ART. CONTENTS OF NO. IV., VOL. XIX. ARTICLES. PAGE I. THE HISTORY AND PRINCIPLES OF ANCIENT COMMERCE.-LECTURE III.-THE 375 386 392 V. COMMERCE: AND THE PREJUDICES AGAINST IT. By Hon. BENJAMIN F. PORTER, of Georgia...... ............ VI. MERCANTILE BIOGRAPHY.-A SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF THE HON. ASA CLAPP... 396 VII. GRACE ON DRAFTS AT SIGHT. BY DAVID R. JAQUES, Esq., of the New York Bar.... 399 VIII. THE DRAINING OF THE EVERGLADES OF FLORIDA....... ......... 401 MERCANTILE LAW CASES. Points in Mercantile Law, from 2 Barbour's Chancery Reports...... 403 403 A Docket of Judgments-Partnership-Bills of Exchange-Limitation of Mercantile Accounts....... 404 COMMERCIAL CHRONICLE AND REVIEW, EMBRACING A FINANCIAL AND COMMERCIAL REVIEW OF THE UNITED STATES, ETC., ILLUSTRATED WITH TABLES, ETC., AS FOLLOWS: Influence of events in Europe on Commerce-Import of Breadstuffs into Great Britain-Prices of Grain in England from 1845 to 1848--Leading features of the Bank of England-Discounts of the Bank of England four last years-Stagnant state of Trade-Effects on Specie-Influence of War on Commerce-State of Trade in the United States-Receipts of Produce at New Orleans-Prices of Produce at New Orleans-Foreign Exports of New Orleans-Condition of the South-Western Banks, etc., etc............. COMMERCIAL REGULATIONS. ........ 405-411 Treaty of Commerce and Navigation between the United States of America and the Kingdom of Hanover..... Act to provide for the Incorporation and Regulation of Telegraph Companies............... 411-415 415 416 COMMERCIAL STATISTICS. PAGE Consumption of Cotton and Stocks............. Cotton consumed and in the hands of Manufacturers in each year from 1828 to 1848..... Cotton Crop of the United States for the years 1847-48............ 417 Export of Cotton to Foreign Ports from September 1, 1847, to August 31, 1848...................... 417 Growth of Cotton in the United States in each year from 1828 to 1848........ .... 418 418 Receipts, Exports, Value, and Stocks of Cotton at New Orleans, in Monthly periods, for 1847-48..... 419 419 420 420 Value of Exports from New Orleans for 1847-48................... Trade of England with her North American Colonies.... ........................ 422 Exports of British produce to the North American Colonies from 1840 to 1847.... 420 421 421 Exports to the United States and Europe from Manilla for the years 1838 to 1847.. Exports of Tea from China to Great Britain..... Price of Wheat in Former Days from 1043 to 1557... Import of Cotton Wool into England and Scotland in the years 1835 to 1848.. Statistics of Ship-building on the Western Waters........ NAUTICAL INTELLIGENCE. Vessels wrecked on the Florida Coast and Reef.......... Navigation and Marine Implements-Ship and Boat Building-Propellers.............. The Voyages of Merchant Vessels between England and the United States to Honolulu.. Deal Island, Kent's Group-New Light at Fort Focardo, Isle of Elba.......................... RAILROAD, CANAL, AND STEAMBOAT STATISTICS. English Railroad Statistics from 1842 to 1847.... 423 424 424 425 425 426 427 428 429 430 430 431 431 432 Rates of Tolls upon the Illinois and Michigan Canal.. Progress of the New York and Erie Railroad.... Petersburgh (Virginia) Railroad-Freight Rates, Receipts, Expenditures, etc.. 432 434 436 436 437 438 438 440 441 443 Sales of the Public Lands in the United States in 1848... 444 A Short Chapter on the Usury Laws-American Continental Money.. 445 JOURNAL OF MINING AND MANUFACTURES. New Method of Puddling or Refining Iron or other Metals by Gas-fire....... 447 449 450 Copake or Ancram Iron Works-Copper Mining on Lake Superior....... Morals in Trade..... 454 Short Measure and Deception in Fabrics-Culture of Tea in the United States..... 455 456 THE BOOK TRADE. Comprehensive Notices of New Works, or New Editions....................................................................... 457-464 MERCHANTS' MAGAZINE AND COMMERCIAL REVIEW. OCTOBER, 1848. Art. I.-THE HISTORY AND PRINCIPLES OF ANCIENT COMMERCE. LECTURE III. THE COMMERCE OF TYRE AND CARTHAGE. ORIGIN OF NAVIGATION-RISE OF TYRE AND CARTHAGE-MARITIME POWER-INFLUENCE OF NAVIGATION ON COMMERCE-ADVANTAGES OF AN INSULAR SITUATION-SHIPS OF THE ANCIENTS-LONG VOYAGESCARRYING TRADE-MANUFACTURES-WEAVING-DYEING-POTTERY-TANNING-WORKING OF METALS -COLONIES COLONIAL TRADE-RATE OF WAGES- EMIGRATION-ACCUMULATION OF CAPITALCREDIT-BANKING-BOTTOMRY-PARTNERSHIPS-JOINT STOCK COMPANIES-COMMERCIAL CHARACTER OF THE CARTHAGINIANS. In my first Lecture I laid down some of the elementary principles of commercial science. We stated that the commerce of a country depended on its productions-on its consumption-on its position-on its means of communication-on the state of its arts and sciences-on the nature of its laws, and on the genius and character of the people. We endeav.. ored to illustrate these propositions by facts taken from the history of Ancient Egypt. In my last Lecture we traced the progress of society from an uncivilized to a commercial state; we viewed the establishment of the right of private property-the administration of justice-the founding of cities-the appointment of markets and fairs-and the introduction of money and bankers. These principles we endeavored to illustrate by facts taken from the history of Ancient Greece. We now view society arrived at a state of maturity. Property is respected-the laws are enforced-the arts and sciences are cultivated-the necessaries of life are acquired a taste for luxury has arisen-and the people are looking about in quest of the means to enrich themselves with those productions which their own soil and climate cannot supply. If we wish to trace the means by which these desires are gratified, how can we do better than to investigate the history of Tyre and of Carthage? The country called Phoenicia was situated on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, to the north-west of Canaan, and to the south-west of Syria. The territory was but small, and, like most other ancient countries, was at first subdivided into several independent states. The two largest cities were Tyre and Sidon. Old Tyre was situated on the land, and withstood a siege for thirteen years by Nebuchadnezzar. Ultimately it was taken; but the Tyrians having the command of the sea, removed themselves, their families, and their property, before Nebuchadnezzar could take possession of the place. The Tyrians afterwards returned, and built New Tyre, which was at a little distance from the land, and was founded on a rock about three miles in circumference. This new city was besieged by Alexander the Great, and taken, with great slaughter, after a siege of seven months. Tyre is thus described in the Holy Scriptures :-" A joyous city, whose antiquity is of ancient days, whose merchants are princes, whose traffickers are the honorable of the earth."-"Tyrus did build her- . self a stronghold, and heaped up silver as the dust, and fine gold as the mire of the street. When the waves went forth out of the seas, thou filledst many people; thou didst enrich the kings of the earth with the multitude of thy riches and of thy merchandise." Tyre carried on a considerable traffic with the adjacent country of Judea. Solomon, king of Israel, made a treaty with Hiram, king of Tyre, by virtue of which the Tyrians hewed timber in the forests of Lebanon, and brought it down in fleets to Joppa, from whence it was carried to Jerusalem, to construct the Temple, and other public buildings, and in return Solomon supplied Hiram annually with wheat and barley, and wine and oil, all of which Judea produced in abundance. Afterwards, when Solomon fitted out a fleet at Eziongeber to go to Tarshish, Hiram furnished him with sailors, as the Tyrians understood maritime affairs much better than the Israelites. In a subsequent period, after the division of the ten tribes, Ahab, the king of Israel, married Jezebel, the daughter of Ethbaal, king of Sidon, and introduced the worship of Baal, the god of the Sidonians; and afterwards the worship of the same idol was introduced by her daughter, Athaliah, into the kingdom of Judah. At a still later period in the Jewish history, we find the Tyrians brought fish, and all manner of wares to Jerusalem, and were threatened with punishment by Nehemiah for exposing them for sale on the Sabbath day. The Tyrians were remarkable for their knowledge of navigation, their skill in manufactures, and the extent of their commerce. The most ample account we have of the commerce of ancient Tyre is contained in the 27th chapter of the Prophecy of Ezekiel. In the prosecution of their commerce they found it useful to establish colonies for conducting their trade with those countries in which the colonists were settled. They are said to have planted above forty colonies on different parts of the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. In point of government these colonies, like those of Greece, were independent of the mother country, and had the entire management of their own affairs. Among these colonies, the most celebrated is Carthage. Carthage stood on the coast of Africa, at about half way from Phoni. cia to the Straits of Cadiz. It was situated on a peninsula, about fortyfive miles in circumference, which joined the main continent by a neck of land about three miles across. The city, in the zenith of its greatness, was about twenty-three miles in circumference, and contained a population of about 700,000 people. At this time it held dominion over all the coasts of Africa, a territory above 1,400 miles in length, and containing three hundred cities; it also possessed the greater part of Spain and Sicily, and all the islands in the Mediterranean Sea to the Strait of Sicily. This extensive empire was not acquired so much by conquest as by commerce and colonization. The government, like that of most ancient States, was republican; but what is remarkable, and what distinguishes it from other ancient republics is, that during the whole six hundred years of its exist. ence, there was no instance of a civil war. Ancient writers attribute this to the excellency of the Carthaginian political constitution, but it was probably owing to the good sense and commercial habits of the people. The Carthaginians excelled in the arts and sciences, but all the monuments of their greatness were destroyed by the Romans. We have no account of the Carthaginians except from Greek and Roman writers, the latter of whom were their enemies and destroyers. Had we as minute an account of the rise and progress of Carthage, as we have of Greece and of Rome, it would probably form the most useful branch of ancient history. The following account is given of their trade:-"The commodities they supplied other nations with in great abundance seem to have been corn, and fruits of all kinds, divers sorts of provisions, and high sauces, wax, honey, oil, the skins of wild beasts, &c., all the natural produce of their own territories. Their staple manufactures were utensils, toys, cables, made of the shrub Spartum, a kind of broom, all kinds of naval stores, and the color from them called Punic, the preparation of which seems to have been peculiar to them. From Egypt they fetched fine flax, paper, &c.; from the coasts of the Red Sea, spices, frankincense, perfumes, gold, pearls, and precious stones. From Syria and Phoenicia, purple, scarlet, with stuff tapestry, costly furniture; and from the western parts of the world, in return for the commodities carried thither, they brought back iron, tin, lead, copper, &c. So famous was Carthage for its artificers, that any singular invention or exquisite piece of workmanship, seems to have been called Punic even by the Romans. Thus the Punic beds or couches, the Punic windows, the Punic wine-presses, the Punic lanterns, were esteemed the more neat and elegant by that people." The history of Carthage, even imperfect as it is, seems adapted to teach us those means by which nations arrive at an extensive commerce. These means will form the topics of the present Lecture. I observe, thenFirst. Commerce is extended by means of maritime power. Secondly. Commerce is extended by means of the establishment of manufactures. Thirdly. Commerce is extended by the planting of colonies. Fourthly. Commerce is extended by the accumulation of capital. These will form the four heads of my Lecture. I will begin with the first : I. Commerce is extended by means of maritime power, In warm climates the necessity of cleanliness is so great, that bathing in water was in almost all countries enjoined as a religious duty. From bathing in water, and from seeing other animals, man would soon acquire the art of swimming. At the same time he would occasionally see branches of trees broken down by the wind, carried along the current, and this would suggest to him the idea of making a canoe or boat by cutting out a hollow in the trunk of a tree. Hence we find that the art of navigation commenced in warm countries. When the art of constructing boats was once discovered, fresh improvements would necessarily be |