ktatidtird.

THE importance of statistics can scarcely be overrated ; but it is very possible to mistake their utility, and to exaggerate the rank wl.ieli they tiold. Without a correct knowledge of facts, the sreculative economist tan only go right by the exercise of a happy sligacity ; and its many cases, however saeucious, he is very likely to go wrong. But the qualities requisite to:collect these data are not of a lofty or extra°, (henry, though of a respectable kind ; and the mere data have in themselves no inherent principle of lita, and not much of value. It is not the naked facts, but the points they prove, or the inferences to be deduced fratu thens, which lend them interest or giie them iniportanc-e. To a reader unaware of their uses, and who is not somewhat versed in the matter they may be made to illustrate, figures are amongst the most repulsive of sights, and possessing in his mind but one advantage, that their tabular arrangement allows them to be easily skipped. Yet. let a master of the particular science the filets are connected with poist out their relations and uses, and the conclusien they are suppose,' to prove is impressed upon his mind with the foice of a mathema- tical demonstration.

We have said " supposed to prove ;" for it is to he suspected

that in many cases more implicit reliance is placed upon mere facts than they altogether deserve. Where, indeed, the subject in questions is a matter of arithmetic, there need be no apprehen- sion of error, for figures cannot lie. But in matters of a mixed nature, the naked facts are not more necessary than the circum- stances connected with them. The fallacy of the dead letter was lately shown in Mr. Ismcss's account of the Kilkenny " w heels," where the conclusion was just the reverse of that professed to be established: their number proved not prosperity, but departed prosperity,— a latter state worse than the first by the amount of the reaction. Iii this case, it may indeed be urged, that it was not statistics, but incomplete statistics, that were at fault : but the argument would only be partially true—to get at the whole truth, would require description as well as facts. To jump at once to mightier matters, look at China. What do the statistics shuw ? A compact territory, a fertile soil, a good geographical position, immense wealth, and a great number of heads to the square mile. The statistical conclusion would establish power ; the practical fact proves impotence. But to perceive the whole truth—to dis- cover its causes, and to suggest the means of cure—require quali- ties far beyond those necessary for the commissaries of scietica. Thus far, not to depreciate a most indispensable and laborious pursuit, but to place it in its proper position, and to aid in what should be the object of us all—the establishment of the whole truth. We now proceed to the works which have given rise to these re- marks.

MACGREGOR'S RESOURCES AND STATISTICS OF NATIONS.

ONLY the First Part of this elaborate undertaking is before us, for the work will be published in a succession of numbers. If completed with the method with which it is begun, and if a little more care be exercised on the future parts, it will be a necessary book for every one interested in statistical re- searches, or conversant with the pursuits they may illustrate. The object of the author is to present to the world the facts of the world. He proposes to exhibit the extent and position of every country, the natural resources it possesses, and the number of souls it contains. Under the head of " Political Statistics," he will display, so far as figures and a commentary can display, the military and naval strength of nations, with a view of their revenue and expenditure. "Moral Statistics" will include religion and education. "Medical," comparative mortality, &c. Under the head of " Economical Statistics," will be embraced the produc- tions of agriculture and manufactures, and the facts connected with navigation and trade. In so extensive a field of inquiry, many statements must be little better than conjectures : at the same time, it may be observed, that where correctness is of most importance, correctness is most easily obtained. The leading nations of the world have their censuses, and their published or accessible official reports and documents. As the wealth of nations decliues, their" accounts" of necessity decline also. Few recognized states, excepting perhaps Turkey and Persia, exist without data of some kind or other; and generally where nothing is told, there probably is nothing to tell. Yet even in the case of barbarous and uninfluential tribes, calcu- lation has been at work, and ingenious men have made approximate conjectures, pretty nearly as correct, perhaps, as those which have a more imposing fathership. From these sources, Mr. MACGREGOR has drawn his materials; and as he always assigns his authority, tinuous and organic structure of the part ; in the latter, the caloric passes so nients. His statement, for instance. founded upon the Population rapidly from the hot iron into the hand as to produce the same effeet—heat, in Returns, as to the number of teu-dealers in Great Britain and its both cases, being the cause ; its pasting into the body front the iron, or into isles, is 3,460. If tested by the licenses, it should be some 100,000. the iron from she body, being equally injurious to vitality. From a similar In strictness, this is as wrong as the other; for it of course in- cause, the incautious traveller in Canada is burnt in the face by a very cold eludes the chandlers shop, and every other petty dealer who wind, with the same FellSRIIIMS AS when exposed to the blast of an Eastern sells an ounce of tea; but the discrepancy should have been noted. sirocco. The term frost-bitten is the effect produced by extreme cold, when After all, statistical accounts can never be exactly true. If they the nose, toes, fingers, e.trs, or those parts where the circulation of the blood is were perfectly correct at the time of taking, the facts would have scanty and alow, frost-bitten, without their own feelings informing them of changed before the account was published. But we do not believe the presence of the enemy, and the knowledge of such being first discovered by they ever are or can be truly collected, unless perhaps on some a passing individual, who observes the nose (for instance, if frost-bitten) shitzle point where a practical measure is immediately in view. becoming quite white, while the rest of the face is very red. In such a predica- merit it is at first startling to see an utter stranger running up to a traveller with Indifference, negligence, ignorance, self-interest, the number of a handrail of snow, calling out " Your nose, Sir ; your nose is frost-bitten ; " persons employed in their collection,. the sources of error from and, waiving further ceremony, rubbing without mercy at your proboscis—it the extent of the accounts, and the ever- changing nature of the being the first time that any one had ever dated to tweak and twinge that subject-matters, ail operate to induce incorrectness. All we can honorary vulnerable part. If snow be well rubbed in, in due time, there is a hope for is an average of error; that the same causes which probability of saving the most prominent feature in the face ; if not, or if heat create it now, created it formerly, and will create it hereafter applied, not only is the skin destroyed, but the nose and a great part of the to that, though the tables are not abstractedly true, they are It most not, however, be supposed that the severity of the winter is any oh- trse for the purposes of comparison. Thus, Prussia appears stack to out -door amusements, though it stops the navigation of the rivers and t i be a single state : the males above fourteen and under the cultivation of the soil ; on the contrary, winter in Canada is the season of sixty are 3,717,000, the females 3,765,000 ; the married persons joy and pleasure, the cares of business are laid aside, and all classes and ranks indulge in a general carnival, as some amends for the toil undergone during the of ail ages are—males 2,208,000, females 2,211,000. Spain, again, summer months. The sleigh or cartiole of the humble habitan, or proud is a noble state : in 1803, the nobles (we Joresumellidalgoes) were seigneur, is got ready all over the country ; riding abroad on business or pleasure 1,440,000, the labourers 2,721,000, the journeymen '2,803,000, the commences ; visitiug is in active play between friends, neighbours, and relatives, domestics 840,000; giving about two labourers or two journey- regular city and town balls, and irregular pie-nic country parties (where each men to each noble, and allowing him little more than half a ser- guest brings his dish), are quite the rage; and, after dining, alarming and sup- ping—and dancing again, the wintry morning dawn is often ushered in while vant,—fucts which afford a prima facie explanation of the poverty the festive glee is yet at its height, and a violent snow-storm blockades the pie- of the country. The aboriginal inhabitants of America, who live flickers until broad daylight enables them to carriole towards home, over the by hunting, are II decimal parts of a head to the square mile; ice-bound rivers and waves of snow, in all the enjoyment which the lightest- England in the same space supports 260 persons : the first fact hearted beings can be supposed capable of, and considering the hardships and is obviously a guess, but allow any degree of error you please, inconveniences of the moment as a zest to the more staid aud fashionable routes and enough will remain to show how very little is done for us by Travelling over frozen rivers or lakes is, however, not unattended with real nature, and for how much we are indebted to labour, industry, danger ; the sleigh, its horses, and passengers,!being not unfrequently instantly and skill. In 1801, the proportion of registered burials was to engulfed, and sucked beneath the ice, there being no warning of the danger the whole population as 1 in 42; since that period, though flue- until the horses sink, dragging the carriole and its inmates after them. In mating of course, the proportion has been steadily diminishing: general, it is fortunate the weak or thin places are of no great extent; and when the horses are found to be sinking, the passengers instantly leap out On In 1821-1822, years of great cheapness, the proportions were I in the strong ice, seize the ropes which, with a running noose, are placed ready 57 and 1 in 116, and in 1830, 1 in 54. Now these facts might all for such an emergency on every sleigh-horse's neck, and, by sheer pulling, the he wrong in the exact numbers stated, yet if the degress of error animal is strangled in order to sure his life! This is absolutely a fact. If the were the same or nearly, the same, or even a good bit differing, the horse be allowed to kick and struggle, it ouly eaves to injure aril sink him; as conclusion still would be, that the duration of life is improving, soon, however, as the noose is drawn tight, his breathing is momentarily. and that cheap earn is good for long life, checked, strangulation takes place, the animal becomes motionless, rises to the If ARTIN'S MIST OR T OF TNE ERITISM COLONIES noose being loosened, respiration recommences, and the horse is mi hi a feet ear- Has already been sufficiently noticed, with regard to the nature riolin7, away again in a few minutes as well as ever. This singular arid almost incredible operation has been known to be performed two or three times a day of its matter, the order of its arrangement, the mode of its execu- on the saute horse; and the Americans say that, like Irishmen, the animals are tion, and the general character of the author's capabilities. This so used to being hanged, Mat they think nothing about it. Often, however, Third Volume contains the British possessions in North America, horses, sleigh or carriole, and passeugers, are in a moment stink and swept 'm- ann embraces accounts of the two Canadas, Nova Scotia, Cape neath the ice. The traveller on the frozen rivers, but inure especially on the Breton, New Bruuswick, Prince Ed ward Island, and Newfoundland. frozen lakes, incurs also great danger from the large cracks or openings which The statistics are ampler, the maps more numerous, more detailed, run from one side of the lake to the other, from one to six feet broad, causing, at some distance from the crack, a shelving up of the ice to the height of seers- and apparently more exact, than those in the former volumes; cal feet in proportion to the breadth of the fissure. The sleigh drivers, when and from the course of emigration now tending thitherward, the they see no other chance of passing or of escape, make the horses endeavour to information possesses to the generality of the world a greater leap the chink at full gallop, with the sleigh behind them, at the imminent risk practical value. The historical events have, however, less of im- portance or less of iuterest than those relating to the two Inilias, INTERESTING IF TRITE. and there is consequently a slackening in the annals. Yet a All who have visited the Canaries will agree with me in the remark, that so- ciety.there is extremely agreeable- freed from unnecessary forms, giving to life defect of the author serves bins on this point in good stead; his an an- of delightful ease, and to sociability a charming tone mid colouring. earnestness and his rostrum-like qualities—the power, resembling Those who have had the entrt'e to the polished circles of France, anti who base "the great man Mr. Prig, of saying as much upon a ribbon as a observed that talent of every shade finds a readier welcome than titled nothing- Raphael"—give a factitious animation to his style, and carries uess, may imagine what society even in the middle ranks of life is under the the reader on. We will take a few extracts from the less grave clear blue zether of Montreal. matter. It is impossible to avoid observing that society is undergoing a great change A CANA:HAI, WINTER., what is on his head, and the speculative and almost universally-cultivated dots. Aethe winter conies on, one suovv-storat succeeds another till the whole face trine of phrenology has contributed, in no slight degree, to give to mental sups. the country is changed, every particle et ground is covered, the trees alone riurity its proper station in society. recounnit visibie, while even the progress of the mighty rivet St. Lawrence is and frequently accompenies it with 'critical observation, the reader arrested in as course; everywhere, in fact, the chilling grips!) of winter is telt, iS able to ottiniate the degree of probability attached to the facts. and every precaution is taken by man to r sit its benumbing effects. All the In works of this nature, the order of the arrangement is to a filathesed tribes take the alarm ; even the hardy Crow retreats, and few quadru- certain extent arbitrary. Some might prefer seeing the entire sods are to be seen ; mune, like the bear, remaining in a to, pid state, and statisties of a country at once : Mr. MACGREGOR has divided them others, like the hare, changing their colour to a pure white. From Quebec W Montreal the St. Lawrence mates to be navigable, sad serves into five Masses, and proposes to present them in succession, one as a road for the sleighs and C.11110iell. iIIIIIEild of the variety stilich a cans- branch of filets throughout the globe being finished before the dian summer presents in tracing the course of noble rivers, the fall of beautiful other is begun. In the exhibition of the facts themselves, two cataracts, the gayety and liveliness of the buay hunt of commerce in the passing things are chiefly essential,—brevity, and clearness; and these vessels on the moving waters, the floe tints of the forest, end the auburn tiuge the author possesses. He has also a distinct impression of the of the ripening corn, the whistle of the ploughboy, and the lowing of the tended kine, nothing is now to he seen but one continued solid plain ; no rivers, sa'ure of his duty ; which is to present naked facts, unincum- no ehipe, no animals—au one indiscriminate plain of snow, the average depth of tiered br speculations, uncoloured by opinions; and this duty he which (unless where accumulated by snow-storms or drifts) is shout thirty fulfils. Views on the subject he doubtless has; but whatever they inches. may be, they are not obtruded. The dress of the Canadian ncw undergoes a complete change; the Jag and The present Part commcaces with an introduction, consisting bonnet rouge are thrown aside. and fur caps, fur cloaks, fur gloves, are put itz requisition, with worsted hose over as swell al tinder boots: those who take exer- chiefly of an exposition of the author's authorities. The habitable cise on foot use snow-shoes, or mocassins, which are made of a kind of nee- surface and population of the Earth, and—in greater detail—of work, fixed on a frame, and shaped like a boy's paper-kite, about two feet long its four quarters, are next exhibited. He then proceeds to Europe; and eighteen inches broad ; these cover KO much of the surface of the snow that %%hose states are exhibited in the order of their supposed im- the wearer sinks but a very few inches, even when the snow is softest. portance. The part closes with Denmark ; leaving Portugal, While the external weather is guarded against by the Canadian.; when out of doors, their habitations are also secured against the destructive power of intense Greece, Turkey, and the independent States of Italy, to be yet cold. The walls of the houses are usually plastered on the outside, to preserve displayed. the stones front moisture, which, if acted on by the frost, is liable to split them ; The work appears to have been printed in France. We wish a cud the apartments are heated with stoves, which keep the temperature at a thicker paper had been chosen, and greater typographical care higher and more uniform rate that our English fireplaces will. nianit'ested. The slovenly way in which it is paged, whilst it will And here it ins be observed, that the result of intense cold (such As is felt render reference a matter of trouble, warrants the suspicion that in Canada) is, if not guarded against, similar to that of intense heat ; with this.

accompanied by a sharp biting wind. At this period persons are liable to have

be

; adjacent surface is Irrecoverably lost. • I .* *

of Quebec or Montreal.

surface, floats on one side, and is then drawn out on the strong ice, when the of being engulfed in the lake.

in England ; a man is now beginning to he valued for what is in, rather than The following is a specimen of the author's optimism. It is certainly possible that seven-eights of an acre, even with the slovenly cultivation a new settler, might produce 50 or perhaps 60 bushels ; but, in a work of grave and great pretensions, an authority should have been given for the facts. The two closing assertions are of such a startling nature, that they should not have been put forth as truths, without the production of the evidence on which they rested. We may also remark by the by, that, except in his statistics, Mr. MARTIN very rarely quotes authorities.

The quantity of good soil in Canada compared with the extent of country is equal to that of any part of the globe ; and there yet remains location for many amnions of the human race. The best lands are those on which the hardest -timber is found,—such as oak, maple, beech, elm, black-walnut, &c. though lass-wood, when of luxuriant growth, and pine, when large, clean and tall, also indicate good land. Many of the cedar swamps, where the cedars are not stunted and mingled with ash of a large growth, contain a very rich soil, and sre calculated for the finest hemp-grounds in the world. So great is the fer- tility of the soil in Canada, that fifty bushels of wheat per acre are frequently produced on a farm where the stumps of trees, which probably occupy an eighth of the surface, have not been eradicated ; some instances of sixty bushels per acre occur ; and near York, in Upper Canada, one hundred bushels of wheat were obtained from a sinyle acre ! In some districts, wheat has been raised successively on the same ground for twenty years, without manure.

It was formerly hinted, that in reference to his present under- taking Mr. MARTIN was not exactly an historian. We suspect from the volume before us, that he lacks the historical mind. A laboured force, an effect produced by exaggeration, and other faults of compo- sition, may be assigned to the necessity of imparting interest to a work, when the hard taskmaster, Time, rendered exact proportion, condensed, vigorous, and polished narrative, with sober and philo- sophical truth, unattainable. But the true historian, though he may be decided, is never dogmatical : when the matter is dubious, be speaks doubtfully ; if he determines, it is calmly, and without vehemence in argument, or something closely approaching viru- lence in personal attack. The utility of colonies is questioned by some economists, and denied by others ; we think erroneously, even judging on purely economical grounds, and Mr. MARTIN thinks so too. But it would certainly have been better to have ex- posed the error of the opinion, than to have attacked the opinion, or rather the men who hold it. "A master of moral and political wisdom," who " turned the spirit of philosophical inquiry from frivo- lous or abstruse speculations to the business and affairs of men," opposed, in his Wealth of Nations, the plan of seeking to raise up nations of customers by crippling the freedom of industry both in the existent and in the embryo. These opinions have been main- tained and expanded by many men who are at least the equal of Mr. MARTIN, whether in literature, science, or the conduct of affairs; but still no one is bound to swear by the words of the master. Inquiry is the privilege of all. If our author is convinced of the falsehood of these opinions, let him render reasons for the faith that is in him, instead of putting forth facts which prove nothing, or prove against himself. Nor can it be considered other than a great defect in a work professing to be historical, and aiming at perm- nenCe, that the notions should be advanced with the one-sided eager- ness of a partisan, and in the tone and spirit of "gentlemen of the press" contending in the arena of party strife. The close observer may fancy that this fault extends beyond a mere literary defect. How is it that the last printed sheets are more distin- guished by this flippant bitterness? Have the "Doctrinaires" overlooked Mr. MARTIN? Does he hope to excite the attention of those "Tories who have ever been influenced less by France than by national views?" It is a pity that "Lord STANLEY'S firmness and patriotism" can avail nothing : but perhaps Lord ABERDEEN will have more penetration than the "young Baltic merchant !"

APPENDIX TO THE BLACK BOOR.

EXCEPT in its concluding pages, the Appendix to the Black Book is more political than statistical : what statistics there are, principally refer to the Divisions of the last two sessions, the Place- men and Pensioners sitting in the Reformed House of Commons, and some facts relative to Church and Dissent, collected in part from the Ecclesiastical Report. The main body of the publica- tion consists of a series of pamphlets on the doings of the late Reform Ministry and the present aspect of affairs. The ground- work of the writer's views upon the past is that which the Spec- tator took up on the first appearance of the Reform Bill,---that in order to work the Government smoothly and effectively, the two Houses must be in harmony, and that this can only be brought about by reforming the Lords. The tone and opinions of the Black Book are well known as being what are called Ultra- Radical ; having little regard to conventional courtesies, not taking a very philosophic view of affairs, and expressing the views in a style of greater point than polish. On the present occasion, the writer, like Reformers of all grades, is willing to overlook the past, and go heart-and-hand with the Whigs against the Tories, as against the common enemy of all. This has given to the latter part of his work a somewhat soberer tone, when speaking of the deeds of the Whigs and estimating the personal character of the late Ministers. Here is a very fair view of

LOADS MELBOURNE AND BROUGHAM.

We shall begin with the noble Ex.Prernier ; about whom the public knows little, and whom we had always considered rather in the light of an Epicurean aristocrat than a man of business. He certainly left a favourable impression of talent as Home Secretary ; having evinced good sense and firmness in the little he had to do during his fair-weather administration of that mostly irksome department. But his Lordship is an "old stager" in public life, and he has not, to our knowledge, placed on record either word or deed calculated to inspire very exalted hopes of future development as an enlightened and very superior statesman. Some years since, we remember Sir F. Burdett took him to task for an attempt to apply the arbitrary principles he had deduced from a recent study of Roman history to the gevernment of this country. Our impression is, that ['elms more of the inertness of Conservatism in him than his predecessor. He obviously views with no favourable eye the admission of Dissenters into the Universities ; and if his recent declarations in respect of the Church may be trusted, great things needs not be expected in that direction.

On the 9th of August, Lord Melbourne said, " He reverenced and loved the mild and tolerant spirit of the Church." Of course he did ; all Lords love the Church, because it is a Church for Lords, not for the People. On the same occasion he said, " If he were to speak his own individual opinion, he would say that he for one was not dissatisfied with the Church as it stood at present." No, my Lord ! not dissatisfied with the legislation of the Bishops, nor with the dignitaries, pluralists, and non-residents? This is disheartening enough in all conscience : the only three great reforms remaining are Ecclesiastical, Municipal, and Legal ; and if the Whigs do not intend to come up to the mark on the first and most important, we shall say, in the language of Portia, they are " no men for us," nor, we believe, the country. Some allowance may be made for the atmosphere in which the preceding morceaux were delivered. The Ex-Premier, as well as his colleagues, was oft.-n compelled to throw a kind of verbal dust into the eyes of his opponents, in order, if possible, to steal a march upon them. We have beard that Lord Melbourne is more a man ofespediency than inflexible principle. It may savour perhaps of laxity to observe, that, in the existing crisis, we do not like him the worse for it. Our opinion is, that no set of men can cut through present diffi- culties unless they will adapt the means to the end. Tithes and other great and complicated questions, can never be settled on principles of strict equity, no more than a man can walk the crowded pathways of the Metropolis in a direct line. If Ministers cannot go straight, they must go awry; at all event* they must do the thing, and get on ! As to the poor Ex-Chancellor, he is politically dead, and we shall allow him the privilege of dead men, by speaking of him tenderly. He has sinned against all the proprieties ; as Minister, Legislator, Judge, and ci-devant Reformer. His lark in the North cleared up whatever mystery attached to his character, and his name is no longer a " tower of strength." Ile is obviously a man of the most pitiable foibles—a lover of vulgar notorieties of all sorts, and which wise men mostly despise. That he has done much for Liberal government—. has exposed and helped to amend many devouring public abuses—and possesses great industry and cleverness—are undoubted facts ; but lie grievously lacks the discretion, steadiness, and comprehension which constitute a safe and leading mind. If a vague desire of the Premiership ever flitted across his ambitious thoughts, he may erase it from remembrance ; for we verily believe not one person—save one—in the United Kingdom would countenance his pretensions. Lord Brougham, like Napoleon, sinned against the "spirit of the age," and has fallen. In his latter days, he affected Conservative principles—lauded the Duke of Wellington, and prostrated himself before Sir Edward Sugden, both of whom he had reviled. At one place in Scotland, he told his hearers that he was no Radical (he had been, though, as well as an admirer of Mr. Pitt and many other things), and that he could hold no disputation with persons who denied the utility of a House of Lords. How could he? he ought to have been sworn on a roire dire first : of course the parvenu and vain Henry Brougham considered himself, as well as Brougham Hall, pieces of the "order," without which this great empire could not hold together. The fatal delusion of this unhappy man appears to have been, that he alone was the Atlas to support the tottering Throne and Peerage of England; and that he could say to the march of Reform, as Canute said to the waves, " So far shalt thou go, and no further." Hence, like another Peter the Hermit, he went to and ho in the country declaiming against Republicans and rash innovations. But what an ungrateful return for his Conservative labours—for all his fulsome eulogies of Prince and Peers—to receive only a most ungracious kith-out !

THE AMERICAN A.LMANACK

Is a capital work, which in the completeness of its information, the manner of its arrangement, and its typographical appearance, excels any English Almanack that has come under our notice; though, of course, it would be but a sorry compliment to say that the information itself is in the main other than American. The Calendar is chiefly characterized by the elaboration and fulness of its astronomical facts ; and is wanting alike in the guides to health, the weather, the garden, and the larder, which figure in our home productions. The matter of the Second Part, though very miscellaneous, is chiefly statistical, and may be classed under four heads. The first relates to miscellaneous matters; amongst which, a " Statistical View of the Mortality in various Countries in Europe," may be perused with pleasure and improvement, as, besides its curious facts, it proves the point already alluded to, of the increasing value of human life, and the benefit to be derived from civilization. The second division contains an eNhibition of the facts connected with the Federal Government of the United States ; where the salaries of the Executive and Judicial Offi- cers, the Naval and Military Expenditure, and the account of the Finances generally, offer a striking opposition to those of the Mother Country. The same remark extends to the third section, which embraces the detailed particulars of the individual States. In turning over the pages, we have chiefly been attracted by the salaries of the officials, as offering a sort of contrast to those of our own Colonies, not favourable in point of amount, and still less so in point of principle. People there seem paid in the ratio of their usefulness. For instance, if we judge by the amount of income, the second person in the state of Louisiana is the civil engineer. Our next point of attraction relates to those facts which throw some light on the condition of business, such as the rate of interest. It should be said, however, that the editor piques himself upon the minute information he has collected relative to their Banks and their Newspapers. The fourth division of the Second Part relates to foreign affairs. It is of course less detailed than the former portions, or, as regards Great Britain, than our own almanacks, but we think more com- plete so far as it goes.