the restrictions upon the unimpeded exercise of their sovereignty will be easily, as they may be safely, removed. It is peculiar, we believe, to the democratic form of government, that the difficulty of innovation will always be very nearly proportioned to its danger, so that few political changes can ever long precede or long follow the necessities that call for them. Of the administration of justice in Colombia, Colonel Hall is unable to give a favorable account. The evil arises, as he thinks, from the nature of the civil and criminal codes. We are inclined to ascribe it rather to the want of a well organized judiciary, a defect for which the central system seems better calculated than the federal, to provide a sufficient remedy. Colonel Hall's observations on the commerce and revenue of Colombia are particularly interesting. The iniquitous restrictions imposed upon trade by the vile policy of Spain, are, many of them, removed; but the prejudices of the old exclusionists are still visible in almost every part of their commercial and financial operations. Tobacco, for instance, is a government monopoly, and the foreign article is prohibited altogether. The consequence of this absurd measure is such as might be expected; foreign tobacco is smuggled in, and less revenue is derived from the monopoly than would have been obtained from a moderate importation-tax. The difficulties which retard the increase of the commerce of Colombia are resolved by Colonel Hall into the following five: want of population-want of industry-want of capital-want of knowledge--and want of internal communications. This, it must be confessed, is sufficiently comprehensive, and is enough to account for a far greater deficiency of mercantile prosperity. We recommend the attentive perusal of the following very sensible remarks to a certain set of restrictionists not yet extinct in North America; and we intreat them to reflect for a moment on the serious check which the prosperity of this country must receive, if the pernicious doctrines they have endeavored to disseminate are acted on in South America to the extent they have recommended as expedient at home. The Want of Knowledge, says Colonel Hall, has a pernicious opera tion "by producing injurious political regulations. There can be no doubt of the good intentions of the Government with respect to commerce, and yet the worst enemies of the country could scarcely have devised worse methods to improve it. The beacon light which of all others should direct the political career of Colombia, is that of FREEDOM, UNLIMITED FREEDOM OF COMMERCE with all NATIONS; and yet so diffi cult is it to get rid of narrow views and obsolete prejudices, that almost every new commercial regulation has been in hostility with this fundamental principle. During the last year, the Vice-President, urged on most probably by the Creole merchants, issued a decree prohibiting foreigners from trading in the country on their own account, and compelling them to consign themselves to the natives. This is worthy of the worst times of the Spanish government, especially when it is remembered, that it is to freign merchants and to foreign arms Colombia is at this moment indebted for political existence." "I believe, on this occasion, the Congress saw the folly of the measure, and it never passed into a law; in the interim, its bad effects were counteracted, as those of many bad Spanish laws have been counteracted in the colonies, namely, by eluding them; leaving to the government the disgrace consequent on an unwise measure, and the ridicule attendant on an ineffectual one." "With the same good sense all kinds of distilled foreign spirits have been prohibited, to encourage the manufacture and consumption of the vile trash called Aguardiente, or brandy of the country. Now, besides the unanswerable objection of taxing the whole population for the advantage of a particular class, this prohibition, could it be carried into effect, would be doubly foolish. Of all Colombian produce, sugar-cane with distilleries, is the least adapted to her present condition; it requires more labor, machinery, and capital, than either coffee, cocoa, or cotton, and is much less valuable, although sufficiently advantageous under favorable circumstances. To divert a portion of the small capital already employed from more advantageous branches of culture, and transfer it to one which can only be rendered equally profitable at the expense of the native consumer, is the acmé of political folly; or if it be said that the intention is to favor capital already embarked, the motive is equally ridiculous, since it is much more reasonable that capital ill-employed should be transferred to more lucrative speculations, than that the community should be taxed to support its disadvantageous application." "The last example I shall quote of this insane species of legislation is a recent law prohibiting the introduction of every species of Spanish produce. This measure, of course, was intended to distress the Spaniards, while nobody seems to have considered that the real evil would be inflicted on the Colombian agricultural interest. Of the 140,000 fanegas of cocoa grown in Caracas, according to the estimate p. 28, Spain was a customer for 100,000.” Colonel Hall then enters into the well-known demonstration (which we omit as too familiar to our readers) of the pernicious operation of such a silly prohibition. "The origin of all these errors," Colonel Hall then continues, "making allowance for political feelings in the case of Spain, appears to lie in the mistake of considering the venders of the prohibited articles in question, in the light only of sellers, without considering, that in order to be sellers, they must, directly or indirectly, be buyers also. The government might be desirous, that in the present situation of its finances, the commodities raised in Colombia should be all exchanged for the precious metals; this, however, is clearly impossible: the precious metals can only be augmented by increase of trade, capital, and population; and these must be the results, not of a prohibiting, but of a liberal commercial system; in a word, of FREE TRADE WITH ALL THE WORLD." Colonel Hall's remarks on the state of the fine arts in Co lombia are judicious, and appear to be impartial. We are far from considering the imperfect state of the ornamental arts in a new country as a subject of reproach. On the contrary, we regard it as the duty of a young country, [by this we mean a large and fertile territory, with a scanty but civilized population,] to defer the cultivation of these expensive luxuries until they have increased their numbers to the limits of a comfortable subsistence, by a diligent provision and industrious accumulation of the necessaries of life. In consequence of the frequency of earthquakes, the study of architecture has not received that attention in Colombia that might be expected in a Catholic country. "Painting is said to be cultivated with some success in Quito; and Bogota boasts the native genius of Vasquez, whose portraits certainly have merit, but the difficulties with which this, like every other liberal art, had to struggle beneath the Spanish yoke, may be estimated by the following anecdote: A painter in Bogota, of the name of Antonio Garcia, had two paintings from which he used to study-a Hercules spinning by the side of Omphale, and of Endymion sleeping on the breast of Diana: the Commissary of the Inquisition was informed of the circumstance, and on the ground tha the pictures were indecent, searched his cabinet, and had them cut in pieces, which the owner was allowed to keep. Few nations are more generally gifted with musical talent than the inhabitants of Venezuela: before the revolution Music was studied as a science with great success in Caracas, and it is no trifling instance of the spirit which has characterized the war, that Boves, the Robespierre of Colombia, should have felt pleasure in sacrificing the professors and amateurs of this amiable art, which tyranny itself has frequently respected. The talent still survives, though from the difficulty of procuring masters, as well as from other circumstances growing out of political changes and domestic distress, it may rather be said to scatter its sweetness wildly on its native air, than to be a subject of scientific study or professional cultivation." In Bogotá, and in several of the principal towns, schools have been established on the Lancastrian plan;* the colleges and universities are reforming their course of studies, and accommodating their instruction to the general progress of science and philosophy.† Professorships of Mineralogy and Natural History have been recently established, and are filled by several French gentlemen engaged for the purpose by Mr. Zea. *By a Government Decree, dated the 15th of April, 1823, (not a very republican measure by the way,) a new college was established in Valencia, consisting of a preparatory school and two professorships, to be supported by funds derived from the convents suppressed in Valencia. Before the revolution (and the prejudice has not altogether subsided,) the whole circle of human knowledge, according to Dr. Sanchez Caraquia, was supposed to be comprised in the Latin Grammar of Nebrija, in the philosophy of Aristotle, the Institutes of Justinian, the Curia Philippica, and the theological treatises of Gouet and Larraga. The rest of this interesting little volume consists of a general exposé of the natural advantages of emigration to Colombia; a fair representation of the liberal disposition of the government towards settlers; a description of the preparations necessary for emigration; a recommendation of the most suitable places, and a candid statement of the difficulties and disadvantages arising from the difference of language, customs and religion, as well as from the diseases peculiar to the climate. As information on these points can scarcely be interesting to the American emigrant, and was doubtless intended by the author for the benefit of his own countrymen, we shall make no further extracts, but refer those who are curious on these subjects, to the concise but comprehensive account of them given by Colonel Hall. Our relations with the Southern Republics, are every day growing more and more important. Under the benign operation of the representative principle, the agricultural and manufacturing interest of Mexico, Buenos Ayres and Colombia, will be rapidly, powerfully, and extensively developed. This increase of capital and wealth will enable the South Americans to extend from year to year their importations of our merchandize and produce; and the beneficial influence of this mutual interchange of commodities will no doubt be soon visible in every part of the North American and South American States, unless, indeed, the baneful doctrines of narrow-minded restrictionists interfere, as they have done already so often and so fatally, to check the rapid progress of free states to prosperity and opulence; a progress which, cæteris paribus, is always proportioned to the liberality of their commercial regulations. For this reason we sincerely regret that the bill reported at the last session, for introducing the English ware-house system into this country was not permitted to be acted upon by the House. In this, as in many other instances, we are very far surpassed by that great commercial power, of whose wealth we are so ridiculously jealous, and whose success we are preposterously endeavoring to equal, not by studying the true sources of her power and her prosperity, but by aping, with dull and silly mimicry, the miserable errors which have made her advancement incalculably less than it might have been under a better system of economical administration. ODE FOR THE BIRTH DAY OF WASHINGTON. I. In the extremest East when Time began, And God's own image walked sublime on earth, Rose at the Eternal's voice, had Freedom birth. With innocence, and high in conscious worth. II. The world was changed; a populous multitude, A horrid taint of crime and discord thrown: III. Then o'er the world a fearful darkness spread, Phantoms themselves had reared, but could not tame. They fashioned to themselves a mortal God- Bowed the submissive forehead to the sod, Worshipped the out-stretched arm, and kissed the scourging rod. IV. Girding himself, the Monster gathered round All evil ministers which Mischief hath; Gaunt War dashed onward like an unleashed hound- V. Three portions of the earth the might confessed Far in the wilds of the extremest west His sceptre could not reach, yet unprofaned. |