shows himself friendly to extending the commercial intercourse of the country by the removal of restrictions. By a royal ordinance he has reduced the impost duties on raw silk, and the export duties on fir timber, and made several minor alterations, which we hope may be received as the commencemeut of a more liberal and enlightened commercial system. Several arrests have been made in Paris of persons suspected of being engaged in political conspiracies; but the capital, notwithstanding, remains tranquil. The Duchess de Berri was expected at Palermo on the latter end of June. A magnificent palace has been prepared by her father-in-law, the Prince of Campo Fernio, for her reception; but the Count her husband is nowhere to be found. The Spanish Cortes assembled at Madrid on the 18th June, and swore allegiance to their future Queen, the young Princess of Asturias. The Minister of the King of Naples protested against the proceeding on behalf of his master, whose claim to the succession would be injured thereby. No other business was done, the Members having been required to take an oath that they were met exclusively for the purpose swearing allegiance to the Princess. In consequence of a suspicion that King Ferdinand would, if he durst, willingly assist Don Miguel in the struggle now going on in Portugal, a French army, under the command of General Clausel, has been stationed on the Spanish frontier. PORTUGAL. of The news from Portugal is important, and a speedy termination of the struggle in favour of the Constitutional cause may be anticipated. On the 20th of June, between 3,000 and 4,000 men, under Villa Flor, were embarked on board the squadron off Oporto, consisting of one ship of the line, two frigates, two corvettes, one armed brig, and five steam boats. Captain Napier, a distinguished British officer, was appointed Admiral in place of Sartorius, who resigned; and Count de Saldanha succeeded to the command of the army in place of Solignac, who left Don Pedro's service. On the 21th June the squadron appeared off Villa Real, at the mouth of the Guadiana, and after dispersing with little difficulty a body of 1,200 Miguelites, the greater part of whom joined the invaders, landed the troops, which took possession of the town without resistance, where they found thirty pieces of cannon, and L.5,000 in cash. soon as the news were known, deputations from the neighbouring towns and villages sent in their adherence to the Queen, and he whole of the province of Algarve, and great part of Alentejo, declared themselves n her favour. The squadron then pro As ceeded to Tavira, where it took five small Miguelite vessels. On the 5th of July, Captain Napier having fallen in with the Miguelite fleet off St Vincent, attacked it, notwithstanding the inferiority of his force, and though he received no aid whatever from his steam boats, on account of the cowardice of their engineers and crews, who were afraid to approach the enemy's fleet. After a short but severe engagement, Captain Napier captured the following vessels: Rainha, 80 guns, 850 men; Don John, 74 guns, 850 men; Princessa Real, 56 guns, 640 men; Freitas, 48 guns, 580 men; Princessa Corvette, 24 guns, 320 men. The vessels were taken by boarding, and a severe loss was sustained by Captain Napier's fleet, princi pally in British officers, who set a glorious example to their men. Captain Napier's officers and crews were principally British, so that this gallant exploit, though performed under a foreign Hag, adds another trophy to the British navy. The conduct of Captain Napier, when alluded to, was highly applauded in both Houses of Parliament. The news of the victory was communicated to General Bourmont on his voyage to Lisbon to take oommand of the Miguelite army. An attack on Oporto, on the 5th July, was repulsed with a severe loss to the Miguelites. TURKEY. According to the last accounts from Constantinople, which are to the 10th June, Ibrahim Pacha was retreating very slowly. The Russian ships of war still remained in the Bosphorus, and were not to depart until the Egyptians were encamped on the other side of Mount Taurus. THE COLONIES. In consequence of the great drought in the island of Jamaica, the crops have failed. The estimated deficiency in the sugar crop is 50,000 hhds. The other Colonies have also suffered severely from the same cause, and the deficiency from the whole British West India Colonies cannot be less than 800,000 hhds., or a fourth of the whole importation. STATE OF TRADE. It gives us much pleasure to learn that the mission of Dr Bowring and Mr Villiers to France, for the purpose of extending our commercial relations with that country, has proved highly successful. These gentlemen men have been upwards of twelve months in France, and have obtained from the Government promises of certain modifications of the Tariff. Judging from the French newspapers, both metropolitan and provincial, we are satisfied that the great majority of intelligent Frenchmen are prepared for a very extensive removal of the restrictions which have hitherto impeded our commercial intercourse with that coun try. Although our imports from France have increased rapidly since the war, the exports of British and Irish produce and manufactures continue nearly stationary, and do not exceed annually half a million in official value. This is a very trifling amount, when the fertility and population of France are considered, the vicinity of her shores, and the numerous articles, much prized in this country, which she produces. Were the commercial intercourse of the two countries freed from the absurd restrictions which now fetter it, a field of enterprise would be laid open, which could not fail to prove of incalculable advantage to both countries. We are glad to observe, from the tone of the French periodical press, that jealousy and hatred to this country is fast passing away; and we hope that on this side of the channel such feelings, which have long ceased to be entertained by men of education and liberality, will soon be removed from the minds of the least educated classes of the community. The accounts from the manufacturing districts have of late been extremely favour able, and great briskness prevails in almost every branch of manufacture and trade. At Liverpool, 73,000 bales of cotton were sold in one week, a greater quantity in the same period than has happened since 1825. There is indeed some reason to fear that a tendency to over speculation exists. Cotton wool has advanced greatly in price, which advance has caused a dullness in the cotton weaving factories. At Perth, ginghams are in great demand, and an advance of wages has in consequence been made to the weavers. English wool is also rising. Spanish wool has been selling lately at 25 per cent., and Australian at 40 per cent. above last year's prices. At Galashiels all hands are em ployed, and trade is unusually brisk. The woollen trade is very brisk. Flannels, baizes, and merinos, are in great demand, and are on the advance. All hands in the woollen trade are fully employed, but they have in some places struck for an advance of wages. In the Leeds Cloth Halls a rise of price has been gradually taking place for some time past, and a farther rise is expected on woaded colours; the stuffs for dyeing these colours having recently advanced in price. An advance on raw silks of 20 per cent. has caused a dulness in silk weaving. At Sheffield many orders have been received from America. A considerable revival has taken place in the staple trade of the town, in which great dulness has for some time prevailed. The iron trade continues in a state of great activity. AGRICULTURE.-We can now form a probable conjecture of the productiveness of the crop; and, although it varies more than usual in appearance in different districts, we think we may state, from some personal observation, and the perusal of numerous agricultural reports, that the probability is that the harvest will yield rather below than above an average return. Wheat in Edinburghshire, Fiteshire, East Lothian, Berwickshire, and Roxburghshire, is rather a thin and light crop, and generally small in the ear; but it has suffered very little from insects or disease, and not likely to be injured by rain, on account of its light ness. On the rich carse ground in Perthshire and Stirlingshire, and in the northern counties generally, wheat is a bulky crop, and was partially lodged by the rains in July. Barley is light where it was early sown; but the late sown crops have a luxuriant appearance, and promise a fair re turn. Oats on cold clay soils, more espe cially when early sown, had a very un promising appearance at the beginning of the month, and have not improved much; but on friable and more fertile soils, when late, sown they are looking well. There is reason, however, to fear, that in the drier districts of Scotland the crop will be defi cient in straw, though the produce of grain may amount to an average. The late sown crops of oats are almost without exception better than those sown at an earlier period. Beans and pease have improved wonderfully; and there is some reason to fear that on strong soils they may become too bulky, in which case a deficient return of pulse may be anticipated. The potato crop, which has now become so important, and the cultivation of which is yearly in creasing, has failed to a very great extent. Over the greater part of Scotland fields were everywhere ploughed up, on account of the seed not having vegetated, and the curl prevails to an unprecedented extent. The weather, though in some districts rather wet, was on the whole favourable for the sowing of turnips; but the cold weather in the end of June greatly retarded their progress. Their appearance generally does not augur a bulky crop. The hay crop is on the whole light. În Perthshire and the west of Scotland it will reach an average crop, but in the eastern part of the country generally, the crop is light, and there is a great deficiency of clover. Of course little aftermath is to be looked for. Much of the hay continued uncut till a later period than usual, and suffered from the weather; and of that which was cut earlier a considerable portion was injured by the rains. The frequent showers have been very favourable for pastures, and there has seldom been a season in which they have been more luxuriant. The young grasses have also a promising appearance. The season has, on the whole, been favourable for clearing fallows. The accounts from England of the crops vary exceeding ly; but, generally speaking, the crops are deficient in bulk. In Norfolk they have suffered greatly from drouth, and all over the country much injury was sustained by the storm on the 11th June, which broke the straw of the wheat. A large portion of that crop, however, looks well, and promises an early and fair return. Barley varies much in appearance; but, on the whole, the crop can hardly be expected to reach an average. Oats are likely to be deficient in bulk, and hay has turned out a scanty crop. Sheep have thrived well, and there has been an average clip. The climate of Ireland being more humid than that of Britain, crops of all kinds are promising, and hay is very abundant in the north; but from other parts of the country the accounts are far from favourable. Potatoes have, in numerous instances, failed; and that crop, as well as wheat, when growing on light soils, has been injured by high winds. MARKETS.-Corn markets have continued with little variation, though there has been a tendency to rise. TAIT'S EDINBURGH MAGAZINE. MEN AND MANNERS IN AMERICA. IMAGINE a battered old beau quizzing a ruddy growing boy for his brown holland pin-before, the three rows of brass sugar-loaf buttons on his jacket, the redness of his hands, the carelessness of his carriage, his fondness for tarts, his contempt of the higher luxuries of turtle and venison, and you have the sum and substance of all English criticisms on America. All the circumstances of a young country are made its reproach. Our son Jonathan is ourselves in little; but we are never weary of quizzing him for the very features which are our own in miniature. Like the crab-mother of Fontaine, we are perpetually jeering our progeny for ungainly habits, which we see clearly enough in it, though not in ourselves. Comme tu vas, bon Dieu! ne peux-tu marcher droit? Our crab-son has not the wit to answer, Et comme vous allez vous-même ! Puis-je autrement marcher que ne fait ma famille ? Instead of this retort, Jonathan says, that his march is the march of a giant in seven-league boots. He meets one folly with another folly. He takes the advances of youth as data for an eternal ratio of improvement. Having made so much progress in such a time, so much more, he reckons, must be made in such another time. He forgets that large proportionate increases are easier upon little things than on great. We never double our age in one year after the second year of our infancy. Jonathan, being a sailor, knows that it is easier to increase the ship's speed at five knots an hour than at ten. Instead, therefore, of gasconading about what he shall do from what he has done and is doing, our dear son should answer our illiberal scoffs at his growing features, by holding up the mirror to our own enlargements of precisely the same formations. For example, the author of " Men and Manners in America," (Cyril Thornton, for honour's sake, we would call him,) reproaches the Americans with Mammon Worship. The scene is New York: "I shall now give an instance of the estimation in which wealth is held in this commercial community. At a party a few evenings ago, the worthy host was politely assiduous in introducing me to the more prominent individuals who composed it. Unfortunately he considered it necessary to preface each repetition of the ceremony with some preliminary account of the pecuniary circumstances of the gentleman, the honour of whose acquaintance was about to be conferred on me. 'Do you observe,' he asked, 'that tall thin person, with a cast in his eye, and his nose a little cocked? Well, that man, not three months ago, made an hundred thousand dollars bya single speculation in tallow. You must allow me to intro duce you to him.' 3 B VOL. III.-NO, XVIII. The introduction passed; and my zealous cicerone again approached with increased importance of aspect. A gentleman,' he said, worth at least half a million, had expressed a desire to make my acquaintance.' This was gratifying, and, of course, not to be denied. A third time did our worthy entertainer return to the charge; and, before taking my departure, I had the honour of being introduced to an individual, who was stated to be still more opulent than his predecessors. Had I been presented to so many bags of dollars, instead of to their possessors, the ceremony would have been quite as interesting, and perhaps less troublesome." This is very effectively and pleasantly sketched. There is no surcharging, no amplifying upon the folly; it is seized in its simplicity, in its nakedness, without shame. But have we not enough of this at home? Who is it that commemorates the yeoman's proud appeal to the Yorkshire Bench of Magistrates-" Sir, there is half a million a-year on that Bench?” In English society the expression of Mammon Worship varies from that in New York, according to the difference in the circumstances of wealth. The American said, "Do you observe that tall thin man with a cast in his eye, and his nose a little cocked? Well, that man, not three months ago, made a hundred thousand dollars by a single speculation in tallow. You must allow me to introduce you to him." This is not merely a respect for possession,-a respect for a man worth a hundred thousand dollars ;-it is a respect for the successful ability. It is, therefore, a respect far more excusable, far less sordid than that which waits upon a man in England who exhibits the signs of wealth without showing any signs of the industry or ingenuity by which it could be acquired. Here the man who had acquired a fortune by a speculation in tallow would be a person of far less consideration than his heir, possessing the fortune without the capacity for acquiring it, or for putting bread into his mouth had he been destitute. In aristocratic England, the nearer to merit the farther from honour. Amongst Peers, a new Peer is a nobody; not because his Peerage has been obtained without desert,-for Peers think little of that, and reverentially of the favour of the Sovereign however exhibited,--but because he is only the first of an ennobled house. The descendant of a long line of imbeciles is of more honoured title in aristocratic opinion than a Wellington or a Nelson. To proceed to the second instance:-"A gentleman," says the American, "worth half a million, has expressed a desire to make your acquaintance." This would not be said in English society. Here they, on such occasions, talk of the signs of the wealth instead of going straight to the money bags, which are weighed apropos of matrimonial or election canvasses. Here the speech would have been,—A gentleman who gives devilish good dinners, or a gentleman who drives fourin-hand, or a gentleman who keeps hounds, or a gentleman who owns one of the finest places in the county, desires to make your acquaintance. We have an advantage in this respect; for, as it is the signs of wealth by which acquaintances profit in hospitality, provided there be the signs, the wealth itself is a matter of indifference. If a man, thousands worse than a beggar, gives grand entertainments, they are not a whit less acceptable because they are at the expense of his creditors. No one cares to ask how he does it, so that he does it handsomely. "To keep up appearances," (as the phrase goes,) is the great business in England; that is to say, to make a show exceeding the means, which may impose on observers. Cyril Thornton imputes to the Americans not only the practice of dishonesties which just escape the cognizance of justice, but a pride in them; and says, that stories of successful roguery are told in honour of the perpetrator's cleverness. We suspect that a foreigner might make the same remark in England. In all societies, rebels against morality will be found. We have heard young men of fashion, or would-be men of fashion, boast of exploits for which they deserved to be hung. Take the following anecdote, one among many, for example; and let Cyril Thornton match its rascality, if he can, with any story of American over-reaching in trade:-A certain Lord seduced from her home the daughter of a grocer in the city. The nobleman was deep in debt, moneyless, and without credit. He took the girl to an inn in the neighbourhood of London, where he staid till he was tired of his amour; but he could not quit the house without paying the bill, and he had not the means. He wrote an anonymous letter to the father, telling him where and with whom his daughter was to be found. The father instantly hurried to the house, and claimed his child: his Lordship pretended to resist giving her up, and, at last, stated the circumstance that they were in debt in the house; that both must remain till the bill was discharged, or that there would be a public exposure; and that he was without money. The father, anxious to hush up the disgrace of his family, and to recover his daughter, paid the bill: and so the matter ended; the noble seducer having thus made the father pay for the debauchery of his own child. For the truth of this story we cannot vouch, but for this we can vouch,-that we have heard it told by the young men of the day, with much unction, as an example of admirable ingenuity. In all walks of life, some lawless ground will be found, in which the less scrupulous run riot against the general opinions of society. Among lawyers, among surgeons, among merchants, among tradesmen, we hear anecdotes of address or dexterity which seem, to those not making the allowances of the tribe, very much like anecdotes of roguery. The present Chancellor hears counsel for a Playwright in an action against the Managers of a theatre. The Plaintiff had been employed to write a drama for a rein deer-in other words, a drama in which a rein deer was to perform the principal part: the rein deer died; the author claimed for the piece he had written. The Managers refused to satisfy his demand. Mr. Brougham stated that the Plaintiff had performed his part of the agreement, had, in short, written the piece; and argued that his labour was not to go for nothing because the rein deer died. The jury gave a verdict for the plaintiff of L.50; (if we remember correctly;) and Mr. Brougham then chuckling at his success, handed about among his learned brethren the piece, which was a sheet of paper scrawled over with such heads as these:-Scene 1st, Moonlight, cottage at the side, mountains in the back ground; enter old man, to soft music. Scene 2d, Inside of a cottage, with skins hanging from the walls, spears, horns, antlers, and hunters' gear. The success upon such grounds seemed the greater triumph to the Bar; but another judgment upon the matter would be exercised by those not of the gown, and not acquiescent in its morality. A few such anecdotes as these, picked up in America, serve for impeachment of the national morals, and make the narrator bless himself that we of happy monarchical England are not reproachable with such laxity of principle. In a recent number of the Quarterly Review there appeared a clever article, descriptive of the hunting in Leicestershire, in which the aristocratic humanities were strikingly illustrated It showed that if the most dangerous accidents occurred in the chase, the noble sportsmen would not sacrifice their pleasure to render assistance to a sufferer, and |