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The imports of sugar into Valparaiso from January 1 to August 15, 1858, were 336,926 arrobas of 125 pounds each, and the stock on hand at the latter period was 94,000 arrobas.

The exports to England were, in 1854, £1,380,563; in 1855, £1,925,271; and in 1856, £1,700,776. The imports of English produce were, in 1852, £1,167,494; in 1853, £1,264,942; in 1854, £1,421,855; in 1855, £1,330,385; and in 1856, £1,946,010 The imports of foreign and colonial produce from England were, in 1854, £43,589; in 1855, £56,688; and in 1856, £64,492. The English exports to Chile in the half-year ending June 30, 1858, were £602,956, showing a decrease of £120,492 compared with the same period of 1857. The exports of Chili to France were $218,000 in 1851, $250,000 in 1852, $240,000 in 1853, $650,000 in 1854, and $930,000 in 1855. The imports from France were $4,800,000 in 1851, $3,550,000 in 1852, $4,400,000 in 1853, $4,000,000 in 1854, and $5,600,000 in 1855. The commercial intercourse of Chili with the United States has been very variable. In the earlier years of Californian emigration she sent large quantities of flour, grain, and lumber to that State, and took freely of our goods in return. Since that time her exports to this country have continued in large amount, but she receives little except money in return, the balances being mostly settled in Europe, where she is a debtor. The following table shows the amount of her commerce with the United States for several years:

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The following table of a more recent date shows how little the commercial intercourse between Chili and the United States has increased, or, rather, how greatly it has diminished since the late civil war in this country:

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"If our merchants," said the able newspaper, already referred to, commenting on these extraordinary figures, "let this growing trade of Chili rest in English hands, they will show themselves less wise and less enterprising than they are reputed to be. There is no reason, with our ports on the Pacific side, why we should not do almost the whole of the carrying trade of Chili; and certainly we ought, in the next two or three years, to quadruple our commerce with that country, which is, as we have already shown, one of the most thriving in South America."

It is a very singular fact, that the blockade of Chili, in the last four months of 1865, far from lessening the exportation of the products of the country, has increased them to a wonderful extent, as shown by the following statistics which one of the leading papers of New York (the "Evening Post," of February 27) has lately published, with an appropriate commentary upon the immense quantity of provisions furnished by the fertility of Chili to the markets of the world:

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To complete this review of the commerce of Chili, we have only to add that the mercantile navy comprised several hundred ships, which, immediately after the war broke out, temporarily changed their flag, to resume in proper time their nationality. From the report of the Secretary of State in the marine department, presented to the Chilian Congress August 4, 1858, it appears that the mercantile navy of Chili, which in 1848 consisted of only 105 vessels, tonnage, 12,628, numbers at present 269 vessels, tonnage 62,209; showing an increase in ten years of 164 vessels, and of 49,581 tons. The coast trade of the Chilian flag exclusively presents the progressive increase shown in the following table:

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In the province of Chiloé 1,958 small vessels were (August 4, 1858) employed in domestic traffic, with a crew of 9,000 men.

The following table shows the navigation of Chili in

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2,789 797,341 2,785 799,542

125 40,000 120 37,000

2,914 837,341 2,905 836,542

Finally, the number of vessels which entered and sailed from the ports of Chili in 1864, and their tonnage, is shown by the following figures:

2830 vessels, with 1,011,702 tons.

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In the good old times of the Spaniards, when Chili was to America, more or less, what Spain is now to Europe, there was only a yearly direct communication with the mother country, when el cajon del Rey, (the King's box) was received with due ceremony, containing a few hundreds of letters from merchants or relatives abroad. Today a single Company on the coast of Chili possesses no less than eighteen splendid steamers, with an aggregate tonnage of quite as many thousands. We do not believe, indeed, that there is in Europe or the United States a company possessing so large a number of ships, except,

perhaps, that of the Messageries Imperiales in the Mediterranean.

The first attempt to introduce steam navigation in Chili was made, in 1835, by the well-known and enterprising Mr. Wheelwright, an American citizen from Newburyport, R. I. Mr. Wheelwright was to establish a line of two small steamers, of three hundred tons each, under certain conditions. But it was not until 1840 that he was able to carry out his enterprise, establishing a northerly communication between Valparaiso and Panamá with two little steamers built in England, the Chili and the Perú That was the humble beginning of the now prosperous and gigantic Pacific Steam Navigation Company.

It is a rather singular fact that this enterprise, having originated in an American merchant, has been developed entirely through English capital and English skill, to the continued exclusion of American interest, which says but little in favor of the energy and clearsightedness of the great Commodores of the United States.

The first voyage of the English steamers between Valparaiso and Panamá took place, to the great delight of the inhabitants along the whole Pacific coast, in October, 1840. Eight years afterwards (January, 1847), four steamers commenced to run between those two and the intermediate ports, and later, (in May, 1860,) a weekly communication was established between Valparaiso and Callao, touching at the following ports:-Tongoy, Coquimbo, Huasco, Carrizal, Caldera, Chañaral and Taltal, in Chili; Cobija and Tocopilla in Bolivia; Yquique, Mejillones, Pisagua, Arica, Ylo, Islay, Quilca, Chala, Pisco and the Chincha Islands in Perú.

At the same time the flourishing Company succeeded in establishing a new line of steamers from Valparaiso, southward, as far as Valdivia (1853), and afterwards to Puerto Montt (1858), receiving a subsidy of $40,000 yearly from the Chilian Government, as a liberal or rather prodigal encouragement for that remunerative service.

The Company now receives a heavy subsidy from th English Government; the post-office of Chili pays a fixed sum of $16,800 yearly for the carrying of the mails, without taking into consideration a fixed postage paid to the Company on the letters; and besides all these advantages, it possesses another and greater, viz.: a monopoly-its man

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