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house, as they themselves informed me, to signify that they did not cheat, lie, or steal, but dealt like honest people. I felt proud of his manner of speech: Madame, nous avons adopte la maniere Anglaise; nous vendons au prix juste, nous ne surfaisons pas, et nous ne changeons pas nos prix,' so that to deal in the English fashion is synonymous to dealing justly. It pleases me greatly, and it is true; for, in France, too, they have abandoned the abominable system of prices for the English; and it delights me to think that integrity, justice, truth, cleanliness, and comfort, follow in the footsteps of my own people wherever their wandering spirit leads them through the world. It is very fit and just that they should bring such compensations to the foreign people, among whom they so often introduce, also, habits of luxury, of ostentation, and that basest habit of bartering for money the common courtesies and amenities of life, the civilities and the serviceableness which are priceless, which the continental people have, and our own have not, and which we should have learnt to imitate rather than taught them to sell. I may as well mention here, that I have found Nataletti's shop the best in Rome, in every respect. In one morning's shopping, the other day, we had two or three curious instances of the shopkeeping morality here going into Gagiati's, in the Corso, the great omnium gatherum, or, as the Americans would call it, variety store, they first attempted to cheat my sister upon the change due to her for some gold she gave them; I was looking at some fans which were being shown to an Italian purchaser at the same time; I had taken up one, which the shopman told me was worth eighteen scudi; the Roman buyer took up another, which had been shown me at the same price, and with sundry nods and becks and wreathed smiles' at the shopkeeper, said, in an under tone, Dunque quindici?' the latter nodded, returned the significant pantomime, and adding, Eh! capite.' I capited too, and, perceiving that I was attentively observing what was going on, the salesman took the fan I had in my hand, and without uttering a syllable, said, Ebbene, Signora, seidici scudi ;' 'but,' said I, ‘a moment ago, you told me the price was eighteen.' 'Oh!' exclaimed he, with the most dauntless impudence, 'se piace a lei di pagar dieci otto va bene e padrona.' I was so utterly disgusted, that I laid the commodity down without another word. Further on, we bought some tin pails and water-buckets for our bed-rooms in the country. At one shop, I was made to pay nearly three scudi for that which my sister purchased immediately after for a scudo and a half a little distance further on, and she no doubt paid, as an Englishwoman, much more than the goods were worth. We then proceeded to a perfumer's for some hair pomatum-we had already repeatedly purchased the same thing at the same place. On this occasion, however, we were charged an additional paul upon each small article, and upon remonstrating, and stating that we had repeatedly bought the same thing at the same place, and always paid such a sum for it, the shopman replied, 'Yes, that was true, but now they had altered the price; a sort of ad libitum mode of dealing, which may be pleasant and mournful to the souls of the venders, but is mournful alone to those who buy. Of truth, and its inviolable sacredness, the Italians generally seem to have as little perception as the French; and dishonesty and falsehood are so little matters of shame, that detection in either of them only excites a shrug and a grin on the part of the offender."

·

THE BABY TRADE OF LONDON.

We notice, in a late London paper, as one of the curiosities of commerce, that the baby trade has been opened in London, as will be seen by the following advertisement:

"To Ladies without children, and others. A very promising and genteel little boy, five years old, and without parents, requires a permanent home, where he would be educated and brought up with kindness and motherly affection. Address, with particulars of family, &c., to A. N., Post-office, Great Russell-st. Terms expected, about £10 10s.”

On this, the London Athenæum remarks:

"So the baby trade is to be opened! and following the law of competition we may look shortly to read of very promising little boys,' purchaseable at five pounds-girls for less, and twins, like family tickets,' on a reduced scale of prices. It has long been a fact well known in St. Giles', that the children of the mobility' were movable-could be hired for the day, as well as a sore-eye, or a lame-leg, or the properties of epilepsy! But the Huggins and Muggins market is now about to be invaded by the genteel'-and to judge from the extreme moderation of the terms, the operation' is intended to be extensive. There will be next, we apprehend, a joint-stock company for the sale and exchange of old people."

POETRY OF COMMERCE.

Iron forms the material of the sharpest needle and the strongest bar, the mechanism of the musical snuff-box, the delicate and glittering wheels and spindles that play within the most exquisite watch, and the crashing machinery of the steamship that drives the huge fabric through the ocean. It provides for war its most formidable weapons, for peace its most valuable implements; and may be considered a fruitful source of domestic comfort and political strength, the grand Archimedian lever of nations.--[MER. MAG.]

IRON.*

BY MRS. SARAH J. HALE.

"Truth shall spring out of the earth.”—PSALMS lxxxv. 11.

As in lonely thought, I pondered
On the marv'lous things of earth,
And, in fancy's dreaming, wondered

At their beauty, power, and worth,
Came, like words of prayer, the feeling-
Oh that God would make me know,
Through the spirit's clear revealing-
What, of all his works below,
Is to man a boon the greatest,
Brightening on from age to age,
Serving truest, earliest, latest,
Through the world's long pilgrimage.

Soon vast mountains rose before me,
Shaggy, desolate, and lone,

Their scarred beads were threat'ning o'er me,
Their dark shadows round me thrown;
Then a voice, from out the mountains,
As an earthquake shook the ground,
And like frightened fawns the fountains,
Leaping, fed before the sound;
And the Anak oaks bowed lowly,
Quivering, aspen-like, with fear-
While the deep response came slowly,
Or it must have crushed mine ear!

"Iron! Iron! Iron!"-crashing,

Like the battle-axe and shield;
Or the sword on helmet clashing,
Through a bloody battle-field:
"Iron Iron Iron!"-rolling,

Like the far-off cannon's boom;
Or the death-knell, slowly tolling,
Through a dungeon's charnel gloom!
"Iron Iron! Iron !"-swinging,

Like the summer winds at play;
Or as bells of Time were ringing
In the blest Millennial Day!

Then the clouds of ancient fable
Cleared away before mine eyes;
Truth could tread a footing stable
O'er the gulf of mysteries!
Words, the prophet bards had uttered,
Signs, the oracle foretold,
Spells, the wierd-like Sybil muttered,
Through the twilight days of old,
Rightly read, beneath the splendor,
Shining now on history's page,
All their faithful witness render-
All portend a better age.

Sisyphus, forever toiling,

Was the type of toiling men,
While the stone of power, recoiling,
Crushed them back to earth again!
Stern Promethens, bound and bleeding,
Imaged man in mental chain,

While the vultures, on him feeding,
Were the passions' vengeful reign;
Still a ray of mercy tarried

On the cloud, a white-winged dove,
For this mystic faith had married
Vulcan to the Queen of Love!

Rugged strength and radiant beauty-
These were one in nature's plan;
Humble toil and heavenward duty-
These will form the perfect man!
Darkly was this doctrine taught us
By the gods of heathendom;
But the living light was brought us,
When the gospel morn had come !
How the glorious change, expected,
Could be wrought, was then made free;
Of the earthly, when perfected,
Rugged Iron forms the key!

"Truth from out the earth shall flourish,"
This the Word of God makes known,-
Thence are harvests men to nourish-
There let Iron's power be shown.
Of the swords, from slaughter gory,
Ploughshares forge to break the soil!-
Then will Mind attain its glory,

Then will Labor reap the spoil,-
Error cease the soul to wilder,

Crime be checked by simple good,

As the little coral builder

Forces back the furious flood.

While our faith in good grows stronger,
Means of greater good increase;
Iron, thundering war no longer,

Leads the onward march of peace;
Still new modes of service finding,
Ocean, earth, and air, it moves,
And the distant nations binding,
Like the kindred tie it proves;
With its Atlas-shoulder sharing

Loads of human toil and care,
On its wing of lightning bearing
Thought's swift mission through the air!

As the rivers, farthest flowing,

In the highest hills have birth;
As the banyan, broadest growing,
Oftenest bows its head to earth,-
So the noblest minds press onward,
Channels far of good to trace;

So the largest hearts bend downward,
Circling all the human race;
Thus, by Iron's aid, pursuing

Through the earth their plans of love,
Men our Father's will are doing
Here, as angels do above!

* Originally published in "Godey's Lady's Book," an excellent periodical, conducted with singular judgment and ability by the gifted author of this poem.

ENTERPRISE AND WEALTH OF JACQUES CŒUR,

THE FRENCH ARGONAUT.

The Life and Times of Jacques Cour, the French Argonaut, has recently been published in London. This work contains the only notice, we believe, in English, of the great French merchant and financier of the middle ages, during the reigns of Henry V. and VI., in England. The "London Examiner" thus states the leading facts in the life of Jacques Cœur:

"It was the money of Jacques Coeur which enabled the French to profit by the genius and enthusiasm of Joan of Arc; and it was his honest sympathy, and steady, manly counsel, which seems to have sustained the tender and brave heart of the noblest of royal mistresses, Agnes Sorel, in her efforts to save the king. On her death, she selected him for her executor. He had sprung from the people, and raised himself, by successful commercial enterprise, to a level with the princes of his age. He found French commerce behind that of every other nation, and left it prosperous and increasing. Direct and speedy communication with the East seems to have been his great idea. Modern Europe is still contending for it. He had at one time, in this employment, three hundred factors; and the rest of the merchants of France, with the whole of those of Italy, are not supposed to have equalled this one man in the extent of their commercial dealings. As rich as Jacques Cœur, became a proverb. It was even rumored and believed that he had found the philosopher's stone. And he proved worthy of his wealth by giving it noble uses. He raised three armies for Charles at his own cost; and he repaired and re-established, in his office of Argentier, the deranged finances of the kingdom. But his weakness seems to have lain in the direction of personal magnificence and splendor, and to this we may trace his fall. He did not allow sufficiently for the prejudices of his age, and at last armed them for his ruin. He is described to have far transcended, in his personal attendance and equipments, the chiefs of the most illustrious families of France; and when Charles made his triumphal entry into Rouen, the merchant, Jacques Cœur, was seen by the side of Dunois, with arms and tunic precisely the same as his. His destruction was planned by a party of the nobles, and an indictment of all sorts of crimes preferred against him; among them the charge of having poisoned Agnes Sorel. He narrowly escaped torture and death; and only this by confiscation of his treasures (which his judges divided among them) and perpetual banishment. The latter resolved itself ultimately into a sort of strict surveillance in a French convent, which he at last escaped by the fidelity of one of his agents, who had married his niece. He was again characteristically engaging in active pursuits, and beginning life anew as the Pope's captaingeneral, on the coast of Asia Minor, when illness seized him in the Island of Scio. He left, in his death, another example of the world's treatment of its greatest benefactors." From the memoir, we make a single extract in regard to the commercial enterprise of the great French merchant:

"In the course of twenty years, Jacques Coeur had more commercial power than all the rest of the merchants of the Mediterranean put together. Three hundred of his agents resided at the different ports, not only of Europe, but of the East, and in all the nations contiguous to France. Everywhere his vessels were respected, as though he had been a sovereign prince; they covered the seas wherever commerce was to be cultivated, and from farthest Asia, they brought back cloths of gold and silk, furs, arms, spices, and ingots of gold and silver, still swelling his mighty stores, and filling Europe with surprise at his adventurous daring, and his unparalleled perseverance. Like his great prototype, Cosmo de Medici, who, from a simple merchant, became a supreme ruler, Jacques Cœur, the Medicis of Bourges, became illustrious and wealthy, and sailed long in the favorable breezes of fortune, admired, envied, feared, and courted by all.

"His wealth gave rise to a proverb, long retained by the citizens of his native town: 'As rich as Jacques Cœur,' expressed all that could be conceived of prosperity and success. Popular tradition asserts that, so great was the profusion of the precious metals that he possessed, that his horses were shod with silver; a common reputation, even at the present day, enjoyed by persons of singular wealth. The adornment of Bourges, where he was born, was not one of the least projects of the great merchant; and having, with a large sum, purchased a considerable tract of land in the town, he began, in 1443, to build that magnificent mansion which still remains a noble relic of his taste and wealth."

LEATHER TRADE OF OHIO.

The following interesting remarks in relation to the product and export of leather from Ohio, are published in the Cincinnati Atlas, as an extract from a letter written by a merchant, in New York city, to our friend, Mr. George M. Young, firm of Messrs. Forbes & Young, commission and forwarding merchants, in Cincinnati. The facts and suggestions are worthy of consideration. Alluding to a rapid change which is taking place in the leather trade of our country, the writer says: "The shipments of leather from your State to this city, have become, within the last two years, quite important, and the trade in this article will undoubtedly increase. For the kind of leather made in your State, your facilities are very great-principally, in the cheapness of bark, and large number of your domestic hides. The bulk of your leather being light, and the tannin principle in your bark not being as strong as that of the bark nearer the seaboard, renders the Ohio leather the best article in the market, for finishing into the upper leather, and for export to Great Britain. There is now no duty on leather of any description in that country, and a large trade has been carried on the past year, with England, in American leather, three-fourths of the Ohio leather arriving here having been shipped to Great Britain. With no duty on this article, they cannot compete with this country in its manufacture, and therefore the trade must in time be very large. Our market, last year, was overstocked with all kinds, and prices, consequently, ranged very low throughout the season. Good leather, of oak tannage, weighing ten to twelve pounds average, would only command from fifteen to sixteen cents per pound, and these prices only for a very good article. The same quality will now bring twenty cents per pound, and there is a fair prospect, not only that the advance will be maintained, but that prices will advance still farther." In regard to consignments, the writer gives the following as the usual rate of commissions charged by regular leather houses: "The regularly established rate of commission on leather, is 6 per cent. This includes guarantee, and all charges, except cash paid for cartage and freight."

PRODUCTION OF TEA IN BRITISH INDIA.

The great tea-growing experiment undertaken by the East India Company, appears to have answered the most sanguine expectations, and even to have gone beyond them. The tea produced at the farm of Kunsoor is described as equal to the finest Chinese, and has proved very profitable. It has sold on the spot for from four to five rupees the seer, the highest price of the best imported Chinese. The climate, the produce, and the identity of the plant, are beyond doubt. Only 176 acres have been cultivated; but 1,000,000 of acres are now open to capital and enterprise, capable of supplying one-sixth of the consumption of Great Britain and Ireland. The cultivation is described as not being difficult, and the returns certain. The natives, even to the most bigoted in caste, are getting excessively fond of tea, and regularly use it. Dr. Jameson, who is at the head of the company's tea farm, states that tea at 1 rupees a seer, yields a profit of 200 per cent, giving facts for his calculation.

BEQUEST OF A BOSTON MERCHANT.

The late William Oliver, Esq., of Dorchester, Mass., has left the whole of his property, valued at not less than a hundred thousand dollars, to be divided equally between the Perkins Institution for the Blind, at South Boston, and the McLean Asylum for the Insane, at Somerville. One-third of this sum is to be paid over immediately, and the remainder at the decease of his two sisters. Mr. Oliver commenced life as a poor boy, and acquired his property by his prudence and energy in mercantile pursuits. One hundred thousand dollars was the amount he fixed upon as the extent of his wishes in early life; and when he had made that sum, he retired to his country residence in Dorchester, and passed the summer and autumn of his days in unceasing, but unostentatious benevolence.

COMMERCIAL REGULATIONS.

REGULATIONS OF CANADIAN AND AMERICAN COMMERCE.

IMPORT OF BREADSTUFFS INTO CANADA, AND REGULATIONS FOR THE TRANSIT OF VESSELS OF THE UNITED STATES FROM ONE AMERICAN PORT TO ANOTHER.

THE report that the British government had sent instructions to allow American vessels to pass up the St. Lawrence River, is fully confirmed, as will be seen by the following notices from the Inspector-General's office, which appeared in the Official Gazette of the 15th of May:

Notice is hereby given that his excellency, the Governor-General in Council, has been pleased to approve of the following regulations, for the introduction into this province of foreign wheat and maize, for exportation, without the payment of duty, under the provisions of the act 9th Victoria, chapter 1:

1. Foreign wheat or maize brought in for exportation, shall be duly entered under bond conditioned for its arrival at and exportation from the port of destination within the period of six calendar months; such bond to be given to the collector at the port of entry or port of destination, at the option of the importer or his agent; and if given to the collector at the latter port, a certificate thereof, under his hand, shall be produced to the collector at the port of entry where the importation is to be made, previous to such entry being made.

2. After such entry, the collector receiving the same shall furnish a certificate, under his hand, to such importer, particularizing the quantity of such wheat and maize, and when and from where, and by what vessel imported; the port of destination for exportation thereof, and the time for its exportation specified in the bond; and it shall be the duty of the importer to deposit such certificate, and report such wheat or maize to the collector at the port of destination, immediately on its arrival thereat.

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3. The bonds so to be given shall, in all cases, be for three times the amount of duty otherwise payable, and shall not be discharged unless such foreign wheat or maize shall have been duly reported at such port of destination, and exported or warehoused, within the period specified in the bond. And if the bond shall have been given to the collector at the port of entry, other than the port of destination, the collector at such latter port shall furnish a certificate, under his hand, to such importer, of the due entry of such foreign wheat or maize, on arrival at such latter port, and for the exportation or warehousing of the same, as the case may be, within the time specified in the bond; the production of which certificate to the collector at the port where the bond shall have been so given shall have the effect of discharging the same.

4. On the arrival of such foreign wheat or maize at its port of destination, and report or entry thereof, the collector thereat shall permit the same to be exported or warehoused in the manner provided by law; and upon the exportation or warehousing of the same, the bond given therefor shall be cancelled.

The following order relates to the transit of vessels of the United States from one port to another:

Notice is hereby given that his excellency, the Governor-General, in Council, has been pleased to approve of the following regulations for the transit of vessels of the United States, from one American port to another, through the inland waters of this province :1. That during the pleasure of his excellency, American boats and vessels, laden and unladen, may be permitted to pass down the St. Lawrence, from Fort Covington on the Salmon River, to Sorrel, and thence up the River Richelieu to Champlain, and vice versa, upon the payment of the usual tolls and dues for the use of the canals and other works, chargeable on the boats and vessels owned and navigated by her majesty's Canadian subjects.

2. That no such boat or vessel of the United States, passing through the Canadian waters or canals, shall have any right to land or take on board freight at any port or place within the province of Canada.

3. That such boats or vessels may be permitted to land passengers at any port or place between Dundee and St. John, but they shall not take any on board, during the voyage between those ports; boats and vessels on the downward passage, after arriving at St. John, may take on board passengers, as other vessels do at present at that port.

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