Amount of coin produced at the mint of Frankfort since the treaty of coinage of August 15, 1837, to the end of 1861.

Amount of coin produced at the mint of Frankfort and converted by melting in

DECEMBER 10, 1862.

I have the honor to inform you of the shipment of a new article of commerce from the city of Mannheim, in my consular district, to the United States, and which is an article not specified under the tariff law of July 14, 1862. It is known in Germany as trester, and might be called in English grape-grounds or pressings, being what remains of the grape after the juice is pressed therefrom for the making of wine. It has no intrinsic value, but it is said that it is intended to be used for the purpose of making a cheap sort of wine or brandy in New York; others even state that it is to be used for a kind of champagne. It is a well-known fact that almost daily wines are shipped to the United States from my consular district, (which is the greatest wine-growing section in Germany,) at extraordinary low prices, such as eighty florins for 1,000 litres, and which sum does not make the wine come at over 33 kreutzers or 23 cents per bottle, and this wine is said to be used in connexion with those grape-pressings or grounds, for the purpose of making champagne, &c., out of the compounds. No good, drinkable wine can be purchased here for that money, not even for twice the amount. I am not advised what this quality of wine is, but I have reported the shipments to the honorable Secretary of the Treasury, as well as to Hiram Barney, collector at New York. Although these grape-grounds, as mentioned before, have no intrinsic value, I have deemed it best to call the attention of the government to the new consignment.

DECEMBER 17, 1862.

The "Frankfort Association for the Protection of Emigrants" has recently published its annual report, from which it appears that the number of persons calling during the last year for the advice of the association, and deciding to emigrate, amounted to 872, with a capital of about 262,000 florins in their possession. Many, also, applied for information about the present state of affairs in the United States, expressing their intention to emigrate and settle there, so soon as things had taken a more favorable turn. The emigrants embarked for the following transatlantic ports, viz.:

The foregoing statement shows that Electoral Hesse, the Grand Duchy of Hesse, and Bavaria furnished the greatest number of emigrants, and that more than two-thirds of the same consisted of farmers, and went to the United States.

The latter circumstances are the more gratifying, as the most assiduous efforts are continued to be made on the part of English and Brazilian agents to lead the stream of German emigration to their respective countries. The Brazilian government has even recently established here a consulate general under Mr. Barreto de Aragao as consul general, for the mere purpose of facilitating the said labors of their agents. Now, this functionary has not only engaged one of the most talented German writers and travellers, Mr. Frederick Gerstaecker, to visit the Brazils on public expense and describe the beauties and advantages of the country in a very attractive style, but he also pays very liberally for newspaper articles on the same subject, and even furnished, for the said annual report of the "Frankfort Association for the Protection of Emigrants,” some rather extensive statistical statements; according to the latter, the population, for instance, of the colony of Bhemenan has increased last year to 1,551 inhabitants, 1,369 of whom are Protestants, and the quantity of land cultivated by them amounts to 5,122 acres. The colony of Donna Francisco numbers 3,050 inhabitants, 2,435 of whom are Protestants; their cultivated land amounts to 5,688 acres. The colony of Santa Cruz, in the province of the Rio Grande do Sul, numbers 3,381 inhabitants, 1,702 of whom are Protestants, with 27,700 acres of cultivated land. The export of the colony, consisting of maize, catatas, (sweet potatoes,) beans, brandy, tobacco, and ham, amounting in 1860 to about 161,333 florins, and in 1861 to 260,000 florins, whilst the import, chiefly consisting of sugar, rice, coffee, wheat flour, wine, salt, &c., amounted in 1860 to 92,983 florins, and in 1861 to 123,533 florins. San Angelo, established in the same province in 1857, enjoys a similar development; it numbers 764 inhabitants, with 35,164 acres of cultivated land, and exported in 1860 for about 14,000, and in 1861 for 25,747 florins. New Petropolis, established in the same province in 1858, numbered 464 inhabitants, 385 of whom are Protestants, with an export of tobacco amounting, in 1861, to about 5,600 florins.

It is evident that the Brazilian consul general so specially points out the number of Protestants in each of the colonies for the purpose of counteracting the apprehensions of emigrants of prosecution on the part of the Roman Catholic clergy, and even of the authorities.

The Frankfort report itself, however, is sincere enough to give some warning examples. It states, for instance, that the archbishop of Rio de Janeiro permitted in 1857, a woman, formerly a Protestant, after she had changed her confession and become a Roman Catholic, and although she had not been legally divorced from her Protestant husband, to be married to a Roman Catholic, de

claring that her former marriage was not valid, because it had been celebrated against the form promulgated in the empire and against the "Fridenstine Council," always observed there. And the report adds, that even the Brazilian chambers passed, in 1861, a marriage law, by which the hereditariness (Erbrecht) of children of Protestant parents appears in many cases very little secured. But still a great number of German emigrants, induced by the advantages offered and the promises made by the Brazilian agents, as well as by the present peaceable state of affairs there, prefer emigrating to that country to settling in the United States, where, it is true, land is gratuitously offered to actual settlers, but without facilitating their passage by pecuniary assistance.

In this respect, I beg most respectfully to intimate, whether it might not be advisable for our government to abolish the so-called "head money" or emigrant tax, which at certain times may have been advantageous, but is now an actual impediment to emigration, especially if it is taken into consideration that the new homestead bill is intended to attract whole families to the unsettled parts of our country. For single persons that tax may appear trifling; but it is not at all encouraging for families, consisting of ten or twelve persons, the working power of whom will be so much needed as soon as peace will have been restored.

Finally, I beg to remark that the number of emigrants, to which the said report of the "Frankfort association" refers, is not trifling, as it only includes those who applied for the advice of that association; but still the proportion of the total emigration of Germany can be judged from it.

DUCHY OF BADEN.

[Transmitted by the United States consul general.]

Annual report on the commerce, industry, and agriculture of the Grand Duchy

of Baden.

JANUARY 21, 1862.

The unsettled state of politics, which has so universally prevailed during the last three years, has equally affected the year just concluded. All the commercial and industrial relations of the world have been more or less characterized by that spirit of uncertainty. The continued feverish excitement in Italy, the wretched condition of affairs in Austria, but, above all, the American crisis, had a distressing influence over the whole of Europe, and this depression fell with the greatest weight on the commerce and industry of the Grand Duchy of Baden.

The government of Baden exhibits a very laudable zeal in assisting the recent efforts in Germany to establish unity in the political and social life of the several states of the confederacy. The concordat with Rome having fortunately been abolished again, in consequence of the strenuous opposition of the mass of the people, the Baden government issued a new regulation for all religious confessions, on the broadest basis of freedom of conscience. At the late sitting of the chambers the grand duke declared, in rather energetic language, that he had not only the interests of his subjects and of his country in view, but also the introduction of some solid improvements into German affairs generally. In regard to freedom of trade and choice of residence, which are desired by the mass of the people throughout Germany, Baden sets a worthy example to those states in which the antiquated system of guilds and other illiberal institutions are still in force. The chambers deliberated also on some other important subjects for