a century against the Roman power, which tried from time to time to bring them under subjection. Historians affirm that the customs on imports and exports on the merchandise which passed through the custom house of Alexandria amounted to two hundred and seventy-four millions of pounds sterling annually, although the imposts which the Ptolemies laid upon the people were generally admitted to have been moderate enough.

Under the Grecian and Roman republics we discover traces of a cultivated Commerce. In several of the states of Greece, particularly Corinth and Athens, Commerce flourished; but Athens was more particularly celebrated for commercial knowledge and extensive trade; emulation was encouraged by the public rewards and honors bestowed upon those who attained to excellence in the useful arts, and its manufactures enjoyed a high reputation. The many laws which the people have left to posterity with regard to imports and exports, and contracts of bargain and sale, the privileges extended to the mercantile interests, the erection of tribunals to determine controversies between merchants and mariners; the attention paid to the market, and the many officers concerned in that department, evince an understanding of the principles of Commerce, and leaves a favorable impression of their judg ment and liberality. But notwithstanding all this, and the advantages of a numerous body of seamen, which the produce of their mines enabled them to keep in pay, and the influence which Athens exercised over the other cities of Greece, the trade was not pursued as extensively as one would have anticipated. Athens, and the other maritime states of Greece, possessed little or no Commerce beyond the limits of the Mediterranean sea, and their intercourse was pretty much confined to the colonies planted by themselves in lesser Asia, in Italy, and Sicily. Sometimes they visited the ports of Egypt, the southern provinces of Gaul and of Thrace, or passing through the Hellespont, they traded with the countries around the Euxine sea.

The Roman commerce was even less considerable than that of the Greeks. Previous to the battle of Actium, the Romans had always found in the spoils of the nations they had subjected means of filling the treasury of the republic, and furnishing a sufficiency to carry out the plans of universal monarchy, in which the republic habitually and constantly indulged; and they regarded Commerce no farther than as an instrument of conquest, in enabling them to subsidize valour and perfect discipline; and when the maritime states of the ancient world fell before the prowess of their army, and Carthage, Greece, and Egypt, fell before them, the Romans imbibed not the spirit of the conquered nations, and interfered not with their commerce, satisfied that to Rome, as the capital of the world and the seat of government, all the wealth and productions of the provinces would naturally flow. The amazing extent of the Roman power, which reached over the greatest part of the then known world, the vigilant inspection of the Roman magistrates, and the active and intelligent spirit of the government, gave additional security to and animated Commerce with new vigor. No national union was ever so close, no intercourse so perfect, as that of the parts of this immense empire; one superintending power moved and regulated this mass of human industry, condensed its energies to a single point, employed the produce of its efforts on a single point, unobstructed by the jealousy of rival states, and freed

from vexatious restrictions.

But while the Romans so freely tolerated commercial pursuits in others, they did not hold it in respect among themselves; on the contrary, in their manners, their constitution, and their laws, Commerce was treated as a dis

honorable employment, and the exercise prohibited to persons of birth, rank, or fortune. The only honorable employment was agriculture and arms, and traders and mechanics were deemed incapable of succeeding to any public honors. Commerce-navigation-the mechanic arts - were abandoned to slaves, to freedmen, to provincials, and to citizens of the lowest class. The resources of conquest and rapine, however great, are soon exhausted; but those of Commerce, when cultivated, are steady,equal, and uniform in their flow; hence Rome, having overrun, exhausted, and impoverished the world, had to look to the commercial provinces for the means of replenishing her exhausted treasury, and the commerce of Egypt, by its riches and its credit, secured the readiest means of supporting the reputation and continuing the domination and empire of Rome.

From the period, therefore, when Augustus reduced Egypt to a Roman province, he carefully endeavored to extend the commerce of Alexandria, and to augment that carried on by the Egyptians in Arabia, the Indies, and the remote parts of the East, by way of the Red Sea; and Alexandria, become Roman, was only inferior to Rome in grandeur and population. The magazines of Rome were filled with merchandise from the capital of Egypt, and very soon Rome and all Italy subsisted on the corn and other provisions brought by the Egyptian fleet. Josephus affirms (but his statement may well be questioned for exaggeration) that Alexandria yielded more riches to the treasury of Rome in one month, than all Egypt in a year; and if Pliny is to be credited, the profits of the commerce of Egypt amounted yearly for Rome to one hundred and twenty-five millions of crowns, which, estimated by Mons. Savary at 54d. sterling per French crown, amounts to twenty-eight millions one hundred and twenty-five thousand pounds sterling, while the ordinary expenses of the Roman government we find to have been only one million one hundred and fifty thousand crowns, only one hundredth part of the revenue derived from Egypt.

The great wealth derived from the commerce of Alexandria, made all the other provinces of the empire to flourish; and as it continued to augment, it attracted the attention of the senate to its importance to the prosperity of the empire, and created a determination to sustain it by establishing corporations at Rome for trade and tradings, adopting the laws of the Rhodians for the commerce and navigation of the Mediterranean, (laws which have since formed part of the laws of nations,) and charging the magistracy with their execution, they affording full protection to all engaged in Commerce through the whole extent of the Roman empire. But this forced and unnatural state of things could not endure. Rome had extended herself until she became unable to protect her provinces, and Alexandria in her turn experienced the fate of Tyre and of Carthage. She was founded byarms, and supported by Commerce, which was her beauty and her strength. The Saracens, who seized on Egypt in the reign of Heraclius, by their ferocity drove away the merchants, who love peace and tranquillity; and shorn, like Sampson, of her strength, Alexandria, which then held the first rank after Rome and Constantinople, lost its ancient splendor, and though it subsequently acquired some commercial vigor under the Sultans, and now enjoys some considerable trade, it is no longer to be recognised as that ancient Alexandria, once so renowned as a mart of Commerce, and for so long a time the support and glory of the Roman empire.

ART. II. THE ADVANTAGES AND BENEFITS OF

COMMERCE.

THE Occupation of the merchant is one of the most ancient, as it is one of the most useful of human employments. It devolves on him to collect the surplus products and fabrics of his native land, and exchange them for such foreign articles of comfort or luxury as she may require. In this way he gives substantial encouragement to agriculture and manufactures, which, but for the markets which he supplies, might languish and decline. It devolves upon him, too, in times of public scarcity, resulting from unfavorable seasons and a failure of the home crops, to bring from abroad the means of subsistence and the necessaries of life for a whole people. Commerce, likewise, gives a spring to all arts and trades. Whilst enriching himself, the merchant furnishes employment to a vast number of artisans and laborers, and thus helps to knit society together, and to promote among its members a feeling of mutual interest and good fellowship.

Just consider, for one moment, how many hands are constantly employed merely in that navigation which bears the merchant's orders to the ends of the earth. These orders are usually more punctually executed than the edicts of the most absolute despot. In the remotest lands, thousands stand ready to do his bidding and gratify his wishes. The ocean groans beneath the weight of his argosies, which from the farthest climes bring riches and abundance, and lay them at his feet. The counting room of the merchant may be liken ed to the cabinet of a powerful monarch, that sets the whole world in motion. He establishes the only practicable and beneficial community of goods. He renders the productions, the fabrics, the discoveries of every nation, accessible to all the rest. He brings the widely scattered inhabitants of our globe into contact, establishes relations and facilitates intercourse among them, and enables each country to enjoy, reciprocally, the peculiar blessings and advantages of every other. "He provides such facilities of intellectual communication between the remotest regions, that not a bright idea can spring up in the brain of a foreign scholar, than it darts like lightning across the Atlantic; not an improvement obtains in the condition of one society, but it is instantly propagated to every other. By this perpetual interchange of thought, and this active diffusion of intellect, the most favorable opportunities are afforded for the dissemination of useful knowledge, and especially for the extension of that most precious of gifts, the Gospel of Jesus." What could our missionaries do without our ships?

Of the connexion that has, from the earliest ages, subsisted between commerce and intellectual improvement, the records of the human race bear ample and constant evidence. The perfection and happiness of our nature arise, in a great degree, from the exercise of our relative and social feelings; and the wider these are extended, the more excellent and accomplished will be the character that is formed. The first step to commercial intercourse is rude and selfish, and consists of little more than an interchange or barter of articles necessary to the accommodation of the parties. But as this intercourse is extended, mutual confidence takes place; habits of acquaintance, and even of esteem and friendship, are formed; till it may, perhaps, without exaggeration, be asserted, that of all the bonds by which society is at this day united, those of mercantile connexion are the most numerous and the most extensive. The direct consequence of this is not only an increase of

wealth to those countries where commerce is carried on to its proper extent, but an improvement in the intellectual character, and a superior degree of civilization, in those by whom its operations are conducted. Accordingly, we find that in every nation where commerce has been cultivated upon great and enlightened principles, a considerable proficiency has been made in liberal studies and pursuits. Without recurring to the splendid examples of antiquity, to Tyre, and Sidon, and Corinth, and Carthage, it may be sufficient to advert to the effect produced by the Free States in Italy, and the Hanse Towns in Germany, in improving the character of the age. Under the influence of commerce, the barren islands of Venice, and the unhealthy swamps of Holland, became not only the seats of opulence and splendor, but the abodes of literature, science, and the arts; and vied with each other, not less in the number and celebrity of their eminent men and distinguished scholars, than in the extent of their mercantile concerns.

Such are the services and benefits of that ancient and honorable vocation, which Gothic prejudices have attempted to brand with opprobrium, even in the bosom of nations that owe their wealth and splendor chiefly to commerce. In the old world generally, and even in England, till very recently, the peaceful merchant was regarded with contempt by the stupid soldier, who had not sense enough to perceive that without the aid of the merchant he could neither clothe nor subsist his army. It was her commerce and manufactures that enabled that country to bear up against the tremendous power of the "man of destiny," and to form those powerful coalitions, and support those vast armies, which she mustered from all parts of continental Europe, to take the field and fight the great battles in which her very existence was involved. It was this "nation of shopkeepers" that humbled his pride, and crushed his power. Is not this useful calling quite as honorable as the inglorious ease in which so many of the nobility and gentry of the old world wear out their unprofitable lives? Is not the merchant as respectable a member of the community as the luxurious planter, the time-serving politician, or the cringing office-seeker? How long will the foolish vanity of men lead them to look down upon those from whom they receive the most important benefits? Shall honor be always awarded exclusively to the destroyers and corrupters of our race? Ought it not to be conferred on those who are employed in supplying the wants and promoting the comfort and welfare of mankind?

This unworthy and foolish prejudice against trade dates back to those times of barbarism and ferocity, when the rising communities of men were as yet unacquainted with the benefits which commerce confers. We are told that in the republics of Greece merchants were ineligible to public of fice, and were excluded from the cares of state. From similar ignorance the ancient Romans, who were solely occupied with agriculture and war, regarded the occupation of the merchant as disreputable and degrading. But time and necessity gradually disabused their minds of these ridiculous prejudices, till at last the most distinguished persons in the state were not ashamed of exercising a calling which they found so gainful to themselves, and so advantageous to their country.

When the swarms of barbarous nations from the northern hive had overrun the Roman empire, and parcelled it out among themselves, the prejudice against trade revived. Europe was for ages plunged in gross darkness and in perpetual warfare. The profession of arms was the only one that was accounted respectable and manly. The people, hemmed in and kept down

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by an insolent soldiery, could have no communication with one another. Commerce, which can never flourish without liberty, was carried on solely by Jews and usurers, who were a continual prey to the exactions of a thousand petty tyrants. Being thus engrossed by men devoid of character and principle, it fell into disrepute. None but such wretches, allured by the expectation of vast profits, would undertake to pursue a calling environed with so many difficulties and dangers. Such, undoubtedly, was the origin of that aversion and contempt with which trade was for a long time regarded by what were called the higher orders in the old monarchies of Europe.

In the mean time, some republics, taking advantage of their liberty, engaged successfully in commerce, and by this means attained a degree of wealth and power that excited the admiration and envy of other nations. Venice, Genoa, Pisa, Holland, showed the rest of Europe the wonderful effects that commerce can produce. Princes then began to encourage it; the Cape of Good Hope was doubled; a new world was discovered; and the unexplored wealth of two hemispheres, the untold treasures of both the Indies, aroused the cupidity of the nations. They all rushed into this new source of aggrandizement, and the indifference with which they had hitherto regarded commercial adventure was changed into a universal enthusiasm, and they were soon found struggling with one another to secure the monopoly of the most lucrative branches of trade. From that time commerce has firmly established itself as one of the most honorable of employments, and one of the principal sources of national opulence and power.

ART. III. THE COMMERCE OF THE EAST.

Embassy to the Eastern Courts of Cochin China, Siam, and Muscat; in the United States sloop of war Peacock. By EDMUND ROBERTS. New York: 1838. Harper & Brothers.

UNTIL within a very late period, there has not prevailed, among our mercantile community, that degree of information upon the productions, trade, and necessities of Asia, and the western coast of Africa, which our extending commerce with that quarter of the world has imperiously demanded; while, at the same time, our national government has been strangely indifferent to the pursuit of those inquiries, and the effecting of those treaties with Eastern powers, which would stimulate our merchants to renewed energy in this branch of trade, and by increasing the facilities for the accumulation of individual wealth, establish the more firmly the bulwarks of national prosperity. Even at the present day, much remains to be accomplished before American commerce with the East will be placed upon a satisfactory footing; and we feel confident, that attention will be readily and gladly directed to some remarks upon its present situation.

The extent and importance of this commerce may be estimated from the fact, that during a single year, there arrived in two ports of Java, one hundred and one ships, the united tonnage of which amounted to thirty-eight thousand eight hundred and seventy tons; and yet, although to this demand for protection may be added the whale fishery on the Japanese coast, until within a trifling modicum of time, not a single vessel of war afforded the protective influence of the flag of our country, from the west of Africa to the