The National Register.
London, England, 1808-01-04 00:00:00

HINTS TO COMMERCIAL SPECULATORS.

The enterprize of our countrymen is as surprising as
their capital is inexhaustible. They only require to know
where a market can be opened, and what articles can be
sold ; and, with a celerity unknown and impracticable Us
other countries, vessels are immediately chartered, goods
embarked, and the market stocked with every vendible
commodity. We account it a laudable undertaking to
second this energetic spirit of our countrymen by the com-
munication or every information in our power ; and to
point out to them every outlet for their enterprizei at a
period when our active enemy has resolved, if he can, to
raise insuperable barriers against it in every direction.
The eyes of our mercantile adventurers, arc, of course,
at present turned on the Brazils, as the most desirable
field which has lately opened for their speculations. It is
therefore of the utmost consequence to ascertain the extent
of this new market, as well as the articles which will be
chiefly in demand : Without this information, the embar-
rassments of the adventurers to Buenos Ayres might be re-
newed, the market be overstocked, the commodities be
unsuited to it, and the result to our commerce be, at first,
distressing instead of profitable.
The extent of the Brazils is nearly thirteen times greater
than that of Great Britain : but its boundless plains are as
yet almost wholly uncultivated, and its population does not
exceed above one million. Of these not above three hun-
dred thousand are ‘N bites and freemen : the rest consist of
the natives, who have survived the oppression of their
Portuguese masters, and of negroes imported from Africa
to dig their mines.
It thus appears, both from the extent and nature of the
population, that the market of the Brazils must, in its
present state, be limited. We are, however, to take into
the account that a large number of emigrants will now ac-
company and follow the Court from Portugal ; and that
these new settlers ar:! much more accustomed to the con-
veniencies of the old world, and will consequently have a
much greater propos tional demand for its productions. We
may also take it for granted, that the whole supply of the
flrazils will be in our owa hands, since the Americans, the
only other nation that can at present be permitted to trade
there, are in want of almost exactly the same articles as
the Braziliaes.

The commodities which, at present, will be chietiv
wanted, are all articles of dress. Cotton, both coarse and
hue, will be in great demand, but woollens will also be
much required, as the more southern parts of the Brazik,
and even the higher ground of the more northern, are
subject to colds and damps at particular seasons of the
year. Hats, shoes, boots, and every manufactured ar-
ticle of dress will be equally in requisition.
Here, as in North America, every article of furniture,
both iron and wood, is imported, owing to the total want
of internal manufaetnres. Hardware of every description,
jewellery, saddlery, all utensils both for the mines and for
husbandry, must also be supplied from this country. The
consumption of these latter articles must rapidly increase
with the progress of cultivation, and we may in a few