PROGRESS OF IMPROVEMENT.-Before the war of 1815, the only canals in the United States were the Middlesex canal in Massachusetts, 27 miles in length, and finished in 1808, and the Sanatee canal in South Carolina, 22 miles in length. The canals now completed have cost upwards of one hundred millions of dollars.

In 1683, there belonged to the city of New York three barques, three brigantines, twenty-six sloops, and forty-eight open boats. In 1769 the imports were £138,976 sterling, or $839,782; and in 1799 the exports were $17,262,729. In 1800 the amount of duties on merchandise imported into the city was $3,611,588. In 1844, the total exports amounted to $34,623,449.