es are so
high, swells the value of imports far beyond their true amount, and
gives a false and exaggerated view of them.

With respect to the exports, nearly the same practice exists. In
calculating their value, all the shipping charges are added to the cost
of the article; and we are informed by merchants resident in Russia,
that on comparing the annual Government statements of exports for their
establishments, they are found to correspond with the invoices forwarded
to their foreign correspondents, which, of course, include commission,
and all the expenses attendant on the shipping of the goods. The law
also requires that the shipper, on clearing merchandise for export
through the customhouse, should declare its value. With a view of
preserving uniformity, the Russian authorities, from time to time, fix a
standard price at which particular articles shall be valued for export
at the customhouse. To exemplify the evil of this system, it is
necessary only to mention that oats, for example, could lately be
purchased at a Baltic port at sixty silver rubles per last, while the
latest customhouse standard values them at eighty silver rubles per
last. This practice is no way injurious to the merchant, but only
unnaturally swells the tables of exports when annually made up by the
Russian Government. A shipper, therefore, of any of the articles
included in the Russian standard, is compelled to state a much greater
value at the customhouse than he furnishes to his foreign correspondent,
who, of course, only pays the market price of the article, with the
additional shipping expenses.

The difficulty, such as it is, might be obviated, were the masters of
British merchantmen compelled by law to submit their ship's papers, on
arrival and departure, to the British consuls at each port, who would
then be placed on the same footing with the consuls of other countries,
and be enabled to communicate much important statistical information to
their Government, of the opportunity for acquiring and transmitting
which they are now deprived.

Our review of Russian commerce and industry would be more incomplete
than it is, if we were to omit all notice of the vast mining wealth of
that empire. But our limits, already nearly reached, do not admit of
more than a passing reference. Suffice it, that in coal, both bituminous
and anthracite, in iron and other metals, and salt, constituting the raw
materials, Russia is rich enough for all her want