coast.* This certainly implies the expectation not only of ocean commerce, but the presence in our waters of vessels of the first class; for many of the improvements have been expressly designed to accommodate the greatly increased size of ships now in use as compared with former years. Again, the Boston and Albany Railroad Company have renewed the old Grand Junction line, and now have an eligible connection with the wharves of East Boston, where they are building a large grain elevator; this, too, would seem to be in anticipation of coastwise and foreign trade. The same company, also, and the Hartford and Erie Company, have made large purchases of the South Boston flats, which are to be filled up, and to be improved by the erection of

*The following

taken from a communication addressed to the Daily Advertiser, by Mr. JOSIAH QUINCY, under date of December 23, 1869:

"Through the Hypocrite Channel a vessel drawing 40 feet of water may enter Boston Harbor and run up to President's Roads at any time of tide, where she may come to anchor in perfect security. To reach the Upper Harbor at low water her draught must not exceed 19 feet; at high water 29 feet. The ordinary way of reaching our harbor is through the Broad Sound and the Nantasket entrances, - the former having 23, the latter 26 feet at ordinary low water. The obstruction to our Inner Harbor, known as the Upper Middle, is not as shallow as that which lies at the entrance of the Portland basin, and we have received from Congress an appropriation for its complete removal; indeed, the work of excavation has commenced.

"A vessel may pass the outer entrance of Portland with the same draught that she would carry through Hypocrite Channel at Boston, and run into an anchorage; but she cannot reach complete shelter under the breakwater with a greater draught than 17 feet at low water. At the north-east portion of the city a berth for the Great Eastern was excavated, and has 30 feet of water in it now; but to reach this berth a vessel must pass the bar with only 21 feet at low water. Portland has its outer roadsteads, but none of them are to be compared with those of Boston for shelter.

"New York; the outer bar has but 23 feet in its best channel at ordinary low water, and 4 feet rise of tide; so that a vessel drawing 26 feet must wait in the open sea for three-fourths rise of the tide before she can reach a safe anchorage. To reach the harbor proper of New York she must cross another bar of about the same depth. "Philadelphia has a bar of less than 18 feet at low water; tide, 6 feet. "Baltimore has an artificial channel of 20 feet over her bar; tide 1 3-10 feet. "Charleston, 12 feet over bar at low water; tide, 5 feet. "Norfolk, 20 feet over bar at low water; 2 feet tide.

"" 'Savannah, 18 feet over bar at low water; 7 feet tide."

wharves, warehouses, and other necessary structures for closely connected inland and ocean traffic. The construction of the new Atlantic avenue, the proposed system of docks in its vicinity, and other projects of a like nature, in the same way, evince a strong faith in the commercial future of Boston, and a determination to be prepared for the propitious opportunity.

SIGNS OF IMPROVEMENT.

Indeed, the foreign commerce of the city has already begun to revive. Two years ago the Cunard mail steamers, which had performed a semi-monthly service for an extended period, and with much success, between Boston and Liverpool, were withdrawn from here and transferred to New York, for reasons which probably were satisfactory to the company at the time, but the validity of which has hardly been confirmed by subsequent events. But during the last year this company has despatched a fine steamship once a week to this port, which has landed all its mails and passengers and most of its freight here, and has proceeded to New York to complete its return lading. One or two of the vessels of the National Steamship line have also called here; and it is now announced that the Inman line, so called, will despatch a steamer once a fortnight from Liverpool to Boston, the vessel appropriately selected to be the first of the new line-the City of Boston - being now on the way. The facilities for making shipments from Great Britain to this city were greater last year than ever before, and they will now be still further multiplied; and there is reason to anticipate that before long the want which still remains, namely, equal

facilities for shipping from Boston to Liverpool, will also be met. The precise plans of Mr. INMAN and his associates, in reference to this matter, have not transpired; but the well-known enterprise and sagacity of this company lead to the belief that they will avail themselves of the means which our railway and wharf improvements will shortly supply, for a steady and steadily increasing business, both going and returning, between Boston and Liverpool. Responsible parties in London have recently had under consideration the establishment of a steam line from the Thames to Boston, and, with a moderate amount of co-operation on the part of our citizens, there is little doubt that they would at once decide to make the experiment. Even sooner than we expected, the prediction ventured in our last report is likely to be fulfilled, that "when the rates of transportation from the West shall be equalized at Boston with other points on the seaboard, and when it shall be demonstrated that the promptness, security and economy with which we can handle and transship merchandise here, give us very decided advantages over most other cities, all of which is practicable; and when, in consequence, the tide of traffic from the West to Europe begins to set toward this port, there will be no delay on the part of steamship companies and 'ship-owners in sending here to meet it." We may lament that we have no steam vessels of our own, sailing under our own flag, to employ in this foreign trade; but as, in this respect, we are no worse off than New York and all the other cities on the coast, our regret is based on national quite as much as on local grounds. While things remain as they are, we can only welcome, as we are glad to do in the interest of commerce, every

first-class steamship line, wherever owned, disposed to use our port as its terminus, and so to place us in communication with the other side of the Atlantic.

COMMERCIAL STATISTICS FOR 1869.

The arrivals of vessels at Boston from foreign ports in 1869 were 3,476, or 393 more than in 1868; the foreign clearances were 3,368, or a gain of 351 over the preceding year. The coastwise trade was as follows: 1,360 entries, 2,341 clearances, showing a small gain. The value of the foreign imports was fortynine millions of dollars, against forty millions in 1868.

The number of immigrants landed here was 34,784, -a decided advance over any previous year. This business will largely increase from this time, as the conveniences which are now to be found at our railway wharves for the safe and comfortable landing of passengers, and for sending them forward to their destination, are far superior to anything of the kind in any other city.

IMPROVEMENT OF OUR RAILWAY SYSTEM.

As the growth of our ocean commerce is altogether dependent upon the action of the railroad managers whose lines converge here, it will be well to glance at what they have recently accomplished, and what they are proposing immediately to do.

THE BOSTON AND ALBANY RAILROAD.

The Boston and Albany Railroad Company came into existence two years ago by the consolidation of

the Worcester and Western lines, -a result which this Board worked for many years to bring to pass. Enough has already been gained to justify all that was said in advocacy of the measure, and to compensate for all the efforts which were necessary to carry it. . Allusion has been made to what this company is doing for the enlargement and improvement of its terminal facilities in Boston, but more specific reference thereto deserves our notice. It has purchased one hundred and thirty thousand feet of land in the city, a large part of which is not yet available, at a cost of six hundred and sixty thousand dollars. It has executed a contract with the Harbor Commissioners for the purchase of fifty acres of flats at South Boston, to be filled within a stipulated time, as authorized by Chapter 461 of the Acts and Resolves of 1869. Its expenditure in the purchase and repair of the Grand Junction line, which gives it a connection with every other railroad terminating in Boston, and upon the wharves and docks at East Boston, will reach, on the completion of the elevator now in course of construction there, six hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars. The capacity of this elevator will be about three hundred and fifty thousand bushels, and the business which is likely to flow from it may be judged of by the fact that the elevator built to accommodate the local trade has received, during the year since its completion, more than one and a half millions of bushels of grain. From these and other investments which have been made, the company will doubtless receive ample pecuniary returns, while, by means of them, its ability to serve the public efficiently will be proportionately increased.