the low rate of freights. It would seem, from this course of flour, that in usual years of fair supply and moderate freights, that the river and ocean route for western produce to its destination is better than the northern route; or in other words, that the valley of the Mississippi can successfully compete with the lake countries. The low rates of freight this year are the natural effects of the extraordinary stimulus that was given to ship-building by the temporary suspension of the navigation laws of Great Britain, at the period of the famine of 1847. During the fiscal year 1847, the exports of the United States were as follows:

Provisions. Breadstuffs. Total domestic. Specie. Goods. Grand total. $4,946,971 $19,627,020 $102,141,893 $3,481,417 $7,865,206 $113,488,516 57,553,661 150,637,464 1,845,119 6,166,039 158,648,622 25,185,647 132,904,121 13,141,204 8,987,806 154,036,436

8,372,612

2,700,412 12,538,896

There was here a large excess of exports in 1847, mostly of breadstuffs; and the close of the fiscal year left apparently a large balance in favor of the country. There is no doubt but that a considerably larger portion than usual went forward on foreign account; and that, therefore, the export value more nearly represented the actual amount realized to the country than usual. The large earnings of the shipping must also have materially added to the amount due the country. The exports of produce would doubtless have been much larger than actually was the case, had there been a sufficiency of freight to transport the quantities waiting for shipment. The exorbitant freights that were demanded and obtained for portions of the year, were a great stimulus to ship-building; and the official returns show a considerable increase in the number of vessels built, with their tonnage, as follows:

NUMBER AND CLASS OF VESSELS BUILT IN THE UNITED STATES FROM 1840 TO 1847, INCLUSIVE.

The largest proportion of this increase of 55,531 tons was in sea-going ships. The sloops and canal-boats employed in internal navigation progressed less considerably, but the whole increase is sufficient materially to affect freights under less active shipments. Accordingly, the rates are now, to Liverpool, as compared with the highest point of last spring, as follows:

These figures show a very material difference in the cost of the transportation of produce to England. The proportion of foreign tonnage cleared, and the goods carried, is seen in the following table:

Years.

1841.

1842.

1843.

1844.

1845.

1846.

1847.

1848.

TONNAGE CLEARED, AND GOODS EXPORTED FROM THE UNITED STATES.

The increase of freights in foreign bottoms in 1847, was $28,988,709, or 130 per cent, and the requisite tonnage 216,866, and in the same time that American tonnage shows a decline, although the freights increased $18,880,062. The rates of freights show, however, that Ameriean tonnage was taxed to its utmost capacity; and, but for the influx of foreign vessels, attracted by those high freights, and made available by the suspension of the British navigation act, we should have lost the sale of at least $30,000,000 worth of produce.

The tonnage built in those years has produced the natural effect of an oversupply, when the immense demand for tonnage to feed Europe ceases. Hence, notwithstanding the large crop of cotton which was to be transported in the past year, the supply of freights has been so considerable as to depress rates to an unusual extent. This is always the effect of high prices, from whatever cause they originate. Whether it be raw materials, food, fixed capital, or stocks, high prices cause a rapid production of the dear article, and the supply thus created, produces inevitable reaction. The ship-building of the years 1847 and 1848, under the stimulus we have pointed out, was immense, and this year will exhibit a falling off, as will also probably the next, and this decline will probably equal the excess of the constructions of previous years above a regular and healthy increase. It would seem to be the case, however, that the large sales of farm produce in those years, and the exorbitant freights charged upon them, in addition to the government demand for vessels, which was considerable, earned for the nation a much larger stock of the means of transportation, and the producers and shippers are now recovering, in low rates of freight, the enormous over-charges of those years. The general business of the country must work up to this ample means of transportation. In the same manner that an enormous and speculative rise in wool or cotton being succeeded by a large production, influences low prices, until these, by stimulating consumption, and retarding production, again restore a healthy medium. The quantity of tonnage taken off by the California movement, is, however, considerable.

The general interests of the country are profiting by the low freights, and, as we see in the case of flour, New Orleans supplies a larger portion than would have been the case, had freights continued high. The new change to be produced in the current of trade, and the demand for tonnage by the action of the British navigation act, after January, 1850, is matter of consideration. The vessels of the United States will, with wider fields for enterprise, come more directly into competition with the vessels of Europe in the trade with Britain and her colonies, and there can be no doubt but that they will maintain their position. There certainly could be no more favorable time for the opening of the competition than at a moment when a large supply of new vessels find insufficient employment in the

carrying trade, and are, therefore, sailing at rates probably lower than ever before. Under such circumstances, they are more able to take possession of a large share of the new business that may be offered, and, by so doing, permanently secure the ascendancy of American shipping interests. The following circular has been issued by the Department, in relation to the subject:—

CIRCULAR TO COLLECTORS AND OTHER OFFICERS OF THE CUSTOMS.

TREASURY DEPARTMENT, October 15th, 1849.

In consequence of questions submitted by merchants and others, asking, in consideration of the recent alterations of the British Navigation Laws, on what footing the commercial relations between the United States and Great Britain will be placed on and after the first of January next--the day on which the recent act of the British Parliament goes into operation-the Department deems it expedient, at this time, to issue the following general instructions for the information of the officers of the customs, and others interested.

First. In consequence of the alterations of the British Navigation Laws, above referred to, British vessels, from British or other foreign ports, will, (under existing laws,) after the 1st of January next, be allowed to enter in our ports, with cargoes of the growth, manufacture, or production, of any part of the world.

Second. Such vessels and their cargoes will be admitted, from and after the date before mentioned, on the same terms, as to duties, imposts, and charges, as vessels of the United States and their cargoes. W. M. MEREDITH, Secretary of the Treasury.

COMMERCIAL REGULATIONS.

THE NEW BRITISH NAVIGATION LAW.

[The navigation acts of England form an important branch of the general Mercantile Law. The origin of the Navigation Laws of England are traced to the reign of Richard II., or perhaps to a still more remote period. In the reign of Henry VII., two of the leading principles of the late Navigation Law were distinctly recognized in the prohibition of the importation of certain commodities, unless imported in ships belonging to British owners, and manned by English seamen. In the early part of the reign of Elizabeth, foreign ships were excluded from the British fisheries and coasting trade. The republican Parliament gave a great extension to the Navigation Laws by the act of 1650. In the following year (October, 1651,) the republican Parliament passed the famous Navigation Act, which was intended not only to promote British navigation, but also to strike a decisive blow at the Dutch, who then engrossed almost the whole carrying trade of the world, and against whom various circumstances had conspired to include the English. An act was also passed in 1833 touching this subject, an abstract of which will be found in McCulloch's Commercial Dictionary, as also a pretty full history of the several acts, from the commencement of legislation on that subject. It was not our design to give an account of the laws on this subject in this place, and we have simply made this brief summary by way of introduction to the new navigation act passed June 26, 1849, a document of too much importance to the shipping interests of the United States and the world to be excluded from the pages, notwithstanding its length, of the Merchants' Magazine.]

AN ACT TO AMEND THE LAWS IN FORCE FOR THE ENCOURAGEMENT OF BRITISH SHIPPING AND NAVIGATION.

Whereas it is inexpedient to amend the laws now in force for the encouragement of British shipping and navigation: Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords spiritual and temporal, and Čommons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, That, from and after the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and fifty, the following acts and parts of acts shall be repealed: (that is to say,) a certain act passed in the session of Parliament holden in the eighth and ninth years of the reign of Her present Majesty, entitled An act for the encouragement of British shipping and navigation; and so much of a certain other act passed in the said session of Parlia

ment, entitled An act for the registering of British vessels, as limits the privileges of vessels registered at Malta, Gibraltar, and Heligoland; and so much thereof as provides that no ship or vessel shall be registered, except such as are wholly of the build of some part of the British Dominions; and so much as relates to the disqualification of ships repaired in a foreign country; and so much as prevents British ships which have been captured by or sold to foreigners from becoming entitled to be again registered as British, in case the same again become the property of British subjects; and so much of a certain other act passed in the said session of Parliament, entitled An act to regulate the trade of British Possessions abroad, as provides that no goods shall be imported into, or exported from, any of the British Possessions in America by sea, from or to any place other than the United Kingdom, or some other of such Possessions, except into, or from, the several ports denominated free ports; and so much thereof as provides for the limitation of the privileges allowed to foreign ships by the law of navigation in respect of importations into the British Possessions in Asia, Africa, and America; and so much thereof as provides that no vessel or boat shall be admitted to be a British vessel, or boat, on any of the inland waters or lakes of America, except such as shall have been built at some place within the British Dominions, and shall not have been repaired at any foreign place to a greater extent than in the said act is mentioned; and so much of a certain other act passed in the said session of Parliament, entitled An act for the general regulation of the customs, as prohibits the importation of train oil, blubber, spermaceti oil, head matter, skins, bones, and fins, the produce of fish or creatures living in the sea, unless in vessels which shall have been cleared out regularly with such oil, blubber, or other produce on board, from some foreign port; and so much thereof as prohibits the importation of tea, unless from the Cape of Good Hope, or from places eastward of the same to the Straits of Magellan; and so much of a certain act passed in the session of Parliament holden in the seventh and eighth years of the reign of Her present Majesty, entitled An act to amend and consolidate the laws relating to merchant seamen, and for keeping a register of seamen, as provides that the master or owner of every ship belonging to any subject of Her Majesty, and of the burden of eighty tons or upwards, (except pleasure yachts,) shall have on board at the time of her proceeding from any port of the United Kingdom, and at all times when absent from the United Kingdom, or navigating the seas, one apprentice or more in a certain proportion to the number of tons of his ship's admeasurement, and that if any such master or owner shall neglect to have on board his ship the number of apprentices thereby required, together with their respective registered indentures, assignments, and register tickets, he shall forfeit and pay the sum of ten pounds in respect to each apprentice, indenture, assignment, or register ticket so wanting or deficient; also an act passed in the thirty-seventh year of the reign of King George the Third, entitled An act for regulating the trade to be carried on within the British Possessions in India, by the ships of nations in amity with His Majesty; and so much of a certain act passed in the session of Parliament holden in the fourth year of the reign of King George the Fourth, entitled An act to consolidate and amend the several laws now in force with respect to rade from, and to places within the limits of the charter of the East India Company, and to make further provisions with respect to such trade, and to amend an act of the present session of Parliament for the registering of vessels, so far as it relates to vessels registered in India, as enacts that no Asiatic sailors, lascars, or natives of any of the territories, countries, islands, or places, within the limits of the charter of the East India Company, shall at any time be deemed or taken to be British seamen, within the intent and meaning of any act or acts of Parliament relating to the navigation of British ships by subjects of Her Majesty; and also the following acts and parts of acts; so much of a certain act passed in the fourth year of the reign of King George the Fourth, intitled An act to authorize His Majesty, under certain circumstances, to regulate the duties and drawbacks on goods imported or exported in foreign vessels, and to exempt certain foreign vessels from pilotage, as relates to the regulation of duties and drawbacks; also, an act passed in the fifth year of the reign of King George the Fourth, entitled An act to indemnify all persons concerned in advising, issuing, or acting under a certain order in Council for regulating the tonnage duties on certain foreign vessels, and to amend an act of the last session of Parliament for authorizing His Majesty, under certain circumstances, to regulate the duties and drawbacks on goods imported or exported in any foreign vessels; also so much of an act passed in the session of Parliament holden in the eighth and ninth years of the reign of Her present Majesty, entitled An act for granting duties of customs, as empowers Her Majesty in Council, in certain cases to direct that additional duties shall be levied

on articles, the growth, produce or manufacture of foreign countries, or upon goods imported in the ships of foreign countries, or to prohibit the importation of manufactured articles, the produce of foreign countries; also so much of an act passed in the session of Parliament, holden in the fifth and sixth years of the reign of her present Majesty, entitled An act to amend the laws for the importation of corn, as enables Her Majesty, under certain circumstances, to prohibit the importation of corn, grain, meal, or flour, from the dominions of certain foreign powers; and the said several acts and parts of acts before mentioned, are hereby accordingly repealed, except so far as the said acts or any of them repeal any former act or acts, or any part of such act or acts, and except so far as relates to any penalty or forfeiture which shall have been incurred under the said act or acts hereby repealed or any of them, or to any offence which shall have been committed contrary to such act or acts or any of them.

II. And be it enacted, That no goods or passengers shall be carried coastwise from one part of the United Kingdom to another, or from the United Kingdom to the Isle of Man, or from the Isle of Man to the United Kingdom, except in British ships.

III. And be it enacted, That no goods or passengers shall be imported into the United Kingdom from any of the Islands of Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney, or Sark, nor shall any goods or passengers be exported from the United Kingdom to any of the said islands, nor shall any goods or passengers be carried from any of the Islands of Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney, Sark, or Man to any other of the said islands, nor from one part of any of the said islands to another part of the same island, except in British ships.

IV. And be it enacted, That no goods or passengers shall be carried from one part of any British Possession in Asia, Africa, or America to another part of the same possession, except in British ships.

V. Provided always, and be it enacted, That if the Legislature or proper legislative authority of any such British possession shall present an address to Her Majesty, praying Her Majesty to authorize or permit the conveyance of goods or passengers from one part of such possession to another part thereof in other than British ships, or if the Legislatures of any two or more Possessions, which for the purposes of this act Her Majesty in Council shall declare to be neighboring possessions, shall present addresses, or a joint address to Her Majesty, praying Her Majesty to place the trade between them on the footing of a coasting trade, or of otherwise regulating the same, so far as relates to the vessels in which it is to be carried on, it shall thereupon be lawful for Her Majesty, by order in Council, so to authorize the conveyance of such goods or passengers, or so to regulate the trade between such neighboring possessions, as the case may be, in such terms, and under such conditions, in either case, as to Her Majesty may seem good.

VI. And with regard to the coasting trade of India, be it enacted, That it shall be lawful for the Governor-General of India, in Council, to make any regulations authorizing or permitting the conveyance of goods or passengers from one part of the Possessions of the East India Company to another part thereof, in other than British ships, subject to such restrictions or regulations as he may think necessary; and such regulations shall be of equal force and effect with any laws and regulations which the said Governor-General in Council is now or may hereafter be authorized to make, and shall be subject to disallowance and repeal in like manner as any other laws or regulations made by the said Governor-General in Council under the laws from time to time in force for the government of the British Territories in India, and shall be transmitted to England, and be laid before both houses of Parliament, in the same manner as any other laws or regulations which the Governor-General in Council is now or may hereafter be empowered to make.

VII. And be it enacted, That no ship shall be admitted to be a British ship unless duly registered and navigated as such; and that every British registered ship (so long as the registry of such shall be in force, or the certificate of such registry retained for the use of such ship,) shall be navigated during the whole of every voyage (whether with a cargo or in ballast) in every part of the world by a master who is a British subject, and by a crew whereof three-fourths at least are British seamen; and if such ship be employed in a coasting voyage from one part of the United Kingdom to another, or in a voyage between the United Kingdom and the Islands of Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney, Sark or Man, or from one of the said islands to another of them, or from one part of either of them to another of the same, or be employed in fishing on the coasts of the United Kingdom or any of the said islands, then the whole of the crew shall be British seamen: Provided always, that if a due proportion of British seamen