tainly be the passage-way for commerce between the great plain and the Pacific coasts, north of its own latitude. A ship canal may some day be made across the isthmus, at some other point, connecting the two oceans by way of the Caribbean Sea. This would not lessen the importance, to the great plain, of the commerce with the Pacific. It would give it another and better channel, in addition to the Tehuantepec railway. How extensive this Pacific commerce is destined to become, few will be sanguine enough to fully appreciate. The productions of commerce are being multiplied among civilized nations, in a geometrical ratio: correspondingly rapid will be the increase of people and their products, in the central plain. The opening of China, Japan, and eastern Russia, to the commerce of the world, promises the inauguration of a new era in commercial developments, which can hardly fail to be felt with peculiar force on the isthmus transit, and through it upon the great plain. We will not, here, put down the numbers inhabiting the populous shores of eastern Asia, or the less populous coasts of western North America. Suffice it to say, that they amount to about half of all the inhabitants of the earth, and embrace a large portion of its industry and skill. Any one, not already familiar with the numbers and resources of these countries, can easily satisfy himself of their great and growing importance. That the bulk of this commerce will pass the isthmus, instead of taking a railroad across the broad continent, by way of San Francisco or other Pacific ports, there seems to us little room for doubt. We have no faith in the construction of such a road during the next twenty years; and when it is built, we think it will fail to draw away from the isthmus and Mississippi route, any large proportion of the tonnage passing between the Pacific coasts and our great valley. We could dwell with pleasure on the ease with which the productions of the gulf borders, rich in all the vegetable productions which a trepic sun brings forth from the teeming soil, can be exchanged for the multiplied products of industry brought forth in a colder climate from the soil and the workshop, prepared by the hand of industry and skill in the hundred cities of the plain; and the facility of intercourse, by which the people of different climes may interchange hospitalities and mingle interests and sympathies; escaping tropic heats, and enjoying the invigorating breezes of the lakes in summer; and in winter, basking in the genial sun of the gulf

coasts.

To recur to the sources of emigration, by the aid of which the great plain is shortly to be well peopled. Emigrants from

France, Spain, and other countries bordering the Mediterranean will naturally enter the plain by the Mexican gulf; as will also a portion of those who embark at ports beyond the British channel. But the great body of emigrants, those who take ships at the ports of the United Kingdom, the North sea, and the Baltic, will enter the great plain by way of the St. Lawrence valley, the opening of which into the Atlantic, constitutes the natural gateway to the plain from the East. The advantages which the St. Lawrence channel offers for intercourse between the great marts of commerce of the world and the great plain, are manifest and commanding. It opens on the Atlantic, near the great track of navigation between North America and Europe, and penetrates, by its lake] expansions, into the heart of the continent; thus, in effect, extending ocean navigation almost to the centre of the great plain. By means of canals, all the great lakes have an unobstructed communication with the ocean for sea-going vessels of three hundred tons.

By an enlargement of these canals, now in progress and not long to be delayed, steam-vessels, of from eight to twelve hundred tons burden, will be enabled to pass between the great lakes and the Atlantic. Thus, will the line of great lakes. become an extension of the ccean, for all purposes of commerce. Bordering these lakes, are the most populous and flourishing States of our Republic and the not less flourishing province of Canada. New-York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Minnesota, contain a population of over twelve millions, of whom at least six millions use the lakes as their chief channel of commerce. The British provinces, to wit, the Canadas, New Brunswick, NovaScotia, &c., have a present population of three millions, inhabiting the northern shores of the lakes and both shores of the St. Lawrence river and gulf. Here, then, are a people, hardy, industrious, enterprising, and intelligent, numbering nine millions, a great portion of whom have recently established their homes on and near these fertile shores; whose industry, already, according to the highest official authorities, has created a commerce, the annual value of which has reached six hundred millions, and whose increase in numbers, from year to year, may be reasonably reckoned at over five per cent., and whose progress in wealth will give a duplication, in periods not exceeding ten years. The shore line of this great mediterranean group of seas, according to Col. Abert, measures over six thousand miles. The shores of the St. Lawrence river and gulf, forming a part of this immense system of inland waters, measure more than three thousand

miles. Here are over nine thousand miles of shore accessible to the shipping of the whole maritime world; and, opening by an immense mouth toward Great Britain, into and near which the chief commerce of Europe centres. It especially invites the commerce of Europe north of Spain, and all northeastern America. Into this region, so well appreciated and so inviting to the hardy people of northern and middle Europe, the great tidal wave of colonization is pouring, in numbers, annually counting by hundreds of thousands. The States, territories, and colonies, which have their chief commercial intercourse through these lakes, embracing a considerable portion of the upper Mississippi valley, are the favorite locations. for the main body of these colonists.

We have spoken of the two great channels of communication opening the North American Valley to the rest of the world: that, by the mouth of the Mississippi, to the tropical regions of the Gulf and adjacent waters, and across the isthmus, to the great commerce of the Pacific ocean; and that by the St. Lawrence system of waters to the shores of Europe and of all other countries bordering the Atlantic, through all its climates, keeping out of view other channels, which to some extent compete with these great natural gateways. Mobile and Galveston bays, in some degree participate in the exchange commerce between the Atlantic waters and the great plain; and, by means of steam on rivers and railways, will probably preserve such share as to keep a wholesome competition sufficient to prevent the evils of monopoly.

The St. Lawrence gateway has a more powerful rival, in New-York bay. The Appalachian chain of mountains, the natural barrier between the great plain and the Atlantic border, is severed where the Hudson and Mohawk rivers have their passage way, and where Lake Champlain occupies the low valley between the Adirondack and Green mountains; so that New-York bay and the great lakes, Ontario and Erie and Lake Champlain, can hold commercial intercourse, unimpeded by mountains, and greatly facilitated by the Hudson and Mohawk rivers and by Lake Champlain. Along the valleys of the Mohawk and Lake Champlain, and connected with the navigable waters of the Hudson, are canals and railroads, which have diverted from the main channel, by the mouth of the St. Lawrence, the largest portion of the commerce of the great lake region with the old States of our Union and with Europe. A contest is in progress between the Canadian government, backed by the mother-country, on one side, and the State of New-York on the other side, for supremacy in

this already immense commerce. By means of canals and locks around the falls of St. Mary's, Niagara, and St. Lawrence rivers the governments of the Canadas and the State of Michigan have furnished a clear water-way for vessels of moderate tonnage, between all the great lakes, including Lake Superior and the Atlantic waters; so that a growing direct commerce has recently sprung up at several of the lake cities with ports in Europe, the West Indies, and South America. As before remarked, this channel is to be improved by the enlargement of canals and locks, so as to pass large steampropelling ships, between lake and ocean. On the other hand, the State of New-York has nearly finished the enlargement of her canals, by which boats of 250 tons will pass directly. between lakes Erie, Ontario, and Champlain, and the ocean harbor of New-York. To enhance the value of these canals, steam is being applied, with apparent success, to the propulsion of the vessels which navigate them. The diversion from the natural channel-the St. Lawrence river-which NewYork, in the infancy of the lake country settlements, accomplished by the opening of her small canals to the lakes, in 1825, has had the principal agency in swelling the importance of that metropolis, and increasing her population from 140,000 to about one million, including her dependent suburbs. To what extent a direct trade between ocean and lakes will prove advantageous through the present channels, it requires more experience to prove. One firm has advertised for twentyfive vessels to be chartered, for cargoes, from lake ports to ports on the Atlantic, the present season. Success may ultimately depend on the use of improved motors, whether of steam or something else, in water transport, and also on the fitness of the channels provided by the rival powers.

A ship canal, to connect the navigable waters of the Hudson with the St. Lawrence, near Montreal, using Lake Champlain, as far as it goes, is entirely feasible, at a cost, according to the size of the canal and locks, of from ten to twenty millions. It would be equally feasible, though much more costly, to enlarge, to ship-canal size, the canal from Oswego to Albany. With either of these channels open to such vessels as are best adapted to navigate the lakes and enter the harbors of their cities, New-York might still retain the greatest share of the lake commerce with the outer world. Owing to the difficulty of keeping open, to a greater depth than twelve feet, the harbors and channels of the lakes, it does not seem likely that vessels of greater draught than twelve feet will be constructed. What new models may be contrived, adapted alike to lake and

ocean navigation, to carry the maximum of freight with the use of the minimum of power, and what new contrivances of propulsion may come into use, no one can foresee. It is certain that improvement, in water transport, has not arrived at its culminating point. On the contrary, it seems to us that, among the most rational anticipations of future progress, the cheapening of water transport, by new inventions and new applications of old inventions and machinery, is to be unhesitatingly acknowledged. Until inan has accomplished the feat of so using the powers of nature and art, as to attain for his vessels the swiftness through the water of the most rapidly moving fish, he will not have reached the extreme limit of the possible; and we look with confidence to the coming age for great progress in navigation, toward this limit.

It may not be amiss, before closing this article, to ask attention to another route, chiefly by water, which the northern portion of the plain may, at some future time, use extensively for its exterior commerce. We refer to the route by way of Lake Winnipeg, the Saskatchewan river, Rocky mountain pass, and Fraser, or Columbia river to its mouth; and, in another direction, from Lake Winnipeg and Nelson river to Hudson Bay.

If this article had not already been sufficiently extended, we would compare the merits of the principal railroad routes, between the great plain and the cities through which is transacted its foreign and coast commerce.

Our silence respecting railroads as instruments of commerce, must not be construed as a lack of appreciation of these invaluable instrumentalities. For the carrying of people and merchandise requiring rapid movement, our canals, lakes, and rivers do not compete, nor are they likely to compete with them. But as they are still the fashion, as they have lately been the rage of our time, railways need no invitation to the public, to canvass or appreciate their merits.

The interchange of productions of the different climates, and the various industries of the great plain, within itself, is a subject worthy a distinct treatment, in an article specially devoted to its present condition and prospective development.

J. W. S.