A duty of 12 per cent. on all articles not specified in the act and which hitherto paid 7 per cent. only. Ten per cent. additional duty on all articles imported in a vessel not belonging to the United States, without the foreigners give peculiar privileges to the United States' vessels in the foreign countries, A drawback of duties on re-exportation: imported silk may be dyed in the States, and allowed drawback. The duties to be levied after the 1st of June, 1824. Independent of very large sums invested in the French Funds. The great American Canal. It will be recollected that the eastern section was not open until the middle of October last; after which the navi gation was soon interrupted by the giving way of some part of the work. We have no doubt that when the canal is completed, the toll will be not less than six hundred thousand dol lars the first year after, and there will be always an increase in proportion to the population of the country. The following are the monthly receipts from April to July 31, 1824: Balance in favour of this year, Dol.... 88,636 36 COLOMBIA. In the Government journal of July 18, we find a decree which had passed the Senate and the Chamber of Representatives on the 7th of the same month, and had received the assent of the Executive on the 10th, fixing the rate of duty on the exportation of all articles the growth or production of the Republic. These duties are all now brought into one account, and are to be paid uniformly over all the provinces of the state. The following are a few of the articles enumerated in this decree, with the duties payable on exportation :-Untanned hides, pay 10 per cent.; cacao, 15 per cent.; dye-wood, 5 per cent. ; mules, 20 dollars per head; horses, 16 dollars per head, and other cattle 12 per head; coined gold, 3 per cent. The exportation of gold-dust is prohibited coined silver and platina are likewise prohibited from being exported, for what reason we know not. All articles not enumerated above pay a duty on exportation of 4 per cent, The provisions of this decree would appear, to say the least of them, very impolitic. Colombia ought to encou rage, rather than check, the use of her produce among fo reigners; and if she must raise a revenue on trade and commerce, should obtain it rather in some other way than by shackling the free export of the articles furnished by her soil and industry. Foreigners will not submit to be taxed for the benefit of the Colombians. If the duties imposed, therefore, on the exportation of Colombian commodities be higher than those paid in other quarters, foreigners will desert the Colombian markets for those of other states, and the Government' will thus lose not only their own duties, but destroy the trade of its subjects. We find in this paper another decree prohibiting the importation of salt into any port of the republic. It is a long time before Governments learn that they best consult the public interest by letting things alone. The Speedy from Santa Martha, laden with hides and tobacco, being the first vessel from Colombia since the British Consul reached Bogota, has arrived. A difficulty not foreseen by the shippers, though arising from a revenue regulation well known in this country, has prevented the discharge of the vessel, which is in fact at present in a state of detention. By one of the acts for preventing smuggling, tobacco cannot be imported in packages of less weight that 450lb. The tobacco on board the Speedy, consisting of bales weighing only 125lb. each, has, therefore, been detained until the Lords of the Treasury shall give directions as to the enforcing or suspending the operations of the act. To convey tobacco from the interior of Spanish America to the coast, in packages of the weight required by the act, is wholly inpracticable. The merchandise transported from Bogota to Santa Martha is carried partly on mules and partly by porters-and by law the weight of every package is limited to 150lb. This restric tion originates in the narrowness and general imperfection of the roads, which are described by Humboldt as being so narrow in many of the passages across the mountains, that horned cattle can scarcely pass without difficulty. The porters, a numerous and powerful class, are represented to have invariably opposed the formation of good roads in South America, as leading to the destruction of their monopoly, which is so productive, that, as a body, they are wealthy. The contradictory regulations of the two countries might tend greatly to embarrass commercial intercourse in respect of tobacco-a commodity of no mean importance; but it can scarcely admit of doubt, that the British Government will suspend the operation of this act as to the productions of Colombia, and other South American States. With us, the importation of tobacco, in small packages, is prohibited, with the express view of diminishing the facility of transport to the interior; while in Colombia the package is by law restricted to a certain weight, for the purpose of giving that facility of transport, which, for the protection of our revenue, is rendered penal. To insist on the strict enforcement of this act, would operate as a prohibition against the importation of tobacco from the new states of South America. THE SHIP COLOMBUS.-The following is an extract from the books of the Custom House respecting the ship Colombus : The Colombus, Quebec, W. Mackellar, 3,690, Blackwall, Martin. 41 pieces oak timber 3,253 ditto. ditto. Caldwell and Co. Gillespie and Co. Parf the cargo was thrown out in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. |