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venient and expensive, particularly for the fruit vessels from Malaga. The boat should also be rigged for sailing. Perhaps the best rig would be brigantine, or square sails on the foremast, and fore and aft sails on the main. As the wind blows almost always directly parallel with her course, either east or west, she would not be compelled to use her steam more than half the time. In some particulars the expenses of such a boat would be less than in this country. Her coals she would get at Gibraltar for $8 per ton, provisions would be cheaper, and a crew of Spanish and Genoese sailors can be had at $5 or $6 per month.

The exclusive privilege for any part of the coast might be very easily obtained from the emperor, provided the person who should undertake it had the necessary diplomatic tact and knowledge of the Moorish character and customs. A few thousand dollars judiciously expended in presents to his ministers, would be fully sufficient. But it would be necessary that the negotiation should be conducted with profound secrecy. A steamer would disturb so many petty interests, and so completely revolutionize the present system of trade, that a strong influence would be at once excited against the project if it was known. The Moorish court is excessively suspicious and jealous, and any representations, however absurd, would find a ready entertainment in their ignorance and prejudice. It is also probable that cupidity, another strong feature in their character, would be successfully appealed to. Bribery is the common custom of the court and country. Any inferior, or a stranger, is expected to approach an official, if he has a favor to ask, or even on mere visits of ceremony, with a present, and nothing is too mean to be offered. The smallest favors are readily received, although in receiving the most valuable presents there is not a mau in the empire, from the prime minister down, who will hesitate to beg for more. The value of the presents are expected to correspond to the dignity of the giver as well as the receiver, and to the cause of the interview. About a fair price for a complimentary audience with a bashaw of a province, is one silk handkerchief, a loaf of sugar, a little tea, and a pound of candles. If there was any business to transact, it would perhaps be advisable to add a piece of nankeen and a cotton turban. With such customs it would be very easy for those who might imagine that their

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*The system of making regular and stated presents, by the diplomatic agents of Christian countries, to the principal officers of the town in which they reside, is still kept up, although the amount and frequency of them has in late years been somewhat dimin ished. The presents are made about five times a year, upon the occurrence of as many Mohammedan festivals or fasts. Five or six of the principal officers of the town only come in for these regular perquisites of office, but their subordinates, down to the guards and gate-keepers, generally contrive to get their share. The American and Neapolitan governments give presents of the least value. Sweden and Denmark are the only two nations that continue to pay tribute. One pays to the emperor $20,000, the other $25,000 per annum. The necessity of paying this tribute has long since passed away, and numerous opportunities of rupturing the treaties have occurred, (as for instance in the case of Count Graberg de Hemso,) but still the tribute continues to be paid. The reason in the case of Sweden is, that the tribute originally served as an excuse for a peculiar tax upon commerce, by which it was raised. If the tribute is given up, the tax must be given up; but as it now raises a greater amount than is necessary for its original purpose, the government prefer to throw away $20,000 upon the emperor of Morocco, in order to pocket the balance. Probably something like the same reason prevails in Denmark.

interest would be affected by the introduction of steam, to prejudice the whole court against the plan and prevent a contract from being obtained; and without such a contract, under the imperial seal, the undertaking would not be safe. With a mere verbal permission there would be a constant liability of interference, and although there could not be much actual loss, a whim of the emperor might cut short the brilliant prospects of profits. Ten years ago, even a written agreement would not have been a very strong guarantee; but times have changed in Morocco, and some steps, short and few it is true, are to be perceived of the progress of improvement. It has been cited as an evidence of the march of mind in New Zealand, that many of the natives have left off eating their old fathers and mothers, and now dine only upon the bodies of their slaves and enemies taken in battle. We don't know that such a decided step can be shown to have been taken in Morocco, but in many things there has been a change. The emperor no longer amuses himself with mounting his horse, and at the same moment drawing his sword and striking off at one blow the head of the courtier holding the stirrup, a common pastime with some of his ancestors a few years since. He no longer seizes upon the persons and the property of Christians at his pleasure, and he no longer dares to treat a member of the consular corps with indignity, much less to imprison or unceremoniously drive them out of the country. His word to Christians he finds the necessity of adhering to, and a written contract for the purpose we have mentioned would be as valid and of as much force as if made with any potentate of Europe.

In the preceding remarks we have had reference only to that part of Maghrib which may be called Morocco proper, but we cannot quit the subject without indulging in a glance at the promising, but uncultivated field for commercial enterprise which lies just beyond the imperial jurisdiction. The sovereignty of the emperor of Morocco over the rich and populous districts of Suse is, as we have before stated, merely nominal. He has no real authority, and in the southern parts of the province the people have for years arrogated and enjoyed perfect independence. The jurisdiction of the emperor may be strictly said to terminate at Agadeir or Santa Cruz, a town about three days' journey below Mogadore. The bay of this town is considered the very best road for vessels in the empire, being well sheltered from all winds. It was formerly the centre of a very extensive commerce across the desert with the interior of Africa, and the residence of a number of Christian merchants, but from the natural strength of its position it excited the jealousy of the Moorish emperor, who ordered the place to be evacuated, and the merchants to transfer their establishments to Mogadore. Since then the trade has been completely broken up, and no vessels have for years visited the place. Beyond this port there is a long extent of coast, inhabited by several rich and independent tribes. The principal of these are the people of Wednoon, a large town about fifteen miles inland, upon the river Akassa, and about four days' journey from Santa Cruz. The town is, says Jackson, a kind of intermediate depot for merchandise on its way to Soudan, and for the produce of Soudan going to Mogadore. Gums and wax are produced here in abundance, and the people living in independence, indulge in the luxuries of dress, and use many European commodities. A great quantity of gold dust is bought and sold at Wednoon. They trade sometimes to Mogadore, but prefer selling their merchandise on the spot, not wishing to trust their persons

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and property within the territory of the emperor of Morocco. With Timbuctoo, however, they carry on a constant and advantageous trade, and many of the Arabs are immensely rich. Some time since we had an opportunity of seeing the journal of the lamented Davidson,* in which he confirms Jackson's account, and expresses his decided opinion of the possibility of a profitable trade being opened with the people of Wednoon. The sheik frequently expressed his wish that the English would send him a consul, and open a direct trade with him; thus enabling him to pocket some of the duties which now go to the emperor of Morocco.

Along this district of Suse and Wednoon, from Santa Cruz to Cape Bogador, is an extent of coast of about two hundred miles. It is not visited by the shipping of any nation, and we know but little respecting it, excepting that it has two tolerably good roadsteads. It is very possible, and in fact probable, that there are other good anchoring grounds, that we know nothing about. "This tract of coast," says Jackson, "holds out the greatest encouragement to commercial enterprise, and secure establishments might be effected upon it which would amply remunerate the enterprising speculator."

Some of the more enlightened merchants of Mogadore, towards the close of the last century, had a great opinion of an establishment somewhere between the latitudes 27° and 30° north, but a famine, and afterward a most destructive plague, prevented the execution of the plan. This plan, which, owing to the decline of the morocco trade, and the want of capital, enterprise, and intelligence among those engaged in it, has never been carried into effect, is at the present day full as feasible and as promising as when it was first conceived.

We have not space to enter into an explanation of the details of the various methods by which this trade might be opened and carried on. Suffice it to say, that we think a permanent establishment upon the coast is not by any means essential, and that the business can be conducted in a way that would require but little capital, be attended with but little risk, and afford the certainty of enormous profit. The subject is one that certainly deserves investigation, and which we would recommend to the attention of our commercial. capitalists.

Davidson was a young and enterprising Englishman, who, under patronage of the Duke of Sussex, and the Geographical Society, undertook, five or six years since, to visit Timbuctoo, by passing through Morocco. The influence of the English government got him to Wednoon, the sheik of which place engaged to see him safely across the desert. A few days after leaving Wednoon, a party of Arabs rode up to the caravans with which he was travelling, exclaiming, Where is the Christian? Where is the Christian? The caravan had halted, and Davidson was sitting a little apart. They immediately rushed towards him and shot him dead; thus adding another to the long list of martyrs in the cause of African discovery. It is supposed that his death was caused by the commercial jealousy of the Moorish merchants of Fas who trade with Timbuctoo.

ART. II.-COMMERCIAL RELATIONS OF THE UNITED STATES.

In looking abroad upon the crowded docks of our seaport towns, we perceive them heaped with bales, boxes, and casks, as well as commercial implements and merchandise of all kinds,-general depots of import and shipment, bordered by vessels of various sizes, with their delicate pencillings of spars and cordage, which have either folded their wings after their ocean flights, or are loading their cargoes for foreign ports, we are easily satisfied that these points are the grand gateways of the commerce of the country. The flags of the principal nations of Europe wave above our harbors. Advancing into our streets, we view the sidewalks heaped with foreign goods, and the shelves of our stores loaded with the same sort of commodities; and entering still further, into the houses of our citizens, we behold them furnished, and the occupants themselves, for the most part, clothed with fabrics which are introduced from abroad. The products of commerce most clearly bear the largest proportion to the whole amount of goods employed throughout the republic, either in use or in exchange; and their traffic, constituting as it does the principal object of the enterprise of our merchants, and a subject which employs the industry of a very large mass of our citizens, deserves notice in the pages of this magazine.

It has ever been found that just in proportion as nations advance in wealth and refinement, they demand the products of commerce. Engaged as colonists in laying the foundations of an empire, in tilling the soil, and removing the obstacles of nature, they are uniformly found simple in their habits, and contented with the crude productions of the earth, and the hard appliances always found in a new country. But as soon as wealth is acquired, and the consequent leisure, the fine arts are introduced, and literature adorns and enriches the mind, they are seldom contented with the common conveniences of life, but seek out those objects which are the best calculated to afford the means of luxury and enjoyment. These advantages, if they may be so considered, are to be found, in great measure, in the productions of commerce; and hence it has happened that those productions of commerce have kept uniform pace with the advance of the nation, in the respect which we have mentioned. We propose, in this article, to trace out, in so far as we are able, the commercial relations of our own country with the prominent nations abroad; inasmuch as we shall thus be enabled the more thoroughly to understand the facts that we see about us in the commercial world, and to which we have alluded.

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Notwithstanding the legislative restrictions which may from time to time have been established, for the purpose of encouraging the introduction, or preventing the exportation of commercial staples, every country must, from the nature of its soil, climate, population, or government, be peculiarly favorable for the production of certain articles, the product either of agriculture or manufactures, and which constitute the proper subjects of exportation. To apply this remark to our own country: it will be clear to every one who will examine the facts, that the soil of our southern states is decidedly favorable to the production of cotton, tobacco, sugar, and rice, the most of which articles are proper subjects of exportation; and the

grain-growing states of the west are equally favorable to the production of wheat. Hence, it falls within the necessary order of things, that we should export those products of agriculture. It is also true that in England, and parts of the continent, where labor is cheap, and machinery, as well as the useful arts, have arrived to a high degree of perfection, the various articles of manufacture can be produced at a much cheaper rate than with us; and accordingly, the same moral necessity exists for us to import a considera. ble portion of such products. The particular nature of these foreign imports and exports, to and from various parts of the country, will appear as we proceed.

We will first enter into a brief view of our commercial relations with Great Britain; a nation with which our foreign mercantile connections are the most intimate and extensive. It is probably well known, that our intercourse with this opulent and powerful empire, although not of very long standing-we, in fact, having been merely one of its remote provinces previous to the year 1776-has been varied according to the changes of national policy which have marked the two governments. At the close of the war of the revolution, by the treaty of peace of 1783, our own country became, in relation to that empire, a foreign state, and the relations of commerce, accordingly, were thenceforward established upon an independent basis. Previous to the year 1791, it would seem that the policy of that country towards our own was reciprocal; the king and council, who, by an act of parliament of April, 1783, were invested with the power of regulating the trade between the two countries, permitting all unmanufac tured goods, with few exceptions, and pig and bar iron, as also pitch, tar, and turpentine, pot and pearl ashes, indigo, as well as masts, yards, and bowsprits, which were the production of our own territory, to be subject to the same duties as were demanded of the same sort of British products imported from any British island or plantation in America. It was also established, that fish oil, blubber, whale fins, and spermaceti, as well as other articles of American production, which had not been enumerated, should be admitted into Great Britain upon the same terms that were required for the same sort of goods in foreign countries; and that where different duties were imposed in foreign countries, then the lowest duties which were required by those countries were also required by Great Britain upon American products. Our intercourse with the British West Indies, it appears, was regulated by the same act. Upon this footing the commercial intercourse between the two nations stood until the 19th of November, 1794, when more stability was secured for our mercantile connections with that country, a treaty of commerce having finally been concluded. Through that treaty our own republic was insured the liberty of commerce with the British dominions in Europe; and our relations with them were placed upon the same platform with that of other nations, by the provision which enacted that no higher duties should be paid by us than were paid by other nations, the right being retained on the part of Great Britain to impose a tonnage duty upon all American vessels entering their ports, equal to that which was paid by British vessels entering American ports, as well as all such duties as were required to countervail the difference of duties that was payable upon goods that entered the United States, either by British or American vessels. In 1804, however, the terms of this treaty, so far as they related to commerce, expired.

The design that had been long entertained on the part of Great Britain,

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