Author of the Thelosophy of Front Hock Banking, &c &c.

Fngraved by H. Adlard from. a Painting by J. Carrick.

The Hudson River Railroad is estimated to cost $9,000,000. The same rate applied to the Erie would give an aggreate of $27,000,000.

These figures demonstrate that the idea that the "Erie" has been built at great expense is due only to its great extent, and that it is comparatively and really a cheap railway, considering its length.

To show how far we in America are behind the enormous scale of expenditure in Great Britain, it may be mentioned that the average cost of eleven of the principal railways in that country is £59,915 per mile! At this rate the "Erie "would have cost the trifling sum of ($130,000,000,) one hundred and thirty millions of dollars!

May not future years yet show that of all the railways constructed to perform the internal island exchanges of England, there is not one whose ultimate importance will justify a larger outlay than the Erie Railway-one of the chief outlets of a continental commerce?

Art. II.-COMMERCIAL SKETCHES WITH PEN AND PENCIL.

GARVIN MASON BELL, ESQ.,

BANK MANAGER, and author oF "THE PHILOSOPHY OF JOINT-STOCK BANKING," ETC., ETC.

THERE is no end to the number of books which describe the battles of warriors or the political conflicts of statesmen. These deeds are portrayed with a minuteness that contains every detail, and with a vividness that spreads before us, as a great picture, the array of hostile armies, the onset of battle, the smoke and dust of the deadly strife, the fall of the wounded, the contortions of the dying, the retreat, and the pursuit and slaughter of the flying foe. Or, we are introduced within the lofty halls of legislation-our feelings are aroused at the inexpressible importance to mankind of the issue which is to be decided. The character of the opposition is sketched in forcible but indignant words, as, one by one, its leaders are pointed out. We are then called to survey our favorite hero, who, almost single-handed, is to encounter this powerful array, and by the force of his superior reason and the splendor of his irresistible eloquence, can drive them into a hopeless minority, secure the triumph of his country's welfare, and entwine another wreath of immortal laurels upon his noble brow. After all, it is not half the battles which are fought that deserve to be described, nor every political conflict of any statesman, nor any of some that are worthy of remembrance. How few are the political or mortal strifes in the great theater of the world, that are followed by any permanent advantages to mankind, and how many of them, very justly, pass forever from our view by the simple dropping of a curtain at the close of the scene.

It is not so with the lives of useful men. They are the best treasure of the public. Every citizen may learn from them something to encourage amid arduous labors, to re-kindle hope amid discouragements and adversity, and to incite to the pursuit of plans for the diffusion of intelligence, prosperity and happiness, even when attended with no other reward than the satisfaction of doing well. For all can become useful citizens, while few only can be victorious in the command of armies, or successful in statesmanship. To

the inventors in mechanical arts, to those who guide the labor of society in new and useful paths, and who secure the greatest results from the smallest efforts, is mankind most deeply indebted for an exhaustless supply of comforts and enjoyments which soften and harmonize his rugged spirit, and smooth the way for his more rapid advancement to higher states of civilization. But most of all is mankind indebted to those who gather from every nation their treasures, and diffuse them at home. The wealth, the knowledge, and the refinement of each nation is by them made common to all, and diffused to all the dwellings of a people. Commerce, in all eyes, has been the precursor of civilization, and knowledge, the arts, liberal institutions; and liberty, have followed and composed her train.

Still it must be confessed that there is no class of mankind which has been even half so useful and valuable, of whose members so little is known, as of those who have composed the commercial and mercantile class. The biography of mercantile men was almost a blank until within a recent period. We know almost nothing of them except as they have been occasionally brought to sight in connection with events that have transpired without their peculiar sphere, like as a diamond is often rent from its undisturbed repose by a rude outburst of the elements, and thrown, all sparkling and brilliant, within the full blaze of light. However, as a class, they have, with respect to enterprise, wealth and intelligence, ever been foremost in society. In their ranks is to be found every degree of talent, and every grade of character; and nowhere is integrity and uprightness more justly esteemed, or more highly rewarded. Surely, if ever there was a field loaded with a rich harvest, in which scarcely a sickle has ever been thrust, it is that of mercantile biography.

We have embellished this number of our Magazine with a portrait of GARVIN MASON BELL-a gentleman whose useful services, connected with the banking interests in England, will be remembered for their good fruits long after their author shall have passed from the scenes of active life. The disinterested good will and the indefatigable industry in useful purposes which that portrait expresses are faint emblems of the elements of character which their original possesses. The likeness of the portrait to the original is regarded as excellent, and the expression is very characteristic.

Mr. Bell was the eldest, and the only surviving son of the late Robert Bell, Esq., of Nassau, New Providence, in the Bahama group of islands. He is descended from a highly respectable family in the west of Scotland. His mother's name was Mary Ann Drake; and, on her side, he is related to the family of Admiral Sir Francis Drake, so celebrated in the annals of English naval history—as well for his courage and heroism as for his voyage of discovery around the globe.

At an early age Mr. Bell was sent home, as it is called in all the English colonial possessions, to England, with a younger brother, for the purpose of completing their education, and with a view of their returning again to the West Indies. The death of their father soon afterward, and the subsequent mismanagement of their West Indian property by the executors, completely altered the prospects of these young gentlemen. After receiving a liberal education, Mr. Bell was articled for four years to a legal practitioner. At the end of this period, instead of pursuing the legal profession, he became connected with the banking interest, and for the last twenty years has been almost entirely engaged in this department of commerce. He is at this time a little more than forty years of age.