purchase-money, for which he has a lien, may resell the goods, and claim for the loss and damage, if he sustains any upon the resale.

A purchaser who is insolvent, may, before the goods come into his actual possession, or even afterwards, if he take possession only for the vendor, rescind the contract, with the consent of the seller; but where goods have been actually received into the possession of the purchaser, and accepted by him as owner, he cannot rescind the contract, and by returning them to the seller prevent their being applied in satisfaction of his general debts. Insolvency does not operate a dissolution of the contract. A contract of sale cannot be rescinded after a complete acceptance of the goods by the purchaser, except there be an original agreement that he may be at liberty to rescind in such case, or unless both parties, where the interest of a third party is not concerned, consent to rescind it, or it turn out to be a case of fraud. And, even in the case of fraud, if the purchaser, after the discovery of the fraud, continue to deal with the article as his own, he cannot afterwards rescind the contract. The purchaser must rescind within a reasonable time.

In general, whenever a person, in order to obtain an undue advantage in a sale, by word or deed, intentionally misrepresents, or conceals, or produces a false impression, in regard to a material fact, forming an inducement to the contract, and touching a matter, in respect to which a known trust or confidence is properly placed in him by the other contracting parties, who are ignorant of the fact misrepresented or concealed, the contract or sale may be vacated by the party imposed upon, for fraud. A sale of property procured to be made by false pretences or criminal fraud does not effect a change of the property.

If the vendor fails to comply with the conditions of sale, the vendee may maintain an action for such non-compliance, or he may rescind the contract. Specific performance of a contract by a competent party, and in its nature and circumstances unobjectionable, is as much a matter of course in equity, as damages at law.

If the purchaser knows that an auctioneer made the sale in that capacity, in an action by the auctioneer for the price, the purchaser canuot set off a demand which he may have against the auctioneer.

It is not uncommon for a deposit to be made at sales by auction. A deposit is a payment in part of the purchase-money, and not a pledge only; the auctioneer is, however, the stake-holder, till the sale is completed, and he cannot legally part with it to the vendor or purchaser before that time, except by their consent. If the vendor fail to comply with, and perform the conditions necessary to complete the contract on his part, the deposit may be recovered from the auctioneer; although, in general, he will not be liable to pay interest upon it. If, however, a deposit is paid into the hands of an auctioneer, so far as respects any risk to the deposit, he is only the agent of the vendor; and if the auctioneer become insolvent, the loss must be borne by the vendor.

In conclusion, it may be remarked, that an auctioneer is bound by his duty to obtain the best price which the property is fairly worth, and not to sell at a less price or in a different manner than is specified in his instructions, unless compliance with his instructions would operate as a fraud upon others. If his instructions are unlimited, he must pursue the accustomed course of business. He must possess a competent degree of skill, and is liable for losses sustained by his incapacity. If he ex

ceed his authority, and loss ensue, he must bear it, unless his principal recognise his acts; if any gain result, he must account for it. If he be without special instructions to sell for cash alone, and not on credit, he may sell on credit, for the period usual in the market. If goods be entrusted to him to dispose on particular terms, if a compliance with those terms should prove to be impracticable, he is not liable, if he in good faith dispose of the goods in some other manner. His conduct, when no fraud is chargeable, should receive a liberal and favorable construction. If he sell on credit, and the vendee becomes insolvent before the demand falls due, he will not be liable, if he exercised due diligence to ascertain the solvency of the purchaser. If he sell several parcels of goods belonging to several of his principals, on a credit, to one person, and take one note from the vendee for the whole, payable to himself, he would not, from this circumstance alone, be personally liable to his principals; but, if he should sell goods of his principal and take a bond to himself for the amount, including a debt of his own, he would be liable to his principal for money had and received, though nothing in fact may have been received by him. When, for an additional compensation in case of sale, he undertakes to guaranty to his principal the payment of the debt due by the buyer, he receives a del credere commission, an Italian phrase, whose signification is exactly equivalent to our word guaranty or warranty. If he receive a del credere commission, he is liable to his principal; if the buyer fails to pay, he is not primarily the debtor.

In bringing these suggestions to a close, it may be added, that some of the authorities maintain, if an auctioneer dispose of property without having a sufficient authority for so doing, so that the purchaser is unable to obtain the benefit of his purchase, the auctioneer will be liable for the costs the purchaser may be put to. It is also recommended, that an auctioneer ought generally to state in advertisements that the property will be sold at the time and place designated, unless previously sold by private contract, in which case, notice of the sale will be immediately given to the public; if the property be disposed of by private con tract, the auctioneer should immediately give notice of such disposition; if he does not, it is said, that any person who attends at the place appointed for the sale, will be entitled to recover against the vendor or auctioneer any expenses he may have thereby incurred.

ART. IV-THE HARBORS OF NORTH AMERICA.

Natural facilities for the formation of Harbors on the American Coast - TidesConstruction of Quays and Jetties-Cranes-Graving Docks-Screw DocksHydraulic Docks-Landing Slips, &c.-New York-Boston-Philadelphia-Baltimore-Charleston-New Orleans-Quebec-Montreal-Halifax.

THE eastern and southern coasts of North America are indented by numerous bays and sheltered sounds, which afford natural facilities for the formation of harbors more commodious than any which works of art alone, however costly, could possibly supply, and to an extent of which, perhaps, no other quarter of the globe can boast. The noble rivers with which this country abounds, and its inland lakes, which, for expanse, de

serve the name of seas, are subjects of great interest to the general traveller; but to the civil engineer, who is more alive to the importance of deep water and good shelter in the formation of harbors, and who, at every step in the exercise of his profession, feels the difficulty, and is made aware of the expense, which attend the attainment of these indispensable qualities by artificial means, the natural harbors of the continent of North America afford a most interesting and instructive subject of contemplation.

The original founders of the sea-port towns on this coast appear to have been very judicious in their selection of situations for forming their settlements. The towns, if not placed at the mouths of fine navigable rivers, in most cases possess the advantages of sheltered anchorages, with deep water, and accommodation for all classes of vessels. The chief object in founding most of the towns, seems to have been the formation of a port for shipping, or the cultivation of a valuable adjacent tract of country watered by a navigable river; in which latter case the harbors do not always possess the same natural advantages, but stand in need of works for their improvement, which would involve a greater expenditure of capital, and occupy more time in their execution, than a country, as yet new in the arts, has been disposed to bestow upon them. Viewing the harbors of America generally, however, no one can fail to be struck with their importance, and, in connexion with its inland navigation, convinced of their mighty effect in advancing the prosperity of that enterprising country.

The largest ports of North America are Quebec, Halifax, and Montreal, in the British dominions, and Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Charleston, and New Orleans, in the United States. Besides these ports, there are many towns on the coast, of later origin, having less trade and importance, but nevertheless possessing splendid natural facilities for the formation of harbors.

I was fortunate enough to visit many of the American ports, and in most of them, I found that accommodation for vessels of great burden had been obtained in so satisfactory a manner, and at so small an expense, as could not fail to strike with astonishment all who have seen the enormously costly docks of London and Liverpool, and the stupendous asylum harbors of Plymouth, Kingstown, and Cherbourg. I have little hesitation in saying, that the smallest of the post-office packet stations in the Irish Sea has required a much larger expenditure of capital, than the Americans have invested in the formation of harbor accommodation for trading vessels along a line of coast of no less than 4,000 miles, extending from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the Mississippi.

The American packet-ships trading between New York and the ports of London, Liverpool, and Havre, are generally allowed to be the finest class of merchant-vessels at present navigating the ocean; and for their accommodation we find in England the splendid docks of London and Liverpool, and in France the docks of Havre. An European naturally concludes that a berthage no less commodious and costly awaits their arrival in the ports to which they sail; but great will be his astonishment when, on reaching New York, the same fine vessel which lately graced the solid stone-docks of Europe, is moored by bow and stern to a wooden quay; and, on leaving the vessel, he will not fail to miss the shade of a covered verandah enclosed within high walls, the characteristic of a

British dockyard, and will have any thing but pleasant sensations when he is ushered forth upon a hastily constructed wooden jetty, which, in certain states of the weather, is deeply covered with mud, and generally affords a footpath far from agreeable.

This state of things strikes a foreigner, on first landing in America, in a very forcible manner. The high, and in some cases superfluous, finish which the Americans bestow on many of their vessels employed in trading with this country, lead those who do not know the contrary to expect a corresponding degree of comfort, and an equal display of workmanship, in the works of art connected with their ports; and it strikes one at first sight as a strange inconsistency, that all the works connected with the formation of the harbors in America should be of so rude and temporary a description, that, but for the sheltered situations in which they are placed, and other circumstances of a no less favorable nature, the structures would be unfit to serve the ends for which they were intended. But when we come to inquire into the reasons for this difference between the construction of the European and American harbors, they soon become apparent and satisfactory. The difficulties and expense encountered in the formation of most European harbors, have arisen chiefly from the necessity of constructing works of a sufficient strength to withstand the violence of a raging sea to which they are in general exposed, or in obtaining a sufficient depth of water, by the construction of docks, or other means, to enable the vessels frequenting them to lie afloat at all times of tide. In Britain, these difficulties in a great measure arise from the narrowness of our country, which necessarily contains but a small extent of inland waters, whose quantity and currents, when compared with the bays and rivers on the American coast, are agents too unimportant and feeble to produce, without recourse to artificial means, the depth or shelter required in a good harbor. The Americans, on the contrary, among the numerous large bays and sounds by which their coasts are indented, have the choice of situations for their harbors, perfectly defended from the surge of the ocean, and requiring no works, like the breakwaters of Plymouth and Cherbourg, for their protection; and the basins formed and scoured by their large navigable rivers, afford, without resorting to the construction of docks like those of Liverpool, London, Leith, or Dundee, natural havens, where their largest vessels lie afloat at all times of tide within a few paces of their warehouse doors.

The kind of workmanship which has been adopted in the formation of the American harbors is almost the same in every situation; and the harbors generally bear a strong resemblance to each other in the arrangements of the quays, and even in their localities. This renders a detailed description of the works of more than one harbor unnecessary; and, for the purpose of giving an idea of an American harbor, I would select that of New York, because it undoubtedly ranks as the first port in America, and is, in fact, the second commercial city in the world, the aggregate tonnage of the vessels belonging to the port being exceeded only by that of London.

The island of Manhattan, in the state of New York, is about fifteen miles in length, and from one to three miles in breadth. The city of New York is situate on the southern extremity of this island, in north latitude 40° 42, and west longitude 74° 2', from Greenwich. It was founded by

the Dutch in the year 1612, and it now contains a population of about 300,000 inhabitants, and measures about ten miles in circumference. On the east, the shore of Manhattan Island is washed by the sound which separates it from Long Island, and on the west by the estuary of the river Hudson, which, as far up as Albany, is more properly an arm of the sea than a river, the stream itself being small and contemptible. These waters, which have received from the Americans the appellation of the East and North rivers, meet at the southern extremity of the island of Manhattan, and at their junction form the spacious bay and harbor of New York, the great emporium of the western hemisphere.

The bay of New York, which extends about nine miles in length, and five miles in breadth, has a communication with the Atlantic Ocean through a strait of about two miles in breadth, between Staten Island and Long Island. This strait is called "the Narrows ;" and on either shore stands a fort for protecting the entrance to the harbor. This magnificent bay, which is completely sheltered from the stormy Atlantic by Long Island, forms a noble deep water basin, and offers a spacious and safe anchorage for shipping to almost any extent, while the quays which encompass the town on its eastern, western, and southern sides, afford the necessary facilities for loading and discharging cargoes. The shipping in the harbor of New York, therefore, without the erection of breakwaters or covering-piers, is, in all states of the wind, protected from the roll of the Atlantic. Without the aid of docks, or even dredging, vessels of the largest class lie afloat during low water of spring-tides, moored to the quays which bound the seaward sides of the city; and, by the erection of wooden jetties, the inhabitants are enabled, at a very small expenditure, to enlarge the accommodation of their port, and adapt it to their increasing trade.

The situation of New York is peculiarly favorable for the extensive trade of which it has become the seat, by the nearness of its harbor to the ocean; the quays being only about eighteen miles from the shore of Sandy Hook, which is washed by the waters of the Atlantic. This naturally makes the communication more direct and easy, as a very short time elapses between making land and mooring at the quay; and all the anxiety which is experienced after falling in with the European land, in a coasting navigation of several days, before the mariner terminates his cares by docking his vessel in Liverpool or London, or in any other port of Great Britain, is thus avoided. I may mention, in illustration, that I left the quays of New York at half-past eleven on the forenoon of the 8th of July, 1837, in the "François Premier" packet-ship, Captain Pell, for Havre, with a very light breeze from the northwest; and, at seven o'clock on the evening of the same day, our vessel was gliding through the Atlantic with nothing in sight but sky and water. This case is strongly contrasted with what took place on my outward passage, on which occasion I left Liverpool, under no less advantageous circumstances, on the 12th of March of the same year, in the "Sheffield" packet-ship, Captain Allen; but we did not clear the Irish land till two days after our leaving port.

The perpendicular rise of tide in the harbor of New York is only about five feet. The tidal wave, however, increases in its progress northwards along the coast, till at length, in the bay of Fundy, it attains the maximum height of ninety feet. Towards the south, on the contrary,