purchase, conquest, or any other means, ing the island at present, all of which has as to get Cuba. Great Britain would be to be borne by the Cubans. There is then as willing to surrender Canada as Spain no reason why Cuba may not maintain will Cuba, and a war for Cuba will lead to an independent existence unless it arise a war for Canada. Great Britain would, from the character of her population. If in all probability, as soon see Canada no other than a despotic government is annexed to this country as to see Cuba, suitable to that people, then they ought and would be as apt to resist by force to remain under the dominion of Spain; the one as the other. Canada will be- but if this is not the case, then they come independent as soon as Cuba, and may maintain a separate existence. In will be as apt to apply for admission neither case is there any necessity for into our Union. We believe the time is annexing her to the United States. We coming when, if no violent means are trust that the people will be found caparesorted to, Great Britain and Spain will ble of self-government, for we think the acknowledge the independence of both time is coming when they will have to Canada and Cuba, and in any event the make the experiment. We hope Cuba acquisition of Cuba would lead most cer- will either remain a colony of Spain or tainly to that of Canada. Let the South, become independent. We are not one then, unless it desires the annexation of of those who think that national proCanada, oppose also the acquisition of gress consists alone in accessions of Cuba. We do not say but that a state territory. The proper improvement of of things might arise when it would be necessary for us to take both, but such is not now the case; that "overruling necessity" is not now upon us. What then is to become of Cuba? Let her remain in the hands of Spain or become independent. We are aware the opinion has been expressed, that Cuba cannot exist as an independent government. Why not? Cuba has all the elements necessary for a separate and independent existence. Her wealth and population are sufficient; her population amounts to more than 1,200,000, her exports amount to about thirty-two millions of dollars, and her imports to something more. Why then can she not maintain an independent existence? Are her people incapable of self-government? Surely those who are such warm advocates for Cuban emancipation do not think so, else they would not be so anxious to free them from oppression. They certainly would not wish to incorporate into our Union a people incapable of self-government. If they are capable of self-government, they can maintain a separate existence as a nation, for it will be the interest and policy of all the great maritime powers to maintain her independ

ence.

Her expenses will not be by any means so great as the expense of govern

that which we now possess is of more importance than unlimited extension. Commerce and not conquest is our true policy. In this article we have not alluded to the proposition made by our government in 1848 for the purchase of Cuba. Reasons then existed, or were thought to exist, making it our duty to acquire it to prevent its falling into the hands of the British government. That is not now the ease. That danger has passed. The reasons that then existed do not exist at this time; circumstances have materially changed; and what might have been a wise and prudent proposition at that time might be unwise now. It is idle to think of purchasing Cuba from Spain. She will not sell it to the United States, and we believe that she would rather permit it to become independent than sell it to us for a hundred millions, because she would retain her trade with that island as an independent nation, which she would lose in the event of its annexation to this country. We therefore think it would be the true policy of our government, as well as of the governments of Great Britain and France, to use their efforts to prevail on Spain either to modify her policy towards Cuba or to establish its independence.

Examination of the Lake Country-Falls of St. Marie. 423

ART. II.-INLAND COMMERCE OF THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY AND THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN.*

The inland commerce of our country no great deficit is suffered on either side. has attained such immensity of import- We merely mention these natural pheance, as to occupy much of the attention nomena, as typical of other features of of the shrewd, sagacious, and far-seeing this most interesting section of country. capitalists, statesmen, and merchants of It is well known that the two great the day. And yet, this commerce is ge- combinations of water here alluded to nerally but very badly appreciated, very drain the whole extended country beimperfectly understood, and its import- tween the Alleghany Mountains on the ance greatly underrated by the vast ma- east, and the Rocky range on the west; jority of those who would wish to be that portion of it drained by the Missisclassed with one or the other of those sippi and its tributaries being familiarly coteries just mentioned. It may be well known as the Mississippi Valley; and understood that the great chain of Ame- that bordering the lakes and the St. rican lakes have their natural outlet Lawrence, as the great St. Lawrence through the river and gulf of the St. basin. And it is also a fact, with which Lawrence into the Atlantic. And it is geographers are quite familiar, that so no less a fact of general appreciation, continuous and uninterrupted is the Althat the Ohio, Illinois, Tennessee, Cum- leghany chain, that these channels are berland, Iowa, Missouri, Wisconsin, the only navigable outlets for the proRock Island, Fever and Des Moines ri- ducts of the valley and basin to the seavers, with many others, are tributaries board. But we have already said that to the great Mississippi, through whose no very perceptible elevation of the channel these waters find their way to earth marked the dividing line between the Gulf of Mexico-more than four the sources of the rivers and those of the thousand miles distant from the outlet of lakes; and it seems not improbable that the waters of the lakes at the Gulf of this fact, and its consequent, the interSt. Lawrence. But it may not be a changing of the waters of the two, were matter of such general knowledge, that designed to lead to that artificial union the sources of these respective drains of these waters for commercial purposes between the Alleghanies and the Missis- which has already taken place at varisippi, in the States of New-York, Penn- ous points. Hence, as we have seen sylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and the waters taking the opposite of their Wisconsin, are to be found in the most intimate association, with their branches interlocking each other. Indeed the dividing line of the watersheds in these states is so slightly marked by nature in the physical construction of the face of the country, that it is not unfrequently the case, when the spring opens amid frequent rains, melting snows, and disembodied springs of the earth, ejecting their contents at the bidding of the departing frost, causing temporary freshets, to see their waters unite in harmony and flow to the lakes sometimes, and at others to the rivers, as the attraction may, for the time being, prove strongest. By this operation the southern gulf is robbed, at times, of a portion of the waters apparently designed for it; and again, the northern one is made to suffer a similar depredation. But in the end probably

natural course, in obedience to some freak of nature, so in consequence of slight changes in the markets, or the prices of freights, we observe the products of the earth seek a northern or southern outlet to the seaboard. The result is a blending by one common channel of the two great arteries of commerce which drain the basin and valley of their rich and varied products, and through which they are in turn supplied with those necessaries and luxuries which are received in exchange.

This continuous channel forms a vast road-way, open to the common use of all, from the Atlantic to the Gulf of Mexico; and this stupendous highway, with its numerous branches, outlets and tributaries, is the theatre of the great bulk of our internal commerce. It is no part of our present purpose to enter into a history of this inland commerce, or to detail its value. We have daily evidence before our eyes, to convince us of the rapidity of the one, and the i

mensity of the other; and the Atlantic to be under tribute to Michigan in passcities are in full enjoyment of the increase of wealth enuring from the trade occasioned by it.

The end of this article will be answered by an examination of the face of the country, and the several routes, artificial as well as natural, leading to the seaboard, with a brief comparative synopsis of their business, which may serve to show in some degree their relative importance.

The area of country embraced in the interior valley and basin has something over nine hundred thousand square miles, with a population in 1850 of upwards of thirteen millions people, or about fourteen to the square mile. The land is nearly all of the most rich and fertile nature, susceptible of a very high state of cultivation. The face of that portion of the country drained by the Mississippi is nearly level, causing very few rapids in that stream or its tributaries sufficiently difficult to render serious obstructions to navigation. The surface of the river for miles north of the gulf, is above the surrounding country, which is only kept from inundation by a sort of embankment. These features, of course, render the whole section peculiar in its adaptation to the construction of railways from the river back to the interior, at a trifling cost.

That division of the above area, known as the St. Lawrence basin or lake country, is slightly different in its conformation, having in some parts a rolling surface, in others prairie, and in a few instances mountainous, but all bearing a rich soil, which yields a bountiful return for the labors of the husbandman. The first interruption to navigation in the lake chain, commencing at the western extremity of Lake Superior, and passing eastward, is presented by the Falls in the St. Marie River at the Sault. A canal is about to be constructed around these rapids with sufficient capacity to pass the largest lake craft. It will be about one mile in length, and must have a lift of lockage equal to about nineteen feet. It will cost nearly half a million dollars.

Land has been appropriated by the general government of the United States, to aid the State of Michigan in building this work. Should this state proceed to construct the canal, however, it will still be a state work, connecting United States waters, so that vessels sailing under United States protection will have

ing this rapid. It is to be regretted, therefore, that as the general government is to stand the expense, it had not made the improvement on its own account, and retained it under its own control. The Canadian government have also the route surveyed on the Canada side for a canal, and will probably proceed at once to construct one of the largest capacity. The engineer recommends that the locks be 350 feet long in the chamber, 66 feet in breadth, and 10 feet in depth to the sills. Locks of smaller dimensions than the above would prove of little use five or ten years hence; and if Michigan is not soon awake to the importance of her responsibility in this matter, Canada will have a better channel the more speedily completed. There is at present little freight passing from Lake Superior to the lower lakes, owing to those obstructions, but the Lake Superior country is rich in mines of iron and copper of the best quality in the known world, needing only the improvement contemplated to make them available.

Passing down Lake Huron and St. Clair River, its outlet, we reach Lake St. Clair, which is a shoal water and threaded with an exceedingly narrow and circuitous channel, carrying from eight to nine feet of water. Though not an interruption to the navigation of the Lakes, the St. Clair flats are a serious obstruction, at times, always requiring skilful pilots, daylight, and vessels of light draft to pass them in safety without lighting. The next impediment to lake navigation is the Falls of Niagara between Lakes Erie and Ontario. The fall here is nearly three hundred feet; and together with some rapids in the river St. Lawrence, and a desire of the people of the city of NewYork to secure a connection with the interior, led to the projection and construction of the Erie canal, connecting the waters of Lake Erie at Buffalo with those of the Hudson at Albany, and forming an artificial outlet to the Atlantic for the Upper Lakes. The opening of this new outlet was soon followed by the construction of the Welland Canal, on the part of the Canadian government, through Canada, in order to admit the passage of vessels from Lake Erie to Ontario, and secure the lake commerce to the St. Lawrence. The St. Lawrence canals around the rapids in that river

Table of Receipts by Different Routes to the Seaboard.

The Canadians also connected St. John's and the St. Lawrence rivers by improvements which admit the passage of vessels from the St. Lawrence to Lake Champlain. Thus we see the St. Lawrence, the natural outlet for the waters of the lakes, has been made navigable, so that vessels may load at Chicago and without transhipment proceed to the Ocean; but it is also to be seen that this natural outlet has been tapped at Lake Erie, at Lake Ontario, and at the St. Lawrence, by water routes, to divert the commerce of the West to the Atlantic, through the Hudson instead of the St. Lawrence.

425

were also constructed by the same go- the transportation of heavy and bulky vernment, to give free passage to vessels articles of produce railways bear a very to Montreal, Quebec and the Ocean. insignificant comparison to canals, even The State of New-York, upon the com- when constructed on easy grades, and pletion of the Welland, constructed the the disparity is manifold greater on such Oswego Canal in order to reach the trade a road as the Portage Railway in Pensylof Lake Ontario, and the Champlain Ca- vania over the mountains. This, hownal was also constructed to compass the ever, is the third water outlet to the Atcommerce of the Lake Champlain and lantic. We have compiled some statisdirect it to the Hudson and New-York. tics of these different routes of trade from the great interior which we will here present. First, it will be necessary to premise that the Mississippi and the Hudson, being the oldest routes, are by far the most important, so far as the amount of their commerce is concerned, and also have the most systematic mode of keeping their returns. We are therefore enabled to give their business for a series of years, while that of the St. Lawrence and Pennsylvania canals can be given for only one year, and that but imperfectly, a mere estimate upon the basis of tonnage and valuation of the property transported on the New-York State canals. Whether these two routes can This northern or lake route has then hold out in the lead they have thus far these two outlets to the seaboard, while maintained, depends almost entirely Pennsylvania, through her canals and upon the management of the canal railways, form another northern outlet policy in the State of New-York. Cafor a small portion of the trade of the nada is fully awake to the importance upper Ohio and a portion of the lake trade, of training the trade of the basin for the did not those mountains almost preclude St. Lawrence, and making Montreal the possibility of a continuous water route. and Quebec the depots. No pains or The heavy inclined planes now used in expense will be spared by her governpassing their summit can never be made ment to secure the laudable and legitiserviceable in the transportation of mate objects. Time alone will decide through freight, and even a railway the result; whether the Empire State on more favorable grades, such as soon will suffer her prize in the western trade will be substituted, will be found far in- to grow no larger by the efforts of her ferior to the capacity of the canal on either side of the ridge. Could a tunnel be made through the mountains for the passage of a capacious canal there would be a large portion of the commerce of basin and valley seek that route to the ocean; but as it is, we shall see that for a propelling power.

neighbors to divert the increase from her public works, or whether she will prepare to transact all the business which offers, as cheaply and as speedily as any one else, by enlarging her canals to such a capacity as will admit steam for

Value of Property received at the Seaboard, via the St. Lawrence, Hudson, Portage Rail-r'd, and Mississippi.

Total.......... $9,153,580... $484,924,474..... $125,035.

45,7 16,045

$857,658,164

Of the receipts at New-Orleans, cot- gar and molasses the whole estimated ton, hemp, tobacco, sugar, molasses, crop is included, much of which, of pork, bacon, and lard, form the leading course, is never landed on the levee at articles, the former great staple consti- New-Orleans, though it enters into the tuting nearly one-half the whole value commerce of the city in the shape of of her imports from the interior. Of su- commissions, advances, and sales.

Value of Cotton, Hemp. Tobacco, Sugar, Molasses, Pork, Bacon, and Lard, at New-Orleans, during a Series of Years, ending September 1st.

Value of each class of Property reaching Tide-water on the Hudson during a Series of Years, ending December 31st.