29.-Simmonds' Colonial Magazine and Foreign Miscellany. Edited by P. L. SIMMONDS, F.S.S. London: Simmonds & Ward. This most useful of the London Magazines has reached its twenty-eighth monthly issue. It is conducted with signal ability, and is devoted to the interests of the British Colonies, which "sweep the globe, and touch every shore." Every number is replete with information touching the geography, commerce, population, resources, and, in brief, all those elements that render the colonies so important to the mother country, and of so much interest to the commercial world. The April number (which is full of interesting matter) contains an article on the Oregon question, which, of course, takes the English view of the claim. That the claims of the two parties may be amicably adjusted, is the prayer of every friend of humanity in the civilized world. We should regret, exceedingly, to be deprived for a time of the intellectual feast our worthy collaborateur monthly spreads before us in the pages of his well-stored magazine. 30.—Life of Julius Cæsar. New York: Leavitt, Trow & Co. This is the first number of a "Monthly Series of Useful Reading," of a pure and elevated character. It includes nearly the whole of the first books of the Lives of the Caesars, by Suetonius, and is more perfect and copious than Plutarch's life of this warrior. It is well remarked in the preface, that to those who condemn all war, shrinking from enemies as from fiends, the Life of Cæsar presents little more than a succession of murderous tragedies. 31.-The Life and Remains of the Rev. Robert Housman, A. B., the Founder, and, for above Forty Years, the Incumbent Minister of St. Ann's, Lancaster, and formerly Curate to Rev. T. Robinson, M. A., of Leicester. By ROBERT FLETCHER HOUSMAN, Esq. New York: Robert Carter. This volume contains, as we are informed in the preface to it, "a somewhat extended memoir of the life and opinions of one, to whose faithful and long protracted ministry of the Gospel, unusually large measures of divine favor were awarded." It is printed and published in the uniformly correct and handsome style of Mr. Carter. 32.-Wonderful Stories for Children. By HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSON, author of "The Improvisatore," etc. Translated from the Danish. By MARY HOWITT. New York: Wiley & Putnam. Here are ten stories, amusing and instructive; and, as they have the endorsement of Mary Howitt, we may venture to recommend them to "little folks" without the reading. 33.-Elizabeth Benton; or, Religion in Connection with Fashionable Life. New York: Harper & Brothers. This is one of a series of original social tales, designed to enforce, in an agreeable form, the serious obligations of moral life; and, like the series of re-prints by the Appletons, is intended for the people and their children. BOOKS IN PAPER COVERS. 34.-Rose-Marie; or the Gogo Family. By CHARLes Paul de Kock, author of " Andrew the Savoyard,” etc. Translated from the French by Thomas Williams, Esq. New York: William Taylor & Co. [This is an elegant translation of a romance unlike most of the writer's, in that it is unexceptionable in its moral tone and tendency.] 35.-Twenty Years After; or the Three Mousquetaires. A Sequel to the Three Guardsmen. By ALEXANDER DUMAS. Translated from the French by E. P. New York: William Taylor & Co. 36.-The Young Duke. By the author of " Vivian Grey." 2 vols. in one. Harper's Pocket Edition of Select Novels, No. 15. Price 25 cents. 37.-The Chevalier D'Kormental; or Love and Conspiracy. Translated from the French of A. DUMAS. By P. F. CHRISTEN, and EUGENE SIES. Harper's Library of Select Novels, No. 77. 38.-The Three Guardsmen. By ALEXANDER DUMAS. Translated from the French by PARK GODWIN. Baltimore: Taylor, Wilde & Co. 39.--Marguerite De Valois; an Historical Romance. By ALEXANDER DUMAS. New York: D. Ap pleton & Co. 40.-The History and Extraordinary Adventures of Margaret Catchpole, a Suffolk Girl. By the Rev. RICHARD ARBOLD. First American, from the third English edition. With illustrations. New York D. Appleton & Co. 41.-Artists of America. By C. EDWARDS LESTER. New York: Baker & Scribner. [No. 5 contains sketches of Rembrandt Peale and Thomas Crawford, with faithful portraits of each.] PUBLIC DOCUMENTS.-We take this opportunity of expressing our gratitude to the Hon. William W. Campbell, Hon. D. S. Dickinson, and Hon. Charles S. Benton, of New York, Hon. Charles Hudson, Hon. R. C. Winthrop, of Massachusetts, Hon. George P. Marsh, of Vermont, Hon. George Bancroft, Secretary of the Navy, and the Hon. R. H. Gillet, Register of the Treasury, for valuable public documents sent us during the present session of Congress. The duplicates we receive, answer a useful purpose, as we send them to valued correspondents abroad, who furnish us with the official papers of the governments of Europe, in exchange. ART. CONTENTS OF NO. VI., VOL. XIV. ARTICLES. I. The Moral Influence of Steam. The Agency of Steam, considered in its diversified application, as resulting from the present advanced state of social improvement-Comparative view of Ancient and Modern Commerce, and the gradual progress of those discoveries and improvements which have prepared the way for steam agency-Steam, in its history and its influence. By CHARLES FRASER, Esq., of South Carolina,. II. The City of Troy, New York: Its Commerce, Manufactures, and Resources. By ONE OF ITS MERCHANTS,. FAGE 499 515 III. Protection of Ships from Lightning, By E. MERIAM, Esq., of New York,. 523 IV. The Warehousing System. By JUNIUS SMITH, Esq., of New York,................... 529 V. The Northwest Fur Trade. By Hon. WILLIAM STURGIS, of Massachusetts... 532 VI. Coal Region of the Schuylkill and Wyoming Valley,... 539 543 VII. Trade and Tonnage of the New York Canals. By HENRY TRACY, Esq., Civil Engineer, of New York,.. VIII. The Sub-Treasury. By HENRY G. RICE, Esq., of Massachusetts,.. 545 547 MERCANTILE LAW CASES. Marine Insurance on Specie and Merchandise,. 551 553 Liability of Common Carriers,.......... COMMERCIAL CHRONICLE AND REVIEW, EMBRACING A FINANCIAL AND COMMERCIAL REVIEW OF THE UNITED STATES, ETC., ILLUSTRATED WITH TABLES, ETC., AS FOLLOWS: The Sub-Treasury, and the War with Mexico-Amount and Location of the United States Deposits-Monthly Imports and Duties at New York-Means and Liabilities of New York Banks-City and Country Banks distinguished-Broken Banks -Army of the United States-Revenue and Expenditures of the GovernmentExports from New Orleans to Northern Cities-Receipts of Produce at New Orleans-Exports of Domestic Produce to Great Britain-Importance of the English Market-Advanced Freights and Insurance, etc., etc.,...... 555-560 ΡΔΟΣ Treaty of Commerce and Navigation between the United States and the Kingdom of Commercial Treaty between the United States and Belgium,.. Duties on Goods sold at Auction in New York-Law of April 11, 1846,. Population of the Maritime Counties of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, etc., Progressive Population of the States, from 1810 to 1840,.... Exports of British Produce and Manufactures from the United Kingdom, for the years 1844, 1845, and 1846, ending 5th January,..... Vessels employed in the Foreign Trade of the United Kingdom, from 1844 to 1846, 584 British Exports of Woollen Goods to China, from 1824 to 1845,......... Cooper's American Naval Officers-Jesse's Pretenders-Adventures in Spain,....... 588 Lester's Americus Vespucius-Headley's Napoleon, etc.-Bacon's Essays on Slavery, 589 Flint's Collections of Amer. Statistical Society-Combe's Management of Infants,... 589 HUNT'S MERCHANTS' MAGAZINE. JUNE, 1846. Art. I.-THE MORAL INFLUENCE OF STEAM.* THE AGENCY OF STEAM CONSIDERED IN ITS DIVERSIFIED APPLICATION, AS RESULTING FROM THE PRESENT ADVANCED STATE OF SOCIAL IMPROVEMENT-COMPARATIVE VIEW OF ANCIENT AND MODERN COMMERCE, AND THE GRADUAL PROGRESS OF THOSE DISCOVERIES AND IMPROVEMENTS WHICH HAVE PREPARED THE WAY FOR STEAM AGENCY-CONSIDERATION OF STEAM IN ITS HISTORY AND ITS INFLUENCE. THE history of nations is little more than a record of their wars and their commerce; the former carrying with them ruin and desolation; the latter spreading wide the blessings of wealth and civilization. The former drying up every source of moral and social improvement; the latter uniting communities in the bonds of peaceful intercourse, and stimulating to honorable and profitable enterprise. We read of a great leader of antiquity, who moistened with tears the boundary line of his conquests, and grieved to think that the known world had no more kingdoms to reward his ambition. How much more glorious the fortune of him who, triumphing over the prejudices of his age, discovered a new hemisphere, and gave to the mind of man a boundless field of action. What success in arms was ever comparable to the first successful navigation of the Atlantic? Its reward was the discovery of a new continent, and that continent the domain and future heritage of civilized man. Thanks to the benign and humanizing spirit of the age in which we live, if there be a maxim universally assented to as the result of the experience of all recorded time, it is that peace is the best and truest policy of nations, as it is of the individuals who compose them. The prosperity it promotes, has an all-pervading influence, which not only exalts the rational part of creation, by giving it the leisure and the opportunity of cultivating its higher powers, but multiplies the comforts of the brute, and mitigates the severity of his labors. Even the inanimate world rejoices beneath its smiles, developing the elements of usefulness in every varied form and The manuscript copy of this paper, read before the "Mercantile Library Association" of Charleston, South Carolina, April 3d, 1846, has been politely furnished by the author, CHARLES FRASER, Esq., for publication in this Magazine. modification; and yielding to industry and well directed enterprise, the treasures which Providence has hidden in its bosom, as their noblest reward. And what is commerce, uniting the families of the earth in the bonds of friendly intercourse, and impressing them with the conviction of mutual dependence, but an extension of this great principle? To what human means was it most likely for the Prince of Peace to refer, for conveying the "words of truth to all nations," than to that communication between them, which commerce afforded. And his was a wis dom which, extending over all time, looked forward to the undreamed-of discoveries and improvements of human boldness and ingenuity, and embraced a far wider range of action than was revealed, even to those to whom the command was given. How beautiful, then, is the thought, that nature, in rewarding the industry of man by superfluities of products, invites their interchange amongst the remotest nations, and the most opposite climates; and, by that means, unites them in the kindliest feelings, and makes her very gifts the bonds of mutual and peaceful intercourse. How grateful, too, the reflection that, at this very moment, the vessels that are wafting from our shores the productions of our varied climate, and scarcely less varied industry, are also spreading the tidings of the gospel, and carrying with them the oil and the lamp that shall give light to the benighted regions of the earth. How unlike the doomed ships of ancient Tyrus, which emptied their riches and their merchandise upon the shores but to swell the pomp of an unholy luxury, and to make her downfall more awful and desolate! Such reflections show the distinctive character of the commerce of modern times, and elevate it, incomparably, beyond all of which history informs us. They associate it with an object which cannot fail to ennoble, we might almost say, to consecrate it. They raise the standing of the modern merchant far above those who, in their day, were called "kings and princes." They recognize, even in the tempest-worn mariner, a laborer in the great cause of human improvement. Extensive as was the commerce of antiquity, it was destitute of that bold and venturous spirit which belongs to that of modern times. Though wonderfully successful in its objects, it never aimed at discovery. Science had done too little for it to claim any devotion on its part, to her advancement. The maritime trade which enriched Phoenicia, the earliest com. mercial nation known to history, was a coasting one. The ports of Europe and Africa, along the shores of the Mediterranean, its numerous islands, the rivers emptying into it, and connecting it with a widely extended interior, as also the borders of the Archipelago and Euxine sea, furnished all the chief articles of luxury which centered in that great emporium. We may say articles of luxury, for such constituted the chief objects of ancient commerce, as gold, silver, precious stones, ivory, aromatics, and myrrh; and well might we believe it, when we are informed by historians that, on one occasion, a single festival consumed twenty-five tons of frankincense. Carthage, Alexandria, and every other city that turned its attention to trade, pursued the same timid course of navigation; and it is worthy of remark that, in their extensive nautical traffic, oars were their chief propelling power. When naval ascendancy became an object with rival nations, the number of these was multiplied, to give additional speed to their vessels, for the largest of them carried but one mast. Thus, whilst some of the arts practised by the ancients, attained an |