gard to principle, not more than one of them would be found to have become rich. But the other nineteen have probably never failed! They have earned all that they have ever spent. They have performed their portion of the labor of the world. They have its confidence and respect. Be they mechanics, farmers, or professional men; be they merchants, seamen, or laborers on the wharves, they are known as men of independent spirit, who can neither be bought, nor bent to improper designs; as men who fulfil the great purposes of life, and who are regarded and remembered for their worth.

But the man, be he good or bad, who begins with the determination to be rich early in life, is most likely to be disappointed. Let him select the best example of rapid success that can be found; let him, if he can, begin with the same means, and do precisely the same things, as those did who have become rapidly rich, and he is very likely to find, in the end, that although the same course, pursued ten years sooner, or ten years later, might have been successful, yet, owing to causes entirely beyond his own control, it could not possibly succeed when he attempted it; and that it required all the skill that he possessed even to avoid ruin.

In truth, the path that leads speedily to wealth, is generally discovered, when found at all, by some accidental concurrence of circumstances. But the turnings that lead to failure and disgrace can be seen from afar; and may, in most cases, be avoided by seasonable care. The father can direct his son, when he begins the journey of life, where to observe them. The great Parent of men has set up the landmarks; and the mother can teach her boy how he is to avoid them when he enters on the highway of the world. She cannot instruct him by what means he may be enabled to ride onward, among the throng, in a luxurious equipage. But she may do much to save him from the humiliation and sorrow of those who are seen standing in tatters at the road-side, after straying in search of some imaginary short cut to wealth, and scrambling back through the mud and briars of the swamp.

The difference to him might be vast if her aspirations for his greatness, which are, perhaps, sowing the seeds of selfish and fatal ambition in his mind, should be exchanged for the spirit of real affection that would instruct him in the virtues of industry and truth. In a word; it does not lie with the young man, when he begins life, to say whether or not he is to be rich. But whether or not he will make a mischievous failure, is, in most cases, an affair that he can decide for himself.

Art. VI. COTTON MANUFACTURE IN SWITZERLAND.

TRANSLATED FROM THE REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF THE SWISS CONFEDERATION ON EXPORTS AND COMMERCE WITH FOREIGN COUNTRIES.

COTTON is the most important manufacture of Switzerland. It gives employment to the greatest number of hands, and in its various branches is spread over most of the cantons. It was easily domiciled in Switzerland, even inducing workmen employed in the woollen and linen manufactures to leave the two latter employments, and turn to the produce of

cottons.

In the first instance, cotton goods were imported from the East Indies, and only during the last century were they produced in England, and shortly after in Switzerland. In the middle of the last century, yarn was first spun in England by machinery. The first spinning establishment in Switzerland, was erected during the continental system. Owing to the exclusion of all Swiss cotton goods, which the prohibitive system of France has been extending ever since the commencement of this century, and a similar course pursued by the Italian States, the position of this manufacture has been one of great difficulty. On the one hand, the raw material

can only be obtained with great trouble, by circuitous routes through foreign countries; and on the other hand the sale of the goods in the neighboring markets was rendered impossible by any legal means. Thus driven by necessity, the Swiss cotton trade was compelled to seek foreign and distant markets, these self-same hostile regulations assisting to increase and to spread the trade they were intended to crush.

At the conclusion of the peace, in 1815, the position of the trade became still more precarious. From the opening of trade, the whole of the continental states were flooded with English manufactures, especially of cotton. To such an extent was this the case, that all goods were suddenly depreciated to a third of their former value. In every market the powerful competition of England was to be met. England was striving to earn back by commerce the large sums spent as subsidies in the course of the war; thus, Switzerland's greatest advantage from the peace was principally in the increased security and facility of visiting the markets beyond the sea. At this period, the manufacture appeared to be doomed, and annihilation certain. England continued to pour immense quantities of cotton yarn into the country, competing successfully with the Swiss yarn, not only on account of its extremely low cost of production, but it enjoyed all the advantages of a superior reputation. Thus, the same priced English yarn had the preference over Swiss.

Still, during this very struggle for existence, the Swiss manufacture steadily grew and increased--at first confining herself to the lower and coarser numbers of yarn; (England still supplying the higher ones;) by degrees, however, successful efforts were made by perfecting and improving the machinery, till, at last, not only is she enabled (without the remotest shadow of protection) to supply the whole of her home consumption, but even beneficially to compete with the English yarn in foreign markets. Thus, we find the Swiss manufacture had not only emanci pated itself from the competition of the English in Switzerland, but had also survived through all those periodical depressions and low prices to which the English market has been subject, and establishing for itself a celebrity that similar but protected trades in other European countries, may in vain strive after. The spinners of other countries, with all their protection, cannot compete with the English importation, and in no other state does the native produce meet the English on an equal footing. The development of the Swiss cotton manufacture may be adduced as a bright example of the perfect success of free competition, of the energy of the Swiss people, and of the industrious habits of the nation.

In spite of all these prohibitive systems which have gradually encircled Switzerland, the cotton trade has continued astonishingly to increase; the largest factories have been built since the conclusion of the German Zollverein; still, it must be allowed that the position of the trade has of late been one of considerable difficulty, and great efforts are required to sustain its high position, chiefly owing to the strong internal competition, and the difficulty of finding a sale in foreign markets. This state of things has caused some of the smaller manufacturers to suspend their operations, as their goods are necessarily produced at a higher cost than the larger establishments, and even these latter will find themselves severely pushed if the German Zollverein again raise the duty on foreign twist-an event they have already threatened.

There are 131 cotton yarn manufactories in Switzerland, containing

more than 660,000 spindles of all numbers, the majority ranging from Nos. 38 to 40; these produce annually upwards of 160,000 cwts., and collectively they employ 10,000 souls; by far the largest portion of this is consumed at home; the principal export is to the States of the Zollverein. The import of cotton wool was, in

The import of twist is very unimportant, and only in the highest numbers. There are eighteen power-loom establishments, which yield 100,000 pieces of cloths annually, and employ 1,000 men; most of these cloths are taken by the printers, and the further supplies these latter may require are imported from France and England, the greater portion of the cotton cloths being still produced by the hand-loom weavers, who are employed in the production of every kind of cotton stuff, in large quantities. The canton of Zurich alone, has from 18,000 to 20,000 hand-loom weavers, and supplies 1,000,000 pieces annually. Collectively, the other cantons find work for some 90,000 weavers, whose united labors produce several millions of pieces annually.

Art. VII.-COMMERCIAL CODE OF SPAIN.

THE LAW OF CARRIERS BY LAND, (DE LOS PORTEADORES.*) We publish the following translation of the law of Spain in relation to common carriers by land. The article is found in the commercial code of Spain, and embraces the entire regulations of that empire on the subject of common carriers. The United States seem never to have thought proper to frame a system of commercial and maritime laws, though its commerce is now second in the scale of nations, and is destined, at no distant period, to be the first. Our commercial law must be sought in the voluminous statute books both of the national and state governments, and still more, in the countless elementary treatises and adjudged cases which encumber the library, and distract the mind of the judge and lawyer. The present article presents a condensed view of the whole law on the subject of which it treats; and we are persuaded that America owes it to herself to frame a code of commercial and maritime law, which shall pervade the whole of the Republic; so that the law shall be the same on the Rio Grande, the Mississippi, the Hudson, the St. Johns, the Great Lakes, and on the shores of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

CCIII.

The character of a carrier (porteador) of commerce, appertains not only to those who transport merchandise by land, but also to those who transport merchandise by navigable rivers and by canals, though in this description the agents of maritime transportation are not comprehended.

CCIV.

In the same manner the owner (cargador) of the merchandise, as well as the carrier, can demand that each mutually shall be furnished with a bill of lading, (una carta de porte) in which shall be expressed1. The name, calling, and domicile, of the owner.

* Translated from the Codigo de Commercio of Spain, expressly for the MERCHANTS' MAGAZINE, etc.

2. The name, calling, and domicile, of the carrier.

3. The name, calling, and domicile, of the person to whom the merchandise is directed.

4. The date on which the expedition is to be made.

5. The place in which the delivery is to be made.

6. A description of the merchandise, in which mention shall be made of its kind, quality, of its weight, and of the marks of the bales in which the merchandise is contained.

7. The price to be paid for the carriage.

8. The time in which the delivery is to be made to the (consignatario) consignee.

9. The indemnification which the carrier is to make in case of delay, should any agreement have been made on this point.

CCV.

The bill of lading, in law, is a contract between the owner and carrier, and according to what it contains, shall be decided the questions which may arise concerning its execution and fulfilment, without admitting any other exception contrary to it than those of falsity and involuntary error in its composition.

CCVI.

In default of a bill of lading, it shall be shown by judicial proof, which each party may produce in support of their respective pretensions and claims; but the shipper of the merchandise, before all other things, shall be obliged to prove the delivery of the merchandise to the carrier, in case he should deny it.

CCVII.

The carrier shall retain the original bill of lading, and the shipper or owner may exact from him a duplicate of it, signed by the carrier, which shall serve him as his authority, to claim, in case of necessity, the delivery of the goods given to the carrier at the time and place, and under the conditions agreed on. The contract between both parties being fulfilled, both instruments of the contract shall be exchanged, and in virtue of the exchange, their respective obligations, and right of action growing out of them, shall be cancelled.

In case of loss or other casualty, if the consignee should not return to the carrier at the time of receiving the goods the duplicate letter of transportation, he must give him a receipt for the goods delivered.

CCVIII.

Merchandises are transported or carried at the risk and hazard of the proprietor, and not at the risk of the carrier, unless the contrary is expressly agreed between them; consequently there will fall to the account of the owner all damages and losses which may happen to the goods during the transportation, by fortuitous and inevitable accident, by insuperable violence, or by the nature and quality of the goods themselves, it devolving upon the carrier to prove these occurrences in a legal and sufficient form.

CCIX.

The cases mentioned in the preceding article not happening, the carrier is obliged to deliver the goods in his charge in the same condition in which, according to the bills of lading, he may have received them, without any diminution, damage, or loss; and not doing it, he shall pay the value which they may hold at the place where the delivery was to have been made, at the time in which the agreement was to have been fulfilled.

CCX.

The valuation of the goods which the carrier ought to pay for in case of loss or destruction, shall be made in conformity with the description given them in the bill of lading, without permitting the owner to prove that among the goods to be delivered, others were contained of greater value, or that metallic money was carried in the bales.

CCXI.

The beasts of burden, the carriages, the vessels, the boats, and their apparel and furniture, and every other instrument, principal, or accessory, to the transportation, are specially bound in favor of the owner, as an hy pothecation (hipoteca) or mortgage for the goods delivered to the carrier.

CCXII.

All the losses which may happen to the merchandises during their transportation, which shall not proceed from any of the three causes mentioned in art. ccviii., shall be at the charge of the carrier.

CCXIII.

The carrier equally shall respond for the losses or damages which shall proceed from a case fortuitous, or from the natural bad quality of the effects which he shall transport, if it shall be proved that the damages had occurred by his negligence, or for the want of any of the precautions which are usually adopted among diligent persons.

CCXIV.

The responsibility of a carrier ceases for the averages or damages when any deception or fraud is committed in the bill of lading, supposing them to be of a distinct and generic quality or kind from that which they really seem to be.

CCXV.

If, on account of the damages or losses, (averias) the goods become useless for sale or consumption, in the proper objects of their use, the consignee shall not be bound to receive them, and may leave them to the account of the carrier, exacting from him their value according to the current price on that day. When, amongst the goods damaged, any pieces are found in good condition, and without any defects, preceding this position with respect to the damaged goods shall take place, and the consignee shall receive those which are not damaged; this separation being made by distinct parcels, and without, for that purpose, any one object or thing being divided into parts.

CCXVI.

When the effect of the damage is only a diminution in value of the article, the obligation of the carrier shall be confined to paying the amount of that damage, according to judgment of arbitrators, or of skilful persons.

CCXVII.

The responsibility of the carrier commences from the moment he receives the goods by himself, or through the medium of the person destined to that effect in the place which is indicated to him for loading them.

CCXVIII.

If doubts and controversies shall occur between the consignee and the Carrier concerning the state in which the merchandise is found at the time of the making of the delivery, the goods shall be examined by skilful persons named amicably by the parties, and in defect of them, by judicial authority, causing the results to appear in writing; and if, in their view, the parties interested do not agree in their differences, the goods shall be de