such goods have recently been sold in this country, will readily believe that the assertion is correct. It is very evident that manufacturers have experienced their full share of the disasters which have recently affected all classes in Great Britain. Many of them have become insol vent, and a much larger number have probably been brought to the verge of ruin. It is generally understood that the manufacturing establishments in this country have for the last five years been in a situation of great prosperity, and that the accumulation of wealth, resulting principally from this cause, has been larger than in any previous period in our national history. At the present time, owing to foreign competition, to the embarrassment of our national finances, resulting from the Mexican war, and to the consequent stagnation of business, several branches of industry are embarrassed, and all are depressed; we can not but hope that the depression will be temporary, and that the causes which have produced it will in a short time cease to operate.

With respect to the future, we think that some of the causes which have depressed the manufacturers of Great Britain must continue for a long time to produce similar results. In competing with the manufacturers of Germany, they encounter labor at even lower prices than their own, with skill and command of machinery which have for many years been steadily increasing, and with abundant capital at low prices. Nor is there any prospect that the governments of Europe or this country will cease to impose so high duties as very seriously to discourage the importation of foreign goods. And we think that the manufacturers of the United States will find in the superior intelligence and energy of the operatives, in their ingenuity and skill in the invention of machinery,, in

their abundant and cheap water power, united to their large and rapidly increasing home market, sufficient advantages to counterbalance the difference in the price of labor, and to enable them to com pete successfully with their English rivals.

The employment of associated capital in large amounts, and under such regulations that it is not expo. sed to many of the contingencies and embarrassments which attend individual enterprise, is, so far as we are aware, peculiar to this country, and at the present time is almost exclusively confined to New England. The manufactories of Lowell, employing nearly twelve millions of capital, are conducted in this manner, and are a favorable illustration of its advantages. It would be for eign from our purpose to discuss the merits of this system. It is sufficient to remark, that not being disturbed by the death or withdraw. al of a partner, and usually commencing with funds more adequate to the business than can be furnished by individuals, such companies have commonly proved permanent and successful.

The manufacturing systems of the two nations should be compared, not only with regard to their effects upon the national wealth, but likewise upon the intellectual and moral character of the operatives. This comparison is one which can not fail to awaken in an intelligent American, feelings of the highest satisfaction. The concurrent testimony of all writers on the subject, assures us, that the great mass of English operatives are profoundly ignorant, not only of the elements of education, and the first principles of religion, but of almost every thing else not immediately connect. ed with their individual employ. ments. Entering the manufactory at a very early age, and spending their whole lives in an employment which is varied only to suit their strength

and size, exhausted by working in a confined and unhealthy atmosphere to a degree often beyond their strength, with wages insufficient to procure sufficient food and comfortable clothes and dwellings, how can it be expected that the operatives of Manchester and Leeds should have the opportunity or wish to acquire knowledge. As to their moral character, we will mention a fact communicated to us by a highly respectable and intelligent manufacturer of Sheffield. He stated that the house with which he was connected employed five hundred workmen; that two hundred and fifty could do as much work as they required, if they worked steadily; but that so much time was lost in consequence of prevailing habits of intemperance, that they were obliged to retain the number we have mentioned in their employ. That a very large proportion of the females employed in the colton mills of Manchester are licentious, is universally reported. Of course these remarks ap ply more to some branches of manufactures than to others, and are true in the highest degree where the population is most concentrated. We refer any of our readers who wish a more extended view of this subject, and who are willing to read details of oppression and suffering, to "Helen Fleetwood," by the late Charlotte Elizabeth; in which work that distinguished writer gives a vivid account of life in a manufacturing town; also to the Rev. John Mitchell's "Notes from Over Sea." The precarious tenure of employ.

That a very large proportion of the laboring classes are ignorant, immoral, and debased, with their physical wants very imperfectly supplied, and their claims as moral and religious beings almost wholly neglected, is so abundantly obvious, that we hardly need refer to Parliamentary reports or to books of travels, for every British review and magazine asserts the fact in the most unqualified manner, and each of them proposes a dif. ferent remedy.

ment has a disastrous effect at times upon the character and condition of the operatives. It was recently stated by the police of Manchester, that of the whole number in that city about one-fourth were wholly unemploy. ed, one-fourth were working short time, and less than half were employed full time. As full employment will earn a meagre and insufficient subsistence, it is evident that a large proportion of the workmen in that town were partially or wholly dependent on the poor fund for sup port, and were greatly exposed to suffering and to crime. The system of "trades unions," and "strikes," to which we shall barely allude, exerts a most unfavorable influence upon the operatives, and is at times highly injurious to the national prosperity. Nor are the arbitrary restrictions to which many of them are subjected, such as requiring seven years apprenticeship before they are allowed to work at a particular trade, the prohibition of removing from one place to another except on certain conditions, and many others which might be mentioned, less pernicious.

As most of our readers are acquainted with our own manufactur. ing establishments, it is not necessary to compare them in detail with their English rivals, as to the particulars we have enumerated. In almost every respect there is a com. plete contrast. Our workmen are, as a body, well paid, well fed, industrious, healthy, and prosperous; and are of course respectable and valuable members of the community. With respect to intelligence, morality and religion, our manufacturing towns will compare favorably with the average of our population. To illustrate this by a single example, we would mention, that in Lowell no female is allowed to work in the manufactories who does not sustain a good moral character, that those employed in that town have in the aggregate about a million dol

lars in the savings bank, that a larger proportion of them are members of Christian churches than probably of the whole population of Massachusetts, and that most of them, after remaining there long enough to earn a fitting out' for themselves, or to assist in supporting their parents, or educating their brothers, return home and become the wives of farmers. We do not hesitate to express the conviction that the manufacturing system of New England, and indeed of the whole Union, has been of decided benefit, not only in augmenting greatly the national wealth, but in elevating the tone of morals and religion.

If our readers regard the views we have expressed as founded on truth, they will concur with us in the opinion that the radical defect in the social system of England is the depressed and degraded condition of the laboring classes of the community. In refinement of manners, in the cultivation of the intellect, in all the amenities which render home dear, and diffuse a charm over social intercourse, the middle and upper ranks of Great Britain are certainly unsurpassed by any nation of Christendom; but the line which separates these classes from the agricultural and manufacturing operatives, is deep and wide.

It has long appeared to us that the legislators of Great Britain fail to recognize the obligation resting on them to adopt such measures as would lead to the intellectual and moral elevation of the poor; and that unless an entire change takes place in this respect, the days of her preeminent power and greatness are numbered. It is foreign from our present purpose to state in detail what measures we think they ought to adopt. That the church establishment should be so modified that dissenters should not be required to contribute to its support, and that a large part of its wealth should

be applied to the service of the state; that the system of taxation should be changed, so that the wealthier classes, and especially the nobility, should contribute far more to the support of government than they now do; that the game laws should be abolished; that official salaries and pensions should be very much reduced; that many old and venerable abuses and monopolies should be done away; are points concerning which we can not entertain a doubt.

We have already intimated that we regard with distrust the recent changes in the commercial policy of England, and still more those which appear to be contemplated. It is always unsafe to make radical and important changes in the policy of a nation, in times of general embar rassment and distress. Relief is so much wanted, that sufficient regard will not be given to the ultimate re sults of the measures by which it is sought. The producers of food, the colonies, and the shipping interest, have long been protected against the competition of foreigners. From two of these interests this protection has been suddenly and almost entirely withdrawn ; and the most recent intelligence gives us reason to believe that the ship owner will soon experience the same fate. We have already stated what we believe will be the result of the competition be tween the English farmer and his foreign rivals. From the East and West Indies we receive the most gloomy accounts of commercial em barrassment and depressed prices, and forebodings of continued and augmented evils. Our neighbors on our northern frontier, having their timber depreciated in value by the rivalry of the Baltic, and their provisions undersold by ourselves, are beginning to "calculate the value of the union," and to inquire whether they would not be more prosperous and happy, if separated from the mother country, and left to their own

unassisted but unfettered energies. And if the navigation laws of England, that memorial of the statesmanship of Oliver Cromwell, are repealed, and the ships of Norway, of Hamburg, and of the United States, are admitted to free competition with her own, we shall not be surprised to find that erelong the wooden walls of old England will begin to show signs of decay. And unless changes take place in the relative condition of Great Britain and our own land, which can not be now anticipated, we think it probable that while we increase in wealth and power with a rapidity hardly ever equaled in the history of nations, our mother country, if she does not like the house of Saul wax weaker and weaker, will at least remain stationary.

If we examine the railroads of England and compare them with our own, we shall arrive at results very similar to those which we have ascertained respecting the agriculture of the two nations. In this as in the former case, every thing in Great Britain is done in a manner very thorough and very expensive, in a manner appropriate to the situation of a nation of abundant resources and circumscribed territory. In our own country on the other hand, railroads are built at comparatively moderate cost, the engineer being commonly more desirous of accom. plishing the work at the minimum expense, than of attaining the maximum power and speed, remembering that our wealth is limited, while almost the whole boundless continent is ours.'

The first railroad in Great Britain was opened for the use of the public, only about twenty years ago, but they have been regarded with so much favor by the community, that last year there were in operation three thousand five hundred miles of railways, which had been con. structed and equipped at an expense of five hundred and thirty million VOL VI.

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dollars. And during the year 1847, notwithstanding the unparalleled financial embarrassments, the 'calls' for money to pay for roads in the process of construction amounted to about one hundred and ninety mil lion dollars, in addition to more than thirty millions, furnished by British capital and expended in foreign countries. It will be seen from the above statement that the railroads already completed in Great Britain, have cost on an average more than a hundred and fifty thousand dollars a mile. This immense amount has been expended in preliminary outlays, which in some cases, in con. sequence of the difficulty of procur ing charters, owing to the vicious. system of legislation, have amount. ed to half a million dollars ;-in the purchase of the necessary lands at enormous prices ;-in preparing the road bed, which is made with grades and curves more favorable, and of course more expensive, than are required in this country;-in laying the superstructure, which is in all cases a double track, of very heavy iron, and laid in the most thorough and permanent manner; in locomotives and cars for the equipment of the road; and in incidental expenses, an item covering salaries and interest, together with many other things of which we have little knowl. edge from our own experience.

To give a similar view of the railroads in the United States, we would remark that there are now in operation more than five thousand miles of railways, and that these have cost about a hundred and fifty million dollars, or about thirty thousand dollars per mile. A large majority of those built previous to 1846, were built with flat rail and very imperfectly constructed; but we are not aware that any road is now in the process of construction which has not a heavy rail, and is not built with suitable regard to safety and durability, while on many of the old roads the light rail has been or

will soon be replaced with heavy iron.

With respect to the productiveness of railroads in the two countries, it is exceedingly difficult to present adequate and satisfactory statements. Many of the companies in this country have expended their income in payment of debts or in extending and improving their roads, and there are many in dis tant parts of the Union, respecting which it is difficult to procure the necessary information. There are in this country and probably in Great Britain many roads constructed several years since, which in consequence of the business being im perfectly understood, of bad management, of the high prices of materials and labor, or of other causes, have cost far more than would now be required to build them or than they are worth. The Housatonic railroad for instance, and the road from New Haven to Hartford, could now be built for one half the sum they have actually cost. We doubt whether there are two roads in New England which have not during the last year earned seven per cent. on what it would now cost to build them; and we believe that their aggregate income would give a dividend of ten per cent. on their cost if estimated in the same manner. The roads in Massachusetts have during the year 1847, earned in the aggregate, a sum equal to eight per cent. on their cost. Of the roads out of New England a few have been very productive; some of them, the Michigan Central road being one, have been probably more so than any of the New England roads. Many of the roads at the south and west, for some of the reasons which we have stated above, have yielded no income to their owners. It is stated that the aggregate income of the roads in Great Britain, during the past year, was a little over four per cent. upon their cost. It should, however, be remembered that the year 1847 was

in this country a period of extraor dinary prosperity, but in Great Britain, of unusual disaster, and that from this cause our roads have been more prosperous and theirs less so than usual.

If the views we have expressed respecting the prospects of the manufacturing and agricultural interests of the two nations are correct, it will be readily inferred that money invested in American railroads, will yield larger returns than will be received from British investments. Their railroads are built at very great expense, through an extremely populous and highly cultivated country, abounding with manufacturing establishments; while many of ours pass through regions in which hardly one-tenth the resources for manufactures and agriculture are developed. Especially is this the case with some of the roads in the southern and western states. Of course, railroads will share in the prosperity of the countries through which they pass. Nor do we entertain a doubt, that the railroad mania which has prevailed in England for some time has led to the construction of many works which will be almost entirely unproductive, and that the amount ex pended upon them will have been so great as very seriously to dimin. ish the average income of the whole system. And we are fully convin ced that railroads judiciously con. structed and well built, will be in creasingly valuable, and that investments in them will be, on the whole, safer than in most other descriptions of property, as they are less liable to suffer from the frauds of officers than banking institutions, and less exposed to the fluctuations of busi ness than manufactures or agriculture.

It is evident that every railroad judiciously located is beneficial to the community, provided two con ditions are observed; that it shall not cost more than it is worth, and that it shall not withdraw money