YORKSHIRE. A beautiful specimen of the art of cutlery was manufactured by Joseph Rogers and Sons, Sheffield. It is an elegant knife in miniature, containing 30 instruments, moving on 11 springs, and 14 joints, of the most exquisite workmanship; it employed the workmen 28 days of close application to complete it; does not exceed 5-eighths of an inch in length, and weighs only one quarter of an ounce. The following is a list of the articles contained in the above knife: I stick-knife blade, 1 pruning-knife blade, 3 penknife blades, 1 nail-knife blade, 1 silver fruit-knife blade, 1 silver tooth-pick, 1 bow1 doubled-tooth saw, I leather-punch, I button-hook, 1 pair of scissars, 1 gunpicker, 1 pair of tweezers, 4 flcams of different sizes, 1 nail-file, 1 chissel, 1 cork screw, 1 reuder, 1 timber scribe, 1 gimblet, - 1 bodkin, 1 brad-awl, I horse-hook, I gunscrew, and 1 auger. saw, Births] The lady of Dr. Bodley, of Charlotte. street, Hull, of a daughter.-At Ratcliffe-house, Thorne, the lady of Ralph Creyke, Jun. esq. of á daughter. Married] At Holderness, John Laing, M.D. surgeon, to Christiana Eliz. Gibb, both of Forfarshire Geo. Wrangham, esq. of Bridlington, to Letitia, only daughter of R. Porter, esq.-Thos. Walker, esq. of the Scotch Greys, to Constantia Frances Anne, eldest daughter of John C. Beres. ford, esq.-At likley, W. S. Bettey, esq. to Miss Mary Bell, daughter of R. Bell, esq. of Sutton. Died.] At Brough, 69, Miss Mary Lonsdale-At Old Lambtoo, the wife of John Charlton; and while attending the funeral of Mrs. Chailton. Mr. Thomas Charlton-Mrs. Mary Hodgson, relict of the Rev. Richard Hodgson-Mr. Thomas Clay, 78. -Near Northallerton, Mrs. Hutton. WALES. From the unusual mildness of the season, Aberystwith can already boast of several visitors, many houses being occupied, and others engaged. The new public rooms are in a state of forwardness, and every exertion will be made to complete them this season. Births.] At Radnor, the lady of Edw. Evans, Esq. of a son.--The lady of Colonel Geo. Rice, of a daughter. Married. At Ross, Francis Fisher, jun. esq. of Bristol, to Elizabeth, youngest daughter of Dr. Lewis, of the former place.-At Swansea, Henry Morgan, esq. R. N. to Miss R. Jenkins, of Neath. At Mcole Brace, John Nathaniel Williams, esq. of Castle hill, to Sarah Elizbeth, second daughter of Joseph Loxdale, esq. of Kingland, Shropshire. Died.] At the Rectory House, at Aber, the Rev. Richard Griffith, D.D.-In Swansea, 19. Frances Charlotte, danghter of Capt. Gascoyne, R. N.--The Rev. Hector Bowen, Rector of Lian. madock, Glamorganshire. SCOTLAND. Shower of Salt-water in Dumfries-shire. Some weeks ago, a severe shower of salt water fell in the parish of St. Mungo, in Dumfries-shire. The day after, when the water was evaporated, the leaves of evergreens, and branches of hedges, glistened with crystals of salt. Births.] At Edinburgh, Mrs. Campbell, of Dal serf, of a son-The lady of Capt. Clark, adjutant of the Forfar militia, of a daughter. Married.] At Kirklee, Mr. Robert Stewart, Glasgow, to Janet, eldest diugiter of Mr. Joha Walker, of Kirklee.-Geo. Scott, esq. of Daldowie, to Miss Lilly Bayne, of Concraig.—At Rutherglen Bridge, David Law, to Isabella, eldest daughter of Mr. Archibald Notman. Died.] In Glasgow Barracks, Mary Lowry, wife of Capt. Lowry, 40th regiment, 64.-At Carron Vale, Mrs. Margaret Hendry.-At the Manse of Lochcarron, 66, the Rev. Lachlan Mackenzie, minister of Lochcarron. IRELAND. Births.] At Mountrath, the lady of the Rev. Geo. Wm. Regers, of a daughter.-At Wexford, Mrs Ormsby, wife of Major Ormsby, late of the 5th Dragoon Guards, of a daughter. Married] At Dublin, the Hon. and Rev. E. Wingfield, to Louisa Joan, third daughter of the late Hon. Geo. Jocelyn.-Alexander Crookshank, of Londonderry, esq. to Miss Mabella Smith, of Monutjoy-square.-Purefoy Foe, esq. of Rossmore Lodge, county Kilkenny, to Margaret, second daughter of James Izou, esq of Kells. Died.] In Dublin, Mrs. De Joncourt.-In Dawson street, Mrs. Catherine Stannard, eldest daugh. ter of the late Eaton Stannard, esq -In Gloucester street. Mrs. Margaret Simpson, relict of the late R. A Simpson, e.q-In South Great George-str. Mrs. Miller, 61. ERRATA. In our present number, page 454, line 25,"for" painted besides his other studies," read" exhibited besides his unexhibited studies," &c.-The paragraph containing the notice of Mr. Collins's admirable" Sea Shore," and of some other artists' pictures, was omitted by mistake, under the head of Fine Arts-Under the head of Fine Arts, in p. 262, of our Magazine for April, the transposition of a sentence produced the following error: "Until the middle of the last century there was little change. But from the restoration of Charles the Second, the example of his present Majesty, and the progress of knowledge, the force of prejudice in the highest circles." The above ought to have been thus: "From the restoration of Charles the Second, until the middle of the last century, there was little change; but the example of his present Majesty, and the progress of knowledge, abated the force of prejudice in the highest circles." TO READERS AND CORRESPONDENTS. We are sorry to be compeiled, for want of room, to defer our Dramatic Article till next month. Our limits oblige us also to postpone the insertion of many other valuable contributions; our friends, however, may be assured that they will meet with the earliest possible attention. We shall endeavour to make room, in future, for our Stocks Table, as usual; it was never our intention to omit this useful feature of our Miscellany -SOUTHRON is requested to say how a letter will reach him. J. Gillet, Printer, Crown Court, Fleet Street, London. THE NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE, No. 66.] JULY 1, 1819. ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. ON THE TRADE OF THE UNITED STATES OF NORTH AMERICA WITH CHINA. MR. EDITOR, OF all the phenomena which occur in the history of commerce, from its earliest period to the present time, the most extraordinary, perhaps, is the intercourse between Europe and the East, chiefly through the medium of the English East India Company. This intercourse, as far as we are concerned, may be divided into two grand branches, the first with . our own empire in Hindoostan, the second with the great Chinese empire, and the latter chiefly for the sake of obtaining a single article, the use of which has become so habitual to all ranks of society, that it has long ceased to be a luxury, and may be now fairly classed among the chief necessaries of life. The immense importance of both these branches of our Asiatic commerce is universally acknowledged; and therefore, you may, probably, not be indisposed to admit into your va luable miscellany some observations on the danger with which one of them-the trade with China, appears to be threatened. I am induced to communicate them to you, because they are chiefly collected from conversation with intelligent Americans, and though they may be thought in some respects exaggerated, shew us at least the sentiments and views of our rivals in a point of such great importance. We all know the enter prising spirit of the merchants of the United States, the boldness and intrepidity of their seamen, the astonishing and rapid increase of their maritime power, and the peculiar local advantages of that great continent. The American government beholds with pleasure the increasing commerce of its subjects with China, which promises to become more and more important to the republic, and has undoubtedly been much encouraged and promoted by numerous articles in American newspapers, and other periodical publications, minutely pointing out its great advantages. It would not be easy to find another instance of an intercourse with so remote a country, which so amply rewards the activity of the merchant and the seaman, NEW MONTHLY MAG. -No. 66. [VOL. XI. as this trade with China, and the Americans possess such great advantages above the English, that well-informed persons do not hesitate to prognosticate, that the latter will not be able, in the long run, to maintain the competition with the former, but will be, in the end, obliged entirely to abandon to them the trade of the Chinese seas. If this opinion be just, it must be confessed that a great danger threatens the British_commerce; a very productive source of gain would be lost-a great many seamen in Great Britain would be thrown out of employment--and even the commerce with the European continent could not but decrease, since Europe would have no occasion to draw from Great Britain its supplies of Chinese produce, which it would receive directly, and upon more advantageous terms from the Americans. On the other hand, the vast advantages which the American republic may derive, and most certainly will derive, from an active intercourse with the Chinese Empire, are almost incalculable. Considered merely as an excellent school for the marine, it is of the highest importance to a state whose external security wholly depends on a numerous and formidable navy. The goods which find a ready sale must partly be fetched from very remote countries, and the dangers and privations with which the seaman has to contend, in seas hitherto but little frequented, and on unknown coasts, call forth all his energies, enrich him with useful experience, and increase his dexterity.. Thus, a large number of sailors may be kept in constant employ, and the prospect will not only excite in the natives, particularly the inhabitants of the sea-coasts of America, a continually increasing propensity to a sea-faring life, but also attract crowds of able seamen from foreign countries, especially from the British islands, who will settle with their families in America, and promote the population, the increase of which is so favorite an object with the American Government. In the country itself a new source of gain will be opened at the same time, to thousands of industrious persons; the spirit of speculation will VOL. XI. 3 Q receive a new impulse, and numerous merchants, even from England itself, will settle in America, in order to share in so promising a prospect of gain, and to acquire riches in a short time. The nations of Europe are too much accustomed to the use of many Chinese productions easily to renounce them, and the possession of the trade with China will therefore give the Americans an opportunity for a most advantageous commercial intercourse with Europe, and to double their gains. Not only have the Americans a much shorter way to China than the English and the other nations of Europe, but they are able to obtain the produce and merchandise of that Empire on much more favourable terms. The Europeans are obliged to purchase all they want of the Chinese for the most part with ready money, or silver bars, and China is therefore considered by Europe, as the country to which the precious metals chiefly flow, so that the gold and silver of Mexico and Peru go again from Europe to Asia, where they are swallowed up by a gulph from which they do not easily return. The Americans on the contrary, are not obliged to carry on the Chinese trade with the precious metals: they carry to the Chinese market either various articles of their own produce, which are highly esteemed there, or others which they have obtained in exchange for them; and are thus able to employ for other purposes, the money which they must otherwise take to Asia. If the trade which Europe carries on with China may be called in the highest degree passive, that of the United States is very far from being so. China is an immense market, which now offers itself to the activity of the American merchant, the more this trade increases, the more persons it will employ; and the gain which it gives is so very great, that even on account of this single branch of American commerce, the speculative merchant is perhaps no where in a situation so favorable for becoming soon and easily rich, as in the United States. By this commerce, which is capable of being greatly extended, and has numerous concomitant advantages, America will enrich itself more and more, at the expense of Great Britain; and the turn thus given to a main branch of the commerce of the world, cannot but be very advantageous to the rest of Europe. An article that is especially in request, in the Chinese provinces from Canton to Pekin, and to the extreme frontiers of Chinese Tartary, is fine furs. Both the Chinese and Mantchews are eager to possess them, and the more distinguished and wealthy the Mandarins, the richer and finer must be the furs which they require for their oriental dress. This article of trade can therefore never fail of a certain sale in that vast and populous Empire; for the use of it is inconceivably extensive, and the wearing of furs, not merely a luxury, but a habit, which has rendered them indispensably necessary. But the Americans by their almost exclusive trade with the northwest coast, and their great Continent extending from California to the North Pole, possesses an inexhaustible source from which to supply the Chinese market with this favorite article, and the competition which they have to fear from other nations, particularly the English and the Russians, cannot do them any injury worth mentioning. The Americans, therefore, seem to be destined by nature to be the chief factors in this trade with China, which is inconceivably profitable, and must in time monopolize it entirely; as the period is certainly not remote, when the population of the United States, taking its direction from east to west, will extend to the shores of the great South sea, and their ships be then able to navigate directly from thence to the Pacific ocean. On the north west coasts of America, above California, which are but thinly inhabited by wild tribes, there are sea otters, black, dark brown, and white bears, wolves, foxes, beavers, deer, racoons, white American lynxes, or great wild cats, ermines, seals, rabbits, martins, and other wild animals, whose fur is more or less beautiful and precious, in such abundance, that the natives can procare them with little trouble, and in their uncivilised state, willingly exchange them for the most insignificant trifles. The American ships bring to these savages, pieces of iron, nails, knives, chisels, shovels, buttons of copper, and of coloured glass, little looking glasses, tobacco, brandy, powder, arms, coarse cotton, and woollen goods, old clothes, and all kinds of toys which look shewy, but are of no value. Most of these things are purchased, by the Ameri ean merchants at very low prices, and the vessels which sail with cargoes of this kind from the American ports, may be sure of obtaining in exchange the richest cargoes of furs and skins. With these they proceed directly from the north-west coast of America to China, and exchange their goods for Chinese |