these sources have been supplied to the railroad from Cologne to the frontiers of Prussia. At Leraing steam engines are constructed for boats on the Rhine, and also for Prussia and Holland. The engines of Belgium are constructed on what is termed Wolf's plan, which combines the principles of both high and low pressure. This kind of engine was invented in England; it has received various improvements, and is now extensively used in that country, and in Belgium and France. The Cornwall mines have large pumping engines at work in them, made upon the same principle, and in several small steamboats upon the Thames they are very successfully employed. The principal English manufacturers of them are Messrs. Hall, at Dartford. Steam engine making has made but little progress in France; their marine engines are very inferior. Nineteen out of twenty steamboats have engines made in England, and have on board English engineers and stokers. Fawcett, Preston & Co., of Liverpool, have built under contract several large marine engines for French steamships of war. There must be a natural inaptitude for such kind of work, when a government possessing the resources, and using as much steam machinery as France, is compelled to go abroad for a supply. Throughout the whole continent the same inferiority is found to exist, although it cannot be denied that within a few years great progress has been made, particularly in Belgium, which has considerably outstripped its continental rivals. This inferiority is particularly striking in the manufacture of tools, which involves as a consequence an inferiority in other branches of industry in which good tools are a requisite. They seem to possess the power of making a spinning jenny, but not a good planing machine of iron or wood. Very good files for watchmakers are made at Liege. Mr. Stubbs, however, of Warrington, Lancashire, still maintains his high reputation, not only in England but throughout the continent. I became acquainted in England with the present Mr. Stubbs, son of the founder of the house, who informed me that he sent large quantities of his files to the continent, and that he had been compelled to prosecute many parties in France for putting out imitations of his files, and stamping his name upon them. His files have for many years had a run in the markets of the United States which those of no other manufacturers have been able to obtain. The duty on locomotive engines imported into Belgium, is from 6 to 8 per cent. Common steam engines, saw-mills, rolling-mills, &c., are admitted free. Steam boilers, however, bear a duty of £12 per ton. Machinery of all kinds is imported free, provided the importer shows it to be for his own use, and will also agree to exhibit it, and afford all explanations respecting it at all times to any person who may wish to examine it or take drawings of it. This condition, however, acts almost as a prohibition, as no manufacturer likes to have all the operations of his factory exposed to the public, to say nothing of the inconvenience and trouble of such continual inspection. The principal continental establishments for making machinery, other than those of Belgium, are Zurich and Aix-la-Chapelle. From these places machinery is exported to a considerable extent to Italy and Spain. To Salermo, near which place is grown enough cotton for domestic use, is sent machinery for manufacturing it. The principal places in France engaged in making machinery are, for the woollen manufacture, Arras, Rheims, Sedan, Elbeauf, and Paris; for cotton, Lisle, Lille, Roulaix, Douai, Cambray, Alsace, and Rouen; for lace, Dunkirk, St. Quentin, Lyons, ond Lisle. Silk trade.-Not much is now doing in the silk business in Belgium. The Jaquard loom is in operation near Antwerp, where an old silk trade has existed for centuries; the principal articles manufactured were black silk cravats. The business has fallen off very much. Attempts have of late been made to revive it, but with what success remains to be seen. The Jaquard loom is a modern invention, first discovered in France by the man whose name it bears, but which was afterward considerably improved in England. The French, and of course the Belgians, who resemble them so much in national character, are good at discovering principles, or originating machines, but they seem to fail in the practical application of their ideas to useful purposes. If they get hold of an important invention, however promising in its first inception, they neglect to carry it out to its ultimate perfection. Collier's wool-combing machine, like the Jaquard loom, is a case in point. This machine was first invented by a Frenchman at Arras; Collier, an Englishman, was upon a visit to Paris, and became acquainted with the inventor; he purchased an interest in the machine and took it to England, where it soon underwent important improvements. It was returned to France in its new dress, and is now universally used in that country and in Belgium. A great many other cases of precisely the same kind have occurred. The hosiery trade is carried on principally at Tournay, Enghein, and near Brussels. It has recently suffered much from the competition of Saxony, and of Aberdeen, in Scotland, and Leicester and Nottingham, in England. In the finest kinds of goods the Belgians excel, but in the manufacture of heavy substantial articles the English are far superior to any part of the continent. The business is, however, at present in England at a low ebb. The linen trade is in a rather more flourishing condition. For the prosecution of this business, a large amount of machinery has been, and continues to be imported from England, contrary to the laws of that country, which very unwisely prohibit the exportation of nearly all descriptions of machinery except tools, steam engines, and cotton machinery. Flax is extensively cultivated in Belgium, but not enough is raised to supply the demand, and some has to be imported, and pays a small duty. Cotton also pays a small duty. The manufacture of this article is very far from being in a flourishing condition, owing to various causes, one of which is the want of a regular export trade. There is no danger of any part of the continent ever becoming the rival of England in this branch of industry. It is estimated by the French manufacturers that, owing to the use of cheaper machinery and coals, superior workmen, and a better market for the purchase of the raw material, the difference in the cost of cotton yarn in favor of England is equal to 2d. per pound. The continental spinners have to use much finer cotton to produce the same numbers. The raw material is considerably cheaper at Manchester than in any part of France or Belgium. Liverpool, so near to Manchester, controls the cotton markets of Europe. It at all times affords the greatest variety of the raw material, from which buyers can make their selections; and we find that large quantities are there sold to continental houses for the use of their manufactories. If, in addition to this, we consider the cost of the necessary land carriage from the sea-board to the factories, most of which are situated some distance in the interior, it may be fairly estimated that the continental spinner pays fully 1d. per pound more than his rival of Manchester. The cost of machinery for the cotton business is also a great draw. back. Mr. Ashton, in his examination before a committee of the House, states that he saw a cotton mill at Rouen which cost £12,000, the cost of which in England would have been but £9,000; the price of the mill in Belgium would have been about the same as in France. In England, he states, a first class mill, including fire-proof house, all complete, costs from 24s. to 25s. per spindle; in France a similar mill would cost 34s. to 35s. per spindle. This difference alone will preclude the possibility of rivaling England in this branch of manufacture; at any rate it will be many years before any thing like a competition can be established. They may make enough for their own use, but England and America must supply the world; these two have got too large a start in mechanical skill to be easily overtaken. Making spindles for cotton spinning is a difficult art, especially mule spindles, which require to be very accurately ground, otherwise they will not run true; not one workman in a hundred can set a spindle unless he has had great practice. Among the workmen in the machine shop of the Phoenix company, at Ghent, it is found necessary to have at least one out of every twenty of them Englishmen. At Verviers they have introduced into use the self-acting mule, manufactured by Sharp, Roberts & Co., of Manchester. Potter's self-acting mule is made by the Phoenix company, to whom the patent-right was disposed of by the inventor. Another self-acting mule, called Smitt & Orr's, now manufactured by Parr, Curtis & Madileng, successors to Dyer, in his card machine making establishment in Manchester, has found its way to the continent. Dyer is one of the few Americans who have made a fortune in England, not by their own inventions, but by introducing those of others. He commenced the manufacture at Manchester of Whittemore's card machine, and he had also something to do with a number of other inventions, such as Perkins' method of engraving on steel. After making a fortune in England, he has established his sons in business in France, where they both build machinery and manufacture cotton goods. He has taken out patents in several governments of Europe for the tube throstle spindle and other inventions. Wilkinson's reed machine may also be mentioned as an instance of a successful American invention. He is said to have been a poor man, of Providence, Rhode Island. By his invention he cleared over $100,000 in England. It consists in a method of inserting slips of smooth iron in sleighs instead of corn reeds; the iron is found to answer better than reeds, and the whole process is very expeditiously performed by his machine, one of which will make a whole sleigh in from ten to fifteen minutes. It is a lamentable fact, that in general inventors are not so successful, even when their inventions turn out in the end to be of the greatest practical value. It is almost always that some second or third party reaps the reward which should have gone to the ingenious but neglected inventor. We hear of associations for almost all kinds of purposes for missionary, political, and professional purposes, for every possible form of charity for the suppression of almost every thing that is bad, and the encouragement of almost every thing that is good; would it not be a good idea to get up an association for the purpose of aiding and encouraging poor inventors? It is notorious that the patent laws of every government, including our own, are exceedingly imperfect, and afford very little protection to patentees. This must be the case with all patent laws which award pecuniary damages to the injured inventor; the true remedy would be to make stealing or infringing a patent-right, a felony. It frequently happens in England, and may sometimes happen in this country, that a man without money or character is put forward by some one with capital, for the express purpose of stealing or infringing a patent-right; suits for damages in such cases are a mere farce. Mr. A. M. Perkins in London informed the writer of a case in point which occurred to himself. It was the violation of his patent for heating houses by means of water in iron tubes. Mr. Perkins went to the man and remonstrated against the injustice of thus infringing a patent that had cost him so much trouble and expense, but to no effect. The infringer laughed at him and the law, and Perkins was compelled to compromise with him, and grant him a regular license to carry on the business. The internal commerce of Belgium is facilitated by magnificent rivers, particularly the Meuse and the Scheldt, the latter being navigable as far as Cambray in France. There are also numerous canals. We can only mention the great northern canal, from Neuss, on the Rhine, (in Prussia,) by Venloo, on the Meuse, to Antwerp, and with which communicate, by means of the Scheldt, the Lievre and Bruges canals; the Ostend and Dunkirk canals, reaching the sea at different points; the Brussels canal; and the Louvain canal. The railways, likewise, owing to the flatness of the country, have been introduced with a success unknown even in Britain. According to a law passed in 1834, it was provided that a system of railroad should be established in the kingdom which, having Mechlin for its centre, should lead toward the east by Louvain, Liege, and Verviers, to the Prussian frontier; towards the north to Antwerp; towards the west by Termonde, Ghent, and Bruges, to Ostend; and towards the south, over Brussels, and through Hainault, to the French frontier;-the costs of the execution, and the superintendence, to devolve upon the government, and the tariff for the use of the railroads to be fixed yearly by a law. The works began immediately after the publication of the law, and have since been forwarded with great success. In 1839, they comprised an extent of 150 British miles; while those which are decided upon towards France will embrace a further distance of 90 miles. So persevering besides is the activity of the government in the improvement of the country, that large sums are also voted for new roads and canals, although Belgium is already so rich in the facilities of communication. Of the public works, not a few, such as the railroads for uniting the Scheldt and the sea with the Rhine, and the constructions towards the German frontier, have been projected with the view of rendering comparatively unproductive to Holland the rivers which had secured to her the commercial monopoly of the Rhenish provinces, and the transit trade to Germany. The external commerce of the kingdom suffered from the revolution of 1830, but it has again revived, and now shows a progressive improvement, corresponding with that which has occurred in the other branches of industry. The exports chiefly consist of bark from the trees of the Belgian forests, of which nearly 350,000 cwts. are annually exported to Great Britain alone; seeds, especially clover, coal, of which immense quantities are annually sent to France, where it is received on more favora. ble terms than that from England; spelter, flax, hops, linens, lace, carpets, and fire-arms; the last being sent in large quantities to Brazil, from whence they are again exported to Africa in exchange for slaves. The imports are principally composed of tropical produce, especially coffee, tobacco, and cotton, British manufactures, wool to the annual value of £550,000, chiefly from Germany, Poland, Hungary, and the southern provinces of Russia, and wine. The following account, abridged from the tables of the Board of Trade, (vol. v. p. 338,) furnishes a general view of the commerce of Belgium for the first four years after its separation from Holland. Total, £3,920,523 £9,336,301 £8,700,745 £7,952,677 399,367 VALUE OF EXPORTS FROM BELGIUM. 1831. 1832. 1833. 1834. France £1,684,749 £2,420,365 £2,226,618 £3,121,534 281,826 321,765 708,046 712,274 Prussia, Hanse Towns, and 1,188,953 1,288,684 862,425 1,484,344 Total, £3,862,211 £4,449,678 £4,446,669 £5,878,050 Since 1834 the trade has no doubt increased, though the shipping possessed by Belgium still remains inconsiderable. At the revolution in 1830, |