On the day preceding the departure of the Columbus and Vincennes from the bay of Yedo, the 28th July, a French ship of war, commanded by Admiral Cecille, entered the harbor of Nagasaki. It does not appear, however, that the admiral made any proposal for a trade or intercourse with the country, but merely requested a supply of water and provisions.

As to the idea of forcing Japan to alter her laws or policy for our benefit, such a thing can find no sanction in an American Congress. Such an enterprise can never proceed from our shores. Every citizen of this country has that in his breast which repels, at once, such a suggestion. We are not ready, we shall never, as a nation, be ready for such villainy. But we consider it extremely doubtful if any nation in the world, except Great Britain, has the physical ability to accomplish it. If it should ever be done, it will be by that power. But it will be no Chinese, nor no Mexican war. Anything less than an armada of thirty of the heaviest and best ships of the navy of Great Britain or the United States, with 100,000 well-appointed troops, would do better to try its tactics and its metal on some other shores. The English may find it holiday work to overrun India and China, but when they put themselves in front of a Tartar with a sword better than their own and with death awaiting him behind if he suffers the invader to advance they will find every inch of ground they measure with their feet on Japanese soil, will be well paid for. Russia and France are too far distant for such an attempt. England has an advantage from her neighboring possessions in India, where her ships may be refitted and her armies recruited. It is true the Japanese musketeer is not equal to the infantry soldier of England. His musket is a matchlock, and his infantry tactics may be very inferior. But he has cannon, and makes his own powder; he has a horse, and knows well its use; he has arrows, and knows how to point them; and a pike, which, if not so good as the opposing metal, will, in some cases, be found "available."

There seems even less chance by direct negotiation or solicitation. The Japanese despise trade and traders. The private soldier holds a grade above the richest merchant. Their own country supplies all their wants, or nearly, and their limited trade with China and the Dutch leaves them nothing to want for convenience or luxury. Commerce is not needed for government revenue. The princes are obliged to support the army, each one his quota of troops. There is no civil list, as with us, swallowing millions of revenue. And whatever is required for the support of the emperor and his court is easily made up by the feudal contributions, or by tithes, taxes, and levies upon the people. All connected with the government, therefore, have no interest in promoting foreign Commerce, and the four higher classes look upon all persons concerned in trade as inferior, and in a degree degraded. The extreme jealousy of this people has been spurred by the English war upon China, and it may be supposed they would be, since that event, more convinced of the safety and necessity of their policy, and more determined rigorously to maintain it.

Commerce must open its own way to Japan. Let our steamers stop at Nagasaki regularly for coal, let all our ships, which can do so, put into that port for refreshments, let them be acquainted with our character; and if they find it good, if our men are guilty of no wrong there, in a course of years they may relax their policy so far as to admit some one article of ours, or give us such license as the Dutch; and so, gradually and easily, Commerce may work its own way to a more extended trade.

The trade with Japan does not promise great results. The Dutch factory found it rather a losing business, and were glad to give up the largest part of it to the government. But if it were gold in exchange for iron, weight for weight, our government will not take it by robbery.

Art. II.--COMMERCE OF THE UNITED STATES.

NO. IV.

RALEIGH'S CHARTER AND EXPEDITIONS-AMIDOS AND BARLOW, GRENVILLE, ETC.-EVENTS TO 1600 -REVIEW OF ACHIEVEMENTS WITHIN THE UNITED STATES UP TO 1600-DITTO IN THE REST OF AMERICA-CAUSES OF NEGLECT OF THE UNITED STATES-GROSNOLD'S VOYAGE, TRADE AND FISHERY AT NEW ENGLAND-PRING-GILBERT-DE MONTS-WEYMOUTH-NORTH AND SOUTH VIRGINIA COMPANIES-COMMERCIAL FEATURES OF THEIR CHARTERS-SETTLEMENTS-TRADE, FISHERY, ETC.-DUTCH TRADING STATIONS AT HUDSON RIVER-TOBACCO-JAMES's REGULATIONS THEREON -VIRGINIA SLAVE TRADE-SMITH'S TRADING AND FISHING VOYAGE TO NEW ENGLAND-PLYMOUTH COUNCIL, ETC.

GILBERT, failing in his efforts to colonize America, and perishing in his second expedition, in 1583, RALEIGH, the next year, renewed the patent for six years longer. This instrument gave him the right of exclusive trade and unlimited powers as lord proprietor, over all heathen lands which he should find between the 33d and 40th degrees of north latitude. The right of visit, however, was reserved to vessels overtaken by stress of weather, or those of the kingdom engaged in the Newfoundland fisheries, a business in which English vessels had been engaged for near seventy years, and the French for ten or fifteen years longer. One-fifth of the gold and silver that might be found, was stipulated also, as in most of the patents subsequently granted, as the property of the crown.

Under this charter, Raleigh commenced that series of efforts for colonizing the new world, which, pursued with a perseverance worthy of a better fortune, have, notwithstanding their utter failure, connected his name forever with the history of its leading nation. The same year, Capts. Amidos and Barlow were dispatched, with two small vessels, on an expedition, chiefly of exploration. Reaching the coast of North Carolina by way of the Canaries and West Indies, they opened a trade with the Indians, exchanging iron and other metals, of which the Indians had none except a little copper, and which they were very eager to obtain, for furs and skins, principally. For a tin dish, twenty skins, and for a copper kettle, fifty skins were obtained. Each skin was worth about a noble. Several weeks were spent in traffic, along the coast of North Carolina, at Pamlico Sound and other parts, and in September they returned to England, having made a very profitable voyage, and, as would be expected under the circumstances, setting forth the virtues of the country, in their report, in glowing terms. It is hard for people to be in ill humor with that which is the occasion of profit to them. To the merchants of England goodly promise was held out in the abundance of valuable peltry, of which there was but a very insufficient supply in Europe, and moreover in the unbounded wealth of the soil, "the most plentiful, sweete, fruitfull, and wholesome of all the worlde;" in the "above fourteene severall sweete smelling timber trees," needed by England for constructing her ships; in the growth of "sassaphras and divers other medic

inable hearbes and trees," then deemed of the highest account in physic; in the luxuriance of the vine, furnishing the Indians with wine which they could have drank through the whole year, but for want of casks to keep it in winter. Even the precious spices and drugs, were promised to enrich their trade, the water drank by the Indians on the failure of wine being "sodden with ginger in it, and black sinamon" as well as different herbs. All these were to be obtained so cheaply, too—and to encourage further this profitable intercourse, the natives were represented as "most gentle, loving, and faithfull, voide of all guile, and such as live after the manner of the golden age."

Enthusiasm rose at once to a high pitch, and Raleigh was easily enabled to fit out his second expedition in 1585, of seven vessels and 108 emigrants for permanent colonization. Sir Richard Grenville, the naval head of the enterprise, followed Amidos and Barlow in the West India route, the object in taking that course, being with those and others after them, not as has been stated, that they feared to attempt a more direct course, but to make captures of the richly laden ships, bound homeward to Spain from her colonial possessions. Roanoke Island, at which the former adventurers had traded, was reached, some barter carried on, a settlement formed on the Island, and the search for gold commenced, arrangements being made with the Indians to provide them with regular supplies of food, at regular stations on the journey inward. The Indians failed of their contract, and the explorers were obliged to eat dog-flesh on the way back.

England had, at this time, four objects of interest in America, to each of which her attention was strongly directed, all having a commercial reference, and all (except two) directed to different points, viz:-1. The Newfoundland fishery, the oldest of these objects, which had grown up very fast since Gilbert's first voyage, and which the English now attempted, ineffectually, to make exclusive, capturing several vessels of other nations loading there with fish and furs, in 1585. To encourage this fishery and also shipbuilding, as well as to multiply seamen, a statute enforced by heavy penalties the rigid observation of church regulations, forbidding flesh on one hundred and fiftythree days in the year. 2. A northwest passage to China and India, for the discovery of which a company existed in London, which sent out Capt. John Davis, in 1585, who entered the straits on the west side of Greenland, which still bear his name. By this route, of the existence of which no doubt was felt, it was hoped to rival Portugal in the trade of the East, if not to monopolize it altogether. 3. And at present, the leading object, the plunder of the rich Commerce of Spain with her American colonies. Sir Francis Drake, to whose care this branch of the English interest in America was, at this time, mainly confided, took St. Augustine, Florida, in 1585, extorted a heavy ransom from Carthagena, in New Grenada, and sacked and pillaged St. Domingo, acquiring a booty, in all, of £600,000 during the year, a much more profitable result than seeking wealth in Virginia. 4. And last, colonization, which completely failed in 1585, the famished settlers of Virginia going back to England with Drake, who chanced to visit them on his return from his marauding expedition. The first and third of these were considered paying enterprises-the second and fourth had been only, except as to some incidental benefits, losing attempts.

But Raleigh was not yet discouraged. In 1587, (while Davis was on his third northwestern voyage,) he dispatched another expedition of three ships with 150 emigrants. This colony was destroyed the next year, by starvation

or by the Indians, a result due to the ambition or cupidity of their governor, John White, who being sent with supplies to them, could not avoid the temptation of cruising among the West Indies for Spanish ships, which he found, but so much to his own disadvantage that he returned to England, and left the colony to its fate, the arrival of the Invincible Armada engaging then all attention in England.*

In 1589, Raleigh disposed of his patent to a company of London merchants, without any condition but that they should establish and maintain trade between England and America, and if gold and silver were found, that he should receive a share. He had expended over £40,000, nearly all his fortune, upon his projects, and Virginia was without an English inhabitant. The new company made very little effort, attempting no new colony, and the charter being near expiring, soon gave up all thought of their American domain.

To show how the thoughts of English adventurers and merchants were engaged during the rest of the century, and the first years of the next, we will briefly mention the leading enterprises of the period in question. In 1591, the Turkey company was formed, mainly for trade to the Levant, sending three ships, however, to India, in their first year, and three more in 1596. Meanwhile public and private expeditions ravaged the coast of Brazil and Spanish America, among the leaders of which were Cavendish and Sir James Lancaster. In 1594, the English took 39 Spanish ships engaged in the American trade; at Pernambuco, alone, Lancaster took 15 ships, loaded from the merchandise of an East India carrack wrecked there, and with sugar, cotton, and Brazil wood. Such enterprises were more profitable than fruitless efforts at colonization and the building up of legitimate Commerce in America, and suppressed any remaining inclination, if there were any, toward these once favorite projects. The same year Bareutz was sent from England for the discovery of the northwest passage. In 1595, Raleigh sailed up the Orinoco, in search of the fabulous kingdom of El Dorado. In 1596-7, the Spaniards and English were exploring the western coast of America northwardly, Sir Francis Drake reaching as high as 48° north. In 1598, the French established a small fishing colony at Sable Island, 90 miles S. E. from Nova Scotia, consisting of but 40 men, which lasted seven years. In 1598, it is asserted, that persons in the employ of a Dutch Greenland company, selected the site of the city of New York as a convenient place for passing the winter months. The same year the English whale fishery at Greenland commenced.

At the year 1600 the region of America comprising the territory of the United States contained but a single settlement. Except for the little Spanish colony at St. Augustine, it was as entirely unoccupied by Europeans as in the year 1500. For a whole century the resources which it possessed for the establishment of a vast Commerce, and for the nourishment of colonies into mighty empires, were offered in vain. All the achievement effected consisted of this-Cabot for the English, and Venezzani for the French, had explored most of the Atlantic coast; the Spaniards had completed the survey from Carolina southwardly, and had traced the whole Gulf shore; Nar

The grand Armada sent by Spain against England, in 1588, consisted of 130 ships, of which 100 were larger than any before built, canyng 29,795 men, beside 34,000 in flat boats-64,000 in all. According to Raleigh, the English had, in 1568, 150 sail of merchant ships, of 150 tons average22,500 tons, carrying 6,000 men, 40 to a ship, showing that they were used chiefly at that time as privateers. The Queen's navy consisted of 40 ships of her own, and 110 hired of her subjects, carrying 24,100 men.

vaez and De Soto had made fruitless attempts at conquest-or rather had searched vainly for gold mines in the Southern States; D'Ayllon had carried a cargo of slaves from South Carolina to Hayti: the Huguenots had made ineffectual efforts to colonize South Carolina and Florida, the Spaniards replacing them in the latter; and Raleigh's efforts in North Carolina had resulted only in leaving the bones of some Europeans to bleach on its soil. Connected with all these efforts had been a traffic with the Indians for furs and skins, or fish, game, and corn, which had given some profit to European merchants; and in four cases vessels had been built on the shores of the United States and launched in its waters, but only to escape from a country deemed so inhospitable.

The success attending efforts made during this time in other parts of the continent, affords a remarkable contrast to the results in this quarter. The Spaniards were in the enjoyment of a vast colonial empire in America. Cuba, when but eight years settled, was able to undertake and complete the great object of the conquest of such a kingdom as Mexico, while yet colonizing also other places around. She had now a population of about 20,000 whites. Hayti, Jamaica, Porto Rico, and other of the larger West India Islands, had been vigorously colonized, and furnished large exports of gold, sugar-cane, tobacco, to Spain, receiving in return a great amount of Spanish manufactures and produce. On the continent, Mexico, a province of noble dimensions, was populating with astonishing rapidity. The capital city contained at this time not less than 50,000 Spaniards, beside as many as 200,000 Indians. Such was the splendid metropolis of Spain's American empire. It had been about fourscore years occupied by Spaniards, and was of more than seven times the white population of any English city founded in America during the last century, at that age. Mexico held commercial intercourse with the West Indies and Spain, on the Atlantic, and with the East Indies by the Pacific. It appears that many years before this time the Viceroy of Mexico actually contemplated the conquest of China.* Guatemala, New Granada, Venezuela, Quito, Buenos Ayres, Brazil, (now held by Spain, in virtue of her dominion over Portugal,) Paraguay, and Chili, were all respectable provinces, while Peru, though behind Mexico in population, excelled her in wealth. The line of Spanish settlements extended along the coast, on the Atlantic, from Florida to the River La Plata, and on the Pacific from Acapulco to Patagonia. There were several hundred thousand Spaniards in America, and Spain had drawn thence, in the precious metals alone, an average of $3,000,000, from 1500 to 1545, and of $11,000,000 from 1545 to 1600f-in all not less than $740,000,000, the effect of which had been to augment the amount in circulation in Europe to about five times the quantity in existence there in 1500. Beside sugar-cane, &c., Brazil wood (for dyeing) had become an important article of export, and the potato, from America, had been spread over the south of Europe, and was advancing into Germany and England.

It was not for want of ability that other nations of Europe (excepting Portugal) had effected nothing in America, beyond the resort of one or two of them to the fishing grounds at Newfoundland and Greenland, while Spain has accomplished results so splendid. The Dutch, according to Sir Walter Raleigh, had, at 1600, as many vessels as any other eleven nations of Europe, building about 1,000 tons yearly. But the fisheries of the British seas, and

* Murray's Discoveries in Asia, vol. iii. VOL. XXX.-NO. I.

4

+ Humboldt.