I. Commerce and Manufactures of the Papal States-Rome. By J. T. HEADLEY, of New York,..... 111 II. Commerce and Resources of Mexico. By BRANTZ MAYER, of Maryland, late Secretary of United States Legation to Mexico,. 118 III. The Sugar-Trade of the World-No. I.,............ 132 IV. Mercantile Education. By J. N. BELLOWS,. 143 146 152 VII. Auction System in New York,.... 154 V. Product of Precious Metals since the Discovery of America,. VIII. Merchants and Shopkeepers of Great Britain in the Seventeenth Century,.. 158 X. Russian Trade with China,.... MONTHLY COMMERCIAL CHRONICLE, EMBRACING A FINANCIAL AND COMMERCIAL REVIEW OF THE United StaTES, ETC., ILLUSTRATED WITH TABLES, AS FOLLOWS: Cotton-Receipts, Stocks, and Exports in the United States for last six years, from September 1 to January 16, each year,.. Coinage of the Mint at New Orleans, 1843,.. Comparative View of the Coinage of the New Orleans Mint, Produce-Prices at New Orleans in 1842, 1843, and January 1844,. Alterations in the Silver Coinage of England, from the Conquest to 1816,. 167 167 167 168 169 171 171 172 173 174 175 176 COMMERCIAL STATISTICS. Commerce, Navigation, Revenue, etc., of the United States,...... 177 Value of Foreign Merchandise imported into U. States annually, from 1821 to 1842, 177 VOL. X.-NO. II. 10 178 Value of Merchandise imported from 1821 to 1842, and amount of Duties which accrued annually during said period,... PAGE. 178 179 Value of Imports and Exports annually, from 1821 to 1842,. 189 Value of Imports into, and Exports from, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and 189 191 Value of British and Irish Produce, etc., exported to the U. States from 1833 to 1842, 191 Number and Tonnage of Vessels employed in Foreign Trade of the United Kingdom, etc., in the year ending January, 1843,..... Average Annual Number of Ships, and their Tonnage, which entered and cleared the ports of the United Kingdom from 1831 to 1836, and from 1837 to 1842,.... 192 Number of Ships, and amount of Tonnage, which entered the principal ports in Great Britain and Ireland during the year 1842,....... Quantities of Sugar imported for Home Consumption into the United Kingdom during the years 1840, 1841, and 1842,....... 191 192 192 Quantities of Raw and Refined Sugars imported into the United Kingdom in 1842, 193 Agricultural Productions of France,...... 193 Comparative View of the Production of Grain in France and the United States,.... 193 Agricultural Products of France for 1841, with their values, and quantities consumed, 193 STATISTICS OF POPULATION. Comparative View of the Population of U. States, England, and Wales, in 1840-41,. 194 Proportion, at each age, in every 10,000,.. COMMERCIAL REGULATIONS. 195 Method of forwarding Parcels, etc., from England to India, by the Overland route,. 196 Froissart's Chronicles of England, France, Spain, etc........ New York Glee-Book-Flora's Interpreter-The Wrongs of Women,. 197 197 197 198 198 199 199 199 200 200 Graves' (Mrs.) Woman in America-Plea of Insanity in Criminal Cases,............. Brougham's Historical Sketches of Statesmen during the Reign of George III.,.... 201 Sherman's Map of the United States-Address on the Prevention of Pauperism,... 201 Motherwell's Poems-Cecil's Life of the Rev. John Newton,..... 201 202 202 Chapin's Hand-Book of Plants and Fruits-Poetry of Love,. 203 204 Bangs's Life of Arminius-The Flower Garden-Protestant Memorial,............... 204 Spanish Without a Master-Doddridge's Rise and Progress-Boston Almanac,...... 204 HUNT'S MERCHANTS' MAGAZINE. FEBRUARY, 1844. ART. I.-COMMERCE AND MANUFACTURES OF THE PAPAL STATES. ROME. ROME is, to the Papal states, what Paris is to France-the centre of attraction and interest. It is a sort of "Mecca and Palestine of the mind." It is filled with art, and hallowed by all that is great and thrilling in human history. The shadows of the mighty centuries fall over it, in which move and speak her Cæsars and Ciceros, Rienzi, and Gracchi. Amid her ruins and relics, men have forgot that Rome, like every other city, must have her merchants and manufactories; without which, her very ruins would soon disappear, under ruins of a more recent date. The day when nations can live by conquest, is gone by forever; and even Rome, whose only commercial agents once were her haughty legions, and whose system of barter was sword and slaughter, for captives and plunder, is now compelled to wheel feebly into the ranks of other nations, and live, scantily though it may be, on their more peaceful means of subsistence. The wandering enthusiast, and dreaming artist, never think of these practical matters; and even the rich New York merchant, who, in the successful prosecution of his business, has acquired the wealth which enables him to loiter amid these great associations, never takes the trouble to inquire whether the imperial city, with its dependent states, has any of that commerce and trade to which he owes his elevation. We do not speak of them as objects of national interest, or, indeed, of peculiarly great importance; but as objects of curiosity. To us it was a pleasant relief to turn from the associations and memories of the "empire of the world," under which the overtasked spirit had become wearied, to these lighter and more practical matters. As we ran over the present reports of Rome, and contrasted them with those which a Marius, or Pompey, and Sylla, and Cæsar, were accustomed to bring home, we could not but smile at the change the centuries had wrought. The Papal states are not so interesting, in their commercial aspect, as many other states of Italy. They possess not so fine a port as Leghorn, or Genoa, or Naples; while, over those she does have, she throws severer restrictions. The Papal states, or those over which the pope reigns as a temporal monarch, are extremely limited; being bounded by the Lombardy-Venetian kingdom on the north, by the Adriatic on the east, by Naples on the southeast, and on the west and northwest by the Mediterranean, and the kingdoms of Tuscany and Modena. The territory embraced in this is only 18,117 Roman square miles, with a population of 2,732,736, or about the same as New York state. But what is still more surprising, in this old country, so overcrowded with paupers and beggars, only onethird of this fruitful territory is cultivated. These states are traversed by several fine rivers, but the Tiber is the only one navigable. The Tronto and Metauro, emptying into the Adriatic, serve only for the light fishingcraft of the gulf, and Ancona and Civita Vecchia are the only two ports of importance on the coast. Terracina and Porto d'Anzo were anciently among her chief ports; but the immense deposits of sand made in them, during the lapse of centuries, have entirely blocked them up to larger vessels. These states are divided into twenty provinces, one of which embraces Rome, Tivoli, and Subiaco. The other nineteen are divided into six legations, and thirteen delegations; the only difference in which is, the former are governed by cardinals, and the latter by monsignori, or prelates. The government is an unlimited, elective hierarchy, with the pope for its head; but, not to enter on details, it is selfish and despotic in its character, and restrictive in all its acts. However kind the feelings of the pope may be toward his subjects, a broad and liberal policy can never characterize his government, under its present form. The effect of this is to deaden every enterprise, and render even the great resources of the country almost entirely useless. The Papal states possess resources, on the proper use and development of which they must eventually stand or fall. Not a thousand ruined forums, and seven times seven hills, loaded with ruins, can save them, or Italy, without the cultivation of a more commercial spirit. The age of art and conquest have both gone by; and the practical age the age of spinning-jennies and steamboats-has come. Rome must take down S. P. Q. R. (Senate and People of Rome) from her buildings, and put in their places sign-boards, with those other more sig nificant words "Cotton-mill," "Iron manufactory," "American storehouse," &c., &c. These states, with proper encouragement to industry, could be made to yield a larger revenue than now, with half the oppressive taxation. The present revenue is about $10,000,000. The mere expense of collecting this is $230,000, while about $300,000 goes to pay the interest of the public debt. These resources of which we have spoken are seldom noticed by the traveller. He hurries from one great city to another, with his open guidebook in his hand, which points out every ruin and fragment of the past, but says never a word of the advantages furnished to agriculture or trade. Indeed, he can hardly be blamed for it; for here he first sets foot on classic Italy, and every step is hallowed by great associations. He is amid the familiar scenes of the greatest philosophers, poets, and statesmen of the world. Nor is this all. On this ground, when Rome had fallen under her corruptions and factions, and her soaring eagle lay soiled and helpless in the dust, arose the republics of the middle ages. It was here that, after the greatest empire of the world had fallen, arose, perhaps, a still nobler fabric-a system of constitutional freedom-under which the human mind developed itself with a rapidity and grandeur that Rome, in the plenitude of her power, had never equalled. Here, civilization received its earliest, strongest impulses. But, like the traveller, I am forgetting my object in these early, interesting remembrances. To return-there are few countries, either in Europe or on this side of the Atlantic, possessing more natural advantages than this portion of Italy; but these are not only unappreciated by foreigners, but by the Italians themselves. Entirely shut out from England and America—indeed, from all the wide-awake world-they are ignorant of what they might do with their beautiful country. Old as these states are, they contain immense forests almost entirely neglected. Wines--excellent wines-that run like water from their fountains, are drank almost entirely within their own limits. No effort is given to make them a lucrative article of commerce beyond the frontier. The motion of the vessel, on a long sea-voyage, causes them to ferment and spoil; but, in my opinion, a little study, and some few experiments, would remedy this difficulty, and the wines of Italy become not only a lucrative article of commerce, but an object of speculation. There is also much mineral wealth here, which is but half explored; and even those mines which are known are so feebly worked, that they furnish no index to their real value. Manufactures are a little on the gain, but the material they furnish is for home consumption; which, after all, is not half supplied. It seems never to have entered into the heads of Italians to compete with foreign nations, and produce for foreign markets. The great fault of the Italian capitalist is narrowness of views. He gains by cents and half cents. He never forms extensive plans. He moves as if made to move in the narrow sphere he commenced in, and absolutely rejects the offers circumstances make him. Genoa is not so culpable, in this respect, as the middle and southern states of Italy. To one accustomed to the reports of our manufacturing states, the following list will present a sorry picture. It is as perfect as can be obtained : Besides, there are other articles, for domestic use. Silks, damasks, and velvets, are manufactured at Rome, Bologna, and other places; and at Fossombrone, the Duke de Leuchtenberg has erected a steam manufactory. Ribbons and silk stockings are made at Bologna, Forli, Fano, and Pesaro. The manufacture of cotton has progressed slowly. The principal mill, if I may use the term, is in the semicircular Theatridium of the Baths of Diocletian. It is odd that these magnificent baths, founded in 302, by Diocletian and Maximian, should be used for fabricating cotton, in 1843. On this noble structure, forty thousand Christians were once employed; and they have built, it seems, a cotton-mill. Hemp and flax are manufactured with greater success than cotton; and the ropes and cordage made in the asylums, public schools, and ropewalks, are of excellent quality, and are exported to the Archipelago. The largest ropewalk I have ever seen, is in the old ROMAN FORUM. Excellent paper is manufactured in the states, to the amount of three millions six hundred thousand pounds. The best manufactory is at Fabriano, and has been founded ever since the year. 1564. Large quantities are exported to the Levant, and some even to *A scudi is equal to the American dollar. |