Page images
PDF
EPUB

THE AFRICAN SLAVE TRADE.

At the recent meeting of the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, held in London, the following details were gleaned from the report read by Mr. Scoble :-There were brought before the Mixed Commission Courts at Sierra Leone, in 1844, twenty-seven slavers, nine of whom were captured with two thousand five hundred and twenty-three slaves on board. During the last year, the number of slavers condemned by these courts was thirty-six, having on board upwards of six thousand slaves, and there remained six which had been captured for adjudication. From the beginning of April, 1844, to the middle of May, 1845, the squadron of cruisers stationed on the western coast of Africa captured fifty-nine slavers, thirteen of which had on board upwards of four thousand five hundred slaves. Of these slavers, one had been captured and condemned eight times, one, seven times; two, six times; three, five times; seven, four times; twelve, three times; eleven, twice; twenty-one, once. The stimulus to the trade was found in its immense profits. The traders did not hesitate to incur any risk or expense to attain their object. The committee concluded that there was no reasonable hope that the evil could be overcome by an armed force, and urged that henceforth the energies both of government and the country should be directed to the universal extirpation of slavery by means which were of a purely moral and pacific character. Slavery offered the greatest obstacle to the progress of divine truth. The report concluded by drawing attention to two points, namely, the abolition of slavery in Tunis, during the past year, and the emancipation of the slaves which was to take place in a few days in Surinam. Several resolutions were adopted, and strong opinions expressed by the speakers on the subject of the money received by the Free Church of Scotland from the slave states of America.

THE COMMERCIAL VALUE OF INSECTS.

Commerce brings into the market almost every thing that has a being in the water, on the earth, and in the air; from the whale that spouts and foams in the great deep to the smallest insect that exists in the land. A late writer remarks with great justice that "the importance of insects to commerce is scarcely ever treated of. Great Britain does not pay less than a million of dollars annually for the dried carcasses of a tiny insect-the Cochineal. Gum Shellac, another insect product from India, is of scarcely less pecuniary value. A million and a half of human beings derive their sole support from the culture and manufacture of silk, and the silk-worm alone creates an annual circulating medium of between one hundred and fifty and two hundred millions of dollars. Half a million of dollars is annually spent in England alone for foreign honey; 10,000 hundred weight of wax is imported into that country each year. Then there are the gall-nuts of commerce, used for dyeing, and in the manufacture of ink, &c., whilst the cantharides, or Spanish fly, is an important insect to the medical practitioner. In this way, we see the importance of certain classes of the insect race, whilst in another view, the rest clear the air of noxious vapors, and are severally designed by nature for useful purposes, though we in our blindness, may not understand them."

BRITISH MERCHANT SEAMEN.

From a recently published British Parliamentary paper it appears that the income and expenditure of the corporation for the relief of seamen in the merchant service, during the year ending 31st December, 1845, was £20,620 1s. 10d., comprising £18,315 16s. 4d. as duties, £332 188. dead men's wages, £81 7s. 6d. benefactions, and £1899 as interest on capital. The total expenditure was £23,041 16s. 6d., of which pensions amounted to £17,821 0s. 11d.; temporary relief to widows and children £2,326 9s. 5d.; Seamen's Hospital Society £570 9s., and the expenses of management £2,323 16s. 10d.

THE LOUISIANA LAW OF DEBTOR AND CREDITOR.

We would direct the attention of our readers to the article in this number on the law of debtor and creditor in Louisiana. This is a subject of great importance to our mercantile community, and we have no doubt will be rightly appreciated.

In this connection we would also say that we are glad to see, (as will our readers, by a card published in the advertising sheet of this Magazine) that a partnership in the legal profession has been established-one branch of which is in the city of New York, and the other in New Orleans. We are satisfied that this must be a great convenience to our merchants and business-men, as the partner in New York has for a long time past been a practitioner under the civil law of Louisiana. Questions are daily arising of vital importance to interests in the north, under that law, which, by reason of the general want of familiarity by the legal profession here, with that peculiar system of jurisprudence, cannot be solved but by a tedious, and unsatisfactory, and expensive correspondence. With regard too, to the settlement of claims and the collection of demands, the great convenience of such a law-partnership is apparent.

THE COMMERCE OF FRANCE AND BELGIUM.

A recent number of the Journal des Débats contains the following interesting paragraph respecting the influence of railway travelling upon the commerce of the two countries:"The general movement of the Belgian commerce amounted last year to 676,000,000f., or 85,000,000f. more than in 1844, which had yielded a similar surplus over 1843. This was nearly the proportion of our own commercial progress. Comparatively, however, it is more considerable, the amount of the general exchanges of the two countries being sixty-nine francs per head in France, and one hundred and sixty in Belgium. That manufacturing country produces more for exportation than for its small population. In the above amounts, the imports figure for 366,000,000f., and the exports for 310,000,000f.; and in the same sum, the special trade of Belgium, that is, her own private consumption, as well as the markets for her productions, comprised 418,000,000f., or nearly three-fifths, leaving 258,000,000f. for the trade of the entrepots, re-exportations, and transit. This last branch of the Belgian commerce is entitled to particular notice. Before the establishment of railroads in Belgium, the transit did not exceed 13,000,000f. or 14,000,000f. annually; in 1837, that is, two years after the opening of the principal lines, it suddenly doubled; in 1840, it quadrupled; in 1843, it amounted to 66,000,000f., and in 1845, the year after the complete termination of all the railway communications, it rose to 125,000,000f., thus nearly doubling in the course of two years. No country offers an instance of so considerable an augmentation; 125,000,000f. constitute nearly the amount of the transit of France, and in point of weight, it exceeds the latter, for Belgium carries more heavy and cumbersome goods than France. No doubt can exist that the progress of transit in Belgium resulted from the facilities afforded by the railway communication. In 1839, the railroads conveyed 50,000 tons; in 1840, 102,000; in 1843, 368,000; in 1845, 702,000. As respects the conveyance of travellers, it augmented between 1837 and 1845, from 1,385,000, to 3,456,000; and the receipts, during the same period, increased from 3,000,000f. to 12,500,000f. Such is the element of activity the railroads of Belgium have developed for the foreign and domestic trade of that country."

FIRST AMERICAN WHALE-SHIP IN ENGLAND.

The following scrap of history is from Barnerd's History of England, page 705:"1783. On the third of February the ship Bedford, Capt. Moores, belonging to Massachusetts, arrived in the Downs, passed Gravesend on the 4th, and was reported at the custom-house on the 6th. She was not allowed regular entry until some consultation had taken place between the commissioners of the customs and the lords of the council, on account of the many acts of parliament yet in force against the rebels of America. She was loaded with five hundred and eighty-seven butts of whale-oil, manned wholly with American seamen, and belonged to the island of Nantucket, Massachusetts. The vessel lay at the Horsley Down, a little below the tower, and was the first which displayed the thirteen stripes of America in any British port."

BRITISH STATISTICS OF THE COTTON TRADE.

In 1836 the highest price of Bowed Uplands was 104 per lb., the lowest 10d., and the quantity consumed 632 millions of pounds; in 1837 the highest price was 9fd., the lowest 64d., and the consumption 665 millions of pounds; in 1838 the highest price was 84d., the lowest 63d., and the consumption 738 millions of pounds; in 1839 the highest price was 94d., the lowest 643., and the consumption 640 millions of pounds; in 1840 the highest price was 64d., the lowest 541., and the consumption 835 millions of pounds; in 1841 the highest price was 7d., the lowest 5§d., and the consumption 778 millions of pounds; in 1842 the highest price was 5d., the lowest 54d., and the consumption 840 millions of pounds; in 1843 the highest price was 54d., the lowest 44d., and the consumption 931 millions; in 1844 the highest price was 6d., the lowest 4 d., and the consumption 931 millions; in 1845 the highest was 41., the lowest 10d., and the consumption 1,036 millions. The surplus stock on hand at the close of 1845 amounted to a million of bales in England alone.

CULTURE OF COTTON IN INDIA.

At a recent meeting of the Royal Asiatic Society, a communication was read from Professor Boyle, the botanist of the East India Company, detailing some farther results of the experimental trials for the culture of cotton in India. Since the last report of Dr White, 30,000 acres have been put into cultivation; from one acre alone the produce was 700 pounds, and more was to be expected. All now required to make East India cotton a most valuable export commodity, he said, is the employment of European agents in the India markets, to select the best qualities.

MARBLEHEAD FISHERIES.

The Salem Gazette contains a tabular view of the number of vessels, and their respective tonnage, which sail from Marblehead in the fishing business. From this it appears that the whole number of vessels, in 1845, was 65; their tonnage, 5,039; the amount of bounty received from government was $19,111 90; number of hands employ. ed, 463; quintals of fish landed, 40,500; hogsheads of salt used, about 6,500; number of barrels of tongues, sounds, and fins, about 650; number of barrels of oil, about 525. The whole value of the commerce to Marblehead, for the year 1845, is estimated at $153,255 65.

DECREASE OF THE MADERIA WINE TRADE.

The wine produce of the island of Maderia has remarkably decreased during the last four years. In 1845, only 2,669 pipes were obtained, against 3,012, 3,221, and 3,422 pipes in the years 1842-43-44. The exports in 1845 amounted to 2,823 pipes: viz. 669 to the United States, 616 to England, 320 to Russia, 220 to Jamaica, 302 to France, 175 to the East Indies, 109 to Portugal, (the mother country) 112 to various other countries.

FIRST IMPORTATION OF AMERICAN POULTRY INTO ENGLAND. It is stated in Wilmer and Smith's Times, that the Agerma, 500 tons, arrived at St. Katherine's Docks, on Sunday, April 4th, 1846, from Boston, with twenty-five cases of turkeys, geese, and capons; also six boxes of red reindeer of superior quality. They were packed in ice to preserve them. We believe this to be the first importation of the

kind.

COMMERCIAL STATISTICS.

COMMERCIAL STATISTICS OF THE UNITED STATES.

THE following tables, derived from official documents, exhibit statements of the total value of the imports and re-export of foreign merchandise, and the amount retained in the country for home consumption, in each year, from 1790 to 1845, inclusive also, the value of the manufactures of hemp and flax imported in each year, from 1821 to 1845, inclusive :

MANUFACTURES OF HEMP.

A statement exhibiting the value of manufactures of Hemp imported into the United States from 1821 to 1845, inclusive.

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

A Statement exhibiting the value of Manufactures of Flax imported into the United

[blocks in formation]

IMPORTS, EXPORTS, AND CONSUMPTION OF THE UNITED STATES. Statement of the aggregate annual amount of imports, and of foreign goods re-exported, from March 4, 1789, to June 30, 1845; showing also the amount retained in the country for consumption.

[merged small][merged small][merged small][subsumed][merged small][graphic][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][merged small][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][subsumed]
« ՆախորդըՇարունակել »