The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1860-02-09
DEPARTMENT OF STATE, February

SIR: In compliance with the acts of August lG,
! 1912, and August l8, 1856, have the honor to
communicate herewith a Report of the Com
nercial Relations of the United States with For
! eign Nations for the year ending September 80,
| 1859.
The report is divided into two parts:
| Part l. embraces in substance the dispatches
commercial subjects, received at the Department
| during the year, from Diplomatic and Consular
Agents of the Government abroad as well as the
information contained in the official publications
of other Governments which has been deemed suth
GENTLY important to the commercial interests of
the country.
During the last session of Congress joint
luton was adopted having for its object the reno
val or modification of the heavy duties to which
American tobacco is subjected in most of the cOun-
tries in which that leading staple seeks market
pursuance of this joint resolution proper instruc
tions were at once transmitted to the diplomatic
and consular officers of the United States.
The special consular dispatches which have been
| received at the Department in reply to these in
structons, numbering in all nearly fifty, are ncor-
poraed in this part of the report, and will be found
to contain much valuable information the sub
ect of the tobacco trade of the United States in the
various markets of the world. The present legisla
tion of the different Governments of Europe, Asia,
and South America in reference to the mpOrta
ton of tobacco; their tariffs and monopoly regu-
latlons; their aggregate and per capita cOnsump-
tion of the article together with the laws regua-
ting its production affecting, directly or Indirect
y, its price to the consumer, presented in these
dispatches with much laboratories of detail and
in form at once succinct and comprehensive.
Part III. of the report is devoted to the Naviga-
tion and Commerce of the United States in those
ports where there are Consuls or Commercial
Agents of the Government. This part of the report
is presented in tabular FORM and is compiled from
the quarterly returns regularly transmitted to the
Department by those officers. With but few
ceptons these tables will be found complete for
the entire year, thus exhibiting, at glance, the
number and tonnage, the ports whence American
vessels have proceeded and their inward and out
ward cargoes
Although returns from one or two important
ports have unavodably been omitted, these oms-
sions have been supplied, as far as it was possible
to do so, in Part l, from official publications and
custom-house reports received during the year.
/ have the honor to be- sir,
our obedient servant,
LEWIS CAss
Hon. j. C. Breckenridge, President of the Senate,
CUBAN GUANo
The following despatch from consul at Porto
Rico in regard to "Cuban Guano" is of much in
terest to the agriculturalists of our State:
PORTO RICo.-C. DE RoNCENAY, CONSUL.
SAN JUAN, January Is, 1901 have been otl-
cially informed that, by very recent decree, the
Spanish Government has directed the Captain-Gen-
era of this island to send to the Spanish Consul in
England fifteen tons of the guauo fertilizer from
the islands of Mona and Monta lying off the west
ern part of Puerto Rico, and also fifteen tons
to the Governor of Cadiz, with view to its dis
tribution, and in order to test its character and
quality as fertilizer guano, and its value in
Europe.
fact to the Department because citizens of the
United States several occasions, the last
within few weeks, have made application to the
Captain General for the privilege of working these
islands, upon the payment of stipulated consdera-
tion therefor, without success
To the last petition or application, dated Febru-
ary 10, 1852 made by agent of the house of Pat
terson Merguondo, Baltimore, the Captain-Gen-
era, under date OF December -, replies
"Her Majesty denied another petition fthe
kind presented by George Latimer, Esq, and,
having ordered an examination to ascertain the
quality of said guano, both on the Island of Mona
as we'll as on that of the Monita. the process of
which as has not been yet terminated, it is not
in my power to accede to your petition without
previous superior orders"
The applicants in this case solicited the sale Of
the guano fertilizer that existed the Island of
Mona, proposing to purchase it tor round sum of
money or by the ton; or, If the Government pre-
ferred, to paw for it according to its true value, in
bills on the United States, England France, or in
cash in this island. For the better information of
the Government in its sale, the application was ac
companed by various analyses of the Mexican
guano, which, as respects its component parts, Is
more or less equal to the guano Of the Mona island
the former selling for or reaching in the United
States twelve dollars per ton, including freight and
other expenses from Mexico.
For the further information of my Government
and of those persons who have made inquiries
touching the guanO on the islands referred to, it
may be proper for me to add that steps have as
yet been taken to carry out the royal decree in the
shipment of guano aforesaid, and it is believed
that considerable delay will take place in the
cution of the royal order, in consequence of the
difficulties apprehended in bringing the guano to
this port for transhipment, and consequently that
some time must elapse before its character, quail
ty, and virtue can be known and fixed in Europe,
and likewise to the determination Of the Span
sh Government as to what disposition it will make
of it hereafter.
EXPORTS FROM VERA CRUZ TO THE UNITED STATES.
The following from the despatch of the Consul at
Vera Cruz shows the exports from that port to- the