From the "Overland Friend of China," of January 31st, 1846, published at Victoria, it appears that the export of tea to the United States, in fifty vessels, for the year ending June 30th, 1845, was, total green tea, 13,802,099 pounds; black do., 6,950,459. Total green and black, 20,752,558. The export of teas to the United States, in twenty-one vessels, from 30th June, 1845, to January 25th, 1846, was, of green, 7,250,982 pounds; black, 1,671,852. Total green and black, 8,922,834 pounds. The exports of tea from China to Great Britain, from 1st July, 1845, to 24th January, 1846, was 32,234,833 pounds black, and 5,518,907 pounds green. Total, both kinds, 37,853,740 pounds. EXPORTS OF LARD AND CHEESE FROM THE UNITED STATES TO DIFFERENT COUNtries. Quantity of Lard and Cheese exported from the United States in 1844 and 1845, distinguishing the countries to which shipments were made. GRAIN TRADE IN GREAT BRITAIN. A return has been published, by order of the House of Lords, of the quantity of grain of all sorts taken out of bond in the United Kingdom, yearly, for the last twenty years, giving the following totals: Total Corn Total Meal Years. Cwts. Also a return of the quantities of wheat and flour (given together in quarters) in bond on the 5th August, 5th September, 10th October, and 5th November in each year, from 1835 to 1845, (both inclusive,) together with a return of the quantities of wheat entered for home consumption in each week of the above mentioned monthly periods for three years. The latter return gives the following total of quarters of wheat entered for consumption, for the years MERCANTILE MISCELLANIES. BUFFALO ROBES FURNISHED BY THE WESTERN FUR TRADE. In the report made during the last session of Congress, by Capt. J. C. Fremont, of the exploring expedition to Oregon and North California, during the years 1843 and 1844, we have some very interesting facts relating to the amount of buffalo robes which is collected by the Western Fur Trade, and which constitutes an important branch of that enterprise. We are informed by Mr. Sanford, a partner in the American Fur Company, who has been for many years familiar with the region inhabited by the buffalo, that the annual amount of robes traded by the company, is nearly as follows: as an annual average return for the last eight or ten years. In the northwest, the Hudson's Bay Company purchase from the Indians but a very small number-their sole market being Canada, to which the cost of transportation nearly equals the produce of the furs, and it is only within a very recent period that they have received buffalo robes in trade; and out of the great number of buffaloes annually killed, throughout the extensive region inhabited by the Camanches and other kindred tribes, no robes, whatever, are furnished for trade. During only four months of the year, (from November to March,) the skins are good for dressing, those obtained during the remaining eight months being valueless to traders, and the hides of bulls are never taken off or dressed as robes at any season. Probably not more than one-third of the skins are taken from the animals killed, even when they are in good season, the labor of preparing and dressing the robes being very great, and it is seldom that a lodge trades more than twenty skins in a year. It is during the summer months, and in the early part of autumn, that the greatest number of buffaloes is killed, and yet at this time, a skin is never taken for the purpose of trade. A COMMERCIAL ABSURDITY. The current quotations, as seven, eight, or nine per cent premium for exchange on England, which we see in the newspapers, do not mean a premium on the par value of the pound sterling, but on a fictitious valuation of the pound which prevailed in this country a century ago, when the States were colonies. For example, the pound sterling, or gold sovereign, is to-day worth $4 85 in Wall-street, which is about the par value as established by Congress. A thousand of them would be worth $4,850. The current rate of exchange on England, in Wall-street, is now about nine per cent premium, as the phrase is, for bills payable in London or Liverpool. But this premium is not on $4 85, the par value of the pound, nor yet on the pound sterling, but it is on $4 44, the old colonial value of the pound. For example, A. B. buys a bill of exchange for £1,000 on England, from C. D., at nine per cent premium; he pays $4,844 44 for it. Suppose he gave a thousand sovereigns for it, at current value, there would be a balance in his favor; so that, in reality, the rate of exchange on England, instead of being nine per cent against us, is in our favor, because bills can be obtained cheaper than gold. Of course, then, there is no object in sending gold to England. Hence the absurdity of this ideal mode of dealing in exchanges on England, which is still kept up by our merchants and news papers. LOVE OF MONEY IN AMERICA. The following passage on this subject occurs in the letter of the Hon. Thomas G. Cary, a merchant of Boston, to a lady in France, who wrote to a lady here, to inquire "what ground there could possibly be for the dreadful accusations which she hears against us everywhere abroad," in consequence of the supposed failure of a national bank, the supposed delinquency of the national government, the debts of the several states, and repudiation. Mr. Cary explains these matters very satisfactorily, and in answer to the superficial statements in the books of English travellers in the United States, he thus summarily disposes of the sneer cast upon the Americans for their reputed love of money:— "When it is said, as it is often is, with scorn, that our conversation, in this country, relates too much to money matters, that we talk about dollars, &c., it is but fair to remember that, notwithstanding all that some of our own writers have thought proper to concede, money is regarded here as the means of progress, rather than the end in view. It is power in any part of the world; and where difference of rank is abolished, and the highest places are open to the competition of every one, it is great power, since it ena. bles a man to raise those who depend on him to the enjoyments and advantages of which he may have felt the want. Probably there is no part of the world where the character of the miser is more uncommon than here; and I have often thought, in noticing the ways of foreigners who come here, that, if we talk more about dollars than they do, they think more of them than we do, by far." A CREDITOR'S LIBERALITY TO A FRAUDULENT DEBTOR. The following instance of the unexampled liberality of an English merchant, towards an absconding fraudulent debtor, which originally appeared in the Boston Post, is well worth recording in the pages of the Merchants' Magazine, illustrating, as it does, in some degree, the divine principle of "overcoming evil with good": "In March, 1846, Andrew V. Leeman, mahogany dealer, London, finding himself embarrassed in his affairs, proceeded to collect all the debts that were due to him, without paying off any. In a short time, he raised full $50,000, or over £10,000 sterling. With this sum in his pocket, he took passage for Boston, in the Britannia, in May. His cred. itors, as soon as his flight was known, attached his effects, and had him decreed a fraudulent bankrupt. Then Mr. W. B. Winter, one of the principal creditors, provided with a record of the judgment against Leemah, started in the Caledonia in pursuit, and upon arriving in Boston, traced him, through Mr. Henshaw, the broker, to whom he had offered some English money for sale. Deputy Sheriff Freeman arrested Leeman, who at once gave up the £10,000, in Bank of England notes and sovereigns; but in consequence of his former good standing and honorable course as a man of business, Mr. Winter restored to him £1,000, nearly $5,000, and promised to give his wife £250 more, when he returned to England." THE POOR AND THE RICH. That evil results, in many instances, from wealth, is sufficiently manifest; but it is not certain, on this account, that virtue is only safe in the midst of penury, or even in moderate circumstances. Nor, because the wealthy are often miserable, is it certain that happiness dwells chiefly with the humble. It may be quite true that no elevation such as riches bring about, insures perfect purity and amiableness of character, and that content is found nowhere; and yet there may be a more steady connection between virtue and easy circumstances, also between content and easy circumstances, than between the same things and poverty. The poor escape many temptations and many cares which beset the rich; but, alas! have they not others of a fiercer kind, proper to their own grade? Let the statistician make answer. It is only, indeed, to be expected, that an increasing ease of circumstances should be upon the whole, favorable to moral progress, for it is what industry tends to; and industry is a favored ordination of heaven, if ever anything on earth could be pronounced to be such. OUR CORRESPONDENCE. THE inquiries by letter, and otherwise, made to the editor of this Magazine, for information on matters connected with commercial affairs, are so numerous, and generally require so much research, that we find it absolutely out of the question to attempt answering them all; and frequently, for want of any but conjectural data, many of them cannot be satisfactorily answered. Besides, these inquiries are generally made by individuals, who, were they subscribers, and attentive readers of our journal, would themselves be able to find an answer to almost every question proposed. Now, as our vocation is to furnish information for the whole commercial public, rather than privately for the benefit of the individual, we have upon a plan, which we trust will be acceptable to all concerned. It is thisto devote a few pages each month, under the head of "Our Correspondence," in which we shall generally publish the inquiries of correspondents in their own language, answering the same as succinctly and correctly as our judgment and sources of information will permit. TAXATION OF NEW YORK-EXPORTS FROM GREAT BRITAIN TO THE UNITED STATES -CANADIAN IMPORTS, ETC. The Washington correspondent of the London Morning Chronicle desires an answer to the following questions: 1. Ques. What is the average taxation, local and general, on real estate in the state of New York ? Ans. The assessed value of all the real estate, according to the official returns made to the Comptroller's office, in 1845, was $486,490,121; do. of personal estate, $115,988,895. The corrected aggregate valuations of real and personal estate amount. ed, in 1845, to $605,646,095. On this the amount of state and county taxes was $3,221,256 15 cents; the town taxes amounted to $949,271 80 cents; exhibiting a total taxation, in 1845, of $4,170,527 95 cents. The average rate of state, county, and town taxes, (in the fifty-nine counties of the state,) on $1 valuation, in mills, is 6.88 88-100. 2. Ques. What has been the amount of imports from Great Britain to the United States, for 1844, 1845, and 1846? Ans. The value of the imports into the United States from Great Britain, in 1844, as officially stated, was $41,476,081; in 1845, $44,687,859. The fiscal year ends on the 30th of June; but the returns are not accessible until laid before Congress, which generally happens six or seven months after the expiration of the fiscal year. Consequently, we are unable to state the official value for 1846. The unofficial estimate, however, may be put down at $43,500,000. 3. Ques. What amount of Canadian imports have passed through the State of New York to Canada, under the duties drawback bill? Ans. An answer to this question will be found in the Merchants' Magazine for March, 1846, (Vol. XIV., No. III., p. 292.) 4. Ques. Of what advantage has the drawback bill been to Canada? Ans. Without going into the details, for which we have not room, we may say the spirit of this query is the same as if applied to any means of internal communication. The tariff laws of the United States imposed onerous restrictions upon goods imported from England for Canadian consumption. The partial removal of those restrictions by allowance of drawback on the goods sent into Canada, opens to Canada new avenues of |