China, in subsidized steamers, or in armed vessels of the government, by which treasure shipments can be made and protected, is a necessity called for by the present and prospective extent of our commerce on the Pacific Ocean.

We would respectfully call attention to the fact that, from our position, our whole business, even with the States of our own Union, has to be transacted by ocean lines of packets, and that our business has been greatly instrumental in building the American merchant marine to its present power and strength. The value of our commerce to the shipowning interests of the Union may be estimated by the freights paid in the city of San Francisco, annually, to inward-bound ships, amounting to four and one-fourth millions of dollars, while our out freights of cereals alone have been equal to the lading of seventy-five medium clippers per

annum.

We would also call attention to the fact, that our business with the other States of the Union, amounting to nearly forty millions of dollars per annum, costs our State, for remittance of treasure, one and one-fourth millions per year.

And we would, as proof of the great and growing importance of the trade of this State, call the attention of your honorable body to the following statement of facts having a direct bearing on the establishment of the line of steamers herein asked for.

That recent shipments made of our gold bullion to China have been received with such favor that a great reduction in the price of Mexican dollars in this market has been made, decreasing comparatively the cost of all importations of Chinese production, paid for in bullion, five per cent., which will, if continuous, amount to near one million per annum on the business of the United States. The fact is thus established that gold bullion is a good remittance. The Chinese merchants of San Francisco are now exclusively using gold bars in preference to silver in their remittances to their countrymen. These facts are indicative that the tide of Eastern exchange has already begun to turn in favor of the gold production of California; and all indications now point unmistakably to the conclusion that, within a few years after the establishment of the line of steamers asked for, the entire production of the precious metals of California will be absorbed in the East India and China busi

ness.

That our productions and export of silver and quicksilver will rapidly increase in amount, and that it is desirable that means should be provided by which our silver may speedily and directly reach its best market, on the Asiatic coast.

That a line of mail steamships from San Francisco to China, in connection with the Continental Telegraph, will give to American merchants the advantages of more rapid communication of commercial intelligence than will be possessed by their European competitors.

That the means of regular monthly or bi-monthly shipments of treasure from San Francisco to China will have a tendency to make NewYork and San Francisco the turning points in all exchange which require payments in bullion, and will increase the financial importance of the United States in our relations with other commercial nations.

That large amounts of silver, produced in the countries south of California, are now shipped to China by foreign vessels and indirect routes,

the freights and profits of which might be obtained to American commerce by the establishment of a China steam mail.

That the change of routine in our commercial arrangements with Eastern nations, consequent on the growth and commercial importance of California, is yearly increasing the number of commercial travellers who seek their Asiatic destination, or return, via San Francisco.

That a line of steamers across the Pacific, while extending and strengthening our own commerce, would divert the trade, passengers and commerce of other nations to our ports, and to the benefit of our ships and people. The lines of steamers on the Pacific coast already extend from Chili to Vancouver Island, which would connect with, and be tributary to, the mail line between California and China.

That close commercial relations with the Asiatic nations would tend to the growth of a merchant marine and ship-building interest on the Pacific, that would add greatly to the wealth of the nation in time of peace, and to our strength, safety and power in war.

That the wealth of our material resources, the extent of our coast and our distance from other States of the Union, renders it imperative, that in peace we should be strengthened, that we may have ability to meet the exigencies of war without that aid from the general government of which our position may deprive this State.

That with the establishment of a steam mail from San Francisco to China, the debt of the United States to eastern nations can be paid at great saving to the nation at large, and also at a great saving to the State of California, in an increased value of her gold and silver and other exports.

That our shipping and commerce, both on the American and Asiatic coast, need the protection and encouragement that an efficient steam navy only can give.

That California's commerce with China is rapidly increasing, having doubled within the last year, and that there is, in that country, a growing demand for the production of our fields and forests, which may be fostered into an extensive commerce.

That our commercial relations with Japan are precarious, from the want of frequent presence of an adequate naval force.

That foreign nations are active and persistent in efforts to monopolize the commerce of the Asiatics, to the detriment of the American commerce on the Pacific.

That the aggregate of tonnage arriving at San Francisco, in 1859, was 598,631 tons; of which 47,519 tons cleared for China, and 18,378 tons for other ports in the East Indies. The arrivals from China, 27,814 tons; from other ports in East Indies, 10,780 tons, on which the freight values were near four hundred thousand dollars, and cargo values, $2,662,241.

That our import of treasure for the year 1859, was $2,516,152; and our export of treasure, $47,640,462; of which $3,100,755 were sent to China in forty-five vessels. The amount shipped in 1860, $3,374,680, in thirty-two vessels.

That our export of commodities, exclusive of bullion, have increased three millions within the last year, amounting, for the year 1860, to $8,532,439; of which amount, $4,918,336 were the productions of our State. The export of barley increased from 15,000 sacks, in 1854, to

163,249, in 1859; while our wheat export, from 4,067 sacks, valued at $14,900, in 1854, reached the valuation of $1,854,259, in 1860. Our export of wool, in 1854, was valued at $14,000; in 1860, its valuation was $392,502; showing an amount of progress in material interests and general wealth, under all the disadvantages of distance from the other States and the central government, indicative of what our future effort will accomplish.

That for the protection of the American commerce of the Pacific, large steamers are not required; and that the cost of naval service on this ocean may be much lessened if a portion of the steamers are engaged in the carriage of the mails and treasure freights, as such steamers, when necessity requires, are at the speedy control of the commander of the San Francisco and China naval stations, having the entire naval force of the North Pacific within a month's call of the Department, making a less force necessary in time of peace, and creating a readiness and efficiency in time of war.

That, as a progressive people, we believe it desirable to use our steam navy in forwarding the interests of commerce-a desire which is almost a necessity, from the amount and value, and the dangers to which our specie shipments are exposed.

That although this service may be rendered American commerce by the vessels of our steam navy, a less interrupted service could be made by subsidized steamers, whose efficiency for warlike purposes may be insured by frequent official inspection.

That our treasure exports are sufficient, not only to pay the annual balance of trade due from the United States to eastern nations, but also a portion of that of other nations with whom the United States have commercial relations; that, by the shipment of our bullion direct to China, American merchants will save the exchanges, interest and commissions they now pay other nations, while our State will save the costs we now pay in its transport, amounting in the aggregate to a much larger sum than the establishment of the mail will cost to the federal government.

That a steam mail line from San Francisco to China will be a general commercial benefit to the country; were it exclusively to the benefit of California, our liberal contribution to the metallic wealth and general business interest of the Union would make it our due; but in receiving this aid to our State's interest, California only shares in a benefit to the commerce of the whole Union, and of every consumer of India-grown products in our population.

Your memorialists would also say, in conclusion, the mail line across the Pacific cannot, for many years, be established without the aid of government, and that the aid and protection we seek is a necessity of our present commerce, and an enterprise, the great importance of which, to the United States, can scarcely be over-estimated; we therefore pray your earnest and immediate attention to the subject of this memorial, in the confident hope that you will grant the relief asked for, by subsidizing a mail line of steamships from California to Japan and China, or give such other relief as may appear for the best interests of the United States and the States of the Pacific coast.

[Attest.]

WM. R. WADSWORTH, Secretary.

GEORGE H. KELLOGG, President.

TRADE WITH CHINA, JAPAN AND THE AMOOR.

MEMORIAL OF P. M. D. COLLINS, ESQ., LATE COMMERCIAL AGENT OF THE UNITED STATES AT THE MOUTH OF THE AMOOR.

To the Chamber of Commerce of the State of New-York :

THE undersigned would most respectfully and earnestly represent unto your honorable body, that he has, for several years past, been occupied in attempting to bring the attention of our government as well as our merchants to the development of a new field of commercial enterprise, viz., Northeastern Asia.

In April, 1856, he obtained the appointment of "Commercial Agent for the Amoor," and, having proceeded immediately to Russia, succeeded in procuring the authorization of the Emperor ALEXANDER II. to visit the Amoor country.

In December of the same year he set out from Moscow, and, after a voyage of some five thousand miles through Siberia, reached the headwaters of the Amoor at Cheta.

Having spent some months in visiting the gold and silver mines, and other objects of interest in Trans-Baikal, he embarked on the river Ingodah, an affluent of the Schilkah, which flows into the Amoor, and reached the Strait of Tartary in August, making a continuous voyage on the three rivers of some twenty-six hundred miles, to the Pacific Ocean.

Having also visited Japan, he proceeded to Kamschatka, and sailing thence, via the Sandwich Islands, reached San Francisco late in the fall of 1857.

This voyage, undertaken purely in a commercial point of view, comprehended, as a natural result, the practicability of steam, rail-road and telegraphic communication over and through the country visited.

Without dwelling on either the first or second, which have been fully reported upon to our government, he will speak only of the third telegraphic communication.

The country over which he passed, much to his surprise, from all reports and accounts previously received, proved to be much more favorably adapted to telegraphic communication than his most sanguine expectations had led him to hope.

There is absolutely nothing in the climate, the country, the inhabitants, or the absence of inhabitants, that militates to as great an extent against the practicability of telegraphic communication as we have on our Pacific line, from St. Louis to San Francisco.

Starting from Moscow, we have an uninterrupted land route, mostly along a great imperial highway, to the mouth of the Amoor, a distance of seven thousand miles.

After reaching the mouth of the Amoor, we have a choice of three routes by which to reach, over the intervening space of some three thousand miles, the shores of America.

It is not necessary to discuss at any length the relative merits of these various routes. In my humble opinion, the capital undertaking the enter

prise of constructing the line will determine the best route, from a purely financial point of view.

The undersigned has already, in various preliminary modes, proceeded to bring the question of European-American telegraphic union across Asiatic Russia, before the Emperor of Russia, the Canadian Parliament and the Congress of the United States.

It is argued in Russia that, inasmuch as the United States, in view of her vast commerce with Europe, is more largely interested than Russia in the consummation of the enterprise, should lead off in the encouragement of the proposition.

This argument really seems to have considerable force now, inasmuch as Russia has commenced, on her own account and charge, the construction of a continuous line to connect Europe with the Pacific at the Amoor, being actually more than half of the whole distance from St. Petersburg to San Francisco.

At the last regular session of Congress a memorial was presented, asking the co-operation and aid of our government, in making the proposed survey and reconnoissance of a route for a telegraph line, from the Russian frontier, adjoining the British possessions on the Pacific coast, to the mouth of the Amoor.

The right had previously been obtained from the Russian government to make the survey, in view of connecting the Russian telegraph, which is to terminate at the Amoor, with our system of telegraphs, either at San Francisco or St. Louis.

The grant of the survey by the Imperial government contemplates the ultimate union of the whole world telegraphically, over the Russo-American line.

Since these negotiations were set on foot, St. Louis has been united to San Francisco by the construction of the Pacific telegraph; consequently the whole American system has touched the shores of the Pacific Ocean.

In my correspondence with the Russian government, the original proposition to tap the European system at Moscow has been abandoned, in consequence of the order of the Emperor authorizing (commanding) the Russian government telegraph to be pushed east to the Amoor.

Consequently, we have now only to discuss the construction of the central link in this world-encircling chain, from the Amoor to San Francisco; and, even while we are writing, a line is in course of construction, uniting the California lines and penetrating north to the Columbia River.

Thus the gap is being rapidly closed up, and the undertaking, which seemed encumbered with so many difficulties but a year or two since, begins to assume a less formidable appearance. From the Columbia to the Amoor is less than five thousand miles; it is over this space that we have now to direct our whole attention.

There is not the least necessity to set forth the advantageous results to commerce, and the national benefits to be derived by the United States as a nation, from telegraphic union with Europe; the question, in all its bearings, is well and fully comprehended by your honorable body.

The object now proposed is to get the assistance of our government in aid of the enterprise; first, a survey of the route and a subsidy, then such other and further aid as Congress can be induced to grant.