40 TBANSACTIONS OF THE 



per cent, of the entire wealth of the state. In France, in the 

 s^me year, the product of agriculture was $800,000,000; manu- 

 factures, $400,000,000; commerce and navigation, $266,000,000. 

 Of an industrial product of $1,466,000,000, that of commerce is 

 but 18 per cent., while the mechanic arts furnish a third of the 

 whole amount. The industrial product of England in 1840 was 

 1630,000,000, /vnd of all other pursuits, $855,000,000. Allowing 

 to commerce a fifth of the aggregate, as in the case of Holland or 

 France, or even a quarter part, it is still far below that of manu- 

 factures and the mechanic arts. Neither in England nor the 

 United States, in the census of 1850, is the product of commercial 

 industry separately stated, as was the case in both countries in 

 1840; but it is safe to assume the same proportions, and, first, as 

 to the number employed: There were, in 1840, a million persons 

 engaged in the United States in manufacturing and commercial 

 life, of which less than one-third were in commerce. The same 

 proportions are found in New England for the same year. In 1850, 

 there were 2,400,000 employed in agriculture of the white male 

 population over fifteen years of age, and 1,596,000 in commerce, 

 trade, mining, manufactures, and the mechanic arts. Deduct from 

 this million and a half three hundred and thirty-eight thousand 

 persons, free and slave, who were employed in mining, commerce, 

 ocean, sea and river navigation, it leaves one million and a quarter 

 free manufacturers and mechanics — just half the number engaged 

 in agriculture, and three-quarters of all other pursuits. Their 

 industrial product is fabulous. That of agriculture for the present 

 year is not less than two thousand millions; of manufactures, fif- 

 teen hundred millions; and in commerce, a thousand million 

 dollars; and this accompanied by an unexampled energy, and a 

 specie basis for its trade in the country, that, at the close of the 

 present decennial period, will amount to nearly three hundred 

 million dollars. Nothing less than panic will persuade the world 

 that such people are poor. From these facts I state the elements 

 of national prosperity to be ; 



First — Agriculture. 



Second. — Manufacturing and mechanical industry. 



Third. — Commerce. 



