The amount of duties collected at the principal ports of the United States, in the year ending June 30, 1851, was as here stated. San Francisco, it will be noticed, stands in the fifth place of the list :-

Of course, the large imports of breadstuffs, which have formed the basis of so large a part of the Commerce of California with the Pacific countries, will be cut off with the development of her own vast agricultural resources. But this event is not to be deprecated, for that country must be forever poor which is unable or fails to produce the main part of the food upon which its people subsist. It is not desirable that a trade, founded upon such a necessity, should continue. But with the cessation or reduction of this branch of her Commerce, it is not to be feared that either the maintenance or the extension of the present commercial importance of California will be interrupted. The growth of the other branches of her trade, and the development of new ones, will supply all the deficiency, and the result will be only to change her Pacific Commerce to a new and a firmer basis. With the progressive diversification of her labor, and multiplication of interests, California will gain more and more ability to buy, and will send forth a constantly enlarging demand for articles which she is unable to produce. When she raises her own wheat, barley, hay, potatoes, beef, and pork, she will find enough of the products of her mines remaining in her own hands to purchase iron for her railroads, to import locomotives-to secure all the improved implements, and avail herself of all the improved systems for working her mines and her farms-and to buy a thousand articles of necessity and luxury, now almost unknown, in her houses, her shops, and her public places, or only to be obtained at enormous expense.

In the political view attaching to the future of California, there is a greatness entirely commensurate with the aspect of every other feature in her remarkable destiny. Without computing the degree of her meridian influence, as a member of a Union so glorious-already before her admission to the galaxy, or stopping to estimate the effect of her growth, her peculiar State elements and form, and the policies adopted for herself and those advocated for the nation, upon the other States-she has an outward part to perform, in a field most important, but hitherto almost unapproached. It has always been a prevalent belief among our people, that it is within the destiny of this country to introduce in the Spanish American nations that change of political ideas and social habits, which are so necessary to release them from the miserable condition in which they have been fast bound since their independence of Spain was effected,-and to enable them to attain that eminence of national prosperity and power, the elements of which are so lavishly bestowed upon the regions they inhabit. But how this was to be effected, was getting constantly more and more a mystery. Every effort to approach them on our part, with almost whatever intent, seemed unfor tunate. It appeared at last, to the belief of many, that there was a natural antipathy between the race, or mixture of races, on our soil, and the Amer

icanized Spanish-a repulsion springing from ineradicable distinctions in their natures, and designed to keep them perpetually separate. From this view, mixed with a certain revengeful spirit against the antagonist, whose fault alone the failure was deemed to be, came the sanguinary notion that we were to push aside and to exterminate all these ignorant, unprogressing communities-either directly by the sword, or through the influence of some incandescent emanation of the nobler vis vitæ of Anglo-Saxonism, before which the feebler spirits in our path should be scorched and shriveled, utterly unable to withstand this annihilative energy. This idea saw the commencement of the work to which it looked, in the Mexican War. But those who repudiated the theory of normal distinctions of character, with its consequences, and others, whose faith was in principles in the place of blood, beheld in that contest the inception of an order of circumstances and relations, through which our superiority should find its proper exercise in teaching the poor Spanish-Americans a better system-should freely impart to him the elements of that vigor which should raise him to become the more equal associate of his stronger brother. The grand incident of California was opened—and then, in its shade, the wise plan of the Creator clearly revealed its outlines. It began to be evident for what the unhappy Republics of the South had been assigned the position they have so long occupied, and been kept waiting therein. The grand conjunction of events then occurring, revealed the mode and manner of the political regeneration of South America.

But it is not to this side the Pacific that the political influence of California will be confined. It is destined to reanimate the slumbering nations of Eastern Asia, which passed the zenith of their greatness and splendor, while the world was yet fresh from the hands of the Architect, and have since reposed in the long night of semi-barbarism, while the day-light of progress has slowly traced its western circuit of the earth. Already the glory of her morning gleams as a second dawn upon the shores of China, and the cold moonshine of Celestial civilization begins to pale before its genial glow. The Chinaman, breaking down the thick walls of his indurated egotism, admires the beauties of another system, another world, another individuality. He sees the Outer Barbarism has something better for him than he knows or can know beneath his Inner Lumination. He is a denizen of California-and proves himself worthy, to be such. He proves how easily the restraints of a vain and selfish policy, although of ages' standing, are thrown off, when individual common-sense is allowed its office, and how quickly, when permitted, men will turn from the artificial to that which is natural. The Chinaman stands side by side with the men of all nations in the gulches and arroyas, and meets them all as a brother in the mart. He is studying American laws, customs, and habits, and facilely bending to the character which is being developed from the great amalgam. The influence which the Americanized Chinaman will send back upon his native country will be incalculable-it will be the seed, arriving at a speedy fruition, of a new, a totally different order of things. That the hostility which has been exhibited in California toward the Chinese should triumph in their exclusion, is, we believe, in the present state of things there, and of opinions elsewhere, utterly impossible. But while we regret the inimical spirit with which they have been met, we are something reconciled to its exhibition for the opportunity it gave for the rebuke of American narrow-mindedness by those before regarded by us as exclusive, bigoted, and dwarfed in idea above all men. The

reply of the Chinamen to the disparagements of Governor Bigler, is a paper than which, we venture to say, neither Americans in China, nor any other misappreciated and wronged people in any place whatever, could have elaborated a better. The gubernatorial assailant of the Chinamen is routed, horse, foot, and dragoons, and that by means so plain, so simple, appealing so directly throughout to common-sense, that there is not room left for a single evasion or turn. Could the Governor have read this document before issuing his missive, we doubt if the latter would ever have seen light. As it is, it is undoubtedly better that the two papers, the error and antidote, have been published together.

It cannot be long before a new day will burst also upon Japan-and the tawdy grandeur of that empire--its petrified policies of millennial ages-its fossilated ideas-its curtailed and hide-bound humanism, will, along with the cast-off shell of old custom in the universal East, be consigned to the antique shelf of the historic museum. Perhaps a new wave of civilization, flowing upon the surface of the tide elevation created by the first, will start forward from that glorious region, and make another western circuit of the earth.

In the course of this progress, let us not suppose we have nothing to change. Theories now current in Politics and in poor, baffled Science, will be summarily shaken in pieces. So rapid will be the work beyond all overturnings of error ever before made, that astute professors will suddenly find themselves in woful bereavement of their ideas--and authors reposing on the delighted anticipation of an achieved immortality of centuries' length, will behold the whole fabric of their fame swallowed up in a night. That knowledge of the general Humanity, breaking down the shallow distinctions of race once dividing the whole earth into selfish clans and sects, cribbing and dwarfing the growth of every good impulse, and chaining the wheels of human progress--those new truths, new thoughts, and new results, which have been elicited from the commingling in equality, of people of different birth in the Atlantic region-are to be developed in much swifter expansion on the Pacific. What we shall see there will teach us the lesson which has been here only partially recognized--that there is nothing in blood and in essential peculiarities of race, giving one part of the family a tendency to growth and glory, and another an irrepressible proclivity to abasement and extinction. All these follies we shall cast into the same oblivious reservoir in which we buried, three-fourths of a century since, the venerable errors honored in Europe time out of mind. We shall come to the practical Christian doctrine of regarding all Men as children of one Father--created of one blood-members of one family--all of whom, the greatest misfortune has ever been the existence (at least, the continuance beyond any necessity) of the narrow feelings that limited their affections and fellowships to little nationalities and clan-ships, regarding as enemies, aliens, inferiors, outside-barbarians, all beyond-and whose greatest stride forward is that which breaks down the prejudices that build these miserable partitionsshows us our mutual capacities and interests, and teaches us that we can labor with far better success in the sociability of our general nature than in the petty exclusiveness and shriveled idea of our feeble isolations.

Art. II.-COMMERCE OF THE DANUBE.

THE largest of the important rivers which flow into the Black Sea is the Danube, which, for its length, and the many rich and populous countries through which it passes, as well as for the amount of its navigation, may be eminently called the Mississippi of Europe.

From its source to its mouth it is nearly 2,000 miles in length, and receives some 30 navigable rivers and a vast number of tributary streams.

From its source to its mouth, it descends 2,178 feet, yet its descent is so gradual that its early rapids are, near Oresova, where it leaves the Austrian dominions, and its cataract there, called the "Iron Gate," is very picturesque.

The steam navigation of the Danube may be said to commence at Vienna. Steamers go as far as Presburg; at Pesth it is also navigated by vessels or boats not drawing more than 2 feet.

In its progress through Turkey, it varies in breadth from 1,400 to 2,100 yards, and its average depth is upwards of 20 feet. Ships of large size ascend it as far as Siliztra, and vessels of 300 tons go to Galatz.

Its mouth is much obstructed with sand-banks, and of the five passages through which it flows into the Black Sea, one only, that of Sulina, has sufficient depth of water to permit of the navigation.

The delta of the Danube is a vast swampy flat, interspersed with lagoons covered with bulrushes; and the bar of Sulina has only from 10 to 12 feet of water.

The navigation is said also to be annually more and more obstructed by fresh accessions of mud and sand, which the current has not sufficient strength to carry away.

Were it not for its falls, at the "Iron Gate," this great river would be navigable, by one means or another,from its mouth to Ulm, in Wirtumburg. At these falls, a land carriage of some 8 or 10 miles joins the lower with the upper navigation.

It was a favorite project of uniting the Danube with the Rhine, whose mouth is in the North Sea, which of late years has been effected, and the result must eventually be an extensive increase of the Commerce of both rivers.

But the history of the Commerce of all great rivers may be best told in stating that of the chief cities or towns near its mouth.. As of the Mississippi, the trade of New Orleans is the best statement of its Commerce; so of the Danube, the trade of Galatz comprises the greater part of the traffic of this great European River.

The fol owing statistics are furnished by Mr. Negropont, a Greek gentleman holding the office of Vice-Consul of the United States at Galatz; and he being a merchant, and desirous of making the Commerce of the ports under his jurisdiction known to the mercantile community of our own great marts, with a view to its participation in it, his reports may be entirely confided in.

It will be perceived that in 1849 no less than 588 vessels loaded cargoes at Galatz, and that in 1850, the number was 391; that the imports of 1849 valued more than $2,000,000, the exports, $2,600,000; that in the year following, the imports $2,100,000, and the exports, $2,300,000; and this

principally from consumption in the two Turkish Provinces of Wallachia and Moldavia. The details of this Commerce, as given by Mr. Negropont, cannot but be greatly interesting to commercial men, and they are given in the hope that they may prove useful.

"It is only since 1825 and '26," says Mr. Negropont, "that the Commerce of Galatz and Ibraila has begun to develop itself. Previous to the last war, between Russia and Turkey, the trade and navigation of the Danube was unimportant; between Galatz and Ibraila there were few European houses of Commerce; now the number is considerable. What is surprising, is the great increase of the trade directly with England, which country formerly purchased the products of the Danubian Provinces at Trieste and Marseilles. English vessels now visit the Danube to the number of 60 to 80 a year, computing miscellaneous commodities of the consumption of the Provinces, and conveying away grains of different kinds, tallow, preserved meats in cannisters, some fruits, and potash."

"English manufactures are very abundant in the Danubian Provinces, (Wallachia and Moldavia,) of which Galatz and Ibraila are the chief ports. These are ordered by houses being in direct communication with the manufacturers in England, and are suited to the tastes and demands of the inhabitants."

This is one great secret of the success of British manufactures in foreign countries, and especially in the "East," where English consuls, being themselves merchants, are required to send to England specimens of the native manufactures; these are, by the proper commercial and consular bureau, laid open for the inspection of the manufacturers, and in a short space of time goods much superior to that of the native looms, and much cheaper, are offered for sale to the community requiring them. Then competition sets in; other houses, not consular-commercial, profit by the information thus conveyed to the public at large; and soon quality is lost in the endeavor to undersell other firms. In this manner, American cotton goods, the original occupiers of the field, have been almost entirely driven out of the

market.

Of the mouths of the Danube, Mr. Negropont observes, that the whole and chief difficulty of the navigation of the Danube is, that at its mouth the water is not always of a sufficient depth to adn.it large vessels, and is only navigable for those of medium size; so much so that few vessels can enter the river without having to lighter at its mouth, near Sulina.

This obstruction, to which vessels are subject, is a great evil to Commerce. Conceive the inconvenience of vessels arriving at Sulina with their freights on board, ready to put to sea; the water proves too shallow, and a great portion of the load must be discharged into boats which are always ready there for such cases. This is an inconvenience, loss of time, and of their excessive prices, which the lighterers demand; and, thirdly, the great danger there often is of wetting the cargo by the operation, and even of having portions of it stolen.

Sulina produces but a small quantity of grain, and yet considerable is exported from it annually, the fruits, no doubt, of the illicit acts of those engaged in discharging and lightering vessels which cannot otherwise cross the bar.

The Sulina mouth is inaccessable to vessels having westerly winds, and they are compelled to be towed or tracked, (if the wind is light,) but this is not often needed. The depth is not always the same there; its minimun is