GLASGOW. This city and its river are among the wonders of our empire. Until 1775 the Clyde was only navigable by vessels of very small burthen; but since that time large sums have been expended in its im provement, the banks have been widened, the bed deepened, and the numerous sand banks and other obstructions to the navigation have been removed. There are now quays on both banks nearly a mile in length. Vessels draw ing 14 feet of water can come up close to the lowest bridge. The revenue derived from the harbour in 1847 was 54,0001. Port Glasgow, situated 14 miles down the Clyde, belongs to Glasgow, and is governed wholly by the Glas gow magistrates.
Prior to the union in 1707, the commerce of Glasgow was limited to France and Hol land, and consisted principally in the curing and exportation of salmon ; but after that Glasgow entered so extensively into the trade with Virginia and Maryland, that before the commencement of the American War in 1770, which suspended the tobacco trade, the an nual imports exceeded 50,000 hogsheads. At the present time the trade with the United States and the West Indies, and the timber trade with North America, are carried on upon a very large scale. There are about 80,000 tons of iron, and 130,000 tons of coal ex ported annually from the Clyde. The ships which are owned by Glasgow houses amount to about 600, with a tonnage of 150,000 tons.
Glasgow is also quite as much a manufac turing as a commercial town. With the ex ception of some large establishments near Aberdeen and Stirling, almost the entire cot ton manufacture of Scotland is confined to Glasgow and the country surrounding it to the extent of 25 miles. The manufacture of linens, cambrics, &c., was first introduced into Glasgow about 1725, the power-loom in 1793, and at the present time the numerous esta blishments for weaving and spinning are on the most splendid scale. The School of De sign at Glasgow is rendering valuable service in respect to the artistic department of textile manufacture. But, although the cotton manu factures have hitherto constituted the staple trade of Glasgow, those of iron become an nually of greater extent ; and from the pecu liarly advantageous position of the town, in a mineralogical point of view, Glasgow is be coming more and more the centre of an iron district, especially since the introduction of the hot-blast in the iron manufacture. Ship ping and steam engines are among the im• portant manufactures of Glasgow.
Glasgow is the centre of a very extensive system of railways, which radiate from it in every direction.
The population of Glasgow has increased at a very rapid rate. It was only 14,000 in 1651 ; in 1811 it had increased to 112,330; in 1821 to 150,818 ; in 1831 to 207,393 ; in 1841 to 271,533; and it is supposed that the pre sent population is more than 370,000.
In a series of papers recently given in Chambers' Edinburgh Journal; and founded on personal researches, are some valuable statistics of the industry of Glasgow in 1850.
We will note down a few of the more pro minent features.
Glasgow itself was estimated in 1849 to contain 367,000 inhabitants ; but it is the centre and metropolis of a district which now contains not less than 600,000. It is the me tropolis for Paisley and its shawls; for the shipping of Greenock and Port Glasgow ; for Kilmarnock and its carpets ; for Pollock shaws, Barrhead, and Johnston, and their aottou spinning and weaving mills ; for the vale of Leven and its bleach works ; for the cotton manufacturing district of Lanark, Blantyre, and Campsie; and for the great iron mining and smelting district of Airdrie and Coatbridge.
The harbour of Glasgow is now fitted to accommodate vessels of 1,000 tons burden, and exhibits not less than 10,000 feet of quays. The largest merchant ships, from all parts of the world, can come almost into the very heart of Glasgow ; and the finest mail steam ships receive their engines from the quays within the limits of the town.
The following is given, by the authority alluded to above, as the result of a very care ful enquiry into the textile factories, and those immediately dependent on textile manufac tures, in Glasgow in 1850; giving the number of firms, and the number of operatives em ployed These numbers, even supposing them to be strictly correct, could only apply to one parti cular week ; but they afford a useful approxi mation. Besides the operatives employed by these firms, there are many thousand clerics, packers, and porters. These numbers refer to Glasgow alone; the textile factories in Paisley and the other towns of the Glasgow district form a wholly distinct series.
Vast as these textile manufactures are, they only employ two-thirds of the regular opera tives of the Glasgow district, the other third being employed chiefly in the mineral and che mical manufactures. On the east and south of Glasgow the district is bristled with iron furnaces. There are in this district about 100 firms engaged in the smelting and casting operations, by whom 600,000 tons of iron are now annually manufactured. At the Govan and Calder works alone (Messrs. Dixon's) are no less than 13 blast furnaces ; at Gartsherrie (Messrs. Baird's) 16; at Dundyvan (Messrs. Wilson's) 10; at Tollcross (Messrs. Dunlop's) 0; at the Monkland works 6.
The customs' receipts at Glasgow in 1850 were 615,6691. ; and those of Greenock (which in many respects may be deemed a second port for Glasgow commerce) 383,4871. ; making a total of upwards of a million sterling for the Clyde ports.
The chemical works are another mighty element of Glasgow industry. At the St. Rollox works of Messrs. Tennant chemical manufac tures are conducted on a scale which no other establishment in the world, we believe, equals; and there are many others of considerable magnitude.
Glasgow is well fitted to take a commanding position in any Exhibition of the World's In dustry.