Up to the 6th of September, 1842, 128 British vessels had arrived at Monte Video during that year.
COMPARISON OF THE COMMERCE OF MONTE VIDEO AND BUENOS AYRES.
Number of merchant vessels arrived at the Ports of Monte Video and Buenos Ayres during the half-year ending June 30th, 1842:—
| Monte Video. | Buenos Ayres. | |
|---|---|---|
| National | 16 | 0 |
| Brazilian | 54 | 17 |
| American | 48 | 31 |
| Chilian | 1 | 1 |
| British | 115 | 47 |
| French | 52 | 20 |
| Spanish | 44 | 17 |
| Sardinian | 76 | 14 |
| Portuguese | 4 | 2 |
| Hamburgh | 14 | 8 |
| Danish | 17 | 12 |
| Austrian | 6 | 0 |
| Swedish | 9 | 8 |
| Belgian | 3 | 1 |
| Bremen | 3 | 3 |
| Prussian | 6 | 0 |
| Russian | 1 | 1 |
| Hanoverian | 1 | 1 |
| Lubeck | 2 | 0 |
| Norwegian | 3 | 2 |
| Tuscan | 1 | 1 |
| ——— | ——— | |
| 475 | 186 | |
| ——— | ——— |
Great as this trade is, there is no reason why its future increase should not be as rapid as its past. There are at present several millions of cattle roving over the boundless pastures watered by the Uruguay, the Rio Negro, the St. Lucia, and the two hundred arroyos or rivulets which flow into them, and with a few years of peace, this number would be doubled, or if it was found more profitable, flocks of sheep might be introduced instead. The repeal of the duty on foreign wool, by the Act of 1844, gives additional encouragement to the raising of this kind of stock, and the reduction in the duty on foreign provisions made by the tariff of 1842, would, if this country was at peace, throw a considerable portion of the provision trade created by that reduction of duty, and at present monopolized by the United States, into Monte Video. Enormous quantities of meat are now wasted, which it might be worth while to prepare for this market, in a way suited for the English taste.
Pastoral countries, such as the territory of Uruguay, New South Wales, Van Dieman's Land, and South Africa, have this great advantage over arable countries that their resources can be developed much more rapidly, with a much smaller amount of labour, and with much less capital. This is one of the causes of the sudden rise of the trade with Australia, and it is also a considerable cause of the rapid development of the prosperity of Monte Video. Its power of producing hides, wool, tallow, and provisions is unlimited, by any thing except the deficient numbers of its population; and whilst on this subject, I may mention that Monte Video is the only one of all the Republics formed out of the ancient possessions of Spain which has been sufficiently well governed to attract to its shores any considerable number of emigrants from Europe. It will be seen from the following table extracted from the books of the Custom House at Monte Video, that not less than 33,607 emigrants arrived in that port between November, 1835, and December, 1842:—
Table made from the books at the Sala de Comercio of the number of passengers who arrived at Monte Video from Nov. 1835 inclusive, to the end of 1842.
| Basques, from both sides of the Pyrenees. | Frenchmen. | Gallicians. | Catalanes. | Spaniards from Cadiz, &c. | Genoese. | Canarios. | Portuguese and Brazilians. | Miscellaneous. | Total. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1836 | 1116 | 56 | ... | 94 | 112 | 365 | 744 | 782 | 331 | 3600 |
| 1837 | 348 | 72 | 101 | 485 | 310 | 175 | 949 | 454 | 223 | 3117 |
| 1838 | 1939 | 71 | 85 | 264 | 284 | 645 | 2320 | 294 | 177 | 6079 |
| 1839 | 233 | 69 | 141 | 64 | 53 | 202 | ... | 160 | 111 | 1033 |
| 1840 | 1107 | 80 | 106 | 107 | 58 | 727 | ... | 316 | 122 | 2623 |
| 1841 | 3965 | 121 | 408 | 104 | 92 | 2552 | 365 | 101 | 111 | 7819 |
| 1842 | 4968 | 227 | 502 | 143 | 293 | 2123 | 774 | 140 | 166 | 9336 |
| 13676 | 696 | 1343 | 1261 | 1202 | 6789 | 5152 | 2247 | 1241 | 33607 |
Of this large number of emigrants, 13,676, it will be seen, were from the Basque provinces; 696 from France; 3806 from Spain; 6789 from Genoa; 5152 from the Canary Islands; 2247 from Portugal and Brazil, and 1241 from other parts of the world. If, as has been said by one of our greatest writers, there is no worse sign of the condition of a country than the fact of large masses of its subjects leaving it, surely it must be considered an equally strong proof of the goodness of a Government and the resources of a country when great masses of foreign emigrants are pouring into it. In this respect, Monte Video stands pre-eminent above all the States of America, except those founded by the British race, and considering the limited extent of its territory, and the short period of its independent existence, it can scarcely be said to yield to them.