war; and would it not be of more value to the country at large than the famous Dead sea expedition?

AMERICAN PRODUCTION OF OPIUM.

England's endeavor to render itself independent of American cotton, is manifest, by its great exertions to enlarge and encourage the culture of this staple in the East Indies, in the Cape colony, and recently in Australia. Old England seems quite apprehensive of a retaliation on this score, which the United States so easily might exercise upon a tender part of its rival commercial vitality-say, in China, with opium-the last and the richest of "John Company's" monopolies in Hindoostan. The climate and soil, around St. Diego, are highly adapted to the cultivation of the white poppy (papaver opium), and the lazy creole Spaniards and Pueblo Indians the very people to attend it, at least as good as the Greek, the Osmanlee, the Fellah and the Hindoo, in the eastern hemisphere. The cultivation of the poppy would soon equal, in productiveness, the gold diggings of the northern part of California, and might become the source of an active commercial intercourse with China, and, ere long, also with Japan and Corea-just as tobacco and whisky opened the path to trade and civilization in other countries.

Should the cultivation of tea in this country prove satisfactory, still the Chinese silk would be a return for any quantity of opium to be cultivated in California, Texas, and in Florida. A larger import of raw silk, might, perhaps, induce some industrious citizens of Baltimore or Philadelphia to try a hand at the manufacture of silk piece goods and ribbons, for which the western hemisphere is still a quiet tributary to the old continent, for millions and millions a year.

China receives, in payment for its tea, two-thirds in silver and only one-third in raw and manufactured cotton, opium, rice, ginseng, copper, and sundry articles—a fact which is not so universally known as it ought to be.

Opium in Egypt (opium Thebasèum) costs the producer about sixty cents the pound, and, in Anatoly (Asia minor), about seventy-five cents. The East India company pays the Patna and Malna opium @ $150 the chest of one hundred and forty pounds, avoird. In all these countries, opium is a monopoly of government, the importance of which is best known by the market prices of this article to-day. Turkey opium, in Boston, is worth $4 50 the pound; and Patna or Malna opium, in Bombay, $750 the chest!

American opium would have as great an influence on the trade of the world as American cotton has exercised these thirty years past, and it would be proper to give to the distant Pacific territories a staple produce, to increase the means of employment of the proposed railroad; else stocks invested in it will bear little or no interest at all.

Silk production wants too much attention and care for the impatient American character, therefore it is not surprising that the "Morus Multicaulis" speculation has become a proverb in the country and abroad; but opium production cannot be brought under the same head, its crop fears none of the accidents of the cotton and the mulberry, and the profits thereon are three and four times as much.

English sway over India depends a great deal upon the opium monopoly; as well as English industry on American cotton. I think the subject needs no further comment.

LINSEED OIL.

By raising the duty on linseed oil, and by lowering as much the duty on linseed, a direct trade with Egypt could be carried on. Linseed is one of the staple products of Egypt. A great deal of it goes to Liverpool, and, from thence, is imported into the United States in the shape of English linseed oil. Natron goes through the same process; and the gums, resins and drugs of the Nile valley are imported into this country by way of Trieste, Marseilles and Liverpool, with a waste of useless expenditures and profits of over twenty-five per cent! In twenty years, only one American merchant vessel was seen in the port of Alexandria, where, nevertheless, the United States kept, and keeps still, a consul-general!

Alexandria would become as good a market for Brazil coffee, dye woods and manufactures, as Smyrna; and the treasury will lose nothing by the proposed trial.

EGYPTIAN COTTON.

I had, somewhere among my papers, notes about the introduction of the long staple cotton in Egypt. The seed was ordered by a large Turkish landholder, by the name of Maco-bey, through M. Jumel, a French gentleman. Therefrom the two names, under which this cotton is known in commerce: it is a triennial plant, the last crop being always slightly inferior in quality to the former two. A superior long staple cotton, with yellow hue, is cultivated in Sennaar, known in trade, sometimes, under the name of Egyptian Sea island. This cultivation increased, in thirty years, from a couple of hundred bales, to 250,000. The Egyptian bales are, on average, only about three hundred pounds. The more or less inundation of the Nile, has, undoubtedly, much influence on the cotton crop, but more so the fluctuation in the price of this staple, which guides the great landholders in the family of Mehmet Ali Pacha to draw their speculative views from one of the many staple products of Egypt to another. It is estimated that cotton costs, on average, about five cents a pound; your object is, to obtain the minutes of this estimate, to permit the planters in this country to draw their parallels, and to induce them to send for seed; as the Spaniards sent for marino sheep to Saxony, on the principle that seed, transplanted from one country into another, contributes much to the improvement of the plant.

You would do very well to send a copy of your next number, with my article, to your consul-general, in Alexandria, begging of him the information required, and telling him that he will obtain them from a certain G. Probizer better than from any merchant in Alexandria; and, about the cultivation, he will obtain good information from Topizza, the Greek consul.

NEW ORLEANS, June, 1850.

ART. III-NATIONAL VANITY.

NATIONAL VANITY IN CONNECTION WITH OUR OCEAN STEAMSHIPS.

IN contemplating the character of the people of the United States, one foible cannot but have forced itself upon the observer as a striking feature. It is that of boasting. Not satisfied with the extraordinary advances of our nation (recently, and within the memory of living men, a colony of England), in all the elements of civilization and the arts of life, we seem desirous of impressing upon the world our ability to surpass all others. That material, both physical and mental, abundantly exists among us, for the attainment of national glory equal to that of any other nation, no one will deny; but it is evident, that these resources must be developed. Experience and practice are essential to us, as a people, no less than to an individual. The renowned artists, architects, sculptors and painters, of Greece and Rome-the builders of St. Peter's and St. Paul's-were once but apprentices. Years of observation, study and practice, were necessary for them before they could carry out their sublime conceptions. To a great extent, we are but mere apprentices— highly favored, certainly, by the facilities of improvement offered in the great achievements of Europe in every department of science, literature and the arts-but still, comparatively, only apprentices.

We are not content to wait. We are dissatisfied, if, upon the first experiment, we do not exceed all other people; and not only so, but boast in anticipation of success. If defeat ensue, which not unfrequently occurs, mortification follows, our self-love is reproved, and we render ourselves liable to the just criticism and ridicule of the world.

This national foible was, in early days, exhibited at a landing on the Mississippi, frequented by flat boats, in the person of a fearless young Kentuckian, who, so soon as the boat, on which he had floated down the river, was made fast, jumped ashore, and, giving three or four caracoles in the air with the necessary whoops, declared that he had the fastest horse, the truest rifle and the prettiest sister, on the western waters-threatening summary chastisement to any who would maintain the contrary. A crowd soon gathered, and the bravado was listened to, for some time, without any reply-some being intimidated and others not disposed to provoke a row. At length a quiet, slow-moving sort of body walked up, and, addressing the fiery Kentuckian, asked him if he had his horse with him. The reply was, that he was aboard the boat. The quiet man remarked, that he was willing to try his speed with a sorry pony that he had brought down with him. A small wager was made, the two horses were brought out, the riders mounted and the race run. The flash Kentuckian was shamefully beaten and

made the laughing stock of the assembly. After the race, a longshanked Tennesseean, with buckskin leggings and hunting shirt, stepped up, and, addressing the braggart, said: "Stranger, I hav n't seed your rifle, but here is an old flint-lock that I will try agin yourn, at one hundred paces, for a treat to the company." The banter was accepted, the distance measured, and the Kentuckian again defeated, to the renewed merriment of the crowd. The drink was taken, and some disposition shown for ending all dispute; but, at the moment, a wellset, stout young boatman walked up, with one handkerchief round his head and another tightly tied about the loins, with his shirt sleeves rolled up to the shoulder, and told our hero, that he should like to see him "walk out his sister." The Kentuckian replied, that she was not aboard, but he was willing to fight on his brag. Rules for fair play were established, a manly stand up made, and the Kentuckian served with a pair of black eyes, and compelled to acknowledge that there was one "gal" in the West as pretty as his sister. Now, this Kentuckian represented Brother Jonathan as he, at this day, stands enterprising, brave, good natured and strong, but not sufficiently modest and prudent.

These reflections have been suggested by the confident predictions, made for two years past, of the superiority that would soon be shown by American ocean steamers, over those of Great Britain. Some good reason has always been given for their failures, but there is the fact. An occasional advantage may have attended the American vessels, but they have not shown the uniform character of the British steamersparticularly the Cunard line. When the Atlantic was preparing for sea the New Yorkers were in ecstacies. Such a steamer had never been built: her model was perfect, her engines unsurpassed, and she was to show John Bull what ocean navigation was. The trial is past, and the Atlantic has been signally defeated. Reasons for this are "as plenty as blackberries." The paddles were too weak, the valves were made of India rubber, &c, &c. Why were the paddles too weak? Why were the valves made of India rubber? The answer must be, that the men employed in their construction were not acquainted with their business. They were ignorant of the relative strength of machin. ery necessary for ocean steamers, as compared with those for river navigation.

In the mere construction of ships, whether mercantile or war ships, for sailing, it is probable that no country surpasses the naval constructors of the United States. Far different is the construction of the steam engine. The English have more experience, better materials and more skillful artisans. They expend more money on their machin

ery, labor is much cheaper, and they are never in a hurry. Americans are proverbially so. The principle of the English is "slow and sure;" that of the Americans, "go ahead."

Considering the progress we have made, there is no danger of our being forgotten by the world, nor is there any necessity for our becoming our own trumpeters. There is a want of delicacy-an egotistical self-sufficiency-indulged in by the press, which would not be tolerated in individuals. But such writers do not reflect, that the laudations poured out upon their countrymen are, indirectly, intended for themselves. This propensity is too much in the Chinese spirit: we are celestials, and the rest of the world "outside barbarians."

It is the dictate of good sense, that we should be willing to learn. Let our builders and machinists examine these British ocean steamers and learn the secret of their success, and imitate the accuracy and strength of their machinery. It is the impression of safety, to person and property, which must confer popularity and profit. It is no satisfaction to a merchant or traveler, misled by the extravagant eulogisms of the press, to trust his property and life to one of these ships, and have them both endangered, to be told that the risk was all owing to the breaking of a paddle made of pine shingles, or the wearing out of a valve of blotting paper.

It will be a sufficient cause of congratulation, when we can equal and compete with the Cunard line. If we should surpass them in swiftness, but, above all, in safety, a little self approval might find some apology. But let us rather Do than boast what we CAN DO.

It is stated in the public papers, that a new ship is to be placed upon the Cunard line, intended to be superior, in every way, to any yet constructed. Let all improvements be studied, imitated, and, if possible, surpassed; but it is time to curb that national vanity which we indulge in-deceiving ourselves to the amusement of all other people.

We have, most certainly, swift horses, true rifles and beautiful sisters-but it is not in good taste to assume, that we can outrun Bucephalus and outshoot Apollo, or to regard the Venus de' Medici as a mere foil to our national beauties.

Z.

ART. IV.-MONETTE'S "EARLY SPIRIT OF THE WEST," REVIEWED. POLITICAL PARTIES AND FACTIONS IN KENTUCKY AND THE WESTERN COUNTRY, FROM 1788 TO 1806.-De Bow's Commercial Review, April, 1850, Vol. VIII, No. IV. ST. LOUIS, 23d June, 1850.

J. D. B. DE Bow, Esq.: Sir-I inclose you the first sheets of a reply to an article which appeared in your April Number, continued in May. The deep feeling which those articles are so well calculated to produce, through a wide