PREFACE.
A small edition of this little pamphlet was printed, and privately circulated, early in the month of January. It is unnecessary to trouble the reader with the reasons for adopting this course, but I may remark, that it has been productive of one important advantage,—it has enabled me to submit my plans to the consideration of many able men, who, either from attention to the particular subject, from skill in organization, or from extensive commercial knowledge, are eminently qualified to judge of the practicability of the measures proposed. Their examination has led to some important improvements, which, while they remove certain difficulties that attached to the plan in its original form, tend still further to simplify the proposed mechanism. These modifications are given in the present edition.
Doubts as to the well working of certain parts of the plan, even in its present form, have certainly been expressed by some whose opinion I esteem very highly; such parts have consequently undergone a laborious and anxious re-examination; and
