report of the Commissioner of Patents as true in all other respects, yet his over statement for Missouri will reduce the quantity of hemp produced in 1847, to less than 25,000 tons. This, however, is quite equal to the home demand, and the amount shipped eastward by the three principal routes last year. There was received at New Orleans in 1847, 60,238 bales; shipped eastward from Pittsburgh, 3,311; from Buffalo, by the New York Canal, 1,062, and from Oswego, 781in all, 65,392 bales, making 9,342 tons, or 20,925,440 pounds. If we suppose the cotton crop to have been 2,000,000 bales, and that it requires fifteen pounds of bagging and rope to the bale, this will have required 13,393 tons, equal to 93,751 bales of 320 pounds each, or 30,000,000 pounds, making the eastern and southern demand last year 22,735 tons. If the demand at these points in 1848, should be equal to that of 1847, there would be only about 2,000 tons left for the consumption of the west; an amount which we imagine to be insufficient. And if the cotton crop of the present should be large, or should reach 2,200,000 bales, which may be considered an average, there must be a scarcity of hemp until the crop of 1848 comes to market, unless the stocks in the east, and in the hands of manufacturers in the west, remaining over from last year, are unusually large. These views are based mainly on the supposition that the estimate of the Commissioner of Patents, in regard to the crop of the Ohio Valley is correct. We incline to the opinion that his estimate for Kentucky is too high.

But it is not so much our purpose to speculate on the demand and supply of the present season, as to enquire into the prospects of enlarging the consumption, and the cause of the frequent and great fluctuations of price. We have looked carefully into the imports of both the raw and manufactured article, and have made the following table from the report of the Secretary of the Treasury for the year 1845, showing the amount of raw and manufactured hemp imported into the United States from 1830 to 1845, inclusive. A small portion of this was doubtless exported, but we have no means of ascertaining the amount at present. We have seen no statement of the quantity imported in 1836.

.1845,

145,209

1,202,164

1,779,492

128,525

28,155 The following table shows the import of hemp, raw and manufactured--Manilla, jute, coir, cordilla or tow, sisal grass, sail duck, hempen goods, cordage cables, twine, cotton bagging, gunny bags, &c., for the year ending 30th June 1847, taken from the report of the Secretary of the Treasury:

Value retained for consumption.

Hemp manufactured, tons,

$1,002,585

From the foregoing table it will be seen that the quantity of foreign hemp retained for consumption, in 1847, including sail duck, hempen goods, cordage, gunny bags, &c., amount to $1,002,585. Only $102,230 of this amount consists of unmanufactured hemp, including cordilla or tow, valued at $37,010, and if we suppose one-half of the value of the manufactured articles to consist in the raw material, this will show the quantity of the foreign material consumed, to be of the value of $550,000, equal to about 5,500 tons at present prices, or say onefifth of the crop.

Thus, it will be seen, that if we should furnish raw material to the full extent of the home demand, and exclude entirely the foreign material, it would only require an increase of about 20 per cent. over the crop of 1847. It is not probable, however, that we shall for a long time exclude entirely the Manilla and some of the other sorts of East India hemp, as limited quantities of these will continue to be required for particular purposes. But with proper attention to the preparation of hemp for market, with a modification of the present tariff, we shall doubtless in a few years cease to import more than perhaps from one to two hundred thousand dollars worth of hemp, including both the raw and manufactured articles. By the act of 1846, regulating the tariff, a duty of 30 per cent. is imposed on raw hemp; this we esteem a liberal protection. But, when manufactured, it is only subject to a duty of 20 per cent. This operates in the nature of a bounty to the foreign manufacturer, and it is evident that if this law continues, other countries will cease to send us the raw material, and instead thereof send us the fabric; and this will lessen the protection to the grower, and tend to the encouragement of the foreign manufacturer, at the expense of our own. To one un

acquainted with the difficulty of adjusting the details of a tariff, this would ap pear like a blunder; but, whatever may have been the cause, it invalues an absurdity in our history of legislation, and we trust that that part of the country, at least, which is interested in hemp growing, will ask for an amendment.

It does not appear, by the report of the Secretary of the Treasury, that we exported any hemp in the year ending on the 30th June, 1847; and unless we can compete successfully with Russia and Italy, in the foreign markets, it will be perceived that the prospect for an increased demand at home is limited mainly by the increase of cotton growing, and of our national and civil marine; for we know of no new purposes in the economy, of the country, to which the use of hemp is likely to be applied, and we conclude that a gradual increase in the production of five per cent. per annum, will be sufficient to meet the demand

But, could we make such improvements in preparing our hemp for use, as would bring it into favor in foreign markets, we might calculate upon doubling our crop. By reference to McCulloch's Universal Geography, we find that the quantity of hemp retained in Great Britain, for consumption, in 1837, was 651,613 cwt.; and for 1838, 692,495 cwt.—equal to an average of 34,625 tons for these two years. In the Patent Office report for 1845, it is stated that the quantity of hemp imported into Great Britain for the ten months ending on the 5th November, 1845, and for the same time in 1843 and '44, was as follows, viz: for 1843, 511,557 cwt.; in 1844, 755,569 cwt.; and 1845, 700,034 cwt.-being an average of 31,117 tons in each period of ten months. From this we infer that there has been but little variation in the quantity consumed in Great Britain since 1838. France imports about 8,000 tons. These two countries alone import nearly double the quantity produced in the United States in 1847; and if we could come in for an equal share of this trade, and divide it with Russia and Italy, we might then double our crop; but, if this can be effected at all, it must be done by slow degrees, for it always requires a long time to drive an established customer out of market; and it may be well questioned, whether we can ever come in successful competition with the low price of labor in Russia, without improvements that will greatly diminish the cost of preparing hemp for market. In one particular, however, if we rightly comprehend McCulloch's table of charges on the importation of hemp, we possess an advantage over the Russian grower, whose article ia charged with customs and dues on exportation, amounting to £4 13s. 8d.-about $20 on the ton-valued at £40 but, if these charges still remain, the Government would, doubtless, abolish them, if this should become necessary to enable the producers to compete with us.

If we suppose a crop of 25,000 tons to be a fair supply for our present wants, and we set down the yield at 600 lbs. per acre, this requires the cultivation of 93,333 acres in hemp, and we should esteem an increase of five per cent., or an

addition of five thousand acres, annually, to the quantity sown, to be quite sufficient to keep pace with the increasing demand. Hence, it will be seen that, if our facts and deductions are true, or nearly so, there is little encouragement for extending the growth of hemp in the United States; and the growers will act unwisely, if they are tempted by remunerating prices, arising from accidental causes, to increase, materially, the quantity of land appropriated to its cultivation.

THE MEXICAN TREATY.

[CONCLUDED FROM PAGE 456.]

ARTICLE XII.

la consideration of the extension required by the boundaries of the United States, as defined in the fifth article of the present treaty, the Government of the United States engages to pay to that of the Mexican republic the sum of fifteen millions of dollars.

Immediately after this treaty shall have been duly ratified by the Government of the Mexican republic the sum of three millions of dollars shall be paid to the said Government by that of the United States, at the city of Mexico, in the gold or silver coin of Mexico. The remaining twelve millions of dollars shall be paid at the same place and in the same coin, in annual instalments of three millions of dollars each, together with interest on the same, at the rate of six per centum per annum. This interest shall begin to run upon the whole sum of twelve millions from the day of the ratification of the present treaty by the Mexican Government, and the first of the instalments shall be paid at the expiration of one year from the same day. Together with each annual instalment, as it falls due, the whole interest accruing on such instalment from the beginning shall also be paid.

ARTICLE XIII.

The United States engage, moreover, to assume and pay to the claimants all the amounts now due them, and those hereafter to become due, by reason of the claims already liquidated and decided against the Mexican republic, under the conventions between the two republics severally concluded on the eleventh day of April eighteen hundred and thirty-nine, and on the thirtieth day of January, eighteen hundred and forty-three, so that the Mexican republic shall be absolutely exempt for the future, from all expenses whatever on account of the said claims.

ARTICLE XIV.

The United States do furthermore discharge the Mexican republic from all claims of citizens of the United States not heretofore decided against the Mexican government, which may have arisen previously to the date of the signatnre of this treaty; which discharge shall be final and perpetual, whether the said claims

be rejected or be allowed by the board of commissioners provided for in the following article, and whatever shall be the total amount of those allowed.

ARTICLE XV. +

The United States, exonerating Mexico from all demands on account of the claims of their citizens mentioned in the preceding article, and considering them entirely and forever cancelled whatever their amount be, undertake to make satisfaction for the same, to an amount not exceeding three and one quarter millions of dollars. To ascertain the validity and amount of those claims, a board of commissioners shall be established by the government of the United States, whose awards shall be final and conclusive; provided, that in deciding upon the validity of each claim, the board shall be guided and governed by the principles and rules of decision prescribed by the first and filth articles of the unratfied convention, concluded at the city of Mexico on the twentieth day of November, one thousand eight hundred and forty-three; and in no case shall an award be made in favor of any claim not embraced by these principles and rules.

If, in the opinion of the said board of commissioners, or of the claimants, any books, records, or documents, in the possession or power of the government of the Mexican republic, shall be deemed necessary to the just decision of any claim, the commissioners, or the claimants through them, shall within such period as Congress may designate, make an application in writing for the same, addressed to the Mexican Minister for Foreign Affairs, to be transmitted by the Secretary of State of the United States; and the Mexican government engages, at the earliest possible moment after the receipt of such demand, to cause any of the books, records, or documents, so specified, which shall be in their possession or power, (or authenticated copies or extracts of the same,) to be transmitted to the said Secretary of State, who shall immediately deliver them over to the said board of commissioners: Provided, That no such application shall be made by it, or at the instance of, any claimant, until the facts which it is expected to prove by such books, records, or documents, shall have been stated under oath or affirmation.

ARTICLE XVI.

Each of the contracting parties reserves to itself the entire right to fortify whatever point within its territory it may judge proper so to fortify for its security.

ARTICLE XVII.

The treaty of amity, commerce and navigation, concluded at the city of Mexico on the fifth day of April, A. D., 1831, between the United States of America and the United Mexican States, except the additional article, and except so far as the stipulations of said treaty may be incompatible with any stipulation contained in the present treaty, is hereby revived for the period of eight years from the day of the exchange of ratifications of this treaty, with the same force and virtue as if