Whether it shall

will certainly be much superior to those now in use. be a greatly improved steam engine that shall furnish the motive power, or some new instrument o supersede, by its superiority, this instrument, we can only conjecture. That canals are again to be in fashion, that a counter revolution in their favor is now in progress, seems evident. Such canals, too, we may anticipate, will be constructed as shall be adapted to the increased power of man to overcome the opposing forces of nature. Our central plain especially invites the introduction of canals to connect the great water highway of commerce given it, in the chain of great lakes and the Missouri-Mississippi family of rivers. In their flow, these great channels approach each other near their central portions, only to discharge their waters at widely divergent points, on different sides of the continent; one pointing the way towards the central commerce of Europe; and the other, in the direction of the central sea of America, where the commerce of the tropics-the west coast of America and the east coast of Asia-naturally meets. Enterprising man is here offered a great reward for the exercise of his best powers to unite into one these two great national highroads of commerce, by canals, adequate to the accommodation of the best vessels adapted to the navigation of the lakes and the rivers; such adaptation, ultimately, perhaps, to be made to embrace ocean navigation also. The great national railway from the cential plain to the Pacific, will have much efficiency added to its commercial power, by meeting, in the middle of the continent, cheap water transportation eastward. Is it objected that canals adapted to large vessels and the use of steam power, made to connect the waters of lakes Erie and Michigan with those of the Mississippi-Missouri, is a work requiring immense labor and must cost many millions of dollars? All the more should we covet the glory and reward for overcoming these obstacles; all the more shall we strengthen ourselves, by the exertions called for, to accomplish the great work. Holland, with much less means, made herself great and strong by the construction and use of her immense works of excavation and embankment; her canals and sea walls.

Without the construction of these navigable channels between the great lakes and the great interior rivers, the connection of our continental commerce is but partial, unfinished, incomplete. It seems probable that Toledo would derive more benefit from the construction of such canals than Chicago. The enlargement of the Miami and Erie Canal, between Toledo and Cincinnati, and of the Wabash and Erie westward of its junction with the large canal above mentioned, would enure to the special benefit of Toledo, while the great lines westward from the head of the lakes, on which they are situated, would probably be equally beneficial to both cities. Chicago has the great advantage of a present population seven or eight times as numerous as that of Toledo. The causes of this superiority have nearly spent their force, so that, from 1850 to 1860, the percentage of increases, as has been shown, was nearly identical. A city of 120,000 has great resources, in itself, not possessed by one of 16,000. It is a start in the race, the benefit of which will probably be lasting and difficult to balance by others less positive of the smaller competitor. Chicago has a more extended and complete system of railroads radiating from it. This advantage is but temporary. It has the advantage of being nearer and more accessible to the central point of the interior river system of navigation. This advantage may be overcome and perhaps be

turned against it by a ship canal from Toledo to the Illinois Canal, such as is advocated in this article. But such ship canal will, probably, only come after many years of enjoyment, by Chicago, of a large canal connecting the navigation of the lakes with the Mississippi waters. In facili ties for the manufacture and distribution of articles, to be needed and used by a great surrounding population industrious, intelligent, and progressive, the two cities seem to possess nearly equal advantages. Both will be supplied with raw materials of manufacture, such as crude iron, copper, and other useful metals, wool, cotton, hemp, flax, &c., at a small advance of price above the cost of production. Both will be supplied with coal in like manner; each being near the inexhaustible coal beds of Michigan and Illinois. In water power and cheap timber Toledo has the advantage, and may, therefore, claim to lead in the manufacture of articles chiefly made of wood: vessels, boats, furniture, wagons, &c. For the construction of quays, houses, &c., of wood, Toledo is the best place; but, for buildings of stone, brick, iron, the advantages are nearly balanced, both having ample resources for that object. The cost of living will not be materially different. The dweller in Chicago will buy his meat at less cost, but he will have to give more for fruits and most foreign products. Also for the best products of the dairy. The cost of the water supply will probably be less in Toledo, as it now stands ready for use in the large canal forty-nine feet higher than the water of the harbor; the source of supply being little less than the entire flow of the Maumee River. Artesian wells of about one hundred feet in depth offer excellent water, above and near the surface, all over the city and surrounding country. Toledo has special merits not possessed by Chicago: 1st, In the shape and elevation of the ground on which it is being built. The average elevation of its site within the corporate limits is not less than forty-five feet above the harbor. Its surface is varied, rising from ten feet above high water to upwards of fifty feet, thus affording facilities for good drainage. 2d, In the breadth, capacity, and easy access of its harbor. This may be described as five miles long by nearly half a mile wide, having two sides of a diamond shaped parallelogram, and having a depth of from fifteen to thirty-five feet. It is formed by the estuary of the Maumee River, one of the largest streams flowing into the lakes, having a drainage of about 8,000 square miles. The entrance of the harbor, through the bay of the same name, is easy and safe in all kinds of weather. 3d, In the concentration of all the railroads and canals at one place near the center of the city, and in such a manner as in no way to interfere with the use of streets. The railways nowhere cross a city street on grade, and the canals and other navigable channels do not interfere, necessarily, but in one or two places with the uninterrupted use of streets. An unnecessary and useless side canal, passing through a portion of the city and standing almost unused, will probably be filled up soon, and thus free the streets which it crosses from its obstruction.

These special merits of Toledo contrast with the low, level site; the narrow, long, and crooked harbor of difficult entrance in a storm; the numerous impediments in the streets, caused by ferries and draw-bridges; the railway tracks on grade; and the scattered termini of railroads of Chicago. The superiority of Toledo for good drainage, and the strong current of a large river favorable to a speedy removal of filth thrown into it by the sewers, may be relied on, to some extent, to make it more healthy than Chicago.

One hundred years! What may not we hope of development on our continent, in our country, within this period; long, if measured by the ordinary duration of human life, short, compared with the life of nations, and very short in comparison with the life of the human race. Looking back one hundred years, we find that some four millions, at the commencement of the century, inhabiting the then British colonies of North America, have increased to upwards of thirty-five millions. The city of New York was, then, about the present size of Toledo, with a commerce less than one-fifth of that now centering in this recent city. All the cities of the colonies, then, aggregated a less population than is embraced in the new city of Chicago. The general population has increased nearly ten-fold, and the city population more than thirty-fold. Our wealth and resources have increased in a still larger proportion than our cities. One hundred years to come, with the command of steam, electricity, and we know not what other and superior agencies for wonder working, can scarcely fail to produce results of a magnitude and variety far beyond and above the conceptions of the most gifted and the best instructed immagination of our time. The cities of Western Europe and Eastern Asia are grand productions of human society, but they will be deemed rude and small, in comparison with the vast capitals which, in the period of one • hundred years, will grow up on our continent.

TRADE AND COMMERCE OF SICILY.

Attention has been recently called to the productive powers of the beautiful island of Sicily by the publication-ordered by the House of Commons-of the report of the British consul there, from which we glean some instructive statistics respecting that new appanage of the crown of Italy. The population is stated to be two millions and a half. In 1860 the commerce of Sicily was a little more than £5,000,000, and in the following year it increased to upwards of £6,000,000. It appears, nevertheless, that while the trade between France and Sicily has increased, there has been a decrease in the trade with England and America; that with France having risen from £920,000 to £1,360,000, while British trade has declined from £2,270,000 to £1,700,000, and the trade with America has slightly fallen off. Mr. GOODWIN shows that the American trade with the island in 1860 represented £540,000, and in 1861 £514,000, not a serious decrease, considering the present position of transatlantic affairs. The consul winds up his report respecting the resources of this celebrated island in the following glowing terms: "The King of Italy possesses, in the position of Sicily, the fertility of its soil, and the richness of its veins, a permanent source of wealth which, wisely administered, would not fail to raise Sicily shortly to unexampled prosperity. It rests with VICTOR EMMANUEL to make Sicily the greatest exporter in Southern Europe of raw and prepared produce, by carrying out the already adopted principles of free trade to their full extent in all branches of industry." When Italy becomes settled the development of Sicily will commence--an event in all probability not far dis

tant.

THE COTTON QUESTION-THE SUPPLY-A SUBSTITUTE.

THE great distress experienced in the manufacturing districts of England and France may be said now to have reached a point from which improvement and gradual relief can be anticipated. We would not be understood to say that there is soon to be an abundance of cotton again on the market, but only that the worst phase of the present crisis is passed. Proof of this will be found in these two facts: 1. That the consumption has been so reduced as to be less than the supply, and we may therefore look for an increase of stock. 2. Every month must increase the produc tability of the new sources of supply now in course of development.

As to the supply, the following table of the movement of the stock at Liverpool since July 1st, with the corresponding periods of 1860 and 1861, is of interest in this connection, showing, as it does, that there is even now a rally in the amount on hand:

In addition to this amount now on hand, it is estimated that from 500,000 to 600,000 bales are expected to come to hand before the close of the year. At the same time, the consumption in Great Britain has been reduced to a weekly average of from 20,000 to 25,000 bales, as compared with a weekly average of 46,240 bales last year, while the export has been reduced to 8,740 bales per week.* Hence, if these estimates hold good, and they are made by the best authorities, there must be an increase of

*This reduction in exports did not take place till September. Prior to that date the amount was wonderfully large considering the high price. The following table shows the weekly export for the first eight months of 1862, compared with 1859, 1860, and 1861:

We trust, therefore, that we

stock at Liverpool the next three months. have seen the worst of this cotton tamine. As to the efforts now being made to find a substitute for this remarkable staple, we have but little faith in their success, and yet such an event of course is not impossible. England is at the present time agitating this question earnestly, and if a will can always find a way, we may be hopeful. We do not propose at this time to discuss these various new undertakings, but merely to call attention to the following, showing the nature of the most of them:

1. It may be remembered that some years since, Chevalier CLAUSSENwho we regret to learn is now in a lunatic asylum-patented a number of schemes for improving the preparation and bleaching of flax, among which was one for cutting up the fiber into fitting lengths for manufacture on cotton machinery. The material, thus prepared, was tried by several manufacturers, but it never succeeded in making its way into general consumption, or even into general publicity. Whether, however, its failure was owing to its inherent unsuitability for the purpose intended, or to the fact that, as cotton was then tolerably abundant, it could not compete with it in price, we are unable to state positively. Probably the former; for even during the recent scarcity of cotton we have heard of no attempts to revive the Chevalier's invention.

2. Flax waste, however-the short fibers of that article which are un fitted for the linen manufacturer, and which are separated from the longer ones in the early processes-is capable of being mixed with either Orleans or Surat cotton in the proportion of one-fourth or one-third; and as far as it goes has been, and is now being, used for this purpose with advantage and without impairing the value of the fabric. But as the quantity available is of course only limited, any general demand for it would so raise the price as to make it no longer profitable. It is a resource for individual manufacturers, therefore, but scarcely for the trade generally.

3. Jute a species of hemp, which already goes to England in great quantities, and the growth of which in India might be increased to almost any extent, and which could be supplied at a reasonable rate-is looked to with much hope by many, and Mr. THOMPSON has recently effected and registered in England some improvements in the preparation of it, which it is hoped may render it capable of manipulation on cotton machinery. The article produced is promising, but at present it is long and somewhat coarse in fiber, and appears more similar to, and more fit for mixing with, wool than cotton. It may possibly in time be adapted for cotton machinery, but is not so yet.

4. In the United States there is a patent in operation for making flax fiber at once into a substitute for cotton; but it is, we believe, a rude substance and not superior, for practical use, to the waste flax already mentioned. It needs, moreover, thirty or forty per cent of American cotton to work with it.

5. A Frenchman has invented or discovered a very neat article, which is reported to be promising. He has forwarded samples to Manchester, on the faith of which a large order was sent him, which, however, he declined to execute. It seems probable, therefore, that the article is not one which, at present at least, can be furnished in adequate quantities. Moreover, he