in what is now transpiring. any one fact that does not correspond with what then occured. Let him next study the history of England in 1846, and see the effect of the road-making mania there, and then let him read the New York Herald for the opinions there expressed in regard to the conduct of nearly all the merchants of England to whom our citizens were so unfortunate as to consign cargoes, or for whom they were so indiscreet as to make purchases. Like causes produce like effects. In writing the history of 1852, I have only re-written our history for 1841.

The radical error of the British system, which is the object of that of 1846 to establish amongst us is, that it is opposed to the first and best feelings of man, the love of association. Man seeks to combine his efforts with those of his fellow man, whereas that system looks to preventing all such combination. It would separate the saw-miller and the grower of timber by thousands of miles. It would compel the farmers of the world to carry their wheat to England to be ground. It did compel the planter of India to send his paddy to England that it might there be converted into rice. It does compel the cotton and wool growers of the world to send their products thousands of miles that they may there be spun and woven, and the sugar planter to send his sugar that it may there be refined. It seeks everywhere to destroy the power of association by separating the producer from the consumer of his products, and to compel the farmer to pay all the cost of transportation. It limits the consumption of iron, and thus impedes the advance of civilization. It compels the farmer and the planter to waste on the road the manure that should be returned upon the land. It compels hundreds of thousands to be idle where they should be employed. It has destroyed the productive power of its colonies. It has made of Ireland one vast ruin. It has destroyed and is destroying Scotland, and of England itself it is gradually making one vast mass of poverty, demoralization and crime. The object of the tariff of 1842 was the destruction of the monopoly to which these effects are due. It sought freedom of trade in the only direction in which it can ever be found. It sought to raise the condition of our people, and to promote the immigration of Europeans who should be raised to a level with our own. The object of the tariff of 1846 is the perpetuation of the monopoly which seeks to maintain itself under the cry of "free trade." It seeks to sink our people to the level of those of Europe, and it destroys the inducement to Europeans to seek our shores, compelling them to remain slaves when they would become freemen.

The object of the tariff of 1846 and that of the universal British system is that of establishing "competition" and rivalry, leading to the destruction of the productive powers of man. The object of protection is to obtain for mankind the permission to combine their efforts for the increase of their productive power and the improvement of their common condition. The one looks outward,

and all its movements tend to war and heavy expenditure. The other looks inward, and leads to peace and moderation of expenditure for governmental purposes. The one looks to building up a great monied aristocracy like that of Britain, while the other looks to the extension of sound democracy-perfect self-government.

If we would desire that we ourselves should enjoy freedom, whether of land, labour, or trade, we must seek it in the direction of efficient and perfect protection, and such will probably be the decision of the whole people north of Mason and Dixon's line, after the convulsion of 1842. If we desire that the freemen south of that line should become rich and that the slaves should become free, our object must be sought in the direction of the tariff of 1842.

ARTICLE III.

CIRCULATION OF THE ATMOSPHERE.

The following suggestions on the probabl erelation between magnetism and the circulation of the atmosphere will be found highly interesting, not only to the learned but to all who delight in tracing every phenomena of the physical world to some well defined law of

nature.

Meteorology has received less attention from the scientific men of this country than the subject deserves; but we trust that the observations and valuable suggestions of Lieut. Maury will awaken the public mind to a more lively interest in a science, which, besides its practical utility, is calculated to open to the mind more clear and consistent views of the wise and beautiful designs of the Creator. EDITORS.

January 30, 1851.

The discoveries of Faraday in dia-magnetism are calculated to guide me and to illuminate the darkness in which I have found myself so often surrounded, as I endeavored to follow "the wind in his circuits" over the trackless wastes of the ocean.

Oxygen composes one-fifth part of the atmosphere and is magnetic.

The discovery that it is magnetic, presents itself to the mind as a great physical fact which is to serve as the key stone for some of the most grand among the sublime and beautiful structures which philosophy is erecting for monuments to the genius of the age.

May we not look therefore to find about the North and South magnetic poles these atmospherical nodes or calm regions, which I have theoretically pointed out there? In other words, are not the magnetic poles of the earth in those atmospherical nodes, the two standing in the relation of cause and effect, the one to the other? And have we not a clue already placed in our hands by which the motion of the circular storms of the Northern hemisphere which travel against, and those of the Southern which travel with the hands of a watch, seems to be connected with the like motion of the wind of each hemisphere in its circuit about its pole? and will not this clue when followed up lead us into the labyrinths of atmospherical magnetism for the solution of the mystery?

Indeed so wide for speculation is the field presented by these discoveries that we may in some respects regard this great globe itself with its "cups" and spiral wires, of air, earth and water, as an immense "pile" and helix, which being excited by the natural batteries in the sea and atmosphere of the tropics, excites in turn its oxygen, and imparts to atmospherical matter the properties of magnetism.

mag

Thus, though it be not proved as a mathematical truth that netism is the power which guides the storm from right to left, and from left to right, which conducts the moist and the dry air each in its appointed paths, and which regulates the "wind in his circuits," yet, that it is such a power, is rendered so very probable that the onus is now shifted, and it remains not to prove, but to disprove that such is its agency.

HON. W. A. GRAHAM,

Respectfully &c.,
M. F. MAURY,

Secretary of the Navy.

Lieut. U. S. N.

ARTICLE IV.

ST. LOUIS AND TENNESSEE RIVER TRADE.

The rapid increase of population in the West has forced upon St. Louis a commerce and growth unparalleled in the history of modern cities and instead of expending her means in opening new avenues of commerce, her capital and energies have been employed in erecting buildings and preparing suitable accommodations for the trade which has sought her port unsolicited. While this condition remains unchanged it is not to be expected that our citizens will interest themselves to any considerable degree in seeking out

new markets: but the mighty movement that is now going on in opening new commercial channels, east of the Mississippi, should admonish us to prepare for a contest, which will be necessary to retain unimpaired the natural advantages of St. Louis over all other points in the valley of the Mississippi. No time should be lost on the part of our citizens in forming and establishing commercial relations with every point on the Mississippi and its tributaries accessible by steamboat navigation. We should not wait as formerly for others to seek our market, we should seek theirs: this is the principle pursued by all other commercial towns and cities, with the exception of New Orleans, and even she begins to feel the necessity of adopting it to protect her commerce against the encroachments of the eastern and southeastern markets.

We were much pleased some months ago to learn that a movement had been set on foot, which originated, we believe, at Paducah, to open a trade between St. Louis and the Towns on the Tennessee river by establishing a line of steamboats. The project was well timed; and had it been carried into effect our citizens would now have been in the enjoyment of a trade calculated to benefit the manufacturers and builders as well as the merchants.

Notwithstanding the leading staple of the Tennessee river trade, cotton, goes to New Orleans, yet the imports of that region are for the most part purchased in other markets. Louisville has enjoyed, almost exclusively, the trade of the Tennessee river ever since the settlement of the country. The commerce between Louisville and North Alabama has generally employed from two to three steamboats and we believe there are four in that trade at present. That class of articles purchased at Louisville for the Tennessee river trade ought, with a few exceptions, to be afforded on better terms at St. Louis than there.

We should regard St. Louis as the better market for the purchase of flour, refined sugar, potatoes, and lead, in all its forms: and, indeed, all commodities produced here or imported from or through New Orleans, ought to be afforded somewhat cheaper than at Louisville.

Some portions of the country bordering on the Tennessee, abounds in yellow pine of a better quality than any which comes to this market, and were a line of steamers established between this city and that river, sufficient quantities of lumber would be produced to ensure full cargoes on their return to this port. We speak advisedly on this point. We know the country from actual observation, and we have been informed by a gentleman of much experience in business who is engaged in sawing lumber near the Tennessee, that he could, notwithstanding the expense of re-shipping at Paducah, well afford to deliver pine plank in this market at the ruling prices of last year.

So long as St. Louis continues to grow as it has done for the last

seven years, the lumber trade may be regarded as of primary importance to its prosperity.

Owners of real estate are especially interested in this commodity; and we are persuaded, that if the true value of the lumber trade of the Tennessee river was understood by that class of our citizens, they would be found willing to afford all the means necessary for establishing a line of steamers for its encouragement.

We are aware that it requires time, and a considerable degree of enterprise to divert commerce from long established channels, and in opening a trade with the Tennessee river too much should not be expected in the beginning. It will require some time for those at each end of the line to become acquainted with the wants of each other. New commercial relations must be formed and confidence established in the efficiency and permanency of the line; and, consequently, little profit should be expected from the steamboat stock during the first season: but the loss of profits on a few thousand dollars of stock should be regarded as nothing when compared with the extension of our commerce to a distance of from to five hundred miles in a new direction.

The trade between St. Louis and the Tennessee river can never become of much importance, so long as it is necessary to unload, store, and re-ship at Paducah. A through line of transportation must be established; or we must leave the entire commerce of one of the largest tributaries of the Mississippi to the enjoyment of others.

But the people in the region of the Tennessee river are not less interested in this trade than are those of St. Louis; and, from the interest manifested by certain individuals here, we are persuaded that, were a little exertion made there, the line might be established by small subscriptions for stock that would not materially incommode the subscribers though it should be lost. What say our friends at Eastport, Tuscumbia, and Florence? We should delight to see their old familiar names in our daily lists of arrivals and departures of steamboats.

ARTICLE V.

In a few introductory remarks, made by us in 1849, in reference to an article on "Cotton mills by cotton growers," from the pen of a highly valued correspondent, we concluded by saying: "When the South gets fairly under way, the people of the United States will soon spin and weave all the cotton that our country can produce: and long before the close of the present century, we shall become large importers of raw cotton, from South America and other parts of the world." In connection with this subject, we find in a late number of the Louis