below would be increased. The operation would not, however, be an easy one. We do not find any other great bends in the river (or such, at least, as could be easily cut off) until we ascend as high as Plaquemine. Judging, from the appearance on the map, there are two or three considerable bends in this neighborhood which might be cut off; ascending still higher, there appears to be no others between these latter and the Raceomei cut-off. Hence it does not appear practicable to devise any system of shortening or cutting off the river, from the Raceomei cut-off down, which shall be uniformly distributed over the whole length of this portion of the river; and the effect of partial operations, in the neighborhood of Plaquemine, would be, as we have before seen, to increase the height of the river below, and a cut-off at the English turn-the only one likely to relieve New Orleans and that portion of the river between the city and Plaquemine-would not probably afford a relief adequate to the cost. Above the Red river to the northern boundary of the State, of the western portion of the State, there are numerous large bends which probably can be cut off with ease; and it is of the highest importance that every inhabitant of the coast below the Red river, or, indeed, of lower Louisiana, should understand the importance, the necessity, of preserving these bends, lest the facility of cutting them off, joined with local interests or blindness to the real consequences, should cause the same error to be repeated which has already been so injurious to the lower portion of the State. Every bend which may be cut off, in this upper region, throws an additional height of water upon the country below-now scarcely able to preserve its levees and maintain itself against the increased floods, which injudicious cut-offs and other more remote causes, bring down upon them. (e) As the opposite systems of wide and narrow leveeing have been discussed in connection with the Mississippi, and the examples of the Loire and Po have been cited as illustrations, I have thought it worth while to translate the author's remarks in favor of the former system. It is unquestionably judicious where applicable; but it is utterly inapplicable to the Mississippi at the present day. As a general rule, it is only the margin of the river which is available for cultivation, and the most valuable portion of this would be abandoned to overflow by this system. Moreover, the rapid deposit of sediment on these margins, would soon raise them to the level of high water, and thus defeat the object of obtaining additional surface for the spread of the waters. It is not the intention of this paper to say what can be done, to reduce the floods of the river, and, indeed, I do not think the data yet exist, upon which the proper system of relief can be founded. My object will be accomplished, if I have established some true principles on one subject, in place of the erroneous notions, through which a measure has been projected and executed under the sanction of the State, which has increased the floods of the lower river, and through which still greater evils, of the same kind, may yet be inflicted upon the citizens of New Orleans and lower Louisiana. J. G. BARNARD, Brevet Major, Corps of Engineers. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE. 1. HAMBURG, GERMANY, AND ITS TRADE, ETC. [The following letter is from an intelligent German who has spent several years in our country, examining its institutions and studying its resources. He has prepared and published, in his own language, an able volume on these subjects, from which we design, at an early day, making some translations.-ED.] ALTONA, March 22d, 1850. I HAVE, in due time, been favored with your esteemed letter of 17th November, and I beg pardon for not having answered it before. A series of discourses I held this winter on the events, &c., during my voyage, has deprived me of the necessary leisure to send you a small contribution to your journal. I request now you will accept the statistics given below. Should they answer your purpose, they shall be continued on a more extended scale. I beg to offer my sincere thanks for your having published some extracts of my reports in your journal. I continue to take the greatest interest in the progress of your Union. Perhaps we may keep a statistical intercourse with each other. I am, sir, your obedient servant, To J. B. De Bow, Esq., New Orleans. W. H. NOPITSCH. STATEMENTS OF THE INSURANCE-BUSINESS IN HAMBURG SINCE 1816. Amounts insured by Companies, Private Underwriters, and by Agents of Foreign Companies, and 1816,. 1817, 1818, 1819,. 1820,. 1821. 1822, 1823,.. From 1816 to 1823. Average Premiums. By 124,398,000@2 7-8 1832, Average,............By 132,274,000@2 9-32 From 1832 to 1839. By 202,918,000@1-7-16 Average,...............By 202,012,000@1 17-32 Average, By 266,696,200@1 1-2 ...By 291,664,600@1 15-32 Results of the Insurance Business from 1885 to 1848, excepts the sums insured by Private Under FrAmount insur'd. Paid premium. | P'd ar. losses. Int's & chrgs. The premium has been 50,828,823.6 1.48 Int'sts on the installments, brok'ge and charges of admin. 4,834,205 Profit of the insurance companies in 14 years, from 1835 to '48,. 4,016.698.6 1,686,162.6 NUMBER AND TONNAGE OF THE VESSELS OF THE NORTHI GERMAN NAVAL STATES, BUT NOT INCLUDING COASTING VESSELS; ONE LAST AT THE RATE OF 4,000 LBS. Beginning of 1850. Ves. Lasts. 132.072 896 401 85 276 203 346 129 61 1,905 181,738 PRODUCTION OF WOOLENS IN AUSTRIA. The production is now estimated at 1,374,500 pieces, amounting to 67,945,000 florins, requiring a production of 600,000 cwt. of wool. Adding to these 600,000 cwt. the exportation of yarn, 25,000 cwt., and of raw wool, 167,000 cwt., the whole production of wool amounts to 792,000 cwt. This approximate estimate seems to be very correct, as the total number of sheep in Austria is stated to be 27 millions, and an average production of coarse and fine woollen sheep may be reckoned at 3 lbs. per piece. 2. COMMERCIAL RESOURCES OF THE NORTH AND THE SOUTH. The agitation of the subject of slavery, which threatens to dissolve the Union, involves some very serious reflections, particularly to that portion of the community engaged in commerce and the inland trade between the North and the South. A glance at some of our business streets exhibits the immense trade with the South and Southwest, and we contemplate with satisfaction the importance and⚫ value of the South to the North. It would be better if some of our legislators understood more thoroughly the statistics of trade between the North and South, and between the United States and foreign countries. They would be better enabled to estimate the consequences, that would be sure to follow disunion, upon the value of every species of property at the North, and changing its location to the South. Could these important points be seen by our public men at Washington, a better feeling would prevail, and less acrimony would show itself, in meeting the questions which now agitate the country. The agricultural interests of the United States are paramount to all others, for upon this branch of industry commerce is supported and manufactures thrive. If we look at that section of the Union, which grows for export the largest in amount, and by far the most important commodity of any productions of this country, or of the world, we see that the South, where slave labor is employed, furnishes, in cotton alone, the whole Union with a large proportion of the means to pay for the imports from foreign countries. The following table will show the value of such articles of agriculture, produced at the South, as will always command a foreign market, for the past three years, viz.: Cotton,. 1848. 1847. 1849. 6,616,741 8,756,369 11.008.200 $107,332.895 To the above may be added sugar and Molasses,.... 18,417,500 105,302,574 111,559,457 Total agricultural productions of slave States,..$125,750,395 Of which there were exported to foreign countries, during the same period, derived from official returns, viz.: It will be seen by the above tables, that not only did the South furnish the staples-amounting to $75,615,700, in 1849—to pay for our imports, in part, to foreign countries, but reserved a large amount for domestic consumption. Every dollar of these exports from the South was the production of her own soil, and without which, our foreign trade would have been just so much more circumscribed. It is well known, that the North receives the great bulk of the importations from foreign countries; that, without the means furnished to us in cotton, rice and tobacco, we should be without the elements for conducting, so profitably and to such an extent, foreign commerce. Without these staple productions of the South, we should be unable to buy, or, in other words, to pay for, the nunumerous articles of necessity and luxury that make up our catalogue of importations. We annex the following tables to show the extent of the import trade, carried on almost exclusively by northern capital : STATEMENT of the value of imports into the United States, for the last three years, designating the portion received at the North and the South: 1848. 1847. 1849. From the above it is clearly shown, that the North acts as the great shopkeeper for the South. She employs us to take her productions, send them to foreign countries to be sold, and returned in iron, cloth and other articles. Dissolve the Union, and she would act as her own shopkeeper. She employs us, because we have ships and capital invested in commerce. Compel her to establish a southern confederacy, and she must act for herself. She can build her own vessels, fill them with the products of her own soil, and import her own goods, not from the North, but from those foreign countries who may buy her cotton, rice and tobacco. This trade the North would lose. If we look at the wealth and splendor in our large northern cities, we see evidences of the profit derived from commerce and trade with the South. It is safe to estimate fifty per cent., after paying duties, upon the cost price of most of the articles imported into the United States, before they reach the consumer. Who gets this fifty per cent? It is divided between the commission merchant, ship-owner, importer, banker and the wholesale and retail dealer. All, except the latter, are identified with the institutions of the North-and who, in a body, realize, in profits out of this foreign trade, an amount equal to the whole value of the cotton crop. What would be the consequences, if the North were deprived of this immense inland trade with the South, by far the most important of any branch, connected, as it is, with their shipping and manufacturing interests? Destroy the intercourse between the North and the South, and one of the very first acts that would claim the attention of the South would be to engage in foreign commerce. They would not only do it, in preference to buying from the North, but would be compelled to take articles of foreign manufacture, in return for their cotton, rice, tobacco, &c., which the North would be shut out from, just to the extent the consumption of the free States would permit; for it is not likely the South would allow the North to compete with her in the manufacture of coarse cotton goods, when they would have the ability of fixing an export duty on raw cotton to the free States, that would ensure a preference of their own manufactures in foreign markets, where northern fabrics have had the preference of the whole world. What a picture for the North to contemplate! What articles of production, besides manufactured goods, would they be enabled to export, to carry on even a competition with the South in commerce? The following tables show the extent of the exports from the free States, for the last three years: SUMMARY of the value of exports of such articles as were produced by the free States, or from abroad by the capital of such as are identified with the interests of the free States, viz.: |