THE BOOK TRADE. The Tariff Question Considered in regard to the Policy of England and the interests of the United States; with statistical and comparative tables. By ERASTUS B. BIGELOW. LITTLE, BROWN & Co., Boston. D. APPLETON & Co,, 443 Broadway, New York. In these times of great excitement, when the "On to Richmond" furor absorbs so large a share of our dreams, both sleeping and waking, books with modest titles are not apt to receive proper attention. The author of this work, however, is so widely known as a skilful and successful inventor, and so well fitted by his own experience to discuss in an intelligent manner subjects affecting our manufacturing interests, that we trust an exception will be made in his favor. In regard to the general topic of free trade and protective tariffs, one would be inclined to think that little new could be said, and yet Mr. BIGELOW throws about his subject great interest, and backs up his arguments by elaborate and well prepared tables. The present, too, is a time when these questions are invested with additional importance, by reason of the late chauges made in our revenue laws, and the peculiar position of our country. But we do not propose here to discuss these matters. We would refer our readers to this book for much that is interesting and valuable, whether they agree with the conclusions reached or not. We subjoin the following, taken from the author's introductory notice, which will explain more fully the object and scope of the work: "The vast and various commerce of Great Britain, and our own intimate relations with that commerce; the general tone of British statesmen and of the British press in reference to the commercial regulations of other countries; the zeal and pertenacity with which the free trade maxims and example of that great nation are commended to our adoption and imitation, not only by Englishmen, but by many among ourselves-all unite to give especial interest and importance to the policy of England in regard to the Tariff Question. To understand that policy, we must study its history, and learn in what circumstances and by what necessities it has been modified and developed. To ascertain how far and in what particulars the political and commercial economy of Great Britain can be safely taken as a guide to that of the United States, we must know and be able to compare the actual condition of the two countries in respect to their agriculture, manufactures, commerce, industry, and finance. "To aid in such an investigation, and to furnish the basis of safe inference and argument, I have put into tabular form, in an appendix, the most important facts in the These tables are, for the most part, not mere copies or abstracts, but the result of labored and careful selection, comparison, and combination." case. They present, it is believed, a mass of valuable statistics, essential to a right understanding of the Tariff Question, and nowhere else to be found in so accessible a form. Rifle Shots at Past and Passing Events. A Poem in Three Cantos. Being Hits at Time on the Wing. By an Inhabitant of the Comet of 1861. Philadelphia: T. B. PETERSON & BROTHERS. Price twenty-five cents. A thoroughly mysterious volume as to origin, but supposed by competent judges from the manner of shooting and failure to hit, to emanate from one of the deceased sportsmen of the Pickwick Club, possibly from the lamented Winkle himself. The lifelong proclivity to bag game has been developed, by the extended opportunities of a freed spirit, into a wider ambition, still hampered however, as upon earth, with the most desperate luck, The Channings. A Domestic Novel of Real Life. of "The Earl's Heirs," "East Lynne," &c., &c. BROTHERS. Price, fifty cents. By Mrs. HENRY WOOD. Author Philadelphia: T. B. PETERSON & We had occasion in one of our late numbers very briefly to mention "The Channings." A better acquaintance with the book, however, proves it worthy of a better notice, and we are always glad to render justice to merit of any kind. Hitherto we have not been especially pleased with Mrs. Wood's productions; while they contained much that was attractive they failed to awake any particular sympathy or approval. People who have never been murdered, poisoned or clandestinely married themselves, and who have no intimate friends who have suffered in that way, can hardly be expected to appreciate fictions founded solely upon these mild errors and their results. "The Channings" is of an altogether different stamp, and is decidedly superior to all of the other works of this authoress which we have yet seen. The plot is a quiet story of probabilities; the style agreeable and sprightly, and the moral excellent without being dull. Many of the characters are very good, especially Arthur, the Jenkinses, and Roland Yorke, and the boys are thorough boys, and not stuffed roundabouts. A few more books like the "Channings" would deprive Mrs. WOOD of the somewhat equivocal title of a sensation novelist, and would win her a wider and higher name. By WILKIE COLLINS. Au- 1. The Yellow Mask: or the Ghost in the Ball Room. 2. Sister Rose or the Ominous Marriage. By the Same. Price, twenty-five cents. 8. The Stolen Mask: or the Mysterious Cash Box. By the Same. Price, twentyfive cents. The scenes of these three new books of WILKIE COLLINS, are laid in widely different localities. "The Yellow Mask" is a little Italian intrigue with a few dashes of priestcraft and artist life. "Sister Rose" is a story of the days of the French Revolution, and painful as all such stories must be in a greater or less degree. "The Stolen Mask" is a tale of simple English life, hearty and genial, and in our judgment by far the most agreeable of the three. New American Cyclopedia: A Popular Dictionary of General Knowledge. Edited by GEORGE RIPLEY and CHARLES A. DANA. Vol. Fifteenth. Spiritualism-Uzziah. New York: D. APPLETON & Co., 443 & 445 Broadway. London: 16 Little Britain. 1862. A new volume of the Cyclopedia invariably receives our cordial welcome and close attention, because it is invariably worthy of it. The present one contains among many others, articles upon Steam, Stammering, Stereoscopes and Fort Sumter, upon the Telegraph, Telescopes, Thermometer, and Tides, besides innumerable biographical notices of eminent persons. Conspicuous among the latter are those of Madame de Stael, the two Stevensons, Sterne, Steele, Swedenborg, Swift, Talleyrand, Tasso, Thierry, Thorwaldsen, Titeall, De Toqueville, Turenne and Turner. As many of the best writers of the country are engaged upon this work, it is hardly necessary to add, that all the articles, embracing as they do, nearly every department of human knowledge, are treated in a scholarly and able manner. II. PACIFIC RAILROAD-CONVENTION OF CORPORATORS. SPEECH 313 OF S. DEWITT BLOODGOOD, ESQ., OF NEW YORK.. Business-Government Demands-Deposits-Government Paper-Taxes-Ef- 383 COMMERCIAL REGULATIONS. 1. The Tax on Manufactured Goods. 2. Legal Tender Notes in Chicago without the Treasury Department Stamp. 2. The Duty on Chain Cables and other Articles. 4. Foreign Bondholders and the Tax Bill. 5. Palmyra Island. 6. Regulations for Trade on the Mississippi River. 7. Chicago Currency. 8. Commissions to Purchasers of Stamps. 9. Debenture Certificates...... 341 1. Commerce of the United States. 2. Production of Breadstuffs. 3. Export of Breadstuffs from the United States, 1862. 4. The New Mexico Wool Trade 348 THE COTTON QUESTION. 1. The Cotton Crop of 1859-60. 2. Cotton from Trinidad. 3. A Substitute for Cotton. 4. Royal Commission on Cotton, 5. Africa as a Cotton Field. RAILWAY, CANAL, AND TELEGRAPH STATISTICS. 1. Railroads of the United States-Census Report. 2. Railroads in France in 1862. 3. The Atlantic Telegraph. 4. New Telegraph Lines... .... 364 JOURNAL OF BANKING, CURRENCY, AND FINANCE. 1. City Weekly Bank Returns, New York Banks, Philadelphia Banks, Bos- ton Banks, Providence Banks. 2. Weekly Statement Bank of England. 3. Banks-Census Report. 4. Paper for Bank of England Notes Stolen. 5. The First Paper Mones in Europe. 6. The Banks and the Tax Bill. 378 JOURNAL OF MERCANTILE LAW. 1. Promissory Note Payable on Demand. 2. Statistic of Frauds. 8. A Ques- tion of "Commercial Morality." 4. No More Sailors Deserting at San Fran- cisco. 5. Promissory Notes Made in Kentucky and Payable in New York.. 390 MERCANTILE MISCELLANIES. THE BOOK TRADE. THE MERCHANTS' MAGAZINE AND COMMERCIAL REVIEW. NOVEMBER, 1862. OUR CITIES IN 1862 AND 1962. CHICAGO AND TOledo. BY J. W. S. THE cities of this country have become what they are, chiefly, within the last fifty years and, almost entirely, within the past century. The sum total of the population of all of them, in 1762, was less than Chicago now possesses. With pride and exultation we look back on the growth of our cities, through the last century; with lively hope we anticipate a more glorious expansion during the century before us. In 1762, how imperfect were the instrumentalities of commerce, manufactures, and agriculture compared with those now in use. Will ours be so rude in the eyes of our successors of 1962 ? It is difficult to imagine so great an advance; and yet reason tells us it will be almost immeasurably greater. Who, in 1762, would have believed that the twenty thousand inhabitants of New York would grow to upwards of a million in 1862 Who, in 1762, would have been thought sane had he predicted the existence, in 1862, of a city on lake Michigan of over one hundred thousand inhabitants? Far more apparently incredible changes, in city growth, will be witnessed during the hundred years to come. China, with her inferior race of men and her greatly inferior instruments of production, has built up cities over her rich plains and valleys that embrace numbers nearly, if not quite, equal to all the other cities of the world. Our territory is scarcely less productive of the elements for the support of a great population than that of China. The natural productive powers of our continent of North America center about our great western lakes, and thither is flowing the migrating current of people more strongly than to any other part of the world. On the borders of these inland seas, therefore, we may expect a great concentration, in cities. The western extremities of lakes Erie, Michigan, and Superior are, evidently, the commanding commercial positions for the concentration of the commerce of the chain |