WASHINGTON, August 19, 1852. SIR: The undersigned was personally honored with your instructions on the 28th July, 1851, to report on the following resolution of the Senate of the United States:
"That the Secretary of the Treasury be requested to communicate to the Senate, as early as possible, at the next session, full and complete statements of the trade and commerce of the British North American colonies with the United States, and other parts of the world, on land and by sea, in the years 1850 and 1851, with such information as he can procure of the trade of the great lakes."
You directed his attention to the general importance of all the subjects embraced in the resolution, their intimate relation to many branches of national interest, and the necessity of having such report submitted to you in the most correct form, and as full and detailed, as the shortness of time would permit.
You were pleased, also, at a subsequent period, to direct the attention of the undersigned, to that part of the resolution relating to the commercial interests of the great lakes, and to desire that it should receive prompt and careful attention; and that all the information obtained should be presented in tabular statements.
The undersigned was likewise informed by you, that if any subjects not specified in his instructions, of national or great local interest, germane to the spirit of the resolution of the Senate, should fall under his notice, it would not be inappropriate to submit the same for the consideration of the government.
These instructions, and the great interest now generally manifested as to the colonial and lake trade of the United States, have induced the undersigned to give careful attention to each distinctive feature of the various important subjects involved in your instructions and the resolution of the Senate.
The undersigned is fully aware that it is his duty (as it most certainly is his wish) to notice the questions under consideration in the briefest manner consistent with their proper elucidation. In justification of any notice that may be considered too much extended, it must be remembered that the weighty matters involved are not confined to any particular locality; that they affect not only the British colonies, but various and important domestic interests of the United States; that they are interwoven with all the elements of our national strength; that they bear, in an especial manner, upon the navigation and the foreign and coasting trade of this country, upon its various manufactures, and upon its commerce with distant nations.
In directing your attention to the first part of this report, the most important so far as home interests are concerned, it is proper to remark, that although the statements as to the internal trade of the