official reports from the Land Office, Congress, and the State Department. The statement given in the Census Report of 1852, of the Territory of the United States is 3,230,572 square miles. Mr. De Bow remarks upon the foregoing table as follows:-"The territorial extent of the Republic is, therefore, nearly ten times as large as that of Great Britain and France combined; three times as large as France, Great Britain, Austria, Prussia, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Holland and Denmark together; one and one-half times as large as the Russian Empire in Europe; one-sixth less only than the area covered by the fifty-nine or sixty empires, states and republics of Europe; of equal extent with the Roman Empire, or that of Alexander, neither of which is said to have exceeded 3,000,000 square miles. The area of all the States of Europe is given as 3,684,832 square miles. The areas of the different countries on this continent are given as

follows:

U. S. by detailed estimate,
British America,

Square Miles.
3,306,865

3,050,398

Mexico,

1,038,834

Central America,

203,551

Russsian America,

394,000

Danish America (Greenland)

380,000

8,373,648

Total area of North America, The shore line of the United States, as furnished by the Coast Survey office, is as follows:

French navy, who had accompanied Commander Inglefield, being sent with dispatches to Sir Edward Belcher, was driven off from the shore, with two men, on a floe of ice; and while reconnoitring from the top of a hummock, was blown by the gale into a deep crack in the ice, and perished by drowning. His two companions, after being driven about without food, for thirty hours, were enabled to land and rejoin their company. Sir Edward Belcher had wintered in Wellington Channel: it was his intention to return to Beechey Island. Captain Kellett wintered at Dealy Island: and it was a party from his vessel that discovered the dispatch from Commander McClure which led to a knowledge of the position of his vessel, the Investigator, which was last seen on the 6th of August, 1850, and which, as now appears, was frozen in the ice on the 24th of September, 1851. The dispatches received from Captain McClure are very voluminous, and have not yet been published in full. Captain McClure, it will be remembered, went in command of the Investigator in the early part of 1850, under Captain Collinson, of the Enterprise, to Behring's Straits. Captain Collinson having failed to penetrate the pack-ice, returned to Hong Kong, where he wintered: but Captain McClure took the responsibility of disobeying the order of Captain Kellett, the chief officer on that station, and pushed onward with the determination to force a passage to the northeast. On the 5th of August, 1850, he rounded Point Barrow, the northeastern extremity of Behring's Straits, and then bore east, keeping near the shore and on the 24th he reached Point Warren, near Cape Bathurst; and on the 6th of September arrived at Cape Parry. From this point high land was discovered, which was taken possession of, and named Baring Island; and two days later other land was discovered, and named Prince Albert's Land. The Investigator sailed up a narrow channel running between these two, and had nearly passed through, when, on the 8th of October she became fixed in the ice, and remained stationary during the winter. Parties were sent out to explore, and it was soon ascertained that the channel opened into Barrow The most interesting intelligence of the month Straits-thus establishing the existence of the from Great Britain is the receipt of dispatches Northwest Passage. During the spring the from the Arctic Expedition, announcing the dis- coasts were explored, and various tribes of Esquicovery of the Northwest Passage. The honor of maux were discovered. On the 14th of July, the achievement belongs to Captain McClure, of 1851, the ice opened, and the ship was again the ship Investigator, which had been absent for afloat, and the effort was made to pass through three years, and concerning which very serious the strait. The progress, however, was arrested anxieties began to be entertained. The news on the 16th of August by strong northeast winds was brought by Capt. Inglefield, of the Phoenix, driving large masses of ice to the southward. who was the bearer of dispatches from Sir Ed- Thus baffled, Captain McClure boldly resolved on ward Belcher and Captain Kellett, as well as returning through the straits and passing north from Commander McClure himself. The trans- of Baring's Island, which he succeeded in doing, port Breadalbane, which accompanied the Phoe-reaching the north side on the 24th of Septemnix, was crushed in the ice off Beechey Island, on the 21st of August; but no lives were lost. On the 18th, M. Bellot, a lieutenant of the

Atlantic

coast. Pacific

Main Shore, including bays, sounds,

Islands

Rivers to
head of Total.
tide,

&c.

6,861

Ocean
linə in

steps of
10 miles.

2,059

3,695 1,405 9.530 1,643 11.213 33.069 5,:07

Estimated population of the United States at certain periods since 1701:

1701, 262,000 1749, 1,058,000 1775, (including 500,000 slaves,) 2,803,000

ARCTIC EXPEDITION.

ber. On the night of that day his vessel was again frozen up, and up to the date of Captain McClure's last despatch, April 10, 1853, she had

not been liberated. In April, 1852, a party crossed the ice to Melville Island, and deposited a document giving an account of the progress of the Expedition, and also of the position of the Investigator. The document was discovered by Captain Kellett's officers, only a few days before Captain NcClure had made arrangements for deserting his ship. Lieutenant Pim was immediately directed to open a communication with the party, which he succeeded in doing; and on the 7th of April, Captain McClure crossed the ice, and had an interview with Captain Kellett. The latter had sent a surgeon to the Investigator, with instructions to have the crew desert the vessel, unless there should be twenty of them in good health and willing to remain for another season. It will thus be seen, that although the existence of a Northwest Passage has been established, it has not yet been made. No trace of Sir John Franklin has been discovered by any of these expeditions.-Harper's Magazine.

FRIENDS' REVIEW. PHILADELPHIA, TWELFTH MONTH 10,1853.

Our readers will find in the present number, a condensed account of the solution of the great nautical problem which has exercised the ingenuity and hardihood of navigators, from the days of Edward VI, to our own time. It is ascertained that a passage, sometimes navigable, exists between Behring's Straits and Baffin's Bay, but so obstructed with ice that it has not yet been traversed in one continuous voyage. It is, however, very questionable whether this passage, which has cost so great an expenditure of treasure and of life to discover, will eventually prove of any commercial advantage. The Strait where Captain McClure has been so long frozen up, offers a discouraging connection between the Atlantic and Pacific

VISIT TO THE PRISONS.-It is seldom that the Editor of the Review has had occasion or opportunity to notice the visits of any ministers of our Society to that neglected and outcast portion of the community who occupy our prisons and penitentiaries. Yet, when we call to mind the declaration of our Saviour, that he came, not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance, we can scarcely fail to conclude that our prisons, which certainly contain a large share of the most depraved class of the community, might be reasonably expected to constitute a field in which his ministers would sometimes find it their duty to labor.

and

It is understood that there are now confined in the two prisons, on Coates street and in Moyamensing, from 1200 to 1300 prisoners. Some of them under sentence for various periods of time, and others awaiting their trial on different charges. Now it is presumable that a great majority of these, while at liberty, were seldom seen at places of worship, and consequently their opportunities of hearing the gospel preached were very rare; that they were still rarer of hearing it from the lips of ministers of our Society. This opportunity has been recently offered to the occupants of these prisons by a female minister, a member of the Western District in this city, who has found her mind engaged to remember the prisoners, and carry the message of the gospel to those who may be ready to conclude that no man careth for their

souls.

As from the arrangements of the prisons, the prisoners could not be collected in a single room, but continued in their cells, their visitors had to take seats in one of the large corridors, where the prisoners in the adjacent cells could be addressed, though not seen by the friend, or her companions. The hopes, the invitations, and the promises of the gospel, were in this manner offered to the invisible audience, in the soft accents of a minister, who was to them equally invisible. In order to make these exercises available to all, five visits were paid to the penitentiary on Coates street, and three to the Moyamensing prison.

It is not the business or the design of the editor to prescribe the fields of labor in which Friends in the ministry ought to engage. We ever indulge a hope, that some of this class will be stimulated by the example above noticed, closely and seriously to examine, whether it may not sometimes fall within the sphere of their duty

When we reflect on the amount of treasure and life, which has been sacrificed in search of a North-West passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and the slender prospect of benefit derivable from its discovery, we may reasonably regret that so much has been expended and endured to so little purpose; yet how trifling must that amount appear when compared with the expenditures and sufferings produced by national conflicts, even to go and do likewise. when prosecuted to a very limited extent! All the men who have perished in these Northern explorations, from Sir Hugh Willoughby to Sir John Franklin, would hardly be missed among those who found their fate in the Russian expedition of

1812.

MARRIED,-At Friends' Meeting, Salem, Iowa, on the 23d of Eleventh month, JOHN COLLATT. of Richmond, Indiana, to MARY R. CREW, daughter of Walter and Sarah Crew, members of Salem Monthly Meeting of Friends, Iowa.

DIED,-At his residence, in Fairfield, Maine, In alluding to two eminent men-one a minison the 28th of Tenth month last, ZACCHEUS BOWER- ter in our religious society, the other William MAN, a highly esteemed minister, member of Sid-Wilberforce-he remarks: ney Monthly Meeting, in the 90th year of his age. He was on a religious visit to a neighboring meeting, when he was attacked with a distressing affection of the spinal nerve, and was enabled with much difficulty and suffering to reach home. His mind was preserved clear, his heart being made to rejoice and bless the Lord his Saviour. He expressed his belief that the Lord, in his adorable mercy, had forgiven all his sins, and that a mansion was prepared for him.

At St. Alban's, Maine, while at work in his garden, of a disease of the heart, on the 26th of Tenth month last, Moses HAWKS, an esteemed elder of St. Alban's Monthly Meeting, aged 66

years.

In Cranston, Rhode Island, on the 14th of Tenth month last, of a distressing illness of two months, which she bore with Christian patience and resignation, CATHARINE M., wife of Amos C. Earle, in the 39th year of her age. A member of Greenwich Monthly Meeting.

At his residence, on the 22d of Tenth month last, aged 62 years, JOHN HILL, a valuable minister, and member of Pelham Monthly Meeting, Canada West.

At Springdale, Cedar County, Iowa, on the 9th of Eleventh month last, LYDIA H., daughter of Samuel and Ann C. Cappoc, in the 17th year of her age, a member of Red Cedar Monthly Meeting.

Of typhoid fever, after an illness of more than nine weeks, on the 7th of the Eleventh month, at the residence of her father, Josiah McMillan, in Clinton County, Ohio, SUSANNAH MCMILLAN, in her 17th year, a member of Centre Monthly Meeting.

At his residence, in Salem, Iowa, on the 17th of Tenth month, ELISHA S. BROWN, M. D., in the 30th year of his age, a member of Salem Monthly Meeting of Friends, Iowa.

Near Salem, Iowa, on the 1st of Eleventh month, HANNAH, wife of Charles Blackledge, a member of Salem Monthly Meeting of Friends,

Iowa.

Of dropsical affection, which she bore patiently for some years, at her residence, in Clinton county, Ohio, on the 22d of Tenth month, in the 59th year of her age, ABIGAIL, wife of Jesse Lundy, a valuable member of Center Monthly Meeting.

MEMOIR OF JONATHAN HUTCHINSON. [Continued from page 156.]

"There seems to have been a striking coincidence in the minds of these pious individuals on a very important part of Christian experience: that they themselves were nothing, but that Christ was every thing-their stay, their staff, and their only hope of salvation. I believe it not unfrequently happens that the most favored religious characters, previous to their putting off mortality, are thus unrobed of all that formerly distinguished them from their brethren; and with no other covering than the simple vesture of humility, which may long have been as a sackcloth underneath, wait the coming of the Lord to clothe them with the wedding-garment, and thus render them admissible into His marriagechamber."

As in ancient day "they that feared the Lord spake often one to another, and the Lord hearkened and heard it," it appears to have been a peculiar joy to him to commune with his fellowbelievers, and he speaks of the visits of such as

66

one of those circumstances wherewith, under the denomination of helps,' a gracious Providence from time to time, and as he sees our need of them, relieves our wilderness journey. These helps are various both in kind and degree; for our great Alchymist can transmute even the least occurrence into gold or a jewel. Thus since you left us, I have received another of these favors by an interesting communication from our mutually beloved J. and H.; and again I have derived much comfort from the remembrance of this verse in Proverbs, "In the fear of the Lord is strong confidence and his children shall have a place of refuge.'

"When we are fording the current of adversity, which in its windings, often intersect our path, even such little incidents as these sometimes prove like stepping stones, on which we can place our feet awhile, and, if not without fear at least without dismay, calmly survey the surrounding waters. But alas! such is the temperament, such the unworthiness, and such are the weights we have to carry, that it is difficult for some of us, as I believe thou wast to thy cost made sensible of in our little meeting, to keep our heads above water. May it please Him who prayed that Peter's faith might not fail to intercede for us! Here is my sheet anchor."

Το

"Words fitly spoken are as apples of gold in pictures of silver"-beautiful in application and enduring in value. The correspondence of this Father in the church abounded in these precious Thou inquirest of my health and spirits. gems, enlarging the hearts and enlightening the The first, I am thankful to say is good, and I am spiritual views of the seekers after Truth. He told I look well for my age, (nearly 74); of the could behold with gladness the good part in last, what shall I say? A monument of mercies others, who were not of the particular fold in innumerable! a brand plucked out of the fire! I which he felt it his great privilege to be em- ought to be ashamed to complain. If I know braced in religious profession, and towards them myself I am ashamed to murmur; yet if steerhe thought himself qualified at times to applying clear of both I might simply describe-truth this language: "When I meet a man of a pure mind my own is at rest."

would certainly exclude boasting. The scenes and changes, temporal and spiritual, of which in

the heart of the righteous sad, by bearing about with me a visible expression of my own cares. Perhaps it might not be too much for me to say, that, as sackcloth has on various accounts long been the covering of my spirit, this homely garment, though meant to be secret, may sometimes unintentionally and unknown to myself, be seen through the veil of flesh, that transparent veil, of which, in allusion to fine threads of mortality at last giving way, it has been beautifully observed, one gentle sigh may rend, and introduce us into an entirely new state of things, a purely spiritual world."

the course of my checquered pilgrimage, I have | for none belongs to it; and still more to make been a witness and a partaker, with the reflections arising out of them, do at times press so heavily upon me as in opposition to all my striving and better feelings, to make me tremble. Here I should say, that my friends are kind and my children affectionate; and that therefore mine is an insulated sorrow. Well, be it so in the hour of my conversion, in that eventful hour, I was commanded to be patient in adversity. Moreover, I know that I cannot have one pain more of body or mind than I have deserved. I am also very desirous that my sins may go beforehand to judgment, so that my sufferings may terminate with the present life; and can I expect all this without enduring many tribulations? What then remains but prayer for resignation and for ability to bear them?

"Thou my dear friend wilt, I am sure thou dost, for me. pray The mercy of God in Christ Jesus is not only a darling theme with me, but I trust I may with reverence and humility add, here is my rock and refuge in affliction; whenbut I need not dilate believing as I do that on this point we and thy dear companion have one common faith and hope.

"In my morning meditation the words "Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me,' were brought to my mind; and on turning to the precious Psalm which contains them, my heart was somewhat tendered; and I believe my eyes would, if they could, have wept; but there is a state in which those fountains seem sealed up, and we are denied the consoling relief of tears. Now in this description, I hope there is no murmuring; for I can truly and sincerely say at the end of it, Good is the Lord in all and through all that has befallen us;' although, as his ways are higher than our ways, and his thoughts than our thoughts, He may and often does deal scrutable with us."

very

in

(To be continued.)

FLAX IN AMERICA,

With some observations on the history of its culture and manufacture in other countries, and their prospects in our own.

(Continued from page 172.)

In an early part of this essay, it was stated that Flax is cultivated largely, in the Western States, for the sake of the seed only; the stalk and its fibre being entirely wasted. An accurate personal investigation since that time, has fully confirmed the statements then made with regard to the extent of the Flax-seed crop. In Ohio it was considered by the principal contractors for the seed, which they use for the manufacture of oil, that 80,000 acres is a very moderate estimate

for that State.

The published reports of the Agricultural Board of Ohio have also just been issued, and form an additional evidence on this subject. They estimate the number of acres of Flax culti vated in 1852, in Miami county, at 15,000, and in Preble county 14,000, from the returns fur

nished. The whole number of counties in Ohio is 87, and in most of these Flax-seed is alluded "Although during the first era of my life up to as being an important crop; but in no other to about twenty, no human being could, I think, cases do the figures appear to be given. Albe more fond of society and its pleasures, yet the though the two counties above named are most turnings and windings of my path since that day largely engaged in this cultivation, yet in Monthave not only led me into a mental wilderness gomery, Darke, Delaware, and several other but have very much reconciled me to all I find counties, it is one of the principal crops; and there; so that being much alone is neither dis-linseed oil mills are scattered all over the State. couraging nor disagreeable to me. On the contrary, when I hear, and now and then get a view, as I did lately, at a Lincoln electioneering, of the mighty stir in the great and busy world, I solace myself with such thoughts as these:

Oh! solitude, the man who thee foregoes,
When lucre hires him, or ambition stings,
Shall never know the source whence all true gran-
deur springs."

To

"At our last parting thou thought I looked rather anxious and depressed; I am not aware that this was more the case then, than I expect may pretty often happen. I should regret giving an appearance of gloom to religion,

An intelligent partner of one of these establish-
ments estimates the crop of Ohio for the year
Yet in all this State it
1853, at 100,000 acres.
has not appeared that any flax-fibre has been
saved, or prepared for the market; and an en-
quiry of the leading forwarding houses in Cin-
cinnati, and other principal towns of Ohio, has
not resulted in any information on the subject.

the

In Ireland, on the contrary, for many years farmer turned his whole attention to the preservation of the fibre, and neglected entirely the care of the seed. This habit arose, in the first place, from a false impression which formerly prevailed, that the two objects were incompatible with each other; it being believed that to pro