COMMERCIAL STATISTICS. PAGE Grain, Meal, Flour, etc., Imported and Exported into and from Liverpool for last Eight Years.... 640 Liverpool Annual Corn Report........ List of Ships, etc., built by Brown & Bell from 1821 to 1848.. Java Import and Export Trade in 1846-47.... New Orleans exports of Cotton and Tobacco from 1822 to 1848.. Extent of the North-west Coast Fishery.-Number of Ships touching at St. Helena. COMMERCIAL REGULATIONS. Tariff of Antigua of 1848.............. Tariff and Trade of Morocco................. Increase of the German Zollverein duties..... Regulations for the California and Oregon Mails.... British Duty on Magnesia-Regulations of Ships' Stores.. Landing of Foreign Goods in England-A Regulation of the British Board of Customs.. Importation of Cattle in England: an Order in Council.. Removal of Goods under Bond in England....... NAUTICAL INTELLIGENCE. Buttermilk Channel, in Harbor of New York...... Lights and Light-houses on the Coast of France.... .... ... Floating Lights in Prince's Channel.-Regulations for Vessels entering near Gibraltar. RAILROAD, CANAL, AND STEAMBOAT STATISTICS. 641 642 644 645 645 646 647 648 648 648 649 649 650 650 650 651 652 653 654 Railroad System Suggested.-British Railroad Statistics......... ***................... 655 656 Railroads and Branches in the several States of the United States.... .... ... ... ... ... ... ... .... ... ... ..... Origin of Day & Martin's Blacking.-Anti-Putrid Disinfecting Agent.............................. Experiments with Galvanized Wire and Hemp Ropes.-Electric Decompositions of Metals... The Ship Canal from the Atlantic to the Pacific. A Poem, by FRANCIS LIEBER, Esq............................ 676 The Thief and the Defaulter........ 676 Merchant Princes.-Lectures on British Emigration.-The Honest Boy a Successful Merchant.. HUNT'S MERCHANTS' MAGAZINE AND COMMERCIAL REVIEW. DECEMBER, 1848. Art. I.-MOBILE AND OHIO RAILROAD. WHILE the cities of the North and East are stretching their "iron arms" towards the Mississippi-and New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and Baltimore are struggling in mighty rivalry with each other, which shall first grasp, and appropriate the treasures of that vast region-Charleston is silently pushing her claim, and completing, step by step, the grand highway, which is to bear to her port the riches of the great South-west. Already she has advanced to the borders of Alabama; and, that nothing may be lost, tributary branches are thrown northward into the fine agricul tural districts of Tennessee, eventually to be extended to Nashville and Memphis; while the main trunk, after traversing the heart of Alabama, will pass through the capital of Mississippi, and meet the "Father of Waters" at Vicksburgh. That this extended system of railway, when completed, will increase the commercial importance of Charleston in an eminent degree, requires no discussion; and it is equally plain that the interests of New Orleans and Mobile-the two commercial cities of the Gulf, and natural points of shipment for the produce of the great valley-will be materially affected by the opening of this new and rapid channel of communication with the seaboard. Even now, the direction of trade is shaping to meet the new condition; and we find, during the present season, that "Alabama cottons" are for the first time regularly chronicled among the arrivals by railway, into Charleston and Savannah. Returning, North Alabama and East Mississippi receive merchandise by the overland route from Charleston, and transport it from the present railroad terminus, many miles, by wagons; often, to points immediately upon the waters emptying into Mobile Bay, which are navigable by steamboats for several months of the year. And this is but the beginning. The laws of the Medes and Persians were not more inflexible than are the laws which govern trade. Individual preferences, or State pride, avail nothing. The merchant who waits for the uncertain winds of heaven to waft his freighted barque to her destined port, cannot compete in the race with him who employs omnipotent steam to transport his commodities into a harbor where he finds the "iron horse" waiting, ready harnessed, to draw them with lightning speed to his very door. Alabama, hitherto prolific in schemes of internal improvement, has accomplished nothing, save only a few miles of railroad from Montgomery eastward—a link in the great chain before mentioned, which is to drain her of her wealth, to enrich and build up cities in more enterprising and sagacious States. Superior to many, and second to none, of her southern sisters in the natural elements of greatness, Alabama still languishes, and her people groan under the burdens of public debt and prospective taxation, while her resources remain undeveloped, and her principal city and only seaport is fast going to decay! Such is the present position of this great State; but we have assurance that a brighter day is about to dawn, and that Alabama, stimulated by the example of her eastern neighbors, (and in spite of the short-sighted and illiberal policy of her State rulers,) is shaking off the unaccountable lethargy which has so long overpowered her, blighting like a mildew, and eating into the very sources of her vitality, and will soon enter upon a new and more brilliant era of her history. With a soil of surpassing fertility-with mineral treasures of incalculable value, scattered in varied and lavish profusion throughout her territory, she only requires a vigorous and well-directed system of internal improvements to render them acces sible, and place her at once in the front rank of wealthy and powerful States. The first and most important step in this system, may well be characterized the great undertaking to connect the Gulf of Mexico with the Ohio and Upper Mississippi valleys, by means of the Mobile and Ohio Railroad. The Gulf of Mexico, from causes rapidly developing, is destined, ere long, to become the theatre of a new and extended commerce. The application of steam to ocean navigation, while it has given a wonderful impetus to the commerce of the world, has also awakened a restless spirit of enterprise, that will not much longer brook the delay and hazard of a tedious voyage round Cape Horn to reach the Pacific, when a channel at once safe and accessible can be created, which will cut off half the distance at a blow. The growing importance of our possessions in Oregon, and the large territory acquired by the Mexican war, will make it imperative upon our government to establish, without delay, some more safe and expeditious route of communication with that country; and we have good reasons for believing that the subject is receiving, at this time, the atten tion at their hands which its high importance demands. That a few years, at farthest, will witness the completion of an unbroken avenue from ocean to ocean, either across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, or some more favorable point, cannot, we think, admit of reasonable doubt. The cities of New York and Boston, from their natural location, their capacious and excellent harbors, and healthy climate, occupied positions eminently favorable for becoming, at an early period, the great receiving and distributing reservoirs of the nation. With the advance of emigration westward, it became necessary to construct new facilities for reaching the seaboard; and the great pioneer of American improvement-the Erie Canal-was extended from the Hudson, through the then wilderness of Western New York, to the blue waters of Erie, thus opening to the trade of New York a territory stretching over two thousand miles inland, with an uninterrupted water communication through its whole extent. As if by magic, the wilderness disappeared, villages and towns sprung up, and the solitudes of yesterday were peopled with an active and industrious population. New York, stimulated by the commerce of the canal, leaped forth like a young giant, and soon left her competitors and rivals hopelessly in the distance. How can we estimate the tremendous influence which the Erie Canal has exerted upon the growth, not of New York alone, but of that vast territory which borders upon the Lakes? The rapidity of this growth may be conjectured, however, by comparing the revenues from tolls on this canal and tributaries for the years 1826, 1836, and 1846, being intervals of ten years : Receipts for tolls on New York canals in 1826, in round numbers...... $762,000 1,614,000 2,764,000 It must be re Or an average increase of nearly 8 per cent per annum. membered, also, that the rates of toll have been much reduced, and the same amount of revenue in 1846 would represent a far greater product than in 1826, and would make the average, therefore, higher than the figures. The moment that a highway is completed to the Pacific, the superior advantages which these Atlantic cities afford for supplying the great valley with foreign merchandise, will cease forever. We need not enter into argument to prove that the route of which we have spoken must then, of necessity, become the grand thoroughfare for the commerce of the world. It has been done by abler pens than ours. Need we know more than the fact that the ports of the Gulf will be brought, by its consummation, into immediate vicinity with the boundless treasures of the Pacific? that it will be the nearest route from Europe to the East Indies? The cities of the Gulf must then become the "half-way houses" for all foreign traders with the East, and upon the shores of this "Western Mediterranean" must rise the future commercial capital of America, if not of the world! Mobile, as we shall endeavor to show, possesses striking advantages over any other point on the Gulf for becoming the chief emporium of this com merce. Upon inspecting a map of the Gulf of Mexico, we discover five considerable ports upon its northern coast, within the limits of the United States, to wit:-Galveston, New Orleans, Mobile, Pensacola, and Apalachicola. The depth of water upon the bars, which obstruct the entrance to these harbors, is as follows: Galveston..... ..feet Pensacola..... New Orleans (mouth of Mississippi). 15 Apalachicola..... 22 16 The last named, from its easterly position, can never become more than a depot for the produce of a limited district; as, whatever may be its advantages otherwise, the system of railways leading to Savannah will effectually cut off all trade from the interior, above a certain point. Pensacola, with a fine harbor, and, at present, a greater depth of water than any other on the coast, occupies an isolated position. Without means of intercourse with the upper country, she can never become the seat of extensive trade. Efforts have been made to connect with Montgomery and Savannah by railroad, but without success; and it is not probable that it will be attempted hereafter, should the Mobile and Ohio Railroad be completed. Galveston is well situated to command a flourishing trade with the in terior of Texas, but, like the two ports above named, must always be tributary to the more favored cities of the Gulf. It remains, then, for us to consider the ports of New Orleans and Mobile, and compare their relative advantages. The growth of New Orleans is the result of the necessities of commerce. Twenty thousand miles of navigable waters converge, and flow by a single outlet to the sea, draining a territory unequalled for fertility upon the surface of the globe. The surplus products of this vast region could reach a market by no other route, and a shipping port was of course inevitable. The most formidable ob. stacles ever encountered by human energy were overcome, and a city has risen from a pestilential swamp, second only in its commerce to New York. Notwithstanding the rapid increase of New Orleans, and her immense trade, she does not concentrate the wealth or population, to which her position as the seaport of the Mississippi valley entitles her. The reason is obvious. The difficulties in the way of her growth are permanent in their nature. Circumscribed between narrow limits, with the river upon one side, and impassable marshes upon the other, every step in her progress is at immense cost. During the warm season a deadly miasma exhales from these marshes, by which thousands of her population are annually destroyed. Being more than a hundred miles from the ocean, vessels reach her wharves at a heavy expense for towage up the powerful current of the Mississippi. The bars at the mouth of that river do not permit ships of large tonnage to enter her harbor. From all this, it is evident that the trade of New Orleans must be taxed with heavy expenses. Since the northern cities have tapped the Ohio valley, a large trade has been diverted in that direction in all articles of value sufficient to pay the enhanced cost of transportation by land. Thus, while New Orleans exports a large share of the products of the West, New York imports and distributes most of the foreign merchandise to the same region at a fine profit. Every additional line of improvement constructed in the West, reduces the cost of transportation to and from the eastern cities, and consequently increases the tendency of trade in that direction. Nevertheless, were it possible to make New Orleans a healthy city, with a dry soil on which to build, she would soon outstrip New York, and become and continue the first, as she is now the second, commercial city of the American continent. Let us examine the situation of Mobile. Built upon a dry, sandy plain, at an elevation of fifteen feet above tide-water, this city answers the conditions in that respect which William Penn required of his commissioners, when about to found the city of Philadelphia :-"yt the scituation be high, at least dry and sound, and not swampy, wch is best knowne by digging up two or three earths, and seeing the bottom." The location is healthy, and the summer heat is tempered by refreshing breezes from the Gulf. The country in its vicinity is undulating, and abundantly watered with excellent springs. Pure and wholesome water is brought in pipes from a distance of four or five miles, sufficient to supply the wants of the city. Spring Hill, six miles distant, and various elevated points less remote, offer convenient and charming rural retreats, where the climate is as salubri |