GROWTH OF THE NORTH-WESTERN STATES. THE effects of a very favorable soil and climate, combined with a free government, and laws which secure to every one the fruits of his own labors, are strikingly illustrated in the unexampled growth and prosperity of these countries. And the future prom ises to excel the past. The ancient prophecy that a nation should be born in a day, was never more remarkably verified than in the case of the six states west and north-west of Pennsylvania. Men who can hardly be called old, remember the time when these ter ritories were peopled almost exclusively by a few roving savages; and now we see them occupied by large and flourishing communities of civilized men, to whom the voice of war and oppression are unknown, every man sitting in his own domicil without any to make him afraid." In 1790, the whole of that region contained only a few small settlements of whites. Those at Marietta and Cincinnati in Ohio, and the old French settlements of Detroit, Vincennes, Kaskaskia, and Cahookia included every one which was large enough to pos sess a village. Detroit was the largest; and it was then only a little village. The following figures will show the future increase of the popu lation of the six States just mentioned, exclusive of Iowa: A better view of the actual growth may be had by taking the additions at decennial periods, thus: We thus see that the actual additions are yet increasing, although, by an arithmetical law, the ratio is decreasing, as the basis on which the ratio is taken enlarges. The relations of the Northwestern States to the Union, in power and representation, may be seen by the following tables: WHALE FISHERY FOR 1850. THIS year was one of great prosperity in the trade. The num ber of ships returning with full cargoes was large, while prices rose to an unprecedented height. Nevertheless the importations of oil in 1850 will be found to fall short of that of 1849 about 7000 bbls. of sperm, and 48,000 bbls. of whale; and the number of arrivals as compared with the same year, is less by six sperm and nineteen right whalers; yet the stock on hand of each description is about the same as on the 1st Jan. 1850. This dis crepancy as regards whale oil, is undoubtedly owing to a diminished consumption, arising from the very high figure at which oil has been held; which has forced many substitutes into the market, and seriously impaired exportations. Under these circumstances it is clear that a small fall in prices would argue anything but a depression in the market. The number of vessels employed in the fishery was about the same as that of 1849. Of the fleet, 145 cruised in the Russian and Arctic seas with great success. Indeed the average quantity of oil taken was larger than in any previous year. Importations of Sperm and Whale Oil and Whalebone into the United |