The Emperor himself, before his accession to the throne, was the administrator of the customhouse of this city, where he has acquired his commercial tastes and habits of business, which he has cultivated from the very commencement of his reign.

He carried the line of the customhouses from the Ebro, where they were comparatively useless and scarcely possible to guard, to the very foot and passes of the Pyrenees.

The absence of import duties had a great influence on the cost of things, the state getting its receipts in kind, directly through the labour of its citizens, instead of looking to a customhouse in quest of its share for the general prosperity.

The Boston Port Bill, which shut the port of Boston to trade and commerce, forbade ships to come in or go out, and moved the customhouse to Marblehead.