The New York Herald Newspaper, July 23, 1854, Page 2

THE REPUBLIC Whilst the agioultural portion of the Amecl- Valusot AMERICAN n oan ‘bave been thus led to ane 118 pc 4.0 uslieo ‘The Recont Growtn of the United States of ed, ) and . ; aH " ‘ [rss Bask wood'y Maensiin, Semunase} bas not ting to Of | Real and : ooo ae Although the eyes of the world. just now | their apd towns. No cltfes. d villages......... 2,812,000,000 diveoted almost exclusively to Kaatern Europe, | world, Great Britain not excepted, has suc- United Btates « Btate stooks owned in wenioh svete! - coon “hed ve ae one than an pane 9 ly in Kos. ET in the United and nottaxed. 100,000,000 tional im may es. promotion 5 . or osintorentia aap hasty glance over an- want of water power has been promptly | Total vale of. reel su sormnes ‘ other quarter of the globe, in which « deve seized upon for manufactures of every descrip- Nie: Ps aire a 071 364,000 ment ot power is going on, silently but rapidly tion. hinery of the most perfect kind bas | “Prices ince June, 1860........ seas 909,196,400 FR ad by the irae og Mer ; hens aypiied sail ete Broce, coonamiaing. Do. tor increase in amount of bai land or sea, yet not at r, facil ing locomotion, an perty ace an seseeee, 907,186, with results which er inflaence the Sainies surmounting those difficulties eniah fave cee ite of a large portion of the human race. Weneed | ever im; scarcely sey that oor remarks poiat to the Ame- | tions. The gigan Tican rey ic.and that it is that youcg giant of | been more abundantly and Teele, sone 3 the Weet, whose growth to maturity affords an | in the mine and in the mill; on its rivera objeot of contemplation infinitely more inatruc- | its lakce, its canals and its railroads; aoing the tive than any which barbaric Russia presents in | work of millions of hands, and of human and her frenzied struggl: for territorial aggran- | animal sinews, yet without creating s vacuum dizement, or the powers of Western E afford in their iil cementeé and anion to repel the aggressor. Uatil 0 within the last few years we have been too | a period of only ten years, the increase in the led the progress of young na- tic owen ofsteam has nowhere Total valde of re ‘pro- perty, January 1, 1868,.......... .910,865/636,00 From another table contained in the same re- Les Tica ype doahrsonimnoe of bad uctions of agriculture represen yield of the 4,599 364, olla’ of the above capital employed by- lon. was, in the market for labor, or diminishing at all, ase. coliaatat Me ry 1,762,583,042 perceptibly, the rewards of industry in sny | dollars. Of this yield lowing were the portion of its territory. From 1830 to 1840, ia | pripcipal items:— = much in the habit of treating tne socouats bronght before ux of American progress to grestaess as extravaguvt gusconade. The gov- é@rnments of Europe have been disposed to i nore the pretensiovs which she has put forth, until, from one after avotber, she has wrung re- peration for actual or imagived wrongs. Even when we saw her flag flying in overy port of the world, and felt the uct.ve competition of her merchants avd shipowners, we were dis- posed to regard her ruther as an interlo, @efficker, with wbom, troin her distance from us and hir isolated psitivn, Europe cuuld have littie sympathy, than as the germ of a powerful bation with a mighty tuture ta prospect, With @ view to bring avout a proper recognition of the actual and yrow:ng :mportance of America, as a member of the great fum-ly of nations, we propose here to give a few statistics illustra- tive, not cnly of tue innate elements of strength @ud progress which she possesses, but also of the geniu« shown by hr people In turning them to profitable aceount. One of the most remarkable features in the history of America and to which she owes much of her present growth and prosperity, is the foresight with which she has laid the foun- dations of that prosperity. In this her popula- tien have not evinced the spirit of the mere huckster. anxious ouly for present gain, but | rather the enlarged views of the patriot, anx- | ious for the tuture weal of his country and bis race, A striking expression of this spirit is furnished in a report made to the legislature of | the United States in 1812, by Gouvernour Mor- | ris, Do Witt Clinton, and other eminent men, appointed as a commission to inquire into the | practicability and prospects of the great canal | to connect lake Erie with the river Hadson—a | project ecouted at the time as preposterous. | After boldly stating that the tolls from this great national work—ior such it has proved— | would amply repay the outlay required for its | construction, the Commissioners remark:— It is impoesible to sscervain, avd it is cult to | imagine, how much toll would be collected. The amount of transportation might be estimated by | submitting probabilities to calculation. But, like | our advance in numbers and wealth, calculation out- rons fancy, Things which twenty yeara agosny | man would have been laugued at for believing, we mow see, At that time the most ardent mind, proceeding on established facts by the uverring rule of arith- | metic, was obliged to drop the pen at results which | dmagination could not embi ace. { After stating seme facta to bear out their | view of the result of the project, they proceed:— Standing on such facts, is it extravagant to be- | lieve that New York may look forward to the re- ceipt, st no distant day, of one million dollars net revenue from thiscanal? The life of an individual | is short. The time is not distant when those who | make this report will bave passed away. But no time is fixed to the existence of a State; and the first wish of a patriot’s heart is that his may be It may be mentioned. as s proof of the sound ju nt aaeared by these men, that, within eight years of the completion ot the canal, its toils exceeded the estimated r it is not. however. as successful projectors that the forethought of the American people has been ehown; for in fact their public works have been anything but remunerative. and have even been the cause of bringing down obloquy } upon come of the States, which have repudiated | the een of debts contracted for their con- struction. It is the amg ns A and sound | judgment displayed in their design with which | we bave to deal. The great object of American | enterprise has been, from a very early period, to connect the t Jakes and the fertile val- leys of the Middle and Western States with the cities and ports along the Atlantic seaboard; to | improve the navigation of her great rivers, and | thus bring into cultivation the valuable tracts | of country along their banks; and, as a part | of this great work, to connect with each other, by railways and canals. the towns and villa; in the more densely-peopled | and cultivated districts which lie along the | entire eastern frontier of her territory from the State of Maine to the Gulf of Florida. arry out the general design, vast sums been lavished, and expensive works con- | structed. in mapy instances far in advauce of | any ascertained airements of the country, | certainly with little prospect of an carly | return for expenditure. Bat in the mean- | time the most apparently hopeless of these | works are conferring important benefits upon | the mass of the community, by developing | sources of wealth which might otherwise have | been closed for years, if not centuries to come, and affording new spheres for the enterprise of a peorlen, whove passion for adventure ani novelty seems to know no bounds. From the extended means of locomotion thus afforded has been derived that striking feature in the American character which has so long been the subject of European remark. and fre- | quently of ridicute—the disposition to migrate epon ir own soil. For upwards of twenty years her population have been moving west- ward, driviog the red Indian before them, and | subduing to the plough the huating grounds of hisraoe. Nosooner has a State ora district been | cleared and partially popniaied than the pio- | neers who first opencd up its soil have started again in search of cheaper localities for the ex- ercise of their untiring energies. i doubt, impressed with the knowledge that al- +) though the: from a market for their productions, the abun- Gant {ocilities provided by nature and art for their transmission would neutralize this difi- culty. Another circumstance has tended mate- ly to dittuse the povaletion of America, as creased, over @ larger extent of territory, | instead of locating it around acy particular centre. Atancariy period they were tanght | the necessity of being self depeudeat, especiatly for the supply of thoge articies of clothing, suitable or the wants of sucha people. Evers settler carried into tho wilas the means «nt kcowledge required for the manufacture of such articles—rudely, perhaps, but sufficient for hiv perposes. Proximity toa market for supply was thus rendered a non-essential feature in condition. As early as 1810, we find from a return prepared by the federal government of the Union, that the domestic manufactures of America, of all descriptions, were of the value of $127 ,694,602 annually ; and it has been esti- mated by competent authorities that, of $36- value of the manufactures of wool, | , with their mixtures—fally two- | 793,2 i that thie desirable state of things in new coua- try—-the existence of household manufactures— ‘materially c since 1810, At atl events. not chan; up to 1852; for, althou ini |, large manufacturing estal had been formed, their prodace ap- ‘have been chiefly for e: tion. we find America capable of exporting to the value of $3,122,546, of wool and fiax to of aoe mg ' * on production o! 0. ‘akin: the e increase of ee the domestic juction must have ‘iwereased durin increase sy H | | : e g : i 3 3 Pe | as would war- had become less and resources, that in 1852 no less than | rf i i * manufactures. population of twenty of the largest towns in the United States, from New York to St. Louis, inclusive, was 55 per cent, and we shall show hereatter that this rate of increase has been fully suetained, especially in those situated in the region of the great lakes; towards which the influx of settlers bas lately been drawn, both from Europe and from other portions of Ameri- : ca berself. ~ Yet she has been enabled not only to employ ly the natural increase which has taken place in her population, bat also to absorb, without spparent effort or inconveviencey the vast tide of emigration which Europe has for years been directing to her shores. She possesses a foreign com- | red... «++ « 183,000,000 Annual increase of live stook. ++ 167,750,000 In an abstract of the cereal produce of the United States, in 1851, the quantities are set down as follows:— -100,603,899 bushels. 639 merce second only to that of Great Britain, a | Rye.. 188, powerful mercantile marine, a well spaiied Corn. 692,326,612“ and powerful fleet—every element, in fact, | —Which, compared with the estimate above, cl shows that a remarkable increase had taken place in 1852 in the quantity of wheat pro- auced; whilst rye and Indian corn had re- which is required to insure a nation’s greatness. All this she has achieved mainly through the well directed energies and the Papert 3 1 hardihood of her citizens. whose guiding rule of | mained at about their piece owth. The action has ever been to look and struggle for- | exports, in 1851, to all countries, were as ward, whilst elder nations have been content to | follows : loiter upon the beaten track of mediocrity, and . 1,026,725 bushes hesitate and count the cost of every step of pro- 202,335 “ gresa beyond that beaten track. 426,811 “ Years ago. before the amazing develope ment | Indian meal...................6+ $03,622“ of her resources which we have witnessed dur-| This, it will at once be seen, is the | ing the past ten years. American statesmen and | merest fraction of the produce of the country; | writers saw and predicted the future. and at- | and the question will naturally suggest itself, tributed it mainly to the facilities which had | whatis the quantity of grain which such a been provided in her railways and canals, for -) people will be capable of eparing for the con- To | have | 1843 in part, no | 1 wore iucreasing their distance | d the interval, for we | of tm the encouragement of the commercial and agri- cultural industry of her population. One of these, Mr. Scott, of Obio, in an able series of | articles on the internal trade of the country, published in 1843 in Hunt’s Merchant's Maga- zine, made the following extraordinary caleula- tion of the probable rate of increase of that population:— n 1840 the United States had a population of 17,068,666. Allowing its future increase to be at the rate of thirty-three and one-third per cent for each succeeding period of ten years, we sball num- ber in 1940, 803,101,641. Past experiense warrants | us in expecting this great increase. In 1790 our | number was 3,927,827. * * But, lest a hundred { years ceem too long to be relied on, in a calculation aving so many elements, let us see how matters will stana fifty years from 1840, or forty-seven years from this time. The ratio of increase we have adopted cannot be objected to as extravagant for this period. In 1890, according to that ratio, our number will be 72,000,000. Of these 22,000,000 will be a fair allowance for the Atlantic slope. Of the | rema‘ning 50,000,000, 2,000,000 may reside west of the Rocky Mountains, leaving 45,000,000 for the great valley within the States. This will naturally strike most persons as an extravagant calculation. It ignores, in the | first place, the natural tendency of = popula tion, increasing in density, and of whic! ‘ge Masses are congregating in cities and towns, to | assume a higher rate of mortality. It over- looks, too, an important, but well ascertained | fact, that the climate of some portions of the American continent is unfavorable to longevit and to the maintenance of the human species | its aboriginal v gor and hardihood. The native born Yankee rarely the corporeal sta- mina of his ancestry of a few generations past. But, on the other hand. it must be borne in mind that America has of late received many additional elements of strength, which were not | within the contemplation of the writer who thus estimated her future progress. For the twenty years from 1826 to 1844, upwards of a year sub- Requent to his estimate being formed, the total emigration to that country from the United Kingdom amounted only to 569,633 adults, the avcrage being 28481 perannum. In the two years of 1851 and 1852 we find, from the return of the Goveroment Emigration Commissioners, that the emigration from the United Kingdom amounted to 511,618 adults, or very nearly equal to the entire emigration of the twenty years ending in 1844. The impetus given by the to emigration, not only from the country and | from Europe. but also from the countries of the | | writer in question, otherwise he would certainly | have set down more than 2,006,000 for the | pulsation west of the Rocky Mountains in | 890, 50 far as population is concerned, of the decade | «A Communication from the Secretary of the | Treasury, transmitting, in compliance with a the Report of Israel D. Andrews, Consul of the | United States for Canada and New Brunswick, the British North American Colonies,” printed at Washington, by order of the United States aiscevery ot the golden treasures of California | Pacific, could not have been foreseen by the | P | Let us, however, come to the actual results, | from 1840 to 1850. We take our data here from — resolution of the Senate of March 8, 1851, the , on the Trade of the Great Lakes and Rivers of government, in 1853, to which is added most { complete statistics of the growth of that coun- | try itself. | Ta 1840 (as made up to Sept. 30) the population of the Union was. +. 17069 453 » 1841. b.¥e 1st? «+. 17,612,507 18,155,581 + 18,698,515 19,241,670 19) | | (to June 30)....... 1844 « 2 4 : +. 36 We have given each year separately, Ww the accur in 000 in or- ratio in which the population has lately been increasing. In he first five years. the am of increave was | 2.715 272, or an average of 545,050 per annum. In the second fi , it was 3,461,576, or | an average of per annum. In the ten | y it was 6,1 8, which is above the rate | airty-three and a third per cent, assumed by Mr. Scott, in the caleulat to which we } have referred. In the two years, from 30th June, 1859, to the same date in 1852, the in- crease was 1,7 0, or 876,750 per annum, which rate, if maintained, even without any scecleratio bring the popula- tion, in 1260, te 1,000, the increase being | thas upwards o per ceut in the decade, | instead of the thirty-three anda third, assumed. | With reference to the data upon which the re- | turns of population in the Secretory of the | Treasury's communication ere based, we may explain that an syerage immigration of only | 150,000 persons mnnurliy wasassumed. Ac- | cording to the rate of progress thus arrived at, | it is stated “that the inhabitants had increased | to 25,237,000 on the first January, 1853. But | during the intervening period’’—since June 1, | 1860—*there hod arrived from Europe 990,000 | emigrants, which was 604,000 above the average | | for the same length of time duriug the previous | decennial term. This excess being added tothe } | oatural inerease, and to the number of im- | migrants who had atrived upon the aver } | before mentioned, tho rewuit shows that | population of the United States on the: ist of January, 1853, was 25,541,009, representing an inerease of 2,578,000. somewhat over eleven per | cent, during the thirty-one months preceding.” ; In 1950, it is estimated that 140 cities and towns of more than 10,000 inhabitants each, contained | a population of 2,860,000; and that in towns | and villages of more than 200 inhabltants each, there was a population of 1,149,000, making a } total population, in cities, towns and villages, | of 4,000,000, The remaining population, in | number 19,263,000, were locnted in rural dis- tricte. The total value of the rea! and personal ' fellowe:— | tom-honee statistics, as determining the position sumption of Europe, when the capabilities of their soil are brought more fully into ex- ercise ? The total value of the productions of indus- | try, including all interests, is thus set down :-- Agriculture for 1852, a3 above...... .$1,762,588,042 Genera) industr: 4 tees esveee 1,183,000,000 | Home, or household manufactures 30,260,000 | Total... $2,932,762,642 | Compering the amount of the last two items, 1,163,250,000 dollars, with the value of the productions of industry previously set down tor the year 1810, it follows that the increase has been nearly tenfold during the past forty- two years. With a view of showing that the consumption of this large quantity of the pro- duce of the soil and of the industry of the peo- | ple has been chiefly at home, we may state that | in 1862 the total value experted only reached $154,980 947, or $6.19 per head. In a social Point of view such a state of things is gratify- ing. Itis well for any community when they | can reserve for their own use sa large a pro- | portion of their own products, But we find | that, in addition. America has of late increased | largely her consumption of foreign merchandise. | The following is an extract from another table , exhibiting the extent of the increase:— | s = ie) 1690, 970,876,020 s14s07A7 aséAbotan ‘ses | 1840. .107,141,619 18,190,312 88,951,207 6 21 | 1850. 178,188°318 14,951,808 163186510 7 O1 | 1852. 212,613,282 17,273,341 195,339,941 8 00 | This large excess in the consumption of foreign merchandise is readily accounted for, without supposing that apy great substitution of such merchandise for domestic productions bas taken Jace amonget the American people generally. It s explained by the fact that large shipments from this and other countries have gone to Califor- nia, either direct by the route via Cape Horn, or from the ports of the Pacific and the Eastern and China seas. The population of California have not yet become self-supporting, and their domestic industry is almost exclusively en- gaged in mining pursuits. But there a) on the face ofthe returns, from which our data are derived, a problem, which, at first sight, is dif- ficult to solve. The total consumption of the United States is exhibited as greater than its | production, large though the latter is. Whenat- | tentively examined, however, the difficulty disap- | pears, It is stated by the author of the return, that “in ascertaining the price of crops, those of the | New York price current for January, 1853, have been taken, and a deduction therefrom of fif- | teen per cent has been made to cover expenses ot transportation and commercial charges,”’ This would have been correct had the object | been merely to show how much of the value of | the productions of the country went into the | pocket of the actual producer. But it is not correct in a comparison between the exports and imports of the country. The cost of trans- port from the far Western States to the great | marts of consumption is equally a return for | the capital invested in canals. railways, steam- boats and labor, as the products themselves, estimated at the place of their growth, are the return to the grower tor his capital. rent, seed, and labor. Those pro- | ducts—the surplus of which, when it arrives at the great marts of consumption, is exchangeable, | or nearly £0, for all that is required of foreign | growth or manufacture—have heen distributing, | menced on the 4th July, 18 | along the thousands of mils which they have tra- | versed from the far-off west, a fertilizing stream | of wealth, whose flow has supported and glad- | the tide water was such as to prohibit the ship- dened many thousands of bappy homes, And | to show the fallacy of modern, or merely cus- | ofa commercial nation. it should be borne in mind that not only are the gains of that nation healthily distributed amongst its population the means of its internal traffic, but y ore also in part composed ofthe profit up chipping cngaged in transporting its productions to foreign markets. Had we a re- turn of the large smount of money yearly earn- | ed by the shipowners and commanders and offi- cers, and the crews of the United States, we should cease to be eurpriced that. notwithstand- | ing her large consumption both of domestic and | oreign productions, we so seldom hear of any very serious balance of trade against her. ft is an undoubted fact, however. that America has of late been sailing very close to the wind in the way of expenditure—living, in fact, nearly, if not quite, up to her income. She hae done this, notwithstanding the vast pro- ductivences of her new Californian possessions, which in 1850 yielded 60,000,000 dollars, and have since then rather increased than diminished. But we must not be blind to the fact that she is still, and even more energetically than at any former period of her history, heaping up the ma- terials of oe future * tus turn for a moment, roof of this, to the rapid pregress which she ~fecently been making as a maritime power. In 1840, the amount of ton- nage belonging to the United States, of all descriptions was 2,130,773 tons. In 1860 it | { | } \ } | | | | the transport | ment afforded by California to shipping, to- | placed her population in the first rank amongst was 3.535 454 tons; and in 1852 it was 4,138- | 489 tons, having ihoreased, during the twelve years, 2,007,696 tons, or a little over 94 per cent, In 1642 the American tonnage entered from a into American ports, was 1,510,111 tons, ond in 1661, 3,054,349 tons, having more than doubled in nine years, The clearances were in 1842, 1,536,461 tons, and in 1851, 3,200,- 519 tons, having also more than doubled in the nine years. Notwithstanding this display of enerey, and enterprise, the American shipowner oud Luilder had ngt overtaken the requirements of their country, caused by the amazing dere- lopement of its commerce and production during theze years ; for we find the entries of foreign chips increased from 732,775 toms in 1842, to 1,939,091 in 1851, and the clearauce from 740,- 407 in 1842. to 1,929,536 in 1851. To show the cotton was con- | property in the United States, is estimated as | cxtent of that developement we find from the alove data that, whereas (he commerce of the ogrees at the same jod 2,3465 miles— ane a total of 4,636) miles in operation and constructing. These lines are described as follows, in an article written at the time by Mr. J. H. Lanman, an able authority:— If we survey the of the United States we shail find the termini of These at both 1 rest at the principal commercial towns of the coun- try, both in the East and West. The principal termini of each track upon the Atlantic seaboard may be found in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Norfolk, Wilmington, Charles- ton and Savannah. From these grand points of shipment the railroad tracks run acroas the ‘uterior, and, intersecting in their course the most promi- nent villages and cities, terminate at the grand marts of weatern commerce, and the shores of their navigable rivers. In 1847-8, a report by Mr. Walker, an emi- nent statistician. estimated the railroads of the United States at 5.500 miles, constructed at an expense of one hundred and sixty-six millions of dollars; and at the date of the communica- | tion of the Secretary of the Treasury, from which we have already condensed very freely, the length of railroads is set down at 13,300 | miles, constructed at a cost of 400,000,000 dol- lars, in additton to about ten thousand more miles in progress. As the reselt, the writer says — The imports and exports have increased from | three hundred to over four hundred millions; the | tounage, inward and outward, from 6,700,703 to 10,591,045, tons; the tor owned, from 2.839,000 to 4,200,000 tons. e reveipts into the treasury, exclasive of loans, have increased | from twenty-six to over forty millions; and the Ca- litorpian trade, the whole of which does not appear in the published returns—the commercial phenome- non of a commercial age—hasalso added a hundred millions to the national commerce, and, more any event of the last fort: P hago has invigorated the nav:gating interest o' country, and to a great degree hada powerfal ix fluence over the com- mercial marine of the world; the whole contributi: to swell the internal trade, and enabling the Unit States to own more two-fifths of tonnage of the world. The passage in the above extract which we have marked in italics reads rather like on- ade, and will be so a oy by those who are accustomed to be guided er meagre details given in the Board of le returns of this country. Such an impression may, perhaps, be in some measure removed when we look at the vast addition to the coasting trade ot America which California must have occasisned for of goods and ee ts from the Atlantic ports round Cape no. It will enable the reader better to estimate the extent of this addition if we state that the amazing increase, which we have shown above to have taken place in the entries and clearances of American shipping, refers ex- clusively to vessels engaged in the forei trade. None of the “licensed and enrolled” vessels belonging to the Union are so engaged, but confine themselves exclusively to the fish- eries, the lake and the Mpa trades. When it is considered that the two latter employes, up to June, 1851, a tonnage of 1,854,318 tons, upon which the Treasury returns of 1852 ex- hibit an increase of about ten per ceni., it is not difficult to conceive {that the increased epmloy- ther witb the movement of uce, &c., from the ports of the Atlantic to that scene of adven- turous life and «normous consumption, may have enlarged the general transactions of the country to the extent of the hundred millions of dollars mentioned. We are not, nor was the | writer of the reper which we have quoted, speaking of California having added a hundred millions to the national imports or exports, but to the “national commerce.” It will not be thought remarkable in the resent day that the cities and States of the Jnion which first took steps to connect the fertile valley lying beyond the Allegany moun- tains with ths Atlantic, should have made the | sag progress in importance and prosperity. t was the fortupe of the State of New York to take the earliest step to effect this great diside- ratum, although Washington had perhaps first suggested its importance, in agitating a move- ment for the purpose of connecting the country adjoining the great lakes with his own native | State of Virginia. The construction of the ca- | nal from Lake Erie to the River Hudson gave to the former State an impulse which has American communities. ‘This canal, we have | already stated, was, hate formally com- 7, not opened un- til the 26th October, 1525. Previous te its con- struction. the cost of transit from Lake Erie to ment of western produce and merchandise to New York; and it consequently came only to Baltimore and Philadelphia. “As soon as the lakes were reached ”— we quote from the Secretary of the Treasury again:—“The line of navigable water was ex- tended through them nearly one thousand miles farther from the interior. The Western States immediately commenced the construction of v works, for the purpose of opening a com ation from the more remote regions of | tent in the temperate zone, and oocapying | the Micsi | 8,000 ; in 1810, 17,242 ; in 1820, | 46,310, We have now arrived territories with this great water line. All there we took their direction and character from the Er 7 canal, which, in this manner, be- came the outlet for the greater part of the pro- duce of the West.” Without ath a work, the West would have had no attractions for a set- tler. and have probably remained a waste np to the present time; and New York itself could uot Dave pro; as it hesdoue. In addition. however. to the formation of the Erie canal, New York originated, in advance of most other States, lines of railway, throughout its terri- tory. in connection either with the canal, or between its various towns and settiements. It also connected itself by railroad with Lake Champlain, and succeeded in divert- ing a considerable portion of the transit trade of Canada from the St. Lawrence through these communications to the port of New York. The effect of this ent , displayed by the people and by the State, may be estimated the fuct that the Mowry which was, in 1830, 1,918,608, had iftcreased in 1840 to 2,428,921, and in 1850 was 3,097,394. In 1830, the value of the imports at New York was 38,656,064 dollars; in 1840 it had reached 60,064,942 dol- lars, and in 1851, when the network of communications throughout the State had come into complete operation, the value of imports was 144,454,616 dollars. Boston, come a and Baltimore, all of whom had been New York in energetic efforts to connect them- selves with the great Iskes and the West, im- rted only, in 1851, to the value of 30,508,139, 4,168,618, and 6,648,774 dollars respectively. ‘The exports from the four ports bear abont the came to each other, New York comewhat —, Hag ty onad =f its soe premacy. ent: , however, the saventegs in favor of New York is out of all question the greatest, arising from the fact that ehe has made for herself not only the chortest poutes te the far western shores of i Heed ae ate = BEES it [tran F | dl towards their ports the produce collected in Lakes eh gee Michigan, Huron, Erie and On- tario, with the magnificent rivers which empt; themeelves into the Gulf of Mexico, have rival- led those made Pe Atlantic States; and their success bas been little, if at all, less . The district through which the Mississippi and its tributaries run, bearing upon their waters the material wealth of an almost illimitable extent of soil fitted for cultivation, is thus referred to by Mr. Calhoun, in his report to the Memphis Convention, appointed to devise measures for plicated the navigation of the Western wa- Ts:— Looking beyond to a not very distant future, when this immense valley—containing witbin its limita, 1,200,000 square miles, lying in its Mod ha a lion midway between the Atlantic and ic Oceans, unequalled in the fertility avd diversity of its pro- ductions, intersected by the mighty stream, inclad- ing its tributaries, by which itis drained,and which supply a continuous navigation of upwards of ten thousand miles, with a coast, inclu both banks, of twice that length—sball be crowded with popu- lation, and its resources fully developed, imagina- tion itself is taxed in the attempt to realise the mag- nitude of its commerce. The route by which the produce of the West reaches New Orleans, its chief port of shipment, is thus described by the same writer :— ‘The order in which the several collection districts on the lakes and rivers of the interior are shown, commences on Lake Champlain, from which it ex- tends up the St. Lawrence river and Lake Ontario to the Niagara river; thence up Lake Erie, the De- troit river, and Lake Huron to Michilimackinac; thence up Lake Michigan to Chicago; thence across ippi river, and down that stream to New Orleans, thas extending on a natural line of inte- rior navigation, which has but two slight inter- ruptions, from the waters of the Gulf of St. Law- rence to thoee of the Gulf of Mexico, a distance of —_ less ee a er open which is Employed, for ropes trade and travel, a steam tonnage tection of 1100 miles in length eaabeacing ssnpiy a . em} the districts on that river, and its tributaries, ay Thus, in point of fact, the largest and most densely populated portion of the American terri- tory, with only two interruptions—the first oc- at Lewiston, where the route is by land distance to Buffalo, in order to avoid 01 bag rise we may state batt ey recent inquiries, it appears that “ the entire strength of the steam marine of the lakes and rivers of the interior consists of 765 vessels, measuring 204,725 tons, and employing | 17,607 persons popper ma — = tion ied sailing ¢1 \, , &e., the lake traffic, The tonnage of ther es, of all descriptions, so far as it can be accuratel: ascertained, was in 1820, 3,500 tone; in 1830, and in 1850, 20,000 tons; in 1840, 75,000 tons: it hea reached 216,787 tons! ae will scarcely appear t, wit such facilities of Bo ani a transport for their commerce provided in every rection, the pi in tion and wealth of the States situated the a valley westward of the Alleghany Mount to the lakes, and upon the Gulf of Mexico, has been greater within the past few years than the pro- owe of those occupying Atlantic ae. ommencing with the city of New Orleans—t chief port for the outlet of their commerce—we find that its tion was, in 1800, about 27,176 ; in 1830, at the period when steam navigation on the western lakes and rivers had begun-to produce their effect. In 1840, the ation was 102,193, and in £8 following table exhihits the value of pro received from the interior at New Or! during the last eleven years, of which we have complete datas :— in 1850, 125,000, including its suburbs. The 3, The exports from New Orleans of domestic produce were, in 1834, $22,848,995; in 1840, $32,998,059; and in 1850, $37,698,277. In 1851, they rose at one to $53,968,013. During the ten years from 1835 to 1844 inclu- sive, the average receipts of duties at the Cus- tcm House were $905,196. For the eight years, fiom 1845 to 1852 inclusive, the average was $1,648,298, There has also been a remarkable itcrease in the trade of the other gulf ports, in- cluding Mobile, Pensacola, St. Mark's, Apala- chicola, and the ports of Texes. The relative progress of the Atlantic States and the Western States, which draw their re- sources from the great lakes and the rae with their tributaries, furnishes some very strik- ing results. The population of the six New Englend States, viz.: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Connecticut, were as follows at the periods men- ti ° fom Increase 5 cent. BOBS 0 een os Antvibs Toosens 7 “w 800. 1223 /315 22.1 1810. LATL BOL 19:3 1820 “1,659,898 128 1860.: :2/728;106 2207 Theee States possess an area of 63,326 square miles, and the population in 1850, as given above. was 43.5 persons to the square mile. ._ The middle States of the Atlantic comprise New York and Pennsylvania, and their rate of Ha ag during the sam¢ period was as fol- Population. cent, “aoe oro or “TT alonajens. 43.79 699, 34.00 oe Lo re 735 90.32 15,898, These States have anarea of 100,520 square wiles, and the--poputation in 1850 was 58.80 petsons to the square mile, Tie Moritreters als inelnde Ohio, In- diana, Minois, Town, Wisconsia, and the Minnesota Territory. The following has been their rate of progrese;— itil E = i Ss F é t fi 2 i TH & rid 3E z - mi il as j 3 ge g al g ‘ HE ry a Kf : nts from every tre i ly reached, and at an expense which within the means of all classes above the coa- dition of abeolute pauperism. The sources of employment for immigrants are more varied and abundant than they can be expected to be in California or Australia, where the tion is either purely agricultural or occupied im the search for the precious metals. Moreover, the settler in the Atlantic States, should his in- clinations be directed to the gold regions, is al- ready far upon the way to California in the frat instance, either by way of Panama, or by the various routes overland, and there are abundant means of crossing the Pacific from San Fran- cisco to Sydney and Melbourne. The growth of the cities and of the lake districts has been equally rapid with that of the Atlantic cities, whose commerce they feed. Tae following was the tant amongst the pop hiatse, of the most impor- former in 1800 and 1850 :— These pi , however, large though their commerce is already, may be said to be only im their infancy, and must, within a fow peers, be greatly increased in portance, as new communications are opened. out for them with the rivers and fertile soils which are being rapidly peopled in the Western States and Territories. As a f of this we acd pena! oa progress few years town of Chicago, May, 1848, a canal of a hundred miles im th was opened to connect that lake with Illinois River. and the first section "ap iearsfe ae ert pies the westward was Saar March, 1849. Previously to these works being brought into operation, we find, from the oi census of 1847, that the po; 5 at nearly, if not quite, 40,000, siderably more than doubled itself in It must be borne in mind that it isin rection, towards the richest agricultural be found in the world, that the stream of gtation from Great Britain and Ireland, and recently from , is principally flowing, at a rate which a years ago would have been regarded as almost fabulous, but. which is pa en Sargtnreye | The Gulf and Southern States have increased in populdtion as followe:— Indabi- 1880. 1840. 1850. tants to SBPo ore ENE BEE Gaessceaabaanst Population of these the decade of 1840 to 1850, as ith the previous decade ; andit may compared occur to some that the change in the policy of this country has been beneficially felt by the American agriculturists. Such. no doubt, has prone rrtmen sear it is a fact, ieee of c uced upon a count: improve- ments in the accommodation afford for traffle and locomotion, that those States have pro- greseed most rapidly in which such ments have been most vigorously carried out, In the only State which shows a decline in popu- lation—Miseouri—it is remarked that the ‘for mation of railroads and other public works hag been neglected. With respect toone State— Mississippi—where the increase in population has been very striking, the promise of the free traders to Iny its fertile valley alongside of Manchester ears to hdve beer realized with- out any material aid from such works, merely through the instrumentality of the noble river which runs the whole length of its western fron- tier. The Southern and Gulf States, however, it must be remembered, comprise what hag been aptly called the “Cotton Zone;” and the greatly increased growth of that raw mate- tial during the past ten years in part accounts for the advance ia prosperity of Louisiana, Tennessee, South Carolina, Mississippi, Georgia and Alabama, where the bulk of it is prodaced. Some difficulty exists in ascertaining the pre- ciee growth of “crops” in each year, owing to the accounts furnished by the United States Treasury being made up at a period, (June 30,) when the whole of the previous year’s crop has not been received in market, thus rend confusion almost inevitable. We can therefore only arrive at an spproximation of the truth by means of the exports. The following table gives the quantities, in lbs, and bales of 400 Ibs. each, exported in the years specified :— lbs. e229 Baap ~22-283, avera; apnum.,.. Steen i 147,763,923 | | 1849-50-51, er) —_ - 863,073,654 1,093,230,639 If we add to the returns for 1852 about 800,- | 000 bales for the consumption of America itself, we chall havea total crop of upwards of 3,500- 000 bales. In the same way we may add aboat 130,000 bales for the ican cont of 1821, which will make the entire crop of that ear 500,000 bales. We find thus, that in the irty-one yeary from 1821 to 1852 there has been anjincrease of 3,000,000 bales in the which has multiplied itself during that eeven fold! The to of this , a8 an element of wealth, may be evti~ mated from the fact that the census value of if in 1849-50 was 112,000,000 dollars; that its cal tivation and ion for market (oe upwards of 800,000 agricultural laborere, cent of whom are slaves and the residue 000) are white citizens; that SSS, of 120,- 000 tons of steam shi ing, ‘and at ledst 7,00 pereons, are 3 its transportation frog the iv.terior to the gouthern ports; and that, af- ter remunerating ra, anderwel era, anda host of other it furnishes Profitable freight for 1,100,000 tony of Amerir 7 Se ee ~