ART. CONTENTS OF NO. IV., VOL. XVIII. ARTICLES. I. MERCANTILE BIOGRAPHY.-MEMOIR OF THE LATE PATRICK TRACY JACK- II. THE SEAT OF GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES.-CHAPTER IV.-Im- PAGE 355 367 ....... 376 IV. MASSACHUSETTS RAILROADS. By DAVID M. BALFOUR, Esq., of Massachusetts....... 381 V. MORTGAGES OF SHIPS. By F. O. DORR, Esq., of the New York Bar.................. 388 VI. DESTINY. PROGRESS. By Hon. THOMAS G. CARY, of Massachusetts...... 391 VII. COMMERCIAL CITIES AND TOWNS OF THE UNITED STATES.-No. VIII.POUGHKEEPSIE 395 VIII. A GENERAL STATISTICAL SOCIETY FOR THE UNITED STATES. By L. A. HINE, Esq., Editor of the "Herald of Truth," Ohio....... 397 MERCANTILE LAW CASES. Important Legal Decision-Actions of Trover.. 403 .... 405 Action to Recover Damages for a Breach of Warranty in the Sale of Opium..... COMMERCIAL CHRONICLE AND REVIEW, EMBRACING A FINANCIAL AND COMMERCIAL REVIEW OF THE UNITED STATES, ETC., ILLUSTRATED WITH TABLES, ETC., AS FOLLOWS: Political Events, and their Influence upon International Commerce-Treaty with Mexico, and the French Revolution-Capacity of France to consume American Productions-The French Tariff of 1787-State of Affairs in England-Condition of the Bank-Commercial Affairs of the United States-Increase of Capital in the United States-Railroad Investments of New England-Government Loans-Prices of United States Stocks in New York, etc., etc...... COMMERCIAL STATISTICS. 408, 412 Exports of Various Articles from the United Kingdom to the United States, from 1840 to 1846....... 413 Imports of Merchandise from the United States into the United Kingdom, from 1840 to 1845. 413 Estimated Increase of the Tonnage each year, from 1846 to 1857..... Imports and Exports of the United States, from 1821 to 1847, showing the excesses.... Import and Export Trade of Russia, in 1846......... ... VOL. XVIII.-NO. IV. 23 ........... 415 Imports and Exports of Ceylon.... Russian Export of the Principal Articles of Commerce, from 1844 to 1846...... PAGE 418 418 Trade of Quebec and Gaspe, Canada, in 1846 and 1847. 419 Principal Articles Exported at the Port of Montreal, in 1846 and 1847. 420 4:20 420 421 COMMERCIAL REGULATIONS. Statistics of the British Navigation Laws.-Champagne Wine Trade of 1847... Shipping Expenses of Amsterdam.... An Act relating to Passenger Vessels coming to New York.......... Regulations of Shipping by the Haytien Republic.......... JOURNAL OF BANKING, CURRENCY AND FINANCE. Coinage of the United States Mint and Branches, from 1793 to 1st December, 1847...... 422 422 423 424 424 425 425 426 Payments of Principal and Interest of the United States Debt in each year, from 1791 to 1847.. Circulating Notes of the Free Banks of New York State... Loss to the New York Safety Fund by Failure of Banks.. 427 ... 423 ...... 429 RAILROAD, CANAL, AND STEAMBOAT STATISTICS. Statistics of the Camden and Amboy Railroad and the Raritan Canal, showing Cost, Receipts, Expenditures, etc.... Transit Duties paid to the State of New Jersey.. 430 431 Transportation of Coal on the Delaware and Raritan Canal..... Merchandise carried through the Delaware and Raritan Canal, from 1834 to 1847..... 434 434 434 Consumption of Wood by Locomotives... Receipts, Expenditures, etc., of the Greenville and Roanoke Railroad, from 1838 to 1847.. 434 434 ..... 435 Distances and Rates of Fare on the Western (Mass.) Railroad.......... 436 Receipts from Passengers and Merchandise since the opening of the Western Railroad to 1847, etc.... 437 436 438 438 JOURNAL OF MINING AND MANUFACTURES. Act of New York to authorize the Formation of Corporations for Manufacturing, Mining, Mechanical, and Chemical Purposes. • Agriculture, Commerce, and Manufactures.-Manufactures at Trenton, N. J.... NAUTICAL INTELLIGENCE. Nautical Distances between New York and Charleston, and New York and Halifax.... Light-house at Cape Agulhas.-French Illumination of Three New Light-houses. Signals at New-Haven Harbor, England.--Wreck off Mundsley.... Gradual Rise of Newfoundland above the Sen.--New Light at Key West........ Prices of Merchandise Fifty Years ago.-Statistics of the Book Trade... Commercial Question.-The Commerce of Liverpool.-Cost of Railways in Europe and America.... 456 THE BOOK TRADE. Short Notices of 37 New Works, or New Editions.......... 457-464 HUNT'S MERCHANTS' MAGAZINE. APRIL, 1848. Art. I. MERCANTILE BIOGRAPHY. THE LATE PATRICK TRACY JACKSON. [WITH A PORTRAIT.] THE rapid development of the natural resources of the United States, within the last half century; the material, intellectual, and, in some points of view, the moral progress witnessed throughout our land, have attracted the attention of the philosophers of Europe, and given rise to many ingenious, and some profound disquisitions. The nature of our institutions has been differently viewed, according to the partiality of the observers. With some, what was admitted to be good, has been attributed to a happy chance; while a great preponderance of evil, inseparable from republican institutions, has been supposed to be lurking in the back-ground, ready, at some not very distant day, to neutralize or overpower all these apparent advantages. With others, the inherent energy of free institutions has been the assumed explanation of all that was admirable in our progress, and a future of still increasing prosperity fondly predicted. To those of us who are accustomed to regard man less as a mere ma. chine, the plaything of external circumstances; who view him as a being of strong powers and high responsibilities, the solution will be different. We shall recur to the history of New England, and trace, in the stern energy of the virtues of its founders, the cause, at once, of our institutions and of our success. Not all the constitutions of the Abbé Sieyes, could inspire the French people with a love of genuine liberty. The degraded descendants of the heroic Spaniards will crouch under military despotism, or bow to a foreign invader, in spite of the best-worded "pronunciamientos" of a Santa Anna, or a Bolivar. These views, confirmed by all history, are full of hope, and of warningof hope, in the future destiny of our race, depending, as it thus does, on our own moral and intellectual exertions, and not on the varying phases of external condition;—of warning, that we do not, in blind reliance upon the advantages of our position, relax our vigilance and our efforts. In this point of view, we may contemplate, with advantage, the personal history of those men, who, by their talents, their high standard of honor, their unwearied industry, have contributed to the material prosperity of our country in their own time, and have pointed out to those who came after them that the true path to success lies in an undeviating adherence to the purest and noblest principles of action. These reflections are immediately suggested by the recent loss of one among us, who, in an eminent degree, united all these qualities. To a Bostonian, it will hardly be necessary to say that I refer to Patrick T. Jackson; so associated is his very name with public enterprise, purity of purpose, vigor of resolution, and kindliness of feeling. To those who have not enjoyed with us the privilege of his society and his example, a short account of his personal history may not be unacceptable. Patrick Tracy Jackson was born at Newburyport, on the 14th of August, 1780. He was the youngest son of the Hon. Jonathan Jackson, a member of the Continental Congress in 1782, Marshal of the District of Massachusetts under Washington, first Inspector, and afterwards Supervisor of the Internal Revenue, Treasurer of the Commonwealth for five years, and, at the period of his death, Treasurer of Harvard College; a man distinguished among the old-fashioned gentlemen of that day, for the dignity and grace of his deportment, but much more so for his intelligence, and the fearless, almost Roman inflexibility of his principles. His maternal grandfather, from whom he derived his name, was Patrick Tracy, an opulent merchant of Newburyport-an Irishman by birth, who, coming to this country at an early age, poor and friendless, had raised himself, by his own exertions, to a position which his character, univer. sally esteemed by his fellow-citizens, enabled him adequately to sustain. The subject of this memoir received his early education at the public schools of his native town, and afterwards at Dunmore Academy. When about fifteen years old, he was apprenticed to the late William Bartlett, then the most enterprising and richest merchant of Newburyport; and since well known for his munificent endowment of the institution at Andover. In this new position, which, with the aristocratic notions of that day, might have been regarded by some youth as derogatory, young Pat. rick took especial pains to prove to his master that he had not been edu. cated to view anything as disgraceful which it was his duty to do. He took pride in throwing himself into the midst of the labor and responsi bility of the business. In so doing, he gratified a love of activity and usefulness, which belonged to his character, at the same time that he satisfied his sense of duty. And yet, while thus ready to work, he did not lose his keen relish for the enjoyments of youth; and would often, after a day of intense bodily labor, be foremost in the amusements of the social circle in the evening. He soon secured the esteem and confidence of Mr. Bartlett, who en trusted to him, when under twenty years of age, a cargo of merchandise for St. Thomas, with authority to take the command of the vessel from the captain, if he should see occasion. After his return from this voyage, which he successfully conducted, an opportunity offered for a more extended enterprise. His brother, Captain Henry Jackson, who was about six years older than himself, and to whom |