ROUEN. This important French city is situated at a point of the Seine where two small islands convert the river into a good harbour for seaborne vessels of 300 tons. Above the stone bridge on the eastern side of La-Croix islet lie the large river craft -and small steamers that ply up the Seine to Paris; between it and the suspension-bridge, and also below the latter, sea-borne vessels load and unload close to spacious well-built quays, extending all along the right bank of the river, and by lofty warehouses. Tho suburbs generally are inhabited by the manefacturing population ; they contain numerous cotton factories. But though Rouen resembles many old towns on the continent in pro senting a labyrinth of streets, composed of old picturesque timber-framed gable-fronted houses, it is not, like most of them, aban doned by trade, but still swarms with a popu lation engaged in all the bustling activity of commerce and manufacturing industry. The important manufactures of Rouen com prise striped and checked cottons for women's dresses, called rosenneries, calicos, woollen cloth, nankin, muslin, handkerchiefs, shawls, velvet, hosiery, swanskin, flannel, hats, lace, ropes, blankets, combs, preserved meats and confectionary, liqueurs, glue, soap, mineral acids and chemical products of all kinds, porcelain, pottery, room paper, haberdashery and small wares, steam machinery and mill work, shot and sheet-lead, tin-ware, cotton and woollen yarns, &e. There are numerous cotton-mills, driven by steam and by water power ; hand-loom weaving also prevails to a considerable extent. The other industrial establishments' include dye-houses, sugar-re fineries, bleach-works, tan-yards, breweries, ship-building docks, saw-mills, mills for grind ing dye-woods, copper and iron foundries, fulling and pressing-mills.
Advantageously situated for commerce, with a good harbour, in which the influence of the tide is felt, and in rapid communication by railway with Paris, Havre, and Dieppe, Rouen has a very considerable import and export trade in its various industrial products, colonial and foreign produce, corn, flour, wine, brandy, fish, oil, salt provisions, hides, groceries, drugs, raw cotton, hemp, wool, iron, slates, pitch and tar, timber, &c. About 100 vessels, including steamers, belong to the port. The annual value of exports from the city exceeds a million sterling; the imports do not exceed half the amount; this is exclusive of the transit trade. Rouen is a special entrepdt for colonial and foreign produce, and has one of the most important corn-markets in France. The Rouen journals announce that a good sized brig, called the Athalie, has lately sailed from that port for Constantinople, and that another is about to follow. They add that it is hoped that a regular service, by moans of sailing-vessels, will be established between the two places, and that eventually steamers will be employed; as the improvements re cently made in the bed of the river Seine now enables steamers of large burthen to come up to Rouen. Goods from Paris sent to the Levant via Marseilles cost 130 fr. to 150 fr. the ton, but from Rouen the expense will rarely exceed 60 fr.