and merchandise, of the growth or produce of countries beyond the Cape of Good Hope, when imported from places this side of the Cape of Good Hope, a duty of ten per centum ad valorem, in addition to the duties imposed on any such articles when imported directly from the place or places of their growth or production. SEC. 15. And be it further enacted, That upon all ships, vessels, or steamers, which, after the thirty-first day of December, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, shall be entered at any custom house in the United States, from any foreign port or place, or from any port or place in the United States, whether ships or vessels of the United States, or belonging wholly or in part to subjects of foreign powers, there shall be paid a tax or tonnage duty of ten cents per ton of the measurement of said vessel, in addition to any tonnage duty now imposed by law: Provided, That the said tax or tonnage duty shall not be collected more than once in each year on any ship, vessel or steamer having a license to trade between different districts in the United States, or to carry on the bank, whale, or other fisheries, whilst employed therein, or on any ship, vessel, or steamer, to or from any port or place in Mexico, the British provinces of North America, or any of the West India Islands: Provided also, That nothing in this act contained shall be deemed in any wise to impair any rights and privileges which have been or may be acquired by any foreign nation under the laws and treaties of the United States relative to the duty on tonnage of vessels: Provided further, That so much of the act of August eighteen, eighteen hundred and fifty-six, entitled "An act to authorize protection to be given to citizens of the United States who may discover deposits of guano," as prohibits the exports thereof, is hereby suspended for one year from and after the passage of this act. SEC. 16. And be it further enacted, That from and after the passage of this act, in estimating the allowance for tare on all chests, boxes, cases, casks, bags, or other envelop or covering of all articles imported liable to pay any duty, where the original invoice is produced at the time of making entry thereof, and the tare shall be specified therein, it shall be lawful for the collector, if he shall set fit, or for the collector and naval officer, if such officer there be, if they shall see fit, with the consent of the consignees, to estimate the said tare according to such invoice, but in all other cases the real tare shall be allowed, and may be ascertained under such regulations as the Secretary of the Treasury may from time to time prescribe; but in no case shall there be any allowance for draft. VERIFICATION OF INVOICES. SEC. 17. And be it further enacted, That from and after the first day of November, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, no goods, wares, or merchandise subject to ad valorem or specific duty, whether belonging to a person or persons residing in the United States or otherwise, or whether acquired by the ordinary process of bargain and sale, or otherwise, shall be admitted to entry, unless the invoice of such goods, wares, or merchandise be verified by the oath of the owners, or one of the owners, or in the absence of the owner, one of the party who is authorised by the owner to make the shipment and sign the invoice of the same, certifying that the invoice annexed contains a true and faithful account, if subject to ad valorem duty and obtained by purchase, of the actual cost thereof and of all charges thereon, and that no discounts, bounties, or drawbacks are contained in the said invoice, but such as have Population. Consumption, lbs. 23,200,000 1850... Population. Consumption, lbs. 33,622,306 34,582,943 35,543,580 29,600,000 27,858,482 1856... 28,000,000 28,819,120 1857... 28,800,000 1852... 24,800,000 29,779,756 | 1858... 1853... 25,600,000 30,740,394 1859... 30,400,000 35,875,805 1854... 26,400,000 31,445,089 30,162,335 1855... 27,200,000 32,661,668 1861... 32,245,089 30,010,022 31,701,0331860... These figures show the continued increase in the consumption of tea per head in the United States, during a period of great prosperity, in which tea has been free of duty. The events of the present year may be expected to produce a great change, not only by the decline of general business, but in consequence of the war taxes levied on tea. The tariff act of July, 1861, imposed fifteen cents per pound duty. This circumstance gave rise to a large speculative movement, which resulted in an advance of some four or five cents per pound. The impulse given by the new tariff was, however, checked by the disaster that, about that time, befel the Union arms in Virginia, and for a while business was prostrate; but towards the end of August the advices received from China proved wholly unpromising with reference to shipments of green teas, and this fact, coupled with that of the rapid reduction of the stock in market here, served to further enhance their value. The advance initiated by the new duty continued during the remainder of the year, and under its influence, as well as that of a constantly diminishing stock, green teas reached a price unknown for many years; certain qualities of gunpowder bringing as much as a dollar per pound. The duty was subsequently raised to twenty cents. The following are the highest and lowest figures of the year: In 1859 Japanese tea had just come upon our market, and there seemed to be a growing taste for it. The expectations of the trade have not been disappointed. This description of tea is now established in public favor, and the importation has increased from a mere nominal quantity, in 1859, to nearly half a million of pounds, the estimated receipts of the past year. The value of the raw silk imported have been, of late years, as follows into the United States: The great change which present difficulties are producing in the values of raw materials for clothing, may impart an extra demand for Chinese silks, while it cheapens the opening market for American cotton. The area of China is computed at 5,000,000 square miles, and the population 420,000,000. The Empire is divided into three parts for administration purposes, China Proper, Manchuina, and the Colonial Possessions. Central China, the flowery land and home of agriculture in that country, embraces near 2,000,000 square miles, one-third of which is classed with the best tillage lands of the world. The Chinese are alive to the benefits of river steamers, and to the advantages which shipments on European vessels give in safety and certainty of insurance. The internal trade of China, aided by the unusual facilities derived from its water communication, ramifies over all the provinces, and is of inconsiderable magnitude. Junks, barges, and whole fleets of smaller boats cover its canals and rivers, the tonnage of which is said not to be exaggerated in equalling it with the combined tonnage of all other nations! The coasting trade is comparative small, and is much impeded, not only in dangers of navigation along a coast frequently visited by storms of terrific violence, but by bands of pirates, who roam about almost with impunity, and make an easy prey of defenceless traders. The Chinese merchant calculates to lose one venture in three. He now avoids the risk by freighting in foreign bottoms, and this throws a large amount of trade into American hands, other than the direct trade between the two countries. It is evident that with the opening facilities for intercourse, that the American river steamboats penetrating into the vast network of rivers, which command the production of so many millions of industrious persons, have an immense future before them. A considerable number of steamboats has already been sent out to China in the course of the last few years from New York, Boston, and San Francisco, and so far as heard from, with extremely profitable results. A number more are now being fitted out for the same adventure, one or two at New York, but particularly at San Francisco, and it is thought that a large number could follow them with abundant profit to their owners. The extent of country drained by the Chinese rivers thrown open to trade, as well as the disposition of the Chinese to hand over their transport trade to foreigners, opens out an amount of employment for steamers which in the distant future may far exceed that afforded this class of vessels in the Mississippi valley. In one of the last China papers it is stated that on the Yang-tse-Kiang there were twenty-four steamers, of which nineteen were English and five American. A San Francisco paper learns that six are building in England specially for that trade, and that some disposition exists on the part of the English government to avail itself of the call for steamers in the China market to dispose of some old gunboats. There are also steamers building in England for a line between Shanghae and the ports of Japan. It is computed that during the rebellion epidemic, now prevailing in China, one million of junks and boats have been destroyed, most of which were on the rivers and canals which feed the great basin of the Yang-tseKiang. The operation of steamboats is, it is well known, to shorten the time of transportation, and, by so doing, to virtually double the capital and stimulate the productions of all regions. What may not, therefore, be expected from their influence upon the million of boats in the great and rich basin, to which a foreign demand for its commodities is just imparting new life. PROGRESS OF POPULATION IN MINNESOTA. BY J. A. WHEELOCK. By the territorial census of 1849, the population of the Territory of Minnesota, embracing what is now Dakota, was 4,780. Of this number, the returns show 723 for settlements now outside of the State, leaving the population of the State as now bounded, 4,057. The United States census of Minnesota Territory for 1850, showed a population of 6,077. Subtracting therefrom the number given the previous year for Dakota, not otherwise ascertainable, the result for the State, as now bounded, would be 5,354. The following table, then, exhibits the growth of population in Minnesota for ten years, within the limits of the present State: The following table exhibits the increase of the vote at the general elections for Territorial and State officers, and taking into account the degree of excitement and other circumstances attending each election, is valuable as showing the ratio of votes to population, and affording a basis for future calculations: The table of population shows a ratio of increase of 56 per cent yearly, from 1849 to 1857, and of less than 5 per cent yearly, from 1857 to 1860. The table of votes shows an increase of 60 per cent yearly, from 1851 to 1857; of 112 per cent yearly, from 1855 to 1857, and a slight decrease from 1857 to 1860. The swell and subsidence of the wave of population at the different periods above indicated, mark three well defined phases in the progress of the population of our State. 1. In the years immediately following 1850, the gold discoveries of California diverted immigration from the northwest, and moreover, until 1853 and 1854, the whole of that portion of Minnesota, west of the Mississippi River, was in the occupancy of the Sioux Indians. For these reasons population did not set rapidly towards Minnesota in 1854. 2. Accordingly, the table of votes shows that it was between 1854 and 1857 that the chief immigration to Minnesota took place. Over 100,000 were added to the population of Minnesota between the fall of 1855 and 1857, nearly trebling in two years. This extraordinary influx of population, with its accompanying exaggeration of property values, and wild riot of financial adventure, constitute this period one of the most remarkable in the history of the age, and is not likely to be repeated in the experience of our State. 3. The effect upon immigration of the violent reaction which followed, is shown in the halting pace of population between 1857 and 1860, when the increase was only 22,000 in number, or about 7,000 yearly, of which over 6,600 yearly, or about 19,828 for the three years, were the natural increase by birth, reducing the immigration for the period to about 2,000. The census was taken at a period when the country was just recovering from the exhausting financial calamities of 1857. In the overflowing harvests of that year a new climacteric of recuperated commercial life was reached-a new period of healthy and vigorous growth was entered on, and now, notwithstanding the gloom of civil war which overhangs the nation, emigration has been pouring in with a new impulse. The following table shows the absolute yearly and relative increase in the several periods above noted: INCREASE COMPARED WITH OTHER STATES. The increase of population in Minnesota in the first decade of its settlement, has been far geater relatively than that of any other State of the Union, in the corresponding period of growth. A tabular comparison would occupy too much space, but it will suffice to say that of the Western States starting about the year 1800 or 1810, with about the same population as that of Minnesota in 1850-Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois-were each from 20 to 28 years in reaching the population attained by Wisconsin or Iowa in about 15, and by Minnesota, in 10 years. This fact strikingly illustrates the influence of improved modes of communication in promoting emigration to the West. The following table will show the movement of population in eight States of the northwest in the last decade, as compared with Minnesota: |