of the Treasury to the consul residing there,
that in a Government so new and a country so remote American citizens
may have respectable authority to which to apply for redress in case of
injury to their persons and property, and to whom the Government of the
country may also make known any acts committed by American citizens of
which it may think it has a right to complain.

Events of considerable importance have recently transpired in China.
The military operations carried on against that Empire by the English
Government have been terminated by a treaty, according to the terms of
which four important ports hitherto shut against foreign commerce are
to be open to British merchants, viz, Amoy, Foo-Choo-Foo, Ningpo, and
Chinghai. It can not but be interesting to the mercantile interest of
the United States, whose intercourse with China at the single port
of Canton has already become so considerable, to ascertain whether
these other ports now open to British commerce are to remain shut,
nevertheless, against the commerce of the United States. The treaty
between the Chinese Government and the British commissioner provides
neither for the admission nor the exclusion of the ships of other
nations. It would seem, therefore, that it remains with every other
nation having commercial intercourse with China to seek to make proper
arrangements for itself with the Government of that Empire in this
respect.

The importations into the United States from China are known to be
large, having amounted in some years, as will be seen by the annexed
tables, to $9,000,000. The exports, too, from the United States to
China constitute an interesting and growing part of the commerce of the
country. It appears that in the year 1841, in the direct trade between
the two countries, the value of the exports from the United States
amounted to $715,000 in domestic produce and $485,000 in foreign
merchandise. But the whole amount of American produce which finally
reaches China and is there consumed is not comprised in these tables,
which show only the direct trade. Many vessels with American products on
board sail with a primary destination to other countries, but ultimately
dispose of more or less of their cargoes in the port of Canton.

The peculiarities of the Chinese Government and the Chinese character
are well known. An Empire supposed to contain 300,000,000 subjects,
fertile in various rich products of the earth, not without the knowledge
of