2 2241,000 .598 .146 15.40. 13 001 212271,250 1.117 .126 13.30 2323 00 228 2,850 1.508 .078

2 03

Clarion ripple.

Hamilton Smith,

A witness sworn on the part of the complainant.

Ques. 1. Where do you reside, and what is your age?

Ans. I reside in Jefferson county, Kentucky; and am 44 years of age. I am now engaged in manufacturing cotton goods, &c. at Cannelton, Indiana.

Ques. 2. Were you a member of the Evansville convention; if yea, state when it was held, and for what purpose?

Ans. I was a member of that convention. It was held on Tuesday, the 19th of November, instant. The object of it was to bring the importance of the commerce, the agriculture, and manufactures of the valleys of the Ohio and Mississippi, particularly of the valley of the Ohio, more fully to the attention of congress; and to obtain the aid of the general government for the increase of our commercial facilities.

Ques. 3. Have you examined the statistical tables contained in a memorial of that convention, purporting to be a memorial to the senators and representatives of the United States, now exhibited to you; if yea, are they fair estimates of western commerce?

Ans. I have examined them; and although I have not collated this paper with the documents from which the information was derived, they correspond with my recollections. And I believe them approximately correct estimates of western commerce. My impressions are, that they are under estimates of the western commerce. The following is the whole of the memorial referred to:

To the Senators and Representatives of the United States :

It was a remark of a distinguished senator, in the congress of the United States, on a recent memorable occasion, not more beautiful and appropriate than prophetic and true: "That no one could look over the face of this country at the present moment; no one could see where the population was the most dense and growing, without being ready to admit, and compelled to admit, that ere long, America would be in the valley of the Mississippi." To those who have been observers of the rapid increase in population and power, within the last thirty years, of this section of our Union, it could not fail to have been a matter of observation as to our constant growth in all the elements which constitute a great nation, as well as a subject of speculation, what were to be the results of such a progression in thirty years to come. In the first period, from the territory bordering on the waters of the Ohio and Mississippi, four great states have been added to the confederacy, Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa and Wisconsin. Within the period of twenty years, from 1820 to 1840, the increase of population in the western states, including Michigan, was four million two hundred and fifty-seven thousand four hundred and forty-six-these states having, in 1820, a population of one million eight hundred thousand seven hundred and eight, and in 1840, five million fifty-eight thousand one hundred and fifty-four. From 1830 to 1840,

the same states show an increase of two million forty-seven thousand four hundred and seventy-two; their population being in 1830, three million ten thousand six hundred and eighty-two, against five million fifty-eight thousand one hundred and fifty-four in 1840. Taking, then, the census of 1830 and 1840 as a guide for that of 1850, the only one we can have until the census for the present year is taken, and admitting that the increase of population has been no greater the last ten years than it was the preceding ten, we had, on the first of June, in the western states, seven million five thousand six hundred and twenty-six souls. Taking the same standard for our basis as it regards the New England, Middle, and Southern states, let us see what proportion the increase of population in the Western states will bear to the other three great sections of the country. In New England, in 1830, the population was one million nine hundred and fifty-four thousand seven hundred and seventeen; in 1840, two millions two hundred and thirty-four thousand eight hundred and ninety-two; increase, one million two hundred and eighty thousand one hundred and five; making the whole population of New England in 1850, three million five hundred and fourteen thousand nine hundred and twenty-seven. In the Middle states, embracing New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware, the population in 1830 was three million four hundred and thirty-five thousand eight hundred and twenty-eight; in 1840, four million six hundred and four thousand three hundred and forty-five; being an increase of one million six hundred and eighty-five thousand five hundred and twenty-seven. Admit the same increase for the last ten years, and the Middle states would have, on the first of June last, a population of five million six hundred and seventy-two thousand eight hundred and seventy-two. The Southern states, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, District of Columbia, and Florida, including their slave population, had, in 1830, four million two hundred and thirty thousand six hundred and eighty-one inhabitants; in 1840, five million one hundred and sixty-six thousand and thirty-two; the same increase for the last ten years would give them, on the first of June last, six million one hundred and one thousand four hundred and thirty-six inhabitants.

The population, then, in 1850, in these great divisions of the republic, will probably show as follows:

Showing an excess of population of the western states over the southern, excluding Texas, of nine hundred and four thousand two hundred, and less than New England and the middle states of two million one hundred and eighty-two thousand one hundred and seventy-three. But, owing to the great increase of the western states, in comparison