REGULATIONS IN JAPAN. The following interesting specimen of Japanese-English will be acceptable to all students of idiom, being an official order to foreign ships: THE PROHIBITION. To be throwed ballast out of all ships in this port. To be done any remain of ships at the outside of this port, and 1st year of banyan, The Government at Nagasaky. FOREIGN COTTON CLOTHS IN FRANCE. The Constitutionnel publishes the following results of the Imperial decree, dated the 13th of February last, authorizing the importation of foreign cotton cloths free of duty, on consideration of their being reexported after having been printed at French mills. 70,000 pieces of unbleached cotton, of 46 yards each, have, since the publication of the decree, been imported into France on the conditions specified. Of these Mulhausen received 45,000 pieces, nearly all from Switzerland, and Rouen 25,000 from England. These calicoes cost from five cents to six cents the metre less than French calicoes, being a difference of 15 per cent., which proves, says the Constitutionnel, that the negotiators of the treaty of commerce with England were correct in fixing the import duty on such articles at 15 per cent. The value of these cotton cloths temporarily admitted into France is estimated at from 1,500,000 francs to 1,600,000 francs, to which the bleaching and printing is to be added, at the rate of from 28 to 30 centimes the metre, being an addition to the value of about 1,300,000 francs. Thus the facility granted by the decrec of the 13th of February has been doubly beneficial to the French manufacturers. It opened markets to them which were closed in consequence of the high price of their calicoes, and enabled them to give employment to their operatives at a moment when trade was dull, in consequence of the political events in the United States. This result has been obtained without injury to the French weavers. In fact, the price of French cloths has rather increased than diminished since the decree of the 13th of February. On the other hand, the experience obtained has proved that there is not an equal advantage to be obtained by the temporary admission of muslins, inasmuch as the price charged by the French manufacturers for these articles is nearly the same as the English. "In a word," concludes the Constitutionnel, "the decree of the 13th of February, which has been in existence little more than six months, has produced most satisfactory results, not only with respect to our foreign relations, but with regard to our home consumption. The inquiry instituted last year by the Superior Council of Trade leaves no doubt on this head. Calicoes cannot be printed at a cheap rate except in large quantities. A new pattern costs a large price, and must be spread over a large quantity of calico in order to be sold cheap. Thus, for example, suppose a new pattern, including the price of the drawing and of the cop per cylinder, costs 10,000 francs; if the sale does not exceed 10,000 pieces there is an expense of one franc the piece. On the contrary, the cost is considerably diminished if there are 20,000 or 40,000 pieces printed. We have, likewise, to thank the government for the decree of the 25th of August last, by which woollen cloths, plain or mixed, are admitted for printing, on condition of being re-exported." By Imperial decree the custom-house of Dieppe is open to the imporlation of cotton yarn of the numbers 143 and upwards of the metrical system, and to yarn of long wool, twist, &c. The ports of Marseilles, Bordeaux, Nantes, Havre, Rouen, and the custom-houses of Lille, Mulhausen and Lyons are opened, like that of Paris, to the direct import of English and Belgium tissues taxed ad valorem. The other ports of France, and the other custom-houses on the Belgian frontier already opened to the transit of merchandise not prohibited, are also to be allowed to receive tissues of British or Belgian origin, but only for transit, or to be sent sealed up and by what is called acquit à caution, to one of the custom-houses designated in the decree, and in which alone the merchandise can be examined and the duty be paid. In Algeria the payment of import duties on Belgian or English tissues imported under the Franco-English and the Franco-Belgian treaties can only be made in the port of Algiers. WOOLLEN GOODS IN FRANCE. An Imperial decree, specifying the ports and custom-houses that are opened for the importation of woollen and cotton goods of all kinds, of English or Belgian manufacture, is published in the Moniteur of last month. The ports are Marseilles, Bordeaux, Nantes, Rouen, Havre, Dieppe, Boulogne, Calais and Dunkirk; the custom-houses are those of Tourcoing, Roubaix, Lille, Valenciennes, Mulhausen and Lyons. The same decree gives a list of the articles of English or Belgian manufacture that can be imported only through the custom-houses inland or at seaports regularly appointed for their introduction. The articles referred to are: all goods paying a duty of more than 20 francs per 100 kilogrammes; also coaches, playing cards, chicory, roasted or ground; cutlery, skin and leather work; articles made of horses or cows' hair, pure or mixed; chemicals, ordinary soap, drinking glasses and crystals, white and colored; window glass, colored glass, polished or engraved; watch and optical glasses, and all other glass wares not mentioned in this category; seagoing vessels, hulls of seagoing vessels, river-craft, alpaca, lama and vizogne wool and camel's-hair yarn. CUSTOM HOUSES IN CHINA. The system of custom-houses under foreign inspectorship does not conciliate general favor as its working becomes better known. Had the treaties of Tien-tsin and Pekin concentrated foreign trade into one or two ports, much good might have resulted to trade; but the very diffusion of trade secured by the treaties must prevent the success of Lord ELGIN'S Scheme, for the whole line of the coast of China cannot be successfully watched, nor can the Chinese be prevented from receiving foreigners at non-treaty ports, nor from smuggling themselves at all unprotected points of a coast singularly favorable to such operations. HongKong may be benefited by becoming more and more the resort of Chinese traders to supply their wants, but they will inevitably engage largely in smuggling, and will find plenty of desperate men for the purpose. The late affair of the steamer CAMPA, with some sugar-laden junks, is an apt illustration of the opinion now expressed. That vessel serves as a kind of guarda costa to the Canton foreign custom-house. The foreign employees received information of the above boats being laden with sugar upon which duty had not been paid, and, knowing the channels to be taken, they sent the CAMPA down to intercept them. They met, and the Chinese, retiring into a small bay, deliberately anchored and prepared for action. The steamer opened fire, which was at once replied to; the result being that five men, Europeans and others, were killed or wounded, and the steamer herself, being seriously injured, was obliged to sheer off and return to Canton. These are most awkward events, and affect European prestige very seriously.-London Times. UNITED STATES AMENDED TARIFF, DECEMBER, 1861. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled: That from and after the date of the passage of this act, in lieu of the duties heretofore imposed by law on articles hereinafter mentioned, there shall be levied, collected and paid on the goods, wares and merchandise herein enumerated and provided for, imported from foreign countries, the following duties and rates of duty, that is to say: First.-On all teas twenty cents per pound. Second. On coffee, of all kinds, five cents per pound. Third. On all raw sugar, commonly called Muscovado or brown sugar, and on sugars not advanced above No. 12, Dutch standard, by claying, boiling, clarifying or other process, and on syrup of sugar or of sugarcane, and on concentrated molasses, or concentrated melado, two cents and an half per pound; and on white and clayed sugar, when advanced beyond the raw state, above No. 12, Dutch standard, by clarifying or other process, and not yet refined, three cents per pound; on refined sugars, whether loaf, lump, crushed or pulverized, five cents per pound; on sugars after being refined, when they are tinctured, colored or in any other way adulterated, and on sugar candy, eight cents per pound; on molasses, six cents per gallon, provided that all syrups of sugar or of sugar-cane, concentrated molasses or concentrated melado entered under the name of molasses, or any other name than syrup of sugar or of sugar-cane, concentrated molasses or concentrated melado, shall be liable to forfeiture to the United States, and the same shall be forfeited. It will be seen that the act takes effect from the 25th December, and that the duties will be levied on goods in warehouse and on goods which arrive. FOREIGN CORRESPONDENCE OF THE MERCHANTS' MAGAZINE AND COMMERCIAL REVIEW. LONDON, December 10, 1861. THE all-absorbing topic in this city, indeed I may say in all England, this month, has been the seizure of Messrs. MASON and SLIDELL on board the British mail steamer TRENT. The Times, immediately upon the facts being made known, took up the subject warmly and violently in behalf of the claim that the seizure by Capt. WILKES was a breach of international law, and that it must be atoned for. The subject will come up for discussion by the respective cabinets of the two countries; and the friends of the United States have full confidence that the result will be honorable to both sides. It would not do, at this early stage, to prejudge the question. Our daily and weekly journals have taken up the question; some conceding to the United States the right of seizure; others, and the majority, against it. For the information of your readers, I may say that the question of the right of search is handled by Lord BROUGHAM, in the Edinburgh Review, vol. 11, also in the Foreign Quarterly Review, vol. 35, and in Fraser's Magazine, vol. 25. The Confederate vessel HELEN arrived at Liverpool, direct from Charleston, South Carolina, Tuesday, November 26. There was a good deal of excitement on 'Change in consequence of her arrival in the Mersey. She left Charleston on the evening of the 2d of November, and Captain WESTERDORF states that he passed safely out to sea without seeing any of the blockading squadron-the entrances to the port being quite clear of the federal fleet. The HELEN is an American-built bark of 34 tons, an extremely handsome vessel, quite new, and a "regular clipper," as her run from Charleston plainly shows. She has on board 1,100 barrels of rosin and 500 barrels of spirits of turpentine; but just previous to leaving Charleston she had stowed away 250 bales of cotton, which she was obliged to unship again, in consequence of the determination of the Charleston people not to let a bale of cotton go out of the port. So The West India mail steamer LA PLATA arrived at Southampton in November, with the families of Messrs. MASON and SLIDELL. soon as the notice of the arrest of the Confederate Commissioners on board the steamer TRENT was posted on the slate at the Liverpool Exchange Newsroom, an unusual degree of excitement was manifested, and, after an earnest conversation amongst several gentlemen present, it was resolved to call an indignation meeting of the public of Liverpool on the subject. A notice was accordingly placed on the slate, calling upon the public to attend a meeting, to be held at three o'clock, in the cotton salesroom, to consider what steps should be taken with reference to this " gross insult to the British flag." The cotton sales-room was densely crowded, hundreds being unable to obtain admission. Mr. CUNARD was called upon to preside, but he declined, and so also did Mr. TORR. There were then loud calls for Mr. SPENCE, a Liverpool merchant, who has published a work on the present American conflict. Mr. SPENCE said he took the chair neither with reluctance nor difficulty. At LLOYD'S, the arrival of a Confederate war steamer at Southampton caused much excitement, and a large increase in the future charge for war risks on United States vessels is anticipated. The rate of insurance on the Canadian steamer NORTH BRITAIN, 30 guineas, was charged, and for the ANGLO-SAXON, which started subsequently for England, and was a few days overdue, the increased rate of 50s. was demanded. The Confederate steamer NASHVILLE arrived at Southampton, instead of trying to run the blockade of Charleston again, as was generally supposed, sailed for Europe, and landed Captain NELSON and crew, twentynine in number, of the American ship HARVEY BIRCH, from Havre for New-York, which vessel was brought to by the NASHVILLE, Commander PEGRAM, late of the United States Navy, on the 19th of November. The HARVEY BIRCH was boarded immediately by the officers and crew of the NASHVILLE, who at once ordered the captain and crew on board the steamer. Commander PEGRAM then ordered the HARVEY BIRCH to be fired, and laid alongside till she burned to the water's edge. Capt. NELSON immediately placed himself in communication with Capt. BRITAIN, United States Consul at Southampton. Commander PEGRAM states that he has no commission from the Southern government as a war steamer, yet declares it is not a privateer. No Southern commissioners arrived by the NASHVILLE. The whole crew of the HARVEY BIRCH, except the captain, were placed in irons till the arrival at Southampton. Exhortations were made to induce the captain and crew to take the oath to the Confederate government. Commander PEGRAM communicated with Mr. YANCEY. The NASHVILLE would refit at Southampton. I have before me a brief account of three loans which have received the guarantee of Great Britain. First, the Russian Dutch loan, which was guaranteed in 1815, the amount being £2,083,333 (25 million florins.) The balance of principal was, at the end of 1858, 1859 and 1860, £1,187,500, £1,166,666 and £1,145,833 respectively. The annual payments out of the consolidated fund, viz., 1 per cent. to the sinking fund, average £22,000 during those years; and the average interest during that term, at 5 per cent., was £60,000; the total of the two items was, therefore, £82,000. Second, the Greek loan, in respect of which we have, up to the end of 1860, paid out of the consolidated fund, £835,525. Twelve years ago the Greek government had repaid £31,085, and not one farthing since! This leaves that nation our debtor to the extent of £804,440. Third, the Sardinian loan, in 1855 and 1856, we advanced, in full, £2,000,000; in the three years 1858, 1859 and 1860, the interest paid by Sardinia was £58,000 annually, at the rate of 3 per cent. Her payments to the sinking fund, up to the end of 1860, is £101,395; the balance against her is £1,898,605. We read in the Patrie that during the 8th and 9th November, 354 ships of commerce entered the port of Constantinople, the largest result that has been obtained for fifty years. It proves the immense importance of this port in a commercial point of view. A great number of the ships |