ping of, beyond sea, &c.; ships not to be less than 70 tons for the exportation of warehouse goods. Goods landed in docks liable to freight, as before landing. We have thus briefly given the captions, or principal heads of the celebrated and exceedingly well-digested and beneficial statute of 3d William IV., c. 57. From which it will readily be perceived its provisions are of great importance. Although it contains many clauses which would be irrelevant to the circumstances of the United States, yet it cannot be denied that all the essential principles of the statute might, if drawn up in a proper form, serve as a basis of a law for the establishment of a similar system in this country, and which is so much needed both by our merchants and government, and could not fail to be productive of the most beneficial consequences to our extensive and growing commercial interests. The English act or statute, in addition to the points mentioned, also nominates certain towns, alone as warehousing ports; nor does it permit all sorts of goods to be warehoused in every warehousing port. Of these, 44 towns or ports are designated in England, to which is appended a list of goods that may be warehoused at each. ports are named; and in Ireland 13 such ports exist. In Scotland some And in Scotland 10 such few ports are allowed to warehouse East India goods, and some of them to receive sugar. But no tobacco, besides many other articles, is allowed to be warehoused in Scotland. In Ireland neither tobacco or East India goods are permitted to be stowed in any public warehouse in that country, besides many other articles. These distinctions in favor of certain ports in Great Britain over others, of course should not and would not exist in the United States. ART. III.-TRADE OF FRANCE. THE progress of France in manufactures and commerce has been exceedingly rapid within the last twelve or thirteen years. the restoration of peace in 1816, the vast energies of that wonderful peoAfter ple, after having carried military glory to its height, took a new direction in the development of the national wealth. by twenty-seven years of universal peace, and the movement of France in This process has been favored manufacturing prosperity has been almost without parallel. Of her vast trade but little has hitherto been known in this country. The French government have however prepared in the most admirable manner the statistics of the trade of the country, so minute and comprehensive as to give a better idea of national prosperity than has been done in country.* any other *We would take this opportunity to acknowledge our indebtedness to Monsieur ALEXANDER GUILLAUM, one of the commissioners of commerce and agriculture, who came out in the French steamship Gomer, for a copy of the document issued by the ad. ministration of the customs, entitled Analytical Tables of the Commerce of France, for the year 1840, (just published by the French government,) with comparative decen. nial tables, from which the statistical tables embraced in this paper are mainly com. piled. VOL. VII.-NO. III. 20 The foreign commerce of France, for the year 1840, exhibits a great improvement. The total of the imports and exports reached the enormous sum of f.2,063,000,000, or $386,812,500-a sum larger than ever before attained. The greatest improvement has however been observable in the importations, which never before reached f.1,000,000,000, but in 1840 they have exceeded that sum by f.52,000,000. The general commerce of exportation for 1840, as compared with the year 1839, showed an improvement of 1 per cent only, but as compared with the average of the few preceding years, gives an improvement of 12 per cent. The following is a table of the aggregate imports and exports of France for 15 years, with the average of each five years. The special commerce of France, that is to say, the trade in those articles which, imported, are for consumption in French territory, or exportported, are of the produce of French industry, has been estimated at f.1,442,000,000, out of the whole total of f.2,063,000,000; or expressed in dollars, the special commerce amounted to $270,375,000, and the grand total, as above, $386,812,500. The special imports were f.747,000,000, or $140,062,500 695,000,000, or 130,274,500 The increase of the special commerce has been greater in proportion than that of the general commerce; that is to say, in 1835 the special commerce was 68 per cent of the whole amount, and in 1840 it was 70 per cent of the whole sum. The general commerce of France is divided into two heads, viz: commerce by land and commerce by sea. These have been as follows: Commerce by sea f.1,481,000,000, or 71.8 per cent. by land Do. 582,000,000, or 28.2 Total, f.2,063,000,000 100. The commerce by land is that carried on with the adjacent European countries, and is largely comprised of the transit trade. The proportion of this trade with each country is seen in the following table. The commerce by sea has been divided into the following general heads: Commerce with the countries of Europe, f.757,000,000, or 51 per cent. The following table will show the comparative French and foreign tonnage employed under each of these heads. Tonnage engaged in the commerce of France for a series of years. Fr'ch colonies French tonnage Foreign tonnage Fish'ry in Europe | out of do. in Europe | out of do. 1,010,000 241,000 269,000 1,200,000 260,000 278,000 1,242,000 238,000 250,000 1,360,000 266,000 250,000 1,364,000 223,000 Average, 2,613,000 207,000 141,000 529,000 1840 2,896,000 173,000 130,000 629,000 255,000 1,235,000 246,000 279,000 1,331,000 354,000 This table presents the fact that the proportion of French tonnage employed in fisheries and the colonial trade, has diminished about 15 per cent in 1840, as compared with 1835. In the navigation of Europe, however, the year 1840 compared with 1835 shows an improvement of 83 per cent in favor of the French flag, and of 32 per cent for the foreign tonnage. In the trade with countries out of Europe, the French tonnage increased 22 per cent, and foreign tonnage 47 per cent. The aggregate trade gives an increase of 59 per cent for the flag of France, and 35 per cent for that of other countries. The following is a table showing the proportion the French tonnage has borne to the whole trade of each country as compared with the flag of that country. For instance, the trade with England is considered as 100 of this the French tonnage employed has been 28 per cent, English tonnage 71 per cent, and the tonnage of other countries 1 per cent: total 100. Proportion of French and foreign tonnage engaged in the trade with each power, in 1840. We may now pass to the imports and exports of France with each coun try for a series of years, comprised in the following table. In relation to imports, it will be observed that the United States occupies the first rank, and the countries are named in the order of their importance to the commerce of France. In 1839, the imports from the Sardinian states were the largest. The imports from the United States in 1840 were, it appears, f.176,000,000, or 17 per cent of the whole imports, whereof f.118,000,000 or 16 per cent was admitted to consumption in France. The year 1840, compared with the average of the previous years, shows an increase in the imports from the United States of 60 per cent in the general commerce, and of 38 per cent in the special commerce. The increase in imports from England, it will be seen, is 80 per cent in the same period. The trade with Belgium has rapidly increased since 1835. These then are the most important countries, the others follow in the order of their import ance. The table of exports shows a most remarkable diminution in the shipments to the United States. From f.239,000,000 in 1836 they fell to f.98,000,000 in 1837, and rose again to f.204,600,000 in 1839, and again fell to f.136,100,000 in 1840. This violent fluctuation affects the general commerce in the same proportion as the special commerce of France, and is indicative that the cause existed in the paper system of the U. States alone. Such extreme fluctuations are exhibited in the trade of no other country. At the same time it is observable that the imports from the U. States steadily increased. The exports to England reached f.160,000,000, of which f.105,000,000 was of French production. The total shows a slight decrease from 1839. To Spain the increase has been great, reaching f.104,700,000, of which f.79,000,000 was French production. The tables follow, commencing with the imports into France. IMPORTS OF FRANCE FROM EACH COUNTRY-GENERAL COMMERCE. 1835. Francs. 1836. 1840. Francs. 89,500,000 110,800,000 117,700,000 132,800,000 99,200,000 175,800,000 68,200 75,700 95,000 95,300 109,700 United States England 61,300 Sardinia Belgium Switzerland 59.300 83,000 54,800 67,000 74,000 70,100 Spain 38,700 Russia English E. Indies Holland 8,300 28,900 Turkey Two Sicilies 13,200 24,900 19,000 22,500 21,400 22,800 760,700,000 905,600,000 807,800,000 937,100,000 947,000,000 1,052,300,000 138,881,270 169,800,000 151,462,500 175,706,250 177,562,500 197,306,250 EXPORTS OF FRANCE-GENERAL COMMERCE.-SAME YEARS. Francs. Francs. Francs. Francs. Francs. Francs. 834,400,000 961,300,000 758,100,000 955,900,000 1,003,300000 1,010,900,000 156,450,000 180,243,750 142,143.750179,231,250 188,118,750 189,543,750 |