can furnish. My task with the lives of these fortunate adventurers, shall be confined to a brief allusion to the means which they possessed, and the ends which they accomplished-they were the accidents of an age; ours is the moral and the example.

Although the navy of Europe had improved since Canute floated about the channel in his one-masted tubs, naval architecture, in the sixteenth cen tury, was in a most deplorable condition. The galleons of Spain, the caracks or canacer ships of Portugal, to eyes accustomed to the beautiful fabrics of modern skill, appear most unwieldy and unsightly monstrosities. Take, for instance, the following description of a first class man-of-war of the period-the "Great Harry," as the vessel was called, rated at one thousand tons, and mounting one hundred and twenty-two guns. Of these, however, only thirty deserved the name of guns; the rest were mere swivels, and were stuck through circular holes in various parts of the ship, more for ornament than use. Although from her height and bulk a fiercelooking vessel, she was ill adapted to sustain a rolling sea, or a gale of wind-and one broadside from a modern ship, would have sent her to the bottom. Such is the description of a contemporary; probably it would answer the larger ships of the navy at that time-and, judging from the contemporary accounts which are now extant, one modern ship of the line might have been a match for the whole Spanish armada. The English had in time of war depended upon the Hanse towns for their marine; and there is one account extant which represents the English admiral sending the Hanse town vessels to sustain the brunt of a conflict, that the queen's ships might not be injured. The whole navy of Queen Elizabeth consisted, in the thirteenth year of her reign, of one hundred and forty-six sail-of these, all were hired merchantmen but thirteen. To oppose the Spanish armada, about one hundred and eighty vessels were collected, of which some twenty-eight might constitute the royal navy; and although upon paper one hundred ships may appear a tremendous force, we are told that nine tenths of these were, in point of size and force, utterly insignificant. According to Camden, the whole realm at this time did not possess four ships exceeding four hundred tons; and a letter still extant to Sir William Cecil, from a citizen of London, contains the following assertion: "There is never a city in christendom," so runs the epistle, "having the occupancy of London, so slenderly provided with ships. I have seen thirty-seven hoys laden with wood go at one tide out of Rye, and never an English mariner among them." Under such disadvantages, the enterprising navigators of that period opened their career of discovery and conquest. The results which have followed from their enterprise are no less remarkable than the means by which they were accomplished; supplying the want of knowledge and experience by a most indomitable perseverance, they succeeded in extending the limits of trade to the antipodes, and establishing a naval reputation. The idleness of a long peace, vague notions of golden regions where boundless wealth awaited the adventurous-these, combining with and giving energy to nobler and juster views, produced a class of men who had then no parallels in history, and whose characters are hardly appreciated yet.

We know, to be sure, that Drake and Cavendish circumnavigated the globe, and we are familiar with the adventures of Raleigh and Hawkins, Frobisher and Davis; but the exploits for which their names are remembered, are far less interesting for audacity and success, than for the lasting

When these

and real advantages they have produced upon commerce. hardy spirits, with their half-equipped fleets and scanty forces, performed what, even in our own day, would command admiration, their immediate purpose was accomplished by the acquisition of glory and plunder. Their voyages were not intended for the formation of permanent colonies, nor were they undertaken with any considered plan of commercial intercourse. Their trading voyages were so many privateering speculations, and the capture of a town or the wealth of a galleon frequently terminated expedi tions which were commenced for purposes of discovery. Modern notions of neutrality were unthought of, while it was a common saying, that "there was no peace beyond the Cape of Good Hope." The law of nations was little understood; while the fleets of two friendly nations destroyed each other without scruple, and officers of the crown captured and laid under contribution towns and villages with whom their government was at peace. When the queen herself breakfasted on board the victorious vessel of Drake, he was accused of having violated every obligation of public or private right. While the whole nation vied in lauding the bravery and the success of the gallant sea-rovers, France, Denmark, and Spain were re. monstrating against the piracy of English cruisers. It should be remembered, that men had learned to think the will of the strongest the only law of the ocean; Spain and Portugal, in their day of power, had unscrupulously driven competition from the Indian seas; and English commerce had been as yet unprotected by a navy: their voyages had been commenced at the risk of hostile interference, and their equipment was necessarily warlike, where every stranger might be an enemy.

The leaders of expeditions, which had no certain purpose nor duration, were from necessity clothed with extraordinary and discretionary power. Thrown upon their own resources among strange and occasionally hostile people, they became merchants, ambassadors, or warriors, as expediency or safety might dictate; not only did they comprise the merchant marine of Britain in time of peace, but, as we have seen, they furnished the strength of the navy in time of war. It was not uncommon for the queen to stipulate in her charters of incorporation, that the ships of her trading companies should be at her service in case of any national quarrel; and in the warlike expeditions so common during the reign, the English forces were augmented by thousands of private adventurers. The most important naval operations were characterized by the spirit of these merchant volunteers. As their trading voyages were warlike, their warlike demonstrations became commercial. Thus we hear of a great expedition against the power of Spain, in which the Earl of Essex was commander, and in which the naval strength of the kingdom was employed. The historian tells us that the merchants, who had engaged in the expedition for hope of profit, became discontented with these military enterprises, and the admiral and his forces, yielding to their importunity, sailed away to intercept a rich treasure-ship of Portugal. All this, however strangely it may sound to modern ears, was by no means repugnant to the spirit of the age. ranks and classes had imbibed the same feeling. Exaggerated tales of foreign adventures-the sight of riches easily obtained and profusely spentattracted the needy, the avaricious, and the adventurous: the queen herself was stockholder and part owner in many of these trading voyages. The sagacious Burleigh joined in fitting out four ships, and contributing £35,000 towards a speculation in slaves and gold dust. Leicester, Wal

All

singham, Essex, nobility, gentry, and commons, all became merchants in the common acceptation of the word; and with all due respect to the memory of her majesty and court be it spoken, their commercial reputation at the present day would hardly bear the scrutiny of justice. When the plunder of Spain, that common enemy, no longer sufficed for the increase of competition, neutral property too often supplied the deficiency; and if the loud and constant complaints of neighboring states were not groundless altogether-if the queen's edicts against the capture of neutral vessels were not unnecessary-commercial morality was as yet little appreciated. All this, however, was incidental to an age even then passing away, and to a people untaught in the principles of international right. It was inconsistent with the very luxury and refinement which it was producing, and disappeared as its novelty wore off, and public opinion judged its moral consequences with more severity. The settlement of the first English colony in North America-the acquisition of Newfoundland by the British crown-the discovery of Davis' straits, and the northern passage through the White sea, are a few of the benefits we owe the merchant rovers of Elizabeth's reign. The spirit of avarice, seconding the spirit of adventure, has left us many great and permanent blessings, even though working for the most selfish purposes: it called into action dormant energies, as well as evil passions, and was instrumental in giving value and stability to the very laws upon which it so often trampled. Having given England a navy, and the world a free trade, it disappeared like the genius of Aladdin, leaving no trace of its terror, save in the magnificent results for which we are its debtors.

Thus imperfectly have I endeavored to sketch English commerce during the latter part of the sixteenth century. A mine of curious information connected with this interesting subject still remains, which time compels me to leave unexplored :-The banking systems of Genoa, Venice, and Barcelona; the estates of Holland, with their naval and commercial power; the free towns of western Europe, with the origin of their trade and affluence; Venice, where merchants of all nations yet crowded the Rialto; and Italy, where commerce, hand in hand with art, enriched the dwelling of the Medici, "Florence the beautiful," and built her palaces in the city whose merchants were princes; Genoa the proud.

From the history of all, the conclusion and the moral is the same; deeply important to a people who have created their own institutions, and whose government is one of public opinion. We have seen commerce, against all the opposition of ancient prejudices, and under every disadvantage of ignorance and poverty and want of power, step by step securing and maintaining a foothold everywhere. We have seen commerce banding together the trading classes for mutual safety, strengthening the people against the power of the nobility, and undermining the foundation of the feudal system. We have seen commerce diverting the course of trade as it had existed for centuries, and totally changing the political balance of Europe. During the brief period which I have been considering, the mercantile classes were able to direct the energies of a nation, and to control the power of a national enemy. In our own time, and in our own favored country, where education is a birthright, and civil and religious freedom an heir-loom, the responsibility of that class who wield a power so universal may be subject for grave consideration; how far the tone of society, how far the standard of morals, how far the interest, the

well-being, the very existence of our institutions are connected with and dependant upon the character of the mercantile classes; a body of men who control our means of communication with distant nations; through whose agency we receive information and instruction from the remotest corners of the universe; who procure for us the luxuries, the refine ments, the improvements, our wants or caprices require; who give activity and direction to our national resources, and furnish employment to the citizen, the mariner, the agriculturist.

The influence of such a class can hardly be exaggerated, and wo betide that country where their influence is misdirected. In place of the narrow means and limited views which clogged the enterprises of the sixteenth century, the merchant of our day enters his career in the full light of experience, and with the prejudices and feelings of society enlisted in favor of his time-honored profession. Intrusted by his position with the comforts, the necessities of society; born to a free participation of every poli tical right, he owes to that society in return his influence and example. All professions derive elevation from mental culture. Our geographical and political relations impart peculiar importance to mercantile education. All that depends upon our naval reputation-the safety of our citizens abroad, the integrity of our territory, our national character-are inseparably united to commerce. Every treaty that we form with foreign powers, every change in our foreign policy, has relation to commerce. The change of European dynasties, the alternation of European war and peace, affect us through our mercantile interests. In becoming acquainted with the religious and political prejudices, the domestic habits, the tastes, the form of government, the feelings and character of other countries, the American merchant is only learning to advance his own interest. In watching the history of nations, and understanding the causes which affected their fortunes, he is only learning to secure his own.

"Our means of intellectual intercourse," so says an able writer upon our institutions, "unite the most remote parts of the earth, and it is im possible for men to remain strangers to each other, or to be ignorant of the events which are taking place in any corner of the globe. The consequence is, that there is less difference at the present day between the Europeans and their descendants in the new world, than there was between towns in the thirteenth century, which were only separated by a river. If this tendency to assimilation brings foreign nations closer to each other, it must, a fortiori, prevent the defendants of the same people from becom ing aliens to each other.

"The time will therefore come, when one hundred and fifty millions of men will be living in North America, equal in condition, the progeny of one race, owing their origin to the same cause, and preserving the same civilization, the same language, the same religion, the same habits, the same manners, and imbued with the same opinions propagated under the same forms. The rest is uncertain; but this is certain, and it is a fact new to the world, a fact fraught with such portentous consequences as to baffle the efforts of the imagination."

In accomplishing this magnificent destiny, the example of the United States will be felt in the character of future republics, and from the institutions of this country may be derived the commercial and political character of the western hemisphere. Who shall say how much of this must depend upon the mercantile classes? Their office it is "to knit mankind

together in a mutual intercourse of good offices, distribute the gifts of nature, find work for the poor and magnificence to the great.' Through their means our language will be known, and our customs, principles, resources, become familiar to mankind. As an American citizen, I am sufficiently sanguine to believe, that with such knowledge, our national reputation will continually acquire new lustre; and that while our country is respected and beloved as a benefactor to the world, liberality, probity, energy, and intelligence may combine to form the most enviable of all characters, that of the American merchant.

"Peace, plenty, love, truth, terror,"

Shall then be his, and like a vine grow to him.
Wherever the bright sun of heaven shall shine,
His honor and the greatness of his name

Shall be, and make new nations: He shall flourish,
And like a mountain cedar, reach his branches

To all the plains about him. His children's childre
Shall see this, and bless heaven.

ART. II.-DUTIES ON IMPORTS CONSIDERED.

THE present tariff of duties must soon undergo revision, if not at the approaching session of congress, certainly at the succeeding session, and when we recollect that it more or less concerns all the great interests of the nation, it must seem that no subject better deserves the profound and thorough consideration of the statesman and political economist. It is important as a mere question of taxation. It must directly affect the agricultural, manufacturing, and commercial interests. It may operate unequally on the great local divisions of the country. It may affect our foreign relations; and lastly, it may hasten or retard the increase of the national capital.

On some of the questions involved in these great topics, the diversities of opinion are purely speculative, because the interests of every part of the nation are substantially the same; but on others, comprehending much the greatest number, the difference of opinion has grown out of a difference of interest, real or supposed. The feelings of the contending parties being once fairly enlisted, and farther inflamed by heated or designing politicians, passion has had its wonted influence in blinding the judgment, so that they have neither been able to see what there was of sound reasoning in the arguments of their adversaries, nor to detect the fallacies in their own. Both sides have afforded some remarkable instances of this mental blindness, to so some of which we shall take occasion to refer. As conflicting interests have given rise to angry disputes and irreconcilable views, whenever the subject of the tariff has been agitated in congress, we may expect a recurrence of somewhat of the same discordant opinions, heat, and intolerance, when the subject again comes under discussion; but it may tend to allay its acrimony if the mass of both parties could be disabused of some of their more flagrant errors, and the public mind settle down on some great truths, that have been hitherto disputed, before its passions are again inflamed. At all events, the present interval of calm seems particularly favorable to the investigation of so delicate and intricate