The goods of the Tonquin being landed, she
sailed to the North Pacific in search of furs. During the following sum­
mer the necessary buildings were erected, a garden was commenced, a
small vessel was launched, trade was begun with the natives, and every
thing went on with signal success.
In the July following, a detachment from the Northwest Company ar­
rived at Astoria, under the direction of Mr. Thompson, who left Montreal
during the preceding year for the purpose of taking possession of the
mouth of the Columbia. On their way to that point they erected huts and
raised flags, under the conviction that it was the territory of their sov­
ereign. But they arrived at Astoria too late, as the' most important point
had been already occupied by the settlement of Astoria. The expedition
was, however, treated with marked attention by McDougall, Mackay, and
Stuart, the agents of the Pacific Fur Company. By this party, the first
British trading posts were established on the Columbia, but the expedition
from Montreal soon found it desirable to return.
Meanwhile, the land party under Mr. Hunt, having ascended the Mis­
souri, and crossed the Rocky Mountains, arrived at Astoria in the spring
of 1812, after they had suffered extraordinary hardships on- their way
down. But they had scarcely reached Astoria when news arrived of the
destruction of the Tonquin and her whole crew, with the exception of the
Indian interpreter. ItappearsthatnearNootka Sound the crew were over­
powered by the savages, with the exception of the clerk and a few others
who took refuge in the hold, and by whom the ship was blown up. This
transaction tended to cast a gloom over the settlement, which, however,
was temporarily lighted up in May of 1812, by the arrival of the Beaver,
with supplies from New York. At this time it was believed that the auspices of the settlement might be improved by the extension of their know­
ledge to the Russian possessions upon the coast; and for that purpose Mr.
Hunt embarked in the Beaver during the month of August, leaving Mr.
Duncan McDougall, one of the Scotch partners, in charge of the establish­
ment at Astoria.
In January, 1813, information of the declaration of war by the United
States against Great Britain reached the settlement of Astoria, and in the
June following, Mr. McTavish, a partner of the Northwest Company, ar­
rived, bringing news that a British naval force was approaching, to take
possession of the mouth of the Columbia. This news seems to have been
received by McDougall and Ross Cox with satisfaction, and they imme­
diately quitted the service of the American company, and entered into
that of the rival association ; while the traders unanimously agreed that if
succor did not soon arrive, they would relinquish the post. But no succor
came. And about the same time, a body of men in the service of the
Northwest Company brought information that a large armed ship, called
the Isaac Todd, had been fitted out at London by the Northwest Company,
and was approaching the Columbia under the convoy of a frigate, with
directions to destroy every thing in this region which was American. At
this juncture McTavish and Stewart, who led the last-named detachment,




The American Fur Trade.

199

proposed to purchase the whole of the stock of the Pacific company in the
territory of the Columbia, and toengage in the service of the Northwest Com­
pany all the traders employed by the Americans, which proposition was
acceded to, and a transfer of this property was made to the Northwest
Company for forty thousand dollars, paid in bills on Montreal. While this
transfer was in progress, a British ship of war, under Captain Black, hove
in sight, anticipating a rich prize from the capture of Astoria, which was
still surmounted by the American flag. The place was surrendered by
McDougall, who was the chief agent; but the property which was to re­
ward the enterprise of the British commander, had been transferred by bill
of sale, and was proceeding safely up the river in the barges of the North­
west Company. The American flag was torn down, and that of England
erected in its place, the name of the post being changed to Fort George.
On the 28th of February, 1814, Mr. Hunt arrived at the Columbia in the
brig Pedlar, which had been chartered for the purpose of transporting the
property of the American company to Canton, but he found the post in
possession of McDougall, not acting as agent of Astoria, but as a partner
of the Northwest Company, having the chief direction of Fort George,
changed to a British post. All, therefore, that remained for him was, to
receive the bills given for the effects of Astoria and its establishments,
and to sail to the United States by way of Canton. A portion of the indi­
viduals who had been employed in the Pacific Fur Company were engaged
in the Northwest Company, and a part returned to the United States.
Thus an establishment which, had it been successful, would have stamped
the name of its founder as a national benefactor, by its furnishing a fron­
tier military post to the United States, was undermined.
By the treaty of Ghent, made between Great Britain and this country,
it was provided that all posts taken during the war should be restored, and
in accordance with this clause, the Americans, in 1814, demanded the res­
titution of Astoria as one of these posts, which was denied. On the 4th of
October, 1817, the sloop of war Ontario, under the command of Captain
Biddle, sailed from New York for the Pacific, in order to take possession
of the post, which was finally yielded up without bloodshed to the commis­
sioner, Mr. Prevost, in October, 1818. During the following year, the
charter of the Russian Fur Company, which had been granted by the Em­
peror Paul, was renewed for twenty years by the Emperor Alexander;
and on the 4th of September, 1821, an imperial ukase or edict was passed,
in which pretensions were advanced claiming an immense line of coast on
the western boundary of America by discovery and possession, which claim,
however, it was found difficult to establish.
But the mercantile rivalry of the two great British corporations, the
Northwest and the Hudson’s Bay Company, which had been long strength­
ening, now began to rage in the wilderness, and in 1814, had broken out
into actual war. A colony of Scotch highlanders had been established upon
the Red river by Lord Selkirk, in virtue of a grant of the country from
the Hudson’s Bay Company. On the other hand, the Northwest Company
denied the validity of that grant, and it was of great injury to the last-named
body, as their posts had been almost entirely supplied from the Red river
lands. In consequence, numerous acts of violence ensued, and in 1814,
the Scotchmen were driven away, their houses demolished, and the colony
subverted. It was re-established, however, during the following year, when
the hostilities were renewed, the posts retaken and burned. On the 19th




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The American Fur Trade.

of June, 1816, a more formidable battle was fought between the rival tra­
ders ; the Scotchmen were routed, and their governor, Mr. Temple, and
five others, were killed. These facts having been brought before the Bri­
tish parliament, an act was passed on the 2d of July, 1821, uniting the two
companies by the name of “ The Hudson's Bay Company," under a charter
granting to them the privilege of trading in the Indian territory claimed
or belonging to Great Britain for the period of twenty-one years.
W e do not design here to go into a particular examination of the differ­
ent expeditions of Ashley, Bonneville, and Wyeth, and the later journal of
Mr. Parker. In 1826, Messrs. Smith, Jackson, and Sublette, of St. Louis,
formed a company called the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, they having
purchased the establishment and interests belonging to General Ashley, of
Missouri, who had previously pushed an expedition beyond the mountains,
aided by sixty men and a cannon drawn by mules. In 1832, Captain Bon­
neville, of the American army, led a band of more than a hundred men,
with mules and packhorses, transporting his goods from Missouri, and col­
lecting his furs chiefly in the country drained by the Lewis river and its
branches. About the same time, Mr. Nathaniel Wyeth projected an en­
terprise for the prosecution of the trade between the ports of the United
States and the Columbia; and although he was obliged to relinquish his
expedition on account of the indirect opposition of the Hudson’s Bay Com­
pany, his explorations were of great service to the United States, by furnish­
ing important information respecting the country. The recent journal of
Parker also contains very valuable information respecting the region of
the Oregon. Having taken a rapid glance of the progress of the fur trade
of the west, we now come to a consideration of its present condition.
That vast unpeopled region west of the lakes and extending to the shores
of the Pacific, is now ranged chiefly by the agents of the Hudson’s Bay
Company, the North American Fur Company, founded also by Mr. Astor,
and the few traders who from time to time have adventured into the forest
on their own account.
The system of the Hudson’s Bay Company is one calculated to further
the exercise of its despotic power. Its affairs are managed by a governor,
deputy-governor, and a committee of directors, who are established in the
city of London, and by whom all its operations are devised, and to whom
the reports of its affairs are transmitted. The trade of this company at the
west is prosecuted by a resident governor, agents, factors, and clerks, some
of whom have a share in the profits of the trade ; and also by a more active
class of agents, the hunters, voyagers, and trappers, consisting of French
Canadians, half-breeds, and Indians, who are paid a small salary with
promises of future advancement according as they shall render themselves
of value to the trade. They are allowed only a small share of miserable
food, and are kept by promises in a state of entire subjection to the will of
the company. The furs which are collected are procured mainly from the
Indians, in exchange for manufactured goods, which are imported into the
country free of duty, although the servants of the company are engaged
themselves at particular seasons in hunting and trapping. The territory
ranged by this company is divided into districts, each of which is under
the charge of an agent, who receives the goods imported from England,
and distributes them to the traders, receiving in return the furs which are
collected by them. These furs are sent to three grand depositories of
trade—Montreal, in Canada. York Factory, on Hudson’s Bay, and Fort




The American Fur Trade.

201

Vancouver, upon the Columbia river. Each of these posts is the nucleus
of a certain number of other inferior posts. The goods from Montreal
generally pass through Fort William, upon the northwest shore of Lake
Superior. Several vessels, and also a steamboat, are employed by this com­
pany upon the northwest coast, all of which are engaged in furthering its
operations in that quarter. Goods for the trade are imported to Fort Van­
couver directly from London, and the furs collected at that post are annu­
ally shipped to the British metropolis.
It is evident that in order to support the machinery of so gigantic an
establishment as that of the Hudson’s Bay Company, the profits of the trade
must be immense, as is proved by its annual returns. The value of furs
collected in 1828, is shown by these returns to have been $894,879 35.
The shares of the corporation have increased from 40 per cent below par
to 140 per cent above par, and the business of the association has advanced
to the yearly sum of $100,000. The annual amount of the value of the
peltries exported from America by the Hudson’s Bay Company between
1827 and 1833, according to Mr. McGregor, was one million of dollars;
while Mr. Wyeth estimates the amount of furs derived from the territories
west of the Rocky Mountains, by the company, at one hundred and thirtyeight thousand dollars, which are received for about twenty thousand dol­
lars worth of goods at the prime cost, the services of three hundred and fifty
men, and two years’ interest on the investment. The shares of the com­
pany, as we have seen, are worth more than twice their original value ; and
the latest annual dividend on each share at one hundred pounds each, is
stated to be ten pounds. The following table of the exports of furs and
peltries for 1831, from the territory occupied by this company, we derive
from McCulloch’s Dictionary of Commerce, which is extracted from the
work of Mr. Bliss. This table of course excludes the exports of the Hud­
son’s Bay Company, of isingglass, sea-horse teeth, feathers, goose and
swan quills, oil and whalebone, which are the products of its industry.
Exports in 1831.
Skins.

Beaver, Muskrat,
Lynx,
Wolf,
Bear,
Fox,
Mink,
Racoon, Tails,
.
Wolverine,
Deer,
Weasel, -

Total value.

. .
- - - - .
- - .
-

_-

- 126,944, each li. 5s.
. 375,731, (( 0 0
58,010, « 0 8
5,947, (( 0 8
3,850, {( 1 0
8,765, CC 0 10
9,298, a 0 2
.
325, a 0 1
2,290, cc 0 1
1,744, (C 0 3
.
645, a 0 3
.
34, « 0 0

0d.
6
0
0
0
0
0
6
0
0
0

6

158,680Z 0s.
9,393 5
23,204 0
2,378 16
3,850 0
4,382 10
929 16
24 7
114 10
261 12
96 15
0 17
£203,316

9

Ocf
6
0
0
0
0
0
6
0
0
0
0

0

On the contrary, the North American Fur Company have but few posts
on the west side of the Rocky Mountains, and these are but feeble. Its
agents procure all their furs themselves, trading but little with the Indians,
who are opposed to them, being instigated by the policy of the Hudson’s
Bay Company. Three or four hundred hunters and trappers remain in that
VOL. h i .— n o . in.
26




202

The American F ur Trade.

country, who repair during every summer to the places of rendezvous, carry,
ing their furs on their backs, or on packhorses, where they meet the cara­
vans from the United States. Wherever the Hudson’s Bay Company plants
its iron footsteps, there the American trade is sure to decline. The princi­
pal places of rendezvous for the American traders are on Green river, a
branch of the Colorado, at the foot of the Rocky Mountains, and at Pierres
Hole. A portion of the American fur traders are also stationed around
the great lakes, at the posts formerly occupied by the old French and Eng­
lish companies; and a large quantity of fish is annually taken in the
waters of Lake Superior, which are shipped, together with the furs collected,
to New York. The precise amount of furs collected annually by the
American Fur Company, we are not able to state ; but it is doubtless great,
notwithstanding all the disadvantages under which they labor from the
sometimes open, but more generally covert opposition of the great rival
association.
The success of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, which had advanced
into the west, soon excited the emulation of the American Fur Company;
Mr. Astor, its founder, having retired from busy life in consequence of bis
age, and leaving the concerns of the company under the direction of Mr.
Ramsay Crooks. A keen competition soon sprang up between the two
companies for trade with the mountain tribes, upon the head waters of the
Columbia and the other tributaries of the Pacific.
1
The character of the men engaged as hunters and trappers in the fur
trade throughout the extreme northwest, is peculiar and original. The
trade is not carried on now, as in former times, by batteaux and canoes,
which under the old French and English system enlivened the rivers and
lakes of our old northwestern territory. The fur-bearing animals have
been driven from a great portion of their borders by the advance of emigra­
tion, and their shores have become to a great extent the sites of substantial
farmhouses and prosperous settlements. The canoe has given place to
the steam-ship ; the trading post to the city. The great bulk of the trade
has been transferred to the region of the mountains, whose wild recesses
contain no lake where they can disport their canoes, no streams which
float their furs to a market. These traders transport their goods or furs
upon packhorses, or carry them on their own backs. They move from
place to place on horseback, sometimes conveying their traps upon their
shoulders through deep ravines, up steep precipices inaccessible to the
horse, in search of points which contain their favorite game. The life of
the trader becomes a scene of toil and deprivation, and yet of passionate
excitement. His views are exaggerated, his habits unsettled, his senti­
ments noble and generous, like those of the sailor, for the causes which act
upon him are similar in their character. Such is the character of the
active agents of the fur trade, the sturdy hunters and trappers of the
west.*
The Hudson’s Bay Company appears always to have opposed the coloni­
zation of the territory stretching along the Pacific. On the river Wallamet
a few old Canadian voyagers are permitted to reside, with their Indian wives
* We would here state that for the facts connected with the early French fur trade,
we are indebted to La Hontan, Charlevoix, and other French colonial w riters; and for
its later history, to Henry, Carver, Mackenzie, Irving, and a “ Memoir, Historical and
Political, on the Northwest Coast of America,” transmitted to Congress in February
last by Robert Greenhow, translator and librarian to the Department of State.




The American F ur Trade.

203

and half-breed families ; but these are in strict subjection to the company, and
all those who do not connect themselves with its interest are deemed intruders.
Indeed the territory is one which will probably never be valuable as an
agricultural country, or furnish motives for extensive colonization. It is
in many parts wild, rocky, and terrific, abounding with deep dells and
rugged mountain chains. Some portions may be made a good pastoral
country, but the greater part is entirely deficient in agricultural resources.
The soil is light. It produces neither the common grains in abundance,
and abounds in no rich metals, gems, and gold. Its great importance at
present seems to be derived from the extent of the fur trade within its bor­
ders, and the advantages which are possessed by its coast for navigation.
The only settlement of any importance along the coast at all, is tha$ of
Fort Vancouver, belonging to the Hudson’s Bay Company, which is situa­
ted on the Columbia, about one hundred miles from its mouth. It is com­
prised in a group of buildings enclosed by a picket, which includes a space
of about four hundred and fifty feet Here there are thirty-four tenements,
and also workshops for mechanics, and a fort. Near the fort are cabins
for laborers, and the connecting buildings, a sawmill, magazine, hospital,
and a large boat-house near the shore At this point is also a farm con­
taining three thousand acres of land, and cultivated by Canadians and halfbreed Iroquois. Four vessels ply from the coast, bringing cargoes of sup­
plies, and returning with furs to London. A steamboat called the Beaver,
of one hundred and fifty tons, and with two engines of thirty horse power,
which were built in London, is now employed in navigating the straits from
Juan de Fuca to Stickern.
The prosperous condition of the Hudson’s Bay Company may be in
some measure attributed to the fact that the goods for the English trade
may be imported into their colonies without duty, and yet forty per cent,
and even more, is required from the American merchant, who is obliged to
pay a duty on furs imported into the British market, while English furs
may be imported into our own market free of duty. But the fur trade ap­
pears fated to decline upon the eastern as well as the western portion of the
Rocky Mountains, by the diminution of the animals from which it seeks its
profits. This diminution, however, has been obviated in some measure by
the Hudson’s Bay Company, who have preserved those particular tracts
undisturbed. But where these precautions are not used, the American and
British traders advance into the territory, and strip it of its wealth, so that
in a short time there will be but little left upon the soil for commercial en­
terprise. Moreover, by the prohibitory measures of the Russians and the
Hudson’s Bay Company, American vessels are excluded from the Pacific,
and all the furs and peltry which now reach Chinq by water, arc shipped
from New York or from London. It is indeed obvious, when we consider
the price of furs with us, that a valuable market both for the products of
our American fur trade, (which now ranges west of Lake Superior and the
Missouri, towards the Rocky Mountains,) as well as that of the British, is
derived from the United States, as well as from China and London, for the
bulk of the furs and peltry, and especially buffalo robes, which are now
used in this country, is furnished by our western fur trade, although, as
colonization has advanced, its principal depot has been changed from
Detroit to St. Louis.
We have thus given to our readers a rapid sketch of the progress of the
fur trade within our continent from the first colonization of the country;




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and although it is a mere outline, it may tend to convey a faint idea of its
vast magnitude and importance. Its operations are now extended to a
portion of the empire, of little immediate value to us, but advancing in pro­
portion to the increase of our population. It appears to be of great national
utility that we should husband whatever of resources are contained within
our national domain, before they are divested of a source of great wealth,
by a horde of lawless trappers in the employ of a British corporation,
scouring our mountain chains upon their fleet horses, out of the pale of the
law, and distant from the restraints of civilization, regardless of God or
man. With the advancing population of the country, and its growing en­
terprise, we may anticipate that the streams along the Pacific coast and
the, harbors of its shores, will be partially colonized, and that even the
waves of the western ocean may be ploughed by a productive commerce,
as they are already studded with the canvass of our whaling ships. If any
portion of that territory is ours by the right of discovery, conquest, occupa­
tion, or treaty, it should be possessed as our own. Its territory should be
respected, and any aggressions upon its domain should be treated with that
punishment which belongs to all violators of treaties. We doubt not that
many difficulties are in the way. The country is filled with savage tribes,
hostile to the United States, from whom nothing is to be hoped, and every
thing is to be feared. The gigantic power of the Hudson’s Bay Company
is holding all the influences of that quarter within its iron grasp. But
could not a portion of the influence and the wealth which are now devoted
to party strife, be applied with advantage to the establishment of our na­
tional rights in that region 1 If our empire possesses any northwestern
boundary, ought not this boundary to be adjusted ? Ought not the stars and
stripes of our country to float over it, backed by a sufficient military power,
to preserve its wealth, and to protect it from unjust invasion ?

Art.

II.—GOVERNM ENTAL HISTORY OF T H E UNITED
STATES.

FROM THE EARLIEST SETTLEMENTS TO THE ADOPTION OF THE CONSTITUTION.
PART FIRST.

H e who scans with a reflecting and philosophic mind the history of the
world, will often have had occasion to mark by what a singularly slight in­
strumentality great revolutions have been originated and accomplished.
Incidents, seemingly the most trivial and unimportant, have a momentous
influence on our characters and condition. They affect the projects and
purposes of individuals, and through them, in their nearer or more remote
sequences, the destinies of nations and of mankind. This feature in the
economy which regulates the allotments of the human race is strikingly il­
lustrated in the history of our own country. W e have to roll back but a few
centuries the current of time. We pass over the history of empires, the change
of dynasties, and the fall of kingdoms, and pause to contemplate the career
of a single, and, comparatively, an obscure individual. Beholding, as we
do, the mighty and unending consequences of his labors and his genius, we




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205

watch with no ordinary interest his early life. We behold in him a restless­
ness of spirit which even the fond endearments of home, of kindred, and of
country, cannot check. A purpose which we cannot yet comprehend, seems
to have taken possession of his soul, and his whole ardor is bent to its ac­
complishment. Educated in all the various lore of science deemed useful
in his age, he turns all to the one grand purpose that has fired his energies.
After completing his education on land, we see him entering on board a
vessel bound for discovery. Voyage after voyage is taken. Observation
is made upon observation. He boldly adventures into unknown seas, until
his patrimony is exhausted in enlarging his knowledge and completing his
education. Not yet satisfied with the extent of his acquirements, he enters
into the employ of a then famous sea captain. Here again we behold him
with a new and peculiar interest. F ar off the coast of Portugal, we see
him engaged with a piratical squadron. His vessel is set fire to ; and now
we anxiously inquire, where is the future discoverer of America ? What
will be the probable fate of nations, what the destinies of mankind, if he
perishes ? He casts himself into the sea, and after a long and dangerous
struggling, reaches the shore in safety. If he had been of the Roman
school, he might here, perchance, have read an omen that the elements
should never thwart his darling purposes.
Thus, by the number and variety of his voyages, made to almost all
parts of the world, and by availing himself of the observations and discov­
eries of other adventurers, Christopher Columbus became one of the most
skilful and scientific navigators of his age. He had early imbibed the idea
that a new continent existed in the western hemisphere, and this impression
grew almost into absolute conviction from the investigations made in the
course of his voyages and studies.
After having revolved his theories with much care and deliberation, he
disclosed them to the government of Genoa, and at the same time made
application for patronage and assistance in his schemes; making the first
proffer of his labors and his enterprise to his native country. His proposals
were rejected as wild and chimerical. Not at all daunted by this ruthless
repulse, he immediately applied to John II. of Portugal. In a country al­
ready fired with the spirit of discovery, where he had long resided, in whose
service he had been employed, and where he was well known for skill and
integrity, he had every reason to expect a favorable listening to his plans.
He was, indeed, favorably regarded by the king, and directed to his coun­
sellors. By them he was received and heard with jealousy and suspicion.
They obtained from him a statement of his views, put him off with an
evasive answer, and then basely plotted to deprive him of his honors by
advising the king to fit out secretly an expedition. Their designs were
frustrated, however, by the unskilfulness, the ignorance, and the cowardice,
of those to whom the expedition was committed.
Thus again, and so treacherously baffled in his efforts, he indignantly
repaired to the crown of Spain. Here too, after a countless variety of
vexations and discouragements, contending with ignorance, with prejudice,
and philosophic bigotry, he was disappointed. Still he remained confident
in his views, was still resolute and persevering in his purposes. He ap­
plied to wealthy individuals, and at length, through his brother Bartholo­
mew, to the crown of England ; and yet to no purpose.
At last, through the intervention of some friends, he gained an audience
with Isabella of Castile and Arragon, who became deeply interested in his




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schemes, and under her kindly auspices, he made preparations for his voy­
age, and set sail on Friday, the 3d of August, 1492.
It is not necessary, with our present purpose, to enter into the details of
his adventures, or their results, or of his future embarrassments, dangers,
and sufferings, nor to speak of the ingratitude which clouded his latter days;
we leave all these for the more able pen of his biographer. His theories
respecting the structure of the globe seemed demonstrated by his discover­
ies, and the eyes of all Europe were directed towards them. A spirit of
adventure and discovery was stirred up among rival powers. Each be­
came anxious to extend its dominion and enrich its treasury, and each
fitted out its expeditions.
England, ever ambitious and grasping, entered with alacrity and ardor
upon these expeditions for discovery. The application of Columbus to
Henry VII. though it gained him no patronage, was not without its effect
upon the nation. It awakened the attention of scientific men, and inspired
a spirit of research and inquiry. The return of Columbus, and the ac­
counts given of his adventures, roused the whole kingdom to the subject.
H er skill in navigation, however, was not such as to allow England to
carry her purposes into execution. The genius and the energy of the
nation had been long consuming itself in fruitless endeavors to subjugate
France; and after this unhallowed fire of her ambition had abated, she
found herself the victim of internal commotions. For the space of two
centuries, while commerce and the mechanic arts were making gradual
and sure progress in the north and south of Europe, England remained
almost insensible to the advantages of her own position, and looked with
indifference on the projects and arts which have since become her boast,
her pride, and her power. While all other of the nations of Europe were
active and enterprising in trade and navigation, she was inactive, unaltered,
and unimproved. Her own ships and seamen had not ventured out of
sight of her coasts, and were hardly acquainted with the distant ports of
Europe.
Such being her condition, it became necessary, in order to enter upon
the enterprise of exploration, to look to foreign countries for seamen and
navigators ; and Henry accordingly invested Giovanni Gabott, or Cabott,
a Venetian adventurer, then at Bristol, with the chief command of such an
expedition, giving to him and three of his sons, power to sail under the
English flag, in any direction, to discover countries as yet unknown, or
unsettled by any Christian nation, and to take possession of them in his
name. This commission bore date March 5th, 1495, a little less than
two years after the return of Columbus. Cabot, however, did not set sail
on this enterprise till about two years from this period. He embarked
with his son Sebastian, at Bristol, on board a ship furnished by the crown,
accompanied with a squadron of smaller vessels, prepared and furnished
by a company of merchants of that city, on the 4th May, 1497.
It wa3 also a favorite theory of Columbus, that a new and more expe­
ditious route to the East Indies might be accomplished by sailing directly
westward, and he gave considerable plausibility to his opinions in the ac­
counts he gave of the islands he had discovered, regarding these but as an
extension of that “ long chain of India.” This became the prevalent opin­
ion with all navigators. Cabot accordingly kept his course due west.
After sailing to that point for several weeks, he discovered a large island,
now known as Newfoundland. A few days afterwards, he discovered the




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207

island of St. John’s. He landed at each of these, made some observations
as to the nature of the soil and climate, took possession in the name of
the crown of England, and embarked, taking with him three of the natives.
Holding his course still to the west, he reached the coast of North America,
and sailed along it from 56° to 36° north latitude, from the coast of Labra­
dor to Virginia. Discovering no inlet which seemed to promise a commu­
nication with the southern ocean, he did not land, but returned again to
England (June 24th) without having made any advances towards a con­
quest or settlement of the country.
If the right of discovery had at that time been regarded as conferring
an absolute title to the new country, Henry might have taken advantage of
the results of this expedition, to annex the entire territory of North
America to the dominions of the crown of England. But the nation was
then, unfortunately, embroiled in a war with a neighboring island, and had
hardly recovered from the internal commotions which had recently con­
vulsed her western provinces. Henry, too, at this time, was too solicitous
of retaining the friendship of Ferdinand of Arragon, and was negotiating
an alliance between his eldest son and Catherine, the daughter of that
monarch. He therefore, courteously rather than wisely, judged that the
islands and territory Cabot had discovered, were within the limits of the
very liberal grant made to Ferdinand and Isabella by Pope Alexander VI.
Nor had even kings in that day the hardihood or impiety to question the
validity of a donative from the see of Rome. These considerations in­
duced Henry to abandon the idea of another expedition to the new con­
tinent.
It was not till after the lapse of sixty years from this period, that the at­
tention of the crown was again actively directed towards its discoveries in
America. Various and frequently-recurring circumstances had combined
to withdraw attention from a subject destined so soon thereafter to become
one of deep and thrilling interest to all the world. But it was reserved
for the active, spirited, and efficient reign of Elizabeth, to accomplish what
her predecessors had, through indolence, papal fear, or want of genius, left
so shamefully undone. The kingdom was tranquil during nearly the whole
period of her propitious reign. Commerce was cultivated, extended, and
flourished. Navigation was studied as a science, improved and reduced
to more extensive practice as an art. The labor of her mechanics and
artificers was increased, and their skill consequently improved. A navy
was built up. Seamen were nourished, and adventurers multiplied. Our
present purpose will not permit us to enter into the wide field of discovery
and adventure into which she sent forth her subjects^ the most admirable
and astonishing history had yet recorded, but we must confine ourselves
more particularly to that which may be regarded as the origin of our gov­
ernmental history.
It was her jealousy of rival powers, and her insatiable lust for dominion,
which stimulated England again to turn her attention to the new world.
She saw with envious eye the rapid growth of Spain in wealth and prowess,
and saw too that the source of all was her colonies in America. Means
were therefore devised for settling the country, which had only been dis­
covered and carelessly visited.
On the 11th of June, 1578, Sir Humphrey Gilbert obtained from Eliza­
beth a patent, vesting in himself and his heirs, the fee-simple of whatever
lands he might discover; authorizing him “ to discover and take possession




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of all unknown and heathen lands not occupied by any Christian nation ;
giving him full right and title to all the countries of which he might take
possession.” Whoever of her subjects were disposed, were also permitted
to go and settle in the colonies which he might plant. He, his heirs, and
assigns, were empowered to dispose of any part of these lands to settlers, in
fee-simple, agreeably with the laws of England. All lands were to be held
by Gilbert “ of the crown of England, rendering homage, and paying onefifth of whatever gold and silver ore may be found there.” He and his
heirs were also invested with complete jurisdiction of the colonies, with all
powers and royalties, marine, civil, and military, with power to convict,
pardon, punish, govern, and rule, as well in cases capital or criminal as
civil, both marine and other, all persons who should, from time to lime, set­
tle in those colonies, according to such laws, statutes, and ordinances as
by him, his heirs, and assigns, devised and established for their better gov­
ernment. All settlers were to have and to enjoy all the privileges of free
denizens and natives of England, any law, custom, or usage to the contrary
notwithstanding. And all persons were “ forbid attempting to settle within
two hundred leagues of any place Sir Humphrey or his associates shall have
occupied during the space of six years.”
Such were the liberal powers and immunities with which Sir Humphrey
Gilbert was invested, and which were to encourage his expedition. His
personal worth and distinction, united with the brilliant zeal and efibrts of
his half-brother, Sir W alter Raleigh, soon gained for him a sufficient num­
ber of followers. His success, however, was by no means equal to his ex­
ertions. After two attempts at a settlement, he himself perished on the
cold and inhospitable shores of Cape Breton. Yet his ill success was owing
rather to the mutinies and insubordination of his crew, the absence of any
previous knowledge of the country, the wreck of his most valuable vessels,
his approaching the coast too far to the northward, and more than all, to
the insufficiency of the preparations made for establishing a new colony,
than to any lack of ability, energy, or enterprise on the part of Sir Hum­
phrey.
The ardor of Sir Walter Raleigh, however, who did not accompany these
expeditions, was not daunted by the unhappy fate of his kinsman. He
made application for a grant from the queen, and received a charter con­
taining as liberal a bestowment of powers and privileges. He fitted out
several squadrons, which made a few discoveries farther to the southward,
but effected no settlement. Yet so glowing were the descriptions they gave
of the country they visited, that Elizabeth bestowed upon it the name of
Virginia, in memorial that a discovery so felicitous had been made under
the auspices of a virgin queen. Raleigh was encouraged also from these
representations to expedite further preparations for a settlement of it.
Another expedition was fitted out which settled several plantations at the
south, establishing the seat of the colony at Roanoke, (August 25,) described
as “ an inauspicious and inconvenient station.” This colony consisted of
about one hundred and eighty persons, who were chiefly occupied in making
scientific observations, and acquiring a knowledge of the country. Various
causes conspired to enfeeble and diminish their number, and to threaten
their entire extinction. No recruiting stores were remitted to them, and
on the nineteenth of June following, (1587,) they all returned to England.
Among this handful of adventurers, whose necessities thus compelled
them to return to their native home, was one Hariot, a man of learning, of




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209

science, ingenuity, and much practical intelligence. He had applied him­
self assiduously during his adverse residence on the new continent in philo­
sophical researches, and making observafions on the soil, the climate, the
productions of the country, and the manners, customs, and extent of its na­
tive population. The result of his labors was given to the public on his re­
turn to England, was sought after and read with avidity, and increased the
already glowing desire of the nation for its settlement. Tobacco was the
principal production extensively cultivated by the natives, and was at this
date first introduced to the acquaintance and use of the polished world. Its
introduction gave a complexion to the character of society; for, says the
historian of those times, “ it was fondly adopted by Raleigh and some young
men of fashion.”
The gallant and resolute spirit of Sir Walter Raleigh was not discouraged
by the failure of these efforts at effecting a settlement. He fitted out another
expedition early in the ensuing year, (1588,) under Captain John White, who
was accompanied with a larger number of adventurers. These, however,
it seems, had not gathered wisdom from the experience and fate of previous
settlers, and were apparently surprised to find themselves landed on a shore
covered with thick and interminable forests, inhabited by naked savage
tribes ; and found out, too late to remedy the evils of their condition, that
they were but poorly provided with the means of sustenance, or with the
implements necessary for their settlement, safety, and comfort, in so wild a
region. A request was at once and unanimously made that Captain White
would return to England, and solicit from the parent country such supplies
as were required for the maintenance and preservation of the colony. His
appearance in England with this view happened at a most unfavorable junc­
ture, just as the famous Armada of the 2d Philip of Spain was threatening
the kingdom. Raleigh and his coadjutors were now occupied in the more
momentous and thrilling interests of their own country. The few and en­
feebled adventurers who languished on a distant coast were forgotten or ne­
glected, and left to perish without sympathy or consolation.
And thus terminated the last attempt made during the reign of Elizabeth
to settle Virginia. Sir Walter Raleigh, whose splendid accomplishments
and commanding genius gave dignity and energy to whatever enterprise
he turned himself, by an incomprehensible waywardness of character, had
conceived a new project of settling and peopling a large district in Ireland,
of which he had received a grant from the queen. Other projects, equally
fascinating, and rendered the more attractive to his restless spirit because of
the difficulty of their accomplishment, at the same time occupied his attention,
and supplanted the late favorite idea of settling Virginia. He parted with all
his claims to the territory of this colony, assigning them to one Sir Thomas
Smith and a company of merchants, who made no praiseworthy attempts
to ameliorate the condition of the country. And it is a remarkable fact that
in the year 1603, notwithstanding all the enterprise that had been lavished,
the lives that had been sacrificed, and the wealth that had been expended,
there was not one white man living in Virginia. Various, as we have al­
ready seen, were the causes which had operated to prevent any permanent
settlement. The fact is one which addresses itself with a singular interest
to the reflective mind. We can hardly avoid the conviction that this conti­
nent was marked out by the Ruler of Nations for a spot where should be wit­
nessed the origin of a nation, and the development of principles in the
human character, and in human government, such as the world had never
von. in.—no. in.
27




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yet recorded. These shores did not, like those lands discovered by the
Spanish and Portuguese, abound in mines of gold or of silver ore. They
presented only an extended, a luxurious, and fertile soil. They opened no
fountains from which the possessors might draw instant wealth, without
labor or industry. But their value was to be known, and their profit gath­
ered, only in the fulfilment of that anathema, “ by the sweat of thy brow
shalt thou earn thy bread.” No votary of pleasure ; no lover of indolence
or of luxury; no effeminate scion of royalty, could find a place convenient
for him on these wild and inhospitable shores. They were destined to be­
come the abode of a mighty, magnanimous, and influential people, and must
be planted by hardy and well-bred adventurers.
It is not till after the accession of the first James to the throne that we
find recorded any further attempts at a settlement of this continent; and
the first permanent one was made under his auspices. He divided that
part of it which lies between the 34th and 45th deg. of north latitude into two
parts, nearly equal. The one he denominated the north, the other the
south colony of Virginia. He made a grant of the southern division to Sir
Thomas Gates and others, mostly residents in London, authorizing them to
settle any part of it they might choose. This portion was comprehended
between 34° and 41° north latitude, and extended along the coast fifty miles
north and south of the spot where they should first locate, and back into the
interior one hundred miles. (April 10, 1606.) This division at length re­
ceived the name of “ The Colony of Virginia,” while the northern division
was known as “ The Colony of Plymouth.”
The associations to which the respective colonies were granted, were
organized into a company with a charter of incorporation for the purposes
of trade, with power to have a common seal and to act as a political body.
There was, however, something new in the design of their organization,
and the plan appointed for their regulation was not then an ordinary one.
The supreme government of the colony was to be vested in a council, resi­
dent in England, and appointed by the crown, and the colony to be regula­
ted by such laws as this council and the crown should direct. Subordinate
jurisdiction was committed to another council, resident in America, which
was also to be appointed by, and subject to, regulations prepared by the
crown. Emigrants were to enjoy all the rights, privileges, and immunities
of free-born subjects of England, and to hold their lands by free and com­
mon socage. Exports necessary for the colonies were to be sent free of
duty for the space of seven years ; trade was allowed them with foreign nations, and duties on foreign commodities imported into the colonies, were
to be appropriated for the special and sole benefit of the colony for the
space of twenty-one years.
In conformity with this charter, the crown took frequent occasion to pre­
pare such regulations as in its wisdom were deemed proper and expedient
for the discipline and government of the colony. The superintending coun­
cil, to be resident in England, was created. Legislative and executive pow­
ers were vested in the president and council in the colony, but were not to
extend to life or limb ; all their enactments must be in conformity with the
laws of England, and were only in force till made void by the council and
crown in England. High crimes were to be punished in the parent state,
and lesser offences by the president and council at their discretion. Alle­
giance to the crown was insisted on, and the church of England established.
The power of the crown was in all cases paramount.




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Looking back to this period of our history, upon these charter regula­
tions, we discover readily the origin of those principles of government
in the colonies which afterwards became so obnoxious to the colonists, and
so fatal to the power of the crown in America. They seem wholly to dis­
regard the actual political rights of the settlers; and that they should have
met with so ready an acquiescence among them may be ascribed to the
cares, perplexities, and embarrassments incident to a new settlement, and
the seeming advantages with which these exceptionable features were ac­
companied. “ Thus,” says an eminent historian, “ without hesitation or re­
luctance, the proprietors of both colonies (Virginia and Plymouth) prepared
to execute their respective plans, and under the authority of a charter which
would now be rejected with disdain, as a violent invasion of the sacred and
inalienable rights of liberty, the first permanent settlements of the English
in America were established. From this period the progress of the two
provinces of Virginia and New England form a regular and connected
story. The former in the south, and the latter in the north, may be con­
sidered as the original and parent colonies, in imitation of which and under
whose shelter all others have been successively planted and reared.” Yet,
as the settlements made in Virginia were of an earlier date, it will better
serve our present purpose to trace their history separately, and then proceed
to that of New England. These settlements, as we have before observed,
were made under peculiar and great disadvantages. Many and severe
were the trials, the difficulties, the dangers and sufferings with which the
colonies in their infancy had to contend. And it will be neither a tedious
nor unprofitable task to trace particularly their advancement, and mark
their progress through all these perils, till we find them attaining a rank
and consideration, which, from its more intimate bearing on our own gov­
ernmental history, deserves our more interested attention. “ It will exhibit
a spectacle no less striking than instructive, and presents an opportunity
which rarely occurs of contemplating a society in the first moment of its
political existence, and of observing how its spirit forms in its infant state,
how its principles begin to unfold as it advances, and how those character­
istic qualities which distinguish its maturer age are successively acquired.”
So says one who was equally illustrious as a philosopher, an historian, and a
scholar. And in each of these points of observation there is much to be
learned, and much to be treasured up by every citizen of America.
Various causes from time to time transpired to change the condition of
the colonists in their relations to the mother country, and which gave a
complexion and a shape to their political destiny. To trace these in their
minute details through all the progress of their history, would be a tedious
and perchance an ungrateful task, and would not exactly accord with our
present purpose; a brief reference to their results will accomplish our aim,
and compensate our toil.
The original charter, whose general provisions we have already referred
to, received occasional alterations, but these were of a nature rather to
abridge, than to enlarge the liberties of the colonists, and to strengthen the
odious prerogatives of the crown and council in England ; and the very first
act of authority exercised by the council in America, was arbitrary and op­
pressive. One of its most valuable and efficient members was excluded
from his seat in the board, and the more ambitious and unprincipled con­
spired to concentrate all power in their hands. Thus, in the very outset,
showing how ill-adapted was the plan of government devised, to promote or




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to secure the interests of the colonists. The very individual, however,
whom they had contrived to put down, soon after became the most prominent and influential man among them. Thus early evincing as it were,
that this was the land where reason should triumph over passion, justice
over prejudice, and liberty over oppression. In one of those periods so
frequent in our early history, which “ try mens’ souls,” which draw out all
the energy and the worth of the individual, the talents of Captain Smith
alone were equal to the task of accomplishing the preservation of the colony.
The settlers were at this time jaded by repeated disasters, without pro­
visions, scarcely clothed, victims to all the maladies incident to new coun­
tries, enfeebled, wasted, lessened, and superadded to all these trials, were
daily threatened by the fierce, the merciless, the unrelenting savage.
They were alarmed by the dismal war-yell; and the tomahawk and scalp­
ing-knife were whetted for their destruction. In this emergency, Captain
Smith was chosen to superintend the affairs of the colony. By his skill
and exertions, the natives were driven back and discomfited ; a small town
was erected of raw materials for their defence, and the sinking colony was re­
stored again to life and vigor. Fortunately, may we not say providentially,
to give greater efficiency to his noble exertions at this crisis, a ship arrived
with supplies from the mother country, and the uninterrupted remittance of
these saved that germ of a future nation from final and complete desolation.
It continued to prosper under the beneficial administration of Captain Smith
till 1609, when he returned to England. He left it with a population of
about five hundred inhabitants, sixty comfortable and convenient dwellings,
various implements of husbandry, and other requisites for its growth and
preservation. The life and vigor which he had infused, however, seem
to have departed with Captain Smith. For no sooner had he left it, than
the colony relapsed into a disorderly state of faction and misrule. Every
principle of self-preservation seemed to have been lost, and it was fast
verging towards destruction. Being divided among themselves, they be­
came a more easy prey to the wiles of the natives, and must inevitably have
perished, but for the timely arrival of Lord De La W ar and others, who
recruited their diminished number to six hundred, supplied their necessi­
ties, and restored among them union, harmony, and good government.
Lord De La W ar was appointed successor to Captain Smith in the office
of president, and entered upon the discharge of his official duties with ener­
gy, firmness, and decision—1610.
From this period we may date the permanent and prosperous settlement
of the colony. Under the auspices of a benign policy of government, for
which they were indebted to the benevolent and liberal dispositions of their
president, rather than to any change in their charter regulations, property
became more extensively distributed, and individual enterprise consequently
awakened. Being more at leisure from the necessities which attended their
earlier history, individuals found time to devote themselves more carefully
to the concerns of the colony generally. Turning their attention to their
charter regulations, they began to discover the injustice and injury of many
of its provisions, and gradually to emerge from that quiet spirit of acquies­
cence in which they had long rested. Many popular orators arose in their
assemblies, whose denunciations of the policy of the crown and council in
England were bold, manly, and energetic. The spirit of liberty soon
swelled beyond the measure of the shackles which had been imposed upon
them, and from this, her very cradle, went forth loud and incessant cries




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213

that to them should be extended, all and unqualified, the privileges of free
natives and denizens of the mother country. In 1621, Sir George Yeardley, then governor of the colony, called a general assembly, composed of
delegates from the several plantations in the colony, and permitted them to
assume and to exercise the high and proud prerogatives of legislators.
Eleven towns or corporations were represented in this convention. Its
enactments were not many, or of much importance, except an act dissolving
martial law, which had been exercised over them with great rigor and se­
verity. The principal aim of this convention was, and it had the effect, to
soothe the spirit and the feelings of the colonists, who rejoiced at beholding
among themselves the exercise of the privileges and functions of English
freemen. This was the first representative assembly ever held in America,
and it was truly an important and interesting era in our governmental his­
tory. It gave the colonists a taste for liberty, which could never thereafter
be offended with impunity, and resulted in the procuring of a new charter,
which established the government of the colony in a more constitutional
and enduring form. The legislative powers were vested in the governor,
who represented the king ; and jointly in council named by the company,
which was supposed to answer to the peerage ; and partly by delegates to
the assembly, chosen from among the colonists, by themselves, answering
to the house of commons. At least such is the analogy fondly traced by
English historians, always exulting to make their own “ glorious and un­
rivalled constitution of government” the origin and source of all free prin­
ciples. But if we trace the governmental history of the colonies with an
observant eye and an unbiased observation, we may discover far more in­
teresting and important developments of free republican principles, and a
more noble and generous regard for the rights of man, in their departures
from, than in their assimilation to, the constitution of the mother country.
Under this new organization, either branch of the general assembly was
controlled by a majority of votes, and a negative on their enactments was
reserved in the governor. But no law could be carried into effect, or was
binding on the people, until ratified by the general council of the company
in England, and returned to the colony with the sanction of its seal; and
it was also provided that the general assembly should “ imitate and follow
the policy of the form of government, laws, customs, and manner of trial,
and other administration of justice used in the realm of England, as near
as may be.”
Under a policy of government so much more favorable to the interests
of the colonists, though in many important provisions very objectionable,
the colony continued to flourish. Numerous and frequent accessions were
made to their settlements, by the arrival of new adventurers, which also in­
creased the number composing their representative assemblies. The
growth and deliberations of these bodies led to a still further exposition of
the odious features inherent in their form of government, made them more
tenacious for their rights, and emboldened them to a noble daring in as­
serting and defending them. James and his ministers looked with jealousy
and apprehension on all these symptoms of strength and independence, and
various efforts were made to check the freedom of their discussions, and
bring them back again to their original state of quiescence and submission.
But these efforts tended only to unite the colonists more firmly to each
other. The king finally had recourse to his prerogative, and in its unjust
and arbitrary exercise, issued a commission appointing and empowering




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Governmental History o f the United States.

commissioners to inquire into all the transactions of the company from its
first organization. The result of this investigation, the most infamous and
tyrannical, was, as designed, a pretext for depriving the company of its
charter, a consequent dissolution of its incorporation, and an escheat of all
the privileges, powers, and immunities it had conferred.
Although the existence of this company had not been favorable to the
rapid prosperity of the colony of Virginia, although its government over
the settlers was in its spirit and provisions most rigorous and arbitrary,
and tended rather to their oppression, still its dissolution was regretted.
It was more easy of resistance, and as we have seen, had been practically
deprived of most of its power, and awed from the exercise of its most odious
prerogatives, by the proud and indignant resistance of the colonists to any
unwarrantable infringement of their privileges. But the entire prostration
of the company, and the assumption of absolute control by the crown,
seemed a heavy and fatal blow to all their flattering hopes, and robbed
them of their few and hard-earned liberties.
James now (1624) issued a special commission appointing a council of
twelve persons to take temporary direction of affairs in the colony, till he
might himself find leisure to frame an appropriate and permanent code for
its government. W e will not stop to speculate upon the probable conse­
quences to the colonies from the ordinances his wisdom and sagacity might
have seen fit to adopt. Death, that haughty leveller of all human projects
and aspirations, withdrew him from the scene of life.
Yet it is neither idle speculation, nor unprofitable, to note the changes
consequent upon the interruption of his plans. It is one of those striking
and startling incidents, so abundant in our country’s annals, which teach
us that there is a providence presiding over and directing the destinies of
the world, and regulating the allotments of mankind, which serve to attach
us to our own institutions, by the enforced conviction that they were in their
origin and progress, and will be in their continuance, the objects of His
especial protection. The progress of our history will determine the value
of these suggestions.
It is well known that the first Charles was not unlike his predecessor in
his ideas of sovereignty, though of a more weak and wavering character.
He adopted the same maxims in reference to the colonies in America, and
declared them to be a part of the empire, annexed to his crown, and sub­
ject to its jurisdiction. The council appointed by his father was em­
powered, conjointly with Sir George Yeardley and a secretary, to exercise
supreme authority, obligated to conform, however, to whatever instructions
they might from time to time receive from the crown. It was no part of
his provisions, nor was it his design to revive, or even to countenance the
assemblies of the people, or to allow them any voice or influence in en­
acting laws or imposing taxes ; and for nearly tie whole period of his rule
they were governed by this council and the crown. Their property was
invaded ; with but unimportant exceptions they were prohibited all trade,
and knew but little of the rights and privileges of “ English-born subjects.”
Yeardley, not being pliant enough to obey the directions of the crown, was
succeeded by a governor who was rapacious, unfeeling, and tyrannical,
and loaded the colonists with oppressive indignities. In a transport ot
rage, their loyalty pressed beyond the limit of endurance, they seized him
and sent him a prisoner to England. So summary a method of redressing
their own wrongs was revolting to Charles’s ideas of the submission and




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215

homage due from his subjects. It was regarded as a daring act of rebel­
lion, and the governor was sent back again with powers less limited, and
with enlarged prerogatives.
At about this period (1630) Charles was visited with domestic troubles,
and found less leisure to interest himself in the difficulties existing abroad.
Accordingly, a more lenient policy was countenanced, which should have
a tendency to conciliate the colonists; and in this change of measures Sir
William Berkeley, a man of superior worth and intelligence, of mild and
engaging manners, was appointed governor. He was directed to proclaim
that, in all its concerns, civil as well as ecclesiastical, the colony should be
governed according to the laws of England. He was also directed to is­
sue writs for the election of representatives of the people, who, with the
governor and council, should form a general assembly, clothed with su­
preme legislative power; and to erect courts of justice, to be governed in
their proceedings by the forms of England. Thus were the rights of Eng­
lishmen again secured to the colonists, and under the auspices of this excel­
lent governor, the colony advanced in prosperity, with but little interrup­
tion, for the space of forty years. Without pausing to solve the motives
which may have influenced him, and which have been the theme of frequent
speculation, the colonists were indebted to Charles for that reformation in
the constitution and policy of government which gave so agreeable a com­
plexion to their institutions, and infused new life and a healthful vigor into
its administration. The restrictions to which they were subject were but
few, and do not appear to have been regarded as oppressive, being prin­
cipally of a nature to secure their connection with the parent state. The
population of their settlements increased, industry and enterprise were suc­
cessful in all the occupations of life, and the commercial relations of the
several colonies were so established as to give security and the prospect of
revenue to the mercantile interests, in which flourishing condition they
continued, without any material change in their governmental regulations,
down to the time of the revolution in England, when the colony contained
more than twenty thousand inhabitants.
We do not find in the enactments of the colony of Virginia as wide a
departure from the laws of the mother country as we shall discover in those
of the colony of New England. The common law of England was re­
garded in the former as the foundation of its jurisprudence ; and its legis­
lature stated, with apparent pride, soon after the restoration of the second
Charles, that it had been their care “ in all things, as near as the capacity
and constitution of this country would admit, to adhere to those excellent
and often refined laws of England, to which we profess and acknowledge
all due obedience and reverence.” And Sir William Berkeley, in his re­
ply to the lords commissioners in 1671, says, “ Contrary to the laws of Eng­
land we never did nor dare to make any (law) only this, that no sale of
land is good and legal, unless, within three months after the conveyance,
it be recorded.” All the charters from this period, respectively provided
for the operation of the common law in the several colonies ; and the pro­
vision was regarded by them as an important right, so far as applicable to
their situation and circumstances. The other provisions which gave a dif­
ferent complexion to their governmental history from those we have al­
ready noticed, and which was an important aid of her code in the colony
ofVirginia, had reference to ecclesiastical affairs. The Church of England
was established as the religion of the colony, and its doctrines and dis­




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216

cipline were enforced by statutory provisions. Non-conformists were
obliged to quit the colony. The clergy were provided for by glebes and
tithes. Non-residence was prohibited, and a personal, strict, and regular
performance of parochial duties was required. Marriages were not cele­
brated unless published in the parish church, and according to the form in
the book of common prayer. Besides these were the laws regulating the
descent and distribution of estates, which at first were conformable to the
laws of England, but in 1748 an act passed the legislature, adapting them
to the peculiar circumstances and condition of the colonists. Estates-tail
were cherished, however, with peculiar care, and their zeal to perpetuate
family inheritances, seems to have far outstripped the provisions of the
mother country. It was also provided that no taxes should be levied by
the governor without the consent of the assembly, nor appropriated, when
raised, but according to the direction of the legislature. The burgesses,
during their attendance, were privileged from arrest.
We have thus traced the most important changes in the governmental
regulations of the colony of Virginia, and under these they continued down
to the time of our revolution. W e can discover, at least thus far, no
causes which would probably have led to a separation from the mother
country, had the southern colonies never been affected by the spirit which
planted and reared the northern colonies. The influences which brought
about the settlement of the latter, had not been felt or understood in the
policy which dictated the planting of the former. W e shall discover a
striking contrast between the two sections, running through nearly all their
history, governmental, literary, and religious ; and may also read evidence
of the fact that the pure principles of the Christian religion were the cause,
if not of our origin, yet of our prosperity, our liberties, our independence ;
and to the subversion of these, if ever that day should arrive, some future
Gibbon may ascribe the decline and fall of the republic of the United
States.

A rt.

III.—LAKE NAVIGATION OF NORTH AMERICA.

GREAT WESTERN LAKES----ONTARIO---- ERIE---- HURON----MICHIGAN---- SUPERIOR—
WELLAND CANAL----LAKE HARBORS---- CONSTRUCTION OF PIERS, BREAKWA­
TERS, ET C .----BUFFALO-----ERIE---- OSWEGO---- TORONTO---- KINGSTON----VESSELS
EMPLOYED IN LAKE NAVIGATION---- VIOLENT EFFECTS OF STORMS ON THE
LAKES---- ICE ON THE LAKES----EFFECTS OF ICE ON THE CLIMATE----LAKE CHAM­
PLAIN.

T h e great chain of inland lakes, whose vast expanse justly entitles them
to the name of seas, are the largest bodies of fresh water in the known
world, and constitute an important feature in the physical geography of
North America. When viewed in connection with the River and Gulf of
St. Lawrence, by which their surplus waters are discharged into the Atlan­
tic Ocean, ideas of magnitude and wonder are excited in the mind, which it
is impossible to describe. But the effects which they produce on the com­
mercial and domestic economy of the country are considerations far more




Lake Navigation o f North America.

217

important and striking. With the aid of some short lines of canal, formed
to overcome the natural obstacles presented to navigation by the Falls of
Niagara and the rapids of the St. Lawrence, these great lakes are convert,
ed into a continuous line of water-communication, penetrating upwards of
2000 miles into the remote regions of North America, and affording an
outlet for the produce of a large portion of this continent, which, but for
these valuable provisions of nature, must, in all probability, have remained
forever inaccessible.
The great western lakes of America are five in number :—Ontario, Erie,
Huron, Michigan, and Superior. The extent of these lakes has been variously stated, and the several accounts which have been given of them,
differ very considerably; but the dimensions which I shall quote are taken
partly from the work of Mr. Bouchette, the surveyor-general of Canada,
and partly from the charts constructed by Captain Bayfield, of the royal
navy.
Lake Ontario, the most eastern of the chain, lies nearest to the Atlantic.
The river St. Lawrence, which has a course of about a thousand miles be­
fore reaching the ocean, is its outlet, and flows from its eastern extremity.
This lake is 172 statute miles in length, 59J miles in extreme breadth, and
about 483 miles in circumference. It is navigable throughout its whole
extent for vessels of the largest size. Its surface is elevated 220 feet above
the medium level of the sea; and it is said to be, in some places, upwards
of 600 feet in depth. The trade of Lake Ontario, from the great extent
of inhabited country surrounding it, is very considerable, and is rapidly in­
creasing. Many sailing vessels and splendid steamers are employed in
navigating its waters. Owing to its great depth, it never freezes, except
at the sides, where the water is shallow; so that its navigation is not
so effectually interrupted as that of the comparatively shallow Lake Erie.
The most important places on the Canadian or British side of Lake Onta­
rio, are the city of Toronto, which is the capital of Upper Canada, and the
towns of Kingston and N iagara; and, on the American shore, the towns
of Oswego, Genesee, and Sackett’s Harbor. Lake Ontario has a direct
communication with the Atlantic Ocean, in a northerly direction, by the St.
Lawrence, and in a southerly direction, by the river Hudson and the
Erie Canal, with which it is connected by a branch canal, leading from
Oswego to a small town on the line of the Erie Canal called Syracuse.
Lake Erie is about 265 miles in length, from thirty to sixty miles in
breadth, and about 529 miles in circumference. The greatest depth which
has been obtained in sounding this lake, is 270 feet, and its surface is ele­
vated 565 feet above the level of the Hudson at Albany. Its bottom is
composed chiefly of rock. Lake Erie is said to be the only one of the
chain in which there is any perceptible current, a circumstance, which
may, perhaps, be occasioned by its smaller depth of water. This current,
which runs always in the same direction, and the prevailing westerly winds,
are rather against its navigation. The shallowness of the water also, which
varies from 100 to 270 feet in depth, renders it more easily and more per­
manently affected by frost, its navigation being generally obstructed by ice
for some weeks every spring, after that of all the other lakes is open and
unimpeded.
The principal towns on Lake Erie are Buffalo, Dunkirk, Ashtabula,
Erie, Cleveland, Sandusky, Portland, and Detroit. Between fifty and sixty
splendid steamboats, and many sailing-vessels, are employed in its trade,
VOL. hi.— no. m.
28




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Lake Navigation o f North America.

which is very extensive; and several harbors with stone piers have been
erected on its shores for their accommodation.
The surface of Lake Erie is elevated 322 feet above Lake Ontario, into
which its water is discharged by the river Niagara. In the course of this
river, which is only thirty-seven miles in length, the accumulated surplus
waters of the four upper lakes descend over a perpendicular precipice of
152 feet in height, and form the “ Falls of Niagara.” These falls, with
the rapids which extend for some distance both above and below them, ren­
der seven miles of the river’s course unfit for navigation. The unfavora­
ble structure of the bed of the river Niagara—the connecting link between
Lakes Erie and Ontario—for the purposes of navigation, induced a com­
pany of private individuals, assisted by the British government, to construct
the Welland Canal, by which a free passage from the one lake to the other
is now afforded for vessels of 125 tons burden.
This undertaking was commenced in the year 1824, and completed in
1829, five years having been occupied in its execution. The expense of the
works connected with it is said to have been about £270,000.
The canal extends from Port Maitland on Lake Erie to a place called
Twelve-Mile Creek on Lake Ontario. Its length is about forty-two miles;
its breadth at the surface of the water is fifty-six feet, and at the bottom
twenty-six feet, and the depth of water is eight feet six inches. The whole
perpendicular rise and fall from the surface of Lake Ontario to the summit
level, and thence to Lake Erie, is 334 feet, which is overcome by means
of thirty-seven locks of various lifts, measuring one hundred feet in length
and twenty.two feet in breadth, most of which are formed of wood. The
most considerable work occurring on the Welland Canal is an extensive
excavation of forty-five feet in depth, from which 1,477,700 cubic yards of
earth, and 1,890,000 cubic yards of rock, are said to have been removed.
Lake Erie is connected by the Erie Canal with the river Hudson and
the Atlantic Ocean, and again by the Ohio Canal with the river Ohio and
the Gulf of Mexico. The Erie Canal is 363, and the Ohio Canal 334, miles
in length.
Lake Huron is about 240 miles in length, from 186 to 220 miles in
breadth, and 1000 miles in circumference. The outline of this lake is
very irregular, and Mr. Bouchette says of its shores, that they consist of
“ clay cliffs, rolled stones, abrupt rocks, and wooded steeps.” Its connec­
tion with Lake Erie is formed by the river St. Clair, which conveys its
water over a space of thirty-five miles into a small lake of the same name,
of a circular form, and about thirty miles in diameter, from whence the river
Detroit, having a course of twenty-nine miles, flows into Lake Erie.
The communication between the two lakes is navigable for vessels of all
sizes.
Lake Michigan is connected with Lake Huron by the navigable strait
Michilimackinac, in which is situate the island of Mackinaw, now the seat
of a customhouse establishment, and a place of considerable trade. Lake
Michigan is about 300 miles in length, seventy-five miles in breadth, and
920 miles in circumference, having a superficies of 16,200 square miles.
It is navigated by many steamers throughout its whole extent. The prin­
cipal towns on the lake, the southern shore of which has now become the
seat of many prosperous settlements, are Michigan, Chicago, and Milwaukie. The Illinois river takes its rise near the shores of Lake Michigan,
and flows into the Mississippi; and a canal, for the purpose of connecting




Lake Navigation o f North America.

219

their waters, is now in progress ; an improvement which, when completed,
will form a second water-communication, extending from the Gulf of St.
Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico, a distance of upwards of 3000 miles—the
other communication being that already alluded to between Lake Erie and
the Ohio by a canal from Cleveland to Portsmouth.
Lake Superior is connected with Lake Huron by the river St. Mary.
This river, which is about forty miles in length, has a fall of twenty-three
feet on the whole length of its course, and is navigable only for small boats.
As yet the march of improvement has not penetrated to this remote region,
but ere long, Lakes Superior and Huron, like Erie and Ontario, will proba­
bly be connected by a canal. Lake Superior is about 360 miles in length,
140 miles in breadth, and 1116 miles in circumference; the depth is in
some places said to be 1200 feet, and its surface is 627 feet above the level
of the sea. Its bottom consists of clay and small shells. This lake is the
largest body of fresh water known to exist; and although surrounded by a
comparatively desert and uncultivated country, at a distance of nearly 2000
miles from the ocean, and at an elevation of 627 feet above its surface, it is
navigated by steamboats and sailing-vessels of great burden.
From what has been said regarding the great western lakes, it will easily
be believed that, notwithstanding the secluded situation which they hold in
the centre of North America, far removed from the ocean and from inter­
course with the world at large, their waters are no longer the undisturbed
haunt of the eagle, nor their coasts the dwelling of the Indian. Civilization
has extended its influence even to that remote region, and their shores can
now boast of numerous settlements, inhabited by a busy population, actively
engaged in commercial pursuits. The white sails of fleets of vessels, and
the smoking chimneys of numerous steamers, now thickly stud their wide
expanse, and beacon-lights, illuminating their rocky shores with their cheer­
ing rays, guide the benighted navigator on his course. Every idea con­
nected with a fresli-water lake, must be laid aside in considering the different subjects connected with these vast inland sheets of water, which, in fact,
in their general appearance, and in the phenomena which influence their
navigation, bear a much closer resemblance to the ocean than the sheltered
bays and sounds in which the harbors of the eastern coast of North Ameri.
ca are situated, although these estuaries have a direct and short communica­
tion with the Atlantic Ocean.
The whole line of coast formed by the margins of the several lakes above
enumerated, extends to upwards of 4000 statute miles. There are several
islands in Lake Superior, and also at the northern end of Lake Michigan,
but the others are, generally speaking, free from obstructions. They have
all, however, deep water throughout their whole extent, and present every
facility for the purposes of navigation.
It was not till the year 1813, that the navigation of the lakes had become
so extensive, and assumed so important a character, as to render the erec­
tion of lighthouses necessary and expedient, for insuring the safety of the
numerous shipping employed on them. Since that period, the lighthouses
have been gradually increasing, and, on the American side of the lakes,
they now amount to about twenty-five in number, besides about thirty bea­
cons and buoys, which have been found of the greatest service.
About the same period at which the introduction of lighthouses was considered necessary, some attention was also bestowed on the subject of lake
harbors. Many which formerly existed, were then improved and enlarged,




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and others were projected, and the works connected with them are now
either finished, or are drawing to a close. Several of the ports on Lakes
Erie and Ontario have good sheltered anchorages, with a sufficient depth
of water at their entrances for the class of vessels frequenting them. But
good harbor accommodation is by no means so easily obtained on the shores
of the lakes, as, generally speaking, on the sea-coast of the United States.
Most of the lake harbors are formed in exposed situations, and as l’egards
the expense and durability of the several works executed in their formation,
are much better calculated to resist the fury of the winds and waves, than
the wooden wharfs of the seaports on the eastern coast of the country, of
which a description has been given in the “ Harbors of North America.”*
The town of Buffalo stands at the eastern corner of Lake Erie in the
state of New York, and contains a population of about 16,000. As regards
the number of its inhabitants, and the extent of its commercial transactions,
it is the most important place on the lakes, being in fact the New York of
the western regions. From the month of June till the month of December
inclusive, during which period the navigation of the lakes is generally open
and unimpeded by ice, between forty and fifty steamboats, varying from
200 to 700 tons register, are constantly plying between Buffalo and the sev­
eral ports on the shores of the lakes. Some of these steamers make regu­
lar voyages once a month to Chicago in Lake Michigan, a distance of no
less than 965 miles ; and one leaves the harbor of Buffalo twice every day,
during summer, for Detroit, a distance of 325 miles. The New York and
Erie Canal, the earliest, and perhaps the most important public work exe­
cuted in the United States, which enters the lakes at Buffalo, has a great
effect in increasing its trade and importance.
Buffalo is built at the mouth of a creek communicating with the lake, in
which the harbor is formed. The wharfs in the interior of the harbor are
made of wood, but the covering pier, and other works exposed to the wash
of the lakes, are built of stone, and cost about £40,000. The depth of
water in the harbor is nine feet when the lake is in its lowest or summer
water state. A covering pier has been erected for the purpose of protect­
ing the shipping and tranquillizing the water within the harbor during heavy
gales. It measures 1452 feet in length, and its form and construction are
so very substantial, that one may fancy himself in some seaport, forgetting
altogether that he is on the margin of a fresh.water lake, at an elevation of
more than 300 feet above the level of the ocean. The top of the pier on
which the roadway is formed, measures eighteen feet in breadth, and is ele­
vated about five feet above the level of the water in the harbor. On the
side of the roadway which is exposed to the lake, a parapet-wall five feet in
height extends along the whole length of the pier, from the top of which, a
talus wall, battering at the rate of one perpendicular to three horizontal,
slopes towards the lake. This sloping wall is formed of a descrip­
tion of masonry, which is technically termed coursed pitching. Its
foundations are secured by a double row of strong sheeting piles driv­
en into the bed of the lake, and a mass of rubble pierres perdues, rest­
ing on the toe of the slope. The inner side of the pier presents a per­
pendicular face towards the harbor, and is sheathed with a row of sheeting
piles, driven at intervals of about five feet apart from centre to cen-




See April number of this Magazine.

Lake Navigation o f North America.

221

tre, to prevent the quay wall from being damaged by vessels coming
alongside of it.
The entrance to the harbor is marked by a double light, exhibited from
two towers of good masonry built on the pier.
The workmanship and materials employed in erecting many of the other
lake harbors, are of a much less substantial description than that adopted at
Buffalo. The breakwater for the protection of Dunkirk Harbor on Lake
Erie, for example, was formed in a most ingenious manner, by sinking a
strong wooden frame-work filled with stones. The frame or crib was
erected during winter on the ice over the site which it was intended to oc­
cupy. The ice was then broken, and the crib being filled with small stones,
sunk to its resting place in the bottom of the lake.
Presque-Isle Bay, in which the town of Erie stands, is formed by the
peninsula of Presque-Isle, on the shore of Lake Erie. This bay measures
about one mile in breadth, and three miles in length, and affords a splendid
anchorage for vessels of the largest size. It opens towards the northwest,
and is sheltered from the waves of the lakes by two covering breakwaters,
measuring respectively 3000 and 4000 feet in length, projecting from the
shore, and leaving a space between their outer extremities of 300 feet in
breadth, for the ingress and egress of vessels.
Oswego, situate at the mouth of the Seneca river, on the southern shore
of Lake Ontario, is a town of 6,500 inhabitants, having a good harbor. It
stands at the commencement of the branch canal, which connects the great
New York and Erie Canal with Lake Ontario, and is the seat of several
manufactories and mills driven by the Seneca river, on which there are
some very valuable falls. The pier, which has been built at this place for
the protection of the harbor, is a very good specimen of masonry, finished
somewhat in the same style as that at Buffalo, and cost about £20,000.
The depth of water in the harbor is twenty feet, and it has a good har­
bor-light placed in a substantial tower of masonry at the extremity of
the pier.
The works required in the construction of Buffalo, Erie, and Oswego
harbors were done at the expense, and under the direction of the govern­
ment of the United States, who have also executed harbor-works of great
extent, varying according to the nature of their situations, at the towns of
Chicago, Michigan, Milwaukie, and Green Bay, in Lake Michigan; De­
troit, Sandusky, Ashtabula, Portland, and Dunkirk, on Lake E rie ; and at
Genesee and Sackett’s Harbor, on Lake Ontario.
The harbors on the Canadian or British shores of the lakes are, as yet,
not so numerous. The principal ones are those of Toronto, Port Dalhousie, Burlington, Hungry Bay, and Kingston, on Lake Ontario; and Amherstburg, and Put-in Bay, on Lake Erie.
Toronto', the capital of Upper Canada, lies in a bay which is nearly circular, and measures about a mile and a half in diameter. It is sheltered
from the lake by a projecting neck of land called Gibraltar Point, on which
the harbor-light is erected. This bay has a considerable depth of water,
and affords an extensive and safe anchorage. Port Dalhousie is at the en.
trance of the Mjelland Canal, and has two piers, measuring respectively
200 and 250 feet in length, and also some pretty extensive works, connect­
ed with a basin for receiving timber. Kingston, situate at the eastern end
of Lake Ontario, just at the point where the river St. Lawrence flows out
of the lakes, is the British government naval yard. Navy Bay, in which it




222

Lake Navigation o f North America.

stands, is a good anchorage for vessels drawing eighteen feet of water, but
is exposed to south and southwest winds. The British government have
also executed works in some of the other harbors on the Canadian side of
the lakes.
The tonnage of most of the craft employed in the lake navigation is re­
gulated by the size of the canals which have been constructed for the pur­
pose of connecting the lakes, and facilitating the navigation of the St.
Lawrence. The locks of these canals are formed of such dimensions
as to admit vessels of 125 tons burden, and consequently the lake craft,
with a few exceptions, do not exceed this size. The steamboats, however,
and all the vessels which are employed exclusively in the navigation of one
lake, are never required to enter the canals, and many of these are of great
size ; some of the new steamers being no less than 700 tons burden. The
art of ship-building, which is practised to a considerable extent in almost
every port, is greatly facilitated by the abundance of fine timber produced
in the neighborhood of the lakes ; and to so great an extent has the art
been carried on, that during the war a vessel called the St. Lawrence, of
102 guns, was launched by the British, at Kingston, and another by the
Americans, at Sackett’s Harbor, which measured 210 feet in length on her
lower gun-deck.
The vessels used in the lake navigation, and more especially the steam­
boats, which I had frequent opportunities of examining, possess, in a much
greater degree, the character of sea-boats, than the same class of vessels
employed in the sounds and bays on the shores of the Atlantic; and the
substantial masonry of which the piers and breakwaters on the lakes are
composed, renders these works much more capable of resisting the fury of
the winds and waves than the wooden wharfs of the eastern coast of the
country. The strength and durability of material which both the piers and
the vessels present, are, at first sight, apt to appear superfluous in works
connected with lake navigation. I was certainly impressed with this con­
viction when I first saw the stone piers of Buffalo, which I have already
described; and the sight of the steamer “ James Madison,” a stronglybuilt vessel of 700 tons burden, drawing about ten feet of water, which plies
between Buffalo on Lake Erie and Chicago on Lake Michigan, was in no
way calculated to lessen the impression which the harbor had left; an im­
pression which was heightened by the circumstance of my having, a short
time before, examined the harbors on the eastern coast, and seen many
of the slender fabrics, drawing from three to five feet of water, which navi­
gate the bays and sounds in that part of the country. But, on inquiring
more particularly into this subject, I was informed that these lakes are often
visited by severe gales of wind, which greatly disturb the surface of their
waters, and give rise to phenomena which one hardly expects to find in a
fresh-water lake. In the opinion of many of the captains of the steamers
with whom I conversed on this subject, the undulations created during
some of these gales are no less formidable enemies to navigation than the
waves of the ocean, so that the greatest strength in the hydraulic works and
naval architecture of the lakes is absolutely necessary to insure their stability.
In the harbor of Buffalo, which is situated in the northeast corner of Lake
Erie, and has an unobstructed expanse of water extending before it for a
distance of about 180 miles, the effects of the waves arc very remarkable.
The pier at this place is built of blue limestone. The materials are small,
and no mortar is used in its construction; but the stones are hammer-




Lake Navigation in North America.

223

dressed, well jointed, and carefully assembled in the walls, and the struc­
ture, as before noticed, both as regards the materials of which it is built,
and its general design, is calculated to stand a good deal of fatigue. On
examining this pier, however, I was surprised to find that it was in some
places very much shaken, and, more particularly, that several stones in
different parts of the work had actually been raised from their beds; but
this work, as well as most of the harbors on the lakes, has annually to undergo some repair of damage occasioned by the violence of the waves.
I measured several of the stones which had been moved, and one of the
largest of them, weighing upwards of half a ton, had been completely
turned over, and lay with its bed or lower side uppermost.
I met with another striking example of the violence of the lake waves
on the road leading from Cattaraugus to Buffalo, which winds along the
side of Lake Erie, in some places close to the water, and in others removed
several hundred feet from its margin. The surface of this road is elevated
several feet above the level of the lake ; but, notwithstanding this, many
of the fine large trees, with which the whole country is thickly covered,
have been rooted up and drifted across the road by the violence of the
wind and waves, and now lie along its whole line piled up in the adjoining
fields. Every winter’s storm adds to these heaps of drifted timber, and
they will doubtless continue to be enlarged till the increasing value of the
lands on the margin of the lake, which, in their present state, are wholly
useless in an agricultural point of view, renders the erection of works for
their protection a matter of pecuniary interest to the proprietors.
The following extract also, from the Annual Report of the Board of the
New York State Canals for 1835, shows the severity of the lake storms :—
“ The method of towing barges by means of steamboats has been very
successfully practised on the Hudson river ; but on the lakes, though a
great many steamboats have been in use for several years, the plan has
not been adopted, because the steamboats cannot manage barges in a
storm. We have been informed of a proposition made to the proprietors
of a steamboat to take some canal boats from Buffalo to Cleveland ; and it
was accepted only on the condition that, in the event of a storm, they
should be at liberty to cut them loose, at the risk of the owners.
“ An intelligent gentleman, of several years’ experience in navigating
steamboats, and the two last seasons on Lake Ontario, informs us, that he
considered it impracticable, as a regular business, for steamboats on the
lakes to tow vessels with safety, unless the vessels were fitted with masts
and rigging, and sufficiently manned, so as to be conducted by sails in a
storm ; that storms often rise very suddenly on these lakes, and with such
violence as would compel a steamboat to cut loose vessels in tow, in order
to sustain herself.”
The most striking indications of the extreme violence of these storms
are found in those parts of the coast where the lake is of great breadth,
and where there is deep water close in-shore. On the other hand, in sit­
uations where the shores are contracted, or defended by islands, or where
the lake is for some distance very shallow, the water does not appear to
be so much agitated by the wind. Such fhcts regarding the lake storms
serve to indicate that the formation of those undulations in the sea, which
prove so destructive to our marine works, depends on the action of the
wind, and is not necessarily connected with the great tidal wave occasioned
by the attraction of the moon and sun, whose influence in affecting the




224

Lake Navigation in North America.

level of the lakes is quite imperceptible, owing to the smallness of their
area compared with that of the ocean. It also appears, from what has
been stated, that, to the production of considerable undulations, capable of
injuring marine works, or endangering their stability, three conditions are
necessary. First, That the sheet of water acted upon by the wind shall
have a considerable area. Second, That its configuration shall be such,
that the wind, moving over it in any direction, shall act upon its surface
extensively, both in the directions of length and breadth. And, third,
That the depth of water shall be considerable, and unobstructed by shoals,
so as to permit the undulations to develop themselves to a great extent,
without being checked by the retardations caused by shallow water and an
unequal bottom.
From my own observations, and from what I have heard regarding the
form assumed by the lake waves, and the effects produced by them, I am
inclined to believe that they hear a strong resemblance to the undulations
experienced, during gales of wind, in such land-locked bodies of water as
the Irish Sea, which, it is well known, are very different from the long
swell met with in the ocean. In all land-locked bodies of water, the waves
are short and sudden in their movements, proving very destructive to what­
ever obstacle is opposed to their fu ry ; but there is a characteristic slow­
ness in the long movement of the ocean’s swell, which, it is generally ac­
knowledged, renders it less destructive to the marine works exposed to its
action than the waves produced in land-locked seas. It is confidently
hoped that the experiments which Mr. Russell and others are at present
conducting, at the suggestion of the British Association, on the laws which
regulate the undulation of fluids, may lead to some satisfactory results on
this subject, so interesting in a speculative point of view, and so important
to the engineer.
The great area presented by the surface of the lakes prevents any ma­
terial variation in their level from taking place, which, in small bodies of
water, would be the necessary consequence of the torrents annually poured
into them from the melting snow. It is stated that a periodical rise of
about two feet on the level of the lakes occurs every seven years; but the
facts connected with this singular phenomenon do not appear to be very
satisfactorily established. The water of the lakes and the river St. Law­
rence is remarkably pure and clear. Mr. M‘Taggart mentions, in his
work on Canada, that a white object, measuring a foot square, may be seen
at the depth of forty feet below the surface. From my own observation,
however, I cannot say that the American lakes are, in this respect, more
remarkable than the Lake of Geneva, the waters of which are certainly
very transparent.
The rigor of a Canadian winter, covering the face of the country with
snow, and congealing every river, lake, and harbor, produces a stagnation
in trade, which cannot fail to have a bad effect on the commerce of the
country and the habits of the people, who are compelled to complete their
whole business transactions during the summer and autumn months, and
remain in a state of comparative indolence during the remainder of the
year. Considering the lakes in a commercial point of view, it is impossi­
ble not to regret that their navigation is open for so very limited a period.
For the space of at least five months in the year, the greater part of their
surface is covered with a thick coating of ic e ; and the same sheet of water
which, in summer, floats the vessel of 700 tons, and devastates the shores




Lake Navigation o f North America.

225

with its waves, becomes, in winter, a highway for the Canadian sledge.
The centre of the lakes, where the water attains a considerable depth, is
not frozen every season ; but a vast sheet of ice is annually formed round
their margins, which almost effectually puts a stop to navigation. Mr.
M'Taggart mentions that, in the year 1826, the ice at the margin of Lake
Ontario was within half an inch of being two feet in thickness; and that,
during the winter of the same year, Lake Chaudiere was covered with a
coating which measured no less than three feet six inches in thickness.
He also made several experiments to ascertain the densities of lake and
river ice, from which it appeared that the volumes of six cubic feet of lake,
and eight cubic feet of river ice, were each equal, when melted, to five cubic
feet of water. The ice on the rivers and lakes does not long retain a level
surface. Large flaws make their appearance soon after it is formed, and
the whole sheet gradually splits into pieces, which, being united together in
great masses or hummocks, resist the action of the sun long after the dis­
appearance of frost.
The period at which the lake navigation closes, is generally about the
end of November or beginning of December, and this interruption is never
removed before the first week of May.
The only other body of fresh water in North America demanding atten­
tion, is Lake Champlain, which lies nearly north and south, dividing the
states of Vermont and New York. It is about 150 miles in length, and
measures fourteen miles at the point where it attains its greatest breadth.
The banks of the lake are in general low and marshy, and for about twenty
miles at its southern extremity, it assumes the appearance of a river,
hardly affording sufficient space to permit a vessel to turn. This lake is
navigable throughout its whole extent for vessels drawing five feet of water,
and several fine steamboats ply on it while the navigation is open. The
principal towns on its shores are St. John’s, Plattsburg, Ticonderoga,
Whitehall, and Burlington, at which last place the steamboats for its navi­
gation are built. It is connected with the river Hudson by the Champlain
Canal, but it discharges its surplus water into the St. Lawrence by the
river Richelieu, called also the Sored, on which the towns of St. Dennis,
St. Charles, and Sorell, are situated. The chief trade of Lake Champlain
consists in exporting iron ore and timber; the iron is sent to New York
by the canal, and the timber to the St. Lawrence by the river Richelieu.
Its waters are exceedingly pure, and are subject, during the wet seasons
of the year, to great augmentation. The captain of the steamer by which
I travelled informed me that, in the spring of 1816, when the snow was
leaving the ground, the surface of the lake rose to the height of nine feet
above its summer water level. Its navigation, like that of the other lakes,
is suspended for five months in the year by ice, and transport is carried on
during that period by sledges, which run on its surface.
COM M ERCE O F T H E LAKES.
The following passage is extracted from Captain M arryatt’s new w ork:—“ How
little are they aware, in Europe, of the vastness and extent of commerce carried on in
these inland seas, whose coasts are now lined with flourishing towns and cities, whose
waters are ploughed with magnificent steamboats, and hundreds of vessels with mer­
chandise ! Even the Americans themselves are not fully aware of the rising import­
ance of these lakes, as connected with the west. Since the completion of the Ohio canal,
which enters Lake Erie at Cleveland, that town has risen almost as rapidly as Buffalo.”
VOL. III.— NO. III.




29

226

A rt.

Restrictions upon the Trade in Money.

IV.—CAUSES OF UNSTEADINESS OF T H E CURRENCY,
AND T H E REMEDY THEREFOR.

RESTRICTIONS UPON THE TRADE IN MONEY.----FRANCE, GREAT BRITAIN, AND
THE UNITED STATES.
NUMBER FIVE.

W e come now to inquire, “ Why is it that so large an amount of capital
seeking investment, should exist in France and England, while so small an
amount is to be found in New England; and why is it that the amount in
South Carolina and Georgia should be greater than in Massachusetts or
Rhode Island ?”
In the early period of every community, those who have capital which
they cannot themselves employ, experience much difficulty in placing it
where the security is perfectly satisfactory; and those who wish to borrow,
experience equal difficulty in finding lenders. A desires to lend $500, but
those who would borrow want $750 or $1000, and his capital remains idle
until he can find some one who wishes the exact sum that he has to lend,
and can offer the proper security therefor. B could use $1000 advantage­
ously, but, on the other hand, he can do nothing with the $500 of A ; nor,
on the other, does he desire to borrow $1500 from C. Lenders and bor­
rowers lose their time, and their capital and labor remain unemployed.
They are in the same situation in regard to money as they would be in
regard to shoes, if each journeyman shoemaker were to travel up and
down the street until he could find some one whose feet would fit the shoes
he had made, and who desired to purchase. Many would go barefooted
because of the difficulty of finding shoes to fit their feet, while the shoe­
maker would starve because of the difficulty of finding feet to fit the
shoes. In both cases, the difficulty would be removed by establishing a
place of exchange, called, in one case, a shoe shop, and in the other, a
bank, to which persons would bring the shoes, or the money, they desired
to part with, and at which those who desired shoes, or money, would make
inquiry, bringing their feet and their securities to be fitted.
In some countries, men establish shoe shops, or money shops, when and
where they please, and they regulate with their customers the terms upon
which they will trade together. In others they are not permitted to open
such shops except in certain places fixed upon by government, nor are
they permitted to arrange with their customers the terms upon which they
wifi do business, they being established by law. It is a well-established
fact, that regulations and inspections tend in all trades to produce un­
steadiness, and if such be the case in regard to flour and fish, it is not
probable that it could be otherwise in regard to the great standard of value.
The disadvantage resulting from such regulations, in regard to any com­
modity in general use, is considerable, but that which results from restric­
tions upon the trade in money, is as much greater as the contracts for the
delivery of money are greater than those for the delivery o/ any other
commodity, being, as they are, equal in amount to the contracts fo r the de­
livery o f all other commodities, including houses, lands, stocks, and property
o f all descriptions. We shall now proceed to examine the banking systems




France, Great Britain, and the United States.

227

of France, Great Britain, and the United States, with a view to see if
we can find in them the cause why unemployed and unproductive capital
abounds in England and France, while in Massachusetts and Rhode Island
there is scarcely any that is not directly invested for the benefit of its
owner. If we find that, in the first, legislative interference forbids the in­
vestment of capital, and causes it to accumulate in the form of currency,
while in the latter a high degree of freedom tends to promote its prompt
and permanent investment, and forbids its existence in that form, we shall
then be able to see that the remedy is to be found in the abolition of re­
strictions, and in the establishment of perfect freedom of trade.
In R hode I sland, at the date to which we have referred, the trade in
money was almost perfectly free. Those who desired to lend out their
capital were at liberty to associate for that purpose, and they appointed
agents to attend to their business. After complying with certain forms,
the object of which was the insurance of publicity, they were free to trade
with their neighbors on such terms as they might mutually deem most ad­
vantageous.* They could say to those who traded with them, “ You may
deposit in our hands whatever surplus money you may have, and our
joint capital shall be responsible to return it to you, or to deliver it to your
order ; or we will give you in lieu of it our notes, with which you can pay
any demands that may he made upon you. W e will afford you all these
facilities without charge of any kind, and we will be content if, from the
use of the capital you deposit with us, we can derive as much interest as
will pay the expenses of management. All that we expect to get is simple
interest for our own capital.”
The consequence of this entire freedom was, that in no community that
ever existed has there been, at any one time, so little capital seeking in­
vestment. Any attempt at overtrading on the part of the banks would, of
course, produce an increase of the currency, and an increased difficulty of
making investments ; but the remedy was so prompt and so readily admin­
istered, that the capitalists could at once check it. They could say to the
bankers, “ You are overtrading, and the consequence is, that we can no
longer obtain the usual rate of interest. You are trying to make 8 per
cent by making money ‘ plenty,’ and 1cheap,’ and by the same measures
you are forcing us down to 5. It would be perfectly in your power to do
so, i f hedged round by legislative restrictions; but such is not the case.
We are all now equal. If you possessed exclusive privileges, you could
force us to pay 20 or 30 per cent advance on cost for a share of bank
stock, giving us our choice to do that or go to Vicksburg, or New Orleans,
seeking employment for our capital. Your rights and ours are the same,
and if you can lend out our capital for your benefit, we can as well lend it
out for our own. You have a quantity of our money in your hands, pro­
ducing us nothing while it yields you 6 per cent. We offer you the choice
of three methods of proceeding: first, you may hand us over the notes
purchased with i t ; second, you may retain it as an addition to your capi­
tal, giving us certificates of stock for i t ; or third, you may return it, and
we will open a shop next door, at which we will lend it out for our own
profit. In the latter case, you may, and probably will, find that in forcing
us to open a money shop for ourselves, you are making a rival, and that
* The application to the legislature was little more than a form, the charter being
granted almost as a m atter of course.




228

Restrictions upon the Trade in Money.

time will prove to you that there may be too many such shops for the busi.
ness to be done, as there may be too many shoe shops.”
Were capitalists perfectly free, such would be their universal mode of
action, until banks learned that their own interests required that they should
not increase the inducement for the establishment of rivals. Under a sys­
tem of perfect freedom, the traders in money would be as unwilling to do
any thing tending to increase the number, as would the traders irt shoes or
hats. If they did, the capitalist would apply the remedy, and speculation
would be checked instantly. There would then be no inducement to create
houses or ships, roads or canals, in advance of the demand. The power
of banks to overtrade would be diminished, and the necessity for reduction
never could arise.
The gradual manner in which capital finds its way into any trade, when
free to do so, is finely illustrated in this state. The annual report on the
banks contains a column headed “ increase of capital since last return,”
and in that column we find one bank adding $300, a second $500, a third
$26,750, a fourth $60, a fifth $15,000, &c. In this manner capital is
permanently invested as it is accumulated, instead of being left uninvested
to produce disturbance and agitation. Under a system like that of Rhode
Island in 1830, currency can never exceed that amount which is indispen­
sable for the transaction of business, and it can never be more than is
Tarely sufficient to enable bankers to pay their expenses by the interest
derivable therefrom, because whenever capital employed in banking will
yield a fraction more than the usual interest, a portion of the deposits will
be converted into bank stock, by which operation the profits derivable
from the currency will be diminished, while the amount of capital entitled
to a share of it will be increased.
It will be observed that our remarks apply to the system that existed in
1830. Some years thereafter the legislature imposed restrictions upon all
future associations for the purpose of trading in money, and the consequence
is that the system is less sound, and more expensive.
In May, 1838, the following was the condition of all the banks :—
Capital and surplus fund, $10,410,000
Nett circulation, - - - 1,508,000
Deposits, - - - - . 1,945,000
Dividends unpaid, - - 31,000

Investments, - - $13,493,000
Specie, - - - - - 416,000

$13,894,000

$13,909,000

The currency is 140 per cent greater than it was in 1830. The liabilities
of the banks have grown from one and a half millions to three and a half
millions. Many of the owners of bank stock now receive 7 and 8 per cent,
while the owners of the capital upon which they trade, leave it on deposit
returnable on demand, yielding no interest, or returnable at short notice,
yielding 4 or 4|- per cent. Security, steadiness, and equality, are dimin­
ished by law.
In M assachusetts, we find almost perfect freedom, except the imposition
of a tax of 1 per cent on banks, which forbids the application of capital
to that trade until it will yield a gross profit of 8 per cent, to be thus
divided—




France, Great Britain, and the United States.

Stockholders,
Expenses, State, - -

. . .
. . .

. . .

229

6
1
1
8

considerable amount of capital remains unemployed, and the conse­
quence is, that the currency is unnaturally expanded. Its amount in 1830
was $7,292,000, being about 35 per cent of the banking capital, whereas,
had there been no tax, a part of the deposits would have been converted
into bank stock, the liabilities of the banks would have been diminished,
the amount of capital seeking investment would have been greatly reduced,
and steadiness would have been nearly complete. The conversion of two
millions of deposits into stock would have produced the following state of
things :—
Capital, $22,520,000
Loans, $26,825,000
Currency, 5,292,000
Specie,
987,000
A

$27,812,000
$27,812,000
The amount of interest accruing would be
$1,609,500
The expenses would be - - - 224,000
Dividend at 6 per cent, . . . .
1,344,000
------------ 1,568,000
Surplus, . . . .
$41,500
Here would be perfect equality and steadiness. There would be no in­
ducement to send capital to Mississippi, or Arkansas, in search of divi­
dends.
It will be said that banks occasionally fail in both Massachusetts and
Rhode Island. Such is the fact.
In Massachusetts, a large amount of capital belonging to the govern­
ment, which was not at liberty to employ it, was placed in several banks,
managed by persons whom individual merchants would not have trusted
to any great extent. Intoxicated with the command of so large an amount
of money, they were led to speculate largely; and when at length, after the
passage of a law for that purpose, those deposits became currency, payable
on demand, they were unable to reconvert their houses and lots into money,
and they and the banks they controlled stopped payment. Independently
of this cause, however, there were two failures of banks in Rhode Island,*
and five in Massachusetts, in the quarter century from 1811 to 1836, by
which the community lost probably seventy or eighty thousand dollars.
It is one of the advantages of free trade, that every trader in money knows
that he must stand or fall by his own acts, and that if he overtrades and
gets into trouble, there will be none to help him. In the middle states,
where banks overtrade largely, they feel that all must stand or fall together,
and therefore sound institutions are sometimes obliged to burden them­
selves with the support of unsound ones; but in Massachusetts there is a
degree of independence that forbids the necessity of so doing, any more
than there would exist on the part of the solvent shoemakers, or tailors, to
* The bank commissioners, in 1837, remarked with great truth, that the banks of
the state had always “ sustained an enviable character, as compared with those of
many others of the United States.”




230

Restrictions upon the Trade in Money.

pay the debts of one of their neighbors of the trade, lest all shoemakers or
tailors should lose their credit. The more perfect the freedom of trade,
the smaller must be the liabilities of banks, the less must be the danger of
change in the amount and value of the currency, the smaller must be the
risks of banks in their dealings with individuals, and the smaller must be
the risks of the community in trading with banks.
I n the other N ew E ngland states , freedom of trade is less perfect
than in the two to which we have now referred. Capital accumulates
while waiting to find the means of investment, and the currency is unna.
turally expanded. Banks trade upon the capital of others, and when the
time arrives for repayment, it sometimes happens that they are unable to
redeem their obligations. Here we have more restriction and less steadiness : more currency and less equality of profit.
In the M iddle and S outhern states, there is still less freedom of trade.
Persons possessing capital which they would gladly lend out, are prevented
from opening shops for that purpose, because of the difficulties attendant
upon obtaining permission to trade in the manner that is usual with bankers.
No man will do business with a bank that will not afford him the usual
facilities of trade, by receiving and guarding his funds, and by transferring
the same by means of checks and notes. No man will undertake to afford
these facilities, if his whole property be liable for the return of such moneys,
unless largely paid for such risk. He can obtain such compensation only
by means of largely overtrading, to accomplish which he must maintain
a large circulation and have large deposits. Trade is already too free to
permit the accumulation of unemployed capital to the extent required to
give him such profits, and he is therefore compelled to let his capital re­
main in bank for the benefit of the stockholders of those institutions who
have obtained permission, in the form of acts of incorporation, to trade
with their customers on the footing of limited liability. The consequence
is, that these latter are enabled to divide 7, 8, 9, or 10 per cent, while
large amounts of capital lie idle, yielding no return to the owners, who
would gladly take 6 per cent at home, but in default thereof are compelled
to send it to Kentucky or Mississippi. The currency is large, liable to
sudden and rapid increase, to the injury of the capitalist, who is, by re­
strictions, deprived of the means of protection.
At one time the banks increase their loans largely, and the necessary
consequence is a great increase of deposits. This prompts to a further in­
crease of loans, which leads to a further increase of deposits, consisting of
capital the owners of which find a daily increasing difficulty in obtaining
interest.
Commencing with the following state of things,
No. 1. Capital,
$20,000,000
Loans,
$30,000,000
Circulation,
5,000,000
Specie,
5,000,000
Deposits,
10,000,000
$35,000,000
we find in a few months the following,—
No. 2. Capital,
$20,000,000
Circulation,
5,500,000
Deposits,
14,500,000




40,000,000

$35,000,000
Loans,
Specie,

$35,000,000
5,000,000
SO,000,000

France, Great Britain, and the United Stales.

231

The banks have invested 4-J millions, while the owners of those millions
have been seeking the means of using them. Both have been in the mar­
ket, forcing up prices. The ball thus set in motion rolls o n : stocks rise
rapidly, and the unfortunate capitalist finds that he cannot obtain more than
5 per cent, while the owners of bank stock are likely to have 7 or 8.
The latter have made money “ too cheap” for their own benefit, at his ex­
pense, and at that of all those who, like him, have to find modes of invest­
ing their capital.
Every day increases the currency. Every day increases prices. Stocks
rise ; then houses, lots, and lands. Railroads and canals follow in succes­
sion. The owner of property ceases to regard the amount of interest to
be yielded by it, regarding only the increase that must take place in its
price. Farms are converted into town lots, houses are built, new railroads
and canals are subscribed for, and the people of Vicksburg, New Orleans,
and Cincinnati, send their agents to obtain a share of the vast surplus.
The capitalists having thus, at length, found the means of employing their
unproductive capital, claim a repayment of the deposits, and now the banks
are compelled to demand payment of their debtors. These unfortunates,
having half finished their roads, canals, ships, and houses, are compelled
to bring them into market in their unfinished state; and now it is dis­
covered that the same capital has been employed in performing two opera­
tions ; that A, B, C, the temporary employers, and D, E, F, the actual
owners, have both been building houses, or making roads and canals, for
the purpose of investing the same capital at the same time, and that when
half finished, one or other must suspend operations, and perhaps sacrifice
what he has done, with a view to enable the other to complete his work.
A, B, and C are ruined, and D, E, and F find that the supply of houses
or stocks is greater than the demand, and that, after having been kept for
months without interest, they must now lose 10, 15, or 20 per cent in the
diminished value of the property purchased.
All this would have been prevented in the outset, had the capitalist had
it in his power, when the expansion began, to claim of the banker a certificate of stock in lieu of his deposits, or failing that, to unite with his
neighbor in opening a shop to lend out their own money for their own
profit. The conversion of his deposit into stock would at once have dimin­
ished the amount of capital seeking investment, and the tendency to a
rise of price would have been checked. Instead of the state of things
above, marked No. 2, we might have had, at the same date,
Bank capital,
$22,000,000*
Loans,
$32,000,000
Liabilities,
15,000,000
Specie,
5,000,000
37,000,000
37,000,000
In comparing the systems of the north and south, nothing is more striking
than the difference in the tendency to accumulate masses of capital under
the control of individuals. In Rhode Island, there is a bank for every two
thousand inhabitants. Almost every village has its money shop, and their
capitals vary from 20,000 to 500,000 dollars. In Massachusetts, there
* We shall have occasion to show, in a future number, that perfect freedom, the right
to make banks at will, would probably be attended by a diminution in the amount of
capital so employed, and an increase in the amount directly employed by the owners-




232

Restrictions upon the Trade in Money.

are now one hundred and thirty-eight banks, but the largest is only
$1,800,000, and only six are equal to $1,000,000. In Mississippi and
Louisiana, on the contrary, we find banks with capitals of five and twelve
millions.
Up to the year 1826, the B ank of E ngland enjoyed a monopoly of the
right of trading in money, on the footing of a joint-stock association.
Private banks existed throughout the country, but they were limited in the
number of their partners. Failures among them were so numerous* that
the owners of capital became unwilling to place it with them ; and the
consequence was, that the bank enjoyed the advantage of an immense circulation and large deposits. Her capital was lent to the government at
3 per cent, and the interest thereof did little more than cover the expenses
of management. Her dividends were derived from the currency that could
be maintained, and they increased with every increase in the quantity of
capital, unproductive to the owners, that could be brought into her hands.
In August, 1822, the total amount of circulation and
deposits, or currency, was .................................................. £23,863,000
In 1826, they had risen t o ..................................................
32,402,000
At the first date the loans on interest amounted to - - £17,290,000
At the second, they w e r e ..................................................
32,918,000
The unfortunate small capitalist had no remedy. He could not demand
of the bank shares of stock, nor could he create them for himself. He
could not become a member of a banking-house, nor could he induce such
houses to pay him the common rate of interest. He could only, with great
risk to himself, obtain 2£ per cent, until some joint-stock company in
Mexico, or Peru, or Chili, or some foreign loan, likely never to be repaid,
afforded him a prospect of obtaining abroad that remuneration for the use
of his capital that was denied him at home, while bankers and owners of
bank stock were receiving 8 per cent, or more, derived from the use of
his capital, and that of others similarly circumstanced. Here was an ex­
cess of currency, attended with infinite danger, because of the extreme
inequality of profit which was forcing abroad that capital for which there
was abundant demand at home. The crisis came, and the disadvantage
of the system became obvious. Some of the restraints upon association
were repealed, and the owners of capital are now permitted to form jointstock companies, provided they are willing, when their customers ask them
to grant the usual facilities of trade, by receiving their funds on deposit,
and transferring the same by means of checks or notes, to be responsible
in the whole of their individual properties for the repayment thereof. Men
of common prudence refuse to come under such responsibilities,f and the
consequence is, that large amounts of capital remain unemployed, consti­
tuting currency, or on deposit at low interest, liable, at short notice, to
* In 1814, 1815, and 1816, no less than two hundred and forty private bankers be­
came bankrupt. In 1821 to 1830, the number of bankruptcies was one hundred and
twenty-five. Mr. M’Culloch says, (Dictionary of Commerce, p. 85,) that “ the numer­
ous failures that have taken place among them have, by generating a feeling of inse­
curity in the minds of their depositors, confined this branch of business within com­
paratively narrow limits.”
t Mr. M’Culloch says, (Dictionary of Commerce, article Banks,) that “ it may well
excite astonishment that any one who can really afford to make a b o n a f i d e purchase
of shares in a bank, should be foolhardy enough to embark in such concerns.”




France, Great Britain, and the United States.

233

become so. Those who incur the hazard have large profits, derived from
the excess of currency thus produced, while the prudent and careful have
small ones. The dividends of joint-stock banks have averaged about 8 per
cent, being double the rate at which their capitals are lent out. It follows
that their loans are much more than double the amount of capital.
The amount loaned out by banks is probably not less than eighty mil­
lions, yielding interest amounting to £3,200,000, to be divided among the
owners of thirty millions of capital. The owners of thirty or forty mil­
lions of deposits are compelled to forego all interest, or to take 2 or 2 | per
cent, when, if they were permitted to open money shops for themselves,
and to trade with their neighbors on such terms as they might mutually
judge advantageous, they could have 4 per cent, and their capital would
cease to exist in the form of currency liable to change with every wind
that blows, and giving to a few individuals the power of raising or depress­
ing prices at pleasure. The following will show the condition now exist­
ing, and that which would exist, were all restrictions abolished.
No. 1.
No. 2.
Capital, . . .
- £30,000,000
Capital, . . .
- £60,000,000
Currency, - - 60,000,000
Currency, - - 30,000,000
£90,000,000

£90,000,000

No. 1 gives unsteadiness,' insecurity, and inequality of profit, producing
vast waste of capital, whereas the other gives steadiness, security, and
equality of profit, attended by a profitable application of capital.
Had England had a system like that of Rhode Island, she would have
escaped the troubles of 1825, 1836, and 1839. Her capitalists would have
obtained moderate profits at home, and would have had no inducement in
the first period to engage in the gambling operations of Mexico and South
America; nor would they, in the two latter, have found it necessary to ad­
minister to the spirit of speculation in the United States, by contributing
their means for the erection of railroads and canals through all the states
of the west. The law of 1826 was an improvement, and we may hope
that the time is not far distant when trade will be set free from all re­
strictions.
It is usual to attribute the present derangement of the English money
market to the necessity for importing corn, but it is really due to restric­
tions upon the employment of capital, the most important of which are
those relating to the trade in money. All of them tend to cause unem.
ployed capital to accumulate, and the corn laws thus tend to increase the
danger of injury from the immense mass of currency always existing in
England. Under a system of perfect freedom no deficiency of crops could
cause a demand upon the banks that would make it necessary for them to
change their operations 2 per cent, because there would be no unemployed
capital in their hands. The small amount of circulation and deposits, or
currency, that would exist, must be maintained nearly at the same point
under any circumstances. Under such a system, the deficiency of grain
would produce no more effect upon the operations of the dealers in money,
than upon those of the dealers in shoes or hats. It would be attended by
a rise of the price of that commodity, and a diminution in that of all other
commodities, without the slightest interference of the banks. The induce­
ments to import corn would constantly increase, while there would be diminvol. hi.—NO. III.
30




234

Restrictions upon the Trade in Money.

ished inducement to import any other commodity than corn. The defi­
ciency would be attended with no other inconvenience than those resulting
from an increase in the price of food; whereas, under the present system,
the inconvenience resulting from 1natural causes is quadrupled by those
resulting from interferences with the free employment of capital. The
laborer is deprived of employment at the moment when the price of food
is doubled.
The London Atlas of November 16th, contains the following remarks in
confirmation of the views we have offered.
“ An opinion prevails almost universally, that the sole cause of the late
derangement in our currency proceeded from the deficient harvest of 1833,
which obliged us to import a large quantity of foreign corn for food; and
that the sum of six or seven millions of pounds sterling being required in
•payment for the same, constituted so much balance of trade against us, to
be liquidated only by an exportation of bullion to that extent. Such was
the general opinion, and we must confess that, until lately, we viewed the
subject in the same light. However, it has since been proved, by reference
to the customhouse books, that the increase in the value of goods imported,
resulting from the large quantity of foreign corn brought here, has been
fully counterbalanced by an increase in the value of the British manufac­
tures exported from the united kingdom. At the official rates of valuation,
the exports of British manufactures, in the twelve months ending the 30th
of September, 1839, were six millions of pounds more than the exports in
the twelve months ending the 30th September, 1838. This shows that the
supplies of foreign corn have been paid for by merchandise; and that, un­
less other disturbing causes had intervened, our currency might have re­
mained uninjured, and bullion would not have been demanded fo r exporta­
tion on account o f the com trade.
“ We therefore come to the conclusion, that our currency was redundant,
and that this led to large importations o f American securities of all kinds,
which found a ready market here, while English securities were scarce, and
offered only a lotv rate o f interest fo r investments. But this tendency on the
part of the public to make investments in American securities, was fomented
rather than checked by the Bank o f England, which continued, fo r many
months together, to accumulate and abstract from the market such English
securities as might otherwise ham offered to our capitalists the means of
making investments, without being driven into foreign securities. That dur­
ing the six months, from June to December, whilst the bank reduced her
securities and the currency at the same time, there was no material loss
of bullion, although very large imports of foreign corn took place in those
six months ; but in the following six months the bank had greatly augmented
the amount o f her securities, although she lost in the same period about six
millions o f bullion, which certainly could not all have gone in payment for
corn, because the value of the wheat bought and imported in these six
months would not exceed three millions of pounds, or only half of the value
of the bullion sent away.”
When the bank overtrades largely, purchasing up the securities that in­
dividual capitalists would desire to possess, deposits accumulate in her
hands, because of the diminished value of money, and the difficulty of ob­
taining the usual rate of interest. Unless disposed to unite in the forma­
tion of a joint-stock bank, the holding of a single hundred pounds stock in
which would put at risk his whole property, the capitalist bas no remedy




France, Great Britain, and the United States.

235

but the purchase of foreign securities. It is the only mode of escape from
the tyranny of the bank, and consequently is looked upon with jealous eyes
by the officers of that institution. Mr. Horsley Palmer* is anxious that
time-bargains in such securities should be declared illegal, and that heavy
penalties should be “ imposed upon such transactions.” He would also
have every bargain for passing such securities made “ chargeable with a
stamp duty,” with “ heavy penalties for evasion.” Under the existing sys­
tem, capitalists may remain at home, employing their capital abroad when
not permitted to use it at home, but under that of Mr. Palmer they would
be compelled to emigrate, “ bag and baggage.” The bank would have
them in a net. It could say to them, “ You can now no longer make in­
vestments in foreign funds, and you dare not place your capital in jointstock companies, where the whole property of every individual member is
liable to be levied upon in case of any delay in meeting its engagements.
You cannot associate with the prudent and the careful, who would be con­
tent with safe business and small profits ; and you dare not associate with
those who overtrade largely in quest of large dividends. You will not
place your capital with private bankers, or with the joint-stock companies
that thus overtrade, because the rate of interest is not equal to the risk
that is incurred, and therefore you must place it with us, because our power
is such that we can always save ourselves from the evil consequences of
our own acts, although they may be even so great as to render it neces­
sary for us to crush a large portion of the merchants, and of the private
and joint-stock bankers. We will give you no interest, but you will be
secure.” Such would be the language of the Bank of England, under Mr.
Palmer’s system. The “ rest,” or surplus, would rapidly increase, and the
dividends would again be 8 per cent, until, at length, those who had unin­
vested capital would find it necessary to transfer themselves and their
means <to some other country, where they could be at liberty to invest them
either at home or abroad.
If, in 1835, or 1838,f the owners of the unemployed capital had had it in
their power to create a bank for themselves, to trade on the same footing as
the Bank of England, they would have said to that institution, “ Pay us our
deposits in the securities you have bought with them, or we must open a place
of business at which we can lend out our own capital for our own benefit,
which will compel you to sell those securities that you may cancel your liabili­
ties. At present those deposits are currency, and in our efforts to obtain
means of investing them, we are forcing up the prices of all descriptions of
property, but so soon as they are cancelled, in either of the above forms, they
will cease to be currency, and prices will fall back to where they started
from. We shall then be able to lend out our capital at 4 per cent, and we
doubt not that out of the profits of deposits and circulation, we shall be able
to pay the expenses of management, while you will experience a diminution
of circulation and a diminution of profits.” Had they been free so to ad­
dress the directors of the bank,'they would not have found it necessary to
purchase American securities.- The spirit of speculation would have been
checked on both sides of the Atlantic, and instead of existing complaints of
unemployed laborers and impoverished capitalists, we should find universal
prosperity.
* President of the Bank of England.
t For the effect of the loans of deposits upon the currency in these years, see
vol. ii. p. 458.




236

Restrictions upon the Trade in Money.

In S cotland, there never was any restriction upon the formation of
joint-stock companies, and hence the system was always more sound than
that of England, because less capital remained unproductive. Joint-stock
banks commanded a degree of confidence in that country as they now do
in England, that private banks wanted.
In F kance , we find a universal spirit of restriction. Freedom of trade,
whether in money or in any other commodity, is unknown. When the
hank expands, there are no means of checking its operations. The owners
of capital are driven to gambling speculations of all kinds, to obtain interest
for their capital. When it contracts, the speculators are ruined. The
government being careful not to make any step towards freedom, there is
little reason to hope that the mass of unemployed capital existing in the
form of currency will be soon reduced, and until it shall be so there can be
no hope of the establishment of steadiness in the operations of that country,
so necessary for the improvement of the physical, moral, and intellectual
condition of the people.
By comparing the results obtained in the present number with those of
number four, the reader will see that the mass of the currency, and its un­
steadiness, tend to increase with every increase of restriction. In New
England, he will find the nearest approach to perfect freedom, the smallest
amount of currency, the nearest approach to perfect equality of profit, and
the least power of disturbance; while in France and England, he will find
restrictions abounding, producing a great mass of unemployed capital,
great inequality of profit, and a great tendency to disturbance of the com­
merce of those countries, and of the world at large.
It may be asked, “ If the system of the United States be really better
than that of England, how is it that the former appears to have been so
much more seriously affected by the crisis of 1836 and 1839 than the lat­
ter V' The answer is, “ that England is to the United States in the con­
dition of a lender, and the latter is to the former in that of a borrower.”
In all cases of change in the currency, the debtor is the one most injuri­
ously affected. The lender has only to say, “ you must pay,” and the
debtor will pay, if he has any regard to his credit, which is the case in the
present instance. If the debtor is unable to pay, the creditor may then
raise the rate of interest, as the Bank of England does, thus profiting by the
irregularity o f the currency. When that institution finds it necessary to
contract, in consequence of having overtraded, she does not fail, but she
compels her debtors to do so. At one time, she makes money very cheap,
enlarging the currency rapidly, at the expense of the capitalist. The lat­
ter endeavors to obtain interest, by exporting his capital to the United
States. The currency of the latter is now expanded. Prices rise. Im­
portations are large. The bank changes its course and makes money
scarce and dear. The capitalist wishes to withdraw that which he has
exported, and demands gold from the United States. Prices now fall.
Alarm is universal, and the currency is contracted. Importations cease,
and the people of England are deprived of employment. No institution in
the world possesses so great an amount of power as the Bank of England,
and none has ever so grievously misused it, to the injury, not only of the
people of England, but of the world at large. Were parliament to guaran­
ty to the stockholders a dividend of 8 per cent for twenty years, on con­




Speculations on Commerce.

237

dition of relinquishing the monopoly which they now have, it would be the
cheapest purchase ever made. Steadiness might then be established ; but
while the monopoly exists, it is impossible.
With the constantly increasing facility of intercourse with Europe, the
people of the two continents are brought into more intimate connection
with each other, and are liable to suffer more and more from any error in
their respective systems of currency, and they must continue to do so until
the errors are corrected.
England is to the monetary system of the world what the heart is to the
body. So long as her action is regular, there will be regular action
throughout the whole system. There may be local irregularity, but that
can only be temporary. If a bank at Cincinnati or St. Louis pursue an
injudicious course, issuing too large an amount of its notes, the error is
discovered at New York or Philadelphia, provided they he not themselves in
error. If New York do so, the error is speedily discovered in London,
and a demand for bullion tends to correct the procedure.
If New York and Philadelphia go wrong, their error is propagated
throughout the union, constantly increasing in extent, until they are com­
pelled to endeavor to correct it at the cost of ruin to the trading part of
the community. If London go wrong, the error is propagated throughout
the world, as we have recently seen to be the case; and it can be cor­
rected only at an enormous expense of human happiness. It is therefore
of the highest importance to the people of the United States that England
should adopt a system tending to promote the profitable investment of
capital at home, and preventing its accumulation in the form of currency.

A rt.

V.— SPECULATIONS ON COMMERCE.

How wonderful are the results of commerce! Yet we scarcely notice
them ; in fact, we are scarcely sensible of their extent and variety. They
are around us, like the air we breathe—so common, that we either overlook
them altogether, or neglect to appreciate them as we ought to do. To say
nothing of the effects of commercial intercourse in promoting civilization
or in advancing the cause of Christianity, topics important enough and ex­
tensive enough to demand a separate consideration, how greatly does com­
merce promote our personal comfort and our individual convenience ! We
partake of its advantages every hour, enjoy its comforts with every meal,
and perceive its benefits at every fireside. W e are indebted to commerce
for our every-day conveniences, and every night that we sleep upon a bed
of down, or curled hair, we are indebted to the enterprise of the merchant
for the luxury. Look at the commonest table, and in ordinary cases you
will find it supplied with manv of the products of foreign countries, or of
their manufacturing establishments. You see everywhere the evidences of
commerce ; the result of the sagacity of our merchants, and of the skill and
indomitable spirit of our seamen. The rare and valuable, as well as the
more ordinary and less luxurious productions of every climate, the rich
and costly, as well as the less expensive and more substantial manufacture
of every people, are, by the united capital, enterprise, and labor of these




238

Speculations on Commerce.

two classes, offered alike to the poor and the wealthy. Such is the spirit
of our merchants, and such the skill and daring of our navigators, that no
sea is left unvisited, no country unexplored, which can yield any thing for
the purposes of trade, or for the promotion of the great objects of life.
As a comparatively new country, we are necessarily greatly indebted
to commerce. W e are yet dependent on others for some productions
which our own soil and climate are capable of producing. We are yet
dependent on others for some articles which our own skill and in­
dustry may hereafter easily provide for us. W e are yet dependent
on others for raw material, which our own resources, when fully
developed, will abundantly afford. But these things are daily becoming
less imperative. We are fast becoming, more and more, a manufac­
turing people, and consequently, less and less dependent on foreign coun­
tries and foreign artisans. But we are still wedded to the work of for­
eigners, and often, from mere habit, give it the preference.. In addition
to this, we scarcely know, as a community, what we do manufacture. W e
are occasionally surprised when told that such or such an article is of
American workmanship. We never dreamed that anybody on this side of
the Atlantic had thought of manufacturing such an article. It never oc­
curred to us that it would be worth the while to direct any portion of our
capital and industry to the production of an article of such small import,
and it is true that many articles are now manufactured in this country of
which the mass of our citizens know nothing.
The effect of this, it might be supposed, would be to lessen commerce,
and diminish, in no small degree, our intercourse with foreign nations.
But it is not so. The diminution, for a long series of years, would scarcely
be perceived, so slowly do American articles get into use, and so rapidly
does our population increase. Excepting with a very few articles of manu­
facture, the product of our own establishments falls so far short of the in­
creasing demand, that the amount of importation actually increases at the
rate of some ten or twenty millions per annum, while our exports have in­
creased but few millions, and in some years have sensibly lessened. These
statements are easily susceptible of proof, from previous pages of this
magazine. Besides, we can hardly mention an article of any importance,
heretofore supplied to us by foreigners, which is not still an article of im­
portation.
Commercial intercourse also, is constantly introducing new articles
among us, which go far, not merely to keep up the usual amount of our
annual importations, but to increase it. So that, in fact, there is no dimi­
nution to commerce perceptible at present, by reason of our manufactures.
Whether there ever will be any, whether it must not always be on the in­
crease, are questions not necessary to be considered now. It would seem
that so long as the world subsists, so long as nations, kingdoms, or tribes
continue, so long as there are different climates, different seasons, and dif­
ferent productions, there can be no termination or falling off of commercial
intercourse. Commerce is simply the traffic of nations, and traffic can­
not cease so long as there are people to carry it on. The intercourse of
civilized nations, the main instrument and the most powerful agent of civ­
ilization and refinement, is itself a portion of the spirit of civilization, and
when it ceases, it would almost seem that mankind must return to an original
state of barbarism-.
It is to be kept in view that in relation to commerce, as in regard to all




Speculations on Commerce.

239

the operations of civilized life, the great object to be sought, the great end to
be gained is, not money or property merely, but happiness . The ultimate ob­
ject of all the business of life is, or rather should be, the greatest amount of
human happiness. This consideration, however, may not always enter the
calculations of the merchant; yet it is the true object of commerce. It is
the object of life, and therefore emphatically the object of commerce, to make
life agreeable, comfortable, happy. The importer of a cargo of teas from
“ the farthest Indies,” however, can hardly be expected to calculate on the
happiness the domestic use of that article may or may not produce. He
cannot be presumed to go into the consideration of such a subject, in
making up his voyage ; to estimate all the pleasant little family and social
parties which are to be enjoyed over each separate parcel of i t ; to figure
up all the small-talk, the tea-table tattle which may follow the enjoyment
of each portion. He rather calculates the chances of profit, or as the
hardy seaman would say, the “ main chance
he looks at the prices per
pound in Canton, the expenses of the voyage, freight, insurance, exchange,
&c., and the state of the market at home. These being satisfactory to his
mind, he plans and carries through the enterprise. Whether he prospers
or not, the community enjoy the advantage of his labor and capital.
It may be said, we are aware, that if the merchant does not calculate
upon the good he may do, in projecting a voyage, he is influenced by a
love of gain, by selfish or avaricious motives. But we think this does not
follow : in the first place, the merchant, when he enters upon his business
in life, knows that he cannot labor for himself alone ; no man can labor for
himself alone, in any profession ; and that, therefore, the man who devotes
himself to an honest calling, does in some degree, from that circumstance
alone, promote the public good. The merchant knows, too, that his vari­
ous enterprises, whether they result profitably for himself or not, and, even
if only partially accomplished, are productive of public benefit, inasmuch
as he employs many trades, professions, and a large number of men, in
each step of his various operations. So that, after all, the happiness which
may flow from his labors, does not altogether, or mainly perhaps, depend on
the cargo of his ship, the commodity he exports or imports. But suppose, for
the sake of illustrating the point, that a love of gain or avarice does impel the
merchant in his undertakings. This very passion, bad as it may be thought,
may impel him to do that which will make people happy; and if he makes
people happy by a lawful, honest, and praiseworthy enterprise, is he not a
benefactor of mankind 1 The world, however, cares but little about the mofives of the merchant, and assuredly has no right to impugn them. He is in­
fluenced by similar motives as other men, when they design the accom­
plishment of a similar object; and they may or may not affect his own
happiness, but are not felt in the community.
W e were speaking of the results of commerce, and whatever others may
say, we are free to acknowledge, and to claim for it, that it has done much
for the benefit and happiness of mankind. Nay more ; we should almost
say that it has done every thing for him. To commerce he is indebted for
civilization, and, under Providence, for the spread of the Christian religion;
and without these great blessings, what is man 1 True, it may have pro­
duced some evil in the world ; what real good has not ? Name to us any
blessing man has ever enjoyed, which has not been, in some form or other,
productive of evil, and we will yield our opinion without further argument.
The truth is, there is no such thing as unmixed good in the catalogue of




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Speculations on Commerce.

man’s enjoyments or endurances. There is nothing, and can be nothing,
linked with man’s imperfectness, of unalloyed goodness. Let us not be
misunderstood on this point, not even by the designing; some things,
nay, many things— indeed, we came near to say, all things—are good in
themselves. Truth is good, in itself and of itself; but what is truth separ­
ated from every thing besides ?
A word more for the merchant: it is no fault of his, as we shall contend,
after all that has been said, that a consideration of human happiness, does
not always enter into his calculations of a voyage. The evidence he con­
sults supersedes this or implies it, and it is manifested to his perception in
the state of the market or the demand. The demand is his criterion, and
is the only evidence of want which he can know. It is his business to
supply the want, and the supply of all the wants of the community embrace
the results of commerce. The character of the want, or its moral effect
when supplied, are matters which belong to the intelligence and virtue of
the community to regulate. It is for society, by a high moral influence,
to guide and govern its necessities, and the business of the merchant to
supply them. We have seen that he fulfils his duty; that he supplies our
necessities, and administers to our comfort and happiness every hour in
the day. Let us see, for example, how our account stands with him at the
present moment, even in our own little corner. This quill he furnished to
us ; the penknife, which lies by our hand, happens to have been brought
from England in one of his ships ; the desk we write upon came from be­
yond seas, in the timber of a warmer climate; that wedgewood inkstand
is also an imported article ; the oil in our lamp was once in his ships; and
so we might go on ; but, thanks to the skill of our own countrymen, we may
use of our own paper, and Walkden’s British ink powder, we apprehend,
will prove to be an exception to one of our first remarks. We are sur­
rounded with articles provided for our use by the enterprise of the mer­
chant, and brought to us from all quarters of the world. If we should go
back a few hours, and see how our account stands with him through the
day, we should perceive our greater indebtedness. At our meals, whence
that beautiful china, that cutlery, the sugar, tea, coffee, molasses, spices,
sweetmeats, fruits, and wines? The merchant has supplied them all.
He feeds, clothes, and warms us. W e live, enjoy, luxuriate, in the com­
forts he provides, whether he calculates upon our happiness or n o t; and
are hourly enabled to do the business of our hands by the implements and
instruments furnished by his agency. Are we not, then, indebted to him ?
Is not his an honorable calling ? Is he not the benefactor of his race ?
Who does more for the happiness of mankind, who runs greater risks or
assumes heavier burdens, who more deserving the praise of the good and
the applause of the just, than he who provides for, civilizes, and Christianizes
his fellow-men ?

W H IT E LEA D O F MISSOURI.
The white lead manufactured by Joseph Cherless & Co., of St. Louis, is pronounced
by competent judges, to be equal to the best imported article. “ So far as we can form
an opinion from the color,” says the St. Louis Republican, “ we cannot discover any in­
feriority in this article with the very best brought to this market. They are now manu­
facturing largely at the above establishment, and are prepared to fill orders to any extent.”




The Merchant Service.— Primary School fo r Seamen.

A rt.

VI.—T H E

241

MERCHANT SERVICE.—PRIMARY SCHOOL
FO R SEAMEN.

W e have received the following communication and memorial from an
intelligent merchant of South Carolina, upon a subject which we consider
of great national importance.
The establishment of a school for the instruction of boys in nautical
exercises, who would otherwise grow into manhood without education or
the means of honestly subsisting, is an object no less beneficial to society,
to the youth thus provided for, and to the commercial interests of the
nation, than it is honorable to the whole country, as an enlightened,
Christian, and philanthropic measure. We trust that the noble object which
is so disinterestedly urged by our correspondent, will receive that attention
and support from our citizens at large, and from our government, which it
so eminently deserves. We will not pretend to say that it is within the
scope of any constitutional provision to establish and support the proposed
school; but it seems to us that the broad power given to congress by
that instrument in regard to the regulation and encouragement of commerce, ought to embrace the means which are so directly and strongly
calculated to promote our commercial interests, as the scheme which is
recommended. It is well known that the number of American sailors is
comparatively small, and even this limited number is constantly decreas­
ing. While almost every other pursuit in life is thronged and sometimes
crowded by our industrious and enterprising citizens, but few fathers can
be found willing to suffer their sons to become sailors, and a general
dislike seems to exist in the minds of Americans against embarking in
that profession. And what is the inevitable consequence 1 It is to fill our
marine service with dissipated unprincipled foreigners, or worthless native
born seamen ; and to shut out those who would man our merchant ships
if they could find sailors to associate with, who were free from vice and
immorality.
The naval school recently established by the United States government
for the instruction of youth, although in its infancy, has already furnished
the most flattering evidences of its usefulness ; and we can see no reason
why the proposed system of instruction for the merchant service cannot
be made equally, if not more beneficial; and if it cannot be constitutionally
adopted, and carried out by the general government, we trust the period
is not far distant, when individual liberality and philanthropy will be found
here, as in France, ready to undertake and effect its successful accom­
plishment.
W e give the communication and memorial of our correspondent entire,
and earnestly recommend to our readers their attentive perusal.
New York, August 12th, 1840.
To

F reem an H unt,

E sa.

Dear S ir—I beg leave to address you on a subject, which, I trust, you
will not find unworthy a place in the highly valuable work you edit, under
the title of “ Merchants’ Magazine, and Commercial Review,” which con­
tains so much interesting commercial intelligence.
This subject is a Primary School for Seamen, on a very simple and
economical, though efficient plan, which I am endeavoring to bring before
VOL. in.— no. in.




31

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The Merchant Service.— Primary Schoolfo r Seamen.

the commercial community, after having in vain called the attention of the
government of the United States, and invited congress to institute such
schools in the different ports of the Atlantic and lakes.
It is not for me, a foreigner, although long a resident and adopted citi­
zen of the United States, to start such a project; but I hope that this may
reach the eye of an influential and patriotic man, who may feel the same
interest in it as I do, and recommend the plan to the public authorities, or
to some benevolent society.
It would be superfluous for me to enlarge upon the facts, that native
American seamen become every day scarcer, that our merchant vessels are
mostly manned with foreigners, that captains experience the greatest diffi­
culties in completing their crew, and that vessels are often detained for the
want of sailors.
Of this, every one has been long aware, and remedies have often been
suggested; but they were either not effective, or not put into operation.
Congress has, I believe, passed a law obliging every captain to take a certain number of apprentices ; but I believe also, that it is in most cases evaded.
The list of the crew shows the quantity of boys, but they are generally
cabin boys, or nearly of age, and have been before to sea, while green
hands are most always avoided.
This arises from the reluctance of captains to take boys whom they would
have to teach before they could be of any service on bdard. Of this, I had,
a few yeara ago, a good opportunity to judge. A strong, smart, and well
educated lad of about fifteen years, the son of an acquaintance of mine,
came to me expressing his wish to devote himself to navigation. Being
extensively engaged in shipping business, I was well acquainted with many
consignees and captains of vessels, and I applied to at least fifteen of them,
to take this lad before the mast, without any wages for one year, and offer­
ed to fit him out. The only, and unanimous objection of these captains
was, that they preferred to take a less number, but all experienced sailors,
than to be troubled with a boy who could not understand their com­
mands, and could not distinguish one rope, from another.
This remark is conclusive, and many captains with whom I have con­
versed, have confirmed my opinion, that the chief and only difficulty lies
in the ignorance of boys of the technical language, and of the duties they
have to perform on board of a vessel. Would it not be the same in our
counting houses, if apprentices offered themselves who had not had the first
rudiments of reading, writing, arithmetic, &c. ?
It is really a singular anomaly, that sailors should be so scarce, and their
wages so high, when, at the same time, complaints reach us from every
quarter, that all trades are overdone, that distress and want of employment
are general, that our streets and prisons abound with idlers, vagabonds, and
criminals; while the useful class of sailors diminish every day, and boys
cannot be had to fill up vacancies.
It was in March, 1838, that I happened to find in a Havre paper, a de­
scription of a school for boys intended for the merchants1 service, which
had been established at Bordeaux, in France, by two individuals, who, with­
out public aid, undertook the benevolent task at their own expense and
risk.
It struck me immediately, that schools of that kind, established in the
different ports of the United States, would fully remedy the evil, and I sent
the paper to the Hon. Levi Woodbury, Secretary of the Treasury, who




The Merchant Service.— Primary Schoolfo r Seamen.

243

honored me with a very polite answer, in which he approved highly of the
plan, and said that he handed the same to the committee on commerce,
of the house of representatives.
The subject not being taken up in that session, and feeling very anxious
to see so good an example followed in this country, I brought it, in Decem­
ber, 1838, before the chamber of commerce of Charleston, where it was
received with general and enthusiastic approbation. A committee, of which
I was a member, was appointed to draft the following petition to congress,
which was sent for action to every representative from South Carolina, and
also to the different chambers of commerce in the United States, requesting
their co-operation. The petition was referred to appropriate committees
in the senate, and in the house of representatives, where nothing further
was done, and probably never will, one of the leading members of the
South having expressed himself unfavorably in regard to the unconstitu­
tionality of the plan, saying that agricultural and commercial schools might
be proposed to any extent upon the same principle.
To the Honorable the Speaker and Members of the House of Representatives of
the United States.
T h e M e m o r ia l o p t h e C h a r l e s t o n C h a m b e r o p C o m m e r c e ,

Respectfully Represents,
That the number of native American seamen in the employment of the mer­
chant service in the United States has long been, and still is, quite inadequate to
the wants of our increasing commercial navy; insomuch as to make it neces­
sary for masters and owners, for the proper equipment of their vessels, to take
into employ foreign seamen, belonging to the different maritime nations in
Europe. This, your memorialists conceive, is a measure fraught with incon­
venience, and in time of European war, might lead to disputes and collision with
other powers. These United States, your memorialists think, are now suffi­
ciently populous to afford a supply of sailors, both for our public vessels and the
merchant service, if proper means were used, to encourage the youth of our
country to embrace the profession of the sea.
That these states are amongst the first nations of the world, in regard to for­
eign trade ; and that this eminence will increase with the growing population and
resources of the country, can admit of no question. Our ships of war must
necessarily increase also ; and to whom ought the people to look for the manning
of that navy but to their own sons 1
That in the opinion of your memorialists, the best school for bringing up and
making thorough seamen, is the merchant service. In proof of which your me­
morialists need only adduce the instances of superiority, in every respect, which
were exhibited by our vessels of war, when opposed by any thing like equal
force, in the last conflict with England. These battles were fought by men
taken from our merchant ships, and principally from the hardy tars of New
England, who soon were accustomed to the duty and strict discipline of a man-ofwar. And thus it will always be, with seamen who have been thoroughly bred.
Your memorialists, on these considerations therefore, respectfully suggest,
that it would be highly useful and patriotic, if your Honorable House would take
the whole subject into consideration, and cause to be framed a bill, making pro­
vision for the preparatory education, professional instruction, and maintenance ..
of boys of or over twelve years of age, in all the principal ports of the Union,
including the ports on the lakes. That these youths, after one year’s instruc­
tion, under competent teachers, should be indented as apprentices to owners or
masters, until of the ages of from eighteen to twenty-one years, the vacancies in
the schools of naval instruction to be filled by others who are fresh. That an
old vessel might be purchased and fitted up at each port, for the accommodation




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The Merchant Service.— Primary Schoolf o r Seamen.

of the youths; and so prepared, as to afford them in port the opportunity of ac­
quiring the rudiments of the profession, under proper regulations and competent
teachers. That after this course of preparatory instruction, those interested in
navigation would readily apply for, and take them as apprentices.
Your memorialists would further suggest, that each and every merchant ves­
sel in the United States, of from seventy-five tons to the largest class, should be
obliged by law to take these apprentices, according to their tonnage, in such
proportion as your Honorable House may think proper and expedient.
That on such a plan as this, your memorialists conceive, a large and effective
body of native seamen could be raised and kept up, in a few years, who would
be advantageously employed in time of peace, and in war, honorably engaged in
the service of the republic. In addition, it might be urged, that the measure
would be desirable, not only as one of sound policy, but of humanity; for by
such means, many indigent boys might be rescued from the fangs of infamy and
vice, and made useful members of the community, who otherwise might be lost
to their connections, themselves, and their country.
Your memorialists therefore pray, that your Honorable House will speedily
take such order on the subject, as in your wisdom may seem meet, and as its
real importance seems to require ; and to pass such a bill, as may best secure
the advantages which it appears to promise to the country at large.
And your memorialists will pray.
D ated a t C h arlesto n , S o u th C arolina, th is 5 th D ecem ber, 1838.
(Signed)
In behalf of the Charleston Chamber of Commerce,
D A V ID A L E X A N D E R , P r e s id e n t.
(S e a l o f th e C ham ber)
ATTEST,
W ILLIAM B. H e RIOT, S e c r e ta r y .

Since that period, I have been much gratified to find that other schemes
have been proposed, and that the experiment has been made, by appropriating a government vessel for the purpose, in which a large number of boys
are admitted and educated for the navy. The result is exceedingly satis­
factory, and I hope that it will encourage our executive to multiply these
public schools.
So much has been done for our navy; but commerce, the main-spring of
our prosperity, requires as much, and perhaps more, of the fostering care
of our legislators ; and if they will do nothing for it, we must do it ourselves,
and we can do it perhaps better, and certainly with less expense, and probably with more efficiency.
A place like the Long Island farms, at some distance from the city, an
old vessel with a full set of rigging and every thing belonging to it, three or
four teachers, cheap clothing and provisions, would cost but a paltry sum in
comparison with the immense benefits that would be gained by such an es­
tablishment.
Several hundred boys would every year be saved from the road to per­
dition, and become useful members of society. Applications from captains
would no doubt be numerous, and in proportion to the extent in which the
schools were carried on, the expiring class of American seamen would be
replenished.
It will be seen by the extract from the Havre paper, which I have translated for your use, that two single individuals have, at their own expense,
in less than nine months, furnished the French merchant vessels with one
hundred and twenty-nine apprentices, and that in the very beginning of
their experimental institution.
All that is necessary, is to teach the boys the names of every part of the
vessel, and the different duties of a sailor. This is learnt in a short




The Merchant Service.— Primary School fo r Seamen.

245

time, especially when it is done in so easy, and, to them, so amusing a man­
ner.
1 should like to see such a school established in the House of Refuge,
where it would be likely to confer a greater benefit than any trade that may
be taught to its unfortunate inmates. A boy who has been for some time
in that place is generally lost for his whole life. To say nothing of his
progress in vice by his connection with other boys, a stain is on his charac­
ter, which perhaps will never be washed away by the best behavior, as long
as he has so many witnesses of his degradation around him. But if he is
sent to sea, and held under a strict discipline, he may reform, and time,
industry, religion, and virtue, may finally restore his reputation, and pre­
serve his character from future disgrace.
I remain, sir with much esteem,
Your obed’t serv’t,
J. F. ENTZ.
From th e “ J o u r n a l d u H a v r e o f th e 20th O ctober, 1837.

The philanthropic zeal of two worthy mariners of Bordeaux has, not long ago,
endowed that extensive commercial city with an institution which promises the
most happy results.
Messrs. Laporte have had the generous idea and the courage to establish at
Bordeaux a school for apprentices for the merchant service, leaving to other
mercantile ports the glory of imitating an example set with such noble disinter­
estedness.
The following notice, borrowed from the “ Moniteur," will explain the prin­
ciples on which this excellent preparatory school for seamen is founded, and
how it will aid to moralize the offspring of the poor class, and to form for the
navy the best seamen, of which this country may be proud.
“ In the month of Decem ber, 1836, an institution, exceedingly useful, and pro­
m ising the greatest benefits for our navy, was formed in Bordeaux, under the
direction of tw o retired sea captains.

“ Messrs. Laporte Brothers, observing the daily increase in this city, of a num­
ber of boys, who, either for the poverty of their parents, or for want of employ­
ment and education, became the prey of idleness and vice, formed the resolution
to save them from their impending danger. They applied to the parents, that
they might be placed at their disposal, offering to undertake their instruction in
nautical exercises, and their education for the navy ; in short, to prepare them
so as to make them useful on board of merchant and government vessels.
“ This benevolent idea does Messrs. Laporte the more honor, as they acted only
from the impulse of generous hearts, and with means far from being large.
“ Their noble exertions have been crowned with the most complete success.
This interesting foundation was at first a mere experiment on a moderate scale,
but such has been its progress that these gentlemen have now the gratification
to know that their perseverance has bestowed upon Bordeaux an establishment
which, under the name of “ Ecole des Mousses et des Novices,” strides rapidly
on in improvements and extent.
“ May their good example soon meet with imitation in other maritime places !
“ Since the 1st of January, 1837, th is school has admitted nearly 200 pupils,
out of which num ber the following have already gone to s e a :—
62 on foreign voyages,
67 in coasting vessels, and
55 are still in the establishment, receiving their daily instruction- More
than 50 candidates are waiting for vacancies.

“ I will now proceed to give a few details on the management of the school.
“ An old church, lately used as a warehouse, has been rented on a long lease
by Messrs. Laporte, in which they have erected, at their own expense,—




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Recent Publications.

1st, The masts of a vessel of about 200 tons.
2d, A complete set of rigging.
3d, A n undulating platform, (pont a roulis.)
4th, A moveable yard with rigging, (une vergue mobile, avec ses agris.)
5th, An assortment of fire and other arms.
6th, Fishing implements.
“ Every morning, at daylight, the exercises begin with the. signal given by the
mate’s whistle. Immediately, the pupils, dressed in sailor jacket, leather belt,
and tarpaulin hat, make their appearance, and in detachments repair to their
respective stations. At the command of the directors, some climb up the masts
to set and take in sails, while others take a reef out, upon the moveable yard,
which, being pulled by ropes fastened to the extremities, is agitated as if it were
by a high rolling sea.
“ While these operations are performed with the utmost precision and agility,
other boys are employed in making spun yarn and ropes, and another group
manoeuvre with musket, under the tuition of a military officer.
“ Some are listening to lectures on the lives of distinguished mariners, a few
are trying to keep their balance on the platform during its undulating motion,
and the youngest are exercising nautical gymnastics.
“ Of course, instruction in reading, writing, arithmetic, &c., are also given.
“ I was lately present to see them perform, and was highly astonished as well
as gratified, to notice the zeal and alacrity which animate these boys, who are
constantly stimulating each other during these, to them, amusing exercises.
“ They have two large boats which they man by turns every evening, and
taking a sail down the river, learn to row, under the superintendence of the
directors.
“ Swimming being a necessary part of a nautical education, they are taken
three times a week to bathe, in the king’s dock.
“ These pupils are now often employed by captains returning home, to assist
in unrigging their vessels, and several are often engaged for the fitting out.
The moderate compensation received for it is some assistance in the expenses
of the establishment, which, for the essential service it renders to so many
families, obtains from the city authorities a liberal supply of provisions.”

RECENT PUBLICATIONS.
1. The Law Reporter. Edited by P. W. C handler , o f the Suffolk Bar.
Boston : Weeks, Jordan & Co. Monthly, pp. 40. 1840.
T he second volume of this law journal was completed in May last, and
the third is now in the course of publication, in monthly numbers, of forty
pages each. The main object of the work is to furnish accurate and condensed reports of interesting cases in advance of the regular reports, and
to present a monthly digest of the most popular English and American
reports, as they issue from the press. The most important legislative
doings of the several states are noticed from time to time, and the work
also contains miscellaneous articles on different branches of the law, and
obituary notices of deceased lawyers and judges of distinction.
The late day at which American reports of judicial decisions are published in the authorized volumes, has long been a subject of complaint with
the legal profession ; and the mercantile community have also been occa.
sionally sufferers from this cause, as new and important decisions by courts
of high jurisdiction are thus often kept for many months from the public,




German Literature.

247

and costs are not unfrequently incurred in reference to points which have
been already judicially determined. A monthly periodical publication, in
which pains are taken to publish, immediately on their decision, cases of
importance, and which may be transported to all parts of the country by
mail, cannot but be useful in disseminating correct legal information de­
rived from the best sources, in a country of so broad extent as ours.
Many eminent judges and lawyers appear to have contributed their
opinions for publication in the work before us. Among them, Judge Story
has furnished his most important opinions for two years past, immediately
on pronouncing them ; and we learn from the concluding remarks of the
editor, at the end of the second volume, that, for that length of time, the
opinions of this learned and accomplished judge have not been reported in
any other volume. Contributions have also been received from Chief Jus­
tice Gibson, and Judge Hopkinson, of Pennsylvania ; Judges Davis, Shaw,
Dewey, Wilde, and Thatcher, of Massachusetts ; Professor Greenleaf, At­
torney-general Austin, and many other distinguished gentlemen.
The numbers of the work already published contain at least one hun­
dred and fifty new decisions, which, at the time of their publication, had
not been reported in the regular reports. There is also a large amount
of legal information to be found here collected, and the most important
legal decisions in England are noticed. We consider the work as useful
and interesting, and hope it may succeed according to its merits.

2. German Literature. Translated from the German of Wolfgang Menzel.
By C. C. F elton . 3 vols. Boston : Hilliard, Gray & Co. 1840.
This is no book for an after-dinner lounge; it is a feast in itself; a pro­
found and complete treasure-house key to the most wonderful literature
man has ever known. No country but Germany could have given birth to
this book. No age but this fearfully prolific one, could have furnished such
a luxuriant field to this wide-sweeping critical scythe. There is a very
world in these volumes. Philosophy, religion, science, poetry, pass in full
survey ; each with its countless multitude of devoted followers.
And not merely the surface of things is seen, the names of books and
the general character of their contents, as in too many criticisms in our
own language. Menzel probes the hidden depths, he penetrates and lays
bare the causes of the revolutions in the republic of letters. He tells us
never, that it happened that such a tone was taken by the taste of historians
or divines, or by the reading public. He shows the secret influence which
turned the literary producer or consumer away from other channels to this
new and strange one. For instance, in exhibiting the present tendency of
Germany to pious mysticism, and therefore to the Roman Catholic church,
he shows the necessity of this transition. He shows that Protestantism,
having “ stopped half way,” having neither liberty nor life, the public mind
is obliged to find its onward course by this winding channel. And, in the
self-same chapter, the reason of such various religious manifestations as
now prevail everywhere, is most philosophically shown in the widely va­
rious temperaments which distinguish mankind.
And not only is Menzel profound, he is full of life. There never was a
book of criticism clothed in such warm colors, breathing such an earnest
spirit. At times there are passages of genuine eloquence ; and then again




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Recent Publications.

his wit, even in the translation, (a work of no small difficulty, but of won­
derful success,) quite overpowers you. One has, in many a passage, the
strange style of German humor preserved without change, for his enjoy,
ment. How does he burst out upon the affected and sickening books of
devotion which inundate his native land !
“ The language of the Bible seems to them altogether too rude and un­
mannerly ; and so they extract from it, as from the powerful forest plants,
a little drop of essence only, mingle it with sugar, put it up in fine post
paper, with a neat device, and give it to the dear little babes of grace, to
swallow as a godly sugar-plum !” (p. 203, vol. i.)
There are prejudices enough in the book ; we have done expecting a
book which has none; we know not what it would be worth, but as the
index to an ice-house. Menzel’s carry their own cure. His cordial hatred
of Voss and Goethe are too apparent to need a caution; and, in the latter
case, too wholesome to permit an apology. His sarcasm is really terrible.
He leaves nothing but the ashes of Hegel, the atheist. The famous John
Muller, whose “ Universal History,” was republished here, with such a
flourish of trumpets, is torn to tatters. “ Under the mask of a republican,
he served and betrayed every patron ; under the mask of freedom, he was
always a cringer ; under that of patriotism, a traitor ; under that of hon­
esty and integrity, an accomplished knave ! Formerly, it was enough for
one to cast himself humbly at the conqueror’s feet; now-a-days, however,
one must thank the conqueror, in the language of John Muller, for having
freed us.” (vol. ii. p. 14.)
Many will be frightened, as we were, at the idea of such a vast work of
criticism on a foreign literature. But, they have only to take it up to find
kindling within them an interest in the wonderful scroll it unfolds, the story
of that most original and immense literary productiveness, which, often as we
hear of it, seems every time more marvellous than before.
Think of a father’s having to choose among a library of fifteen thousand .
different works, written and printed in Germany for youths under sixteen;
or, a circulating-library reader among the six thousand new novels which
come out there in a score of years; or, the general student among the
one hundred thousand works which appeared in his country from 1814 to
1835 ! Are we not buried in thought under the mountain weight ?

3. A Treatise on the Law o f Landlord and Tenant, in a series o f Letters,
addressed to a citizen o f New York. By J ohn N. T aylor , Esq., Coun­
sellor at Law. New York: Charles Wells. 12 mo. 1840.
The object of this treatise is to furnish a concise and general outline of
the law of landlord and tenant, as it now exists in the state of New York,
unincumbered with technical phrases ; laying down, at the same time, all
the leading elementary principles, in language suited to the ordinary
capacity of every man, and adapted to the use of those extensive classes
whose rights and obligations are the subject of inquiry. Mr. Taylor has
of course drawn his information from decided cases of acknowledged
authority,— regardless of reference, which would be of no use to the
general reader, who has no access to the bulky volumes through which they
are scattered. Cases are, however, frequently stated for the purpose of
illustrating a general principle, from which the man of common sense may




Life and Travels o f Mungo Park.

249

be enabled to judge of the apiitude of his own case, to the principles laid
down. As the whole community is, in fact, divided into two great classes,
of landlords and tenants, a treatise of the character of Mr. Taylor’s
must prove highly useful to all classes of society, from the large landed
proprietor, whose income is derived from his rent, to the humble occu­
pant of a single apartment, who contributes to its payment; while the
merchant and mechanic feel an equal interest in all those rights and re­
medies which relate to the protection and enjoyment of their homes and
firesides. On the whole, we consider the work well adapted to popular use.
4. The Useful Arts, considered in connection with the applications o f
Science. With numerous engravings. B y J acob B igelow , M. D.,
Professor of Materia Medica in Harvard University; author of the Ele­
ments of Technology, &c. 2 vols. Boston : Marsh, Capen, Lyon &
Webb. 1840.
It is the peculiar feature of the present age, and especially of our own
country, that just in proportion as knowledge can be applied to practical
purposes, do we deem it valuable. Heretofore, books have been considered
the luxury only of a few, comprising that class who possess the most leisure,
and without the motive to practical industry furnished by the necessity of
exertion. A new era in this respect has begun to be witnessed. The
number of practical works illustrating the different arts, in connection with
science, has of late years greatly augmented, and we find these works
widely diffused among that large class of the community who labor with
their hands. Men of the most splendid talents and ripe scholarship have
found time, nor have they deemed it a humiliating duty, to give their per­
sonal aid, by the agency of lectures and the publication of books, to the
cause of popular and practical education. Among others eminent in this
labor, we might designate the name of Lord Brougham in England, and
those of Story, Webster, Everett, Dewey, and Channing, of our own coun­
try, who have personally delivered lectures before mercantile and me­
chanics’ institutions, for the benefit of the working and business classes.
The present is within the scope of what may be denominated practical works.
It contains an historical account of the condition of ancient art, illustrated by
an engraving of a pyramid of Egypt, restored by the French antiquarian,
Casas, to its supposed original state, with its porticoes and obelisks, and its
avenues of sphinxes and statues. The work embraces the prominent facts
connected with the most important useful arts, accompanied by suitable en­
gravings, and we cordially recommend it to the large circle for which it is
designed.
5. The Life and Travels o f Mungo Park ; with the account o f his death,

from the Journal o f Isaaco ; the substance o f later discoveries relative to
his lamented fate, and the termination o f the Niger. New Y ork:
Harper and Brothers. 1840. 18mo. pp. 248.
The volume before us forms the 105th number of the Family Library.
Besides a copious and comprehensive narration of the two expeditions of
this celebrated traveller, the reader is furnished with a succinct and in­
teresting account of the labors of subsequent adventurers in the same field,
bringing down the subject of African discovery to the most recent period.
VOL. in.— NO. III.




32

250

Navigation.

NAVIGATION.
T H E A N TA R C TIC CIRCLE.
The editors of the Journal of Commerce have brought together in the annexed schedule
all the various points of east longitude where land has been seen, or appearances of
land observed, near the antarctic circle, so far as they have come to their knowledge.
A degree of longitude in that latitude measures about 26 miles. Consequently, the
whole range from longitude 163 to 40, is over 3000 miles. I t seems probable that the
eastern antarctic continent extends the greater part of this distance. I t is remarkable
that the latitude of all these points of discovered land is nearly the same, differing only
two or three degrees from 60.
EAST LONGITUDE.

163 deg. 49 min.
154 deg. 27 min.
151 deg. 40 min.
147 deg. 30 min.
140 deg. 30 min.
130 deg.
127
122
118
112
107

deg.
deg.
deg.
deg.
deg.

7
44
30
57
45

min.
min.
min.
min.
min.

106 deg. 40 min.
97 deg. 30 min.
58£ to 69 deg.
47 to 50 deg.
40 deg. 10 min.

REMARKS.

W HEN SEEN. BY WHOM.

Island or islands, with two volcanic craters, Land to the E. and S . ; seals and penguins seen,
Solid perpendicular ice cliffs ; mountains tending
to w e s tw a rd ,......................................................
Lat. 67 deg. 4 m in .; distant mountains to E.
and W ....................................................................
Sixty miles of coast s e e n , .................................
Land stretching from S. to W SW . as far as eye
could s e e , ...........................................................
Appearances of distant mountains, . . .
Appearance of l a n d , ...........................................
Every appearance of distant la n d ,......................
Distant mountains v i s i b l e , .................................
Land plainly in s i g h t ,...........................................
Over 70 miles of coast in sight. A sea-leopard ^
seen on the ice; stones and earth taken from
an iceberg, some weighing 100 lbs., about 12 j
miles from s h o r e , ....................... . . . J
Land seen at a great distance, SW., - - - A considerable extent of land seen, . . .
A long range of land seen, called Enderby’s Land,
Several islands s e e n , ...........................................

1839 Balleny.
1840 Wilkes.
1840 Wilkes.
1840 Wilkes.
1840 Wilkes.
1840
1840
1839
1839
1840
1840

D’Urville.
Wilkes.
Balleny.
Balleny.
Wilkes.
Wilkes.
w-ii,
1 es‘

1840
1833
1831
1773

Wilkes.
Kemp.
Biscoe.
Cook.

T H E T R IA L ROCKS IN T H E IN D IA N OCEAN.
The Trial Rocks were seen in 1835 from the Dutch, ship Jacobus, on her way from
Europe to Java. They were first seen very near in the night, when the ship was hauled
off and hove to until daylight; they were then seen again and passed. The captain of
that ship gives the longitude by the chronometer 107 deg. 55 min. E. of Greenwich,
latitude 29 deg. 35 min. S. In a short run afterwards to Java Head, it was found that
the chronometer was 18 miles too far to the eastward ; allowing this error, the longi­
tude would be 107 deg. 35 min. E. This is too far east to be in the way of ships which
are in the proper track for Java Head, but dangerous to those which are bound through
some of the passages of Java.
BRIN SM A D E’S ISLAND.
Captain Wood, of ship L. C. Richmond, arrived at Port Philip, New South Wales,
discovered on the outward bound passage an island, situate in latitude 15 deg. 37 min.
south, and longitude 175 deg. 25 min. west. I t was a large island, well wooded, and
apparently thickly inhabited, as he judged, by the lights seen on shore at night.
Captain Wood, not finding it in any of the charts, named it Brinsmade’s Island.




V

Navigation.

251

IN V EN TIO N TO PR E V E N T SH IP-ROLLING A T SEA.
* The Sussex (England) Advertiser has seen a model most ingeniously constructed,
which is to prevent the disagreeable effects produced by the rolling of a ship at sea.
From the present construction of the “ berths” on shipboard, everybody who has taken
a voyage must have experienced the evils of the rolling of a vessel when repose is re­
quired ; and yet, strange to say, no remedy has been thought of, before the present.
I t certainly appears to us that this plan will obviate the difficulties complained of, the
berths being so constructed as always to keep their horizontal position, the e q u i l i b r i u m
being the same, whichever way the vessel may be inclined to move, the motion not
being perceptible in the slightest degree. The construction of it is on the most simple
scale imaginable, the space required being no more than the present berths now oc­
cupy, which is a most essential point. In fact, it is the only invention (as regards
ease and comfort on shipboard) that has ever been introduced. The inventor of it is
Mr. Arthur Guinness, a native of Dublin, who was some few years since employed by
the Prussian government as a mechanist.
T Y B E E LIG H TS.
T he Savannah Georgian says: “ We learn from Capt. King, keeper of the lights on
Tybee Island, that the Beacon Light, recently lighted on an improved plan by Mr.
Lewis, is, in the opinion of the keeper, one and a half times more brilliant than the
largest light, although the Beacon Light is composed of but eight lamps, and the larger
light of fifteen lamps. W e also learn that it is the general opinion among the pilots,
th at the larger light, unless soon fixed on the same or a similar plan, may deceive the
navigators seeking the port of Savannah.”
BEACON ON T H E W O LF ROCK.
The construction of a beacon on that dangerous rock called the Wolf, situate about
seven and a half miles west-southwest of the Land’s End of Cornwall, has been com­
pleted. I t consists of an artificial cone, bearing a mast, having a large ball upon its
summit, at an elevation of thirty-six feet above the level of the sea at high water.
Spring tides rise at this station 19 feet, and at low water of those tides the rock is un­
covered to the height of 15 feet. The bearings and distances of the undermentioned
objects from this beacon are as follows, viz :—Longships Lighthouse, NE. northerly 7|m iles; Scilly Lighthouse, W. by N. £ N. 21 m iles; Rundlestone Rock, which covers
a t half flood, E. by N. ^ N. 7 m iles; Seven Stones, centre thereof, NW . £ N. 13£,
m iles; Lizard Lighthouses, SE. by E. ^ E. 23 miles. Masters of vessels and others
are hereby cautioned and enjoined not to approach this beacon on any consideration,
lest their own safety, as well as the security of the structure, should be thereby unne­
cessarily endangered.
FL O A T IN G DRY DOCK.
Joseph T. Martin has obtained a patent for a new floating dry dock. It is described
by the New York Sun, as being so constructed that it may be sunk with ease so deep in
the water as to receive upon it ships and steamboats of the largest class, and may then
be raised by means of a very simple and expeditious operation, and is left floating with
its burden on the surface. It is built in such a manner that its own buoyancy will bear
up the heaviest ships. This buoyancy is overcome for the purpose of sinking the dock
low enough to receive the vessel by means of end floats, which are filled with water.
W hen this is accomplished, the water is easily discharged from the floats, and the dock
instantly rises. The work of building a dock upon this plan has already been commenced.




pH TJ
fe 9?mS t°0«! *oW••3
~
0) £*->•g
5 c03
£
1p <§2 03
« *O 1 “
P>
£
oc03 «P
►
>. J2
g o
03 £
>
BS
«
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Ph c- 2 8
s s ■O$ aQ3 -- ci T3 *2 i
*b m £03 -a* . .
'S £*
H o -S c3 *
S | ca2 03O * H | J ;
C3 03
V

SK INS O F T H E HUDSON’S BAY COM PANY EX PO SED FO R SALE.

r

"S
8
E~5
I?

H
O
<
P
P
Pi

P
Pi
P
n
Eh
P

S«s

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! ©*H ,0
£
: ^ £>

CO

I

York Fort,........ 30,658 21,759
Moose Fort,...... 35,734 36,710
C anada,............. 6,896
1,021
Columbia, about 25,000 5,000

M u s­
q u a sh .

B e a r . E r ­ F is h ­ L y n x .
m in e
er.

6,977 369,266 4846 386 3386
1,594 255,369 1537 105 1294
16
68
39,457
600
300
30,000 1000

M in k .

B ad­ Sw an. R ac­
W o lf. W o lv e ­
co o n
r in e .
ger.

7,839 10,001 7880 1442
5,882 9,875
28
4
1
34
224
500 5,000 600 100

910 7898
20
9

493
4
16
200

8,778
9,659
366
3,500

803
261
2

98,288 64,490 22,303
1R35
York Fort,........ 32,890 24,871 5,948
Moose F o rt,,__ 17,709 24,780 5,581
Canada,............. 7,309 4,854 1,458
Columbia, about 21,000
6,500 2,500

1,066
569
235
19
87

6,319 888,947 2654
2,147 161,079 533
18
31,620 190
220
30,000 750

1247
705
77
450

4,054 7,343 2802 1093
2,407 7,226
20
45
79
740
25
450 2,500 900 100

200

92
3
27
400

78,908 61,005 15,487
1836
York Fort,*......
Moose Fort,...... 17,951 36,131 4,727
C anada,............. 7,112 8,118 1,205
Columbia, about 21,000 8,500 2,500

910

8,704 1,111,646 4127

2479

6,990 17,809 3722 1263

698 4703

522

164
157
150

1,521 117,649 498
153 23,347 217
250 20,000 1000

723
104
500

3,329 9,064
33
664
400 2,500

2
5
300

is
28
100

12

200

1
38
60

46,063 52,749 8,432
18.17
York Fort,........ 38,786 85,658 8,744
Moose Fort,...... 17,191 46,856 4,390
Canada,............. 6,950 14,654 1,300
Columbia, about 20,000
9,000 1,500

471

1,924 160,996 1715

1327

3,762 12,228

307

143

201

12

99

547 6591
9
7
200

182
1
102
300

754 6600

585

8,871

649,092 7451 491

150

5296 14,255 25,100 8484 1571 1069 7918
495 4692
11
3

713

C3

O <1

03

Fox,
B e a v e r . M a r tin . O tte r . S ilv e r cf O th e r
C ro ss. fo x e s .

oKH
H
c»

H
C t; °
H
03
•5 -p

1,746 21,790 695,624 5656
155
632 97,925 779
36
139 27,000 328
210
300
18,000 800

4558 24,639 15,614 6520 2039
821 5,666 8,713
7
6
236
4
21
82 1,423
500 1,500 2,000 500 100

1

fc JD

C

|

8
CJ




82,927-156,168 15,934 2,147

22,861

838,549 7563 ... | 6115 31,887 27,750 7031 2166

The company also imported beaver-coat to the amount, in the last year, of 304 lbs.; castorum, 2788 lbs.; isinglass, 2684 lbs.; sea­
horse teeth, 461 lbs.; bed-feathers, 16,641 lb s.; goose and swan quills, 1,259,000 ; oil, 26 tuns.
* Ships not arrived this year.

United States Tariff.

253

UNITED STATES TARIFF.
T A R IF F O F D U T IE S FO R 1840.
14, 1832, r e l a t i n g to D u t i e s .
<f-c. T hat from and after the 31st of December, 1833, in all cases
where duties are imposed on foreign imports by the act of the 14th of July, 1832, en­
titled, “ An Act to alter and amend the several acts imposing duties on imports,” or by
any other act, shall exceed 20 per ct. on the value thereof, one tenth part of such ex­
cess shall be deducted; from and after the 31st of December, 1835, another tenth part
thereof shall be deducted; from and after the 31st of December, 1837, another tenth
part thereof shall be deducted; from and after the 31st of December, 1839, another
tenth part thereof shall be deducted; and from and after the 31st of December, 1841,
one half of the residue of such excess shall be deducted; and from and after the 30th
of June, 1842, the other half thereof shall be deducted.
E x t r a c t f r o m a n A c t to m o d i f y th e A c t o f J u l y

B e i t E n a c te d ,

Acetate of lead, 5 cents a lb.
Acids, muriatic and tartaric, 12£ per ct.
Adzes, 26 per ct.
Alcornoque, free.
Ale. See Beer.
Almonds, and Oil of, free.
Alum, $2,50 for 112 lbs.
Amber, free.
Amber beads, 15 per ct.
Ambergris, free.
Aloes, free.
Anatomical preparations, free.
Anchors, 2 cents a lb.
Angora goat’s wool or hair, free.
Animals, imported for breed, free.
do
not
do
free.
Anise seed, and Oil of, free.
Annotto, free.
Antimony, regulus of, free.
Antiquities, all collections of, specially im­
ported, free.
Do. not do., according to the material.
Anvils, 2 cents per lb.
Apparatus, philosophical, specially import­
ed by order, for societies, colleges,schools,
etc. free.
Apparel, wearing, and other personal bag­
gage in actual use, free.
Apples, pine, free.
Aquafortis, 12£ per ct.
Arabic, gum, free.
Argol, free.
Arrowroot, free.
Articles not free, and not subject to any
other rates of duty, 15 per ct.
Articles, all composed wholly, or chiefly
of gold, silver, pearl, and precious stones,
12£ per ct.
Articles, imported for the use of the United
States, free.
Articles, used principally for dyeing, not
otherwise specified, free. See Drugs.
Artificial flowers, 23 per ct.
Assafoetida, free.
Ava root, free.
Axes, same as adzes.




Bacon, 3 cents per lb.
Baggage. See Apparel.
Bagging, cotton, 3£ cents a square yard.
Baizes. See Wool.
Balsams, 15 per ct.
Balsam Tolu, free.
Bandanas. See Silk.
Barilla, free.
Bark of cork tree, unmanufactured, free.
Barley, 15 per ct.
Baskets, grass or straw, 15 per c t . ; wood
or osier, 23 per ct.
Beads, composition, wax, or amber, and
all others not otherwise specified, 15 per
c t . ; of gold, silver, or precious stones,
12£ per ct.
Beam knives, 26 per ct.
Beans, vanilla, free.
Beef, 2 cents per lb.
Beer, ale, and porter, imported in bottles,
20 cents a g a l.; otherwise imported, 15
cents a gal.
Bed ticking, flax or cotton, 23 per ct
Bellows, 23 per ct.
Bells, 23 per ct.
Berries, used in dyeing, and juniper, free.
Bindings, of wool, and worsted, 23 per ct.
Birds, free.
Black, ivory and lamp, 15 per ct.
Black lead pencils, 23 per ct.
Black lead, unmanufactured, 15 per ct.
Bladders, free.
Blankets, woollen. See Wool.
Blue vitriol, 4 cents per lb.
Boards and plank, 23 per ct.
Bobbin wire. See Wire.
Bole ammoniac, free.
Bolting cloths, free.
Bone, whale, not of American fisheries,
12£ per ct.
Bombazines, free.
Bonnets, chip, grass, Leghorn or straw;
and braids, flats, and plaits, 36 per c t.;
wire for. See Wire.
Books, specially imported, free.
Books, all printed previous to the year 1775,

254

United States Tariff.

and also all books printed in other Ianguages than the English, except Latin
and Greek, 4 cents per vol.
[a lb.
Do., Latin and Greek when bound, 15 cts.
Do., do. do., not bound, 13 cents a lb.
Do., all others when bound, 30 cents a lb.
Do., do., in sheets or boards, 26 do.
Do., blank, 26 per ct.
Boots or bootees, $1,50 a pair.
Botany, specimens in, free.
Bottles. See Glass.
Borax, free.
Box boards, paper, 3 cents a lb.
Boxes, shell or paper, 15 per ct.
Do., Japan dressing, 23 per ct.
[ct.
Braces, cotton, 23 per c t . ; leather, 26 per
Bracelets, hair, 15 per ct.
Brandy, 1st and 2d proof, 53 cents a gal.
Do. 3d proof, 57 cents a gal.
Do. 4th proof, 63 cents a gal.
Brandy, comfits and sweetmeats preserved
in, 23 per ct.
Brass, all manufactures of, not otherwise
specified, or of which it is a component
material, 23 per ct.
Brass, in pigs, bars, plates or sheets, 23 per
c t . ; or old, fit only to be manufactured,
free.
Brass wire, nails, and handles, 23 per ct.
Brazil paste, free.
Bricks, 15 per ct.
Bridles, 26 per ct. Bitts, 23 do.
Brimstone or sulphur, free.
Bristles, 3 cents a lb.
Brooms, of hair or palm leaf, 15 per ct.
Brown sugar, and syrup of sugar cane in
casks, 2£ cents a lb.
Brushes, of all kinds, 23 per ct.
Buckram, free.
Bullion, free.
Burgundy pitch, free.
Burlaps, free.
Burr stones, not manufactured, free.
Busts, of marble, metal, or plaster, free.
Butter, 5 cents a lb.
Buttons, of gold, silver, and precious stones,
12£ per c t.; of iron, steel, pewter, brass,
and tin, 23 per ct.
Cabinet ware, 26 per ct.
Cabinets of coins, free.
Cables and cordage, tarred, 4 cents a lb .;
untarred, 5 do.
Cables, made of grass or bark, 5 cents a
lb .; of iron, 3 cents a lb.
Calomel, 15 per ct.
Camphor, refined, 12 cents a lb.
Camphor, crude, free.
Candles, tallow, 5 cents a lb .; spermaceti,
8 do.; wax, 6 do.
Canella, alba, free.
Canes, or walking sticks, 23 per ct.
Cantharides, free.
Cap wire. See Wire.
Capers, free.




Caps, of fur, leather, or wool, 26 per ct.
See Hats.
Caps, for women, 23 per ct.
Cards, playing, 30 cents a pack ; visiting,
15 cents a lb.
Cards, wool 'and cotton, 23 per ct.
Carpets and Carpeting. See Wool and
Matting.
Carpeting of oil cloth, 43 cts. a square yd.
Carriages, and parts of, 26 per c t.; furni­
ture for, same as adzes.
Cascarilla, free.
Casement rods, slit or rolled, 3 cents a lb.
Cashmere shawls, (real,) 15 per ct.
Cassia, free.
Castanas, free.
Cast iron vessels not otherwise specified,
1£ cents a lb.
Castings of iron, all other not specified, 1
cent a lb.
Castor oil, 40 cents a gal.
Casts, of bronze or plaster, free.
Caulking mallets, 23 per ct.
Chains or cables, iron, 3 cents a lb.
Chairs, 26 per ct.
Chalk, free.
Champaigne wine. See Wine.
Charts, specially imported, free.
Cheese, 9 cents a lb.
Chemical preparations, 15 per ct.
China ware, 20 per ct.
Chip hats and bonnets, 26 per ct,
Chissels, (socket,) same as adzes.
Chloride of lime, 15 per ct.
Chocolate, 4 cents a lb.
Cider, same as beer.
Cigars, $2,50 a 1000.
Cinnamon, free.
Citron, 23 per ct.
Clay, unmanufactured, free.
Clocks, 23 per ct.
Cloth, rags of, any kind, free.
Clothing, ready made, 38 per ct.
Cloves, and oil of, free.
Coach laces, 29 per ct.
Coaches. See Carriages.
Coal, 6 cents a bushel.
Coal hods, 23 per ct.
Cochineal, free.
Cocoa, cocoa nuts and shells, free.
Codfish, dry, $1,00 a quintal.
Coffee, free.
Coffee mills, 23 per ct.
Coculus Indicus, free.
Cologne water, 15 per ct.
Colombo root, free.
Colors, water, free.
Combs, ivory, horn and shell, 15 per ct. ,*
iron, lead, copper and brass, 23 do.;
wood, 26 do.
Comfits and sweetmeats of all kinds pre­
served in sugar or brandy, 23 per ct.
Coney, wool of, free.
Copper, bars, cakes, pig, for sheathing

United States Tariff.
ships, free; braziers, 15 per c t . ; copper
vessels, and all manufactures of copper
not otherwise specified, 23 per ct.
Copperas, $2,00 per 112 lbs.
Coral, free.
Cordage. See Cables.
Cordials, 53 cents a gallon.
Coriander seed, free.
Corks, 12 cents a lb .; bark, free.
Corrosive sublimate, 15 per ct.
Cotton, 3 cents a lb.
Cotten bagging, 3^ cents a square yard.
Cotton, all manufactures of, or of which
cotton shall be a component part, 23 per
c t.; excepting cotton twist, yarn, and
thread, (which see.) Provided, that all
manufactures of cotton, or of which cot.
ton shall be a component part, not dyed,
colored, printed, or stained, not exceed­
ing in value 30 cents a square yard, shall
be valued at 30 cents a square yard, and,
if dyed, colored, printed, or stained, in
whole or in part, not exceeding in value
35 cents a square yard, shall be valued
at 35 cents a square yard. Nankeens
imported direct from China, 20 per ct.
Cotton, yam, twist, and thread, unbleach­
ed and uncolored, 23 per ct. All un­
bleached and uncolored cotton yarn,
twist, and thread, the original cost of
which shall be less than 60 cents a lb.,
shall be deemed and taken to have cost
60 cents a lb., and shall be charged with
duty accordingly, 23 per ct.
Cotton yarn, twist, or thread, bleached or
colored, 23 per ct. All bleached or col­
ored cotton yarn, twist, or thread, the
original cost of which shall be less than
75 cents a lb., shall be deemed and ta ­
ken to have cost 75 cents a lb., and be
charged accordingly, 23 per ct.
Crapes, silk. See Silk.
Cummin seed, free.’
Currants, free.
Cutting knives, same as adzes.
Cutlery, 23 per ct.
Dates, free.
Demijohns, 25 cents each.
Diamonds, 12? per ct.
Diaper, linen and hemp, free.
Down, of all kinds, 15 per ct.
Drawings and paintings, free.
Drawing knives, same as adzes.
Duck, sail, 15 per ct.
Drugs, dyeing, not otherwise specified, free,
except bichromate of potash, prussiate
of potash, chromate of potash, nitrate of
lead, aqua fortis, and tartaric acid.
Drugs, medicinal, not otherwise specified,
free.
Dye woods, free.
Earth, brown, red, blue, and yellow, being
considered as ochre, 1 cent a lb .; in oil,
l i cents.




255

Earthen ware, 20 per ct.
Elephant’s teeth. See Ivory
Embroidery done with a needle with thread
of gold or silver, 12£ per ct.
Emery, 15 per ct.
Engravings, free.
Epaulettes of gold or silver, free.
Epsom salts, 4 cents a lb.
Fans, 23 per ct.
Feathers, ornamental, 23 per c t ; bed, 15 do.
Felts, or hat bodies made wholly or in part
of wool, 18 cents each.
Fiddles, 26 per ct.
Figs and Filberts, free.
Filtering stones, free.
Firearms not enumerated, 26 per ct.
Fish, foreign caught, $1 per quintal, Mack­
erel, $1,50 per b bl.; Salmon, $2 per bbh;
all other pickled, $1 do. Dry or smoked,
$1 per 112 lb s.; pickled in kegs, in pro­
portion to the bbl.
Flannels, 16 cents per square yard. See
Wool.
Flax, unmanufactured, free.
Flax and hemp, manufactures of, not oth­
erwise specified, except yarn, cordage
tarred or untarred, ticklenburgs, osnaburgs, and burlaps, 23 per ct.
Flints, free.
Floor cloths, patent, stamped, printed or
painted, 43 cents per square yard.
Flour, wheat, 50 cents per cwt.
Flowers, artificial, 23 per c t . ; Chamomile,
free.
Fossil and crude mineral salt, 15 per ct.
Frames or sticks for umbrellas and para­
sols, 23 per ct.
Frankincense, free.
Furs, dressed, 12£ per ct.; undressed, free.
Fur hats. See Hats.
Gamboge, free.
Gilt ware, 23 per ct.
Gin, 1st proof, 57; 2d, 60 ; 3d, 63; 4th,
67 ; 5th, 75 ; above 5th, 90 cts. per gal.
Ginger, free.
Glass, window, not above 8 by 10 inches,
$3 per 100 square feet; not above 10 by
12, $3,50 per do.; above 10 by 12, $4
per do.; window glass imported in plates
uncut is charged with the highest rates
of d u ty ; apothecaries’ vials and bottles
exceeding the capacity of 6 oz. and not
above 16 oz. each, $2,25 per gross; per­
fumery and fancy vials and bottles not
above the capacity of 4 oz. each, $2,50
per gross; above 4 oz. and not above 16
oz. each, $3,25 per gross.
Do. bottles, black, not above 1 quart each,
$2 per gross; above 1 quart, $2,50 ; de­
mijohns, 25 cents each.
Do. all wares of cut glass not specified, 3
cents a lb. and 30 per ct. ad valorem.
Do. all other articles of glass not specified,
2 cents a lb. and 20 per ct. ad valorem.

256

United States Tariff.

Glauber salts, 2 cents a lb.
Gloves, woollen and worsted, 23 per ct.
Glue, 5 cents a lb.
Goat’s hair, wool, or raw skins, free.
Gold dust and coin, free.
Grapes, free.
Grindstones, free.
Gum, a r a b i c and S e n e g a l, f r e e .
Hair, human, not made up for head dresses,
15 per ct.
Hair, human, manufactured for head orna­
ments, 23 per ct.
[free.
Hair, unmanufactured, and hair pencils,
Hair cloth and seating, 15 per ct.
Hair powder, 15 per ct.
Hammers, blacksmiths, 2£ cents a lb .; all
others, 23 per ct.
Hams, 3 cents a lb.
Harlem oil and hartshorn, free.
Harness, 26 per c t . ; furniture for, same as
adzes.
Hatchets, same as adzes.
Hats, fur, leather and wool, 26 per c t . ;
plush, free.
H ats or Bonnets. See Bonnets.
Head dresses, ornaments for, 23 per ct.
Hemp, unmanufactured, $40 a to n ; all
manufactures of, not otherwise specified,
23 per ct.
Henbane, free.
Hides, raw, free.
Hoes, 23 per ct.
Honey, free.
Hooks, reaping, iron or steel, same as adzes.
Horn plates, for lanterns, free.
Horns, ox, other horns and tips, free.
Hosiery, woollen and worsted, 23 per c t.;
cotton, 23 per c t.; silk. See Silk.
Implements of trade, of persons arriving in
the United States, free.
India rubber, free.
Indigo, 15 per ct.
Ink and ink powder, free
Ipecacuanha, free.
Iris or orris root, free.
Iron, anvils and anchors and parts of, 2
cents a lb .; in bars or bolts not manu­
factured in whole or in part by rolling,
90 cents per 112 lbs.
Do. bar or bolt iron made wholly or in part
by rolling, $30 a ton. Provided, that all
iron in slabs, blooms, and loops, or other
form, less finished than iron in bars or
bolts, and more advanced than pig iron,
except castings, shall be rated as iron in
bars or bolts, and pay duty accordingly.
Do. cables or chains, or parts of, 3 cts. a lb.
Do. cannon, 23 per ct.
Do. cast iron vessels not otherwise specifi­
ed, 11 cents a lb.
Do. all other castings of iron, not otherwise
specified, 1 cent a lb.
Do. mill cranks and mill irons, of wrought
iron, 4 cents a lb.




Do. round iron or braziers’ rods of 3-16 to
8-16 of an inch diameter inclusive, nail
or spike rods, nail plates, slit, rolled or
hammered, and iron in sheets, hoop iron,
and iron slit rolled, or hammered for band
iron, scroll iron, or casement rods, 3 cts.
a lb.
Do. square wire used in the manufacture
of stretchers for umbrellas, 12 per ct.
Do. in pigs, 50 cents per 112 lbs.
Do. old iron, $12,50 a ton.
Do. wire. See Wire.
Do. all manufactures of, not otherwise spe­
cified, or of which iron is a component
material, 23 per ct.
Do. all articles of which any particular
kind of iron constitutes the whole or the
greater part of the weight, and not oth­
erwise specified, pay the same duty per
lb. as such kind of iron, these rates of
duty not to be less than 23 per ct.
Isinglass, free.
Ivory, unmanufactured, free; manufac­
tures of, free, except combs.
Japanned wares of all kinds, 23 per ct.
Jewelry, gold, set or not set, 12£ per c t . ;
false or gilt, 23 per ct.
Juniper berries, and oil of, free.
Junk and Oakum, free.
Kermes and kelp, free.
Knobs, iron, brass, or steel, or copper, 23
per ct.
Knitting needles, 23 per ct.
Lac dye, free.
Lace, of thread, silk, gold, or silver, 12£
per ct.
Lampblack, 15 per ct.
Lamps, excepting glass, 23 per ct.
Lard, 3 cents a lb.
Laudanum, free.
Lead, old and scrap, 2 cents a lb .; pigs,
bars, or sheet, 3 cents a lb.; red and
white, 5 cents do.
Do. manufactures of, not otherwise specifi­
ed, 15 per ct.
Leather and all manufactures of, not other­
wise specified, 26 per ct.
Leghorn hats and bonnets. See Bonnets.
Lemons and Limes, free.
Lime, free.
Linens, bleached and unbleached, free; (by
decision, all linens of flaxen cloth, except
dyed, stained, and printed and small ar­
ticles.)
Lines, fishing, 23 per ct.
Liquors or cordials, 53 cents per gal.
Loaf sugar, 12 cents a lb.
Locks, 23 per ct.
Logwood, free.
Looking glasses, not silvered, 2 cents a lb.
and 20 per ct. ad v a l.; silvered, 20 per
c t.; frames of gilt on wood, 26 per ct.
Lump sugar, 10 cents a lb.
Mace, free.

United. States Tariff.
Machinery of iron and brass, 23 per ct.
Madder and madder root, free.
Mahogany wood, free.
Malt, free.
Manganese, 15 per ct.
Manna, free.
Manufactured tobacco, other than snuff
and cigars, 10 cents a lb.
Manufactures of the United States and its
Territories, free.
Maps, specially imported, free.
Marble, unmanufactured,and busts of, free ;
manufactures of, 26 per ct.
Materials for composing dyes, not other­
wise enumerated, free.
Matts of sheep skin, 15 per ct.
Matting, floor, made of flags or other ma­
terials, 5 per ct.
Medical preparations of anatomy, free.
Mits, woollen or worsted, 23 per ct.
Mercury or quicksilver, free.
Mill cranks and mill irons of wrought iron,
4 cents a lb.; mill saws, $1 each.
Millinery of all kinds, 23 per ct.
Mineralogy, specimens in, free.
Mohair, manufactured, 15 per ct.
Molasses, 5 cents a gallon.
Morocco skins, 26 per ct.
Mother of Pearl, free.
Muffs and Tippets, 23 per ct.
Musk, free.
Muskets, $1,50 a stand.
Musical instruments of brass or copper, 23
per c t . ; of wood, 26 per ct.
Mustard, 15 per ct.
Nail rods. See Iron.
Nails, iron, cut or wrought, 5 cents a lb .;
brass, 23 per c t.; copper, 4 cents a lb.
Nankeens, 20 per ct.
Natural history, specimens in, free.
Needles, free.
Nitrate of potash, 3 cents a lb.
Nitrate of lead, 12£ per ct.
Noyeau, 53 cents a gallon.
Nuts used in dyeing, free.
Nutmegs, free.
Nuts, of all kinds, free.
Nux vomica, free.
Oakum and junk, free.
Oats, 10 cents a bushel.
Ochre. See Earths.
Oil cloths of all kinds, other than those
usually denominated patent floor-cloths,
12^ cents a square yard.
Oil of vitriol, 3 cents a lb.
Oil, sperm, 25, whale and other not sperm,
of foreign fisheries, 15 cents a g a l.; oil,
olive, in casks, 20 cents a g a l.; Juniper
do. free ; linseed, 25 cents a gal.
Olives, free.
Onions, free.
Opium, free.
Oranges, free.
Osnaburgs, free.
YOL. III.— NO. III.




2b7

Packthread, 5 cents a lb.
Paint brushes, 23 per ct.
Paintings, free.
Paints, red and white lead dry or ground
in oil, 5 cents a lb.
Paper, antiquarian, demy,drawing, foolscap,
imperial, medium, pot, pith, royal, and
writing, 17 cts. a lb .; bank post, folio and
quarto post of all kinds, 20 do.; blotting,
cartridge, copying, fancy colored, fuller’s
boards, glass, gold, leaf, paper makers’
boards, morocco, pasteboards, pressing
do., sand or tissue, 15 do. ; binders’
boards, box boards, mill boards, sheath­
ing or wrapping, 3 do.
Paper hangings, 32 per ct.
Parasols of all kinds, and frames for, 23
per ct.
Parchment, 23 per ct.
[ct.
Paste, imitations of precious stones, 15 per
Pastel, free.
Pencils, black lead, 23 per c t . ; hair do. free.
Penknives. See Cutlery.
Pens of metal, 23 per ct.
Pepper, black, free ; Cayenne, 15 cents a lb
Perfumery, 15 per ct.
Perry, 53 cents a gallon.
Persons arriving in the United States, their
wearing apparel, tools and implements
of trade, free.
Peruvian bark, free.
Pewter, all manufactures of, not otherwise
specified, 23 per ct.
Piano fortes, 26 per ct.
Pickles, 15 per ct.
Pimento, free.
Pine apples, free.
Pins, free.
Pipes, clay, for smoking, free.
Pistols, 26 per ct.
Plaids, Scotch, free.
Plains and paddings. See Wool.
Plaster, busts of, free. Plaster of Paris,
free.
Plated wares of all kinds, 23 per ct.
Platina, free.
Plane irons, 23 per ct.
Planks, 23 per ct.
Plats for hats or bonnets. See Bonnets.
Ploughs, 23 per ct.
Pocket books, leather, 26 per ct.
Porcelain, 20 per ct.
Porter. See Beer.
Potash, bichromate of, prussiate of, chro­
mate of, 12£ per cent.
Potatoes, 10 cents a bushel.
Powder, gun, 8 cents a lb.
Precious stones, set or not, and all articles
composed wholly or chiefly of, 12^ per
c t . ; glass imitation of, 2 cents a lb. and
20 per ct. ad valorem ; other imitations
of, 15 per ct.
Preserves. See Comfits.
Printing types, 23 per ct.

33

258

United States Tariff.

Prunes, free.
Prussiate of potash, 12£ per ct.
Quadrants, 23 per ct.
Quicksilver, free.
Quills, prepared, 15 per c t.; unprepared,
free.
Rags of cloth, free.
Railroads, iron for, if actually employed for
the purpose, there is a drawback equiva­
lent to the duty.
Raisons of all kinds, free.
Rattans, unmanufactured, free.
Raw silk, 12£ per ct.
Razors, 23 per ct.
Reaping hooks, same as adzes.
Red lead, 5 cents a lb.
Reeds, unmanufactured, free.
Rhubarb, free.
Ribbon supporters, wire or cannetille 12
cents a lb.
Rice, free.
Rifles, $2,50 each.
Rochelle salts, 15 per ct.
Roots, bulbous, free.
Ropes, grass or bark, 5 cents a lb.
Rotten stone, free.
Rum, 1st and 2d proof, 53; 3d, 57; 4th,
63 cents per gallon.
Saddlery, plated, brass, and polished steel,
same as adzes; common tinned and ja ­
panned of all descriptions, 10 per ct.
Saddles, 26 per ct.
Saffron, free.
Sago, free.
Sail duck, 15 per ct.
Salt, 10 cents for 56 lbs.
Saltpetre, crude, free; refined, 3 cents a lb.
Salts, Rochelle, 15 per c t.; glauber, 2 cents
a lb.
Sandal wood, free.
Sarsaparilla, free.
Saws, mill, $1 eac h ; all other, 23 per ct.
Scale beams, same as adzes.
Screws, wood, (so called, but of iron,) same
as adzes.
Sculpture, specimens of, specially import­
ed, free.
Scythes, same as adzes.
Segars, $2,50 for 1000.
Senna, free.
Shawls, camel’s hair, 15 per ct.
Sheeting, Russia, free.
Sheetings. See Cotton.
Shoes, of silk, 30 cents a p air; nankeen,
prunella stuff*, and leather, 25 d o .; for
children, 15 do.
Shellac, free.
Shells, tortoise, free
Shovels, of iron or steel, same as adzes.
Shovels and tongs, 23 per ct.
Sickles, same as adzes.
Silk, all manufactures of, or of which silk
shall be a component part, coming from
beyond the Cape of Good Hope, 10 per




c t . ; all other, free, except sewing silk,
which is do.
Silk, raw, 12£ per ct.
Skins, undressed, free.
Skins, dressed with alum, 26 per ct.
Slates of all kinds, 23 per ct.
Sledges, blacksmith’s, 2 i cents a lb.
Slippers, silk, 30, leather, 25, and children’s
do., 15 cents a pair.
Snuff*, 12 cents a lb.
Soap, 4 cents a lb .; perfumed, 15 per ct.
Soda, sal., 15 per ct.
Spades, iron or steel, same as adzes.
Spectacles, gold or silver mounted, 121;
shell, 15; metal, 23 per ct.
Spikes, 4 cents a lb.
Spoons, not silver, 23 per ct.
Spirits distilled from grain, 1st proof, 57;
2d, 60 ; 3d, 63; 4th, 67 ; 5th, 75; above
5th, 90 cents a gallon.
Spirits, distilled from other materials than
grain, 1st and 2d proof, 53; 3d, 57; 4th,
63 ; 5th, 72; above 5th, 85 cents a gal.
Sponges, free.
Squares of iron or steel, same as adzes.
Starch, free.
Steel, $1,50 for 112 lbs.; all manufactures
of, not otherwise specified, 23 per ct.
Steelyards, same as adzes.
Strings for musical instruments, free.
Stone, load, 23 per ct.
Stoneware, 20 per ct.
Stones, precious, 12i per ct.
Stuff* goods, worsted, free.
Sugar, brown, and syrup of sugar cane, in
casks, 21 cents a lb .; white clayed, 3 1-3
do.; lump, 10 do.; loaf and candy, 12 do.
Sugar of lead, 5 cents a lb.
Sulphur or brimstone, free.
Sulphuric acid, 3 cents a lb.
Sumach, free.
Sweetmeats preserved in sugar or orandy,
23 per ct.
Swords and swordblades, 26 per ct.
Table knives and forks, 23 per ct.
Tacks, brads, and sprigs, not exceeding 16
oz. to the 1000, 5 cents a 1000; exceed­
ing 16 oz., 5 cents a lb.
Tallow, 1 cent a lb.
Tamarinds, free.
Tapioca, free.
T artar emetic, 15 per c t.; crude, free.
Teas, of all kinds imported from China or
other places east of the Cape of Good
Hope, and in vessels of the United States,
free; Teas, of all kinds imported from
places this side of the Cape of Good Hope,
or in vessels other than those of the Uni­
ted States, 10 cents a lb.
Thread, sewing, floss, cotton, and shoe, 23
per c t.; pack, 5 cents a lb.
Ticklenburgs, free.
Tiles, paving, 15 per ct.
Tin, in foil, plates, sheet, bar, pigs, or

United States Tariff.
blocks, free; black in sheets as iron in
sheets.
Tin, all manufactures of, or of which tin
is a component material, not otherwise
specified, 23 per ct.
Tobacco, manufactured, other than snuff
and cigars, 10 cents a lb .; leaf or un­
manufactured, 15 do.
Tongues and sounds, free.
Tortoise shell, free.
Toys, paper, 15 ; brass, iron, steel, tin, lead,
pewter, or copper, 23; wood, 26 per ct.
Turmeric, free.
Turtles, free.
Twine, tarred, 4 ; untarred, 5 cents a lb.
Twist, cotton. See cotton, manufactures
of.
Types, printing, 23 per ct.
Umbrellas, of whatever material, 23 per ct.
Frames or sticks for, 23 per ct.
Vanilla beans, free.
Varnishes, free.
Vegetables, used for dyeing and in compos­
ing dyes, not otherwise specified, free;
others, 15 per ct.
Veils, lace, 12£ per ct.
Vellum, 23 per ct.
Vessels, copper, 23 per c t.; cast iron, not
otherwise specified, 1£ cents a lb.
Vices and screws of iron, called wood
screws, same as adzes.
Vinegar, 8 cents a gallon.
Vitriol, blue, 4 cents a lb.
Wafers, 23 per ct.
W alking sticks or canes, 23 per ct.
Watches, and parts of, 12£ per ct.
W ater colors, free.
W ax, bees’, free.
W earing apparel in actual use of persons
arriving in the United States, free.
Webbing, worsted, 38; silk, free; all other
kinds, 23 per ct.
Weld, free.
Whalebone, product of foreign fisheries,
12i per ct.
W heat, 25 cents a bushel; flour, 50 cents
a cwt.
Whips, 26 per ct.
Whetstones, free.
White lead, dry or ground in oil, 5 cts. a lb.
Window glass. See Glass.
Wine lees, free.
Wines, of France, in casks, red, 3 cents,
and white, 5 cents a gallon; in bottles,
11 cents a gallon. Madeira and Sherry,

259

in casks, cases, or bottles, 25 cents a gal­
lon ; wines of France, Germany, Spain,
and Mediterranean, not specially enu­
merated, in casks, 71 cents a gallon; red
wines of Spain and Austria, in casks, 5
cents a gallon. Wines of all countries
in bottles or cases, unless specially enu­
merated, and all wines not enumerated,
15 cents a gallon.
Wire, silver or plated, 5 per c t.; cap or
bonnet, covered with silk, cotton or flax­
en yarn or thread, manufactured abroad,
12 cents a jb .; iron or steel, exceeding
No. 14, 9 cents a lb .; not exceeding No.
14, 5 cents a lb.
Woad, free.
Wood, unmanufactured, and for dyeing,
free; manufactures of wood, unless oth­
erwise specified, 23 per ct.
Wool, Angora goats’ or camels’, free.
Wool, unmanufactured, the value whereof
at the place of exportation not above 8
cents a lb., free; exceeding 8 cents a lb.,
4 cents a lb., and 40 per ct. ad valorem.
Wool imported on skins is estimated, as
to weight and value, as other wool.
Wool, manufactures of, all milled and full­
ed cloth, known by the name of plain
kerseys or Kendall cottons, of which wool
is the only material, 38 per c t.; worsted
stuff goods, shawls, and other manufac­
tures of silk and worsted, free; worsted
yarn, 20 per c t . ; woollen yarn, 4 cents
a lb., and 50 per ct. ad valorem ; mits,
gloves, bindings, blankets, hosiery, car­
pets and carpetings, 23 per ct., except
Brussels, Wilton, and treble ingrained
carpeting, which is at 63 cents a square
y a rd ; all other ingrained and Venitian
carpeting, 35 cents a square yard, and
except blankets the value whereof at the
place of exportation shall not exceed 75
cents each, the duty levied upon which
is 5 per c t . ; flannels, bookings, and
baizes, 16 cents a square y a rd ; coach
laces, 29 per c t . ; merino shawls, made
of wool, all other manufactures of wool,
or of which wool is a component part,
and on ready made clothing, 38 per ct.
Yams, free.
Yarn, cotton. See manufactures of cot­
ton ; worsted, 20 per c t.; woollen, 4 cents
a lb., and 50 per ct. ad valorem.
Zinc, unmanufactured, free; in sheets or
nails, free.

The following allowances are made by law for drafts on articles subject to duty by
weight, by Act of 2d of March, 1799, Section 58:
On any quantity of 1 cwt......................................................................... 1 pound.
On any quantity above 1 cwt. and not exceeding
2 cw t........... 2 do
On any quantity above 2 cwt. and not exceeding
3 cwt........... 3 do
On any quantity above 3 cwt. and not exceeding
10 cwt......... 4 do
On any quantity above 10 cwt. and not exceeding 18 cwt................. 7 do
On any quantity above 18 cw t................................................................ 9 do




260

Imports and Exports under each Tariff, etc.

A Table showing the per cent, o f duty upon the import value or manufac­
tured cost o f certain articles in general use, under each tariff, since the
organization o f the government, and extended to 1842.
Cost
Kind of Goods. pr. sq.
yard.

Years in which different duties were laid from Years of reduction
1789 to 1833.
under act of 1833.
GO

O
CT3

CT3
1-

—
E

<N

CO

OO

00

Sheetings, cts. 6 pr. ct. 5 n 124 15 274
&c..........
5 74 124 15 274
10
Shirtings,..
5 74 124 15 274
20
e
o
&c..........
35
5 74 124 15 274
o
C hecks,__
5 74 124 15 274
8
Calicoes,....
12
5 74 124 15 274
Chintzes,...
5 74 124 15 274
20
Prints, &c.
35
5 74 124 15 274
f Flannels,...
15
5 74 10 15 274
Baizes,.......
5 74 10 15 274
25
o
Cloths,.......
5 74 10 15 274
45
5 74 10 15 274
§ Kerseymers $1 25
5 74 10 15 274
&c.......... 2 25
>
& . C ...................
3 00
5 74 10 15 274
5 74 10 15 274
& c.......... 4 00

114
62
31
31
78
50
31
31
25
25
25
25
25
25
25

OO
T—1

125
75
37
37
92
GO
37
37
334
334
334
334
334
334
334

OO
CM
GO

Ol
CO
OO

145 125
87 75
43 374
25! 25
109109
72 72
43 43
25 25
150 106
90 64
50 354
90 50
50 50
60 50
45 50

CO
CO
OO
f—1

m
CO
GO
»—l

t 'CO
OO

O
CO
GO

O?
—
OO • CO
<-H

H

1124 100 874 75 474 20

694 64 584 53 36420
34 324 304 25420
24:234 23 2 1 4 2 0
92 83 74 47 20
61 56 51 35420
404 3836 34 27 20
244 24123423 2 H 2 0
974 891804 72 46 20
60 56152 48 34 20
334 32:32429 244 20
47. 4441 38 27 20
47- 44 41 38 27 2 0
47 4441 38 27 20
47, 44!41 38 27 20

354
244
100
66

IM PO RTS AND EXPORTS U N D E R E A CH T A R IF F FROM 1816 TO 1838;

The following table was recently introduced, in the course o f a speech, on the
floor o f congress. It shows the aggregate exports and imports o f the coun­
try under each tariff,—also, the aggregate excess o f imports consumed over
the aggregate exports o f domestic products fo r each period, from 1816 to
1838, inclusive, and o f gold and silver, from 1828 to 1838 also.
U nder
what
T a r i ff.

■g
ie
'£
H

f 1616
) 1824
1 1828
V1832
*1833

T im e
in c lu siv e .

1817tol824
1825 “ 1828
1829 “ 1832
1833 “ 1836
1837 “ 1838

A g g r e g a te
im p o rts.

A g g r e g a te
ex p o rts.

E xcess o f
GOLD AND SILVER.
im p o r ts over
ex p o rts. A g . im p o rts. A g . e x p 'ts.

514,102,563
247,184,036
274,470,881
489,129,019
220,399,059

436.197,398
229,591,845
239,576,749
359,457,622
191,598,235

77,905,165
17,592,191
34,894,132
129,671,397
28,800,824

28,672,602
28,773,025
51,514,328
28,263,530

E xcess
°f
im p o r ts .

28,110,515
562,087
20,837,113 7,935,912
14,723,228 36,791,100
8,200,777 20,062,753

T ot. y r’s 22 1,745,285,558 1,456,421,849 288,863,709 137,223,485 71,871,633 65,351,852
*

Compromise of.
T ER M S O F CR E D IT .

W hen the amount of duties does not exceed $200, by one vessel, and by one per­
son or firm, they must be paid in cash without discount. When they exceed $200,
(except on woollens,) a credit is allowed of three and six months, in equal instal­
ments, and secured by bonds. Or, at the option of the importer, if the cash is paid at
the time of entry for duties thus entitled to a credit, an allowance of discount will be
made at the rate of four per cent, per annum upon an a v e r a g e o f t i m e .
Upon the duties upon wool, and upon all manufactures of which wool is a compo­
nent part, no credit nor discount is allowed ; but six per cent, interest is charged from
the date of importation until the payment, which cannot be deferred beyond three and
six months, one moiety at each period ; in which case the goods must remain in the
public stores , under bond, for the amount of the duties.




Bank Statistics.

261

BANK STATISTICS.
BANK O F ENGLAND RETU RN S.

A Table, showing the circulation o f the Bank o f England at different dates,
between October, 1833, and April, 1840, compiledfrom the Bankers'1 Cir­
cular.
D a te .

1833.
October................
1834.
January................. ........ 7
February............... ........ 4
March.................... ........ 4
April...................... ........ 1
M a y ...................... ........ 6
Ju n e ...................... ........ 3
July........................ ....... 1
(i
....29
A ugust.................. ......26
September.............. .....23
October.................. ......21
November.............. ....18
December.............. ....16
1835.
January.................. ....15
February................ ....12
March.................... ....12
April...................... ....... 9
M a y ......................
J u n e ...................... ....... 4
July.........................
....28
A ugust.................. ....25
September.............. ....22
October..................
November.............. ....23
December.............. ....17
1836.
January................... ....... 4
February................ ....11
M arch.................... ....10
April........................ ....... 5
May....................... ....... 3
It

J u n e ...................... ....28
July........................
A ugust..................
September.............. ...5 1
October..................
November...............
December..............
1837. '
January..................
February.................
M arch.....................
April........................
M a y ........................
J u n e ........................ ......1




C ir c u la tio n .
£

D e p o s its .

S e c u r itie s .

B u llio n .

£

£

19,800,000

13,000,000

24,200,000

10,900,000

18,216,000
18,377,000
18,700,000
19,097,000
18,978,000
18,922,000
18,895,000
19,110,000
19,147,000
19,126,000
18,914,000
18,694,000
18,304,000

13,101,000
14,086,000
14,418,000
14,011,000
14,081,000
14,539,000
15,096,000
15.675.000
15.384.000
14,754,000
13,514,000
12,669,000
12,256,000

23,576,000
24,762,000
25,547,000
25,970,000
26,691,000
27,312,000
27,593,000
28,502,000
28,679,000
28,691,000
27,840,000
27,138,000
26,362,000

9,948,000
9,954,000
9,829,000
9,431,000
8,884,000
8,645,000
8,659,000
8,598,000
8,272,000
7,695,000
7,123,000
6,781,000
6,720,000

18,012,000
18,099,000
18,311,000
18,591,000
18,542,000
18,460,000
18,315,000
18,322,000
18,340,000
18,240,000
17,930,000
17,549,000
17,321,000

12,585,000
12,535,000
12,281,000
11,289,000
10,726,000
10,568,000
10,954,000
11,561,000
12,308,000
13,230,000
14,227,000
16,180,000
17,729,000

26,390,000
26,482,000
26,657,000
26,228,000
25,764,000
25,562,000
25,678,000
26,244,000
26,964,000
27,889,000
28,661,000
30,069,000
31,048,000

6,741,000
6,693,000
6,536,000
6,329,000
6,197,000
6,150,000
6,219,000
6,283,000
6,326,000
6,261,000
6,186,000
6,305,000
6,626,000

17,262,000
17,427,000
17,739,000
18,063,000
18,154,000
18,051,000
17,899,000
17,940,000
18,061,000
18.147.000
17.936.000
17,543,000
17,361,000

19,169,000
18,366,000
16,966,000
14,751,000
13,747,000
13,273,000
13,810,000
14,495,000
14,796,000
14,118,000
13,324,000
12,682,000
13,330,000

31,954,000
31,022,000
29,806,000
27,927,000
27,042,000
26,534,000
27,153,000
28,315,000
29,345,000
29,400,000
28,845,000
28,134,000
28,971,000

7,076,000
7,741,000
7,701,000
7,801,000
7,782,000
7,663,000
7,362,000
6,926,000
6,325,000
5,719,000
5,257,000
4,933,000
4,545,000

17,422,000
17,868,000
18,178,000
18,432,000
18,480,000
18,419,000

14,354,000
14,230,000
13,260,000
11,192,000
10,472,000
10,422,000

30,365,000
31,085,000
30,579,000
28,843,000
28,017,000
27,572,000

4,287,000
4,032,000
4,048,000
4,071,000
4,190,000
4,423,000

£

|

Bank Statistics.

262

BANK O F ENGLAN D RETU RN S.— C ontinued.
D a te •

D e p o s its .

S e c u r itie s .

18,202,000
18,261,000
18,462,000
18,814,000
18,716,000
18,344,000
17,998,000

£
10,424,000
10,672,000
11,005,000
11,093,000
10,501,000
10,242,000
10,195,000

26,932,000
26,727,000
26,717,000
26,605,000
25,316,000
23,985,000
22,727,000

4,750,000
5,226,000
5,754,000
6,303,000
6,856,000
7,432,000
8,172,000

17,900,000
18,206,000
18,600,000
18,987,000
19,084,000
19,018,000
19,047,000
19,286,000
19,481,000
19,665,000
19,359,000
18,900,000
18,469,000

10,992,000
11,266,000
11,535,000
11,262,000
11,006,000
10,786,000
10,426,000
10,424,000
10,298,000
10,040,000
9,327,000
8,949,000
9,033,000

22,606,000
22,569,000
22,792,000
23,838,000
22,768,000
22,648,000
22,354,000
22,601,000
22,747,000
22,846,000
22,015,000
21,171,000
20,707,000

8,895,000
9,543,000
10.015,000
10,126,000
10,002,000
9,806,000
9,722,000
9,749,000
9,746,000
9,615,000
9,437,000
9,339,000
9,362,000

18,201,000
18,252,000
18,298,000
18,371,000
18,350,000
18,214,000
18,101,000
18,049,000
17,969,000
17,960,000
17,612,000
17,235,000
16,732,000

10,315,000
10,269,000
9,950,000
8,998,000
8,107,000
7,814,000
7,567,000
7,955,000
8,029,000
7,781,000
6,734,000
6,132,000
5,952,000

21,680,000
22,157,000
22,767,000
22,987,000
23,112,000
23,543,000
23,934,000
24,905,000
25,588,000
25,936,000
24,939,000
23,873,000
22,764,000

9,336,000
8,919,000
8,106,000
7,073,000
6,023,000
5,119,000
4,344,000
3,785,000
3,265,000
2,816,000
2,522,000
2,545,000
2,887,000

16,366,000
16,511,000
16,678,000
16,818,000
16,831,000

7,136,000
7,570,000
7,896,000
7,704,000
7,296,000

22,913,000
22,981,000
23,223,000
23,113,000
22,722,000

3,454,000
3,964,000
4,271,000
4,360,000
4,318,000

C ir c u la tio n .

1837.
J u n e .....................
July.......................
A ugust.................
September.............
October.................
November.............
December............ ......14
1838.
January.................
February...............
M arch....................
April......................
May.......................
it
J u n e ...................... ......26
Ju ly ........................
A ugust..................
September.............. ......18
October..................
November.............. ......13
Decem ber.............. ......11
1839.
January................. ....... 8
February............... ....... 5
M arch....................
April...................... ....... 2
“ .......................
May........................
J u n e ....................... ......25
Ju ly ........................ ......23
A ugust.................. .....20
Septem ber............ ......17
October..................
November..............
December............... ..... 10
1840.
January................. ....... 7
February............... ....... 4
M arch................... ....... 3
tt
......31
A pril...................... ..... 28

£

£

B u llio n .
£

T H E BANKS O F R H O D E ISLAN D.

Statement of the situation o f the Banks in Rhode Island, on Monday, July
6, 1840, as the same appears from the returns made to the Bank Commis­
sioners.
LIABILITIES.

Capital stock,.................... $9,959,825 00
Bills in circulation,...........
1,395,130 00
Balances due other banks,
435,596 04
N ett profits on hand,.......
403,876 27
Dividends unpaid,.............
74,234 36
Deposits on hand,.....-......
492,943 99
Deposits not on interest,
760,524 93
Total ain’t of liabilities, $13,519,130 59




RESOURCES.

Loans and discounts,.... $11,686,297
Specie in bank,................
332,591
271,485
Bills of other banks,.......
Balances due from other b’ks, 750,177
Stock in own bank,........
165,173
Stock, Real Estate, and
other property,.............
313,404

99
64
00
42
95
62

Total am’t of resources, $13,519,130 59

S T A T E M E N T O F BANKS IN T H E U N IT E D ST A T E S.
The whole number of banks in the country at the present time, is 901, including 179 branches. In the column for 1840, of the annexed table, 61
banks and 40 branches are estimated, for lack of fresh returns. In 1834, 5, 6 and 7, more or less banks or branches were estimated, for the same
reason. For 1838 and 1839, the returns appear to be complete. The estimated banks for 1840 are about one-ninth of the whole number, and comprise
about one-tenth of the banking capital. The variation from fact cannot be m aterial; as the estimates are based upon the returns of the previous year.
C o m p a r a t i v e v i e w o f th e c o n d i t i o n o f a l l th e b a n k s in th e U n i t e d S t a t e s , n e a r th e c o m m e n c e m e n t o f e a c h y e a r , f r o m 1834 to 1840, i n c l u s i v e .
1834.

1835.

1836.

1837.

1838.

1839.

1840.

263




Bank Statistics.

Whole No. of banks and branches in operation,
506
704
788
829
840
901
713
Capital paid in ,....................................................... $200,005,944 $231,250,337 $251,875,292 $290,772,091 $317,636,778 $327,132,512 $358,442,692
Loans and discounts,............................................. 324,119,499 365,163,834 457.506.080 525,115,702 485,631,687 492,278,015 462,896,523
6,113,195
36,128,464
Stocks,......................................................................
9,210,579
12,407,112
42,411,750
11,709,319
33,908,604
10,850,090
16,607,832
29,181,919
Real estate,..............................................................
11,140,167
19,064,451
19,075,731
14,194,375
Other investments,.................................................
1,723,547
10,423,630
28.352.248
24,592,580
4,642,224
9,975,226
24,194,117
27,329,645
41,140,184
59,663,910
52,898,357
Due from other banks,...........................................
40,084,038
58,195,153
51,876,955
22,154,919
27,372,966
20,797,892
21,086,301
36,533,527
Notes of other banks on hand,............................
32,115,138
24,964,257
3,612,567
3.623,874
26,641,753
3,061,819
5,366,500
Specie funds,...........................................................
4,800,076
904,006
45,132,673
37,915,340
33,105,155
Specie,......................................................................
43,937,625
35,184,112
40,019,594
94,839,570 103,692,495 140,301,038 149,185,890 116,138,910 135,170,995 106,968,572
Circulation,..............................................................
75,666,986
90,240,146
75,696,857
Deposits,................. ..........."....................................
83,081,365 115,104,440 127,397,185
84,691,184
44,159,615
53,135,508
26,602,293
62,421,118
61,015,692
38,972,578
50,402,369
Due other banks,...... .............................................
43,275,183
62.946.248
36,560,289
59,995,679
Other liabilities,......................................................
19,320,475
25,999,234
Aggregate of bank accounts,.............................. 816,047,441 974,643,887 1,205,879,136 1,372,826,745 1,321,535,910 1,371,008,531 1,286,292,796
Do. of investments supposed to yield income,... 342,806,331 390,156,804 493,385,000 567,010,895 561,760,319 573,366,559 559,082,772
Excess of such do. beyond am’t of cap. paid in, 142,800,387 158,906,467 241,409,708 276,238,804 243,180,261 246,234,047 200,640,080
Aggregate of deposits and circulation,................ 170,506,556 186,773,860 255,405,478 276,583,075 200,830,094 225,411,141 182,665,429
Do. of deposits, circ., and sums due other banks, 197.108.849 225,746,438 305,807,847 339,004,193 261,845,686 278,546,649 226,825,044
Do. of specie, specie funds, notes of other banks
98,667,105
76,126,317 108,169,783 128.811.763 139,479,277 119,247,428 129,016,563
and sums due by other banks,.........................
Excess of immediate liabilities over im. means, 120,982,532 117,576,655 176,996,084 199,524,916 142,598,258 149,530,086 128,157,939
Total of means of all kinds,................................ 418,932,648 498,326,587 622.196.763 706,490,172 704,358,577 702,383,122 657,749,877
Tot. liabilities, exclusive of those to stockholders, 197.108.849 245,066,913 331.807.081 375,564,482 321,823,365 341,492,897 270.100.227
Do. of the banks to one another,........................
76,086,857 100,142,917 134,394,462 158,618,555 144,175,002 133,406,831 106,097,691
Do. to all, except other banks and stockholders, 121,121,992 144,923,996 281,404,712 313,143,364 260,825,773 288,357,389 270.100.227
86,170,680
91,174,653 107,798,029
72,684,651
82,606,194 108,185,900 112,652,363
N ett circulation,.....................................................

Money Tables.

264

MONEY TABLES,
T able to reduce F rancs and Centim es to D o lls, and Cts.— F ran c 1 8 .7 5 .
d m . cts. fr s . $ cts. fr s . $ cts.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19

5
10
15
20
HO
Ho
40
45
50
55
60
70
75
HO
85
00
09

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

1
1
1
1
1
2
2
2
2
2
3
3
3
3
3
3
4
4
4
4
4
5
5

19
38
56
75
94
13
31
50
69
88
06
25
44
63
81
00
19
38
56
75
94
13
31
59
69
88
06
25

29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
48
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56

5 44

5
5
6
6
6
6
6
6
7
7
7
7
7
8
8
8
8
8
9
9
9
9
9
9
10
10
10

63
81
00
19
38
56
75
94
13
31
50
69
88
06
25
44
63
81
00
19
38
56
75
94
13
31
50

fr s . S cts.
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
88
83
84

10
10
11
11
11
11
11
12
12
12
12
12
12
13
13
13
13
13
14
14
14
14
14
15
15
15
15
15

69
88
06
25
44
63
81
00
19
38
56
75
94
13
31
50
69
88
06
25
44
63
81
00
19
38
56
75

fr s .

S cts •

85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
1000
1100
1200
1300

15
16
16
16
16
16
17
17
17
17
17
18
18
18
18
18
37
56
75
93
112
131
150
168
187
206
225
243

94
13
31
50
69
88
06
25
44
63
81
00
19
38
56
75
50
25
00
75
50
25
00
75
50
25
00
75

fr s .
1400
1500
1600
1700
1800
1900
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
7000
8000
9000
10000
11000
12000
13000
14000
15000
16000
17000
18000
19000
20000
2100(1
22000
23000

$

cts.

262
281
300
318
337
356
375
562
750
937
1125
1312
1500
1687
1875
2062
2250
2437
2625
2812
3000
3187
3375
3562
3750
3937
4125
4312

50
25
00
75
50
25
00
50
00
50
00
50
00
50
00
50
00
50
00
50
00
50
00
50
00
50
00
50

cts.

fr s .

$

24000
25000
26000
27000
2.8000
29000
30000
31000
32000
33000
34000
35000
36000
37000
38000
39000
40000
41000
42000
43000
44000
45000
46000
47000
48000
49000
50000
100000

4500
4687
4875
5062
5250
5437
5625
5812
6000
6187
6375
6562
0750
6937
7125
7312
/500
7687
7875
8062
825U
8437
8625
8812
9000
9187
9375
18750

00
50
00
50
00
50
00
50
00
50
00
50
00
50
00
50
00
50
00
50
00
50
00
50
00
50
00
00

T able to reduce B ritish Sterling to D ollars and C ents.— £ $ 4 .4 4 .
d. ct. m. s. $ cts. stg. $ cts. stg.

$ cts.

1 1 9
1 22
44
2
2 3 7
67
3
3 5 6
89
4
4 7 4
5 1 11
5 9 3
6 11 1 6 1 33
7 1 56
13 0
8 1 78
8 14 8
9 16 7 9 2 1)0
10 18 5 11! 2 22
11 20 4 11 2 44
12 2 67
1:1 2 89
M 3 11
3 33
16 3 56
17 3 78
18 4 00
11 4 22

93
97
102
106
ill
II.-)
120
124
128
133
137
142
146
151
155
160
164
168
173
177

£ 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
l ‘!
20

4
8
13
17
22
26
31
35
40
44
48
53
57
62
66
71
75
80
84
88

44 £21
89
22
33
23
78
24
25
22
67
26
27
11
28
56
29
00
3(1
44
31
89
32
33
78
33
34
29
35
67
36
11
37
56
00
38
44
39
89
40

stg.

$ cts.

33 £41 182 22
78
42 186 67
22
43 191 11
67
44 195 56
11
45 200 00
56
46 204 44
00
47 208 89
14
48 213 33
89
49 217 78
33
5(1 222 92
78
51 226 67
22
52 231 11
67
53 235 56
11
54 240 00
56
55 244 44
00
56 248 89
44
57 253 33
58 257 78
89
33
59 262 22
78
60 266 67

stg.
£61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
7(1
71
79
73
74
75
V6
77
78
75
80

$ cts.
271
9,75
9,80
284
288
293
297
302
306
311
315
390
324
328
333
337
342
346
351
355

11
56
00
44
89
33
78
67
11
56
00
44
89
33
78
22
67
II
56

stg.
£81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
‘10
91
92
93
94
95
90
97
98
9‘J

s

360
364
368
373
377
382
386
391
395
400
404
408
413
417
499

496
431
435
440

Us.

stg.

00
44
89
33
78
22
67
11
56
00
44
89
33
78
22
67
II
56
00

£100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
1000
] Kill
1200
1300
1400
1500
1600
1700
1800
1900
2000

$ cts.
444
888
1333
1777

44
89
33
78

2666
3111
3555
4000
4444
4888
5333
5777
6222
6666
7111
<555
801-0
8444
8888

67
11
56
00
44
89
33
78
22
6/
11
56
00
44
89

T ab le to reduce Sterling to D ollars and C ents.— £ Stg. a t $ 4 .8 0 .
d. cts. s.
1
o
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11

~
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
90
22

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
19
i:J
M

15
16
17
18
19

s

cts. stg. $ c ts. stg.

94
48
72
96
1 20
1 44
1 68
1 99
o 16
2 40
9, 64
i> 88
3 19
3 36
3 60
3 84
4 08
4 39
4 56

£ 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
i :h
14
15
16
17
18

4 80 £21
22
9 60
23
14 40
24
19 20
25
24 00
28 80
26
33 60
27
38 40
28
43 90
99
48 00
30
52 80
31
32
57 60
69 40
3!1
67 20
34
35
79 00
36
76 80
37
81 60
38
86 40
K
91 20
31
i 20 96 00
40




Jg cts. stg.
100 80 £41
105 60
42
110 40
4!!
115 20
44
120 00
45
124 80
461
129 60
471
134 40
48
13.) 20
41
144 00
5(
148 80
51
153 60
52
158 40
51
163 20
5168 00
5f
51
172 80
57
177 60
58
182 40
187 90
59
192 00
60

$ cts.

stg.

80
60
40
20
00
80
60
40
20
00
80
60
40
20
00
80
60
40
20
00

£61
62
63
64
65
»)()
67
68
69
7(1
71

196
201
206
211
216
220
225
930
235
240
244
249
254
259
264
268
273
278
283
288

73
74
75
76
77
717T
80

$ Us.

stg.

80
60
40
20
00
80
60
40
90
00
80
60
40
20
00
80
60
40
20
00

£81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
9191

292
297
309
307
312
316
321
326
331
336
340
345
350
355
360
364
369
374
379
384

$ cts.
388
393
398
403
408
412
417
422
427
432
436
441
446
451
456
460
46o
470
475

80
60
40
20
00
80
60
40
90
00
80
60
40
20
00
80
60
40
20

stg.
£100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
1000
1100
1200
1300
1400
1500
1600
1700
1800
1900
2000

$ cts.
480
960
1440
1920
2400
2880
3360
3840
4320
4800
5280
5760
6240
6720
7200
7680
8160
8640
9120
9600

00
00
00
00
00
00
00
00
00
00
00
00
00
00
00
00
00
00
00
00

Commercial Statistics.

265

COMMERCIAL STATISTICS.
IM PORTS AND EXPORTS O F T H E U N IT E D ST A T E S FO R 1839.
The annual statement of the commerce and navigation of the United States for the
year ending September 30, 1839 :
The imports during the year have amounted to $162,092,132, of which there was
imported in American vessels, $143,874,252, and in foreign vessels $18,217,880. T he
exports during the year have amounted to $121,028,416, of which $103,533,891 were
of domestic, and $17,494,525 of foreign articles. Of the domestic articles, $82,127,514
were exported in American vessels, and $21,406,377 in foreign vessels. Of the foreign
articles, $12,660,434 were exported in American vessels, and $4,834,091 in foreign
vessels. 1,491,279 tons of American shipping entered, and 1,477,928 tons cleared from
the ports of the United States. 624,814 tons of foreign shipping entered, and 611,839
tons cleared during the same period.
The registered tonnage, is stated a t............................................................ 834,244 54.95
The enrolled and licensed tonnage a t......................................................... 1,153,551 85.95
And fishing vessels a t................................................................................... 108,682 34-95
Tons,....................................................................................... 2,096,478 81.95
O f the registered and enrolled tonnage, amounting, as before stated, to 1,987,796 47-95
There were employed in the whale fishery,.............................................. 131,845 25.95
The total tonnage of shipping built in the United States during the year ending the
30th of September, 1839 :
Registered,......................................................................................................
55,065 47-95
Enrolled...........................................................................................................
65,922 82-95
Tons,.......................................................................................

120,988 34.95

Y ea rs.

A Table showing the amount o f specie imported into the United States from
different countries, from 1821 to 1838.
E u ro p e.

1821 $4,289,018
1822
702,800
1,140,614
1823
1,295,665
1824
350,802
1825
1826
720,908
1827
546,159
1828
370,328
1829
198,023
1830
290,762
1831
314,856
1832
161,429
1833
146,305
1834
7,641,426
1835
1,978,334
1836
7,179,414
1837
1,276,408
1838 11,464,517
40,067,768

E u ro p ea n
A tla n tic
is la n d s .

$43,306
23,146
31,596
60,991
36,907
32,414
71,387
39,789
19,728
31,797
44,194
42,311
14,820
24,735
17,997
6,619
18,037
9,929

A fr ic a .

A s ia .

$69,136 $91,378
47,004 26,223
51,883 112,003
40,662 105,237
65,510 94,615
15,252 90,272
82,024 62,666
61,229 37,795
70,995 10,381
59,321 96,542
44,716 46,289
23,999 43,365
30,508 35,952
50,752
8,585
88,416 16,135
105,116
4,879
54,090 11,357
75,607 34,684

S o u th
A m e ric a .




34

T o ta l.

$229,552 $3,342,500 $8,064,890
870,582
1,700,091
3,369,846
2,082,800
5,097,896
1,679,000
3,944,639 2,932,641
8,379,835
1,904,755
3,698,176
6,150,765
1,842,332
4,179,788
6,880,966
1,684,795
8,151,130
5,704,099
5,533,784 1,446,816
7,489,741
7,403,612
5,673,194 1,431,291
8,155,964
6,156,927
1,520,615
7,305,945
5,307,604 1.548.286
5,907,504
1,379,241
4,257,159
7,070,368
1,601,822
5,240,961
8,227,211
1,958,923 17,911,632
1.210.286 13,131,447
9,820,279
1,084,931 13,400,881
5,019,922
3,231,953 10,516,414
5,924,569
3,656,114 2,506,265 17,747,116

569,703 1,036,220 928,358 85,527,360

VOL. m . — NO. III.

W . I n d ie s
A m e ric a n
c o lo n ie s .

34,006,543 162,135,952

Commercial Statistics.

260

CH IN A TRADE.
A s t a t e m e n t e x h i b i t i n g a v i e w o f t h e d i r e c t t r a d e b e t w e e n th e U n i t e d S t a t e s a n d C h i­
n a , f r o m 1821 to 1839, c o n t a i n i n g th e a g g r e g a t e o f e x p o r t s , im p o r t s , a n d t o n n a g e ,
f o r e a c h y e a r , w i t h th e n u m b e r o f m e n a n d v e s s e l s e m p l o y e d , a s p r e s e n t e d to C o n ­
g r e s s , J u n e 16, 1840.

8c;
o
bcjS
8i"2
11

V a l u e o f e x p o r t s to C h in a .
D o m e s tic F o r e ig n
p r o d u c e , m e rc h a n ­
ty c .
d i s e , 6fC.

£
1821
1822
1823
1824
1825
1826
1827
1828
1829
1830
1831
1832
1833
1834
1835
1836
1837
1838
1839

T o n n a g e e m p lo y e d .
V a lu e o f

T o ta l.

D o lla r s .

388,535
429,230
288,375
330,466
160,059
242,451
290,862
230,385
260,759
156,290
244,790
336,162
537,774
255,756
335,868
341,563
318,973
655,581
430,464

3,902,025
5,506,138
4,347,686
4,970,705
5,410,456
2,324,193
3,573,543
1,252,417
1,094,103
585,903
1,046,045
924,360
895,985
754,727
1,532,712
852,701
311,618
861,021
1,103,137

C le a r e d

Fes.

4,290,560
5,935,368
4,636,061
5,301,171
5,570,515
2,566,644
3,864,405
1,482,802
1,354,862
742,193
1,290,835
1,580,522
1,433,759
1,010,483
1,868,580
1,194,264
600,591
1,516,602
1,533,601

3,111,951
5,242,536
6,511,425
5,618,502
7,533,115
7,422,186
3,617,183
5,339,108
4,680,847
3,878,141
3,083,205
5,344,907
7,541,570
7,892,327
5,987,187
7,324,816
8,965,337
4,764,536
3,678,509

E n te r e d

s e ls .

Ton­
nage.

M en .

V es­
s e ls .

Ton­
n age.

M en.

N o.

T on s.

N o.

N o.

T on s.

N o.

16
22
26
26
23
13
24
9
17
9
14
19
26
22
20
15
9
18
15

6,040
8,135
9,478
9,563
8,667
4,956
8,950
3,664
6,351
3,501
5,061
7,232
9,538
8,123
7,104
5,662
3,793
7,314
6,419

302
406
473
478
433
247
447
183
317
175
253
361
476
405
339
265
175
342
279

15
26
35
28
36
28
24
27
22
23
11
30
41
43
36
43
42
29
18

5,622 281
9,622 481
13,067 653
10,518 525
13,468 673
10,432 520
8,889 444
9,981 499
8,052 400
8,598 429
4,316 215
11,149 557
15,334 765
15,550 775
13,495 743
16,445 785
16,160 738
11,821 512
7,392 321

A s t a t e m e n t e x h i b i t i n g th e v a l u e o f th e e x p o r t s o f f o r e i g n m e r c h a n d i s e a n d d o m e s t ic
p r o d u c e to C h i n a , a n n u a l l y , f r o m 1821 to 1839, d i s t i n g u i s h i n g i n th e f o r m e r th e a r ­
t i c l e s f r e e , f r o m th o s e p a y i n g s p e c i f ic a n d a d v a l o r e m d u t i e s .
Year

30 th

V a l u e o f f o r e i g n m e r c h a n d is e e x p o r t e d .

S e p t.

F ree o f
d u ty .

P a y in g dutie s a d v a l.

P a y in g sp ec if ic d u t i e s .

1821
1822
1823
1824
1825
1826
1827
1828
1829
1830
1831
1832
1833
1834
1835
1836
1737
1838
1839

$3,398,026
5,081,620
3,618,377
4,489,933
4,535,141
1,729,364
2,518,582
476,556
611,619
121,599
411,622
472,540
460,673
525,163
1,460,664
705,589
252,337
797,355
1,091,354

$483,130
356,623
658,007
418,670
796,782
463,752
836,487
670,031
374,976
414,296
567,314
360,393
339,541
204,097
59,009
120,054
22,376
39,874
518

$20,869
67,895
71,302
62,102
78,533
131,077
218,474
105,830
107,508
50,008
67,109
91,427
95,771
25,467
13,039
27,058
36,905
23,792
11,265




V a lu e o f dom e s tic p r o - T o ta l v a lu e .
d u c e , <J-c.

$3,902,025
5,506,138
4,347,686
4,970,705
5,410,456
2,324,193
3,573,543
1,252,417
1,094,103
585,903
1,046,045
924,360
895,985
754,727
1,532,712
852,701
311,618
861,021
1,103,137

$388,535
429,230
288,375
330,466
160,059
242,451
290,862
230,385
260,759
156,290
244,790
336,162
537,774
255,756
335,868
341,563
318,973
655,581
430,464

$4,290,560
5,935,368
4,636,041
5,301,171
5,570,515
2,566,644
3,864,405
1,482,802
1,354,862
742,193
1,290,835
1,580,522
1,433,759
1,010,483
1,868,580
1,194,264
600,591
1,516,602
1,533,601

Commercial Statistics.

267

COMMERCE O F BOSTON FOR T H E LA ST T W E N T Y YEARS.
The number of foreign arrivals during the last twenty years was aB follows :—1820,
816; 1821,854; 1822,763; 1823, 832; 1824,852; 1825,817; 1826,870; 1827,728;
1828, 680; 1829, 663; 1830, 642; 1831, 766; 1832, 1064; 1833, 1067; 1834, 1156;
1835, 1302; 1836, 1452; 1837, 1591; 1838, 1813; 1839, 1553; from January 1, to
July 31, 1840, 839; during the corresponding time last year, 814—increase, 25.
C learances.—The number of foreign clearances during the last twenty years w a s:
1820, 531; 1821,613; 1822,584; 1823,600; 1824,633; 1825,652; 1826,614; 1827,
524; 1828, 527; 1829, 495; 1830, 561; 1831, 679 ; 1832, 943 ; 1833, 935; 1834,
1003; 1835, 1221; 1836, 1333; 1837,1383; 1838, 1132; 1839, 1389; from January 1
to July 31, 1840, 746; during the same time last year, 770.
T onnage.—The registered and enrolled tonnage in the district of Boston, for the year
1820, was 153,087 tons. The registered and enrolled tonnage in Boston for the year
1839, was 205,009—increase of tonnage, 51,922 tons.
PROFORM A ACCOUNT O F A SH IPM E N T OF R IC E FROM CH A RLESTON
TO HAVRE.
Prepared fo r the M erchants' Magazine, by a Merchant o f Charleston, S. C.

100 casks Carolina Rice,
Reduced into 96 casks weighing gross lb.....................69,085
Actual tare “ ..................... 6,955
N ett

“ .....................62,130 at 3 ct. lb. $1,863 90
C h a rg es.

Cost of 96 empty casks at 50 cents,...................... ................
................
4 “ ...................... .................
Wharfage,
12$ “ ...................... .................
Cartage of 100 casks,
8** “ ...................... .................
1 week storage,
| per ct...................... .................
Insurance against fire,
Bills of lading, postages, & c................................... .................

$48
19
3
12
8
2
4

00
20
84
50
00
33
03
97 90
$1,961 80

Marine insurance on $2,157 98, including 10 per ct. imaginary
profit at 1J per c t.........................................................................
Policy,.................................................................
Commission, § per ct,.......................................

$26 97
1 25
7 19
---------

35 41

Commission for purchasing, 2J per c t.................................................................
do
for drawing bills, l j per ct. on $2,078 31,..................................

$1,997 21
49 93
31 17
$2,078 31

Drawn on Paris at 60 days sight, at fs. 5 25,....................................................f. 10,911 19
Banking commission in Paris, % per c t ..............................................................
54 56
C h a r g e s in H a v r e .

Freight at $ 3 per 600 lbs. nett,........................................................ $310 65
Primage, 5 per c t.................................................
15 53
$326 18
A t fs. 5 25,................................
Duty on gross kil. 31,330 at fs. 2 75 per 100 k ............................. f. 861 57
Discount for cash, 1 per c t................................
8 62
------------




Carried forward,

1,712 45
852 95

f. 13,531 15

Commercial Statistics.

2 G8

Brought over, f. 13,531
153
Receiving, delivering, cartage, cooperage, labor, 1 month storage, &c.....
10
Postages and small charges,.
Insurance against fire, * p< . UU i
369
“
>2f per ct. on f. 14,064 08,
Brokerage,
*
Discount of 4* months, 2*
“ >
.f. 14,064
T otal,......
W eight in Havre, gross k. 31,330
Tare, 12 per ct.
3,760

15
60
15
18
08

N ett k. 27,570—costing in Havre, duty paid, f. 25 50.6 per 50 kil.
The Rice to remain unsold from 4 to 5 weeks.
PROFORM A ACCOUNT O F RICE FROM CHARLESTON TO A N TW ER P.
100 casks Carolina Rice. (See preceding account to Havre.)
Total amount of invoice,.............................................................................. $2,078 31
Drawn on Paris at fs. 5 25,..........................................................................f. 10,911 19
Banking commission in Paris, * per c t ......................................................
54 56
f. 10,965 75
Reduced into current guilders at par, or fl. 47* per 100 francs,.............fl. 5,181 32
C h a r g e s a t A n tw e r p .

Freight at $ 3 per 600 lb. nett, corresponding to 46* shillings
sterling per ton of 2240 lbs.................................................... $310 65
Primage, 5 per ct..........................................................................
15 53
$326 18
A t f. 5 25, and 47* fl. per f. 100,........................................
Duty on gross k. 31,330
Tare 15 per ct. “ 4,700

809 13

N ett k. 26,630 at 30 cents per 100 k.,........................ fl. 79 89
Syndicat, 13 per ct.................................................
10 39
Weighing, 2 cents per 100 k .................................
6 27
Stamp, permit, &c.................................................
4 00
-----------100 55
Receiving, cartage, labor, stowing, & c...............................................................
43 20
Delivering, weighing, and petty charges,..........................................................
28 80
Storage one month at 4 cents per 100 k ..... ............................................................
1253
Brokerage,
f per ct. }
182 80
Insurance against fire, |
“
> 2 | per c t ......................................................
Discount of 4 months, 2
“
)
---------------*
T otal,...........................................................................................fl. 6,358 33
Gross weight in Antwerp, k. 31,330
Tare 12 per ct.
3,760
N ett k. 27,570
Costing in Antwerp, duty paid, fl. 11 53 per 50 kil., supposing the goods to remain about
one month in store.
R emarks.—In the above proforma accounts, no commission and guarantee, which, in
Havre and Antwerp, amount to 3 per ct., have been calculated, in order to approach
the nearest the actual cost. If the shipment is made by order of a European house,
the calculation is correct to the smallest fraction ;*but if it is on account of the pur­
chaser himself, the commission charged for buying will cover the one in Europe for
selling. Supposing the rice to remain unsold for four or five weeks, the interest gained
on 60 days drafts, which now are generally remitted by the steamers, is nearly com­
pensated.




Commercial Statistics.

269

R i c e b o u g h t i n C h a r l e s to n a t th e f o l l o w i n g p r i c e s , w i l l s t a n d in a t H a v r e , a t th e r a t e
o f e x c h a n g e on P a r is o f

5 15
5 20
5 25
5 30
5 40
5 05
5 10
5 35
f. 5
cts 2 f. 18 37 f. 18 50 f. 18 63 f. 18 77 f. 18 90 f. 19 03 f. 19 17 f. 19 30 f. 19 43
2J 21 45 21 61 21 78 21 94 22 10 22 27 22 44 22 60 22 76
3 24 53 24 73 24 92 25 12 25 31 25 51 25 70 25 90 26 09
34 27 61 27 84 28 07 28 29 28 52 28 74 28 97 29 19 29 42
30 70 30 95 31 21 31 46 31 72 31 98 32 23 32 49 32 75
4
44 33 78 34 07 34 35 34 64 34 93 35 21 35 50 35 79 36 07
5 36 86 37 18 37 50 37 81 38 13 38 45 38 77 39 09 39 40
1 62
1 57
1 60
1 63
1 65
each £ ct.
1 54
1 56
1 59
1 66
C o r r e s p o n d in g p r ic e s a t H a v r e .

fs. 22 ct. 2
23 2
24 2
25
3
26 3
27
3
3
28
29
3
30
3
31
4
32
4
33 4
34
4
35 4
36
4
each f. 4

59 ct. 2
2
75
91
2
3
07
3
24
3
40
56
3
72
3
89
3
05
4
4
21
4
37
54
4
4
70
4
86
08

56 ct. 2
72
2
2
88
3
04
3
20
36
3
3
53
3
69
3
85
3
01
17
4
33
4
4
49
4
65
4
81
08

54 ct. 2
69
2
85
2
01
2
17
3
33
3
49
3
65
3
81
3
97
3
13
4
28
4
4
44
60
4
76
4
08

51 ct. 2
67
2
82
2
98
2
14
3
30
3
45
3
61
3
77
3
92
3
08
4
4
24
40
4
55
4
71
4
08

The freight is calculated at $ 3 per 600 lb.

48 ct. 2
64
2
79
2
95
2
11
3
26
3
42
3
57
3
73
3
88
3
04
4
20
4
35
4
51
4
67
4
08

46 ct. 2 43 ct. 2
61
2 59
2
77
2
2 74
92
2
2 89
08
3 05
3
23
3 20
3
39
3 35
3
54
3 51
3
69
3 66
3
85
3 81
3
00
3 96
3
15
4 12
4
31
4 27
4
46
4
4 42
62
4 58
4
08
08

41 ct. 2
56
2
71
2
86
2
02
2
17
3
32
3
47
3
62
3
77
3
93
3
08
4
23
4
38
4
53
4
08

39
54
69
84
99
14
29
44
59
74
89
04
19
34
49
08

For every dollar more, add f. 1 06.

R i c e b o u g h t a t C h a r l e s to n a t th e f o l l o w i n g p r i c e s , w i l l s t a n d i n a t A n t w e r p , a t th e
E x c h a n g e on

o

00

Paris,......... fs. 5 00 f. 5 05 f. 5 10 f. 5 15 f. 5 20 f. 5 25
Amsterdam ct.42.33 ct.41.91 ct.41.50 ct.41.10 ct.40.70 ct.40.31
London, — $ 5 08 $ 5 03 $ 4 98 $ 4 93 $ 4 884 $ 4 83J
or pr. ct. 114.3 113 1-6 112
111
1094

f. 5 30 f. 5 35 f. 5 40
ct.39.91 ct.39.56 ct.39.19
$ 4 794 m m $ 4 704
107 4-5 106 4-5 105 4-5

ct. 2 fl.8 15 fl.8 21 fl.8 28 fl.8 34 fl. 8 40 fl.8 46 fl.8 53 fl.8 59 fl.8 65
24
9 61
9 69
9 77
9 92 10 00 10 08 10 15 10 23
9 84
3
11 07 11 16 11 26 11 35 11 44 11 53 11 62 11 71 11 81
34 12 53 12 64 12 74 12 85 12 96 13 06 13 17 13 28 13 38
13 99 14 11 14 23 14 36 14 48 14 60 14 72 14 84 14 96
4
44 15 45 15 59 15 72 15 86 15 99 16 13 16 27 16 40 16 54
5
16 91 17 06 17 21 17 36 17 51 17 66 17 81 17 96 18 11
74
77
78
79
each \
73
75
76
77
74
C o ir e s p o n d in g p r ic e s a t A n tw e r p .

fl. 9 ct. 2 29 ct. 2 27 ct. 2 24 ct. 2 22 ct. 2 20 ct. 2
2 60
10
2 58
2 55
2 52
2
2 63
11
2 94
2 91
2 88
2
2 98
2 85
12
3 28
3 25
3 32
3 22
3 18
3
13
3 62
3 59
3 66
3 55
3
3 51
14 4 00
3 96
3 92
3 88
3 84
3
15
4 35
4 30
4 26
4 21
4 17
4
16
4 69
4 64
4 55
4 50
4
4 59
17
5 03
4 98
4 88
4 83
4
4 93
18
5 37
5 32
5
21
5
16
5
5 26
17
each 4
17
17
16
17
09
08
09
08
08
4
The above is calculated at the freight of $ 3 per 600 lb.
fl.—.50 to the above cost at Antwerp.




17 ct. 2 15 ct. 2
2 47
2
50
2 80
2
83
3
3 12
15
3
3 44
48
3 77
3
81
4 09
4
13
4 41
4
46
4
78
4 74
5
11
5 06
16
16
08
08

13 ct. 2
45
2
77
2
09
3
41
3
73
3
05
4
37
4
4
69
4
01
16
08

11
43
74
06
38
70
01
33
65
96
16
08

For every dollar more, add

270

Commercial Regulations
R emarks

on the foregoing

T ables.

They are calculated upon the preceding Proforma Accounts, including all charges,
except commission and guarantee at the place of sale.
The first part shows the cost at Havre or Antwerp, at a given price and rate of ex­
change at Charleston. The second gives the corresponding value of prices quoted in
the same European markets, and instruct us how much may be paid in Charleston to
make the rice stand in, at the said quotation, or how much the same will nett.
In the tables for Antwerp, it will be found whether it is more profitable to draw on
London, Paris, or Amsterdam. In the first case, the exchange between London and
Antwerp is reckoned at the fixed rate of fl. 12 per £ ; and in the second, fl. 47£ axe
taken for fs. 100.
To avoid the repetition of fractions, the last line gives the amount to be added to the
cost, for each fractional part, enabling the reader to find the cost for any price what­
ever. As, for instance, rice bought at Charleston at 3$ cents, exchange fs. 5 20.
It will cost in Havre at
cents, according to the table,.................................... fs.28 51
Add for £ cent, one half of \ = f. 1 60,............................................................
80
T otal,................................................................. f. 29 31
And supposing the freight to be $3£ per 600 lbs., add....................................
53
per 50 k .,.......................................................... f. 29 84
To find the corresponding value of fs. 30 25, exchange fs. 5 10,
Take for fs. 30,................................cts. 3 81 > cts. 3 85—price which may be paid in
and the proportion for 25 cent.,
“
04 y
Charleston.

COMMERCIAL REGULATIONS,
TO G U ID E OW NERS AND CA PTA IN S O F VESSELS BOUND TO T H E
BRAZILIAN PORTS.
To despatch a vessel at the office of the Consulate of Brazil, are necessary:
Three copies of the manifest, one certified at the customhouse.
The invoice of a l l , and e v e r y s h i p p e r .
Bills of lading.
Bill of health.
List of crew ; and passengers, if any, must take passports.
I t is also necessary to give three days’ notice at the consulate, of the intended de­
parture of vessels, for any port in Brazil.
A rt . 146. The master of any vessel sailing with a cargo for any of the Brazilian
ports, ought to bring two copies of his manifest, exactly alike, which must contain:
S e c . 1. The name, description, and tonnage of the vessel.
S e c . 2. The master’s name, with the date at the end, and his signature.
S e c . 3. The port where he took the cargo, stated in the manifest.
S e c . 4. The port or ports said cargo is bound to.
S e c . 5. The marks, countermarks, number of packages, and their descriptions, such
as bales, boxes, chests, pipes, half pipes, barrels, tierces, &c.
S e c . 6. A declaration of the quantity and quality of the merchandise in each pack­
age as near as possible, or of several homogeneous packages with the same mark, and
of the goods stowed loose.
S e c . 7. The names of the shippers and consignees, or whether they are to order.
Every thing must be written in words at length, except the numbers of the packages,
and on entire sheets of paper not pieced to one another.
A rt . 147. W hen a vessel has taken cargo at more than one port, she ought to bring
a manifest from each one of the ports whereat she may have received shipment.
A rt . 148. A t the end of the manifests, the master shall state the number of passen
gers, both cabin and steerage ones, and make all other declarations he may deem re­




Commercial Regulations

271

quisite for his safety and good faith, even acknowledging any packages that may be
short of, or over and above the manifest, accounting for such deficiency or excess, un­
der the certainty, that nothing of what he may afterwards allege shall release him from
responsibility : nor shall he stand exonerated by means of the vague declarations usu­
ally made of not being answerable for deficiency or difference.
A rt . 149. A t the time of the visit, the master shall hand to the Guardamor a list of
the baggage belonging to the private use of each passenger, every list being signed by
its owner, in order that by this list, the discharge may be effected at the customhouse,
and the delivery of what be free of duty may be granted after the examination made
by the competent officers, in virtue of an order from the collector; said lists returning
to the M e s a G r a n d e , (collector’s table,) to be examined and laid by. If the baggage
belong to colonists or emigrants coming to settle in the country, the examination there­
of shall be made on board.
A rt . 150. As soon as the master of any vessel bound for the ports of the Brazilian
Empire shall have completed his shipment at the port or ports he is to sail from, and
made up the manifest in the manner directed by Art. 146, he is to produce the copies
of said manifest to the Brazilian consul residing at such port, or to his deputy, that he
may certify, should they contain the declarations and formalities required by these
regulations, numbering and signing all their leaves, drawing a dash on the blanks, that
nothing else may be thereto added, and certifying at the end that such manifest is in
due form, without erasures, interlineations or corrections, nor any thing that may create
a doubt as to its clear purport; after which he will deliver them to the master of the
vessel, one copy open, and the other put up in a letter closed and sealed with the con­
sular seal, and directed to the collector of the customhouse, at the port where such
vessel is bound to.
A rt . 151. In those ports where there is no Brazilian consul, or any person acting as
such, the manifest shall be certified and closed by two Brazilian merchants therein re­
siding, and in default of them, by two merchants of the country; and the signatures
both of the latter and of the former, m ust be authenticated by the proper local au­
thority.
A rt . 152. If the manifest which the master has to produce certified by the Brazilian
consul, or the person who has acted as such, contain any defect or irregularity which
he ought to have prevented or caused to be corrected before setting to it the certificate,
he alone shall be responsible for it, and not the master of the vessel.
A rt . 153. But if it be found out that the defect or irregularity was committed sub­
sequently to the consul’s approval, the guilt shall fall on the m aster; the same will be
the case if the manifest shall have been certified by Brazilian or foreign merchants,
whether the defect or irregularity be known to have preceded or followed the appro­
bation.
A rt . 154. If it happen that a ship or vessel proceeding with a destination and mani­
fest for any one port of the empire, lands a t a foreign port a part of her cargo included
in the manifest, the master is to bring from that port a manifest in duplicate of the
goods unladen, accompanied with the same forms prescribed in the foregoing articles.
When the discharge be made at a Brazilian port, and the remainder of the cargo be
carried on to another Brazilian port, the customhouse shall furnish the master with
such certificates as will prove the discharge at the port to which he directs his course.
A rt . 155. Wherein it be ascertained that the vessel brought a greater quantity of
merchandise than what appears from the manifest, and the declaration thereto added by
the master, such merchandise as may be found over and above that quantity shall be
seized and distributed among the captors, the master paying to the national treasury a
fine equal to one half the value thereof, and the captors paying the usual duties.
A r t . 156. If less quantity of goods be found than what is shown by the manifest,
and the declaration thereto added by the master, the missing goods shall be deemed as
concealed or removed, and the master shall forfeit the value thereof for the benefit of
those who may discover the deficiency, and half the value as a fine to the national
treasury; and these condemnations will take place by the mere fact of the discovery
of an excess or deficiency, although the concealment or removal of the goods may not
otherwise be proved. But the dispositions of this and the other article only apply to
such goods as can be counted in the act of their being received on board, for with re­
gard to those which come in boxes, or in bales, the master is only answerable for the
excess and deficiencies of packages. On bulky goods which are cleared by measure or
weight, and which are liable to waste or increase, as salt jerk beef, &c., the penalty of
this and the preceding article, shall not be imposed, except on the differences of 5 per
cent, more or less than what is shown by the manifest.




272

Quarantine Regulations at Cadiz.

A rt. 157. For every difference in the quality of the package, or in the mark, the
master is to pay two mil reis fine, although in every thing else the discharge should
agree with the manifest.
Art. 158. A vessel departing in ballast from a foreign port, bound to some one of the
Brazilian ports, shall bring a certificate so to prove it, drawn up in the same form, and
with the like authenticity as the m anifests; and if the departure be from a Brazilian
port, she must bring a certificate from the customhouse, under penalty of paying in
either case a fine of from 100 to 500 mil reis.
A rt . 159. Any master of vessel who shall fail to bring the manifest and certificates
in the manner specified in this chapter, or who shall bring open the copy of the mani­
fest received by him closed up, shall pay a fine of from 100 to 1000 mil reis, at the
judgment of the collector, according to the quality of the misdemeanor, and regard be­
ing had to the amount of the cargo; and only after payment of the forfeiture shall lie be
admitted to effect the unloading. In case of bringing a single copy of the manifest, he
shall forfeit 50 mil reis. Vessels coming from fishing voyages, are excepted with regard
to the produce thereof, as they are not obliged to bring a manifest.
A rt . 160. Should the master come without a manifest, the vessel shall be admitted
to unload, by paying a fine of four mil reis for every ton of her admeasurement.
A rt . 161. The vessel remains mortgaged to the payment of the fines imposed on the
master by these regulations, and shall not be released to leave the port, without the fine
or fines being first paid, or the necessary sum deposited for the purpose.
Vessels sailing from the aforesaid ports one month after such publication, shall remain
subject to the herein above mentioned dispositions.
Those consuls and vice-consuls who shall fail to comply with the injunctions con­
tained in the present chapters, shall be liable, for the first time, to a fine of from 100 to
500 mil reis, to be imposed upon them by the Treasury court, (Tribunal do Thesouro,)
and in case of relapsing, they shall be dismissed from office.
Consulate General of the Empire of Brazil,
D IO N IZIO D E AZEVEDO PECANHA.
N e w Y o r k , 1840.
QU A RA N TIN E REGULATION S A T CADIZ.
The following copy of a decree has been received at Lloyd’s from the British Con­
sul at C adiz:—
“ The Provisional Board of Health, on the 1st of this month, communicates to the
Board of Trade as follows:—
“ *In consequence of there being in the Lazzaretto at Malta, under quarantine, an
English vessel from Alexandria, attacked by the plague, the Supreme Board of Health
has commanded, by an order dated the 22d of May last, which I have just received,
that all vessels arriving in our ports from that island shall be considered as having un­
clean bills of health, so long as the above-mentioned vessel shall continue in that state ;•
which, with the concurrence of the said Board of Trade, is hereby made public, for
the information and government of the mercantile community.’
“ JO SE M ARIA AGUAYO,
‘ J une 6, 1840.
“ Accountant Secretary.”

TO SUBSCRIBERS.
Extract o f a Circular from the Postmaster General.
“ Postmasters may enclose money in a letter to the publisher of a news­
paper, (or magazine,) to pay the subscription of a third person, and frank
the letter if written by himself.11
Some subscribers may not be aware of the above regulations. It will
be seen, that by requesting the postmaster where they reside, to frank
their letters containing subscription money, he will do so upon being satis­
fied that the letter contains nothing but what refers to the subscription.