enter Germany under light charges, and in some of the coast States, they pass almost free. Our tobacco pays, upon entering the British ports, a duty of seventytwo cents per pound: in France, the article passes at once into the hands of the government, which monopolizes the trade; while at Bremen, it is charged with a mere nominal duty of two-thirds of one per cent ad valorem. The tobacco trade with France is further embarrassed by a regulation recently adopted by the French government, which restricts the importation of that article to French ships; thus excluding American vessels from all the benefits of carrying it. This regulation not only embarrasses the trade in tobacco, but subjects the article to increased charges, by diminishing competition for its transportation, and of course lessens the profits of the producer. The quantity of tobacco entering all the ports of France annually amounts to about twenty thousand hogsheads, while the single port of Bremen received last year forty-two thousand five hundred and fifty-one hogsheads. More than one-third of all the tobacco exported from the United States within the last twelve years, was imported into Bremen.

It appears, too, from an examination of tables recently prepared, that its importation into that port is steadily increasing; for the quantity received there in 1845 exceeded, by five thousand nine hundred and ninety-two hogsheads, the importation of the preceding year.

The importance of the trade in tobacco will be seen more clearly by looking to the increased production of that article in the United States.

In 1840, it appears, by tables which accompany the census, that the tobacco crop of Ohio amounted to five million nine hundred and forty-two thousand two hundred and seventy-five pounds, and that of Florida to seventy-five thousand two hundred and seventy-four pounds. In 1845, the crop of Ohio increased, as it ap pears by actual inspection at Baltimore, to twenty-six million seven hundred and sixteen thousand pounds; while that of Florida, sold in Bremen alone, reached two hundred and thirty-four thousand pounds; some of it competing with the Havana tobacco, and bringing as high as a dollar per pound. In some of the other States, the proportionate increase has been still greater. Nor are the advantages of our trade with that port confined to tobacco, for Bremen receives nearly as much whale oil as is imported into all the other ports of the North Sea; and its importation of rice, exceeding that of any of these ports, is about equal to that of Havre. While we enjoy, under existing arrangements, this advantageous trade with the north of Germany, it is our obvious policy to bring that part of Europe still nearer to us by increased commercial facilities, such as would be afforded by a direct line of steamships. Some of our other products will find there a valuable market. The demand for our cotton is increasing; and, when certain changes now contemplated are made in the duties of the German Customs Union, the trade in that important staple will become direct, and must be greatly augmented.

It appears, from the documents which accompany the report of the Secretary of the Treasury, that the value of our exports to France for the year ending the 30th of June, 1845, was sixteen million one hundred and forty-three thousand nine hundred and ninety-four dollars; while to the Netherlands, including Belgium, (for the old classification of kingdoms seems to be adhered to in the statement,) their value for the same time was three million six hundred and ten thousand six hundred and two dollars, and to the Hanse Towns four million nine hundred and forty-five thousand and twenty dollars. Our imports, for the same time, from France, amounted to twenty-two million sixty-nine thousand nine hundred and fourteen dollars; from the Netherlands, stated as above, they amounted to one million eight hundred and ninety-seven thousand six hundred and twenty-three dollars; and from the Hanse Towns, their value was two million nine hundred and twelve thousand five hundred and thirty-seven dollars. It is but fair to accompany this statement of our trade with the Netherlands, with the additional fact, that of our exports to that country, a considerable proportion passes into Germany. It is impossible to appreciate the advantages of this growing trade with Germany, or to comprehend the importance of cultivating it, without comparing its results with those which we derive from our trade with other parts of Europe.

In our exchange of commodities with France, amounting to thirty-eight million

two hundred and sixty-two thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight dollars, the balance against us is six million eight hundred and seventy-five thousand nine hundred and seventy dollars; while an exchange of commodities with the Netherlands, amounting to five million five hundred and eight thousand two hundred and twenty-five dollars, leaves a balance in our favor of one million seven hundred and twelve thousand nine hundred and seventy-nine dollars; and our trade with the Hanse Towns, amounting to seven million eight hundred and fifty-seven thousand five hundred and fifty-seven dollars, results in a balance for us of two million thirty-two thousand four hundred and eighty-three dollars. The importance, then, of encouraging our trade with Germany, of which Bremen is the principal port for the commerce of the United States, sufficiently appears from facts already stated; but we may add, that of the three hundred and fifty-nine vessels which cleared, during the year 1845, from the five north seaports, directly for the United States, two hundred and fourteen were from Bremen. It is our policy to multiply the means of intercourse with a people who have already met us in a liberal spirit, and whose demands for our products are steadily increasing.

Commerce, to enjoy permanent prosperity, ought to yield mutual benefits. By the rapid and direct communication which we are about to establish with Bremen, we shall not only extend our commerce more widely through Germany, but we shall invite a more frequent and active intercourse with the north of Europe generally. As their means of intercommunication multiply, some of them stretching from the North Sea to the Adriatic, and traversing Prussia and Austria, while others penetrate Russia, it is to be expected that the people of those extensive regions will seek a connection with us through our line of steamships, touching regularly at one of their own northern ports. Independent of the advantage which our commerce generally would derive from this extension, our cotton would find new markets. The depression which is so often experienced in the sale of that great staple, can only be remedied by increasing the demand for it, and by creating new markets which may compete with those already established, and which sometimes combine to control prices.

Germany, already regarding us kindly, carrying on with us a valuable and growing trade, sending to our shores every year large bodies of industrious emigrants, who become useful citizens, will recognize in this new enterprise, an earnest effort, on our part, to make the means of communication between us more direct, certain, and frequent; and, responding to it in a national spirit, will cooperate with us to make it successful.

Correspondence multiplies with the increase of facilities. A letter weighing not more than half an ounce, mailed at Boston, and sent, by a British steamer, to Bremen, is charged about forty-three cents upon its delivery. The postage charged upon a newspaper of the ordinary size, sent by the same conveyance, amounts to sixty-one cents. These heavy charges, if they do not restrict the advantage of the speedy communication afforded by the steamers almost exclusively to Great Britain, greatly embarrass our correspondence with the continent of Europe. Impressions of our country are received from England; the British press, transmitting intelligence received from our shores by British steamers, sends out with it comments upon our affairs which must influence public sentiment. But through our own line of steamers, a direct and cheaper correspondence with the people of continental Europe may be carried on, while its amount will greatly increase with reduced rates of postage.

In looking over the map of Europe, it will be seen that Bremen is most favorably situated as a point of departure for a steamer bearing intelligence from different parts of the world to the United States.

It would, at its departure, receive intelligence from St. Petersburg, the capital of Russia, brought to Bremen within sixty-eight hours; from Vienna, within thirty-six hours, and from Berlin within fourteen hours; besides the mails from the smaller neighboring kingdoms and states. Touching at Cowes, it would take on board the French mail, with dates from Paris but sixteen hours old, and the English mail forwarded from London on the same day, and within three hours of its departure for the United States.

With this accumulated and varied intelligence, the American steamship would reach New York with as little delay as if it had sailed from Liverpool, the point of departure for the Cunard line of steamers-a city of vast commercial importance, but remote from the great points of interest in continental Europe, and separated from London by more than twice the distance which divides Cowes from that emporium.

Art. V.-MACGREGOR'S COMMERCIAL STATISTICS OF THE UNITED STATES.

THE large volume which has recently been published, embracing a com. plete statistical account of the United States, is, in our judgment, one of the most valuable works of that peculiar character that has ever been issued from the press. It has been compiled by John Macgregor, Esq., now one of the joint secretaries of that permanent body, the British Board of Trade. Occupying a space of fourteen hundred and twenty-seven large and closely printed pages, it was prepared under the sanction of the Crown, and is dedicated "to the Lords of the Committee of Privy Council for Trade and Plantations." Constituting but a part of a series of statistical volumes, which is to be compiled under the auspices of that board, respecting the commercial tariffs and regulations, resources and trade of the several States of Europe and America, together with the commercial treaties between England and foreign countries,that is to be presented to both houses of Parliament, the present compilation is devoted to the exhibition of the commercial state of the North American Union.

It is somewhat extraordinary, considering that we have advanced to the state of the second commercial power upon the globe, and now number a population of about twenty millions, that no volume of this precise character has been prepared under the authority of the national legislature. It is true that we have been favored with statistical works, which have appeared under the authority of that body, but they have been generally far from comprehensive in their plan, or minute in their details. The compiler of the present work, indeed, acknowledges the examination of a digest of the existing commercial regulations of foreign countries with which the United States have intercourse, that was prepared at the expense of the treasury, by a distinguished citizen of Maryland, Mr. John Spear Smith; and other works of like character have also been since compiled, but none have been either sufficiently full or minute, to be adapted to the absolute requirements of the nation. The industry of Mr. Macgregor has been successful in presenting to us a complete statistical description of the United States, which leaves but little to be desired upon this subject.

It can hardly be doubted, that the importance of statistics, or a knowledge of existing facts, has been overlooked in this nation, for they furnish the only solid ground-work of intelligent legislation. So far as this legis. lation refers to material interests, the precise nature of those interests is required to be known. Abstract declamation and diffuse arguments, however much they may be calculated to promote the popularity of an orator, or to amuse his constituency, produce no solid advantages, unless they are based upon a knowledge of the existing circumstances of the subjects which they discuss. How can an equitable tariff system be established, or a commercial treaty be properly negotiated, without a thorough understanding of our commercial relations with foreign countries, and the amount

of the several kinds of products here produced, as well as those which are exported and imported? Those facts must be known, in order to ascertain what we are to produce, as well as what we are to protect, if the policy of protection is to be sustained at all. The work of Mr. Macgregor exhibits these facts, regarding this country, and we are gratified that he has deemed proper to embody in his work the result of a considerable portion of our own laborious research, which has been communicated to the public through the pages of the Merchants' Magazine.*

We propose to enter into an analytical examination of the precise nature of the work, in order to exhibit its scope and spirit. The first part describes the political organization of our own government, and gives us the Constitution of the United States, as well as that of the several States, an account of the public departments, Congress, the courts of law, salaries, and, indeed, all those facts which tend to exhibit the nature of our political institutions. In this part is also embodied a description of the configuration and area of North America, the theory of its climate, the area of the territory of the United States, and progress of the population, the increase of the several Atlantic, Western, and slaveholding States, religious denominations, universities and colleges, the distribution of industrious classes, and a particular statistical description of each State of the Union.

Mr. Macgregor then considers the general subject under three grand divisions. He treats first of the Northern Atlantic States, their manufactures, commerce, navigation and trade, their religious denominations, banks, public works and public debt, their principal seaports and towns,

The "National Press," in a well-written article on this subject, after some sensible reflections on the influence of commerce, in diffusing the rich and varied products of our generous mother earth among all nations, and suggesting that Boards of Trade, and Chambers of Comineree, are to take the place of Camps and Councils of War, thus refers to the work of Mr. Macgregor, in connection with our own labors in commercial statistics and literature.-ED. MERCHANTS' MAG.

"The idea suggested by this train of remark, grows upon us; but we can only glance at a single illustration brought to our notice. by a recent publication of John Macgregor, Esquire, one of the joint secretaries of the British Board of Trade. We refer to the three large volumes presented to Parliament, in parts, by "command of Her Majesty," embracing the commercial statistics, productive resources, commercial legislation, customs, tariffs, navigation, port and quarantine laws and charges, shipping, imports and exports, and the moneys, weights, and measures, of ALL NATIONS. Here is a wide scope, and Mr. Macgregor has performed a labor, under the patronizing auspices of the British government, which will do much to advance the general prosperity, not only of his own country, but of the civilized world. And although, on the face of it, it bears the mark of pounds, shillings, and pence, it is destined to promote the interests of the nations, by leading men to a knowledge of their resources; and thus deterring them from retarding their development by force and fraud--by engaging in hostile conflicts, for what, under a free, fair, and unrestricted commerce, all may enjoy. The volumes to which we have referred, cover nearly 4,000 pages. The first two, embra eing 2.478, are devoted to Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Holland, the Italian States, the Ottoman Empire, Greece, Africa, the Russian Empire, Sweden and Norway, Spain and Portugal, and the third, a volume of 1,427 pages, entirely to the United States of North America. S that the British government has done more to collect and embody a digest of cur rapidly progressing commerce and vast resources, than our own. This labor has not, however, beer entirely neglected with us. Individual energy

and in lustry, and private enterprize, have accomplished in a great measure what the Congress of the "model" Republic has left undone. It will naturally, we think, occur to our readers, that we allude to the research and the labors of Mr. Hunt, the projector and editor of the "Mer hunts' Magazine and Commercial Review," a work of standard value, that embodies in its wide range of subjects, more information, in regard to the Commerce, Manufactures, and varied resources of our own and other countries, than can be found in any or all other works, either at home or abroad. Mr. Macgregor, in his official work on the United States, seems to have fully understood and appreciated the comprehensive labors of his cotemporary here, as an examination of his book, and the fourteen volumes of Mr. Hunt's Commercial Periodical, will show. *Noting,' says a cotemporery who has examined the voluminous document of the British Board of Trade, as we ran over the volume, the frequent occurrence in the body of the work the name of that popular periodica', ' Hunt's Merchants' Magazine,' we had the curiosity to count its repetition, and we found it was referred to some sixty times; besides, many of the articles which were originally published in the Magazine, are quoted from largely, without reference to the work, or only mentioning the name of the author.'"Morris' National Press.

the trade of the several ports, the fisheries, quarries, and minerals, the public works, revenues, and expenditures, insurance companies, principal commercial and manufacturing cities and towns, live stock, and agricultural products. The Southern Atlantic States, in all these minute details, are then described, and the same facts relative to the Western States, and the Western territory, with tables of the number and condition of the Indian tribes, and, indeed, everything of consequence relating to the actual condition of that part of the country, are presented.

The mineral wealth of the United States, in its essential features, as well as the agriculture and agricultural products of the Union, and the fisheries of North America, and those of the United States, and also the British whale fishery, are then considered; and we have, moreover, a complete account of the manufactures of the nation, and the exports and imports. The subject of the internal navigation of the United States opens a wide field of statistical description, and we have a full account of this, and also of that vast system of railroads and canals which intersect the various parts of the territory. The trade and navigation of the country, which are prosecuted through the agency of steam, likewise receive their full proportion of space; and to those subjects are added a full account of the commerce of the American lakes, and various miscellaneous statements respecting the commerce of the American towns upon the lakes, as well as a description of the trade between the countries of the United States bordering the lakes and the Canadas.

The extensive commerce which is prosecuted upon that longest of our American rivers, the Mississippi, and its tributaries, is then minutely described, together with an account of the American fur trade, and that of the American trade with the prairies, and with Santa Fe. That large amount of enterprise which is employed in the coasting and foreign navigation and trade of the United States, is, moreover, exhibited to us in all its features; and Mr. Macgregor then arrives at the consideration of the foreign trade of the United States, a subject which opens a wide and interesting field of description. From the advance of the commerce of the nation, it is pretty generally known that our shipping is extended to the principal ports of the world, although our foreign trade is prosecuted more extensively with Great Britain than with any other country. The navigation and trade between the United States and the United Kingdom, as well as our own commerce with the British possessions in North America and the West Indies, the British East Indies, China, the foreign West Indies, Mexico, Central America, and the States of South America, with France, and the continental ports of Europe, and with the principal commercial cities of Western Europe, are then set forth in a clear, and, we doubt not, accurate form.

Those various topics are followed by numerous tables, regarding imports and exports, and various miscellaneous statements respecting minerals, canals, railroads, trade, port, and other charges. The peculiar department of the navigation of modern times, connected with the regular pas. sage of steam vessels across the ocean-a species of navigation which, it would seem, is likely to be increased under the auspices of the government-is briefly described; and we have some very interesting facts rela ting to transatlantic navigation, as also the various passages which have been made by the British steamships to our own ports. We have also the names and tonnage of the principal British and American vessels