Imports and Exports of the precious metals for the year 1839. Imports. Exports. ! 8475,178 France, ......... Spanish America, 617,925 United States,... 892,243 9,100 Portugal,.......... 599,541 Other countries, Exports. $27,067 202,578 135,627 397,540 11,000 Denmark,.. 101,589 Total,.........$2,297,178 $1,725,804 These imports and exports have been in the following shape :— During the seven years transpired from 1833 to the close of 1839, the imports and exports of the precious metals were as follows: A Table showing the annual exports of the Agricultural, Provision-growing, Manufacturing, Lumbering, and Fishing interests of the United States, for ten years, commencing with the Tariff of 1828, and ending 1838, and the Bank Profits for the 1829 $26,575,311 $4,982,974 $12,273,053 $6,247,300 $3,681,759 $1,817,100 $10,693,080 1,725,270 10,747,778 1,889,472 14.084,565 2,558,538 17,357,711 THE TRADE BETWEEN ENGLAND AND FRANCE. The imports into England from France during the past year, amounted to 4,022,546 pounds. The exports to France amounted to 3,118,410 pounds. Balance in favor of France, 904,116 pounds. It is stated that the principal imports were in silk, brandy, wine, corn, madder, and, curious to say, eggs. The last amounted in number to nearly 100,000,000, which, at a half-penny cach, must have cost the English consumers 208,000 pounds. The green or common bottles imported exceeded 1,200,000; the mu sical instruments, 8,400; the shoes and boots, 48,000 pairs ; the gloves, 1,000,000 pairs ; and the watches, 17,000. Since 1836, the importation of wine has been on the decrease. being only 480,000 gallons. The principal exports were in cotton manufactures, and in linen and linen yarn. The steam engines exported amounted to an enormous number, being nearly double the amount of the exportation under this head in the preceding year. THE COAL TRADE. The Lehigh works open to the three anthracite coal fields the cheapest road to market. The trade in this article has already reached nearly eight hundred thousand tons, and inust yet be considered only in its infancy. It must necessarily increase with the demands for domestic consumption by a rapidly increasing population, and new applications of it are constantly making to the purposes of manufactures and steamboats, which must extend the consumption of anthracite beyond all former anticipations. The following table will show the history of the trade from its commencement. Quantity of Anthracite Coal sent to market from the beginning of the regular anthracite coal business of Pennsylvania. 214,000Ma 664,476 of The depressed state of manufactures, and of business generally, for several years past, has of course prevented that enlargement of the coal business that would otherwise have taken place. The earlier part of this history shows the reason why so small a proportion of the trade has hitherto been done on the Lehigh. The Schuylkill was in full operation with a slack-water navigation for a number of years, while the Lehigh could only be used with temporary boats, adapted to the channels of the Delaware river; and these boats required a particular arrangement for getting the lumber and building them, which could not be afforded by individuals working on a small scale. The consequence was, that persons desirous of embarking in the coal business located themselves on the Schuylkill in great numbers, and thus had great advantages over the single office of the company in effecting sales and procuring a market. This disparity of production, however, it is believed, is likely soon to be removed by the operations of the various companies which have established themselves on the Lehigh, who will be able to offer terms for their coal more favorable than those of their competitors. CANAL TOLLS OF NEW YORK. The tolls collected on the New York State Canals, from the opening of navigation to the close of July, in each of the last six years, are as follows, viz: 1838,... 712,013 1839,. 526,768 1840,.. $677,105 761,422 715,271 COMMERCIAL REGULATIONS. TO MERCHANTS AND SHIPMASTERS. British Consulate, Maracaibo, May 28, 1840. SIR-I beg to transmit to you the following literal translation of an official notice by the government of this republic, which I shall feel obliged by your having the goodness to make public, in order that it may reach the knowledge of the merchants and shipmasters engaged in the trade with this port. REPUBLIC OF VENEZUELA, Treasury Department, April 9, 1840. "The frequent instances of vessels, as well national as foreign, engaged in the exte rior trade with the port of Maracaibo, not being able to pass the bar in consequence of their cargoes causing them to draw a draft greater than the depth of the channel; and it sometimes occurring that even in ballast they cannot overcome that difficulty on ac count of their excessive draft, the executive power has resolved, that for the intelligence and guidance of the foreign commerce, through the medium of the ministers and respective consuls to whom it shall be officially communicated, and for the information of national merchants, by the publication of the present notice in the Gazette, it shall be made known to all, that the greatest depth of water on the bar at high tide, during almost every season, is ten feet, and that the lowest draft at ebb tide, is seven and a half feet, but that in the former case, vessels cannot enter or go out, drawing more than nine feet, and in the latter, more than six and a half, it being absolutely necessary to allow a foot for the pitch. The breadth of the bar is not more than twenty varas (33 inches) distance from point to point. Therefore, notice is hereby given that vessels will not be permitted to put in to the Los Taques for the purpose of transhipping cargo, under the pretext of not being able to pass the bar on account of their excessive draft, and that they can do so only in the ports where importations and exportations are authorized to be made. By order of the executive. (Signed) SMITH." But although vessels are prohibited by the foregoing notice, from discharging at Los Taques, a safe and convenient harbor, at a distance of eighty-five miles to the windward of the bar, I have authority for stating that there exists no hindrance to their repairing to that anchorage for the purpose of taking such part of their cargoes conveyed hence in lighters, and regularly cleared at this customhouse, as the shallowness of the bar may not permit of their loading in this port. I am, sir, your most obedient servant, R. MACKAY, British Vice Consul. PORTUGAL PORT REGULATIONS. VICE CONSULATE OF PORTUGAL, For the information of merchants, I send the following extracts from the law of the 11th April, 1839, of the government of Portugal. DANIEL J. DESMOND, "1st.—By a decree of the 11th of April, 1839, all foreign vessels arriving in ballast, and sailing from any part of the kingdom of Portugal, with an entire cargo of salt, are exempt from the payment of the tonnage duty. "2d.—All foreign vessels arriving in any port of the kingdom of Portugal, with a cargo, and sailing with an entire cargo of salt, incur a charge of a 100 reis, or 40 cents per ton only, tonnage duty." REGULATIONS BY THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT. The following is a copy of a letter received at Lloyds, from the British Consul for Denmark, dated at Elsinore : August 5, 1840. Sir-I embrace the earliest opportunity of communicating to you, for the information of the committee, that in consequence of representations made by her majesty's ambassador at the Court of St. Petersburg, the Russian government have resolved to admit into the Baltic ports of Russia, all British vessels laden with American cottons, and proceeding from Great Britain, without subjecting them to fresh purification in the Sound, with the condition, however, that such vessels are provided with certificates, either from the British government, or from the consulates of Russia or Denmark, proving such cottons to be of the growth of America, and to proceed from a port of Great Britain or America. This measure is made equally to extend to the ships of other nations, laden with American cotton, coming from America, or from any European port not in the Medi terranean. I am, with the greatest regard, sir, Your most obedient, humb.e servant, FRANCIS C. MACGREGGOR. TO WILLIAM DOBSON, Esq., Lloyd's, London. NAVIGATION. MARINERS' COMPASS. A shepherd of Italy, by the name of Magnes, was the first to discover the properties of the loadstone, a mineral which gives polarity to iron, from the circumstance of his walking over a quarry, and small particles of this stone adhering to the iron nails in his sandals. In the year 1324, John de Gioja, a handicraftsman of Naples, first discovered that a piece of iron rubbed with loadstone, and then suspended on its centre of gravity, had the property of pointing to the north star, and he was the first to apply needles on centres for the purposes of navigation. John tried his needles at different places in Italy, and moored a vessel in the Mediterranean, to ascertain whether this magnetic power was the same on water as upon land. The name of magnet was given to the loadstone, and to the needle. The division of the "shipman's card," was first made into four quarters, then into 16 and 32 points, and ultimately into 360. This graduation was progressive, and marked out upon a moveable disk. It was not until the middle of the last century that the needle and card were combined, and hung on a common centre. In the time of Columbus, nearly two hundred years after the discovery of the mag. netic needle by John de Gioja, the card was placed under the needle. It is worthy of remark, that this highly useful instrument, discovered, not invented through any scientific or theoretical deductions, should still continue to puzzle and baffle the philosopher in his attempts to discover the cause of its variation in the different parts of the earth. To the Italians we are indebted for the compass, and early enterprise in navigation; and to a Philadelphian for the discovery of the quadrant, by Godfrey. BOSTON TELEGRAPH OBSERVATORY. Annual recapitulation of the aggregate number of vessels reported by the telegraph stations in the lower harbor to the telegraph establishment at the Observatory, Central wharf, Boston, from 1824 to 1840, inclusive : The ship Russell Glover has introduced a new kentledge. Instead of iron kentledge she has square blocks of Staten Island granite, about eight inches thick, covering over the floor in her hold, and forming a smooth surface, under which is a layer of salt. These blocks of stone serve as dunnage, and may be made of the thickness required by law. A vessel ballasted in this will not need overhauling for years; the stone laid in salt will keep the wood coming in contact in an entire state of preservation. It super. sedes the necessity of iron kentledge, and can be furnished for one fourth the expense. Iron kentledge rusts, and produces decay of wood and timber in contact with it, and causes the water pumped up to stain the decks, or whatever it touches. A ship-owner may take out his iron kentledge, and sell it for three times enough to pay him for furnishing and putting down stone kentledge. ADVICE TO SHIPMASTERS. J. S. Sleeper, Esq., of the Mercantile Journal, who is an experienced shipmaster, says, that "in order to have good clear water at sea, it is only necessary to put into each cask about a spoonful of quick-lime, to stir it well, and the next day to add about a teaspoonful of pulverized alum. By this operation, the very worst water is sweet and clear in a few days. Fowls have a natural appetite for animal food, and if deprived of it will peck and kill each other. Every time you kill a fowl, take its head and feet, chop them small, and throw them into the coop. A few vegetables, especially onions chopped small, will be serviceable, contrary to general opinion. Fowls should have as much fresh water as they will drink. By these means, you may have much finer fowls at sea than are commonly on shore. LIGHTHOUSES IN FRANCE. The minister of public works has published official notice of the establishment of the following new lighthouses, with fixed lights, on the coast of France, which will commence burning from the 1st of November next:-The first on the fort at the island of St. Marbœuf, in the Manche; the second on the point of Port Navalo, to the right of the entrance into the Morbihan; the third on Cape Ferret, to the north of the present entrance into the Basin of Arcachon, in the Gironde; the fourth at La Camarque, in the Bouches du Rhone, on the eastern shore of the old Rhone, (this is only substituting a larger for the previous smaller light ;) the fifth on the entrance into the port of Cas sis, in the Bouches du Rhone; and the sixth on the top of the small turret on the right of the entrance into the port of Ciotat, in the Bouches du Rhone. |