TO COMPUTE INTEREST AND ANNUITIES BY THE FOREGOING TABLES. Rule. Multiply the sum for which you wish to know the amount, or present worth, by the number found under the rate per cent, and opposite the given years. Point off agreeably to the rules of decimals, and the product will denote the number sought in dollars, pounds, francs, &c., with their decimal parts. Example.-What will be the amount, at the end of 10 years, of an annuity, rent, or salary of $500, payable at the end of each year, if improved at compound interest at 6 per cent per annum ? Amount of an annuity of $1 for 10 years, at 6 per cent, by Tab. 3,.... 13.180.95 Multiply by annuity,.. Amount,.. BEET-ROOT SUGAR TRADE OF FRANCE. 500 $6590.397500 In France, says the London Journal of Commerce, in 1837, there were 542 beet-root sugar manufactories in operation, and 39 in construction. It has been recently stated in the public journals, that the states composing the German Customs' Union possessed, in 1838, eighty-seven factories in operation, and sixty-six in construction. The production of the beet-sugar factories averages about 200,000 lbs. each, so that we may reckon for the 203 factories known to exist in other parts of the continent besides France, 40,600,000 lbs. of sugar, making the total annual production of beet sugar in Europe about 150,000,000 lbs. It remains to be observed, that in Austria and Italy the business has been commenced with great zeal. The sugar manufactured in France has invariably increased from year to year, unless it has fallen off in 1838-9, of which we have not yet the returns. 1832-3 it was............. 22,000,000 lbs. 1833-4 1834-5 1835-6 it was........ 33,000,000 66 1836-7 1837-8 66,000,000 lbs. ..107,000,000" ........112,000,000 " Recently the duties on sugar imported from the French colonies have been reduced, so that the protection of the beet sugar in France, which used to be about 44 cents, is now inconsiderable. BEET PAPER. The value of this vegetable has hardly begun to be known. We find from English journals just received, that the pulp of the beet is worth for paper making just five times its value as an article of food. A Mr. Ryan has obtained a patent in England for making paper of beet-roots after the juice is extracted and crystalized into sugar. The manufacturers have commenced with the coarsest kinds of paper and pasteboard, and have not yet attempted any fine writing-paper. But, thus far, their success is complete. Good printing-paper is produced out of what remains after the saccharine matter is expressed, and they have no doubt that the same almost worthless pulp will soon furnish the finest writing-paper. If it be true that Europe alone manufactures every year the immense amount of 150,000,000 lbs. of beet sugar, there can be no want of material to experiment upon to an indefinite extent. FEATHERS. The Augsburg Gazette mentions that at the late fair of Frankfort-on-the-Oder, feathers fell two thirds in price, and it is known that this fair regulates the price of that ar. ticle all through Germany. It is remarkable that whilst Great Britain and France are inundating Germany with metallic pens, the latter country exports a considerable quantity of goose quills to those two countries. BANKRUPTCIES IN PARIS IN 1840. The following is the official list of bankruptcies in Paris and the Department of the Seine, during the past year, together with the amount of assets and debts:— TO OUR READERS AND CORRESPONDENTS. THE BOOK TRADE.-Owing to the pressure of commercial matters we have unavoid. ably, in this number, omitted the department devoted to the "book trade." We design hereafter to present in this department a comprehensive view of all prominent new books, in order to furnish our readers general information respecting the most popular current literature of the day. The manufacture and trade in books form no inconsiderable part of the mercantile interest of the United States, and it would seem to fall within the province of this journal, to exhibit every important topic included within that large branch of commercial enterprise. We have on hand a number of articles, several of which will appear in the May num. ber, or at our earliest convenience. Among them are: 1. "British Navigation Act," by Rev. Charles W. Upham. 2. "Imprisonment for Debt," by Charles F. Daniels, Esq. 3. "Remarks on Free Trade," (a reply to the article of S. G. Arnold, Esq., in the March number of this Magazine,) by Horace Greely, Esq. 4. 46 The Mississippi Scheme," by Francis Wharton, Esq. 5. "The Merchants of the Time of Queen Elizabeth," by Thomas W. Tucker, Esq. 6. "American Manufactures," by James H. Lanman, Esq. 7. "The Theory of Banking," by a Merchant of Boston, &c. We would also here state that we have several other papers now on hand which are under consideration. The plan that we had marked out for the exhibition of important commercial topics, that have been in this country heretofore too much neglected, we are able to say has been sustained by an intelligent portion of the community-an encouragement which will lead us to pursue the same course with renewed energy and additional aids. DONATIONS TO THE MERCANTILE LIBRARY ASSOCIATION. The Board of Directors of the Mercantile Library Association of New York take pleasure in acknowledging the receipt of donations Of Books-From Edward Hodges, J. F. Entz, Robert L. Smith, Jasper Corning, John H. Redfield, John Johnston, J. T. Rockwood, Abraham Bell, Wm. S. S. Russell, Hon. A. Van Santvoord, John Loines, Hon. G. C. Verplanck, Thos. D. Lowther, Chas. Francis Adams, A. Slidell Mackenzie, Dr. Rupersberg, R. Nelson Eagle, Albert Bris bane. MERCHANTS' MAGAZINE. MAY, 1841. ART. I.-BRITISH NAVIGATION ACT. Ir may safely be affirmed that no political community ever reached the height of prosperity and power to which the states of Holland were elevated during the period included between the reformation of Luther and the latter half of the seventeenth century. The agitation of theological discussions, caused by the reformation, and which prevailed nowhere more extensively than in Holland, did not fail to produce its natural results, in awakening the intellectual principle, and diffusing a spirit of energy and progress throughout the whole community. These effects were shown, not only in the noble and splendid instances of particular characters, like those of Barnevelt and Grotius, Arminius and De Witt, but in the improvement of the entire mass of the population. The stimulating influence pervaded the wide-spread surface of society, and reached the lowest and most remote conditions of life; and with the elevation of the people in education and intelligence, there was, of course, a corresponding and equal advancement in their social relations, civil and commercial institutions, and worldly circumstances generally. Indeed, the moral, intellectual, and economical condition of the states of Holland during the earlier part of the seventeenth century, is one of the most wonderful and instructive objects which the history of modern times presents. It excited the admiration and astonishment, the envy and the fears of all the contemporary nations. It is at once a conclusive and melancholy proof of the perversion of history from the subjects which pre-eminently claim its notice, that while volumes upon volumes have been filled with the miserable and oft-repeated details of wars and battles which produced no other effect than to degrade and distress mankind, and to change the persons who have tyrannized over them, the great essential elements which determine the rise and fall of states, and contribute to the promotion or to the hindrance of human welfare and social prosperity and happiness, have been neglected as beneath the notice of historians. What a dishonor it is to English history, that, while the most finished forms of style, and the highest attributes of genius, have been devoted to the narration of the successions of the dy. nasty, from Saxons to Normans, from Plantagenets to Tudors, and from Stuarts to Guelphs, of intestine and partisan struggles between York and Lancaster, royalists and republicans, tories and whigs, and of barbarian and barbarizing conflicts of mere brute force, under the name of battles by sea and land, scarcely the slightest notice has been taken of an event which alone decided the fate, not only of England, but in all probability of humanity itself! We mean the establishment of the system of commercial policy contained in the Navigation Act, passed by the rump parlia ment on the 9th of October, 1651. The leading historians hardly do more than allude to it. Whitelock, in his minute memorials of the events of the times, and among the details which he presents of the daily proceedings of parliament, of which he was a prominent member, seems merely to have happened not to forget to mention it under its date" an act passed for the increase of shipping, and encouragement of the navigation of this nation"-in a great folio volume of more than 700 pages; this is the only notice he takes of it. Godwin, who has written, in most respects, the best history of the events of the period of the commonwealth, treats it very briefly; and what is the most extraordinary of all, it does not seem to have arrested, to any degree of interest or particularity, the attention of writers on political economy, or legislative statesmen of our own day and country. In bringing this subject forward and presenting it, in considerable extent and detail, we feel confident that all whose attention may be called to it will be of opinion that scarcely any can be selected more worthy of the examination, the curiosity, and the reflection of a community, whose prosperity and welfare are dependent upon a system of commerce and trade in which the elements of foreign and domestic traffic are inseparably commingled, and which can only be sustained by industry, economy, and intelligence pervading the whole mass of the people. In order to explain the circumstances that led to the contriving and enacting of the British Navigation Act, it will be necessary to give a somewhat particular account of the condition and progress of the states of Holland, previous to its passage. Sir William Temple, who had resided as British ambassador for some time in Holland not long after the commencement of the operation of the Navigation Act, and who was superseded in that eminent diplomatic station by Sir George Downing, gives the following description of the state of the country: "'Tis evident to those who have read the most, and travelled farthest, that no country can be found, either in this present age, or upon record of any story, where so vast a trade has been managed as in the narrow compass of the few maritime provinces of this commonwealth; nay, it is generally esteemed that they have more shipping belongs to them than there does to all the rest of Europe. Yet they have no native commodities towards the building or rigging of the smallest vessel; their flax, hemp, pitch, wood, and iron, coming all from abroad, as wool does for clothing their men, and corn for feeding them. Nor do I know any thing properly of their own growth that is considerable, either for their own necessary use, or for traffick with their neighbors, besides butter, cheese, and earthen wares. For havens, they have not any good upon their whole coast; the best are Helversluys, which has no trade at all, and Flussinge, which has little in comparison of other towns in Holland; but Amsterdam that triumphs in the spoils of Lisbon and Antwerp, (which before engrossed the greatest trade of Europe and the Indies,) seems to be the most incommodious haven they have, being seated upon so shallow waters that ordinary ships cannot come up to it without the advantage of tides; nor great ones without unlading. The entrance of the Tessel, and passage over the Zudder-Sea, is more dangerous than a voyage from thence to Spain, lying all in blind and narrow channels; so that it easily appears that it is not an haven that draws trade, but trade that fills an haven, and brings it in vogue. Nor has Holland grown rich by any native commodities, but by force of industry; by improvement and manufacture of all foreign growths; by being the general magazine of Europe, and furnishing all parts with whatever the market wants or invites; and by their seamen being, as they have properly been called, the common carriers of the world." A very curious and entertaining account, written in his peculiar style, of the natural disadvantages and acquired prosperity of Holland at that time, may be found among the writings of Owen Felltham, who travelled through it. It is entitled, "Three Weeks' Observations of the Low Countries," and begins thus: "They are a general sea-land, the great bog of Europe. There is not such another marsh in the world; that's flat. They are a universal quagmire epitomized--a green cheese in pickle. There is in them an equilibrium of mud and water. A strong earthquake would shake them to a chaos, from which the successive force of the sun, rather than creation, hath a little amended them." He thus sets forth the want of wood in Holland: "It is an excellent country for a despairing lover, for every corner affords him willow to make a garland of; but if justice doom him to be hanged on any other tree, he may, in spite of the sentence, live long and confident.' "It is," says he, "a university of all religions, which grow here confusedly, like stocks in the nursery, without either order or pruning. If you be unsettled in your religion, you may here try all, and take at last what you like best. It is the fair of all the sects, where all the pedlers of religion have leave to vend their toys, their ribands, and fanatic rattles. "Having nothing but what grass affords them, they are, yet, for almost all provisions, the storehouse of whole christendom. What is it which there may not be found in plenty? they making by their industry all the fruits of the vast earth their own. "For war, they are grasshoppers; and, without a king, go forth in bands to conquer kings. There hardly is upon earth such a school of martial discipline. It is the Christian world's academy for arms, whither all the neighbor-nations resort to be instructed. They learn to be soldiers sooner than men. There is none have the like intelligence. Their merchants are at this day the greatest of the universe. What nation is it where they have not insinuated? nay, which they have not almost anatomized, and even discovered the very intrinsic veins of it? They win our drowned grounds, which we cannot recover, and chase back Neptune to his own old banks. Want of idleness keeps them from want; and it is their diligence makes them rich." Sir Josiah Child, governor of the British East India Company, whose valuable "Discourse Concerning Trade," we are informed by President John Adams, in his letters to Hon. William Tudor, was cited as authority by James Otis, in his famous argument against writs of assistance, says, |