goods is estimated is incorrectly drawn up. The va luations, by what we can gather, are permanent, instead of being adjusted to the fluctuations of the market, and to the incessant shifting in the price of goods; as, for instance, cotton goods imported, and subject by law to an ad valorem duty of 17 per cent., are valued so high by the Colombian officers, as to extract from the importer a duty of 27 or 28 per cent., to the enormous injury of the British manufacturer, of the merchant, and of the Colombian consumer himself, whose comforts experience a corresponding diminution from the superadded price. The motive to this official overcharge is manifestly a paternal care of the revenue; and, indeed, we suspect that it would be quite impossible to teach the custom-house officers as a body, any more enlightened method of promoting the public good. But if low duties are, as they have proved themselves, the most liberal feeders of the national finance, undoubtedly this custom-house expedient for building one high tax upon another, must have a fearful tendency in the opposite direction. It appears from the Bogota statements, that smuggling is the only trade which has profited much by these unfortunate practices of the Colombian customs, and that the receipts into the treasury are, for the same reason, deplorably out of comparison with the magnitude of the duties. Such a consequence could never have been meditated by the congress of Colombia, nor by the government. The evil, too, is the more to be lamented, because the bulk of the revenue in that country is derived from taxes on importation.

With respect to the other charge hinted at above, we mean the bona fide adoption of the ad valorem

scale, estimated by the actual price of the article, and not by the exacting spirit of the Custom-house, there is on the face of it this objection, viz. the possibility that the merchant might underrate the cost, for the sake of a fraudulent reduction of the duty. The remedy would, on the other hand, be simple enough; namely, giving an option to the Custom-house to take the goods at the merchant's valuation, paying him 10 per cent. over, as profits of trade. This, with a general reduction of duties, it is conceived, would be a sufficient guarantee against fraud, a queller of smuggling, an encouragement to fair and open commerce, and an immediate stimulant to the revenue. If, as we once already observed, the government of Old Spain, or the revenue department of Old France, had been concerned, we should have despaired of convincing their reason or prevailing over their inveteracy on questions like this. But infant republics, if they labour under some of the disadvantages belonging to another kind of infancy, have at least its freedom from prejudice to redeem them.

Let us, however, hope that these deviations will not pass into a system, and that the republic of Colombia, which owes its liberty to the valour of Bolivar, will also be indebted to the eminent wisdom of this great man for the blessing of being brought back within the sphere of its natural connexions. It is impossible that the friend, the liberator of the Americans, the man whose heroism in battle is equalled only by his patriotism, and by the prudence which he displays in councils, should be deceived respecting the nature and serious importance of the situation in which his country would be placed, if it persisted in the ungenerous, and

completely anti-American policy, to which, we admit, it has made only one concession; but which, however, is one concession too much, and involving a capital fault. Woe to any one of the new American states, in which such a system should prevail! it would be nothing less than an introduction to its return to slavery.

The plan of the Colombian Colonization Society has now been made public. It appears that a law passed the congress of that republic on the 11th June, 1823, investing the government with authority to dispose of lands, and grant privileges for the purpose of facilitating emigration. Under this law, two grants of land have been made, in different districts of Colombia, of which the association has become possessed, amounting to upwards of a million of English acres. By the same law, and for the same purpose, various privileges are conferred on persons coming out as settlers, the principal of which are exemptions from contributions and tithes during six years, and from export duties on the produce raised by them for the same period. The association also extends its views to the formation of roads, and other objects not immediately connected with colonization. Whatever the issue of it may be as a mere medium for the employment of capital, it is evident that the undertaking, if judiciously conducted, will be productive of great benefits to Colombia, and tend to advance with an accelerated pace the prosperity of this rising country. Care has been taken to provide that the settlers shall not be molested on the score of religious belief.

GUATIMALA.—The republic of Guatimala is erect

ing its independence and liberty without opposition, violence or troubles. In our preceding Number, we entered into the particulars of the wise and liberal measures adopted by the government, to facilitate the colonization of foreigners in the territory of the republic. We have now nothing to add to what we then said upon the administration of this country. The first congress was installed the 5th April, in the midst of festivities and public acclamations. We will communicate the particulars of the subsequent acts of this congress.

MEXICO. Nothing conveys a more instructive lesson to the other South American states, than the acts that mark each step by which Mexico advances in her political regeneration. Their simple eloquence, independent of the influence of rhetoric, imparts to them a more powerful meaning, because they are followed by an immediate application to the welfare of the citizens. This country, which is one of the ancient Spanish possessions whose form of government has undergone the greatest number of vicissitudes, is now in a state of perfect tranquillity. The whole population evince a sincere attachment to the present order of things, and a determination to oppose every attempt to effect a change. On their part, the government and congress are applying, with unremitting energy, to the formation of good laws founded upon the new federal constitution, which appears, in every respect, adapted to the views, the rights, and the exigencies of the Mexican people.

The debates of congress, on questions of the highest importance, exhibit the most luminous developments, VOL. II. No. 4.

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and a profound knowledge in political and economical science; and we are informed that many of the members distinguish themselves in extemporaneous speaking, and frequently excite astonishment by their erudition and eloquence. But what principally characterizes the acts both of the congress and executive power, is, justice, prudence, and moderation. Some of their most remarkable measures deserve to be mentioned. One relates to the exportation of gold and silver, which, some months past, a member of the congress proposed to prohibit, lest the country should be exhausted of these precious metals. A commission was appointed to examine this last question, and, according to the report, the proposition was rejected: but this report is so replete with excellent reasoning, that we insert an extract from it, to enable our readers to form an opinion of the administrative knowledge of the Mexican legislative assembly.

"A duty imposed on the exportation of the precious metals can," observe the commissioners, "have but one or two objects; that of increasing the revenue of the state, or that of preventing the exportation of its metals. The precious metals cannot be given to foreigners for nothing: they must be paid for by the produce of the manufactures of their country. The price of foreign merchandise is reduced, as much as possible, by competition. Still, however, the foreign merchant cannot sell with loss. If, therefore, the articles which he takes, in exchange for his goods, are subjected to duties which raise their price, he is obliged to raise that also of his goods: he has then no other alternative but that of relinquishing commerce: and in no case, would the treasure of the Mexican people gain by imposing duties on gold and silver."