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WORKS IN GENERAL LITERATURE.
I.
SIR J. HERSCHEL's OUTLINES of ASTRONOMY.
8vo. with Plates and Wood Engravings, 18s.
II.
SIR J. HERSCHEL's PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE
on the Study of NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. Fcp. 8vo. 6s.
III.
PESCHEL's ELEMENTS of PHYSICS. Translated,
with Notes, by E. WEST. 3 vols. fep. 8vo. Woodcuts, 21s.
IV.
BRANDE's DICTIONARY of SCIENCE, LITERA-
TURE, and ART. 8vo. with Wood Engravings, 60s.
v.
CRESY's ENCYCLOPAEDIA of CIVIL ENGINEER-
ING. With upwards of 3,000 Wood Engravings. 8vo. 73s. 6d.
VI.
GWILT's ENCYCLOPAEDIA of ARCHITECTURE.
With upwards of 1,000 Wood Engravings. 8vo. 52s. 6d.
VII.
MR. MCCULLOCH's DICTIONARY, GEOGRAPHI-
CAL, STATISTICAL, and HISTORICAL. 2 vols. 8vo. Maps, 80s.
VIII.
MR. MCCULLOCH's DICTIONARY of COMMERCE
and COMMERCIAL NAVIGATION. New Edition. 8vo. Maps
and Plans, 50s.; strongly half-bound, 55s.
IX.
MR. MCCULLOCH's DESCRIPTIVE and STATIS-
TICAL ACCOUNT of the BRITISH EMPIRE. New Edition.
2 vols. 8vo. 42s.
x.
MURRAY's ENCYCLOPEDIA of GEOGRAPHY.
With 82 Maps and 1,000 other Woodeuts. 8vo. 60s.
XI.
URE's DICTIONARY of ARTS, MANUFACTURES,
and MINES. With 1,241 Woodcuts. 8vo. 50s. - Supplement of
Recent Improvements, 14s.
XII.
WEBSTER and PARKER's ENCYCLOP.EDI: of
DOMESTIC ECONOMY. With 1,000 Wood Engravings. 8vo. 50s.
LONDON : LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS.
BIBLIOTHEEK
3
II 36.199
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A
DICTIONAR Y
or
COMMERCE
AND
COMMERCIAL NAVIGATION.
Digitized by Google
LONDON :
SPOTTISWOODES and SRAW,
New-street-Square.
Digitized by Google
10009 Kq pezuibia
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quo G
A
DICTIONARY,
PRACTICAL, THEORETICAL, AND HISTORICAL,
or
COMMERCE
AND
COMMERCIAL NAVIGATION
ILLUSTRATED WITH MAPS AND PLANS.
BY
J. R. M°CULLOCH, EsQ.,
MEMBER OF THE INSTITUTE OF FRANCE.
A NEW. EDITION,
CORRECTED, ENLARGED, AKD IMPROVED ;
WITH A SUPPLEMENT.
Tutte le invenzioni le pid benemeritedel genere umano, e che hanno svillupato l' ingegno
la facoltà dell' animo nostro, sono quelle che accostano l' uomo all' uomo, e facilitano la
communicazione delle Idee, del bisogni, del sentimenti, e riducano il genere umano a massa.
VERRI.
LONDON:
LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS.
MDCCCXLIX.
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" Though immediately and primarily written for the merchants, this Commercial Dictionary
will be of use to every man of business or of curlosity. There is no man who is not in some
degree a merchant; who has not something to buy and something to sell, and who does not
therefore want such instructions as may teach him the true value of possessions or commodities.
The descriptions of the productions of the earth and water which this volume contains, may
be equally pleasing and useful to the speculatist with any other Natural History. The de-
scriptions of ports and cities may instruct the geographer as well as if they were found in books
appropriated only to his own sclence; and the doctrines of funds, insurances, currency, mo-
nopolies, exchanges, and duties, is so necessary to the politician, that without it he can be of no
use eitber in the council or the senate. nor can speak or think justly either on war or trade.
" We, therefore, hope that we shall not repent the labour of compiling this work, nor flatter
ourselves unreasonably, in predicting a favourable reception to a book which no condition of life
can render useless, which may contribute to the advantage of all that makeor receive laws, of all
that buy or sell, of all that wish to keep or improve their possessions, of all that desire to be rich,
and all that desire to be wise."
JOHNSON, Preface to Roll's Dict.
Keninthiphe
Biblictheck
to 's large
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ADVERTISEMENT TO THIS EDITION.
The changes that have taken place in the commerce and commercial policy of
this and other countries during the last two years have been carefully noted
in
this edition. The more important statistical returns have also been brought
down to the latest period. In the article Corn Laws and Corn Trade, and
in the articles on Dantzic, New York, Odessa, Taganrog, &c., are embodied a
number of details illustrative of the state of the corn trade in 1846 and 1847,
when the imports greatly surpassed those of former years. In the article Sugar,
the reader will find pretty ample information with respect to its produce and
consumption, the new regulations relating to its importation, the various changes
to which it is subject, &c.
Wherever it was practicable we have introduced the new matter and amend-
ments into the body of the work, which, we would fain hope, has been in various
respects improved. At the same time we are as much impressed now as
formerly with a consciousness of its many imperfections ; and beg again ear-
nestly to solicit our friends in this and other countries to point out such
mistakes as they may happen to notice; and to supply us with the means of
obviating them and of rendering the work still better entitled to the public
confidence.
London, let January, 1849.
A 3
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:
PREFACE TO THE EDITION OF 1847.
Tnx last complete edition of this work, though published so lately as February,
1844, has already become all but obsolete. This has been occasioned by the
extraordinary changes that have been made in the interval in our commercial
policy and regulations. Of these the act of last session providing for the immediate
modification and speedy abolition of the Corn Laws, is the most important. It
was the crowning measure in the memorable administration of Sir Robert Peel
and went far to complete the great series of commercial reforms begun in 1842.
The opening of the ports to the free importation of foreign cattle, sheep, and
hogs, which had previously been wholly prohibited ; the repeal of the Excise
duty on glass, and of the Customs duties on about 500 different articles, includ-
ing some of the greatest importance, and their reduction on many more the
vast improvement effected in our banking and monetary systems and the
measure respecting the Corn Laws, were all accomplished in the short space
of four or five years; and, in as far as can at present be seen, not only with
infinite advantage to the public, but without injury or even sensible incon-
venience to any class And it is obvious that such could not have been the
case had not the determination to carry these measures been subordinate to the
skill and ability with which they were prepared.
These, however, are not the only alterations that have taken place since
February, 1844. New acts have been passed in that interval relating to navi-
gation, the intercourse with the colonies, the importation and exportation of
foreign and native produce, the hiring of seamen, the registry of shipping,
&c., with the important act of last session in regard to the sugar duties.
And in addition to the many fundamental changes that have taken place at
home, a greatly improved Tariff has recently been enacted in the U. States
while minor changes have been effected in other parts of the commercial world.
The edition of this Dictionary now given to the public has been accommodated
to
this altered state of things. Wherever it was practicable we have introduced
the new matter under its proper head; the circumstance of the work being stereo-
typed having generally enabled us to do this without resetting the types of the
other portions. In most cases the space occupied by the articles that have been
superseded afforded room for those by which they have been replaced and
where it happened that the new articles could not be confined within the former
limita, the addition of extra pages, supplied the necessary accommodation. Hence,
notwithstanding the great amount of matter inserted for the first time in this
edition, the SUPPLEMENT added to it is of comparatively limited dimensions.
The separate Supplement prepared for the use of the purchasers of the editions
of 1844 and 1846 is considerably larger, inasmuch as it contains the more
important portions of the new information dispersed throughout the present
work.
The extreme difficulty of procuring recent and authentic information in rela-
tion to the commerce and commercial regulations of foreign and remote countries
will, we venture to hope, be admitted as some excuse for the errors which, despite
4
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viii
PREFACE.
c
every effort to be accurate, may, no doubt, be discovered in this book. We
shall reckon it a favour if those by whom they may be detected will have the
goodness to point them out and we shall be still more obliged if they will, at
the same time, supply us with matter available for their correction. We beg
farther to state that whatever information may be communicated to us by
gentlemen versed in any of the matters treated of in this work, will be most
gratefully received and that it will be employed to render it, what we are
most anxious it should be, a digest of late, readily accessible, and trustworthy
information on all matters relating to the commerce and commercial navigation
of this country and of the world.
London, May, 1847.3
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PREFACE
TO
THE EDITION OF 1844.
THE last edition of this work that underwent a complete revision was published
in 1834. Since that epoch several considerable impressions have been ex-
hausted; the more important changes in the commercial laws and regulations of
this and other countries, and in the channels of commercial intercourse, that took
place in the interval, having been specified in successive Supplements. These,
however, notwithstanding the limited plan on which they were compiled, had
become rather voluminous ; and the changes made in our commercial policy
by the Tariff Act of 1842, and the late acts for regulating the corn and colonial
trades, &c., were so very important, and affected so many articles and interests,
that it would have been difficult to notice them and the other subjects that
required to be brought under the reader's eye in a new Supplement, without
extending it to something like the size of the original work, which would thus
have been rendered clumsy, costly, and inconvenient. Under these circum-
stances, we had no choice, except to abandon the work altogether, or to under-
take the laborious task of its reconstruction. Having determined upon the
latter, we have endeavoured to make it a Digest and Repertory of the most
useful and authentic information respecting the past and present state of the
commerce of this and most other countries, including the means and devices
resorted to for facilitating commercial operations, and the laws and regula-
tions under which they have been carried on. The various details are brought
down to the latest period; and such additional subjects and statements have
been introduced as had been overlooked in the former editions, or have since
come into existence or grown of importance. We have tried to effect these
improvements without adding, very materially, to the size of the work, by sub-
jecting it to an unsparing retrenchment, and rejecting whatever was super-
seded by late changes, or appeared to be unnecessary.
It must, however, be admitted of works of this description, that they are
less susceptible than most others of being improved in successive editions. An
error in a bygone statement may, of course, be detected and rectified; but
few comparatively of those who refer to a Commercial Dictionary care for his-
torical notices or theoretical discussions. The practical details belonging to the
present moment are the prime objects of interest with most men of business ;
and the same difficulties recur in attempting to give an account of commerce
and commercial legislation in 1842 and 1843 that had to be encountered
in describing their state in 1832 and 1833. The subject is not stationary
but progressive, and variable in the extreme. The information, too, to
which we have been compelled to resort, has been often very deficient; and
when more abundant, it has not unfrequently been obscure, contradictory, and
but little to be depended upon. And even though it had been of a less ques-
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x
PREFACE.
tionable description, the all but endless variety of subjects we have had to
notice, and the perpetual and often unmarked changes to which most of them
are subject, prevent our flattering ourselves with the notion that we have been
much more successful on this than on former occasions in avoiding mistakes.
We have, however, resorted to every means within our reach by which
accuracy was likely to be attained and can honestly affirm that, in attempting
to render our work worthy of the public confidence, we have shrunk from no
labour nor grudged any reasonable expense.
Except in one or two instances, we have seen no reason to modify any gene-
ral principle laid down in the previous editions. The freedom of industry and
of trade appears to us, speaking generally, to be the only sound foundation on
which the commercial legislation of any country can safely or permanently
rest. But we are not of the number of those who think that this is a principle
to which there can be no exception, and that it is to be enforced at all times,
without regard to existing interests, or to the peculiar situation of the branches
of industry to which it may be proposed to be applied. There are, in truth, no
absolute principles; that is, there are no principles that can be safely and advan-
tageously carried out to their full extent, at all hazards and under all circum-
stances, either in Commercial Economy or any thing else. In conducting national
affairs, the interests, and even the unreasonable prejudices, of great classes
must be consulted ; and governments should frequently, or, perhaps, we might
say, generally, adopt that line of conduct which may seem to be on the whole
best fitted to conciliate and promote the varying interests of those for
whom they legislate, in preference to that which may be more in accordance
with principle. A policy of this sort, while it is consistent with the effectual
reform of every abuse, makes all changes be carefully considered, and cau-
tiously introduced ; and provides for the permanent advantage of the community
with as little immediate injury as possible to individuals.
It is not, therefore, as many appear to suppose, enough to prove that a rule
or regulation is wrong, that it interferes with the absolute freedom of industry
or of trade. Such interference may be justifiable or unjustifiable, according
to the peculiar exigencies of the case. The decisions of men of sense are
not to be guided, on topics of this sort, by clamour, or by a cuckoo-cry in
favour of any general principle, however well-established, but by a compre-
hensive investigation of what is under the circumstances the wisest and best
course of policy to be adopted. Who can doubt that the regulations with
respect to the truck system, the exclusion of females from mines, and the
employment of young people in factories, though interfering to a considerable
extent with the freedom of industry, are highly judicious, and necessary for the
protection of the largest and not least important portion of society ?
It may be doubted whether the commercial code of any country was ever so
much liberalised and improved in the same space of time as ours has been
between the important reforms begun by Mr. Huskisson in 1825, and those
effected by Sir Robert Peel in 1842. The more ardent reformers allege, indeed,
that these were not sufficiently extensive, that they were introduced slowly
and with greater diffidence than necessary, and that many abuses are still
unredressed. But those who reflect on the difficulty, in an extremely artificial
state of society, of correctly appreciating the remote influence of any consi-
derable change, and the impossibility of retracing any false step, will pro-
bably be disposed to applaud the prudence manifested in effecting these
reforms. The progress already made has, however, paved the way for farther
advances; and the reforms that still remain to be undertaken may now be
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PREFACE.
xi
attempted with comparatively little risk. The greater number of these are, we
believe, pointed out in this work and we have endeavoured to show how they
may be best introduced, and the advantages which may be fairly anticipated
from their being carried into effect.
Some of the most important subjects of which we have had to treat are, un-
fortunately, much mixed up with party politics, and the agitation of the day.
But our pages, we trust, are not polluted by any factious or partisan taint.
We have endeavoured to treat the subjects in question in the spirit of
lookers on who have no wish to participate in the game, and not in that of
the players, who may, perhaps, have staked their all on the result; and are not
conscious of having been biassed by political or personal predilections.
We firmly adhere to the opinion we have endeavoured to establish in the
former editions of this work and elsewhere, that it would be sound policy to
permit the importation of foreign corn at all times, under a moderate fixed duty
accompanied by a corresponding drawback. A duty of this sort would not
interpose any serious obstacle to our getting supplies of foreign corn when
necessary ; at the same time that it would tend to prevent any sudden shock
being given to agriculture by the opening of the ports to free importation, and
would countervail the peculiar burdens the agriculturists at present sustain,
or which, at all events, they would most certainly have to sustain, were the
ports open to importation without any duty. It appears to us that justice
to all parties - to the manufacturers and merchants on the one hand, and to
the agriculturiste on the other, requires that some such method of settling this
verata quastio should be attempted. It has been truly said, that what
a mercantile country like Great Britain most requires is the adoption of
"
a decided and unflinching course of commercial policy." This is necessary
to give those engaged in agricultural and commercial pursuits that feeling of
security which lies at the bottom of all steady, vigorous, and prolonged exertion
and to make all classes bring their industry and capital into full activity.
Unluckily, however, the most formidable obstacles appear to stand in the way
of our entering upon such a course and so long as one great class claim every
thing, and another great class will concede nothing, our policy can inspire but
little confidence. But we would fain hope that both parties, or at least that
the more reasonable and considerate portions of both, may become sensible of
the many pernicious consequences which cannot fail to result from prolonging
the agitation with respect to the corn laws and that these laws may be
finally settled so as to reconcile and secure the just rights and interests of all
classes. Unfounded anticipations of advantage on the one hand, and unfounded
anticipations of loss on the other, are the only real obstacles to some such ar-
rangement being effected ; and it will be much to be deplored should the great
interests of the empire be sacrificed to such delusions, and to the sinister designs
of those who represent them as real, and exaggerate their magnitude.
We have thought it necessary to say thus much; for, though our work, being
a Commercial Dictionary, might be supposed to be beyond the sphere of politics,
we have been reluctantly compelled, on various occasions, in consequence of the
way in which commercial and political questions are now mixed up, to engage
in what may be called political discussion. And when such has been the case,
we have not scrupled freely to state our opinions, and to censure such principles,
laws, or regulations, as we believe to be injurious. But we have not done this
wantonly, or without briefly stating the grounds on which we have presumed
to found our conclusions. We have, also, as on former occasions, taken care to
separate the theoretical and historical from the practical and legal parts of the
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xii
PREFACE.
work. Those by whom it is consulted merely for mercantile information need
not, therefore, trouble themselves about the other matters embodied in it. They
are not forced on their attention ; but they may easily be found, if, at any time,
they should think it worth while to refer to them.
In preparing this edition we have met, as on former occasions, with every
assistance from numerous official and private gentlemen. We are especially
indebted to the Earl of Aberdeen for allowing us the perusal of many valuable
consular Reports. To Mr. Porter, of the Board of Trade, so advantageously
known by his statistical works, we owe various unpublished documents be-
longing to his department. Mr. Wood, the able and efficient chairman of
the Board of Excise, Mr. Mayer, of the Colonial Office, and Mr. Walcott,
secretary to the Emigration Commissioners, have, also, discovered on every
occasion an anxious desire to add to the utility of our work, and have
enriched it with various important returns. We regret our inability to
notice the numerous private gentlemen who have, without regard to trouble or
expense, exerted themselves to supply us with information not otherwise
attainable. But, while we beg to return our best thanks to all, we cannot
forbear mentioning the names of James Cook, Esq., of Mincing Lane Archibald
Hastie, Esq., M. P.; Jacob Herbert, Esq., of the Trinity House Joshua
Milne, Esq., of the Sun Life Assurance Office: William Ellis, Esq., of the
Marine Indemnity Insurance Office ; Robert Slater, Esq., of Fore Street; John
Brown, Esq., of Liverpool ; C. B. Fripp, Esq., of Bristol David Maitland, Esq.,
of New York ; and William Murc, Esq., of New Orleans: to all of whom we are
under the greatest obligations. In fact, it is enly by the assistance of individuals
engaged in different lines of business, in different parts of the empire and of the
world, that a work of this sort can be rendered of any real value. No diligence
of inquiry can derive satisfactory information respecting the state of commerce
from books and official returns, even when these exist and are accessible, which
is frequently not the case : it can only be learned, if it is to be learned at all, from
the communications of intelligent individuals engaged in and familiar with its
details.
London, February, 1844.
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PREFACE
TO
THE SECOND EDITION.
The first impression of this Dictionary, consisting of 2,000 copies, was entirely
sold off in less than nine months from the date of its publication. We feel very
deeply indebted to the public for this unequivocal proof of its approbation; and we
have endeavoured to evince our gratitude, by labouring to render the work less
undeserving a continuance of the favour with which it has been honoured. In
the prosecution of this object, we have subjected every part of it to a careful
revision have endeavoured to eradicate the errors that had escaped our notice
to improve those parts that were incomplete or defective ; and to supply such
articles as had been omitted. We dare not flatter ourselves with the idea that
we have fully succeeded in these objects. The want of recent and accurate
details as to several important subjects, has been an obstacle we have not, in all
cases, been able to overcome; but those in any degree familiar with such inves-
tigations will not, perhaps, be disposed severely to censure our deficiencies in
this respect.
The changes in the law bearing upon commercial transactions have been
carefully specified. Copious abstracts of the late Customs Acts are contained in
the articles COLONIES AND COLONY TRADE, IMPORTATION AND EXPORTATION,
NAVIGATION Laws, REGISTRY, SMUGGLING, WAREHOUSING, &c.
The abolition of the East India Company's commercial monopoly, and the great
and growing interest* that has in consequence been excited amongst all classes
respecting the commercial capabilities and practices of India, China, and other
Fastern countries, have made us bestow peculiar attention to this department.
The articles BANGKOK, BATAVIA, BOMBAY, BUSHIRE, BUSSORAH, CALCUTTA,
CANTON, COLUMBO, EAST INDIA COMPANY AND EAST INDIES, INDIGO, MACAO,
MADEAS, MANILLA, MAULMAIN, MOCHA, MUSCAT, NANGASACKI, OPIUM, RANGOON,
SINGAPORE, TATTA, TEA, &c. contain, it is believed, a greater mass of recent and
well-authenticated details as to the commerce of the vast countries stretching
from the Arabic Gulph to the Chinese Sea, than is to be found in any other
English publication.
The article BANKING is mostly new. Besides embodying the late act prolong-
ing the charter of the Bank of England, and the more important details given in
the Report of the Select Committee on the Renewal of the Bank Charter, this
article contains some novel and important information not elsewhere to be met
with. No account of the issues of the Bank of England has hitherto been pub-
lished, that extends farther back than 1777. But this deficiency is now, for
the first time, supplied ; the Directors having obligingly furnished us with an
The recent events In China have added greatly to this interest, and have made us enter, in this
edition, into several additional details.
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