fore ask you to state what amount of aid you can consistently recommend your State to grant to this enterprise. In the permanent organization of the company, your State would, of course, be entitled to a representation. It is most probable that the ships could be easily obtained in Europe, with a guaranty of interest not to exceed six per cent per annum; but the Committee think that ships could be obtained upon much more favorable terms if the company were to purchase them with State bonds or cash, and that it would be most desirable to sail them under the American flag. We therefore propound to you the following questions:-What amount of interest would your State agree to guaranty annually for the support of this service? What amount of stock would it agree to subscribe for, payable in State bonds, in case the ships are purchased and owned by this company? The capital required to purchase and equip properly a line of steamers would be about $3,000.000. It may be urged against this enterprise, that the vessels will not pay, and we may be referred to lines that have previously been started, and which have been unsuccessful-to which we say that their want of success has been owing to the fact that they have been started without sufficient capital. They have been built and equipped by men that could take stock for their pay, and they have been furnished with stores by those who would give them credit, and who doubtless charged such prices as would under the circumstances remunerate them. Hence to avoid the difficulty which has ruined other similar enterprises, the Committee ask for a sufficient capital to place the company upon such a footing as will enable them to start and maintain the same in proper credit. All of which we most respectfully submit for your consideration; and hoping soon to receive a favorable reply from you, we are, respectfully,

FRED. FICKLEY, Jr., Chairman.
G. O. GORTER.

ADEXANDER PENN.
C. SIDNEY NORRIS.
WM. MCPHAIL.

SAILORS-WHAT THEY ARE, AND WHAT THEY SHOULD BE.

The New York Shipping List has the following remarks upon the condition and supply of seamen :

Inasmuch as a considerable degree of interest is being manifested just now in everything which pertains to the shipping interest, we deem it a fitting time, as well as an act of duty, to speak a word for "poor Jack," and to revert to the endeavors which are put forth from time to time, having in view the improvement of the seamen employed in our merchant service, both as regards their own personal comfort, and the enhancement of their usefulness to their employers, as well as for the purpose of obtaining for our mercantile marine a character for respectability, to which, in its present condition, it can have very few preten sions. The great question-" what produces a scarcity of good seamen," has at length reached that point, we think, which renders its satisfactory solution a comparatively simple task. It is an indubitable fact, that the chief cause is to be found in the flagrant abuses of the forecastle, and but little can be done to ameliorate the condition of the sailor which does not aim directly at a revolu tion in this department. Another of the main causes is the sailor boardinghouse agency, which has proved one of the most formidable obstacles in the way of any plans for improvement heretofore put forth, and which are come to be considered almost insurmountable. Until both of these monstrosities can be successfully overcome, all efforts to improve the condition of the seafaring man must prove utterly futile, and no permanent good can reasonably be expected to result from them. The laborer, the mechanic, and, in fact, the worker in all departments of industrial trade, has advanced in civilization and refinement, and has now claim to a wide influence upon the progress of society. But in this advancement, the sailor has not participated, except, perhaps, to a very limited extent. To be sure, his condition is comparatively elevated from the lowest standard of years agone, his salary is more remunerative, and an enlightened liberality has, in some few cases, made provision for his better accommodation

and treatment on shipboard. The condition of our merchant seamen is far from being what it should be, however, and the philanthropic, the religiously and charitably disposed are periodically importuned to ameliorate their miserable condition, by relieving them from the abuses of the forecastle when at sea, and by breaking up the iniquitous sailor boarding-house system, through which agency they are defrauded of their hard-earned money when in port. Any one at all conversant with seafaring life in all its varied ramifications, must be cognizant of the fact that any and every scheme having this object in view, is strenuously opposed by these land sharks, who infest our wharves, and all of whom use the most herculean efforts to defeat every such endeavor, and frustrate every effort which may be put forth in this direction, and which may stand never so poor a chance of effecting the desired result. Could a greater spirit of enterprise be infused into some of these spasmodic endeavors, seconded by a kindred spirit in the mercantile community, they might be productive of much good; but as it is, the few well-meaning people who have heretofore taken the lead, have proved themselves utterly inadequate to cope with their formidable opponents, and accordingly little or no faith is reposed in their oft-reiterated promises to effect a revolution. To insure the success of such an undertaking, our merchants must first be induced to abrogate their system of retrenchment-exercised whenever they have opportunity-use their influence to reform the abuses of the forecastle, insure kind treatment, pay good wages, and thus create an inducement for respectable young men to follow the sea as a means of livelihood. Sailors, as a class, are as susceptible of gratitude and a reciprocation of kindly feeling as any class of men in the world, but they are too generally looked upon as a lower order of human beings and there is often a feeling of antagonism between them and their officers, created, in many instances, it is evident, by the harsh treatment of the latter. The most feasible form for a permanent reform, however, and, in fact, the only practical or efficient one, it seems to us, is the establishment, by an act of Congress, of an apprentice system, rendering it obligatory for ships to carry as apprentices a certain number of youth for a given term of years. This will insure to the owners and masters of ships good, well-known seamen, whose characters they themselves have developed, and to the seamen themselves a good nautical education, and a respect from their superiors, which this class of men have hitherto failed to command.

FACTS AND FIGURES.

Lead and zinc are greatly expanded by heat-the latter metal expands nearly twice-and-a-half more than wrought iron under equal temperatures.

The ordinary burden of a camel is 750 pounds. With this load he will travel at about two miles an hour for from 15 to 18 hours per day, continuing this service for weeks, with only one pound of food and a pint of water daily.

JAMES WATT, in a letter written in 1770, described and sketched a "spiral oar" or screw propeller.

The feed water of boilers acquires a galvanic effect in passing through the copper tubes of surface condensers.

Forests attract rain; a country stripped of its forests is likely to suffer from drouth.

A canal from the Nile to the Red Sea was once opened and kept open for many years.

The greatest range which can be obtained from a gun is when the piece is inclined at an angle of 45 degrees.

It is found that the prairie-stone, existing in such large quantities just back of Chicago, will make gas as well and as freely as the best coal, yield 50 per cent of pure saltpeter, and a residue be left of as good lime as can be found anywhere.

ANECDOTE OF STEPHEN GIRARD.

Old GIRARD had a favorite clerk, and he always said " he intended to do well by BEN. LIPPINCOTT." So when BEN. got to be twenty-one he expected to hear the governor say something of his future prospects, and perhaps lend a helping hand in starting him in the world. But the old fox carefully avoided the subject. BEN. mustered courage. I suppose I am free, sir," said he, "and I thought I would say something to you as to my course; what do you think I had better do?" Yes, yes, I know you are," said the old millionaire," and my advice is that you go and learn the cooper's trade." This application of ice nearly froze BEN. out, but recovering equilibrium, he said if Mr. GIRARD was in earnest he would do so. "I am in earnest ;" and BEN. sought the best cooper in Spring Garden, became an apprentice, and in due time could make as good a barrel as the best. He announced to old STEPHEN that he had graduated and was ready to set up business. The old man seemed gratified, and immediately ordered three of the best barrels he could turn out. BEN. did his prettiest, and wheeled them up to the old man's counting-room. Old GIRARD pronounced them first rate, and demanded the price. "One dollar," said BEN., " is now as low as I can live by." Cheap enough-make out your bill."

The bill was made out and old STEVE settled it with a check for $20,000, which he accompanied with this little moral to the story:

There, take that and invest it in the best possible manner, and if you are unfortunate and lose it, you have a good trade to fall back upon, which will afford you a good living."

We should like to see all the old solid fellows trying that experiment. It might spoil a barrel or two but it wouldn't spoil the boys.

LONDON TOBACCO TRADE AND CONSUMPTION.

There are 12 city brokers in London, expressly devoted to tobacco sales; 90 manufacturers, 1,569 tobacco shops, 7,380 workmen engaged in the different branches of the business, and no less than 252,043 tobacco shops in the United Kingdom. And if we turn to the continent, the consumption and expenditure assume proportions perfectly gigantic. In France much more is consumed, in proportion to the population, than in England. The emperor clears 100,000,000 francs annually by the government monopoly. In the city of Hamburg 40,000 cigars are consumed daily, although the population is not much over 150,000; 10,000 persons, many of them women and children, are engaged in their manufacture; 150,000,000 cigars are supplied annually; a printing press is entirely occupied in printing labels for the boxes of cigars, etc., and the business employs £4,000,000 or $20,000,000. In Denmark the annual consumption reaches the enormous average of 70 ounces per head of the whole population; and in Belgium even more-to 73 ounces, or 3.6 lbs. per head. It is calculated that the entire world of smokers, snuffers, and chewers consume 2,000,000 tons of tobacco annually, or 4,480,000,000 lbs. weight—as much in tonnage as the corn consumed by 10,000,000 Englishmen, and actually at a cost sufficient to pay for all the bread corn in Great Britain. Five-and-a-half millions of acres are occupied in its growth, the produce of which, at two pence per pound, yields £37,000,000 sterling, or $185,000,000.

THE BOOK TRADE.

1.-Izaak Walton's Lives. The Lives of Dr. John Donne, Sir Henry Wotton, Richard Hooker, George Herbert, and Dr. Robert Sanderson. By IZAAK WALTON, with some account of the author and his writings. By THOMAS ZOUCH, D.D. New edition with illustrated notes, complete in one volume. 12mo., pp. 386. Boston: Crosby, Nichols, Lee & Co.

The life of Izaak Walton, though little diversified with events, and exhibiting none of those attributes which are wont to commemorate us in the estimation of our fellow creatures, such as brilliant achievements, the pride of superfluous wealth, or the splendor of high descent, has always received more or less attention. His was one of those minds which may be said to gather sermons from stones, wisdom from running brooks, and good from everything." The complacency of his life, free from the pursuit of gain, his Christian virtues, the encouragement given by him to the more innocent recreations, have endeared his name to all. Indeed, though near 200 years have elapsed since he left the stage of existence, in the skillful management of the angle, he is believed to have borne away the prize from all his contemporaries. All lovers of that "gentle art" still swear by him, and the instructions contained in his "Complete Angler" are to this day looked upon as authority by all lovers of the gentle art, as comprising the clearest and fullest instructions for the attainment of a thorough proficiency in angling. But Izaak Walton possessed a mind enriched by study and contemplation as well, and contained in this volume will be found several biographics, denominated by him as simply good men, such as Dr. Donne the eloquent and effective preacher, Life of Sir Henry Wotton, Richard Hooker, George Herbert, Dr. Robert Sanderson, &c., &c. Aside from the fact, that the examples of such men, strictly and faithfully discharging their professional duties, must obviously tend to invigorate our own efforts to excel in moral worth, the book will be found interesting from the insight it conveys of English society during the troublesome times of the Covenanters in 1643. It is gotten up in the English style, with clear type and tiuted paper, and reflects all credit upon its enterprising publishers.

2.-The Works of Francis Bacon, Baron of Verulam. Viscount St. Albans, and Lord High Chancellor of England. Collected and edited by JAMES SPEDDING, M. A., late Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. Vol. xi., being vol. i. of the literary and professional works, "History of the Reign of King Henry VII. 12mo., pp. 461. Boston: Brown & Taggard; also for sale by E. French, 53 Cedar street, N. Y.

Lord BACON has always been acknowledged as a man possessed of the highest intellect of his time, and his masterly essays, in which his peculiar genius is readily most conspicuous, have been handed down as models of their kind. As a historian, however, he has been much criticised, from his too frequent disposition to taint his works with lukewarm censure of falsehood and extortion, and in handling this subject he has been accused of having simply written the life of Kiuk Henry to gratify James I., and in his efforts to do so, has both distorted character and events. But if the object of history, as BACON has it, is to reproduce such an image of the past that the actors shall seem to live, and the events to pass before our eyes anew, at the same time that it leaves the conclusions thereon to the liberty and faculty of every man's judgment, then we should say he has succeeded so well that he has left later historians but little to do. With but slight variations the portraits of Henry have ever been the samethe same cold reserve, suspicion, avarice, parsimony, party spirit, partiality in the administration of justice, yet possessed of sagacity, industry, and courage, who for twenty-three years really governed England by his own wit and his

own will. Contained in the volume is also a short memorial on the memory of Elizabeth, which traces on a few brief pages, as well, the principle elements comprising the character of that most singular woman. But if there is any thing to be praised more than another, it is the really beautiful style in which the publishers, Messrs. Brown & Taggard, are bringing out this series of BACON's works, on tinted paper, new type, etc. Book fanciers, we imagine, will have to go far before they meet with volumes displaying more taste in their getting up than these.

3.- Wilkins Wylder; or the Successful Man. By STEPHEN F. MILLER, author of "The Bench and Bar of Georgia." 12mo., pp. 420. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott & Co.

This will be considered by many a rather tame tale, from the lack of bloody plots. &c., with which authors usually choose to illustrate stories of this kind. It is evident the author in this case considered that such personages as Irving, Scott, Cooper, and other writers of fiction, have a large account to settle for turning the minds of the young into false channels, by throwing silken cables over dark caverns, and investing life with colors which inspire a momentary pleasure, through the imagination, never to be realized in daily life. Whatever the story may lack in these respects, is amply made up by the wholesome moral lessons it contains, relative to the duties of man and his social nature. Included in the volume is also a second story called "Mind and Matter," which we consider decidedly the best of the two-teaching conversely that nobility of mind may exist after fortune has departed, and that the instinct of friendship can do no good under false pretences. On the whole it will be found a capital storyone we cannot go amiss in placing in the family library.

4.-Critical and Miscellaneous Essays and Poems. By T. BABINGTON MACAULAY. New and revised edition. 12mo., pp. 358. New York: D. Appleton & Co.

The collection embraced in this volume of Macaulay's writings, comprehends some of the earliest and latest works he composed, such as "Criticisms on the Principal Italian Writers," "Account of the Great Lawsuit between the Parishes of St. Dennis and St. George in the Water," "Fragments of a Roman Tale," &c. &c., all taken from Knight's Quarterly Magazine and the Edinburgh Review, and embracing the long space of time intervening between 1812 and 1850, with the exception of his sketch of the life of William Pitt, written for the Encyclopedia Britannica during 1859, and among the last if not the closing up of his literary labors. Included in the volume are also a number of poems, some of which have already appeared in print, while others have not, the first two having been composed during the author's childhood. The volume, like most others issued from the house of Messrs. D. Appleton & Co.. exhibits much taste in the getting up, and will prove a valuable acquisition to the private library.

5.-Primary History of the United States, made Easy and Interesting for Beginners. By G. P. QUACKENBOS, A. M., Principal of the Collegiate School," N. Y. New York: D. Appleton & Co.

The wants of primary schools have been particularly consulted in the preparation of this little book. The author here endeavors to present the history of our country so clearly that it may be studied intelligibly by the merest youth. Knowing the fondness of the young for stories, truthful anecdotes have been interspersed throughout. And to please the eye, as well as to awaken thought, numerous engravings, designed with strict regard to historic truth, have been introduced. The form of continuous narrative has been adopted as preferable for reading purposes, but questions bringing out every leading fact are presented at the end of each lesson, which may be used by the learner in preparing himself, and by the teacher at recitation.