States direct from Prussia, the Hanse Towns and other ports of Germany from the 1st day of October, 1834, to the 30th day of September, 1836, amounted to $8,790,192; making an annual average amount of German produce and manufacture of $4,395,096. To which are to be added the importations of German produce and manufactures by the way of Holland and France, which, from a strict examination of official documents, and other information derived from correct and wellinformed sources, may fairly be estimated at an annual average for those two years as follows:

Through Holland, $525,000; through France, $2,500,000. Making an annual average total of importations into the United States of German produce and manufacture of $7,420,096."

During the fiscal years 1836, 1837, the exportation of German manufactures direct and indirect, amounted to $8,700,000. The annual average value for 1834, 1835, 1836, was $4,395,096, of which at least five-sevenths are included in Wheaton's treaty, and amount to $3,139,355, and to which are to be added the average amount of the indirect importations through France and Holland, $3,025,000, making an average amount included in the treaty, $6,025,355.

It is not an easy matter to make exact comparative calculations between the duties fixed by the Tariff of 1842 and the duties in the treaty; but upon the best data, we have no doubt the reduction will average fifty per cent. The rate of duty in German manufactures is on an average about 30 per cent. under that law. Then 30 per cent. on $6,025,355, would be $1,807,406, and the treaty diminution of fifty per cent. would amount to $903,853.

But this is a small part only of the mischief which would have resulted to the revenue by the adoption of the Wheaton treaty. Suppose England should choose to follow in the train of this reciprocity treaty, the actual duty there is three shillings sterling, or 72 cents per pound on unmanufactured tobacco(a nice comment by the way upon the pretended Free Trade.) The annual consumption of unmanufactured American tobacco may be estimated at 18,000 hhds. Twenty per cent. deduction on 72 cents, would be about 20 cents, which would make the reduced duty in England, upon the principle of the Wheaton treaty, 52 cents per lb., which enormous duty for all practical purposes, would be as restrictive upon our tobacco

trade as the present duty. But even if it would increase the consumption twentyseven per cent., it would only be for four years a total of 9,720 hogsheads, or annually 2,430 hogsheads-which being of a superior quality, may be estimated at $75 per hhd.; the reduction would then be $182,250, for which reduction we should have to grant Great Britain an average diminution of fifty per cent. on the duties on the importation of a large portion of her manufactures. Let us by way of argument see what such reduction with less revenue would amount to. Mr. Dodge states in his report to Mr. Wheaton, that from the 1st of October, 1834, to the 30th September, 1836, the average total importations for those two years into the United States from Great Britain, were $69,947,722. Now at least one quarter of that amount may be estimated to consist of similar articles to those from Germany. One fourth would be $17,486,930. The average duty 30 per cent. would be $5,246,879, a reduction of 50 per cent of which would be $2,623,039, making an annual deficit in the treasury of the United States to that amount from such a miscalled reciprocity treaty with Great Britain. But France, too, may wish to make such a one-sided treaty with us; how would it affect our commerce with that country? The average annual importation of unmanufactured American tobacco into France may be estimated at 12,000 hhds. annually. In France there is no duty on our tobacco, but there is what is much worse, a government monopoly. Where there is no duty we cannot ask for a reduction, but suppose the French government would agree to a purchase of twentyseven per cent more tobacco. The Regie would then have to purchase 1,620 hhds more, being 27 per cent on 12,000 hhds., the consumption as before stated. would make a total increase in four years of 6,480 hhds., which at a cost in the United States of $65 per hhd., would be for 1,620 hhds. equal to $105,311, annual purchase.

This

The total importation from France is $26,265,396. One half would be $13,32,697, the average duty on the same at 30 per cent. would be $3,939,809, and a diminution of fifty per cent on the same, would be $1,969,954, consequently there would be this further annual deficit in the revenue of the United States.

The following recapitulation will show the supposed advantages and disadvantages of the Wheaton treaty, supposing a

Of all living statesmen there is none more strongly marked by peculiar individuality than M. Thiers. Of all living statesmen there is none whom it is more difficult to sketch. He resembles those portraits exhibited in a certain class of low print-shops which are covered with fluted glass. Their features are striking, but entirely change with the point of view from which you behold them. Look at it from the right, it is Lafayette; move to the left, it melts into Metternich! M. Thiers is a journalist in the bureau of the National or the columns of the Constitutionnel,-M. Thiers on the benches of the opposition, assailing the Cabinet, and M. Thiers as a ministerial deputy, defending cabinet measures,-M. Thiers as a subordinate agent of power, and M. Thiers as president of the Council,-M. Thiers, as historian of the Consulate and the Empire, and M. Thiers at the head of his own hospitable board in the splendid halls of his mansion in the Place St. George-are different individuals and yet the same personage, and are all marked by features strongly characteristic.

Born poor, he had fortune to make. Born obscure, he had fame to acquire. Failing at the Bar, he took to literature; and aspiring to distinction in politics, he enlisted under the banner of liberalism more from necessity than taste. It was the only party under the restoration whose ranks were open to a parvenu and an adventurer. He commenced by some grotesque revivals of revolutionary associations, and dressed himself à la Danton. Like most persons of lively imagination, who in youth have been excluded from tho enjoyment of the luxuries of wealth and the consideration of rank, he was devoured with wants. To the munificence of Lafitte he was first indebted for the means of their satisfaction. It was by his genius alone, however, and the opportunity afforded by the revolution of July for its development, that he was enabled to pass from a garret to a palace; from the position of a penniless adventurer to the head of the first constitutional government on the continent of Europe. M. Thiers is now (1846) in his fortyninth year, having been born at Marseilles on the 15th April, 1797. His father, a locksmith, belonged by family

and descent to the working class; his mother gave him an origin a shade less humble, being descended from a mercantile family whose reverses had lowered her to the level of her husband. Thus, as has been truly observed, M. Thiers, in coming into the world, was not cradled on the lap of a Duchess. In childhood, as in youth, he had all the disadvantages of poverty and obscurity to struggle against; but, on the other hand, he had in his favor those advantages which the necessity for exertion always affords to those in whom great talents are associated with aspiring ambition.

The condition of his parents would have excluded him from the advantages of education, were it not for the influence of some of his maternal connections who discovered in the child traces of that intellectual capacity which, at a later period, elevated him to a higher sphere. By their interest he was nominated to a free scholarship in the Imperial Lyceum of Marseilles. His progress there soon justified the sagacity of the friends to whom he was indebted for the opportunities of instruction which the institution afforded. He was loaded with academical honors.

The course of education pursued at these establishments, under the Empire, was mainly directed to military acquirements; and consequently the exact sciences held a prominent place, and distinction in them was the surest road to honor and promotion. From the first, M. Thiers evinced a decided aptitude for this department of his studies. The traces it left upon his mind are visible in the style and structure of all his writings and speeches. But for the events of 1814-15, his destination would probably have been the army. But the fall of the Empire and the restoration of the Bourbons turned his talents into other channels, and at the age of eighteen he was entered as a law student at Aix, in Provence, not far from his native city.

Here he became the friend and the inseparable companion of a youth who, like himself, sprung from the lowest strata of society, had his fortune to make, and who, as well as Thiers, felt that within him which assured him of success in the pursuit of fame in letters and in politics. The two friends prosecuted to

gether their professional studies; were called to the bar the same day; failed equally in the profession they had chosen; competed for the same literary prizes; and were destined, during the remainder of their career, to pursue together a parallel course, and to mount to the Temple of Fame and Fortune by the same path. They have never separated. Through poverty and through wealth, in the obscurity of the garret and the splendor of the palace, they have still, as in boyhood, continued hand in hand; and the name of Thiers is not pronounced among his friends without that of Mignet recurring to their memory.

With little natural inclination for the dry study of the law, the two young friends obeyed a common instinct, and gave themselves up to the more fascinating pursuit of literature, philosophy and history, but more especially to politics. The ambitious and aspiring spirit of Thiers soon acknowledged a presentiment of the brilliant future which awaited him. Already, he was the recognized leader of a party among his fellow-students. Already he engaged in debate, and harangued his comrades against the government of the restoration. Already he evoked the recollections of the Empire, and recalled the glorious victories of the Republic. It will be easily believed that a spirit so turbulent was soon put upon the black list of the Royalist professors, was execrated by the commissary of police, and worshiped by his fellowstudents. His activity and talents were as sure to entitle him to scholastic honors as to render his superiors unwilling to confer them upon him.

An amusing anecdote, characteristic of him, is related of this early period of his career. A literary society established at Aix, offered, in 1819, a prize for the best eulogy of Vauvenarguès. Thiers determined to compete for this honor, and accordingly sent in his manuscript in the customary manner, with a fictitious signature, accompanied by a sealed packet containing the name of the author, which was only to be opened in case the essay should receive the prize. It had, however, through his own imprudence, transpired that he was among the competitors, and the judges, knowing from his genius the probability of his success, and unwilling to add to the influence of the turbulent little Jacobin by conferring the honor upon him, declared that none of the essays merited the prize, and postponed

the competition till the next year. When the next year arrived, the same essay was again offered; but to the infinite delight of the heads of the academy, another essay had been sent from Paris, which had been found incontestably superior to that which was known to be the composition of Thiers. But in order in some measure to make up for the disappointment of the preceding year, they granted to that essay an accessit, being an acknowledgment of the merit of the second degree of excellence.

The essay from Paris, then, being pronounced to be deserving of the prize, the sealed packet containing the name of the author was formally opened, and the mortification of the judges may be imagined, on discovering that this essay also was the production of the same hand! Thiers, in order to surmount the prejudice which prevailed against him, wrote a second essay, got it copied in another hand, and sent it to Paris, from whence it was transmitted, the better to mislead the judges. Thus, both the prize itself and the accessit were conferied on the obnoxious student.

At the Bar of Aix, Thiers soon found that it was vain to struggle against the disadvantages of his birth and parentage. It was too near the scene of his infancy, and the humility and obscurity of his origin were too well known. Besides, the city of Aix was one of those provincial places to which the influences of the revolution had scarcely penetrated, and Royalism and aristocracy prevailed there almost as much as before 1789. Impelled by mutual hopes, and full of those aspirations of the future which are so natural to youth, Mignet and himself determined to seek their fortunes in Paris, where alone, as they rightly concluded, their genius could surmount the difficulties opposed to them. To Paris they accordingly determined to go, and packing up their little all, they took the diligence and set out, as rich in hopes as they were poor in cash. Mignet went first to feel the way, and was soon followed by his friend.

During the first months of their residence in Paris, our two aspirants took a lodging, which, since their arrival at fame and fortune, has become classic ground. The house of Shakspeare at Stratford-on-Avon, was never visited by the votaries of the bard with more enthusiasm than the admirers of French literature have examined the dwelling of the

future Prime Minister of France, and the distinguished Professor of History. A dirty dark street in the purlieus of the Palais Royale is called the Passage Montesquieu, situate in the most crowded and noisy part of Paris. Here you ascend by a flight of steps into a gloomy and miserable lodging-house, in the fifth story of which a smoked door conducts you into two small chambers, opening one from the other, which were the dwellings of two men, whose celebrity, within a few years afterwards, filled the world. A common chest of drawers, of the cheapest wood, a bed to match, two rush-bottom chairs, a little rickety nutwood table, incapable of standing steadily on its legs, and a white calico curtain, formed the inventory of the furniture which accommodated the future Prime Minister of the greatest country in Europe, and the future historian of the Revolution.

Those who have visited the two friends in their obscure attic, and have since partaken of the sumptuous hospitalities of the one, in his residence in the Place St. George, and have witnessed the respect and admiration manifested towards the other, at the assemblies at the Institute, will find abundant food for reflection on the mutability of human affairs, and duly considering what we shall have to relate of them, will be ready to allow that

"There is a tide in the affairs of men, Which, taken at the flood, leads on to Fortune."

Mignet had brought from the South introductions to M. Chatelain, then the chief editor of the Courier Français, to which journal he immediately became a contributor. M. Thiers at the same time had found means to introduce himself to the notice of Manuel, who at that moment had been elevated to the summit of popularity by his violent expulsion from the Representative Chamber, at the instance of the Ministry of M. de Villèle. Manuel, in whose veins also flowed the warm blood of the South, received Thiers with the utmost cordiality and kindness, and presented him to M. Lafitte, under whose auspices he was received among the writers of the Constitutionnel, which at that time was the most influential journal on the Continent of Europe. Thus was laid the foundation of the fortunes of M. Thiers. It was, in fact, all he needed. It was the opportunity which Fortune supplied to his genius, and it

cannot be denied that he has turned it to profitable account.

The traces of his genius did not fail to be speedily visible in the columns of the Constitutionnel, and his name was pronounced with approbation in all the political coteries of the opposition, and detested in the saloons of the Faubourg St. Germain. He soon became a constant and admired frequenter of the most brilliant assemblies of Lafitte, Casimir Perier, and Count Flahaut. The Baron Louis, the most celebrated financier of that day, received him as his pupil and friend, and at his table a place was always provided for M. Thiers.

His natural endowments were admirably calculated to turn to profit the innumerable opportunities which were thus opened to him. Combining a memory from which nothing was allowed to escape, with an astonishing fluency and quickness of apprehension, he was enabled, without neglecting those exigencies of the daily press, to which he was indebted for his elevation, and at this time for his subsistence, to pass much time in society, where he spoke much, heard more, and carefully treasured up in his memory as food for future meditation, the matter of his conversations with the leading actors in the great Drama of the Revolution and the Empire. These personages he passed in review with a keen and observant eye,—the aged survivors of the constituent assembly, members of the national convention, of the council of five hundred, of the legislative assembly, of the Tribunate, Girondists, Montanists, generals, and marshals of the Empire, diplomatists, financiers, men of the pen and men of the sword, men of the head and men of the arm-he conversed with them all, questioned them, and extracted from their memories of the past and their impressions of the present inexhaustible materials for future speculation.

As his relations with society became more extended, he became more and more sensible of those material inconveniences which attend straightened pecuniary resources. Fortune, however, of which, even from infancy, he seems to have been a favorite, soon came to his relief. He had, soon after his arrival in Paris, become acquainted with a poor and obscure German bookseller, by name Schubart, who passed for a person of some learning, but whose knowledge, in fact, extended to little beyond the mere titles of