the number of register tons contained under her tonnage deck, as shown separately in the certificate of registry, by the factor 1, (or 1.87,) the product being the approximation sought. In the case of steam vessels, the spaces occupied by the machinery, fuel, and passenger's cabins, under the deck, must first be deducted, before the measurement factor is applied.

The register tonnage given to vessels under this system appears to be less than by the law of 1836, called "new measurement," which it has superseded. From the results of two years' experience in remeasuring the shipping of Great Britain, the average diminution of tonnage amounts to about 7 per cent, on about 6,000 ships. The greatest and least deviations are about 20 and 3 per cent; and as there can be no doubt of the present law giving to each ship with practical accuracy her entire internal capacity in tons of 100 cubic feet each, the result shows to what extent the former law was imperfect in its operation.

The system of external measurement which we advocate for adoption in conjunction with the above, would differ in no respect from it, except in being applied outside the vessel instead of inside. It would embrace measurements to be taken in the same manner, and computations to be made by the same rules. The external bulk of the ship would be ascertained up to the upper surface of the planking of the upper deck, or to whatever height the vessel may have been constructed to keep out the seas from the interior of the hull. In cases where poops and fore-castles may be appropriated to freight or passengers, the same would be measured externally as internally. The cubature, being found in feet, should be divided by 100, the same as for internal measurement, to find the tonnage. A scale of displacement, showing the vertical distribution of buoyancy from the keel to the upper surface of deck, should accompany the register; and from it could be found, at a glance, the number of tons of displacement, of 100 cubic feet each, contained between any given light line of flotation and one to which it might be deemed desirable to load a ship; which being multiplied by the factor 2, (or 2.86,) would show the deadweight cargo that could be carried by such vessel. Many other useful problems could be solved by the aid of such a scale of tonnage.*

This two-fold system would constitute a foundation for scientific investigations of the powers and capabilities of shipping, that can be obtained in no other way. The two measurements in conjunction, would complete a basis for all the useful estimates ever required by merchants, masters, owners, or architects. Those who desired could know, relatively, all about vessels in which they were dealing-their capacity, burden, weight and bulk of shell, distribution of buoyancy, &c., and possess the data for anaylzing their sailing and carrying qualities, and also the means for reproducing their forms, if desirable, even after the destruction of models, drafts, and moulds, and the annihilation of the vessels themselves, so long as the records of the Custom-house should be preserved. By the aid of such knowledge as this complete system would afford, the shipowner could establish consistent rules for his own guidance in purchasing vessels; and the improvements in ship-building could be demonstrated by sound principles of utility-changes which are not improvements could

The writer believes he was the first in this country to calculate and draw a full scale of displacement to the height of the deck, fore and aft, for above purposes, and place it in a vessel's cabin, which he did for the topsail schooner Clipper City, a vessel of his construction, on Lake Michigan.

be shown in their true character. But we cannot occupy the space necessary to elucidate and illustrate all the advantages of a complete system of tonnage registration, nor hope to sketch our ideas fully in this brief allusion to them; neither can we here pretend to set forth all the minutia of the processes of admeasurement.

We may, however, advert to a notion held by a few persons, that the method of arriving at a ship's tonnage, under any system, should be so extremely simple that those entirely ignorant of marine architecture, drafting, and calculations would be able to perform it. It may be conceived why Custom-house surveyors might feel inclined to raise this objection to a purely practical and scientific process of admensuration, which their talents and education did not qualify them to conduct, if such was the case, but surely no intelligent and disinterested mind is incapable of appreciating a true mode of tonnage, and agreeing to the propriety of its application by qualified officials. It has been shown that any, except legitimate modes, must fail to work equitably and uniformly, or furnish correct results; and if unqualified persons cannot conduct such processes as are necessary to ascertain the true tonnage of vessels, then those who may be so qualified should perform them, no matter if it should necessitate an entire change in the personnel of the measuring surveyors, or the establishment of a new branch of surveyorship in the customs.

In England, a competent naval architect has been appointed surveyorgeneral of shipping, and to his office, at London, are transmitted the returns of surveys made by his assistants at all the ports in the kingdom. Over these returns the surveyor-general exercises a close supervision; and by means of detective curves applied to the measurements, and the transverse areas of vessels, shown to have been surveyed, he proves the correctness of the results attained by his subordinates. Errors amounting to only one-third of a ton can be readily detected; and it is found, that with all the care induced by the certainty that any mistakes will be discovered at the central office, still it will happen that they do occur occasionally, proving that some check of this kind would be absolutely necessary under any law of admeasurement. The surveyor is also continually finding errors that have been practiced, by accident or design, under the former law, amounting to from 5 to 15 per cent. From these facts additional evidence may be gathered, not only of the propriety of entrusting such important operations, as the measurement and registry of shipping, to qualified officers, but of having a system of tonnage worthy of the ministrations of enlightened men.

One of the advantages to be gained by adopting the same processes that are now used in England for computing internal tonnage, will consist in making these the basis of an INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM; and should the external, (or complementary,) system, which we have also proposed, work as usefully as anticipated, there will then be ground for hope that our transatlantic brethren will, in turn, adopt it; and, in which case, we will have conferred an equivalent for the partial system that we propose to borrow from them. Indeed, there are already in Great Britain strong advocates of external measurement, and scientific men can never cease to appreciate its exceeding usefulness from their point of view; but hitherto no practical writer has come forward in that country to unite internal with external admeasurement, and show how they may be rendered preeminently useful as co-adjutory systems.

It may be proper to present the reader here with an epitome of the English rule, which is also, and equally, eligible for obtaining tonnage externally.

Length. Taken inside on tonnage deck, (in all vessels under three decks, the upper deck is the tonnage deck; in all other vessels, the second deck from below,) from inside of plank at stem to inside of midship stern-timber or plank there, (as the case may be ;) the length so taken, allowing for rake of bow in the thickness of the deck, and for rake of stern in the thickness of the deck, and one-third of round of beam also, is to be divided into the prescribed number of equal parts (which determines the stations of the areas) according to the length as follows:

Areas.-Area No. 1 is at the extreme limit of the bow. Area No. 2 is at the first point of division of the length. The rest are numbered in succession, the last being at the extreme limit of the stern.

Depths. Taken at each point of division of the length or station of each area, from the under side of tonnage deck to the ceiling at inner edge of timber-strake, deducting therefrom one-third of the round of beam; the depths so taken are to be divided into four equal parts, if midship depth should not exceed 16 feet, otherwise into six equal parts.

Breadths. Taken at each point of division of the depths, and also at the upper and lower points of the depths.

For the tonnage, apply Sterling's rule of alternate multipliers to determine, first, the areas, at their stations, from the breadths above directed to be taken; next, by the same rule, compute the contents from the areas and the equal parts of length; finally, divide the result, in cubic feet, by 100, (cutting off two figures at the right,) and the quotient will be the internal tonnage sought.

To obtain the external measurement of a vessel by the same procedure, the depths may be taken from the top of deck, (deducting one-third of the round of beam,) to the external surface of the garboard-strake, (allowance being made for its extra thickness if such is the case,) and re-divided, so that the breadths may be taken at equal distances apart; the breadths must next be taken from outside to outside of the plank of the hull. The remainder of the process will be identical with that described for internal measurement. The most convenient method for getting the measurements through the hull of wooden vessels would be by boring with an auger in the direction they are required to be taken, where this may be done. But this course would not be practicable for iron ships, few of which, however, are built in the United States.

A better way to get the measurements of vessels for external survey, (especially the breadths, which would be most difficult,) would consist in delineating the internal sections, at the stations of areas, which had previously been obtained for internal survey, and then ascertain the thickness of the hull in a right angular direction, at each point where a breadth or depth had been taken; then, by the aid of drawing, describe the external sections without the internal, and take measurements from the outside section, so found, for the computation.

external bulk of vessels may also be calculated from the shipder's drawings, the same having first been verified by measurements the ship, and the thickness of planking likewise ascertained and allowed for.. It may be arrived at by a system of measurements taken wholly from the outside of hull, which would be too tedious to describe here. In our remaining space we propose to consider the question of allowances which are, in Great Britain, made to steam vessels for the space of hold occupied by the engine-room.

The exemption of the engine-room from tonnage was first introduced in England in 1819, and was obviously intended to encourage the building of vessels for steam navigation, although these grounds of partiality are not indicated in any public records. The utility of steam vessels has long been established, and would not seem to require longer the fostering hand of government to sustain and develop their qualities. It is not without reason, therefore, that the owners of British sailing vessels complain that the remission of the engine-room from the chargable tonnage of the vessel, creates an unfair competition between steam and sailing vessels. In paddle-vessels, about two-fifths, and screw-vessels, one-third, of the gross tonnage is thus exempted from the payment of dues.

On the part of steam vessel owners it is alleged, that the spaces occupied by the engines and boilers-the propelling machinery-being a fixed and permanent abstraction from the capacity, cannot, in justice, be considered as forming any part of the stowage capacity of steam vessels, any more than the spaces occupied by the masts, yards, rigging, and sails-the propelling machinery of sail vessels-can be considered as forming any part of the capacity of a sailing vessel.

On the other hand, it is contended by the general shipowners, that with regard to the space lost to cargo on account of the engine-room, there is a counterbalancing quality gained, which enables a steam vessel to earn more freight than a sailing vessel in about one third or one-fourth of the time occupied by the latter, since the rate of passage money and freight of goods is from three to four times greater by steam than sail. The saving in the dues on tonnage alone constitute a snug profit to the steamship owner. There being no abatement on tonnage to sailing ships, on account of propelling machinery and space occupied by stores, &c., for longer voyages, none should be made to steam vessels; or, if made to one class, it should also be made to the other. As to the political view of the question, it is alleged, no special encouragement is necessary to insure the use of steam shipping for all proper purposes. It is shown also, that in addition to the engine-room, there are spaces excluded in its nonmeasurement which are totally unconnected with its services; for instance, the spaces in the larger class of vessels betwixt decks above the side bunkers, which are legally fitted and used as store-rooms or passenger's cabins, and these spaces cannot certainly have any claims to a reservation from admeasurement.

Notwithstanding these considerations, Great Britain pursues the policy 1 of fostering, at the expense of sailing vessels, the use of an immense fleet of coasting steamers, and largely increasing the number engaged in foreign trade. The steam tonnage of that country may now be set down as about 12 per cent of the total tonnage of her mercantile marine, whereas the statistics will show it to be about one-third less, owing to the diminished measurement assigned to this class of shipping. As we are not able to

appreciate the propriety of thus leaving out of computation any space of hold, or bulk of displacement, our approval cannot be given to this feature of the English law; and we can only hope that it may yet be changed, for the evil is one that affects American commerce, at least to the extent that our shipping, both sail and steam, is brought into competition with the steam vessels of England. The trade with that country, under this prime influence, is fast passing into the hands of her iron screw steamers, and the best portion of it may soon be monopolized by them.

W. W. B.

Art. II.-DEBTS AND FINANCES OF THE STATES OF THE UNION.

WITH REFERENCE TO THEIR GENERAL CONDITION AND PROSPERITY.

NUMBER XII.

WISCONSIN.

TRACT OF COUNTRY-LATITUDE-BOUNDARY-SURFACE OF COUNTRY--RIVERS-PORTAGE CANALLAKE SHORE-FIRST SETTLEMENT-TERRITORY-ERECTED INTO A STATE-GRANT OF LANDSAREA-DISTRIBUTION OF LANDS-ANNUAL SALES-SCHOOL LANDS-POPULATION AND VALUATIONREVENUES AND EXPENSES-PRODUCTS OF THE STATE-VALUE-COMPARATIVE PRODUCTS-RAILROADS-LAND GRANTS-CORRUPTION COUNTY LOANS-LAW OF FORECLOSURE-BANKING LAWBANKS-SECURITY FOR CIRCULATION-HARD CURRENCY ADVISED, ETC.

THE large tract of land now embraced in the State of Wisconsin has, within a very few years only, been redeemed from the grasp of the savage, but it has grown with great rapidity in numbers and wealth. The eastern boundary is Lake Michigan, and it is separated from Illinois on the south by the 40° 30' line of latitude, which strikes the Mississippi River opposite Dubuque, Iowa. That river forms its western boundary to the line 49° north latitude. This area embraces 53,924 square miles, and forms a part of the great table land of North America, having a general elevation of 800 to 1,200 feet above the surface of the sea, yet nowhere does the highest point rise more than 2,000 feet above the general level. A hilly tract stretches from Lake Superior west to the head of Rock River, between the Fox and Mennomonee rivers, which both discharge into Green Bay. This ridge is called the Porcupine Hills. The region alternates in heavy pine timber and ponds, swamps, and extensive flats. By far the greater portion of the territory is prairie, with occasional strips of woodland on the rivers. The soil is of the highest fertility, and well watered. The chief rivers are the Wisconsin and the Fox. The former is in its length 550 miles; rising in the northern part of the State, it pursues a southerly course until it reaches latitude 43° 30', in the middle of the State, when it turns abruptly to the west, forming the Great Bend, and running west-southwest, falls into the Mississippi River. It is navigable to the Great Bend, at seasons when the waters are up. From the Great Bend is a Portage, or carrying place, of one mile, to the Fox River. In wet seasons this may be passed in loaded canoes to connect the two rivers. The Fox River rises in the north, and runs parallel to the Wisconsin for some distance, when it turns at the portage abruptly to the north, receiving Wolf River in its course, and expanding into Lake