130 
REVENUE AND INCOME. 
beyond them, they are practically some ten or fifteen days' sail nearer than we 
are. A vessel from the United States bound to the Southern Hemisphere first 
sails nearly an east course until she arrives in the vicinity of the Azores and 
Canary Islands ; she then puts her head south for the first time. Now, while 
the American vessel is sailing this route, the English vessel that sailed on the 
same day for the same market has passed those islands and is far on her way. 
For the reason that the Cape de Verde Islands are some ten or fifteen days 
nearer to England than to America, England is that much nearer to the South- 
ern Hemisphere; for vessels generally, whether from the United States or 
from England, are in the habit of passing by these islands on their way thither. 
" Therefore, the Englishman meets the American in all the markets of the 
world, except those of the Gulf and Caribbean Sea, with the advantage of ten 
days and upwards. 
" Notwithstanding this disadvantage, the United States, in their commercial 
race with England, have for the last fifty years been gradually gaining. They 
have been coming up all the time, and at last the contest has become so close 
that England is hardly a throat-latch ahead. Cut through this Isthmus, ' Un- 
cle Sam' will then turn the corner, and England will be distanced. Instead, 
then, of meeting us in India, China, and even on our own Pacific coast, with 
the advantage of some ten days' sail or more, the scales will be turned, and 
we shall have the advantage of some twenty or thirty days, thus making a 
difference in our favor of thirty or forty days under canvas." 
But the proof does not rest on Lieut. Maury alone. The fol- 
lowing extract from (an eminent English engineer of the present 
day) Allan Macdonn ell's project of a railroad from Lake Supe- 
rior to the Pacific, will be read with interest : 
''Without directing attention to the trade carried on throughout the Pacific, 
by France, by Holland, and other nations of the European continents, as also 
by the United States, let us look only to England. 
Imports into Great Britain from the following Ports : 
From Bengal, Madras, and Bombay, as taken from Hunt's 
Merchants' Magazine for March, 1843, including all to 
continental Europe, and North and South America, an- 
nually £12,000,000 
Less for the amount to France and America 2,48 9,340 
£9,510,660 
From Sumatra and Java 215,216 
The Philippine Islands 346,692 
New South Wales and Van Dieman's Land 1,118,088 
Mauritius 806,593 
Chili (estimated) 1,500,000 
Peru " 1,000,000 
£14,497,249 
From China, total amount of various productions 5,000,000 
£19,497,249 
