which have been under consideration here. Well, it is natural, it is no more than natural, that the president, who seeks committees to attend to the affairs of this Chamber, shali select them from the men who frequent this Chamber. There is no law but that which binds a man to any other duty, which can bring him here after he has once entered upon membership. You require your president to take an oath of fidelity; no such oath is required from you, and yet it depends upon you more than upon him-upon the committees selected to supervise and consider subjects brought before you-whether this Chamber shall represent, as it ought to represent, the high character of this great commercial community; and while it only nominally stands here to give organized expression to the thoughts and feelings and spirit of this community, it remains an imperfect and unfaithful organization. It depends upon you, gentlemen, as well as upon me, what stand this Chamber shall take in the future in regatd to the growth of this city, the high honor of this city, and the growth and character of the whole State; for you will remember that the title of this Chamber is "The Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York." Therefore it devolves upon you to maintain alike the commercial character of the city, the commercial character of the State, and, as Americans, the commercial character of the country. Hence, when the affairs of the city are under consideration, you will have one regard for them; when the affairs of the State are under consideration, you will have one regard for them; and when the affairs of the country are under consideration, your interests, your affections, and your pride will be enlisted for the honor and welfare of our country.

Now, with such a purpose, this Chamber cannot withhold, occasionally, its expression of encouragement, its support, recommendations, and suggestions to those who fill offices of trust and power-who preside over the destinies of the state and the destinies of our country.

The connection between commerce and law is too intimate to require mention before you. Commerce depends upon the enactment of just laws-liberal laws-such as will promote and not retard its growth; and it will fall upon you to advocate at all times the enactment of such laws as will tend to extend and enlarge the relations of commerce. How, then, can this Chamber be indifferent to the maintenance of the government of our country? I know that in the South the charge is brought -and we admit it to be brought as a reproach against the North-that we are a nation of traders, and therefore inferior to the men of the South. But there is no relation of commerce, in its higher or its lower manifestations, in which it may not contribute to the welfare and profit of man: it may be small, or it may be large, but, every where, it seeks out the wants of a community and it supplies them. It brings the toiling millions of Europe to cultivate our agricultural fields; it brings science and literature and art and learning from other lands to our own, and it reciprocates these gifts from abroad. Such is the office of commerce. There is one kind of traffic, however, from which the North has turned with loathing and disgust, and that is the traffic that is peculiar to the South. I hold that it is with a very bad grace that the men of the South turn upon the men of the North and claim superiority, while they make that odious traffic the corner-stone of their government. For myself, I may be permitted to say that I glory in the grand and boundless developments of commerce and its continually enlarging opportunities; in its high aims

and expanding tendencies, as it acts upon men and upon communities. Yet, while this reproach is attempted to be cast upon us by those of the South, the men of the North will not give back hate for hate; but we will give them our love, and pray that the time may soon come when order will be restored, and when this whole people will recognize the laws and government of the land, and when, in obedience to the laws of commerce, we may carry again to the hungry communities of the South the bread and the wheat and those things which we raise, that they may not want for anything which would be conducive to their comfort or to their improvement, and that we may take from them those things which are necessary for us-always giving a quid pro quo. These are feelings in which I am sure you agree with me, and I think it not improper to express them here. I hope and pray that the day will come when we may enjoy together all the institutions of commerce-when we may give to them those things which they need, and take from them those things which we need. But that day, unhappily does not seem to be near. We can only pray for its coming.

And now, gentlemen, I thank you that you have listened to me with such attention in these remarks, which I did not expect to be called upon to make to-day. If I could have followed my own inclinations, I would have absented myself from this room; but, as the constitution of this Chamber required that I should take my oath of office in the presence of the gentlemen who has recently left this chair, and is called away from the city and cannot find it convenient to return, I have ventured, without preparation, to make these few remarks. For them, as for my future acts, I claim, with much confidence, your indulgence, because I have never found it wanting during my connection with this Chamber.

The election was then proceeded with for the remaining officers. The following are the results:

Mr. William E. Dodge was elected First Vice-President; Mr. Jonathan Sturges was elected Second Vice-President; Mr. Edward C. Bogert was re-elected Treasurer; Mr. John Austin Stevens, Jr., was re-elected Secretary; Mr. Robert B. Minturn was re-elected Chairman of the Arbitration Committee; Mr. George W. Lane was elected a member of the Arbitration Committee for one year, from February 2d, to fill the vacancy caused by the expiration of the term of Mr. Jonathan Sturges.

The following were elected the Executive Committee, of which the President, First and Second Vice-Presidents, and Secretary are ex-officio members Charles H. Marshall, Chairman, Simeon B. Chittenden, Denning Duer, James Gallatin, Sheppard Gandy, Walter S. Griffith, Nathaniel L. McCready, James D. P. Ogden, Henry A. Smythe, Benjamin R. Winthrop.

Messrs. Abraham M. Cozzens, Merritt Trimble, and John D. McKenzie were elected Trustees of the Institution for the Savings of Merchants' Clerks for the term of three years.

Messrs. Charles A. Davis, Chairman, William Barton, Henry K. Bogert, Charles H. Marshall, John K. Myers were elected a Committee on Mercantile Library for the term of one year.

Mr. Charles H. Marshall after a few appropriate remarks presented the following preamble and resolutions, which were adopted, unanimously:

Whereas, This Chamber has learned with sincere regret that its venerable president, PELATIAH PERIT, Esq., has declined a re-election to the position which he has filled during the past ten years, and to which he has been called at so many successive annual elections by the unanimous voice of this body. Therefore, be it

Resolved, That our thanks are due and are hereby cordially tendered. to Mr. PERIT for his unwavering interest in the affairs of this Chamber, to whose usefulness and efficiency he has so largely contributed, and especially for his continuance for so long a time, and at the sacrifice of so much personal convenience, in the presidency, and for the invariable dignity, courtesy, and impartiality with which he has discharged its duties.

Resolved, That in thus terminating our official connection with one whose career as a New York merchant extends through the last half century, and is identified with all the vicisitudes of disaster and success which have marked that eventful period of our country's history, it is a pleasing duty to record our testimony to the integrity, constancy, and fidelity to duty, public and private, by which that career has been signalized, and which have been known and read of all men. In thus commemorating these high traits of character, and in commending them to the imitation of all engaged in the pursuits of commerce, we do honor not only to their possessor, but also to those free institutions under which they were developed, and in whose preservation, from foreign enemies and from domestic treason and rebellion, his warmest and most patriotic sympathies have ever been enlisted.

Resolved, That our best wishes for his health and continued prosperity will follow our late president into his retirement, accompanied with the hope that he may be permitted to prosecute to a satisfactory end the task which he has undertaken, and for which his varied experience and sound judgment so eminently qualify him-of writing the history of the Commerce of the United States.

Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions, suitably engrossed, under the seal of the Chamber, and duly attested, be transmitted by the Secretary to Mr. PERIT.

The Chamber then adjourned.

FRANCE.

"SITUATION ECONOMIQUE ET COMMERCIALE DE LA FRANCE."

THE French Ministry of Commerce has just issued a statistical abstract for France, with the above title, for the period of fifteen years from 1847 to 1861, inclusive. Heretofore every ten years a volume has been issued, entitled "Tableau Décennal du Commerce de la France," etc., the last of which was for the years from 1847 to 1856; so that the additional returns we now receive are only for the five years from 1857 to 1861, both years inclusive. In the last "Tableau Décennal" the effect of the revolution of 1848 upon the trade of the country could be traced, extending through six years, as will be seen by the following table of importations:

The customs received during the same period were as follows:

Since the disturbing effects of the revolution have passed away, the progress of France has been decided, except during the commercial panic of 1857, as is abundantly shown on an examination of this new statistical abstract. We are indebted to the London Economist for the figures, and in a great measure for the review we give, not having seen the volume which is just published.

COMMERCE.

The quinquennial averages of imports and exports from 1847 to 1861 have been as follows:

These figures are exclusive of bullion and specie, which amounted in

the same periods to:

The large increase of trade in the last period was partly owing to the operation of the commercial treaties with England and Belgium during 1860 and 1861; but, making allowance for the trade under these treaties, the commerce of France steadily increased under the old régime up to 1860.

The proportion of the imports taken for home consumption did not vary much within the period, ranging from 70 to 72 per cent of the total imports. The exports of domestic produce likewise formed about 72 per cent of the total exports throughout the period.

Imports and Exports.-The following table shows the chief countries. with which France traded in 1847, 1859, and 1861. The column for 1859 is introduced to show the extent of trade in the year preceding the conclusion of the commercial treaties with England and Belgium. The amounts are given in millions sterling:

On examining the figures in this table, it will be seen that a consider