a map of Liverpool, the chain of docks in their regular order: if, beginning at the gigantic Northern Docks,' not yet completed, we pass on successively to the Clarence, the Trafalgar, the Victoria, the Waterloo, the Prince's, the George's, the Canning, the Salthouse, the New, the Manchester, the Duke's, the King's, the Queen's, the Albert, the Coburg, the Brunswick, and, lastly, the Harrington and the Herculaneum, we shall find here an unbroken series of docks, very little if anything short of four miles in length-nearly all of which are in actual operation. Those of the series included between the Clarence and the Brunswick Docks, and wholly excluding the stupendous works at the north and south extremities, cover an area of more than a hundred acres, and present a quay space ten or twelve miles in length. This quay is not simply a flat avenue, on which persons may walk, or goods be deposited, it is almost wholly formed of hewn masonry.

THE EXCHANGE, THE CUSTOM-HOUSE, AND THEIR

ASSOCIATIONS.

Such, then, are the Liverpool Docks: such are the mighty works which enable the Liverpool merchants to accommodate the countless vessels that congregate thither; bringing the treasures of every foreign clime to England, and departing laden with the products of British industry. We may be well assured that the docks where such ships assemble; the quays and warehouses where goods are deposited; the Exchange, where the commercial dealings are planned; the counting-houses where these dealings are recorded; and the merchants by whom such a wonderful trade is carried on, are all worthy of attention from those who would mark the steps of industrial enterprise.

Would we understand the real extent of the commerce in which this wonderful town is engaged, we must devote our time in part to the Docks, in part to the Exchange, and in part to the Custom-house, or Revenue-buildings. In the Docks we see the actual ships, and the actual cargoes with which they come laden from almost every clime under the sun; in the Exchange we see the sharp and energetic men, whose brains and whose capital have set all this commercial machinery in motion; while in the Custom-house are preserved the records which show how gigantic is this machinery, and how much the entire revenue of the country is dependent on this one port. The docks we have pretty fully described; and the extent to which these docks are made use of may be pretty well judged from this fact, that, in June, 1852 (and the enumeration would probably apply to many other periods), there were in one day 1000 vessels in the Liverpool docks at one time, exclusive of the steam-vessels in Clarence Dock, and smaller steamers on the river. The tonnage of those 1000 vessels was about 200,000 tons giving an average of 200 tons for each vessel. In an account published about that period, it was stated, that of the 1000 vessels, 52 were loading for various ports in England and Wales; 30 for Irish

ports; $7 for Scotch ports; 90 for America; 50 for various European ports; 15 to Africa; 30 to the East Indies; 5 to the Levant; 4 to China; and 40 to New South Wales. The most astonishing part of this enumeration, perhaps, is the 90 vessels which were fitting out for America; showing the vastness of the intercourse between that country and Liverpool.

The warehouses, associated more or less closely with the docks, furnish another field in which the Liverpool merchant displays his untiring energy and activity. Scarcely a manufactured commodity, scarcely a speci men of the raw material of manufactures, but comes under his notice; and his knowledge and influence run parallel with his enterprises.

The Exchange-buildings-where much of the intercourse between Liverpool merchants is conductedform rather a noble looking pile, situated in the immediate vicinity of the Docks, somewhat northIward of the Custom-house. They were constructed

about forty years ago. There is, in the first place, a square open area, in the middle of which is a bronze statue of Lord Nelson, cast by Westmacott from the design of Matthew Charles Wyatt. This statue was a very costly affair; for it absorbed no less than £9000, which was furnished by public subscription. Like most things of the kind in England, it has had to contend against a liberal amount of criticism. However, to leave the statue, and to glance round the quadrangle. We find on three sides of this court lofty ranges of buildings, which present three architectural façades of the Corinthian order. On two of the sides there are arched piazzas (as they are often incorrectly termed in England, but more correctly arcades, or colonnades), fifteen feet in width; while on the remainder, or north side, is a projecting centre, having an arched carriageway to afford access from and to the neighbouring street. The square is made up by a second building, the Townhall, which occupies the south side of the quadrangle, and helps to give a certain air of completeness to the whole. The Exchange-buildings are devoted to various purposes connected with the commerce of the town. For instance, in the east wing is the spacious newsroom, where an extensive supply of newspapers is kept for the use of the subscribers, and where may be seen many an anxious reader in times of commercial difficulty; while in the west wing is a room appropriated to the use of underwriters or ship-insurers. The newsroom has been likened to "an immense school-room; for a vast quantity of news-papers are here displayed upon a number of small desks, over which the pupils of Mercury may be seen diligently engaged in their studies."

But the Custom-house, of all the commercial buildings of Liverpool, is the one which strikes most upon the imagination of a stranger. That such a vast pile should be appropriated to this one purpose, is indeed a memento to the grandeur of the commercial system to which it is wedded. But it must in fairness be borne in mind, that it is not simply a Custom-house; it comprises other buildings and offices connected with

the revenue and commerce of the town; and the designation, Revenue-buildings, now often applied to it, is more satisfactory, because more correct, than the simple name of Custom-house. Cut, No. 2.

66

The site on which this pile is erected tells almost as much of the progress of Liverpool commerce as the pile itself. Time was, when a creek ran up into the heart of Liverpool, and possibly gave name to the town itself. Then, as commerce advanced, this creek was so deepened, and walled, and widened, and provided with quays and gates, as to serve as a dock; and under the name of the Old Dock, this piece of water served the purpose of commerce for a considerable time; the Custom-house being situated on the eastern side of it. But commerce quite outran the accommodation of such an establishment; and the corporation resolved to fill up the Old Dock, and erect a splendid pile on its site. We may therefore consider that the present Custom-house points out the original heart and centre of Liverpool commerce; and as such, it has a double claim to our notice. Through the aid of Canning and Huskisson, a plan was devised, whereby the Government and the Corporation were to bear jointly the expense of the construction, under a certain stipulated agreement; and the first stone was laid in 1828. It is curious to see the mode in which Mr. Kohl estimates this building. He treats us as a people who can do nothing well, unless we do it for commercial purposes. He had been speaking of the Nelson statue in the Exchange Quadrangle, and intimates pretty plainly his opinion that we can't make a statue" (as 'Punch' would express it); but he says, that when we come to matters of real utility, we know how to blend beauty with convenience. He speaks in warm praise of the Railway-station in Lime-street; and then proceeds thus:-"Trivial as the name and object of such a building may appear in the eyes of philosophers, the Custom-house of Liverpool is really a wonderful pile; and the enthusiast for the fine arts will not fail to admire it, however worthless or odious may appear to him the business transacted there. To me it seems that this building is not merely the first of its kind in the world, and incomparably the finest of any kind in Liverpool, but that it deserves to rank even with St. Paul's Cathedral, and with other architectural marvels of the fist order. If a stranger were placed in front of the pile, without knowing where he was, he would certainly be apt to believe that there, at the least, must be held the meetings of a senate, to whose consultations the welfare of a mighty empire was committed. It is not merely the extent of the building (500 feet by 100) that commands our admiration; but the simplicity of the style harmonizes so beautifully wtth that extent. The Ionic columns which support the porticos of the centre, and of the two wings, are fifty feet in height. . . . . . It is unquestionably one of the most magnificent pieces of architecture that our age has produced; and if it has not acquired as much fame as the Isaac's church in St. Petersburgh, or the Museum in Berlin, or the Glyptothek, the Pinacothek,

or the Walhalla in Bavaria, or the church of St. Magdalen in Paris, or other colossal piles of modern erection, the reason must be the comparatively vulgar use to which it is applied."

The building, to the exterior of which these warm praises refer, is appropriated internally to many different purposes. The basement apartments consist of

large vaults, for the reception of bonded and other merchandise. The western portion of the building generally is devoted to the business of the Customhouse; and one of its most distinguishing features is the Long Room,' a splendid apartment, lighted by fourteen windows on the sides, and by twelve others in the dome which soars above the building; this dome is supported by eight large Ionic columns, and the roof is borne up by eight more, with corresponding pilasters. Flights of stairs at either end give entrance to this noble apartment from other parts of the building. The southern part of the east wing is devoted to the General Post-office, the Excise-office, and the offices of the Dock Treasurer and Secretaries. The remaining portions of the building are occupied by the Board-room, the Stamp-office, and the Offices of the Dock Committee. The building, therefore, is one of the most complete revenue establishments that can be imagined; and we need not wonder if it appear one of the busiest spots in Liverpool. The warm colour of the freestone of which it is built, the simplicity and grandeur of the parts composing the building, and the admirable fitness of the whole for the purposes contemplated, all combine to render this structure well worthy of a stranger's attention.

Let us pause a few moments to contemplate the vastness of the commerce of which the Liverpool Custom-house is in some sense the representative. The West India trade was one of the earliest which developed the energies of the Liverpool merchant: indeed, next to London, it engrosses a larger amount of this traffic than any other of our ports. Glasgow and Bristol are the next important ports in this respect. Let us imagine the vastness of the arrangements connected with the annual import of fifty thousand hogsheads of sugar, twenty thousand barrels and bags of coffee, and ten thousand puncheons of rum, all brought from the West Indies to Liverpool, and we cannot fail to see the importance of this trade.

When we come to speak of the United States, we find that Liverpool excels even the metropolis itself in the extent of her imports from that country. It is said that eight parts out of nine of all the raw cotton sent from the United States to Great Britain enters the port of Liverpool; and the proportion of the manufactured cotton goods exported from Liverpool bears not much smaller a proportion to the whole quantity. Cotton is, however, not by any means the only commodity largely imported from the United States. Tobacco, rice, dye-wares, and numerous other varieties of American produce, help to swell the list.

Then, again, British America-comprising the colo nies of Canada, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, New

the cattle so imported amounted to no less a number than a hundred and sixty thousand, and the sheep to nearly two hundred thousand. A few years before this, an estimate had been made of the quantity of produce of various kinds, calculated by weight, brought over from Ireland to Liverpool in twelve months. amounted to a quarter of a million of tons weight, brought over in forty vessels, which collectively made about fourteen hundred trips!

If we turn to the East, again do we find Liverpool enterprise on the alert. No sooner do political events open to us the ports of India and China, than Liverpool puts in her claim to be considered one of the busiest sharers in the traffic. The manufactures of our own country are largely sent out, in return for the tea, the indigo, the cotton, and the silk, which those eastern regions can furnish.

We have before spoken of the painful feature of the slave-trade, as one of the bygone elements of Liverpool activity; painful it may be, but still it must remain in the records of the town; and Liverpool must find such an excuse as she may in the plea that she did only as others did, in the prevailing state of feeling at the time. The first Liverpool slave-ship sailed from that port in 1709; and the traffic, once commenced, extended itself rapidly. Every year the number of Liverpool ships employed in carrying African slaves to the West Indies increased. By the year 1730, the number was fifteen; by 1737, thirty-three; by 1751, fifty-three; by 1756, sixty; by 1764, seventy-four; by 1771, one hundred and six; and in the last year of the system, 1806, ninety-seven years after its commencement, the number of Liverpool vessels so employed was a hundred and eleven; having an aggregate burden of twenty-five thousand tons.

The Irish trade of Liverpool is a very remarkable feature in its commercial operations. A list is given by Mr. Baines of the quantity of Irish produce imported into Liverpool in one year. It amounts in money value to upwards of eight millions sterling! A hundred thousand cattle, more than an equal number of sheep and lambs, four hundred thousand pigs, seven thousand crates of eggs, more than a million quarters of corn, and nearly a million sacks of meal and flour, nearly half a million firkins of butter, and two hundred thousand barrels of pork, beef, and ham--these were among the eatables which Ireland sent to Liverpool in one year. It is of no use for the contemplator to mourn over this transfer of provisions from a country whose children are often so sparingly supplied with food; it depends on commercial principles which lie beyond the reach of mere well-meaning philanthropy. Those who have market produce to sell, will send it to the best market; and, perhaps, after all, it is a good thing for Ireland that she has so ready a customer as Liverpool for her produce.

In some years the Irish imports into Liverpool have,

It

The amount of the customs' receipts at Liverpool is one of the most marvellous features connected with its commerce. Going back to a period just one century ago, we find those receipts to have amounted to about £200,000: they have since risen more than twentyfold; for the last dozen years, the Liverpool customs' receipts have considerably exceeded four millions sterling annually! Nothing can more strongly illustrate the extent of the commerce than this fact; for these dues are a million more in amount than all the customs' dues of Scotland and Ireland put together; a million more than all the outports of England, excluding London; and equal to one-fifth of the whole customs' duties of the entire empire! It was estimated, some few years ago, that the import and export trade, in respect to which these duties were realized, amounted to about thirty-five millions sterling; that is, twenty millions of exports and fifteen millions of imports. Raw cotton amounted in value to about a third of the whole imports, and manufactured cotton amounted to more than half of the entire exports.

The number of vessels belonging to the port is another index of its greatness. In 1650 there were only fifteen vessels owned by the Liverpool merchants ; in 1710, when the first wet-dock was constructed, the number had risen to eighty-four; in 1716 there were somewhat more than a hundred. After this period, the increase of shipping went on more rapidly. But the extent of commerce is better shown by the number of ships which actually enter and leave the docks, than by those simply which belong to Liverpool. We find, then, that the whole of the ships entered outwards and inwards at Liverpool, at the commencement of the reign of George III., was very little above a thousand; whereas, in recent years, the number has frequently been twenty-four thousand, comprising a tonnage of nearly four million tons! It is said that, including coasters and small craft, the vessels belonging to the port of Liverpool amount to very little short of ten thousand. It is also calculated that about fifty millions hundred weight of goods are annually exported from the docks. One can really hardly follow in the mind the immensity of these quantities.

It may sound oddly to speak of emigration as a part of commerce; yet there can be no doubt that it is effectually such in the eyes of the ship-owner. Whether he freights his vessels with live oxen and sheep, or live men and women, his ledger is balanced pretty much on the same principle. Since the time when emigration

P-VOL. I.

became prevalent, especially to America, Liverpool has been one of the chief ports from whence the emigrant ships have started. If we could number the aching hearts of those who have, from the Liverpool Docks, taken a farewell look at their old country, we should find it a large one. In one single month, April, 1842, no fewer than thirteen thousand emigrants are said to have embarked from Liverpool! It is sad, when we think of the features presented by emigration under some peculiar circumstances. The discovery of gold in Australia has added immensely to the number of emigrant ships which leave the port of Liverpool, and, by consequence, to the wealth of its merchants, and the probable welfare of the emigrants themselves.

THE RAILWAY AND ITS TRAFFIC.

The Liverpool Docks and their associations have taken us long to talk about; and a rambler would find that they take him long to explore. No wonder at this. Whatever is the first of its kind demands a more than usually full attention; and the Liverpool Docks whatever we may say of the metropolis and its multifarious commerce, or of the past of Bristol, or of the present of Hull and Glasgow, or of the future of Birkenhead and Fleetwood and Grimsby are most assuredly the first of their kind.

Perhaps, after viewing the ships in the docks, and the merchandise in the warehouses, and the entries in the Custom-house, and the merchants in the Exchange, we cannot do better than glance at the Railways, which place Liverpool at one end of the long commercial chain that bounds, and binds, and intersects the whole kingdom. How the cotton, in its millions of bags, and its hundreds of millions of pounds, is conveyed from Liverpool to the spinning and weaving districts, will be found in its proper place, under the head of "Manchester;" but we have yet to dive into the recesses (for they are literally such) at the Liverpool end of

the line.

It was a bold act of the Stephensons, at the time when the world knew hardly anything of railways, and when incredulity respecting them was the prevailing sentiment—it was a bold act, at such a time, to determine on piercing beneath a busy town, from side to side, and running an invisible railway beneath houses and streets, buildings and open places, sewers and water-pipes,—secure in the conviction that the arching over-head would be strong enough to resist all the superincumbent pressure. There is a sort of faith, a self-reliance, an abiding confidence, in the power of mind over brute matter, which is exhibited in civil engineering more, perhaps, than in most other occupations; and the formation of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, thirty years ago, may be regarded as the opening step in the modern exhibition of this

power.

As the traffic between Liverpool and Manchester would manifestly include a vast amount of merchandise, (no less than two thousand tons of goods are

said to pass daily, on an average, between Liverpool and Manchester), it was deemed desirable to provide railway accommodation for this of the most efficient kind; and this could not be done unless the railway extended down near to the water. On the other hand, a passenger-station is always most commodious when situated in the centre of a town. Coupling these two circumstances together, and remembering how immense is the cost to purchase up a line of houses for a railway above-ground, we have the rationale of the Liverpool tunnels. Let any one, starting from the visible railway at the eastern margin of Liverpool, near Edge-hill, go across or through the mass of streets from thence to Lime-street-Duke-street, King-street, Crown-street, Brown-street, Copperas-hill, and all the rest, he will be walking over the tunnel which conveys all the passenger-trains to the central station in Limestreet, a distance of a mile and a quarter. Let him retrace his steps, and find his way in the straightest possible line from Edge-hill to Wapping, near the King's Dock-passing a mass of streets somewhat to the south of the passenger-tunnel--he will now be walking over the goods' tunnel, which conveys all the merchandise to and from Edge-hill and Wapping, a distance still greater than that traversed by the passenger-tunnel.

The passenger-station, situated in an open spot in the centre of Liverpool, is an Italian structure, of considerable extent and beauty, having a columnar and pilastered front, and four arches to give entrance to vehicles, &c. From this station the line of railway ascends by the tunnel to Edge-hill; so that railwaytravellers see literally nothing of Liverpool. Large as this station may appear, the requirements of modern commerce are leading to the construction of one of still greater magnitude. So long as the Liverpool and Manchester Company remained independent, and even after they had amalgamated with the Grand Junction and the North Union Companies, the Lime-street station was found sufficient for the traffic; but since the fusion of all those companies, as well as the London and Birmingham, into the vast London and NorthWestern Company, events have occurred which give redoubled energy to the Liverpool operations. The Manchester and Leeds, and the East Lancashire Companies have found a distinct and independent entrance into Liverpool, which a sense of self-interest will lead them to make as efficient as possible. The 'broad guage,' too, is showing every year à more and more northward tendency; and no one can venture to predict where its giant strides will stop. The proprietors of the old line, therefore, are urged to do all that lies in their power to anticipate the wants of the town and district, and to leave no grievances which may serve as an excuse and an encouragement to their rivals. Hence arises the expenditure of an immense sum of money, which is being incurred in the purchase of houses, and in the construction of works, in the immediate vicinity of Lime-street. This station, and the superb Assize Courts, will by-and-by give an air of great grandeur to

this part of Liverpool, and will go far to justify Kohl's remark, that whatever may be our merits or our deficiencies in pure matters of art, we know how to wed art to commerce, provided commerce be ranked paramount, and art subordinate.

The goods'-station and tunnel illustrate commerce in a somewhat rougher point of view than the more polished passenger-station. At Wapping are most extensive warehouses for the deposit of goods, which have either been brought from Manchester or other inland parts for shipment, or have been unshipped from the docks. Beneath these warehouses the lower end of the tunnel commences; and, by an admirable arrangement, the railway-wagons are laden and unladen with great facility and quickness. The tunnel then commences. It proceeds, for about one-sixth part of a mile, on a level, and then ascends, for upwards of a mile, at a uniform gradient of one in forty-eight, to the vast excavated area at Edge-hill, where both the tunnels meet. The amount of goods that passes through this tunnel must be enormous. Since the amalgamation of the Liverpool and Manchester with other companies, the accounts have not been published separately; but in 1844, when the company was yet independent, the receipts from goods' traffic, on this line of only thirty miles' length (and a few short branches), amounted to nearly a hundred and twenty thousand pounds. Still farther works are in process. A new goods' station near the New North Docks, connected by

a new tunnel with Edge-hill, is now in course of construction.

As engineering boldness has not yet been so daring as to propose to span the Mersey with a railway opposite Liverpool (although eight years ago several eminent engineers were disposed to favour the idea of a tunnel under the Mersey), as the existing stations well accommodate the central, eastern, and southern parts of the town; and as the stations for the Bury and Preston Companies will accommodate the northern, it does not seem probable that Liverpool will have many more railway stations. The capital of her merchants has already done wonders in this respect, and has been well laid out.

It is wonderful to see how, in the midst of this enormous railway traffic, the canals manage to keep up a trade. Yet they do so. The Liverpool and Leeds Canal, and the water communication with Manchester and with the centre of England, still carry their thousands upon thousands of tons of goods. The more carrying machinery there is, the more there seems to be to carry. A railway in great part creates that which is to feed it.

Here we pause for a while. Liverpool has a mass of buildings and institutions that call for notice; but the commercial structures and associations have proved quite enough for the present sheet. These being disposed of, we shall be prepared for a glance at the social features of the town generally.