SHIPS and Seamen employed in the British Whale Fishery in the respective Years 1821

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The foregoing table shows a falling off in twenty years of 237 ships, and 9780 men, employed in the British fisheries, being equal to 3, which is asserted to be attributable to the withdrawal of bounties from British fisheries, and the abatement of duties on vegetable oils, the produce of Foreign Countries, the increased importation of the latter being shown in the following table.

VEGETABLE Oils imported into the United Kingdom in the respective Years 1821, 1841, 1842, 1843, and 1844.

TABLE of the respective Importations into the United Kingdom of British South Sea and Greenland Oil, as compared with the Importations of British Colonial Oil, in the Years 1821 and 1841.

By the above table it will be seen that while the produce of the South Sea and Greenland whale fisheries has, between 1821 and 1841, fallen off 20,765 tons, the increase of the British Colonial fisheries has been only 9897 tons; and these fisheries seem, by the importation of 1838 with the following years, to be on the decline.

AVERAGE Duration of Voyages in the Spermaceti Whale Fishery.

ACCOUNT of the Number of Ships annually fitted out in Great Britain for the Northern Whale Fishery, from 1789 to 1824, when the Bounties ceased, from the Custom's Returns.

There are no accounts existing, that we know of, from which we can ascertain the bounties paid from 1789 to 1813 inclusive: as those in the customs were destroyed by fire. The bounties paid, according to M'Pherson, from 1750 to 1788 amounted to 1,577,9357. sterling; and Mr. M'Culloch estimates that more than 1,000,000l. has been paid after that period. So that more than 2,500,000/. sterling have been paid by the nation for bounties to the whale fishery.

The northern whale fishery, though for a long period, a severe and perilous nursery for hardy and daring seamen, appears to have been always a speculation and most uncertain pursuit. Its gradual decline, and the probability of its total extinction are shown in the following tables. All pursuits will cease to be followed when they become unprofitable,-when repeated losses are the result. We may lament over the extinction of fleets sailing annually on certain expeditions, which, from long continuance, we, very naturally, considered, as for all time to be allied to the past, the present, and the future maritime history of our country. The fleets of the East India Company,—a glorious and majestic naval force, have vanished. The trade with India has not diminished. Our merchant princes, send thither their individual fleets, which rival those of the Company. We would rejoice at the continuance and the extensive increase of the British South Sea whale fishery as a bold maritime enterprise. Can this be carried into effect for the general benefit of the nation? This is a question which we cannot undertake to answer.

STATEMENT of the Northern Whale Fisheries of Great Britain, from 1815 to 1842, both inclusive.

Mr. Charles Enderby, who, and his predecessors, have been extensively engaged in the whale fishery, and to whom we have to acknowledge our obligation for many of the elements of the foregoing tables, states in the last communication which he has favoured us with, that the number of ships engaged in the northern and southern whale fisheries, during the years 1843 and 1844, were as follows, viz.:

He considers that fifteen ships will, probably, return to England from the southern fishery this year; of this number, it is not probable that more than five will be refitted. Twenty-one ships are engaged in the southern fisheries from the Australian colonies. Six ships from St. John's, New Brunswick; and one ship from Halifax, Nova Scotia. From the United States of America, 1st of April, 1845, 691 ships.

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CHAPTER XI.

MANUFACTURES OF THE UNITED STATES.

INDUSTRY, exhibiting the unsubdued spirit of perseverance, while enduring the greatest privations in opposition to, and in overcoming all the difficulties peculiar to, an unknown wilderness and uncivilised aborigines, has, from the first settlement of the New England colonies, characterised the Anglo-Saxons; who fled to America, in order to enjoy civil liberty, and the freedom of worshipping the Creator, according to their conscientious belief, in the truth, purity, and simplicity of primitive Christianity.

The Anglo-Saxons who first emigrated were nearly all poor families. Their means of subsistence depended upon subduing the forest, cultivating the soil, killing wild animals and wild fowl, and upon catching the fish which frequented the shores and rivers. Horned cattle and other live stock were gradually introduced from Europe. But, while in England, persecution continued against those unfortunate persons, emigrants arrived in America faster, and the population increased faster than cattle. Afterwards the latter multiplied rapidly, and it is curious, that as the price of cattle fell from 257. a head, as stated by the Honourable Edward Everett, in an address delivered before the American Institute at New York:"The effect of which," he observed, " was distressing, but it put the sagacious colonists upon new resources. The account of this, contained in the early historian of the colony, is strongly characterised by the simplicity of elder times." After describing the check put to emigration, he goes on as follows: --“Now the country of New England was to seek of a way to provide themselves with clothing, which they could not obtain by selling cattle, as before; which now were fallen from that huge price forementioned, first to 147. sterling and 107. sterling a head, and presently after, at best within the year, to 51. sterling a piece; nor was there at that rate, a ready vent for them neither. Thus the flood which brought in much wealth to many persons, the contrary ebb carried all away out of their reach. To help them in this their exigent, besides the industry that the present necessity put particular persons upon, for the necessary supply of themselves and their families, the general court made order for the manufacture of woollen and linen cloth, which, with God's blessing upon man's endeavour, in a little time stopped this gap in part, and soon after another door was opened by special Providence. For when one hand was shut by way of supply from England, another was opened, by way of traffic, first to the West Indies and Wine islands, whereby among other goods, much cotton wool was brought into the country from the Indies, which the inhabitants learning to spin, and breeding of sheep and sowing of hemp and flax, they soon found out a way to supply themselves of [cotton] linen, and woollen cloth."

This early account of the commencement of manufactures in the AngloAmerican colonies was followed in nearly all the others, and there is scarcely a

farmer in the northern, central, and western states, and in the British North American colonies, in whose farm-houses the common articles of wearing apparel are not made, chiefly of linen, wool, and cotton.

The following extract from an article in the Merchants' Magazine is interestingly characteristic of the industrious energy of the early settlers, and their progress in America:—

"The Anglo-American colonists were, for the most part, poor men, without high rank or title, who were obliged to hew out their own way. Some, it is well known, were induced to immigrate from religious motives, and others from motives of gain, but in all we see traits which are not to be mistaken- the iron firmness and downright vigour of the Anglo-Saxon. They came to a country in which a throne had never stood, without any invincible prejudices in favour of prescriptive principles and forms. They planted themselves in forests fresh in the magnificence of nature, and burdened with the resources of national wealth; and it was this very Anglo-Saxon spirit which enabled them to contend successfully, first with France, and then with England, in two long and bloody contests, and to come out victors, securing to themselves the possession of the soil. It was the spirit of the Anglo-Saxon which afterwards embodied itself in the constitution of the United States, through which they have quadrupled their effective power. It is this which has given increased momentum to the productive industry of the country, which places the great bulk of the people on a broad platform of equal rights, and has made them the source of law, in war soldiers, in peace submissive citizens, pressing motives upon their minds, the strongest which can actuate ambitious men-a fair and open field-to secure the greatest good. It burdens the people with no taxes for the support of an ecclesiastical establishment from whose faith they dissent. It gives no money of the treasury to the maintenance of a gigantic civil list, to the purchase of gems which are to blaze before titled rank only, and no part of the soil is granted out to pets as a reward for imaginary services. Throwing aside all those incumbrances which might obstruct free industry, it says, in effect, to the people, Come, draw your nutriment from the ample bosom of your mother earth, and develop the resources of your country, for your country is your commonwealth.'

The commerce which was carried on, in America, for nearly a century, both by the French and English, was confined to the exchange of European articles for the furs of wild animals, and to the fisheries on the coast. The policy of Great Britain was afterwards perseveringly directed against the manufacturing industry of the colonists. As early as 1731, the jealousy which existed on this subject induced the House of Commons to report with respect to “ any laws made, manufactures set up, or trade carried on, in the colonies, detrimental to the trade, navigation, and manufactures of Great Britain ;" and, in consequence of an alarming discovery in respect to the manufacturing of hats, it was ordained that no hats or felts should be exported from the colonies, or "loaded on a horse, cart, or other carriage, for transportation from one plantation to another." In 1750, another law was passed, equally degrading. It prohibited the "erection or continuance of any mill or other engine for slitting or rolling iron, or any plating forge to work with a tilt hammer, or furnace for making steel, in the colonies, under penalty of 2001."

any

In 1699, an act of the English Parliament declared, that "no wool, woollen yarn, or woollen manufactures of their American plantations should be shipped there, or even laden, in order to be transported from thence to any place whatever." In 1719, the House of Commons enacted, "that erecting any manufactories in the colonies tended to lessen their dependence upon Great Britain." Accounts were received by the mother country about the same time—

"That the colonists were not only carrying on trade, but also setting up manufactures detri mental to Great Britain; and, in consequence of these reports, an order was issued by the House of Commons requiring the Board of Trade to report with respect to laws made, manufactures set up, or trade carried on detrimental to the trade, navigation, or manufactures of Great Britain.” The