that absolute perfection is a stranger to all human things and undertakings.

But the incontestable advantages of the Confederation are apparent from a review of the great blessings which Germany enjoyed under its protection, and of the present state of things, of which the development is owing to a time in which that protection could no longer be effectual and sufficient.

"That time, too, has become a lesson to us, and it has again served to warn us to make use of our dearly-bought experience.

"That experience has shown the futility of all attempts to create an absolute novelty. It has shown that the foundations on which the Confederation reclines are not only good and serviceable, but that they are the ones which are suitable for a fabric in which a community of States--such as Germany includes can be expected to live in harmony, and in a state of general prosperity. But that experience has likewise shown the shortcomings of the Federal Constitution such as it hitherto has been; and it has pointed out the stops where remedies ought to be applied. Among these I mention the strengthening of the chief organ of the Confederation by arrangements which will enable it for the future to stem the tide of revolution, and to protect the principle of monarchy.

negotiations; let it be our object to complete that Constitution by the lessons of experience, and with a consideration to the real desires and the welfare of our common country; let us create a supreme Federal Board, which shall be sufficiently strong to protect the individual Governments against the enemies of order, and to preserve the most sacred blessings of society. We shall thus answer to the claims of justice, of equity, and to the suggestions of sound policy, and of the duties to which those who sent us are bound by sacred treaties and engagements among themselves and to their peoples. I have not the least doubt, Gentlemen, that your Governments, as well as yourselves, concur with this view of the situation, which I am instructed to submit to you on the part of His Majesty, the Emperor, my gracious

master.

"If we are agreed as to the starting point, the direction, and the object of our endeavours, we are certain of success.

"Let us then honestly and confidently, and with the blessing of God, begin the work, and success will be ours."

Baron Von Manteuffel's speech was to the following purport:—

"Gentlemen,-Grant me, too, leave to express to you my thanks for the readiness with which our invitations to this Congress have been accepted, and in such a way, too, that after more than two years, and after various scissions and dissensions, the Plenipotentiaries of all the German States are here assembled in harmony, and intent upon co-operation. I may well be allowed to salute this fact with a word of coufidence and of hope. If we wish to avoid a

pronouncing the added value of 198,000,000 dollars to be a large profit to the manufacturer, any more than the question of the effect of the production of wheat would be answered by deducting the cost of seed wheat from the value of the crop, and pronouncing the remainder to be a large profit to the farmer.

"The manufacture of cotton cloth is begun with the planting of the cotton-it is carried to a certain point by the planter, and then taken up and perfected by the spinner and weaver. The planter and manufacturer are not engaged in different branches of industry, but in the same--the one commences the process which the other completes. Cotton-seed of insignificant value, being by regular stages of labour developed and brought to the form of cotton cloth, has acquired a value of about 264,000,000 dollars.

"The planting states have added many millions to the annual production of the country by the culture of cotton. By continuing the process they could quadruple that addition.

"The planter would then have a market at his door for all his produce, and the farmer would, in like manner, have a home market for his. The power of consump tion of not only breadstuffs, but of every article useful or necessary in the feeding, clothing, and housing of man, would be vastly increased the consumer and producer would be brought nearer to each other - and, in fact, a sti mulus would be applied to every branch of productive industry.

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It is gratifying to know that the manufacture of cotton has already been introduced into several of the planting states, and, it

ought not to be doubted, will rapidly be extended.

"The manufacture of iron, wool, and our other staples, would lead to similar results. The effect would be a vast augmentation of our wealth and power.

"Upon commerce the effects might be expected to be, if possible, still more marked. It is not enough to say that no country ever diminished its commerce by increasing its productions, and that no injury would therefore result to that interest. There would probably be not only a great increase in the amount, but an improvement not less important in the nature of our com

Whether we can have workshops to work up at least our own materials, must depend upon the question whether we have or can obtain sufficient advantages to justify the pursuit of this kind of industry.

"The circumstances favourable

to production in this country may be stated to be-1. Facility in procuring raw materials. 2. Abundance of fuel. 3. Abundance of food and other articles necessary for the sustenance and housing of the labourer. 4. The superior efficiency of the labourers in comparison with those of other countries.

"The circumstances supposed to be unfavourable to our production may be thus classed:

1. Want of capital. 2. Dearness of our labour as compared with that of other countries. 3. Insecurity by exposure to the influence of violent and excessive fluctuations of price in foreign markets, and to undue foreign competition. "1. Capital, which is but the accumulated savings of labour, is believed to be abundant among ourselves for any purpose to which it can be profitably applied. It is more divided than in some other countries, and associations of capital are therefore more common among us than elsewhere. It will be increased by the labour of every successive year, and for investments, reasonably secure, it will flow in whenever required (as it has always heretofore done) from other countries, where it may exist in greater abundance. The amount of capital required for a large production is not enormous. The whole capital, for instance, employed in the establishment and support of iron-works in England and Wales in 1847, has been estimated at less than 100,000,000 dollars, the annual production then being about 1,200,000 tons.

2. The difference between the price of labour here and in Great Britain is certainly great, and it is to be hoped and expected will never be diminished by a reduction of wages here. The difference has been estimated at an average of 33 per cent. Probably the average difference is much more than that. In some branches, such as the manufacture of iron, it is certainly much greater. This difference is in part compensated by the disadvantages under which the foreign manufacturer is placed by the necessity, in some branches, of procuring his raw material from a great distance, or transporting a

heavy article of production (such as iron) to a distant market. In. addition, he is pressed by a heavy burden of taxation. The greater efficiency of our labour is to some extent an additional compensatory element. This includes the greater capacity for acquiring skill, the superior general intelligence, the higher inventive faculty, the greater moral and physical energy, both of action and endurance, which our people possess in comparison with the foreign labourer. Better fed, clothed, housed, and educated; conscious of the ability to lay up some capital annually from his savings, encouraged to invest that capital in the enterprise in which his labour is engaged, enjoying practically greater civil and political liberty, looking forward to an indefinite future in which, through his own good conduct and example, he may expect each successive generation of his descendants to be better circumstanced than its predecessors, it cannot be doubted that these advantages add greatly to the efficiency of the American labourer. The precise extent to which they go towards compensating the difference in the price of labour it is difficult to define.. The efficiency of our labour may be expected to increase with the increase of reward to the labourer. In many of the New England factories the labourers are encouraged to invest their surplus earnings in the stock of the company by which they are employed, and are thus stimulated by direct personal interest to the greatest ex-. ertion. It may be expected that this system will be introduced into other branches in which it will be found practicable, tending, as it. does, so powerfully to elevate the labourer, increase production, and,