here is good reason to believe that,
hereafter, the commerce of those communities with the rest of the
world, will be placed upon a more liberal foundation. Should such
be the case, Rio de Janeiro can not fail to become the great
centre of a largely increased trade in the southern hemisphere."

"Should it be preferred to limit the extent of the American line
to Para, at the mouth of the Amazon, the largest river in the
world, there is at present a Brazilian line between that point and
Rio de Janeiro, which, with the lines between Rio and the mouth of
the La Plata, will render the connection complete.

"Of the Amazon, it is proper to state that it is navigable by the
largest vessels, and presents a line of shore of not less than
six thousand miles, abounding in every description of product,
with climates of all temperatures and soils adapted to all sorts
of vegetable growth. As the regions through which this vast river
passes are peopled by communities to which manufacturing is
unknown, it will at once be seen what an immense market will be
opened to American industry in the various departments of the
useful arts. The proposed connection would, together with the
intercourse by steam, which will inevitably be established on the
Amazon, draw to that river the trade of the interior, which at
present passes over the Andes on the backs of sheep and mules to
the Pacific ocean, and constitutes a large portion of the
commodities that are transported around Cape Horn. With a view to
this river navigation, Brazil has already entered into a boundary
treaty with Peru, by which she has engaged to establish steamboat
navigation on the Peruvian tributaries of the Amazon, and is
preparing to put seven steamers upon the river, where none have
heretofore been.

"The experience of the world has shown that nations do not become
commercial or manufacturing, so long as the products of the soil
are sufficiently abundant to yield them wealth; and, hence, it may
be reasonably inferred that the carrying trade to and from
South-America will, if proper measures be taken, fall into the
hands of American ship-owners. By way of ascertaining what the
extent of this trade will be, if reference be had to the interior
or back country as the standard of the commercial resources
furnished by rivers, it will b