been advantageous to manufactures and commerce, principally by creating freedom of trade through all the German states of the League-the only condition in which it is possible for her internal industry to prosper. They overlook that its basis is only an ad valorem duty of 10 per cent, as above mentioned, not a protective tariff; the nearest approximation to principles of free trade existing in any country. They ought to acknowledge that with a nation of such a commercial policy commercial treaties might be easily and advantageously formed, free from liability of change on account of their equity.

A commercial treaty with the German states will be probably found not less profitable to the United States, than that entered into by them with China. We do not mean to assert, that by this treaty being carried into effect, the chances are so great of a few amassing large fortunes as with that of China, but we do maintain that the great masses will derive fully as much benefit. We deem the subject one of great importance, and shall resume it in a future number of the Merchants' Magazine.

Art. VI. THE FRANKLIN INSTITUTE OF PENNSYLVANIA.

THE Franklin Institute of the state of Pennsylvania, for the promotion of the Mechanic Arts, was incorporated by an act of the legislature, which, on the 30th of March, 1824, became a law. The objects of this association, as expressed in the charter, are, "The Promotion and Encouragement of Manufactures, and the Mechanic and Useful Arts, by the establishment of Popular Lectures on the Sciences connected with them; by the formation of a Cabinet of Models and Minerals, and a Library; by offering Premiums on all subjects deemed worthy of encouragement; by Examining all new Inventions, submitted to them, and by such other means as they may judge expedient." Those objects have been all faithfully accomplished, and the institution is now established on a permanent and solid foundation.

The association now numbers more than two thousand members. It possesses, as its own property, a spacious edifice, in Seventh-street, above Chestnut, one of the most prominent sites in the city of Philadel phia. With a large reading-room, containing the library, which embraces about three thousand five hundred volumes, including the most prominent European mechanical journals, and various other apartments which are devoted to the purposes of the delivery of lectures, the deposit of geological and mineralogical cabinets, the cabinet of models connected with inventions in the useful arts, and the meetings of the association. It enjoys, in those respects, ample accommodations, not only for the members, who actively participate in these transactions, but also for the strangers who are, from time to time, invited to partake of the conveniences which are freely proffered to them by the society.

In the organization of the institution, there are various standing committees, viz those on science and the arts, the library, the cabinet of minerals and geological specimens, the cabinet of arts and manufactures, on exhibitions, on meetings, and on meteorology. The series of lectures upon the various topics connected with science and the arts, is delivered by some of the most distinguished individuals connected with their various branches; and those lectures commence on the second Monday evening in

November, and are continued on the evening of Monday, Wednesday and Friday, for twenty-one weeks, including the introductory lectures.

Under the auspices of the association, there are, also, annual exhibitions of the various products of American manufactures, in which the most finished specimens of such products, as well as those which are connected with mechanical enterprise, are exposed to public inspection; and to the most approved of such specimens, premiums of various kinds, as well as gold and silver medals, are awarded. By a will, executed in 1816, John Scott, a chemist residing in the city of Edinburgh, bequeathed to the corporation of the city of Philadelphia, the sum of $4,000 in the funded 3 per cent stock of the United States; at the same time directing the interest that might become receivable thereon, to be laid out in premiums, which were to be distributed among ingenious men and women, who might originate useful inventions, but no such premium to exceed twenty dollars; and, that therewith, there should be given a copper medal with this inscription: "To the most deserving." By an ordinance which passed the select and common councils of that city, Feb. 27th, 1834, the award of the aforesaid premiums and medals was invested in the Franklin Institute of the state of Pennsylvania, for the promotion of the mechanic arts: and by the managers of the institute, the duty of examining inventions and improvements, and of recommending the award of medals and premiums, has been devolved upon the Committee on Science and the Arts. There is, likewise, issued, under the auspices of the institute, a monthly journal, entitled, “A Journal of the Franklin Institute of the state of Pennsylvania, and American Repository of Mechanical and Physical Science, Civil Engineering, the Arts and Manufactures, and of American and other patented inventions, published each month, by the Franklin Institute, at their Hall." This journal was commenced as early as 1826, and edited by a professor of mechanics in the institute; it has been continued down to the present time.

We have thus, briefly, described the organization of the institute, for the purpose of exhibiting its actual character, which is not generally known. in the city where it is established, and much less in the other parts of the Union. We had the privilege of attending the Fifteenth Exhibition of American Manufactures by the Franklin Institute, which opened for that purpose on the 21st of October last, at the Hall of the Museum, situated in Ninth, below Chestnut-street, in the city of Philadelphia. There were here arrayed the various products of manufactured and mechanical industry, in a form which could not fail to gratify all those who are interested in the progress of the useful arts, and the trophies and triumphs of domestic industry.

It were impracticable, even did space permit, to specify the various products of domestic skill, which were arrayed upon the walls, and that were accumulated in the body of the hall-articles which came from the workshops of the trades in their unnumbered forms, as well as from the large manufacturing establishments that are propelled altogether by machinery. One of the prominent objects in the lower room, which was mainly devoted to a display of the manufactures of iron and other metals, was a large locomotive railroad engine, from the manufactory of Messrs. Baldwin & Whitney, in the city of Philadelphia. Nor could we particularly describe the display of gorgeous carpets, the highly ornamented and colored lanterns, the cut-glass lamps and chandeliers, the massive and richly chased silver plate, the various species of marble found in the state of Pennsyl

vania; some of the mantels of this material being elaborately sculptured; nor shall we do more than allude to the highly finished upholstery of various kinds the hats, woollen and cotton cloths, and other products of the workshop and the loom, which indicate the rapid progress of the useful enterprise of that great manufacturing and mechanical region, of which Philadelphia is a concentrating point, as well as the general advance of the arts throughout the Union.

The benefits of associations, like that of the Franklin Institute, are obvious. By uniting individuals, who are engaged in the same pursuits, in well organized societies, that are constituted upon just principles, and for common objects, which afford individuals an opportunity for the interchange of mutual sentiments and opinions, they tend to create a salutary spirit of good fellowship, promote the common intelligence, and provide the means of acting with effect, both for the amelioration of their own condition, and for the advancement of the common prosperity. The individual members who compose them, while scattered through the community, in their individual capacity, would be comparatively powerless; but when united in this organized form, they are enabled to act with effect. Besides the advantages accruing from such associations to the individual members, by encouraging proper sentiments among themselves, and by enabling them to act for the public good, it is the influence of such associations to benefit, essentially, the condition of manufactures. By providing a place for the exhibition of the most excellent specimens of such manufactures, they tend to make known their existing state, the advances which have been already made, and the names of those who are the most meritorious for their industry and skill. The distribution of gold and silver medals, and other premiums, is also calculated to excite emulation among those who are employed in the same pursuits, and thus to induce exertion in the exercise of that industry and skill which contribute to the progress of the useful arts. Those medals constitute honorable pledges of society favor, and enduring warrantees of the quality of the manufactured and mechanical products of those upon whom they are conferred.

Besides, the possession of a library to which all may have access, and the institution of various series of popular lectures upon the numerous subjects connected with science and the arts, freely opened to the members of such associations, and their children, are calculated to enlighten the minds of those persons, not only regarding general subjects, but also relating to the particular occupation in which each may be engaged. It is not merely proper that one should understand the mode of erecting a column, or of dyeing a carpet, in order to become an intelligent operative, but that he should understand the science, as well as the art of the occupation in which he may be engaged, the system of principles upon which it is founded, as well as the system of rules by which it is governed. Thus, alone, are all made intelligent operatives, and capable of performing, understandingly and satisfactorily, the duties which devolve upon them.

Another benefit of such associations, is the promotion of industry. It is made a law of our human condition-the mandate which first issued from the garden of Eden, that occupation-occupation should be the means by which we subsist; and it is also the source of happiness. It is not, indeed, necessary that this occupation should be all of the same kind, for under the system of every well-ordered civilized state, there is necessarily a division of labor; and this labor is to be performed upon the ocean and

the land, in the cabinet and the field, the pulpit and the garrison, the counting-house and on ship-board, either with the mouth or the hands; and all labor is honorable. The condition of civilized society, moreover, renders it necessary that industry should be exerted not only upon that which is merely useful, but also upon those objects of literature, science, and art, which contribute to the greatness and glory of a nation. The organization of such institutions is, therefore, calculated to promote industry, by assembling in honorable companionship, and in common enterprises, those who are employed in its active pursuits, and by granting tokens of merit to those who most excel in their useful achievements. By promoting industry, it thus tends to furnish occupation, and effectually to exclude that immorality and vice, which are the result of reckless leisure, and unprincipled idleness.

One of the prominent advantages of institutions of this sort is, to do away, in a great measure, that spirit of party, which is, alike, the source of popular delusion, the offspring of selfish ambition, and political corruption. It can hardly have escaped the observing mind, that party spirit, the desire of accomplishing individual objects, for merely selfish purposes, without reference to the general benefits which they may confer upon the nation, has constituted one of the most degrading features of our own country. It has darkened the public understanding, and subsidised a prolific press. That there will be honest differences in a free government like our own, concerning the subordinate tendencies of great public measures, it is reasonable to anticipate; but it is difficult to suppose that intelligent statesmen can very widely dissent, concerning these important national questions, which have been made the subject of mature deliberation, exhausting discussion, and ample experience, year after year, both in our own country and in Europe. How small dò the questions of placing this or that man, in or out of office, dwindle before those solid principles of solemn legislation, which lie at the foundation of permanent national prosperity, human freedom, and political justice. This party spirit, fomented by small and scheming demagogues for selfish ends, did not exist to the same extent in the times of our political ancestors. It was rebuked by Washington during the latter period of his life. It is rebuked by the spirit and example of the pioneers of our country; by those who led the way to our existence as an independent nation. Let us be admonished from their tombs. We would invoke the spirit of patriotism against the spirit of party in the language of Lord Byron, in his "Age of Bronze," and call up from their tombs the spirits of the past :—

"Henry, the forest-born Demosthenes,

Whose thunder shook the Philips of the seas,
And stoic Franklin's energetic shade,
Robed in the lightnings which his hand allay'd,
And Washington, the tyrant-tamer, wake

To bid us blush for these old chains, or break."

It is the influence of such associations as the Franklin Institute, to diminish the influence of party spirit, and to direct the attention of organized bodies away from the designs of scheming demagogues to the improvement of their own condition, and the increase of their own intelligence. It is their direct consequence not to tear down, but to build up; and we could wish that they might be established upon just principles throughout the Union.

There can be no doubt that they have already tended, eminently tended, to advance the progress of the useful arts throughout the country. If we cast our eyes back for a single half century, we find the advances in the useful arts to have been most marked and rapid. The period has not long elapsed since those implements of domestic convenience, which have now become most common, were first introduced, and the influence of inventions, extending through the whole circle of agricultural, commercial, manufacturing, and mechanical enterprise, has already greatly increased the comforts of men, and created a revolution in the present condition of the world. The human mind is so constituted, that it is not merely the useful, but the elegant, which is calculated to gratify the taste of man; and hence it is that we find the civilized nations of the old world, strewn with the monuments of ancient and modern grandeur, towering toward the heav ens in the pride of their glory, or crumbling in ruins upon the surface of the soil.

Whatever may be the influence of such works of art, which, perhaps, may be considered questionable, our own nation, in those respects, is yet in its infancy. We are now but laying the foundations of future greatness and glory. Ages may elapse before those works of art, which live in the architectural structures, breathe in the sculpture, and glow upon the canvass of the old world, will be accumulated upon our own soil. Yet we are still beginning to decorate the land with their monuments. The present condition of the arts with us, exhibits also a broad contrast to the simple structures of colonial times, and, indeed, of the early period of our independence. Naval, domestic, and ecclesiastical architecture, have, moreover, advanced in proportion to the general progress of the nation. The granite and marble of the soil are springing up into a thousand fabrics, which are erected for domestic purposes, as well as those of legislation, jurisprudence, commerce, learning, charity, and other objects; and the spires of churches are rising toward the heavens in a thousand forms of architectural beauty. It is also true, that from the mutual dependence of all mechanical pursuits upon each other, the general progress of the useful arts is proportioned to the prosperity of those who are the active agents of their advancement.

Art. VII.-MORAL USES OF COMMERCE AND THE SEA.

To the moralist and the merchant, and the latter should not exist without the spirit of the former, the Ocean has a deep and interesting association. Borne on its mighty bosom, and inspired by its presence, a reverend gen. tleman delivered a discourse on board the packet ship Victoria, during her passage to Europe,* on its "moral uses." There is not, perhaps, in the universe, an object so well calculated to awaken human admiration, at the conquest of the material and the physical by the moral and the intellectual, as the ship burthened with her treasures, careering over the deep, with her sturdy mariners. How much of the world's progress has been effected through the influence of navigation and commercial intercourse.

A discourse on the "Moral Uses of the Sea," delivered on board the packet ship Victoria, Captain Morgan, at sea, July, 1845, by Horace Bushnell, D. D., published by request of the Captain and passengers. New York: M. W. Dodd.