190 



COMMERCE. 



cyclical letter from the pope to the bishops of 

 the republic, condemning both the confiscation 

 of the church property, and the establishment 

 of religious toleration, and urging the bishops 

 to use the whole influence of the Church for 

 the repeal of these features of the constitution. 

 At the end of the year the conflict between 

 Church and State had not terminated. 



In the latter months of the year, a war broke 

 out between the United States of Colombia 

 and Ecuador. Gen. Mosquera, whose course in 

 bringing about these hostilities was generally 

 censured by the press of South America, vic- 

 toriously advanced into Ecuador. On Decem- 

 ber 30th, peace was restored between the two 

 republics by a treaty, which, at the same time, 

 established between them free trade. 



At the presidential election held toward the 

 close of the year, Senor Murillo, the minister 

 of the republic at Washington, was elected. 

 His term of office begins in April, 1864. 



A revolution of the conservative party against 

 the Government of the republic, broke out in 

 November, 1863, in the State of Antioquia, but 

 it did not assume large dimensions, and seemed 

 to be nearly at an end at the close of the year. 



COMMERCE. The year 1863 has not ex- 

 hibited much advance in a commercial point 

 of view. The expectations that had been en- 

 tertained of an immediate renewal of trade as 

 a necessary consequence of the opening of the 

 Mississippi, and the continued occupation of 

 the Atlantic coast of South and North Carolina, 

 and the penetration of the troops into the Texan 

 country, have not been realized ; and the foreign 

 commerce of the country has greatly contracted 

 in face of the improved harvests in Europe. 

 These have enabled the people to dispense with 

 much of the breadstuffs and provisions which 

 were the main staples of the national export. 

 The official statement of the Treasury Depart- 

 ment gives the following returns of the trade 

 of the Union for the fiscal years 1862 and 1863. 

 The fiscal year ends June 30th. 



Imports. 1869. 1883. 



Goods $189.404,771 $252.731.939 



Specie 16,415,052 9,555,648 



Total $205,819,828 $262,287,587 



Export*. 



Domestic produce.. $181.875,993 $249,856,649 



Korc'iim " .. 11,027,886 17,796,200 



Specie. 86,886,956 64,156,610 



TotaL $229,790,280 $S31,S09,459 



The import valuations are in specie, being the 

 inv< lice value of the goods entered. The export 

 values are at the legal tender prices, and re- 

 quire to be corrected by the premium on gold 

 in order to approximate to the value actually 

 realized for the goods abroad. The average 

 rate of specie for the year 1863 was nearly 50 

 per cent. The "balance of trade," so called, 

 may then be approximated as follows: 



Imports Goods $252,781,989 



Exports Produce $267,652,849 



" specie value 178,485,288 



Excess imports $74,296,706 



Net specie export direct 54,600,963 



There remains $20,000,000, which has been met 

 by the sale of California and Canada bills, which 

 have been sent: in the former case against 

 gold shipped from San Francisco, and in the 

 latter case against gold carried unreported to 

 Canada. There is, however, a correction to 

 be made from this result, since the exports of 

 goods from California have been on a specie 

 valuation. The currency in that State has con- 

 tinued to be in the precious metals, and, as a 

 consequence, prices of commodities there have 

 maintained their specie values. The prices in 

 New York and San Francisco on the same day 

 were as fqjlows for the same articles : 



The exports of wheat from San Francisco 

 to England declined. This wheat is of a 

 quality which commands 10 per cent, higher 

 price than that of the "Western States. "Wheat 

 therefore has ceased to be an article of export 

 from the Atlantic States into California in ex- 

 change for gold. 



The duties, under the existing tariff, weighed 

 heavily upon the imports. The value of dutia- 

 ble goods imported as above was $202,731,939, 

 and the amount of duty paid was $69,059,642, 

 or an average of 34 per cent. The cost was 

 therefore as follows : 



Invoice cost of Imports $202,731,989 



Advance in exchange, 50 per ct. $101,865.969 

 Duties, 84 " . 69.059,642 



Gold for exchange, 50 " . 84,529,821 204,955,433 



Total cost landed $407,687,371 



This cost is exclusive of freight, insurance, 

 storage, labor, commission, &c., which raised 

 the cost to fully 150 per cent, of the invoice 

 prices. These imports include large quantities 

 of those raw materials, cotton, wool, naval 

 stores, &c., that formerly were our staple ex- 

 ports, but which now must be imported at 

 high cost to feed the manufactories. In the 

 case of many articles of importation the rate 

 was much higher, reaching on ordinary wool- 

 len goods 234 per cent., and on linens 164 

 per cent. The high cost of importation nat- 

 urally checked in some degree the consumption 

 of goods ; but the growing abundance of money 

 gave a new impulse to business, and the stocks 

 of goods generally diminished as the year drew 

 to a close. 



The imports at the port of New York 

 monthly for the year are shown in the follow- 

 ing table : 



