350 



COMMERCE. 



granary in Kurope ; from Elbingen, Stettin, Konigs- 

 berg, Anclam, aiul Berlin, timber ; staves and ashes 

 from Dantzic, Memel, and Stettin ; hemp, flax, and 

 linseed, tallow, wax, and hog's bristles from Memcl 

 and Konig^berg. Tilsit carries on a brisk trade in 

 corn, linseed, hemp, and flax. The exports of Bruns- 

 brg are woollen yarn, com, and flax. Colberg ex- 

 ports corn, and the other produce of Poland. The 

 trade of Stralsund, likewise, consists chiefly in the 

 exportation of corn. Of all the articles of Prussian 

 commerce, the Silesian linen holds the first rank, and 

 for the manufacturing of it, the Silesian tow us 1 lirx-h- 

 terg, Landshut, Schniiedeberg, Friedland, Wal- 

 denburg, Schweidnitz, and the Prussian section of 

 Upper Lusatia, are celebrated. This linen is particu- 

 larly in demand among the Hamburg, British, Dutch, 

 Italian, and South American merchants. The im- 

 ports which have the readiest sale in Prussia are co- 

 lonial goods, dye-wood, salt, Buenos Ayres' hides, 

 kndigo, groceries, wine, silk, cotton goods, liard- 

 ware, &c.* 



Hanover is not distinguished for its mercantile ac- 

 tivity. The. exports consist of horses, horned cattle, 

 lead, wax, linen, leather, salt, oats, barley, timber, 

 boards, and the ferruginoia copper of the Hartz 

 mountains. The linens are ordinary ; the table-cloths 

 and Osnabruck damask are inferior in quality to those 

 of Prussia and Friesland. The surplus of the do- 

 mestic consumption is exported to South America 

 through the medium of the Hauseatic cities. The 

 principal imports are British manufactures, especially 

 woollen cloths and calicoes, colonial goods, Prussian 

 and Friesland linen, fine French cloths, silks, jewelry, 

 and French wines, with all kinds of small articles of 

 luxury, which the Hanoverian merchant brings with 

 liim from the fairs of Brunswick, Leipsic, and Frank- 

 fort on the Maine. The chief commercial towns are 

 Emden, Hanover, and Munden. 



The commerce of Saxony, Bavaria, ffurtemberg , 

 Hesse, fyc., may be comprised under the general 

 tiead of German commerce, as there exists no recipro- 

 cal system of prohibition. See Germany, Trade of ; 

 also the separate articles on these countries. 



Denmark and Holstein. Although the Danish 

 merchants have formed connexions with all the com- 

 mercial states of Europe, and play an important part 

 in the commerce both of the Mediterranean and the 

 Baltic, their own country possesses but few produc- 

 tions, important as articles of export. Most of what 

 they export are the productions of their East and 

 West India possessions. To the ports of Petersburg, 

 Riga, Stockholm, and Memel, Denmark carries the 

 woollen goods of Iceland and the Faroe islands, salt 

 from Spain, France, and Portugal ; and the produc- 

 tions of the East and West Indies and of China. To 

 Germany it sends its horses, its cattle, colonial and 

 West India goods, and woollen stockings, receiving in 

 return linen, wool, brandy, and wine. To Holland it 

 exports rape-seed, fish, &c., in exchange for groceries. 

 To France, Spain, and Portugal it carries horses, fish, 

 and other articles from Russia, in exchange for salt, 

 wine, fruits, sweet oil, brandy, silk, &c. Its trade 

 with Britain consists, mainly, in exchanging timber, 



* The extended frontier of Prussia exposes it very much 

 to smuggling. On this account, Prussia lias been lately en- 

 deavouring to induce some of the smaller states in her 

 neighbourhood to abolish all restrictions on their commer- 

 cial intercourse with her. Some of the states have acqui- 

 esced in this arrangement. These are Bavaria, Wurtem. 

 berg, Mecklenburg, the Saxon dukedoms, Hesse-Darmstadt, 

 aad Brunswick. Sumo of these have also allowed Prussia 

 to place her custom-houses on their outward frontier, on 

 condition of her paying them a certain sum as a compensa- 

 tion for the customs which she will thus receive. Some 

 other German states have united together with similar 

 views, and 'form the confederacy of Central Germany. 

 These states are Hanover, Hesse Cassel, the kingdom of 

 Saxony, and Oldenburg. 



&c., for British manufactures. To Iceland it ex- 

 ports rye-meal, rye, barley, brandy, and other spiritu- 

 ous liquors, together with the common articles of 

 consumption ; receiving in return fresh, dry, and salt 

 lish, train-oil, tallow, eider down, wool, and woollen 

 stockings. It supplies Greenland with flour, spiritu- 

 ous liquors, &c., in return for train and seal-oil, seal- 

 skins, eider down, and peltry. The largest commer- 

 cial towns of Denmark are Copenhagen and Elsinore 

 in Zealand, Aalborg in Jutland, Flensborg and Ton- 

 ningen in Sleswic, Altona and Kiel in Holstein. The 

 West India colonies of Denmark are St Croix, St 

 Thomas, and St John's. On the coast of Coromandel, 

 it possesses Tranquebar; on the coast of Guinea, 

 Christianborg and other small places. It has also 

 small factories on the Nicobar islands. In Europe, 

 it possesses Iceland. The chief commercial com- 

 panies in Denmark are the Asiatic or East India 

 company, the Iceland company, the maritime insur- 

 ance company, the African or Danish West India, 

 and the general commercial society. In 1824, there 

 were exported from Denmark ,022,720 tons ot 

 grain, 36,562 tons of flour, &c. 



France. The commerce of France extends to 

 every country of the world. The exports are wine, 

 brandy, oil, corn, meal, liqueurs, snuff, silks, wool- 

 lens, fancy goods of all kinds, watches, porcelain, 

 crystals, carpets, bronze, linen, lace, cambric, tapes- 

 try, hemp, flax, fruits, capers, salt, jewelry, paper, 

 &c. ; and France receives the raw produce of all 

 countries, but very few manufactured goods. In 

 1824, the value of all the exports of France was 

 440,542,000 francs, of which 163,056,000 were in 

 natural products, and 277,486,000 in manufactured 

 goods. In the same year, goods were imported into 

 France to the amount of 189,535,000 francs in 3,387 

 French vessels, to the amount of 108.397,000 francs 

 in 4,183 foreign vessels, and to the amount of 

 156,929,000 by land ; the whole importation amount- 

 ed to 454,861,000 francs. The principal ports are 

 Bordeaux, Marseilles, Nantes, Havre de Grace, St 

 Malo, L'Orient, and Dunkirk. The commerce of 

 Marseilles is mostly with the Levant and the West 

 Indies ; that of Bordeaux, with Asia, the West Indies, 

 and the north of Europe. Calais and Dunkirk carry 

 on a very lucrative contraband trade with England. 

 Havre de Grace is the seaport of Paris, which has a 

 very extensive indirect trade, and dealings in bills of 

 exchange with foreign countries. Amiens exports 

 great quantities of velvet ; Abbeville, Elbeuf, Lou- 

 vier, and Sedan trade mainly in cloths ; Cambrai, 

 Valenciennes, and Alengon, in cambrics and fine laces. 

 Cette, the port of Montpellier, has an extensive trade 

 in Spanish and colonial goods. The commerce of 

 Bayonne is chiefly with Spain. Silks form a prin- 

 cipal article of the commerce of Lyons, wliich is situ- 

 ated in the centre of the roads leading to Switzerland, 

 Spain, Italy, and Germany,and lias annually four fairs 

 For Strasburg, its excellent turpentine is an impor- 

 tant article of trade. Lille has a direct intercourse, 

 not only with all the commercial states of Europe, 

 but also with the French and Spanish colonies, and 

 with the Levant. The other commercial towns of 

 importance are Rheims, Troyes, (n-enoble, Nismes, 

 Angouleme, Cognac, Nantes, Rouen, Rochelle, and 

 Caen. Grenoble supplies France, Italy, Spain, and 

 even Great Britain with fine gloves. Beaucaire has 

 an important fair. The French colonies are Marti- 

 nique, Guadaloupe,St Lucia, and Mariegalante in the 

 West Indies ; Cayenne in South America, Pondicher- 

 ry, Chandernagore, and some other possessions in the 

 East Indies, with several factories on the western 

 coast of Africa and on both sides of cape Verde. 



Italy. Although Italy possesses the most excel- 

 lent harbours on the Mediterranean and Adriatic seas> 





