COMMERCIAL STATISTICS OF BRITISH COLONIES.

STATEMENT OF THE COMMERCE BETWEEN THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND AND THE BRITISH NORTH AMERICAN COLONIES FOR EACH OF THE PAST SEVEN YEARS, ENDING 5TH JANUARY, 1847.

I.-An account of the declared value of the various articles of British Produce and Manufactures exported from Great Britain and Ireland to the British North American Colonies, (exclusive of Honduras.)

II.-An account of the quantities of the various articles imported into the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, from the British North American Colonies; with the quantities so imported entered for home consumption.

STATEMENT OF THE VALUE OF THE COMMERCE BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES OF

AMERICA AND THE BRITISH NORTH AMERICAN COLONIES, (EXCLUSIVE OF HONDURAS,) FOR THE PAST FIVE YEARS, ENDING 30TH JUNE, 1847.

STATEMENT OF THE VALUE OF THE COMMERCE BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND BRITISH HONDURAS, FOR THE PAST FIVE YEARS, ENDING JUNE 30TH, 1847.

Commercial Statistics of French Colonies.

STATEMENT OF THE VALUE OF THE COMMERCE BETWEEN MIQUELON AND the FRENCH NORTH AMERICAN FISHERIES AND THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA FOR THE PAST FIVE YEARS, ENDING 30TH JUNE, 1847.

N. B. Since this period, a treaty of reciprocity has been entered into with regard to these fisheries, and it is probable that the trade may hence become of more value.

The following Tables exhibit the results of the French Fisheries in their whole extent, from the year 1842 to the year 1846, inclusive.

The total value of fish, whalebone, cod-sounds, &c., in 1846, was 15,438,658 francs, and the total quantity of fish exported in the same year, was 8,809,346 kilograms, valued at 1,737,749 francs, more than one-half of which were sent to the French colonies, and a large quantity to Sardinia.

Both the British and Americans exceed the French in the export of salted fish, despite the artificial encouragement the latter enjoy: one cause of this superiority being the facilities they possess for drying on shore at the proper time, while the French are obliged to keep it on board, salted and undried, until the end of the season-a circumstance which damages its appearance, and also its keeping properties.

THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

The United States, the most interesting and influential republic of the world, and second only in importance to the great powers of Europe, occupies the central portion of the continent of North America. This confederation, consisting originally of thirteen states, now of thirty-one states, the federal district, and several territorial appendages, lies between the parallels of 24 and 49° north latitude, and the meridians of 67° and 125° west longitude: extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific Oceans, and from the British colonies on the north to the republic of Mexico and the great gulf on the south. The whole extent of this boundary is now definitely settled by treaty. The greatest width of this country, from east to west, is 2,900 miles, and the greatest depth, from north to south, 1,700 miles: its area may be estimated at 3,260,000 square miles, including California, Texas, &c., recently acquired. It has a frontier of about 10,000 miles; of which 4,400 is sea-coast, and 1,500 lake-coast.

The territory of the United States is traversed by two principal chains of mountains: the Alleghanies, on the east side, and the Rocky Mountains, on the west. These divide the country into three distinct regions: the Atlantic slope, the valley of the Mississippi, and the declivity from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific.

The ALLEGHANIES are less a chain of mountains than a long plateau, crested with several chains of mountains or hills, separated from each other by wide and elevated vallies. East of the Hudson the mountains are chiefly granitic, with rounded summits, often covered at their tops with bogs and turf, and distributed in irregular groups without any marked direction. Some peaks of the Green Mountains, in Vermont, and the White Mountains, in New-Hampshire, rise to the height of 5,000 or 6,000 feet above the sea. After passing the Hudson the structure of the mountains seem to change. In Pennsylvania and Virginia they assume the form of long parallel ridges, varying in height from 2,500 to 4,000 feet, and occupying a breadth of one hundred miles. In the northern part of Georgia, where they terminate, they again lose the form of continuous chains, and break into groups of isolated mountains, touching at their base, some of which attain a considerable elevation.

The ROCKY MOUNTAINS are on a much grander scale than the Alleghanies. Their base is 300 miles in breadth, and their loftiest summits covered with everlasting snow, rise to the height of 10 or 12,000 feet. These vast chains may be considered as a continuation of the Cordilleras of Mexico. They are distant from the Pacific Ocean from 5 to 600 miles, but between them and the coast several minor ranges intersect the country, but of which few particulars are known.

The treaties relative to these boundaries are, 1. Treaty of Paris, 1783. 2. Treaty of London, 1794. 3. Louisiana Treaty, 1803. 4. Treaty of Ghent, 1814. 5. Convention of London, 1818 and 1828. 6. Florida Treaty, 1819. 7. Treaty with Mexico, 1828. 8 Treaty with Russia, 1824. 9. Ashburton Treaty, 1842. 10. Texas Annexation Resolu tions, 1845. 11. Oregon Treaty, 1846. 12. Treaty of Guadalupe, 1848.