the cargo was to be consigned to another man. The captain had never been in the port before, could not speak a word of the language, was ignorant of the customs of the place and the state of the market, which put it out of his power to get the necessary information to guide him in transacting the business for himself. The cargo was just the one which at that moment, if properly sold, would have given the largest profit to the owners. Intelligence had been privately received by the consul the day before, which made his profit large and sure upon his own merchandise and that of the captain, This intelligence, however, he did not communicate to the captain, and his cargo went for the price which then ruled in the market! This intelligence it was the duty of the consul to communicate to the captain, and he would have done it, without doubt, had he been disinterested! He kept his own counsel, and made over ten thousand dollars by the speculation!" pp. 194-5.

Mr. Lester exposes the evils of appointing foreigners to our consulates abroad, men without any interest or regard for our institutions, or even, at times, any knowledge of them. He received from one of these consuls, not long since, a letter directed "To his Lordship, the American Consul-General of the United States and its Dependencies."

The following extract illustrates the subject most pointedly:

"For several years the consulate of Trieste has been held by an Englishman, by the name of Moore; and as he has been recently removed, and with very great propriety, I feel no delicacy in calling his name and stating a fact. While the M'Leod case was pending in this country, and a rupture with Great Britain seemed likely to take place, the governor of Malta dispatched a fleet of steamers to the straits of Gibraltar to intercept all our merchant vessels, as soon as the governor of Gibraltar received an intimation of the hostile intentions of Great Britain. At this time there were a large number of our merchantmen in the Mediterranean, and several at Trieste.

"Mr. Andrews, our consul at Malta, immediately sent dispatches to all his colleagues in that sea, communicating this important information, that all American vessels might have warning, and remain in the ports of friendly powers. Mr. Andrews had often enough before had occasion to know that no dependence could be placed upon the consul at Trieste, and he sent a dispatch to Mr. Perdicarus, consul at Athens, requesting him to embrace the earliest opportunity of giving intelligence to our merchantmen in the port of Trieste; and assigned as a reason for adopting this course, that Moore, being an Englishman, no dependence could be placed upon him in such a case. To show how well-grounded was this conviction, Mr. Moore was heard by several Americans (I was informed) to say, that Mr. Andrews did perfectly right; for he must have been a great fool to suppose I should do anything that would have a direct tendency to injure my country. The Americans appoint me consul, to do consular business in time of peace; but when war comes, that is quite another matter.' 999

Mr. Lester proposes, as a remedy, the adoption of the following > principles:

Consuls should be paid salaries sufficient to preserve the rank and

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dignity of the office; should have judicial power to settle differences between citizens abroad; should have a proper library of commerce and diplomacy, and have all their rights and duties particularly defined; should be prohibited from any commercial transactions whatever on their own account; should have no fees beyond their salary; should be divided into grades of office, consuls, vice-consuls, and consuls-general; the consul-general to have served three years in a simple consulate first, and his jurisdiction to extend over several of these consulates. Lastly, Mr. Lester would have commercial agents to gather information abroad for the use of government. At the meeting of the Zollverein, in 1843, Great Britain had thirteen agents present, and the United States had but one—he being accidentally on the spot.

We close with a paragraph which sums up the whole :

"First, there is not an American merchant, nor an American master, nor an American seaman, who is not disgusted with the wretched system, and who would not rejoice in a change.

"Second, there is not an American consul who will not join with them.

"Third, our commerce is laboring under embarrassments which can never be removed until we have organized an efficient and wellregulated Consular Establishment." p. 214.

Art. IX.-THE WAREHOUSING POLICY.

It is scarcely possible that the present Congress can dispose of this interesting question as their predecessors have done. The sense of the country seems now to have been fairly taken upon it, and a general voice of approval obtained. At former periods, when the subject was little understood, many were disposed to doubt, and a diversity of opinion prevailed even in the mercantile community, as is proved by the opposing memorial of the Charleston Chamber of Commerce. But that time, we think, has passed.

We were at Memphis, Tennessee, when a large portion of the Southern States were present, and the whole of the Western ones. Mr. Minor, from Virginia, reported favorably on the system; and had the vote of the Convention been taken upon the merits of the question, from everything we saw and heard there, little doubt can exist that the report would have been almost unanimously adopted. Unfortunately, however, a gentleman, Mr. Trescott, of Charleston, presented a minority report, signed by himself and three others, which disposed of the question, as we conceived, on grounds scarcely tenable. The minority were not opposed to the warehousing system, but did not think it a proper subject to come before the Convention, partaking, as it did of a party complexion, and relating more to the mercantile than to the agricultural interests. We admired the ability of our friend Mr. Trescott's report, but humbly submitted that the subject was within the legitimate sphere of the Convention, and related to the best concerns of the whole country, without any reference to its parties or its politics.

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The late report of the Secretary of the Treasury, Mr. Walker, comes out nobly in advocacy of the measure, and will, we think, exert a wide influence everywhere. We have only to refer to the facts upon which he bases his views, to adopt them.

Taxation is, at best, an evil; and, as such, should be disposed so is to press lightest upon the community. Mr. Jefferson had a motto which was a good one: "Taxes, as much as is necessary, and no more; as long as is necessary, and no longer." One of the best established principles in political economy is, to levy the tax on commodities at the nearest possible period to consumption. The consumer should not have to pay the tax, and the interest on the tax, when only the former can reach the government coffers. The warehousing policy proposes to tax the consumption only, and not the importations of the country.

Prior to 1842, we had a system of credit; but this is not to be tolerated in government finances, and it was found so. The warehouse is a necessary adjunct of cash duties. Without it, cash duties, even with the debenture feature, have the effect of destroying a large portion of the commerce of a country. According to Mr. Walker's Report, the total amount of foreign imports re-exported, since the tariff of 1842, three years, in free and dutiable goods, is only $33,384,394, less than for any similar period since 1793, except during the war. Our re-exports have reached for three years $173,108,813; they never before fell under $41,315,705, for the same time. Our re-exports in dutiable goods for the last three years, were only $12,590,811 less than any three years since 1820. They have reached to $57,727,000, and never since 1820 fell below $14,918,444.

The warehousing system, the secretary thinks, will largely tend to build up our re-export commerce. "Under the present system," he says, "the merchant introduces foreign imports of the value $100,000. He must now, besides the advance for the goods, make a further advance in cash, in many cases of $50,000, for the duties. Under such a system, but a small amount of goods will be imported for drawback; and the higher the duty, the larger must be the advance, and the smaller the imports for re-exportation." He thinks that transporting goods from warehouse to warehouse, from the East to the Lakes, to Pittsburg, Cincinnati and Louisville, from New Orleans to Natchez, Vicksburg, Memphis and St. Louis, and collecting the duties at these places, will augment business and cheapen supplieswill introduce large stocks for re-export, and greatly increase the revenue. In all of this we heartily concur.

The Chamber of Commerce of New Orleans, in a report from Messrs. W. L. Hodge, Alexander Gordon, and J. W. Zacharie, adopted a few days ago with but one dissenting voice, thus express themselves upon this subject:

"It is a high and strong recommendation in favor of it, (the warehousing system,) that it was adopted on the most liberal and extensive footing in all those nations most celebrated for their commercial wisdom and experience. The want of it has already driven from New Orleans nearly the whole of the Mexican trade, as the merchants of that country can no longer procure here those large and varied assort ments of foreign manufactures, which were always to be obtained in

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this city, and this lucrative want of commerce has been transferred to Havana, where a liberal warehouse system exists.

"While New Orleans retained this trade, from four to five millions of specie were annually received here from Mexico, while the amount now received is not a tenth part of that sum. Other parts of the Union have also suffered from the same cause, and it also operates injuriously as regards the produce and manufactures of the country, as these foreign purchasers always bought largely of them when making up their stock."

Great Britain has managed to take the lead of us in matters of commercial polity. She saw the evils of the system we are now suffering. One of her first writers, Dean Tucker, as early as 1745, in an essay, painted them in glaring colors. Sir Robert Walpole, twenty years before, had almost fallen a victim to an ungovernable mob, for endeavoring in some degree to rectify the abuse. In 1803, Great Britain adopted the warehousing system, and in 1833 perfected it. The result is, that Great Britain has the commercial empire of the world!

Since 1843, the matter has been much before the people of the United States. The President, in his Message of that year, strongly urged its adoption, on four grounds:

"1. That it would protect the market against redundant or deficient supplies; and that, through this influence, an approximation would be made to a steadiness and uniformity of price, which, if attainable, would conduce to the decided advantage of mercantile and mechanical operations.

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"2. That without something to ameliorate the rigor of cash payment, the entire import trade may fall into the hands of a few wealthy capitalists, in this country and in Europe; that the present system may operate to the injury of the small importer, and that the rich capitalist abroad as well as at home would thus possess, after a short time, almost an exclusive monopoly of the import trade. "3. That a profitable portion of the carrying trade in articles entered for the benefit of drawback, must be seriously affected, without the adoption of some expedient to relieve the cash system. "4. That the effect of the measure would be to supersede the system of drawback, thereby effectually protecting the government against fraud; as the right of debenture would not attach to goods after their withdrawal from the public stores."

The President's suggestion, together with the memorials of New York, Philadelphia, and New Orleans, were referred to the committee on Commerce, of which Mr. Kennedy was chairman. The committee seem to have looked upon the subject as something new and untried-something which required the utmost caution in the world; and the result was, that they reported a bill favorable to the system to some extent, yet with limitations and restrictions enough to destroy all its value. The bill was not acted on. It provided for

1. The procurement of temporary warehouses.

2. The option to importers until 30th June, 1845, to introduce goods

under the warehousing law, or under the old law with its debentures, &c.

3. The privilege of warehouse for two years on all kinds of merchandise, but the duties to be paid at all events in six months, whether withdrawn or not. Default of such payment, interest to be charged on duties.

Thus stood the matter. On the 12th February, 1824, the Hon. Mr. Phoenix, in the House of Representatives, ably reported on it, with an unanswerable array of facts and arguments. The whole subject is now before the country. On behalf of the South and West, we bespeak for it favor, assured as we are that prosperity will result from it to these sections, and that they will be thus elevated to a due participation in the foreign trade of the nation.

We hope to resume the subject in our next, through a commercial friend.

Art. X.-OREGON AND CALIFORNIA.

WE have before us a pamphlet which the editor of this Magazine, twelve months ago, prepared with great labor, on the subject of our rights and duties towards Oregon and California. He gave the subject at that time all the consideration which its importance deserved; and having at hand all the authorities which could be collected, he was enabled, he thinks, to arrive at just conclusions. Leaving, however, the disputed subject of sovereignty, which is still causing much excitement in both England and America, it would be a prope occasion to introduce some paragraphs from the pamphlet, which go to show the character of the soil, the resources, the prospects, and the past history of these countries. We do this in order to contribute as much as possible to the correct and general understanding of the whole question.

We commence with California :

Proportionate with the eastern projection of Florida, and almost in the same latitude with it, the narrow neck of land which constitutes the peninsula of California juts outward from the continent. To the northward, and to the north-eastward, and as yet to an extent not clearly defined, are the remaining portions of California. Toward this section two nations have, of late, exhibited a partiality rather unpleasing to each other and to the governments which assume the Sovereignty-Great Britain and the United States. Of the move

ments of the former there has been some uncertainty. We know determinately the proceedings of our own government. In 1835, Mr. Forsyth offered the Mexican authorities five millions of dollars for the whole country of California. In 1842, laboring under an unfortunate misunderstanding, Capt. Jones, of the American navy, seized upon the post and fortifications of Monterey, and floated over them for a while the banner of the 'stripes and stars.' The matter was soon after satisfactorily explained.

The restless spirit of Cortez was not long content with his triumphs over the empire of Montezuma. His enterprise was di