to be by Mr. Mortimer. We understand, however, that he had but little, if any thing, to do with its compilation. It is quite unworthy of the subject, and of the epoch when it appeared. It has all the faults of those by which it was preceded, with but few peculiar merits. Being not only a Dictionary of Commerce and Navigation, but of Manufactures, it contains accounts of the different arts: but to describe these in a satisfactory and really useful manner, would require several volumes, and the co-operation of many individuals: so that, while the accounts referred to are worth very little, they occupy so large a space that room has not been left for the proper discussion of those subjects from which alone the work derives whatever value it possesses. Thus, there is an article of twenty-two pages technically describing the various processes of the art of painting, while the general article on commerce is comprised in less than two pages. The articles on coin and money do not together occupy four pages, being considerably less than the space allotted to the articles on engraving and etching. There is not a word said as to the circumstances which determine the course of exchange; and the important subject of credit is disposed of in less than two lines! Perhaps, however, the greatest defect in the work is its total want of any thing like science. No attempt is ever made to explain the principles on which any operation depends. Every thing is treated as if it were empirical and arbitrary. Except in the legal articles, no authorities are quoted, so that very little dependence can be placed on the statements advanced.

In another Commercial Dictionary, republished within these few years, the general article on commerce consists of a discussion with respect to simple and compound demand, and simple and double competition: luckily the article does not fill quite a page; being considerably shorter than the description of the kaleidoscope.

Under these circumstances, we do think that there is room for a new Dictionary of Commerce and Commercial Navigation; and whatever may be thought of our work, it cannot be said that in bringing it into the field we are encroaching on ground already fully occupied.

EXTRACTS

FROM THE

PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.

THE first impression of this Dictionary, consisting of 2,000 copies, was entirely sold off in less than nine months from the date of its publication. We feel very deeply indebted to the public for this unequivocal proof of its approbation; and we have endeavoured to evince our gratitude, by labouring to render the work less undeserving a continuance of the favour with which it has been honoured. In the prosecution of this object, we can truly affirm we have grudged neither labour nor expense. We have subjected every part of the work to a careful revision; have endeavoured to eradicate the errors that had crept into it; to improve those parts that were incomplete or defective; and to supply such articles as had been omitted. We dare not flatter ourselves with the idea that we have fully succeeded in these objects. The want of recent and accurate details as to several important subjects, has been an obstacle we have not, in all cases, been able to overcome; but those in any degree familiar with such investigations will not, perhaps, be disposed severely to censure our deficiencies in this respect.

The changes in the law bearing upon commercial transactions have been carefully specified. Copious abstracts of all the late Customs Acts are contained in the articles COLONIES AND COLONY TRADE, IMPORTATION AND EXPORTATION, NAVIGATION LAWS, REGISTRY, SMUGGLING, WAREHOUSING, &c.

The abolition of the East India Company's commercial monopoly, and the great and growing interest that has in consequence been excited amongst all classes as to the commercial capabilities and practices of India, China, and other Eastern countries, have made us bestow peculiar attention to this department. The articles BANGKOK, BATAVIA, BOMBAY, BUSHIRE, Bussora, CALCUTTA, CANTON, COLUMBO, EAST INDIA COMPANY AND EAST INDIES, INDIGO, MACAO, MADRAS, MANILLA, MOCHA, MUSCAT, NANGASACKI, RANGOON, SINGAPORE, TATTA, TEA, &c. contain, it is believed, a greater mass of recent and well-authenticated details as to the commerce of the vast countries stretching from the Arabic Gulf to the Chinese Sea, than is to be found in any other English publication.

In compiling these and other articles, we derived much valuable assistance from Johr Crawfurd, Esq.

The article BANKING is mostly new. Besides embodying the late act prolonging the charter of the Bank of England, and the more important details given in the Report of the Select Committee on the Renewal of the Bank Charter, this article contains some novel and important information not elsewhere to be met with. No account of the issues of the Bank of England has hitherto been published, that extends farther back than 1777. But this deficiency is now, for the first time, supplied; the Directors having obligingly furnished us with an account of the issues of the Bank on the 28th of February and the 31st of August of each year, from 1698, within four years of its establishment, down to the present time. We have also procured a statement, from authority, of the mode of transacting business in the Bank of Scotland; and have been able to supply several additional particulars, both with respect to British and to foreign banks.

We have made many additions to, and alterations in, the numerous articles descriptive of the various commodities that form the materials of commerce, and the historical notices by which some of them are accompanied. We hope they will be found more accurate and complete than formerly.

The Gazetteer department, or that embracing accounts of the principal foreign emporiums with which this country maintains a direct intercourse, was, perhaps, the most defective in the old edition. If it be no longer in this predicament, the improvement has been principally owing to official co-operation. The sort of information we desired as to the great seaport towns could not be derived from books, nor from any sources accessible to the public: and it was necessary, therefore, to set about exploring others. In this view we drew up a series of queries, embracing an investigation of imports and exports, commercial and shipping regulations, port charges, duties, &c., that might be transmitted to any port in any part of the world. There would, however, in many instances, have been much difficulty in getting them answered with the requisite care and attention by private individuals; and the scheme would have had but a very partial success, had it not been for the friendly and effectual interference of Mr. Poulett Thomson. Alive to the importance of having the queries properly answered, he voluntarily undertook to use his influence with Lord Palmerston to get them transmitted to the Consuls. This the Noble Lord most readily did; and answers have been received from the greater number of these functionaries. There is, of course, a considerable inequality amongst them; but they almost all embody a great deal of valuable information, and some of them are drawn up with a degree of skill and sagacity, and display an extent of research and a capacity of observation, that reflect the highest credit on their authors.

The information thus obtained, added to what we received through other, but not less authentic channels, supplied us with the means of describing twice the number of foreign sea-ports noticed in our former edition; and of enlarging, amending, and correcting the accounts of such as were noticed. Besides much fuller details than have ever been previously published of the nature and extent of the trade of many of these places, the reader will, in most instances, find a minute account of the regulations to be observed respecting the entry and clearing of ships and goods, with statements of the different public charges laid on shipping, the rates of commission and brokerage, the duties on the principal goods imported and exported, the prices of provisions, the regulations as to quarantine, the practice as to credit, banking, &c., with a variety of other particulars. We have also described the ports; and have specified their depth of water, the course to be steered by vessels on entering, with the rules as to pilotage, and the fees on accounts of pilots, light-houses, &c. As it is very difficult to convey a sufficiently distinct idea of a sea-port by any description, we have given plans, taken from the latest and best authorities, of about a dozen of the principal' foreign ports. Whether we have succeeded, is more than we can venture to say; but we hope we have said enough to satisfy the reader, that we have spared no pains to furnish him with authentic information on this important department.

The TARIFF, or Table of Duties on Imports, &c., in this edition, is highly important and valuable. It is divided into three columns: the first containing an account of the existing duties payable on the importation of foreign products for home use, as the same were fixed by the act of last year, 3 & 4 Will. IV. cap. 56. The next column exhibits the duties payable on the same articles in 1819, as fixed by the Act 59 Geo. III. cap. 52.; and the third and last column exhibits the duties as they were fixed in 1787 by Mr. Pitt's Consolidation Act, the 27 Geo. HI. cap. 13. The duties are rated throughout in Imperial weights and measures; and allowances have been made for differences in the mode of charging, &c. The reader has, therefore, before him, and may compare together, the present customs' duties with the duties as they stood at the end of the late war, and at its commencement. No similar Table is to be met with in any other work. We are indebted for it to J. D. Hume, Esq., of the Board of Trade, at whose suggestion, and under whose direction, it has been prepared. Its compilation was a work of great labour and difficulty; and could not

kave been accomplished by any one not thoroughly acquainted with the customs acts, and the various changes in the mode of assessing the duties. Its accuracy may be relied on. The article SLAVES AND SLAVE TRADE contains a full abstract of the late important statute for the abolition of slavery.

Among the new articles of a miscellaneous description, may be specified those on ALIENS, IONIAN ISLANDS, POPULATION, TALLY TRADE, TRUCK SYSTEM, &c.

On the whole, we trust it will be found, that the work has been improved throughout, either by the correction of mistakes, or by the addition of new and useful matter. Still, however, we are well aware that it is in various respects defective; but we are not without hopes that those who look into it will be indulgent enough to believe that this has been owing as much to the extreme difficulty, or rather, perhaps, the impossibility, of obtaining accurate information respecting some of the subjects treated of, as to the want of care and attention on our part. Even as regards many important topics connected with the commerce and manufactures of Great Britain, we have had to regret the want of authentic details, and been obliged to grope our way in the dark. Nothing, indeed, can exceed the accuracy and luminous arrangement of the customs accounts furnished by the Inspector General of Imports and Exports. But, owing to the want of any details as to the cross-channel trade between Great Britain and Ireland, the value of these accounts is much diminished. The condition and habits of the people of Ireland and of Great Britain are so very different, that conclusions deduced from considering the trade or consumption of the United Kingdom en masse, are generally of very little value; and may, indeed, unless carefully sifted, be the most fallacious imaginable; while, owing to the want of any account of the trade between the two great divisions of the empire, it is not possible accurately to estimate the consumption of either, or to obtain any sure means of judging of their respective progress in wealth and industry. As respects manufactures, there is a still greater deficiency of trustworthy, comprehensive details. We submitted the articles relating to them in this work, to the highest practical authorities; so that we incline to think they are about as accurate as they can well be rendered in the absence of official returns. It is far, however, from creditable to the country, that we should be obliged, in matters of such importance, to resort to private and irresponsible individuals for the means of coming at the truth. Statistical science in Great Britain is, indeed, at a very low ebb: and we are not of the number of those who suppose that it will ever be materially improved, unless government become more sensible, than it has hitherto shown itself to be, of its importance, and set machinery in motion, adequate to procure correct and comprehensive returns.

The statistical Tables published by the Board of Trade embrace the substance of hundreds of accounts, scattered over a vast mass of Parliamentary papers. They seem to be compiled with great care and judgment, and are a very valuable acquisition. We have frequently been largely indebted to them. But their arrangement, and their constantly increasing number and bulk, make them quite unfit for being readily or advantageously consulted by practical men. Most part of the returns relating to the principal articles given in this work, go back to a much more distant period than those published by the Board of Trade.

We have seen no reason to modify or alter any PRINCIPLE OF COMMERCIAL POLICY advanced in our former edition. In some instances, we have varied the exposition a little, but that is all. In every case, however, we have separated the practical, legal, and historical statements from those of a speculative nature; so that those most disposed to dissent from our theoretical notions will, we hope, be ready to admit that they have not been allowed to detract from the practical utility of the work.

The important service done to us, or rather to the public, by Mr. Poulett Thomson, in the obtaining of the Consular Returns, is a part only of what we owe to that gentleman. We never applied to him for any sort of information which it was in his power to supply, that he did not forthwith place at our free disposal. That system of commercial policy, of which the Right Honourable gentleman is the enlightened and eloquent defender, has nothing to fear from publicity. On the contrary, the better informed the public become, the more fully the real facts and circumstances relating to it are brought before them, the more will they be satisfied of the soundness of the measures advocated by Mr. Thomson, and of their being eminently well fitted to promote and consolidate the commercial greatness and prosperity of the empire.

It is proper, also, to state, that besides the Board of Trade, all the other departments of government to which we had occasion to apply, discovered every anxiety to be of use to us. We have been particularly indebted to Mr. Spring Rice; Sir Henry Parnell; Mr. Wood, Chairman of the Board of Stamps and Taxes; Mr. Villiers, Ambassador at Madrid: and Mr. Mayer, of the Colonial Office.

ADVERTISEMENT

TO THE

LAST ENGLISH EDITION.

In this edition all the more important returns and accounts as to the TRADE, NAVIGA TION, and CONSUMPTION of Great Britain and other countries, have been brought down to the latest period. In some instances, too, the form of the returns has been changed, and new ones, drawn up on a more comprehensive plan, and embracing various additional particulars, have been substituted for those previously embodied in the work. In illustration of this, the reader is referred to the tables now given under the article IMPORTS and EXPORTS; they will, it is believed, be found to contain, within a brief space, the completest view hitherto laid before the public of the recent trade of the empire. A few articles have also been rewritten, among which may be specified those on LIGHTHOUSES, BOMBAY, Malta, SYDNEY, &c.

The SUPPLEMENT given with this edition has been greatly enlarged, and, it is hoped, materially improved. It contains as much matter as would fill, if printed with types of medium size, a large octavo volume, and embraces a good deal of important information not elsewhere to be met with. Neither labour nor expense has been spared to render it instructive and trustworthy. It embodies the principal part of the Supplement issued in December, 1836, and has, among others, articles on the following subjects; viz. AUSTRIAN TARIFF, and COMMERCIAL TREATY with AUSTRIA; JOINT-STOCK BANKS, embracing a complete list of these establishments, with an examination of the principles on which they should be founded; NEW CUSTOMS ACT for BENGAL; NEW COINAGE of AMERICA and INDIA; State of the BRITISH COTTON MANUFACTURE from 1816 to 1838, both inclusive; Tables showing the extent of the FOREIGN TRADE of the Country during each of the ten years ending with 1838, with remarks; TRADE with PRUSSIA, PRUSSIAN COMMERCIAL LEAGUE and TARIFF RAILWAYS and RAILWAY LEGISLATION; CLASSIFICATION of SHIPS; State of the SUGAR TRADE; ALTERATIONS in the BRITISH and RUSSIAN TARIFFS; COMMERCIAL TREATY with TURKEY; with notices of CIVITA VECCHIA, GALACZ, GuatAQUIL, PORT LAMAR, MONTEVIDEO, MOULMEIN, ROSTOCK, &c.

The author has been able to avail himself, in preparing this edition, of some very valuable communications. In this respect, he is under especial obligations to the government of Prussia. With a liberality of which there are a few (if any) examples, it has not merely taken pains to supply him with ample and authentic details as to the Commerce, Population, Finances, &c., of that flourishing kingdom, but has authorised him to make any use he pleased of the information so communicated, without stipulation or condition of any kind.

We have also been indebted to various private and official gentlemen, at home and abroad, for many useful hints and valuable statements. Mr. Porter, of the Board of Trade, allowed us the use of several unpublished returns belonging to his department; Mr. Wood, Chairman of the Board of Excise, and Mr. Mayer, of the Colonial Office, gave us every assistance in their power; the intervention of Mr. Hall, late vice-consul for the republic of Uruguay, at Liverpool, and of Mr. Kreeft, consul for Mecklenburg, has enabled us to furnish the commercial world with accurate details as to the ports of Montevideo, Rostock, &c.; and gentlemen resident in Bombay, Calcutta, Malta, Singapore, &c., have supplied important information. We are sorry that our limits will not permit of our specifying the different parties to whom we have been indebted; but we beg them to accept our best thanks for their attentions. We are most anxious to have the means of correcting the errors into which we may have fallen, and of rendering our book as accurate as possible. This, however, can only be effected by gentlemen apprising us of the changes that are constantly taking place in the regulations under which commerce is conducted, and in the channels in which it is carried on. This information, so important to the mercantile world might, sometimes, be communicated without much trouble, and will always be most grate fully received by us.

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AAM, AUM, or Auм, a measure for liquids, used at Amsterdam, Antwerp, Hamburgh,

Frankfort, &c. At Amsterdam it is nearly equal to 41 English wine gallons, at Antwerp to 36 ditto, at Hamburgh to 384 ditto, and at Frankfort to 39 ditto.

ABANDONMENT, in commerce and navigation, is used to express the abandoning or surrendering of the ship or goods insured to the insurer.

It is held, by the law of England, that the insured has the right to abandon, and to compel the insurers to pay the whole value of the thing insured, in every case "where, by the happening of any of the misfortunes or perils insured against, the voyage is lost or not worth pursuing, and the projected adventure is frustrated; or where the thing insured is so damaged and spoiled as to be of little or no value to the owner; or where the salvage is very high; or where what is saved is of less value than the freight; or where further expense is necessary, and the insurer will not undertake to pay that expense," &c.—(Marshall, book i. cap. 13. § 1.)

Abandonment very frequently takes place in cases of capture; the loss is then total, and no question can arise in respect to it. In cases, however, in which a ship and cargo are recaptured within such a time that the object of the voyage is not lost, the insured is not entitled to abandon. The mere stranding of a ship is not deemed of itself such a loss as will justify an abandonment. If by some fortunate accident, by the exertions of the crew, or by any borrowed assistance, the ship be got off and rendered capable of continuing her voyage, it is not a total loss, and the insurers are only liable for the expenses occasioned by the stranding. It is only where the stranding is followed by shipwreck, or in any other way renders the ship incapable of prosecuting her voyage, that the insured can abandon.

It has been decided, that damage sustained in a voyage to the extent of forty-eight per cent. of the value of the ship, did not entitle the insured to abandon. If a cargo be damaged in the course of a voyage, and it appears that what has been saved is less than the amount of freight, it is held to be a total loss.-(Park on Insurance, cap. 9.)

When by the occurrence of any of the perils insured against, the insured has acquired a right to abandon, he is at liberty either to abandon or not, as he thinks proper. He is in no case bound to abandon; but if he make an election, and resolve to abandon, he must abide by his resolution, and has no longer the power to claim for a partial loss. In some foreign countries specific periods are fixed by law within which the insured, after being informed of the loss, must elect either to abandon or not. In this country, however, no particular period is fixed for this purpose; but the rule is, that if the insured determine to abandon, he must intimate such determination to the insurers within a reasonable period after he has got intelligence of the loss,—and unnecessary delay in making this intimation being interpreted to mean that he has decided not to abandon.

No particular form or solemnity is required in giving notice of an abandonment. It may be given either to the underwriter himself, or the agent who subscribed for him.

The effect of an abandonment is to vest all the rights of the insured in the insurers. The latter become the legal owners of the ship, and as such are liable for all her future outgoings, and entitled to her future earnings. An abandonment, when once made, is irrevocable.

In case of a shipwreck or other misfortune, the captain and crew are bound to exert themselves to the utmost to save as much property as possible: and to enable them to do this without prejudice to the right of abandonment, our policies provide that, "in case of any loss or misVOL. I.-A

1